Bible Study

The Bible Speaks Today series (series editors J.A. Motyer and John Stott) is currently among my favorite Bible study tools. Not intended to be detailed commentaries, they focus on clear exposition, application, and readability. This year, I read nine in the series, five on Old Testament books and four on New Testament ones.

My favorite this year was The Message of Zechariah by Barry Webb, which I read twice. The complex visions in Zechariah always left me feeling puzzled, but when I finished this book, I felt for the first time that I had a clear understanding of how Zechariah fits in the story of the Old Testament as well as foreshadowing the coming of the True King. I have benefited from all of the books in this series.

I was excited to find a new book by a favorite author Dale Ralph Davis in the Focus on the Bible series published this year. I ended the year reading Ezra and Nehemiah: The Quest for Restoration and as always benefited from his clear insights, no-nonsense approach to controversies, and his quirky anecdotes to illustrate points. I have read many of his books and would recommend them all. I think Ezra and Nehemiah will help form the foundation of how I look at the coming year:

Note then where prayer begins: with the knowledge of the nature of the covenant God. The character of God is the bedrock for prayer. Theology is the proper foundation for devotion.

Devotionals

This year I read a lot of devotionals, including three by Sinclair Ferguson. Based on this assortment, I think I can safely say that Ferguson’s devotionals are outstanding. The readings are fresh and relevant, and each reading is long enough to contain real substance, often combining prayers, hymns, and other ways to that enhance the theme. His books helped me prepare for Easter and Christmas this year as well as were a daily companion through the year.

• Things Unseen: One Year of Reflection on the Christian Life is a 52-week topical devotional. Sample quote: “When we deny God, we lose our identity as His image bearers. We no longer know who we are.”
• To Seek and to Save: Daily Reflections on the Road to the Cross focuses on the characters Christ meets on the way to Jerusalem and the Cross.
• The Dawn of Redeeming Grace: Daily Devotions for Advent provides a similar thoughtful encounter with the characters of Christmas.

Biography

Most of the biographies I read this year were rereads. One that I really enjoyed was God’s Smuggler the story of Brother Andrew written with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. I had forgotten how wonderful this story was, from his unbelieving youth to conversion and then his life taking Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. Much has changed since those days, but God has not. And I find I need to be encouraged to know and believe he can continue to rescue and blind eyes and open closed doors for his faithful servants.

Classic Fiction

My favorite classic this year is a book you may never have heard of. I certainly hadn’t before Close Reads selected it. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni was written in Italian and recently freshly translated by Michael F. Moore. Published in 1848 and set in the Italy of the 1620’s, The Betrothed is required reading for high school students in Italy. It is a classic love story of a young lower-class couple whose relationship gets caught up in the tangle of religious, political, and class strife of the day. While the love story of Renzo and Lucia is engaging, the broader portrait of cultural and historical events from war to the plague lifts this novel to another level, while at the same time opening up a range of deep theological issues about what true constitutes true Christian devotion. Yes it is long (700+ pages) but well worth it, and the audible version is also very good.

In the midst of a love story, wars, and plagues, this book contains one of the best descriptions of a pastoral vocation I have ever read and a wonderful and deep conversion experience as a wicked man discovers that the love of God covers his sins.

Favorite Fiction Reread

My favorite fiction reread this year was George Macdonald’s The Princess and the Goblin and the sequel The Princess and Curdie. In a similar fashion to C.S. Lewis (who considered Macdonald his master), Macdonald creates vivid images that haunt your imagination, in a good way. Like the Chronicles of Narnia, also written for children, these two fantasy stories are woven around deep spiritual and theological truths and illuminate them in fresh ways. It was a delight to visit them again.

But, remember, it may seem to you a very roundabout way indeed, and you must not doubt the thread. Of one thing you may be sure, that while you hold it, I hold it too.

Favorite General Fiction

East of Eden by John Steinbeck rises to the top of the list this year for me. I have started this book several times, but this time I managed to finish. However, since the book features one of the most evil literary female characters I have ever encountered, I did skip a few pages.

Set in California’s Salinas Valley, two families reenact biblical themes of sibling rivalry, free will, and redemption across generations. This is not an easy read, but I can understand better now why it is considered a great American classic.

