Best christian preaching books according to redditors
We found 66 Reddit comments discussing the best christian preaching books. We ranked the 45 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 66 Reddit comments discussing the best christian preaching books. We ranked the 45 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I recommend "The Whole Christ" by Sinclair B. Ferguson, which talks about the challenging tension between legalism and antinomianism, among other things.
https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Christ-Antinomianism-Assurance-Why-Controversy-ebook/dp/B01AIM65CQ
Preface
Unfortunately I don't think there's a "one stop shop" book on the atonement. The atonement has a biblical/exegetical basis as well as philosophical and theological ramifications. Hence, to do justice to the atonement as a full-orbed topic in a single book, you'd have to find a scholar who is well versed and up-to-date in the relevant biblical scholarship as well as philosophical theology. That's exceedingly rare, and in fact I'm not sure if there is such a scholar today.
What's more, the atonement can be framed in terms of additional categories or sub-categories like biblical theology, Pauline theology, Johannine theology, and so on. (By the way, Tom Schreiner, Simon Gathercole, and Jarvis Williams are good in discussing the atonement in Pauline theology.)
In short, the atonement is a massive topic.
One book
However, if I had to pick a single book on the atonement that gets as close as possible to this ideal (but ultimately falling short of it), I think I'd recommend Pierced for Our Transgressions. The book has decent biblical/exegetical and theological (including historical theology) foundations. Not stellar in these categories, but not bad, solid. However, it significantly lacks in philosophical theology. In any case, I think you'd have to supplement this book with other books. I'd recommend:
Biblical/Exegetical
Theological
Philosophical
I'm actually reading Hauerwas' Unleashing the Scriptures, in which he makes the argument that yes, we do, (perhaps with us, rather than for us. He is, after all, Protestant) and no, everyone shouldn't just go interpret (or even read!) it on their own and come up with their own meanings.
The publishers' blurb:
>This provocative critique of the uses and abuses of Scripture in the American church shows how liberal (historical-critical) and fundamentalist (literal) approaches to biblical scholarship have corrupted our use of the Bible. Hauerwas argues that the Bible can only be understood in the midst of a disciplined community of people, where the story is actually lived out by dedicated practitioners.
Recommendation: Him We Proclaim by Dennis Johnson.
Besides Clowney and the Simeon Trust (those two are probably your best resources):
And two others that I've heard good things about, but not read myself:
Yes, I do. As does /u/bsmason
Here's a hit list.
Episode 200 of Christ the Center. Richard Gaffin Jr. and his student Lane Tipton in particular are the best. If you are not familiar with Christ the Center, check them out. They also did a whole conference on Union with Christ. You will also find a debate between Horton and Tipton on this topic.
One With Christ
The Chapter on Union with Christ in John Murray's Book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied.
Sinclair Ferguson has now written on it in his excellent and recent book The Whole Christ. This one is good because he speaks on the dangers of Legalism and Antinomianism, which are the resultant errors when we get a function theology of Union wrong.
Tangentially related: Mark Jones' Antinomianism, Reformed Theology's Unwelcomed Guest is also related to the topic. He is particularly strong on Christology, and consistently emphasiszes that we are united to Christ, the God-Man and how this should impact us.
I have read all these books, some more than once, and recommend them.
Well a resource we used for just real basic "snippets" of theology based on theme is a large book (read: tome) called "The Christian Theology Reader" which was edited by Alister McGrath. The reason I would recommend this book in particular is that it is by topic, it is in small digestible portions per author and also gives some context on the snippet that it pulls out from a given author's full text. The other reason I suggest it is that, like Shakespear, theological reading is something where you need to read enough of it in order to start actually grasping the way language is used. Before you go and get Karl Barth's "Church Dogmatics" it's helpful to have a book like the above to get your toes wet. Also, you may find a theologian in this tome that strikes your fancy from the early church or from the past century you've never heard of and if you like it you can find one of their books for cheap on amazon as well. Here's the link to the recommended book:
https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Theology-Reader-Alister-McGrath/dp/1118874382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523043307&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Christian+Theology+Reader
Now there is the 4th edition as well which you can buy for cheaper, that's the copy I own. But honestly, with the breadth of information for the beginning reader it is worth the price tag.
Edit: Oh and one more book, it is also a tome, but if you have any interest in the theology of the cross (Not why Jesus had to die but why Jesus had to be crucified) then I'm going to recommend a book that I just got done teaching a class on called "The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ" by Fleming Rutledge. It is, as I said, a tome. But it was one of the more formative books in my own formation than any other single book I've ever read (incoming jokes about "how about the bible?").
https://www.amazon.com/Crucifixion-Understanding-Death-Jesus-Christ/dp/0802875343/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523043804&sr=8-1&keywords=the+crucifixion+fleming+rutledge
These "Biblical preaching" gospel commentaries are also pretty good for $4.99 each! They're different than the big commentary bundle.
