Scribblings

What I'm reading in print and on the web (July 2025)

If you’ve enjoyed Chuck’s book, Chosen by the Sword, and are waiting with baited breath for the second installment in the Professor Howard series (it’s finished and with the editor!), you can check out the latest Professor Howard short story in Cannon Fodder 2025. Here’s the blurb for the short story, “Professor Howard and the Interlibrary Loan Request of Death”:

Dave Howard is given the simple job of borrowing a book from his boss’ colleague. But this task turns out to be more trouble than anybody could have predicted, and Dave finds himself trapped between two deathless warriors and an insane sorcerer.

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Brad East’s review of the new book, Tech Exit, is compelling. This book is going on my reading list. I’m especially intrigued by this observation about the church:

Third, this book was one more reminder that many churches are part of the problem. The time is long past to commit to screen-free church. Pastors have a responsibility to act. Rid the sanctuary of screens. Keep all digital devices in the foyer or the car. Quit using social media for news and updates, and for God’s sake, don’t make youth group harder for teens without smartphones. Christians should be ashamed that the church is bringing up the rear—behind public schools!—on the ills of digital technology. We could have led. Unfortunately, that time has passed. The least we can do now is catch up to everyone else.

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I’m currently reading Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz. Based on the class that they teach at Yale, Volf, Croasmun, and McAnnally-Linz consider the question: what is the shape of a flourishing life? There is a lot of overlap between this book and the classes that my husband teaches (Positive Psychology) and that I teach (theological ethics; spiritual formation). I appreciate the reflective exercises the authors include at the end of every chapter.

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I’ve started reading Peter Leithart’s The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church in preparation for a reading group that runs through the summer. It’s interesting reading while I am re-reading Aidan Nichols’ The Panther and the Hind: A Theological History of Anglicanism given that Nichols’ primary audience is a Roman Catholic audience.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.