Recent Reads & Reflections Vol. V

I continue my foray into Ex-vangelical memiors with Jon Ward’s Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Failed a Generation. At this point, I’ve read many authors who identify as former Evangelical Christians, and while I continue to fundamentally disagree with their philosophy and framework for abandoning the Christian faith, Jon Ward may be the more charitable of the authors I’ve read. Ward, a longtime political commentator and journalist, details his upbringing in, and eventual break from, an influential evangelical church in the 1980s and 1990s.

This author was recommended by Tim Challies, and having read the first of three in this series, I can confidently understand why Challies has recommended this author. The Retreat by Kees Postma is a comical yet somehow realistic fictionalization of vocational church ministry. Postma is a Dutch Baptist pastor and writer. He takes some of his past experiences and brilliantly (and comically) tells the story of Case Parker, a weary pastor who’s spent years pouring into others only to find himself spiritually drained. At the heart of the book is a character named Cornelius O’Hallihan, an Irish preacher whose gentle wisdom speaks to Case’s deeper questions in life. I can recommend this book to you!

I can count on one hand the books that have actually given me chills — Susan Hill’s The Man in the Picture is one of them. Don’t let the unassuming cover fool you; what’s inside is genuinely unsettling. Hill has become one of my favorite authors as of late. Her novels are written in a descriptive gothic style and does a supreme job of setting atmospheric tone in her writing. I can recommend this book to you!

Some celebrity deaths just stick with you — you remember exactly where you were when you heard. For me, Robin Williams is one of those, alongside Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, and Matthew Perry. I grew up with Williams secondhand, mostly through Mork & Mindy reruns and whichever of his films happened to be family-friendly enough for the household. His stand-up, though? A little too salty for my young ears, and my adult ears for that matter. Robin by Dave Itzkoff is a very robust commentary (544 pgs) of his life from birth to his early death. He was a deeply troubled man that brought many laughs to generations of people.