Mystery

Most of the mysteries we read this year for the monthly Close Reads “Murderpod” were from the classic period of British mystery writers. Of these my favorite was A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (a pseudonym for scholar Edith Pargeter). She wrote 20 books that feature Brother Cadfael, a Welsh Benedictine monk living in an abbey in western England in the first half of the 12th century. The books are meticulously researched and interesting for their historical and cultural details. Cadfael himself has an unusual worldly background for a monk, but is a kind and righteous character the reader can depend on. A Morbid Taste for Bones is the first in the series so introduces the character and lifestyle. If you like mysteries with an interesting setting and a protagonist you can trust, you will enjoy these books.

The post 2025 Reading Adventures appeared first on Make The Vision Plain.

I may not have traveled physically much this year, but I have certainly visited many different times and lands in my reading life!

I spent a lot of time in medieval Norway with Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter and one day (by far enough!) with the remarkable Ivan Denisovich. I traveled across Central Asia with Daniel Nayeri’s Samir, the Seller of Dreams, and wandered throughout the Mideast as William Dalrymple traced the path the priest John Moschos walked visiting churches and monasteries in 587 AD.

I enjoyed a trip back in time (in 1962, I was a sophomore in high school) traveling across the United States with John Steinbeck and his poodle Charley in search of America and found his observations fascinating. I travelled around the world with Gulliver, discovering that he encountered a lot more than little people (while also discovering this book is definitely not a children’s story!). And not only did I travel around this world, I expanded my travels to include Mars and Venus with C. S. Lewis’s wonderful Space Trilogy and then returned to earth for the climatic last volume That Hideous Strength, struck again by Lewis’s ability to see where modern post-Christian thought was taking the world.

As C. S. Lewis said so well in An Experiment in Criticism:

“But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”

Probably the most surprising aspect of my “reading” list this year is how many books I listened to…and yes, I did finally give in and get an Audible subscription. I didn’t initially realize that the subscription would let me listen to many classic works for free, and I made good use of this option by listening to 20 classic works of fiction or 25 if you include the five fiction works of C. S. Lewis. I’ve discovered that my afternoon walks are far better and a little longer if I have a good book as a companion.

I think my favorite audiobook was To Kill a Mockingbird wonderfully read by Sissy Spacek. I know I must have read this book at some point long ago, but it is definitely worth a reread. A close second in the audio category was The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. The author is not writing as a Christian, but the marvelous detailed descriptions of how trees communicate, protect themselves, and nurture their young often brought me to worshipful tears at the revelation of the beautiful mind of the Maker of trees. This is definitely a book to read while walking on tree-shadowed paths, like this one in the Dallas City Park.

Biographies were another popular category for me. I read 21 biographies mostly of various missionaries and Christian leaders from George Whitefield and Charles Spurgeon, to Tim Keller and Elisabeth Elliot. I loved learning about Spurgeon’s church and how many ways the church contributed to the life of the city and especially his emphasis on prayer. Here are a couple of quotes from Dallimore’s book.

Spurgeon did not make the gathering of a crowd his first interest. In view of the spiritual warfare in which the Christian is placed, he was concerned first of all that his people learn truly to pray.

When someone once asked Spurgeon the secret of his success, he replied: “My people pray for me.”

Collin Hansen’s description of the intellectual and spiritual formation of Tim Keller was also especially meaningful to me since he was impacted by many of the same spiritual influences as I have been. This book also led me to read some of Keller’s favorite authors including works of Alec Motyer. Reading this book about Keller reminded me of how much some of his insights have affected me over the years, especially his focus on Jesus as the hero of the Bible, not us:

Over this year, I read 35 books related to the study of the Bible, devotional thoughts on Scripture, and the Christian life. Three by Motyer were especially impactful: his study of David’s Psalms (Treasures of the King), and his studies of the books of Amos and Exodus. Here is a brief quote from his discussion about Israel’s time in the wilderness that encouraged me in the importance of meeting with and waiting on the Lord:

In the “just for fun” category, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery gets first spot. It was lovely to listen to and as a finishing touch, I watched the 1986 TV series with my daughter during Christmas vacation and we both reveled in the sorrows and delights of Green Gables.

