The Month in Reviews May 2025

Introduction

While spring time is the season of planting, this month of reading has been a veritable harvest of interesting books. One of these was Gabrielle Zevin’s, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, a sweet-sad love story set in a bookstore. It’s been a month of learning about the life of Jakob Hutter, an Anabaptist forebear, the art of Georges Roualt, the poetry of Luci Shaw, and the wonders of marine biology. Early in the month, I enjoyed a fine biography of theologian Markus Barth and a book on Christian discipleship by Luke Timothy Johnson. Finally, I finished the month with six reviews of children’s books, courtesy of IVP Kids. Believe me, these books are not just for kids, though I list them in a separate section below. With that, here are the reviews!

The Reviews

Tucker’s Last Stand (Blackford Oakes, 9), William F. Buckley, Jr. MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (ASIN: B0116EBXKY) 2015 (first published in 1990). Blackford Oakes teams up with mercenary Tucker Montana to block troops and arms flowing from North to South Vietnam. Review

An Incremental Life, Luci Shaw. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609792) 2025. Poems celebrating the daily moments offering glimpses of joy, growth, insight, and the quiet presence of God. Review

Imitating Christ: The Disputed Character of Christian Discipleship, Luke Timothy Johnson. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883100) 2024. Contends our understanding of Christian discipleship has shifted in recent centuries from personal sanctification to social justice. Review

Markus Barth, Mark R. Lindsay. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001622) 2024. The first biography of Markus Barth, drawn from access to his letters and papers, highlighting his theological legacy. Review

Judea under Greek and Roman Rule, David A deSilva. Oxford University Press (ISBN: 9780190263256) 2024. Covers the period from 334 BCE to 135 CE, Hellenizing reforms, revolts, Herods, and Roman domination. Review

The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780143127741) 2015. An account of the growing understanding of the effects of trauma on the brain and the body and promising treatments. Review

The Lawless Roads, Graham Greene. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504054263) 2018 (first published in 1939). Greene’s journey through Mexico to the states of Chiapas and Tabasco where Catholicism was most severely repressed. Review

Writing and Rewriting the Gospels, James W. Barker, foreword by Mark Goodacre. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802874528) 2025. Drawing on ancient compositional practice, argues for for a “snowballing” process of gospel writing. Review

Until the Last One’s Found, Curt Parton. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385225439) 2024. An evangelical pastor argues that God will ultimately reconcile and restore all to himself through Christ. Review

Northwest Angle (Cork O’Connor, 11), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439153963) 2012. A family vacation is disrupted by a derecho, casting Jenny onto a remote island where she rescues an infant sought by killers. Review

Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters (Classics of the Radical Reformation, 14), edited by Emmy Barth Maendel and Jonathan Seiling. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636080901) 2024. Biography, letters by Hutter, chronicles of Hutterites, testimony, and Hutterite and government letters. Review

A Prophet in the Darkness, Wesley Vander Lugt, editor. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514011058) 2024. An exploration of the work of Georges Roualt and his identification of human suffering with Christ’s sufferings. Review

Third Girl (Hercule Poirot, 40), Agatha Christie. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780062073761) 2010 (first published in 1966). A young girl disturbs Poirot’s breakfast claiming she may have murdered someone, then leaves, telling Poirot “You’re too old.” Review

The Last Romantic (Hansen Lectureship Series), Jeffrey W. Barbeau with contributions from Sarah Borden, Matthew Lundin, and Keith L. Johnson. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010518) 2025. The influence of Romanticism on C.S. Lewis in terms of imagination, subjectivity, memory and identity, and the sacraments. Review

Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781668023488) 2025. A vision of an American future where we invent and build what’s needed and for government that enables rather than hobbles growth. Review

Reading the Margins, Michael J. Gilmour. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506469355) 2024. How reading literature may enhance empathy for those on the margins, illuminating the advocacy of scripture for them. Review

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin. Algonquin Books (ISBN: 9781616204518) 2014. A widowed bookseller’s life changes when a rare book disappears and an orphaned child is left in his care. Review

Knock at the Sky. Liz Charlotte Grant, foreword by Sarah Bessey. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883759) 2025. After losing faith in biblical inerrancy, the author returns to Genesis with all her questions, seeking God in the story. Review

Gutta Percha Willie, George MacDonald. Rosetta Books (ASIN: B07KX64ZB3) 2018 (first published in 1873). The story of a young boy who gives himself to discover his own work within God’s work and how he finds his vocation. Review

Makers by Nature, Bruce Herman. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009802) 2025. Letters to students, artists, and friends on calling, making, and process, with reproduced works by the author. Review

If the Ocean Has a Soul, Rachel G. Jordan. Tyndale Refresh (ISBN: 9798400505843) 2025. Meshes marine biology and biblical insights, exploring the integration of science and faith. Review

Reviews of Children’s Books

Jesus Loves the Little Children, All the Children of the World, Tara Hackney. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514010495) 2025. A board book with a fresh version of this song and images representing all the children of the world. Review

Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World, Helen Lee, illustrated by Shin Maeng. IVP Kid (ISBN: 9781514009161) 2025. Kaylee and her grandfather learn of needy children in the news and struggle for words to pray. Review

Not Finished Yet, Sharon Garlough Brown, illustrated by Jessica Linn Evans. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514007952) 2024. While “painting prayers” with Gran, Wren discovers she can honestly share all her feelings with God. Review

Zion Learns to See, Terence Lester and Zion Lester, illustrated by Subi Bosa. IVP Kids (ISBN: 781514006696) 2024. Zion goes to work with her father at the community center and learns how those experiencing homelessness matter to God. Review

Birth of the Chosen One, Terry Wildman, illustrated by Hannah and Holly Buchanan. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514007020) 2024. An account of the birth of Jesus based on the First Nations Version reflecting Native oral storytelling. Review

Penny Preaches, Amy Dixon and Rob Dixon, illustrated by Jennifer Davison. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514008584) 2024. A young girl loves the big ideas she hears in Sunday sermons, aspires to preach, but friends discourage her. Review

Best Book of the Month

Makers by Nature is a combination of a theology of artistic practice and the wisdom of a master artist on various challenges of artistic work. All of it is presented in the form of a series of warm letters to former students and friends. Each “chapter” is introduced with some of the artist’s work in full color reproductions. This book was a feast for my eyes and heart!

Quote of the Month

I deeply appreciated A Prophet in the Darkness on the work of Georges Roualt. Roualt’s deep empathy with human suffering intersected with his faith. This quote gives a flavor of that:

“Paul Klee says ‘Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible.’ This is what the art of Georges Roualt (1871-1958) has done; his images have penetrated deeply into the human dilemma to find meaning and offer hope, helping us to see light in the darkness, making visible the invisible.”

What I’m Reading

I’m just coming to the end of Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Bauckham marshals extensive material to demonstrate that our four canonical gospels are based on eyewitness testimony rather than communal remembrances of the ministry of Jesus. Love’s Immensity by poet Scott Cairns translates the works of mystics throughout church history, a journey into loving contemplation of God. Skills for Safeguarding explores abuse within the church and other Christian contexts and the best practices to safeguard against abuse and to deal with it in a way that cares for survivors and properly deals with perpetrators. Every church and ministry needs to read and implement the practices in this book!

Justin Evans offers an entertaining and informative book on data and how the data revolution impacts us all in The Little Book of Data. It’s chilling how much data we give up about ourselves everyday, often without being aware of it. Finally, there never seems an end of Tolkien books! The Fall of Numenor covers the second age of Middle Earth, which preceded The Lord of the Rings.

If you’ve read this far, thanks! I hope your summer reading bears a rich harvest and hope these reviews help!

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.

Introduction

This edition of The Month in Reviews for April 2025 includes 21 reviews–about as many as I can cram into a month. There were some long books including the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer and a book on the next Jesus Quest. There were some short books as well including a book on Easter, one on reading by C.S. Lewis and Robin Wall Kimmerer’s newest. All were candidates for my best of the month. Between the long and the short were my usual collection of mysteries, novels, and books on theology. Some standouts included Mark Noll’s classic Turning Points, a recent book on recovering from purity culture, and a history of the bookstore in America. All in all, it’s a long list, so let’s get to it!

