Crossway Studies on the Bible (8 vols.)

by Mark Dever; John F. MacArthur Jr.; Graeme Goldsworthy; Leland Ryken

and

9 more

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2005–2014

Overview

From the beginning, Crossway has been committed “to publish gospel-centered, Bible-centered content that will honor our Savior and serve his Church.” This well-rounded collection brings together some of their recent scholarship that touches on a wide array of topics within biblical studies. Issues from translation, exegesis and the origin of the Bible to a general overview of the Bible’s “big picture” and the way in which Jesus communicates are all covered in these volumes. Whether you are looking for a good introduction to key aspects of contemporary biblical interpretation or are seeking to glean new insights into the message of the Bible and the manner it communicates, this collection will enrich your library.

Key Features

• Covers a wide variety of fundamental topics in contemporary biblical studies
• Includes nearly 3,000 pages of top-notch scholarship
• Provides new insights into the way that Jesus communicates to his audience in the Gospels

Product Details

• Title: Crossway Studies on the Bible
• Publisher: Crossway
• Volumes: 8
• Pages: 2,992
• Christian Group: Evangelical
• Resource Type: Monographs
• Topic: Biblical Studies

Understanding Scripture: An Overview of the Bible’s Origin, Reliability, and Meaning

• Editors: Wayne Grudem, C. John Collins, and Thomas R. Schreiner
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 208

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Why is the Bible trustworthy? Does archaeology confirm what the Bible says? How do I interpret the Bible? The Bible is the most important book in the world. But questions like these puzzle believers and unbelievers alike. Editors and scholars Wayne Grudem, C. John Collins, and Thomas Schreiner recognize the challenge we all face and offer this volume to help us properly understand the Bible.

Covering a diverse range of essential subjects, including how to read the Bible well and why it is reliable, these 18 essays delve into specific topics such as world religions, canon, and archaeology. Pastors, lay leaders, students, and other Christians engaged in studying God’s Word will benefit from this collection, written by notable contributors, including J.I. Packer, John Piper, Daniel B. Wallace, and Vern Poythress.

Useful as both a general overview of the Bible and as a tool for more specific reference and training, this book will help you grow in your understanding of Scripture and your ability to apply the Bible to life.

Wayne Grudem is research professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary, having previously taught for 20 years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Grudem earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, as well as an MDiv from Westminster Seminary. He is the former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, a cofounder and past president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version of the Bible, the general editor of the Politics according to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture, and has published over 20 books, including Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know, Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business, 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, and Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood.

C. John Collins is professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. With degrees from MIT and Faith Evangelical Lutheran Seminary, he pursues such research interests as Hebrew and Greek grammar, science and faith, and biblical theology. He is the author of Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, and Theological Commentary and The God of Miracles: An Exegetical Examination of God’s Action in the World.

Thomas R. Schreiner is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Schreiner is a Pauline scholar and the author or editor of numerous books, including the New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, New American Commentary: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude, The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments, and Believer’s Baptism: The Covenant Sign of the New Age in Christ.

Understanding English Bible Translation: The Case for an Essentially Literal Approach

• Author: Leland Ryken
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 208

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From the KJV to the NIV, NLT, ESV, and beyond, English Bible translations have never been as plentiful as they are today. This proliferation has also brought confusion regarding translation differences and reliability. This book brings clarity to the issues and makes a strong case for an essentially literal approach.

Taking into account the latest developments in Bible translation, Leland Ryken expertly clarifies the issues that underlie modern Bible translation by defining the terms that govern this discipline and offering a helpful Q&A. He then contrasts the two main translation traditions—essentially literal and dynamic equivalence—and concludes with sound reasons for choosing the former, with suggestions for using such a translation in the church.

This book will appeal to thoughtful readers who have questions about Bible translation; individuals, churches, and ministries in the process of choosing a translation; and college and seminary students and faculty.

