EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, George H. Martin, professor of Christian missions and world religions, discusses his new book, Letters to a New Believer, with Towers news writer RuthAnne Irvin. RAI: In the book you say that you originally sent these letters to new believers earlier in your pastoral ministry. Why did you do that?…
Understanding Your New Life in Jesus Christ: Letters to a New Believer, George H. Martin (Rainer 2014, $9.97) In the study of history, letters are some of the greatest artifacts that remain today for our education. We write letters to friends, family, husbands, wives, children, even future employers. Scripture is full of letters to churches…
Eight Twenty-Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up, Ian and Larissa Murphy(B&H 2014, $15.99) Review by RuthAnne Irvin Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up is a redemptive story of God’s faithfulness, life’s sorrows intermingled with joy, and one couple’s devotion to Jesus that points people to Christ’s never-ending love. The book is an…
James M. Hamilton Jr., Exalting Jesus in Ezra and Nehemiah (Holman Reference 2014, $12.99) Review by S. Craig Sanders Would you preach sermons from Ezra and Nehemiah? I have spent my entire life in Southern Baptist churches, and only remember hearing five sermons from Nehemiah — three during revival week as a teenager and two…
Aaron Menikoff, Politics and Piety: Baptist Social Reform in America, 1770-1860 (Pickwick 2014, $27) Review by S. Craig Sanders Despite the notion that early American Baptists were “so heavenly minded, they were of no earthly good,” their commitment to piety, evangelism, and activism demonstrated “that the transformation of society was a vital goal, an essential…
Among the many treasures held by the James P. Boyce Centennial Library and Archives, the oldest and possibly the most distinguished is a fragile medieval codex, originally acquired by Adolf Deissmann, professor of philology at the Humbolt University of Berlin. In the aftermath of World War I, Deissmann had campaigned vigorously to protect the ancient…
“I was long-haired, smoking pot, and in a heavy metal band all throughout high school,” he said. “I was miserable and didn’t know what to do with myself.” Jonathan T. Pennington, associate professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern Seminary, likes to joke that his conversion story would make an ideal support letter. “The before…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Before A.T. Roberson published the first edition of his monumental A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research in 1914, Southern Seminary faculty had already produced four influential works that would shape the character of the Southern Baptist Convention. Seminary historian Gregory A. Wills, dean of the School of…
EDITOR’S NOTE: A.T. Robertson’s A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research no longer appears as required reading in Elementary Greek or syntax courses. Nonetheless, his breathtaking scholarship has influenced those who are shaping the basics of New Testament Greek studies today, beyond the confines of Southern Seminary. Stanley E.…
A.T. Robertson’s magnum opus, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, first appeared in print in 1914. His comprehensive scholarship revolutionized the study of the New Testament, and his work belongs among the greatest ever produced by Southern Seminary faculty. To grasp the greatness of A.T. Robertson, we must…
Archibald Thomas Robertson was born Nov. 6, 1863, near Chatham, Virginia, where he spent the first 12 years of his life before moving to a farm in North Carolina. At the age of 12, he received Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptized later that year. At the age of 16, he was…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below, James M. Hamilton Jr., associate professor of biblical theology at Southern Seminary, discusses his new book, Exalting Jesus in Ezra and Nehemiah, with Towers editor S. Craig Sanders. CS: What is your process for turning a sermon series into a book? JH: I had been manuscripting my sermons to be published with…
In late nineteenth-century Southern Baptist life, few names commanded as much respect as John A. Broadus. Baptists in congregations across the South esteemed him as a powerful preacher of the gospel and a champion of biblical orthodoxy. Scholars across the nation admired him for his command of modern and classical studies. His enduring legacy, however,…
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, revised and updated (NavPress 2014, $15.99), Donald S. Whitney “Discipline without direction is drudgery,” writes Donald S. Whitney in a familiar opening to the 20th-anniversary edition of his classic book on biblical spirituality. Revised and updated, the book contains new material with more emphasis on the gospel that will help…
It was the daily service opportunities that drew Kevin Collins to police work from the start. His love for serving people grew as God guided his career path through unexpected circumstances. Growing up, Collins wanted to be a paratrooper and eventually a history teacher. His love for planes and his family’s military history naturally led…