The Reviews

Habits of Hope, Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers, editors, foreword by Amos Yong. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010709) 2024. Essays by educators on six key practices and how they may cultivate hope among faculty and students. Review

Religious Freedom in a Secular Age, Michael F. Bird, afterword Bruce Riley Ashford. Zondervan Reflective (ISBN: 9780310538882) 2022. Distinguishes types of secularism, opposes dismantling religious freedom, and proposes a new apologetic. Review

The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, illustrations by John Burgoyne. Scribner (ISBN: 9781668072240) 2024. A day of picking serviceberries leads to an extended reflection on natural abundance, reciprocity, and gratitude. Review

Easter (Fullness of Time Series), Wesley Hill. IVP Formatio (ISBN: 9781514000366) 2025. Explores the history and significance of Easter, not only as a day but as a season of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Review

Finding God Along the Way, Christine Marie Eberle. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609891) 2025. An account of hiking with a group whose average age was 67 on the 300 mile Ignatian Camino. Review

Vermilion Drift (Cork O’Connor, 10) William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN:  9781439153871) 2011. The discovery of six bodies in an underground iron mine leads to facing uncomfortable truths about Cork’s father. Review

John of History, Baptist of Faith, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883995) 2024. A historical-critical study of New Testament and Mandaean sources, developing a historical portrait of John. Review

Citizenship Without Illusions, David T. Koyzis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008621) 2024. How Christians may engage politically without giving idolatrous devotion to parties or ideologies. Review

How to Get Along with Anyone, John Eliot and Jim Guinn. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668033074) 2025. An approach to conflict resolution based on the five ways people respond to conflict. Review

Tending Tomorrow, Leah Reesor-Keller. Herald Press (ISBN: 9781513813356) 2024. Facing an uncertain ecological future by drawing on one’s faith and learning from creation, to re-vision how we may live. Review

Bring Back Your People, Aaron Scott. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9781506494555) 2025. A blunt discussion of how to reach out to those who have embraced Christian nationalism. Review

American Prometheus, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Vintage Books (ISBN:  9780375726262) 2006. A biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, focused on his leadership of the atomic bomb program and security clearance trial. Review

Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. Mark A. Noll. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540964885) 2022 (the link and publication info is for the 4th edition of the book. My review and the cover image are of the 1997 first edition). Twelve decisive moments in Christian history along with twentieth century events that may be turning points. Review

Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar. Vintage Books (ISBN: 9780593685778) 2024. A young immigrant poet in recovery struggles to find meaning in a life after his mother’s plane was shot down and his father died. Review

Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, 11), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (9780063376045) 2006, (first published 1934). Two deaths after a drink, with most of the same guests present on both occasions, sets Poirot to investigating murder. Review

Recovering from Purity Culture, Camden Morgante. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540904263) 2024. Exposes the myths and harms of purity culture and how to reclaim both healthy sexuality and faith. Review

The Reading Life, C. S. Lewis. Harper One (ISBN: 9780062849977) 2019. Essays and brief readings from his books, essay collections, and letters on the joys of reading. Review

The Bookshop, Evan Friss. Viking (ISBN: 9780593299920) 2024. A history of bookstores in America through the lens of fourteen bookstores or bookselling venues. Review

The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus, edited by James Crossley and Chris Keith. Wm. B. Eerdmans Co. (ISBN: 9780802882707) 2024. A prospectus for a new round of “historical Jesus” research: both foundations and research topics. Review

The Open House (Sir John Appleby, 26) Michael Innes. Penguin (ISBN: 0140036636) 1972 (out of print, link is to used copies available at ABE Books). When his car breaks down, Sir John Appleby walks up a drive. The mansion at the end is suddenly lit with its front door open. Review

John Henry Newman: A Life Sacrificed, Ida Friederike Görres. Ignatius Press (ISBN: 9781621646983) 2024. A study of Newman focused on the cost of his conversion to Catholicism and how it formed his character. Review

Best Book of the Month

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is a wonderfully concise lesson in ecology, the abundance our earth often produces, and the virtues of reciprocity and gratitude that calls forth. The illustrations and the typography makes this book a feast to both eyes and heart.

Quote of the Month

On Reading is a delightful collection of the essays, and shorter pieces C.S. Lewis wrote on reading. He makes this observation about why we read and why stories enthrall us:

“We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own.” 

What I’m Reading

The Lawless Roads is the first non-fiction work of Graham Greene’s that I’ve read. It his his account of traveling through Mexico to chronicle Catholic persecution under the Calles regime. I find myself wondering how he will survive at times. Markus Barth is a biography of the son of Karl Barth, a first-rate biblical scholar overshadowed by his more illustrious father. I’ve enjoyed learning of his passionate anti-semitism as well as his distinctive ideas on baptism and eucharist. I’ve finally gotten around to reading Until the Last One’s Found by Curt Parton, an argument for evangelical universal reconciliation and restoration. It is well-argued, although I have not so far been persuaded.

Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score is the sourcebook for many advocating trauma-informed therapy for those suffering from wartime and abusive PTSD. I’ve appreciated his stance as a learner from his patients and care for them. I’m also just starting out on a biography and collection of the writings of Jakob Hutter, after whom the Hutterites are named. He is one of our Anabaptist forebears and I’m eager to learn more of that history, often on the margins of most church history accounts.

I find reading more challenging to get during in this time of the year as I get my yard in shape, and tend our flower and vegetable beds. But I get to practice some of what Robin Wall Kimmerer writes of!

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.

Introduction

It’s funny how you end up reading related books, even when you didn’t plan it that way. In this case. several of the books I reviewed this month concerned the early church’s discussions of the Trinity and the Incarnation. I reviewed a couple of books from university presses, one on free will and one on inflation. I read a wonderful early work by Wallace Stegner and Nobel prize winner Han Kang’s latest novel. There are books in this list on communication and leadership. And of course, there are several mysteries, including the inaugural volume of the Thursday Murder Club and another Cork O’Connor mystery. I loved a new compilation of the works of Stanley Hauerwas and a classic by Simone Weil. You’ll find all these and more in The Month in Reviews: March 2025.

The Reviews

The Trials of Jesus, Paul Barnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884336) 2024. The historical and geopolitical context, the principle figures involved, and the succession of trials Jesus undergoes. Review

Yellowface, R. F. Kuang. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780063250833) 2023. What happens when a famous author dies immediately after sharing an unpublished draft of her latest work with her writer friend. Review

Crowned with Glory and Honor (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Michael A. Wilkinson. Lexham Academic (ISBN: 9781683597308) 2024. Argues for a Christian anthropology based on Chalcedon’s understanding of Christ’s person-nature constitution. Review

Heaven’;s Keep, (Cork O’Connor, 9), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781416556770) 2010. The charter plane Jo is in in goes down in a snowstorm in Wyoming and is not found. Subsequent evidence offers hope. Review

Triune Relationality (New Explorations in Theology), Sherene Nicholas Khouri, foreword by Gary R. Habermas. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008843) 2024. Argues that relationality is among the perfections of God that only a Triune God meets. Review

Leading Well in Times of Disruption, Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Gideon Para-Mallam, and Asia Williamson, editors. Langham Global Library (ISBN: 9781839739859) 2024. Amid global disruptions, focuses on the qualities needed in those who lead the church’s global mission. Review

Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Gramercy Books (ISBN: 0517362422) 1982 (originally published 1890, 1891, 1896). A republication of Dickinson’s poems as first published in three series shortly after her death. Review

Shock Values, Carola Binder. University of Chicago Press (ISBN: 9780226833095) 2024 An economic history of the United States, considering the various means used to stabilize prices and control inflation. Review

The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, 1), Richard Osman. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9781984880987) 2021. Four seniors meet on Thursdays to solve cold cases until a present day murder leads to something more. Review

Remembering Laughter. Wallace Stegner, afterword by Mary Stegner. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780140252408) 1996, (first published 1937). An early Wallace Stegner novella. What happens when Margaret Stuart’s sister comes to live with her and her husband. Review

Communicating for Life, Quentin J. Schultze, foreword by Martin E. Marty. Integratio Press (ISBN: 9781959685098) 2024. An introductory text in communication grounded in a theology of communication and a vision of faithful stewardship. Review

Scripture in Doctrinal Dispute (Doctrine and Scripture in Early Christianity, Volume 2), Frances M. Young. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802882998) 2024. A study of how scripture was used in the doctrinal controversies concerning the Trinity and Christology. Review

Beren and Lúthien, J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, with illustrations by Allen Lee. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9781328915337) 2018. An edited collection of different versions and extracts of one of the most celebrated love stories of Middle-earth. Review

Free Agents, Kevin J. Mitchell. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691226231) 2023. An argument based on the evidence of the development of nervous systems, for the evolution of individual agency–free will. Review

Light Unapproachable, Ronni Kurtz. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007105) 2024. An explanation of the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility as well as God’s gracious accommodation. Review

Waiting for God, Simone Weil, Translated by Emma Craufurd with Introduction by Leslie A. Fiedler. Harper & Row Perennial Library (ISBN: 0060902957) 1973 (Originally published in 1951, link and cover photo are to current edition in print). Weil’s correspondence with her mentor and four essays on her religious thought focused around loving and attending to God. Review

Jesus Changes Everything (Plough Spiritual Guides), Stanley Hauerwas, edited by Charles E. Moore with an Introduction by Tish Harrison Warren. Plough Publishing House (ISBN: 9781636081571) 2025. The radical implications of Jesus’ call to follow him for every area of life from personal to societal. Review

The Hollow (Poirot, 26), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062073853) 2011 (first published in 1946). When Poirot sees Dr. John Christow lying dead poolside with Christow’s wife holding the gun, the murderer seems obvious. Review

Paul the Storyteller: A Narratological Approach, Christoph Heilig. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802878953) 2024. A narratological approach showing that Paul combines implicit and explicit narratives, making him a gifted storyteller. Review

We Do Not Part, Han Kang, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. Hogarth (ISBN: 9780593595459) 2025. Kyungha makes a harrowing journey through a blizzard to save a friend’s bird, confronting the reality behind her nightmares. Review

Best Book of the Month

I chose Light Unapproachable by Ronni Kurtz. I thought this an example of the best of theological writing. Kurtz offers a highly comprehensible account of divine incomprehensibility, writing with brevity, clear organization, and at a level understandable by the lay person.

