Stopping to Think

  Jack by Marilynne Robinson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Robinson's prose is worth 5 stars. This book does take a while to get going, as it opens with a long conversation...I'm not sure if I was helped by having previous familiarity with Jack as a character, or if coming in cold would have benefited me. Jack is the character in Robinson's novels whom I find most troubling. I have people in my life who have held to a similar trajectory of self-destruction, wrecking or at least hurting others in their wake. And the easy thing to do is mentally dehumanize them, categorize them as irredeemable screw ups, and move on. But Jack is so deeply human. He troubles me, because if a character in a novel can be this complex, how much more the people in my real life? I needed to read this book, and it makes me want to revisit Home. In more ways than one. View all my reviews

  The Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus My rating: 5 of 5 stars A beautiful little catechism. Scriptural, devotional. Much warmer than other catechisms I’ve read. I’m not Reformed with the capital R, so I have some quibbles on the definition of the church and one of the questions on baptism, but I would heartily recommend this for devotional reading and study. The Puritan paperback edition by Banner of Truth is very nicely put together, and easily slipped in and out of my cargo pocket while I was sitting in a tree stand. View all my reviews

  The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I had started to read this several years ago and put it down. I always had in my mind the idea that this was a simple, perhaps over-simple, book. As I listened to the audio book over the past couple of days and was struck both by Bunyan's quite complex and nuanced view of the Christian life-or pilgrimage, as it were-and by the beauty of his language. Highly recommended. View all my reviews

  "If a preacher will not--or cannot--think himself clear so that he says what he means, he has no business in the pulpit." Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching, pg 39

  Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength by J.I. Packer My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was not what I anticipated; I was anticipating a more extended meditation upon the topic of weakness, whereas this book is actually a meditation upon Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, with particular application to weakness. Which is probably what I needed. Packer is always lucid, incisive, and to the point, and this book is no different. View all my reviews

  "Change a church's structure and you change the moral shape of the church." Jonathan Leeman, One Assembly, pg 21