Books

Read Rediscovering the Holy Spirit for an exegetical, theological, and historical understanding of the Holy Spirit. While Michael Horton’s exegesis may not convince everyone, it should please those who confess the primacy of Scripture for theological understanding. I recommend Michael Horton’s book on the Spirit to pastors, to interested readers, and even to academics. Here is why. [Read more…] about Review of Rediscovering the Holy Spirit by Michael Horton

Throughout church history, the Sermon on the Mount has rightly held a prominent place among Christians. Jonathan Pennington continues in the tradition of valuing this great sermon by returning to the Jewish wisdom and Greco-Roman cultural encyclopedia that explains the words and concepts that Jesus uses. He concludes that Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, sagely teaches his audience how to flourish by wholly giving one’s life to God.

You should buy this book because it will not only challenge common (mis)conceptions about the sermon but also draw you into a closer understanding of what it means to flourish in life. [Read more…] about Review of The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing by Jonathan Pennington

Cyril Mango translated and edited 18 homilies of Photius, the Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 893). Photius is well-known for his role in the parting of ways between the Western and Eastern church. During this tumultuous time, Photius famously maintained that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and not from the Father and the Son as the Western church argues.

The procession of the Spirit was the presenting theological reason for the eventual separation of the West from the East. But the actual picture is more complicated. Politics, geography, and church order played important roles here too.

Despite the reputation of Photius, it is nevertheless important to note that he was a pastor and preacher. And his extant homilies provide insight into the spirituality of the 9th century in Byzantium. [Read more…] about Review of the Homilies of Photius Patriarch of Constantinople (Translated by Cyril Mango)

Sleep is a cornerstone for health and life. Yet today in the West, we have done the unthinkable. We have chosen to reduce the number of hours that we sleep in a given day. And as Matthew Walker describes in his book Why We Sleep, lack of sleep leads to disastrous results because it limits the healing and learning function of sleep, leaving us partially recovered and unable to think and to learn to our full potential. [Read more…] about Review of Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Wright, N.T. Paul: A Biography. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2018.

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One of the most well-known Pauline scholars, N. T. Wright, has written a biography on the apostle Paul. While Wright intends to do history, he also takes some license to fill in the historical holes that frustratingly leave us with unanswered questions some 2,000 years after the famous apostle’s life. [Read more…] about Review of Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright

Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant. Crossway, 2018.

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When Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum released the first edition of their Kingdom through Covenant in 2012, they made a significant contribution to the evangelical theological scene. Their argument, in short, is that the biblical covenants form the backbone to the storyline of Scripture. Hence, Christians ought to read the Bible according to the storyline that progresses along time through the covenant.

What they call progressive covenantalism does not quite fit within traditional covenantal or dispensational theology. So it forms a third system that stands between (or apart from) dispensationalism and covenantalism. [Read more…] about Review of Kingdom through Covenant (2nd Ed) by Gentry and Wellum