Why give you a list of books? Because we think reading is important, and we think Christians ought to be reading books. Social media allows for discourse as sophisticated as a hammer trying to play a piano. While it might be admittedly hard to look away, we wouldn’t call that good music. Books, on the other hand, allow for longer, more thoughtful, and more philosophical discourse. It also involves more pain than social media, which is why reading is the manlier endeavor. If you want to have more productive discussions about theology, history, and culture, then you need to keep a book in your hand. Book reading is an opportunity to think deeply about some slice of the staggering reality of God’s world.

Here are two book reviews by Jason Cherry, with more to come in future weeks from other elders.

1. Joel Kramer, Where God Came Down: The Archeological Evidence (Sourceflix, 2020).

When archeology is done only of individual locations, and not the archeology of all, including all the context of the biblical narrative, it is quite impossible to describe the movement of ancient humanity. But that hasn’t stopped secular archaeologists from supplying the conception of a force, such as Darwinism or a political ideology, to direct their interpretation toward a certain end. But Christians know that the only such conception belongs to God. And when it comes to biblical archeology, the Bible provides the power of interpretation. The Bible is the headwater that makes sense of the material of archeology.

Joel Kramer has written an archaeology book that provides insights into history and methodology. But more than that, it provides biblical discoveries, compelling narratives, and helpful visual elements such as maps, diagrams, and photographs of sites and ruins. Archaeology demonstrates the historicity of the people, places, and events of the Bible. For all these reasons and more, Where God Came Down reads more like a devotional than an archaeology book. Keep your Bible near. The ancient discoveries uncover biblical texts that you previously glossed over.

This is the kind of book that will edify experienced Bible readers. But then you will find yourself calling the kids over to show them the pictures and opening your Bible to show them something in God’s Word. We need more books like this.

Excerpt:

“Constantine commissioned only four churches to be built on the Holy Land. Three of these churches were erected at locations where the New Testament records major events taking place in Jesus’ life. Because of the Christian belief that it was actually Jesus who had appeared to Abraham, Constantine’s church at Mamre is the only one to honor an event from the Old Testament. According to Justin and Eusebius, the preincarnate Jesus had appeared to Abraham and Sarah at Mamre. Jesus came to them, promising that in the future he would, through their offspring, bless all the nations of earth. Jesus gave the promise. Jesus was the promise.” (pg. 23)

2. Peter Kreeft, Ha! A Christian Philosophy of Humor (St. Augustine’s Press, 2022).

The biggest joke in history was the one God played on the Devil at Christ’s resurrection. For Christians, Good Friday is our mourning, and Easter Sunday is our laughter. For the Devil, it’s reversed, and that explains everything you need to know about Hell. It’s the place where everyone takes themselves too seriously. They can’t laugh at their own mistakes and ridiculousness. And, most damning, they don’t laugh at God’s jokes.

Christians need a thorough recovery of humor. G.K. Chesterton said, “A characteristic of the great saints is their power of levity.” Too many Christians scroll their way to misery as they find one thing after another to get outraged about. The best refutation of absurdity is to point and laugh. The wise man hears absurdity, smirks, and moves on. He knows nonsense collapses under its own weight and isn’t worth the emotional investment. The fool, on the other hand, hears absurdity, puffs himself up like an outraged rooster, and flails at it as if sheer indignation could set the world right. He forgets that we have the Resurrection, and so he mistakes nonsense for a threat, exhausting himself in emotions that always downgrade his soul, while the wise man enjoys the show and orders some more popcorn.

You can’t be the wise man if you don’t discern what kind of story you’re in. It’s a story where “Everything, even evil, is working together for good to all who love God” (14). So the holy person laughs in two directions. First, laughing with all things. Second, laughing at all things, namely, our idols and double standards; our moralistic and legalistic scruples; and our ideological substitutes.

Peter Kreeft is one of the few Christian writers who is actually good at writing! This is another thing we should laugh at, but enough about the quality of big-box evangelical publishing. Kreeft’s prose is beautiful and creative. His insights are sanctifying and enlightening. And in the case of this book, he is funny and lyrical.¹ I’m always looking for an excuse to read a Peter Kreeft book since they always prove more time-worthy than the latest generic offering from your favorite “gospel-centered” publisher. This short book is guaranteed to make you a happier person.

Excerpt:

“A priest, a minister and a rabbi were friends. They all had in common a love of animals and an admiration for Saint Francis of Assisi, who not only preached to the birds but also tamed a wild wolf. Each one thought he was the one who has the most of Saint Francis’s spirit. One day they decided to resolve that dispute by a contest. They went camping in the woods, and each was to find a bear, tame him, convert him, and bring him back to their camp. The minister came back first with a bear that he had taught to pray the “sinner’s prayer” on his knees. The priest came back next with a bear that he had baptized. The rabbi came back last, but without a bear and with his clothes ripped and his skin bleeding. ‘What happened to you?’ they asked. The rabbi said, ‘It’s not fair! You Protestants have to start with the sinner’s prayer, and you Catholics have to start with baptism, but we Jews have to start with circumcision.” (pg 37f)

Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.

Footnotes

¹ For another interesting book on humor, albeit a more difficult read, see Cicero’s How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor republished by Princeton University Press.