Resources

Resources to assist in the living out of the Way known to the earliest Christians.

Here you will find resources that articulate well and–when necessary defend–orthodox Creedal Christianity using solid tools of modern Biblical interpretation and theology.  Here you will find links to the best books, articles, and other websites I am aware of in this respect.  Listing of resources does not imply endorsement of every perspective found therein, it merely states that I think on balance this is a resource worth mining.

Here you will find links to some of the best articles that shore up the intellectual claims of traditional Christian teachings on matters as varied as salvation, “God language,” and the moral life.

The End of Protestantism

Should Christians who seek to embrace the “the faith delivered once for all” think of themselves as Protestant? Presbyterian Peter J. Leithart doesn’t think so. After reading this article, what do you think?

Jesus, the Son of Humankind?  The Necessary Failure of Inclusive Language Translations
by Fr. Paul Mankowski, S. J. (originally published in Touchstone magazine)

This is one of the most complete and persuasive treaments of the topic of the theological and logical errors that necessarily accompany any project to translate Biblical texts using “inclusive language”… including inclusive language for human beings.

Here are some fantastic books that support orthodox Christian perspectives.  These are the kind of books I wish I had known about when I was in seminary.

Don’t just trust what you read in these books; compare them to the revisionist literature out there and make up your own mind.  Christian orthodoxy should be believed not because it is venerable, but because it is TRUE.

Listing of resources does not imply endorsement of every perspective found in these books, it merely states that we (I and the people who help me compose this list) think on balance these are books worth reading.

The Resurrection of the Son of God
Volume 3 in the Christian Origins and the Question of God Series by N. T. Wright

Pair this scholarly book with the work of Gary Habermas or the more popular work of J. Warner Wallace and you have a knock-down-drag-out case for THE central doctrine and historical anchor of the orthodox Christian faith.

What Have They Done with Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History–Why We Can Trust the Bible
by Ben Witherington

Written for a popular audience but rooted in sound scholarship, Witherington proves his titular thesis with the cool competency and aplomb that comes being rooted in fact rather than ideology.

Speaking the Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism
Edited by Alvin F. Kimel, Jr.

Why is the unsexed God of the Bible necessarily male gendered?  Why do all attempts to render the Biblical corpus otherwise not only fall flat poetically, but fail theologically?  This book explores the topic at length.

The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy
by C. Fitzsimons Allison

A brilliant exploration of the pastoral costs of poor Christological and Trinitarian theology–especially the sort that purports to serve minorities and women better–by a deeply compassionate pastor who seems to profoundly grasp the true nature of the office of “overseer.”

Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics
by Robert A.J. Gagnon

The definitive historical-critical apologia for the Church’s traditional teaching on same-sex and transsexual behavior.  If you can find an argument he has not addressed in this book in a thoroughly-footnoted way, you will be the first.

An Introduction to the New Testament
by Raymond Edward Brown

At my progressive seminary, one of my professors sneered about Raymond Brown, “He’s very predictable; he says, ‘here’s the conservative point of view and here’s the liberal point of view… then he goes right down the middle.'”  Maybe that is what would make this the ideal introductory text for people wishing to gain a scholarly perspective on the New Testament corpus…?