I also really enjoyed The Dean’s Watch by Elizabeth Goudge, which explores the unlikely friendship between a high Anglican churchman and the man who cares for his watch. This is a story of redeeming grace found in surprising places. I also found a similar redemptive story in Silas Marner by George Elliot.

I hope that you too have had many adventures in reading this last year. Let me know what you recommend!

The post 2023 Adventures in Reading appeared first on Make The Vision Plain.

So let the adventure begin…starting with the Bible, always the best place to start.

This year I discovered Dale Ralph Davis. His Scripture studies became my companions as I read the stories of Abraham and Jacob, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and the Gospel of Luke. His writing combines deep insight with lively illustrations that kept me wanting to read further.

Two other Bible study series that I enjoyed this year are The Bible Speaks Today series edited by John Stott and God’s Word for You series from the Good Book Company. Both of these series are accessible, full of insight, and application. I buy most of my books when they are heavily discounted on Kindle so I am praying for lots more good discounts in the coming year!

Another discovery this year was on-line reading groups. I had been struggling to find fiction that was worth the time investment. Jessica Hooten Wilson opened up new possibilities when I read The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints (read my review here). She includes a wide range of fiction in her discussion of how stories can make us better. As she says in the introduction:

The best stories are read not to escape our world but to better prepare us for living in our world. They shape our imagination.

One of her suggestions was In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alverez. This novel brings to life the story of the Mirabal sisters who grow up in the Dominican Republic during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship and, in 1960, were murdered for their part in a plot to overthrow the government. For me this was an unfamiliar incident and time, but I was transported through Alverez’s words into the struggles of these women to live with integrity.

Encouraged by this experience, I began looking for other groups that valued literature for similar reasons. After reading Andrew Peterson’s wonderful God of the Garden, I was led to The Rabbit Room, a space that fosters artistic imagination ranging from music to visual arts to books. Here I selected Rembrandt is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey, and was drawn into Ramsey’s love of art and artists. I now find myself looking forward to visiting an art museum with fresh enthusiasm, unexpected good fruit!

Based on the Rabbit Room’s appreciation and love for Walter Wangerin, I read or rather listened to The Book of the Dun Cow. Nothing about this book sounded appealing to me, other than the praise from people I trusted. I cannot explain how deeply this book moved me, as I wept with Chanticleer the rooster as evil assaults his beloved flock. This “fantasy” book was far more real to me than some of the biographies I read.

In the Rabbit Room, I also discovered Malcolm Guite, a poet and Anglican priest that really must be listened to as well as read. I loved reading Waiting on the Word, a collection of poems with his commentary for Advent through Epiphany…and also Word in the Wilderness, a similar collection for Lent and Easter. Since then I’ve listened to several of his conference discussions on poetic imagination such as this one at the Trinity Forum and look forward to exploring more of his books.

After I reread the beloved Narnia Chronicles by C. S. Lewis with a group of friends, I decided that I was indeed “old enough to start rereading fairy tales”  and went on to listen to the Princess and the Goblin and the Princess and Curdie, two fairy tales by George Macdonald. These wonderful stories really need to be read aloud. You can almost hear Macdonald telling them to his children, filling their imaginations with vivid pictures of God’s providence, of faith, and trust.

I read other children’s stories after that with mixed results. I loved Heidi, which is a deeply Christian story, but found The Secret Garden, while charming in its portrayal of nature, lacking in any understanding of the source of the beauty it admires. The Wind in the Willows was almost a shock to me; the portrayal of Toad’s addiction to cars and its cost to his friends was a little too realistic to enjoy.

This year I also began listening to the Close Reads podcast and following the discussion in the corresponding Facebook group. Here I discovered serious readers who were excited about books and offering many thoughtful recommendations. I caught up with them at the end of the year by reading My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. This book centers on an artistically gifted boy growing up in Manhattan as part of a strict Jewish sect that doesn’t believe in visual arts. The conflict between Asher’s gift and the demands of his family is in many ways more intense than reading a thriller. The Podcast discussion added valuable insight and I am sure I will be reading more books with them next year.

