This spring we would like to share some good reads we discovered over the past few months. These selections represent a wide array of topics we think will interest you. Some selections will be great for personal reading, others for family time. Most of all, we think they will broaden your understanding of God’s creation and His work in it because they have had that result in our lives. Please leave us your favorite reads in the comment section.
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Aesop, The Complete Fables, trans. Olivia and Robert Temple (New York: Penguin, 1998), 96 pages.
To shake up my reading list, I recently returned to Aesop’s fables for the first time since grade school. Even though this work is often associated with childhood, it holds great wisdom for all of us. Some fables conform better than others to the wisdom literature in Scripture, but they all flow from extended reflection on the nature of the world. I also enjoyed discovering the many ways these fables have contributed images and phrases to our culture. I listened to an audio version this time, but in the future, I intend to read one fable at a time and let it resonate with me for a few days before going on to the next. In fact, I think I will read it with my family, which is how I recommend you read it.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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William Blair and Bruce Hunt, The Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings Which Followed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 208 pages.
I first encountered The Korean Pentecost in preparation for a Church History course I was teaching. I wanted some texts that explored the establishment of Christianity in places throughout the world, and this book came highly recommended. Written from the perspective of two pioneering Presbyterian missionaries to Korea, the work briefly considers the earliest Protestant missions work in Korea but focuses primarily on the “Korean Pentecost” of 1907 and the waves of persecution in subsequent decades. William Blair and his son-in-law Bruce Hunt detail how war and poverty, in God’s providence, created fertile ground for the gospel in Korea. Prior to the arrival of Presbyterian missionaries at the turn of the century, a Welsh missionary named R. J. Thomas gave his life in 1865 trying to get the Bible into the country. He died while dropping Bibles and tracts at the feet of his persecutors. His story is worth looking up.
The account of the revival of 1907—the center of the Korean Pentecost—reveals how prayer, Bible reading, and Bible study preceded a dramatic outpouring of the Spirit, resulting in mass, public confession of sin, repentance, and restoration. This dramatic work of the Spirit stands in marked contrast to other “Pentecostal” movements of the twentieth century with confession of sin and repentance as defining features. The number of Christians throughout Korea spread at a rapid pace during and after 1907. But the spread of Christianity was soon followed by persecution at the hands of the Japanese who required Koreans to venerate Shinto shrines. Those Christians who refused to obey the Japanese’s demands faced various forms of persecution. Nonetheless, Christianity continued to spread in Korea. Korean Christians continued not only to evangelize in their own country but also to send missionaries to other places. As of 2024, South Korea is third among nations that send out missionaries. The Lord’s work in Korea is remarkable, and this book gives the reader a taste of God’s gracious work in that country.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Grace Hamman, Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues and Vices for a Whole and Happy Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2025), 224 pages.
The Middle Ages can feel obscure and difficult to understand. We talk of the early church with affection, the Reformation with passion, and the present with relevance. But the medieval period is, well, like the Dark Ages to us. But they were not truly the Dark Ages. When one dives deeper into this period, he realizes that its history is rich and wonderful. Moreover, while we often dismiss this period as relevant only to Roman Catholics, we should recognize it affords much that is for good Protestants to learn as well—even on the topic of spirituality. Grace Hamman has written a very accessible and enjoyable book about how medieval Christian writers thought about virtues and vices. The book is full of clever quips, helpful illustrations, and more than anything, encouragement to pursue real Christian virtue in light of medieval thought. While I do not agree with all that Hamman writes here, especially some of her modern examples and illustrations, I do think this book is worth reading.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Kelly M. Kapic, You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (Downers Grove, IL: Brazos, 2022), 272 pages.
Maybe latent in our own desires to earn our salvation, we can easily emphasize a kind of non-stop, “do more,” kind of spirituality. That is, when we feel as though we are not growing in sanctification, our first admonition to ourselves and others may be to “do more!” This sentiment is stressed in Keswickian theology wherein justification and sanctification are separated too far from one another. Thankfully, Kelly Kapic has written a wonderful book as a course correction. For those that are tempted to a perfectionist spirituality or feel like God’s will not be done without them, Kapic reminds us of our own limitations. Additionally, he stresses that God designed us to be limited, which is good. I found Kapic’s book to be both theologically rich (grounded in a theology of creation) and practically admonishing. I needed to be reminded that I cannot do it all, and how that is actually a good design by God.
