From the Bookstore to the Bookshelf to the Hand (My Reading List for 2007)

Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation by Graeme Goldsworthy

Graeme Goldsworthy examines the foundations and presuppositions of evangelical belief as it applies to the interpretation of the Bible. He then surveys the hemeneutical history of the Christian church in a attempt to see where alien approaches have deconstructed our way of reading Scripture. Finally, he reconstructs an evangelical hermeneutics rightly centered in the gospel and rightly influenced by the method of biblical theology.

This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God by Rick McKinley and David Kopp

"If all we value is the salvation gospel, we tend to miss the rest of Christ's message. Taken out of the context of the kingdom, the call to faith in Christ gets reduced to something less than the New Testament teaches. The reverse is also true: if we value a kingdom gospel at the expense of the liberating message of the Cross and the empty tomb and a call to repentance, we miss a central tenet of kingdom life. Without faith in Jesus, there is no transforming of our lives into the new world of the kingdom."

The Lamb of God by Robert Reymond

"The central theme of Holy Scripture is the unfolding revelation of its doctrinal teaching on Jesus as the 'slain Lamb of God'. The doctrine of Jesus as God's slain lamb runs like a thick cable from Genesis to Revelation binding the entirety of Scripture together. Indeed Revelation 13:8 speaks of Jesus as the lamb who was slain from the creation of the world, while 1 Peter 1:19-20 speaks of the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect who was chosen before the creation of the world.

Reymond examines the biblical depictions concerning the Lamb of God – illuminating to us the central place that the suffering of the Messiah as God’s lamb occupies in God's eternal purpose and earths history. Christ's Lamb work is to be found throughout the Old and New Testaments and its pivotal importance for each of our lives is explored in depth."

Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy

"While strong, gospel-centered preaching abounds, many Christian pastors and lay preachers find it difficult to preach meaningfully from the Old Testament. This practical handbook offers help. Graeme Goldsworthy teaches the basics of preaching the whole Bible in a consistently Christ-centered way.

Goldsworthy first examines the Bible, biblical theology, and preaching and shows how they relate in the preparation of Christ-centered sermons. He then applies the biblical-theological method to the various types of literature found in the Bible, drawing out their contributions to expository preaching focused on the person and work of Christ.

Clear, complete, and immediately applicable, this volume will become a fundamental text for teachers, pastors, and students preparing for ministry."

The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing by C.J. Mahaney

"Remember Jesus Christ? Although it seems almost too obvious, the center of our faith is surprisingly easy to forget. Dynamic pastor C.J. Mahaney shows how to overcome our tendency to move on from the gospel of grace. Finding joy in the gospel -- whose promises allow us to escape condemnation whenever it attacks -- helps us avoid the prevalent trap of legalism. With practical suggestions, Mahaney demonstrates the difference between knowing the gospel... and making it the main thing in daily decisions and daily living."

The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges

"We know we need grace. Without it we'd never come to Christ in the first place. But being a Christian is more than just coming to Christ. It's about growing and becoming more like Jesus. It's about pursing holiness. The pursuit of holiness is hard work, and that's were we turn from grace to discipline. Grace is every bit as important for growing as a Christian as it is for becoming a Christian in the first place. Grace is at the heart of the gospel, and without a clear understanding of the gospel and grace we can easily slip into a performance based lifestyle that bears little resemblance to what the gospel has to offer us. The Discipline Of Grace offers a clear and thorough explanation of the gospel and what it means to the believer, and how the same grace that brings us to faith in Christ also disciplines us in Christ, and how we learn to discipline ourselves in the areas of commitment, convictions, choices, watchfulness, and adversity. The Discipline Of Grace is highly recommended reading for anyone struggling to overcome the world in Christ."

Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney

"e Transformed by Christ's Example "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." - 1 Peter 5:5 A battle rages within every one of us every day. It's the clash between our sense of stubborn self-sufficiency and God's call to recognize that we're really nothing without Him. It's pride versus humility. And it's a fight we can't win without looking repeatedly to Christ and the cross. C. J. Mahaney raises a battle cry to daily, diligently, and deliberately weaken our greatest enemy (pride) and cultivate our greatest friend (humility). His thorough examination clarifies misconceptions, revealing the truth about why God detests pride and turns His active attention to the humble. Because pride is never passive, defeating it demands an intentional attack. The blessing that follows is God's abundant favor."

Frankenstein

"Frankenstein is the most famous novel by Mary Shelley: a dark Faustian parable of science misused that was an immediate success on its publication in 1818. Purporting to be the record of an explorer, it tells of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but wayward student of science, who builds a human from dead flesh. Horrified by what he has done, he abandons his creation. The creature, an outcast for his horrific appearance, learns language and becomes civilized. In time, he attempts to join society but is rejected because he is assumed to have murderous intentions. Spurned, he seeks vengeance on his creator. So begins a cycle of destruction, with Frankenstein and his 'monster' pursuing each other to the extremes of nature until all vestiges of their humanity are lost in monomaniacal hatred. In 1831, Mary Shelley succumbed to conservative pressure and toned down the more radical elements of the work. The novel is here presented in its original, unexpurgated form."

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

"John Piper writes, “I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader’s Digest: A couple ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. . . .’ Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy.

“God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.”

Most people slip by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to avoid sin. This book will warn you not to get caught up in a life that counts for nothing. It will challenge you to live and die boasting in the cross of Christ and making the glory of God your singular passion. If you believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, read this book, learn to live for Christ, and don’t waste your life!"

Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

"This companion volume to the Tales of Mystery and Imagination contains Edgar Allan Poe's best-known poetry, a selection of his very best stories (many of which originate in 1840s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque) along with his finest tales from the last decade of his tragically short life. Many of these stories and poems tell of familiar Poe themes of murder, obsession and love but this volume also contains many overlooked tales of the fantastic, black comedies, parodies and hoaxes such as "The Unparalleled Adventure of Hans Pfaall," "Mesmeric Revelation," "Hop-Frog" and "The Imp of the Perverse."

Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

"On December 27, 1831, the young naturalist Charles Darwin left Plymouth Harbor aboard the HMS Beagle. For the next five years, he conducted research on plants and animals from around the globe, amassing a body of evidence that would culminate in one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind - the theory of evolution" (from the publisher).

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

"You don't know about me, without you've read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter. The book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things he stretched, but mainly he told the truth."

Huckleberry Finn is being 'sivilized'. He has, rather inconveniently, come into the sum of six thousand dollars. The Widow Douglas has put him in a new suit of clothes, and is making him wash and go to school. He is not allowed to gape, stretch or smoke, and he is desperate to run away...

What began life as a sequel to Tom Sawyer quickly became one of the most important of all American novels. Mark Twain's story of a young hobo and a escaped slave who set off to find freedom on the Mississippi is an exuberant and nostalgic children's book, with subtle undertones of adult melancholy and yearning."

More to come....