Gavin Ortlund

12 Truths Every Teen Can Trust

Christian Living

“Paul Tripp is a trusted, fatherly guide to shepherd us through the core doctrines of Christianity. This readable, Scripture-soaked resource is simply fantastic. I can think of no finer tool for helping instruct our teenagers in the basic truths of the gospel. I hope churches, parents, and teachers everywhere will immediately put it into use!”

8 Habits for Growth

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“It's hard to imagine a more 'user friendly' book for Christians who want to cultivate personal habits for spiritual growth! This book is especially ideal for small groups and discussion groups to work through together. Darryl Dash has given a wonderful gift to the church with this edifying, practical, and Christ-honoring book.”

A Heart Aflame for God

Theology

“In a time when many evangelicals are experiencing great spiritual anxiety and discontentment, Matthew Bingham retrieves a distinctively Reformed account of spiritual formation. This book is like food in a time of hunger. Many are leaving evangelicalism in search of a greater depth of spiritual practice. Bingham helps us see how this need can be met within the resources of our own tradition. Drawing especially from the Puritans, he builds a robust theology of prayer, Scripture reading, meditation, self-examination, relationship, and even nature and the human body. Rich in both theology and spiritual insight, A Heart Aflame for God will serve and edify readers at multiple levels. Highly recommended!”

Christianity Contested

Apologetics

“This intelligent and well-crafted book draws together a range of different experts to address the most pressing objections to Christianity on the market today. All thoughtful Christians will benefit from considering these high-quality essays so that they are ‘prepared to make a defense’ (I Peter 3:15). Highly recommended!”

Creation

Theology

“Drawing from the Tolkienian image of creation as song, this book offers an extremely useful and much-needed overview of the doctrine of creation. Whereas much contemporary reflection on creation draws its energy from real or perceived clashes with modern science, Wittman takes us back to the riches of historical theology and Scripture. From this angle, he enlarges our vision to see all that is involved in creation: the Trinity, creatureliness, sin, and the eschaton. Put simply, this book puts the focus where it belongs and does so with a fresh and amazingly well-informed deployment of the Christian tradition. Highly recommended for all Christians. I will certainly be reading whatever Wittman writes next!”

Dearly Beloved

Christian Living

“This timely and rich book by Vermon Pierre reminds us of the true basis for unity in the church: what Jesus has done for us in making us His bride. If we are wed to Christ, we are already bound to one another in love. This glorious truth enables us to live out a unity that goes beyond sentimentality, trendiness, or common interests. Building from this foundation in the gospel, Pierre fleshes out all kinds of helpful specifics about Christian love—e.g., the importance of delighting in one another, how to take initiative in relationship, what is happening when we take communion together. The love that Pierre calls us toward is deep, beautiful, and compelling. This wonderful book will help everyone who wants to see the church renewed in our day.”

Debating God’s Existence

Apologetics

“Too often discussions between theists and nontheists assume a competitive, ‘I win, you lose’ mentality. How might truth be better served if disagreements about God were conducted with more respect for the other side—even, as appropriate, more empathy and compassion? This fascinating book models a better way forward, not only containing contributions from both theists and nontheists but involving some of the leading and most influential philosophers of religion of our time. In sum, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone engaged in conversation about the existence of God.”

Happy Lies

Apologetics

“Modern Christians are probably more familiar with New Age spirituality than the New Thought movement. But the influence of New Thought is everywhere in our culture, including in the church—though we often fail to recognize it. In this important book, Melissa Dougherty explains the origins and beliefs of this movement, calling Christians to biblical discernment. Happy Lies will help you understand spirituality in modern culture, how to distinguish truth from lies, and why the gospel is better than the cheap substitutes that compete with it.”

I Have My Doubts

Christian Living

“Doubt, a common Christian experience, is sometimes stigmatized in the church. As a result, many believers feel ashamed of their doubts and struggle with them in secret. In this wise and pastoral book, Philip Ryken reminds us how many biblical heroes struggled with doubts. He gives helpful counsel for how we can work through our doubts to arrive at a more rugged and enduring faith. For anyone who struggles with doubt, this book will serve as not only a light to their path but a comfort and balm to their soul.”

Know the Theologians

History & Biography

“our spiritual family. To be a Christian is to be part of a great tradition stretching back two thousand years, and we can learn from those who walked before us as our brothers and sisters, our fathers and mothers, our friends and colaborers. David and Jennifer McNutt have selected a helpfully diverse set of sixteen key theologians from the early church to the present day. Offering a clear and engaging survey of their thought, this book will serve as a guide to beginning students of church history while also spotlighting new figures for those who already love the Christian past. Highly recommended.”

