How is it that sincere and careful interpreters of the Bible can come to such different theological positions and practical applications? This happens with church practices such as baptism, the Lord’s supper, church government, church growth, the proper form of worship, and the role of women in ministry. It also happens with central Christian beliefs, such as the relationship between the law and the gospel, the way God exercises sovereignty over the world, the nature of creation, heaven, and hell, etc. Which understandings of these things are “right” or “best”? And how can we decide when the various sides all seem to be talking past each other?
Zondervan’s Counterpoint series of books is designed to help us explore these questions by reading the perspectives of people who respectfully disagree with each other. Each book presents several “views” on a particular question of biblical interpretation, theology, or church life. Each view is then critiqued by those who hold other views. The reader can then decide which position makes the most sense or has the strongest support. Even more importantly, the reader sees how sincere interpreters can interact with one another in a positive and uncontentious manner.
Accordance currently carries 35 volumes of the Zondervan’s Counterpoint series. Each of the volumes are also available individually. Bundles that represent each of the three releases are also available for purchase.
Counterpoint Series Bundle (35 Volumes)
Regular Price $639
Buy Now
Release Bundles Available:
- Release #1 (16 Volumes) (Titles are listed below)
(Reg price $299) - Release #2 (11 Volumes) (Titles are listed below)
(Reg price $199) - Release #3 (8 Volumes) (Titles are listed below)
(Reg price $149)
| Release #1 16 Vols (2011) | Release #2 11 Vols (2013) | Release #3 8 Vols (2020) | Counterpoints Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| ◼ | Understanding Four Views on Baptism (Baptist, Reformed, Lutheran, Christian Churches/Churches of Christ) | ||
| ◼ | Who Runs the Church? Four Views on Church Government (Episcopalianism, Presbyterianism, Single-Elder Congregationalism, Plural-Elder Congregationalism) | ||
| ◼ | Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: 5 Views (Effective Evangelism, Gospel and Our Culture, Centrist, Reformist, Renewal) | ||
| ◼ | Remarriage After Divorce in Today’s Church: 3 Views (No Remarriage, Remarriage after Adultery or Desertion, Remarriage for Circumstances beyond Adultery or Desertion) | ||
| ◼ | Understanding Four Views on the Lord’s Supper (Baptist, Reformed, Lutheran, Roman Catholic) | ||
| ◼ | Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (Are They Compatible? Yes, No, Maybe) | ||
| ◼ | Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views (Formal Liturgical, Traditional Hymn-Based, Contemporary Music-Drive, Charismatic, Blended, Emerging) | ||
| ◼ | Five Views on Apologetics (Classical, Evidential, Cumulative Case, Presuppositional, Reformed Epistemology) | ||
| ◼ | Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Young Earth Creationism, Progressive Creationism, the Fully Gifted Creation) | ||
| ◼ | Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Radical Discontinuity, Moderate Discontinuity, Eschatological Continuity, Spiritual Continuity) | ||
| ◼ | Four Views on Hell (Literal, Metaphorical, Purgatorial, Conditional) | ||
| ◼ | Five Views on Law and Gospel (Non-Theonomic Reformed, Theonomic Reformed, Law as Guidance for Holiness, Dispensational, Modified Lutheran) | ||
| ◼ | Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond (Postmillennialism, Amillennialism, Premillennialism) | ||
| ◼ | Four Views on Divine Providence (God Causes All Things, Molinist View, God Controls by Liberating, God Limits His Control) | ||
| ◼ | Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Preterist, Idealist, Progressive Dispensational, Classical Dispensational) | ||
| ◼ | Two Views on Women in Ministry (Egalitarian, Complementarian) | ||
| ◼ | Are Miraculous Gifts for Today: 4 Views (A Cessationist View, An Open but Cautious View, A Third Wave View, A Pentecostal/Charismatic View) | ||
| ◼ | The Spectrum of Evangelicalism: 4 Views (Fundamentalism, Confessional Evangelicalism, Generic Evangelicalism, Postconservative Evangelicalism) | ||
| ◼ | The Apostle Paul: 4 Views (Reformed, Catholic, Post-New Perspective, Jewish) | ||
| ◼ | Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology: 4 Views (A Priciplizing Model, A Redemptive-Historical Model, A Drama-of-Redemption Model, A Redemptive-Movement Model) | ||
| ◼ | Eternal Security: 4 Views (Classical Calvinist, Moderate Calvinist, Reformed Arminian, Wesleyan Arminian) | ||
