Christopher J. H. Wright

The First Testament

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“John Goldingay has a deep love for the Hebrew text of the Scriptures and a lifetime's familiarity with all its textures and nuances. Along with that, he brings a simple and direct turn of phrase that brings the text to life in new ways. We hear the familiar flow of passages we know well, but with unexpected and arresting words that make us sometimes pause and think again. This is a book to browse alongside your customary Bible version for fresh insights, challenge, and enjoyment.”

The Generations of Heaven and Earth

Science & Faith

“Derek Kidner’s 1967 suggestion of a pre-Adamic human race, from among whom our historical Adamic lineage began, always seemed credible to me, and no threat to core biblical doctrines. Garvey’s fascinating collation of evidence from the sciences of geology, archaeology, paleontology, and genealogy, alongside his deep and respectful exploration of the inspired text of Scripture, not only renders this view ‘no threat,’ but also offers illuminating perspectives on a fully integrated biblical theology.”

The Good Shepherd

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“'You prepare a table before me . . . my cup overflows.' What a feast Ken Bailey has prepared for us in this book, and what an overflowing cupful of insights and illumination. If you ever thought there was nothing more you could ever learn or preach about the biblical image of the good shepherd, this book has an abundance of surprises. Again and again I thought, 'Why have I never seen that before?'—as Ken draws on his rich lifetime's experience of Middle Eastern culture to explore biblical texts, and particularly when he shows eye-opening connections between Old and New Testament texts around the shepherd theme. This is a book that simultaneously brings the Bible to life, and exalts the Lord Jesus Christ by deeply enriching our understanding of his mission and claims as the Good Shepherd.”

The Gospel of Our King

Theology

“Some expositions of the biblical narrative as the foundation for our Christian worldview lack contemporary application. And some cultural analyses of the idolatries of Western culture lack solid biblical foundations. This book lacks neither. Ashford and Thomas have combined their respective areas of expertise most effectively, giving us a book that is biblically rich, theologically thorough, spiritually insightful, holistically missional, and practically relevant. Western Christians today need to become much more rooted in the whole Bible story as active participants in its great drama. And we need to open our eyes to recognize and renounce the false gods and idols that masquerade within our culture—even in Christianized costumes. This book helps us do both.”

The Jesus You Really Didn’t Know

“Who would have thought that the grace of God could become an idol? Well, not the grace itself, but, as Andy Angel points out with cutting insight, a doctrine of grace that takes the place of that love for Jesus which, according to Jesus himself, requires obeying his commandments. For a long time, I have felt that the hallowed sola, ‘by faith alone,’ has been subverted into a subtle mechanism for avoiding Paul’s own insistence that the gospel is not there merely to be believed but to be obeyed, with what he twice calls ‘the obedience of faith.’ Paul and James are in full agreement, precisely because (naturally) they agree on the teaching of Jesus himself. And it is that teaching, and its central place in what it means to be a disciple, and to make disciples, that Andy Angel so effectively explores in this book. If Jesus truly is Lord as well as Savior (and what else is the essence of the gospel?), then it is at our peril (seriously) that we ignore Christ's words about judgment, and fail to do as well as to hear. Yet Andy’s purpose is not merely to correct this imbalance in contemporary cultural Christianity (in the west at least), but to encourage a better and wiser and more honest pastoral practice. It’s a word that needs to be heard and heeded.”

The Joshua Delusion?

Apologetics

Afterword

(wrote the afterword)

The Land of Christ

Theology

“Katanacho exposes the unsustainable shallowness of so many slogans and claims that are bandied about as biblical, and replaces them with careful and comprehensive biblical exegesis that takes Old and New Testament texts seriously. . . . If there is hope for the land and its present inhabitants, it can only lie in the unfathomable truth that has been the wellspring of biblical faith since Moses first heard it at Sinai, which the author's name embodies--the Lord is gracious.”

The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“What a brilliant idea! We know that the prophets of Israel were constantly engaged in argument and controversy, sometimes challenging the complacent, sometimes encouraging the despairing. So why not bring to life those who engaged with them, royalty and peasants, religious professionals and political conspirators. Disciplined imagination is a powerful tool in bringing the Scriptures to life and John Goldingay puts his well-informed imagination to work here in ways that entertain and educate in equal measure, both in the service of hearing the living voice of these spokesmen of the God of Israel.”

The Marys of the Bible

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“True to his biblical namesake, Boaz Johnson applies the Bible’s radically counter-cultural ethical teaching about justice for the poor to the plight of abused women. The blending of his childhood in a Delhi slum, his familiarity with contexts of war-zone rape and sex trafficking, and his profound scholarly understanding of the biblical text and its world has produced an eye-opening book that transforms our reading of familiar stories and challenges our response to them.”

