Translating Truth is a collection of essays on the subject of Bible translation written by leading Evangelical scholars. The essays were first presented as papers at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in November 2004. The publishers notes that “the purpose of publishing these papers now as a collection is to encourage the ongoing, careful reflection on methodology and issues in Bible translation--that necessary work, which the Christian church is called to undertake, with fear and trembling before our sovereign, holy God, for the sake of the gospel and the truth of God's Word.” It should be noted that each of the authors was also a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version. Thus while the thrust of this book is to examine the theory and practice of translating Scripture and to propose the superiority of an essentially literal translation over a dynamic equivalent translation, the book focuses primarily on the ESV.

Twelve Ordinary Men, John MacArthur’s book on the apostles, was a surprise hit. After the book stayed on the bestseller lists for over a year, Thomas Nelson suggested publishing a second volume, this one dealing with some of the best-known women of the Bible. MacArthur accepted the challenge and drew up a long list of possible subjects. “I admit that I chose the twelve women featured here by a completely unscientific process: I weighed their relative importance in biblical history alongside the amount of material I had already developed on each of them as I have taught through various passages of Scripture. Then I chose the twelve women who were most familiar to me.” Twelve Extraordinary Women is not exactly a sequel to MacArthur’s Twelve Ordinary Men, yet it bears many similarities. Like its predecessor (and unlike the majority of MacArthur’s books), Twelve Extraordinary Women is not primarily expository. Instead, it is a series of brief character studies.

Famine in the Land opens with a quote from the great preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones. “The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church, it is the greatest need of the world also.” Author Steven Lawson continues, “If the doctor’s diagnosis is correct, and this writer believes it is, then a return to preaching - true preaching, biblical preaching, expository preaching - is the greatest need in this critical hour. If a reformation is to come to the church, it must be preceded by a reformation of the pulpit. As the pulpit goes, so goes the church” (page 17). What follows is four chapters which are, appropriately, expository in nature and which examine the priority, power, pattern and passion of expository preaching.

The authority of Scripture is, as this book indicates, a critical issue for the body of Christ. Much of the ground that was gained during the Protestant Reformation has been lost in the past few decades. There has been a dramatic shift among Protestants away from biblical authority. James Draper and Kenneth Keathley, both Southern Baptists, have seen this fight up close and personally from within the Southern Baptist Convention, so are well-versed in the arguments and in what is at stake.

Through eight chapters and 144 pages, the authors provide the background for the fight to maintain the authority of Scripture, both in church history and Baptist history. They then turn to the Scripture itself and teach what the Scriptures says about itself. They close by predicting the next major battle that will be fought after the issue of authority is settled and provide a challenge for all believers, but for Southern Baptists in particular.

There exists a surprisingly popular series of books entitled Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. These books are a compendium of quotes, short stories, trivia and jokes that are each just a few lines or paragraphs in length. The book was designed to appeal to the bathroom reader - one who likes to read whilst he is sitting upon the throne, so to speak. I affectionately call Now, That’s A Good Question, R.C.’s Big Bathroom Reader. The cover features R.C. sitting (thankfully) in an armchair and displays one of the worst jobs of removing the background from a photo I have ever seen. His hair is cut in almost straight lines and looks completely unnatural on the cream-colored background. Actually, the cover looks like it may have been someone’s high school project. But I digress.

Though I am not a preacher, I decided to read Rediscovering Expository Preaching in an attempt to discover exactly what expository preaching is and compare it to the type of teaching practiced in most modern churches. That this book was written by John MacArthur and the faculty of Master's seminary is a strong endorsement of its value, for that institution is known as being one that upholds the value of expositional teaching. I hoped also that I would learn some techniques and disciplines that would enrich my personal Bible study as well as my writing. I was not disappointed.

Effective exposition of the Bible requires four steps and each of these receives careful analysis in this book. The steps are:

James White is a Reformed apologist who specializes in defending the faith against the doctrines of Roman Catholics and Mormons - two groups which deny the doctrine of sola scriptura or Scripture Alone. He is uniquely qualified to write such a book as he is intimately familiar with the arguments against the Bible's sufficiency. The book comes at a time when much of Protestantism has lost sight of this doctrine and has been slowly denying it. White defines this doctrine as "Scripture alone as the sole infallible rule of faith for the church." Thus he teaches that Scripture has been given to govern and guide what we believe and why we believe it and is the only guide that can do so infallibly. He has written this book to "lay a foundation for all Christians who desire a deeper understanding of biblical sufficiency" (from the back cover). The book is targeted not at theologians and apologists, but at laypeople who are interested in being able to defend their faith and have firm convictions regarding the Scriptures.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, dynamic equivalency has become standard practice and the vast majority of Bible translations since then have eschewed a literal format in favor of the less-literal approach. The most popular of these is the New International Version, but other popular translations such as the Contemporary English Version, The Message and the New Living Translation have also been guided by these principles. One does not have to look far to find a book that is critical of the translation techniques and principles that have come to be known as dynamic equivalency. The bulk of the books written to defend literal translations are written by theologians, many of whom are convinced that the King James version is the only pure English translation. That is where The Word of God in English stands apart, for it is written not by a theologian but by a Professor of English, Leland Ryken, who is a literary critic and a professor at Wheaton College. Having devoted his life to studying and teaching the English language, he is able to approach the subject with a fresh perspective.

Richard Mayhue is Dean of Studies at the Master's Seminary and has sufficient credibility to write a volume about how to properly interpret the Bible. Writing in a simple and straightforward manner, he describes the process of "cutting it straight," a term he borrows from Paul's message to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15. Though the passage is most often translated "handling accurately the word of truth" the literal sense is "cutting it straight." This book is thus divided into three sections. The first deals with how to make straight cuts, the second with avoiding crooked cuts, and the third with living out your cuts.

In the first several chapters Mayhue lays out the proper methods for studying Scripture. He speaks about presuppositions, methodology and rules for interpretation. A significant portion of the section is devoted to recommended study tools - concordances, dictionaries, commentaries and so on.

For a book that seems to indicate it will help the reader learn how to study God's Word, How To Get The Most From God's Word contains very little teaching on that subject. That is not to say, though, that it is not an excellent book. I read this book in the hopes that it would coach me on methods for more fulfilling Bible study. It turns out, though, that the bulk of this book is dedicated to why I should study the Bible with only minimal emphasis on how I should study it. Though at first I was disappointed, I came to see that this book is full of truth and may be one of the best books I have read about truly understanding the Bible. I have little doubt that the emphasis on what the Bible is will prove more valuable to me than a book filled with advice on how to study Scripture.