Arctic storms, shortened daylight hours, and rainy/snowy weather forces us indoors during the cold winter months. Even as we appreciate and enjoy the austerity of this time of year, it also encourages us to look forward to spring and resurrection. So, as we fill the longer nights with family activities and time indoors, we have great opportunities to reach for new books.
Below, you will find reading suggestions from our group that come from a wide range of disciplines and topics. We think these selections will be great for personal and family reading. Please leave us your favorite reads in the comment section.
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Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (1652; repr., Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2020), 344 pages.
Thomas Brooks’s Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices is a Puritan classic. I am almost ashamed to admit that I had not read the book until recently but am glad to have done so. Brooks presents many devices that Satan employs to tempt believers to sin, despair, or neglect their Christian duty. Having set forth one of Satan’s devices, Brooks provides multiple remedies to each snare. In some ways, the concept, though not in the form of dialogue, is reminiscent of C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. It is as if Brooks, through personal experience and deep reflection, is pulling back the curtain on Satan’s schemes, which, in turn, helps the Christian know how best to resist Satan’s advances.
Some of the devices Brooks lists are unsurprising but helpful. For example, Satan lures the believer to sin by “[p]resenting the bait and hiding the hook” (9), or “[b]y causing saints to remember their sins more than their Saviour” (158). Yet others are more surprising. For example, “[b]y showing the soul the best men’s sins and by hiding from the soul their virtues, their sorrows, and their repentance” (30). Here, Brooks imagines men like David who were great sinners but were deeply sorrowful and repentant for their sins. His point is that Satan might tempt us to excuse our sin because great men like David were also great sinners, while hiding their sorrow and repentance from us.
This book is perfect to read devotionally throughout 2023. Perhaps you read just a few pages at a time and meditate on the truths you discover. However you read the book, it is a volume of classic Puritan spirituality that will challenge and aid you in your spiritual growth.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Sally Clarkson, The Lifegiving Table: Nurturing Faith through Feasting, One Meal at a Time (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2017), 272 pages.
Sally Clarkson is a jewel of a woman. I strongly suspect that the Spirit blessed her with the spiritual gift of encouragement, which she puts to good use in her weekly podcasts, national speaking engagements, and dozens of books about homeschooling, parenting, and the Christian life. Her book, The Lifegiving Table, is fourteen chapters of stories, theology, good ideas, and yummy recipes that emphasize how breaking bread together is a relationally and spiritually transformative experience. If you oversee the meals in your home (or if you enjoy eating), I highly recommend this book for wafting some fresh air through your soul and assuring you of the importance of your work.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Pascal Denault, The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology: A Comparison Between Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist and Paedobaptist Federalism (Birmingham, AL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2013), 188 pages.
Why do Baptists and Paedobaptists arrive at different understandings of the proper subject of baptism (one baptizing believers, and one sprinkling infants)? The primary reason is their differing approaches to covenant theology. As Pascal Denault puts it, “Baptism is, therefore, not the point of origin but the outcome of the differences between paedobaptists and credobaptists” (5). He makes this important point concerning seventeenth-century Baptists: “Baptists were therefore not looking first to define the doctrine of baptism in order to adjust it to the doctrine of the Church. Their doctrine of baptism was the outcome of a theological approach . . . .” (7).
In this fascinating, historical-theological work, Denault highlights the continuities and cleavages between the federal theology of the seventeenth-century English Particular Baptists and paedobaptists. While there are important soteriological differences between Calvinist Baptists and Arminian Baptists (who are many of our readers), this work is beneficial for a better understanding of Baptist covenant theology.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Rachel Jankovic, Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches (Moscow, ID: CanonPress, 2010), 104 pages.
When Rachel Jankovic wrote this book, she had five children under six years old. She writes from a true place of understanding about the joys, difficulties, and pitfalls of mothering little ones. Her words are full of things to laugh at, cry about, find encouragement by, and ultimately, full of new ways to praise and rely on God through the work of parenting. Plus, it is blessedly short, so do not be afraid to gift it to that busy mom chasing toddlers—she will find the spare moments she needs to read a chapter or two, and be better for it.
—Recommended by Rebekah Zuñiga
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Maxwell E. Johnson, The Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation, rev. ed.(Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007), 536 pages.