Quote of the Month

One of the books I really liked this month was Stanley Hauerwas’ Jesus Changes Everything, part of the Plough Spiritual Guides series. These are edited compilations. In this case I thought it read seamlessly. I loved this statement by Hauerwas on the church:

“Put starkly, the first task of the church when it comes to social ethics is to be the church. Such a claim may well sound self-serving or irrelevant until we remember that what makes the church the church is its faithful manifestation of the peaceable kingdom in the world. As such, the church does not have a social ethic; the church is a social ethic.”

What I’m Reading

A few months ago, I read James F. McGrath’s Christmaker, on the life of John the Baptist. I liked it so much that I’ve followed it up with his more in-depth treatment, John of History, Baptist of Faith. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a memoir by a former campus minister on the Ignatian Camino, a lesser known pilgrimage than the Camino de Santiago. It’s titled Finding God along the Way. Tending Tomorrow is an Anabaptist reflection on seeking the flourishing of both people and the planet. As part of an Anabaptist community, I find this of great interest.

I decided to tackle American Prometheus on the life of Robert Oppenheimer, who led the effort to make the atom bomb. From the trailers, the movie portrays him as brilliant and troubled. That comes through in the book as well. Finally, I’m reading another Cork O’Connor, in which Cork seems to be in the process of uncovering truths about his long-deceased father.

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.

Introduction

When I look back at February, I marvel at the wonderful selection of books I reviewed. From Amy Peeler’s outstanding commentary on Hebrews to Haruki Murakami’s latest novel. Wonderful essays on American beginnings by Jill Lepore to an exploration of why our culture is unfriendly to families and child-bearing. I finished the Margery Allingham-written Albert Campion stories. Faithful Politics is an especially timely exploration of the ways Christians have engaged politics.

I finished the months with accounts of two “luminous” people, one an autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran and the other a biography of Congressman John Lewis. Along the way, you will find some marvelous theological writing on the virgin birth, the beatific vision, safety, and the use of ekphrastic or vivid writing in the New Testament. I include reviews on a book on Lenten practice, a compilation of writings on hope and trust, and a memoir of the “Log College” that trained many of the eighteenth century American revivalists. You’ll find all this and more in The Month in Reviews for February 2025.

The Reviews

To Gaze Upon God, Samuel G. Parkison. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007662) 2024. An exploration of the importance of the beatific vision in scripture and church history and its contemporary significance. Review

Lieberman’s Choice (Abe Lieberman Number 2), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Open Road Media (ASIN: B00AYRI5HY) 2013 (first published 1993). A cop kills his wife and the cop who is sleeping with her, and threatens to blow up a city block unless one demand is met. Review

Family Unfriendly, Timothy P. Carney. Harper Collins (ISBN: 9780063236462) 2024. We have a culture that devalues children and makes raising them more difficult, contributing to declining birthrates. Review

Hebrews (Commentaries for Christian Formation), Amy Peeler. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802877383) 2024. A commentary for Christian formation focused on the greatness of Christ, Christian faithfulness, and Christian community. Review

The Challenge of Acts, N.T, Wright. Zondervan Academic (ISBN: 9780310167990) 2024. An overview of the book of Acts in four chapter sections, developing the major themes of the book. Review

Towards Zero, (Superintendent Battle Number 5), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062073549) 2010 (first published in 1944). A house party at Lady Tressilian’s is decidedly awkward when her ward invites both his former and current wives. Review

Opening the Parables, M. D. Hayden. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385200306) 2024. A study of the parables asserting that the message of all the parables is that compassionate love is all that matters. Review

The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami (Translated by Philip Gabriel). Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593801970) 2024. A young couple falls in love until she disappears to a mysterious city of people without shadows. Review

Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Rhyne R. Putnam. B&H Academic (ISBN: 9781087766317) 2024. A study of the nativity narratives offering a defense of the virgin birth and considering its significance. Review

The Pursuit of Safety (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture), Jeremy Lundgren. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008010) 2024. A theology of safety as creational good, tempered by what living by faith means in a world never free of risk. Review

Hunger for Righteousness, Phoebe Faraq Mikhail. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609341) 2025. Drawing upon Coptic and other church tradition, explores how Lent may be personally and communally transforming. Review

The Story of America, Jill Lepore. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691153995) 2012. Essays on American origins from Jamestown and the Constitution to the IOU and Webster’s dictionary. Review

The Log College, Archibald Alexander. Banner of Truth Trust. Biographical sketches of William Tennant and his students, with accounts of the revivals under their ministries. Review

Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion, Meghan Henning and Nils Neumann, editors. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883575) 2024. Fourteen scholars on vivid, ekphrastic language in early Christian literature, used to engage and persuade. Review

Anchor of My Soul, compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609815) 2025. A compilation of readings, quotes, poetry and works of art on the theme of trust and hope. Review

Cargo of Eagles (Albert Campion, 19), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087292), 2023 (first published in 1968). Poison pen letters, a released smuggler, a murder, a motorcycle gang and a treasure in Allingham’s last Campion. Review

Faithful Politics, Miranda Zapor Cruz. IVP Academic/Missio Alliance (ISBN: 9781514007495) 2024. Ten ways of approaching the relationship between pursuing God’s kingdom and engaging in politics. Review

And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Jacques Lusseyran, translated by Elizabeth R. Cameron. New World Library (ISBN: 9781608682690) 2014 (first published in 1963). A memoir of a blind hero of the French resistance and Buchenwald survivor. Review

John Lewis: A Life, David Greenberg. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982142995) 2024. A biography tracing the work of John Lewis from non-violent civil rights activism to Congress. Review

Best Book of the Month

As I said. so many good ones to choose from. But I have to give the nod to David Greenberg’s John Lewis: A Life. Specifically, Greenberg captures Lewis’s commitment to loving enemies through non-violent protest, his integrity, and resilient determination.

Quote of the Month

To Gaze Upon God by Samuel G. Parkison is a wonderful study of the beatific vision, the experience of gazing upon Christ or God in our glorified state. For instance, I appreciated the combination of precise theological writing and the glimpse of the vision of which he writes in this passage:

“Therefore, it seems best to conceptualize the beatific vision as a vision of the divine essence in the person and work of Christ, the incarnate Son, by the illuminating and gracious operating principle of the Spirit as the eternal divine subsistence of the Father and Son’s love. The beatific vision, in other words, is made possible by the inseparable operations of the Trinity, and is therefore a truly trinitarian vision. We shall behold the glory of God in his essence, and we shall behold this glory in the face of Jesus Christ by the unveiling and illumining ministry of the Holy Spirit” (p. 156)

What I’m Reading

As you know, I’ve been reading more poetry. In particular, The Collected Poems of Emily is an introduction to much of her work. Then at the other end of the spectrum, Carola Binder’s Shock Policy is a history of American monetary policy, focusing on avoiding either extremes of inflation or deflation. However, disruptions are unavoidable and Leading Through Times of Disruption is a collection of papers about leading in Christian mission through times of change. In contrast with the practical nature of these papers, Triune Relationality explore the history of the conversation between Christians and Muslims regarding the Trinity and explores the idea of the relations within the Trinity as a distinctive “perfection” of God unaccounted for in Islam. Finally, on the lighter side, listening to my daughter-in-law talk about Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books has encouraged me to pick up the first in the series by the same name and I’m loving it!

In conclusion, this is the eleventh anniversary of my Month in Reviews feature, all of which may be accessed via The Month in Reviews, allowing you to see just about everything reviewed on this blog. Of course, the search box works well if you want to find a review of a particular book!

Introduction

We’re a month into the new year, and already, I’ve read some great books. I finished the last of The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael (I wish this one could go on!). William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series just gets better. I delighted in Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles. I savored the writing and story-telling art of Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake and the very different style and plotting of Gabrielle Levin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Deep Reading included reading practices that I incorporated into my Reading Challenge for this year. Nadya Williams’ Mothers Children, and the Body Politic makes the contention that as a culture we de-value motherhood and children. Ed Uszynski, a fellow Buckeye, does a great job of explanation and critique in Untangling Critical Race Theory and Michael R. Licona offers what I think a helpful and clear discussion of the discrepancies in the gospel narratives in Jesus, Contradicted. And I haven’t even mentioned all the good books in the reviews (21 of them!).

