Competing priorities slowed down my reading this year, but I managed to consume a wide variety of interesting material:
Books Read 2021
Fiction
1.
William
F. Buckley, Jr., Saving the Queen. Buckley’s fiction was not really that good,
but it serves as a nice diversion from more serious reading.
2.
Jonathan
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. The interactions with the Lilliputians made for more
interesting reading than the land of the giants.
3.
Neil
Munro, Doom Castle. Recommended by a friend. It was ok.
4.
William
F. Buckley, Jr., Stained Glass
Non-Fiction
5.
R.C.
Sproul, What we Believe: Understanding and Confessing the Apostle’s Creed. This
is a nice summary.
6.
Geerhardus
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics: Vol. 1 – Theology Proper. Vos’s writing can be a slog
at times but is worth the effort.
7.
James
E. McGoldrick, Presbyterian and Reformed Churches: a Global History. The spread
of Reformed Christianity is an engaging story, even if all too frequent apostacies
are depressing.
8.
Camden
Bucey, et al, No Uncertain Sound
9.
Edwin
H. Rian, The Presbyterian Conflict. A great account of the founding of the OPC.
10.
Geerhardus
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics: Vol. 4 – Soteriology.
11.
Herman
Ridderbos, Paul: an Outline of his Theology
12.
Bill
Broward, Red Notice. This should be read by everyone who would want to
understand the tyranny of the Putin regime.
13.
J.
I. Packer, Affirming the Apostle’s Creed. Packer is almost always worth
reading.
14.
John
Bolton, The Room Where it Happened. Bolton doesn’t like the former President
for many good reasons, but got himself into the messes he laments.
15.
Geerhardus
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics: Vol. 5 –Ecclesiology, the Means of Grace, Eschatology
16.
Ronald
H. Nash, The Gospel and the Greeks. This is a good basic survey of these
issues.
17.
Julian
Jackson, Charles de Gaulle. I learned a lot about de Gaulle, yet do not feel
like I understand him. That is because de Gaulle himself defies explanation,
though this author made a valiant try.
18.
George
M. Marsden, The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience. An
early work by Marsden. It is good, but not his best work.
19.
R.
Kent Hughes and Douglas Sean O’Donnell, The Pastor’s Book. I found this very
helpful.
20.
David
McCullough, The Path Between the Seas. McCullough always is worth reading. He
covers the French failure and the ultimate American success.
21.
Costi
Hinn, God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel. This is a fascinating story about
the conversion of the nephew of Benni.
22.
Michael
J. Behe, Darwin Devolves
23.
David
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers. Almost anyone will find things to
disagree with in this book, but it is a challenging and fruitful read.
24.
Joel
Richard Paul, Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and his Times. The
subject deserves a better biography.
25.
David
Berlinski, The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. A
sometimes interesting take by a non-Christian.
26.
David
McCullough, The Wright Brothers. This is an amazing story well told.
27.
A.
Scott Berg, Wilson. Wilson is generally sanctimonious and unlikable, though the
biographer tries hard to make him otherwise.
28.
David
McCollough, The Great Bridge. I always like McCullough and enjoyed this story
of the building of this engineering marvel more than I expected.
29.
Rachel
Green Miller, Beyond Authority and Submission. Overall, this is a helpful read.
30.
Antonin
Scalia, The Essential Scalia. Scalia is a great writer. The editing of these
documents was somewhat frustrating.
31.
Saikrishna
Bangalore Prakash, The Living Presidency. This was highly recommended political
philosophy that I found mediocre.
32.
David
McCullough, The Johnstown Flood. A fascinating re-telling of one of the great
natural disasters of American history.
33.
Harvey
C. Mansfield, Jr., Taming the Prince. Better than #31 above.
34.
Doris
Kearns Goodwin, The Bully Pulpit. Contrasts Roosevelt and Taft. It is an
interesting take on these 2 men.
35.
Cornelis P. Venema, Children at the Lord’s
Table. Helpful in addressing this issue in dispute among many of the Reformed.
36.
Aristotle, Rhetoric. Not what most would call
scintillating reading, but many would benefit from an approach that gives significant
focus to the listener.
37.
Nigel Yates, Eighteenth-Century Britain:
Religion and Politics, 1714-1815. I don’t generally enjoy reading surveys. This
was a survey.
38.
Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Hurricane’s Eye.
The American Revolution was won by nature and the French navy in large degree,
so argues this well-written tome.
39.
Lynne Cheney, James Madison: a Life
Reconsidered. I learned a lot about Madison, but thought the writing was
mediocre.
40.
Thomas Oden, Pastoral Theology. I picked this
up because Oden’s life story fascinates me. This particular work, though, was
disappointing.