Leland Ryken served as professor of English at Wheaton College for nearly 50 years. He has authored or edited over 50 books, including The Word of God in English, Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible, 2nd ed., and editor of Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. He is a frequent speaker at the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meetings and served as literary stylist for the English Standard Version Bible.

The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables

• Author: Jared C. Wilson
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2014
• Pages: 192

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The prodigal son. The good Samaritan. The treasure hidden in a field. Most of us have heard Jesus’s parables before. Yet if these stories strike us as merely sweet, heartwarming, or sentimental, we can be sure we’ve misread them. In The Storytelling God, pastor Jared Wilson helps us to see how Jesus’ parables reveal profound spiritual truths about God, humanity, the world, and the future.

Discarding the notion that Christ’s parables are nothing more than moralistic fables, this book highlights how each one is designed to drive us to Jesus in awe, need, faith, and worship.

Jared Wilson’s new book is a punch in the gut. Gone are the tame, bedtime-story versions of the parables we’ve been told in the past. Instead, Wilson invites us to see them afresh with all of their explosive, imaginative power.

—Mike Cosper, pastor of worship and arts, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky

In showing us the parables of Jesus for what they are (and are not), Jared Wilson invites us into a deeper understanding of their author and the kingdom he came to establish. The Storytelling God teaches us to read and reflect upon the parables with great care, and rightly so. The parables, and this book, point the way to life abundant.

—Scott McClellan, communications pastor, Irving Bible Church, Irving, Texas

My own bookshelf has precious few commentaries on the parables and this will definitely fit nicely into that gap. In fact, this book is actually two books for the price of one. Part devotional commentary and also doubling as a solid gospel tract. This book serves the gospel straight up on a plate. His chapter commenting on the gospel and the poor is worth the price of the book alone. Clear, straightforward, biblical, gospel-centered writing. Definitely recommended reading.

—Mez McConnell, senior pastor, Niddrie Community Church, Edinburgh, Scotland

Jared C. Wilson is the director of content strategy at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, and managing editor of the seminary’s website for gospel-centered resources, For the Church. He is a popular author and conference speaker, and also blogs regularly at Gospel Driven Church hosted by the Gospel Coalition. His books include Your Jesus Is Too Safe, Gospel Wakefulness, Gospel Deeps, The Pastor’s Justification, The Storytelling God, and To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain.

How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator

• Authors: Joe Carter and John Coleman
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 176

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How to Argue like Jesus uses Jesus’ words and actions found in the New Testament to systematically evaluate his rhetorical stylings, drawing real lessons from his teachings that today’s readers can employ. Jesus of Nazareth never wrote a book, held political office, or wielded a sword. He never gained sway with the mighty or influential. He never took up arms against the governing powers in Rome. He was a lower-class worker who died an excruciating death at the age of thirty-three. Yet, in spite of all odds—obscurity, powerlessness, and execution—his words revolutionized human history.

Joe Carter and John Coleman examine the life and words of Jesus and describe the various ways in which he sought—through the spoken word, his life, and his disciples—to reach others with his message. The authors then pull some very simple rhetorical lessons from Jesus’ life that readers can use today. Both Christian and non-Christian leaders in just about any field can improve their ability to communicate effectively by studying the words and methods of history’s greatest communicator.

How to Argue Like Jesus will help communications professors to teach angelically. Carter and Coleman Christianize Aristotle and add heavenly heuristics that show how Jesus used story and imagery, and how we can go and do likewise.

—Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief, World News Group

This engaging and edifying study by two gifted Christian writers shows that Jesus understood better than all the others both who he was talking to and what they needed to hear. It turns out that the right kind of straight talk really can confound the smooth experts, and being rhetorically effective doesn’t have to be at the expense of your good name. This is a genuine self-help book.

—Peter Lawler, professor of government, Berry College

Anti-intellectualism plagues the modern church, but the best response is not a false intellectualism. How to Argue like Jesus falls into neither trap. It effectively teaches logic and critical thinking in the context of a well-lived life. This is what the church needs.

