Douglas A. Sweeney

A Call to Christian Formation

Theology

“This wonderful book offers a clarion call to make the knowledge of God the most important thing in our lives, the thing we long for, delight in, pursue, and prioritize above all else—and use to interpret and apply everything else in our lives as well. It offers a call, in other words, to recover the significance of theology once again in an age when most Christians pay lip service to God without knowing much about him. May real, genuine growth in our knowledge of the Lord renew our minds, shape our thoughts, and fuel our lives.”

A Life of Alexander Campbell

History & Biography

“Alexander Campbell is one of the most important religious figures in all of American history, yet few of us know much at all about him. A Scots-Irish immigrant who sailed to America in 1809, he quickly helped to found one of the most important movements in this country's spiritual history, known today in scholarly circles as the Stone-Campbell Movement. He was a fascinating man who led a busy, complex, and always controversial life, one that Doug Foster represents here with great skill. This is a good read by a real pro at just the right time.”

A Little Book for New Historians

“This primer for new historians is full of Christian wisdom about the study of the past. Written by a seasoned veteran who has taught history majors for more than thirty years—in both secular and Christian academic institutions—it will instruct and transform you with profound historical thinking about the world in which we live and the people we should love. Read it and join the conversation!”

A Practical Primer on Theological Method

Theology

“This well-crafted handbook is full of solid, wise, and practical Christian guidance for Christian students in theology. I hope and pray that it will encourage many earnest disciples of Christ to pursue, study, and practice the knowledge of God in his Word and in his world.”

A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards

History & Biography

“In this fresh, crisp retelling of the story of Jonathan Edwards, George Marsden offers a masterful synthesis of biographical data. Easy to read and never dull, A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards should enjoy a long life on the shelves of personal, congregational, and academic libraries.”

Against the Gates of Hell

History & Biography

“A delightfully written history of one of America's great missionaries and champions of social justice (on behalf of persecuted Armenians) at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.”

An Infinite Fountain of Light

History & Biography

“It's hard to beat George Marsden as a guide to Jonathan Edwards—and this gem of a book will be treasured by thousands who know or will discover exactly what I mean. It sparkles brightly with profound Christian wisdom from the past interpreted for modern-day readers with clarity and a large helping of simple—though also deeply learned—Christian common sense.”

Answering Speech

Christian Living

“It is shameful but true. Christians have long struggled to exercise their most astounding privilege: approaching the throne of grace and talking to God, communicating with the one who created and redeems us, who loves us with a love even stronger than death. This thought-provoking book is precisely what we need to put our prayer lives on track. It points us to the one who initiates this marvelous divine communication and invites us to answer him in fear, love, honesty, and ceaseless, awestruck, self-giving speech.”

Bearing Witness

Theology

“Today’s Christians have a lot to learn from Daniel Lee Hill. His thoughtful analysis of Ruggles, Stewart, Still, and what they teach us about God, ourselves, and our callings in the world shows—perhaps counterintuitively—that righteousness in public life depends to a large extent on evangelical witness (grounded in the Bible) to the Lord’s will with respect to social ethics. Let us learn to live and die well in service of God and neighbor as we make good use of the models and theological wisdom in this book.”

Becoming a Pastor Theologian

Church Leadership & Ministry

“This passionate set of essays comes at a crucial time for the church. God's people are starving for biblical and theological nourishment. Many pastors long ago abandoned their theological duties, and many theologians work in a way that is lost on the people of God. Who is left to shape Christians with the knowledge of God and his Word? Many thanks to Wilson and Hiestand for this clarion call to pastors to lead their people once again, not so much as CEOs, therapists, or entertainers, but as those who want to help them know the Lord.”

Becoming Divine

Theology

“Withrow's fascinating look at Edwards' incarnationalism is must reading for Edwards scholars. By tying Edwards' Spirit-Christology to his doctrine of the Spirit's role in binding believers to Christ, helping them understand the Scriptures, and thereby helping them participate in the very life of God, he has developed a reading of Edwards that will generate fresh thinking about this quasi-mystical sage and his variations on such crucial theological themes for years to come.”

