I read a bunch of great stuff in March. I haven’t included everything, as there will be some reviews being posted over the next few weeks, but overall March was a great month with marriage, means of grace, history, intelligent design, and some good old (new) superhero adventures.
Know the Creeds and Councils
Having sat in more than one class on church history, I’ve seen plenty of material covering heroes and heretics, councils, creeds, and controversies of the early years. This little book by Justin Holcomb was such a great springboard; every chapter short and punchy, and closed with a “so what?” for Christians today. While you’ll move through this book easily, if you’re like me it will act like a living map where the more you look at it the more you’ll see new places pop up, waiting to be found and explored.
Batman Vol 1: I am Gotham
The DC Universe rebirth has been underway for a while now, and while my budget doesn’t allow me to keep track of all the characters, there’s always room for Batman. First, I really enjoyed this. I like the point at Bruce Wayne’s life where this story arc has picked up, and while I think Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns will always be my favourite Batman, despite what could be perceived as a slow start, I think this Batman is going to shape up to be among the best to date.
This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence
Piper spends the first 5 chapters laying a biblical foundation for what it means to be humans, together in a marriage relationship, and what that God-designed relationship ought to look like, and why. Having established first things first (love, unwavering commitment to covenant, forgiveness and forebearance, parallels to Christ and the church), Piper moves to two chapters on a biblical foundation and application of a husband’s headship in his family, and a chapter on the beauty of Christlike submission in light of the gospel. The book closes with chapters on having children and making (them) disciples. With wisdom and encouragement for singles as well as married, this is worth a read.
God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway?
The way in which Lennox unravels Stephen Hawking’s arguments is impressive, somewhat amusing, educational, and convincing. His conversational style (given the high-brow nature of the arguments) makes for a book that simple guys like me can follow, nodding in assent as pure logic (Lennox is a mathematician) is employed to dismantle seemingly intimidating and complex structures of thought. Accessible, helpful, and compelling, this book is also designed to encourage you to explore the arguments – and counter-arguments – in more detail in Lennox’s other works. I’ll get to those in the months to come.
Praying the Bible
Do you find yourself falling into the same routine when you pray? Are your prayers repetitious, or predictable to the point that your kids could pray them with you (not after you, but at the same time because they never change)? Don Whitney has a simple time-tested solution that will not only revolutionize the way that you pray, but will grow your prayer life and propel you forward in your knowledge and application of scripture at the same time. Praying the Bible is small, but packs plenty of punches.
The Gospel Call & True Conversion
Among the most important questions in Christianity are around how we practically ‘work out our salvation’. Far from easy-believism or cheap grace, I found this to be a super-helpful systematic look at the common questions around the call of Christ, the response of humanity, what genuine conversion looks like (in light of getting the previous two right) and the demonstration of saving faith ongoing in the life of the Christian. I listened to the audio book for this one, and found myself wishing I could take out a highlighter and mark plenty of paragraphs on the way through.
Here’s what I read in
See what else I read in 2017:
