I received a review copy of BibleWorks 9 in the mail a several weeks ago and have been working with it ever since. In reviews of previous versions of BibleWorks, I have mentioned that this software is a valuable resource for scholars, pastors, and other serious students of scripture. This latest iteration of BibleWorks is no different. I am going to break this review up into several parts. This first installment focuses on the interface and browsing in BibleWorks 9. Continue Reading →
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First Ever Biography of Leonard Ravenhill
Ravi Zacharias has said this about Leonard Ravenhill:
The truth is, even though I am known now as an apologist for the Christian faith, dealing with the intellectual issues of Christianity, I really owe an passion for God, for prayer and for true revival that initially began in me, to Leonard Ravenhill. He, by God’s grace, was the catalyst that has caused the passion to know God to continue to this day.
Continue Reading →
Bart Ehrman Strikes Again
Bart Ehrman is out promoting his most recent book Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. As with his previous popular books, Ehrman is on a mission. He is doing everything he can to undermine the reader’s confidence in the truthfulness and the authority of scripture. In Forged, he attacks the apostolic authorship of the New Testament.
Responses to Ehrman are already appearing. Dan Wallace has written a three-part review that is very helpful, and I encourage you to read it here: part 1, part 2, part 3. Wallace concludes with this: Continue Reading →
Why I Use BibleWorks
Students often ask me about the Bible software that I use during class. The program that I display to them nearly every day is BibleWorks8. Here is why.
For many years, the Accordance software was the gold standard for scholars and pastors working with the primary texts of biblical studies. Its main drawback was that it only worked on Macs, thus relegating the myriads of PC users to one or more of the inferior programs that were available for the Windows operating system. The release of BibleWorks 5 and 6 began to close the gap between Mac users and PC users. With the release of BibleWorks 7 and 8, however, the gap is gone, and a new standard was set for serious students of the scripture who use Bible software. Continue Reading →
A Year with George Herbert
If you are not familiar with the poetry of George Herbert, you need to be. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, “I love George Herbert from my very soul.” In fact, Spurgeon loved the poetry of George Herbert so much, he used to have his wife read the poems to him every Sunday evening after church. Mrs. Spurgeon described their evenings this way:
I read on and on for an hour or more, till the peace of Heaven flows into our souls, and the tired servant of the King of kings loses his sense of fatigue, and rejoices after his toil. Continue Reading →
Untold hunt for Hitler revealed in new book
Many readers of this blog will recognize John Woodbridge as the author of a watershed book defending inerrancy, Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal. Recently however, he has teamed-up with Pulitzer Prize winner Maurice Possley to write Hitler in the Crosshairs: A GI’s Story of Courage and Faith. Earlier this month, the authors appeared together on public radio to discuss the book (listen below or download here).
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Book Length Responses to Love Wins
John Starke has a helpful round-up of book-length responses to Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. He notes that the one by Francis Chan is probably the highly anticipated of the bunch. He also observes the following:
“These books are being published very quickly after the Bell’s book began mailing and hitting shelves. The obvious reason for this was how much the blogs dominated this discussion. Most of the notable reviews occurred within a few days of the book’s publication date. Subsequent reviews seemed dated and almost had to interact with others reviews as much as the book itself. So the speed of these publications says something of the speed of how quickly a discussion heightens and then passes.”
I think Starke is right about this. It does seem like the height of the discussion has already passed. This is just a part of the new reality that we live in. For better or for worse, reviews of significant books are not going to wait on a traditional publishing schedule—neither that of a publishing house nor that of a scholarly journal.
It may be that the moment has already come and gone. Nevertheless, these books look to be helpful contributions to the conversation. Read Starke’s discussion here.
Book Note: “If You Bite & Devour One Anotherâ€
I just received a book in the mail that looks to be one worth noting. The book is titled If You Bite & Devour One Another: Biblical Principles for Handling Conflict. The author is Alexander Strauch, who is perhaps best known for his book on eldership, Biblical Eldership. Here’s the publisher’s description of this latest book:
“Conflict in churches is a pervasive problem we know all too well. If You Bite & Devour One Another is the only book of its kind, examining all the biblical passages on conflict and outlining key scriptural principles for handling various kinds of conflicts among Christian–whether personal disputes, issues of Christian liberty in lifestyles, congregational matters, or disagreements about important doctrines. The book emphasizes Spirit-controlled attitudes and behaviors through solid Bible exposition and true-to-life stories of Christians handling real-life conflicts in a Christ-honoring way.” Continue Reading →
A Biblical Case against Spanking?
I just received InterVarsity’s Fall 2011 catalog and noted that William Webb has a new book coming out: Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts. Many of you will remember Webb as the author of the egalitarian book Slaves, Women, & Homosexuals, in which Webb argued for an ethic on the women’s issue that goes beyond the ethic of the New Testament. In that book, Webb argued that “redemptive-movement” often brings readers to an ethical position superior to the one found in the Bible. So even though Paul clearly argues for male headship in a variety of texts, redemptive-movement indicates that there is a better ethic for contemporary readers—namely, egalitarianism. Continue Reading →
John Piper Endorses Hamilton’s Book
I think this is the strongest endorsement that I have ever seen John Piper give to a book. The Crossway blog has these remarks from Piper about Jim Hamilton’s book, God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. Piper writes:
“I was riveted. Never do I sit down and read sixty pages of ANY book that I get in the mail. But I could not stop—could not stop reading and could not stop rejoicing over God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment. It is the kind of overview of redemptive history Edwards wanted to write. It’s what I hoped would be written.”
Piper is right. Hamilton’s book is a must-read. If you haven’t read it yet, you really need to make some time for this one. You can order it here.
About Me
I am an Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.Books
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