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“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries,” according to French philosopher René Descartes, so these recommendations, all penned by fine-minded authors, offer you a chance to engage in such conversations and expand your intellectual horizons.
Read Part 1 of this series here.
This is the second of a two-part series in which I recommend four books that Christian college students should make the time to read in 2024. These four books are a mix of works of theology, Christian science fiction, biblical commentary, and cultural analysis.
College is a time of intellectual and spiritual growth, and these four books are invaluable tools for Christian students. Despite the busy schedule, it’s crucial to make time for these readings to broaden your horizons and deepen your theological understanding.
As the philosopher René Descartes wisely said, “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” These four books, all penned by fine-minded authors, offer you a chance to engage in such conversations and expand your intellectual horizons.
In the first part, I recommended That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis and Big God by Orlando Saer. Here in part two, I recommend Living Life Backward by David Gibson and Life in the Negative World by Aaron Renn.
3. Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in the Light of the End, by David Gibson
Living Life Backward is a biblical commentary on Ecclesiastes — but it doesn’t read like one. Written by the Scottish minister David Gibson, it’s a commentary in a narrative and engaging form. Living Life Backward functions as an expanded commentary on Ecclesiastes; it’s not a verse-by-verse commentary but a thoughtful, chunk-by-chunk commentary. He walks us through the book highlighting the main themes and lessons from the chapters and how, throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, death is, in fact, one of the greatest teachers we have at our disposal.
Ecclesiastes is one of the most beautifully written yet often confusing books of the Bible. In Living Life Backwards, Gibson artfully and compellingly outlines its main point, helping his readers better understand what God wants us to learn from this wisdom book and how to apply it to our lives today.
Gibson argues that the book of Ecclesiastes is like one big “Reverse” Uno card on our lives. In the preface, he writes:
“Ecclesiastes teaches us to live life backward. It encourages us to take the one thing in the future that is certain – our death – and work backward from that point into all the details and decisions and heartaches of our lives, and to think about them from the perspective of the end. It is the destination that makes sense of the journey. If we know for sure where we are heading, then we can know for sure what we need to do before we get there. Ecclesiastes invites us to let the end sculpt our priorities and goals, our greatest ambitions and strongest desires. I want to persuade you that only if you prepare to die you can really live.”
The anchoring verse of Ecclesiastes, and therefore the theme of Living Life Backward, is, ironically, found at the end: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
That’s the main point: Death makes sense of our lives. Have you ever considered what that might mean? Quite the reversal of worldly wisdom, isn’t it? So many of the questions people have are aimed at trying to make sense of death, not letting death make sense of life. If that still doesn’t quite make sense, just read the book, and it will.
On a personal note, I’ll admit that this book was one of the most difficult books I have ever read. How so? Not because it was hard to read in the sense that I couldn’t understand it, or because Gibson’s a bad writer, because he’s a great writer. No, it was hard to read because it was so convicting.
I’ve always wanted my life to really count. I want to leave an impression. In sinful and self-serving ways, I want to be great, remembered, accomplished, etc. But the main thesis of this book comes crashing down on all of that and reminds us — reminds me — that if that’s what you are after, you are living life all wrong.
In the appropriately named second chapter, “Busting the Bubble,” Gibson sums up all of Ecclesiastes and Living Life Backwards in one sentence: “Life in God’s world is gift, not gain.” Or, in even shorter form: “Life is gift, not gain.”
This is the key that unlocks the riddle of what the author of Ecclesiastes means when he writes that all of life is “vanity” or “meaningless.” Gibson explains that what the Bible is trying to teach us here is that all of the pursuits and pleasures of this life, any and all that we do get our hands on, will ultimately leave us with little true satisfaction in the short term and, in the long term, will teach us nothing about life. This is why we need a fundamental reorientation towards a posture of understanding life and everything in it as something that comes as a gift of God, not as our own personal gain.
Gibson writes:
“The problem, ultimately, isn’t your marriage or career or money, but the weight of expectation and longing you invest in them. Only the new creation is solid enough to bear the full weight of all our yearning. Only the unobstructed sight of the imperishable God is enough to secure our unending happiness. When you live in light of the certain tragedy of death, you’re free to enjoy the comedy of life. When you stop treating this life as if it must satisfy you entirely, you’ll find it more satisfying.”
