Book Briefs

David Helm, Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today (Crossway, 2014). This little book is simply outstanding. It’s the best short book on preaching I’ve read. Helm’s advice is unfailingly wise, theologically informed, and extremely practical. If there is a theme running throughout the book is it Helm’s salutary warning against “blind adherence to contextualization.” Read the book and find out what he means. Preachers new and old will learn much from this quick read.

Charles Murray, The Curmedgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead (Crown Business, 2014). In this engaging book by the renowned, much cited, sometimes controversial sociologist, we get frank advice on everything from writing to workplace etiquette to the emptiness of fame. As an agnostic, Murray’s exhortations do not always square with Christianity (e.g., “Don’t ruin the love affair with yourself”), but the author’s unbelief also makes his insistence on taking religion seriously all the more intriguing. For a Christian well-grounded in the faith, this can be a fun book with a lot of common sense, common grace good advice.

Kevin D. Williamson, What Doomed Detroit (Encounter Books, 2013). Whether you agree with this book will likely depend on the political instincts you bring to the book. Williamson argues that Detroit failed because it embraced a model of government predicated on the assumption that that post-war industrial boom of the 1950s and 1960s would last forever. Conservatives will agree with Williamson’s summation. It would be interesting to see some kind of debate between a good faith liberal and a good faith conservative on “what doomed Detroit.” Surely there are important lessons to learn.

R.C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Reformation Trust, 2014). I haven’t read the whole book, but what I’ve seen is, not surprisingly, robust and readable. I’m always on the look out for introductory text books in systematic theology from a Reformed perspective. This is a most welcome find.

Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre, True Beauty (Crossway, 2014). My wife and I both read this book and found it refreshing, the kind of book we would recommend to women of all ages. Here’s our blurb: “This book is a wonderful example of combining the eminently practical with the deeply theological. Carolyn and Nicole have give us a work that is both terrifically up to date and rooted in God’s unchanging Word.”

Paul Lake, The Republic of Virtue (University of Evansville Press, 2013). I’m not sure I’ve ever purchased a book of new poems before, but I heard good things about this collection so I did. I was not disappointed. I’m not adequate to judge the poetry as poetry, but I found the substance of what Lake was saying to be alternately touching, humorous, and provocative. Lake likes to tweak academia with his poetry, especially the strand of academic life that is sure about political correctness and unsure about the meaning of words. In this short book, there is a wide variety of topics, from death and aging to Wile E. Coyote to Jesus with a feminist woman at the well. Worth a look, even if you don’t normally look at poems.