The Reviews

Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America, Mary Stockwell. Yale University Press (ISBN: 9780300251876) 2018. A biography of “Mad” Anthony Wayne centered on his successful campaign to defeat Native tribes in the Northwest Territory. Review

The Concept of Woman, Sister Prudence Allen, RSM, edited by Sister Mary Cora Uryase, RSM, foreword by John C. Cavadini. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883889) 2024. Surveys philosophers and theologians from ancient Greece to today tracing the concept of woman. Review

Plundered: The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice, David W. Swanson. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007747) 2024. The tangled roots of racial and environmental injustice. Traces exploitation and oppression of people and land to a common root of greed. Review

The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan (text and illustrations). Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593536131) 2024. Four years of journals on the birds visiting Amy Tan’s backyard, with sketches and detailed drawings. Review

Brother Cadfael’s Penance (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Number 20), Ellis Peter. Open Road Media (ASIN: B00LUZNZB0) 2014 (first published in 1994). Olivier, Cadfael’s son from his crusading days, is held hostage without ransom. Cadfael forsakes his vows to save him. Review

Deep Reading, Rachel B. Griffis, Julie Ooms, and Rachel M. De Smith Roberts. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540966957) 2024. Practices to grow in attentive reading that subverts distraction, hostility, and consumerism. Review

The Love Habit, Rainie Howard. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9781506496740) 2024. Learning to manage emotions, expectations, and relationships through daily habits enabling becoming the love one desires. Review

Tom Lake, Ann Patchett. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063327528) 2023. Lara, while cherry-picking with her daughters, recounts her love affair with actor Peter Duke, and how she met the girls’ father. Review

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic, Nadya Williams. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009123) 2024. Parallels the Western disdain for mothers and children with ancient Rome, and what early Christians can teach us. Review

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin. Vintage Books (ISBN: 9780593466490) 2022. Childhood friends, Sam and Sadie collaborate as game developers, in a different kind of love story. Review

The Gospel of Jesus Green, Neil J. Whitehouse. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385200245) 2024. Weaving scripture, theology, systems thinking, and science, concludes that Jesus is Green and preached a home for all. Review

Seeking the City, Chad Brand and Tom Pratt. Kregel Academic (ISBN: 9780825443046) 2013. A biblical, historical, and political economic argument defending responsible free-market capitalism. Review

Cheaper, Faster, Better. Tom Steyer. Spiegel & Grau (ISBN: 9781954118645) 2024. A climate activist and investor argues we can win the climate war through clean tech and free market capitalism. Review

The Mind Readers (Albert Campion Number 18), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ASIN: B08CRRYGK7), 2020 (First published in 1965). When Amanda’s nephews, playing with telepathic devices, are nearly kidnapped, Campion gets involved in a deadly quest. Review

Defiant Hope, Active Love, Jeffrey F. Keuss, editor. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883919) 2024. What young adults seek in places of work, faith, and community and how churches may respond hospitably. Review

Between Two Sounds, Joonas Sildre (text and illustrations) Adam Cullen (translation). Plough Publishing House (ISBN: 9781636081342) 2024. A graphical biography of Arvo Pärt tracing his faith, musical journey and clash with Soviet artistic censorship. Review

Untangling Critical Race Theory, Ed Uszynski. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514004814) 2024. By explaining the central assertions of critical race theory, offers constructive and critical assessment. Review

An Essay on Christian Philosophy, Jacques Maritain. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504081245) 2022 (first published in 1955). Explores what is distinctive about Christian philosophy with notes on apologetics and moral philosophy. Review

Red Knife (Cork O’Connor Number 8), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781416556749), 2008. Cork O’Connor is asked to help end a series of apparent revenge killings threatening a war between the Ojibwe and Tamarack County. Review

Jesus, Contradicted, Michael R. Licona. Zondervan Academic (ISBN: 9780310159599) 2024. Addresses the discrepancies in gospel accounts drawing upon the conventions of ancient biography. Review

A Rare Benedictine, Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781497671676), 2014 (first published in 1988). Three short stories set prior to the Chronicles, explaining how Cadfael became a monk and his early adventures. Review

Best Book of the Month

There were so many good choices this month! Among these, Joonas Sildre’s Between Two Sounds stands out. This may be the first time I’ve picked a graphic work as a “Best Book.” I loved the portrayal he offers of Arvo Pärt’s artistic journey. The drawing and black and white palette capture something of Pärt’s compositional style. And the publisher’s website includes tracks of several of the most significant works mentioned in the account.

Quote of the Month

David Swanson is a pastor committed to a ministry of racial reconciliation on the south side of Chicago. In the course of his ministry, he has observed the ways racial and environmental injustices are entangled, which he explores in Plundered. Here he describes the patient work that is involved in unraveling these injustices:

“Caretaking in the ruins of industrialized extraction and exploitation is a generational commitment. Who can say how long it will take for a racialized people centered on Jesus and pursuing repair together to find that creation has re-exerted its formational power over them? How long will it take for a people who’ve been severed from the earth to learn to walk humbly and gently among their creaturely neighbors? There is no program for this, no curriculum or metrics. There is only the good and slow work of learning together how to exist as a blessing and a gift.”

What I’m Reading

I’m a bit more than half way through Haruki Murakami’s The City and It’s Uncertain Walls. It is something of a puzzle palace of a work but his narrative style, and the surprising turns he takes have kept me engaged. Conceived by the Holy Spirit is a rich study of the virgin birth of Christ and why that doctrine matters. It makes a great read for Advent and a wonderful resource for any pastor preaching the birth narratives of Jesus. The Pursuit of Safety considers the “safetyism” of our culture and how we might think biblically about safety and risk. Hunger for Righteousness is series of Lenten meditations tied to the fast of Lent, grounded in the Coptic Orthodox tradition–a different world for me. I’m grateful for these chances to learn from Christians outside my “sphere.” Lastly, I’ve just picked up Jill Lepore’s The Story of America, which explores the different ways we tell our national story, seen through the lens of particular figures and events.

It’s Black History Month and I hope to get to David Greenberg’s John Lewis. I deeply admire Lewis as a Black civil right’s leader and politician who sought to live out his faith and live with hope through all the adversity he faced. I’d love to hear if there are works of Black History that have inspired you.

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.

Introduction

Happy New Year to you all! It was a record year at Bob on Books. Over the course of the year I posted 237 reviews, including the 20 that are listed below for December. I retired in August and that has afforded some additional reading time.

This month included some wonderful reads. Taking the last first, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures is a wonderful new entry in the world of fantasy literature by a john Donne scholar, no less. Why I Am Roman Catholic by Matthew Levering is a wonderful testimony to his faith and reminded me of an amazing conversation we had a number of years ago. I loved Plough’s graphic biography of the life of Jakob Hutter, one of my Anabaptist forebears. Quentin Schultze You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out is a delightful reflection on The Christmas Story, and his relationship with screenwriter Jean Shepherd. Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, By America is a hard-hitting critique of the economic structures that keep people in poverty in the U.S. Meet Me At the Lighthouse is a delightful poetry collection by Dana Gioia.

Finally, I read Georges Simenon’s Maigret and the Wine Merchant at the time of the murder of the CEO of a major healthcare company. Maigret’s murder victim was despicable, and yet it was his conviction that this also was a human being that drove him to seek the killer. It seems to me right to ask whether corporate algorithms that deny needed, life-giving care amount to corporate murder. But Maigret teaches me that nothing justifies murder, nor the valorizing of the murderer.

