Musings on the contents our bookshelf: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You can also find Student Book Reviews in the Home School Corner.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Lew Wallace “”They took him last night, and tried him,” the man continued. “At dawn they led him before Pilate. Twice the Roman denied his guilt; twice he refused to give him over. At last he washed his hands, and said, ‘Be it upon you then;’ and they answered–” “Who answered?” “They–the priests and people–‘His…
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
Andrew Murray Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew…
A Closer Walk With God: Daily Readings from Matthew Henry
Compiled by Martin Manser “Paul directs Timothy to what he had learnt out of the holy Scriptures: ‘Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned’ (2 Timothy 3:14). It is not enough to learn that which is good, but we must continue in it, and persevere in it to the end. What we have…
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Rediscovering the Holy Spirit: God’s Perfecting Presence in Creation, Redemption, and Everyday Life
Michael Horton “Who exactly is the mysterious third person of the Trinity? Why does he seem to possess less reality or at least fewer descriptive features than the Father and the Son? Is this only a problem in popular culture and, by implication, in the churches that have helped to shape it? Or is the…
Confessions
Aurelius Augustine When you became a Christian, did you begin to confess your sin? What about your past sins? Did you confess the sins of your childhood? Did you confess the sins you committed as a baby? Well, that’s exactly what St Augustine did, and not only secretly to God, but he wrote a whole…
The Sovereignty of God
A W Pink “To say that God is sovereign is to declare that whatever takes place in time is but the outworking of that which He decreed in eternity.” “Present day conditions”, writes the author, “call loudly for a new examination and new presentation of God’s omnipotence, God’s sufficiency, God’s sovereignty. From every pulpit in…
Pilgrim’s Progress
John Bunyan “This hill, though high, I covet to ascend:The difficulty will not me offend,For I perceive the way to life lies here:Come, pluck up, heart, let’s neither faint nor fear!Better, though difficult, the right way to go,Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.” This is one of my favourite little books, and…
Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God
Albert Mohler; Conrad Mbewe; Geoff Thomas; Gloria Furman; Ian Hamilton; Jeremy Walker; J I Packer; Joel R Beeke; John MacArthur; John Piper; John Snyder; Kevin DeYoung; Leland Ryken; Ligon Duncan; Mark Dever; Michael Reeves; Rosaria Butterfield; Sinclair Ferguson; Stephen Nichols; Steven Lawson The Puritans differed sometimes on their understanding of a range of issues, yet…
Family Worship Bible Guide
Michael Barratt; Joel Beeke; Jerry Bilkes; Paul Smalley Joel Beeke said that to the Puritans, daily family worship was as essential to life as air or water. He wrote that Richard Baxter said that “a Christian family… is church, a society of Christians combined for the better worshipping and serving God”, and that similarly, William…
The Shining Sword
Charles G Coleman Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be able to actually wear the whole Armour of God: swing the Sword of the Spirit, protect yourself with the Shield of Faith, and call out to God in prayer? Well, I did not either until I read The Shining Sword,…
Refuting Compromise
Jonathan Safarti Sometimes, from where we sit in the Twenty-First Century, we might be tempted to imagine that some form of Evolutionism is a viable way to explain God’s mechanism for creating the world. Thinking this way, though is a fad of the modern church. Far more intelligent men than ourselves throughout history have considered…
What do Presbyterians Believe
Gordon H Clark Presbyterianism stands for unshakable convictions about the absolute sovereignty of Almighty God, the ultimate authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ in salvation, but many Christians are unaware of the history behind Presbyterianism’s commitment to the truths of the Reformed Faith. In July of 1643 a…
By This Standard: The Authority of God’s Law Today
Greg L Bahnsen In John 17:17, our Lord clearly said that God’s ‘Word is truth’. He didn’t say that it is true, but that it is truth itself: it is the very definition or standard by which all other truth claims are to be measured. Based on this, then, it seems obvious that Christians should…
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Competent to Counsel
Jay E Adams Jay Adams wants Christians to train themselves to be competent to counsel. He says that Christian counseling is far from psychiatry. Instead, it is “nouthetic counseling”. “The word nouthetic comes from the Greek word noutheteō. The word, which is primarily used by Paul in the New Testament, is translated into English as “admonish,” “correct,” or “instruct.”…
Masculine Christianity
Zachary Garris Our world is in rebellion against God’s good design for our world. Men don’t want to stand up and be men, and women are left to bear the burden left by their abdication, leaving the church of the Lord Jesus Christ effeminate and weak. This book is a call to action to Biblical Manhood.…
No Mere Mortals
Toby Sumpter “Your husband or wife is no mere mortal, but an eternal soul who is going to grow closer to God or further from Him because they are married to you.” Biblical marriage-preparation books are sometimes difficult to read, but in this helpful paperback, Sumpter addresses a wide variety of important aspects of married life…
The Covenant Household
Douglas Wilson This is a helpful little book that celebrates the joys of the Christian family, and also addresses common difficulties faced by husbands, wives, and parents. Recommended for those who are married and also for those preparing for marriage, this eminently readable softcover is contemporary, thoughtful, and thoroughly Biblical.