Every generation undoubtedly feels a sense of dislocation, but the world seems to be growing increasingly strange. The old liberal order fashioned in the nineteenth century and bludgeoned horribly during the twentieth appears to be tottering in the early twenty-first—wars in Europe, spasmodic breakdown of social order in major cities in the West and East, COVID-19 and the ensuing social chaos and governmental overreach, and economic instability. As a result, it is tempting sometimes to be consumed with the present crises, emotionally tied to the rapid shifts in events. In such circumstances, how could we ever focus on the deeper things of God, philosophy, ministry, art, literature, or good living?
First, we should always bear in mind Christ’s instruction to trust in our Father and eschew anxiety (Mt. 6:25–34). Christians should keep fear and anxiety at bay, especially in difficult days. Second, as C. S. Lewis reminds us in his address “Learning in War Time,” upheaval and strife do not create an “absolutely new situation.” They “simply aggravate the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it.” For “human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. . . . Life has never been normal.”[1] The greatest works of human culture have been produced while cities burned and wars raged.
Further, as Lewis notes, Christians are always to remember that eternity is impending. In such circumstances, we might be tempted to throw up our hands in despair. Why create, read, or think if we will die tomorrow? But sagely, Lewis points out that we will create culture whether we want to or not. Our lives cannot be consumed by any event totally. Therefore the question is, “Will we produce good culture or bad?” For our part, we must work to produce good culture whatever our circumstances.
Below, you will find reading suggestions from our group that come from a wide range of disciplines and topics. We have found these works meaningful and instructive during these times, and we hope you will find them equally helpful. Please leave us your favorite reads in the comment section.
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Carol Berkin, A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution (2002; Boston: Mariner, 2017), 310 pages.
In A Brilliant Solution, Carol Berkin offers an excellent and beautifully written narrative of the Constitutional Convention. Sometimes discussions of the Constitution can become dry legal analysis, but Berkin explains the significance and meaning of the various aspects of the Constitution as they were hammered out through debate in the convention of 1787. At each point, she explains the complexity of even the smallest adjustments to the structure of the proposed government.
Her most important contribution, especially in our ideologically saturated day, is to highlight the practical politics of the Founders. Certainly, many of them were students of history and political philosophy, which guided their political actions, but they were not mastered by ideology. This book is an excellent primer on the Constitution for every citizen called to engage politics with prudence and care.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter (Berkley: Counterpoint, 2004), 190 pages.
Hannah Coulter does not have an actual plot in the way you expect when you open up a novel; instead, the narrative follows the arc of Hannah’s life as she recounts it in vivid detail from the perspective of old age. The tale of her life is not especially different from that of even my own grandparents; it contains no fantastic spectacle, breath-taking heroism, or thrilling mystery; yet it is brimming with the essential joys and sorrows that mark the mountains and valleys of all human life. In recounting the loves and losses of her life, she can truly give thanks, knowing it was all a gift.
Wendell Berry uses this fictional memoir to enflesh the history of agriculture and rural communities in post-World War II America. It is part of his ten-book collection recounting the stories of rural Kentuckians in the fictional town of Port William. I highly recommend the book to anyone with reliable access to handkerchiefs.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Travis Dickinson, Logic and the Way of Jesus: Thinking Critically and Christianly (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2022), 384 pages.
There are plenty of books on logic out there, and a decent number of them are written by Christians. Travis Dickinson’s volume is particularly helpful because he frames his discussion of logic as part of the intellectual pursuit of God. Further, in the opening chapters, he emphasizes the need for critical (and logical) thinking as it relates to the Christian worldview. The use and teaching of logic has fallen on hard times. But for those who teach philosophy in a Christian context, or are simply interested in the pursuit of logic through a Christian worldview, this work is helpful.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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F. Leroy Forlines, Secularism and the American Republic: Revisiting Thomas Jefferson on Church and State, ed. Matthew Steven Bracey (Gallatin, TN: Welch College Press, 2022), 352 pages.