—John Mark Reynolds, associate professor of philosophy, Biola University

Joe Carter is the managing editor for Culture11, an online magazine. His personal blog, The Evangelical Outpost, was voted Best Religious Blog in the 2005 Weblog Awards and was named one of the Best Spiritual Blogs by Belief.net. Carter, who earned his BA from Excelsior College, contributed to Crossway’s The New Media Frontier.

John Coleman was named the nation’s top overall intercollegiate speech competitor in 2004. After working for two years at a top management consulting firm. Coleman earned an MBA at the Harvard Business School and an MPA at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis

• Editors: Darrell L. Bock and Buist M. Fanning
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 480

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With the explosive increase in availability of English Bible translations, the question can easily be asked, “Why bother with the hard work of biblical exegesis?” Computers can translate foreign languages and our English texts can take us very close to the original meanings, so why exegete? Answer: because the deepest truths of the Bible are found through the deepest study.

This book teaches the principles, methods, and fundamentals of exegeting the New Testament. It also has examples of textual exegesis that clearly and helpfully show the value of exegeting a text well. Any serious student of Scripture would benefit from utilizing this book in the study of the Bible.

Interpreting the New Testament Text is a contemporary application of Paul’s charge to Timothy to study to present himself to God, approved as one who correctly handles the word of truth. Highly recommended!

—Andreas J. Köstenberger, senior research professor of New Testament and biblical theology, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

This ‘how-to’ guide provides significant step-by-step help for first-year seminarians. It should prove very helpful.

—Klyne Snodgrass, professor of New Testament studies, North Park Theological Seminary

Not only an excellent textbook but also a useful refresher for pastors and teachers engaged in the weekly study of the text for ministry.

—Clinton E. Arnold, professor and chairman, Department of New Testament, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

Darrell L. Bock is a research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the author or editor of many books, including Jesus in Context: Background Readings for Gospel Study., Jesus according to Scripture, and Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods.

Buist M. Fanning is department chair and professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has taught New Testament for more than 30 years and is the author of The Warning Passages of Hebrews: Four Perspectives.

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made

• Author: Mark Dever
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 960

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The Old Testament is the story of God’s promises to his people. Below its somewhat obscure surface is hidden magnificent truth about the love and power of God. Throughout its pages the reader can find promise after promise from God, all of which are fulfilled in the New Testament—in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Author Mark Dever introduces readers to the Old Testament as a glorious whole so that they are able to see the big picture of the majesty of God and the wonder of his promises.

For many Christians the Old Testament is daunting and confusing. The books are long and speak about a culture dramatically different from ours. Mark Dever’s sermons do not substitute for reading the Old Testament, but they do provide a wonderful help in understanding it. Dever unpacks the major themes of each book with remarkable clarity, and the book also shines in conveying the message of the Old Testament for today. Here is a survey to the Old Testament that is accessible and spiritually edifying.

—Thomas R. Schreiner, professor of New Testament interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

To hear the Bible tell its own story in its own way—this is the obvious but all-too-rare strategy for reading the Book of books. I thank Dr. Mark Dever for showing us how. We are immeasurably enriched.

—Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., lead pastor, Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee

This is a bold project, some might say foolhardy, but Mark Dever has brilliantly succeeded. This is no mere textbook—it is powerful preaching. We are not only introduced to the sweep and message of each book of the Bible but, above all, confronted by our great God and called to obey his living word.

—Vaughan Roberts, rector, St. Ebbe’s, Oxford, England

Mark Dever is senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and pastor of 9Marks Ministries. Dever speaks regularly at national conferences, and has authored more than a dozen books, including The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, What Is a Healthy Church?, and It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement.