The Reviews

One, Two, Buckle my Shoe (Hercule Poirot Number 23), Agatha Christie. William Morrow Paperbacks (ISBN: 9780062073778) 2011 (originally published 1940). Poirot seeks the murderer of his dentist, found dead not two hours after Poirot visited him. Review

Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Grove Press (ISBN: 9780802163622) 2024. A day aboard the International Space Station as six people recount their work, weightlessness, and the wonder of earth below. Review

Meet Me at the Lighthouse: Poems, Dana Gioia. Graywolf Press (ISBN: 9781644452158) 2023. A collection of poems reflecting memories of people from several generations as well as the places of Gioia’s life. Review

The Church in Dark Times, Mike Cosper. Brazos Press (ISBN: 9781587435737) 2024. Understanding and resisting the evil that seduced the evangelical movement, drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt. Review

The New Anabaptists, Stuart Murray. Herald Press (ISBN: 9781513812984) 2024. An effort to describe the practices emerging Anabaptist communities embody with three case studies as examples. Review

Lieberman’s Day, Stuart M. Kaminsky. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781480400207) 2013 (first published in 1994). Abe’s nephew is killed and his wife shot in a mugging while a murderer stalks the abused ex-wife Hanrahan is sheltering. Review

Poverty, By America. Matthew Desmond. Crown (ISBN:9780593239933) 2024. An argument that poverty in America is the result of choices made knowingly or not by affluent who benefit as a result. Review

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!, Quentin Schultze. Edenridge Press LLC (ISBN: 9781937532017) 2024. Life lessons from the movie “A Christmas Story” from a friend of storyteller and screenplay writer Jean Shepherd. Review

By Fire: The Jakob Hutter Story (Heroes of the Radical Reformation, Number 2), Jason Landsel, Richard Mommsen, Sankha Bannerjee. Plough Publishing House (ISBN: 9781636081434), 2025. A graphic biography of this early leader of the Anabaptist movement, marriage to Katharina, and martyrdom. Review

Answering the Psalmist’s Perplexity (New Studies in Biblical Theology Number 62), James Hely Hutchinson. IVP Academic/Apollos (ISBN: 9781514008867) 2024 (Apollos-IVP UK website). How would God fulfill the promise of an everlasting Davidic throne when the kingship had ended in exile? Review

The China Governess (Albert Campion Number 17), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087247) 2023 (First published in 1962). An engaged orphan adopted by the Kinnits hires Campion to find his roots, stirring up a crime spree and a family secret. Review

Thunder Bay (Cork O’Connor Number 7), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439157824) 2009. A search for Henry Meloux’s son leads to an attempt on Meloux’s life and a love story from the 1920’s. Review

Eight Million Exiles, Christopher M. Hayes (foreword by Robert Chao Romero). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802882394) 2024. How theologians, researchers, and local church leaders teamed up to support Columbia’s internally displaced persons. Review

Good Book: How White Evangelicals Save the Bible to Save Themselves, Jill Hicks-Eaton. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506485850) 2023. An argument that evangelicals try to explain away the misogyny and patriarchy that the author finds inherent in the biblical text. Review

Maigret and the Wine Merchant (Inspector Maigret Number 71), Georges Simenon (Translated by Ros Scwartz). Penguin (ISBN: 9780241304280), 2020 (First published in 1970). Maigret investigates the murder of a wealthy wine merchant, a womanizer and a ruthless employer. Review

Pillars of Creation, Richard Panek. Little, Brown and Company (ISBN: 9780316570695) 2024. The development of the James Webb Telescope and what scientists have discovered about the cosmos in its first years. Review

Why I Am Catholic, Matthew Levering. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514003145) 2024. A Catholic theologian explains why he is Christian and Catholic and what it means to embrace this tradition. Review

The Way of Christ in Culture, Benjamin T. Quinn & Dennis T. Greeson. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087775111) 2024. How those walking in the way of Jesus might live faithfully in all aspects of our cultural life. Review

A Simply Healthy Life, Caroline Fausel. Tyndale Refresh (ISBN: 9781496486905) 2025. A guide to health focusing on our bodies, our homes, our relationships, and our spirituality. Review

Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie. Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593809860), 2024. Christopher helps Mal, a young girl who can fly, as she flees a murderer and seeks the reason why the magic is fading. Review

Book of the Month

Reading Richard Panek’s Pillars of Creation was a journey of wonder in learning what we’ve already learned in the first two years of the James Webb Telescope. Our universe, even our own solar system is more wonderful than I imagined. I posted this review on Christmas Day, so if you missed it, take a look. Great science writing!

Quote of the Month

My quote of the month also comes from space. Samantha Harvey’s is a science fiction work based on the observations and thoughts of seven people during a single day on the International Space Station, during which they orbit Earth sixteen times. Many of us have been awed by the aurora borealis in this years night skies. Harvey describes what it is like from space:

“The airglow is dusty greenish yellow. Beneath it in the gap between atmosphere and earth is a fuzz of neon which starts to stir. It ripples, spills, it’s smoke that pours across the face of the planet; the ice is green, the underside of the spacecraft an alien pall. The light gains edges and limbs, folds and opens. Strains against the inside of the atmosphere, writhes and flexes. Sends up plumes. Fluoresces and brightens. Detonates then in towers of light. Erupts clean through the atmosphere and puts up towers two hundred miles high. At the top of the towers is a swathe of magenta that obscures the stars…”

What I’m Reading

Since I preview the coming week’s reviews each Saturday in The Weekly Wrap, I won’t do that here. I’ve always enjoyed the writing of Ann Patchett and she has drawn me into the plotline of Tom Lake. I’m also reading Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the thirty year story of Sadie and Sam, their fraught friendship and collaboration as game developers. It’s not a world I inhabit, but I’m 80 pages in and drawn into what seems an unusual and exceptionally written story.

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic by Nadya Williams explores the devaluation of motherhood and child-bearing in our culture, and looks at the countercultural way early Christians valued women and children in a Roman culture that didn’t. Intrigued by the idea. I’d love to know how she deals with the fear of Handmaid’s Tale scenarios. Seeking the City is a big book surveying scripture and western history in defense of free-market capitalism. Finally, The Love Habit is a book on self-care that seems a current version of The Power of Positive Thinking. As you may guess, I’m not that keen on the book but want to give the writer a chance.

I so appreciate you reading with me this past year. Just from the books on my TBR pile, I think I have some great books to talk about in the coming weeks of the new year.

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.

Introduction

I’ve been reviewing books for over a decade now, and I have to admit it is quite a privilege to read and write about so many amazing books, including the twenty in this “Month in Reviews.” Beside the Campion and Cadfael mysteries, in which I continue to delight, I read the newest Gamache from Louise Penny. It was worth the two year wait! From mystery to memoir, I finally read Joan Didion’s profound reflection on grief, the Year of Magical Thinking and Catherine Meeks, A Quilted Life, the marvelous account of the life journey of a sharecropper’s daughter.

I always enjoy some good history, and this month I surveyed turning points in American church history, an account of the Challenger disaster, whose lesson might be, “listen to the engineers,” and Bob Woodward’s account of the Biden years. Oh, and I also reviewed a Candice Millard book, one of my favorite writers. Equally, I love biographies, two of which I reviewed: an intellectual biography of Blaise Pascal, and one of J. Gresham Machen. Finally, I will highlight two of the theology books I reviewed this month, one on Bonhoeffer’s theology of the church, a refreshing break from the squabbles about his life, and a challenging argument from New Testament and early church sources against remarriage after divorce. Enjoy!

The Reviews

Beyond the Wager: The Christian Brilliance of Blaise Pascal, Douglas Groothuis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001783) 2024. Argues that Pascal’s brilliance extends beyond his famous “wager” to his scientific, philosophic, and Christian insights. Review

The Man Within, Graham Greene. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504054003), 2018 (First published in 1929). Francis Andrews flight from smugglers he betrayed endangers a girl with whom he takes refuge. Review

J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, Ned B. Stonehouse. Banner of Truth Trust (ISBN: 9781848718746) 2019 (First published in 1954). A biographical memoir chronicling Machen’s evangelical faith and scholarship, first at Princeton and then at Westminster. Review

River of the Gods, Candice Millard. Doubleday. (ISBN: 9780385543101) 2022. The story of the explorers who sought the Nile’s source, the clash between them, and their unsung African guide. Review

Hide My Eyes (Albert Campion Number 16), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087384) 2023 (first published in 1958). Campion closes in on a serial killer unknowingly supported by a widow with an odd museum and a young niece visiting. Review

Cultural Sanctification, Stephen O. Presley. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802878540) 2024. How the early church pursued cultural engagement through holy discernment rather than fight or flight. Review

Word Made Fresh, Abram Van Engen, foreword by Shane McCrae. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802883605) 2024. An invitation to delight in poetry while discovering how form and language help make meaning that may enrich our lives. Review

The Lost World of the Prophets (Lost World Series), John H. Walton. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514004890) 2024. How understanding the ancient Near East context of the prophets can shed light on their message for us. Review

Bonhoeffer for the Church, Matthew D. Kirkpatrick. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506497822) 2024. A study of what Bonhoeffer wrote about the church’s identity, purpose, practices, and life together. Review

War, Bob Woodward. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668052273) 2024. Summary: A behind-the-scenes account of three wars during the Biden administration–Ukraine, the Middle East, and for the American presidency. Review

The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Number 19), Louise Penny. Minotaur Books (ISBN: 9781250328144) 2024. Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Isabelle seek to avert a plotted catastrophe, trusting no one but each other. Review

The Way of Belonging, Sarah E. Westfall (foreword Lore Ferguson Wilbert). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514008539) 2024. How our longing to belong is an invitation to embrace and extend the deep love of God. Review

