Jeff here -
So thankful that God gives us the gift of excellent authors and excellent books. As has become my tradition, I wanted to share with you some of the best books that I read in 2023 - some are explictly “Christian” books, and some are not, and I didn’t agree with every single point of every book - but I believe that all of them will help you to better consider our God and all that He has created.
While reading deeply is always important, I believe that it will be especially important in what is sure to be an angry and divisive 2024. We’ll be tempted to give our attention to cable news and social media, and whether we like it or not, we will be formed by these mediums. We will be much better served to slow down, pick up good books, and draw deeply from the wisdom therein.
Come and See - Jonathan Pennington
This is the latest book by my favorite professor from seminary. Dr. Pennington’s books combine orthodoxy with warmth and joy, and this volume is no exception. In Come and See, Pennington helps us to appreciate the different ways we can read the Bible - there’s “Informational” reading, “Theological” reading, and “Transformational” reading. Each of these types of reading is personified by a person taking the wheel on a road trip (Ingrid, Tom and Taylor, respectively).
Each of these types of reading fit together to help us “come and see” the Bible’s goodness.
Quote: The sincere reader…who comes to Scripture with a teachable heart has the most important qualification in place. The skill sets and wisdom that come from informational and theological readings can be learned over time; a receptive and open heart provides the true starting point for the best reading of Scripture.
Being God’s Image - Why Creation Still Matters - Carmen Joy Imes
As questions about identity dominate so much of our discourse, it is important for us to go back to the Bible to understand that our foundational identity is derived from how God has created us - and He has created us to be His image in this world. Imes, a professor at Biola University, says that this has major implications for our lives and our vocations.
Imes describes what it means to live as God’s image in this world, tracing a path for what it will be like for us to live in God’s new world when Jesus returns.
Quote: John’s Gospel presents Jesus as the new Adam. Jesus’ arrest occurs in a garden (John 18:1), contrasting the events in the first garden. When confronted with his sin, Adam blamed Eve (and God), and Eve blamed the serpent. In contrast, Jesus identifies himself as the one the soldiers seek and advocates for the innocence of his companions (John 18:8). He demonstrates his trust in the Father by choosing the bitter “cup” he ordained, rather than thinking he knows better (John 18:11).
The Genesis of Gender - A Christian Theory - Abigail Favale
Favale has an interesting story - she was once immersed in fairly radical gender theory, but began to see the inconsistencies inherent in these theories and eventually converted to Catholicism. From this vantage point, Favale has much to add to the current discussion around gender. She touches on topics like sex, abortion, contraception (this part may challenge you), gender dysphoria and more. Favale’s background has uniquely equipped her to see why certain gender theories are attractive to people (hint - they involve ‘freedom’ as we often sinfully conceive of it) - and why the Biblical way is so much better.
This is one of those books that is just packed with insights and will provoke a lot of thought. You can listen to a discussion with Dr. Favale on her book via the gang at Mere Fidelity here: The Genesis of Gender with Dr. Abigail Favle
Quote: In this fallen order, the human person is now at war with himself, and this inner conflict erupts outward, pushing the equilibrium between the sexes into a swinging pendulum of conflict and domination. Difference, no loner recognized as gift, is understood as opposition. The final, redemptive order seeks to correct this opposition. This order begins with Mary’s assent to become the Mother of God Incarnate. She is the new Eve. Her yes to God untwists the knot of Eve’s no. The redemptive order harkens back to the beginning, to restore the original justice of creation through the engine of grace. Grace has the power to heal our wounded nature, to soften the hardness of our hearts, and to restore the broken covenants between God and humanity and between woman and man.
The Toxic War on Masculinity - How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes - Nancy R. Pearcey
Another book on gender! This one focuses on reclaiming a proper understanding of masculinity, showing how changes in culture and society have made it difficult for men to understand their calling in the world. Pearcey writes from a perspective that combines insights from the Bible, history, and sociology. The most interesting part of the book comes in Pearcey’s historical description of how we have often looked at masculinity as a problem to be solved, rather than a gift from God. I also appreciated Pearcey’s look at how Christian fundamentalists often (appropriately) pushed back on this, only to swing the pendulum too far to the right, often denigrating the role of women in the process. This helps us to understand the present-day challenge for the church - to define and practice masculinity and femininity in the context of our status as God’s image (see the Ines book above) in a way that values both and denigrates neither.
Quote: No sex has a monopoly on any particular virtue. The problem with stereotypes is that they cut us in half - men get one half of the human character traits and women get the other half. But in redemption, God calls us to be whole persons, recovering the full image of God in both sexes.
Remaking the World - How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West - Andrew Wilson
One of my rules for living and learning is that if Andrew Wilson reads something, I should think about reading it as well - and if he writes something, I should absolutely pick it up and learn everything I can from it. Wilson is a pastor and author in the United Kingdom, and his breadth of learning and reading shows in this really remarkable book. Wilson explains how 1776 and its many events (including, but not limited to the American Revolution) helped to shape the people that we are today. He does this by showing that we are WEIRDER than other eras of human history - with WEIRDER representing “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic.”
