At the start of the year, many people set goals to accomplish over the ensuing twelve months. Some enjoy preparing reading goals that push them to explore new areas of literature, review old classics, or discover new authors. Others simply set a number of books they intend to finish by year’s end. Keeping notes on your reading habits serves to encourage more intentional and consistent reading. Reading partners and book discussion groups are another great motivator for reading new books. The reflection and conversation that follows adds an extra element of enjoyment to the read.
Below you will find some of our favorite reads from the last quarter that offer new and interesting perspectives on many subjects. We hope you will find some to place on your reading list for 2022. If you have a good recommendation, please leave us a comment.
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Richard Behers, Spiritual Care for People Living with Dementia Using Multisensory Interventions: A Practical Guide for Chaplains (London, UK: Jessica Kingsley, 2018), 118 pages.
For most pastors, providing spiritual care to congregants living through the end stage of dementia can be overwhelming. There are often questions about how to connect with those who cannot express themselves due to their condition. It is important to understand that the people suffering with dementia are persons just as you and I are. They are made in God’s image and are worthy of dignity and care.
In Spiritual Care for People Living with Dementia Using Multisensory Interventions, Richard Beher provides helpful insight for caregivers and pastoral leaders. The interventions Beher covers include singing hymns, using photographs or paintings of family members, praying, and conducting a worship service. I also appreciate Beher’s focus on how churches can create their own dementia care ministries, where caregivers can talk through their challenges. This resource is essential for anyone ministering to someone with dementia.
—Recommended by Zachery Maloney
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Luke Clossey, Salvation and Globalization in the Early Jesuit Missions (New York: Cambridge, 2008), 340 pages.
Luke Clossey’s intriguing study of early Jesuit missionaries is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Christian missions. In an era where it is fashionable for secularists and, increasingly, many Christians to dismiss Christian missions as a project in Eurocentric colonialism, Clossey challenges the very idea of Eurocentrism. He does so by copiously examining thousands of writings from dozens of Jesuit missionaries—native to a variety of regions in Europe—serving in Germany, Mexico, and China.
Clossey’s work reveals both the internal diversity of the early Jesuit society, which mirrored that of early modern Europe, and the differences between those Europeans and the Europeans of today. Such diversity and differences raises questions about the usefulness of the term Eurocentric at all, let alone its usefulness when discussing Jesuit missionaries. For this reason, Clossey portrays the Jesuit missionaries as an example of a bourgeoning globalized world, marked by diversity and fluid identities. Indeed, Clossey carefully explains how Jesuit missionaries viewed their own personal salvation as bound up with the salvation of the whole world, and, thus, they were always thinking globally. Salvation and Globalization is a new take on missiological history—and a refreshing one at that.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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Michael Allen Gillespie, The Theological Origins of Modernity (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2008), 368 pages.
There are many competing descriptions of the origins and effects of modernity. Much of the literature on Christian worldview has pointed to the Enlightenment for the intellectual and cultural origins of modernity. While these assessments are not wrong, one might assume that the church was virtually absent during modernism’s rise. In The Theological Origins of Modernity, Michael Gillespie walks through the ways in which various theological ideas contributed to the rise of modernity. He notably points to William of Ockham’s nominalism and its effects down to the present. This book is a helpful clarification on this all-important discussion.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Crawford Gribben, The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2021) 318 pages.
You might be familiar with the work of Saint Patrick in spreading the gospel in Ireland, but there is much more to the story of how Christianity was embraced on the emerald isle. In The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland, Crawford Gribben provides an excellent overview of the religious practices in Ireland prior to the arrival of the gospel message. Gribben then explores the complex ethnic, political, geographic, and religious developments of the island from that point forward to the demise and rapid secularization of “Christian Ireland” over the last three decades.
The latter portion of Gribben’s work is gut-wrenching, detailing various forms of abuse within the Catholic Church, which Gribben directly connects with Ireland’s secularization. But he also warns of the great danger of wedding Christianity and temporal power, which he argues played a central role in the demise of “Christian Ireland.” His work is instructive for Christians in every locale and in every generation.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Gregory R. Lanier and William A. Ross, The Septuagint: What It Is and Why It Matters (Wheaton: Crossway, 2021), 202 pages.
