Review: How to Be a Christian Influencer

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Cover image of "How to Be a Christian Influencer" by Jacqulyne Horbrook

How to Be a Christian Influencer

How to Be a Christian Influencer, Jacqulyne Horbrook. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514009925) 2026.

Summary: Social media for Christians beginning with mission and authenticity and finishes with strategic excellence.

Jacqulyne Horbrook grew up with a Christian influencer. Her father engaged in street ministry in the city of Chicago, preaching on a bullhorn, handing out tracts, and leading people to faith. She also discovered a calling as Christian influencer, only not on street corners with a bullhorn. It began with a social media page to reach students at the university where she worked. Before she knew it, she was “Jackie the Educator” and eventually the host of a YouTube show titled Higher Learning reaching a global audience. As she wrestled with the challenge of defining and reaching an audience, she realized she wasn’t the only one. This led to creating Black Christian Influencers, an effort to empower others in impactful ministry.

Horbrook not only realized social media is a powerful tool that may be used well or misused. She also realized that she was an influencer who could use these platforms to make disciples of Jesus. In fact, one of the things I appreciated about this book was its clarity about defining Christian influence: to publicly share one’s belief in Jesus Christ, to live a godly life so that your character and content align, and to never lose sight of the Great Commission.

She then walks through a number of practicalities of Christian social media influence. One is to be clear about one’s message and mission. Then comes marketing excellence. This involves finding one’s target audience, focusing on expertise, strategizing for results by creating online spaces you control, and creating content that connects. She offers ample how-tos for each step. She shares lessons she has learned about impactful storytelling, especially the importance of vulnerability. In fact, vulnerability is the first of her four components of influence, complemented by transparency, originality, and relatability.

Then she follows this with a number of tips about growing one’s platform. She begins with a warning. Don’t sacrifice integrity for numerical growth. However, you do want to make your content so good people share it. You need to know your niche and start there. Use bold statements, visuals, and compelling questions to be seen. Then pay attention to what people are sharing and engaging (and what they are not). At this point she hits “pause” and invites the reader to work through a Platform Growth Checklist and a Content Planning Worksheet–hugely valuable exercises.

The final three chapters center on larger issues for maintaining integrity and authenticity. She offers a chapter chock-full of advice on navigating social media. She addresses everything from the characteristics of different platforms, to dealing with negative comments, safeguarding one’s privacy, and protecting one’s mental health. And she emphasizes fact-checking oneself. Horbrook discusses making disciples and the vital importance of community versus isolation. Finally, she addresses stewarding influence well. She re-emphasizes themes she has touched on: depth over breadth, boundaries, to not define one’s worth by engagement, and have a community of accountability.

As a fellow Christian who uses social media to influence, I found so much with which I resonated. I especially appreciate her discussion of the alignment of content and character. I consciously strive for people to perceive the character of Christ in what I post, how I engage, and the “vibe” I create in curating my platforms. Horbrook pushes me in thinking about engagement with and shareability of content. Most of all, she models accepting and stewarding the influence one has for God’s, rather than personal glory. This is a book for any Christian working in social media spaces!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Introducing Communio Theology

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Cover image of "Introducing Communio Theology" by Tracey Rowland

Introducing Communio Theology

Introducing Communio Theology, Tracey Rowland. Word on Fire Academic (ISBN: 9781685781637) 2025.

Summary: An exploration of the Communio theological movement that arose following Vatican II and its relevance.

“Communio Theology.” What is that? This was my question when I saw the title of this book. I came to learn that this is a theological movement within Catholicism following Vatican II, beginning in the early 1970’s. The theologians in this movement seek to engage the currents of change following the Council while affirming traditional theological convictions. The movement is international in character. Communio: International Catholic Review was created as a journal for articles from the community of theologians identifying with this movement. It is published in several different language editions.

In this Introduction, Tracey Rowland provides this history and introduces us to three key figures in the Communio movement: Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). As mentioned, this group formed in response to Vatican II. In particular, Rowland shows, the resulting documents contained many ambiguities as well as reflecting different strains of Catholicism. She offers an account for how they responded, framing theological proposals that didn’t break with the past and yet built on discussions on matters of ecclesiology, revelation, anthropology, and more.