Following the theme of books that prompt appreciation for art, I have to mention Andrew Klavan’s book The Truth and Beauty: How the Lives and Works of England’s Greatest Poets Point the Way to a Deeper Understanding of the Words of Jesus. I read The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ, Klavan’s conversion story, a few years ago and discovered he was a neighbor for a period in Santa Barbara, CA. His background in crime fiction and political commentary is so unusual that I was intrigued to see what he had to say about Jesus and the romantic poets: and he has a lot of good things to say! I listened to the audio version, which Klavan reads himself, and felt like we were having a rich extended conversation. I highly recommend this book also.

I’ve saved one final reading adventure for last: Everything Sad is Untrue. I have seen this book on a number of “Best of 2022” lists this year and for good reason. Collin Hansen says he “hasn’t read anything like it before” in a Gospel Coalition interview with the author Daniel Nayeri. Amazon says it is for readers age 9-12, but don’t pay attention to that. Though written from the point of view of a 10-year-old boy, it requires a lot of life experience to even begin to understand the patchwork life of this Iranian immigrant and the faith of his mother that drives the story.

It has been a good year for reading and I am thankful for those who read books along with me, multiplying the experience for all of us.

An Honorable Mention:

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn (discussed in this blog post)

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The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints encourages us see how spending time with characters in great novels can deepen our understanding of what it means to be holy, and can do it in unexpected (sometimes scandalous) ways. But this is not a theoretical book. Jessica spends most of her time looking at specific books and what they have meant to her.

Some of the books she highlights I have already read, and I found her analysis of themes to be insightful and helpful. Others I have heard of but never gotten around to reading, and still others were new to me. So now I have a long list of books to pursue. I am already part way through two of the books she discusses that I had never considered reading before.

Jessica discusses a set of books in depth, but as icing on the cake, she includes a list of other books that deal with similar topics at the end of each chapter. So there is room for a lot of exploration.

I am thankful for this encouragement to read good books. I am listing the books she references here to whet your curiosity and as a reference for me when I finish the two I am currently reading. Maybe you will find one interesting too!

Reading from The Scandal of Holiness

1. Holy Foolishness

Focus: Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin

Further Reading: Godric by Frederick Buechner
Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor
Christina the Astonishing by Kirstin Valdez Quade

2. Communion of Saints

Focus: That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis (and Abolition of Man)

Further Reading: The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
War in Heaven by Charles Williams
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

3 Creation Care as a Holy Calling

Focus: The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin

Further Reading: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
The River Why by James David Duncan
The Reason for Crows: A Story of Kateri Tekakwitha by Diane Glancy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

4. Liberating Prophets

Focus: Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neal Hurston
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alverez

Further Reading: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Beloved  by Toni Morrison
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

5. Virgin, Bride, Mother

Focus: Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigred Undset

Further Reading: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Children of Men by P. D. James
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
The Wife of Pilate by Gertrud von Le Fort

6. Contemplative and Active Life

Focus: The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos

Further Reading: Mr. Palomar by Italo Calvino
Peace like a River by Leif Enger
Island of the Innocent by Diane Glancy
Morte d’Urban by J. F. Powers

7. Sharing in His Suffering

Focus: The End of the Affair and The Power and the Glory by Graham Green
The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O’Connor, Greenleaf (short story)

Further Reading: The Woman Who Was Poor by Léon Bloy
Beggar’s Feast by Randy Boyagoda
Silence by Shūsaku Endō
Exiles by Ron Hansen

8. Ars Moriendi

Focus: A Lesson before Dying by Ernest Gains
The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Further Reading: A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt
Viper’s Tangle by François Mauriac
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

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Much of the book is derived from detailed journals that Elisabeth maintained over the years. Very few of us, I think, would want our innermost thoughts published for general view. But the picture that the author is able to draw through journal entries, letters, and remembered conversations is marked over and over with the signature of the Holy Spirit: We see Elisabeth struggling to know God’s will, to hear his voice, and to say yes to moments of intense suffering. It is an example that cannot help but create in the reader a desire to do the same.

As we read through the book I was led to explore more of her writing. Following the sequence of her life, I first read These Strange Ashes, where she describes her first year of missionary service among the Colorado Indians before she and Jim were married (Chapters 15-16). This was a year of dying to many of her expectations. Next I read her most famous book Through Gates of Splendor, which documented in detail the events leading up to the actual death of her husband and his four comrades on a beach in the Ecuador jungle (Chapters 21-24).

