I read quite a number of books each month. But there are so many books I never get to when they first come out. Sometimes I didn’t know about them. Other times I knew but they didn’t attract my attention at the time. As I compiled this post, I noticed how many books there were that were not recent publications. I read and enjoyed my first Cadfael story. It won’t be my last. I thoroughly loved my second William Kent Krueger novel, written ten years ago. I keep working through series by Ngaio Marsh and Brian Jacques, finding new things to love about each author. I finally pulled out an old set of essays by Neil Postman-witty, incisive, and, at times, extremely prescient.

Then there were a number of fine new books in addition to Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory, a truly magisterial work. Jessica Hooten Wilson’s is a wonderful treatment of reading as a spiritual practice. François Clemmons, a fellow Youngstowner, offers a wonderful memoir of growing up there, coming out in college, and his time on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. One book offered hope for a renewal of people turning from atheism to faith and another points the way to post-pandemic renewal. Two others explored the failings of evangelicalism, including its early alliance with J. Edgar Hoover. Bob Katz offers a wonderful story of a teacher and class who “encircled” a dying classmate with love and presence and Kara Lawler’s delightful children’s book explores the presence of God in the changing seasons. Terence Lester helps us understand how an honest rendering of our nation’s history can promote solidarity and not enmity. And George Marsden helps us appreciate Jonathan Edwards at his best. Can you see why I like reading?

A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #1), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road, 2014 (originally published in 1977). Cadfael is part of a group commissioned to retrieve the bones of a Welsh saint. When the one leading landowner who opposes the removal is murdered, Cadfael helps his daughter find the murder, avenging his death. Review

Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology, and Education, Neil Postman. New York: Vintage, 1992. A collection of essays of social criticism, considering our communications media and rhetoric, education and its purpose, and technology and how it shapes society. Review

Reading for the Love of God, Jessica Hooten Wilson. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. An exploration of reading as a spiritual practice, including the reading practices of Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Frederick Douglass, and Dorothy Sayers. Review

Elaine’s Circle, Bob Katz. Madison, NJ: Munn Avenue Press, 2022. Elaine views Circle Time as key to building a learning community with her students. When one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Elaine and her circle of students, including the one dying find ways to make that fourth grade a most extraordinary year. Review

Officer Clemmons, Dr. François S. Clemmons. New York: Catapult, 2020. An autobiographical memoir of Dr. François S. Clemmons, from his earliest years in Alabama, his youth in Youngstown, Ohio through his college years when he accepted that he was gay, his relationship with Fred Rogers, and subsequent performing and teaching career. Review

God, Right Here: Meeting God in the Changing Seasons, Kara Lawler, illustrated by Jennie Poh. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2023. A walk through the changing seasons and a reminder that the unchanging God is always present, always near and may be seen wherever we look in his creation. Review

All God’s Children: How Confronting Buried History Can Build Racial Solidarity, Terence Lester. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. A plea that we need to confront the history we try to hide of racial injustice and that real reconciliation can only happen when we stand together in soliarity against racial injustices. Review

Mattimeo (Redwall #3), Brian Jacques. New York: Ace Books, 1989. Mattimeo, the spirited son of Matthias the Warrior, along with four other children, are kidnapped as an act of revenge by Slagar the Cruel. When Matthias and other warriors pursue, including the Sparra folk, Redwall’s remaining inhabitants must fight off an invasion of magpies and ravens. Review

Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2023. An attempt along the lines of Augustine’s City of God to offer a comprehensive overview of how the biblical account from Genesis to Revelation to engage in a critique of late modern culture and the critical theories that have also attempted to analyze the culture. Review

A Clutch of Constables (Roderick Alleyn #25), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2015 (originally published in 1968). Troy takes a spur-of-the-moment river cruise only to learn that her berth had belonged to a man murdered by an international criminal, who happens to be on the cruise with her! Review

The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, Justin Brierly. Carol Stream: Tyndale Elevate, 2023. A journalist and podcast host makes the case that we may be seeing a new wave of people coming to faith in God and why this is so. Review

Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Failed a Generation, Jon Ward. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. A national journalist who grew up in an influential evangelical movement describes his separation from this movement as he witnessed its embrace of control and power, both within churches, and in increasingly authoritarian politics, at the expense of both truth and character. Review

The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover, Lerone A. Martin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023. A study of how J. Edgar Hoover worked in concert with sympathetic Christian leaders to foster his vision of a White Christian America. Review

From Pandemic to Renewal, Chris Rice. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. Addresses eight global crises exposed by the COVID pandemic and how Christians may be agents of healing and transformation. Review

An Infinite Fountain of Light, George Marsden. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A brief introduction to the life and thought of Jonathan Edwards, setting him alongside two of his contemporaries, Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield. Review

Flood and Fury, Matthew J. Lynch. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A searching study of the biblical texts on the flood in Genesis and the conquest of Canaan, facing the issue of violence and God’s participation, against the backdrop of the shalom of God. Review

Ordinary Grace, William Kent Krueger. New York: Atria Books, 2013. Two boys in a rural Minnesota town encounter a series of deaths, including one within their family, and discover something of the “awful grace of God.” Review

Best of the Month. Chris Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory has deservedly received a good deal of attention. Watkin shows how one might use the whole of scripture in a thoughtful critique of culture. It is wide-ranging, erudite and persuasive. Whether you agree with him in detail, he offers a challenge to engage our contemporary culture thoughtfully.

Quote of the Month: William Kent Krueger’s Pastor Drum, in Ordinary Grace, grieving for his murdered daughter, articulates the struggle of a person of faith to believe when facing such tragic loss:

“‘I confess that I have cried out to God, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’…’When we feel abandoned, alone, and lost, what’s left to us? What do I have, what do you have, what do any of us have left except the overpowering temptation to rail against God and to blame him for the dark night into which he’s led us, to blame him for our misery, to blame him and cry out against him for not caring? What’s left to us when that which we love most has been taken?

‘I will tell you what is left, three profound blessings. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells us exactly what they are: faith, hope, and love. These gifts, which are the foundation of eternity, God has given to us and he’s given us complete control over them. Even to the darkest night it’s still within our power to hold to faith. We can still embrace hope. And although we may ourselves feel unloved we can still stand steadfast in our love for others and for God. All this is in our control. God gave us these gifts and he does not take them back. It is we who choose to discard them.“

What I’m reading. I’ve just finished Jeremy M. Kimble’s Behold and Become, a wonderful articulation of the transforming power of God through the scriptures. C. W. Goodyear’s President Garfield fills in the gaps in our knowledge of this president who sadly served only for months, leaving us to wonder what might have been if an assassin’s bullet and unenlightened medical practice had not taken his life. Timothée Joset’s The Priesthood of All Students studies the history of an idea that has shaped the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, a movement among college students in over 160 countries–namely that the best ones to minister to students are students. Your Body is a Revolution by Tara Teng critiques the ideas about the body she received in her evangelical upbringing and how her thinking has changed as an embodiment coach. While there is much I would take issue with, including the obliviousness of the book to older bodies, I recognize and grieve the defective theology against which she has revolted and would affirm aspects of her vision of the goodness of our bodies. American Idolatry is a concise study, drawing upon sociological research showingt the connection of Christian nationalism to white supremacy and xenophobia. as well as delineating the unbiblical falsehoods on which Christian nationalism is based. The Beginning and End of All Things explores the connections between creation and the new creation that we often miss in scripture. Night at the Vulcan is another Ngaio Marsh mystery set at theatre. I’m curious to see how this will differ from others she has written using this setting. And finally, Alice Crosetto, a classmate throughout my school years has written The Cookie Table: A Steel; Valley Tradition. If you are from Youngstown or Pittsburgh, you know that a proper wedding is not complete without a lavish cookie table with hundreds of dozens of cookies. If you are not, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about but you should, so read my review and buy Alice’s book!

The Month in Reviews is my monthly review summary going back to 2014! It’s a great way to browse what I’ve reviewed. The search box on this blog also works well if you are looking for a review of a particular book.