More Commentary Recommendations and More!
I direct your attention to TheoSource, a website devoted to the review and collection of good theology books. Put this in your bookmarks somewhere and refer back to it when you are thinking of what to purchase next.
TheoSource has also compiled several recommendation lists for commentaries and other volumes you might need in your theological library. What is unique about their lists is that they have poured through several recommendation lists and compiled the suggestions, along with who recommended what. So, glancing through the list, you can see if a book was recommended by Don Carson, Danny Akin, and Denver Seminary - or others whose opinion you think is valuable.
The drawback of the list (every list as at least one), is that they nowhere detail their basic criteria for the inclusion of a volume. Many volumes are listed without being referenced in one of the source lists - why are they there? This lack of criteria carries over into a related problem. For instance, Dr. Akin’s list suggests several liberal/critical commentaries for their technical details or alternate point of view. Just because they are on his list does not mean that Dr. Akin thinks these are the volumes that should guide your theology or teaching. They are secondary resources, but they appear on the TheoSource list as recommended by Dr. Akin, which can be misleading. Still, the compilers do provide limited comments as to the conservative/liberal emphasis of the book, which helps mitigate any confusion.
After you have collected your first commentaries, you should download the TheoSource lists (as well as buy John Glynn’s Survey) for additional purchases. Overall, the site seems to provide helpful resources and is worth a look.
Comment by Jason Button
Brian,
Thank you for your recommendation and critique of the TheoSource lists. Your major concern is a valid one and I’m glad for the feedback. We do not want to mislead anyone, nor do we want to give an incorrect impression of any of the sources we have cited.
We will work on correcting this and adding other improvements!
We, too, would recommend the work of John Glynn. He has provided an invaluable resource to the Church. We hope to provide a review of his latest edition soon.
Blessings in Christ,
Posted on October 8, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Comment by Jason Button
Brian,
Thank you for the kind recommendation and critique of my book lists. I’m always looking for feedback and appreciate yours, very much!
More detail needs to be provided, but a brief introduction to the lists can be found here.
I’ve looked through the commentary list you have provided and have found it to be very helpful. I added a link to it on my site.
Thanks, again!
Posted on October 8, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Comment by blestou
Jason,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I’m sorry your comments got caught up in the moderation queue. Thanks for the link!
Let me clarify for other readers - if my comments came across as overly critical then disregard them. You should check the Theosource website before you purchase theology books.
Brian
Posted on October 9, 2007 at 3:43 pm