Book Reviews

Rob Bell is one of the hottest Christian preachers in America today, but does he say anything that’s uniquely Christian? In his new book, Love Wins, Bell paints a picture of a God who loves, but doesn’t ground it in God’s defining act of love towards men: the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Instead, what […]

Rob Bell and the (Re)Emergence of Liberal Theology In his new book, Love Wins1, Rob Bell takes his stand with those who have tried to rescue Christianity from itself. This is a massive tragedy by any measure. The novelist Saul Bellow once remarked that being a prophet is nice work if you can get it. […]

Richard Bennett begins his book1 with an autobiography. Born into a devout RC family he spent eight years in theological training for the priesthood. He was assigned to the West Indies where he spent 21 years serving in Trinidad as a parish priest. After a life-threatening accident he began an earnest study of the Bible. […]

‘With laudable brevity, wry wit, proverbial pithiness, earnest devotion, vigorous plainness and gripping earthiness, Spurgeon paints his portrait of the King of kings, bringing the beauties of the Lord Christ into sharp relief and sweet expression.’ [Jeremy Walker on Spurgeon’s Commentary on Matthew at his ‘The Wanderer’ blog.] Below are links to selected online reviews […]

A product of Spurgeon’s last years, this1 is the only complete commentary on a book he wrote (excepting his treatment of the Psalms, which was in some senses more of a compendium of others’ comments). You will forgive me for saying it is magnificently Spurgeonic: from its opening paragraph, Spurgeon points us to Christ and […]

Edward Donnelly’s wonderful preaching gifts translate very naturally into the printed word, and in this book he addresses the most ultimate subjects which any of us could consider. The opening four chapters deal squarely with the horrors of eternal punishment, yet they are marked by utter fidelity to the biblical text and by a profound […]

This is a wonderful biography. It is all the more powerful in view of the fact that the subject is so little known. It is the biography of a spiritually-minded preacher and pastor. The reader finds himself in the heady atmosphere of periods of great spiritual fervour and revival. It is free-offer, historic Calvinism at […]

‘Ferguson writes in a way that children can understand, while the adults benefit, too. The gospel is presented clearly, and the truth that following Christ may lead to persecution and martyrdom is handled well.’ [John Bird on Sinclair B. Ferguson’s Ignatius of Antioch: The Man Who Faced Lions at his ‘While We Sojourn’ blog.] Below […]

Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: Foundations for Expository Sermons Sidney Greidanus Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010 xvii + 340 pages, softcover, $26.00 ISBN: 978 0 80286 535 9 This is the third ‘Preaching Christ’ book written by Sidney Greidanus, professor emeritus of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary. His other works are entitled […]

J Graham Miller (1913-2008) was the son of a Presbyterian minister and his wife who had emigrated with their parents from Scotland to New Zealand when they were children. After graduating in law from Otago University and studying theology at his denomination’s Knox College (where he discovered that the professors were undermining confidence in Biblical […]

Although I, being an ex-Roman priest, ‘know all this stuff’, I still found this book fascinatingly presented. And although I have a copy of the first edition, I didn’t find this second edition a let-down. It has been brought up-to-date well, with references to the latest difficulties to have surfaced within the Church of Rome […]

Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings James R. Payton Jr. Downers Grove: IVP, 2010 240 pp, paperback, $23.00 ISBN: 978 0 83083 880 6 The Reformation is dear to Reformed people – after all, it contains our historical and theological heritage. However, it is possible to hold misguided notions about this significant sixteenth-century event. […]

Anyone familiar with the writings of John Newton (1725-1803) will welcome this collection of his letters to John Ryland Jr, Baptist pastor in Northampton and Bristol. Most of the letters were either previously unpublished or had appeared only in rare nineteenth-century periodicals. The 83 letters span the period from 1771 to 1803, by which time […]

How we welcome this complete Works1 of one whose name should be held in grateful remembrance for his selfless, God-honouring life, martyrdom and translation of Holy Scripture. Here are doctrinal treatises (against popery, prelacy and the persecutor Thomas More) and on behalf of true biblical godliness, introductions to and expositions of the Word of God […]

Almost every young minister of the gospel could do with a Newton. They may not always realise that they need a Newton, but they probably do. To be blunt, they may not always want a Newton; those are the times when they need one most. In Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., […]