Once again Faithlife is offering a Free “Book of the Month” for your Logos library. For the month of July you can download a copy of Pentecostalism: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013), by Wolfgang Vondey from T&T Clark. If you are not aware of the Guide for the Perplexed series, you should be. These are handy little volumes which cover the essential issues of an issue, along the lines of the Oxford “Very Short Introduction” series. This is not a “for dummies” series: the volumes I have used are serious introductions to cmplex topics. Vondey is a “German-born Pentecostal theologian who currently serves as Reader in Contemporary Christianity and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, where he also directs the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies” (at least according to Wikipedia, he is.)
For a $1.99 more, you can supersize this free book and download a copy of T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology by David M. Whitford. Whitford is professor in the Religion department at Baylor University and contributed the A Guide for the Perplexed on Luther for T&T Clark. He contributes the first chapter in the volume, “Studying and Writing about the Reformation.” The rest of the chapters cover the following topics:
- Chapter 2: Human Nature, the Fall, and the Will – Robert Kolb
- Chapter 3: Revelation and Scripture – Ward Holder
- Chapter 4: Justification – Carl Trueman
- Chapter 5: Law and Gospel – Lubomir Batka & Anna Johnson
- Chapter 6: Election – Chad Can Dixhoorn
- Chapter 7: Sanctification, Works, and Social Justice – Carter Lindberg
- Chapter 8: The Sacraments – Bryan Spinks
- Chapter 9: The Church – Paul Avis
- Chapter 10: Preaching and Worship – Anne Thayer
- Chapter 11: Women, Marriage & Family – Karen Spierling
- Chapter 12: Catechisms & Confessions of Faith – Karin Maag
- Chapter 13: Church Discipline, Abuse, Corruption – Raymond Mentzer
- Chapter 14: Eschatology, Antichrist, and Apocalypticism – Robin Bruce Barnes
- Chapter 15: Political Theology – Volker Leppin
- Chapter 16: Superstition, Magic & Witchcraft – Peter Maxwell-Stuart
- Chapter 17: Radical Theology – Geoffrey Dipple
- Chapter 18: Images and Iconography – Randall Zachman
- Chapter 19: Martyrdom and Religious Violence – Haruko Ward
Part two of the book is entitled, “A Reformation ABC,” a mini-dictionary of important events and people for Reformation studies. I noticed the T&T Clark website has Whitford’s chapter as part one, the chapters as part 2 and the ABS as part three, Logos has only two parts (essays and ABCs). The content appears to be the same. At 471 pages, this is a great deal for $2.
As always, you can enter to win the three other volumes in addition to the free/almost free books in Logos’s T&T Clark Studies in Theological Systems (5 vols., $99 value). Enter early and often. Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.