While the many theologians are each distinctive, Rowland identifies four hallmarks in their work. Firstly, was a Trinitarian Christocentric foundation. This shapes everything from convictions on sacerdotal priesthood to a metaphysics of gift with political and economic implications. Secondly, Communio theology is wary of dualisms and dichotomies that divorce grace and nature, theology and philosophy, Church and state. Thirdly, is a conviction that sociology is not theologically neutral and frequently at variance from a Christian anthropology. Fourthly is the embrace of the transcendentals of goodness, truth, and beauty. While different traditions emphasize one or the other, Communio weaves them together in harmony.

Within this framework, Rowland summarizes the contributions of Communio theologians, particularly the three key figures, on a range of subjects. These include tradition, reading scripture, moral theology, feminism, the sacerdotal nature of the priesthood, stewardship of creation, and secularism. The last is particularly fascinating in illustrating the non-dualism of Communio scholars. They trace the flaws of secularism to the divorce of faith and reason, grace and nature, and humanity from the Triune God. Tat non-dualism is also evident in their engagement with Thomism. While they are two different schools, Communio theologians don’t see themselves in opposition to Thomists.

As a reader outside of Catholicism, I was impressed with the vibrancy of theological engagement on questions we also care about–how we read scripture, how we understand the moral life, and how we care for the creation. At the same time, I found myself wondering at the book’s silence about theological discussions in the church since 2013, when Benedict resigned. How have more recent developments shaped the concerns of Communio theologians?

I would commend this “Introduction” to Catholics to give them an enriched appreciation of the rich intellectual resources within Catholicism. And for those who are not Catholics, the book is helpful in understanding matters like tradition and the priesthood and why we may differ. And much of what those from non-Catholic backgrounds will read is part of our “family history.” We may well recognize that we also have much in common and much to learn!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The World Beyond Your Head

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Cover image of "The World Beyond your Head" by Matthew B. Crawford

The World Beyond Your Head

The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew B. Crawford. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (ISBN: 9780374535919) 2016.

Summary: Argues that becoming an individual involves engaging with real physical environments and shared human practices.

Crawford, like many others, writes in this book of how we live distracted lives. However, he argues that the fault lies not in our screens but in ourselves. In particular, his contention that the rise of the autonomous self has made us vulnerable to distraction. The idea that we live “inside our heads” makes us vulnerable to all kinds of consumerist ploys, intensified through our digital economy. He offers one of the most chilling portrayals of this in how gambling has sought to be so frictionless that people will spend hours at a machine, urinating and defecating themselves rather than break away. He observes the irony that our quest for autonomy in the end results in a “mass solipsism” of “autistic monads.” We lose any real individuality.

Crawford believes to be human is to truly engage with our physical environment as well as other beings. He offers the examples of how the stick of a hockey player becomes an extension of one’s body, how the motorcycle an extension of the rider. He reminds us that the Latin root of “education” means “to lead out.” We are led out of our heads when we give focused attention to any skilled practice. Crawford offers examples of glass-blowing, learning Russian, playing music together with others. Drawing on Michael Polanyi, he observes the personal aspect of any form of true knowing, the relationship between knower and the object known.

Real individuality emerges in communities of practice in which we both perfect a skill and use it in a social context. Crawford uses his own trade as a motorcycle mechanic, showing how skilled work is recognized in the acceptance and payment of a labor bill. Likewise, real human relationships constantly bring us up against those not like us. This is so even in marriage. Knowing and bonding involves the practice of attention, the skill of negotiating those differences. Digital relationships seem easier, and more frictionless. And yet all this leads to boredom and the flattening of self.

Throughout, Crawford has held up the idea of skilled and embodied communities of practice. The final part of his book consists of just one chapter, “The Organ Makers Shop.” He introduces us to the pipe organ makers George Taylor and John Boody. He explores the lineage of organ-making from which they’ve come, the apprenticeships each underwent. The account walks through the renaissance in mechanical organs and the physicality of the workshop. For example, we learn how leather is a superior material for bellows rather than space age materials. Then there is the fine art of voicing organ pipes.

What most struck me in this account is how employees became master craftsmen. John Boody was asked out motivating employees to care about quality:

“They are absolutely the most vicious and greatest proponents of that,” he said. “The way to get people most disturbed here is to give them any sense that you are trying to cheapen things, or push them ahead. You think when you start out something like this that the hardest thing is going to be to teach people to care and value that aesthetic. But it happens, and you cannot convince them to do less.”

