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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

BOOK REVIEW:
Thirty Second Theology: Questions and Answers to Build Your Faith by Sinclair Ferguson. Christian Focus. 164 pages. 2026
*** ½

Sinclair Ferguson is a respected Reformed theologian. He has written books at a level for seminary students, lay persons, and some for children. Some years back, he wrote a book similar to this one for children, titled The Big Book of Questions and Answers. He writes that Thirty Second Theology is a more grown-up version of those questions and answers, geared not for children but for teenagers. Although each question and answer will take only about thirty seconds to read, you can certainly think on the answers for much longer. Each question also includes a short verse to memorize, along with related readings from the Bible.

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BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~What Is Wrong with the World? The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid by Tim Keller
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

Romans 1-7 For You (God’s Word For You) by Tim Keller. The Good Book Company. 217 pages. 2014
****

The Men’s and Women’s Bible Studies at our church are both studying Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and both groups are using this book by Tim Keller from the excellent God’s Word for You series from The Good Book Company. I have used a number of books from this series and always found them helpful. This volume covers chapters 1-7 from Romans, and an accompanying volume covers chapters 8-16.

The books in the God’s Word For You series are accessible (easy to understand, not technical) commentaries. They are designed to be read devotionally or to help with teaching or preaching a passage. Each commentary walks through a book of the Bible, paying careful attention to the text, and giving the original historical, cultural, and biblical context while offering clear and grounded application for the Christian today.

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BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~What Is Wrong with the World?  The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid by Tim Keller
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

Things Unseen: One Year of Reflections on the Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson. Ligonier Ministries. 570 pages. 2024
****

This book is based on the popular Things Unseen daily devotional podcast that respected theologian Sinclair Ferguson produced with Ligonier in 2023 (and is still available today). The book contains all 260 episodes edited from the spoken to the written form. The book has 52 topics, one for every week of the year, and follows each theme through from Monday to Friday. Each of the short readings can be completed in just a few minutes each weekday. I used this book as a part of my daily devotional readings in 2025.
Here are 30 helpful quotes from the book:

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BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~What Is Wrong with the World?  The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid by Tim Keller
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

Rory: The Heartache and Triumph of Golf’s Most Human Superstar by Alan Snipnuck. Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster. 320 pages. 2026
***

The author describes Rory McIlroy one of the dozen greatest golfers of all time. He tells us that the goal for the book is to provide an unvarnished answer to an old question as McIlroy enters the final act of a highly eventful career: What’s he really like?
McIlroy was barely a year old when his father gave him a set of toy golf clubs. His mother states that he was holding a golf club before he could walk. McIlroy’s parents sacrificed greatly – working multiple jobs, and sparing no expense – because their son was a prodigy.

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BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review and a review of What If I Don’t Like My Church’s Music? (Church Questions) by Matthew Boswell
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~What Is Wrong with the World?  The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid by Tim Keller
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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

From the Rising of the Sun: A Journey of Worship Around the World by Tim Challies and Tim Keesee. Zondervan. 186 pages. 2025
*** ½

This book by Tim Challies and Tim Keesee reminded me of the excellent Dispatches from the Front documentary films that Keesee made with Frontline Missions that “highlighted the marvelous extent, diversity, and unity of Christ’s Kingdom in our world”. In this book (which has accompanying streaming videos that you can access via a code in the book), Keesee joins Tim Challies on an odyssey that took them from the rising of the sun to its setting, from one side of the earth to the other.
The world is divided into twenty-four time zones. The authors decided to aim for about twelve episodes, or a country in roughly every second time zone. Once they had chosen countries, they began to search for churches within them. They found faithful churches that align with a variety of Protestant traditions. All were bound together by a deep commitment to Scripture and sound doctrine.  This book is about their visits to those churches and worship services all around the world.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~What Is Wrong with the World?  The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid by Tim Keller
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →

Book Reviews


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

Go Forward in Love: A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller. Zondervan. 384 pages. 2024  
****

Tim Keller was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, co-founder of The Gospel Coalition and Redeemer City to City, and the author of twenty-four books. He died at the age of 72 in May 2023 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. This book is comprised of short daily readings from his books. I used it as a part of my devotional readings for the past year and would recommend it to you.