Finally I read her novel No Graven Image, which though not autobiographical, certainly reflects many of the lessons she learned through her years as a missionary (and is her only book that was banned from some Christian bookstores!). Ellen Vaughn characterized Elisabeth as being ahead of her time in her understanding of mission strategy, and this is clearly demonstrated in this novel, which directs a critical eye at the many platitudes that often accompany Christian work.

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot focuses on Elisabeth’s internal life but also reveals the mundane and painful human misunderstandings that can arise among teammates who should be sharing common goals. Her attempt to work with Rachel Saint while living with the Waodani was a challenging aspect of her story that has recently been more thoroughly explored in the book God in the Rainforest by Kathryn Long, which demonstrates some of the ways that good intentions can go wrong.

Elisabeth Elliot’s life and testimony is a great antidote to our American gospel of prosperity and entitlement. As she wrote:

To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss. The great symbol of Christianity means sacrifice and no one who calls himself a Christian can evade this stark fact.

I highly recommend Becoming Elisabeth Elliot as a thoughtful, inspiring, and challenging read. If you are interested in reading it in a group, I am posting the discussion questions we used to facilitate group interaction. I’m also listing here some some additional resources that we shared among ourselves related to different events and topics in the book.

Note: This book covers the first half of Elisabeth’s life. Volume 2 should be available in Fall of 2022.

PDF of Discussion Questions

Time Magazine’s coverage of the five missionary martyrs

This is Your Life with Rachel Sainte and Dayuma on Youtube (somewhat cringeworthy)

Review of God in the Rainforest that summarizes some of the issues Kathryn Long explores.

Elizabeth found great comfort in this anonymous poem, and “do the next thing” guided her in dark days.

Elisabeth found a kindred spirit in her friend Eleanor Vandervort who was forced out of a long-term ministry in Sudan. The Missionary Experience: A Path of Faith in the Midst of Paradox provides a review of her book about Sudan titled A Leopard Tamed.

Recent testimony of Valerie Elliot Shepherd, Elisabeth’s daughter, about growing up in the jungle and her mother’s love.

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Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund

This book was published in 2020 and was on many favorite lists last year. And, oh, what a lovely book it is. The only thing wrong with this book is that it is not longer! It is a book to be read slowly, one chapter a day, to savor the sweet truths it revealed. Dane goes back to the Puritans, mining their very long books for gems to share with modern readers. Puritans actually did write entire books on one verse of Scripture! That was much easier before the distracted age of the Internet.

The Message of Romans by John Stott

I’m guessing we’d all agree that next to Revelation, Romans is one of the most challenging—and important—books of the Bible. This year I am participating in a Precepts Bible study on Romans, and looking for a good resource, I chose this one by John Stott. I could not have been happier with my choice. His outline helped me enormously to see the flow of Paul’s thought. I was really impressed when I later read Romans 1-7 for You by Tim Keller and discovered that he quoted Stott extensively. I suspect he would rate this commentary highly also!

Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey describes this as the book he was waiting all his life to write. It is the intimate and at times heartbreaking story of growing up with his older brother in a legalistic and racist church in the South with a mentally unbalanced mother. His mother teaches Bible classes to other people’s children and beats her own at home. Yancey’s talented brother is driven further and further into darkness, but somehow Philip is able to go another direction by following “where the light fell.” Reading this book will make you grateful for the light of Christ that shines in the darkness.

Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History by John Dickson

I’ve read a number of overviews of church history, but this is like none of them. It isn’t intended to be a comprehensive history, but instead, Dickerson highlights certain individuals and events to draw out misunderstandings and half truths about the role of the church commonly held today. By doing this, he is able to set these events and pictures into a bigger picture by providing fuller context and pointing to positive influences that were sometimes obscured by the shadow of evil. This book provides the kind of information that is helpful in explaining the somewhat checkered history of the church in the eyes of the modern world.

Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus by Laura M Fabrycky

Laura spends 3 years in Berlin when her husband, a US diplomat, is stationed there and becomes a guide at the Bonhoeffer family home, now a museum. This book chronicles her observations about what she learned by delving into Bonhoeffer’s life. His life offers much to admire, but Lara tries to get beneath the surface to discover principles that she can apply to her own experience. All of these “keys” are helpful as we look at the small decisions that can have lasting effects on a life well-lived. Laura’s style is personal and engaging, and she draws you into her discoveries over her three yeas of serving.

