Five favorite books?

Great question. Here are the ones that come to my head in no particular order.

On Being a Theologian of the Cross by Gerhard Forde. Highly, highly recommend this one. It’s a commentary on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation that shows the difference between a theologian of the cross and a theologian of glory - in our words, religion vs. the gospel. Powerful and devastating.

The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells. His first four books coalesced into an incredibly helpful critique of church and culture. Wells is a sociological theologian.

The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther. Most people know Luther for the Five Solas, the Protestant view of salvation. What, unfortunately, most people don’t know is how that is applied. The Bondage of the Will is what he called “the hinge upon which everything turns”. He also said that if all of his writings were burned but one survived, he’d wish it was The Bondage of the Will. J.I. Packer’s intro is worth the price of the book alone.

Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. Klosterman was a writer for SPIN, Esquire, and, I believe now, ESPN. Has some entertaining and sharp insights into culture.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I read this in my early 20s and had never seen someone write with such power. The way he uses words and the way he can paint scenes is really unique. It is a fictionalized autobiography about how both of his parents died when he was 21 and he had to raise his 11 year old brother. This book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Eggers went on to write other highly acclaimed books as well as the script for Where The Wild Things Are. Lastly, he art directed Thrice’s album Vheissu.

Bonus:

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. I think anyone in the church in their 20s should read this.

What about you?

While Kim and I were in New York this week we stopped by Strand Bookstore - if you’ve never been there, you need to go next time you’re in the city - and I came across this great find. It’s an out of print collection of Luther’s theology. It’s by no means exhaustive but it is a great collection of his writing on central topics like the bondage of the will, the preaching of the church, the missionary message of the church, the nature of God, the nature of man, and the person and work of Christ. The best comparison I can think of is that it is like his Table Talk meeting a systematic theology. It is out of print but you can still pick up a few used copies on Amazon.

While Kim and I were in New York this week we stopped by Strand Bookstore - if you’ve never been there, you need to go next time you’re in the city - and I came across this great find. It’s an out of print collection of Luther’s theology. It’s by no means exhaustive but it is a great collection of his writing on central topics like the bondage of the will, the preaching of the church, the missionary message of the church, the nature of God, the nature of man, and the person and work of Christ. The best comparison I can think of is that it is like his Table Talk meeting a systematic theology.

It is out of print but you can still pick up a few used copies on Amazon.

Slate on Christian Young Adult Novels

Though evangelical books have had a hand in creating this more moral era, the larger takeaway from the Christian books is not that girls should imagine themselves as subservient wives, but that they should prepare themselves for adulthood. Certainly heroine Candace Thompson sees marriage as her ultimate goal when she is choosing a boyfriend. But she also wants someone “who valued what she did, would take her seriously, would help her grow as a person, and would love and respect her.” That’s not a girl preparing for a life as a doormat; it’s a girl learning about the importance of emotional strength. It’s a girl who refuses to settle for a so-so boy who is not on track to be a good man. As far as girlish escapism goes, it’s better than holding out for a Prada purse.

These two came this week and I can’t wait to start them after I’m done with the Bonhoeffer bio. Then again, chances are I’ll take an early peek…

These two came this week and I can’t wait to start them after I’m done with the Bonhoeffer bio. Then again, chances are I’ll take an early peek…

My Best Reads of 2008

For those of you looking for books to add to your Christmas list or for a gift for a bookish family member or friend, look no further. Here are a list of books - the majority of which I’ve read this past year - that I’d recommend. The ones I’ve read have kept me well nourished during this past year in M*ngolia. If you choose to pick any of these titles up, I’m sure they’ll serve you well.

First up, the Re:Lit “Books You’ll Actually Read” series published by Crossway. These books are all short in length, coming in at about 100 pages each. What they lack in length they make up for in content. I’ve read through both On the Old Testament by Mark Driscoll and On the New Testament by Mark Driscoll,and I’ve used On Who Is God by Mark Driscoll and Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Alsup as study resources. These books are great for laying down the basic information on their topics and I think, would be a valuable tool for any small group Bible study.

