Summer Reading List

Identity, Work, and Productivity | Keith Whitfield’s Summer Reading Recommendations

Center for Faith and Culture | July 16, 2024
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This summer, we want to help you craft the perfect Summer Reading List. We asked Southeastern Seminary professors what books they would recommend, and we’ll share their recommendations in coming weeks.

Today, Dr. Keith Whitfield recommends four books for your summer reading list.

The real danger to live “slowly” is the internal anxieties that way too often dictate how busy and overwhelmed we become.

Facing Leviathan: Leadership, Influence and Creating in a Cultural Storm
by Mark Sayers (Moody, 2014)

In Facing Leviathan, Mark Sayers addresses our cultural moment and the challenges we face to live faithful Christian lives and offer a credible Christian witness. The book contrasts two leadership approaches: mechanical, which focuses on hierarchy and efficiency, and organic, which values fluidity and creativity. In the place of both of these approaches, Sayers argues that hope for the church lies in a leadership paradigm rooted in Jesus’s death. He recast leadership as stewardship formed by God rather than self-projected in the power of human person. He advocates for inner transformation through God’s Word instead of superficial image-building. Sayers also proposes a ministry practice focused on communion with God rather than self-promotion, emphasizing that true leadership power comes from internal spiritual work.

Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Romans World
by Larry W. Hurtado (Baylor University Press, 2017)

In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado demonstrates how early Christians’ distinctiveness, especially their rejection of the Greco-Roman pantheon and exclusive worship of Jesus, led to the growth and social impact of Christianity in its early social and cultural context. To do this faithful, Hurtado argues Christians included diverse ethnicities and social statuses in their communities of faith, focusing on faith in Christ and moral living. Hurtado highlights the early Christians’ prolific literary output and commitment to texts, which was unusual for the time and crucial to their influence. He proposes contemporary Evangelicals can learn from the faithfulness of early Christians by living lives based on the scripture while balancing mission outreach and ethical standards.

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
by Cal Newport (Portfolio, 2024)

In Slow Productivity, Newport takes our obsession with busywork and digital distractions to task. He labels this rat race that too many call life “pseudo-productivity.” Throughout, he advocates for a manner of life that he call “languid intentionality,” which is a slower and more reflexive way of being and way of working. Newport gives three helpful three principles: “Do fewer things,” “Work at a natural pace,” and “Obsess over quality.” He not only proposes a new approach to work but also helps us identify the biggest threats to this way of life. He says we can be held up by external pressures and opportunities, but he insists that the real danger to live “slowly” is the internal anxieties that way too often dictate how busy and overwhelmed we become.

How to Find Yourself: Why Looking Inward is Not the Answer
by Brian Rosner

In How to Find Yourself, Brian Rosner addresses the widely acknowledged cultural identity crisis, and he does so with a profound sense of empathy and clarity. He divides the book into three sections. In the first one, he examines the trend of seeking identity internally, its benefits, and its effectiveness. Then, he explores the relative merits and drawbacks from other places people find their identity. Finally, he demonstrates how the gospel provides an everlasting place to find oneself. The value of his approach is Rosner resists treating the issue of identity as ‘either/or’ between ‘identity in Christ’ and ‘looking within.’ Rather he assimilates both and places God’s story at the center of the human story of finding one’s identity. One of the more helpful aspects of the book is how he treats the call to lose oneself for Christ and recognizing that we flourish when we are not united to Christ and are walking in his ways. The book is concise and insightful, and Rosner skillfully makes a complex topic accessible with great clarity.

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The L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture seeks to engage culture as salt and light, presenting the Christian faith and demonstrating its implications for all areas of human existence.

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