What societies read, or do not read, has a significant effect on the nature of political discourse in modern democratic countries. Historian Paul Johnson argues that the press, as we now know it, first set “the pace of political change in all the advanced societies” during the 1820s with the invention of the steam press.[1] In the intervening two centuries, the printing industry has gone through massive changes that have surely continued to have similar effects. Perhaps part of the reason that our current political dialogue is so strained and prosaic is because much of our reading is limited to social media outlets or cable news chyrons.
While we cannot change the reading habits of others, we can change ours. Reading thoughtful, careful books on a wide range of topics helps to broaden our perspectives and gives us prudence as we engage the contentious culture around us and within us. Below, you will find our favorite reads from the past quarter that offer some perspective on the nature of man in society, in the family, and before God. They have proven valuable for us, and we are sure you can find one that would be beneficial for you as well. If you have a good suggestion for reading, please leave us a short review in the comment section.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2010), 91 pages.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s God Is in the Manger is one of my favorite books to read during the Christmas season. The book contains letters that Bonhoeffer wrote while in prison and excerpts from his advent sermons. He recognized the helplessness of his situation and found a parallel to the themes surrounding advent: “Life in a prison cell may well be compared to advent. . . . One waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other—things that are really of no consequence—the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside” (135). Each devotion includes a reflection from Bonhoeffer on themes such as waiting, mystery, redemption, and incarnation.
These reflections are best when paired with Scripture to contemplate. I encourage everyone to read these prayers and letters during the next advent season.
—Recommended by Zachery Maloney
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Christopher R. Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, rev. ed. (New York: Harper Perennial, 2017), 349 pages.
Ever since Allied forces first discovered the emaciated bodies and mass graves of the Holocaust, we have tried to understand how humans could be so brutal to one another. Historian Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men is one attempt to explain how average men can transform into merciless industrial killers.
Drawing on company reports and post-World War II investigative interviews, Browning details how the middle-class, largely non-party-members of Nazi Reserve Police Battalion 101 transformed into one of Nazi Germany’s most efficient and brutal execution units known as the Einsatzgruppen. From tearful, jittery, revolted executioners at the beginning of their service, Police Battalion 101 eventually became hardened murderers who gladly hunted the Hungarian forests for hidden Jews and machine-gunned thousands of concentration camp prisoners to keep them from being liberated by advancing Allied forces.
Browning closes this disturbing historical account with an extended chapter of psychological analysis. For Christians, the book not only serves as an important historical reminder about the depth of human depravity but also shows how easily our hearts can become hardened to the most egregious sins.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Lane T. Dennis, ed., Francis A. Schaeffer: Portraits of the Man and His Work (Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1986), 237 pages.
A regrettable yet all-too-common phenomenon often occurs during a child’s adolescence: He comes to roll his eyes at those things that used to give him joy or make him laugh; he believes he has grown past “childish” antics. Sometimes—often times—he even begins to turn against what his parents have taught him. A wise child dutifully follows good counsel; even if he does not understand it initially, the passage of time reveals the treasures therein.
Through my spiritual journey, I have observed this pattern with respect to the writings of Francis Schaeffer. I have witnessed numerous people early in their intellectual development consume his writings with the voraciousness of a starved tiger, only later to turn their backs on him, believing they have grown beyond his “simplistic” and “overgeneralized” views of history, philosophy, and/or spirituality. Many fault him for his interpretation of Thomas Aquinas, the Reformation, the American founding, and/or Søren Kierkegaard; and often they point to Schaeffer’s being a generalist as the culprit for his apparent problems.
Whatever one’s particular views on these various subjects, you can find specialists who agree with Schaeffer’s theses (and even state them more strongly than Schaeffer in some cases), as well as others who disagree with them. So Schaeffer’s being a generalist is not, at root, the issue. Even assuming that Schaeffer is not without his problems—and let us face it, none of us are—the point remains that what he offers far outweighs any of those issues. Consequently, our appreciation should exceed considerably any criticisms we may have for this man who has bequeathed so much to the evangelical subculture.
