Biblio-blogger of the Week – Craig Hurst

Now that I’m working from home doing Cross Focused Media and am putting more intentional time into my blogging and social media efforts, I decided it was time to blow the dust off of one of my old post series. Besides my kids tell me retro is back in. Without further ado, here’s the first 2012 installment of Biblio-blogger of the Week. Many thanks to Uber-Book Review Blogger Craig Hurst for agreeing to help me reintroduce the series.

1.  What is the name & URL of your blog?  Why’d you choose that?

My blog name is Theology for the Road (url – www.craighurst.wordpress.com). I chose the name out of the belief that all theology matters to all of life and that everyone is a theologian (whether a good or bad one). My desire was to show how theology relates to all of life and thus make people less scared of it and desire to study it more on their own.

Over time though, my focus has become more on books and less on original content. So now, I primarily write book reviews and point people to new books or resources the encourage them to read them and grow in their knowledge and understanding of theology. In light of this I am considering changing the name of the blog to Books for the Road or something similar.

2.  How’d you get into blogging?

I started blogging as a way to make myself write. My end desire is to write at least one book someday and I figured that I needed to be writing regularly in order to make that process easier when the time comes. Then I realized that I could use my blog to get review copies of books from publishers and join blog tours so doing that has kind of taken over what I do on my blog.

3.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

From the time I was in high school I wanted to go into ministry full-time. Over the years what I have desired to do in ministry has changed but my desire for it is still as strong as ever. In a perfect world I would like to be teaching and preaching in my church, reading books and writing either articles or books. I would be satisfied doing this part or full-time.

4.  Do you have a family?

I am married to a wonderful and beautiful wife of almost nine years and God has blesses us with three great kids. My wife and I have a desire for adoption and we are in the process of adopting in the states. Katie homeschools the kids and both us have instilled in our kids a love for God, His Word and of course reading!

5.  Is Bibilical & Theological studies a hobby or a career aspiration?

For now it is both.

6.  Who’s your favorite author?  Recommended books?

My favorite authors would include D.A. Carson, Mark Dever, John Calvin, G.K. Beale, Francis Schaeffer,  Alvin Plantinga, Michael Goheen and John Frame. Some of the most formative books I have read that I would recommend are:

1. The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview
2. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for  a Reformational Worldview
3. The Glory of in Salvation Through Judgment
4. Institutes of the Christian Religion
5. Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old Fashioned Way
6. A Light to the Nations
7. The Trellis & the Vine

7.  What’s your favorite theological subject / topic?

For the longest time I favored systematic theology until I began to read some on biblical theology, especially books dealing with the format of creation, fall, redemption and consummation. It was this interpretive grid that really turned the light on in my mind about how to better understand Scripture as a whole. I have always been a fan of apologetics and some philosophy as well so I keep up with that also.

At the same time, I try to read a broad spectrum of theology books. I am a jack of all trades and master of   none when it comes to reading and theological concentration in my reading. I try to gain a better grasp of a lot of things as opposed to studying more narrowly.

8.  What’s your favorite Bible translation?

I grew up on the KJV (though my parents used the NIV and NASB). Once I started taking Greek I dropped my KJV for the NASB. Now I use both the NASB and the ESV. I have grown attached to my NASB because I have a lot of notes in it and it is worn from use. I use my ESV Study Bible for study and devotions because I like both the translation and the wealth of notes.

9.  What’s in your CD and/or MP3 player right now?

I grew up in a home where we rarely listened to music so I am late comer when it comes to music. I like a range of Christian artists from Steve Green to Jeremy Camp and Third Day.

10. Where did you go to school?  (undergraduate, graduate, etc.)

I graduated college with a B.A. in Church Ministry from Clearwater Christian College in Clearwater, FL. I will be finishing my M.A. in Theological Studies from Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, PA. I hope to one day either finish an M.Div. or do a D.Min.

11. What is something interesting that most of your readers don’t know about you?

I can sleep for six hours or less per night and don’t need coffee in the morning to wake me up. I have an unusually high metabolism so I can’t gain weight no matter how much or unhealthy I eat. As much as I love to read (which requires you to sit and usually be inside) I love to do hard manual labor.

12. What are some research / writing projects you’re interested in pursuing?

If I ever get to doing it, there are three books I would love to write someday.

First, I would like to write a gospel centered book on breaking co-dependency in relationships. One of the effects of growing up in an addictive and abusive family was the co-dependency it produced in my life on others. There are a few good books out there on co-dependency but they are either written by non-Christians (though still helpful) or the Christian ones are written by counselors. I want to write one as a Christian who was/is co-dependent.

Second, within the field of apologetics I have always been fascinated by the nature of faith and the different definitions Christians have of it. I want to write a book that deals with the nature of faith in Heb. 11 as a definition and then flesh out the multifaceted nature of it in the lives of the people mentioned throughout the chapter.

Third, I would like to write a book on a harmony of the family line of Jesus from Matthew and Luke. This would trace the life of each person mentioned and draw out the implications of each person’s life for today’s reader.

Fourth, I would like to write a book showing the faithfulness of God throughout Scripture in relation to the promised seed stemming from Gen. 3:15. Adam & Eve believed Cain to be the promised redeemer by virtue of the name they gave him. Of course, whatever hope they had was shot once he killed Able. When we get to Abraham and Sarah once again we see how the promised seed hangs by a thread as Sarah is barren and advanced in years. She was too old to have children but God had other plans and showed himself to be faithful to his promise. Time and time again throughout the Old Testament we see this scenario where the existence of the future family line of Christ hangs by a thread and then God comes through on His promise in a miraculous way. This of course climaxes in Christ, the final fulfillment of the promise, who ironically is born to die and is then raised to life again.

You might notice that there is overlap between my third and fourth book idea. They could be one book but I think the ideas for both could make separate books without too much overlap.