Behind the stories, there is some denser philosophy. By arguing that we need to get out of our heads, Crawford is not arguing that we stop thinking and just do. Rather, he invites us to use our minds to understand the ideas and practices that have misled and distracted us. Likewise, skillful work of any kind is mindful, attentive. But somehow, it must take us into the world of things and people.

The book led me to reflect on my own practice of reviewing. Reading books and writing about them can be a pretty “in your head” sort of thing. But I’m approaching the ten thousand hours of developing a skilled practice. I’ve written something like three thousand reviews. I’ve studied other reviewers. There is copyright law to observe. One needs to understand the vagaries of each platform. Then there is the back end technologies of websites, SEO, and more that go into every post. I also relate to a network of authors, publicists, publishing houses, booksellers, and devoted readers. My “hardware” includes reading glasses, pencils, computers, tablets, and smartphones.

And here I’d like to press Crawford. His examples focus on embodied practices, which I would certainly honor. But I think there is also skillful work one does as a “knowledge worker.” Crawford is his own best example of this. No doubt, doing other things besides “knowledge work” is good. My life has been enriched by everything from choral singing to painting, to maintaining and repairing my seventeen year old mower.

But the skillful practice of reviewing has changed me from simply being a reader to one who cares about what makes books good, who appreciates the labors of authors and wants to protect that from the intrusion and theft of AI. It has made me passionate about intellectual freedom and free speech and a free press. In sum, it has made me more fully who I am, even into my seventies. In Crawford’s terms, I think this is what it means to become an individual.

The Weekly Wrap: September 6-12

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The Weekly Wrap: September 6-12

September 11 Twenty-Five Years Later

It was a day I remembered in minute detail. I was in Cleveland for the funeral of a friend. Driving up the evening before, I stayed with friends who I would see later that day. I was meeting another friend for coffee around 9 am that morning. Like so many others throughout the country, I remarked how clear the azure blue sky was that morning. On my drive to the coffee shop, I was listening to NPR when the reports came, first of one plane strike, then another, then the Pentagon.

There was a TV on at the coffee shop, and we sat riveted as the tragedy unfolded. Images I will never be able to unsee. When I could, I called my wife, as did so many around the country. At the funeral, I remarked to the friends I’d stayed with how much our world had changed in the few hours since I’d seen them.

I remember the tremendous sense of unity we experienced for a short time. And how it seemed so quickly to unravel and has continued to do so down to the present.

If we are basically good, as so many believe, why are we so cussedly fractious? While not as immediate as the 9/11 attacks, we face threats far more ominous. A massive surveillance society, which we can trace, at least in parts to those attacks. The existential threat of a planet becoming increasingly uninhabitable. And this week, the news from AI developers that AI could have the capability in the next few years to exterminate humanity. Yet we go along blithely banning books and specifying what teachers cannot say. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

I’d love to see us unite to meet the existential threats facing us. But the experience of our response to a deadly global pandemic doesn’t encourage me. Which leaves me hoping for the Deus ex machina of ancient theatre. Or the second coming of Jesus. Personally, I’m coming to believe that if God doesn’t save us, we’re toast.

Five Articles Worth Reading

We often think of evil in personal rather than systemic terms. Jennifer Szalai reviews a new book by philosopher Susan Neiman that argues the contrary in “This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World.”

Another of those big issues, indeed the final one, is death. Emma Cline’s new book Switzy explores the last days of a former executive with Alzheimer’s who has arranged his death in a right-to-die country. Hillary Kelly reviews the book in “The Novel That Looks Death in the Eye.”

I have always considered That Hideous Strength the most prescient of the fiction of C. S. Lewis. Annie Crawford discusses what we learn about living as people of faith and hope in our chaotic tech world in “From Babel to Belonging: C. S. Lewis’s Fairy-Tale Cure for the Modern Machine.”

Then, on a different “note,” Alan Jacobs writes about the distinctive interpretations of Bach by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould in “Hearing Gould.” The one thing I missed in this article was any discussion of Gould’s vocalizations, certainly one of the most distinctive things you hear on his recordings.

Finally, Odyssey has awakened interest in Homer’s works, the other of which is Iliad. Open Culture has images of one of the best manuscripts of Iliad that you can magnify in “One of the Best Preserved Ancient Manuscripts of The Iliad Is Now Digitized: See the “Bankes Homer” Manuscript in High Resolution (Circa 150 C.E.).” The only hitch? You need to be able to read Greek.

