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Reading Recommendations 2020

[This was posted elsewhere at the beginning of 2020. However, seeing as many of us are now stuck indoors with ample reading time on our hands, I thought it may be useful here!]

‘Tis the season for publishers and bloggers, bibliophiles and book connoisseurs to all offer their respective lists of exceptional and noteworthy reads from 2019. Below are some highlights from my own reading over the past twelve months. Perhaps you’ll find something that piques your interest.

A book that is OLD …

*True Evangelism: Winning Souls by Prayer* by Lewis Sperry Chafer

Over the last four or five years I’ve read a good number of books on evangelism in an attempt to hone my own understanding of this important doctrine and calling. However, there is only one book to which I’ve returned multiple times and this is it. Ruthlessly biblical and compassionately pastoral, Chafer’s offering is as clear as it is helpful.

… and one that is NEW …

Pride and Humility at War: A Biblical Perspective by Lanier Burns

We all wrestle with issues of pride and humility. Anyone who says differently doesn’t understand the war they’re actually in … and definitely needs to read this book! Burns models what I strive to do (and what all Christians should strive to do): going to the Scriptures to understand significant issues of the Christian life. It’s amazing how a book can simultaneously be a relatively easy and convictingly difficult read.

… a book that came RECOMMENDED …

*Does God Love All or Some?* by Ronnie W. Rogers

Books like this one are important, particularly today when most of what is being published—both online and in print—seems to celebrate, promote, and, at times, even assume a Reformed and/or Calvinistic soteriology (that is, a deterministic, anti-freewill view of salvation). It’s absolutely everywhere. Rogers pushes back with some success. This isn’t an easy read nor is it without its idiosyncrasies, but to he or she who endures will be the rewards!

… and one for which I offered a REVIEW!

*Into His Presence: A Theology of Intimacy with God* by Timothy L. Anderson

There are certainly worse topics on which one can spend time thinking than how we can better understand and enjoy closeness with our Heavenly Father. A more detailed review can be found here.