Below are some books our professors recommend in the areas of church history and biographies. Beneath each book you’ll see the professor who recommended it. Click “Read More” for a note from the professor about the book and why it is worth a read. Clicking on the book itself will take you to a website where you can purchase it.
*Not all content in these books reflect the views of Gordon-Conwell.
Dr. Donald Fairbairn
Robert E. Cooley Distinguished Professor of Early Christianity
“This is a wonderful new work by one of our own adjunct faculty. Brown has spent years in the study of the music of the Black church and will be following up this publication with a series of seminars for Gordon-Conwell in the year ahead.”
“This work recounts women and their participation in the center of Reformation history not on the sidelines. It refreshes the soul to hear of female monarchs, mothers, migrants, martyrs, mystics, and missionaries who mattered!”
“This graphic work is a wonderful portal into the creatives mind of Lewis and Tolkien, the waxing and waning of their friendship, and the nature of myth and story. The narrative of this book is fascinating, but the images make it sparkle!”
“Walter R. Strickland’s two-volume set is an exploration of Black Christianity as expressions of faith, life, and meaning in contexts that questioned their full humanity. Strickland’s observations of the five theological anchors of the Black Christian experience reveal the through lines of historical formation and provide a narrative framework that brings the reader through and beyond the Civil Rights movement to the current context. This text is essential to scholars and laypersons alike who seek a full understanding of Christianity in the United States.”
“Daley has spent most of his life writing on the early church’s understanding of Christ’s person and work and has focused on church fathers from the second through the seventh centuries. This volume collects his most important essays on themes and figures in patristic Christology from throughout his scholarly career and will be valuable for historians, theologians, and pastors.”
(For a detailed analysis of the volume’s significance, see Fairbairn’s forthcoming review in Pro Ecclesia.)
Recommended by Dr. Scott Sunquist, Gordon-Conwell President & Professor of Missiology:
“This is an excellent and practical volume with biblically and theologically informed solutions to one of the greatest issues in mission today: helping people from different countries work together. Lingenfelter, former Dean of the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller, has broad global experience that makes this a very well-informed volume regarding the problems that often threatens good mission work. However, the volume will also be helpful for multi-cultural teams in churches in the United States. Chapters can be studied and discussed with ministry or mission teams.”
Recommended by Dr. Todd Johnson:
“Reyes encourages us to take a posture that desires to see the world through other people’s eyes, value what they value, and both centers and honors their way of life. We all need to learn what it means to adapt and transform ourselves to better love and serve the diverse peoples around us. Her book is immensely practical and full of engaging stories.”
“Writing with clarity and grace, Tom Schwanda and Ian Maddock give us a fresh spiritual biography of the Great Awakening’s most renowned evangelist. Without sugarcoating the problematic aspects of George Whitefield’s life, they explore the many salutary aspects of his spirituality. This book is a compelling invitation to live a life marked by a new birth, a transformed heart, and sweet communion with God.”
Recommended by Dr. Donald Fairbairn
“This book is majestic in scope and comprehensive in its grasp of modern history, mainly in Europe and North America but also in the majority world as well. Its explanation of the causes of the contemporary situation in the western world is varied, nuanced, and persuasive. The author describes seven facets of the contemporary world and their and critiques both politically-liberal and politically-conservative explanations gently yet significantly. Most striking is Wilson’s insistence that as western societies have rejected Christianity, they have not actually offered anything to replace it, and their anti-Christian alternatives all have a profoundly Christian basis to them. This enables him to conclude on a very hopeful note that the Christian Gospel offers a more profound freedom than what the ex-Christian West offers, an antidote to self- and works-righteousness in the form of a genuine Gospel of grace, and an ultimate standard of truth in contrast to the meaningless western attempts to see truth as entirely individual and self-constructed. In spite of the book’s range and the depth of its argument, it is written winsomely, cleverly, and very accessibly. It is a book that many well-educated Christians could read and profit from.”
Recommended by Dr. Garth Rosell
“My former students might be interested in my most recent publication: Reformed & Evangelical Across Four Centuries: The Presbyterian Story in America, co-authored with three other Presbyterian historians.”
Recommended by Dr. Aída Besançon Spencer
“Jeanne is a Gordon-Conwell alumna who had been active in the Jesus Movement in California. The book is full of quotations and pictures from the Christian leaders of the CWLF. My husband, Bill, has an enormous amount of data he has saved through the years and writes about the Jesus Movement in the Northeast.”
Recommended by Dr. Eun Ah Cho
“In today’s interconnected world, the importance of thriving in cross cultural environments cannot be overstated. Even those with extensive global experiences must persistently enhance their cultural repertoire. This book proves to be an invaluable resource for educators, providing guidance to sustain humility and foster an appreciation for learners from diverse cultures. Dr. Ott weaves together his real-life experiences with profound insights firmly rooted in biblical values.”
Recommended by Dr. Garth Rosell
“Published by one of our own alumni in the prestigious “Theology and Mission in World Christianity” series, Daewon Moon’s (MDiv ’11) study of the remarkable East African Revival will inform your mind and stir your heart.”
Recommended by Prof. Dean Borgman
“Sweet, spiritual, practical, and mostly unknown insights from the likes of Augustine, Kierkegaard, Luther, Nouwen, Tozer, Mother Teresa, Bonhoeffer, Therese Of Liseux, Brother Lawrence, and more.”
“Jonathan Eig’s Pulitzer Prize winning book on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. is the best. He surveys King’s family of origin to his assassination in Memphis. Powerful storytelling undergirded by thorough research gives a window into King’s life and calling not just as a civil rights leader but a necessary prophetic voice.”
“With a heart aching for Protestants to understand their own heritage, Gavin Ortlund builds a strong, historically-grounded case for the advantages of their tradition. And he makes bold claims for the potential of mere Protestantism, as a renewal movement, to serve as the best cultivator of true catholicity. The result is a vigorous and engaging apologetic for a semper reformanda approach to theology and the Christian life.”
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