2018 has already been my reading-est year ever. I’ve made a dedicated effort to read as often as possible. I’ve done some of this by waking up at 5 A.M. to stay on schedule with my wife who worked some early morning nursing shifts at the hospital.
Many book reviews, particular of Christian (or “Christian”) books give glowing endorsements. But not all books can be great. Probably an honest review of books would give ratings that fit a bell curve. But, that would only be if books were chosen at random. Since I have chosen to read books that I have some expectation of liking, it is no surprise that my ratings are more of a positive-shifted bell curve.
I strongly recommend reading the books which I’ve given 10/10, and I recommend considering to read those which I’ve given scores of 9/10 and 8/10. The books I’ve rated lower might have some value to you depending on your interests.
10/10
Theological Roots of Pentecostalism by Donald W. Dayton 10/10
A Church You Can See by Dennis Bills 10/10
Race over Grace by Charles Roberts 10/10
Attack on Everest by Hugh Ruttledge 10/10
A Reverence for Wood by Eric Sloane 10/10
Creative Historical Thinking by Michael J. Douma 10/10
9/10
Education, Christianity, and the State by J. Gresham Machen 9/10
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield 9/10
Pat Robertson, A Warning to America by John Robbins 9/10
Scriptural Form of Church Government by C. C. Stewart 9/10
The Truth About Christian Science by James H. Snowden 9/10
Facing Up by Bear Grylls 9/10
Absolute Predestination by Jerome Zanchius 9/10
Christianity at the Crossroads by Michael Kruger 9/10
Corrupting the Word of God by Hanko and Hoeksema 9/10
Migration of Birds by Frederick C. Lincoln 9/10
For a Testimony by Bruce Hunt 9/10
Christian Reconstruction by Michael J. McVicar 9/10
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough 9/10
Melanchthon The Quiet Reformer by Clyde Manschrek 9/10
8/10
Princeton Seminary by James Moorhead 8/10
Can the Orthodox Presbyterian Church be Saved by John Robbins 8/10
Jonathan Edwards by Iain Murray 8/10
The Gospel Comes With a Housekey by Rosaria Butterfield 8/10
The Great Evolution Mystery by Gordon Rattray Taylor 8/10
Can the Presbyterian Church in America by Saved by Sean Gerety 8/10
Strangers in Zion by William R. Glass 8/10
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 8/10
The Perfect Rule of the Christian Religion by John Howard Smith 8/10
12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson 8/10
Children of Doom by John W. Drakeford 8/10
The Gospel Truth of Justification by David Engelsma 8/10
7/10
Henry J. Kuiper by James A. DeJong 7/10
The Emperor Has No Clothes by Stephen M. Cunha 7/10
John Gerstner by Jeffrey S. MacDonald 7/10
Hell on Trial by Robert A. Peterson 7/10
The Man Who Moved a Mountain by Richard C. Davis 7/10
The Unlisted Legion by Jock Purves 7/10
The Final Word by O. Palmer Robertson 7/10
The People’s History of Presbyterianism by Robert P. Kerr 7/10
Presbyterians by George P. Hays 7/10
United Presbyterians by William J. Reid 7/10
The Presbyterian Standards by James Beattie 7/10
Prophecy and the Church by Oswald T. Allis 7/10
Samuel Davies by Dewey Roberts 7/10
Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig 7/10
Intellectuals by Paul Johnson 7/10
An Introduction to Christian Apologetics by E. J. Carnell 7/10
Repentance by Charles Walker 7/10
6/10
History of the Presbyterian Church by Charles Hodge 6/10
Dispensationalism by Keith Mathison 6/10
The History Behind the RPCES by George Hutchinson 6/10
Letters of Francis Schaeffer ed. Lane Dennis 6/10
Fair Sunshine by Jock Purves 6/10
The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant 6/10
Letters from the Front ed. Barry Waugh 6/10
Thomas Jefferson’s Military Academy by Robert M. S. McDonald 6/10
Singing the Songs of Jesus by Michael Lefebvre 6/10
A Digest of the Records of the GA of the PCUSA, 1820 6/10
Songs of Zion by Michael Bushell 6/10
Instrumental Music by John Lafayette Girardeau 6/10
5/10
Letters of A. W. Pink 5/10
For Me to Live is Christ by Davis A. Young 5/10
The Death of a Church by Carl McIntire 5/10
The New Haggadah 5/10
Chosen by God by R. C. Sproul 5/10
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer 5/10
Getting the Message by Dan Doriani 5/10
No Final Conflict by Francis Schaeffer 5/10
Finding a Pastor by Joel Hathaway 5/10
Naming the Elephant by James Sire 5/10
Choosing the Good Portion ed. Clawson and Olinger 5/10
The Church Before the Watching World by Francis Schaeffer 5/10
Why Do They Dress That Way by Stephen Scott 5/10
The PCA Book of Church Order 5/10
4/10