Quote of the Week

This quote by James McBride, born on September 11, 1957, speaks to my comments above.

“The things that hold us together are much stronger than the things that drive us apart.”

Sadly, I think we are often lacking the sense to see the things that hold us together.

Miscellaneous Musings

I often have books I am looking for when I visit our “big box” retail store. I’ve found it frustrating that often books are not arranged in any order that I can discern. But it has given me the chance to get to know some very helpful booksellers! Although on a recent visit, it turned out that a recently published work advertised in an email was not in stock! No wonder I couldn’t find it.

I’m delighted with the boom of new indie bookstores around Central Ohio. And this listing is already out of date. Last week, The Whispering Page opened in Worthington, Ohio, just down the street from Celestielle Books. I understand readers can pick up a “passport” for all of these stores at any of them. I love it!

I’ve finally waded into George Marsden’s magisterial biography of Jonathan Edwards, perhaps America’s most brilliant theologian. It was the winner of the 2003 Bancroft Prize. So you can see it has taken me awhile to get around to it. A great, but long read.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head

Tuesday: Tracey Rowland, Introducing Coimmunio Theology

Wednesday: Jacqulyne Horbrook, How to Be a Christian Influencer

Thursday: Mitali Perkins, Doing Something New

Friday: Terry Pratchett, Eric

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for September 6-12.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

Review: Nolan

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Cover image of "Nolan" by Tim Brown

Nolan

Nolan: The Singular Life of an American Original, Tim Brown. Grand Central Publishing (ISBN: 9781538726549) 2026.

Summary: A biography of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan focusing on his career and the values that formed his approach to pitching and life.

“There was an athlete once, a pitcher, a ballplayer, who took the baseball every four or five days and set out to throw a no-hitter. Every time. To give up nothing. To give away nothing. To strike out everybody. To win every pitch, every inning, every game, until there were twenty-seven outs, and they turned out the lights and everybody went home. He threw harder than anybody else, and did that not for a year or five or ten, but for nearly three decades” (p. xvii).

That pitcher was Nolan Ryan. And Tim Brown’s description of Ryan in his Prologue captures the essence of what he will elaborate in this new biography of the Hall of Fame pitcher. He won 324 games, and probably would have won far more had he not played for low scoring teams. He pitched seven no hitters, his last at age 42, still capable of throwing 96 miles per hour fastballs. Not only that, he struck out sixteen players. No other pitcher has more than four. Over his career, he struck out 5714. The two active pitchers closest to him are more than 2,000 shy of that number.

Brown begins with his childhood in Alvin, Texas. It’s the place that formed his work ethic, his teamwork and family values.It is where he met Ruth in eighth grade. In many ways Nolan Ryan is the quintessential Texan. Even today, he and Ruth own a huge livestock ranch near Alvin. Then, it is also where a Mets scout “Red” Murff discovered Ryan, a “skinny high school junior with the best arm I have ever seen in my life.” Two and a half-years later, he would be pitching alongside Tom Seaver. Seaver’s discipline impressed the young man with so much raw talent. Ryan would help the Mets win the World Series. It would be the only one in which he would compete.

Brown traces his career with the Angels, Astros, and Texas Rangers. While with the Angels, Tom Morgan, a pitching coach, worked with him on his delivery. Radar measurements were inexact, and measured differently than today. So by today’s standards, he may have thrown as fast as 108 miles per hour in his youth. No wonder they called it “The Express.” Then he moved back to Texas, first with the Astros, not far from his home, Finally, he gave a lift to the struggling Rangers in the concluding years of his career.

One chapter of the book is devoted to Ryan’s no-hitters, the first in 1973, the last in 1991. Each game is summarized. Another chapter is devoted to the “bow-tie,” the times Ryan hit batters. It exposes what a fierce competitor, determined to absolutely dominate hitters. There are recollections of a different, more generous Ryan, in the clubhouse, including the son of a long-time batting coach, Sid Holland.

Brown takes us through the struggles of his last year, when age finally caught up with Ryan, and the game with Seattle when an elbow ligament finally gave out. Characteristic of the man, he simply walked off the mound, said “I’m done,” and didn’t pitch again. Brown wonders whether we will see the likes of him in our “pitch counts” approach to pitching where it is rare for a starter to pitch a complete game.