I am excited about this book, which has been a long (long) time coming. It represents some of the work that Leroy Forlines spent his final decades pursuing. He invited me to assist with this project approximately a decade ago. Well, the book has finally released and can be purchased here. In it, Forlines considers the claim that the United States was founded on secularism and finds that it is lacking because secularism as such did not come to exist until the mid-1800s. Other movements existed, such as Deism, empiricism, rationalism, and so forth, but they are nonetheless distinct from secularism.
The myth of eighteenth-century American secularism became federally enshrined in the American legal system through two cases in the mid-1900s: Everson v. Board of Education (1947) and McCollum v. Board of Education (1948). A key piece of evidence that the justices in these cases used was a letter penned by Thomas Jefferson in which he referred to a wall between church and state. Forlines does not dispute the letter but contends the secularist interpretation of Jefferson’s words is mistaken, opting instead for an accommodationist interpretation. Forlines justifies this interpretation based on Jefferson’s writings and example, as well as convincing historical and legal analysis, which he substantiates with primary and secondary resources.
Secularism and the American Republic is divided among fifteen chapters in four sections, in addition to three chapters in the appendices. Section one introduces readers to the secularist interpretation and Thomas Jefferson. Section two analyzes the two Supreme Court cases mentioned above. Section three examines key writings from Jefferson and puts forward a positive case for church-state accommodation. Finally, section four summarizes the salient points established throughout the book. I believe this book is a worthwhile read you will enjoy.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Rory Groves, Durable Trades: Family-Centered Economics that Have Stood the Test of Time (Eugene, OR: Front Porch Republic, 2020), 293 pages.
Rory Groves’s first career was in computer programming. After realizing his lifestyle did not align with his desire to be more connected and involved with his family and that his job could become obsolete in the future, he began homesteading with his family (thegrovestead.com) and researching what vocations have historically been the most reliable, resilient, and family-friendly. This book is the result of that research and transition.
Groves briefly introduces the bulk of his work with a few chapters outlining the current brittleness of our complex economic system, a bird’s-eye overview of the shift away from family-based economies in the industrial revolution, and an explanation of the criteria used for ranking the sixty-one durable trades. The book ends with a few reflections on re-ordering our view of the dignity and role of work. In between, Groves devotes sixty-one short chapters to each trade he ranked, beginning with more in-depth descriptions and interviews for the twenty ranked most durable and a few short paragraphs of explanation for the remaining forty-one.
Groves’s book is very insightful and interesting, and he devotes time to exploring vocations that are often overlooked in career preparation classes or job-interest inventories. In fact, I think that is where this book would shine the most: in the hands of every high school student you know. I know it will be required reading for my own children when they reach the early high school years. I would recommend this read especially to those who work with young adults and anyone interested in entering a different career field.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman, Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 158 pages.
I have been immensely helped by the work of 9Marks ministries over the past fifteen years, and I have regularly recommended their resources here. This work, published by Crossway in conjunction with 9Marks, is no exception. It builds on the sort of rich theological and ecclesiological wisdom we have come to expect from folks like Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman.
In Rediscover Church, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman explain why Christians need the church. It is common in evangelical circles for professing believers to question the importance and even usefulness of the local church. “Why cannot I just have a relationship with Jesus without being part of a church?” is a question we have become accustomed to hearing. COVID-19 and “virtual worship” seem to have only exacerbated this problem.
In light of these cultural changes, Hansen and Leeman explore subjects such as gathering for worship, church membership, church discipline, and church leadership to show why the local church is Biblical and essential for every believer. This resource will benefit pastors but might also be useful to go through with congregants.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Michael Kazin, A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (New York: Anchor, 2007), 432 pages.
As a teenager in the public school system, I remember learning one fact about William Jennings Bryan: he was a washed-up politician and fundamentalist Christian who fought against the teaching of evolution in The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes (1925), a case more popularly known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. While Bryan won the case in court, he was a poor apologist for creationism and lost in the court of public opinion. Whether that common narrative of events is true or not, it is lamentable that so much of Bryan’s life and work has been reduced to a single event at the end of his life. Indeed, Kazin writes, “For decades after his death, influential scholars and journalists depicted him as a self-righteous simpleton who longed to preserve an age that had already passed” (xix).
