It’s also the time of year when Tony does his Christmas shopping.
It usually goes something like this:
Tony comes into the kitchen with a big smile on his face and says, “Kare, I just made your life easier.”
“Oh, really? You finally fixed the shower door? Thank you!” I respond, with a big smile and a hug.
“Well, no. But I bought my Christmas present, so you don’t have to worry about shopping for me. Isn’t that great?”
“Oh, I was planning to help you grow in humility this year, by not getting you anything,” I say with feigned concern.
He then shares the details of what bookstore had an unbeatable deal on a complete set of Puritan works, or how he just found the hard-to-find works of a Puritan that Charles Spurgeon said should grace the shelves of every proper Christian library. And how he kindly purchased said bargain for himself for Christmas.
What a guy.
Truthfully, Christmas at the Reinke house usually does involve books, because our tradition is give books to one another as Christmas gifts. (Big surprise, I know.)
But we’ve found an interesting truth in our Christmas shopping tradition: sometimes the hardest thing to buy for someone else is a book.
Will they like it? Will they read it? You really have to know someone to be able to choose a book for them. Which is exactly why we like to buy books for one another at Christmas. It’s a gentle prodding to make sure we are involved in each others’ lives enough to be able to thoughtfully choose a book.
So in case you want to join our tradition this Christmas, (that’s the buying books for one another tradition, not the buy yourself a Christmas present tradition), we’ll be sharing some ideas for buying books for your wife. From the fiction fan to the memory maker, we’ve got ideas that will be sure to make her forget the hundreds you’ve spent on Tony’s book recommendations so far this year.
But first, a quick word about the book lists we’ll be sharing this week. Noticeably absent are the many excellent books on how to be a better wife, how to be more organized, how to homeschool your children, or how to be a better parent. It is our joy to recommend those titles throughout the year, but the recommendations in these posts are intended as Christmas gifts and for that reason we have avoided recommending books centered on personal improvement.
Ultimately, the best gift you can give your wife is not necessarily one that can be wrapped in shiny red paper and tied with a bow. Centering your home around the Gospel, loving her as Christ loved the Church, and faithfully serving her in humility and grace is a gift that will prepare her heart not only for the year ahead, but for a lifetime with her Savior. May God be glorified in your homes this Christmas!
Stay tuned this week as we serve up gift-giving ideas for:
You have just described a scene from my own kitchen! Our familes may have been cloned! I am looking forward to your recomendations so much! I also appreciate your exclusions as I feel I get those recomendations frequently. Last year for Christmas my husband gave me the bio of Martyn Lloyd Jones. I never thought I, a young mom, would be able to get through it. I loved it and cried when it was over. It was one of my husbands best gifts to me.
Comment by Kate Harmon | November 6, 2007
That’s a wonderful story! Thanks for the recommendation, Kate. Maybe I’ll have to drop Tony a hint about the the MLJ bio. Thanks again! –Karalee
Would that be the 2 volume Jones bio by Ian Murray? That is quite a tome to give a young wife. I read Murray’s bio on Edwards and found it to be quite dry. Would you say that would not be true for the Lloyd-Jones bio? I really like the idea, but am a bit intimidated for my wife.
Thanks for posting these, Karalee. They are really thoughtful and helpful. And being a young husband, learning to understand my wife is so necessary! I love your advice on not buying her self-improvement books. You serve us well. Thanks so much!
Comment by charlie | November 7, 2007
Hi, Charlie. How kind of you to serve your new bride by looking for good books. Tony and I thank God for the evidence of His grace in these early months of your marriage!
Tony’s been suggesting the Marsden bio on Edwards to me for a while. (And I noticed it’s on his Top 20 list.) In fact, he almost bought me my own copy on a recent date night stop at Borders. I’ll have to move it up on the stack and let you know. He says it’s excellent.
I did read the collection of Edwards’ letters called A Sweet Flame, which I enjoyed and found encouraging. Edna Gerstner did a great bio on the Edwards family called Jonathan and Sarah:An Uncommon Union — stay tuned for more on that one later this week.
Karalee,
I decided to come over from Between two worlds, where Justin Taylor posted your list. What a blessing! My Husband and I have been “investing” in our library over the past 5 years or so. Not only has it been an investment in our family, but also in our church family as well.
