Book Reviews

A number of you possess and have read a small selection of John Newton’s1 letters published in paperback by the Banner of Truth. The Letters of John Newton reviewed here is not the same book. This is a much larger and quite separate selection. It was first published in 1869 and was edited by Josiah […]

The title comes from the premise that ‘Liberal theology offers us a handful of pebbles; the God of the Bible offers us Jesus Christ – ‘the Bread of Life’. In this slim volume Peter Barnes sets out clearly and succinctly what he sees as theological Liberalism, warnings in the Bible that he sees as directly […]

‘Truth For All Time may quite simply be the best, most concise summary of the Christian faith ever written . . . (Calvin’s) writings reflect the love and passion he has for God and for his people . . . a beautiful reminder of both the simplicity and majesty of the redemption we have in […]

Apparently extempore, these sermons were delivered in course, in Geneva from the summer of 1549 to the New Year of 1551. Indeed the series went on over the next few years until the Acts of the Apostles was preached through. Only these forty-four sermons survive in this transcribed form, however. The aim is expository, not […]

The author, President of Mid-America Reformed Seminary gives an explanation of the ‘Reformation Perspective on Paul.’ Then he looks at what is known as the ‘New Perspective on Paul’, very clearly setting out what scholars such as E.P.Sanders, James D.G.Dunn, and N.T.Wright have written, before critically assessing these claims and explaining that he remains convinced […]

‘Calvinism is not inconsistent with evangelism; it is only inconsistent with certain evangelistic methods . . . In order for evangelism to be pleasing to God, it must be consistent with the whole system of biblical teaching. But what does such evangelism look like? A classic answer to that question is found in R.B. Kuiper’s […]

‘A no-fuss, no-nonsense overview of biblical teaching on heaven and hell . . . dedicates equal time to both subjects, first allowing the heart and spirit to recoil at the thought of hell but then comforting it with the knowledge of heaven. Throughout the book Donnelly is pastoral, often challenging the reader and continually returning […]

The Banner of Truth has published A Handful of Pebbles, Theological Liberalism and the Church1, by Peter Barnes. Liberalism (also referred to as modernism) is, in this context, ‘a belief system which rejects the orthodox view of the Christian faith as set out in the Bible, and summarised in the historic creeds’. A S Peake, […]

The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright By John Piper Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007 239 pp, paperback ISBN: 978 1 58134 964 1 To the numerous books that respond to N. T. Wright’s heretical ideas, John Piper, well known pastor at the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, adds this. The title, […]

The Banner of Truth has published Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 1-71, by John Calvin. John Calvin was, and regarded himself as, primarily a preacher of the Word of God. He wrote theological works which have guided the Church to a biblical understanding of the truth (and we would recommend his Institutes […]

‘A precious work that no serious expositor of the Bible should be without. If you found Calvin’s commentaries valuable, you will discover his sermons to be priceless.’ [Josh Gelatt in giving Calvin’s Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1-7 an ‘honorable mention’ in his 2008 Book of the Year selection] Below are links […]

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church By N. T. Wright New York: HarperCollins, 2008 352 pp, hardcover ISBN: 978 0 06155 182 6 Bishop Tom Wright has written a book on the resurrection entitled Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. Rejecting […]

The Banner of Truth has published Love Rules: The Ten Commandments for the 21st Century1. Originally published in 2004 by the Church and Nation Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Australia, this volume was written by Australian Presbyterian ministers and professors. The Introduction explains that this book on the law of God was written […]

The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World By David F. Wells Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008 267 pp, clothbound ISBN: 978 0 80284 007 3 David Wells is an evangelical, and he is concerned with the state of evangelicalism. This is nothing new; he has written […]

VOLUME 1 This1 is a fascinating book which we found hard to put down. Really it tells the wonderful story of the Evangelical Revival in Wales in the eighteenth century. What amazing gatherings there were and what blessing! Originally written in Welsh in 1895 by John Morgan Jones, assisted by William Morgan, this is the […]

‘The book is valuable because it is honest about the agony of losing a child . . . And yet this book also powerfully testifies to the comfort of God, of his redemption in Christ, of victory over the grave, of sufficient promises to sustain his people in their sorrows.’ [Martin Downes on James W […]

I was converted some years after the death of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, so I never heard the great man preach. But his published sermons and life story have had a profound impact on my life and ministry. As a relatively new believer, I devoured his sermons on Romans[2] and Ephesians[3]. ‘The Doctor’s’ emphasis on Reformed doctrine […]

‘Grace tried is better than grace, and it is more than grace; it is glory in its infancy.’ (Samuel Rutherford) ‘You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then He is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, – a rock rising above the […]

In recent years there has been a revival of interest in Jonathan Edwards, the New England preacher-theologian. For many a long year his great treatises lay neglected. The Age of the Enlightenment had little time for a hell-fire preacher who taught that mankind is enslaved to sin. But the evils of the 20th century made […]

The following are links to selected blogs where comments on or reviews of Banner of Truth titles have been posted during October, 2008. The views expressed are of course those of the respective bloggers. For each title mentioned, a link is also provided to the appropriate page of the Banner online Bookstore, where orders can […]

The Banner of Truth has published Let Christ Be Magnified: Calvin’s Teaching for Today by J H Merle d’Aubigné1. A preface by the publisher introduces Merle d’Aubigné (1794-1872), the author of an extensive, thorough and eminently-readable history of the Reformation. He was greatly influenced by Robert Haldane in Geneva at a time when the theology […]

The Banner of Truth has reprinted the Letters of Thomas Chalmers, edited by William Hanna, with an introduction by Iain H Murray.1 Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) preached and practised the graceless and Christless morality of the Moderates until his conversion after several years in the ministry. He later became the acknowledged leader of the Evangelical party […]

Of all the Christian authors whose works have blessed me, Iain H. Murray’s biographical writings come top of the list. Murray’s books are written in a beautifully unadorned prose, with a respectfulness of tone for their subject which is refreshing in a world of hero destroying literature. I also love the fact that Iain H. […]

The author views the Old Testament Book of Jonah ‘not as a book about a great fish’ (seriously, does anybody?), but about God and one man in particular. He sees it as a piece of biography. That poses a stumbling block for this reviewer, who reads Jonah as humorous fiction. Ferguson finally uses the word […]

The Promise of the Future is written by Cornelis P. Venema and published by Banner of Truth (2000)1. This is arguably the most important major Reformed study in biblical eschatology since The Bible and the Future (1972), by Anthony Hoekema, a former teacher of the author, who is professor of doctrinal studies at Mid-America Reformed […]