As summer comes to a close and last-minute vacations are squeezed in before the school year begins, we would like to take time to recommend some of our favorite reads from recent months. Below, you will find offerings from a wide range of disciplines and topics. These suggestions reflect our various interests and concerns that we think you might share with us. Please leave us your favorite reads in the comment section.
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Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johsnon, The Eucharistic Liturgies: Their Evolution and Interpretation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012), 384 pages.
In this mammoth undertaking, longtime liturgical scholars at the University of Notre Dame, Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson, trace the evolution of the Lord’s Supper, both in terms of practice and theology, from the first century to the present day. With regard to ritual practice, Bradshaw and Johnson helpfully provide pages and pages of Eucharistic liturgies from each era of church history with an appropriate amount of explanation and commentary along the way. As it pertains to Eucharistic theology, the duo especially focus “on two topics, namely, Eucharistic or real presence . . . and Eucharistic sacrifice,” which “have been the most central and most ecumenically challenging and divisive issues since the sixteenth century” (xv). It is difficult to imagine that one could find a better historical survey than what Bradshaw and Johnson have produced here. For any pastor or scholar seeking to better understand this ordinance of the church, this book is a must read—and a delightfully engaging one at that.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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Francis Canavan, Edmund Burke: Prescription and Providence (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1987), 197 pages.
I suspect that this recommendation is rather niche. Nonetheless, for those interested in the religious underpinnings of Edmund Burke’s views on politics, government, and history, I recommend this book. In chapters one and two, Francis Canavan analyzes some of the prominent theological works that Burke read to provide background about his views on the theological doctrines of creation, providence, revelation, and the church. In chapter three, Canavan reviews Burke’s religion, as well as how he integrated metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. With these foundations in place, Canavan then presents Burke’s views on politics (chapter four), government (chapter five), constitution (chapter six), and history (chapter seven).
In chapter four, Canavan explicitly ties Burke’s political beliefs to his theological beliefs, writing, “Briefly, the ultimate premises of Burke’s political thought are provided by the metaphysics of a created universe” (112). Concerning Burke’s view of government in chapter five, Canavan explains, “But Burke also saw man as a creature of God ‘who gave us our nature, and in giving impressed an invariable Law upon it.’ God, as the Creator of human nature, is also the ultimate author of the state” (117). Finally, in chapter seven about history, Canavan discusses Burke’s understanding of divine providence, writing, for example, “That Burke saw his own life as governed by divine providence is clear from his own correspondence. He saw the whole of human history, too, as subject to the same sovereign providential will” (149).
Canavan demonstrates, throughout the book, that the parliamentarian Burke was deeply theological, and anyone interested in Burke, or in the intersection of theological and political sensibilities, should find this book fascinating.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Colin E. Champ, Misguided Medicine: The Truth behind Ill-Advised Medical Recommendations and How to Take Health Back into Your Hands (Pittsburgh: CDR Health and Nutrition, 2016), 258 pages.
The average modern diet is far different from that of our ancestors. We tend to eat more highly processed and mass-produced food. In Misguided Medicine, Colin Champprovides helpful information on how certain government and medical policies led to these changes. He also offers compelling evidence that foods that have been vilified in recent years, such as animal fats and red meats, may have health benefits that we miss when eliminating them from our diet. While you may not walk away from this book choosing to implement every recommendation, Champ provides a helpful framework for making your own informed decisions related to personal health and nutrition.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
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Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 4th ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 304 pages.
Mark Dever’s Nine Marks of a Healthy Church has become a classic ministry book among evangelicals since it was first published in 2000. This year I finally got around to reading it with a friend. Like all those who have recommended the book to me for so many years, I deeply appreciated Dever’s emphasis on the centrality of preaching for a healthy church. I especially like his emphasis on preaching through books of the Bible rather than picking favorite passages and topics. This fourth edition adds two chapters on prayer and missions to his earlier editions. Of these two, I found the chapter on prayer particularly instructive, filled with good ideas for incorporating serious, meaningful, corporate prayer into church meetings. Lay leaders and ministers alike can find encouragement and insights from this book.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, trans. Robin Buss, Penguin Classics (1844–1846; repr., New York: Penguin, 2003), 1276 pages.
I recently listened to a podcast about the importance of teachers and preachers of God’s Word reading good fiction. I believe that Monte Christo by Dumas fits the bill. Monte Christo is masterful, full of compelling plot lines, memorable characters, and commanding themes.If you have never seen the movie from the early 2000s, avoid it (in my opinion, it is “meh” at best). If you have seen it, do not let it negatively color your view of the book; the movie omits and conflates too many plot points, and it lacks the thematic richness of the book.
At its heart, the story of Monte Christo deals with themes of injustice, revenge, mercy, and forgiveness—not only from the temporal perspective but also from the eternal one. It is as theological as it is literary. In some ways, Monte Christo is not unlike Les Misérables in terms of its rich thematic elements (indeed, both were published in the mid-nineteenth century by Frenchman) but, in some ways, Monte Christo may be more accessible.
