Logos Staff
Each year, Christianity Today announces their “picks for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.” And for 2022, two Lexham Press titles—each focusing on a unique topic—were honored as finalists.
First, in the Biblical Studies category, is Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Essays on the Relationship between Christianity and Judaism edited by Gerald McDermott. In it, distinguished contributors like David Rudolph, Mark Gignilliat, and Mark Kinzer advance the discussion of how Jesus’ followers are to relate to Judaism.
It’s a work R. Kendall Soulen—author of The God of Israel in Christian Theology—calls “the best one-volume overview of Christianity’s relation to its Jewish roots that I know of, in any language.”
The 12 essays contained in the book explore the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, answering questions like:
- Did Jesus intend to form a new religion?
- Did Paul abrogate the Jewish law?
- Does the New Testament condemn Judaism?
- How and when did Christianity split from Judaism?
- How should Jewish believers in Jesus relate to a largely gentile church?
- What meaning do the Jewish origins of Christianity have for theology and practice today?
See inside Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity.
The second honoree is The Logic of the Body: Retrieving Theological Psychology by Matthew LaPine in the Theology & Ethics category.
In it, LaPine argues that Protestants must retrieve theological psychology to properly understand the emotional life of the human person. With classical and modern resources in tow, LaPine argues we must not choose between viewing emotions exclusively as either cognitive and volitional on the one hand or a feeling of bodily change on the other. He posits the two “stories” can be reconciled through a robust theological analysis.
Part of the Lexham Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology, The Logic of the Body opens a world of understanding emotional life.
High praise for The Logic of the Body:
A careful, scholarly piece of retrieval theology, it judiciously draws on the riches of the historical tradition in conversation with contemporary philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology, in order to develop a constructive theology of the emotions for today.
—Derek Rishmawy, RUF Campus Minister at UC Irvine; PhD candidate at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Emotions and embodiment are two vital aspects of the human experience, and yet far too often Christian accounts have pitted them against one another in problematic ways. Thankfully, Matthew LaPine’s volume pushes us to avoid picking between a psychological account and a theological one, but instead aims to help us see them together in a fresh way.
—Kelly M. Kapic, professor of theological studies at Covenant College; author of Embodied Hope
See inside The Logic of the Body, or learn more about the other titles in this series.
Other CT award-winners and finalists include titles like:
- A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ by Douglas Moo
- Covenant: The Framework of God’s Grand Plan of Redemption by Daniel I. Block
- Preaching to People in Pain: How Suffering Can Shape Your Sermons and Connect with Your Congregation by Matthew D. Kim
- Urban Apologetics: Restoring Black Dignity with the Gospel by Eric Mason
- What God Has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel Is Good News for Our Physical Selves by Sam Allberry
- Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep by Tish Harrison Warren
- Enjoying the Bible: Literary Approaches to Loving the Scriptures by Matthew Mullins
- God of All Things: Rediscovering the Sacred in an Everyday World by Andrew Wilson
Timothy Muehlhoff
