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Building a Biblical and Theological Library? Here Are (Another) 4 More Books to Add to the Shelves

1/17/2023

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In the past I've written a couple of short posts advocating the idea of building a biblical and theological "library" of books — a shelf (or shelves) with trusted books that can relied on to guide you in reading the Bible and navigating theological topics. (Click here and here to see the first two posts in what is now apparently a series!)

Some of these are books to read straight through; others are books to keep handy as reference books and turn to on an as-needed basis. All of them are worthwhile.

I'm still a fan of the books I recommended in the earlier posts — even as I now figure it's time to add a few more books to the list. If you're looking to slowly start building (or adding) to a biblical and theological library yourself, here are four books to add to the shelf:

Bible

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40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible, 2nd ed. (Robert L. Plummer)

Theological Method

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Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage (Gavin Ortlund)

Theology

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50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology (Gregg R. Allison)

Theology

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Christian Theology: The Biblical Story and Our Faith (Christopher W. Morgan, with Robert A. Peterson)

You may also be interested in...

  • Starting to Build Your Library of Biblical and Theological Resources? Here Are 8 Books to Get You Started
  • Building a Biblical and Theological Library? Here Are 4 More Books to Add to the Shelves
  • How to R.E.A.D. Books Well
  • The "Ministry" of Recommending Books
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My 2018 Top 5 "Top Reading Lists of 2018"

12/24/2018

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Looking for some of the best biblical and theological books to read in 2019? Below I've collected and listed five "sources" that are worth listening to for some worthwhile reads.

My hope is that as you scan these lists, you'll find at least 2-3 books that strike your interest enough for you to pick up the book and dig in.

Click on either the image or the title below and you'll be taken directly to a page where you can see which books are on that particular list.

My Top 5 Reading Lists of 2018

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Christianity Today's 2019 Book Awards
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The Gospel Coalition: 2018 TGC Book Awards
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Verge Network - Top Books of 2018

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Sam Storms - Top 10 Books of 2018
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Tim Challies - The Collected Best Christian Books of 2018

Interested in more?

Below you'll find a few other links to related posts. Happy reading! 
  • 6 Books to Consider for the Reader You're Buying For (2018 Edition)
  • How to R.E.A.D. Books Well
  • The "Ministry" of Recommending Books
  • Building a Biblical and Theological Library? Here are 4 More Books for the Shelves.
  • My 2017 Top 5 "Top Reading Lists of 2017"
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6 Books to Consider for the Reader You're Buying For (2018 Edition)

12/6/2018

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Christmas is less than three weeks away (!!), and that means many of us are thinking through what to buy for others in our lives. If you're looking for ideas for the "reader" you know, here are six accessible suggestions based on books I've read and recommend, or books that are very much on my radar screen to read soon.

Most of these suggestions have been recently published (in the last 2-3 years) and will be linked to an Amazon page where you can learn more. You'll see they're listed under 6 categories that I try and stay loosely tethered to:

Bible & Theology

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Bible Matters: Making Sense of Scripture (by Tim Chester)

Discipleship

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The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery (by David G. Benner)

Ministry

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The God Who Goes Before You: Pastoral Leadership as Christ-Centered Followership (by Michael S. Wilder and Timothy Paul Jones)

Culture

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iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy - and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. And What that Means for the Rest of Us (by Jean Twenge)

Leadership

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The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues (by Patrick Lencioni)

History

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Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World (Eric Metaxas)

What other books (in any of these categories listed above) would you suggest people consider? List 'em here!
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The Life-Changing Power of the Bible. And What that Means for You.

8/16/2018

1 Comment

 
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Earlier this summer I took some time and worked through John S. Feinberg's helpful (and thorough -  799 pages!) ​Light in a  Dark Place: The Doctrine of Scripture. Among so many other things I enjoyed about the book, I benefited from how we approached something called "the animation of Scripture" - the belief that Scripture has life-giving, life-changing power that no other book shares.

This life-giving, life changing power of the Bible is WHY the Brookside Institute champions biblical literacy and Bible engagement in all the ways it does. Not because Bible engagement is an end-in-itself, but because the Bible is the primary means by which God introduces Himself, a primary way the Spirit works to grow us, and the clearest presentation of the all-satisfying Person and work of Christ.

Toward the end of this chapter on the animating power of the Bible, Feinberg draws several practical implications from this belief. Let me quote one of the implications he highlights (from pp. 678-69), in hopes that this will encourage all of us to keep coming back to the Bible, that we might experience the life-changing, life-giving power it offers in all the ways it offers it:
God's word has power like no other words ever spoken. Thus, it should be the focus of our study and of our everyday living. Whatever we are called to do, and whatever challenges confront us, our first response should always be to ask what Scripture says about the subject and the deeds in question. Needless to say, that can't happen if we don't read and ponder Scripture. Sadly, even Christians committed to verbal plenary inspiration, the fully inerrancy of Scripture, and the power of God's word find little time in the course of a week to read even a little of it. Believers know the message of Psalm 1 as it compares the happy and blessed man with the man who is unhappy and heading for disaster. The key to both is what they do with Scripture. They happy man grounds his life in God's word. He does not merely take a 'small taste' of it for a half-hour each Sunday morning when his pastor preaches. He meditates on God's word both day and night. As a result, when the storms of life confront him, he survives and even flourishes. The unhappy man, whose life is grounded in pleasure, money-making, self-aggrandizement and / or any of the many philosophies that leave out God and his word, is not ready for life's challenges. At some time in his life there will likely be disaster and ruin, and even if not in this life, he is headed for a horrific eternity. 

