One of the many positive impacts of a good seminary or bible college education is the required reading that many of the courses include. Many of the publications which are brought into your path you may not have otherwise encountered[1]. Sometimes, however, this can also be a drawback. A student may find themselves trudging through a book that wouldn’t normally have drawn their attention. Likewise, there may be books that would benefit your soul greatly to spend time going through, but due to the quantity of required reading, there is simply no “free-time” for these books. Fortunately, many of the courses I‘ve been privileged to take at Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary cross over these lines and have set before me many books that I have wanted to read or subjects that I have wanted to study and have done a good job of selected representative, quality publications. Below is a list of some of the courses I’ve either taken or am currently enrolled in and the required reading for each. I always enjoy getting the syllabus for a new class and finding out what the required books are. Perhaps this list may help you in building your own library or in reading books for particular subjects. I’ve graded some of these books (and there are excellent online articles mixed in as well): Green for Recommended; Orange for Informative but not necessarily must read; and Red for I wish I hadn’t been forced to read this. Thankfully, there are very few of the latter category.
Old Testament I (2 hrs; Dr. Bob Gonzeles):
Merrill, Eugene H., Mark F. Rooker, and Michael A. Grisanti. The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament. B & H Academic, 2011.
Kitchen, Kenneth A. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Eerdmans, 2003.
Arnold, Bill T., and Bryan Beyer. Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey. 2nd edition. Baker Academic, 2008.
Old Testament II (2 hrs; Dr. Bob Gonzales):
Merrill, Eugene H., Mark F. Rooker, and Michael A. Grisanti. The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament. B & H Academic, 2011. (Continued from OT I)
200 pages from an extensive supplemental reading list; I chose to read more from:Arnold, Bill T., and Bryan Beyer. Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey. 2nd edition. Baker Academic, 2008. And excerpts from: Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from the Old Testament. Eerdmans, 1999.
Hermeneutics (3 hrs; Dr. Richard Barcellos):
Baugh, S. M. “Hermeneutics and Biblical Theology” in Modern Reformation 2/2 (November-December 1993) http://www.bibleresearcher.com/baugh1.html
Beale, G. K. “Did Jesus and his Followers Preach the Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts?” Themelios 14.3 (April 1989): 91-96. http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/journal-issues/14.3_Beale.pdf
Beale, G.K. “Did Jesus and the Apostles Preach the Right Doctrine from the Wrong Text? Revisiting the Debate Seventeen Years Later in the Light of Peter Enns’ Book, Inspiration and Incarnation” in Themelios 32.1 (October 2006): 18-43 http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/journal-issues/32.1_beale.pdf
Berkhof, Louis. Principles of Biblical Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1950 (various editions; 166pp.).
Carson, D. A. Exegetical Fallacies. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984 (various printings)
Foulkes, Francis. “The Acts of God: A Study of the Basis of Typology in the Old Testament” a paper delivered at a meeting convened by the Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Research on July 1, 1955. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/acts_of_god_foulkes.pdf
Glenny, W. Edward. “Typology: A Summary Of The Present Evangelical Discussion” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:4 (March 1997): 627-38. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_typology_glenny.html
Johnson, Dennis E. Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2007.
McCartney, Dan G. “Should we employ the hermeneutics of the New Testament writers?” a paper delivered at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2003 (14pp.). http://www.bible-researcher.com/mccartney1.html
McCartney Dan and Clayton, Charles. Let the Reader Understand. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2002.
Poythress, Vern S. “The Presence of God Qualifying Our Notions of Grammatical-Historical Interpretation: Genesis 3:15 as a Test Case” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50/1 (2007): 87-103 (14pp.). http://www.frame-poythress.org/the-presence-of-god-qualifying-our-notions-ofgrammatical-historical-interpretation-genesis-315-as-a-test-case/
Poythress, Vern S. “What is Literal Interpretation?” in Reformed Perspectives Magazine, Volume 11, Number 29, July 19 to July 25 2009. http://reformedperspectives.org/articles/ver_poythress/ver_poythress.Literal.Interpretation.pdf
Symbolics (3 hrs; Dr. Samuel Waldron):
Sam Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 2009).
