Theologians on the Christian Life Series Upgrade (4 vols.)

by Stephen J. Nichols; William Edgar; Fred G. Zaspel; Fred Sanders

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2012–2013

Overview

What is the Christian life? The Theologians on the Christian Life series digs into the lives and legacies of four major Christian leaders and theologians, critically analyzing how they lived the theology they preached. This tour of Christian example leads the reader down the challenging paths tread by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Francis A. Schaeffer, B. B. Warfield, and John Wesley. Discover the timeless insights of key theologians whose thoughts and actions still guide the Christian world today.

Key Features

• Critically analyzes, quotes, and applies these four major Christian influences
• Questions what the Christian life is supposed to look like
• Challenges readers to live their convictions

Product Details

• Title: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Authors: Stephen J. Nichols, William Edgar, Fred G. Zaspel, and Fred Sanders
• Series Editors: Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor
• Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Publisher: Crossway
• Volumes: 4
• Pages: 928

Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life: From the Cross, for the World

• Author: Stephen J. Nichols
• Series Editors: Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor
• Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 208

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Dietrich Bonhoeffer died a martyr’s death at the age of 39 but remains one of the most influential and challenging theologians of our time. His writings teach us the value of cross-centered theology, and his courageous actions against the Nazi regime compel us to consider the cost of discipleship. From Bonhoeffer we learn that the Christian life is lived both alone and together, and that there is a stark difference between cheap and costly grace. With insight, clarity, and wisdom, Stephen Nichols guides us through the words and deeds of this humble yet heroic pastor, whose example shows us that the Christian’s life flows from the cross, for the world.

How I rejoice to see thinkers of Stephen Nichols’s caliber applying their fine minds to the life and thought of the inimitable Dietrich Bonhoeffer. There’s so much yet to be written about this great man. A hungry readership awaits!

—Eric Metaxas, New York Times best-selling author, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

This book will quicken your pulse as you are drawn into the story and the example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Stephen Nichols brings a long and complex life to a point of ongoing personal application. This book prompted me to pray for the kind of courage that comes only after intense communion with the living God. Read and be strengthened.

—Russell D. Moore, president, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Stephen J. Nichols (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is research professor of Christianity and culture at Lancaster Bible College. He has written several books, including The Reformation, For Us and for Our Salvation, and Welcome to the Story.

Schaeffer on the Christian Life: Countercultural Spirituality

• Author: William Edgar
• Series Editors: Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor
• Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 208

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Francis Schaeffer was one of the most influential apologists of the twentieth century. Through his speaking, writing, and filmmaking, Schaeffer successfully transformed the way people thought of the Christian faith, from a rather private kind of piety to a worldview that addresses every sphere of life. This volume—written by a man converted from agnosticism within days of meeting Schaeffer—is the first book devoted to exploring the heart and soul of Schaeffer’s approach to the Christian life, and will help readers strive after the same kind of marriage of thought and life, of orthodoxy and love.

Friendly, passionate, intellectual, and constantly engaged with people as well as ideas and contemporary affairs, Francis Schaeffer comes alive in Edgar’s objective but affectionate portrait. Rescued from the distortions of both lionisers and demonizers, here is ‘FAS’ as so many of us knew him in the great years of L’Abri—and with so much to contribute to our world today.

—Os Guinness, cofounder, The Trinity Forum

This book by Dr. Edgar on countercultural spirituality is much needed as a trustworthy guide in the dark confusion of the postmodern world.

—Wim Rietkerk, Chairman, L’Abri Fellowship International Board of Trustees

An engaging, fascinating account, seasoned with unusual insight into one of the truly original apologists of our time.

—David F. Wells, Distinguished Senior Research Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

For many years I hoped that I could spend some time at L’Abri, but that was not God’s plan for me. Instead, God enabled me to become friends with many L’Abri alumni, of whom Bill Edgar was one. I have been impressed with the intellectual caliber of those men and women, but even more with their godly character. L’Abri evidently had a way of leading people from intellectual atheism, to conversion, to spiritual maturity. Bill’s book focuses, more than other L’Abri books, on theis process of what we now call spiritual formation. The whole church can learn much from it. I commend this excellent book to all hwo seek to draw nearer to God.

—John M. Frame, J. D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary

William Edgar (DTheol, University of Geneva) is professor of apologetics and coordinator of the apologetics department at Westminster Theological Seminary. His books include Reasons of the Heart, The Face of Truth, and Truth in All Its Glory.

Warfield on the Christian Life: Living Life in the Light of the Gospel

• Author: Fred G. Zaspel
• Series Editors: Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor
• Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 240

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

B. B. Warfield is well-known as one of America’s leading theologians, perhaps second only to Jonathan Edwards. But until now the character of his own Christian experience and his understanding of the Christian life have remained unexplored. Fred Zaspel unpacks these for us here, and what we find is that Warfield’s profound theological mind is matched only by his passionate heart for Christ. From Warfield we learn truly what it is to live in light of the gospel.