Boyd's Crucifixion of the Warrior God is $9.99 for both volumes as a bundle. This normally is about $18, so maybe not a great deal, but still a deal.
Johnson's The Writings of the New Testament textbook is a bit too conservative in its scholarship for a lot of seminaries (he's okay with traditional Pauline authorship in most cases), but it's my favorite New Testament high-level overview. On sale for $2.99. This seems to go on sale fairly often, so if you miss it or don't want to buy a book now, don't worry, it'll be on sale again.
Mannermaa! ... and more Mannermaa!
There are also a large number of books on "marginal" theology, liberation theology, womanist/feminist theology, black theology, and other topics that I'm not super familiar with. Hopefully someone else can call out a few good ones!
If you do any Paul studies, this book is super interesting as a sourcebook of imperial texts and inscriptions from the Roman Empire. As Wright points out, they have a lot of parallels within the writings of the gospels.
(I'll keep editing this post with more)
Expository Apologetics is a fantastic book, as it talks not only about apologetics but about what the foundation of our apologetics should be: The Bible. Many people believe that we need to let go of the Bible and utilize arguments from reason or philosophy in order to get people to a point where they are ready and willing to hear what the Bible says, but Baucham argues that to do so is to try to go into battle without our sword, attempting to convince the enemy that our sword is real and dangerous, rather than simply allowing it to cut them, instantly dissolving their disbelief.
RC Sproul has a couple of short booklets that might fit the bill:
Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?
Can I Lose My Salvation?
Without having read them, there are books by Beeke, Pink and Spurgeon that might be a bit higher level than the Sproul booklets.
Interesting post. I listened to these wonderful lectures a number of years ago, and this book recently hit the shelves by the lecturer Dr. Ferguson. I stand proudly with the Marrow men, and Pastor Boston :-)
Grace and peace.
The Marrow of Modern Divinity with Boston's Notes. (Get the orange and black one) https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1845504798/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Whole Christ, which is the history about the Marrow Controversy that the book caused. https://smile.amazon.com/Whole-Christ-Antinomianism-Assurance-Why-Controversy/dp/1433548003/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522805635&sr=1-1&keywords=whole+christ
When a person becomes a Christian they are united with Christ.
They become one with him in a supernatural union.
Ever noticed how many times the Bible talks about us being 'in him' or 'in Christ'? (here are a few examples Phil. 1:1, 2 Cor. 5:17, Eph. 1:3-10).
Also, ever considered that we received Christ and that he is 'in us'? (2 Cor. 6:16, Rom. 8:9-11).
What this essentially means is that everything that Christ is and did becomes a part of us.
We ARE holy because we are in Jesus and he is holy.
While we are not holy in an of ourselves, the Holy Spirit in us is changing us to be more like Jesus - he is making us more like Jesus and therefore making us holy.
In him we are considered holy, and the work of the Holy Spirit in us is making us holy.
Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to help us want to be more like Jesus. Just think for a minute how you view Christ:
Jesus was the one to perfectly bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
To emulate Jesus as his disciple (as close as is possible) you'll need to seek these things in your life and through prayer. These things will lead to holiness.
Don't fret though, as I said before, the Holy Spirit is in you and is going to help you to do this.
If you'd like to read more about 'union with Christ', check out this pretty good article explaining it by Rory Shiner. If you really want to understand the concept, check out 'The Whole Christ' by Sinclair Ferguson. Be warned though: reading this book may well blow your mind and inject something very powerful into your walk with God ;-).
Check out his Unleashing the Scripture.
I don't know if you've read any about Spurgeon, but he has been very inspirational to me:
This book is supposed to be the best biography out there currently on Spurgeon, but I have not read it. There are others that are good too, like this one.
If I think of any other people I'll reply back.
Yeah, feel free to upload the sermons here. Even better would be to upload a video or audio of you preaching it in front of the congregation, even if it is a crappy cell phone video. The dynamics of preaching changes drastically when in front of people, and that is the only real way to evaluate your delivery.
Two things:
If by "believing commentary" you mean written by a professing Christian, look no further than Walton.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Genesis-Application-Commentary-John-Walton-ebook/dp/B004FPZ29A
You might not agree with his views on Genesis 1-11 though, but his scholarship is top notch.
Certainly this is one way Catholics should profitably read scripture.
If I can engage in some shameless self-promotion related to this, one of my old professors is coming out with a book of sermons that use allegorical exegesis and are centered around a theme of divine ascent. It's "self-promotion" because I helped a bit in the revision stage of the book.