Monte Christo may seem daunting in its size: indeed, its scope is broad, covering several generations of half-a-dozen families over the course of decades. Even so, it presents an engrossing story that rewards those willing to invest in it.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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John M. Frame, A History of Western Philosophy and Theology (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2015), 875 pages.
Any attempt to provide a one-volume survey of the history of ideas is an ambitious venture. And yet John Frame has successfully produced an accessible work along these lines. His A History of Western Philosophy and Theology traces the most significant thinkers in the Western world from the pre-Socratics to the present. Frame utilizes a chronological-biographical approach, working his way through Western thought and looking at the context and ideas of important figures. Thus one will find helpful surveys of important philosophical and theological figures. Like any book of this sort, one might quibble about who was included and left out, or who got more space than others. Even so, Frame largely does justice to the important ideas and those who held them. I have found this book to be a helpful resource in tracing metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical ideas as they develop over time.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Karen Glass, In Vital Harmony: Charlotte Mason and the Natural Laws of Education (Karen Glass, 2019), 176 pages.
After the COVID-19 lockdowns and the School Board and curriculum wars of the past couple years, many parents, Christian and otherwise, are considering pulling their children out of the public school system. Once such a decision is made, panic can set in: what are we going to do with the kids in the fall?! Summer is homeschool planning season (at least on the Internet), and it is so tempting, with an empty schedule before you, to jump straight into the “how-to’s” and other necessary practical matters. However, working through the philosophy, or principles, behind our pursuits makes our efforts more fruitful and the daily decision-making more streamlined and effective. So, it is important for home educators to spend significant time developing and refining their educational philosophy.
If you have been intrigued by a Classical/Charlotte Mason approach to education but daunted by her six (rather wordy) volumes, Karen Glass’s book is exactly the place to get a grip on Mason’s twenty principles of education and to see how they relate and build on each other to provide a complete framework for learning throughout life. Without a guiding principle, educating your child at home turns into “an endless series of independent efforts, each to be thought out and acted out on the spur of the moment; but the fact is, that a few broad essential principles cover the whole field, and that once fully laid hold of, it is as easy and natural to act upon them as it is to act upon our knowledge of such facts as that fire burns and water flows.”[1] Glass, in an excellently written and laudably concise 176 pages, helps us to grasp those few broad, essential principles, no matter where we are in our education journey.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Kyle Greenwood, Dictionary of English Grammar for Students of Biblical Languages (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 144 pages.
Surprisingly, perhaps, one of the most significant challenges for Americans learning a foreign language is to broaden the student’s English vocabulary. This hurdle was a major one for me when I started studying Greek. It seemed like I was constantly having to look words up just to make sure I understood what my textbook was saying. But having learned much of this vocabulary while studying Greek, it seemed like I was already a step ahead when learning Hebrew the next year.
Students in similar situations today would greatly benefit from Kyle Greenwood’s dictionary. He not only gives basic definitions of words used in the study of biblical languages but also provides examples from both the Hebrew and the Greek. For example, in his entry for the word vocative, he provides a definition, an example verse from the Old Testament, and an example verse from the New Testament. I also think this dictionary would be helpful for pastors, Sunday school teachers, or anyone who uses critical commentaries on a regular basis. Commentaries often assume their readers have a certain amount of base-line knowledge. So this dictionary would be handy to have around to reference when commentators talk about the Hebrew or Greek text, using language unfamiliar to the average person.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
Crawford Gribben, Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), 210 pages.
When historians of evangelicalism consider the cultural influence of evangelicals in the second half of the twentieth century, they often point to the political influence of figures such as Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority. The Moral Majority sought to recapture the moral influence of Christianity by electing politicians who shared traditional Christian values and the goal of transforming American society.
But political engagement was not the only path towards cultural transformation for some evangelicals. In Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America, Crawford Gribben explores Christian Reconstructionism, a somewhat diverse group of thinkers and practitioners, who, instead of seeking cultural transformation through the electorate, withdrew from society, moved to places like Idaho, and built counter-cultural communities governed by the teachings of the Bible.
Gribben explores the historical and ideological origins of the movement but also shares keen insights from in-depth interviews with Christian Reconstructionists such as Gary North, Douglas Wilson, and others. I am not saying we should withdraw from society in the same manner as the Reconstructionists. Still, Gribben’s research is thorough, and his writing is clear on a fascinating counter-movement within American evangelicalism.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World from The Twenties to the Nineties, rev. ed. (New York: Harper Perennial Classics, 1991), 870 pages.
Paul Johnson remains one of the most recognized names among conservative historians. Unwelcome in modern leftist academia, the British historian followed his own path, writing for newspapers and popular publication. As a result, he wrote on a wide range of subjects that interested him. I have slowly been trying to work my way through his entire catalog. Along the way, my appreciation for his perspective and writing style has consistently deepened.
In Modern Times, Johnson argues that relativism spread throughout the world in the first decades of the twentieth century, facilitating the rise of totalitarian states of the left and right, undermining the West’s self-confidence and global influence, and causing general moral deterioration. While I do not always agree with Johnson, I find his perspective is always thought-provoking. He uses primary sources to highlight significant errors in common academic interpretations, while he offers counter-explanations that usually are more consistent with a conservative understanding of human nature and society.
