In this spot for the last few weeks I’ve been discussing books that I recommended in a session I led at PTP on books worth reading. I had been doing some research on the women-in-ministry issue, so I mentioned some books that had helped me in my study. Here they are:

Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. I believe the Bible teaches the complementarian perspective on gender roles, and I found this book to be incredibly helpful. It has chapters written by different writers, and it addresses the most important texts (Gen. 1-2, 1 Cor. 11, 14, 1 Tim 2, etc.). But it also includes chapters on practical questions that arise when we’re thinking about what complementarianism looks like on the local level. As with almost everything I recommend, I don’t agree with everything in this book, but that doesn’t take away from its usefulness.

One of the authors in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is Thomas Schreiner, and he wrote this a few days ago: “Women Preachers? A Response to Perry Noble.” It’s worth reading.

If you want to understand what people on the egalitarian side of the issue are saying, you should get this book: Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy edited by Ronald Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, and Gordon Fee.

When I was asking friends what I should read if I wanted to understand the egalitarian viewpoint, several pointed me to this book: The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight. This is a popular-level book that frustrated me in many ways, and at the end I don’t think McKnight makes his case. But this would be a good book to pick up if you want to know what’s making the rounds in the evangelical world.

Good stuff to read:

“That Vital Moment in Every Preacher’s Week” by Eric Raymond

“But here is the tension: we go to bed on Sunday night and wake up Monday morning and nothing has changed. We meet with the same people during the week and they seem like the same people. We see them again on the next Lord’s Day and they still seem the same. We want to microwave sanctification but we can’t. It takes time, oftentimes a lifetime.”

“Reflections from 40 Years in Pastoral Ministry” by Jeff Robinson

I’ve enjoyed the Preaching the Word series of commentaries that R. Kent Hughes has edited (and he has authored some of them), as well as his book, Disciplines of a Godly Man. He’s recently published a new book on ministry that looks good. The article linked above is a Q&A with Hughes on some of the thoughts that he explores in the book.

“The System I Use for Long Term Scripture Memorization” by Chris Brauns

Fascinating, very practical look at one method of memorizing Scripture.

“Debunking Stupid Statements about the Bible: An Exercise in Biblical Transmission” by Greg Gilbert

Because of the influence of higher criticism over the past 200 years and the recent popularity of people like Richard Dawkins and Bart Ehrman, we need to be well-versed in how to respond to arguments that suggest that the gospels are fictional documents with little historical value. This article is a good introduction.

“Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books” by Albert Mohler

Mohler reads more than what seems to be humanly possible, so he’s worth listening to on this topic.

“5 Ways to Deepen Your Preaching” by Gavin Ortlund

Sunday comes every week, doesn’t it? It’s a constant struggle not to allow our preaching to become shallow and repetitive.