The Holy Thief (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael number 19), Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781497671614) 2014 (first published in 1992). During a flood in Shrewsbury, the relics of St. Winifrid are stolen; a dispute over their disposition and a murder follow. Review

The Good News of Church Politics, Ross Kane. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802883834) 2024. Proposes politics as a spiritual practice by which we love each other within and beyond the church walls. Review

Turning Points in American Church History, Elesha J. Coffman, foreword by Mark A. Noll. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9780801097492) 2024. Shows ways the church contributed to American history through 13 key events over four centuries. Review

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion. Vintage (ISBN: 9781400078431) 2007. A memoir of grief and remembrance for Joan Didion’s husband, John Gregory Dunne. Review

Challenger, Adam Higginbotham. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781982176617) 2024. The heroism of the seven Challenger crew members and why a critical design flaw was ignored, resulting in their deaths. Review

The Integration Journey: A Student’s Guide to Faith, Culture, and Psychology. William B. Whitney and Carissa Dwiwardani. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514000564) 2024. An approach to integrating faith and psychology focused on lived experience, one’s culture, and pursuing justice. Review

A Quilted Life, Catherine Meeks (foreword by Michelle Miller). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802882899) 2024. The story of a sharecropper’s daughter who overcame racism and health issues to teach and to lead racial healing efforts. Review

Remarriage in Early Christianity, A. Andrew Das. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883742) 2024. A study of both NT texts and early church fathers offers no basis for remarriage after divorce.

Book of the Month

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, only 12 percent of Americans listen to or read poetry. Abram Van Engen’s Word Made Fresh is a wonderful introduction to poetry. He begins by proposing that we read poetry for pleasure. He provides a number of poems with brief introductions for the reader to find ones they like. Then he offers practical helps in going deeper into how poets make meaning in poetry. This is a great book if you have wanted to read poetry but have no clue where to begin or have read something and have no clue what the poet is saying. I also can’t help but wonder if the beauty and care with words we find in poetry may be a help to us in our troubled times.

Quote of the Month

Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is marked by her elegant and eloquent prose as she processes the grief of losing her husband. Here is one example nearly a year after he died:

“I know why we try to keep the dead alive; we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us.

“I also know that if we are to live ourselves there comes a point at which we must relinquish the dead, let them go, keep them dead.”

What I’m Reading

If you read my most recent The Weekly Wrap, you will see I have these books ready to review this week: Agatha Christie’s One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, Dana Gioia, Meet Me At the Lighthouse, and Mike Cosper, The Church in Dark Times. Cosper’s book is a powerful exploration of the cults of authority and ideology, and the erosion of meaning, and the corrosive and dangerous effects these have on the church

As for current reads, The New Anabaptists by Stuart Murray is of interest because I worship in a church in the Anabaptist tradition and it is intriguing to explore how our community might live more fully into that tradition. I recently discovered Stuart M. Kaminsky’s Abe Lieberman stories. He’s a worldly (and maybe spiritually) wise Jewish detective in Chicago. I’m currently reading Lieberman’s Day, centering around the murder of his nephew. Poverty, By America, by Matthew Desmond is a research based study of poverty in the US. He finds its source in the power structures of society that benefit by keeping people poor. He is the author of Evicted and combines personal story telling with data-driven conclusions, as he did in that book.

Another book in the Anabaptist tradition is By Fire: The Jakob Hutter Story. It is a well-drawn, graphic biography of Hutter’s life, when “heretics” were burned at the stake. You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!: Life Lessons from the Movie A Christmas Story is written by Quentin Schultze, the mentor of Jean Shepherd, the film’s screenwriter. He proposes that there are a number of “secret” parables in this modern classic. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the film, having lived in greater Cleveland during the time the movie was filmed there.

Well, that’s the Month in Reviews for November 2024. Hopefully it suggests some gift ideas, and maybe something for your own reading wish list

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..

Introduction

This month, my reviews were dropping like autumn leaves–twenty-two in all. Among them were a new and a classic work of literary fiction, books by Colm Toibin and Willa Cather respectively. I reviewed two collections of poetry, one an anthology of Catholic poetry and the other, a chapbook of nature poetry from well-known poets. Then there are always those mystery series I’m working through–two Brother Cadfael’s, a Campion, and a Cork O’Connor–all quite engaging!

Turning to non-fiction, I reviewed biographies of Civil War general James Longstreet and the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland. While we are on the topic of Cleveland, I thoroughly enjoyed Luke Epplin’s account of the 1948 World Champion Indians. And I read a strange account of a talking mongoose that haunted a family on the Isle of Man.

As always, there were some books of serious theology, including a monograph on the priest-king of Psalm 110, a finer grained study of the divine imperial cult the Apostle Paul encountered, a biographical study of John the Baptist, and a history of the Churches of Christ in America. Then there were devotional works including a collection of prayers compiled by Evelyn Underhill, a wonderful introduction to prayer practices, and a delightful book of Advent and Christmastide readings and resources for families of all ages. Finally, I rounded out the month with a fine book weaving bird watching and the grieving of a grandfather’s death, and a thought-provoking book on our beliefs and practices around death and burial.

The Reviews

The Potter’s Field (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael No. 17) Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B07B6B2CSP), 2014 (First published in 1989). The Potter’s Field, a gift to the abbey, turns out to be a mystery rather than gift when a plow turns up a woman’s body with long black hair. Review

Long Island (Eilis Lacey No. 2), Colm Tóibín. Scribner (ISBN: 9781476785110) 2024 Eilis Lacey returns to her home in Ireland when she learns the wife of a customer of her husband is carrying his child. Review

Contemporary Catholic Poetry: An Anthology, Edited by April Lindner and Ryan Wilson. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640606463), 2024. An anthology of works in diverse styles, aesthetics, and forms from 23 Catholic poets born since 1950. Review

Paul and Imperial Divine Honors, D. Clint Burnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802879851) 2024. Studies inscriptional evidence in three cities offering a nuanced treatment of the Roman imperial cult. Review

The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without, John Oakes. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781668017418) 2024. The history, science, philosophy, and promise of doing without, set against the author’s own experience of a seven-day fast. Review

Invisible Giants, Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. Indiana University Press (ISBN: 9780253341631) 2003. The story of two brothers from Cleveland who built a rail and real estate empire centered on Cleveland’s Terminal Tower. Review

Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, Elizabeth R. Varon. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982148270) 2023. From Lee’s “old war horse” to the Radical Republican who defied the “Lost Cause” and fought to vindicate his war record. Review

Christmaker, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884008) 2024. A life of John the Baptist making the case that he was a far more important figure than just the opening act for Jesus. Review

Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope Through Grief, Courtney Ellis (Foreword by Kay Warren). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007167) 2024. A birder’s guide to hope through grief consists of reflections on various birds as the author grieves a grandfather’s death. Review

Copper River (Cork O’Connor Number 6), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157817) 2009. Cork hides at a cousin’s from hit men who have wounded him only to be drawn into a search for killers preying on runaways. Review

The Beckoning Lady, (Albert Campion Number 15), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ASIN: B08CRRLLC2) 2020 (First published in 1955). While friends prepare for a midsummer party, Campion tries to unravel two murders in Pontisbright. Review

Creating a Life with God (20th Anniversary Revised edition), Daniel Wolpert. Upper Room Books (ISBN: 9780835820394) 2023. Prayer practices for relationship with God, in silence and solitude, with mind and body, alone and in community. Review

The Joy of Advent, Rebecca & Stephen Grabill, Illustrated by Claire Therese Gray. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609556), 2024. Daily readings, reflections, activities guiding families to create meaningful Advent and Christmastide traditions. Review

The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology (New Studies in Biblical Theology), Matthew Emadi. Apollos/IVP Academic (9781514007396) 2022 (Apollos [UK] website). A study of the theme of the priest king of Psalm 110, tracing this idea from Genesis through the New Testament. Review

Our Team, Luke Epplin. Flatiron Books (ISBN: 9781250313799) 2021. The story of four men who propelled the 1948 Cleveland Indians to a World Series Championship and how they changed baseball. Review

The Song of the Lark (Prairie Trilogy), Willa Cather. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504035361), 2016 (First published in 1915).  A young woman from a frontier town discovers her passion for music, eventually taking her to the world’s opera stages. Review

Lay Me in God’s Good Earth, Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007600) 2024. A Christian approach to death, care for body of the deceased, and burial, making the case for natural burial. Review

Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book, Evelyn Underhill, edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr, foreword by Eugene Peterson. SPCK (ISBN: 9780281078738) 2018. Prayers compiled in two books by Evelyn Underhill for retreats she conducted, edited into a compact edition. Review

Reviving the Ancient Faith, Third Edition, Richard T. Hughes and James L. Gorman. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802877291) 2024. A history of Churches of Christ in America, from sect, to denomination, to recent fragmentation and decline. Review

The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, Number 18), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B00LUZNZ60) 2014 (First published in 1991). A peaceful embassy with Brother Mark to two bishops results in both becoming hostages to Danes at war with Wales. Review

Gef!: The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose, Christopher Josiffe. Strange Attractor Press (ISBN: 9781907222481) 2017. The strange tale of an extra-special talking mongoose that inhabited a home on the Isle of Man in the 1930’s. Review

Poems on Nature (Signature Select Classics), various authors. Sterling Publishing Co. (ISBN: 781454944768) 2022. A chapbook of several dozen poems by the world’s greatest poets on the natural world, the air, the sea, and the land. Review

Book of the Month

Courtney Ellis’s Looking Up deftly weaves reflections on various bird with the process of grieving a beloved grandfather’s death. It is not only a profound exploration of the seasons of grief but guaranteed to make you look up and “consider the birds of the air.”