A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier

 A Long Obedience in the Same Direction is the only book by Eugene Peterson that I have read, and I found a lot of value in it. So when I read about the release of his authorized biography written by Winn Collier, I decided to find out more about this man who influenced so many. I enjoyed looking at the life of a man who was anything but a celebrity pastor, especially in light of the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, which deconstructs the fate of a celebrity pastor who refused to submit to any authority. Eugene Peterson was cut from entirely different cloth.

This book is hard to categorize, just as the author is hard to categorize. Andrew is a writer of children’s fantasy, a song writer, an artist, and a cultivator of community and gardens. All these talents are woven together in the making of this book. He describes the experiences that have shaped his creative talent and the restorative solace he finds in nature in ways that will immediately make you want to go outside, and his writing is tinged with poetry throughout.

The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell

In this book, Gladwell examines how the development of precision bombing led to devastating destruction in WWII. While the topic seems grim, I have learned to read anything that Malcolm Gladwell writes. He has the particular kind of curiosity that uncovers hidden truths and principles in unexpected places. Also, this book needs to be listened to rather than read. It is a sort of cutting-edge combination of media styles, with narration, and many live interviews.

Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

This is the first year I decided to pursue reading poetry on a regular basis. This delightful volume of 200 poems from across Oliver’s career was my companion for most of the year. I never failed to be touched when I dipped into it. Oliver’s poetry tenderly reflects her love of her natural surroundings and her ability to see the connections of life.

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Honoring him is especially appropriate since this is the centenary of John Stott’s birth on April 27, 1921. Others have been honoring his legacy with special lectures and events, and this is my small contribution.

My attraction to Stott’s works this year started with listening to Balanced Christianity. This small book discusses some of the tensions within the faith and how we need to hold them in balance rather than pitting them against each other. While written in 1975, Stott’s pastoral and gracious approach to potentially divisive topics seemed particularly relevant in our current season of conflict and polarization.

In Balanced Christianity, Stott addresses four conflicts and how to navigate them:

Intellect vs. Emotion. Stott warns against the enthronement of experience as the criterion of truth. Biblical truth should always judge experience not the other way around. On the other hand, Stott finds a dry and lifeless orthodoxy equally dangerous, and to deny emotions as perilous as denying your intellect. We need what Martyn Lloyd-Jones famously called “logic on fire.”

Conservative vs. Radical. Stott defines conservatives as those who want to preserve the past and resist change and radicals as those who reject the past and want to move on. We are called to be conservative in “guarding the deposit” of faith (1 Timothy 6:20). But we are also called to model our lives on Christ, who swept aside the traditions of the elders and freely violated social conventions. So obedience calls us to discern truth that must not be changed and culture and conventions that may and should be changed.

Form vs. Freedom. Many Christians desire worship services that are free, flexible, and spontaneous without a set liturgy and they prefer churches that are independent of denominational ties. But Stott encourages us to see the value in defined orders of service and established relationships among churches in fellowship. Stott finds a necessary place in the church for both the structured and the unstructured, the formal and the informal, the dignified and the spontaneous, independency and communion.

Evangelism vs. Social Action. Evangelicals are known by their emphasis on evangelism: sharing the good news of salvation. But they are also often known as people who isolate themselves from addressing the causes of brokenness in the world. On the other hand, some Christians stress social, economic, and political efforts to the point that a relationship with Christ is ignored. For Stott, loving one’s neighbor as oneself should mean that we are concerned for their total welfare: bodies, souls, and spirits.

I was drawn by the wisdom in this book to pursue other writings by Stott, and went on to read seven of his commentaries, part of the Bible Speaks Today series. I found these commentaries to be written at exactly the level that I need. Stott is certainly intellectually well qualified, but he does not write as an academic, although some discussion definitely strained my ability to follow. Stott’s approach is pastoral: he really wants people to understand what the book is saying. You can’t help but feel like he is shepherding you through the text: pointing how the word can feed your faith, warning where pitfalls may exist in interpretation, encouraging you to linger in rest on deep and glorious truths.