| ◼ | How Jewish Is Christianity?: 2 Views on Messianic Movement (Messianic Congregations are Not Necessary, Messianic Congregations May Exist within the Body of Messiah) | ||
| ◼ | New Testament Use of the Old Testament: 3 Views (Single Meaning, Unified Referents; Single Meaning, Multiple Contexts and Referents; Fuller Meaning, Single Goal) | ||
| ◼ | Salvation in a Pluralistic World: 4 Views (Normative Pluralism, Inclusivism, Salvation in Christ, Salvation in Christ Alone) | ||
| ◼ | Five Views on Sanctification (Wesleyan, Reformed, Pentecostal, Keswick, Augustinian-Dispensational) | ||
| ◼ | The Rapture: 3 Views (Pre-Wrath, Pre-Tribulation, Post-Tribulation) | ||
| ◼ | Christian Spirituality: 4 Views (Orthodox, Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical | ||
| ◼ | Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity (Classical Trinity: Evangelical Perspective, Classical Trinity: Catholic Perspective, Relational Trinity: Creedal Perspective, Relational Trinity: Radical Perspective) | ||
| ◼ | Four Views on Role of Works at the Final Judgment (Works will determine rewards but not salvation, Works will provide evidence that one actually has been saved, Works will provide the criterion by which Christ will determine eternal destiny of his people, Works will merit eternal life) | ||
| ◼ | Five Views on Church and Politics (Anabaptist (Separationist) View, Lutheran (Paradoxical) View, Black Church (Prophetic) View, Reformed (Transformationist) View, Catholic (Synthetic) View) | ||
| ◼ | Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy (Conflict Model, Covenant Model, Convergence Model, Conformation Model) | ||
| ◼ | Two Views on Homosexuality, the Bible, and the Church (Non-affirming View, Affirming View) | ||
| ◼ | Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy (1-When the Bible Speaks, God Speaks; 2-Inerrancy, However Defined, Does Not Describe What the Bible Does; 3-Inerrancy Is Not Necessary for Evangelicalism outside the USA; 4-Augustinian Inerrancy: Literary Meaning, Literal Truth, and Literate Interpretation in the Economy of Biblical Discourse; 5-Recasting Inerrancy: The Bible as Witness to Missional Plurality) | ||
| ◼ | Three Views on Genesis 1-11 (As History and Theology, As Protohistory, As Ancient Historiography) | ||
| ◼ | Four Views on the Historical Adam (Evolutionary Creation, Archetypal Creation, Old Earth Creation, Young-Earth Creation) |
Release #1 Bundle (16 volumes)
- Five Views on Apologetics
- Understanding Four Views on Baptism
- Who Runs the Church? Four Views on Church Government
- Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: 5 Views
- Three Views on Creation and Evolution
- Remarriage after Divorce in Today’s Church: 3 Views
- Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide
- Four Views on Hell
- Five Views on Law and Gospel
- Understanding Four Views on the Lord’s Supper
- Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond
- Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism
- Four Views on Divine Providence
- Four Views on the Book of Revelation
- Two Views on Women in Ministry
- Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views
Regular Price $299
Buy Now
Release #2 Bundle (11 volumes)
- Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology
- Four Views on Eternal Security
- Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism
- How Jewish is Christianity? Two Views on Messianic Movement
- Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?
- Three Views on the New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament
- Four Views on the Apostle Paul
- Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World
- Three Views on the Rapture
- Five Views on Sanctification
- Four Views on Christian Spirituality
Regular Price $199
Buy Now
Release #3 Bundle (8 volumes)
- Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy
- Five Views on the Church and Politics
- Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy
- Four Views on the Historical Adam
- Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment
- Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither? Three Views
- Two Views on Homosexuality, the Bible, and the Church
- Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity
Regular Price $149
Buy Now
All these volumes are available individually as well as in two bundles (16-volume Release #1 bundle, 11-volume Release #2 bundle, 8-volume Release #3 bundle, and complete 35-volume bundle).
See this blog post for a discussion of the initial 16 volumes.
Updated April 2020 to include all 35 available volumes.