Quote of the Month

Robyn Wrigley-Carr’s, Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book work to edit the two prayer books, compiled by hand by Evelyn Underhill for the retreats she gave, is a marvelous gift. Here is one of the prayers I loved from this book:

O blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who bid your disciples stand with their loins gird and their lamps burning, be with us at this hour. Here we dedicate ourselves to you anew. Help us to run the race that is set before us with redoubled vigour and fresh vision. Teach us how to trim our lamps that they may not burn dim. Guide us to the constant recollection that the candle of the Lord is the Spirit of humanity. And by Your risen power, make us a power for you in this place, for Your own name’s sake. (Number 131)

What I’m Reading

I’m nearly finished with Ned B. Stonehouse’s biographical memoir, J. Gresham Machen. Machen taught New Testament at Princeton until a reorganization of the board communicated doctrinal drift, leading Machen and several others to found Westminster Theological Seminary. Douglas Groothuis’s Beyond the Wager is a wonderful commendation of Pascal as a theologian and apologist, far beyond his famous “wager.”

Then, in fiction, I’m reading Graham Greene’s The Man Within, his first published work. Another writer I enjoy is Candace Millard, whose River of the Gods chronicles Richard Burton and his company’s search for the source of the Nile. Finally, in my quest to grow as a reader of poetry, I am finding Abram Van Engen’s Word Made Fresh most helpful. He gives us permission to find and read poetry we enjoy and then leads us into even greater enjoyment of those works.

I was also excited to receive today Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf. I’ve mentioned a number of times how the Gamache stories got me through the pandemic. I read all eighteen and after a two year break, I’m looking forward to number nineteen and the chance to catch up with old friends in the village of Three Pines.

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.

Introduction

I did something this month I’ve never done before. I reviewed a book every weekday (except for last month’s Month in Reviews). All told, that is twenty reviews. I guess retirement is agreeing with me! Since this is a long list, I will let you get to them. Just a few I will highlight. Disarming Leviathan explores Christian nationalism and may be of value in this political season. Lovers of the Little House Books will find A Prairie Faith of interest. A few months ago, I reviewed Richard Goodwin’s memoir of the Sixties. Here, I review Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Love Story narrating going through 300 boxes of archives with Dick in the last years of his life, discussing the Sixties once more. Finally, I would call your attention to a modern classic, Discipleship by J. Heinrich Arnold. It will challenge you wherever you are in your spiritual journey.

The Reviews

Woke: An Evangelical Guide, John G. Stackhouse, Jr. THINKBETTER Media (ISBN: 9781738098316) 2024. A brief and balanced introduction and response to the terminology associated with being “woke.” Review

Waiting for Al Gore, Bob Katz. Flexible Press (ISBN: 9798988721321) 2024. A story that pairs a struggling writer and a struggling environmental group hoping a conference becomes a big story when Gore shows up. Review

Disarming Leviathan Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, Caleb E. Campbell. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514008515) 2024. Focuses on how we discerningly engage people who embrace Christian nationalism with grace and truth. Review

The Heretic’s Apprentice (Brother Cadfael, 16), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road (ASIN: B00LUZNZ42), 2014 (First published in 1989). The Heretic’s Apprentice is charged with heresy for defending his deceased master’s theological views and held for murder of his accuser. Review

Living with Purpose in a Polarizing World, Albert M. Erisman and Randy Pope. Hendrickson Publishers (ISBN: 9781496487155) 2024. How twelve people in the Bible seek the world’s good and cooperate with God’s redemptive purposes. Review

Chasing Sacred, Mikella Van Dyke Tyndale Momentum (ISBN: 9781496480712) 2024. Using inductive Bible study methods to encounter God and find hope in Him. Review

Cultures of Growth, Mary C. Murphy. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982172749) 2024. Cultures of Growth applies the science of mindset, distinguishing fixed and growth mindsets, to the culture of organizations. Review

Metaphysics of Exo-Life, Andrew M. Davis. SacraSage (ISBN: 9781958670040) 2023. Metaphysics of Exo-Life constructively engages the naturalistic cosmotheology of Steven J. Dick using A.N. Whitehead’s process metaphysics. Review

The Printer and the Preacher, Randy Petersen. Thomas Nelson (ISBN: 9780718022211) 2015. Recounts the story of the unlikely friendship of George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin. Review

The Return of the Kingdom (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology) , Stephen G. Dempster. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9780830842919) 2024. Traces the themes of kingship and kingdom throughout Scripture from creation to new creation. Review

Mercy Falls (Cork O’Connor Number 5), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439157800) 2009 (First published in 2005). Mercy Falls, number five in the Cork O’Connor series finds Cork in a hitman’s sights and danger to his wife in the form of her old flame. Review

The Tiger in the Smoke (Albert Campion Number 14), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087483) 2023 (First published in 1952). In a soupy fog, a war widow about to re-marry receives photos of her husband while an escaped killer is on the loose. Review

Christianity and Constitutionalism, edited by Nicholas Aroney and Ian Leigh. Oxford University Press (ISBN: 9780197587256) 2022. Christianity and Constitutionalism explores the contribution of Christianity to constitutionalism in light of history, law, and theology. Review

The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien (Maigret Number 4), Georges Simenon, translated by Linda Coverdale. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780141393452) 2014 (First published in 1931). The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, in which Maigret’s swap of a suitcase as he follows a suspicious character results in the man’s suicide. Review

Othered: Finding Belonging with the God Who Pursues The Hurt, Harmed & Marginalized, Jenai Auman. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540903914), 2024. How God sees, loves, and pursues those hurt, harmed and marginalized by the church and offers them rest, healing, and hope. Review

Dream Work, Mary Oliver. Atlantic Monthly Press (ISBN: 9780871130693) 1986. Poetry of Mary Oliver running the gamut from dogfish to Dachau, from starfish to Orion, and Robert Schumann to Stanley Kunitz. Review

A Prairie: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Library of Religious Biography), John J. Fry (Foreword by Mark A. Noll. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802876287) 2024. The religious life of Laura Ingalls Wilder drawn from her books and manuscripts, other writings and the places she lived. Review

An Unfinished Love Story, Doris Kearns Goodwin. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982108663) 2024 An Unfinished Love Story: Doris and Richard Goodwin remember the 1960’s as they review Dick’s archives of work with Johnson and the Kennedys. Review

Discipleship: Living for Christ in the Daily Grind, J. Heinrich Arnold (Foreword by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Plough (ISBN: 9780874868760) 1994. A collection of forthright counsel on various aspects of following Christ. Review

The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul, Chris Bruno, John J. R. Lee, and Thomas R. Schreiner. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001141) 2024. On recent scholarship considering how Paul reconciled monotheism and the divinity of Jesus. Review

Book of the Month

It’s a deep read and it’s not cheap. But I thought Christianity and Constitutionality an exceptional piece of scholarship from a Christian perspective. In addition, it considers the vitally important matter of how governments may be constituted in ways that promote human flourishing and the common good. Another plus was the international makeup of the contributors. Finally, although a first rate piece of scholarship, it was written with a clarity making it accessible to reader willing to give it their attention.

Quote of the Month

I mentioned J. Heinrich Arnold’s Discipleship, which is coming out in a new edition in November, from Plough Publishing. Arnold writes with a refreshing candor and forthrightness. Specifically, he can be downright blunt. Yet this always is shaped by a shepherd’s tough and tender love. But he isn’t “nice.” I loved his self-awareness of his character and explanation of it:

“It is important to be straightforward and honest about your true feelings. Rather be too rude than too smooth, to blunt than too kind. Rather say an unkind word that is true than one that is ‘nice’ but untrue. You can always be sorry for an unkind word, but hypocrisy causes permanent harm unless special grace is given.”

What I’m Reading

I have another Brother Cadfael ready to review as well as Colm Tóibín’s Long Island, an exploration of the choices a wife faces when confronted with evidence of marital unfaithfulness and a renewed connection with an old flame. Anyone who has lived in Cleveland has fixed in mind an image of Terminal Tower. But I did not know the story of the brothers behind it as well as the development of Shaker Heights. Invisible Giants is the biography of the Van Sweringen brothers. I’m nearly finished with an anthology of Catholic Poetry since 1950, a great way to find poets you like.

