2014 – Justin Daniel

This is a list of the books I read in 2014. All the reviews were written in 2014 and are archived on this site in (roughly) the order I read them in.

Book Reviews 2014

- Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis, Tim Towsend
  September 25, 20192014 / Book ReviewsIn August, I started a list of summer reading books by Al Mohler of Southern Seminary found here: http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/05/27/ten-books-for-eager-reading-the-2014-summer-reading-list-revised/ To date, I’ve read 5 of them (“Strange Glory,” which I’ve already written a book review for was the first) but I’m pressing through it. According to Mohler, he says of the list: “There is also an unapologetic tilt toward a reading list for men in this list.” And the story of Henry Gerecke and his role in the Nuremberg trials defiantly fits into this category. At the conclusion of WWII, there were multiple concessions made to amend the atrocities during the course of the long war. The Nazi regime that was in place was dismantled and it’s leadership was taken into prison to wait for their trial. This was the beginning of what has become known as the “Nuremberg trials.” Henry Gerecke, a Lutheran United States Army Chaplain, was assigned to the prisoners because he knew German. Throughout the book, it details his life before, during and after his service in the Chaplancy with most of the attention on his role at the Nuremberg trials. During this unique ministry, Gerecke came into contact with some of the biggest murderers of the war, which presents an interesting theme that surrounds the book. How could these men receive forgiveness for their actions? One such man was Rudolf Hoss, the camp commander for the Auschwitz concentration camp. According to Hoss’ testimony, he thought that perhaps 3 million people (Jews, Soviets, invalids, and minorities) lost their lives. But Gerecke’s ministry there did not go unnoticed. Four days before his death, he said this: “My conscience compels me to make the following declaration. In the solitude of my prison cell I have come to the bitter recognition that I have sinned gravely against humanity. As Commandant of Auschwitz I was responsible for carrying out part of the cruel plans of the ‘Third Reich’ for human destruction. In so doing I have inflicted terrible wounds on humanity. I caused unspeakable suffering for the Polish people in particular. I am to pay for this with my life. May the Lord God forgive one day what I have done.” After the trials, Gerecke was labeled as a “Nazi lover” back in America. But the lack of sympathy escapes one of the biggest theological reasons we, as Christians, have an obligation to men such as these: in basic anthropological theology, the Bible states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” What makes Hoss better than the next guy according to the mandates of a Holy God? Not much. Please do not take this as an excuse for his actions: the murder of millions of people is never condoned according to the Christian worldview (in fact, just the opposite). But rather, Gerecke had a spirit of helping those who were not able to understand spiritual things come to terms with them no matter what condition they were in. This empathy is one which Christians should universally adopt even in the circumstances that clouded the trials at Nuremberg. This was the main point of the book I think, and a delightful read that stimulated and challenged by own perception of the Christians duty in todays world....

The Cross of Christ

Washington: A Life

Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship

When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love, and Starting Over

Starship Troopers

Mao: The Unknown Story

Refugee (Star Wars: Force Heretic, #2)

The Story of Christianity, Vol II: The Reformation to the Present

The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers

The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-Lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World

The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King

Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity

The Japanese and Christianity: Why is Christianity not widely believed in Japan?

First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps

Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Black Hawk Down

Rainbow 6

Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)

The Last Stand Of Fox Company: A True Story Of U.S. Marines In Combat

Without Remorse

John Macarthur: Minister of the Flock

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I Heard My Country Calling: a Memoir

Animal Farm

1984

Fight Club

Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis

The Lion’s Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six Days War

The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames

The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Daniel Commentary

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller

The Life of the Automobile: The Complete History of the Motor Car

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden

Level Zero Heroes: The Story of U.S. Marine Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan

A Christmas Carol

The Giver

The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight

Visions Of America: A History Of The United States

Debt of Honor

The Hobbit

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning