2007 - Books Part I

In 2007 I made a personally resolution to read more old books. I don’t mind reading the puritans so this never seemed like an unachievable goal. Probably the one I that most influenced me this year was the new edition of Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen. Every chapter provided plenty to chew on. I reread The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter giving it a much more thorough examination then my first time through in seminary. Right before my trip to Romania I read The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the next paragraph I’ll mention a couple of new books that I really enjoyed. But I’m really struck by the depth of older writers compared to that of newer ones. It takes more time and effort but almost always produces more fruit.

Truly, “the writing of many books is endless…” Books come out weekly that seem interesting and yet turn out to be a waste of my time. Two that definitely didn’t waste my time were titled Pierced for Our Transgressions and Respectable Sins. Pierced has the subtitle “Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution” and that is exactly what the authors helped me to do. I am stunned by the many ways that this doctrine is being attacked overtly by those in academia and more subtly by those who sit in the pews in our churches. The book is long and detailed but worth the effort. Respectable Sins has already received some space here on this blog and I’ll leave it at that except to say that I think this book will continue to be a part of my ministry for years to come.

After reading Total Truth last year I spent some time reading Francis Schaeffer for the first time and was glad I did. One final recommendation from this year is called What We Can’t Not Know by J. Budziskewski. It’s a book about natural law with some very interesting things to say about the conscience.