It is almost two weeks late, but I am finally posting a review of my reading in the third quarter of 2021. As in the first quarter and second quarter reviews, I will not be listing everything I read but only providing a snapshot and mentioning a few highlights. I previously explained my plan for reading in 2021 and the way in which I log books.
The third quarter was my largest volume of reading so far this year measured simply by the number of books read. This is not the best way to measure the quality and quantity of one’s reading, but it is the metric we are using here. In the third quarter I read thirty-three books: ten in July, fourteen in August, and nine in September. I have read eight so far in the first eleven days of October, so the numbers in the fourth quarter could go even higher, but I plan to shift my reading in the last two months of the year to longer and denser works which will bring the total number down somewhat.
My third quarter reading included nine works of theology, one volume of philosophy, three works of history, five classics, two on current events, four biographies, two on personal development related themes, and two others from the list of books I reread each year. These last were the last two volumes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I cannot describe how bittersweet it is to finish this series each year. It is simultaneously thrilling and deeply satisfying while also frustrating my evening reading for sometime after. Three weeks later I still have not settled comfortably into my next evening reader.
My reading plan for the year has been fairly successful overall. There will be several changes to it for 2022, but the distribution and categorization this year has been helpful. I have already read almost twice as many volumes of theology, biography, and classic literature as I originally planned. Other categories have not been as useful as I thought, so I will modify my goals there in the future. But the general strategy has proven sound and useful in directing my reading. Those who wish to read more or read more profitably would be well-advised to adopt a similar strategy. Plan the types of books you want to read, set specific and manageable goals for each category, and then track your reading through the year.
Here are three highlights from the third quarter that merit special mention.
First, Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines is a must-read for those wishing to understand the current controversy in conservative, evangelical, and Reformed churches over Critical Race Theory and social justice. It is not the only book that ought to be read on these issues, but it may be the most useful for the majority of Christians. Dr. Baucham has done the church a great service in analyzing, summarizing, and documenting the movement in its proponents’ own words. I highly recommend it and would encourage elders and deacons especially to read it.
Second, Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J. Gresham Machen is a classic within the OPC, but I had never read it until this summer. It was interesting, informative, and surprising in a number of ways. I never realized how firmly rooted in the southern Presbyterian tradition Machen was, and though I had some sense previously, Stonehouse’s biography demonstrated even more convincingly that the man who was the catalyst in the formation of the OPC would likely be criticized as a “culture warrior” by some members of the denomination today.
Third, on a much lighter note, Mark Eddy Smith’s Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues is a brief primer on theological and philosophical virtues found in the best-known tales of Middle Earth. Written like a devotional, the chapters are brief but useful in recognizing themes in Tolkien’s rich trilogy. The chapter on Atonement is sadly confused, though there are still valuable insights to be gleaned even there. I have already given two copies away to friends and likely will again. It is a short and easy read but an edifying one.
The three volumes listed above were not necessarily the most enjoyable or profitable from my third quarter reading, but there are ones I think most of the readers of this blog would probably find useful. Before closing this review, I should also mention Diane Langberg’s Redeeming Power which I also read in the third quarter. I do not include it as an honorable mention but because Dr. Langberg’s work has lately been promoted within OPC circles, something that in light of this book’s content I find both alarming and appalling. Redeeming Power is largely shaped and informed by the framework of Critical Theory. It contains a number of theological errors--a reminder that many people writing theological works today are ill-equipped and unqualified to do so. The perspective on Theology Proper found within the book is explicitly contrary to the Westminster Confession, which raises the question why Dr. Langberg is being sought out and given a platform by leaders in a confessional denomination. I will not attempt a thorough review here, but the content is a mixture of unremarkable statements on egregious abuse, conflation and confusion of kinds and categories of abuse, sweeping and systemic denunciation of religious institutions, and a caustic and condescending tone. It is unhelpful, problematic, errant, and divisive. --JME