It is not uncommon for the average layperson to notice footnotes in his copy of the Bible referencing the Septuagint. It is also not uncommon for college students and professors to come across academic references to the Septuagint. Many understand that the Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, but few realize the complexities behind the term Septuagint or the impact it had in Judeo-Christian history and even the church today. This short introduction to the subject provides answers to questions about the translation and its meaning. The authors highlight the significance of this ancient translation and help the reader understand just how important it is for studying both the Old and New Testaments. Anyone who wants to learn more about the Septuagint will not find a more direct and concise introduction to the subject.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
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Eric Metaxas, Seven Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2015), 215 pages.
For some reason, I have never gravitated toward reading biographies. It is a deficiency in me that needs correcting. Eric Metaxas’ seven short biographical sketches in Seven Women are a great starting place for dabbling in this genre. His insightful introduction sets a wonderful tone for the work as he explains that these women were not great because they accomplished what they did despite being women but precisely because they were women. Their woman-ness is part of their greatness.
Besides their sex, the other unifying factor of these women’s lives was their faith. Through torture, heartbreak, poverty, and danger, they set their eyes on the unfading hope of a Kingdom to come. I greatly enjoyed revisiting stories I was already familiar with, such as Corrie ten Boom and Mother Theresa, as well as being introduced to characters from history I had never met before, such as Hannah More and Saint Maria of Paris. I highly recommend the book for those needing a bit of perspective on their own lot in life or for those who balk at biographies—of which I am both!
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Paul Oslington, ed., Adam Smith as Theologian (New York: Routledge, 2011), 152 pages.
Most people do not think of Adam Smith, the father of free-market economic thought, as a theologian. If the term theologian is limited to describe someone who writes explicitly about biblical or systematic theology, then such a conclusion may be correct. If, however, a theologian can be described as someone whose thought is indelibly marked by theology, then Smith fits the bill. Paul Oslington, who holds advanced degrees in both theology and economics, convened a conference of interdisciplinary scholars (historians, theologians, economists, and philosophers) from across the globe in order to demonstrate the theological underpinnings of Smithian thought. The papers presented at that conference resulted in this book’s publication.
Contributors cover a wide range of theological influences on Smith—from Augustine to Scottish Calvinism to British Natural Theology—before giving formal shape to Smith’s theological thought and appraising it. Understanding Smith’s theology reveals the ways that modern capitalism has departed from the vision of its progenitor in a secularized age and raises questions about how these departures might be addressed today. Adam Smith as Theologian is simply a must read for anyone interested in the intersection between economics and theology (and there is always an intersection).
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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Jeremy Peckham, Masters or Slaves: AI and the Future of Humanity (Downers Grove: IVP, 2020), 240 pages.
At the turn of the century, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its attending technologies seemed to be confined to the limits of science fiction. Now, AI is found in our smartphones, televisions, smart speakers, and across the Internet. In Masters or Slaves, Jeremy Peckham walks the reader through the wide range of consequences that follow embracing various AI technologies without care. As he notes, these problems extend from surveillance to economics. While concerns about this kind of technology might still seem to be a question on the periphery, Peckham rightly notes the exponential rise in the prominence of this technology. As a result, Christians need to be thinking ethically and theologically about how they are to engage in our new technological age.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Alvin Plantinga, Knowledge and Christian Belief (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 144 pages.
I recently taught through a course on religious epistemology entitled Theological Foundations. One of the texts we used is Alvin Plantinga’s Knowledge and Christian Belief, which is a shortened version of his larger Warranted Christian Belief (Oxford, 2000). Plantinga is an analytic philosopher who has taught at Calvin College and University of Notre Dame and is widely respected within the broader philosophy guild.
Knowledge and Christian Belief functions as an excellent introduction to many of the perennial issues with Christian belief in the modern age. For example, he addresses criticisms that have arisen to Christian belief, such as those from Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, as well as topics like historical biblical criticism, pluralism, and the so-called problem of evil. He defends Christian belief as being warranted, rational, and coherent. Knowledge and Christian Belief does not engage in cheap argumentation and rhetoric but rather engages the very best arguments. For anyone interested in the intersection of epistemology and Christian belief, I recommend Plantinga’s Knowledge and Christian Belief.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Benjamin T. Quinn & Walter R. Strickland II, Every Waking Hour: An Introduction to Work and Vocation for Christians (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2016), 115 pages.
We spend the majority of our days working, yet few consider how their vocations can glorify God. Many Christians see work as a distraction, or a necessary evil for earning an income. In Every Waking Hour, Benjamin Quinn and Walter Strickland help the reader see the theological connection between what we do on Sunday morning in the pew and what we do Monday morning at our jobs. This short work begins with developing a theology of work and how our work contributes to God’s work in the world. Every Waking Hour shows how discipleship is not reserved for Sundays; it is lived out in the normal rhythms of life that include school, work, and communities. Naturally, a Christian is involved in his or her work on a daily basis. This bridge allows for those in the church to integrate faith and work. I recommend this book to anyone seeking to make gospel applications to their everyday work.
—Recommended by Zachery Maloney
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Cindy Rollins, Morning Time: A Labor of Love (Blue Sky Daisies, 2021), 264 pages.
Is it a universal craving to read things of immense practicality? Morning Time is a book whose ideas you can implement right away. Parts of the book were published in 2016 as A Handbook for Morning Time; in response partially to the upsurge of homeschooling families produced by the 2020 pandemic, Rollins republished the book with updates and an anthology of worthy hymns, poems, and booklists to use during Morning Time.
What is Morning Time? It is Rollins’ name for a time of family learning guided by Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy, with an emphasis on remembering. Elements included are unique to every situation but generally include hymn singing, Bible reading and memory, poetry, and living stories read aloud. For homeschooling families, Morning Time can serve as the anchor of the homeschooling day; however, the concept can be creatively applied to many areas, such as assisted living facilities, Sunday schools, or Vacation Bible School programs.
This book would be a great read for anyone with children, homeschooled or not, or anyone that leads regular group meetings that could use a refresh or a bit more intentionality.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Allen P. Ross, Malachi Then and Now: An Expository Commentary Based on Detailed Exegetical Analysis (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2016), 202 pages.
Allen Ross has recently become one of my favorite commentators. Most commentaries tend to be either extremely academic or extremely pastoral. In some you get bogged down with textual variants and detailed discussions on the minutia of the Hebrew or Greek syntax. On the other extreme, some commentaries are little more than sermons on a particular book. Ross, however, does an excellent job of addressing both the relevant textual questions dealing with variants and syntax but also communicating how and why a particular text is important for the believer today. This particular commentary on Malachi would be a great help to pastors and/or Sunday school teachers who are teaching through the book. A basic knowledge of Hebrew is assumed, but Ross handles the text in such a way that even the average Bible student can benefit from his work.
—Recommended by Zach Vickery
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James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), 445 pages.
In Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed,James C. Scott explores the complex and often misguided attempts of intellectuals, politicians, and bureaucrats to use the power of the state to encourage human flourishing by systematizing nature and human society. Scott emphasizes that the intricacy of nature and human communities that develop in specific contexts defy the levels of abstraction required for administrators to develop a fully successful system of organization.
Scott’s work provides fascinating historical analysis of how various state institutions around the world have fashioned standardized grids to organize nature and society only to find that the complexity of ecological systems and human communities were surprisingly resistant to such rationalization. As states create abstract systems of organization to make their societies legible for administration, Scott argues, they simultaneously enhance their powers of coercion. The likelihood that administrators will try to use this newfound power is elevated by the high-modernist ideology of self confidence in scientific and technical progress that make it possible to rationalize nature and society for human flourishing.
Since high modernism implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) sees opponents to systematization as regressive and deterrents to progress, authoritarianism is a significant temptation for its adherents. According to Scott, the administrative ordering of nature and society becomes dangerous when it is empowered by an authoritarian state ruling over a prostrate civil society. Authoritarian rulers of the right and left have embraced the power of the state to restructure society along more rational lines, though Scott admits that the utopian left has more consistently taken this path over the past century.