I love an occasional Civil War book and Elizabeth Varon’s Longstreet is a fascinating study of this Confederate General who after the war supported Republican reconstruction efforts and thus was branded a traitor to the South and blamed for the Lost Cause. Paul and Imperial Divine Honors studies the practice of declaring Roman rulers to be gods, usually after death and how this affected Paul and the Christians of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. Lastly, The Fast considers the spirituality, philosophy, history, and physiology of fasting against the backdrop of the author’s own seven-day fast.

I won’t always be able to keep up the daily review pace. Longer books throw a wrench in that but I like to read them. And I hope to throw in some bookstore reviews and other articles from time to time. I always appreciate book recommendations and ideas from my readers!

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.

Introduction

Despite this being my last month of work, I reviewed nineteen books. Of these, four were in mystery series I’ve been working through by Marsh, Allingham, Peters, and Kreuger. I returned to Stanislaw Lem after a hiatus of several years. I finished the mammoth On The Resurrection: Evidences. And I read the authorized biography of Willie Mays for my baseball book of the summer. Jon Meacham’s And There Was Light on Lincoln underscored the importance of presidential character.

I reviewed a succinct commentary on Galatians, a devotional on gratitude, and a book of prayers for those going through serious illness–very different books. Munther Isaac’s The Other Side of the Wall is a heart-wrenching lament for the plight of the Palestinian people by a Palestinian Christian pastor from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. I had the privilege to interview him. Among the other books I reviewed was memoir of Edwin Yamauchi, that tells the story of a professor who wedded devotion to Christ and his mission, excellence of scholarship, and love for students in a public university setting.

The Reviews

Galatians: A Life in Letters, Johannes W. H. van der Bijl. Langham Global Library (ISBN: 9781839739200), 2024. A narrative commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, reconstructing the circumstances leading to, and the actual composition of the letter. Review

On the Resurrection, Volume 1: Evidences, Gary R. Habermas. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087778600), 2024. Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus based upon a minimal historical facts approach comprehensively researched and documented. Review

The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, Stanislaw Lem. Harper Voyager (ISBN: 9780544079939), 2012 (First published in 1971). Ijon Tichy’s voyages across the galaxy, satirical short pieces of science fiction by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem. Review

Story, Ritual, Prophecy, Wisdom, Mark W. Hamilton and Samjung Kang-Hamilton. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883186), 2024. Four modes of scripture for religious education and their use in teaching the Bible: story, ritual, prophecy, and wisdom. Review

Scales of Justice (Roderick Alleyn, 18), Ngaio Marsh. Felony & Mayhem (ASIN: B00Q3JQMJ0), 2014 (First published in 1955). A giant trout beside a murdered aristocrat from one of four families, all having motives or opportunity for murder, in a small rural village. Review

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, James S. Hirsch. Scribners (ISBN: 9781416547914), 2011. Willie Mays’ authorized biography, his passion for every aspect of the game, and his greatness on and off the field. Review

Towards an Incarnational Spiritual Culture, Gordon E. Carkner (Foreword by Iain Provan). Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385203772), 2024. The Incarnation and our quest for identity, addressing the rootless identities of modern gnosticism and expressive individualism. Review

The Confession of Brother Haluin (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, 15), Ellis Peters. Open Road Integrated Media (ASIN: B00LUZNWTU), 2014 (First published in 1988). From deathbed confession to arduous journey, Brother Haluin’s miraculous recovery results in a journey of penance accompanied by Cadfael. Review

My Heart Overflows: A Treasury of Readings, Poems, and Prayers on Gratitude, Compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609617), 2024. A treasury of reflections on gratitude, a compilation of poetry, quotations, readings and art on thanksgiving for blessings, others, and God. Review

Blood Hollow (Cork O’Connor Number Four), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157794), 2009. A murder is pinned on Solemn Winter Moon, but Cork thinks otherwise, confronting resistance and wounds from the past. Review

Faith Embodied, Stephen Ko. Zondervan Reflective (ISBN: 9780310151692), 2024. Bringing physical and spiritual health together, a physician/pastor connects senses and bodily functions with our worship of God. Review

The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, Munther Isaac. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9780830831999) 2020. A Palestinian Christian narrative of lament and hope, describing the situation from his perspective and offering hope for a shared land. Review

The Waters of Siloe, Thomas Merton. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (ISBN: 9780156949545), 1979 (First published in 1949). A history of the Trappist monks, from Cistercian beginnings to the reforms at La Trappe, foundations in America, and the contemplative life. Review

Irreverent Prayers: Talking to God When You’re Seriously Sick, Elizabeth Felicetti and Samantha Vincent-Alexander. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802882639), 2024. Talking to God when you’re seriously sick is modelled in this book by honest, unvarnished prayers written during such illnesses. Review

The Five Spaces, Dustin White. The Brethren Church (ISBN:9781732268180), 2019. Understanding the church’s spaces of discipleship, a study of how the church may leverage the different relational spaces we inhabit. Review

Coroner’s Pidgin (Albert Campion, 12), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN:
9781504087230), 2023 (First published in 1945). Back from war, Campion finds a corpse in his bed, brought to his flat by an aristocratic lady protecting her son. Review

And There Was Light, Jon Meacham. Random House (ISBN: 9780553393965), 2022. The convictions shaping Lincoln’s public life including his opposition to slavery, the importance of the union, and his belief in providence. Review

Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China, Glen L. Thompson (foreword by Samuel N. C. Lieu). Wm. B., Eerdmans (ISBN: 9780802883520), 2024. The earliest Christian Church in China came via the Silk Road in the seventh century, substantiated by the Chang’an stele and other documents. Review

An Asian American Ancient Historian and Biblical Scholar, Edwin M. Yamauchi (Foreword by Stephen B. Kellough). Resource Publications (ISBN: 9798385211609), 2024. An Asian American Ancient Historian and Biblical Scholar is the memoir of Edwin M. Yamauchi, professor of history at Miami University, chronicling his family, faith, scholarly work, travels, and church leadership. Review

Book of the Month

Gary R. Habermas On the Resurrection: Evidences runs to over a thousand pages. Yet it is highly readable, thorough, amply documented, and well-argued. Consequently, it is simply the best presentation of the arguments based on evidence for the resurrection that I have read.

Quote of the Month

Irreverent Prayers is a book written by two Episcopal priests facing life threatening afflictions. Specifically, one fought of a MRSA infection of her leg involving months of treatment. The other went through successive surgeries for two different cancers, and was diagnosed with a serious recurrence during the writing of the book. In contrast to the pious language of so many written prayers, those in this book are raw and honest, giving words for what soi many in similar circumstances face. For example, here is a “Prayer When People Call Me Brave or Inspiring”:

“Gracious God, help me to react graciously when well-meaning people call me brave. I’m not brave. I didn’t choose this and wouldn’t if I had a choice. All I do when I’m not in treatment is sit around or sleep, which is hardly inspiring. I should pray that you shield them from knowing that they would react as they must if they were in this situation too, but I would like them not to say stupid things in the future. So please sort it out, God. Amen.”

What I’m Reading

Because I currently have five books awaiting review and five others I am reading, I’m just going to list them, with at most a few words when the title alone doesn’t make clear what the book is about.

Books awaiting review;

• Woke, John G. Stackhouse, Jr. Explores this and other epithets in our current political discourse
• Waiting for Al Gore, Bob Katz. A gentle satire on environmental activism by an author I like.
• Disarming Leviathan, Caleb Campbell. On loving our Christian nationalist neighbors.
• The Heretic’s Apprentice, Ellis Peters. Another in the Brother Cadfael series.
• Living with Purpose in a Polarizing World, Albert M. Erisman and Randy Pope. Twelve biblical figures, how they engaged their culture, with contemporary illustrations from business and professional settings.

Books I’m Reading

• Chasing Sacred, Mikella Van Dyke. On inductive Bible study and how it impacted the author’s life.
• Cultures of Growth, Mary C. Murphy. How organizations can foster cultures of growth by the kind of mindset they foster.
• Christianity and Constitutionalism, Nicholas Aroney and Ian Leigh, eds. Explores the Christian sources that have and may inform constitutional forms of government.
• The Preacher and the Printer, Randy Petersen. On the unlikely friendship between George Whitefield and Ben Franklin.
• Metaphysics of Exo-Life, Andrew M. Davis. Draws upon the metaphysics of A.N. Whitehead to formulate a cosmotheology addressing possibilities of extra-terrestrial life.

As you can see, there are lots of interesting reviews coming in the weeks ahead. I’d encourage you to sign up to follow Bob on Books to see them when they are posted! Happy reading friends!

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.