Book Reviews

Speaking of history, the third edition of Bruce Shelley's Church History in Plain Language (Thomas Nelson) is available. Shelley tells the story of the Christian Church in an enjoyable style. This would be a great resource for a small group or church study of the history of the church.

I found God's Battalions (HarperOne) by Rodney Stark to be a fascinating book as it unravels the 20th century mythology that has emerged around Islam and the Crusades. Weaving a story that involves kinds and sheiks, knights and monks, Stark makes the case for the Crusades and helps us understand why they occurred -- and it's probably not the reason your high school history teacher offered.

G. Lee Ramsey's book Preachers and Misfits, Prophets and Thieves: The Minister in Southern Fiction (Westminster John Knox) is an exploration of how Southern novelists have pictured (and often satirized) preachers in their work. Lovers of literature and preaching will find it an interesting diversion.

Eric Geiger, co-author of Simple Church, applies the same concepts of Clarity, Movement, Alignment and Focus to the context of student ministries in his new book Simple Student Ministry (B&H Books). He encourages churches to guide students to a new level of discipleship through the principles outlined in the book.

Michael Horton's new book The Gospel-Driven Life (Baker) asserts that the only thing the church can provide that is unique is the gospel. That's why Horton urges churches to depart from their own agendas and focus on the good news that Christ is our only source of hope.

Pastor John Kitchen has published The Pastoral Epistles for Pastors (Kress Christian Publications), an intriguing book filled with useful tools for preachers and teachers in their study of 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. This is a book by a pastor for pastors, and contains not only commentary but also a variety of tools of value to preachers, including several helpful appendices with teaching tools and resources.

Another excellent new commentary is Bryan Chapell's volume on Ephesians (P&R) in the Reformed Expository Commentary series. Chapell is a gifted expositor and teacher of preachers, and this commentary reflects his love of Scripture and his pastoral mind and heart. He approaches the text from the perspective of the preacher-teacher, yet his treatment is thoroughly grounded in the finest New Testament scholarship.

Among the outstanding commentaries recently released, one of our favorites is Gordon Fee's new work on The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians (Eerdmans), part of the New International Commentary on the New Testament series. Fee offers a marvelous exposition of the biblical text, along with helpful theological reflections and practical observations. Pastors who plan to preach or teach on the Thessalonian letters will want this resource close at hand.

In his new book Applying the Sermon (Kregel), Daniel Overdorf seeks to fill that gap with a book that offers solid biblical insight and useful practical suggestions for preachers in this area of application. He argues that when it is properly done, application "allows the Word of God to speak" and allows that Word "to speak as explicitly and concretely today as it did originally."