Category Archives: Book Review

AGGRESSIVELY HAPPY

I almost did not read this book. The cover made me think it was going to be another one of those fluffy, feel-good books. You know, the kind in the end that leave you more convinced that Christians just can’t write honestly about the human condition.

Well, I am here to say that Joy’s splendid book is hardly spiritual pablum. Joy just finished her PhD at St. Andrews, she knows suffering firsthand, and yet she maintains a gritty confidence in Jesus Christ.

When you are my age (sixty-four, by the way), have a strong theological education, and constitutionally have a honed radar for drivel, you are ready to be disappointed by “popular” Christian books.

I was not disappointed!

The writing is beautiful, the insights are fresh, and the storytelling, even about the author’s own life is wonderful. Talking or writing about yourself is fraught with all kinds of potential hazards, but Joy avoids them. She is the winsome, fellow-traveler you would like to have as a guide and friend.

I usually read (meaning careful highlighting and note-taking) 50-60 books a year. I peruse hundreds of others. Aggressively Happy will definitely make my favorite book list for 2022, but now I feel another category needs to be added: Books that pleasantly surprised me.

I would love to open a bookstore someday. Well, not quite. Since my own teaching and writing makes that impossible, I would love to be the person who picks what gets stocked. If and when that happens, you can be sure to find this book on the shelves.

HONEST, HEART-WARMING, AND HOPEFUL

Leave a reply

About seven years ago, I interviewed Todd on his recently released book, Rejoicing in Lament. It is a terrific book on a topic, namely lament, that is not well understood by us Americans.

When I saw that Todd’s new book on “embracing our mortality” was coming out, I knew it would be worth reading. Reading actually sounds like too tepid a word for engaging with The End of the Christian Life. Perhaps taking inventory of one’s life or pondering what really matters is better.

I won’t offer a long review, but a few things should be highlighted.

Todd is an honest, yet hopeful man. He does not curb the hard edges of living in mortal bodies. And Todd has a more acute sense of what this means since he has lived for many years with a terminal cancer diagnosis.

The writing is lucid and engaging. As the good theologian that he is, the integration of various fields of study while ever keeping the Scriptures central is a steady note throughout this entire book.

Thoughtful discussion questions are provided at the end of each chapter. These are not your typical boiler plate, don’t have to think about it much, kinds of questions.

Highly recommended!

FASCINATING STUDY OF SOMEONE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW!

Leave a reply

This is the fourth book I’ve read by the author.

Larsen is a top-notch scholar who has a good nose for the telling anecdote. He is astute in finding evidence that corrects popular, but wrongheaded views, especially those that relate to his area of expertise, the Victorian Era.

This biography on Mill is everything you would want. It is elegantly written, the author brilliantly corrects various misguided notions, and you learn about a person that is all too easy for us religious types to dismiss.

Highly recommended!

I should add that I am hoping Oxford offers this as a paperback at a lower price.

How and How Not to be Happy

Leave a reply

How and How Not to be Happy brilliantly makes the case that happiness is found in a relationship with God. It makes the case incrementally by offering a number of alternatives to happiness and then showing their inadequacy. Since it slowly builds its case for the Christian faith, skeptics will be more likely to give the author the attention he deserves.

WHAT ARE CHRISTIANS FOR?

Leave a reply

Jake Meador’s What Are Christians For? was published a few months ago. Instead of the standard book review, I am going to mention five things I appreciated about Meador’s book:

*Meador is an elegant and lucid writer.

*The author is compassionate and courageous in telling us some harder truths.

*There is a winsome and compelling treatment of how to steward the material world.

* There are beautiful reminders that place and people matter.

*Last, and certainly not least, Meador shows how the Christian faith makes sense of life and is in fact the best way to order one’s life.

THE TRUTH AND BEAUTY

Leave a reply

Andrew Klavan has written a terrific book (Amazon link and two videos are below). His keen insights and marvelous writing are on full display.

Instead of a typical book review, I am going to list six things that I appreciated about The Truth and Beauty:

*Klavan is an honest, but not cynical writer. It’s not easy to write truthfully while still holding to a compelling hope, but Klavan does.

*There is a winsome and penetrating critique of materialism.

*Good sketches of key individuals and historic movements like the French Revolution provide helpful context.

*Klavan’s book contains a convincing account of how the Romantic poets (even the godless ones) have much to offer Christians.

*The author clearly did his homework by familiarizing himself with solid scholarship, but he does not write about pedantic details that most people do not care about.

* Last, and hardly least: there is a joyful confidence in the Bible. Klavan is an adult convert to Christianity, so he takes nothing for granted. His thoughtfulness and child-like faith in God are edifying.

DISCOVERING GOD THROUGH THE ARTS

Leave a reply

If you are looking to learn more about various forms of art, but want a wise and gentle guide, then this book is for you.

Discovering God Through the Arts by Terry Glaspey recently won a Christianity Today book award.

Glaspey offers much clarity on how great art can aid our walk with Jesus. His book is full of compelling and attractive examples.

Glaspey also gives the reader a map of sorts for determining a reasonable plan for how to proceed.

Beautifully written with many well-selected pictures, this is a terrific book!

A WRITER WHO HAUNTS YOU…IN IMPORTANT WAYS

Leave a reply

Baldwin’s writing lingers because it is haunted.

His essay on his troubled father kept me up one night. He is describing terribly important things, but Baldwin is one of those gifted and visceral writers. I’m glad to have read him but he does haunt the reader to wrestle with difficult truths.

I’m sad that he never could find compelling resources in Christianity.

CURIOSITY

Leave a reply

There are bad types of curiosity. Roger Shattuck wrote about that type in Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography. Ironically, for all its brilliance, Shattuck’s book should be read selectively, if at all, as it contains things that are defiling and so not worthy of one’s full attention.

As a Christian, I believe there is a godly form of curiosity. I wrote about its importance in my latest book, Stuck in the Present: How History Frees and Forms Christians. I’m afraid too many Christians don’t see the need for developing a godly curiosity about the world, themselves, or even the God who created them. It is the curiosity that wants to engage the world, better understand history, stops to wonder why there are so many colors when no real pragmatic benefit comes from such variety, and much more.

F.H. Buckley has written a marvelous book, Curiosity and its Twelve Rules for Life. Buckley teaches at George Mason’s law school. He has wide-ranging interests, so he models what he is writing about. Buckley also has some wise warnings about dangerous forms of curiosity, but most of the book is dedicated to unpacking what healthy forms of curiosity look like.

I highly recommend this well-written and insightful book!

ENJOYING THE BIBLE

Leave a reply

Matthew Mullins has written a terrific book. Mullins teaches English and the history of ideas at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The subtitle offers a better feel for what Mullins is seeking to do: Literary Approaches to Loving the Scriptures. Mullins deftly shows how the ability to read and appreciate poetry makes one a better reader of Scripture. After all, the Bible is not all prose. There is much poetry.

Enjoying the Bible is an extremely well-written and motivating account of how to better read the Bible.

Those who have little understanding of how genre functions may be stretched a bit but carefully working through Enjoying the Bible will be well worth the effort.