Best books to Understand Bible theology better (in order)

Grow your knowledge of theology with these books

*Systematic Theology*

*Biblical Doctrine*
**Frame**
**Grudem**

**Bible survey books and OT/NT Introductions**

**The word and the world**
**The Cradle, the Cross, and the crown**

**Biblical Theology**
**What is Biblical Theology? - Jim Hamilton**

**Several different “anchors” for an all-scripture approach**

**Kingdom through Covenant**
**Vlach, He Will Reign Forever**
**God's Glory through Judgement (Hamilton)**

**Or look for a biblical theology of a particular author**

**Pauline Theology (Schreiner, Moo)**

**Moo**

**Theology of Luke and Acts (Bock)**

**Or look for a biblical theology of a particular subject**

**A biblical theology of idolatry (G. K. Beale)**
A biblical theology of missions

**Historical Theology**

**Needham, 2000 of Christ’s Power**
**Greg Allison, Historical Theology - maps to Grudem’s structure**

**Practical Theology**

Theology of biblical counselling, Lambert

Follow me:

[DemsRNutless]

I had a Pentateuch professor from Dallas Theological Seminary teach the class in an interesting way. We read the Pentateuch in order and read certain New Testament books just after each book in the following combinations: Genesis-John’s Gospel, Exodus- Acts, Leviticus-Galatians, Numbers-Romans, Deuteronomy-Revelation. It was unusual and it had a lasting impact on me to this day.

[pattube]

I love John Frame. He's my favorite living theologian! 😊

1. One of things I reallly like about Frame is how astute and erudite he is on philosophical theology, which is (perhaps surprisingly) exceedingly rare among modern systematic theologians (Frame was a philosophy major at Princeton University; he was a PhD candidate but ended up ABD at Yale University in philosophy). Most systematic theologians today are really historical systematic theologians rather than systematic theologians. This is fine as far as it goes since it's necessary for the church to have people who know what past theologians have taught, who are conversant at an expert level with the theological fundamentals as taught in historic creeds and confessions, and who can themselves teach and communicate it well to others. To be clear that's no knock against historical systematic theologians at all. For example, men I utterly love and respect like R.C. Sproul, J.I. Packer, Robert Letham, and Carl Trueman could be classified as such. By contrast, Frame is a bona fide creative mind and arguably a genius, of which creativity and genius are consistent with biblical orthodoxy. That is to say Frame advances the state of theology while remaining clearly within the bounds of orthodoxy. However, I think sometimes Frame is too smart for his own good and as such gets himself into more trouble than he should (e.g. he was more or less pressured to leave Westminster Seminary California by certain influential groups at the seminary, though he thankfully landed at Reformed Theological Seminary).

2. That said, I don't know of a single modern work of systematic philosophical theology in my Reformed camp. I know William Lane Craig is working on his systematic philosophical theology, but he's a Molinist, not Reformed. I think Frame comes the closest, but Frame's lodestone has never been in philosophy of religion (e.g. Alvin Plantinga, Peter van Inwagen, Rob Koons, Alexander Pruss, Joshua Rasmussen) so there's still something significant missing even in Frame. I'd love to see someone like Bill Davis, Greg Welty, and/or James Anderson who stand on the shoulders of giants like Frame write a systematic philosophical theology someday, but I have no idea if that's even likely.

3. I really like that Frame is so biblically focused. It's as if every other sentence in his systematic theology as well as his more detailed Lordship series (4 vols.) and much else he writes seems to prooftext the Bible but in the best sense possible. Cf. Frame's paper "In Defense of Something Close to Biblicism".

4. If Frame's Systematic Theology is too daunting to read, Frame published his Concise Systematic Theology only a few months ago. It was formerly called Salvation Belongs to the Lord, but it has been revised and updated and is now called Concise Systematic Theology. It's not exactly concise (like Concise Theology by J.I. Packer is truly concise), it's still several hundred pages in length, but it's significantly shorter than his Systematic Theology.

[andrewmckenzie]

I’ve spoken with John Frame, great guy to chat with, takes a genuine interest in you as a person. I know his shorter Systematic Theology was recently updated but have the older one - Salvation belongs to the Lord which I am planning to read this year and you also reminded me to read MacArthur’d as well.

[pattube]

1. I think The King in His Beauty by Tom Schreiner is a solid biblical theological overview of the Bible. It's maybe an intermediate work of biblical theology. More advanced than (say) God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts, The God Who Is There by Don Carson, and From Eden to the New Jerusalem by Desi Alexander, but not as advanced as (say) Dominion and Dynasty by Stephen Dempster, The Temple and the Church's Mission by Greg Beale, several of the works of Graeme Goldsworthy, or even some of Schreiner's own works (e.g. New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ). Maybe somewhere on par with God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment by Jim Hamilton in terms of technical difficulty level.

