Ecclesiastes 12:12-14

Summertime is a time for me to enjoy reading apart from the demands of the school year. As the summer comes to a close and the TMC school year is underway...I thought I would share with you my summer reading list.

Lungaard The Enemy Within: I went through this book in discipleship with a guy in my church. This book is an “every day” version to the ideas unpacked in Owen’s Sin and Temptation. This is a great book to introduce the idea of how the interworking of the soul operates. This book is easy reading, practical, and thought provoking.

Dobson Bringing Up Boys: This is the worst book I have read in a long time (since I did a book review for CBD “Can Homosexuality be Cured?”). I could not stop reading it…it is like five car pile up on the 405….you know you should move on…but your curiosity of the horror keeps you gazing intently. In essence…if you are a parent of a boy you should protect them from anything that damaged their self-esteem, make sure they are biologically stable, not make a big deal about masturbation, be understanding if they have homosexual tendencies, and remember that they are made of snails and puppy dog tails.

Drew A Journey Worth Taking: Very thought provoking book. It takes the idea of our “identity in Christ” and fleshes it out through the historical redemptive hermeneutic of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation. Like most ubber Presbyterian books…it helps look in-between the lines of scripture to bring helpful insights…but then unpacks them in a way that leaves blurry lines between the books author and authorial intent.

Bertrand (Re)Thinking Worldview: This book gave me categories and vocabulary to describe how to think about culture from a distinctly Christian worldview. The stages of Christian worldview engagement with culture that he unpacks are Consumer, Self-Conscience, Critic, Contributor. The appendix on “The Christian and Creativity” is a great stand-alone handout.

MacArthur The Gospel According to Jesus: Seriously…this book is an essential read. This edition is worth having. This edition includes the prefaces from each previous edition, a chapter on his dulos material (TLC 07 Message), and appendix from following works related to the “Lordship Controversy.” Along with the Study Bible…this book will go down in history as his Magnum Opus.

Wells The Courage to Be Protestant: The best book I have read all summer. This is a must read for anyone in the current “emergent/relevant/cultural engagement” conversations. Wells accurately describes the current mood of evangelicalism and the demand upon the church for navigating through the implications of post-modernity. I still might make this required reading for the Directors of Student Life.

Carson Memoirs of an Ordinary Man: Here is a case where the title perfectly encapsulates the content.

Cymbala Fresh Wind Fresh Fire: I wanted to read first hand this story which has been quoted by every national prayer meeting since it has been published. Imagine George Muller…but a 1980’s church plant in the Bronx.

Miller Come Back, Barbra: This is a book that has haunted me. I became familiar with Jack Miller though my time at Westminster, and enjoyed the book The Heart of a Servant Leader (which is a collection of his correspondence). This book has been recommended as a great insight to parents who have a rebellious child. The format of the book is fascinating. Jack Miller tells his side of the story of the life of his wayward daughter Barbra and then his daughter retells the same story from her perspective. This is a very raw and vulnerable book. The point that is convicting to me, was the far extension of love that Jack gave to his daughter. I spend a lot of my days with rebellious and wayward students…and their parents. I have never experienced a “love offensive” like the one depicted in this memoir. Miller’s commitment to love his “unlovable” daughter was uncomfortable for him, and embarrassingly unfamiliar to read. There was no power play and no manipulating lines drawn in the sand. Rather, a firm commitment to the Gospel truth and the perseverance to live in the midst of the worldly choices of his daughter. In the end…she comes to Christ…and listening in on their journey has made me come closer to understanding Christ in a new way as well.

Audio Books: Yep I am that guy…great for the summer road trips.

Ellis American Creation: I love revolutionary history. Joseph Ellis (politer prize winning author of Founding Brothers) describes the scenes in revolutionary history as ordinary men finding themselves navigating through epic events with ordinary means. The founding fathers we not extraordinary individuals with a clear vision of democracy. Rather, they were ordinary individuals who had the courage to lead and the perseverance to navigate through the personal and national sacrifices to build independence. This coupled with my John Adams HBO mini series gave me ample summer dreams where I was at the center stage of the American Revolution. History, in the end, is not the retelling of events, but rather life…human life…played out in the seasons of time. This book (and those like them) are a great study of character and relationships.

Keegan Winston Churchill: This was my first exploration in biography outside of an American figure. The context took me a while to grasp while the biography had me wondering why Churchill should be celebrated. In the end…it seems…that Churchill was a man whom had an ideal vision for what was the British truly were…or could be…or should be. In the end his speeches made his version of the British people a conscience reality…and the people believed it…even in the end it wasn’t real. It is amazing how the human soul is so desperate to be identified with something…anything that it will latch on to any version that is persuasive enough. For only a few years of his life…Churchill was helping them believe.

Currently Reading:
Keller The Reason for God
Tripp A Quest for More