The New Testament in Seven Sentences

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Gary Burge's aptly chosen seven sentences and words show clearly that the New Testament is not just a book full of doctrines, promises, or ethics, but has to be understood within the overarching grand narrative of the Bible as a whole, from creation to new creation. Within that framework he helps us understand the cultural and religious context into which God entered in Jesus of Nazareth, the starkly surprising and challenging nature of 'the good news' that Jesus and his apostles preached, and the glorious future that God's mission will accomplish for the whole creation. However well you think you know your New Testament, this will help you see it through fresh eyes and gain many new insights in the process.”

The Other Side of the Wall

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This is a voice that must be heard. As an evangelical biblical theologian and church leader, Munther Isaac speaks on behalf of sisters and brothers in Christ whose story and very existence is ignored and marginalized in the West. A wealth of historical and personal experience, including his own, authenticates the educative challenge of his biblical and theological perspectives. The Other Side of the Wall helps us appreciate the other side of an argument that is all too often assumed to have only one legitimate side for Bible-believing Christians.”

The Symphony of Mission

Christian Living

“This book stands out as one of the most down-to-earth, practical guidebooks I have read on how all so-called ordinary Christians can and should be playing their part in God's mission.”

The Tabernacling Presence of God

Evangelism & Missions

“Booth convincingly and coherently traces her theme from the opening chapters of Genesis to the closing chapters of Revelation, and demonstrates how fruitful a systematically missional hermeneutic of the whole Bible can be. Again and again, I found myself exclaiming, 'Why did I not see that more clearly before?'”

The Whole Counsel of God

Church Leadership & Ministry

“So many Christians have simply lost the plot—that is, if they ever knew there was a plot. They have never been shown how the Bible as a whole tells the true story of the universe, from creation to new creation, governed by the sovereign mission and purpose of God, with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as its integrating center. The result is a crippling ignorance of what it means to live consistently as participants in that great drama of Scripture, instructed by the Bible’s historical revelation, and in expectation of God’s mission accomplished. This book’s rich theological reasoning and practical suggestions will motivate pastors to rectify that deficit by taking even more seriously their calling not just to preach ad hoc from the Bible, but to preach from the whole of the Bible over time, in such a way that their people grow in understanding the whole plan of God across the full canon of Scripture and live purposefully and fruitfully in the light of it (Col. 1:9–11).”

Turning Donors into Partners

Church Leadership & Ministry

“The believers in Philippi partnered with Paul's ministry through financial giving, and it is clear from Paul's thank-you letter that it arose from a deep and joy-filled friendship between them. That is the biblical principle that weaves through Brad Layland's book. Brad shows, simply and clearly, how to turn the assumption that funding for Christian ministry is fundamentally relational into practical plans and respectful encounters. It might have been titled Turning Donors into Friends (or vice versa). Speaking from working with The FOCUS Group, I can simply say on behalf of Langham Partnership, 'It works!'”

Understanding Christian Mission

Theology

“Scott Sunquist has produced a rarity in this book, which combines breadth of theological scope with depth of learning and life in equal measure. This wonderful compendium brings together deep biblical reflection, the wisdom of Christian ages past, and the experience of a lifetime lived in mission. This is a book to savor, ponder, and return to again and again.”

Western Christians in Global Mission

Evangelism & Missions

“Why do I think this is one of the best and most helpful books on the global realities of world mission that I have read? It can't be only because so many of the people from all over the world whom Paul Borthwick quotes or tells stories about are known to me--though they are, and they are wise and trusted sources. It can't be only because the book embodies a comprehensive, biblical and integrated understanding of what mission includes (the chapter on the 'Nine Greats' is worth the price of the book). It won my applause because it has such a pleasing balance of, on the one hand, rich, up-to-date, well-documented and user-friendly information, and on the other hand perceptive honesty and realism about the strengths and the failings of thechurches in North America and in the Majority World. The author also models in his personal journey the humility and servanthood that he urges on all of us. And finally, it is a book that is not merely inspirational, but constantly practical and brimming with ideas and responses that should stimulate churches, agencies and individuals.”

Who Can Be Saved?

Theology

“Terrance Tiessen reshapes the paradigm for Christian thinking about religions, taking us beyond the inadequate language of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism, and offering fresh analyses and stimulating insights. He offers what many of us have longed for--a fully worked-out, carefully biblical and Reformed case for the conviction that the sovereignty of God's saving grace in all human history, while it is exclusively grounded in the person and work of Jesus Christ, is not exclusively limited to the church's evangelistic obedience (or lack of), presented in a way that does not thereby diminish the evangelistic mandate or motive. Tiessen disputes an 'ecclesiocentrism' that reduces the elect to a subcategory of the evangelized and argues rather that those whom God saves through evangelism will be a proportion of the wider elect. Tiessen argues with constant clarity and enviable command of historical, systematic and biblical theology, and is transparent in his own presuppositional stance. He steadily refuses to affirm or infer anything dogmatically beyond what the Bible either affirms or clearly implies, but courageously offers some fascinating original proposals for critical evaluation in areas where the Bible is silent. Few books I have read have been so doctrinally thorough, closely and cautiously argued, and thought-provoking on the twin subjects of the destiny of the unevangelized and the status and role of religions in the purposes of God.”