Select Bible & Christian Reference Books

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation and namesake of the Lutheran Tradition. He was born in Eisleben and was well-educated before entering the University of Erfurt. It was there that, rather than pursue an advanced law degree, Luther became an Augustinian monk. Between 1505 and 1512 he studied and lectured in theology, punctuated by achievement of his Doctorate at Wittenberg. By 1517 Luther was realizing in full the doctrine of justification by faith, as declared by the apostle Paul and Augustine. His publication of 95 theses against indulgences sparked protest throughout Germany, forcing Luther to defend his theology in disputations at Heidelberg and Leipzig. His treatises of 1520 brought him into greater conflict with the papacy, and he was excommunicated. After the Diet of Worms in 1521, he continued to define and uphold his theology, seeking to reform the Church, emphasizing the authority of Scripture and the Pauline doctrine of justification.

This is a short work, written by Luther in 1526, describing and offering guidelines for the Order of Divine Service (the daily worship) and the Sacrament (the Mass, or Lord's Supper). Luther is clear that there should be no attempt to establish a fixed set of rules or to compel anyone to worship or receive the sacrament in a particular manner – which would contradict the very doctrine of Christian liberty. On the other hand, in the early years of the Reformation there was a keenly felt need for instruction and guidance in both matters of worship and doctrine (Luther produced his two Catechisms in the same period, 1529). In particular there was great interest and desire to conduct a "German Mass", unique to the people and language. Luther describes the traditional Latin Mass, a popular German version of the same, but finally emphasizes what a true evangelical Mass entails; he also discusses Sunday services for the laity.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation and namesake of the Lutheran Tradition. He was born in Eisleben and was well-educated before entering the University of Erfurt. It was there that, rather than pursue an advanced law degree, Luther became an Augustinian monk. Between 1505 and 1512 he studied and lectured in theology, punctuated by achievement of his Doctorate at Wittenberg. By 1517 Luther was realizing in full the doctrine of justification by faith, as declared by the apostle Paul and Augustine. His publication of 95 theses against indulgences sparked protest throughout Germany, forcing Luther to defend his theology in disputations at Heidelberg and Leipzig. His treatises of 1520 brought him into greater conflict with the papacy, and he was excommunicated. After the Diet of Worms in 1521, he continued to define and uphold his theology, seeking to reform the Church, emphasizing the authority of Scripture and the Pauline doctrine of justification.

(Tischreden) This is a collection of Luther's conversations and teachings as recorded and compiled by some of his closest friends and disciples (principally John Aurifaber and Antony Lauterbach). The teachings – sometimes little more than short sayings – are divided into 850 sections and organized according to theological topics. The first German edition was published in 1566, and was reprinted several times, before a new edition appeared in 1569 – it has since been reprinted numerous times. The recorded conversations cover an incredibly wide range of topics – theological, scholarly, philosophical, rhetorical – often laced with humor, wit, or biting satire, and usually not without some degree of wisdom or insight. Many of Luther's contemporaries are discussed, as well as past figures and events of Church History. It is a true anecdotal compendium of Luther's thought, and is rather unique as a historical testament. This version contains Aurifaber's lengthy preface from the 1569 edition.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), was an eminent and highly influencial French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and theologian. Born in Clermont, he was educated by his father in Paris and Rouen. He distinguished himself in scientific research, including the invention of a calculating machine in 1642. Around the year 1646, he experienced his first conversion, under the influence of the writings of Jansen and Duvergier. He continued on with mathematical studies, helping to lay the foundation for differential and integral calculus. In 1653, he underwent a "second" conversion, and became associated with the Cistercian abbey of Port-Royal-des-Champs – an important center of Jansenist thought, focused on spiritual perfection as a result of renunciation and transformation of the heart. In this context, Pascal was spurred to defend Port-Royal and the Arnauld family against Jesuit attacks (his Provincial Letters, 1655-7). His great theological work, never completed, is expressed in Pensées.

This work is a summation of Pascal's theological notes at the time of his death, edited and published posthumously in 1670. Pascal had long nursed a desire to see atheists and philosophers converted to the Christian faith, and had written much in preparation of a major theological work to this end. His own spirituality was shaped by two major forces – scientific study and Jansenist mysticism, which allowed him to see and express most profoundly the limitation of both science and humanity against the infinite. His famous "Wager" (section 3 of the Pensées) involves human reason, but indeed begins where reason ends with a "leap of faith" across the infinite abyss between God and man. The faith and truth of Christianity is confirmed by Biblical prophecy, miracles, and in the person of Christ. Pascal's own paradox of belief – in man's grandeur and wretchedness – is a deeply felt fusion of humanism and spirituality which continues to inspire.

