Book Reviews
Book Reviews
The Meeting Place: Quiet Spiritual Practices for Dwelling with God in Prayer
Author: Laura Kauffman
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 97815 40906113
Retail Price: $18.99
From the Publisher:
We long to tangibly experience the presence of God--to come and see what the Lord has done, to be still and know our God. Far too often, that longing is swallowed up in the dings of technology, the demands of our schedules, and the duties of our faith. We are exhausted--and missing deep connection with the divine.
The Meeting Place is a guide to two ancient, proven practices for drawing near to God in a loud and distracting world: spiritual direction--the art of attending to God's movements in your life with the help of a trained companion--and contemplative prayer--the practice of quieting the mind and opening the heart to receive rather than speak. Together, these practices create a meeting place: a space of unhurried encounter between your soul and a God who is closer than you think.
Written for anyone who longs to experience God more deeply--especially those who feel new to contemplative practice, spiritually burned out, or simply too busy to stop--each chapter offers:
● A personal story--drawn from Laura Kauffman's own journey as a practicing spiritual director and poet, illuminating what she has discovered in the quiet
● A practical exercise--something you can try on your own or bring into community, designed to make ancient practices accessible in ordinary life
Laura Kauffman's writing has been described as turning a poet's eye toward the rhythms of daily life--a careful meditation on meaning found in what often goes unnoticed. That same quality of attention shapes every page of this book, making it ideal for personal devotional use, spiritual direction groups, or contemplative retreat settings.
If you long to be aware of the nearness of God, to rest in his presence, and to be equipped to listen to him, The Meeting Place is your guide toward an ever-deepening intimacy with God.
Lacking Nothing: The Year I Lost My Ability to Eat and Found Satisfaction in Christ
Author: Natasha Kennedy
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 97815 4090605 2
Retail Price: $18.99
From the Publisher:
Discover God's gifts hidden in seasons of lack
There are so many ways we experience lack in this life: loneliness, loss, underemployment, empty-nesting, literal hunger, the void left by a habit overcome but not yet replaced. Each creates a hole in our souls that we may try everything to fill--but only one thing is needed. Natasha Kennedy knows this not as a theological abstraction but as the daily reality in a body that cannot swallow food.
Through a debilitating chronic illness, Natasha lost her ability to eat solid food. Lacking Nothing tells the story of that first year--the grief, the temptation, and the slow, grace-filled discovery that Jesus was not merely sufficient for her suffering but present within it.
"I will always experience the temptation to turn my head to the right or to the left, toward other pleasures or comforts to wash over my sadness or fill my emptiness. But this emptiness is my allotted suffering; it is my appointed opportunity to see Jesus fill the emptiness and be to me what he has always been."
This is a book for anyone in a prolonged season of lack--chronic illness, grief, loneliness, spiritual dryness, or any form of hunger that platitudes have failed to touch. Through her remarkable story of choosing to trust Jesus's promise that he is indeed enough, Natasha will encourage you to cling to him in your own pain and not let go.
Lacking Nothing is not a book about being healed. It is a book about being held--and discovering, in the depths of what you cannot fix or fill, that Jesus has been enough all along.
If your lack has brought you to the end of yourself, this book will meet you there, and point you to the One who has been there all along.
The Book of Psalms: A Transparent Translation for Daily Meditation
Author: James M. Hamilton Jr.
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 97815 40905 994
Retail Price: $18.99
From the Publisher:
A literal translation that offers fresh insight into the Psalms
The psalms are the inspired prayers and praises of God's people. When we study and pray them, they change us--we are shaped by Scripture to think about God the way the psalmists did, and their words become the overflow of our hearts. But much of what makes the psalms so powerful is embedded in the structure and artistry of the original Hebrew--features that most English translations, by rendering the psalms according to the conventions of English poetry, inevitably obscure.
This translation takes a different approach. Intentionally literal and transparent to the underlying Hebrew, James M. Hamilton Jr.'s rendering lets the structure of the original show through--allowing readers to encounter the psalms' language and form in ways most English translations don't permit. Rather than smoothing the Hebrew into fluent English verse, Hamilton holds back and lets the poetry speak on its own terms, preserving and displaying the features that define it:
● Repetition--the deliberate recurrence of words and phrases that creates emphasis and rhythm in Hebrew verse
● Parallelism--the matching or contrasting of lines that is the defining feature of Hebrew poetry
● Symmetry and contrast--the balanced structures that give individual psalms their shape and coherence
● Amplification--the movement from statement to expansion that deepens meaning across a psalm's arc
The result is a translation designed for pastors, students, and serious lay readers who want to peer into the actual words of the psalms and understand how they work.
