The book that ...

The book I am currently reading

That happens to be The Darwin Effect: Its Influence on Nazism, Eugenics, Racism, Communism, Capitalism & Sexism by American Jerry Bergman. I like to read some of the Creationist material that is around from time to time. Devotionally, I have just started A Scribe Well Trained: Archibald Alexander and the Life of Piety put together by Alexander expert James M Garretson (The Banner of Truth publish Alexander's Thoughts on Religious Experience the source for much of this material). I love the Profiles in Reformed Spirituality series published by RHB. I had previously been reading the excellent Thomas Goodwin volume assembled by Joel Beeke and Mark Jones.

The book that changed my life

It is difficult to immediately think of a book that fits neatly into this category. I do remember, however, reading, as a teenager, the Banner edition of A W Pink's The Sovereignty of God. If I remember correctly I read it once and simply accepted it as I accepted all the new teachings that came into my life through the preaching and from the age of 12 up. I then read it again as a university student and really struggled with it and recall hurling it across the room at one point (something I have only done twice in my life – the other time I was reading Jude the Obscure by the atheistic fatalist Thomas Hardy). It seemed to me that Pink was giving just too much power to God. It was as if he is sovereign over everything … which I now see really is the case.

The book I wish I'd written

I have just discovered the details of a new book called Steal Away Home: Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson, Unlikely Friends on the Passage to Freedom by Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey. Like most people reading this I have long been aware of the nineteenth century preacher C H Spurgeon and about thirty years ago I became aware of Thomas L Johnson, who once preached here in Childs Hill and whose fascinating autobiography is called Twenty-Eight Years a Slave, or The Story of My Life in Three Continents. I have written brief pieces on Johnson for magazines and blogs but this is a full length lightly fictionalised account that treats of both men and I would love to have had some involvement in it. Hopefully, it will prove to be far better than I could have hoped to have done with the material.

The book that helped me in my preaching

I have found help on this in many places. The book that I have most often turned to for help is Dr Lloyd-Jones' matchless Preachers and preaching. It never fails to challenge. I also love Stuart Olyott's Preaching pure and simple. Perhaps the book I have gained most practical help from, however, is Haddon Robinson's Expository preaching: Principles and Practice (IVP) which first came out three years into my ministry, in 1986, and has been described as a modern classic. It is a very practical book and sets out some very helpful homiletical material. Also helpful, slightly paradoxically, is Jay Adams' book for hearers Be careful how you listen: How to get the most out of a sermon.

The book I think is most underrated

Possibly Thoughts on Religious Experience. I would also mention two little books by the Westminster Seminary professor Edwin H Palmer best known for his work on the original NIV. Palmer sadly died from a heart attack in 1980, aged only 58. in his lifetime he produced two wonderful books. One on The Five Points of Calvinism and one on The Holy Spirit. (Banner produces both of them in Spanish). They were obviously written some time ago and may have been superseded to some extent but it is a great shame that the volumes are not better known. They are very helpful indeed.

The book that made me say many Amens as I turned its pages

This may seem a strange choice but I will never forget reading the Biographical memoir of J Gresham Machen by Ned Stonehouse, currently kept in print by the Banner and originally published in 1954. At the time of reading I had many ideas of what the ideal Christian life might be like and reading this wonderful life helped both to remove some of my more unrealistic and erroneous ideas and to show me how what in some ways was a remarkably unspectacular life can truly be for the glory of God.

The last book that made me weep

Not generally being given to weeping except for mere sentimental reasons, this is a hard question to answer. Perhaps the book that has most moved and challenged me in recent years is Al Martin's You Lift Me Up: Overcoming Ministry Challenges (RHB) which looks soberingly, as the publicity puts it, at “Backsliding - a spiritual decline manifested first in the prayer closet, burnout – the erosion of one's mental, emotional, psychological and physical resilience and buoyancy and washout - the loss of credibility among the people.”

The book I'm most ashamed not to have read

There are probably several in this category and I have often failed to finish sometimes good books as well as poor ones but the one that comes to mind in this context is Spiritual Depression, Its causes and cure by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a series of sermons first published in 1964. I have often picked it up and begun to read but never gone very far., which has not been my experience with other books of sermons by the same author. I heard George Verwer of OM once complain about the title and plead for it to be changed. Maybe he is on to something there.

The book I most often give to new church members and young Christians

At the moment I use a little booklet now out of print called The real thing? It was put together many years ago for Grace Publications Trust by Philip Tait. It really goes back to Jonathan Edwards' eighteenth century work Religious Affections which was reworked in the following century by Gardiner Spring. In more recent times Al Martin and Ernie Reisinger then John Appleby and Keith Davies simplified that work. The final redactor was Philip Tait.

The book I give to people thinking of becoming Christians

There are number of good books available, thankfully. Like many reading this my go to resource in this area is still John Blanchard's Ultimate Questions which is available in such a wide variety of formats and languages.

The book I wish I were able to write, and want someone to write

This would be a straightforward book on the priesthood of all believers. One or two contributions have been made to the subject but there is no obvious go to volume that one could give with total confidence to the average church member. May be I will get round to it one day.

I would also like to complete a potential trilogy of commentaries. I have written Heavenly Wisdom (on Proverbs) and Heavenly Love (on Song of Songs) available in the Welwyn series. As I enter old age I would love to tackle Ecclesiastes. Heavenly Worldliness perhaps Heavenly earthliness might be better. There are many commentaries on Ecclesiastes but, it seems to me that not many really capture the spirit in which Solomon wrote.

The best book for children

There are many good books for children these days, including the beautifully produced biographical books penned by Simonetta Carr. The Banner books on the early church fathers by Sinclair Ferguson are also very good. Top of my list, however, is the beautifully produced The Barber Who Wanted to Pray by R C Sproul, which tells the story of Luther and his barber Peter. (I recently discovered that Peter tragically later killed his son-in-law in a drunken rage, wisely not mentioned in this book, which keeps me from any mere sentimentality about this lovely story).

This article first appeared on the Banner of Truth website