# What Books Are You Starting The New Year With?



## Blueridge Believer (Jan 1, 2007)

Just wondering what books the dear brethren here are starting or are currently reading(outside of the Holy Scripture) to begin this new year.
For me, I am in the middle of three right now:

The Gospel of the Kingdom, Phillip Mauro
Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis
The Life and death of Mr. badman, John Bunyan

I am also praying that our Lord would give me more compassion on people and give me a greater victory over the corruption of the old man. I truly want to be a blessing to people and a good witness for the Gospel.

God bless each and everyone hear. Since I was allowed to join here it has been a real enjoyment and refreshing of my spirit.


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## 3John2 (Jan 1, 2007)

"Mother Kirk" by Douglas Wilson, "God of Promise" by Michael Horton, re read "That You May Prosper" by Ray Sutton, "Pleasures of God" by John Piper, & will try "Death of Death in The Death of Christ" by John Owen. Should be a good January & a good start!!


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## Scott Bushey (Jan 1, 2007)

The Lords Day by J. Pipa alongside Shepards Theses Sabbaticae/ 
Hodge, The Day Changed and The Sabbath Preserved


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## Puritan Sailor (Jan 1, 2007)

Jesus is Lord by Donald MacLeod.
The Person of Christ, by Donald MacLeod.
The Work of Christ, by Robert Letham.
(the above are for a class next week)

On the Apostolic Preaching, by Ireneaus.


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## Philip A (Jan 1, 2007)

_Crime and Punishment_ by Dostoevsky.
_Don Quixote_ by Cervantes.
_Conversation_ by Stephen Miller.
Various works of Shakespeare (From my new 38 volume set!).

Oh yeah, and some theological stuff too 

_Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism_ ed. Bierma.
_A Firm Foundation_ by Olevianus.
_Martin Bucer_ by Greschat.
_Sermons on the Beatitudes_ by Calvin.


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## toddpedlar (Jan 1, 2007)

Apart from Scripture and devotional bites (William Jay in both morning and evening) I like to keep something going in the following streams: commentary/exposition, doctrine, history (church history or otherwise, though it all folds in together, doesn't it?), personal exhortation/examination, and literature.

So, looking at that.... here are my five current open books (there are more of course)

Jude, by William Jenkyn for commentary/exposition
Institutes by Calvin, for doctrine
The Great Christian Revolution, Otto Scott, for history
Heaven Taken by Storm, Thomas Watson, for personal examination
Inferno, by Dante Alighieri for literary


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## travis (Jan 1, 2007)

Continuing from 2006:
_Truths We Confess_ Sproul
_The Case for Covenant Infant Baptism_ Strawwbridge

Starting this week:
_Evil and the Justice of God_ Wright
_Christ of the Covenants_ Robertson


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## travis (Jan 1, 2007)

I also plan on reading some fiction this year since everybody looks at me strange when I tell them it does not hold my attention. I have been told to stick to the darker stuff such as Crime and Punishment and Les Miserables.


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## Arch2k (Jan 1, 2007)

*The Divine Right of Church Government - Sundry Ministers of London*
*Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain*
*ADVANCED MECHANICS OF MATERIALS - BORESI*


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## bookslover (Jan 1, 2007)

Jeff_Bartel said:


> *ADVANCED MECHANICS OF MATERIALS - BORESI*



He was one of the Puritans, right?


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## bookslover (Jan 1, 2007)

toddpedlar said:


> Apart from Scripture and devotional bites (William Jay in both morning and evening) I like to keep something going in the following streams: commentary/exposition, doctrine, history (church history or otherwise, though it all folds in together, doesn't it?), personal exhortation/examination, and literature.
> 
> So, looking at that.... here are my five current open books (there are more of course)
> 
> ...



You're so organized, it's depressing!


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## Arch2k (Jan 1, 2007)

bookslover said:


> He was one of the Puritans, right?


 
 I wish it was that interesting!


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## toddpedlar (Jan 1, 2007)

bookslover said:


> You're so organized, it's depressing!



Ha! It's all a front!


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## toddpedlar (Jan 1, 2007)

toddpedlar said:


> Ha! It's all a front!



Besides... you should see my office.


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## bookslover (Jan 1, 2007)

Blueridge reformer said:


> Just wondering what books the dear brethren here are starting or are currently reading(outside of the Holy Scripture) to begin this new year.
> For me, I am in the middle of three right now:
> 
> The Gospel of the Kingdom, Phillip Mauro
> ...