The next three books are by C.J. Mahaney. The first two, Humility: True Greatness and Living the Cross-Centered Life, I’ve read but the third I have not. Humility: True Greatness seems to be more geared towards men but I think anyone could gain from it. Mahaney tackles the difficult subject with his unique, pastoral voice in a way that is graceful, convicting, and helpful. Living The Cross-Centered Life is a fantastic short treatise on living a Christian life at the foot of the cross. His thesis, that the Gospel and the cross are things we never move on from in the Christian life. We are to dwell on them. The third Mahaney book, Worldliness: Resisting The Seduction of a Fallen World, is one I haven’t read because it was released while we’ve been in M*ngolia; though if it’s anything like the previous two I’m sure it’s worth the time to read. Again, I would suggest that these would be great books for any small group Bible study.

The Courage to Be Protestant by David Wells (not the Yankees pitcher) was by far my favorite book of the year. Wells is a theologian who takes a distinctly sociological angle in his work. If you take books like The Tipping Point to go with your theology, the Wells is your man. In The Courage to Be Protestant, Wells deftly analyses the current state of the Protestant and Evangelical church and it’s three main slices; truth-lovers, marketers, and Emergents. When I read books I enjoy and plan to use as a reference, I highlight passages, but I also keep a written index of the most important passages in the front of the books. With The Courage to be Protestant I have almost two full pages of indexed excerpts.

Ashamed of the Gospel: When The Church Becomes the World by John MacArthur. This book was written in 1993 about the upsurge in Modern, seeker-sensitive churches. As is his style, MacArthur dissects the landscape methodically and Biblically. In a great move, MacArthur contrasts the battle versus the torrent of pragmatic, marketing-driven churches with Charles Spurgeon’s battle verses liberalism in the Downgrade Controversy of the late 1800’s. This book was my second favorite of the year because I found that you can essentially swap out Modernism and it’s characteristics for Post-Modernism and it’s attributes. Similarities between Spurgeon in the 1800’s, MacArthur’s critique of the Modernism of the 90’s, and our the current situation with the Emergent church abound. [I also think it’s worth noting that both Wells and MacArthur, 15 years apart, identify George Barna and his trend-following, marketing-driven approach to church as hazardous and harmful. This should raise red flags for anyone reading anything with his name on it.]

The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor by John Stott is a fantastic look at the essential characteristics of a true, thriving, Christian church. It’s a great book because the qualities he proposes are Biblical and therefore transcend any single denomination or way of “doing” church. In fact, the point of this book is that if you are “doing” church and these four qualities aren’t there, you’re doing it all wrong. This is another book that would be a great guideline and resource for a small group Bible study.

The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther was a dense and difficult, but rewarding, read for me. Luther’s argumentative force is enormous and, at times, strangely really funny. I feel like I learned just as much from reading his arguments as from “hearing” them. That’s not to say it didn’t feel a bit repetitive at times; though that seems due more to Erasmus’ repeated arguments than anything else. As I’d hoped, I walked away feeling more grounded in the classical Protestant doctrine of the Bondage of the Will. The prologue by J.I. Packer alone is worth the price of the book.

Whatever Happened to Worship?: A Call to True Worship by A.W. Tozer. This book is a collection of sermons on worship that Tozer gave to his church in Toronto. I love Tozer’s combination of scalpel-and-wrecking-ball-like insights and critiques, and his obvious zeal and passion for a blazingly dynamic faith. I think you can be a dry, scholastic and be refreshed by Tozer’s fervency for a faith enlivened by the Holy Spirit. An emotionally-led charismatic can read Tozer and be strengthened by his unwavering Biblical focus. From whatever door you come into Tozer’s work, you can find common ground and encouragement from an unyielding, pastoral voice.

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. As a parting gift before we left for Mongolia, our small group gave me the C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy - I assume mostly at the insistence of Dustin. I don’t read Sci-Fi. It’s hard for me to read Sci-Fi. I’ve also never played War Craft. It’s hard for me to identify with the characters and worlds of science fiction. I can get into stories, but because they’re so obviously fake I can’t personally identify with Klingons. That might be changing though. A month ago I found myself riveted at a dialogue-less, animated Wall.E.; and now, just this week, I tore through Out of the Silent Planet in three days. I couldn’t stop it was so good. So, here is my first recommendation for a Science Fiction book. Make fun of me all you want. Dustin, Ralph, and Jonathan, you can rub it in my face. I guess I just have a soft spot for hrosses.

-

-

What about you? What are some of your favorite reads of this year?