2. I also really like 40 Questions about Biblical Theology by Andy Naselli, Jason DeRouchie, and Oren Martin as well as The Story Retold by Greg Beale and Benjamin Gladd. These might be great books at the beginner/intermediate level. The second has such a beautiful look and feel. The Unfolding Mystery by Ed Clowney is old, but a deserved classic. And I recently read The Surprising Genius of Jesus by Peter Williams, which is centrally about the parable of the prodigal son (which Williams dubs the story of the two sons), but it includes some wonderful biblical theology as well. Same goes for The Lord of Psalm 23 by David Gibson which was a super edifying read too. If I could only own a single work on biblical theology, I think I might opt for the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, which is somewhat dated, but it's still a wonderful resource.

3. As many others have said, I think we live in the golden age of biblical theology. So many excellent series at all sorts of levels - beginner, intermediate, advanced. For beginners, I've read several volumes in the Crossway's Short Studies in Biblical Theology and IVP's Essential Studies in Biblical Theology. For advanced, IVP's New Studies in Biblical Theology is stellar. These are each excellent series and well worth reading; even if one disagrees, they're at least quite thought-provoking!

4. Overlapping somewhere with biblical theology is the work of the Theopolis Institute (e.g. James Jordan, Peter Leithart, Alistair Roberts). They're intelligent and thought-provoking scholars, but they seem to flirt a bit too much for my liking with some controversial ideas (e.g. FV, patriarchalism). That said, they can be quite insightful in various ways including with biblical theological themes (e.g. Echoes of Exodus: Tracing Themes of Redemption through Scripture).

[andrewmorgensen]

Great video! Good resources!
For other non-reformed resources see:
Mere Christianity : C.S. Lewis
Classic Christianity (systematic): Thomas Oden
Anything by NT. Wright (historical)
Practicing the Way (basic/practical):John Mark Comer

[zacksportsman]

Andreas Kostenberger's Biblical Theology: A Canonical, Thematic and Ethical Approach is a very good Introduction and Overview of Biblical Theology as well.

[shawnbrewer]

IMO, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith by St. John of Damascus, written in the 8th century, is the best place to start. A compliment to it is Byzantine Theology by John Meyendorff. Those two books encapsulate everything from Trinitarian theology (Capodocian theology) to baptism and the significant differences between some Latin and Greek manuscripts.

However, Michael Pomazansky’s Orthodox Dogmatic Theology is ALSO a good starting place. They teach the same thing, obviously, but dive deeper into different topics as each saw fit.

[BiblicalStudiesandReviews]

Darryl, I finished Grudem’s theology last year. I think he is actually historic premill if I’m not mistaken. Love the video! Thanks for all you do!

[vusumzingceke]

I love how Louis Berkhof wrote his - I have it and I absolutely love it. John Frame and Wayne Grudem are great too.

[davidanfinrud]

Thank you for the listing of books like you did. I use logos. Discovered I had most of the books you talked about have not read more than a small portion in a couple of those books. It is sometimes hard to sit down and read Theology. Terms used not familar to a non Pastor. Logos makes it easy to look up the words when you have a good dictionary available to explain what is being said and the correct definitions of the words used.

[drmmtatom]

Very thankful that I several of the Theological books in Logos.

[myselfpoker]

the problem with all your recommendations is it's all coming from a calvinist/reformed perspective. Christianity is much bigger than one Christian tradition.
It would be better if you had a broader theological recommendation than just one perspective. When studying theology one must read from all orthodox Christian traditions. God bless

[bettrinatruitt]

The Great Controversy is amazing for understanding church history and the prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation.

[ashleygovender]

Great video. Excellent information. Thank you.

[Suanlal_Zou]

Thank you. Looking forward to the Exegetical Theology recommendations.

[jayy]

Thanks for the very helpful videos! I enjoy your content and really appreciate your advice on these subjects.

[kassd]

Thank you so much, I'm looking for books to buy for theology and this is very helpful!

[stevew]

Ben Witherington wrote ‘biblical theology…convergence of the canon’ in 2019. haven’t read it yet, on the list, but thought I’d mention it

[kinusganyani]

Unless you have already, could you recommend more non-Calvinist systematic theologies please?

[TshoksOlam]

Good list. Why do you not make the distinction between historical theology and church history?