I’ve given away my library three times over, keeping a core of books I refer to a lot or that have special meaning to me. Those special books trigger reflection just spotting them on the shelf.
Moving to Asia and back required serious shedding both ways. Nowadays, space and budget are limited (never stopped me before), so I have to make choices. Still I keep adding books here and there because people keep writing great stuff, books my local library doesn’t carry, good as it is.
As this is the season for Christmas wish lists, I thought I’d recommend some of my recent readings, all nonfiction and related to faith. Not all these books will be for everyone, but some of you will find some of them definitely worth your time.
The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust (2024). I’d heard of Francis S. Collins – his groundbreaking work in cystic fibrosis, his leadership in the Human Genome Project, and his role with the National Institutes of Health. But I wasn’t aware how deep a man of faith he is.
Collins has written other books on faith and belief. This time around he focuses on what divides us as a people, addressing the hyper-partisanship and entrenched cynicism of our time. What I like about Collins is how he works to find meeting ground between faith and science, between the secular and the religious.
Earlier this year I caught an episode on PBS. Judy Woodruff had a great interview with Collins and Wilk Wilkinson, a truck driving podcaster. Although both are Christians, Collins and Wilkinson land on opposing political sides, especially concerning the COVID pandemic. But they’ve both been willing to reach out to people on the other side.
Collin’s bridgebuilding and openness to growing come out in The Road to Wisdom. The book has four main sections based on four words in his subtitle – truth, science, faith, and trust. He also writes of his own faith journey and of how we as a society can move forward. Along the way, he tackles some very divisive issues such as public health, climate change, institutional integrity, and what’s ahead with AI.
The book’s dust jacket displays a quote that speaks volumes. Jane Goodall, the famed primatologist, wrote, “This book should be read by anyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, who is seeking meaning or trying to make sense of our times.” Thus, Collins sets out to speak to a very broad audience of people, many of whom may find it hard to be in the same room with each other.
I’m sure readers, regardless of their persuasions, will disagree with Collins at times, maybe frequently. But they’ll be hard-pressed to challenge Collins’ starting point, that dialog is essential, both for preserving our social fabric and for helping us get to truth. I sense he will get you thinking.
God Forgive Us for Being Women: Rhetoric, Theology, and the Pentecostal Tradition (2018). I finally got to reading this book earlier this year. While doing so, I happened to meet the author in person – at the most recent annual conference of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Reading her book and meeting her in person confirmed my belief that Dr. Joy A. E. Qualls is a profound thinker and communicator.
Qualls tackles the thorny issues around whether women should be in ministry. It’s a topic I’ve spent a good portion of my life researching, writing and speaking about. Qualls wasn’t even born when I did my own work on the subject. She is among a new generation of outstanding leaders taking important conversations like this to the next level. She does so with a clarion voice, confident that history has a right side and she is on it.
An ordained minister with the Assemblies of God, Qualls is a communications professor at Biola University, specifically in rhetoric. Put simply, rhetoric is how we communicate, how we inform, persuade, and motivate. You might say, she practices what she preaches and most emphatically calls us to do the same.
As I read through her book, I encountered familiar themes – the historic and often complicated roots and trajectory of the Pentecostal movement, the ongoing dissonance between policy and practice, tensions in the prophetic vs. priestly roles of ministry, and conflicts over whether women should be in the pulpit. Qualls does so with fresh insight into ancient wisdom.
She tackles the various ethical and theological considerations with her refined communication lens. She pays close attention to the diverse voices addressing the role of women in our world even as she gives voice to the significant contribution the Pentecostal movement has made when it comes to women in ministry. In a time when various Pentecostal distinctives are being challenged, Qualls’ voice is one to be heard.
The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy (2012). I’d never heard of Daniel I. Block until I had a conversation with Rebekah Josberger, who was then professor at Multnomah University. I loved hearing her preach and knew that her field of study, Old Testament, was focused on that most misunderstood and dreaded of books – Deuteronomy. Unlike most people, however, she was in love with this last of the books of Moses.
I asked Dr. Josberger to recommend a commentary on Deuteronomy, one that would take me on a deep dive. Instead of a commentary, she suggested this book by her mentor, Daniel Block. The Gospel According to Moses is a compendium of academic papers this Old Testament scholar has written over the years.
I love the book because it does go deep, drawing on the ancient biblical languages, which I cannot read. I found it intellectually stretching and yet there were enough footholds in the context to keep me climbing. Block tackles the gritty issues and technical challenges, but he does so in a way that had me falling in love with the book of Deuteronomy for the first time in my life.
