My Year Of Reading in 2023 (Part One)

While I didn’t read as many books as I intended (isn’t that true of all of us?), I still enjoyed the following non-tech books. I’ll save the technology-related books I most enjoyed in 2023 for my next newsletter.

These books reflect my primary interest in pursuing the noble task of pastoring/eldering (see 1 Tim. 3:1). I’ve ordered them by length.

The Inner Ring by C.S. Lewis

The Memorial Oration at King’s College, 1944. 10 pages.

Everyone struggles with the fear of man. Hence the cliches: dance as if no one is watching and don’t follow the crowd. C.S. Lewis is more precise.

The great novelist and scholar describes how we hate being the outsider and seek The Inner Ring. It’s the cool kids, the “insiders,” and in some ways, “the higher-ups,” but it doesn’t overlap with an organizational chart. They are the people who really run an organization, club, or group despite some having no official roles. The Inner Ring has all the glory; everyone knows it, but no one knows for sure when they’re in it.

We mustn’t live for The Inner Ring. It’s not wrong to be on the inside; good people can often find themselves there. Be aware, however, of its pull. This 1944 speech by Lewis will help you. An audio version is on YouTube.

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller

The Path To True Christian Joy. 2012. 48 pages.

Timothy Keller taught me to read more. I wrote about that earlier this year, a month before he died of pancreatic cancer. After his death, I decided to read this short book, which is based on a sermon he gave on this passage in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4, which says:

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Keller’s gospel-centered unpacking of it is soul-stirring. Don’t you want to live free from worrying about how others judge you? Or even, to forget to judge yourself? I encourage you to read this short book, especially if you struggle with fear of man and The Inner Ring, as discussed above.

A Little Book for New Theologians by Kelly Kapic

Why and How to Study Theology. 2012. 120 pages

This book, aimed at seminary students and aspiring theologians, is encouraging, interesting, and helpful. One of my favourite parts was the quotes. For example, Martin Luther said:

It is through living, indeed through dying and being damned, that one becomes a theologian, not through understanding, reading, or speculation.

And this from B.B. Warfield:

Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. “What!” is the appropriate response, “than ten hours over your books, on your knees?” Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must from your books in order to turn to God?

It's a great little book.

Writing for Life and Ministry by Brandon J. O’Brien

A Practical Guide to the Writing Process for Teachers and Preachers. 2020. 128 pages.

My story of becoming a writer is simple. First: desire to be a pastor. Second, learn to preach. Third, through the book Why Johnny Can’t Preach by Thomas Gordon, learn how good preachers are good writers. And now, I’m in my current phase, which is learning to write well.

I bought this book on a whim via a Kindle Deal listed by Tim Challies. Once I started reading, I found it hard to stop. The advice given to aspiring Christian writers is concise and helpful, including making a plan, determining your audience, outlining, revising, and getting your whole body involved.

I’d guess many writers would feel the advice is “basic” or “obvious,” and maybe it is, but it was still very helpful for me.

Christian Worldview by Herman Bavinck

Translated & edited by Gray Sutanto, James Eglinton, and Cory C. Brock in 2019. Originally written in 1904. 144 pages.

We face similar challenges in 2023 as the “Neo-Calvinists” did in Holland at the turn of the 20th century. Bavinck wrote how modern life is riddled with an inner discord, making it difficult for us to live harmoniously with the world. We need a way of viewing the world that coincides with our lives — a world-and-life view — or simply, a “worldview.”

Bavinck explains his epistemology, taking seriously both empiricism and rationalism. He shows how both fail to live up to Christianity, noting:

Wisdom is grounded on science but is not limited to it. It aims above science and seeks to press through to “first principles.”

Bavinck argues for the unique capacities of the Christian Worldview. Only Christianity really values a renewal of all physical creation. Only Christianity really values history while also valuing an external actor on history. Only Christianity has an adequate explanation for our morals, our sense of objective truth, and our inner discord.

This is a fascinating book. Though dense in some sections, persistent readers will benefit.

One Assembly by Jonathan Leeman

Rethinking the Multisite and Multiservice Church Models (9Marks). 2020. 178 pages.

Leeman argues that the primary way to think of “church” should be as an assembly or “congregation.” This is how William Tyndale first translated ekklēsia. Upon an examination of the use of this word across the New Testament, He says, “You can no more be a multisite church than you can be a multisite body.”

And so, to Leeman, “a church with multiple services” is actually a bunch of seperate churches who happen to meet in the same building. Likewise, “online church” is impossible, since a physical assembly never takes place. Leeman expounds Matthew 18:30, where Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them,” which relates in context to correction and discipline, a function of the church.

To Leeman, an ekklēsia is like a team, defined by a shared physical commitment, whether gathered or scattered (see image below).

