Book recommendations are one enduring blessing of blogs. I appreciate seeing what others like and do not like, which helps me curate my reading list. At the end of each month, I try to pick out a few books I’ve read to recommend. Here are some of the books I enjoyed in April.
To the Judicious and Impartial Reader: Baptist Symbolics Volume 2: A Contextual-Historical Exposition of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, James Renihan. What a great title! This new book contributes to an older history of Baptist theological study. Weighing in at a hefty 688 pages, this exposition of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith is worth its weight in gold. When one takes up the study of older, dense theological works, there are many cultural, historical, and theological hurdles to overcome. James Renihan, a leading voice on 17th-century Baptist theology, has distinguished himself as a trustworthy guide to navigate these challenges. Along with his love for Baptist history and doctrinal precision, I’m grateful for his pastoral heart. I’ve read this book with several men, and we’ve come away with a better understanding of the confession, but also increased love for Christ, his Word, and the church. If you want to understand the 2LCF better, I highly recommend this resource. (Hard copy Kindle)
The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?, Jim Davis & Michael Graham. I’ve seen this title floating around and picked it up. The problem of a religious shift in the US is the reason for the book. Many people have stopped attending churches. The authors have the noble burden of wanting them to return. To analyze the trend, they review various surveys and studies to determine the problem and how to fix it. As I read through study after study, I struggled to put my finger on one central issue. It seemed like there were various potential reasons for the shift depending on different contexts and circumstances. I became more aware of the diversity of the trend but less clear on what is distinct about this trend in our time. One interesting takeaway is the effect of relocation on churches and those who attend church. It turns out that moving brings significant disruptions to one’s church involvement. I was grateful the authors emphasized the need for the gospel to be central in the life of the church and the church members as a way to deal with this issue. In the end, there are lots of new expressions of an age-old problem that requires churches to be faithful, prayerful, loving, and patient.
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl. One of the blessings of reading is the opportunity to travel to different times and enter into the experiences of others. Viktor Frankl takes his readers to a most unpleasant place–a Nazi concentration camp. But in bringing us there, we enter into his experiences and, more importantly, his psyche when dealing with the horrors of the Holocaust. Through his narrative, he shows that if someone has the proper why, they can endure any what. Finding a purpose in such great suffering is inspiring and encouraging. Frankl’s book has been a bestseller for years, but I can’t help but think how helpful a review of his story would be to a new generation. I also found his central point of the necessity of finding meaning amid the existential confusion of our time to be seamlessly connected to what we face as Christians. This was a helpful, sobering, and important read for me.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt. I know this book has already been widely reviewed online (I’m grateful for this). As a dad and pastor, I’m thankful for Haidt’s work. Through careful and extensive research, the author demonstrates the problem of increased anxiety experienced by younger people today. The twin sources involve the youth’s open access to the internet and social media and the over-parenting that has emerged during the same time. Ironically, one provides excessive oversight, and the other, far less. The diagnosis seems clear, if even a bit surprising at first. However, I was intrigued further by his suggestions for how to move forward. Most of these are common sense, but it seems easier to turn the Queen Mary around in a closet than to reshape how parents and youth interact with their screens. But, with books like this, at least the conversation is happening. And, for a guy like me, it’s been helpful.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk. In this book, a New York Times bestseller, the author, a world-renowned expert on trauma, explores the effect of trauma on the body and mind. Beginning with his treatment of Vietnam vets and continuing through dozens of different types of suffering, he catalogs the enduring psychological and physical effects. What’s interesting (surprising even) is his treatment for trauma. Instead of prescribing a pill right away, he incorporates a more holistic approach, including psychotherapy, somatic therapies, mindfulness, and then, if needed, medication. From a pastoral perspective, the book helped show me the far-reaching effects of sin (things we do and things that people do to us). When someone has endured traumatic events, they don’t simply “get over it” with time or some medicine. These events change us, and our body carries the scars. We carry the scars. The stories and examples might become overwhelming, and the worldview starting point differs from a Christian’s. However, the book is informative and, I believe, helpful, especially for those who provide counseling or care.
Some Previous Recent Reads
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
September 2021
Summer 2021