In a herculean effort, Maxwell Johnson, a Lutheran minister and longtime professor of liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame, charts the development of Christian initiation rites (catechesis, baptism, handlaying, anointing, etc.), theologically and practically, from the first century to the present day. In the first half of the book, Johnson describes the rich diversity that marked initiatory rites in different locales during the first eight centuries of church history with some locales emphasizing baptism as a death and resurrection (Rom. 6:1–14) and others as a new birth (Jn. 3:5; Titus 3:5). Ultimately, the latter came to dominate Eastern Christianity while the former came to dominate Western Christianity.
In the second half of the book, Johnson explains how initiatory rites became homogenized in the West, and how the lingering effects of that homogenization shaped even the initiatory rites of Protestant churches down to the modern era. He then expresses hope that the recent rediscovery of the initiatory rites and theology of the early church might push Christians toward a richer and fuller expression of initiatory rites in the present. Certainly, Free Will Baptists will disagree with many of this Lutheran’s conclusions regarding initiatory practices. That fact, however, does not diminish the copious and careful historical research that went into this work. One’s understanding and appreciation of Christian initiation will be enriched by taking the time to read this book.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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Michael Kazin, What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2022), 396 pages.
In the last round of the HSF’s book recommendations, I suggested Michael Kazin’s delightful biography of William Jennings Bryan. Now I commend to your reading Kazin’s carefully researched and eminently readable history of the party that, three times, nominated Bryan for president. Kazin openly identifies himself as a Democrat on the left-wing of his party and expresses his hope that this book will help the Democratic Party win elections in the future by learning from its electoral successes and failures in the past.
Regardless of his political orientation, though, Kazin’s thesis is quite compelling. He argues that, from its beginning, the Democratic Party has argued for a form of “moral capitalism” by criticizing both monopolies and “the oppression of Americans in the workplace” (xii). Initially, Democrats emphasized the anti-monopoly side of moral capitalism, but, since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, they have emphasized the pro-worker side. Such a shift in emphasis led to regional realignment and coalitional rebuilding in the Democratic Party, which Kazin neatly unpacks, revealing both the good and the bad, in his stimulating narrative. If you wish to better understand one of America’s two major political parties (and the oldest active political party in the world), What it took to Win is a must.
—Recommended by Joshua R. Colson
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C. S. Lewis, Perelandra: A Novel (New York: Scribner, 1944), 192 pages.
Over the Christmas break, I recommitted myself to reading more fiction. I have always enjoyed reading good fiction, but the demands of academic life and doctoral studies make it easy to give all my reading time to non-fiction works that will inform either my writing or my lecture material. Thankfully, I struck on a wonderful book to get me motivated to return to fiction. I began listening to C. S. Lewis’ Ransom Trilogy on Audible.
The second installment in this series of science-fiction novels, Perelandra, was particularly fascinating to me. Lewis uses the possibilities of space travel to explore what a world would look like prior to the Fall. The protagonist, a philologist by the name of Elwin Ransom, is sent to Venus to represent Maleldil (the Christ figure in this story) in a battle to keep the world from experiencing the Fall.
As Lewis moves through the story, we are led to meditate on numerous deep concepts. How are we tempted into sin? What role does the Christian play in building the kingdom of God, and how does our will interact with the sovereignty and providence of God? What was the nature of man before the Fall, and what might we anticipate about the Eschaton? Along the way, Lewis takes time to dismantle several modern heresies, including scientism, progressivism, feminism, and historical pessimism. Intriguingly (providentially?), I found this wonderful book was leading me into some of the same meditations on how all creation points us back to God’s goodness that were inspired by my reading of Josef Pieper’s Guide to Thomas Aquinas recommended below.
This is a fun book that also inspires meditation on the goodness of God and the nature of our spiritual battle against wickedness. The audio book produced by Blackstone Audio available on Audible is wonderfully done and makes for an enjoyable listen while driving in the car or working on chores around the house.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh: Classic Collection (London: Egmont, 2016), includes Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), The House at Pooh Corner (1928), When We Were Very Young (1924), and Now We Are Six (1927).
I commend this collection to anyone and everyone. Good “children’s” literature, of course, is not only for children. I did not read about Winnie the Pooh as a child, and the loss was mine. It is no wonder these tales have survived for close to a century. Pooh stories are delightful, heart-warming, and humorous. Through them, A. A. Milne explores the various personality types, whether introverts or extroverts, whether thinking, intuiting, or feeling, and he does so (successfully) through the logic of a young boy (Christopher Robin). And through them, readers learn about all kinds of things, such as the nature of the world, the wonder of adventure, the meaning of friendship, and the challenges of social politics. Winnie the Pooh is full of delight and charm and cannot help but put a smile on your face.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Josef Pieper, Guide to Thomas Aquinas (New York: New American Library, 1964), 160 pages.
