A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers. I’m slowly but surely making my way through many of D A Carson’s books. It is a rare skill to be exegetical and devotional in the same book, or even on the same page, yet Carson pulls it off. This book came at just the right time, as I need a pick-me-up in the prayer department. It’s interesting, and a bit disheartening, to see how little we allow Scripture to shape our prayers. While this book doesn’t answer every question regarding prayer, it does provide a biblical framework with which to start, and contains numerous bits of practical advice along the way. My wife is currently reading this as well, and has also benefitted greatly from it. I’ve quoted from this book once in a previous post.
Paul, the Spirit and the People of God. Have you ever had a book that you’ve never read from beginning to end, but probably read the whole thing in chunks over a long period of time (for many of us, that’s the Bible)? That was me and this Gordon Fee book, until recently. I finally made the time to read through the whole thing, and I’m glad I did. Stemming from his work in God’s Empowering Presence, which is 900+ pages of detailed exegesis and theological reflection, Fee offers this manageable 200ish page volume. I think this would make an excellent book for a small group to study if they are interested in learning more about the Holy Spirit in Paul’s letters (and in the NT as a whole). Much of the church today lacks a robust understanding of the Spirit, including my own charismatic circles. It will be hard to read this book and not be challenged to see just how central the Spirit is to biblical theology and practice. From eschatology to ethics to spiritual gifts, Fee does a tremendous job of making accessible what a lifetime of research has taught him.
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya. We read this Ruth Tucker book (affectionately known as FJ2IJ) in our missions training school. It is, as the subtitle indicates, a biographical history of missions. Tucker runs through the history of missions by looking at various important figures, with some historical setting for a little context. Reader beware- she pulls no punches. The history of Christian missions is mixed with triumph and failure, and she’ll let you know about it.
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