Continuing from last year:

_The Country Parson, His Character, and Rule of Holy Life_ by George Herbert
_The Oxford History of England: Volume 1: Roman Britain and the English Settlements_ by R. G. Collingwood and J. N. L. Myres
_A History of the American People_ by Paul Johnson

Starting now:

_A History of Christianity_ by Kenneth Scott Latourette
_Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments_ by Geerhardus Vos
_The Study of Old Testament Theology Today_ by E. J. Young


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## Bandguy (Jan 1, 2007)

Working on the following:

1. Mortification of sin in the Believers by John Owens
2. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathon Edwards
3. War Stories 3: The Heroes Who Defeated Hitler by Oliver North


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## Theoretical (Jan 1, 2007)

_Freedom of the Will_ by Jonathan Edwards
_Pilgrim's Progress, Part II_ by John Bunyan
_The Lost Soul of American Protestantism_ by D.G. Hart

_The Eighteenth Century Commonwealthman_ by Caroline Robbins


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## Blueridge Believer (Jan 1, 2007)

Bandguy said:


> Working on the following:
> 
> 1. Mortification of sin in the Believers by John Owens
> 2. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathon Edwards
> 3. War Stories 3: The Heroes Who Defeated Hitler by Oliver North



Mrotification of sin is next on my list. To my shame I've never read it.


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## toddpedlar (Jan 1, 2007)

Blueridge reformer said:


> Mrotification of sin is next on my list. To my shame I've never read it.



Well you'd best get on the stick and mortify that sin of not reading it!  The whole of that particular volume of Owen is one of the most searching and heart-rending pieces of work I've ever read.... I really need to read it again.


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## Blue Tick (Jan 1, 2007)

The Death of Death of in the Death of Chris- John Owen

Display of Arminianism- John Owen

How to Make Money on Foreclosures- Denise L. Evans


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## Davidius (Jan 1, 2007)

An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith - Robert Shaw
A Body of Divinity - Thomas Watson
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens


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## VaughanRSmith (Jan 1, 2007)

Blue Tick said:


> The Death of Death of in the Death of Chris- John Owen


History would have taken an entirely different course if that were his name 

I went to my home town's Presbyterian church for their Christmas service, and was surprised to see that James White's "Potter's Freedom" was in the bookshop up the back. I've been trying to get a copy for a while now, and it was a great Christmas addition. The minister at the church saw that I picked it up, and we had a long chat afterwards. He ended up giving me "The Christ of the Covenants" by O. Palmer Robertson as a freebie. 

I'm almost all the way through Potter's Freedom, still working on the Institutes and Death of Death.


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## JonathanHunt (Jan 1, 2007)

From Paradise to Prison by Davis
Genesis by Calvin
The Book of Origins by Eveson

(starting a series in Genesis)

Great Doctrines by Peter Masters
The Life and Work of Spurgeon by Holden Pike
Letters on Revival by Ebenezer Porter

a whole shelf more lined up. Literally - I have a 'to read shelf' which rebukes me daily!

JH


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## Bandguy (Jan 1, 2007)

Blueridge reformer said:


> Mrotification of sin is next on my list. To my shame I've never read it.



You know that you can read it online for free, right? That is what I am doing.


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## Blueridge Believer (Jan 1, 2007)

Bandguy said:


> You know that you can read it online for free, right? That is what I am doing.



I just got online bible downloaded to my hard drive. It has it on that as well as many other of owens works. Online Bible is the best $34.95 I have ever spent.


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## VaughanRSmith (Jan 1, 2007)

Blueridge reformer said:


> I just got online bible downloaded to my hard drive. It has it on that as well as many other of owens works. Online Bible is the best $34.95 I have ever spent.



You can get a free copy of it here if you want. The amount of stuff that comes with it is absolutely mind-blowing.


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## gwine (Jan 1, 2007)

travis said:


> I also plan on reading some fiction this year since everybody looks at me strange when I tell them it does not hold my attention. I have been told to stick to the darker stuff such as Crime and Punishment and Les Miserables.



_Crime and Punishment_ was good. Haven't read _Les Miserables_. I read not a word of French.

Currently reading _Christianity and Liberalism_ by Machen and _The Challenge of Democracy_, an older textbook I picked up. Don't know where I'll go from there.


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## Philip A (Jan 2, 2007)

gwine said:


> _Crime and Punishment_ was good.



