Reading List

Books worth reading on a variety of topics (no particular order):
Christless Christianity - Michael Horton
  • I almost didn't finish this book; the first few chapters were like listening to a golf announcer stating the obvious.
  • However, I am glad I stuck with it, because the indictments Horton has for Christianity are profound.
  • The similarities between how both conservative and liberal Christianity approach Scripture, and by extension Jesus, the Gospel and Grace, is troubling.
  • The commonalities reside in what he calls "Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism".
  • He argues that MTD expresses the following "working theology":
    • God created the world.
    • God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and most world religions.
    • The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
    • God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when needed to resolve a problem.
    • Good people go to heaven when they die.


Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters - N.T. Wright
The Resurrection of the Son of God - N.T. Wright

The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited - Scot McKnight
  • McKnight points out the fallacy and danger of reducing the Gospel (and Scripture's view of the Gospel) to the issue of salvation.
  • A view that has contributed to a Gospel culture that "does not require The Members or The Decided to become The Discipled for salvation. Why not? Because its gospel is a gospel shaped entirely with the 'in and out' issue of salvation".
  • He laments that the Old Testament's role in defining the Gospel is sorely neglected.
  • He suggests that the Gospel has to be understood as "the Story of Jesus as the resolution of Israel's Story".
  • I am very sympathetic to the general direction of his book - the Gospel is bigger than we realize.
    • To reduce it is to reduce the need to know the entire Bible and know it well.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - Richard Bauckham
  • This book is a must read for anyone interested in the reliability and harmonization of the NT.
  • He has some interesting views on Papias and other church fathers as well.
  • To get an idea of Bauckham's oral culture apologetic - Read Here - Harmonization 101.


Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power - J.P. Moreland
  • This book has, is and will change my life.
  • I have neglected sorely my relationship with the Holy Spirit!
  • This book also led me to read the following three books
Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ - Dallas Willard
The Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Gifts - Sam Storm
Empowered Evangelicals - Rich Nathan & Ken Wilson

What We Can't Not Know - J. Budziszewski
  • A fantastic book that deals with the origins of moral knowledge and the nature of its corruption.
  • Its discussion on surface conscience and deep conscience is very helpful.
  • Read Here for an example of how this book helps shed light on Romans 1.

Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified - Richard Bauckham
  • A brilliant handling of the how Jesus as God is reconcilable to Jewish Monotheism by understanding 2nd Temple Judaism's understanding of God's Identity.
  • You will find that the NT writers Christology is even more profound and penetrating than you ever knew.
  • Read Here for how helpful this book is in understanding Christ's divinity.

Salvation and Sovereignty - Kenneth Keathley

An Enquiry of Human Understanding - David Hume
Is God a Moral Monster - Paul Copan
Apologetics to the Glory of God - John Frame
Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
Finally Alive - John Piper
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes - Kenneth Bailey
Scandalous - D.A. Carson
The Case for the Resurrection - Gary Habermas
The Heresy of Orthodoxy - Andreas Kostenberger
The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? - F.F. Bruce
God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God - John Lennox
The End of Christianity - William Dembski
An Introduction to the New Testament - D.A. Carson
Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton
Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning - Walter Kaiser
The Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer
Hard Questions, Real Answers - William Lane Craig
The Holiness of God - R.C. Sproul
Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution - Michael Behe
The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions - David Berlinski
Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics - William Lane Craig
The End of Reason - Ravi Zacharias
There Is a God - Antony Flew
Signature in the Cell - Stephen Meyer
Tactics - Gregory Koukl