Personal Jesus: How Popular Music Shapes Our Souls by Clive Marsh and Vaughan S. Roberts (Baker Academic. 9780801039096. $22.99)

"Personal Jesus is one of the best theological treatments of pop culture I have ever read.” Brett McCracken, author of Hipster Christianity

Clive Marsh is senior lecturer and director of learning and teaching at the Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Leicester, in Leicester, England. Vaughan S. Roberts is vicar of Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Warwick, England, and an active writer on topics of religion and contemporary culture.

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Risen: 50 Reasons Why the Resurrection Changed Everything by Steven D. Mathewson (Baker Books. 9780801015144. $10.99)

“These reflections will deepen your faith in the God who still performs miracles…" Collin Hansen, editorial director, The Gospel Coalition

Steven D. Mathewson is senior pastor of the Evangelical Free Church of Libertyville, Illinois. He is an adjunct faculty member at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Moody Bible Institute.

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Romans by C. Marvin Pate (Baker Books. 9780801092213. $39.99)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Few commentaries help the reader move beyond study to thoughtful application, and fewer still move beyond application to teaching. That’s why I am thrilled with the Teach the Text Commentary Series from Baker. Pastors and teachers are going to love this series. I highly recommend it."

–George H. Guthrie, Union University, Jackson, TN

C. Marvin Pate is chair of the department of Christian theology, Elma Cobb Professor of Christian Theology at Ouachita Baptist University, and pastor of DeGray Baptist Church.

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Passion: How Christ’s Final Day Changes Your Every Day by Mike McKinley (The Good Book Company. 9781908762580. $12.99)

“The cross stands tall at the center of the gospel. Understanding this deeply, Mike writes with an earthy, pastoral voice as he relates the drama of Jesus’ crucifixion. Thoroughly rooted in the beauty of the gospel,  Passion draws us back again and again to reflect on these timeworn truths.”

–Daniel Montgomery, Lead Pastor of Sojourn Community Church

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God and Evil: The Case for God in a World Filled with Pain edited by Chad Meister and James K. Dew, Jr. (IVP Academic. 9780830837847. $20.00)

God and Evil compiles the best thinking on all angles on the question of evil, from some of the finest scholars in religion, philosophy and apologetics.

With additional chapters addressing "issues in dialogue" such as hell and human origins, and a now-famous debate between evangelical philosopher William Lane Craig and atheist philosopher Michael Tooley, God and Evil provides critical engagement with recent arguments against faith and offers grounds for renewed confidence in the God who is "acquainted with grief."

Chad Meister is professor of philosophy at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. James K. Dew Jr. is associate professor of the history of ideas and philosophy and dean of the College at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Here are some other titles that might be of interest. If your local LifeWay Campus Store doesn’t have a copy on the shelve, they’ll be glad to order you a copy.

Of Games and God: A Christian Exploration of Video Games by Kevin Schut (Brazos Press. 9781587433252. $16.99)

What is Marriage? Man and Woman, A Defense by Sherif Girgis, Robert P. George and Ryan T. Anderson (Encounter Books. 1594036829. $15.99)

Christianity and World Religions: An Introduction to the World’s Major Faiths by Derek Cooper (P&R Publishing. 9781596384460. $19.99)

Tim Keller’s books and resources have been eagerly anticipated at many of our stores (and warmly received as well). I’m looking forward to having his newest book, Galatians for You, on New Academic next month. His is the inaugural volume in a new series from The Good Book Company entitled God’s Word for You.

Galatians for You is a uniquely flexible resource. It can simply be read as a book; used as a daily devotional, complete with reflection questions; or utilized by anyone who has a teaching ministry, to help small-group leaders understand and apply the text, and to give preachers helpful ways of connecting timeless Bible truths to today’s world.

God Redeeming His Bride: A Handbook for Church Discipline by Robert K. Cheong (Christian Focus Publications. 9781845507190. $17.99)

Church discipline is a term that is fraught with problems for the church today. However from the Biblical witness it is clear that it is an essential component of a healthy, God-honoring church – a church where Christians grow and mature in grace and develop solid foundations with which they can, with the help of the Spirit, withstand the storms of life.

With many years of pastoral experience, Robert K. Cheong has faced this issue many times. Additionally he interviewed over 30 pastors from different countries and a wide variety of church settings.

Robert K. Cheong is the pastor responsible for Care and Counseling at Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky.

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Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey by Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper. (Crossway. 9781433532535. $15.99)

Most of us emphasize one aspect of Christianity over another. Competing voices tell us that the Christian life is all about this or that: missions, discipleship, worship, the cross, or the kingdom. It’s as if we are navigating the Christian life with fragments of a map—bits and pieces of the good news—rather than the whole picture. If we put those map fragments together, we discover a beautiful, coherent picture. Faithmapping invites Christians to see that map, exploring a whole gospel that forms a whole church who carries that glorious news to the whole world.