This “WEIRDER” idea is important because of the many cultural assumptions that we make - it's helpful for us to remember that our culture is not, in itself, normative - and the WEIRDER paradigm helps us to step back a bit. As Wilson notes, “the vast majority of people in human history have not shared our views of work, family, government, religion, sex, identity, or morality, no matter how universal or self-evident we may think they are.”
As another reviewer pointed out, one of the strengths of this book is the joy that Wilson writes with - this is not a work filled with nervous hand-wringing, but a work filled with hope that the church has, in this time and place, a continued opportunity to display the goodness of God to the world around us.
Quote: …The church of 1776 does not offer us a silver bullet. There is no strategy identified in the late eighteenth century that would transform the fortunes of the church today, if only we had the courage to implement it. Having said that, each of the three responses we considered… the celebration of grace, the pursuit of freedom, and a postsecular version of Christian truth - has the potential to strengthen the church as she seeks to reach and love the WEIRDER world around her. At the very least, the ways in which eighteenth-century Christians saw God do new things then, from revival and modern missions to religious freedom and abolitionism, should reassure those hoping that God will do a new thing now. Everything is unprecedented once.
How to Stay Married - The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told - Harrison Scott Key
This is a crazy book that lives up to its title, and the writing is sometimes as raw as the subject matter (tread carefully if tales of marital infidelity are difficult for you to read, or if you don’t want to encounter occasional profanity). Key, a renowned author, writes this book (a true story) as a husband who was repeatedly cheated on by his wife with his once and former neighbor. In the shock of this betrayal, he begins to rebuild many aspects of his faith and makes the choice to fight hard for his marriage. It isn’t an easy fight, but it’s a fight that is ultimately successful by the grace of God, given through the help of good friends and of a church community that limps along with Key and his family through the darkest of times.
You can also check out The Gospel Coalition’s review of this book.
Quote: Compatibility is an accomplishment of marriage, not a prerequisite.
Timothy Keller - His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation - Collin Hansen
This was the year that we lost Tim Keller to cancer. Right before Keller went to be with the Lord, this book was released. If you have been encouraged by Keller’s ministry, this will be a worthwhile read for you - it’s biographical in nature, but goes beyond a mere biography to trace the many shaping influences on Keller’s thought. I have always admired Keller for his ability to synthesize his learning and to communicate in a way (through his writing and preaching) that speaks to the heart. I was especially interested to read about the depth of his partnership with his wife, Kathy, and how the two of them modeled ministering together as husband and wife.
Quote: The simple and traditional service (at Redeemer, Keller’s church), which borrowed from Calvin’s sixteenth-century church in Geneva, resembled PCA churches around the country. When one visitor from Scotland asked Keller where he kept the dancing bears (assuming there was some clever entertainment hook to lure people in),, Keller didn’t know how to respond. Outwardly he church didn’t look any different. But inwardly the culture was unusual for churches. One artist described Redeemer’s culture as irony, charity, and humility.
On Getting Out of Bed - The Burden & Gift of Living - Alan Noble
Alan Noble is another of my favorite authors, in part because he writes with the humility of someone who has struggled greatly in his faith. Noble deals with anxiety and depression, which I have had my own bouts with (as I know many of you have as well). This is a brief book which is, in part, based on fiction classic The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Noble is very honest that this life is difficult, and that this difficulty means we have an opportunity to trust the Lord with all of our actions, even the smallest and most mundane ones.
This is a book that will help anyone who has struggled in these ways, and will also help anyone who loves someone who struggles in these ways - in other words, it’s a good one for anyone involved in a church to read.
Quote: But of all our actions, very few speak louder about the nature of God, His goodness, His love for us, and the goodness of His creation than our choice to get out of bed each morning.
Redeeming Vision - A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art - Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt
Dr. Weichbrodt is a professor at Covenant College, the college that is affiliated with our denomination. I heard her present on this topic at General Assembly a few years ago, and it was one of the most helpful seminars I have heard (you can listen to it here). Weichbrodt leads us to an idea of “redemptive looking” as we consider works of art.
I’ll admit that this book was a bit tougher sledding for me at times, as I am unfortunately not as acquainted with fine art as I should be. However, this book made me want to appreciate art more deeply, and also to understand the importance of art, in that the ways that we are led to behold can affect us deeply as humans. It would not be hard to apply the ideas here to the way we encounter the onslaught of political advertising we will undoubtedly experience in 2024.
Quote: Because we operate from a place of abundance, as beloved children of God who believe in the coming restoration of this world, our gaze can open up something new. Our looking can lead to doxology and confession. It can direct us to lament, to gentle curiosity, or to shared delight. Our viewing becomes making when it grows our love for God and for our neighbor.
