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Recommended Books

Historical Jesus

Jesus and the Victory of God: v. 2: Christian Origins and the Question of God

This volume is quite technical but is very helpful in presenting a scholarly method which shows that the Jesus of the gospels fits the first century context and that this picture of Jesus is quite believable.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony

Another technical book showing the genre of the gospels is that of ancient eyewitness testimony.  A good book on the trustworthiness of the gospel witness.

The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3)

A scholarly examination of the meaning of resurrection in the ancient world and the evidence for believing in Jesus' bodily resurrection.


Traditional Theology


The author examines the consensus of Christian belief giving extensive references to the early church fathers and great Christian thinkers down through the ages.

Reformed Dogmatics

Gathers together the teaching of classic Reformed theology by examining the writings of Reformed theologians.

The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: Exhibited, and Verified from the Original Sources

Gathers together the teaching of classic Lutheran theology by examining the writings of Lutheran theologians.

Evangelical Catechism

An excellent summary of traditional Reformation Protestant faith from a United Lutheran-Reformed perspective.


Modern Theology

My approach to modern theology can be described as centrist.  This approach recognizes the contributions of the full spectrum of modern theology while also recognizing the tendency towards reductionism and extremism.  I find it to be true that people "are generally right in what they affirm and wrong in what they deny".

Two excellent models of centrist theology and thinking are Gabriel Fackre and Donald Bloesch.  My favorite one-volume explanation of Christian faith from a generally centrist perspective is George Forell's The Protestant Faith.


Christian Living


A classic text on being the people of God.


A classic look at following Christ, examining both the Sermon on the Mount and the writings of the apostle Paul.

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