Pastor Trevor’s Book Recommendations - 2022
Bible, Theology, Suffering:
The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross by Patrick Schreiner – Superb – and short!! – a little book that introduces the biblical concept of the kingdom of God. Highly recommend.
You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World by Alan Noble – A brilliant look at how our modern world shapes us in deeply unhelpful ways, and how God calls us to a fully human life.
The Life of God in the Soul of Man: Real Religion by Henry Scougal – If you read only one book by someone long gone this year read this Puritan masterpiece. It is a short book and worth a slow and meditative read. Scougal takes us before the throne of glory again and again. Wonderful!
Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God by Tim Challies – One of the most beautifully written and God-glorifying books on suffering I’ve read. It walks through the year after his 20-year-old son dropped dead of heart failure in front of his new fiancé and sister. An essential read!
Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Paul David Tripp – Tripp uses both his and others’ stories of suffering to encourage suffering saints.
Apologetics, and Evangelism:
The Soul Winner by Charles Spurgeon – This delightful little book had me in awe of God and in prayer for the Lord to continue to do a work of revival. A must-read.
Mere Evangelism: 10 Insights from C. S. Lewis to Help You Share Your Faith by Randy Newman – Randy is one of the best on evangelism and here he draws from the wisdom of Lewis to help us.
Confessions of a French Atheist: How God Hijacked My Quest to Disprove the Christian Faith by Guillaume Bignon – Weaving his testimony with wonderful evidence of God’s grace and existence.
The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality by Glen Schrivener – This is a book every Christian today should read, and then look to read with unbelieving family and friends. Apart from the God of the Bible, this world makes no sense, and Schrivener shows us this brilliantly. Must Read.
For those wanting a challenge:
Typology-Understanding the Bible’s Promise-Shaped Patterns: How the Old Testament Expectations are fulfilled in Christ by James Hamilton – One of the most careful and insightful Bible scholars living today, Hamilton digs up riches again and again.
The Trinitarian Theology of Cornelius Van Til by Lane Tipton – The Trinity is the font of essential doctrine. Van Til is a name many will not know but should, his work on the Trinity held the creedal and confessional standards while also pressing the doctrine forward to better critique errors.
History and Church History:
A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood: The Bible and the American Civil War by James P. Byrd – Did you know that both those in the North and the South claimed to be using the Bible to support their side of the Civil War? This book looks at the fascinating history of how God’s Word can be twisted for our personal and political ends.
Pillars of Grace: AD 100-1564 by Steven Lawson – This is a marvelous look at how Christians have confessed the glories of God’s grace down through the centuries.
Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were by Leland Ryken – Wonderful introduction to the Puritans. I pray that all Christians today will begin learning from these incredible men and women whose lives were bent around the right worship of God. Both in their strengths and weaknesses these saints from the past have much to teach us.
Biography:
R. C. Sproul: A Life by Stephen Nichols – One of the more encouraging books from this year, Sproul was an incredibly gifted and talented man who the Lord used in wonderful ways.
Augustine on the Christian Life by Gerald L. Bray – Augustine’s life, conversion, and theology are helpfully summarized in this enjoyable account by Bray.
The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen by Sinclair Ferguson – One of the greatest English-speaking theologians to ever live, Owen was an incredible scholar who said he’d give up all his learning to be able to preach Christ like John Bunyan, and was predeceased by all eleven of his children. What a life!
John Calvin: For A New Reformation edited by Derek Thomas – Part biography part summary of his theology this is a wonderful book on an often-misunderstood man who would abhor the idea that some have named a stream of theology after him. His aim was to glorify God in all of life and he was a man who burned himself out for the gospel. (For a short bio see: The Life of John Calvin by W. J. Grier).
Politics and Culture:
Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman – Essential reading for understanding our cultural moment.
What Are Christians For?: Life Together at the End of the World by Jake Meador – Though I don’t always agree, Meador challenges me to think carefully and biblically.
Talking About Race by Isaac Adams – This book is helpful for thinking through the various challenges in many conversations about race, or better ethnicity. Even where one might disagree with how Adams frames parts of the conversation he is a gentle and humble interlocutor.
The War on the West by Douglas Murray – Murray was on the ground in Portland during the riots. Not someone we would agree with on many things, but at points an insightful cultural commentator.
