The Fall 2024 Releases I’m Adding to My Reading List

I recently watched a video where someone highlighted the Christian Fiction they were looking forward to for the rest of 2024, and I figured with my niche being theology & nonfiction books, it would be nice to make a short post about the new releases I’m looking forward to for the rest of the year. If you’d like to watch the YouTube video that accompanies this post, you can click this link to watch!

I don’t read a ton of new releases, so including a book in this post is not a guarantee that I’ll actually read or review the book, but it did stick out to me when I was scanning the upcoming release section on the various publisher websites.

Proclaiming the Word by David Jackman (Crossway, expected September 10) - a handbook on preaching. There are lots of books on preaching out there, but I’m not sure there’s a practical manual out there that explains a reproducible method for preaching expository sermons. Now what’s an expository sermon? Here’s the definition I like best, not original to me: The main point and structure of the sermon is shaped by the main point and structure of the text. Part 2 of this book on developing skills looks especially intriguing.

Pilgrim Prayers by Tim Challies (Zondervan, expected September 10) - Tim Challies is the granddaddy of Christian book content so I would be remiss to leave his upcoming book out of this list. This book is a collection of devotional poetry which is not my style outside of the Psalms, so I’m interested to get a sense of what the prayers and responses will be like.

Mere Christian Hermeneutics by Kevin VanHoozer (Zondervan Academic, expected October 1) - VanHoozer has always been an enigma to me, he’s widely cited for his works on hermeneutics but as I recall, I have never read any of his works before. This book seems to be in line with the thought behind Lewis’ Mere Christianity, not attempting to lay out a specifically Reformed or even an Evangelical hermeneutic, but rather one that every Christian could assent to. I’ve always thought that your doctrine of Scripture, what you think the Bible is, will determine how you read it, so I’m not sure if Vanhoozer’s going to be able to unite different branches of Christianity with different doctrines of Scripture, but we’ll see I guess.

My Dear Hemlock by Tilly Dillehay (Canon Press, expected October 1) - This is a collection of letters in line with C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters. Natalie Brand also released a similar book entitled The Scuttlebutt Letters that I’d recommend you check out. In Screwtape, the target is a young man, in Scuttlebutt it’s the heart writing to a tongue, and here in Hemlock, the target is a young woman facing the issues that young women face. Books like these remind me that the spiritual war is in fact real, and that the words of 1 Peter are true, that Satan prowls lie a lion seeing who he can devour. It’s a work of fiction, but one that should be edifying nonetheless.

Blame It on the Brain? by Ed Welch (P&R, expected October 2) - I read the first edition of this book in seminary, and I’m glad to see Welch has updated it for the issues we face today! I’m hopeful that this book will help us to distinguish between brain disorders from problems that find their roots in our hearts, and how the body, the brain, and the heart affect one another.

Consider the Lilies: Finding Perfect Peace in the Character of God (Zondervan, expected October 8) - Ask any person under 30 what they are wrestling with the most right now, and you won’t have to listen long before you hear the word anxiety. Everyone seems to be anxious, stressed out, and worried about their future. Until now though, I haven’t had a book that I feel great about recommending on the topic without some reservations. I’m excited to read and possibly recommend this book to the young people in my life who are wrestling with these serious issues!

Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway, expected October 22)- conceptually like a Daily Devotional, except thoughts on topics in systematic theology and quotes from some of the great texts in the history of systematic theology. Probably won’t read this from cover to cover, but will reference when I’m teaching or writing on specific topics!

Living in Wonder by Rod Dreher (Zondervan, expected October 22) - I don’t agree with Rod Dreher on everything (many things really?), but I do find him to be an important thinker, and of everything he writes, I’ve found his two books (Benedict Option and Live not by Lies) to be thought-provoking and helpful. This book seems to be about reenchantment, how we can relate to the world as more than a series of random, unrelated atoms, and instead embrace mystery in the scientific age. I’m not sure what I’m going to think about this, but I do see people who are especially “online”, not necessary in my day-to-date life, embracing mystical traditions of Christianity so these ideas are out there.

Making Sense of Man by Vern Poythress (P&R, expected November 13) - Dr. Poythress was one of my favorite professors in seminary, I don’t read everything he writes (he cranks out long books at a blistering pace), but I think that the doctrine of man is an especially important topic for our day, given the issues that we are facing at this time in history. Looking forward to checking out what Poythress has to say here.