What a privilege to have the “great cloud of witnesses” speaking such wonderful truths and bringing understanding and knowledge to our lives. The Lord is so good to us!
I look forward to reading your recommendations!
Grace and Peace,
Karen
Comment by Karen | November 16, 2007
[...] Doing some Christmas book shopping? Check out some recommended titles here and here (for men) and here (for ladies) and here (Amazon’s best of [...]
“If you find me short in things, impute that to my love of brevity. If you find me besides the truth in anything, impute that to my infirmity. But if you find anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on you and me. Yours to serve you with what little I have.” John Bunyan (Works, 1:336).
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“In the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theater, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world. The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross, in which there was a wonderful change of things—the condemnation of all men was manifested, sin blotted out, salvation restored to men; in short, the whole world was renewed and all things restored to order.” John Calvin
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Welcome to Miscellanies [formerly The Shepherd's Scrapbook] a blog serving sinners who seek their daily food in the Cross of Christ. Our goal is provide thoughts on Cross-centered living, theology, preaching and pastoral ministry. We review books considered excellent, announce new books that look interesting, and encourage biblical discernment with both. All of this should fuel our pursuit of the Cross. [Meet the winners of our book of the year awards: 2006 winner and the 2007 winners.]
Email: crede.ut.intelligas AT mac.com
Stay on top of the latest posts by subscribing to the RSS feed.
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Current reading …
Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought
Michael Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (3rd ed.)
F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from its First Beginnings to the Conversion of the English
Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms: 73-90, Boulding trans. (vol. III/18 )
Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life
Do-it-yourself Blank Bible. Of all the books we promote, none compare with God’s Word. We pursue the Cross as God opens His Word to us. In this anticipation, we encourage you to make your own blank bible like Jonathan Edwards.’ Building a blank bible shows both a commitment to serious, life-long reflection and the anticipation of God’s illuminating Spirit. To date, over 15,000 readers have accessed the Blank Bible Index.
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FREE book! What is God saying to us? How can we know Him? I wrote a little book — Come Unto Me: God’s Invitation to the World — to answer these questions. You can download the book as a PDF and you can read more about the background of the project here.
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Humble Calvinism.Early this year we started a series on Humble Calvinism, a study through John Calvin’s Institutes. Especially noteworthy is Calvin’s experiential sensitivity to the contours of godliness. Join us as we continue learning humble and holistic Calvinism as Calvin intended. See the Humble Calvinism series index here.
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The Puritan Study. The Puritans were Cross-boasters. So how do we use the wealth of Puritan literature in our personal devotions and expositional studies? Our series on building and using a Puritan Study answered this important question. For more see the full Puritan Study series index.
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Who am I? My name is Tony Reinkebut call me “chief of sinners.” For 22-years I hid from God in self-righteous religious ‘faithfulness’ until my stubborn heart was subdued by God’s sovereign grace (Eph. 2). In one moment, after a sermon by Paige Patterson in Lincoln, NE on Luke 18:9-14, I perceived the Gospel as the great exchange, and by God’s grace I released my self-righteousness to cling to the saving righteousness of Jesus Christ. That day I recognized I was a sinner playing the part of the Pharisee. It was the day I was reborn. Now nothing is more precious than knowing Christ — the God-man who died for me and gave me His righteousness in place of my sinfulness (Phil. 3:7-9). Pursuing further up and further into the Cross has become the center of my life and this blog is intended as a place to share this pursuit.
Educationally, I graduated from Bellevue University in Omaha, NE with a degree in Liberal Arts. Theologically, I’m an autodidact under the wise direction of a local church. I’ve been married for 10 years to my best friend, Karalee (a more gifted writer and blogger than myself) and we have three precious kids, a majority of whom are named after dead preachers. Last year I was interviewed by Joshua Sowin about life, books and reading (if you want more info)
God has given me the rare privilege and joy of serving as personal assistant to C.J. Mahaney (if you really want to learn from blogs, navigate away from this sorry one and check out what C.J. is saying on his.)
Misc stuff you don’t need to know but will read because you’re bored and surfing the Internet to kill time anyway: My nicknames include any variation of The Scribe, T-Scribble, Scribs, Big Blog Daddy, Big Honkin Blogdaddy, Big Blog Papi, T-Rex, Blogzilla, and Scribola (take your pick). Curtis Allen calls me by the name Tone Capone. Do I look like an Italian mobster? Here’s my mug.
