Book Reviews

My Gospel Coalition Reviews: I’m now reviewing pastoral ministry, biblical counseling, and discipleship books for the Gospel Coalition on their new Christian book review site: TGC Reviews. Read all my TGC Reviews at TGC Reviews Bob Kellemen.

My Biblical Counseling Coalition Reviews: I review regularly at the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Book Review site.

My Amazon.com Book Reviews: I’ve posted over 375 Amazon reviews ( I’m rated one of their top reviewers). Click here to begin reading my reviews.

My Discerning Reader Book Reviews: Discerning Reader is an excellent site for in-depth Evangelical book reviews. I frequently post a new, detailed review there. Click here to read these in-depth reviews.

Reviews of Equipping Counselors for Your Church and the Book Video Trailer

Find links to over a dozen reviews of Equipping Counselors for Your Church here, here, here, and here. For over a dozen robust free resources from the book, visit our Equipping Counselors Page. Watch the Book Video Trailer of Equipping Counselors for Your Church.

Reviews of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses and the Book Video Trailer

Find links to over two dozen reviews of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting. Watch the Book Video Trailer of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses.

Reviews of Soul Physicians and the Book Video Trailer

Mark Tubbs of Discerning Reader is blogging through Soul Physicians. To read his review of the Prologue click here. Pastor Mark Kelly has reviews of the first half of Soul Physicians. To enjoy his opening review, click here. For links to reviews 1-11, click here. For endorsements of Soul Physicians from leaders in the field, click here. Watch the Book Video Trailer of Soul Physicians.

Recommendations of Spiritual Friends and the Book Video Trailer

Read recommendations for Spiritual Friends. Watch the Book Video Trailer for Spiritual Friends.

Reviews of Sacred Friendships and the Book Video Trailer

To enjoy a post with links to all book reviews during the Sacred Friendships blog tour, please click here. To read the Discerning Reader review of Sacred Friendships, please visit here and here. To listen to a radio interview on Sacred Friendships click here. For endorsements from leaders in the field for Sacred Friendships, here’s the place to go. Watch the Book Video Trailer for Sacred Friendships.

Reviews of Beyond the Suffering: Named “Book of the Year”

Go here to enjoy the review by Christian Book Previews naming Beyond the Suffering “book of the year.” Visit here for Trevin Wax’s encouraging and insightful review. For additional endorsements of Beyond the Suffering by leaders in the field, visit here. Visit here for Pastor Paul Tautges’ review: Living Victoriously Beyond the Suffering. Watch the Book Video Trailer of Beyond the Suffering.

My RPM Ministries Book Reviews

*Scroll down for my Top Ten Lists, my RPM Reviews, and My “Best of Guides.” I add new reviews every week. Keep returning!

*Shame Interrupted by Ed Welch. Read my review of Ed Welch’s Shame Interrupted and learn a Gospel-centered view of addressing shame with Christ’s grace. Visit here for my RPM Ministries review. Visit here for my Gospel Coalition review.

*The Biblical Counseling Movement by David Powlison. Read my review and learn the history of the modern biblical counseling movement from a leader of that movement–David Powlison. Visit here for the blog review version. Visit here for the Word document version.

*The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams by Heath Lambert. Read my review of Heath Lambert’s book on “the second generation biblical counselors.” Visit here for my RPM Ministries blog review. Visit here for my Gospel Coalition review.

*Putting Your Past in Its Place by Steve Viars. Read my review of Steve Viars’ book on dealing with past suffering and past sin, Putting Your Past in Its Place.

*Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Read my review of Elyse Fitzpatrick’s grace-centered parenting book Give Them Grace.

*When Life Is Hard by James MacDonald. Read my review of James MacDonald’s book on how to face suffering face-to-face with God. Visit here for my blog review.

*Psychology in the Spirit by John Coe and Todd Hall. Read my three-part review of Coe and Hall’s book on their new model of Christian psychology. Visit here for the blog review of Part 1. Here for Part 2. And here for Part 3.

*Helpful Truths in Past Places by Mark Deckard. Read my review of Mark Deckard’s book on the Puritan’s practice of biblical counseling. Visit here for the blog review.

*66 Love Letters by Larry Crabb. Read my review of Crabb’s summary of each book of the Bible. Visit here for the blog review version. Visit here for the Word document version.

*A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper. My review of Piper’s book on Ruth. Visit here for the blog review version. Visit here for the Word document version.

*The Biblical Counseling Movement by David Powlison. Read my review and learn the history of the modern biblical counseling movement from a leader of that movement–David Powlison. Visit here for the blog review version. Visit here for the Word document version.