Not just specific verses such as 6:5, love God with your whole being, or 30:19, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” But the whole fabric, seeing the whole and not just the more appetizing parts. In Deuteronomy, Block does not see Old Testament law as superseded by New Testament grace; he sees Old Testament grace.
Deuteronomy, for him, is not a stale archive of ancient laws, it is a testament to a bold new adventure of understanding the grace of God. Woven throughout Deuteronomy is teaching that rises to rhetorical heights. And, by the way, I will never look at the Ten Commandments the same way again.
Strange Religion: How the First Christians were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling (2024). Nijay K. Gupta is someone I hope to meet someday, maybe over a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of iced tea. He teaches at Northern Seminary, but lives not that far away from me, just up the road in Portland, Oregon.
This is his volume on early Christian believers, think the first couple of centuries or so – what they believed and why, how they behaved that was so radically different, what made them stand out in their own time, why their movement grew so rapidly. Gupta brings a wealth of historic, sociological, cultural, and theological resources to bear.
It is easy for us to read the New Testament out of context. Most passages seem to portal their way to the 21st century with little effort, at least on a surface level. But much is missed when we don’t dive into the world in which those passages were written. Not just the world of the original disciples, but the world of those first, second, and third generation recipients of these letters and gospels.
Gupta expressly says he is writing descriptively, so we can understand what was – not prescriptively for what we do with all that ancient information in our own era. But by being descriptive, he provides the necessary first step in understanding what those New Testament writings might mean for us today, as we live in a world increasingly distant from the Christian faith.
Is the Commission still Great? 8 Myths about Missions and What They Mean for the Church (2022). This book by Steve Richardson was assigned reading. No, I wasn’t taking a class; I’d just joined the missions committee at my local church and was given a free book and told to read it. Free is good. So was this book.
Richardson is the son of Don Richardson, author of the missionary classic, Peace Child. Steve, who grew up in the Peace Child world, has devoted his adult life to the work of mobilization and reaching those who have yet to encounter the good news.
In this short, easy-to-read book, the younger Richardson tackles some troublesome issues, modern concerns about the validity of missionary endeavors. Are Western missionaries obsolete? Are career missionaries necessary? Is missions harmful? These are just some of the tough questions being asked by Western churches everywhere and too often answered without the benefit of a good guide. Richardson is a good guide.
Even when I disagree with him, which is rarely, I appreciate his wisdom and insights and find myself amen-ing him especially where my “been there, done that” aligns with his, which is often. Even on the chapter I wrestled with the most – is everything missions? – I got where he was coming from. Might have said it differently, but I got it. And his concerns are essential to hear.
For one more book recommendation, see my recent review on Introduction to Biblical Interpretation: Participating in God’s Story of Redemption (2024) by Jacqueline Grey and Paul W. Lewis: Here is a great introduction to biblical interpretation.
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Bonus recommendation: I was a Stranger and You Took Me In: Pentecostal Responses to the Refugee Crisis (2025), edited by Lois E. Olena, is drawn from papers presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. I haven’t read it yet, but I have seen some of the ingredients that went into its making. I’m suggesting it now before I’ve had a chance to review it because it is on sale this month only.
Through an interdisciplinary lens, the book engages biblical-theological insights, political and ethical challenges, and practical strategies for action in responding to the global refugee crisis. As I write this, I have it on order – took advantage of the 50%-off sale by the publisher (see below). I will be reviewing it, but now is your opportunity to get it as cheaply.
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On the readability spectrum, Collins and Richardson are the most, Block by far the least. To echo Jane Goodall, non-Christians will appreciate Collins – and probably Gupta, especially if they like history. The other books are for a Christian audience, though I have non-Christian friends who will appreciate Qualls.
Several of these books will adapt well to small group studies, particularly Richardson and Grey/Lewis, maybe even Gupta. As would Collins, which would make a great launching pad for discussion, especially in book reading circles. Qualls should be read by every church leader and those studying for the ministry, specifically those in the Pentecostal tradition. As highly as I think of Block, it is not for everyone. Its academic intensity will still make a good reference for preachers and Bible teachers.
FOR THIS MONTH ONLY – November 2025 – Wipf & Stock has a 50% off sale on all its titles, if you use the code CONFSHIP. The sale includes Qualls’ God Forgive us for Being Women, Block’s The Gospel according to Moses, and Olena’s I was a Stranger and You Took Me In. And while you’re at it, you might as well order my book, Ethics in the Age of the Spirit: Race, Women, War, and the Assemblies of God. It will never be cheaper. Hurry, the sale lasts JUST 4 more days.
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