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This new book series from Driscoll & Crossway sounds very promising. Here are the first two scheduled books in the series:

Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions

Chapter 1 Is Jesus the Only God?
Chapter 2 How Human Was Jesus?
Chapter 3 How Did People Know Jesus Was Coming?
Chapter 4 Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
Chapter 5 Why Did Jesus' Mom Need to Be a Virgin?
Chapter 6 What Did Jesus Accomplish on the Cross?
Chapter 7 Did Jesus Rise from Death?
Chapter 8 Where Is Jesus Today?
Chapter 9 Why Should We Worship Jesus?
Chapter 10 What Makes Jesus Superior to Other Saviors?
Chapter 11 What Difference Has Jesus Made in History?
Chapter 12 What Will Jesus Do upon His Return?

Vintage Jesus is scheduled to come out this next February in conjunction with Resurgence's Text & Context Conference.

Book two is Driscoll's current project:

Death by Love

Many books debate the finer points of the doctrine of the atonement. What is often lost are the implications of Jesus' death on the cross for those who have sinned and have been sinned against. This book will allow people to understand, appreciate, and trust in Jesus' work on the cross for sins in a way that other books on the subject simply do not. The tone will be conversational, loving, heartfelt, and pastoral because it is based on real people and real sin.

Our hope is that Death by Love will be one of the most unique books ever written on the cross of Jesus Christ. It is a compilation of heartfelt letters written from me to people I pastor about the practical ways that Jesus' death is the only hope for their life.

You can read more about these two forthcoming books here.

The Jesus Storybook Bible is #2 on the CBA bestseller list. This is very cool, Sally!

You can read my interview of Sally Lloyd-Jones here and see my picture project here.

Westminster Bookstore is having a great sale on the best books on biblical theology. Books are on sale for up to 55% off list. Prices are good through August 14, 2007.

(HT: Timmy Brister)

Read what Tim and Kathy Keller say about The Jesus Storybook Bible:

"I would urge not just families with young children to get this book, but every Christian--from pew warmers, to ministry leaders, seminarians and even theologians! Sally Lloyd-Jones has captured the heart of what it means to find Christ in all the scriptures, and has made clear even to little children that all God's revelation has been about Jesus from the beginning--a truth not all that commonly recognized even among the very learned." - Tim Keller

"Sally Lloyd-Jones, a Redeemer member for many years, has done a wondrous thing. She has captured the plot line of redemption in a children's story Bible that sings the praise of Jesus and his saving grace on every page, in every story." - Kathy Keller

Purchase a copy here.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a Tolkien fan. If you come to my blog often, you also know it has been a while since I've posted anything about him or his works. So if you've been waiting for your Tolkien fix, wait no longer. Actually, this post was written by Matt Sims, a former student of mine (a long, long time ago!). So take a read and visit his blog if you have a few minutes.

Fleming Rutledge, The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings

I just finished reading this book and I highly recommend it to any Tolkien lover. The book examines what Rutledge calls the "deep narrative." He writes his book with the flow of Tolkien's narrative.

Rutledge says, "In particular, I believe Tolkien has given us a rare glimpse of what human freedom within God's Divine Plan really means" (The Batatle for Middle-earth p. 5). This statement exemplifies the thrust of this book.

Rutledge focuses on the implicit Providence in Middle-earth. Tolkien did not want Middle-earth to be a Christian world, per se. Think of Shakespeare's King Lear and its distictly pre-Christian setting yet Christian themes.

Tolkien masterfully weaves the hand of God into The Lord of the Rings by his use of the passive tense and by the balance struck between characters realizing that there is a higher purpose at work. Rutledge examines different scenes which focus on this, such as Gandalf speech about Bilbo's pity or the council of Elrond.

For any Tolkien fan who is interested in having the many Biblical allusions revealed and discussed, this book does excellent job of just that.

Soli Deo Gloria

John Piper's newest book, God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself, is coming to stores on September 2o. Here's the promotional blurb:

"Most people, when they ponder what it means to be loved by God, think of the things that God does for us. John Piper writes that what is most loving about God is not his making much of us, but his enabling us, at great cost to himself, to enjoy making much of him forever."

