WHAT BOOKS ON SCRIPTURE HAVE BEEN HELPFUL TO PASTORS?

Three scholars associated with The Gospel Coalition offer suggestions:   (HT: Justin Taylor)

Kevin DeYoung, senior pastor at University Reformed Church, East Lansing, Michigan:

• B. B. Warfield, Inspiration and Authority of the Bible (P&R, 1948), 446 pages. – A deserved classic. Still relevant. Still right.
• Timothy Ward, Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God (IVP, 2009), 184 pages. – Accessible, yet pretty thorough. Affirms inerrancy, but too squeamish about the word  in my opinion. Otherwise a fantastic book from a reformed, evangelical perspective.
• D. A. Carson and John Woodbridge (editors), Scripture and Truth (Baker, 1992), 446 pages.
• D. A. Carson and John Woodbridge (editors), Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon (Wipf & Stock, 2005), 468 pages.
• D.A. Carson, Collected Writings on Scripture (Crossway, 2010), 335 pages. Anything by D. A. Carson on Scripture is worth reading.
• J. I. Packer, Truth and Power: The Place of Scripture in the Christian Life (IVP, 1999), 191 pages. – Sadly out of print, but a wonderful defense of inerrancy, including the use of the word.
• Carl Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority (Crossway Books, 1999), 3,030 pages. – Get the big set and read the chapters that scratch your itch. A treasure that is still largely neglected.
• John Woodbridge, Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal, (Zondervan, 1982), 240 pages. Woodbridge demolishes the Rogers/McKim thesis that inerrancy is a modern invention.

Richard Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Scripture: The Cognitive Foundation of Theology, vol. 1 (Baker, 2003), 544 pages. Not for the faint of heart, but clears away a lot of misunderstandings.

Herman Bavink, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Baker, 2003), 688 pages. – Thank God for the English translation. He is very good on Scripture and prolegomena.

Robert Plummer, 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible (Kregel, 2010), 352 pages. – Quick overview of the most important questions about Scripture. Literally a page-turner.

Mark Thompson, A Clear and Present Word: The Clarity of Scripture (IVP, 2006), 196 pages. – The best recent book on the perspicuity of Scripture.

Thomas Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and pastor of preaching at Clifton Baptist Church in Lousiville, Kentucky:

• B. B. Warfield, Inspiration and Authority of the Bible (P&R, 1948), 446 pages. – A classic work that must be read. The arguments are not outdated.
• John Wenham. Christ and the Bible (Wipf & Stock, 2002), 222 pages. – Another classic work on the authority of Scripture, showing us Christ’s view of Scripture.
• D. A. Carson. Collected Writings on Scripture (Crossway, 2010), 336 pages. – A very helpful articulation of a doctrine of Scripture.

Richard Lints, Andrew Mutch distinguished professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts:

• Meredith G. Kline,  The Structure of Biblical Authority (Eerdmans, 1972), 218 pages. – Kline is very helpful in placing the nature of Scripture’s authority into the context of the covenant structures which form the heart of the way Scripture tells the story of salvation.
• Paul Helm and Carl Trueman, eds., The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture (Eerdmans, 2002), 304 pages. – This is the best book to date dealing with the theological challenges to the trustworthiness of Scripture.
• Kevin Vanhoozer, “God’s Mighty Speech Acts” in A Pathway into Holy Scripture, edited by Philip Satterthwaite and David F. Wright (Eerdmans, 1994), 344 pages. – A very good brief introduction to the claim that Scripture is intended to accomplish the goal for which it is originally given.
• Nicholas Wolterstorff, The Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim that God Speaks (University Press, 1995), 340 pages. – Lays out a compelling case that Scripture is divine speech.

Me: I'm surprised none of the above listed J.I. Packer's Fundamentalism and the Word of God.  Published in 1958, it has served many (including me) as a first-read basic, helpful, accessible excellent work and is still in print.