Joseph Ratzinger

Once again the good folk at Logos are offering an excellent Free Book of the Month. This month Logos partners with P&R Publishing to offer John M. Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (P&R, 2006) as a free addition to your Logos Library until the end of June. The book is a substantial 382 pages based on Frame’s lectures for the Institute of Theological Studies. William Edgar said this book “is at once vigorously orthodox and sweetly pastoral. We can be grateful for such a powerful and clear exposition of the whole range of theology.”

In addition to the Free Book of the Month, Logos is offering Brian Vickers, Justification by Grace through Faith: Finding Freedom from Legalism, Lawlessness, Pride, and Despair (P&R, 2013) for only $1.99. This book is part of the Explorations in Biblical Theology series (ed. by Robert Peterson). Tom Schreiner comments in his forward to the book, “sets justification in the context of the story line of the Bible. He doesn’t just give us an abstract and sterile explanation of the doctrine. We learn how justification fits with the biblical story and how it fits with our story.” Both of these books are great additions for people interested in the Reformed side of Christian theology.

As always, you can enter to win the rest of the Explorations in Biblical Theology series (11 vols., a 139.95 value) in the Logos library. 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.

Verbum is offering the first two volumes of The Writings of Irenæus (including his most famous work, Against Heresies) for free Irenæus’s The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching for 99 cents. Verbum is part of the Faithlife family of companies, focusing on Catholic resources.  Verbum use your same Faithlife account, so these books are available to anyone with a Faithlife / Logos username and password.

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.

Once again the good folk at Logos are offering an excellent Free Book of the Month. For the month of December you can have a copy of Stephen Fowl’s excellent Ephesians Commentary in the NTL Library from Westminster John Knox Press. Fowl wrote the Philippians volume in Eerdmans Two Horizons series as well as a number of articles and monographs in the field of theological readings of the New Testament. For example, his 2009 contribution to the Cascade Companion series, Theological Interpretation of Scripture.

The commentary was enthusiastically commended by Michael J. Gorman and Nijay Gupta reviewed the Ephesians volume soon after it was released, saying ” this is a solid reading of Ephesians overall from a master-exegete. I only wish it were more detailed and thorough! One will see many similarities and much agreement with Best and Lincoln.”

In addition to the Free Book of the Month, Logos is offering Luke Timothy Johnson’s Hebrews Commentary in the NTL series for only $1.99. Anything Johnson writes is worth reading, so this commentary on Hebrews for a mere $2 is a worthy addition to your Logos Library.

As always, you can enter to win the rest of the NTL commentaries in the Logos library. 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.

Luke Timothy Johnson, Hebrews, on the iPad

In addition to the Logos Free book, two other free books are on offer. Noet is the division of Faithlife focusing on classics; this month they are offering James Joyce’s Dubliners for free and Ulysses for 99 cents. Now you can finally follow Leopold Bloom around all day with the Logos Bible app.

Verbum is offering Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI’s The Blessing of Christmas for free and his Seek That Which Is Above: Meditations Through the Year for 99 cents. Verbum is part of the Faithlife family of companies, focusing on Catholic resources. Both Noet and Verbum use your same Faithlife account, so these books are available to anyone with a Faithlife / Logos username and password.