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by on 1.17.17

Pastoral Reading Group

One of the things my brother and I have been doing for over twenty years is to meet together in a reading group with a couple of other pastor friends. We pick a book to read, set a time a few months away, reschedule at the last minute (not a requirement but a frequent occurrence), meet for lunch and discuss, then pray for one another’s ministries. It is a great blessing to us.

Over the years we have kept very spotty records, especially early on, but I think we have read well over 100 books together. I’m going to post the list in a table below. Some titles are missing, though we know that we met on the dates indicated. I thought the list might be of interest to some. You might not like some of the titles. Neither did we, after the fact! Others, some of us liked and others disliked. Nevertheless, edifying discussion has always been the fruit of this meeting.

My brother got the idea from Pastor Mark Minnick some time ago and we’ve kept it up.

Our list includes our next book, The Baptist Story, which is my pick. I reviewed it here.

Date

Title

Author

3/28/2017

The Baptist Story

Chute, Anthony, Nathan Finn, & Michael Haykin

1/12/2017

Between Pain & Grace

Peterman, Gerald & Andrew Schmutzer

9/13/2016

J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone

Murray, Iain

5/17/2016

All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes

Myers, Kenneth

2/2/2016

Biblical Worldview

ed. Mark Ward

10/27/2015

Far Above Rubies

Clark, Lynette

7/21/2015

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

Butterfield, Rosaria

7/21/2015

Christians and Alcohol

Jaeggli, Randy

2/26/2015

Love, Liberty, and Christian Conscience

Jaeggli, Randy

2/26/2015

The Law and the Christian

Casillas, Ken

10/23/2014

Apologetics to the Glory of God

Frame, John

7/17/2014

Matthew Henry: His Life and Influence

Harman, Allan

2/6/2014

The Servant of Jehovah

Baron, David

10/24/2013

Millennialism

Feinberg, Charles

8/1/2013

Fundamentalism and American Culture

Marsden, George

3/28/2013

A Passion for God (about Tozer)

Dorsett, Lyle

1/17/2013

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands

Tripp, Paul

10/11/2012

Refuting Compromise

Sarfati, Jonathan

6/21/2012

The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fund.

Henry, Carl

1/26/2012

Theologians of the Baptist Tradition

George, Timothy and Dockery, David

9/15/2011

Through Jewish Eyes

Hartman, Craig

6/28/2011

Is God a Moral Monster?

Copan, Paul

3/31/2011

Whosoever Will

ed., Allen, David & S. Lemke

1/13/2011

The Word Became Fresh

Davis, Dale Ralph

7/29/2010

Cornelius Van Til

Muether, John

3/25/2010

Ten Books that Screwed Up the World

Wiker, B.

1/21/2010

Not by Chance

Talbert, Layton

9/24/2009

25 Surprising Marriages

Petersen, William

6/25/2009

Worship in Song

Aniol, Scott

3/19/2009

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Carson, D. A.

3/19/2009

Model of Christian Maturity

Carson, D. A.

1/22/2009

The Company of the Preachers, Vol. 1

Larsen, David

9/25/2008

Faith that Endures

Boyd-MacMillan, Ronald

7/24/2008

The Greatness of the Kingdom, part 2

McClain, Alva

3/27/2008

The Greatness of the Kingdom, part 1

McClain, Alva

1/31/2008

Evangelical Hermeneutics

Thomas, Robert L.

11/15/2007

Understanding the Deeper Life

Towns, Elmer

9/13/2007

A Royal Destiny

Wisdom, Thurman

6/14/2007

A History of the Baptists, Vol. 1

John T. Christian

3/22/2007

Worship in the Early Church

Martin, Ralph

3/22/2007

Whatever Happened to Worship?

Tozer, A. W.

1/25/2007

Crowded to Christ

Maxwell, L. E.

10/12/2006

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Fight of Faith

Murray, Iain

6/15/2006

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The First Forty Years

Murray, Iain

4/13/2006

Unveiling Islam

Caner & Caner

2/9/2006

Tell the Truth

Metzger, Will

10/13/2005

What Is an Evangelical?

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn

8/23/2005

When People Are Big and God Is Small

Welch, Ed

4/28/2005

Putting the Truth to Work

Doriani, Daniel M.

12/2/2004

The Danger of Self-Love

Brownback, Paul

9/16/2004

Blame It On The Brain?

