Book Reviews
Wherefore Beauty? A Review of Evangelical Theological Aesthetics
Evangelical Theological Aesthetics: A Theology of Beauty and Perception. By Ryan Currie. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2025. 300 pp. $45 (paper). The Roman Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) once said of contemporary Protestant theology that it “nowhere deals with the beautiful as a theological category” (4). Although Balthasar’s statement rang true for many…
Review: A House for the Word
A House for the Word: A Treatise on Public Worship from Hooker’s Laws. By Richard Hooker. Modernized and edited by Patrick Timmis and Brad Littlejohn. Davenant Press, 2025. 188pp. Paperback, $12.95. About a month ago I was pleasantly surprised to receive a message from the Davenant Institute that another volume in their project to modernize…
Book Review: “The Shining Human Creature” & “Made Like the Maker” by Thomas Traherne
The Shining Human Creature and Made Like the Maker. By Thomas Traherne. Modernized by Colin Redemer. The Davenant Institute, 2023. 133 pp and 140 pp. $17.95 each (paper). Thomas Traherne has one of those names that just sounds like he was born as an Oxford poet in a quaint, misty English village. In this case, that…
Book Review: “King of Kings”
King of Kings: A Reformed Guide to Christian Government. By James Baird. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2025. 120 pp. $21.98 (hardcover). The effort to renew classical Protestant political thought has been ongoing for the past few years, with Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism serving as a major impetus for the publication of…
Review: Anglican Spirituality
Anglican Spirituality: An Introduction. By Greg Peters. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2024. 87pp. $17.00 (paperback). I first heard about Anglican Spirituality through a critical review titled “Not Anglican Enough.” This review had been making the rounds in some of the social media circles I frequent. The reviewer complained that there was little in the book that…
Book Review: “That Blessed Liberty”
That Blessed Liberty: Episcopal Bishops and the Development of the American Republic 1789-1860. By Miles Smith IV and Adam Carrington. South Bend, IN: Prolego Press, 2025. 179 pp. $22 (hardcover). In the ongoing search for Anglican identity, contemporary American Anglicans have understandably looked to the historic Church of England for guidance. However, Miles Smith IV…
Book Review: “Making Disciples”
Making Disciples: Catechesis in History, Theology, and Practice. By Alex Fogleman: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2025. 220 pp. $29.99 (paper). For those who are interested in restoring the practice of catechesis, the task of finding a suitable catechism should pose no difficulty, as there are many options readily available, both old and new. The question of…
Book Review: “World of Wonders”
World Of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading. By Jeff Crosby. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2025. 176 pp. $18.99 (paper). I have put forth the suggestion that books are a way that our lives can be opened up, expanded, sharpened, deepened, and made more vibrant and whole. Reading as part of our practice of spiritual disciplines is…
Review: Hear, Read, Mark, Learn, and Inwardly Digest
Hear, Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest: Preaching for the People of God. By Justin D. Clemente. Self-Published, 2025. 89 pp. $9.99 (paper). No one can doubt that the sermon or homily is an important part of Sunday worship. Some traditions emphasize it more, and some emphasize it less. In our own Anglican tradition, we…
Book Review: “Versing the Mystery”
Versing the Mystery. By Christopher Villiers. Waterloo, ON: Arouca Press, 2024. 202 pp. $19.95 (paperback). Poetry has been long believed to hold mystical, even sacred powers. Up until the modern period, it has historically held more reverence and cultural sway than prose. As James Matthew Wilson asserts in The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age…