The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept

• Author: Mark Dever
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 560

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The New Testament is the story of how all the promises made by God in the Old Testament were kept—and what that means for us today. The nation of Israel had many hopes: hope for a deliverer, hope for restored fellowship with God, and hope for the world to be put right. The New Testament explains how those promises were kept and how, if we are Christians, they are kept in us as well.

Mark Dever surveys the historical context, organization, and theology of each New Testament book, in light of God’s Old Testament promises. His message is that of the New Testament itself, one of hope fulfilled.

Many Bible readers are familiar with individual trees while failing to see the forest. They are in great danger of misinterpreting the parts of the Bible they read because they do not see the entire structure of a Gospel like John or an epistle like Ephesians. Mark Dever fills a gaping need with his sermons on each of the individual books.

—Thomas R. Schreiner, professor of New Testament interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Mark Dever’s approach is thematic without ignoring the literary and theological structure of the books and is thus a stimulus to doctrinal preaching.

—Graeme Goldsworthy, former lecturer in Old Testament, biblical theology, and hermeneutics, Moore Theological College

Here is a vigorous, juicy, engaging, life-centered, God-honoring set of sermons, brilliantly overviewing the entire New Testament: a truly rich resource from which to benefit and borrow. Dr. Dever is a Puritan in twenty-first-century clothing, and it shows.

—J.I. Packer, professor of theology, Regent College

Mark Dever is senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and pastor of 9Marks Ministries. Dever speaks regularly at national conferences, and has authored more than a dozen books, including The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, What Is a Healthy Church?, and It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement.

Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts

• Author: Jerram Barrs
• Publisher: Crossway
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 208

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Art is all around you. Yet few of us can effectively explain why certain movies, books, plays, and songs resonate so profoundly within us, and more importantly how they attest to God’s character.

Professor Jerram Barrs gives us the three key elements for evaluating great art. He then puts those qualifiers to the test by investigating five of the world’s most influential authors—empowering us to better understand the character of God and helping others to know him too.

Echoes of Eden is the most accessible, readable, and yet theologically robust work on Christianity and the arts that you will be able to find. It is biblical, theologically sound, filled with examples, and edifying. It anticipates and answers well all the most common questions that evangelical people ask about the arts. I highly recommend it.

—Timothy J. Keller, pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

Jerram Barrs clearly loves the Christian vision of being human, and he loves human beings of all sorts. In this book he helps us to enjoy the fundamentally human activity of the arts, showing us how ‘all great art contains elements of the true story: the story of the good creation, the fallen world, and the longing for redemption.’ The chapters giving us a tour of great Christian writers—Lewis, Tolkien, Rowling, Shakespeare, and Austen—bubble over with passionate delight in these authors’ artistic and moral achievements.

—C. John Collins, professor of Old Testament, Covenant Theological Seminary

For as long as I have known him, Jerram Barrs has passionately loved the arts. In Echoes of Eden he lets us share his passion by allowing us a glimpse of the beauty, truth, and grace he sees in the imaginative work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, William Shakespeare, and Jane Austen. If he stopped there, this would be a book worth reading, but he digs far deeper, framing our understanding of the arts within the biblical worldview. From that perspective, human creativity is a good gift of God in a broken world, an expression of the image of the Creator in which we are made. Because of the brokenness, Barrs outlines 11 broad categories by which to judge a piece of art, since God’s image is always portrayed in ways that are flawed and incomplete. I hope Echoes of Eden is read and discussed widely by Christians. The truth of its message can help nurture a Christian imagination, restore the arts to their proper place in the church, and help us frame the unchanging gospel in a way that will cause a postmodern world to consider its claims.

—Denis Haack, visiting instructor in practical theology, Covenant Seminary

Jerram Barrs is the founder and resident scholar of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute at Covenant Theological Seminary, where he teaches apologetics and outreach as professor of Christianity and contemporary culture. He and his wife also served on staff at English L’Abri for many years. He is the author of Learning Evangelism from Jesus and Echoes of Eden.