Robbie Castleman's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Tim Keller’s Generous Justice walks through Scripture from Genesis to Jesus, from the early church to the new heaven and new earth of the Revelation, and help bridge the gap between “believing the right things” to “doing the right things”.

Keller laments the bifurcation of the Gospel that marks Christian communities, especially in the West. He notes that too many congregations who pride themselves on “the authority of Scripture” are often lax on the call to do the work of justice that is very clear in Scripture.

He notes, too, that congregations that take great pride in how they welcome, include, and serve others often treat Scripture like a buffet table, picking and choosing what they like, but ignore the unique and overriding authority of God’s word that, too is very clear in Scripture.

Keller’s book is steeped in Scripture and is a good book to read because that is what Keller does in his book about living what we actually believe based on God’s word. 

I was reading Tim Keller’s Generous Justice when I learned that this faithful pastor died.  On May 19th, 2023 in New York City Tim’s earthly work for Christ Jesus, the Church, and the congregation he founded in 1989 came to an end.

But through his many books, his voice and vision, his witness to the Gospel of Jesus and the many ministries he modeled and encouraged to serve the outcasts, the poor, the prisoner, the lost—it’s a long list—will go on bearing “fruit that will last” (John 15:16).

Tim’s life and this book help put the truth of the Gospel and the work of the Gospel where they belong: together.  

This book has a few quirky characters that are flat-out hilarious and kept surprising me as I turned the pages.

Bottom line it’s a book about a man who thinks he was made for a clearance sale—where everything nobody wanted to buy ends up. But he’s also the most valuable person, in a way he doesn’t see, in every room he walks into, every person he follows, haunts, and helps.

I liked the book because it was funny as well as a worthwhile reminder that truth and grace are meant to be partnered.  Sometimes grace opens the door for truth and sometimes grace opens the door for truth. This book made me laugh a lot, and pray more for a few quirky people I know and don’t appreciate like I should.

In the Shadow of Statues was written by Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans—and whose father, Moon Landrieu, was the mayor of New Orleans when I lived there. 

It’s a book about the history of segregation, injustice, and ill-tempered pride as well as a book about congregation, justice, and well-done kindness. It’s a book about American history written in a way that does not reek with blame or betterment. 

Landrieu’s writing style doesn’t preach and neither does it polarize. It’s full of wisdom and humility written by a man in politics that actually served the city he grew up in and loved. This book helped me take a deep breath and hope that politics can be better than it often is.

The book offers truthful dialogue between folks who disagree and shows a way, not just to advance the job of racial reconciliation, but to just get along with each other day to day as neighbors. I lived in New Orleans for 16 years and this book made me homesick, not just for the great food, but for the Kingdom to come when God’s will is “done on earth as it is in heaven”.