Best Reading (not what was published this year, just what I found good)
In our ipod and digital age, the art of reading books is rapidly declining. Just consider how this past year Barnes & Noble has filed for bankruptcy and Borders Books is shutting down stores. All point to the growing illiteracy in our culture- which has always been a sign of spiritual darkness. Wherever the Gospel permeates a culture, it brings the power of the Word in written form, because the Word is what gives life. The Reformation brought the fire of truth to the masses through the publication of books. It is why Reformed Churches stress the ministry of books and the value of reading. I know this list seems a little cerebral, but only reflects what stands out in my mind as good literature I’ve enjoyed this last year.
James Boswell, The London Journal, was a surprise find at a Library sale. Boswell is known as the biographer of the great Samuel Johnson who wrote the famous Dictionary of the English language back in the 19th Century. This journal records the year Boswell lived in London and his first meeting with Johnson, a larger than life man of the town, yet deeply religious. Johnson was the antithesis of Boswell, who was raised in a strict Presbyterian home in Scotland and had come to London to escape the watchful eye of his father, who hoped his son would pursue a nobler calling than a literary one. Embedded in the detailed account of his days and reflections of his diary, one gets a sense that Boswell grew more and more distant from his childhood faith, while at the same time sporadically attending various churches and chapels near his flat in central London. He grew in his skepticism and unbelief, while very respectful of Johnson. What this book shows us is the sad descent into unbelief is even more common today among the new atheists who, unlike Boswell, see nothing good in faith.
C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, is the third of his so called sci-fi trilogy. It is really not about aliens and space travel, but about the nature of evil at work in the ordinary scheme of life. At the center of this story is a married couple and how evil seeks to destroy their marriage and how the Gospel seeks to restore the original design of a man and woman in holy matrimony. This was the first time I understood that this book is really about marriage.
Lewis, The Discarded Image, was a book by C.S. (Jack) that was one I’ve never read, till now. It is part of his literary critical work, in which he put forth his argument in the value of medieval models of thinking and art for Modern consideration. This work shows how Lewis was writing all his work from a vantage point that was pre-modern and yet not uncritical. In other words, he could see the problems of modern man in rejecting the Supernatural with unequaled intelligence and accuracy. He was a prophet from another epoch, looking into our own time pointing us to the enduring standard of God’s truth.
Timothy Keller, The Reason for God. The pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City shares his insights and shows years of wisdom in dealing with skeptics and unbelievers. This is a valuable example of actually doing apologetics (defending the Gospel) and commending the Faith to our unbelieving society.
God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, by Rodney Stark. We have been taught that the Crusades were all bad from root to fruit and how we should carry the guilt of Western Civilization on our collective shoulders. Stark likes to shake the established view and does it with this book. Looking at the historical and fundamental military reasons for these wars, it becomes apparent that the fight for protection from Islamic tyranny, while not always offering a better solution, was a key motivation for these “religious” or cultural wars. I don’t agree with him on all points, but it is a good alternative to popular political correctness.
“Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens of C.S. Lewis”, by Michael Ward, is making the case that he has the golden key to understanding the scheme behind all that Lewis wrote. And he is right. Scholars dedicated to Lewis’ work might have laughed him off the stage, if they did not come to agree with Ward. They do agree with him. Most of us, including me find the medieval world too distant to understand it. Ward does understand this world and helps us all understand Lewis (a professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature) a bit more.
The Westminster Assembly, by Robert Letham, shows some of the thinking behind the Confession that would become the English speaking Reformed Church’s key theological framing document. We owe much to Letham’s work as a historian and writer to give us this much needed work.
Risking the Truth, by Martin Downes, has many contributions from various theologians and pastors on the danger of heresy in our day, when even among conservative evangelicals there is a desire to tolerate diversity at the risk of losing the truth.
The Young Calvin, by Alexandre Ganoczy, is a careful study of the early influences in the life of Calvin from his days in Paris and his struggle to come to terms with the need to break from the Church and make a clear stand for the Reformed faith. This is a good and fair treatment of Calvin, even though it was written by a Roman Catholic scholar.
Packer and Mark Dever, In My Place Condemned He Stood. Here two respected leaders and thinkers representing Anglican and Baptist confessions come together around the centrality of the Subsitutionary Atonement. Many today are rejecting this basic evangelical doctrine (like Emergent leaders such as Brian McLaren) and this book is a clear and beautiful call to return to the Cross for the vitality of the Gospel and the life of the believing Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment