Bavinck, Herman. The Certainty of Faith. Westminster Seminary Press: Glenside, 2025. 

I was gifted this lovely volume by one of our elders. I have to admit I struggle reading Bavinck (as I do many other Dutch Theologians). It’s usually the translation that makes them so dense. But Daniel Shrock has done an excellent job translating this work and provides a more readable version. In this book, Bavinck explores the topic of faith and assurance. Where does faith originate? Is it intellectual? Is it an emotional experience? Bavinck encourages the reader not to look inside themselves, but towards Faith’s object: Jesus. Focus only on Jesus as portrayed in the authoritative word of God. Only looking to Jesus in that context can faith save. Faith is not something we generate, but we receive and grow as we look towards the Christ. ‘The human soul can find complete rest and nothing but God alone; The only thing that can fully satisfy it is an infallible authority. The preacher is therefore only powerful when he has a word from God to proclaim; Without this word, his proclamation loses influence and power.’ (p.61). A glorious thought! If you are struggling with assurance, I commend this work to you. 

Cleg, Jonathan & Joshua Robinson. The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Boston, 2018.

I am a huge fan of Soccer- especially the English variety. I fell head over heels for it when Brian McBride went to Fulham in the early 2000s. They became my team ever since as a host of Americans played for them since. But I was completely unaware of how the Premier League (the top tier of Football in the UK) started. Cleg and Robinson have provided an excellent survey of the history of the League ever since its founding  when 20 teams gathered together around a hand written charter on hotel stationery and decided to split from the FA. The key to their success was television rights. In thirty years since that moment, the sport has grown into an industry of 12 billion pounds annually. Because they can pay the most money, they attract the best players. The writing is witty and entertaining. Even if you are a general sports fan, you would enjoy this book. 

MacArthur, John. God In the Manger: The Miraculous Birth of Christ. Thomas Nelson: Nashville, 2001. 

We do devotions at our staff meetings. And starting last November, we began using this book to lead us in meditating on the first advent of Jesus. We did a chapter each week. MacArthur examines each of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth and then looked to the events shortly after with Jesus’ arrival at the temple in ten chapters. We all liked how he ended the book with a chapter on Hebrews chapter 1 in how Jesus is superior to all and our allegiance is to Him exclusively. The book is easy to read and has good study questions that go with each chapter. There are times when MacArthur can speculate a little too much and presents it without reference that it is an educated guess. But overall, I would say our staff had a deeper appreciation for Christ’s first advent. 

Piper, John. Andrew Fuller: Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Mission. Crossway: Wheaton, 2016.

This work is much longer than Piper’s typical biographical sketches at his Pastors Conferences. It’s because Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) is pivotal figure in Baptist history. When the Great Awakening broke out, many Baptists did not participate. It was mostly due to their hyper-Calvinist theology. They interpreted the Great Commission as being only for the first disciples. Fuller was the first Baptist to dispel such thinking. His work A Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation (1785) paved the way for the modern missions movement. William Carey provided the example, Fuller provided the theological rationale. This is a good overview of Fuller and his importance to Baptist life. It’s great place to start if one wanted to study his life and early Baptist missions.  

Scotland, Nigel. More Than Conquerors: The Churches and the Early Christians in the Romand Empire from Jerusalem to Chalcedon. Sacristy Press: Durham, 2026. 

I was asked to review this recent publication for the journal, ERT. This is a decent overview of the major events and controversies from the early church to the council of Chalcedon. The book suffers from reading that comes across as snippets from a lecture than an actual comprehensive survey of the Church. Those lectures need to be updated. The author failed to deal with much of the recent scholarship of the period. I also found myself disagreeing with many of his interpretations of the New Testament within the first chapter. I would classify this book as adequate. I would still recommend Justo Gonzalez’s first volume of the Story of Christianity when I teach in the classroom. 

Sklar, Jay. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Leviticus. Intervarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2013.

Jay Sklar teaches Old Testament at Covenant Seminary in St Louis, MO. I think he has produced an outstanding introductory commentary to the book of Leviticus. Sadly, most people think Leviticus is boring and is no longer relevant for us today. Sklar, proves nothing could be further from the truth. Sklar demonstrates that we should be interested in holiness because God is holy. One of the better portions of the commentary is the section on rituals and why they highlight what is important in their observance. After reading this commentary, I was able to understand Leviticus much better. It is well-written and researched. I highly recommend it. 

Thompson, Alan. The Acts of The Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan. IVP Academic: Downers Grove, 2011. 

Just when I thought I had completed my study on Acts, the Lord brings a volume to me that makes me think, ‘I wish I had read this sooner.’ Alan Thompson has written a masterpiece on the Biblical theology of Acts. The book is well written and researched. The author examines the major themes of Luke/Acts such as God’s Sovereignty, the Kingdom, the continuing reign of the Lord Jesus and suffering until the final consummation of the kingdom. If you hold to an amillennial or premillennial position, you will find very little to disagree with Thompson. He identifies true Israel as the church. I found his research on the Holy Spirit’s work and the temple system to be especially enlightening. I don’t think I will be able to read Acts again as I did before reading this book. If you are studying Acts for teaching or preaching, I would highly encourage you to read this work. 

Wenham, Gordon. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Numbers. Intervarsity Press: Downers Grove, 1981.

After I completed my personal study of Leviticus, I decided to proceed to Numbers using the same commentary series. Whereas, I was delighted with Sklar, I found Wenham to be a bit more to chew. Gordon Wenham (1943-2025) was a well-known scholar who taught at multiple universities in the United Kingdom. This is meant to be an ‘introductory commentary’, but I found it to be more stout than I expected. I would say that Wenham does an excellent job of explaining the key points of Numbers, but he does tend to chase rabbits by proving his own interpretations of minor points that are probably not relevant to the general reader. Also, he explains the concept of rituals, but I found Sklar’s exposition easier to understand. This is a good commentary, but be prepared for long excursus if you are reading it cover to cover.