This book fits together well with Redeeming Vision and Remaking the World, applying some of the lessons gleaned from those volumes. Prior’s idea is that there are many “unexamined assumptions” informing our imagination. This is important because Christians are called to have well-informed imaginations that help us to envision the world not as it is, but as it will be when Jesus returns to make all things new.
Prior demonstrates how some of these unexamined assumptions can hurt more than harm, and how many of the issues within the contemporary church are shaped by these assumptions and the cultural expressions that result from them. I found myself being helpfully provoked and challenged a number of times throughout this book. For example, hear how Prior discusses the idea of leadership (one we take for granted within our churches):
Today’s entrepreneurs and business leaders fill the roles once held by prophets, priests and poets. Many of these entrepreneurs and business leaders are evangelicals and operate within evangelicalism. It has even become common for pastors today to refer to themselves as “leaders,” a trend that became pronounced in the 1980s and ‘90s when conferences, publications, and websites began aggressively selling the idea of the pastor-leader. This word choice is an odd one for pastors given the association throughout the New Testament of leaders with corruption and worldly authority - not to mention Jesus’s words that in his kingdom those who want to be first shall be last.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we absolutely need to purge the word “leadership” from our midst - however, we can certainly be more thoughtful regarding how the wisdom of this age may be shaping us in ways that are not Biblical or helpful - so that we can chart a better path forward.
Quote: The problem isn’t so much that a great deal of human experience and understanding depends on interpretation but that we don’t always recognize that it does.
The idea of cross-generational fellowship and friendship is one that we hold dear at Meadowcroft - I have been so blessed to have friendships with people both older and younger than me, and have also been blessed to see those types of friendships develop for my kids. These types of relationships are difficult, but worth it - and this book helps us understand why these relationships are so difficult.
The key insight from this book is that we often try to define generations through seismic events (World War II, September 11, etc.), but that a better way to think through generations is through technological changes that deeply impact the young people who adopt them. As a result, we live in a time of rapid and deep generational change, because technology is changing so quickly!
Quote: Technology has completely changed the way we live - and the way we think, behave, and relate to each other. Unlike the ebb and flow of wars, pandemics, and economic cycles, technological change is linear. The mode may change, but technology keeps moving in roughly the same direction: easier, faster, more convenient, more entertaining. Technology and its aftereffects - on culture, behavior, and attitudes - have broken the old cycles of generations to form something new.
I appreciate the chance to learn more deeply about sides of history that I had not considered as much during my early years and formal education - and so I’m grateful for books like this one that detail very difficult topics - in this case, the widespread influence of the Ku Klux Klan in America during the 1920s, particularly in certain areas of the country. Egan’s book details the height of the KKK in Indiana, and how close things came to completely going even more completely sideways there and other places as the KKK grew in power and influence.
The story centers around D.C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the Indiana KKK, and Madge Oberholtzer, a woman who was murdered by Stephenson, but able to testify before her death regarding Stephenson’s crimes. This led to Stephenson being convicted and, eventually, to a great diminishment in the KKK’s power and influence.
One reason that I recommend this book in this space is that the church was often deeply complicit in the sins of the KKK - not only not calling them out or disciplining members involved, but even in accepting cash donations from the group and serving as recruiting outposts. Reading this history helps us to lament and to cry out to God that He will keep us from dishonoring Him in these and the many other ways that our culture pressures us in the present day.
This book is difficult to read, but very well written.
Quote: A few days before (a KKK) rally, Klansmen kidnapped a minister, Reverend Oren Van Loon, from just across the state line in a small town in Michigan. He had criticized fellow Christians, saying from the pulpit that “the cross should not be used as a symbol of terror.” Days after he disappeared, the minister was found, unconcsious, with the letters KKK branded to his back.
This was my #1 book of 2023, and yes, you may have noticed that it also made another, less prominent book list recently. This is the first major biography of King in many years, and this is significant because there is much more information available now than there once was (due, in part, to the declassification of many government documents).
I believe that the majority-culture American church has so much to learn from King and the movement that he helped to lead. This book was helpful in that regard because the author really seemed to understand how King’s Christian faith was inseparable from the cause he sought after, while also acknowledging that King was far from perfect as a man and minister. As usual, history is complicated, and the MLK story is no different in that regard.
The best part of the book was the description of King’s final days, and his last 24 hours in Memphis - his epic and prophetic final speech, and his death the next day. I also enjoyed learning about the important role that King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, played in Dr. King’s ministry and work.
This is really a remarkable book - I hope you consider reading it.
Quote (from Dr. King) - Put us in jail, and we will go in with humble smiles on our faces, still loving you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we wills till love you…But be assured that we will wear you down with our capacity to suffer. And one day we will win our freedom, but not only will we win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process. And our victory will be a double victory.
If you have read or read any of these, let me know if you’d like to grab some time and talk about them!