Unlike most academics, Johnson’s writing is complex but engaging. Focusing on the historical narrative, Johnson does not “talk down” to his readers, but neither does he become bogged down in historiographical jargon or dense theories of historical analysis. The result is an immersive and enjoyable read that quietly reveals an expansive narrative and precise argument about how and why the world developed as it did during the twentieth century.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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C. S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (New York: Scribner, 1938), 158 pages.
I remember the first time I visited a planetarium. I was probably ten or twelve years of age. As we laid back in the pitch blackness, our guide narrated over the loudspeaker as we saw a picture of our own blue planet. For the next five minutes, the image slowly began to zoom out, and our seeming center of the universe was crowded about with stars and planets, and then, astonishingly, by many, many other galaxies. The point was clear: we are very, very small. Small enough that perhaps we are even meaningless.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1, KJV). The Scriptures tell a different story. Not that the universe is small; not that our blue planet is anything but just a speck in space and time. The whole enterprise is not meaningless—it is glorious. God’s eternal life and glory have spilled out into His creation, and He has made Man in His very image.
In Out of the Silent Planet,C. S. Lewis breaks away from the slavish religion of scientism that would have him write a different kind of space story. This tale is really not about “Space.” It is about the Heavens, “the womb of the worlds” (34). What if there were God-breathed life on other planets—on planets where the Fall had not occurred but that had felt the rumble of that spiritual capitulation? Lewis takes three “bent” Earth creatures to one such planet, revealing more about the fallen state of humanity than about any curious imaginings of planets, stars, or extra-terrestrials—although these are plentiful. Finally, it’s a lot of FUN. I recommend it as a great way to round out your summer reading.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Michael G. Long and Chris Lamb, Jackie Robinson, A Spiritual Biography: The Faith of a Boundary-Breaking Hero (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017), 212 pages.
I remember learning about Jackie Robinson for the first time in elementary school. To the best of my recollection, my class received a coloring book that told the tale of Robinson shattering Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s. We colored in the pages as the teacher relayed the tale. For a child who loved baseball like me, Robinson was a real American hero. I must admit, however, that my knowledge of Robinson basically ended with the fact of his overcoming the racial barrier in professional baseball. It was limited to what I learned in a child’s coloring book; but there is so much more to the man. Until I read Michael G. Long and Chris Lamb’s biography, I was unaware of the central role that Robinson’s Christian faith played in his life—before, during, and after his baseball career.
Apparently, I was not alone in my ignorance. “It’s all too easy,” lament Long and Lamb, “to read one of the numerous books about Robinson without coming across one word about his religious convictions.” However, as the duo demonstrate in their carefully researched and articulated work, “to ignore Robinson’s faith is to take away the very foundation on which he stood as he shattered the color barrier in baseball and became a leading figure in the civil rights movement after baseball” (21). Learning of Robinson’s faith, certainly, helps better to understand this American hero. I would commend this eminently readable book to anyone with an interest in baseball, the civil rights movement, or the intersection of sports and religion.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-shift that Changes Everything (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2009), 196 pages.
I first read this book around 2010 prior to having much formal experience in local church leadership, but even then I remember being refreshed by the content of the book and the stark contrast between the model of ministry it presented and much of the church growth material I had encountered in other books. Since then, the book has been very influential in my understanding of ministry.
The title of the book is based on a metaphor that Colin Marshall and Tony Payne use throughout the book: a trellis and a vine. When applied to the local church, our programs are “trellis” and the people are “vines.” The natural inclination of churches tends to be towards trellis growth (the multiplication of programs) rather than vine growth (the spiritual growth of people). In turn, we often measure church growth by measuring trellis growth when (if we really are after making disciples) we should focus primarily on the formation and multiplication of disciples through intentional discipling relationships.
The Trellis and the Vine is intended to call churches back to vine growing by focusing on the spiritual growth of disciples who give themselves to the work of disciple-making. The Trellis and the Vine includes many ideas for implementing this biblical model of ministry. However, the follow-up book, The Vine Project, is intended to explain further how to implement the model.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Alvin Plantinga, God, Freedom, and Evil (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 122 pages.
People who have spent any time with the problem of evil have no doubt heard the name Alvin Plantinga. Really, God, Freedom, and Evil is required reading for anyone that wants to spend time engaging with the larger discourse around the problem of evil. Some articulations present the problem of evil by two categories: the logical problem and the evidential problem.
While many are continuing to engage with versions of the evidential problem, most notably William Rowe, most scholars—both theists and atheists alike—believe that Plantinga put the logical problem to rest with this book. In God, Freedom, and Evil,Plantinga engages with J. L. Mackie’s logical problem that draws on the tradition of Epicurus and David Hume. While you will need to read the book for the full argument, Plantinga offers a free will defense to satisfy the supposed conflict between evil and the world and an all-powerful, all-good God.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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[1] Charlotte Mason, Home Education, 10, https://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/vol1complete.html.
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