Need a book recommendation on Christology

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LadyCalvinist

Puritan Board Junior
Hello,

I think I need to understand Christology better. I have the Work of Christ by Letham but there is still much I don't understand. A few simple book recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Mark Jones is the best short work on it.

More advanced would be Donald MacLeod's Person of Christ.

A bit more advanced is JND Kelly's Early Christian Doctrines.

Specific short treatments:

Cyril of Alexandria, The Unity of Christ. But before you read it, familiarize yourself with Cyril's terminology.
 
Hello,

I think I need to understand Christology better. I have the Work of Christ by Letham but there is still much I don't understand. A few simple book recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Wilhelmus à Brakel's "Christian's Reasonable Service" volume one. Here is a free fully indexed pdf.

http://biblicalspirituality.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/reasonableservicevol1-indexed.pdf

I can't recommend his work too much. It deserves a spot on every Christian's shelf.

I also second the recommendation on Cyril of Alexandria. His "On the Unity of Christ" and his commentary on the "Gospel according to John" are superb works. When I get home I'll add some more suggestions.
 
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Not a book, but Brian Borgman, has a great series on it. I found them on Sermon Audio.
 
Thomas Goodwin's Puritan Paperbacks on Christ are pretty good. It's basically where Jones got all his ideas. It's not systematic, though.
 
This is more practical, but might interest you (comes out tomorrow officially):
Seeing Christ Clearly by C. Matthew McMahon
SeeingChristClearlyCOVERPS.jpg
 
One of the potential next projects I've been kicking around is a sort of Christology for parents with young children and for people who teach children's Sunday school and such, something accessible that will give them much to say about Jesus and help them want to say it. (A frequent comment is that they run out of things to say about Christ.) Because I've been toying with this, I've read a lot of Christologies in the past couple of years.

Among the Puritans, Goodwin is good. He writes about truths that are often passed over today. John Owen's Christologia includes some of the most brilliant insights in any work of theology I've read, but it is a tough slog to get through and may not be what you have in mind if you are asking for a simple Christology. Puritan Paperbacks has condensed and simplified another of Owen's works, The Glory of Christ, and it is also a worthy read if you're looking for a Puritan.

As for more current works that I found helpful:

Mark Jones is very good. The only real downside is that he gets argumentative, seems to find a heretic under every rock, and may leave you with more despair over the state of the church than joy over the goodness of Jesus.

Richard Belcher's Prophet, Priest, and King is a solid overview from a biblical theology perspective. But it is limited to that perspective and to discussing the Prophet/Priest/King framework.

Dennis Johnson's Walking with Jesus through His Word is another work from a biblical theology perspective, again limited that way. It is an easy and comfortable read, and I recommend it for that reason, especially if you're looking for that perspective.

I found MacLeod's Person of Christ a delight to read, but perhaps that's because I heard his Scottish accent coming through his writing. The book did make me appreciate Jesus more.

For a basic overview of Jesus' person and how to avoid common confusions and errors, there is probably no simpler, yet thorough recent treatment than Unit 4 of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. I don't agree with every bit of Grudem's theology overall, but that section is super clear and helpful at a layman level. I don't recall reading anything about eternal subordination in that unit, but if you find a mention you can just read on past it. If you read Grudem alongside Mark Jones, you will get Grudem's straightforward simplicity made better by Jones' precision and sharp critique.

Wilhelmus à Brakel's "Christian's Reasonable Service" volume one.

Your comment reminds me that my failure to have read á Brakel may be the biggest gap in my theological reading. I really have to get to that.
 
Your comment reminds me that my failure to have read á Brakel may be the biggest gap in my theological reading. I really have to get to that.
Brother, I would greatly encourage you to make it a priority. It is a masterful expostion of Theology and the Christian life. It would be my desert island pick outside of Scriptures.
 
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