I’m not going to put all seven of Stott’s commentaries on my best of 2021 list, but I do want to highlight his substantial impact on my reading this year and recommend anything he has written. Here are the ones I read: Reading the Sermon on the Mount, The Message of Romans, The Message of Ephesians, The Message of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus, The Message of 2 Timothy,  The Letters of John.

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While I’ve listened to podcasts before, this year I counted podcasters among my best friends. This of course has something to do with the difficulty of finding real friends in a new place during a pandemic. I found myself needing the familiar rhythm of a human voice to mediate truth in a way that reading written words does not.

So before I share my top ten reads for 2021 in my next post, I am going to tell you about my favorite podcasts. If you haven’t yet delved into the wonderful world of podcasting, I encourage you to try it!

Marion E. Wade Center. Dr. Crystal and Dr. David C. Downing are the current heads of the Wade Center, part of Wheaton College. The center focuses on the work of C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and other Inklings. The podcast includes their director Aaron Hill and this year featured extended discussions on the Lord of the Rings and Narnia, among other topics. Every session is filled with insight, humor, joyful appreciation, and moments of profound truth. I looked forward expectantly to each episode!

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. This podcast has been one of the most popular this year, up in the top ten, and for good reason. Produced by Christianity Today and hosted by Mike Cosper, its outstanding production work is only rivaled by its timely significance. The mercurial rise and sudden fall of the Mars Hill church in Seattle led by Mark Driscoll has deep relevance to many of the abuses that are plaguing the evangelical world today. Since the Reality family of churches that was my home for 17 years was influenced by the Mars Hills model in the early days, I have found the series particularly relevant in helping me understanding my own church experience. This is a painful podcast to listen to, but one that I recommend for its warnings and relevance.

The Russell Moore Show. Dr. Moore has had a challenging year, resigning his position as the head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), as well as leaving the SBC altogether. In the midst of all this, his podcast in always uplifting. He interviews Christians from all sorts of backgrounds and on a broad range of topics with unfailing courtesy and humor, and provides additional commentary when needed.

The Stott Legacy. This special one-year series marks the centenary of John Stott’s birth. In each episode, Mark Meynell interviews someone who has been impacted by John Stott’s legacy. This year I have been greatly helped by Stott’s Bible studies, reading several, and this Podcast added a deeper understanding of this wonderful father in the faith, whose favorite pastime was bird watching.

Help me Teach the Bible. Since 2015, Nancie Guthrie, herself an accomplished Bible teacher, has interviewed experts on each book of the Bible, as well as on some topics of Bible Study. Her series concluded last year, but I didn’t discover it until recently and finished listening to discussions of all 66 books this year. I tried to listen in sequence as I went through the one year Bible reading plan. These hour long sessions hold a treasure of insights. Their focus is on Bible teachers: how to understand the structure of a book and the key insights, but who doesn’t want to know this?

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We usually read the Bible as a series of disconnected stories, each with a ‘moral’ for how we should live our lives. It is not. Rather, it comprises a single story, telling us how the human race got into its present condition, and how God through Jesus Christ has come and will come to put things right.

More and more Bible teachers are emphasizing the intricate connections that weave the various stories together, demonstrating that only a sovereign God could create this tapestry of truth. Today I was struck by a connection so obvious I honestly don’t know how I’ve missed it all these years.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Matt 26:26

With these words, Jesus ushers in the New Covenant, so that we as believers receive all the blessings of life in Christ. But these words are remarkably similar to others used in Genesis, when Eve listened to the serpent’s suggestions:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Genesis 3:6

But rather than bringing life, Adam and Eve experienced death and through Adam all men died.

What a striking contrast: two hands held out offering food. One is the food that brings death and the other the one that brings death.

But oh, how wide a gulf separates these two offerings, and only Christ’s sacrifice of himself could build a bridge from one to the other.

The pandemic has robbed us of many things, one of them being some of the shared joy and frequency of communion. Many churches initially stopped celebrating communion all together for sanitary reasons, and some resumed with the individually packaged sets that most of us struggle to open. But even in these difficult times, how precious is the hand held out with the offer of life: Take and eat.

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