A basketball team is still a team even if they are away from the court with their own families. And they are, of course, a team when on the court together. But they are not a team if they never play a game together. So too, a church. They need to meet together in order to exist. And if they don’t meet together, they’re not a team/church.

Am I convinced by this argument? No, not entirely. But I think it’s reasonable. Leeman is going against the grain of the academic community, as summarized in the BDAG lexicon, as well as many churches in history who, though meeting separately, still considered themselves part of the same church.

Right now, I’m part of a church that has two services for most of the year but only one service during the summer. It’s interesting to consider how our church might meet the threshold of Leeman’s “One Assembly,” since we gather together in the summer months (except the cottage-goers).

I think church leaders should read this book. It’s an issue that needs more discussion, not less. As more church services are streamed, digitized, and mediated by technology, we need a more robust ecclesiology. And Jonathan Leeman and 9Marks Ministries are doing just that.

The Thrill of Orthodoxy by Trevon Wax

Rediscovering the Adventure of Christian Faith. 2022. 240 pages.

I read this book with visceral agreement. I cannot recommend it to you enough. If you’re looking for a book to help you see the value of church history and of returning to the basics of the Reformation, the church fathers, and the Scriptures, then this is your book.

It’s not merely about the value — but the adventure. There are many misconceptions addressed, such as details don’t matter, doctrine divides, unity requires uniformity, to be orthodox is to be closed-minded, sexual ethics are a secondary issue since they aren’t in the creeds, and more.

Trevin Wax uses the metaphor of a tree to describe denominations. Especially in Canada, we cannot hang onto only the branches but must unite around our shared doctrinal trunk — it is there we will find the stability (and adventure!) we need.

Protestant Social Teaching by Alastair Roberts, Joseph Minich, Jake Meador, & 7 more

An Introduction. 2022. 271 pages.

Ever since the Reformation, those on the Protestant side of the divide have focused on issues such as ecclesiology (the study of the church), soteriology (the study of salvation), and sometimes eschatology (the study of last things). But for the most part, the Roman Catholic side has had more theologians writing on ethics and the societal doctrines Christians should adhere to and apply. This book begins to correct this gap.

While some chapters are unnecessarily dense and others overly narrow in scope, the chapters provide a thoughtful analysis of a Christian approach to church and state, marriage, death, property, taxation, environmental care, and more. It is Christian because most chapters detail Christians' beliefs on such matters between when Scripture was written and today.

The chapter on Abortion was the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of the subject that I’ve ever read. On Just War, a reasonable defense of force was given. Brad Littlejohn probed my Neo-Calvinist leanings with his Two Kingdoms approach (which is different than Michael Horton’s Two Kingdoms… but that’s a matter for another day). The analysis of marriage, alongside the chapter on Work and Labor, was beautiful, stirring, and clarifying. Once you understand the history of these matters and how the Industrial Revolution shaped gender roles in a radically reductionist manner, you can hold to complimentarism with greater nuance and poise.

Overall, this is a wonderful unpacking of matters many Christians are unfamiliar with.

Protestant Social Teaching is not the best book ever, but it is a good book to examine how protestants have applied the best book ever to a variety of pressing social matters. And for that, I am thankful.

Destroyer of the gods by Larry W. Hurtado

Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World. 2017. 304 pages.

Just how unique was Christianity in the first century? Historian Larry Hurtado found out. In this book, you’ll learn:

• How Christians cared for and adopted discarded babies.

• The way Christians refused to worship other gods. Even if others believed such religious rituals to Roman gods were only external and “meant nothing,” Christians worshipped Christ alone as their anthropology consisted of a union between their true selves and their external actions.

• How “bookish” Christianity was in comparison to other religions. The early Christians loved books to an abnormal, even obnoxious, degree.

• How Christians gathered weekly, singing hymns to Christ and giving moral instruction from Scripture.

• The ethnic diversity of early Christians.

• The high sexual moral demands that Christians placed on one another. And how they applied these teachings in ways that gave unprecedented status to women.

This book is especially helpful for preachers trying to compare the teachings of Scripture with the culture at that time. But it’s a good read for anyone serious about understanding what Christianity was actually about early on.

Miracles by C.S. Lewis

Written in 1947 and revised in 1960. 304 pages.

Bethal McGrew recently wrote a beautiful summary of why C.S. Lewis is worth reading:

He combined what almost everybody today assumes are mutually exclusive: rationalism and poetry, cool logic and warm feeling, disciplined prose and free imagination. In shattering these old stereotypes for me, he freed me to think hard and write poetry, to argue for the resurrection and compose hymns to Christ, to smash an argument and hug a friend, to demand a definition and use a metaphor. It is a wonderful thing when a great man shows a struggler how to be himself.

The beauty of Miracles is this: even while Lewis destroys materialism, he elevates the value of the material world. It is only in Christianity, Lewis says, that the natural world can take on the importance it demands from us — or, to be more precise, the importance God demands of us through it.

