In this very fine book, Jonah Goldberg rises to the defense of ideology, and about time somebody did. He acknowledges that there has been a stream of Burkean/Kirkian conservative thought that has been suspicious of ideology, but this has just been the natural prudence that wants to avoid movements in the grip of one idea. …
Book of the Month/May 2012
Below is the cover of my selection for the book of the month in May 2012, and just following that image is the book trailer. Full disclosure: the author, Mitch Stokes, is a friend of mine, which some might assume could skew this review. But no, I write objectively, with steely-eyed resolve. And also, on …
Book of the Month/April 2012
Reformer of BaselDiane PoythressReformation Heritage Books This might seem like an odd book to get excited about (at least to some), but I have wanted to see a book like this for years. In Reformer of Basel, Diane Poythress has given us a very fine introduction to the life and influence of John Oecolampadius, the …
Book of the Month/March 2012
The World-Tilting GospelDan PhillipsKregel Publications, 2011 I want to start a new feature on this blog, if I can keep up the pace. I have occasionally done extended reviews of books, blogging through them, but I think I would like to start reviewing a book a month in more of a one-off, hit-and-run fashion. But …
John Frame Went and Escondidit
John Frame’s new book, The Escondido Theology, is finally out and available. I commend it to you. After you have read it, you may then google up responses/reviews to it, clamber into your canoe of irencism, and paddle all over a small mountain lake of snark.
Just Good Stuff
I am currently reading a book called Truck: A Love Story, which is really worthwhile, but I had to stop and share this description with you. “Greg Brown’s voice sounds as it was aged in a whiskey cask, cured in an Ozarks smokehouse, dropped down a stone well, pulled out damp, and kept moist in …
Thanks for the Thanks
The most appropriate way to begin a review of a book like this is by giving thanks for it. The Gift of Thanks is more a collection of micro-arguments and discursive observations on various aspects of gratitude than it is a sustained argument from front to back, and yet the end result is extremely satisfying. …
And a Mask That Fits
Here is a book that deserves a wide reading. I am really excited about it. I just got my copy in the mail today, but had the privilege of reading it some months ago for blurbing purposes. When I was done, I sent them two blurbs, the shorter of which they wound up using. At …
Lasting Leadership
For those men who live in Moscow, or for any who be in our area in mid-February, we would like to mention a men’s conference on leadership that we are hosting. We are particularly interested in reaching young men in their twenties and thirties, so please consider coming. The conference is free, but you still …
Books n’ Songs 2010
Now that 2010 just has just a day or two left in it, I thought it would be a safe time to list my top ten books and songs for the year. But I need to qualify this. These are not necessarily books or songs that were published or released this year. This was simply …