The last chapters turn to his life after baseball. He did serve as president of the Rangers, setting them on a competitive path, until rivals pushed him out.. But much of his life was on his ranch, with Ruth, and his family. Meanwhile, Alvin would forever show the marks of the town where Nolan Ryan grew up.

I enjoyed the way Brown mixes accounts of his career with insights into Ryan as a person. Nolan Ryan was far more than a gifted pitcher. Brown explores the inner dynamics that contributed to such incredible staying power at such a high level. I wonder with Brown if we will see the likes of him again

Review: The Labors of Hercules

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Cover image of "The Labors of Hercules" by Agatha Christie

The Labors of Hercules

The Labors of Hercules (Poirot, 26), Agatha Christie. Wm. Morrow Paperbacks (ISBN: 9780061746383) 2006, first published 1947.

Summary: As Poirot approaches retirement, he solves twelve cases that parallel the “labors” of his namesake, Hercules.

One evening, an old friend drops by for a social visit. In the course of conversation, the subject of Poirot’s Christian name comes up, one actually derived from Greek mythology. Later, they discuss his approaching retirement and how he might conclude his career, joking about “the twelve labours of Hercules.” After his guest departs, Poirot ponders this aside and determines that he will indeed take on twelve cases that mimic the twelve labors of Hercules. And so the remainder of the book chronicles Poirot moving from and solving them one by one.

The Nemean Lion. In this case, the “lion” is a kidnapped Pekingese dog who is a “veritable lion.” Several Pekingese have been kidnapped from their owners and returned unharmed for a ransom.

The Lernaean Hydra. Letters claiming Dr. Oldfield poisoned his wife are like a “many headed hydra” and destroying the innocent doctor’s practice. But when the body is exhumed, she has indeed been poisoned with arsenic!

The Arcadian Deer. A car breakdown results in meeting a mechanic reminding Poirot of an Arcadian shepherd. The mechanic recognizes Poirot and asks his help to find Nita, a maid to a famous dancer he’d briefly met and fell in love with. She is Poirot’s Arcadian deer.

The Erymanthian Boar. Enroute to a remote lodge, Poirot receives a note from Lementeuil, the Swiss Commissaire of Police, who has recognized him. As it turns out, Marrascaud, who Lementeuil describes as a “wild boar” is going to the same lodge. Marrascaud is a gangster connected to many killings. But Poirot, eager to help, struggles to identify him from among the guests.

The Augean Stables. So, Poirot is back in England, called on the new prime minister to deal with scurrilous rumors about his wife. He devises a clever solution to clean out the “Augean Stables” of rumors.

The Stymphalean Birds. Harold Waring, a British undersecretary is on holiday when two Polish women, reminiscent of birds in their appearance, blackmail him. These are the “Stymphalean Birds” However, Poirot discovers they are not the real blackmailers.

The Cretan Bull. Diana Maberly is engaged to a Hugh Chandler, a promising officer and a “bull of a young man.” But after he breaks off the engagement, claiming he is going insane. Diana asks Poirot to investigate.

The Horses of Diomedes. A doctor seeks Poirot’s help with a young girl, Sheila Grant who is developing a cocaine addiction. Poirot likens drug purveyors to the horses of Diomedes, who feed on human flesh. But as in many cases, things are not what they seem.

The Girdle of Hippolyta. An art owner asks Poirot to investigate the theft of a Rubens painting, The Girdle of Hippolyta. However, another case of a missing schoolgirl interests him more. Subsequently, we discover there is a connection between the two cases.

The Flock of Geryon. The Pekingese kidnapper of The Nemean Lion turns over a new leaf by offering to help Poirot expose a religious huckster (“Geryon”) connected with the deaths of three wealthy women. But her undercover work in the cult puts her own life at risk.

The Apples of the Hesperides. The apples here are on a goblet an art collector bought at auction. But thieves stole the goblin before he received it. He asks Poirot to track it down, a journey that will take him to a remote convent.

The Capture of Cerberus. Cerberus is Dou-Dou, the guard dog at a popular night club run by Poirot’s old friend, Madame Rossakoff. He learns of a drug ring operating out of the club, of an impending raid, and helps Inspector Japp to find who is behind it.

What a novel way to present twelve Poirot short stories and tie them all together. Each one is about the length of what one might read at a sitting. Instead of long, twisty plots, we have short ones with a few twists and a quick denouement. And then Poirot matches his namesake and can retire with honor!