What if seeking God and seeking joy weren’t incompatible goals?
That question is the key to all of Piper’s thought: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him”; it’s the essence his coined phrase ‘Christian hedonism’, and it’s nothing new—in a good way.
A couple hundred years earlier, Kierkegaard fought with Hegel over the same issue, insisting that “truth”, “beauty”, “joy”, and “duty” could not be sought separately. A couple hundred years before, John Calvin argued that God’s absolute sovereignty was a source of hope. A thousand years before that, Augustine’s Confessions brought out the same theme. Hundreds of years before that, there was the Bible, which says the same thing.
It’s nothing new.
But he says it in a way that makes you listen, and it made me realize it was new to me.
Piper’s gift, his brilliance, is in expressing the unpoetic-sounding truths of the Bible as sources of joy: God is in control of everying, so rejoice; All people except those He saves are going to hell, so rejoice; All who want to be saved will be, so rejoice; Those who He starts to save, he will save, so rejoice.
I picked up Desiring God about fifteen years ago. It’s not the type of book I would have picked up—especially with the 70’s New Agey sunset cover and the words “meditations” and “hedonist” on the front. But it was free, and my car had broken down, and I was in a new city, and it was cold outside, and I didn’t have a TV.
I read it three times that winter. The first time, just trying to follow his arguments. The second time, trying to find fault with them. The third time, starting to worship.
The Pleasures of God should precede Desiring God logically, but I doubt I would have made it through if I had read them in that order. It’s an exegesis of the relation of joy and truth in the nature of God, and I had trouble following some of the arguments the first time I read it. The second time, I found (as with Desiring God) that some of the proof texts may have been taken out of context. The problem with arguing against him, though, is that his points are so on track biblically that he never has to rely on a single proof text. After reading, and fighting with, The Pleasures of God, I gave in. I was wrong.
From that point on, I read as a student.
If you enjoy trilogies, then the third in the series would be Future Grace. He switches styles in this one to more of a devotional format, which I usually detest, but even though the chapters are self-contained and can be read in various orders, the work as a whole presents a strong argument for the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints.
If you were to ask Piper fans to list their favorite titles, you’d get the trilogy and Let the Nations be Glad. In Let the Nations… Piper applies the doctrine of Sovereign Joy to the issue of a world in which most people do not believe in Christ. There is absolutely no book I would recommend more highly for those interested in the motivation of those who try to spread faith in Jesus.
From my perspective, those four works contain the seminal ideas of all of Piper’s other books. The others that I’ve read can be placed in three categories: edification, theological issue, and historical.
The edification section includes the type of book (though not the sniveling content) you’d find in a lot of evangelical bookstores: devotionals, poetry, and simplified versions of his Top Four.
A Godward Life¸ and A Godward Life II, are the only books of his that I didn’t make it through. It’s not necessarily Piper’s fault, though: I don’t like devotionals. My enjoyment of these books came primarily through reading a random chapter during the month or so they sat on our coffee table. For a more accurate review, read someone who appreciates the genre.
Piper has a tradition of writing a cycle of poems for the Advent season at Bethlehem Baptist Church, in Minneapolis, where he serves as the senior teaching pastor. Several of these have been published in book form, but the only one I’ve read is The Innkeeper. It’s a rare pastor who will build the Advent theme around the massacre of children in a small town, but he did a wonderful job.
When I Don’t Desire God, and Don’t Waste Your Life would be launching pads for readers who aren’t up for the theological terminology and exegetical rigor of the Top Four, but who want to become familiar with the Christian hedonist worldview and its applications.
The issue books are largely aimed at audiences who are versed in various doctrinal controversies within evangelical Christianity.
Counted Righteous in Christ is one of his driest reads, but one of his tightest arguments on the issue of what makes believers righteous before God. It’s a wonderful pillar against the schmaltzy, sentimental theological drivel you’ll find in most contemporary evangelical music and books.
God is the Gospel is an enjoyable and pointed analysis of what a gospel presentation should include. I’m glad I read it, but I felt I missed much of what he was arguing because I was unfamiliar with his opponents’ works. Maybe it would have hit me harder if I had read more bad theology.
A Hunger for God takes up the issue of fasting, to show how one of the most rigorous spiritual disciplines can and should be an expression of joy in God’s completed work.
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, and Men and Women are anthologies which he co-edited on some of the most controversial issues in modern American society. As with all anthologies, the quality of the chapters varies with the author. Every chapter in both books, though, contains provocative and, for me, convicting material that forced me back to Scripture.
The only historical books I’ve read by him are God’s Passion for His Glory and Contending for Our All.
God’s Passion… is an analysis of Jonathan Edward’s The End for which God Created the World, and includes the entire text of the original book. Piper’s introduction and analysis makes it clear that he intended this book as a tribute to Edwards for the influence of his writings on Piper’s thought, and that he wanted it to help popularize Edwards’ writings for 21st-century readers. The result for me, though, was exactly the opposite. Having read several of Piper’s books, which combine logical and exegetical skills with readable passion and poignant analogies, Edwards seemed unbearably dull.
The End for which God Created the World, Selected Sermons, and The Religious Affections are the only books I’ve read by Edwards, and none of them left me really wanting more. His farewell address to his congregation in the Selected Sermons brought me close to tears, but the others didn’t really move me or even (thanks to Piper) introduce any new thoughts. If you start to read Edwards, more power to you. However, if you can’t make it through his books, then trade The End for which… for Piper’s The Pleasures of God, and trade The Religious Affections for either Desiring God or Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, and you might get the same concepts in a much more legible form.
Contending for Our All is one volume of Piper’s series of short historical analyses of past Christian leaders. I can’t recommend it highly enough for casual readers of Church or theological history. I’m looking forward to reading others in the series.
