I encountered the following book today while working for Dr. Yarbrough:

Berghuis, Kent D. Christian Fasting: A Theological Approach. With a foreword by Scot McKnight. N.p.: Biblical Studies, 2007. xi + 295 pp.

This seems to be a published version (with minor revisions?) of Berghuis’s Ph.D. dissertation by the same title completed at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in December 2002 (xix + 393 pp.). Biblical Studies Press is part of Bible.org, which has made available the entire work for free:

1. Introduction: Contribution and Methodology
2. Chapter 1: Fasting In The Old Testament And Ancient Judaism: Mourning, Repentance, And Prayer In Hope For God’s Presence
3. Chapter 2: Fasting In The New Testament: Remembrance And Anticipation In The Messianic Age
4. Chapter 3: Fasting Through The Patristic Era
5. Chapter 4: The Development Of Fasting From Monasticism Through The Reformation To The Modern Era
6. Chapter 5: Toward A Contemporary Christian Theology Of Fasting
7. Appendix 1: Basil’s Sermons About Fasting
8. Appendix 2: Fasting In Scripture

Thesis: “Christian fasting must ultimately be centered on Christ, reflect proper ways of engaging the human body in sanctification, and remember the corporate nature of the believer’s community. Fasting has too easily been associated with a focus on human effort, a fixation on or deprecation of the body, or an individualism that disregards communication concerns” (pp. x–xi).

Berghuis’s mentor was Wayne Grudem, and his second reader was Robert W. Yarbrough. Here’s what they say about the work:

• Grudem: “Here is an academically grounded, theologically insightful, Christ-centered study of fasting that carefully moves through all the relevant passages in both Old and New Testaments, then surveys various periods of church history, and then draws balanced, well-supported conclusions with special reference to the doctrines of sanctification and longing for Christ’s return. This is a significant, ground-breaking study on a much-neglected topic.”
• Yarbrough: “‘Cornucorpia’ may seem out of place in describing a book on fasting, but that’s what this volume is. It combines biblical interpretation, historical analysis, and theological reasoning to furnish a full and challenging account of an ancient Christian practice. Just as important, the author provides a framework for truly Christian fasting today. In an age of obesity and self-indulgence—from which many long for deliverance—this is a study worthy of diligent attention and wide circulation.”

In the book’s foreword, Scot McKnight writes,

“Kent Berghuis’ fine examination of fasting is a rare exception to the trend in literature about fasting. . . . There is simply no book about fasting that is this biblical, and I’m grateful that it is now being offered to the public” (pp. vii–viii).