A Few Great Reads

These are some of the books I’ve read of late that I really enjoyed over 2009 and early 2010.
My focus was to spend a lot more time reading the Bible and I’ve got quite a few commentaries on the list to show that.
So here are some of my favourite reads in no particular order:

 J.A. Thompson – New International Commentary on Jeremiah
It’s pretty much the standard evangelical commentary on Jeremiah.
Some have said its a bit dated, but I found it full of great insights. Highly reccomended.

Brian Walsh – Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
The little commentary thats not a commentary. Some good food for thought on how Paul’s
letter subverted the Gospel of the Roman Empire.

Darrell Bock – Luke (NIV Application Commentary)
This is a smaller condensed version of Bock’s 2000 page magnum opus in the BECNT series.
I really liked this commentary and used it while I worked through Luke. NIVAC is a fantastic series. I enjoyed the volume on Acts too. Well worth reading.

N.T. Wright – Jesus and the Victory of God
What can I say, somethings are just better the 2nd time around.
I read this 2 years ago over the summer and really didn’t take
much of it in. Wright’s arguments and interpretations became
a lot clearer the 2nd time around.

N.T. Wright – Simply Christian
Many in the reformed camp seem to give Wright a tough time.
I don’t know what all the fuss is about. To be honest this was a book I honestly felt I could
give to my non-Christian friends without hesitation.
It explained the Christian faith in a way that satisfies the mind and well as the heart.

Vinoth Ramachandra & Howard Peskett – The Message of Missions
I’m quite a fan of the BST series, and was very excited to learn of the series of Bible Themes.
The Chapter on Revelation 21-22 is excellent!

Craig Bartholomew & Michael Goheen – The Drama of Scripture
I used this as a textbook for my Biblical Theology class. It’s a fantastic summary
and discussion of the meta-narrative of scripture.
Highly Reccomended.

Eugene Peterson – Tell it slant
It’s a close 2nd to Christ plays in 10,000 places, but still very good.
Peterson writes with the depth of scholar and sensitivity of a pastor.

Wright, Wall & Sampley – New Interpters Bible Commentary (Acts – 1 Corinthians)
I got this because it was N.T. Wrights full length treatment of the book of Romans.
I used when I worked through Romans earlier this year, and to be honest it’s an excellent commentary.
Has both NIV and NRSV translations side by side. I found the “reflections” section to be most helpful. It’s not expensive compared to other commentaries on Romans (Moo or Schreiner are about the same price).

Colin Kruse – The Letters of John (PNTC)
A solidly evangelical commentary on the 1,2 & 3 John.
These letters are often ignored but are quite rich, theologically speaking.
Kruse was very helpful reference to refer to when I read through them.
Only issue is that it did not have a translation of the text in the commentary.

Graeme Goldsworthy – According to Plan
I can’t remember if I read this in 2009 or before. Either way it deserves a mention.
Goldsworthy is clearly reformed, but not perochially.
Quite a lot like the Drama of Scripture only more Reformed.

Tim Keller – Reason for God
Not sure why it’s the Reason for God, but it is a fantastic Apologetics book.
The best chapter was the one on Hell. Follows much the same line as C.S. Lewis in “Till we have faces”.

Tim Keller – The Prodigal God
How many times have you heard a sermon on the Prodigal son?
Countless times. How many times has the story been told from the perspective of the Older brother?
Almost never until now….well worth a read. A short book that should take a couple of hours to finish.

Rob Bell & Don Golden – Jesus wants to save Christians
Lets be honest here, Velvet Elvis and Sex God were below average books.
But this was a gem, a real beauty of a book that struck a chord with me.
It’s a penetrating look at empires, and how often we allow the culture to influence the Gospel
instead of the other way around. Highly reccomended. BUT with its terrible spacing and formatting the
book probably killed more trees in its production than most. Seriously – enough with the odd spacing. Save some paper!