—Recommended by Christopher Talbot
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Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Expository Reflections on the Gospels, Volume 3: Mark (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 584 pages.
Earlier this year I began preaching through the Gospel of Mark and selected this commentary to help with sermon preparation. I was immediately impressed by what I read. There are many great commentaries on the Gospel of Mark, including recent commentaries by Sinclair Ferguson and R. Kent Hughes (both of which I use each week). However, Douglas Sean O’Donnell’s commentary strikes a very nice balance between thorough exegesis and homiletical reflection. I regularly find excellent exegetical insights as well as thoughtful ways of presenting an idea within the passage I am preaching. While I have not reviewed other volumes in this series, I highly recommend this one for anyone wanting to study, teach through, or preach the Gospel of Mark.
—Recommended by Jesse Owens
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Dane Ortlund, In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions through the Psalms(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 409 pages.
This devotion focused on the Book of Psalms is a great resource. Dane Ortlund guides his readers as they study and pray through each psalm. After reading through the passage of Scripture, Ortlund provides historical context, introduces the overarching message, and offers present-day application. His reflections are brief but insightful.
This book is not intended to be a robust commentary on the Book of Psalms. Rather, In the Lord I Take Refuge is meant to encourage believers to practice the models of prayer seen in the psalms. By praying through the Word of God, believers foster a fuller understanding of what it means to communicate consistently with the Person of God. The Psalms tell us of faithful believers who cultivated strong prayer lives by trusting in the Lord always. In these prayers, we look on God’s grace and mercy and His judgment. In the Lord I Take Refuge encourages thoughtful reflection on the Biblical models of prayer and calls for believers to take heart and rejoice.
—Recommended by Sarah Lytle
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Jeffrey Overstreet, Through a Screen Darkly (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2014), 474 pages.
My husband and I recently read Through a Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet. This book is for Christians interested in movies. For our part, we are very concerned with how Christians ought to approach the world of film analysis. How should we watch films? How do we discern a good movie from a bad one? What types of things should I refrain from watching? Should I watch only Christian movies and television shows?
Jeffrey Overstreet tackles these questions and many more. His approach is conversational. He walks the reader through his personal journey, beginning in high school and concluding with his work as a professor and writer. As he matured, Overstreet took a closer look at the art of filmmaking. The way he viewed movies shifted. And he invites his audience to take that journey with him and become a thoughtful moviegoer, analyzing film from a Biblical framework.
—Recommended by Sarah Lytle
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Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth, 2021), 128 pages.
For years, I have heard glowing reviews of Richard Sibbes’ classic book The Bruised Reed; however, I had not read it until recently. My biggest regret is that I did not read it sooner. I found my soul comforted and encouraged on every page as Sibbes points us to the immense compassion of Christ for the weak, tempted, and bruised. This book draws upon the Messianic description in Isaiah 42:1–3, which is applied to Christ in Matthew 12:18–20. Sibbes understands a bruised reed and a smoking flax to be a genuine believer who has experienced grace but is deeply discouraged due to ongoing struggles with sin, despair, and weakness. He not only helps the reader understand the heart of Christ but also assists him in understanding himself. Sibbes admonishes struggling Christians “not to be cruel to ourselves when Christ is thus gracious” (56). Also, he urges believers not to entertain Satan’s slanderous words about Christ or themselves. Of course, Sibbes does not teach believers to ignore or excuse sin, but he does help believers to understand that “we carry about us a double principle, grace and (fallen) nature” (20). In the end, this Puritan classic is truly a balm for believers, especially those with tender consciences and keen awareness of their ongoing battle with sin. I would heartily commend it to any discouraged saints that need a fresh vision of their compassionate Savior, Jesus Christ.
—Recommended by Daniel D. Mann
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J. R. R. Tolkien, Beren and Lúthien, ed. Christopher Tolkien (New York: William Morrow, 2017), 288 pages.
Fans of The Lord of the Rings know of the characters Beren and Lúthien because Aragorn sings about them as he leads the four hobbits from Bree to Rivendell, and their story forms part of the background for his relationship with Arwen. In fact, the story of Beren and Lúthien is one of the great tales from The Silmarillion—alongside the stories of the children of Húrin, the fall of Gondolin, and the fall of Númenor.
Whereas The Silmarillion tells the story of Beren and Lúthien in straightforward prose, Beren and Lúthien is fuller with both prose and poetry. Additionally, this volume is most appropriate for people who have a working knowledge of Middle Earth lore because of how it is composed. Rather than simply giving the final version of the story, it begins with the first version of the story and then proceeds through the evolution of how the story became what we read in The Silmarillion. For example, whereas The Silmarillion tells of the villain Sauron, this telling demonstrates how the character began as Tevildo, Prince of Cats, who fights against Huan, Hound of Valinor. While this approach may be overwhelming to the novice, it better demonstrates the sheer breadth of the story, in addition to Tolkien’s commitment to utter excellence.
Among my favorite components of Beren and Lúthien is the chance to invest in Tolkien’s poetic renderings of the story, as opposed just to prose. For example, in this selection, Beren has learned his father, Barahir, has been murdered:
There Beren buried his father’s bones,
and piled a heap of boulder-stones,
and cursed the name of Morgoth thrice,
but wept not, for his heart was ice (98–99).
This scene functions as part of the background for Beren’s meeting Lúthien and why their love story is so impactful to his development as a character: true love softens the heart of stone.
A second example concerns Felagund forsaking his crown to remain true to an oath he had made to Barahir to come to the aid of his kin:
Then Felagund took off his crown
and at his feet he cast it down,
the silver helm of Nargothrond:
“Yours ye may break, but I my bond
must keep, and kingdom here forsake (199).
Felagund joins Beren on his quest to take a Silmaril from Morgoth and thus win the hand of Lúthien from her father, Thingol. By doing so, he would lose his kingdom and eventually his life, but he remained true to his word, demonstrating great honor and sacrifice.
Beren and Lúthien is one of the great tales—one of the great love stories—from Middle Earth—a tale not simply of love but also of honor, arrogance, wickedness, and sacrifice.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 432 pages.
How have we arrived in a culture where a man can call himself a woman and a woman a man? The Rise of Triumph of the Modern Self does an excellent job giving the philosophical background in answer to this question. We read about everyone from Jean Jacques Rousseau to Karl Marx to Friedrich Nietzsche to Sigmund Freud to so many others. I found his discussion of how Marx has been interpreted through the lens of Freud to be especially interesting because it had the effect of individualizing Marxism—to devastating effect. The book ends on a helpful note, reminding the church to strengthen its own identity by being faithful to the gospel and to engage the culture in a manner that has both conviction and compassion.
—Recommended by Matthew Steven Bracey
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Booker T. Washington, Black Diamonds: The Wisdom of Booker T. Washington, ed. Victoria Earle Matthews (1898; rprt., Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1995), 165 pages.
A little over a century ago, Booker T. Washington was universally recognized as the most important black American leader. Washington advocated for black social advancement through his presidency of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, his myriad speaking engagements across the United States, his writing, and his political connections to wealthy and powerful white Americans. However, he fell out of favor with many in the mid-twentieth century because he advocated for moderation in political matters and adamantly maintained that cultivating personal virtue and communal connections was more important for black Americans than gaining political power (though, he was not opposed to gaining political power).
Black Diamonds is a wonderful collection of his most influential and popular statements from his speeches and books. While some of his assertions and analyses reflects a distinctly late-nineteenth-century view of the world and race, most of his thoughts hold kernels of truth that can apply to any time and any people. I was particularly challenged by his concern for personal virtue, but I found the whole collection both informative and inspiring. I think you will too. A free digital version is also available through archive.org.
—Recommended by Phillip T. Morgan
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Stephen J. Wellum, The Person of Christ: An Introduction (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 190 pages.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” This question is of utmost importance and remains relevant today. Stephen Wellum points to recent research indicating that many in the church are confused about the person of Jesus Christ, and he has written an excellent primer to add clarity to this understanding. Wellum utilizes Scripture and the creeds, especially the Council of Chalcedon, to help believers hold to faithful Christology.
First, Wellum highlights the importance of developing our Christological views in submission to the Bible rather than skepticism about the reliability of the Bible. Then, Wellum traces the identity of Christ through the Bible’s storyline, the words of Jesus, and the witness of the New Testament in order to build a thoroughly Biblical Christology. Next, Wellum details what led to the Council of Chalcedon and how important clarifications emerged from it. Finally, Wellum provides theological summaries that aid believers in giving appropriate attention to the deity and humanity of the Son of God. Overall, Wellum has provided a useful introductory volume because “there is no greater need for the church today than to think rightly about Jesus biblically and theologically” (177).
—Recommended by Daniel D. Mann
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