What I've Been Reading #1
A useful curated list, maybe.
I’m going to try and curate a decent list of books I’m reading and benefitting from. Here’s this month’s list.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.
The book tells the story of a butler, Mr. Stevens, who served a prominent Lord through the post-World War 1 period through World War 2 and after. An American buys his Lord’s estate after that man passes away. Those details aren’t quite that important. For someone raised on Downton Abbey, there’s some expectations about the nobleness of serving work, but Ishiguro dismantles those expectations pretty deftly. The ending, which I won’t spoil, is gutting in deep, emotional way. The line between duty and remembering to live is a thin one.
‘Lord Darlington wasn’t a bad man. He wasn’t a bad man at all. And at least he had the privilege of being able to say at the end of his life that he made his own mistakes. His lordship was a courageous man. He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship’s wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can’t even say I made my own mistakes. Really – one has to ask oneself – what dignity is there in that?’
God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment by James M. Hamilton
I picked up this book because I unabashedly love the Bible Talk podcast. If you’ve listened to that podcast, this book retreads familiar ground. The book is aptly named, Hamilton claims that the unifying theme of all of Scripture can be condensed into the phrase, God’s glory in salvation through judgment. People have criticized the ubiquitous nature of chiasms in Hamilton’s analysis, and to a lesser extend, the focus on literary structure. I find many of those observations compelling, though not all. I also question whether this theme, enumerated this way, can really fit every single book of the Bible as precisely as one would like. Regardless, the book does an excellent job of showing the repeated pattern of God’s glory, Christ’s salvation, and the relief from or assignment to judgment.
(in relation to the fall in Genesis 3) “It is important to note that had there been no transgression, there would have been no judgment. Had there been no judgment, there could be no mercy. It would not be needed.”
Friendship with God by Mike McKinley
McKinley brings John Owen’s words from Communion with God to life. This was his goal and I think he succeeded. Puritans are great, but the language can be inaccessible for many. McKinley bridges the gap nicely. He develops the themes of our union with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit well and reminds us that God himself equips us to be with him, because he genuinely delights in us.
“If you’ve ever been comforted in a difficult time by the words of Christ, that was the work of the Spirit bringing consolation to you.”