In addition, preachers will want to know of books related to current controversies and issues of cultural debate. Important books in this regard would include Intelligent Design: William A. Dembski & Michael Ruse in Dialogue edited by Robert B. Stuart (Fortress Press); Reasons for Faith: Making a Case for the Christian Faith by Norman L. Geisler and Chad V. Meister (Crossway); Rethinking World View: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in this World by J. Mark Bertrand (Crossway); A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the World View Test by Kenneth Richard Samples (Baker); The Supremacy of Christ in a Post-Modern World edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor (Crossway) and The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath (InterVarsity Press). As the McGrath’s acknowledge, Richard Dawkins has emerged as “the world’s most high-profile atheist polemicist, who directs a withering criticism against every form of religion.” The McGrath’s offer a critique and response to the challenge represented by Dawkins and his best-selling volume, The God Delusion.

Important works in historical studies of interest to preachers include The Expansion of Evangelicalism by John Wolffe (InterVarsity Press). This volume continues a major series of the history of evangelicalism, looking at one of the most formative periods of evangelical history. Those looking for an introduction to the patristic era will welcome The Fathers of the Church by Hubertus R. Drobner (Hendrickson) and Getting to Know the Church Fathers by Bryan M. Litfin (Baker).

Thabiti M. Anyabwile has produced a most interesting volume in The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three African-American Pastors (Crossway). Anyabwile, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman Islands, chose three preachers who deserved closer study because of “their consistently high and biblical view of the pastoral ministry.” All pastors would be encouraged and instructed by this volume.

Significant biographies released in the past year include William Wilberforce: A Biography by Stephen Tomkins (Eerdmans); John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken (Crossway); Billy Graham: His Life and Influence by David Aikman (Thomas Nelson) and The Expository Preaching of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson (Reformation Trust). Lawson looks carefully at Calvin as a model of exposition. As Lawson reflects, Calvin “literally died quoting the Bible he preached, having expended himself in the work and will of God.” Preachers will also welcome the republication of T.H.L. Parker’s John Calvin: A Biography (Westminster John Knox Press).

Two specialized studies also will be of interest to preachers. Stephen J. Nichols has produced For Us and for Our Salvation: The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church (Crossway) and Alister McGrath has produced Christianity’s Dangerous Idea (Harper One). This volume represents McGrath’s history of what he calls “the Protestant Revolution.”

Other Volumes of Interest
Overtime, the preacher’s bookshelf is likely to include an entire collection of books that defy categorization. The past year has seen the release of many volumes that will be of interest to preachers. These range from works that engage the culture to others that preachers will find helpful in dealing with particular issues of current controversy or church ministry.