In this delightfully stimulating biography, however, Kazin presents a much more dynamic picture of the man known as the Great Commoner, including why Bryan was so philosophically opposed to Darwinism in the first place. Kazin leaves no stone unturned in his effort to demonstrate how Bryan, the de facto leader of the Democratic Party for nearly thirty years, “did more than any other man . . . to transform his party from a bulwark of laissez-faire into the citadel of liberalism we identify with Franklin D. Roosevelt and his ideological descendants” (xix).
To this end, he explores Bryan’s life in chronological fashion from birth to death, detailing his upbringing, religious convictions, and personal and political experiences—the good and bad. Thus, to understand the unfolding history of America’s political landscape rightly, one must understand Bryan; and if one wishes to understand Bryan, one ought to read this book.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle, The Chronicles of Narnia(1956; repr., New York: HarperCollins, 1984), 211 pp.
“What’s your favorite Narnia book?” is a question I periodically get when discussing this series. I first read through them during the 2004–2005 Christmas season as a late teenager and fell in love with them. I have read them approximately half a dozen times since then, including, most recently, over the summer of 2022 with my local church life group. In the past, I have been able to list my favorite Narnia book without any hesitation: The Silver Chair.
However, my recent read through these books has caused me to answer that question differently. I am finding that different storylines and motifs and characters come to mean more to you in different periods of your life, depending on your unique struggles and questions and experiences. For this reason, I have come to enjoy all of them for different reasons. I do not mean that answer as a cop-out but am being sincere.
It is within that context I recommend The Last Battle because, in the past, it has been among my least favorite of the Narnia books (notwithstanding its marvelous ending, which I have always enjoyed); perhaps it would be better to say I would often feel underwhelmed by the story overall. However, my recent journey through this story was full of wonder and delight and joy—from the structure of the story to the courage of the protagonists to the presentation of the themes.
When everything seems to be going wrong and God seems to be nowhere in sight, we can still demonstrate courage and stand on truth; God may seem absent, but He is not. I am learning that, sometimes, when we feel underwhelmed by a story, it has more to do with us than with the merit of the story. Sometimes people need the time to develop the kind of background that can appreciate the gems we have in our literary classics. I submit that The Last Battle is such a classic.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Fredrick J. Long and Matthew R. Peterson, Illustrated Acts in Greek with The Greek New Testament, Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge, The Accessible Greek Resources and Online Studies Series (Wilmore: GlossaHouse, 2019), 140 pages.
I am a big fan of finding creative ways for people to continue reading the Scriptures in the original languages, and this book series does the trick. This volume lays out the Greek text of the book of Acts in a comic book format with English translations provided at the bottom of each page. This approach allows readers to get more practice reading the Greek text of Acts while having quick reference to an English translation for passages with difficult syntax or vocabulary. A comic book format is certainly not the only way I would encourage students to practice reading the Scriptures in the original languages, but it helps to keep some interested in cultivating a challenging skill like reading ancient Greek. I recommend it to anyone who has been studying Greek for at least two years and moved beyond the elementary grammars of the language.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
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Bruce T. Morrill, Encountering Christ in the Eucharist: The Paschal Mystery in People, Word, and Sacrament (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2012), 144 pages.
In this succinct yet erudite work, Bruce. T. Morrill, a Jesuit priest and professor of Catholic Studies at Vanderbilt University, articulates a renewed vision of the Eucharist that, at once, seeks to overcome the sectarian, individualistic, and hyper-clerical trends of past Eucharistic thought and reunite the often-fragmented portions of the eucharistic liturgy into a single, integrated whole. While maintaining a wonderfully accessible and pastoral tone throughout, Morrill employs the best of Biblical, historical, theological, and liturgical scholarship to accomplish his task.
