I’ve been using the English Standard Version of the Bible as my standard translation for about four years now. I preach from it, teach from it, do personal study with it, and generally use it for everything. It’s a great translation.

One of the first things I noticed about the early ESV product line in 2004 was the lack of a solid study bible, containing notes and commentary. Over the years, there has been the Reformation Study Bible, as well as a Literary Study Bible, however both of these have a specific audience in mind. I was looking for more of a general purpose study Bible. The ESV site said they had one in mind for long-term planning, but no details were available.

Over time, my personal desire for a Study Bible has lessened, primarily because I’ve found my other tools and scholarly texts to be more useful as study aids than any one condensed study bible could be. However, I do actively teach verse-by-verse studies through the Bible in my church, and more often than not, the folks I teach don’t have the resources or desire to purchase dozens of commentaries and systematic theology volumes.

That brings me to the point of this post. Crossway is about to announce information regarding the release of the ESV Study Bible. This is quite exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with, and have signed up for email news bulletins as info becomes available.

Justin Taylor has confirmed that Wayne Grudem is also the General Editor of the Study Bible. This makes me even more excited. I’ve found Grudem’s Systematic Theology to be immensely helpful, and am sure this study bible will be great for my people.

Following Calvin and Mandy, I too took the Book Quiz. My response: Huh?

You’re Brave New World!

by Aldous Huxley
With an uncanny ability for predicting the future, you are a true psychic. You can see how the world will change and illuminate the fears of future generations. In the world to come, you see the influence of the media, genetic science, drugs, and class warfare. And while all this might make you happy, you claim the right to be unhappy. While pregnancy might seem painful, test tube babies scare you most. You are obsessed with the word “pneumatic”.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I’ve joined my friends Calvin and Mandy in taking the “What Kind of Reader Are You?” quiz.

Results:

This little book by Rick Cornish is just that - little. However, what it lacks in size in makes up for in usefulness. Originally written by Cornish to teach his sons about church history, 5 Minute Church Historian is a very accessible if-not-simplified overview of church history. While many historical texts are dry and uninspiring volumes, even to those with an affinity for historical studies, this book excels at capturing one’s attention, and keeping it.

I wouldn’t suggest this book as the primary text for a class on church history. Indeed, there are few if any citations regarding the accuracy and sources of Cornish’s writings. However, this book is a great introduction or refresher to important events in the development of the church. It may be an ideal tool for a pastor to loan to church members interested in church history.

Written in a somewhat devotional manner, each chapter is two-to-three pages long, covering the bare-bones of each topic, usually a historical person or people-group, with the occasional church concil thrown in for good measure. Cornish doesn’t approach history from the typical value-free vantage point. Instead, he has a knack for pulling valuable lessons and examples of faith from believers of the past, even those who were controversial in their day (and perhaps still are).

This is a great book. My only complaint is that it lacks citations, however academia wasn’t the focus of the book to begin with. It does include a recommended reading list for those who wish to go deeper. Well done.

I purchased this book the day before I was installed as a pastor at North Country Fellowship. Being my first pastorate, I thought a book addressing the practical aspects of pastoral ministry might be appropriate.

On Being a Pastor was co-written by Pastors Derek Prime and Alistair Begg, and also includes foreword by R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary. The authors both hail from Scotland, though Begg has spent nearly 30 years ministering in the United States.

Attention is paid to a well-rounded variety of the aspects of pastoral ministry, including calling and character, prayer, scriptural study, preaching. However, the book also touches on a pastor’s personal devotions, how one’s labor can influence his marriage and family, and how to avoid temptations unique to pastoral work. The sections are well-developed, and highly practical.

To support the thesis of each chapter, the manuscript is peppered with quotes and stories from different pastors’ sermons and memoirs. Many of these illustrations are drawn from Reformed ministers of days past, such as Charles Haddon Surgeon, Alexander Whyte, W. E. Sangster, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. As a young pastor, these excerpts were especially helpful, and I regularly found myself checking citations in the back of the book to look for future reading.

They make a point to clarify that they don’t desire to see pastoral ministry become a “professional” pursuit, an idea that John Piper expands upon in his own book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. Early in the book they state that the distinction between clergy and laity, while useful in some ways, has been misunderstood over time and has become an unbiblical and unhealthy paradigm. In many ways, I resonate with that sentiment, and it plays out on how I do pastoral work in my own church.

Prime and Begg write from a significantly different church culture and life-background than my own, which obviously makes for some disconnects in ministry approach and social understanding. However, these differences were eye-opening and helpful to me, and more often than not I found myself saying “Yes!” Overall, I found the book to quite enjoyable.