Christian Retailing

InterVarsity Press titles recognized as year’s best for preachers Print Email
Written by Krista Carnet   
Monday, 16 March 2015 04:17 PM America/New_York

IVP-logoPreaching magazine included three InterVarsity Press titles among its lists of “The Year’s Best Books for Preachers” and the “Top Books on Preaching.”

IVP named A Change of Heart by Thomas C. Odenand God Dwells Among Us by G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim among “The Year’s Best Books for Preachers.” Mohler chose 10 books that are “representative of some of the best volumes that will add value to the preacher and the preaching ministry, long after the year has passed.”

A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir tells the story of how Thomas Oden, one of the twentieth century’s most celebrat ed liberals, had a dramatic change in thinking and theology.

“The great value found in reading this book not only is found in tracing Oden’s personal pilgrimage, eloquently and vividly portrayed. To the contrary, the greatest value is in what the preacher will experience in the process of reading this book: a personal awareness of the transformations and shifts that have taken place in our own thinking,” Mohler said. “More than anything else, this book will help every preacher come to a deeper understanding of what it means to embrace biblical Christianity despite facing a highly secularized age.”

God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth considers the temple, a source of rich scholarship and theological reflection. But what does the temple mean for the church’s ongoing mission in the world? Beale and Kim take temple theology off the bookshelf and bring it to our modern-day life, where the church is instructed and exhorted in its purpose.

“This approach to biblical theology, soundly exegetical and powerfully persuasive, not only will help the pastor place every text of Scripture within the context of the entire canon, but also understand every text of Scripture in terms of the everlasting purposes of God,” Mohler said.

Preaching magazine also listed “The Top Books on Preaching,” which included IVP’s Preaching in an Age of Distraction by J. Ellsworth Kalas. Michael Duduit, executive editor for Preaching, selected the titles for this list.

“Kalas helps us step back and better understand our environment, and then offers counsel to help us respond wisely to the distractions of our age,” Duduit said. “Kalas reminds us that while we spend our days immersed in biblical texts and theological thought, our people live in a different world. Facing such challenges, preachers must learn to deal with distraction in our congregations and in ourselves.” 

For a complete list of award-winning books from InterVarsity Press visit ivpress.com/awardwinners.