Books on the cross

C. J. Mahaney, who himself has written a book or two about the cross (The Cross-Centered Life and Living the Cross Centered Life) today posted his list of favored books on the cross.

I concur with his choice of Stott's book, and am looking forward to beginning to read this weekend Pierced for Our Transgressions — if the reviews I've read are indicative, it will probably be on my list as well.

To Mahaney's list, I'd also add the following books:

• Leon Morris, The Atonement (also published in slightly different forms under the title, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross).
• J. Dwight Pentecost, Things Which Become Sound Doctrine — it's brief, but provides a good synthesis of cross-themes, like grace, regeneration, imputation, substitution, redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation, among others.

As I pursue thinking about the significance of the cross on my sabbatical, all those books are on the shelf behind me, along with Jerry Bridges' The Great Exchange, J. C. Ryle's, Regeneration, Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore, and John Piper's The Future of Justification.

Pray that as my mind is filled with the cross of Christ, that my life will be more cross and Christ-centered.