In Portraits, editor Lane Dennis appropriately honors this evangelical hero of the twentieth century by enlisting approximately a dozen authors to write chapters on Schaeffer and his thought, including those on contemporary theology, the humanities, philosophy, history and culture, psychology and psychiatry, and sociology. In particular I recommend the chapters entitled “The Fragmentation and Integration of Truth” (Gene Edward Veith, Jr.), “The Life of the Mind and the Way of Life” (Ronald H. Nash), and “Schaeffer and His Critics” (Lane T. Dennis). By no means is Portraits an example of hagiography. Yet it avoids the cheap, vacuous criticisms I mentioned above. Portraits follows the golden rule of scholarship: to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It engages Schaeffer and his ideas, and it does so in a careful, respectful manner.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert, Preach: Theology Meets Practice (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 210 pages.
There is certainly no shortage of books on preaching, but Preach has been one of the more helpful books that I have read on the subject. The book is divided into three parts. Part one addresses the theology of expositional preaching. Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert give a biblical basis for expositional preaching and explain what preaching does. Part two covers the practice of expositional preaching in which the authors discuss different approaches to planning expository sermon series. Part three presents a conversation between Dever and Gilbert on one another’s sermon manuscripts found in the book. Any preacher could benefit from this book as they strive for excellence in preaching God’s word.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
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Sinclair B. Ferguson, Devoted to God’s Church: Core Values for Fellowship (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2020), 187 pages.
Sinclair Ferguson’s Devoted to God’s Church is a wonderful reflection on the meaning of church membership. As Ferguson notes from the outset, there are many books about church growth, which is understandably a subject of interest as the Church in America declines in numbers. But Ferguson’s work focuses more on what we might call “first things,” or things of utmost importance. As Mark Dever and others have been reminding us for a couple of decades now, church growth should be preceded by church health. A significant part of church health is a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a part of the Church, what the central elements of Church life are, and how we can live out the Great Commission. Ferguson’s work does all of this in an insightful and concise way.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Bryan A. Follis, Truth with Love: The Apologetics of Francis Schaeffer (Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 206 pages.
Francis Schaeffer’s apologetic methodology has fascinated a generation. Commentators have called him an empiricist, a classicist, a presuppositionalist, and everything in between. Often, they bring these charges forward by placing Schaeffer in relation to other apologists and their methods. Instead, Bryan Follis allows Schaeffer to speak on his own terms. Follis wonderfully works his way through Schaeffer’s corpus of work, making note of important themes and structures. While some may not agree with all of Follis’s conclusions, they will benefit from his deep appreciation and reflection on Schaeffer’s approach. Specifically, Follis gives attention to Schaeffer’s focus on the nature of man as made in the image of God. Those who are interested in Schaeffer and his method should look no further than Follis’s work.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Gloria Furman with Jesse Scheumann, Labor with Hope (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 151 pages.
Gloria Furman’s book of twenty-five short “gospel meditations on pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood” builds on the research of Jesse Scheumann as defended in his ThM thesis, “A Biblical Theology of Birth Pain.” Furman’s light and readable prose is the perfect conduit to spread Scheumann’s research to a less academic audience. Furman reflects that women’s experience of labor and childbirth is a metaphor that helps us understand Christ’s sufferings and our new birth into His family.
While I expected to come away with a new appreciation for the miracle of birth, I instead grew a deeper awe for the “birth pains” Christ endured over the rebirth of my soul. Furman’s relentless focus on Christ and His work opens her book to a wider audience than those who have experienced motherhood in the usual sense: She makes application and appeal to those women who have never experienced physical childbirth, but who have labored over children through the process of adoption or over their spiritual children in the faith. This book is a great devotional read for women who mother in any capacity or season of life.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Victor Davis Hanson, The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece (1994; reprt., Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009), 271 pages.
Victor Davis Hanson is a politically and philosophically conservative historian who has worked with the Hoover Institute at Stanford University for many years. Hanson has written many books in his career, most recently addressing the phenomenon of Donald Trump’s presidency. Hanson’s unique and anti-progressive line of thought first garnered recognition in 1994 with the publication of The Western Way of War. In this wonderfully accessible book, Hanson delves into the Greek method of war that was grounded in their worldview. He argues that the quick, decisive form of battle that relied on the unity of the polis made it possible for Greek culture and society to flourish. Nearly thirty years after its first publication, The Western Way of War remains a classic of military and cultural history.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Thomas S. Kidd and Barry Hankins, Baptists in America: A History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 252 pages.