Welch, Ed

6/29/2004

xxx

xxx

4/1/2004

Set Apart

Hughes, R. Kent

1/22/2004

xxx

xxx

8/7/2003

xxx

xxx

8/7/2003

xxx

xxx

5/8/2003

Postmodern Times

Vieth, Gene

2/20/2003

Evangelicalism Divided

Murray, Iain

1/11/2003

Jonathan Edwards

Marsden, George

12/5/2002

Planting Churches Cross-Culturally

Hesselgrave, David

9/26/2002

From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya

Tucker, Ruth

6/13/2002

Desiring God

John Piper

4/4/2002

The Reformed Pastor

Baxter, Richard

1/31/2002

xxx

xxx

1/15/2002

Spurgeon

Dallimore, Arnold

11/29/2001

Why do Good People do Bad Things

Lutzer, Erwin

9/13/2001

xxx

xxx

6/28/2001

xxx

xxx

2/15/2001

xxx

xxx

1/9/2001

The Complete Husband

Priolo, Lou

1/2/2001

Christ-Centered Preaching

Chapell, Bryan

11/24/2000

Spiritual Depression

Lloyd-Jones

9/7/2000

xxx

xxx

5/2/2000

xxx

xxx

2/15/2000

xxx

xxx

11/29/1999

xxx

xxx

9/7/1999

xxx

xxx

6/29/1999

Lectures to My Students

Spurgeon, Charles

4/20/1999

xxx

xxx

1/19/1999

xxx

xxx

1/9/1999

Failure the Backdoor to Success

Lutzer, Erwin

1/4/1999

Key to the Missionary Problem

Murray, Andrew

10/29/1998

xxx

xxx

6/9/1998

xxx

xxx

2/10/1998

xxx

xxx

12/5/1997

xxx

xxx

10/21/1997

xxx

xxx
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by on 11.18.10

CT book review: America’s Four Gods

An interesting book review appeared on the Christianity Today site a few days ago. [This is no endorsement of Christianity Today.]

The book in question is America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God—and What That Says about Us. The key paragraphs from the CT review article follow:

The American religious landscape is admittedly as varied and complex as the geographical landscape. This makes any taxonomy of religious beliefs necessarily artificial, as the authors note. So they start with what American religious believers have in common: namely, the notion that God is loving. This is something some 85 percent of Americans affirm.

Beneath that superficial similarity, though, is a range of conceptions about God’s character. Those conceptions dramatically alter our understanding of the shape his love takes in our world. Froese and Bader examine two questions whose answers, they contend, determine more about a person’s cultural and political worldview than any other sociological factor. First, to what extent does God interact with the world? Second, to what extent does God judge the world? As the authors put it, "The answers to these questions predict the substance of our worldviews much better than the color of our skin, the size of our bank account, the political party we belong to, or whether we wear a white Stetson or faded Birkenstocks."

Respondents’ answers lead the authors to identify four conceptions of God among the American religious public: (1) the authoritative God, who both judges and is closely engaged in the world; (2) the benevolent God, who is "engaged but nonjudgmental"; (3) the critical God, who happens to be judgmental but disengaged; and (4) the distant God, who is neither engaged nor judgmental, and could care less about how humans muck about.

This is probably an oversimplification, but it may still provide a useful categorization to keep in mind when speaking to people about the Lord. The reviews on CBD (see link above) seem to see a similar usefulness to the book.

Alas, another book to add to my list of "I’d like to read that some day."

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by on 6.15.10

the power of preaching

Some good thoughts on preaching by Dave over here. It reminds me of a book I am reading.

It is called The Scotch-Irish: A Social History, by James G. Leyburn. I picked up during a recent vacation in Tennessee at one of the state’s excellent historical sites. (To my chagrin, I see I could have gotten it on Amazon for $6 less.)

I am a sucker for historical sites and for historical books that you find there. My kids make fun of me… (this time, one of my sons said, “Oh boy, get ready for more Civil War illustrations!”)

This particular book traces the American immigrants who became known in America as the Scotch-Irish from their time in Scotland to their first emigration to Ireland (Ulster) and from there to America. I am just finishing the description of life in Scotland prior to the great exodus.

The story is fascinating (OK, so I’m a nerd). Leyburn was a prominent sociology professor at Washington & Lee University. Their library is named after him. I don’t know if he professed to be a Christian or not, but the book seems to be written from a secular perspective. That’s what makes it’s comments on preaching and the Scottish Reformation so interesting.

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by on 12.18.09

an interesting resource

I just got an e-mail notification of a resource put out by Zondervan, the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament. It looks like a fascinating source of information.

Readers should note that such publications often support liberal views on Biblical dates and tend to minimize the miraculous. Nevertheless, if read with discernment, such resources can provide valuable background material for studying and teaching the Bible.

A sample is offered where you can read the Ezra-Nehemiah section and see what is offered in this set.

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by on 1.9.09

the most expensive books of 2008

Our own Victoria, BC’s ABEBooks.com posts a list of the most expensive sales through their system in 2008. The list is very interesting. The number one sale was for $17,216 for Etudes à l’Eau-Forte by Francis Seymour Haden. Number two was $13,000 for L’Abou Naddara, Journal Arabe Illustre (1878-1884) by James Sanua.

Now, what do you think was number three? Would you believe Harry Potter?

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