You can read an on-line copy of it here.

This is the suggested reading list for our BBC faculty discussion group.

Joseph Mazur’s Euclid in the Rainforest
Edwards’ Dissertation on Virtue [aesthetics and ethics]
Milton On Education
John Locke’ Some Thoughts Concerning Education
E.F. Schumacher’ Small is Beautiful [economics, technology, ethics and education]
Nicholas Wolterstorff’ Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic
Lewis’ Til We Have Faces
Lewis’ The Weight of Glory
Shakespeare’s King Lear
Paulo Friere Pedagogy of the Oppressed
J.J. Rousseau. Politics and the Arts: Letter to M. D’Alembert on the Theatre

Here are the suggested options for proceeding this semester:

Option A
Milton
Euclid
Lear
Rousseau

Option B
Edwards
Euclid
Lewis’s Faces
Rousseau

Option C
Lewis’ Weight of Glory
Euclid
Lear
Rousseau

What would you choose?

"The gospel of Christ crucified and risen is meant to be preached to our soul--both in corporate worship where we hear it week after week, and from hour to hour as we preach it to ourselves in the daily fight for joy...The cross must be central in the fight for joy. We must put ourselves under is preaching on the Lord's day, and we must preach it to ourselves all day every day" (John Piper, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, 76-77).

I’ve been tagged for this book meme by Mick Porter of Unveiled Face! So here it goes:

Total number of books I've ever owned: I would guess a few thousand. I’m really not sure though. I’ve been heard saying that I would rather buy a book and read it then purchase food or clothing. I don’t read as much as I would like too though (time and brain constraints).

Last book I bought: The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen. It has been a good read thus far.

Last book I read: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler. It is a book about the author's experience in the city where we are going to serve in an orphanage, namely, Fuling, China.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

1. The Bible: There are many books that I would like to master. There is something ennobling about thinking the thoughts of great men. But the Bible is the one book that I want to master me.

2. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy: This book was recommended to me when I was seeking to understand how to interpret/preach the Bible from a gospel-centered perspective. This is a must multiple-read for all Christians (not just for all pastors).

3. The Pleasures of God by John Piper. I consider this book to be Piper’s best. It has been a few years since I’ve read it. So I think it’s about time to pick it up again to drink deep.

4. The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons by Thomas F. Torrance. As far as I’m concerned, this book is without peer in its presentation of the beauty of our God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

5. The Mediation of Christ by Thomas F. Torrance. If I had to pick the one book that I think is helping me understand and apply the gospel more than any other book I’ve ever read, it would be this one.

Both Adrian Warnock and David Wayne are linking an interesting discussion started at Stronger Church. It asks the following question: "If you could only have five books out of your library to keep to help you prepare sermons, what would they be?" I want to modify the question slightly. "If you could only have five books to aide you in your study of Scripture for personal holiness, what would they be?" So feel free to answer from either perspective.

Here is David Wayne's answer:

Actually, for about the last seven or eight years I've been using Logos Software and accumulating all kinds of stuff from them so I would just ask for my laptop and my Logos disks and could be very happy. But, since that's not the question I'll play along.

Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - ok, this has four volumes so I'm done, but if you'll allow me to count it as one volume I'd go with the following three others.
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (betcha thought I was going to say Berkhof, didn't ya?)
According to Plan - Graeme Goldsworthy
Your Best Life Now - Joel Osteen - kidding - just checking to see if anybody's really reading this. How about Young's Analytical Concordance so I can have a language reference.

My answer is the result of about 5 minutes of thinking. It would probably change if I thought about it a few more minutes, but right now I'm satisfied. Also, I'm assuming that I will have my BibleWorks computer program which allows me to reference the biblical languages :-).

1. ESV Bible 2. Preaching the Gospel in a Post-Modern World (Tim Keller) 3. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Graeme Goldsworthy) 4. Gustav Oehler's Old Testament Theology 5. New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (I. Howard Marshall)

What 5 books would you choose?