Brother Lawrence (born Nicholas Herman) (c. 1605-1691) was a monk of the Carmelite order who became influential throughout France due to his exemplary life and simple devotion to God. Born in the Herimenil, Lorraine province, he was provided a rudimentary education at home, and under guidance of local priest named Lawrence. He served as a soldier and footman for a number of years before embarking upon the monastic life as a hermit. He entered the Carmelite community in Paris in 1649, where he would remain the rest of his life, taking the cherished name "Lawrence". His outward life was unremarkable (routine service in the community kitchen), yet it clearly reflected a profound interior life of contemplation and devotion. Brother Lawrence, whose writings and teachings have exerted widespread influence and appeal to the present day, manifests in his life and spirituality much of what is best, and most common, in the Christian monastic tradition.

This is a translation of Moeurs et Entretiens du Frère Laurent, published in 1694 (and later titled "The Practice of the Presence of God"). It is one of two collections of Lawrence's writings (the other being Maximes Spirituelles [Spiritual Maxims], 1692) produced by Abbé Joseph de Beaufort, a representative of the local archbishop. It consists of fifteen letters, as well as four conversations which Beaufort had with Lawrence, having first met the monk in 1666. The conversations amount to a short anecdotal biography, demonstrating aspects of Lawrence's life and service. The letters, written to give advice, guidance, and exhortation to various correspondents, provide a brief glimpse into his heart – the emphasis on faith and prayer, a single-minded focus on God in meditation and contemplation, and a life offered in humble service.

Charles M. Sheldon (1857-1946) was an American pastor, writer, and social reformer. He was born and grew up in a homestead in the Dakota Territory, his father servings as a missionary superintendent for the Territory. He went on to study at Brown University and graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, before filling his first pastorate in Waterbury, Vermont. In 1889, he became pastor of a new Congregational church in Topeka, Kansas, where he engaged in ministry to the working-class and to the black community. In the 1890's Sheldon and his church helped to develop the newly-introduced kindergarten system and educational training in the area. Throughout his ministry, Sheldon kept alive his early interest in writing, Bible reading and storytelling. He introduced a popular line of serial "Sermon stories" for his evening service in Topeka, and would write In His Steps along the same lines. After his retirement in 1919, he served as editor of the Christian Herald (1920-25).

This popular and widely read novel, was written by Sheldon in 1896, inspired by the serial "Sermon stories" which he used to read in his Sunday evening services in Topeka, Kansas. In these stories, read a chapter at a time, each installment would end with a "cliffhanger" situation, which would keep the audience intrigued, and which would naturally propel the story's narrative. Already in its first year of publication the book proved quite popular, inspiring Christians to follow the example of the novel's fictional congregation – a Midwestern Church that is challenged by a vagrant who dies in their midst. The challenge posed is to live out truthfully and effectively the faith which is professed from the pulpit every Sunday. The congregation's year-long pledge has now become quite famous: "What would Jesus do?"

Alexander Balmain Bruce (1831-1899) was a prominent Scottish minister and New Testament exegete. He was born in Perthshire, and studied theology at the University of Edinburgh, before entering the Divinity Hall of the Free Church of Scotland. Early on he was greatly affected by accounts of the Life of Christ, a theme upon which he would expound often in his writings. He was assistant minister at Ancrum and Lochwinnoch until 1859, followed by pastorates at Cardross (until 1868) and the East Free Church of Broughty Ferry. In 1875 he was named professor of apologetics and New Testament exegesis at the Free Church Hall in Glasgow. Most of writings date from this period, and are centered in exposition of the Gospels, and in study of the Life of Christ – in fact his teachings tended to focus specifically on the person and work of the historical Jesus. In 1890, some of his points of textual criticism came under serious scrutiny by the Free Church, but were ultimately judged to be orthodox.

This book, published in Edinburgh in 1871, was Bruce's first major exegetical work. Written during the years he was himself a pastor, it offers guidance, following the example of Christ, to those beginning in the ministry on how to equip other believers for service unto God. Divided into thirty-one chapters, the book is a chronological "harmony" of the gospels, centered on the twelve apostles, and ending in the first half of Acts. Throughout, the relationships of these twelve men with Christ and with each other are carefully detailed, in a work which "documents the struggles and the successes of the first group of people who endeavored so to love each other that they became recognizable as Christ's disciples".