What makes a Baptist a Baptist? With no “theological or political ax to grind,” Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins seek to answer this question, hoping that all types of Baptists will feel that their views are fairly represented (xi). In Baptists in America, the authors understand the role that Baptists play in global history. However, they focus their attention on Baptists’ part in the story of American religious and cultural history. Kidd and Hankins leave the reader with an increased interest in Baptist history with the closing statement, “Baptist history provides good examples for how to proceed – and how not to” (252). I recommend this book to anyone interested in the early beginnings of the Baptist movement in America extending to its influence today.
—Recommended by Zachery Maloney
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Alexandra Kuykendall, Loving My Actual Neighbor: Seven Practices to Treasure the People Right in Front of You (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2019), 224 pages.
Perhaps it is an odd choice for a book recommendation, but I thoroughly enjoyed Alexandra Kuykendall’s Loving My Actual Neighbor. As Christians we are familiar with the content of the Second Great Commandment, but what of its application? That is what Kuykendall addresses in Loving My Actual Neighbor. Neither deep nor difficult to read, the book offers lots of engaging stories. I appreciated it because of how very practical it is. Her seven practices are things we already know but often fail to do.
In our interactions with one another, we should (1) learn humility, (2) ask questions, (3) be quiet, (4) stand in the awkward, (5) accept what is, (6) lighten up, and (7) give freely. Not presuming our interests on others, learning to ask them questions about their lives, giving them adequate space and time to respond, even if it feels awkward, and not feeling the need to fill the silence with noise: These are very basic yet often difficult habits to cultivate in our world of presumption, interruption, and noise, and they demonstrate ways that we can love the actual neighbor that is before us.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Charlotte Mason, Home Education (Living Book Press, 2017), 420 pages.
The first of Mason’s six volumes on education focuses on education in the home from infancy to age nine. Mason’s thinking is theologically informed and deeply rooted in her principles regarding the nature of children and the world, yet she is also extremely practical and detailed when explaining how to apply her theories. Mason’s main emphasis in this volume is on the value of free play in creation and in forming important habits (attention, obedience, truthfulness, etc.) in our children early on. I appreciate Mason’s respect for the ability of mothers to shape their children’s early education—and thereby their character—for both good and ill. Her final chapter on the will is a wonderful antidote to the flood of pop psychology that inundates modern motherhood. Note that you can access all six of Mason’s volumes for free in the public domain at Ambleside Online, where modern paraphrases and chapter-by-chapter summaries are also available.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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J. A. Motyer, The Message of Philippians: Jesus Our Joy, The Bible Speaks Today Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1984), 234 pages.
J. Alec Motyer is probably best known as a commentator on the Old Testament. His commentaries on Isaiah, for example, are splendid. Yet his commentary on the book of Philippians, which I used as an aide while preaching through the epistle, is equally good. He is a wonderful commentator because he combines careful exegesis with theological depth and presents it in a pastoral tone. If you are thinking about preaching through the book of Philippians, Motyer’s commentary is a must-have.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Benjamin J. Noonan, Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: New Insights for Reading the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 280 pages.
Studying biblical Hebrew and Aramaic can be overwhelming because of how quickly the field develops. If you are not engaged on a full-time basis, it is hard to catch up on what current scholarship says about the various aspects of Hebrew and Aramaic. Benjamin Noonan’s Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic is the perfect resource to get a broad but deep survey of the primary topics in this field of study. He covers subjects such as lexicography, verbal stems, discourse analysis, register, dating Hebrew and Aramaic texts, and more. The book is very accessible to non-specialist readers interested in Hebrew and Aramaic, and it is a great starting point for diving deeper into these subjects.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
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Jacob Shatzer, Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today’s Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019), 192 pages.
While maybe not yet part of the common vernacular, transhumanism is an intellectual movement that is growing rapidly. For years, a wide spectrum of proponents has put forward practical and philosophical defenses for this new vision of humanity that is rooted in an Enlightenment and humanistic optimism. Yet there has been far less critical engagement with these ideas from a Christian perspective. Thankfully, Jacob Shatzer has written such a volume. He helpfully allows transhumanists (an ideology notoriously hard to define) like Nick Bostrom and Max More speak for themselves. Even more, Shatzer engages with specific components of this ideology like the Principles of Extropy, morphological freedom, and others. He offers all this engagement from a robustly Christian perspective, grounded in the theological truth of the imago Dei.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
[1]Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815–1830 (New York: Harper Collins, 1991), 948.
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