"1. Name the five books (or scholars) that had the most immediate and lasting influence on how you read the Bible. Note that these need not be your five favorite books, or even the five with which you most strongly agree. Instead, I want to know what five books have permanently changed the way you think.
2. Tag five others."
I'm going to tweak things a little. Instead of narrowing to books that have influenced how I read the bible, I'm going to broaden the category to include books that have influenced me in other ways, or books that I have just simply enjoyed reading. Here goes:
1. Romans by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Looking back, it was Dr Jone's sermon expositions on the book of Romans (collated into a series of 11 books just covering Romans 1-11!) that really introduced me to the world of expository preaching that sets hearts on fire! They also introduced me to Reformed Doctrine and generated within me the seeds of interest in systematic theology
2. God's Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts.
Personally, I still think this is the simplest and clearest book written to date on Biblical Theology. Only at a 160 pages, it introduced me to the story-line of the bible and the theological motifs associated with it (i.e. biblical theology). Roberts acknowledges his indebtedness to Graeme Goldsworthy and his book is really a restatement of Goldsworthy's ideas - though I have to admit that it is written in a somewhat more readable fashion (A famous evangelist in Sydney once described this book as 'Goldsworthy without tears'!)
3. The Holy Trinity by Robert Letham.
If you have only time to pick up one book on the doctrine of the Trinity, it would have to be this. Letham's treatment of the subject is organised and clear - he begins with the biblical foundations (OT and NT), then looks at the historical development of the doctrine (both Eastern and Western church), then looks at modern discussion on this topic (covering Karl Barth and Moltmann and Pannenberg among others), before ending with the implications of the doctrine (on the 4 areas of the incarnation; worship and prayer; Creation and Missions, and understanding of persons and personhood).
4. The Drama of Doctrine by Kevin Vanhoozer
Read this in my last year in college. This book is really about how we should think about doctrine and a probe into the nature of doctrine. Dr Vanhoozer proposes that the drama metaphor (or the theatrical metaphor) is particularly suitable for describing what doctrine is - Through the Word of God (the Script), God calls us to participate in his (theo)drama. Doctrine provides us with the direction we need for a fitting participation in this drama. What I really like about Dr Vanhoozer's proposal is that it bridges the gap between doctrine as cognitive and intellectual understanding and practice (or praxis). I hope to re-read this book again at some point and write a post on it.
5. The Gagging of God by D.A. Carson
As mentioned in my earlier posts (see here and here), what I appreciated about Carson's book is his ability to draw out the implications of the biblical story-line (by considering key moments in salvation history) for our lives. He shows us the great theological motifs that arise from the bible's story-line and in doing so, provides us a model of how one can do systematic theology keeping the larger biblical theological framework in mind.
A couple more books I could further add on, but that's for another time another place.
As for tagging, you know what? Most of the people on my blog list have already been tagged before! Guess I'm one of the last!
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