What does a life of meaning and purpose look like, poised between the two extremes of certain and uncertain death? That is, you know you will die, just not when.
Living Life Backward answers that question — because Ecclesiastes answers that question. We embrace life as a gift and all the good things that God gives us to enjoy; we embrace suffering and trials because we know that God is just and good and will judge everyone accordingly in the end; we embrace the reality of death — and find that then, and only then, we can truly live.
4. Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture, by Aaron Renn
Aaron Renn’s first book, Life in the Negative World, is a thought-provoking and timely exploration of the cultural shifts that have occurred over the past 70 years, particularly in relation to the Christian faith and what it looks like to be a Christian in America today. His book is an expanded version of an incredibly widely read and popular essay he wrote for First Things in 2022, titled “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism.”
In Life in the Negative World, Renn considers the evolution of American society’s posture towards Christianity, which he categorizes into three distinct “worlds”: the positive, neutral, and negative.
In the “positive world,” which was from the American founding until approximately 1994, Renn argues (and I think rightly so) that Christianity enjoyed a high degree of cultural favor and even esteem and was integral to public life. During this time, it was largely a social benefit to be a Christian in America.
From 1994 to 2014, this shifted to a “neutral world,” where Christianity was no longer universally celebrated in America but was still tolerated and accepted among many other beliefs in an increasingly pluralistic and secular society.
Now, from 2014 to the present day, we find ourselves in what Renn describes as the “negative world,” wherein Christianity faces open hostility and is often associated with lower social status, especially within elite circles.
Renn explains,
“Whatever the factors that ultimately brought about Christianity’s decline in America, we find ourselves firmly planted in this new and unprecedented negative world, where for the first time in the four-hundred-year history of America, the culture as a whole and key institutions of society have turned negative toward Christianity and Christian morality.”
And this is the world, my dear college-aged reader, that you are going to grow up in. It’s the world you have grown up in. One way to put it is that Christians are no longer in the moral majority but are now the moral minority. Renn’s book will serve as a useful guide for you as you continue your journey in this new negative world.
Renn’s book is not just a historical account but also a strategic guide. He critically examines the strategies that evangelicals have employed in the past, such as the culture war, seeker sensitivity, and cultural engagement, and how these approaches have fallen short in stemming the tide of secularization. In response to the challenges of the negative world, Renn proposes that Christians need to rethink their strategies for engagement, fortifying their communities, and fulfilling the Church’s mission in an increasingly hostile environment.
In his original essay, he explains what negative world strategies might look like:
“Negative-world strategies will have to grapple with the ‘rise of the nones,’ people with no professed religion who may be unfamiliar with Christianity and find it quite odd or even offensive. One-third or more of Americans in the younger age cohorts fall into this category, portending a radically different cultural landscape in America. This means evangelicals must include a Benedict Option–style focus on building churches and Christian communities that rely less on support from secular institutions and are resilient to outside pressure. They should stop outsourcing their political thinking to movement conservatism and their sociocultural analysis to secular academics. They should remain prudentially engaged in politics based on their own traditions of Protestant political and social thought.”
If you’re at a Christian college like Liberty University, you are already employing a very important negative world strategy: grounding yourself in a rich Christian community attached to the Protestant Christian tradition and preparing yourself for life from a distinctly Christian worldview.
Don’t be tempted to think you are “missing out” on the “real world” by not going to a major state college or university. As Renn explains, the “real world” hates you now, more or less. It’s critical to integrate your faith and your learning, and that’s exactly what you can do at a Christian college or university.
In summary, Life in the Negative World is a call to action for churches, institutions, and individuals to adapt and find diverse strategies to live out their Christian faith with integrity. Renn emphasizes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution but rather a need for examination, trial and error, and adaptation over time. His book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the current cultural landscape and in seeking ways to navigate it as a committed Christian in a crazy world.
Interested in pursuing a fully accredited biblically based education? Liberty University has been training students to serve as “Champions for Christ” in their respective professions across the industry spectrum for over 50 years. With over 350 residential academic concentrations, 20 NCAA Division 1 athletic programs, opportunities to serve domestically and abroad, and an unapologetic Christian worldview, your experience at Liberty University will provide an education that roots you in truth and allows you to learn, grow, and impact the culture for Christ. Apply now!
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