Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. Revised edition published by Fortress Press in 2004. 336 pages. May be purchased on amazon for $21.99.

Bo Giertz is a masterful Christian fiction writer. In the Hammer of God, he smoothly integrates explicit Christian themes with compelling characters and drama. This book is a series of three novellas following the difficulties faced by various pastors in a rural Swedish parish. These pastors struggle with rationalism, pietism, secularism, and their own fallen, sinful nature. In the end, the grace of God always wins out, often in unexpected ways. Although, while the pastors in the narratives come and go, the community they live in endures as an active and living character in its own right reacting and being acted upon by the work of God. This book is an essential read for all Christians who wish to contemplate how God's Law and Gospel is given and active in our lives.

-Pr Christian Mundorf