Here are 20 helpful quotes from the book:

  • Sin is not simply doing bad things; it is putting good things in the place of God.
  • Remember this—if you don’t live for Jesus you will live for something else.
  • Religion operates on the principle “I obey—therefore I am accepted by God.” But the operating principle of the gospel is “I am accepted by God through what Christ has done—therefore I obey.”

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review and a review of The Westminster Shorter Catechism
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~What Is Wrong with the World?  The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid by Tim Keller
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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

The Shepherd Leader at Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, and Providing for Your Family by Timothy Witmer. Crossway. 167 pages. 2012
*** ½   

Timothy Witmer follows up his excellent book The Shepherd Leader, which was focused on the church, with a volume for the shepherd leader at home. He tells us that the purpose of the book is to help families by helping husbands and dads become loving shepherds of their families. The strategy is to apply the biblical shepherding categories of knowing, leading, providing, and protecting to leadership in the home. These shepherding functions represent four of the most fundamental human needs that God meets through those who lead families. Each of the four parts begins with an introduction showing its biblical rationale.
The focus is on all men who are called to lead their families at home. Throughout the book, the author shares many examples to illustrate the points he makes. The book is intentionally practical, personal, and heart-to-heart.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst
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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

BOOK REVIEW:
A Light on the Hill: The Surprising Story of How a Local Church in the Nation’s Capital Influenced Evangelicalism by Caleb Morell. Crossway. 353 pages. 2025
****

You may not think that the history of a church would make for very interesting reading. However, after reading several positive reviews of the book, I decided to read Caleb Morell’s history of the 150-year-old Capitol Baptist Church (CHBS), which is located just blocks from the U.S Capitol in Washington D.C. My wife Tammy and I have had the pleasure of worshipping at CHBC while in Washington D.C. on a business trip.
Morell did an outstanding job researching the church’s history for this book. I very much enjoyed reading how God has used this church for nearly 150 years.
We are told that this is not the story of an extraordinary church. Rather, it is about God and how he delights to do extraordinary things through ordinary people and ordinary churches. The book looks at the factors and conditions that contribute to gospel faithfulness. The church has stayed centered on the gospel and present in the place God planted it because of the ordinary people who worked, prayed, sowed, and stayed.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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12 New and Upcoming Books You Might Be Interested In

I enjoy books in a number of genres – theology, biology, faith and work, leadership, Christian living, etc. Here are 12 new and upcoming books that you might be interested in.

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Book Reviews


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

The Road That Made America: A Modern Pilgrim’s Journey on the Great Wagon Road by James Dodson. Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster. 416 pages. 2025
****

James Dodson is one of my favorite authors, having read several of his books about golf. This is not a subject that I would normally have been interested in, but he is such a good author, I decided to listen to the audiobook version, which was reads by the author. And, I’m very glad that I did.
Dodson tells us that the Great Wagon Road is probably the least known historic road in America. The Great Wagon Road, which his father (“Opti”), first mentioned to Dodson in 1966, was the primary road of frontier America. It was a mass migration route that stretched more than eight hundred miles from Philadelphia to Augusta, Georgia.  This was the road that Dodson’s German ancestors traveled.  The author takes us in “the Pearl”, his 1994 Buick Roadmaster Estate station wagon, along with his faithful dog Mulligan, on this nearly five-year (COVID interrupted) journey that began in 2017. He crosses six contiguous states and some of the most historic and hallowed landscapes of eastern America, touching many of the nation’s most sacred battlefields and burying grounds.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review and a review of Go Forward in Love: A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →