One of the benefits of reviewing books is that I have titles come across my desk on a whole host of topics, one of the difficulties is to know how to present them to you in a helpful way. Some of the books I read are more devotional in nature and some are more academic. Devotional doesn’t always mean good and academic doesn’t always mean boring! Today I’d like to highlight five books to you that I’ve read recently, they are all on completely different topics, but I think that they are all very helpful for different reasons and will benefit those who decide to pick them up and read.
A Christian’s Guide to Mental Illness
Over the years I have written about poor mental health. I have written about my own past experience with depression, I’ve written a dissertation to help Pastors consider how they can practically care for church members with depression and I’ve counselled a good number of people who have struggled with various kinds of mental illnesses. Therefore, I really wanted to read this book and I was not disappointed. Murray and Karel both write with a wealth of experience helping people with poor mental health and caring for their spiritual well-being, David Murray as a Pastor as counselor and Tom Karel as a psychologist and elder in his church.
This book tackles 30 common questions that Christians have about poor mental health, for example;
- Is mental illness a helpful label?
- How is mental illness different from ordinary sadness, anxiety and confusion?
- What causes mental illness?
- Can a Christian have mental illness?
- What role do Pastors have in helping the mentally ill?
- What role does medication have?
- How can we help a sufferer grow spiritually?
- How can we help sufferers serve in the church?
Whilst the book is not comprehensive (there’s no way it could be!), but it certainly covers a good amount of material that will help you as the sufferer, as someone caring for the sufferer or as a pastor counselling others. The authors do a good job, I think, of managing the balance well between pastoral care and professional care, both need to happen, but sometimes is easy for people to overemphasise one at the neglect of the other.
One of the things that I struggled with in this book (maybe it’s a US / UK difference) is the use of the term ‘mental illness’. There is a chapter addressing whether or not the term is helpful (the conclusion is sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t), but to then have it in the title and use it as the titles of many chapters in the book seems to do what the authors caution in the book – overusing the term ‘mental illness’.
Personally, I think this book will help people and it will certainly help if a good number of folks read it to counter the idea that Christians are immune to poor mental health, which is sadly still an idea that many people have. Get your copy here.
Island Aflame
The Lewis Revival is well-known in Christian circles and 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the start of the revival. I heard a lot about this revival when I first moved to Scotland as I studied at the Faith Mission Bible College where Duncan Campbell (a man used by God during the revival) was once the principal. Revivals are an interesting topic that can divide the Christian world, some look on them with excitement and anticipation, others with skepticism and questions. Writing on revival must be incredibly difficult. However, Tom Lennie has done a great job in this book of looking at historical evidence and speaking to people with lived experience, his research has produced a book that doesn’t focus on myths, but the facts of what took place. Naturally exaggerations get passed down through generations as people begin to forget or romanticise events, especially those of spiritual significance. Lennie does a good, and sensitive job, of working through what was true and what was exaggeration to help us get a true and wonderful picture of what the Lord did on the Isle of Lewis between 1949-52. I think this book is also helpful because Lennie doesn’t look at the revival in isolation but he also looks at in the context of the culture and time that it all took place in. This would be an interesting read if you like revival stories and history.
From the Marrow Men to the Moderates
Looking at historical controversies is important for every church leader and Christian, it helps us understand the past and not fall into the same mistakes that people of the past did, but instead to learn from their mistakes and to grow through that learning. In this book Donald Macleod one of the most renowned recent Scottish theologians writes about a controversy that shook the Scottish church in the 18th Century. Why read this historical account, is it really relevant? Well, this book touches on issues of the extent of Christ’s atonement, God’s wrath, the role of the Law in the Christian’s life, the relationship between repentance and faith, church division and disunity amongst Christians, just to name a few things. Looking at that list, hopefully you will see how relevant this book is for today!
Personally, I really enjoyed this book, though Macleod was a very competent and highly intelligent theologian, he wrote in a way that was accessible and easy to read. You will probably need to really enjoy history to read it, as it is 327 pages long, but once you get through it (which won’t actually take you long) you’ll certainly see the benefit.
I would say one of the weaknesses of this book is it’s lack of application for the church today, it would have been helpful to see some warnings and encouragement for church leaders, and Christians alike, to stand firm in the gospel as taught in the Scriptures and to serve Christ well.
Expository Outlines and Observations on Romans
Romans is a wonderful book of the Bible, it’s one that you can read and be pointed gloriously to Jesus, I’ve heard it described before as the Apostle Paul’s systematic theology volume (we can debate that of course). However, Romans is a book that some people struggle with, because there is great depth to what he writes and as Peter even says 2 Peter 3:26 about Paul’s writing “There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” If the Apostle Peter said things wee hard, then we can find them hard too.
In this book Rob Ventura, a Pastor in the US, takes the reader through an exposition of Romans aimed to give Pastors and preachers helpful hints and helps on how to tackle the book of Romans in the pulpit. Each chapter of the book takes on one chapter of Romans, within those chapters there are sermon-size texts as subheadings, under each subheading Ventura gives a general theme of the text, a homiletical outline of the relevant verses, a summary of the section and a suggested application for the church and for non-Christians. I like how Ventura has works through Romans in an exegetical way, but doesn’t steer away from the doctrine in the book and then roots it in our lives today. If you’re considering preaching Romans, this book will help. At the beginning of the book, Ventura gives a list of his top 30 evangelical commentaries on Romans, which is very helpful considering the sheer volume of material written on Romans.
Seeing the Unseen God
John 1:18 says “No one has ever seen God” that verses naturally raises questions in our minds – what about people who encountered God in the Old Testament (theophanies)? What about Jesus? What about when we get to heaven? and that’s just a few.
In this book, John David gives you devotional theology – a theology that is gloriously deep and intellectually stretching, yet at the same time devotional, easy to read and that will cause you to gaze at the majesty of God in worship and adoration.
In 16 chapters David walks through parts of the Bible and helpfully unpacks Theology Proper (the Doctrine of God). He helps the reader understand how we see God in Jesus, in one another, in the Bible and much more. The final chapter is about God seeing us and the immense privilege of that wonderful thought. If you’re looking for a book that will warm your heart, whilst also engaging your mind, this will definitely help.
*** I received a copy of these books from the publishers in exchange for honest reviews. This does not change the way I rate the books. My views are my own. ***
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