Email/comments. I’m grateful for your readership and would love to hear from you. You can leave a comment on any post to get in touch. Depending upon time restraints I usually respond to email. You can email me at: crede.ut.intelligas AT mac.com .
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My book wishlist. Hopefully one day these valuable books will be added to my library. All from the The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Yale editions) …
Vol. 10: Sermons and Discourses ( 1720-1723 )
Vol. 14: Sermons and Discourses ( 1723-1729 )
Vol. 19: Sermons and Discourses ( 1734-1738 )
Vol. 25: Sermons and Discourses ( 1743-1758 )
Vol. 17: Sermons and Discourses ( 1730-1733 )
Vol. 22: Sermons and Discourses ( 1739-1742 )
Vol. 13: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 1-500 )
Vol. 18: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 501-832 )
Vol. 20: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 833-1152 )
Vol. 23: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 1153–1360 )
Vol. 15: Notes on Scripture
Vol. 8: Ethical Writings
Vol. 21: Trinity, Grace, and Faith
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Princeton Cemetery. I don’t know how I did it, but in the Spring of 2006 I convinced my wife and kids it would be fun to spend the day at Princeton cemetery. Princeton is famous for its school and less famous for its rich evangelical history. I took several photographs at Princeton Cemetery (where Edwards, Hodge, Warfield and the Alexanders are buried). These photos always remind me to be Cross-centered.
by Karalee
Will they like it? Will they read it? You really have to know someone to be able to choose a book for them. Which is exactly why we like to buy books for one another at Christmas. It’s a gentle prodding to make sure we are involved in each others’ lives enough to be able to thoughtfully choose a book.
You have just described a scene from my own kitchen! Our familes may have been cloned! I am looking forward to your recomendations so much! I also appreciate your exclusions as I feel I get those recomendations frequently. Last year for Christmas my husband gave me the bio of Martyn Lloyd Jones. I never thought I, a young mom, would be able to get through it. I loved it and cried when it was over. It was one of my husbands best gifts to me.
That’s a wonderful story! Thanks for the recommendation, Kate. Maybe I’ll have to drop Tony a hint about the the MLJ bio.
Thanks again! –Karalee
LOL, you two are funny!
Would that be the 2 volume Jones bio by Ian Murray? That is quite a tome to give a young wife. I read Murray’s bio on Edwards and found it to be quite dry. Would you say that would not be true for the Lloyd-Jones bio? I really like the idea, but am a bit intimidated for my wife.
Thanks for posting these, Karalee. They are really thoughtful and helpful. And being a young husband, learning to understand my wife is so necessary! I love your advice on not buying her self-improvement books. You serve us well. Thanks so much!
Hi, Charlie. How kind of you to serve your new bride by looking for good books. Tony and I thank God for the evidence of His grace in these early months of your marriage!
Tony’s been suggesting the Marsden bio on Edwards to me for a while. (And I noticed it’s on his Top 20 list.) In fact, he almost bought me my own copy on a recent date night stop at Borders. I’ll have to move it up on the stack and let you know. He says it’s excellent.
I did read the collection of Edwards’ letters called A Sweet Flame, which I enjoyed and found encouraging. Edna Gerstner did a great bio on the Edwards family called Jonathan and Sarah:An Uncommon Union — stay tuned for more on that one later this week.
And more biographies, too!
–Karalee
[...] Over at The Shepherd’s Scrapbook we receive from a ladies p.o.v. what books husbands should be buying for their bride. [...]
Karalee,
I decided to come over from Between two worlds, where Justin Taylor posted your list. What a blessing! My Husband and I have been “investing” in our library over the past 5 years or so. Not only has it been an investment in our family, but also in our church family as well.
What a privilege to have the “great cloud of witnesses” speaking such wonderful truths and bringing understanding and knowledge to our lives. The Lord is so good to us!
I look forward to reading your recommendations!
Grace and Peace,
Karen
[...] Doing some Christmas book shopping? Check out some recommended titles here and here (for men) and here (for ladies) and here (Amazon’s best of [...]