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was a popular pastor, poet and hymnist, referred to as the "father of English hymnody". He was born in Southampton, England, into a Nonconformist household, being initially educated by his parents (his father was a local schoolmaster). Always an avid reader, he studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew already in grammar-school, before attending an academy in London. By 1694 he began to blossom as a poet, composing his first hymns, and continued to write during his duties as a private tutor (1696-1701) in Stoke Newington (near London). There he also became pastor of a local congregation, serving even after his health began to deteriorate (from 1712 on), continuing to preach and write. Some of Watts' theological and religious ideas were considered heterodox, but his faith, devotion, and learning are clear in all his writings. His compositions include poetry and philosophical essays, but his volumes of Hymns (1707) and Psalms (1719) are his greatest legacy.

This is a collection of Watts' hymns and adaptations of the Psalms of David, originally published in 1707 and 1719, respectively. There are more than 300 adaptations of the 150 Biblical Psalms, differing primarily in translation and in versing display. There are more than 350 hymns divided into three parts - (1) hymns collected or adapted from Scripture, (2) hymns composed on divine subjects, and (3) hymns prepared for the Lord's Supper. Watts' skillful and informed poetry, full of devotion, gave a new depth and power to hymn-singing in English. The compositions proved immensely popular, and many are still sung regularly in churches today. Among the more familiar are hymns such as: "When I survey the wondrous cross"; "Alas! and did my Savior bleed?"; "Come, we that love the Lord"; "From all that dwell below the skies"; and many more. His finest hymns have been reckoned among the greatest in the English language.

George Whitefield (1714-1770) was an English Methodist and Calvinist preacher, one of the leading figures of the First Great Awakening in America. He was born in Gloucester and, after a basic education locally, he attended College at Oxford. There he became one of the Oxford "Methodists", experiencing conversion in 1735 and joining the Wesleys' bible study "Holy Club". Whitefield became an ordained deacon (he would later be ordained a priest) and spent time preaching and ministering both at Oxford and in London. He visited the Wesleys in Georgia before returning to London where, despite general hostility toward his work, he was able to minister with the Moravian Brethren, Methodists and other groups. From 1736 until his death, he served as an itinerant preacher in Britain and America, working with many denominations, and leading successful revival and evangelism tours. His preaching was powerful and direct, if unscholarly, and was a key element in the New England Great Awakening.

This is a collection of fifty-nine of Whitefield's sermons, and is representative of his preaching, which was to play such a key role in the First Great Awakening. Though an ordained deacon and priest in England, Whitefield's Oxford experience with the Wesleys and the general hostility of the English churches to his itinerant "fanatical" ministry, caused him to develop close ties with Wesleyan Methodists and the Moravian Brethren. Overall his theological outlook was Calvinistic, a viewpoint which was strengthened during his American ministry among Congregational and Presbyterian churches. All of these influences are clearly present in his sermons, which also express the immediacy of genuine evangelistic fervor and devotion. Whitefield's preaching – along with that of Jonathan Edwards – is historically unique and unparalleled in the history of American Christianity, the influence of which has lasted to the present day.

Charles Finney was saved while studying for the bar. The law textbooks of the day quoted extensively from the Bible, that he felt it worthwhile to acquire such a book. From reading the Bible he came to know the Lord. God used him in many revivals through the years.

Charles Finney was saved while studying for the bar. The law textbooks of the day quoted extensively from the Bible, that he felt it worthwhile to acquire such a book. From reading the Bible he came to know the Lord. God used him in many revivals through the years.

A definition of terms used by Charles Grandison Finney in his Systematic Theology

Edward McKendree Bounds (1835-1913), Methodist minister and devotional writer, born in Shelby County, Missouri. Studied law and was admitted to the bar at twenty-one years. After practicing law for three years, began preaching for the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the Civil War, Bounds served as pastor of churches in Tennessee, Alabama, and St. Louis, Missouri.... Spent the last seventeen years of his life with his family in Washington, Georgia, writing his 'Spiritual Life Books.'

Andrew Murray was raised in what was considered to be the most remote corner of the world - Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Educated in Scotland and Holland, in 1848 Andrew, Jr., returned to South Africa as a missionary and minister with the Dutch Reformed Church. His first appointment was to Bloemfontein, a territory of nearly 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people. Andrew and his brother John had been in close contact with a revival movement in Scotland, an evangelical extension of the ongoing Second Great Awakening in America. He prayed for the same sort of awakening for the church in South Africa. In 1860, revival did come to the churches of Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently spread to surrounding towns and villages. Greatly concerned for the spiritual guidance of new converts and renewed Christians, Andrew Murray wrote over 240 books.

