Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Book Log - July 2012


Books Read:
30. A Christian View of Men and Things - Gordon Clark. A reread for me. Clark is brilliant, lucid, and completely demolishes opposition to Biblical epistemology from unbelievers and inconsistent Christian thinkers. The book is arranged topically, but Clark proceeds through each topic to accumulate the case for Scriptural foundations for knowledge and its justification.

31. 2 Kings - Dale Ralph Davis. I've been reading this in conjunction with teaching through 1 and 2 Kings in Sunday School. DRD is my favorite "lay-level" expositor. He engages with enough scholarship to provide helpful insights, but retains some well-placed applications. He isn't comprehensive, but he's pithy and he doesn't mince words or make mealy-mouthed suppositions.

32. Full Metal Alchemist 4
33. Full Metal Alchemist 5
34. Full Metal Alchemist 6
All of the above are continuations of my "junk food" reading. I have no good justification other than it interests me in several superficial ways.

35. The Anatomy of Prose - Marjorie Boulton. I got this one to help stimulate some writing pedagogy for the upcoming year. It is an older book (1954 I think), but has some helpful discussions. Particularly helpful was the chapter on prose rhythm.

36. Feed My Lambs - Tim Gallant. This book gives the best exegetical case (in terms of comprehensiveness) for paedocommunion. I don't find all of Gallant's arguments demonstrative (like many others, he tends to rely too much upon what he thinks are shared assumptions), but many of them are compelling when given some further thought. The opponent claims he addresses seem pretty weak, but he's gathering them from credible sources. I was convinced of paedocommunion before reading this book, and Gallant's fine work only solidifies my convictions. If you are on the fence, or haven't even considered the doctrine, you should start here. If you aren't covenantal or reformed, you won't be ready for this book, yet.


Books Bought:
40. The Creation of the American Republic,1776-1787 - Gordon S. Wood.
41. The Enlightenment in America - Henry F. May.
42. Rhetoric and History in Revolutionary New England - Donald Weber
43. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution - Bernard Bailyn
44. Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal - Douglas Sloan
45. Revolution & Religion: American Revolutionary War and the Reformed Clergy - Keith L. Griffin
46. Things, Thoughts, Words, and Actions - H. Lewis Ulman
47. Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times - George A. Kennedy
48. John Witherspoon Comes to America - L. H. Butterfield
49. John Witherspoon: Parson, politician, patriot - Martha Lou Lemmon Stohlman
50. History of Speech Education in America - Karl Wallace

All of the books I bought this month are resources for my dissertation, with the exception of the George Kennedy volume, which, sadly, seems to have been lost in the mail, since I've not yet received it.