Read with me?

On Tuesday night we had our Men’s BBQ which sort-of officially ends our Men’s Nights for the church year. I have mixed feelings about this night. I am encouraged to see how many men come out to these nights to discuss the book we read together. The church is in good hands because of the quality of men we have within it. However, I’m saddened that it has to end. Four months without these meetings seems to become a longer break each year. I love the camaraderie, the discussions, the wisdom shared, and seeing biblical theology applied to everyday life. I’m sad to not have that in my life for four months.

But the end of men’s nights does not mean the end of reading for all of us. I hope. I trust that many of you -- let me bring the ladies of our church into this -- will keep reading over the summer. But choosing what to read can sometimes be difficult. So I thought I would share what I am reading over the next number of months (or what I will try to read) so that you can read along with me. Or maybe this list spurs some ideas of where to go in your own pursuit of sanctification through theology. I know it is not just the men of our church who love theology so instead of posting something like this on the men’s chat at CRC, I’m writing this blog for all those lovers of theology and things akin to it.

So here is my list of what I’m going to try to read over the summer and a brief explanation of why. I hope you find something that stirs your interest.

Let me start with a non-Christian work. Sorry, the theology stuff will have to wait.

The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols

The internet has made access to information easier, but has made many of us a lot dumber. One of the reasons is due, I think, to the socialization of knowledge. Put this together with the distrust of those with expertise in a given field (thanks to critical theory for that wonderful move) and you have a society that struggles to know anything and trust anyone. This book should help to explain some of the reasons why this has happened and potential cures.

This next one follows the themes I have been chasing on and off for a while.

What Is Critical Theory?: A Concise Christian Analysis by Bradley G. Green

I read the Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, then a bunch of stuff from some guys associated with the Frankfurt School. I followed that up by reading a couple of really good books by Carl Trueman this Spring on the origins and difficulties of our current cultural milieu. The first was The Desecration of Man: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity; the second, To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory From Marx to Marcuse. Now I’m looking for something to sum it all up into a nice package. I’ve heard that Green’s book is really good in this regard.

Now for some proper theology.

Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion (New Studies in Biblical Theology) by Richard Lints

You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World by by Alan Noble

I’ve come to understand that the great crisis of the human mind in any age is that we don’t know ourselves properly. Or to use Calvin’s terms, “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” In other words, in order to see everything the way it actually is and live as we ought, we need to know who God is and who we are and the proper relationship between him and us. These two volumes explore the later of these themes, our human nature from the pages of Scripture.

Then in August, when I take my usual study break, I want to turn my attention to some church history. Specifically, the English Reformation. I miss reading good works of church history. Last year I worked through several works of the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor. That was some heavy lifting, so this year I want to relax a little bit and read a couple of good books on a very important time in church history.

Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation by Peter Marshall

The English Reformation by A.G. Dickens

So that’s the plan. As in all of life plans are subject to change. But this is where I hope to be headed. If you grab any of these volumes to read I would love any feedback you may have. If you look at this list and nothing grabs your attention, I would love to offer you some suggestions on topics that may be more in line with your interests.

Soli Deo Gloria

[All pictures are from Amazon.ca]