This is a gem of a book, approaching Calvin’s life, ministry and contribution to the church from an unusual angle. Edited by John Piper and David Mathis, it is a compilation of addresses given at the Desiring God 2009 National Conference. The book takes its title from Calvin’s own description of life as ‘this magnificent…

This is one of those books that proves why e-readers will never be able to completely replace the printed book. It’s beautifully produced with an attractive cover; it’s nicely laid out and an absolute delight to hold and read. I love my Kindle for convenience but give me a good, well produced book that looks…

For Tim Meadowcroft, the Word of God, at least in the scope of this book, is not simply a synonym for the Scriptures.  The book is a much wider consideration of how God speaks, looking at the divine communication and self-revelation through general and special revelation, the written words of Scripture and Christ, the incarnate…

I have often seen publicity for a conference with a great line-up of speakers and been disappointed that there was no way I could attend. Well, now I can at least read the addresses that were given, as this is a compilation of those given at the 2009 Ligonier Conference, with contributions by Thabiti Anyabwile,…

Steven Lawson has spent the best part of forty years studying the life and ministry of the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, and it shows in this latest addition to his excellent series ‘A Long Line of Godly Men’. This is a truly masterful summary of the ministry of ‘…arguably the preeminent preacher of any…

A letter from overseas was once addressed simply to ‘R C Chapman, University of Love, England’; yet so well known was its intended recipient and his reputation that it was correctly delivered to Robert Chapman, the Pastor of an Assembly of Christians in Barnstaple, Devon. Charles Spurgeon once described him as ‘the saintliest man I…

Matthew Henry must surely be one of the best and most influential names in Christian history and, at the same time, one of the least known lives. Now, at long last, we have been blessed with a good biographical account of this most famous of all Bible commentators, thanks to the efforts of Allan Harman.…

When I am teaching hermeneutics, I tell my students that, before they try and apply any passage of Scripture, they have to ‘go to Corinth’ first.   It’s a shorthand way (that I learned from someone else) of saying they have to determine the original application to the original readers of the passage, before they can…

I have on my bookshelves, still unread it has to be said, a copy of Hallesby’s book entitled Conscience, published back in 1933, but I know of no other book devoted to this important yet complex subject other than Christopher Ash’s recent and welcome contribution. Stimulated by his own study of Romans 14 and 15, Ash discovered…