In light of the massive expansion of bureaucratic and political social engineering we have seen throughout the world since spring 2020, this read is a very important one. At the very least, Scott’s analysis serves as a cautionary tale about the limits of human knowledge. But more helpfully, to my mind, it serves as a call to action to fend off the grasping paws and hungry teeth of a byzantine state seeking to eliminate personal liberties and individuality for what is proffered as the common welfare.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Roger Scruton, Confessions of a Heretic, rev. ed. (Kendel, UK: Notting Hill, 2021), 187 pages.
I have spent the past few years exploring various aspects of the late British philosopher Roger Scruton’s thinking. One of the most fascinating things about Scruton is his immense range of thought and writing. He believed that conservatism has implications for every aspect of life and spent much of his time investigating what that looks like. Originally published in 2016, this 2021 revised edition also includes a touching and insightful introduction by the conservative British journalist, Douglas Murray.
Confessions of a Heretic is a small collection of popular essays that Scruton had previously published in online formats or in periodicals. The subjects range from the importance of national identity to the appropriate love of animals to thoughts on death in a safety-obsessed culture. Written for popular audiences, each chapter scrutinizes (or “Scrutonizes”) how we approach the world around us, but in a very accessible and enjoyable manner.
I found his chapters “The Need for Nations” and “Dying in Time” particularly thought provoking and timely. Scruton is particularly good at pointing out the contradictions in the globalist ideology, which has gained the ascendency over the twentieth century. His emphasis on localism and the importance of national identity for human flourishing is a breath of fresh air. In “Dying in Time,” Scruton examines the deleterious and unintended effects that Western culture is experiencing as a result of embracing risk aversion in society and our personal lives. The ramifications of such policies and personal practices have led to the ballooning of the industrialized health care system, especially in regards to the elderly.
This book is a great volume to have around for when you are stuck waiting on a meeting or sitting in the waiting room. The short chapters are engaging and thought provoking without demanding an extensive amount of time to read. Confessions of a Heretic is a great read for old friends of Scruton and those who are interested in finding something new.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggle, rev. ed. (New York: Basic, 2007), 352 pages.
In spring 2019, I recommended The Thomas Sowell Reader, which is a collection of Sowell’s shorter writings (essays). Sowell is an American economist who received his PhD from the University of Chicago. In his early years, he was a Marxist but, after working in government, concluded that the free market offers a better solution to the issues of our day than governmental interference and tinkering. Recently, I made my way through his Conflict of Visions, which is a Sowell classic. In it, he presents two visions of life: the constrained vision and the unconstrained vision.
These visions are types but nonetheless help us to think through the differences we see between people in society on issues ranging from social issues to economics to political and legal issues to race and ethnicity to educational issues. The constrained vision recognizes the limitations of man’s nature and knowledge, respects inherited wisdom, and demonstrates humility regarding the future, while the unconstrained vision assumes the perfectibility of man and presumes the ability to master knowledge, which leads to the desire to be rid of the chains of the past and the belief that we can create some version of utopia. Each of these visions aims at goodness and righteousness but define them in (often times) radically different ways. Undoubtedly, these basic visions lead to great differences in addressing questions of change, equality, freedom, law, justice, war, and so forth, all of which Sowell addresses.
Sowell avoids polemics in this book and, although it was originally published in 1987, offers very helpful paradigms for thinking through contemporary issues.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Stephen J. Wellum, The Person of Christ: An Introduction (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021) 206 pages.
I have been greatly helped by Stephen Wellum’s longer work on Christology, God the Son Incarnate. So I was delighted to see this much shorter volume that not only covers much of the same territory but also is intentionally concise and aimed towards pastors and theologically curious laity. In a pluralistic society that rejects the uniqueness and exclusivity of Christ, and in a cultural moment where theological understanding is in decline, exploring the doctrine of the person of Christ is vital.
Wellum helps the reader do so by first looking at what the Bible says about the person of Christ, and then exploring the Church’s teaching concerning the person of Christ throughout history. One of the most helpful concepts in The Person of Christ (which also appears in the longer work) is the importance of developing a “Christology from above” by which Wellum means understanding who the eternal, incarnate Son is on the Bible’s terms. I heartily commend this wonderful little volume to laity and ministers alike.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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