*A New Kind of Christianity by Brian Mclaren. I’ve collated reviews by Challies, Wittmer, DeYoung, McKnight, SBTS, and Kellemen, plus a “White Paper” I penned in 2008 on the errors of the Emergent view of salvation. Click for the blog post with all the links. Scroll to the bottom of that blog post and you’ll find links to a dozen blog responses I posted to McLaren’s book. You can also read the 13-part blog series I wrote reviewing the book: Conversations about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity. Additionally, you can enjoy the Word Document Free Resource of my review series: Conversations about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity (Word Version).

*A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. Here’s a “classic” (old–2004) review explaining why I did not perceive McLaren’s book to be all-that generous or all-that Orthodox.

*A Heart for the Community by John Fuder. Read my review of John Fuder’s (editor) book on urban and suburban ministry. Visit here for the blog version.

*Going Rogue by Sarah Palin. Read my review of Sarah Palin’s best-selling, controversial autobiography: Going Rogue. Learn why feminists hate her so much despite her radical womanhood. Learn what’s missing in Palin’s autobiography and why that’s so sad. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*CrossTalk by Mike Emlet. Read my review of a watershed book on how to view and use the Bible in biblical counseling. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*Seeing with New Eyes by David Powlison. Read my review of an instant classic on the theology of biblical counseling. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*Counsel from the Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Read my review of Elyse Fitzpatricks’ Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ. Find out why I think this is one of the best biblical counseling books you can own. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.  

*Raised with Christ by Adrian Warnock. Read my review of Warnock’s life-changing application of Christ’s resurrection. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*Foundations for Soul Care by Eric Johnson. Read my review of Johnson’s ground-breaking, comprehensive manual on how to make psychology truly Christian. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*Patience with God by Frank Schaeffer. Read my review of Schaeffer’s Patience with God. Learn why I think Schaeffer fails the “truth in love” and the “truth and love” tests. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*Glory Road by Anthony Carter. Read my review of Carter’s Glory Road. Why would African American church leaders embrace the theology of a White guy? Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*Where Are All the Brothers? by Eric Redmond. Read my review of Redmond’s call for men, especially African-American men, to return to leadership in the church. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*The Counsel of Heaven on Earth by Ian Jones. Read my review of Jones’ theology of biblical counseling. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*The Paul Tautges Trilogy. Read my review of Pastor Paul Tautges’ biblical counseling trilogy: Counsel One Another, Comfort Those Who Grieve, and Counsel Your Flock. Click here to read my review in Word format. Click here to read my review in blog format.

*The Heart of Addiction by Mark Shaw. Click here to read my review in Blog format. Click here to read it in Word format.

*Faithful Feelings by Matthew Elliott. Click here to read my Biblical Counseling Coalition review of Elliott’s theology of emotions.

*The History of Pastoral Care in America by E. Brooks Holifield. Go here to read my Biblical Counseling Coalition review of Holifield’s history of American pastoral care.

*If God Is Good by Randy Alcorn. Visit here to read my Gospel Coalition review and perspective on Alcorn’s eternal perspective.

*The Mystery of the Holy Spirit by R. C. Sproul. Click here to read my assessment of Sproul’s theology of the Spirit.

*Out of the Far Country by Christopher Yuan. Visit here to read my review of Yuan’s very personal story of his journey out of the homosexual lifestyle.

*Resolving Everyday Conflict by Ken Sande. Go here to view my Gospel Coalition review of Sande’s book on resolving everyday conflict.

My Christian The Best of Guides

Periodically I collate a list of ten-to-twenty top books in various categories. These are the best of the best. Save your money and invest in these books. Some of my lists include:

*My Top 9 Books on the History of Biblical Counseling and Pastoral Counseling: To counsel effectively today, we need to understand and learn from the great cloud of witnesses who went before us. Learn about the top 9 books on the history of BC/PC in PDF format and in blog format.

*My Top 12 Christian Book Reviewers: Learn who are my favorite Christian book reviewers and follow direct links to their review sites. Plus a bonus feature: my 3 top Christian Book Review sites. Click here to go there!

*My Top Ten Reviewed Books of 2009: What were the top ten books that I reviwed in 2009? Click here to read about my top 10 for 09.

*The 20 Most Influential Books on Theology of Biblical Counseling. Read about them in this blog post.

*The 20 Most Influential Books on Methods of Biblical Change: Read about them in this blog post.

*The Best of Books on Multicultural Ministry and Intercultural Relationships. Read this two-part annotated bibliography here and here.

*The Best of Books on Women in Church History: Read about these books that give voice to the voiceless here.

*The Best of Books for Defending Your Faith: If you want user-friendly books for the lay person and deep, philosophical books for the “scholar” on defending your faith, especially against the “new atheism,” this list is for you. Click here for the Word document. Click here for the blog version.

*Top Ten Trends in Biblical Counseling from 2000-2009: Not exactly a “Best of Guide,” but still very vital. Here I list the top ten positive trends in biblical counseling during the first ten years of the 21st century. Click here for Part 1 (trends 10-6). Click here for Part 2 (trends 5-1).