Below are my top five books from this past year with a short review.
Union with the Resurrected Christ by G.K. Beale
G.K. Beale’s work has taught me much. Just this year he released a sequel of sorts to his A New Testament Biblical Theology (which I am now in the process of reading). This sequel was Union with the Resurrected Christ.
The main thesis of Beale’s book is that where Christ goes, His people, in union with Him, follow. Beale compares Christ’s resurrection and ascension to a diamond with multiple facets that shine from different angles. These facets include things like justification, the identity of Jesus and His people as the temple of God, reconciliation, sanctification, and restoration from exile. Beale examines how these things are first true of Jesus in His resurrection and ascension and then how these elements are also true of believers through their union with Him.
This book is academic but still accessible. Beale masterfully connects the grandeur of Christ’s inaugurating of the new creation in His resurrection with the believer’s day-to-day application as they share in Jesus Christ’s identity in the already-not yet new creation.
Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
2023 brought many blessings, foremost of which was the birth of my eldest daughter. I read Tedd Tripp’s classic book on shepherding parenting before she was born and will definitely return to it over the years.
Tripp’s concern is for parents to raise their children with an eye to shepherding the child’s heart toward God. Parenting is not essentially an enforcement of rules or even filling your child with good feelings. It’s about helping them see their need for grace and God’s abundant provision of that grace.
Tripp’s book helpfully addresses this topic with specific chapters for different age groups including young children and infants, children ages 5 and up, and young adults in their teenage years.
Shepherding a Child’s Heart is a God-oriented parenting book that is heavy on principles and light on personal advice or preferences. I expect it will help our family in the parenting journey for years to come.
How to Read and Understand the Psalms by Bruce K. Waltke & Fred G. Zaspel
Another recent release, like #1 on this list (Beale), How to Read and Understand the Psalms was published this year by Crossway. It features commentary, exposition, and helpful history and context for studying the Psalms from distinguished Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke and pastor Fred Zaspel.
This is not a full commentary on the Psalms per se, although it does include exposition of a number of Psalms. Instead, it’s more of a detailed handbook on how to read the Psalms and how to interpret them in their canonical, literary, and historical context. Waltke and Zaspel do an excellent job of grounding the Psalms in their original context while simultaneously looking at them through the lens of the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ.
They offer overviews of the various genres of Psalms and offer many helpful tips for interpreting Psalms based on their genre and other literary elements.
Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle
This one is a classic and a very accessible read. J.C. Ryle’s Thoughts for Young Men was originally published in 1888 but it still rings true and relevant today.
Ryle addresses young men and his exhortations are at once piercing to that specific demographic while maintaining a timeless relevance for Christians of all ages and genders. No doubt, old women will benefit as much as the young men from Ryle’s short book. Ryle writes with authority but also with a father’s concern. He sees how bad things are in his generation’s young men and he wants to point them towards the faith that will not only lead them to positively impact their culture but also to find life and fulfillment in Christ.
At under 100 pages, this short book is easily accessible by many, even those who don’t consider themselves “readers”. Despite its brevity, Ryle wastes no ink and every page has something to be gleaned.
The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant & His Kingdom by Samuel Renihan
The final spot on this list had to come down between this book and Kingdom through Covenant by Stephen Wellum and Peter Gentry. Both are excellent and they cover a similar topic: the unfolding of God’s covenant plan throughout Scripture. Wellum and Gentry’s book is far more comprehensive at over 900 pages and gets into the weeds of detailed exegesis of Old Testament texts.
As a result, I’m choosing The Mystery of Christ as it covers similar ground but does so a bit more accessibly. (That’s not to say that I wouldn’t highly recommend Kingdom through Covenant to the ambitious reader!)
Renihan starts by acknowledging the weightiness and grandeur of writing a book about God’s plan and purpose in creation. He approaches it with the reverence it demands. From there, Renihan traces God’s plan through the various biblical covenants: God’s covenant with Adam in the garden, the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and finally, the fulfillment of all these in Christ and the New Covenant.
Renihan is an adherent to the 1689 London Baptist Confession and therefore his approach and conclusions regarding covenant theology would differ from “mainstream” presbyterian covenant theology. (Wellum and Gentry likewise hold to a baptist ecclesiology and present a view of “progressive covenantalism” in their work.)
The Mystery of Christ is a great primer to covenant theology from a Reformed Baptist perspective.
Honorable Mentions
Kingdom through Covenant by Stephen Wellum & Peter Gentry
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes
Discerning Your Call to Ministry by Jason Allen
The Assurance of Our Salvation by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (I’m still pretty early on in this one but it’s incredible. If I had finished it before the year’s end, it would be in the top five list!)
Here’s to more reading in 2024!