what I've been reading...

I have decided today to use this web log to log something on the web. Since most anyone who ever reads this would tend to be a fairly close friend or family member, I figure you wouldn't care to know somewhat of what I'm up to. So here's what I've been reading and listening to for the past several months.

1. I just a few moments ago finished Introducing Covenant Theology by Michael Horton. I bought this book a few weeks before Amelia and I got married, and it's taken me several goes to get through it. The biggest difficulty I had was with his first 4 chapters, in which Horton lays the exegetical foundation for his theological insights in the remaining five chapters. I found that, fairly often, I could not follow the flow of his argument. Whether this was lack of ability on my part or of clarity on Dr. Horton's, I leave to history to decide. In the meantime, his fifth chapter, on Covenant Theology as a system, and the sixth, on the doctrine of Providence and common grace, in which he details the "two kingdoms" view of Christianity and culture, were very helpful. These chapters and his denial of supercessionism in later sections made wading through the heavier material at the beginning worthwhile- even if I felt at times that Horton could have used a chart or some subheadings in those exegetical discussions.
2. At the same time that I bought the above monograph, I also ordered The Advent of Evangelicalism edited by Michael Haykin and Kenneth Stewart. I am not done with this anthology yet, but it has been very exciting to pick up and read for little bits at a time. It is a series of essays challenging the "Bebbington Thesis," which places a great emphasis on the ties between Evangelicalism at its inception with the Enlightenment. A lot of the claims by the Pomo crowds are given a veneer of scholarship by clinging to this kind of a linkage, so it is good that a great many scholars could be rounded up to challenge Bebbington's claims. The final entry is a brief response by David Bebbington himself, and maybe someday I will actually get there. I am dog-eared in at the beginning of chapter 12, Jonathan Edwards: Continuator or Pioneer?, by Douglas Sweeney and Brandon Withrow. That means there are only seven chapters to go!
3. Another book which I have nibbled on since leaving home for Calvary Bible College in January 2009 is Paul Johnson's History of the American People. I stole this from my Dad's shelf while I was home for Christmas, and I have slowly managed to reach the 20th Century, so I must be about two-thirds of the way through. It's been about 10 months since I last read any further in it.
4. I read two books during a trip to St. Louis a few months back. One of them Amelia read aloud in the car. It was Kinda Christianity by Ted Kluck and Zach Bartels. It was kinda funny, but really short.
5. The other was Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. It was a very quick, balanced take on decision-making, marked by a challenge (especially to young men) to "just do something." DeYoung showed how a great many young people use a mystical quest for God's hidden will as an excuse to sit around and ignore the opportunities God has given them. He says that such folks need to use God's Word and their sanctified reason to find someone to marry, or to choose a career, or to make any big decision. While DeYoung spends a chapter of the short book pointing out that God can and sometimes does interrupt our cerebral will-finding with occasional moments of supernatural leading, we should not use the lack of such leading as an excuse to sit and contemplate our navels. On the whole, the book was helpful.
6. Terry Prachet's Monstrous Regiment was sitting on our bookshelf downstairs and I picked it up and read it throughout last week. It was a pleasant enough story, though I liked the characters and pace of the only other Discworld novel I have read, Going Postal, better.
7. I also ran through P.G. Wodehouse's Galahad at Blandings last week. It was pleasant and quick. Wodehouse is a lot of fun, whatever he's doing.

So, that's the first 8. I'd better get these up before Blogger's terrible posting program dumps all of my links again.