The Pastor’s Library: An Annotated Bibliography of Biblical and Theological Resources for Ministry
Overview
In the spirit of Cyril Barber’s classic work from the 1970s, The Minister’s Library, Robert Yost provides students and pastors with expert guidance on building a working ministerial library. From Old and New Testament languages, lexical aids, and grammatical tools, to commentaries and theologies as well as pastoral resources, Yost is a trustworthy guide through the multiplicity of books that seem to just keep rolling off the presses. Far more than just a guide to commentaries as are so many works today, this resource is a balanced pastoral tool for pastors and students who are overwhelmed by the proliferation of literature in the fields of biblical and pastoral studies.
Key Features
- Explores significant theological resources in an organized and detailed format
- Provides helpful advice for pastors and theological students
- Written from a Reformed evangelical perspective
Contents
- Introduction
- Old Testament
- New Testament
- Systematic Theology, Church History, and Theological Topics
- Practical Theology
Top Highlights
“*Longman, Tremper, III, and Raymond B. Dillard. An Introduction to the Old Testament.” (Page 13)
“My personal theological orientation is evangelical and Reformed. Therefore, this book is intended primarily to assist those students and pastors who are in evangelical, Bible-believing colleges and seminaries rather than those in mainline denominations and institutions.” (Page 1)
“Commentary & Reference Survey: A Comprehensive Guide to Biblical and Theological Resources, by John Glynn” (Page 4)
“Issler, Klaus. Living into the Life of Jesus. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2012.” (Page 306)
“Rather the purpose of this guide is to select books in the particular areas of Old Testament, New Testament, Systematic Theology, and Practical Theology which, in my opinion, would be most helpful to the student and/or pastor.” (Page 6)
Praise for the Print Edition
In an age when paper and electronic Old Testament resources abound, it is good to have a veteran scholar’s guidance to navigate them. Robert Yost offers practical, accurate, and specific opinions on each volume’s theological viewpoint and usefulness, and his assessments are clear and generous. This work will aid beginning and seasoned students alike.
—Paul House, Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama
Carrying on the tradition of Cyril Barber’s Minister’s Library, Yost’s much-needed bibliographic resource provides the type of recommendations evangelical pastors, college, and seminary students will want to use to build their own personal library. Readers will find commendations of contemporary scholarship [and] timeless classics—some still out-of-print—an important resource list in its own right.
—Klaus Issler, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
The Pastor’s Library is an important work and merits purchase and perusal by all ministers, scholars, and thoughtful persons who care about biblical and theological depth as integral to discipleship and mission. I recommend this work highly and as one serving pastors, this will be immensely helpful in directing leaders to the best resources.
—Charlie Self, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
Product Details
- Title: The Pastor’s Library: An Annotated Bibliography of Biblical and Theological Resources for Ministry
- Author: Robert A. Yost
- Publisher: Wipf & Stock
- Publication Date: 2017
- Pages: 388
- Resource Type: Bibliography
- Topic: Ministry Resources
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
2 ratings
Ray Mills
3/27/2021
Supposedly, according to Faithlife, "We do not delete comments based on negative feedback, but rather inappropriate and irrelevant content. ... Faithlife reserves the right to accept or reject any review." Translation: they can cancel anyone that disagrees with whatever. Well, like so much of cancel culture, somebody saw fit to cancell my previous post. I believe my previous post was appropriate and relevant and offered constructive criticism. Now that it's been deleted, I will have to try and remember the gist of what I said and restate it. Here are some key points that may be helpful. Here goes. 1. The citations for a number of reference works, especially the Hebrew resources, were fairly useful. 2. A student going to seminary could gain some benefit from being able to recognize standard reference works. 3. Unfortunately, this work is becoming a bit dated and perhaps a revision would be in order. 4.The annotative purpose of the book is a good enough idea. Unfortunately, it is written rather strongly from a minority perspective which limits its usefulness for a broader audience. (Of course, it's great if you also lean to that particular view.) Considering this as a kind of reference work a minority perspective makes it less helpful to a much larger potential customer base. (This doesn't mean the author couldn't express his personal choices in the text, but a more hands off approach would be more suited to such a reference work.) 5. It was generally too brief and mechanical to be very helpful. (Compare this to Bryne's annotated bibliographies and you will see the point.) 6. It came across as mostly a somewhat regurgitated but updated version of C.A. Carson's book of the same purpose. Numerous quotes from Carson on so many listed commentaries will support that fact. 7. One could probably get at least as useful a work of this nature online for free. All in all, if you get this for a good sale price, it is functional and may be used like the index card it is basically meant to be. It is concise, to a fault, but it is meant to be just an annotative resource. Hope this helps someone.
David Anfinrud
3/6/2021
For a book that gives you a brief summary of various books out there for the Ministry. I find it very interesting and allows introduction to some books I had not thought to check out. Like having a library index card for Biblical resources at your finger tips.