Many have called Miracles Lewis’ greatest book. I audited a C.S. Lewis course at Heritage Theological Seminary this summer, and the professor agreed. I don’t have a ranking, but Miracles is very, very good.

Timothy Keller by Collin Hansen

His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation. 2023. 320 pages.

This is a great book and the best audiobook I listened to this year, as the author himself reads the book.

I already wrote about this book earlier this year:

Pensées by Blaise Pascal

Written in 1678. 378 pages.

I think Pascal would have loved Twitter. His Pensees is his thoughts, all 923 of them, based on his notebooks that were retrieved after his death. Some of Tweet-sized, like this one:

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more themselves. It is like a nation which we have provoked, but meet again after two generations. They are still Frenchmen, but not the same.

It’s almost like reading the book of Proverbs, where certain themes repeat or are elaborated upon. Many thoughts focus on human nature and how people distract themselves from their own misery.

I highlighted my Kindle version of this book 116 times, far too many for my liking. But alas, there’s so much chewable wisdom here I couldn’t help myself. Take this little section of three straight one-liners:

So little has changed in human nature in the last four hundred years. Our distractions have changed, but our nature hasn’t.

I haven’t even mentioned his argument for God, his Augustinian view of finding rest in God, and his typological reading of Scripture. I hope to revisit this book in the future.

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Links I Liked

Thanks for making it this far. As per usual, here are a number of links I’ve liked in the past few weeks.

What is the oppressor/victim mindset and how did it conquer the academy? | After Babel

I appreciate Jonathan Haidt sharing this chapter of his book, Coddling of the American Mind.

Attentive Parenting in the AI Age | Mere Orthodoxy

My former next-door neighbour, Scott Hurst, wrote what might be his “manifesto” for how Christians should assess technology. While there’s a phrase or two I might state differently, overall, it is very good. I think it’s a helpful primer for anyone looking for foundational advice in the realm of parenting + technology + Jesus.

How We Grew Organic Traffic by 500% | Endeavor

Ignor the clickbait title. There are a couple good nuggets of analysis within. My main takeaway is that social media is getting worse for directing people off social media. It’s one of the reasons why I began this “links I liked” section — I don’t want you to have to follow me on Twitter to see these links. I also want to encourage people who remain off social media by conviction to read good articles.

Take a look at how X and Facebook slowly decreased sending people off of their own sites.

This is even more the case in Canada, where news content is still being blocked by Meta.

A Christian Perspective on OpenAI, ChatGPT, and Societal Impacts | What Would Jesus Tech

What happened at OpenAI? And why does it matter? How should Christians prepare for a world increasingly mediated through Artificial Intelligence?

In this episode, we brought on the author of the Church and AI Substack,

Dave Betts

, as well as The Gospel Coalition's

Austin Gravley

.

If you are a listener to my podcast, please send me some feedback in our listener feedback survey: https://forms.gle/pmi9jWf65cjGFn2TA.

We’re Becoming Like Our Technology (Andrew Noble) | The Local Youth Worker Podcast

My new friend, Dr. John Perritt, invited me back onto this podcast to help parents and youth leaders make sense of technology limits and restrictions for children and teens. If you’ve rarely listened to my What Would Jesus Tech podcast, then this interview with John would be a good place to start, as I offer something of my manifesto for Christian parenting + tech.

Cultural Mandate and the Image of God: Human Vocation under Creation, Fall, and Redemption | Themelios (TGC)

Very good (long-ish) article.

"... common grace is the ground for the possibility of the cultural mandate, and the reason why Christian and non-Christian culture can co-exist relatively before the final judgment."

The Desecration of Man | First Things

Carl Trueman reminds us that problems are human and humans cause problems.

So where does hope lie? In short, we need to restore a normative understanding of what it means to be human. How is that to be done? My argument has been that our fundamental problem today is not that man is disenchanted or turned into liquid, but that he has been desecrated, in part by the impersonal forces of modernity, but largely by his own hand.

The Coming Psychedelic Moment | Mere Orthodoxy

Psychedelics are on the rise, writes

Phil’s Substack

, and so is mental health. What happens when the two trends converge? Excellent article.

Jonathan Haidt: I’m Worried About the Boys, Too | The Free Press

Very good article. Key chart:

Just as video games became more finely tuned to boys’ greater propensity for coalitional competition, the real world, and especially school, got more frustrating for many boys: shorter recess, bans on rough and tumble play, and ever more emphasis on sitting still and listening.

Does Our Desire for God Disprove His Existence? | Trevin Wax

Good article. I agree with him that our desire for God is evidence for him; hunger can only be explained by the existence of food.

I want the argument to be tighter, though. I want more on this thread.

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Thanks for reading Whatever Is Noble.