Westminster Assembly by Robert Letham 4/10
Summoning Up Remembrances by Henry Stob 4/10
The God Who Shows Himself by Carl Henry 4/10
Openness Unhindered by Rosaria Butterfield 4/10
Her Hand in Marriage by Douglas Wilson 4/10
The Marrow Controversy and the Seceder Tradition 4/10
The Basis of the Christian Faith by Floyd Hamilton 4/10
The Creative Gift by H. R. Rookmaaker 4/10
Christianity and Philosophy by Arthur P. Holmes 4/10
A Guide to Fervent Prayer by A. W. Pink 4/10
Exclusive Psalmody by Brian Schwertley 4/10
3/10
Children of the Reformation by Marian M Schoolland 3/10
The Search for Salvation by David F. Wells 3/10
Why I am Not an Arminian by Robert Peterson 3/10
Creation Regained by Albert Wolters 3/10
2/10
McCheyne and Burns by James Alexander Stewart 2/10
Ecclesia Lutherana by Joseph Seiss 2/10
The Gospel as Taught by Calvin by R. C. Reed 2/10
The Infallible Word by Stonehouse and Woolley 2/10
Pleading for a Reformation Vision by David Calhoun 2/10
High Calvinism by Sonny Hernandez 2/10
1/10
The Complete Husband by Lou Priolo 1/10
The Lifegiving Parent by Clay and Sally Clarkson 1/10
The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum by R.J. Rushdoony 1/10
0/10
Seeing Christ in All of Scripture 0/10
Edit 12/31/2018. Additional books I read this year:
History of the Protestant Reformation by M. J. Spalding 6/10
A Testimony Founded For Ever by James H. Sightler 3/10
The Psalter, The Only Hymnal? by Iain H. Murray 7/10
Slavery and Christianity by John Robbins 9/10
By This Standard by Greg L. Bahnsen 6/10
Coffee and Coffeehouses by Ralph S. Haddox 7/10
The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America by John S. Fiske 6/10
The Gulf Coast Boys by Richard J. Dobson 7/10
The Theology of the Westminster Confession by J. V. Fesko 7/10
Into the Silence by Wade Davis 10/10
From Cairo to Christ by Abu Atallah 7/10
Mountain Adventure, Exploring the Appalachian Trail by Ron Fisher 8/10
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn 8/10
Economic Science and the Austrian Method by Hans Hoppe 9/10
Binge Parenting by Rick Kirkman 5/10
The Origin of the Bible ed. Philip Comfort 8/10
The Meaning and Mode of Baptism by Jay Adams 10/10
Park Birds by Wallace Hughes 6/10
Diary of An Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805 by Eric Sloane 10/10
Van Gogh by Pierre Cabanne 10/10
Readings in Ethics by Gordon H. Clark and T. V. Smith 6/10
Selections from Early Greek Philosophy ed. Milton Nahm 6/10
Selections from Hellenistic Philosophy ed. Gordon H. Clark 6/10
A History of Philosophy by Martin, Clark, Clarke, and Ruddick 7/10
A Christian Philosophy of Education by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
A Christian View of Men and Things by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
What Presbyterians Believe by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Thales to Dewey by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Dewey by Gordon H. Clark 5/10
Religion, Reason, and Revelation by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
Karl Barth’s Theological Method by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
William James by Gordon H. Clark 5/10
The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
What Do Presbyterians Believe by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Peter Speaks Today by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
The Philosophy of Gordon H. Clark ed. Ronald Nash 8/10
Biblical Predestination by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
Historiography Secular and Religious by Gordon H. Clark 4/10
The Johannine Logos by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
II Peter, A Short Commentary by Gordon H. Clark 5/10
The Trial and Death of Socrates by Plato 10/10
Calvinism: Pure & Mixed by W. G. T. Shedd 6/10
Romans, An Interpretive Outline by Steele/Thomas 9/10
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain 7/10
A wide variety of books Doug! I am working my way slowly through Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning. Congratulations on the new baby!!
Thanks Scott!
Only a few of these books did I purchase. And only a few of these books were published in 2018. Many of the books I acquired for free from various sources, and have so read with a diversity equal to what has come my way. Perhaps it is too heavily weighted to theology for some, but I have made a conscious effort to broaden my range of readings.
Maple is reading, or rather listening to me read, her own books. Yet I don’t think I’ll include “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” on my ratings list.