Guide to Thomas Aquinas is an excellent introduction to the life and thought of this thirteenth-century doctor of the church. This small book is the result of a series of lectures given in the early 1960s by the twentieth-century German Roman Catholic philosopher, Josef Pieper. As a result, the book has a popular feel that makes the information accessible even for readers unfamiliar with Thomas or philosophy. Still, the content is rich and, at times, slips into deep waters that promote sustained reflection on the nature of man and ideas before God.
Even though biographies are one of my least favorite genres of writing, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Pieper’s book exhibited what I think is the best quality of good biographical writing. He does not simply detail the life of Thomas but uses his subject as a doorway into exploring the thirteenth-century and modern world. In this way, Guide to Thomas Aquinas reminded me quite a bit of G. K. Chesterton’s wonderful biography of the same man (I was glad to find that Pieper and other renowned scholars of Thomas agreed that Chesterton’s work is clearly one of the best books ever written about the Dumb Ox).
As we learn about Thomas’s journey into adulthood and academia, we also examine the birth of the mendicant orders and the medieval university. As Pieper delves into Thomas’s argument for the goodness of the material world created by God, we not only find the roots of our confidence in man’s ability to discern and know the world around us (science) but also are reminded that even the smallest insect points us back to the goodness of God. And, therefore, pursuing knowledge of the world around us is, in itself, a good and sacred venture.
Having given much praise for Pieper’s fine book, I now offer a significant criticism. I picked up this book, in part, because I hoped to find another scholar’s analysis of Thomas’s epistemology to add to my exploration of the issue. I was greatly disappointed to find that Pieper essentially side-stepped the issue altogether. In his last two chapters, Pieper examines Thomas’s understanding of the relationship of theology and philosophy where he argues that theology is supreme but must listen to the insights of science and philosophy to inform our interpretation of Scripture. To some degree, he is right since we bring knowledge of the world into our theological reasoning.
However, Pieper argues that our interpretation of Scripture must avoid Biblicism. He then gives the example of incorporating evolutionary theories, paleontology, and biology into our interpretation of the creation account. In this way, Pieper implicitly argues that man’s temporal and limited knowledge of the world around us must dominate our understanding of Scripture when the two do not align. So Pieper failed to address my primary question about Thomas, except, in that, he exhibited the very dangers of Thomism about which Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, Bradley Green, and a host of others have warned us.
Despite this significant criticism of Guide to Thomas Aquinas, I still heartily recommend it as a wonderful introduction to the man’s life and thought that will inspire broader reflections in the reader’s mind.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Thomas Sowell, The Quest for Cosmic Justice.New York: Free, 2002), 224 pages.
The Quest for Cosmic Justice marks the third book I have read from Thomas Sowell, and he never disappoints. Sowell is an economist by trade, and he has more libertarian leanings than I do, but he offers plain, sound interaction with the political, social, and economic issues of our day. Quest includes four essays, each about forty to fifty pages in length, which interact with the topics of justice, equality, vision (similar to worldview), and the American founding. His basic thesis is to contrast the concepts of cosmic justice from social justice.
Sowell rightly observes that social justice is not shorthand simply for the social implications of justice (traditional views of justice affirmed its social nature). Rather, it refers to the pursuit of justice within the progressive perspective that pushes propositions about the meaning of justice, the nature of man, and the role of government which classicalists (including biblical Christians) reject. Specifically, classicalists do not believe in the fundamental goodness of man nor the autocratic role of government. Sowell observes that finite men and women, in the name of social justice, place themselves in the place of a god by presuming to understand and manipulate the people and processes of a given society in a manner that exceeds their capacities and, in the end, often end up making matters worse (unintended consequences) than they were before they attempted to “fix” them.
He does an excellent job of reminding us of the importance of thinking in terms of “trade-offs” rather than “solutions.” The language of solution communicates that the issues of a problem are fixed; the concept of trade-offs is better because it acknowledges that one set of pros and cons are exchanged for another set, and that wisdom includes the capacity to see beyond present circumstances and account for the best results based on likely outcomes. Sowell is always a joy to read and so I commend him to you.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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