Crossway, 2012, 142 pgs.

Summary: Leeman makes the biblical argument that local congregations are embassies and gathering spots of the kingdom of heaven (Eph. 2:19; 6:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:20; Phil. 3:20). Thus, for the Christian church membership is not a voluntary association, because we are commanded to be a part of the local church by our Lord.

As representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, the church has the responsibility to identify Christians and assist them in obeying the laws of the kingdom. The order of the church, who is recognized as a representative of Christ, and how Christians submit to the church are all carefully defined and explained from the Bible.

Penguin Books, 2005, 304 pgs.

Summary: An extended Christian critique of the secular forms of the code chivalry through a popular fable written in about 1200 AD.  The knights of King Arthur’s Round Table are joined by Lancelot’s illegitimate son Galahad and set out on the quest for the holy grail. The story follows Lancelot’s discovery that he is not a true knight of Jesus Christ but rather a servant of the devil because of his mortal sin with Guinevere. It chronicles his conviction, repentance, and restoration to the faith.

The three knights who discover the grail are Galahad, Perceval, and Bors. Galahad serves as the holy foil to Lancelot in the quest. All the strange adventures and visions of the knights are interpreted by monks, priests, and an angel. The adventure is a spiritual journey, so the fisticuffs and jousts are minimal.

Perhaps the most edifying quote in the books occurs in an exchange between Galahad and Lancelot:

Lancelot said, ‘Son, since it is for ever that I leave you, do you beseech the Master in my name not to let me quit His service, but so to keep me close that I may be His servant in this life and the next.’ And Galahad answered him: ‘Sir, there is no prayer so efficacious as your own. Be therefore mindful of yourself’ (259).

B & H Publishing, 2010, 207 pgs.

Summary: Written in response to Mark Noll’s Is the Reformation Over? Reeves responds with a careful and often witty assessment of the history and theology of the Reformation. He begins with medieval theology, and works through Luther, Zwingli and the radical Reformation, Calvin, and the Puritans. He includes a helpful critique of Puritan introspection and how it can lead away from Christ.

Near the end of the book he writes:

The closer one looks, the clearer it becomes: the Reformation was not, principally, a negative movement, about moving away from Rome; it was a positive movement, about moving towards the gospel. . .Unfortunately for us moderns, obsessed with innovation, that means we cannot simply enrol the Reformation into the cause of ‘progress’. For, if anything, the Reformers were not after progress but regress: they were never mesmerized by novelty as we are, nor impatient of what was old, just because it was old; instead, their intent was to unearth original, old Christianity, a Christianity that had been buried under centuries of human tradition. That, though, is what preserves the validity of the Reformation for today. . .[because] as a programme to move ever closer to the gospel, it cannot be [over]” (190).

Recommended for all, but especially for high school students and home schoolers as a introduction to historical theology.

Wm. B. Eerdmmans Publishing Company, 1965, 300 pgs.

Summary: A theologically sound exposition of Scripture on spiritual depression and how to cure it. Spiritual depression is defined as not rejoicing always in the Lord (Phil. 4:2). This malaise leads to two basic issues for the church; the first is that it reduces the glory of God in the individual Christian’s life, and it undermines Christian witness to the world. Or as Llyod-Jones puts it:

Christian people too often seem to be perpetually in the doldrums and too often give this appearance of unhappiness and of lack of freedom and of absence of joy. There is no question at all but that this is the main reason why large numbers of people have ceased to be interested in Christianity (12).

The causes spiritual depression are discussed in individual chapters: false teachings, sin, vain regrets, fear of the future, feelings, weariness in well doing, trials, and the like. The final chapter concludes with “the final cure,” which is understanding what “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13) means:“‘That is it,’ says Paul, ‘and therefore I am able for all things through the One who is constantly infusing strength into me.’ That, then, is the prescription” (300).

Highly recommended for all.

Sam Torode Books Arts, reprint, n.d.; 1933, 110 pgs.

Summary: A brief biography of Thomas Aquinas and overview of his philosophy, written by a Roman Catholic apologist and critic of modernity G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936).

In Chesterton’s view there are two enemies facing his readers: modernism and the “old Augustinian Puritanism” (1). Augustinianism as understood and taught by Luther “in a very real sense made the modern world” (109). Thus modernism and Augustinianism are collapsed into a single problem including the Manicheans (106), Buddhists, and Nihilists.  Both modernism and Protestantism/Plato can only be cured by returning to the common sense position of Thomas who baptized Aristotle. The problem with Augustine is that he essentially creates two realities: the one that can be seen and the one that is thought or believed. Thomas’ common sense grounds epistemology in the five senses and the intrinsic goodness of God’s creation including the goodness of the human intellect, will, and affections and then works towards God through logic thus unifying reality. Creation used correctly leads to salvation, because there is no absolute division between God and man. The only thing that keeps people from submitting to Thomas’ arguments is a lack of time to consider the arguments carefully. Religion is then necessitated by the lack of leisure for most people and the ignorance of the masses.

Grace and Truth Books, n.d., 34 pgs.

Summary: Ryle teaches that parenting is about Christians fulfilling their duty to God and their children by raising them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Because wisdom is a learned skill about applying the word of God to particular situations (cf. Prov. 26:4-5), Ryle provides general guidelines within a biblical framework:

“As to the best way of punishing a child, no general rule can be laid down. The characters of children are so exceedingly different, that what would be severe punishment to one child, would be no punishment at all to another. . . .Doubtless some parents use bodily correction far too much, and far too violently; but many others, I fear, use it far too little” (24).

Benefits/Determents: An incredible helpful reminder that childrearing is about wisdom and not about following a list of quasi-biblical principles as additions to God’s moral law.