The Life of the Church: The Table, Pulpit, and Square, by Joe Thorn. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2017. 109 pp. $11.99. In this short book, Joe Thorn, founding pastor of Redeemer Fellowship Church, proclaims that the church’s primary job is making disciples (10). In order to show strategically how the church should perform this task, he discusses three areas of church…

Worshiping with the Anaheim Vineyard, by Ruth A. Park and C. Rethmeier. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2017. 148 pp. $25.00. Worshiping with the Anaheim Vineyard is the fifth in a series of books published by Eerdmans designed to look at significant worship case studies from worshiping communities across the world, over the centuries, and throughout Christian history. Each…

Sing! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church, by Keith and Kristyn Getty. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2017. 176 pp. $12.99. “Though maybe misunderstood, regularly a bone of contention, and often under-practiced, congregational singing is one of the greatest and most beautiful tools we have been given to declare God’s ‘excellences,’ strengthening His Church and sharing His glory with…

Worship in the Way of the Cross: Leading Worship for the Sake of Others, by John Frederick. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2017. 208 pp. Kindle. $10.79. John Frederick, an assistant professor and the worship arts coordinator in the College of Theology at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, argues in Worship in the Way of the Cross that Jesus,…

Created & Creating: A Biblical Theology of Culture, by William Edgar. Downers Grove IL: IVP Academic, 2017. 262 pp. $24.00. What does culture mean to a Christian and the church? William Edgar, the John Boyer Chair of Evangelism and Culture and Professor of Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, suggests an answer in his book, Created & Creating: A Biblical Theology…

The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, by Rod Dreher. New York: Sentinel, 2017. 272 pp. $25.00. Perhaps the most remarkable feature about Rod Dreher’s much anticipated book, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, is how unremarkable his proposal really is. Yet it is a profoundly necessary correction for an American Christianity…

Thumbprint in the Clay: Divine Marks of Beauty, Order and Grace, by Luci Shaw. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016. 203 pp. $12.39. Luci Shaw, the author of the recently released book Thumbprint in the Clay: Divine Marks of Beauty, Order and Grace, writes of all things beautiful. With past experience as a co-founder of her own publishing company and…

The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit, by Paul J. Pastor. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2016. 303 pp. $16.99. “It’s good that you are; how wonderful that you exist!” This imaginative sentiment of the Holy Spirit towards His beloved elect becomes the expression of Paul Pastor’s attempt to uncover the person, the nature,…

The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry for Worship Leaders and Teams, by Zac Hicks. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016. 198 pages. Softcover. $17.99. Recently an increasing number of voices from among contemporary worship leaders have arisen to challenge the common performance mentality and encourage a ministry mindset. Zac Hicks, Canon for Worship and Liturgy at Cathedral Church of the Advent…

The World around the Old Testament: The People and Places of the Ancient Near East, edited by Bill T. Arnold and Brent A. Strawn. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016. 531pp. $25.03. “Perhaps second only to ‘What do you do (for a living)?,’ the question ‘Where are you from?’ must be the most frequent inquiry when people meet for the first…