If we ask the reason why those who have indeed accepted the Saviour, and been made partakers of the renewing of the Holy Ghost, thus come short of the full salvation prepared for them, I am sure the answer will in very many cases be, that ignorance is the cause of the unbelief that fails of the inheritance. If, in our orthodox Churches, the abiding in Christ, the living union with Him, the experience of His daily and hourly presence and keeping, were preached with the same distinctness and urgency as His atonement and pardon through His blood, I am confident that many would be found to accept with gladness the invitation to such a life, and that its influence would be manifest in their experience of the purity and the power, the love andthe joy, the fruit-bearing, and all the blessedness which the Saviour connected with the abiding in Him.

Dr. Shelton Graduated from Bob Jones University, and went on to preach God's Word in Taiwan to those in the Chinese army camps under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Chek. He also evangelized the people of the Pescadores. He served as missionary to Japan and Vietnam, but was denied re-admittance after furlough due to the war. He pastored First Baptist Church of Pontiac, MI for several years and now is involved in full time evangelism

A sizable portion of Scripture deals with the future. In reality it is pre-written history - we call it Bible Prophecy. There are Prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the Old Testament (example - Genesis 15:13). There are Prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the New Testament (example - Isaiah 7:14). There are Prophecies in the New Testament that were fulfilled in the New Testament (example - John 2:18-22). But there are Prophecies in the Old and New Testaments that must yet be fulfilled. Jesus had these in mind when He said, "These things must come to pass" (Matthew 24:6). On the pages that follow it is my desire to write about "These things." Bob Shelton

The following biographical sketch of Burton was written and presented by Bill Paul.

    Born In Sheridan, Wyoming September 16, 1918 to Hiram and Alma Barber, he was baptized into Christ in 1929 at the age of 11 by his uncle Errett Barber. His formal education for the preaching ministry began in 1938 (the same year as his ordination) when he was among the first students to enroll in Ozark Christian College when it was located at St. Joe, Arkansas. As a 20-year-old student, he and Kenneth Holsinger became known as "the Hiking Ozark Mountain Missionaries." In 1939 he enrolled in Christian Normal Institute in Grayson, Kentucky (later called Kentucky Christian College). He completed his formal education when he graduated from San Jose Christian College in 1946. He married Opal Kratzer on September 5, 1941.

    He was 77 years, three months and 23 days old when he died. His burial was at Galax, Virginia.

The author uses his notes from teaching an Adult Bible class to put together a concise but very interesting study on the personage of the Holy Spirit and His work as shown in the Scriptures. He deals at length with difficult topics such as the "Baptism of the Spirit and the Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit." He concludes his short 50 plus pages on the topic of the Holy Spirit by looking at the "Indwelling of the Spirit in Every Christian". He gives book, chapter and verse references for all that he has to say and using PCStudyBible you can easily verify what he says as being accurate or not.

Clear set of rules for monks to follow written by Saint Benedict for the monks who followed him.

A Spanish Catholic, Michael (1640-1696 AD) was the founder of the "Quietist" way which John Wesley eventually refuted. While rejecting the Quietist way, Wesley recommended Michael's writings as helpful to instruct concerning spiritualism as one aspect of the Holy way of life. Michael was eventually rejected by the Roman Catholic Church and he and his adherents were condemned as heretics. Unfortunately this seems to have resulted more from taking Michael's teaching on "being still before the Lord" to the extreme, which is exactly what Wesley would later reject in the 18th century.

Plutarch is one of the great Latin philosophers. He lived from 45 to 125 AD and was widely traveled in the Roman world. In his lifetime, unsurprisingly, he was highly regarded for his Lives. Unlike most of his contemporaries and predecessors, Plutarch did research in the Imperial libraries and records as well as interviews of persons to gather information to share in his biographies. That isn’t to say they are historically "accurate" (if there is such a thing). Rather, many historians believe he is attempting to demonstrate that good morals lead to good leadership and bad morals leads to failure. But the reader will have to determine if the modern historians are correct. For more, see: Persius Encyclopedia: Plutarch.

Pascal (1623-1662) is primarily remembered for his scientific works. Every budding physics or chemistry student is introduced to Pascal's Law for gases. His specialty was mathematics. Fewer remember him as a Christian who rebeled against his contemporary continentals who were gradually rejecting Christianity.

Venerable Bede lived from 672 or 673 to 735 AD. As is obvious from his work he was a historian of the church, though his writing was not limited to history.

His account includes not only Christianity, but the warrior kings who fought for and against the "new" religious invasion.

Whitefield, whose 1st Great Awakening swept through England and the English colonies in America, was a great influence on John Wesley. The two eventually parted company over their differences over grace. Whitefield held to a Calvinist perspective and Wesley held an Armenian perspective.