Relevant: Why Johnny Can't Preach. tl/dr: Johnny can't read, write, or speak.
I would recommend starting with Goldsworthy's Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics. Just my personal opinion, but for me it was the best outcome comparing to the time invested in the book.
There was also
Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures by Dennis E. Johnson, which I can also recommend.
Just my two cents.
This is the one I have:
https://www.amazon.com/Marrow-Modern-Divinity-Edward-Fisher-ebook/dp/B00701JFX0
It is really great. And after that, read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Christ-Antinomianism-Assurance-Controversy/dp/1433548003
A fantastic book.
I just finished Expository Apologetics by Voddie Baucham. The author shows how apologetics, defending your faith, isn't something that only super-Christians can do and how it's not about winning arguments. It's full of good, practical advice about how to be ready to talk to people about your faith. And, it's not hard to read.
This is a much longer convo but I believe the relationship between God and humanity from the beginning was one of faith/trust. Humans were designed to trust God’s will and design for things. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil did not impart a real knowledge but represents humanity choosing to make their own knowledge the center of their lives. They reject God as God when they did that. I should be saying “we” because it is really each of our stories and not just Adam and Eve. The effects of human definitions of “good and evil” or “right and wrong” can be clearly seen through history. As judges says
> In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. - Judges 17:6
So the point is not to receive a “get out of hell free card” because ultimately the same motives which made us reject God’s knowledge of good and evil, all selfish motives, are the same as simply wanting out of trouble for our actions.
Jesus re-establishes faith as the relationship. We must fully and whole heartedly trust in God through Jesus. Jesus dies for us, thereby paying the price of our rebellion. He is raised for us, thereby establishing a new humanity which is eternally in relationship with God. Jesus calls us to “take up our cross and follow him” an ultimately selfless behavior in accordance with his actions.
For me the driving force of evangelism is that Jesus is Lord! He conquered! He reigns! And he did it all not through human means of power (destruction, violence, fear) but through selfless sacrificial love. He turned human power assumptions upside down and also proved God’s goodness to humanity perfectly. He gave reason for us to trust that God is good. Look at the lengths he is willing to go to save his creation from themselves.
The western protestant church has been so obsessed with the penal substitution model of atonement, which has legitimacy but not supremacy, it has created the idea you have that the whole point is to get out of hell. There are so many more facets to the diamond of what Jesus did in his life, ministry, death, and resurrection than just penal substitution. Would be good for you to do some reading on those other facets. A great book on that topic is The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge
This is one of my passions, so get ready.
Let's play a game; you pick any passage in 1 Samuel, and I will tell you how it is about Christ.
There are many more ways that the OT is about Jesus than just "messianic" and "allegory." But, I do want to caveat - verses and chapters, though helpful, are largely arbitrary units. I would nuance this to say that every "passage" is about Jesus - every independent literary unit. So no Jesus is not in every word, or every verse, or sometimes not even in every chapter, but he is what every passage is ultimately about.
If you haven't studied them, I would encourage you to consider a few NT passages - how Jesus considers the theme of the OT:
John 5:39-40: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life."
Luke 24:25-17: "And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."
Or, maybe more on the nose, take a look at how the NT interprets OT passages that aren't "messianic."
Like Matthew 2:13-15, quoting Hosea 11:1 - in context clearly about Israel and not Jesus. But Matthew seems to think it is! If you read and wrestle with this article, you'll have a great start to understanding how the NT interprets the OT.
Following up on Matthew 2, John 12's use of Isaiah 6, or 1 Corinthians 10's use of much of the Exodus narrative - both use OT passages that are not evidently about Christ but prove to be.
If you're curious, I recommend two books: David Murray's "Jesus on Every Page" is a popular level book, and Sidney Greidanus' "Preaching Christ from the Old Testament" is more academic and will give a christocentric method for interpreting the OT.
Chappell has a good work for preachers.
[Goldsworthy does a good job for general exegetical work.] (http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Centered-Hermeneutics-Foundations-Evangelical-Interpretation/dp/0830838694/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377522356&sr=1-6&keywords=graeme+goldsworthy)
For something that's a little more readable, i would highly recommend J Vernon McGee's Thru the Bible series:
http://www.amazon.com/Thru-Bible-Commentary-Volumes-1-5-ebook/dp/B002NOGDJ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410617454&sr=8-1&keywords=j+vernon+mcgee
he goes through the entire Bible from start to finish and provides alot of context and explanation in plain language. its not as dry as many of the other resources, although since its 30 years old or so its not up to date in some areas. In many places he makes reference to the original written language of a verse, or gives background on the culture of the time, or compares the same word usage in one book to the same in another, etc. I found it to be very helpful in some areas
you can listen to the entire thing for free on www.ttb.org if you'd prefer that