_Crime and Punishment_ is phenomenally good   ; I'm about 3/5 of the way through as of tonight. Dostoevsky was a literary genius. After years of theological reading, and having burnt myself out with the heavy stuff like Owen, etc., I picked up _The Brothers Karamazov_, and not only was it the most enjoyable reading experience I have ever had, but it totally revitalized my reading life, and for months afterwards I was better able to read and comprehend the likes of Owen.

Since then I've been making up for lost time with regard to the classics - Ovid, Milton, Tolstoy, Melville, etc.

It always makes me laugh when I hear evangelical preachers and teachers talk about the grammatical interpretation of scripture, and how in that sense we "read it like any other piece of literature", when most of them have never even read any literature whatsoever - too worldly for the pietists! My former pastor had never even read Orwell - which is probably why his methods of oversight and government were so Orwellian


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## Theoretical (Jan 2, 2007)

> It always makes me laugh when I hear evangelical preachers and teachers talk about the grammatical interpretation of scripture, and how in that sense we "read it like any other piece of literature", when most of them have never even read any literature whatsoever - too worldly for the pietists! My former pastor had never even read Orwell - which is probably why his methods of oversight and government were so Orwellian



That is a great point. I guess what is meant that you should read the Bible with the same care and concern as you need to exercise when reading _Reader's Digest_ or _USA Today_ (a paper humorously called McPaper by one book I read when I was younger). After all, those are literature too, are they not? Grr...


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## caddy (Jan 2, 2007)

How about that chapter on "The Grand Inquisitor" !

 

One of the best in all of Literature ....



Philip A said:


> _Crime and Punishment_ is phenomenally good   ; I'm about 3/5 of the way through as of tonight. Dostoevsky was a literary genius. After years of theological reading, and having burnt myself out with the heavy stuff like Owen, etc., I picked up _The Brothers Karamazov_, and not only was it the most enjoyable reading experience I have ever had, but it totally revitalized my reading life, and for months afterwards I was better able to read and comprehend the likes of Owen.
> 
> Since then I've been making up for lost time with regard to the classics - Ovid, Milton, Tolstoy, Melville, etc.
> 
> It always makes me laugh when I hear evangelical preachers and teachers talk about the grammatical interpretation of scripture, and how in that sense we "read it like any other piece of literature", when most of them have never even read any literature whatsoever - too worldly for the pietists! My former pastor had never even read Orwell - which is probably why his methods of oversight and government were so Orwellian


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## polemic_turtle (Jan 2, 2007)

I'm currently reading _Ludwig Wittgenstein: Duty of Genius_ by *Ray Monk*. Good book, I say. I plan to also read from the systematics of Berkhof, Shedd, and Gill each week, along with some exposition by Calvin. Busy boy be me.


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## caddy (Jan 2, 2007)

*Reformed Confessions Harmonized*

*Author: *Joel R. Beeke, Sinclair B. Ferguson​ 
http://www.monergismbooks.com/reformedconfess222x.html​ 
*The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment *by Jeremiah Burroughs​


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## MICWARFIELD (Jan 2, 2007)

True Spirituality - Francis Shaeffer
Simply Christian - N.T. Wright
Works of Love - Kierkeegaard
The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Right Turns - Michael Medved


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## bookslover (Jan 2, 2007)

Exagorazo said:


> You can get a free copy of it here if you want. The amount of stuff that comes with it is absolutely mind-blowing.



It looks incredible! However, should I download it if I already have all the basic E-Sword stuff (including the AV foundation, etc.)? Is there enough room on my laptop for both? Should I get rid of E-Sword first (since I think that the Redeemer free stuff actually has more things I want).


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## caddy (Jan 3, 2007)

What a eye opener this one was for me. Helped convinced me of the soundness of the Reformed faith!


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## Blueridge Believer (Jan 3, 2007)

bookslover said:


> It looks incredible! However, should I download it if I already have all the basic E-Sword stuff (including the AV foundation, etc.)? Is there enough room on my laptop for both? Should I get rid of E-Sword first (since I think that the Redeemer free stuff actually has more things I want).



I know the pastor and fine people at Redemers church ARP. I attended there a while between chruches. I put this on my computer along with e-sword and there is no problem whatsoever. They compliment each other very well.
This is an older version of Online Bible though.


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## Swampguy (Jan 3, 2007)

Two books I am starting the year with are:
Hebrews - Reformed Expository Comm- Richard Phillips
Powerful Evangelism for the Powerless - C. John Miller


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## Michael (Jan 3, 2007)

I'd like to read _The Complete Far Side _(2 volumes), by Gary Larson.


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