" Evangelicals know the message and meaning of this psalm, and yet we all too often find relatively little time for God's word in the course of a week. But Scripture is our life source, our spiritual food. You wouldn't limit yourself to just one regular meal a week. If you did, you would eventually starve. Why, then, can't we see that there will be dire consequences if we limit our intake of God's word to once or twice a week -  and some weeks to nothing?" 


- John Feinberg, Light in a Dark Place: The Doctrine of Scripture, pp. 678-79; bold emphasis added.

If you liked this post, you might also like...

  • How to Study the Bible on Your Own
  • Come Hungry to the Bible
  • How Can I Keep My Bible Reading Fresh? 
  • When You're Digging for Gold, Bring a Shovel (and Not a Rake)
  • Let's Never Tire of Emphasizing the Bible
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It's Not Too Late! Our Highlight Reel of the Top 5 Blog Posts Each Month, for the Last 6 Months

7/28/2018

0 Comments

 
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Did you miss some of the most frequented posts at the Brookside Institute recently? It's not too late!

Based on the number of "hits" each month, here's our highlight reel of the top 5 posts here on the Brookside Institute blog for the last six months - January 2018 through June 2018.

​Take a minute to scroll through the list below, and either catch up on things you may have missed or revisit things that were especially helpful.

Read More
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Summer Reading: 2018

6/2/2018

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Summer is upon us!

If you've got some extra time over the next couple of months - maybe you're traveling a bit, or your summer schedule allows you more time to read for other reasons, or you just want some book recommendations as you maintain a habit of reading - here are a few books (in categories we should keep on our radar screens) you may want to consider. These are books that I've either read recently myself, or am hoping to dig into in the next couple of months.

I encourage you to explore these books a bit (each is linked to their Amazon page where you can learn more), then choose whichever one or two jumps out at you most and dig in! 

Read More
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Tim Keller on the Storyline of the Bible, Centering on Jesus (in about 300 words)

3/2/2018

1 Comment

 
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In his recent book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism, author and pastor Timothy Keller summarizes the storyline of the Bible - climaxing in the sending and sacrifice of Jesus Christ - in a helpful way. And all in about 300 words. (306, to be exact.) 

His summary is too good to pass up. I've included it here (from p. 58 of his Preaching book): 

Read More
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It's Not Too Late! A Review of the Top 5 Blog Posts Each Month, for the Last 6 Months

1/11/2018

0 Comments

 
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Based on the number of "hits" each month, here are the top 5 posts here on the Brookside Institute blog for the last six months - July 2017 through December 2017.

​Take a minute to scroll through the list below, and either catch up on things you may have missed or revisit things that were especially helpful.

Read More
0 Comments

My 2017 Top 5 "Top Reading Lists of 2017"

12/28/2017

1 Comment

 
Looking for some of the best biblical and theological books to read in 2018? Below I've collected and listed five "sources" that are worth listening to for some worthwhile reads.

My hope is that as you scan these lists, you'll find at least 2-3 books that strike your interest enough for you to pick up the book and dig in.

Click on either the image or the title below and you'll be taken directly to a page where you can see which books are on that particular list.

My Top 5 Reading Lists of 2017

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Christianity Today's 2018 Book Awards
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Desiring God - Top 17 Books of 2017 (Tony Reinke)
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My Top Books of 2017 (Jared Wilson, TGC)

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Top 10 Books of 2017 (Sam Storms)
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The Collected Best Christian Books of 2017 (Tim Challies)

Interested in more? 

Below you'll find a few other links to related posts. Happy reading! 
  • How to R.E.A.D. Books Well
  • The "Ministry" of Recommending Books
  • Building a Biblical and Theological Library? Here are 4 More Books for the Shelves.
  • My 2016 Top 5 "Top Reading Lists of 2016"
1 Comment

Building a Biblical and Theological Library? Here Are 4 More Books to Add to the Shelves.

11/13/2017

0 Comments

 
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A couple of years ago, I wrote a short post advocating the idea of building a biblical and theological "library" of books — a shelf (or shelves) with trusted books that can relied on to guide you in reading the Bible and navigating theological topics. Some of these are books to read straight through; others are books to keep handy as reference books and turn to on an as-needed basis. All of them are worthwhile.

I'm still a fan of the books I recommended in the initial post — even as I figured it's time to add a few more books to the list. If you're looking to slowly start building or adding to a biblical and theological library yourself, here are four books to add to the shelf:

Bible: Old Testament

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How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: 12 Steps from Exegesis to Theology (Jason S. DeRouchie)

Bible: New Testament

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How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: 12 Steps from Exegesis to Theology (Andrew David Naselli)

Theology

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Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 3rd ed (edited by Daniel Treier and Walter Elwell)

Theology

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What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine through the Apostles' Creed (Michael F. Bird)

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
  • Starting to Build Your Library of Biblical and Theological Resources? Here are 8 Books to Get You Started
  • How to R.E.A.D. Books Well
  • The "Ministry" of Recommending Books

What books would you have included, that I didn't here? (Because let's be honest, there are lots of additional books that can be a part of a good biblical and theological library, that I didn't include here for space reasons.) List anything you'd add (and why!) here.
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    Tim Wiebe

    Christian. Husband. Father. Pastor. Learner. Contributor. Reader.


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Top Five Posts from February 2023
#1 - 6 Online Tools that Can Help You Dig into (and Understand!) the Bible
#2 - 5 Ways to Show Readiness for Jesus' Return
​#3 - ​​8 Things We Learn About God in Deuteronomy 4-10
#4 - ​ What's Up with 1 Kings 18:40?
#5 - How 2 Timothy 1-2 Helps Me Approach Teaching

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