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).
Historical I – Early Church History (3 hrs; Dr. Samuel Waldron):
N. R. Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power: Part One—The Age of the Early Church Fathers, Revised and Updated (London: Grace Publications Trust, 2011).
J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (New York: Harper & Row, 1978).
Hendrick F. Stander, Johannes P. Louw, Baptism in the Early Church (EP Books, 2004).
Historical II – Medieval Church History (3 hrs; Dr. Samuel Waldron):
Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967).
Augustine, On Grace and Free Will; On Rebuke and Grace; On The Predestination of the Saints; On The Gift of Perseverance (Approximately 150 pages)
J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (New York: Harper&Row, 1978).
Major Reformation Documents (150 pages):
- The Council of Trent, 3rd to 6th Session
- Augsburg Confession, First Part
- Martin Luther, Preface to the Commentary on Galatians
- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 1: The Things Spoken concerning Christ Profit Us by the Secret Working of the Spirit
- The Canons of Dordt
Historical III – Modern Church History (3 hrs; Dr. Samuel Waldron):
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 5: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700) (University of Chicago Press, 1991).
J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1923).
The Great Commission: Evangelicals and the History of World Missions, edited by Martin Klauber and Scott Manetsch (B&H Publishing Group: Nashville, 2007).
Geoff Thomas, Ernest C. Reisinger: A Biography (Banner of Truth, 2002).
Doctrine of Last Things (2 hrs; Dr. Samuel Waldron):
Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future
313 pages from Other Reading:
- Kim Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism (did not read)
- Charles Hill, Regnum Caelorum (did not read)
- Sam Waldron, Eschatology Made Simple
- Sam Waldron, More of the End Times Made Simple
- Sam Waldron, MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response
Evangelism and Missions (3 hrs; Dr. David Sills):
Ashford, Bruce R. Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations. Nashville: B&H, 2011.
DeYoung, Kevin and Greg Gilbert. What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011.
Piper, John. Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions. 3rd edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010.
Sills, M. David. The Missionary Call: Find your place in God’s plan for the world. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2008.
Sills, M. David. Reaching and Teaching: A call to Great Commission obedience. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2010.
Doctrine of the Church (3 hrs; Dr. Samuel Waldron):
Edmund P. Clowney, The Church (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995).
Who Runs the Church?: 4 View on Church Government, ed. Steven B. Cowan (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).
James Bannerman, The Church of Christ (2 volumes) (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974).
Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology (2 hrs; Dr. Fred Malone):
Palmer Robertson. The Christ of the Covenants (Philipsburg, N. J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishers, 1980).
Samuel E. Waldron. A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1989).
Pascal Denault. The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology (Birmingham: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2013).
Nehemiah Coxe and John Owen. Covenant Theology from Adam to Christ. (Palmdale, CA: Reformed Baptist Academic Press, 2004).
Samuel Bolton. True Bounds of Christian Freedom (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1647).
Biblical Theology I (3 hrs; Dr. Richard Barcellos)[2] :
Alexander, T. Desmond. From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2008.
Beale, G. K. “Did Jesus and His Followers Preach the Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? An Examination of the Presuppositions of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ Exegetical Method” in G. K. Beale, Editor, The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994.
Dempster, Stephen G. Dominion and dynasty: A theology of the Hebrew Bible. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
Foulkes, Francis. “The Acts of God: A Study of the Basis of Typology in the Old Testament” in G. K. Beale, Editor, The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994.
Goldsworthy, Graeme. Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012. – Have not read this yet, but looks really good.
Thompson, Alan J. The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s account of God’s unfolding plan. Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011.
[1] This of course isn’t to say that one cannot read on the seminary or college level independent of the educational requirements. Most certainly, many can and do read broadly and widely, perhaps even more in quantity and quality than most academic institutions.
[2] Not yet enrolled, but I have begun the reading