Christian History in Seven Sentences

History & Biography

“Church history can be daunting, especially to those who've never had good history teachers. Yet it has played a massive role in shaping the faith we share today. Who better than Jennifer Woodruff Tait, the editor of the leading popular magazine on the subject (Christian History), a part-time minister, and fantastic teacher, to get us over our fears and introduce us to some of the most important episodes in the Christian tradition. This is a clear, fair-minded, and reliable introduction to the most important subject you have yet to understand. Warmly recommended.”

Communion in the Spirit

Theology

“Edwards once wrote that, 'All divine communion, or communion of the creatures with God or with one another in God, seems to be by the Holy Ghost.' This doctrine of union, or communion, as effected by the Spirit, lies at the heart of Edwards's thought -- animating almost everything else he wrote about God and the world. Today we enjoy many hundreds of books and articles on Edwards, yet until now no one has ever published a monograph on this subject. Robert Caldwell's brilliant study deserves a wide and careful reading by those who claim to know, or want to know, about Edwards's theology. It addresses his pneumatology, his doctrine of the Trinity, Christology, soteriology, and eschatology. It goes a long way toward explaining all that Edwards thought was involved in the claim that the Spirit is the love of God personified.”

Crashing the Idols

History & Biography

“Richard Goode is at it again, much like Will Campbell before him. Both of these southern Christian iconoclasts have helped me to appreciate what Goode calls 'the genius of Radical Christianity.' I recommend this book as an inspiring introduction to Campbell's life, prophetic witness, and to all for which he stood. May it embolden others to stand against 'the principalities and powers of the world.'”

Crisis of Confidence

Theology

“This little gem crystallizes a message Carl Trueman has been preaching for many years, and preaching very well: orthodox creeds and confessions are biblical, practical, and crucial to the revitalization of our churches. They are derived from the Bible, they summarize the Bible, and they ought to shape our leaders’ interpretations of the Bible. They also ought to shape believers’ doing of the word in corporate worship and daily Christian practice. I commend this book heartily to all who love the Lord, submit themselves to his word, and commit themselves to making disciples.”

Divine Beauty Revealed

Theology

“This marvelous monograph on Edwards’s theology of beauty . . . offers a crucial corrective to the small but growing literature on Edwards’s aesthetics, recentering it, as Edwards would have wished, on the Bible. It enhances the small but growing literature on Edwards’s interpretation of Scripture, illuminating it in the manner of medieval monks and emphasizing the ways in which Edwards’s aesthetics informed his work on many different texts and themes of Scripture. This is now essential reading for all serious students of Edwards and early modern Protestant exegesis.”

Edwards and the Edwardseans

History & Biography

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Edwards on the Christian Life

Christian Living

“‘The supreme value of reading Edwards is that we are ushered into a universe brimming with beauty,’ writes Ortlund. I couldn’t agree more. And one would be hard-pressed to find a more engaging introduction to this universe for the church. Even the final chapter, on ways in which we should not follow Edwards, offers crucial Christian wisdom. Ortlund’s criticisms of Edwards hit the mark—and deserve consideration by Edwards’s growing number of fans. I plan to use them with my seminary students in years to come. Please peruse this beautiful book. It’s good for the soul.”

Ethics beyond Rules

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Kudos to Keith Stanglin for the courage, intelligence, and love it took to write this crucial tract for the times. It is full of Christian wisdom about how we ought to live and interact with one another in nearly every sphere of life. I applaud the way it orients our ethical reflection in relation to the question, “What does real love require?” If more of us attended to that question more regularly, deeply, and honestly, our world would be a much better place.”

Every Leaf, Line, and Letter

History & Biography

“Evangelicals have always been people of 'the book.' Regardless of their levels of literacy, they have loved and tried to live by the contents of the Bible. Some have done so as highly learned theological exegetes. Most have been more simple hearers and doers of the Word. But no matter their ethnicity, race, gender, or social class, they have done their best, when at their best, to honor every 'leaf, line, and letter' of the Scriptures. This all-star cast of first-rate scholars and associates of David Bebbington, one of the most important evangelical scholars of our age, has compiled the best collection of short essays ever written on the diversity of evangelical uses of the Bible. This book is a must-read for serious students of evangelicalism, their study of the Scriptures, and the historiographical legacies of Bebbington himself.”