We are already indebted to Fred Zaspel for his work The Theology of B. B. Warfield—a book that has introduced a new generation to the voluminous writings of a Princeton scholar who was both New Testament interpreter and systematic theologian. Warfield’s style feels a tad impenetrable to many contemporary readers, but through Zaspel, Warfield, though dead, still speaks. But can any devotional and practical guidance come out of old Princeton? Zaspel’s latest contribution, Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel, does not simply answer with a resounding affirmative, but again faithfully unpacks Warfield and shows him to be a theologian of head and heart. Above all, Warfield is an integrated thinker, so he is ideally equipped to show how that which is central to the Bible, the gospel of God, rightly shapes the Christian’s entire life. And Zaspel makes this accessible.

—D. A. Carson, research professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

If the only thing Fred Zaspel had accomplished in these pages were to point us to B. B. Warfield’s masterpiece sermons in his too-little-known Faith and Life, he would have done the church yeoman service. But he has done much, much more! In Warfield on the Christian Life we are given the privilege of sitting at the feet of a Christ-centered, Bible-saturated, gospel-loving theologian of the first rank and learning how to say, ‘To me to live is Christ.’ A very welcome addition to what promises to be a valuable series.

—Sinclair B. Ferguson, senior minister, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, SC

B. B. Warfield is among the greatest theologians America has ever produced, and Fred Zaspel is among his greatest living interpreters. Comprehensive, insightful, and remarkably compelling, Zaspel’s Warfield on the Christian Life is a masterful presentation of an understanding of the Christian life that values Christian experience and at the same time is ‘deeply and thoroughly theological.’ While Zaspel’s Warfield is a theological giant who enjoys the well-earned reputation as ‘a theological army of one,’ he is also ‘a theologian of the heart’ who recognizes that believers ‘live unto Christ . . .

—Paul Kjoss Helseth, associate professor of Christian thought, Northwestern College

B. B. Warfield looms large in the Protestant imagination as a theologian, one of the giants in the land. What is less well known are the details and dynamics of his own approach to the Christian life. Fred Zaspel has already written a substantial volume on Warfield as theologian; now he opens up for us the world of Warfield’s practical Christianity. Once again, fans of the great Princetonian are in for a treat, and are deeply and delightfully in debt to Dr. Zaspel.

—Carl R. Trueman, Paul Woolley Professor of Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary

Fred G. Zaspel (PhD, Free University of Amsterdam) is a pastor at Reformed Baptist Church in Franconia, Pennsylvania, and adjunct professor of systematic theology at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Landsdale, Pennsylvania. He is co-author of New Covenant Theology and has published numerous booklets, articles, and book reviews.

Wesley on the Christian Life: The Heart Renewed in Love

• Author: Fred Sanders
• Series Editors: Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor
• Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 272

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

John Wesley was one of the most important figures behind the founding of modern evangelicalism. From playing a crucial role in the Great Awakening to inspiring a renewal movement within the Church of England, Wesley’s historical significance is undeniable and his legacy challenges us today regardless of our particular denominational affiliation or theological perspective. Offering an approachable introduction to his life and writings, Fred Sanders invites us to learn from Wesley’s reliance on the Spirit, passion for holiness, and zeal for the gospel in this winsome portrait of an extraordinary Christian leader.

Fred Sanders feels the heartbeat of Wesleyan theology. His scholarship never lacks evangelical integrity or practical realism. Here is stimulating reading from a gifted teacher. Everyone who loves the gospel will resonate with the message of this book.

—Robert E. Coleman, Distinguished Senior Professor of Evangelism and Discipleship, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

As usual, Fred Sanders brings out treasures of his research without making us do all the digging ourselves. Though respectful of John Wesley, I’ve never been what you’d call a fan. But that’s exactly why a book like this is so worthwhile. Challenging caricatures, Sanders offers a welcoming portrait of Wesley that is too even-handed and well substantiated to be his own fabrication. If the purpose of this series is to display the resources of the past for the present, then Wesley on the Christian Life is a home run.

—Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

One of the symptoms of the contemporary malaise of the Methodist movement is a growing disconnect with the actual life and teachings of our beloved founder, John Wesley. Fred Sanders has given us a wonderful gift in this practical introduction to the life and thought of Wesley. Sanders shows us that Wesley’s thought cannot be summarized in terms of doctrinal distinctives, but is fully understood in the sanctifying winds of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace and a transformed heart. I recommend this book to all those ‘restless and Reformed’ brothers and sisters who need to understand this part of the church, as well as all those pastors and laity across the country who are longing for a guide to reintroduce Wesley to ‘the people called Methodist.

—Timothy C. Tennent, president and professor of world Christianity, Asbury Theological Seminary

Readers are in for a treat here. Lively and thoughtful, appreciative but not uncritical, this book shows compellingly why even those who would not call themselves Wesleyan have a great deal to benefit from John Wesley.

—Michael Reeves, Theologian-at-Large, Wales Evangelical School of Theology

Fred Sanders is associate professor of theology at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute. A popular blogger and speaker, Sanders has authored numerous journal articles and written or contributed to several books, including The Image of the Immanent Trinity.