Daniel Montgomery is the founder and lead pastor of Sojourn Community Church and founder of Sojourn Network. Mike Cosper is one of the founding pastors of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, where he serves as the pastor of worship and arts. He is also founder of Sojourn Music and contributes regularly to the Gospel Coalition blog.

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Global Voices : Reading the Bible in the Majority World edited by Craig S. Keener and M. Daniel Carroll, R. (Hendrickson. 9781619700093. $17.95)

This book, a collection of essays from ethnically diverse scholars familiar with both non-Western and Western hermeneutic traditions, explores what it means to allow the interpretations of the non-Western church to be heard—heeded and appreciated—by the Western church and its educated elite.

Evangelical scholars, college and seminary professors, trained evangelical pastors, and evangelicals of many nationalities and ethnicities who minister in the West will find these collected essays fascinating and encouraging.

"This is a little book with a big vision. It is written by a rich array of global voices. It challenges us to read the Bible in a fresh way with an awareness of a bigger world. It opens up new angles on the biblical text and asks us to embrace a greater diversity of voices and topics in our work. It is a needed word, well worth the reading and reflection."

—Darrell L Bock, Executive Director of Cultural Engagement, Center for Christian Leadership, Senior Research Professor of NT Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

Craig Keener is Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. M. Daniel Carroll R is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Denver Theological Seminary.

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The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Carl Trueman (Moody Publishers. 9780802405746. $4.99)

What is an evangelical . . . and has he lost his mind? Carl Trueman wrestles with those two provocative questions and concludes that modern evangelicals emphasize experience and activism at the expense of theology. Their minds go fuzzy as they downplay doctrine. The result is "a world in which everyone from Joel Osteen to Brian McLaren to John MacArthur may be called an evangelical."

Fifteen years ago in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, historian Mark Noll warned that evangelical Christians had abandoned the intellectual aspects of their faith. Christians were neither prepared nor inclined to enter intellectual debates, and had become culturally marginalized. Trueman argues that today "religious beliefs are more scandalous than they have been for many years"–but for different reasons than Noll foresaw. In fact, the real problem now is exactly the opposite of what Noll diagnosed: evangelicals don’t lack a mind, but rather an agreed upon evangel. Although known as gospel people, evangelicals no longer share any consensus on the gospel’s meaning.

Carl Trueman is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary (PA).

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Here are some other new releases that might be of interest. If your local LifeWay Campus Store doesn’t have a copy on the shelve, they’ll be glad to order you a copy.

Puritan Portraits by J. I. Packer (Christian Focus. 9781845507008. $14.99)

Risk Is Right: Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It by John Piper (Crossway. 9781433535345. $7.99)

Comforts from Romans: Celebrating the Gospel One Day at a Time by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick (Crossway. 9781433533198. $14.99)

Revelations of the Cross by J. I. Packer (Hendrickson. 9781619700581. $16.95)

Setting Our Affections upon Glory: Nine Sermons on the Gospel and the Church by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Crossway. 9781433532658. $15.99)

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved by J. D. Greear (B&H Books. 9781433679216. $12.99)

“If there were a Guinness Book of World Records entry for ‘amount of times having prayed the sinner’s prayer,’ I’m pretty sure I’d be a top contender,” says pastor and author J. D. Greear. He struggled for many years to gain an assurance of salvation and eventually learned he was not alone. “Lack of assurance” is epidemic among evangelical Christians.

In Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, J. D. shows that faulty ways of presenting the gospel are a leading source of the confusion. Our presentations may not be heretical, but they are sometimes misleading. The idea of “asking Jesus into your heart” or “giving your life to Jesus” often gives false assurance to those who are not saved—and keeps those who genuinely are saved from fully embracing that reality.

Greear unpacks the doctrine of assurance, showing that salvation is a posture we take to the promise of God in Christ, a posture that begins at a certain point and is maintained for the rest of our lives. He also answers the tough questions about assurance: What exactly is faith? What is repentance? Why are there so many warnings that seem to imply we can lose our salvation?

Such issues are handled with respect to the theological rigors they require, but Greear never loses his pastoral sensitivity or a communication technique that makes this message teachable to a wide audience from teens to adults.

J. D. Greear is lead pastor of The Summit Church, a multi-site congregation in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

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Here are some other new releases that might be of interest. If your local LifeWay Campus Store doesn’t have a copy on the shelve, they’ll be glad to order you a copy.

Lifting up Our Hearts: 150 Selected Prayers from John Calvin edited by Dustin W. Benge (Reformation Heritage Books. 9781601781932. $20.00)

Suffering and Sovereignty: John Flavel and the Puritans on Afflictive Providence by Brian H. Cosby (Reformation Heritage Books. 9781601781970. $20.00)