This new and distinctive translation is ideal for those who, like the blessed man of Psalm 1, aspire to meditate on God's Word day and night--and want to do so with greater fidelity to the words the psalmists actually wrote.
Navigating Tough Texts of the Old Testament, Volume 1: A Guide to Problem Passages from Genesis Through Deuteronomy
Author: Tremper Longman III
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 97815 40971463
Retail Price: $24.99
From the Publisher:
Learn to interpret difficult biblical texts and never skip a hard passage again
As we read through the Bible, it's common to encounter puzzling or confusing passages. This is especially the case with the Old Testament, since its time and cultural setting are so far removed from our own. It's tempting to skip over these problem passages in our personal Bible study or in our preaching and teaching. But if all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, those passages were preserved for our benefit.
In Navigating Tough Texts of the Old Testament, volume 1 of a planned series, veteran scholar and translator Tremper Longman III guides us through difficult passages in Genesis through Deuteronomy, answering questions like
● Why are there different English translations of Genesis 1:1-2?
● Were the Hebrew midwives wrong to lie to Pharaoh?
● How do we make sense of the purity laws in Leviticus?
● What were the urim and thummim?
● and more
Along the way, we will understand why English Bible translations differ from one another and become more confident, discerning readers of the entire Bible, not just the difficult passages.
For pastors who preach the whole Bible, students who study it seriously, and readers who have always wanted better answers to the questions they were afraid to ask, Navigating Tough Texts of the Old Testament is the guide you've been waiting for.
Wild God: 40 Devotions for Adventure, Resilience, and Faith in the Wilderness
Author: Creek Stewart
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 97815 40905 710
Retail Price: $21.99
From the Publisher:
Discover the wild character of God in the quiet of creation
God loves the wilderness and uses it to draw people closer to Him. Adam and Eve, the Israelites, David, and even Jesus spent significant time in the wilderness. The wilderness was designed by God to be a place to escape life's distractions, marvel at His creation, and grow in dependence on Him.
Wild God is a 40-day devotional designed to help you encounter God not only through wilderness themes but also through intentional time spent in His creation.
Blending biblical truth with real-life outdoor experiences, each devotion helps you:
● Step away from the noise and encounter God the way Jesus so often did: outside, away from it all, in the quiet of creation
● See God's provision woven into the natural world through survival principles that map directly onto the character of a God who equips, sustains, and rescues
● Build resilience through faith, learning what survival situations teach about trust, surrender, and the God who shows up when your own resources run out
● Spend intentional time in creation--each devotion includes an invitation to take what you've read outside, no matter your level of outdoor experience
Whether you're an outdoor thrill seeker, a weekend gardener, or someone who prefers to experience creation through a window, Wild God will meet you there. This is not a book only for adventurers. It's a book for anyone who has ever felt lost and needed to be found.
Irreplaceable: Humanity, Vocation, and the Limits of Technology
Author: Gene Edward Veith Jr. and A. Trevor Sutton
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 97815 40906120
Retail Price: $24.99
From the Publisher:
Engaging technology wisely by understanding God's purpose for work
Artificial intelligence can write, solve problems, make decisions, compose sermons, and create works of art. Automation is displacing workers across industries. Algorithms increasingly make decisions once reserved for human judgment. From the invention of the wheel to the rise of AI, humans have always made tools to extend our work--but what happens when our tools begin to supplant us? And how should Christians think about themselves, their work, and their place in the world when the lines between tools and persons keep blurring?
The problem runs in both directions. Our society increasingly treats tools like humans--building emotional relationships with AI chatbots, granting algorithms moral authority--while simultaneously treating humans like tools, reducing workers to productivity metrics and relationships to transactional utility. Irreplaceable argues that the Protestant doctrine of vocation is the theological framework that addresses both errors at once.
In this book Gene Veith and A. Trevor Sutton show how vocation--the life God has assigned us in our relationships, commitments, and everyday callings--is not only bigger than our jobs but more resilient than our technology. While developments in AI and automation raise new questions with every news cycle, God's callings on our lives remain. Understanding them clearly, Veith and Sutton argue, has the power to save the future of work and to preserve human dignity in the age of the machine.
Practical, theologically grounded, and bracingly timely, Irreplaceable helps you think through the role emerging technology should play in your life--at home, at church, and in wider society--and brings clarity, purpose, and hope in this brave new world.
You are not a tool. And the tools you use were not made to replace you. Irreplaceable will remind you why--and equip you to live accordingly.
