Understanding Christology: 5 Book Recommendations
Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago if I had any recommendations for books on Christology. So here I want to briefly explain what Christology is, and then recommend some books on it.
This isn't an exhaustive list, and these aren't necessarily the most intense or popular books on the topic. They're books I personally enjoyed and was edified by. If a book isn't here, that doesn't mean I don't like it. What would you put on your list?
What is Christology?
If you're new to theology, you may not have heard the term. Christology isn't about rocks or crystals or mysticism! It's the study of Christ: an attempt to understand His works, His life, death, burial and resurrection, and Him as Prophet, Priest and King. If you're a Christian, you have an interest in Christology:
- It's central to our faith. It's vital that we understand who Christ is, what He did and what He is doing.
- We're called to take up our cross and follow Him. How can we do that without knowing where He is, what He's done and what He's doing?
- It's captivating. It grabs our attention and makes us live a life set apart for Him. We're sanctified as we study Him, and each book below shows a different angle of Christ with different applications to our lives.
- It's glorious. Christ is glorious, so studying Him is one of the most glorious things we can do.
Five books I recommend
1. Comfort and Holiness from Christ's Priestly Work by William Bridge. An excellent short book on Christ as our Priest, and what that means for our lives: our holiness, our sanctification, and our comfort, knowing that Christ intercedes on our behalf.
2. The Person of Christ: Finding Assurance by Walking with Jesus by Andrew Bonar. In Christ's person, fully God and fully man, we find assurance and hope. He relates to us. He feels what we feel and understands exactly what we're going through, and our weak and feeble frames.
3. The Preeminent Christ: God's Beautiful and Unchanging Gospel by Paul Washer. Christ is the front, the focal point of the gospel. Without Christ we have nothing; without Christ we aren't Christians. Washer shows Christ's preeminence in salvation and sanctification, warns against neglecting the gospel, and reminds us that it's an unchanging gospel, which is a beautiful thing.
Those first three are short. The last two are denser and more challenging.
4. Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 2 by Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley. This volume dives deeply into Christology. I haven't read all of it yet, but I love Beeke's emphasis on application: each chapter ends with questions for further study, a hymn to sing in response, and recommendations for further reading. An excellent introduction that goes deeper into Christ's work and character.
5. Christology and Criticism by B. B. Warfield. I read this back in 2022. Warfield writes about Christ and His work, and guards you against the heresies you might be susceptible to in understanding Christ, including the "twentieth-century Christ." Crossway has recently republished what I think is the same material under a different title.
I hope this helps if you're looking to study Christ further. What would you add or change?
Soli Deo Gloria!
