On average, we publish around 150 book reviews a year at The Gospel Coalition. Ecclesiastes 12:12 rings true: “Of making many books there is no end.” It’s impossible to read, let alone review, each one. But in addition to our steady line of reviews, we want to highlight other books you should know about. This is our monthly installment of brief book notices from Fred Zaspel. You can check out more book notices, reviews, author interviews, and book summaries at Books At a Glance.
Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church
John Onwuchekwa
9Marks/Crossway
One of the best, most helpful books on prayer I’ve read. Onwuchekwa’s focus is corporate prayer, but his excellent instruction can’t help but affect individual prayer also. Not one of those books designed to shame you into praying more, but a positive, profitable guide to better prayer that actually leaves you passionate to experience it more. An excellent contribution to 9Marks’s series and a pleasure to read. Buy a case of them to distribute in your church! [Read 20 quotes from this book here.]
On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books
Karen Swallow Prior
Brazos, 2018
If you have any affinity for reading “great books,” this is a book you won’t want to miss, and it’ll likely teach you to read better. Prior first shows us how to “read well,” and then through a survey of a dozen classics she helps us learn the virtues they display in the lives of their characters. An engaging read, this new book is sure to do well. [Read TGC’s full-length review and an interview with the author.]
That Little Voice in Your Head: Learning about Your Conscience
Andrew David Naselli, author
Julie Carter, illustrator
Christian Focus, 2018
Parents of young children won’t want to miss this excellent new book. Naselli employs the story of a young girl who stole to help children understand the nature of conscience . . . and the gospel. A wonderful teaching tool. Highly recommended. [Read a TGC article by Naselli on this topic.]
Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings for Advent
Sinclair B. Ferguson
The Good Book Company, 2018
Christmas in its first instance was about love—the saving love of God in sending his Son to save. And in 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul tells us about love at some length, describing how love ought to be evident in our own behavior. Sinclair Ferguson brings these concepts together in this marvelous exposition of Paul’s famous “love chapter.” Warm expositions, so typical of Ferguson, are challenging but with an eye to that love most eminently displayed in the Lord Jesus. Excellent. Wonderfully rich yet brief readings for 24 days. Very highly recommended!
Finding Favour in the Sight of God: A Theology of Wisdom Literature 
Richard P. Belcher Jr.
IVP Academic, 2018 (New Studies in Biblical Theology)
Don Carson has been editing this series a while now, and this latest contribution demonstrates its continued value. Belcher’s clarification of the nature of Old Testament “wisdom” itself, as well as his treatment of the wisdom of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, and (for my money) especially his closing chapter on “Jesus and Wisdom,” all make this a must-read for anyone taking up the subject.