Knowing Christianity

Christian Living

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Man of Sorrows, King of Glory

Theology

“Too often, Christians think narrowly about Jesus’s saving work, as though saying ‘Christ died for our sins’ exhausts the gospel. Jonty Rhodes gives us a more full-orbed view of the work of Christ, taking us back to classical formulations of Christ’s threefold office (prophet, priest, and king) and twofold state (humiliation and exaltation). Man of Sorrows, King of Glory is theologically rich while remaining accessible and devotional. This edifying book will help Christians understand Jesus more fully and love him more deeply.”

Overcoming Apathy

Christian Living

“Uche Anizor has put his finger on one of the most disturbing and poignant cultural problems in the modern West: apathy. His psychologically insightful, theologically careful, and devotionally rich treatment will help readers both understand and overcome this ‘sickness of the soul.’ Both individual readers and small groups will benefit from Uche’s wise diagnosis of the causes and nature of apathy, as well as from his discussion of how we find healing and escape from apathy in the gospel.”

Reasonable Moral Faith

Theology

“This book is an absolute treasure! Moral arguments have often been considered among the most vivid and compelling testimonies to the reality and nature of God, yet today their reception is surprisingly unpredictable. No one is better positioned to help this situation than David Baggett and William Lane Craig, who bring an amazing wealth of knowledge and experience to the topic. Their case is all the more powerful because they do not draw solely from the objectivity of moral values and duties but draw from other aspects of our moral experience, such as moral transformation, as well. No one interested in the relation of morality and God can afford to avoid this wise, balanced, well-crafted, and persuasive book!”

Religious Experience and the Knowledge of God

World Religions

“Netland provides a thorough and illuminating account of how religious experience can function as an important testimony for God. The book is conversant with the best of recent philosophical literature while also including important historic testimonies like those of Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. A robust, balanced, and compelling treatment of an important topic.”

Retrieval for the Sake of Renewal

History & Biography

“Timothy George is a bright spot within American evangelicalism, both for his outstanding scholarship as well as for his commitment to the church and ecumenism from an evangelical standpoint. I am grateful for Chris Hanna’s work, which sheds new light on George’s life and intellectual influences and shows the importance of theological retrieval for the sake of the renewal of the contemporary church.”

Scribes and Scripture

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Many Christians love the Bible and yet know little of the fascinating story of what happened between its original composition and the book we can hold in our hands today. In Scribes and Scripture, John Meade and Peter Gurry provide a succinct and yet amazingly detailed overview of how the Bible was written and copied, canonized, and translated. This book will enable Christians to understand why Protestants have a different canon than Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. It will teach them how to respond to secular critics who claim the Bible has been hopelessly corrupted over time or that the process of canonization was the arbitrary result of power struggles in the early church. And it will encourage them that we can trust our Bibles without ignoring or downplaying the messy realities of scribal errors, variant manuscripts, or disagreements about canonicity in the church. Properly considered, these ‘human’ elements in the story of the Bible in no way detract from the Bible’s authority as the word of God. I enthusiastically recommend this timely, unique, wise, and God-honoring book to anyone who wonders how we have received the Bible we have today. It will be the first book I recommend on the subject to any curious inquirer.”

Set Adrift

Apologetics

“Set Adrift is the first book I would give to someone working through deconstructing their faith (or someone trying to help others who are deconstructing). John Marriott and Sean McDowell don’t respond to the deconstruction phenomenon with alarmism or defensiveness. They invite questions and doubts and encourage a relentless search for truth. But they identify the guardrails and guides we need so that deconstruction ultimately results in a more authentic faith, rather than heresy or deconversion. Set Adrift is faithful to the Bible and historic Christian orthodoxy, balanced and reasonable in treating contested Christian doctrines, culturally insightful, and fair-minded to thoughtful objections. It is also not difficult to read and focuses on the most pressing interests readers are likely to bring to the table. If I could, I would give a copy of this book to every person engaged in the deconstruction conversation happening in the church today.”

Short of Glory

Theology

“We often speak of living in a ‘fallen world.’ But what does that mean, precisely? In order to embrace the good news of the gospel, we first have to understand the problems that Jesus came to fix. In this penetrating reflection on Genesis 3, Mitchell Chase helps us see every aspect of life as, to quote Tolkien, ‘soaked with the sense of exile.’ Short of Glory will help us better appreciate how comprehensive the work of Christ is—and make us long for it to be completed.”

Telling a Better Story

Apologetics

“Josh Chatraw points to a better way to do apologetics in our increasingly fragmented world—a way that is more sensitive to beauty, more winsome, and more comprehensively related to human experience. This book will help believers share their faith in a way that actually makes sense to secular people around them—and not only logical sense, but cultural and emotional sense too. All Christians who want to share the gospel more effectively in our current cultural setting should read this book!”