Perhaps the greatest point on which to commend this book, though, is the deeply ecumenical spirit that characterizes Morrill’s writing. He criticizes what he perceives as errors in his own Roman Catholicism as freely as in Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Moreover, he lauds what is good in each tradition’s practice of the Lord’s Supper. Protestants particularly will be struck by the move of post-conciliar Roman Catholicism, exemplified by Morrill, to restore the Scripture and the proclamation thereof to a place of prominence in its eucharistic liturgies and to reemphasize the communal nature of the ordinances. At the same time, Morrill’s thoughts will challenge Protestants to reunite the Word and the Table more frequently themselves. A Protestant reader will find many areas of disagreement with Morrill but will also find many places of intrigue in this eminently readable book.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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Albert J. Raboteau, Canaan Land: A Religious History of African Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 151 pages.
Albert Raboteau has been one of the leading authorities in the history of African American religion since the publication of his Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South in 1978. In Canaan Land, Raboteau broadens his analysis of how black Americans have engaged religion throughout American history. Raboteau gives attention to how African religious beliefs were abandoned in favor of Christianity or synthesized with it as part of the shifting cultural identity of black Americans.
While this process of conversion and synthesis began during the seventeenth century, Raboteau highlights the continuing importance of religious belief and practice as cultural markers for black Americans who work through their religious institutions to engage in political action. He also outlines how political action affected doctrine, producing liberation theology. While this blending of politics, culture, and religion occurred to varying degrees among black Christian groups, black nationalist groups like the Nation of Islam intentionally wedded the three and saw them as inseparable.
With clear and concise writing, Raboteau successfully covers much ground in a few pages. This book is a great introduction to the study of African American religion and raises important questions about the relationship between religious belief and cultural identity.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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J. C. Ryle, Simplicity in Preaching (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016), 22 pages.
It would be difficult to find a more helpful resource for preachers in a smaller package than J. C. Ryle’s little booklet Simplicity in Preaching. The work first appeared as a chapter in his book The Upper Room (1888) but has been reprinted as a wonderfully helpful standalone booklet.
In Simplicity in Preaching,Ryle gives the reader five “hints” for simplicity: have a clear knowledge of what you are going to preach; use simple words; seek to acquire a simple style of composition with short sentences and as few colons and semicolons as possible; aim at directness; and make abundant use of illustration and anecdote. Of course, all of these are to be accompanied, as Ryle notes, by preparation, prayer, the work of the Spirit, and a holy life. Every preacher should read (and re-read) this work.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Edith Schaeffer, The Tapestry: The Life and Times of Francis and Edith Schaeffer (Waco: Word, 1981), 650 pages.
Though Francis Schaeffer has had a significant influence on evangelicals, he has not been the subject of as many biographies as one might think. To date, Colin Duriez and Barry Hankins have both written decent biographies, both of which have been relatively recent (2015 and 2008, respectively). Others have written short summaries.
For those interested in Francis and his wife Edith, The Tapestry provides a helpful guide. Edith herself, through the survey of personal documents and interactions, compiled an autobiography of their lives, noting the important ways in which their lives interacted with their own family, the attendees of L’Abri, and others. Duriez and Hankins depend heavily on Edith’s own account in this book. For those seeking to get a right historical and contextual understanding of the life of the Schaeffers, there is no better place to start than to hear it straight from the source.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Nina Teicholz, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), 337 pages.
I love any book or person that tells me it is a good idea to eat butter, meat, and cheese. But more than just validating my delight in these types of foods and encouraging me to eat vegetables the way my mom and grandmothers made them, this book contains abundant research that demonstrates the foods we are so often discouraged to eat are the ones that can help us reduce obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Teicholz traces the history of the American diet and reveals how we arrived at the idea we should cut back on our dietary fats. She highlights many studies that have proved the benefits of dietary fats but have been ignored since they did not fit the agenda of departments such as the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association. Whether or not you agree with her thesis, it is a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
[1] C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses (1949; rev., New York: Harper Collins, 1980), 49.
October 27, 2022
As a lifelong lover of mentally operating on the minds of wise authors by reading their writings and storing pieces of their mental thunder in my own mind via reading their written words, I am delighted and convinced that this upcoming FWB generation is reading so widely from the past, present, and future prophetical works with a desire to give God all the glory for giving them reading materials through Christian libraries and publishing houses. May they continue dedicating their enlightened minds to win more people to Christ and to help populate Heaven heavily. C. Fay Forlines