I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

The Heart is the Target: Preaching Practical Application from Every Text by Murray Capill. There are relatively few books in the homiletical market exclusively concerned with application in sermons. The one I most often see referenced is Dan Doriani’s Putting Truth to Work, but for a variety of reasons his work feels dated. Bursting into the fray is an Aussie you’ve probably never heard of: Murray Capill. Capill is principal of Reformed Theological College in Geelong, Australia and he’s given us a masterstroke in The Heart is the Target. I generally judge preaching books not merely on their usefulness, but on if they stir fresh desire for the work. At almost every turn Capill made me want to put down his book, take up The Book, and go preach.

Capill, for my mind, gets just about everything right. I can’t see a pastor picking this up without it changing something in his preparation and delivery of God’s word. I hope The Heart is the Target gets the widest audience possible. Grab a copy today and let Capill sharpen your skills with the Spirit’s sword.

The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians by DA Carson. On Sunday I grabbed Carson’s famous book on the gospel ministry off a shelf in my study and was shocked to find I hadn’t read it yet! I guess it was the Spirit’s saying, “Tolle lege.” The work is simply enough: Carson walks through various passages in 1 Corinthians to show how the cross relates to preaching, the Holy Spirit, factionalism, servant-leadership, and forming believers into “world Christians.” The book is more a commentary on 1 Corinthians than 1 Corinthians applied to pastoral ministry. For some that will be a good thing, but for others it may be somewhat disappointing.

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre. Studying Cold War espionage has long been a favorite hobby of mine. No Cold War spy was more prolific and destructive than Kim Philby, a Soviet mole in MI6 who stole secrets and sabotaged operations for over two decades. Macintyre is the perfect author for this tale; he has perfected the art of narrative espionage-history in recent years. His main contribution to “Philby Cottage Industry” is his recounting the traitor’s life through the lens of friendship. Particularly his friendship with two spy masters and supposed allies: Nicholas Elliot of MI6 and the legendary mystery man of the CIA, James Jesus Angleton. A Spy Among Friends is Macintyre’s best book to date, I simply could not put it down.

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews. Matthews spent thirty-three in the CIA and upon retirement he did what many former intelligence officers have done: write a spy novel. Yet, Matthews is unlike those who’ve come before. He’s actually really good a telling a realistic spy tale. The Company itself said, “The amount of tradecraft, particularly surveillance and countersurveillance, will make the in-house reader wonder how he got all this past the Publications Review Board.” The novel isn’t perfect though. The pacing is unbalanced at several points, the content unnecessarily lascivious (especially early on), and his depiction of Russia one dimensional. Nevertheless, Red Sparrow is a gripping portrait of modern day espionage and I hope Matthews is no one-hit wonder.

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey. I was completely taken with Sakey’s “The Brilliance Saga,” but do his other works match the magic? To answer that question I picked up The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes, Sakey’s last publication before all the brilliance arrived. Gillian Flynn calls the story of Hayes, “A brainy, twisty, sometimes twisted mystery.” I did find it a bit twisted, but – on the whole – it’s terrifically twisty. At several points the plot line shifts rather dramatically and the turns are mostly believable, if somewhat conventional. The more I read Sakey the more I find him to be some sort of Connelly/Flynn blend. And that mixture will win many a fan.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

It’s been a long while, 28 days to be exact (a record for me), since I did a Recent Reads post. Although my posting has been more infrequent my reading hasn’t. With quite a few titles this time around my thoughts will be shorter than normal, but I hope they will be useful in some way nonetheless.

Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World by Michael Horton. A needed book for our restlessly radical age. Ordinary is often brilliant and occasionally redundant. In other words, it’s typical fare for the good doctor from Westminster Seminary California. Not everyone will be convinced he strikes the appropriate biblical balance between ordinary and risky faith, but I think he succeeds. This one is well worth reading.

Enjoy Your Prayer Life by Michael Reeves. One my reading maxims is: “If Michael Reeves writes it, read it.” Enjoy Your Prayer Life is more a booklet than a book, but that’s not a disadvantage at all. With his usually color and pithiness Reeves illuminates the struggle of prayer in wise ways. The treatment largely expounds Calvin’s conviction of prayer being “the chief exercise of faith.” I could see this one being a great resource for pastors to continually – and freely – hand out in their churches.

Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as Christian Calling by James Sire. Like Guiness, Noll, and Moreland before him, James Sire wants to rescue the mind for the glory of God. We are, after all, called to love the Lord will all our minds. Sire effectively and winsomely argues for pursuing an intellectual life unto the glory of God. Some of his counsel is curious, such as his rapturous affection for the lectio divina method of reading, but anyone concerned with the life of the mind would do well to consult this work.

They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. All academic writing, Graff and Birkenstein say, is “argumentative writing. . . . And we believe that to argue well you need to do more than assert your own position. You need to enter a conversation, using what others say (or might say) as a launching pad or sounding board for your own views” (3). To help writers engage in this kind of conversation They Say/I Say is built around a series of templates designed to help the writer understand and employ “the deep, underlying structure, the internal DNA as it were, of all effective argument.” The templates are really, really useful. I imagine I’ll be returning to this resource often int he future.

Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through The Information Fog by William Badke. “Everyone does research. Some just do it better than others,” so says William Badke in the first sentence Research Strategies. Learning in “the information age” presents boundless opportunities for learning, but “faced with a humongous number of Internet sites, not to mention academic and commercial databases of increasing size and complexity, knowing how to navigate through the information fog isn’t something you can pick up easily on your own” (xvii). This textbook is no page turner (what textbook is?), but it abounds in up-to-date strategies for research students.

Stylish Academic Writing by Helen Sword. Sword’s mission in Stylish Academic Writing is clear from the outset, “In this book, I argue that elegant ideas deserve elegant expressions; that intellectual creativity thrives best in an atmosphere of experimentation rather than conformity” (vii). Her agenda then is “transformative,” one she hopes will result in improved reading conditions for all. Her research into the writing styles of academics is fascinating and undeniably useful. One of the better works I’ve read on the subject.

Quality Research Papers: For Students of Religion and Theology by Nancy Vhymeister. Catching on to a theme with these last few titles? Yep, these are all textbooks for an upcoming doctoral seminar on theological research. Quality Research Papers was originally written in Spanish for South American graduates students in 1980. Edits and additions were made throughout the years and in 2014 Zondervan published the third edition of Vhymeister’s work. Its purpose is simple: “to put several aspects of research writing – bibliography, search techniques, organization, and form – into a balanced perspective” (ix). Straight forward and simple.

History of the American People by Paul Johnson. I bought History of the American Peeople on sale at Amazon several months ago for $8 and it might be my best ever use of eight greenbacks. Johnson’s tome is, in every sense of the word, magisterial. This is history at its finest. The story is told with compelling verve, the analysis is objective, and the research is immense. Johnson leaves no stone unturned in his account of our fine nation – politics; business and economics; art, literature and science; society and customs; complex traditions and religious beliefs are all given adequate space. An astounding accomplishment!

The Escape by David Baldacci. Of all the various Baldacci series John Puller one is my favorite. Baldacci consumed much of last spring’s popular fiction reading and after several months with the author I knew I needed a break. The plots were becoming increasingly predictable which robbed joy from my pleasure reading. My expectations were thus quite tempered when I started The Escape, the third Puller title. Yet by the end I thought to myself, “This is the best Baldacci book I’ve ever read.” Enough said. Moving on . . .

Brilliance by Markus Sakey. I don’t remember how I came across this title – I probably was mindlessly perusing Amazon – but oh! how glad I am that I did. When I saw Gillian Flynn call Sakey “the master of the mindful page turner,” and Michael Connelly write say he’s “one of our best storytellers,” I said, “I’m definitely in.” Creativity and thrills abound in Brilliance; Sakey clearly has talent to spare. This book is soooooo good. Once I put it down I turned to my wife and said, “I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun reading a fiction book.” I’d be surprised if you’d be able to start this and not race your way to the end.

A Better Life by Markus Sakey. I didn’t think my delight towards Brilliance could increase, but when I found out it was the first of a trilogy (“The Brilliance Saga”) the happiness multiplied exponentially. A Better Life picks up the story three months from where Brilliance left off and Sakey in no way disappoints. The story is full of texture, suspense, and roller coaster rides of fun. I can only hope the brilliant Mr. Sakey is racing to finish the trilogy’s final volume. Can’t wait!

My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni. My holiday binge of mystery/suspense novels continued with Dugoni’s story of Tracy Crosswhite, a Seattle detective who’s been consumed for the last twenty years with the disappearance of her beloved sister. I must give Dugoni credit because two-thirds of the way through I was convinced I had his endgame all sorted, but he threw me an unexpected curve ball as the book ramped up to its conclusion. A breeze of a read, if it is a bit dark at points.

Terminal City by Linda Fairstein. Sometime last summer I watched an interview with Daniel Silva (author of the great Gabriel Allon series) and he recommended Terminal City as a wonderful summer read. Well, I got around to it in the winter, but it was wonderful nonetheless. This is the seventeenth (!) book in Fairstein’s series centered on one Alexandra Cooper. While Terminal City isn’t a work of historical fiction it still manages to pack in a stunning amount of history. All of it surrounding New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. The historical asides will undoubtedly stilt the narrative for some, yet I think they add peculiar flavor to the story. I did find the ending less than satisfying, but I can forgive that for a suprisingly informative work of fiction.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

Job: The Wisdom of the Cross by Christopher Ash. Lord willing, tomorrow night at IDC we will conclude our sermon series on the book of Job. Ash’s commentary is hands down the best commentary on Job I’ve used and – this isn’t a stretch – one of the finest commentaries I’ve ever read. Ash’s command of Job’s theological nuances and potential hermeneutical pitfalls is immense, and his pastoral antennae are always on alert. I rarely found myself in disagreement with his interpretations of the difficult speeches, and routinely found the conclusions illuminating and convincing. If you ever preach on Job this is the one commentary you must have. If you don’t plan to preach on Job anytime soon grab a copy anyway, this is red meat for the soul.

Here are the other commentaries on Job I read cover to cover:

• The Storm Breaks by Derek Thomas. Thomas did his PhD on John Calvin’s sermons through Job. So it shouldn’t surprise the reader to see great similarity between the Welsh man’s commentary and the old reformer’s preaching on this wisdom book. A fantastic pastoral and devotional commentary.
• Job by Steve Lawson. Lawson’s homiletical scheme (his astounding ability to alliterate notwithstanding) feels forced on the text at points, but this one was surprisingly useful.
• The Message of Job by David Atkinson. Largely solid, but I found the format unusually frustrating for a BST volume. Rather than work through the text with consecutive commentary, Atkinson breaks it up by figure – Eliphaz’s speeches, Bildad’s speeches, etc. Understandable, yet maddening for sermon preparation.
• Job by Elmer Smick. The concision of Smick’s commentary is a welcome departure from the normal verbosity associated with Job, but some sections demanded more attention than Smick was willing to give. Still, it’s a useful volume.
• Crying Out for Vindication: The Gospel According to Job by David Jackson. On the whole I found this one not very helpful. I can forgive the topical arrangement of Job’s material, but Jackson is way too quick at many points to jump out of Job into the New Testament. The book might be more aptly titled, “New Testament Themes Found in the Book of Job.”

Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept by James Sire. In 1976 James Sire published The Universe Next Door, a widely used textbook on worldview that not only defined worldview, but examined seven dominant worldviews of the time. As students, colleagues, and critics interacted with his seminal text Sire increasingly felt the need to revise his original thesis. Naming the Elephant is his effort at revision. Sire’s refinement concentrates on recognizing worldview as not merely a set of basic concepts, but a fundament orientation of the heart (channeling the recent work by David Naugle). Furthermore, he emphasizes the role of behavior in the determination of what a person’s worldview really is, after all Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” A solid book for anyone interested in the concept of worldview.

Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace by Heath Lambert. We plan to have our men at IDC read through Lambert’s little book in February, so our elders read it in preparation. If you took out the chapter on “Using Your Spouse (or Your Singleness)” to Fight Pornography” the book is actually a field manual for killing all kinds of sin. Surely one can use sorrow, humility, gratitude, and confession to slay various, fleshly enemies. If Lambert ever does a second edition I’d love to see added focus on the roles a local church and the ordinary means play in fighting for purity. Nevertheless, Finally Free is the finest book on the subject I’ve ever read. Churches everyone would do well to have this one available.

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly. I love Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series focused on Mickey Haller, but I had yet to read any one of the volumes in his longer-running and better-selling Harry Bosch series. Finally, after sufficient prodding from a few family members I dove into Mr. Bosch by reading the latest entry The Burning Room. It’s a bit strange I’m sure, but when jumping into a tenured series I read the most recent entry in a series rather than the first. Bosch is a L.A. cold-case detective (he was previously one of the best homicide detectives in the city) in the twilight of his career and is confronted with two prominent cold cases that prove to be intensely emotional and political. The Burning Room is fun, simple, and informative . . . everything you’d expect from Connelly.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.