Spirit Book Reviews
While I enjoy reading about God and learning from others, it's rare to find a book that I agree with everything the author writes. That's certainly the case when reading about the mysterious dynamic of God in the Holy Spirit. Check out these books with a heart to learn and examine the scriptures to see if God's Word supports these authors.
All of the books below have value and are listed alphabetically by author. It's hard for me to pick my favorites as each adds something, but my top choices today would be the works by Willard, Wright, and Chan.
The Holy Spirit: Works & Gifts by Donald G Bloesch
Bloesch presents a history of teaching on the Holy Spirit. It can be a difficult read because paragraph after paragraph presents one person’s view and then another. This would be a good resource for seeing various historical writers and then going from there to look at their works. In a surprise, the fellowship I’m a part of, the International Churches of Christ, gets a mention in a small section on the Restoration Movement. It’s not a positive view as Bloesch views the entire Restoration Movement with a negative eye.
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Bloesch, Donald G. Holy Spirit: Works & Gifts. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2005.
Forgotten God by Francis Chan
Chan offers a conservative view of the Spirit and challenges the reader to live a life reflecting the Spirit’s presence in one’s life. For those seeking the Spirit for miracles, Chan exposes the flaws of that approach. It’s a good book for speaking to the life we should live under the Spirit’s influence.
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Chan, Francis, and Danae Yankoski. Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. 1st ed. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009.
The Spirit: Presence & Power, Sense & Nonsense by Douglas Jacoby
Jacoby takes a very conservative view of the Holy Spirit stopping just shy of the Spirit only working through the written Word of God. In my opinion, Jacoby is too conservative when considering how the Spirit works in our life today. Jacoby does a great job in addressing miracles and speaking in tongues. I pretty much agree with him on these things with a few exceptions. About half the book addresses the questions of miracles.
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Jacoby, Douglas. The Spirit: Presence & Power, Sense & Nonsense. Illumination Publishers International, 2017.
The Holy Spirit by Arthur Pink
A Calvinist, Pink definitely believes in the total depravity of humankind and predestination sits behind his thoughts on the Spirit. While I don’t agree with predestination, Pink offers some good material to consider in how the Spirit calls out to the lost and sanctifies the saved. The book goes into the great detail about how the Spirit works to bring us to God and to change our lives.
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Pink, Arthur Walkington. The Holy Spirit. Blacksburg, VA: Wilder Publications, 2008.
Hearing God by Dallas Willard
Willard gives a great book on listening to God. He discusses intimacy with God and guidance in hearing God’s voice. I found Willard’s book to be easy to read. It stretched my limits in a good way and provided sound teaching.
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Willard, Dallas. Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021.
Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament by Christopher JH Wright
Wright’s work is one of my favorites. Early in the book, he focuses the character that the Spirit produces. Interestingly, Wright does not address some of the common Spirit questions in the Old Testament, but instead really locks in on the Spirit’s impact on one’s life. For example, he speaks of the humility of Moses being instilled by the Spirit. Wright does a great job talking about the Old Testament promises that lead to New Testament fulfillment in the coming of the Spirit.
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Wright, Christopher J. H. Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2006.