Ten Theology Books to Watch For – May 2024

Deep Reading: Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age

Rachel B. Griffis, Julie Ooms, Rachel M. De Smith Roberts

( Baker Academic )

This book helps readers develop practices that will result in deep, formative, and faithful reading so they can contribute to the flourishing of their communities and cultivate their own spiritual and intellectual depth.

The authors present reading as a remedy for three prevalent cultural vices–distraction, hostility, and consumerism–that impact the possibility of formative reading. Informed by James K. A. Smith’s work on “the spiritual power of habit,” Deep Reading provides resources for engaging in formative and culturally subversive reading practices that teach readers how to resist vices, love virtue, and desire the good.

Rather than emphasizing the spiritual benefits of reading specific texts such as Dante’s Divine Comedy or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the authors focus on the practice of reading itself. They examine practices many teachers, students, and avid readers employ–such as reading lists, reading logs, and discussion–and demonstrate how such practices can be more effectively and intentionally harnessed to result in deepreading. The practices apply to any work that is meant to be read deeply.

(Eerdmans)

How can the Letter to the Hebrews help Christians grow in their faith?

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that God is trustworthy—that we can trust in Jesus’s defeat of death to lead us to eternal life. Complicating this crucial message, the letter’s enigmatic origins, dense intertextuality, and complex theological import can present challenges to believers wrestling with the text today.

Amy Peeler opens up Hebrews for Christians seeking to understand God in this learned and pastoral volume of Commentaries for Christian Formation. Her fresh translation and detailed commentary offer insights into Christology, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and the letter’s canonical resonances. She pays special attention to how the text approaches redemption, providing consolation for the anxious and correction for the presumptuous.

Peeler explains the letter’s original context while remaining focused on its relevance to Christian communities today. Pastors and lay readers alike will learn how Hebrews helps them know, trust, and love God more deeply.

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