The last couple of years I’ve shared some of what I’ve read over the summer, hoping that it will encourage others to do the same. I figured I’d continue the tradition for the two of you that read this post! Some of these may be of no interest to you, but others might be! So, here are some of the books I’ve read or am currently reading before summer is over (which is soon!):
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt is one of my favorite people to listen to and read. This book is important. I can’t think of anyone of any age who would not benefit from hearing Haidt’s arguments as to how Smartphones have fundamentally changed young people (and the rest of us). One big truth that stood out to me from the book was that I personally missed this “Great Rewiring” by virtue of being born just a couple of years prior to the generation in which Haidt believes it began. He contrasts a play-based childhood with the phone-based childhood that now reigns in kids’ lives and believes that the reason why teenage rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply in the 2010s is largely due to them having continuous access to social media and the internet generally. Personally, to me, the thesis of this book seems sound as one big explainer as to what is going on. What is most controversial is Haidt’s prescriptions at the end, which include steps parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of teenage mental illness and restore childhood. One of his prescriptions, banning cell phones during public school hours, is gaining traction nationally and seems long overdue. If you haven’t read his previous book with Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind, that is a must-read also.
Redeeming Sex in Marriage: How the Gospel Rescues Sex, Transforms Marriage, and Reveals the Glory of God by Scott Mehl
This is one of the best books (if not the best) on the subject of sex that I have read. In the Church, we often shy away from this issue unless it’s to tell people what “not” to do (sex before marriage, for example). In addition, Christian books on sex can be straight up weird and sometimes even borderline inappropriately explicit. Mehl’s book is not that. Its first half is full of deep theology and then the second is somewhat more practical, but never strays from the theological underpinnings of the first half. We are so used to talking about what sex is not for that we often don’t ask the question “Why did God create us as sexual beings?” Mehl gives five reasons that he teases out in the book:
- Sex is a means of covenantal union. (Essential/Relational purpose)
- Sex is a means of mutual pleasure. (Essential/Relational purpose)
- Sex is an expression of marital love. (Essential/Relational purpose)
- Sex can bring new life. (Blessed purpose)
- Sex is a shadow of our relationship with Christ, as his church. (Transcendent purpose)
This book is one I will be recommending and using for a long time.
Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage by Gavin Ortlund
Have you ever known someone who embodies the saying “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”? Gavin Ortlund writes a great book for people who see every single theological issue as being of equal importance. Building on the medical concept of triage, which is the process by which doctors assess which patients are in need of the most urgent care and determine the order of priority for treatment, Ortlund shows us that not all doctrinal differences are the same. All doctrine matters, but some are more essential than others. There are times when doctrine must divide, and other times where unity should prevail despite disagreement. For example, denying the Deity of Christ is a first-order doctrine that affects our unity in the Gospel and even implications for one’s salvation. Whereas our differences over the timing of the Millennium, while not completely irrelevant, should not separate Christians from one another–meaning, we should be able to go to the same church–and fall into the third-order category. What can get tricky is second-order doctrines like, for example, Baptism. While I love my paedo-baptist (meaning they baptize infants) brothers and sisters who don’t hold to Baptismal Regeneration, which does jeopardize the Gospel, I as a credo-baptist (meaning only those professing faith in Christ should be baptized) cannot in good conscience start a church with them, as our differences over Baptism profoundly affect how we “do” church. Ortlund gives a great template for how we can weigh our disagreements in terms of how serious they really are and advocates humility all of the way through. There is no better model for how to think through these issues and not see everything as a hill to die on. I have extra copies if anyone wants them 🙂.
Finally Alive By John Piper
I love reading about the miracle that is the New Birth–that God takes dead sinners who are unable to respond to His salvation and causes them to be born again through the power of His Spirit. Piper’s book meditates on the New Birth and the new life it creates in a person. This is also called the Doctrine of Regeneration. The fact of the matter is that there are many “born again” Christians who fill our churches who are not actually born again. This is revealed by the fact that many of them live lives that are indistinguishable from those in the outside world who do not call themselves Christians. Piper shows from Scripture what happens when a person is truly born again–how we are given new affections for God whereas we once rejected and hated Him. How by the Spirit we now live a life that desires and is able to obey and please God. We love holiness and hate sin. We don’t find his commands burdensome. We walk in the light and see our sin and fight it. Those are the marks of true saving faith–of having been made alive spiritually. And how did this happen? God. We didn’t control our spiritual birth any more than we controlled our physical birth. God saved us and awakened faith in us when we heard the Good News concerning His Son. Hallelujah! This would be a great read for you to simply be reminded and in awe at what God has done for you in the New Birth and for understanding the nature of true saving faith beyond someone simply saying “I’m born again.”
Well, that’s a sampling of what I’ve been reading and learning this summer. I hope that maybe a book (or two) caught your eye and you’ll pick one up yourself!