Caleb D. Reese (Author of Hypothermia)

Caleb Reese liked Whitney Hunter James's review of Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1):
Oct 17, 2025 08:50AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caleb Reese liked Jonathan’s status update Jonathan is currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
Oct 12, 2025 06:04PM
Caleb Reese liked Cassidy Reese's review of Northanger Abbey:
Oct 12, 2025 06:04PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caleb Reese rated a book it was ok What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church by Gavin Ortlund	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've watched hours of Ortlund's YouTube videos and much of this book seemed to parallel that content, if not just reiterate it. I've also had the pleasure of watching even more hours of video responses from apologists from other traditions. Overall, ...more
Oct 12, 2025 06:02PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caleb Reese liked Cassidy Reese's review of What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church:
Oct 12, 2025 04:59PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caleb Reese started reading Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1) by Agatha Christie	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 02, 2025 05:29PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caleb Reese rated a book it was ok The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ by Joseph Smith Jr.	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
And it came to pass that I FINALLY finished this slog of a tome. So many thoughts. First, the good, if you could call it that? I don't know if Joseph Smith was a con man or was automatic writing through demonic influence (or a bit of both?) but you'v ...more
Oct 01, 2025 05:06PM · 1 like · like · see review
Caleb Reese started reading Star Wars: Ambush at Corellia (The Corellian Trilogy, #1) by Roger MacBride Allen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 21, 2025 08:21PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Star Wars by Roger MacBride Allen. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Star Wars by Roger MacBride Allen <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caleb Reese rated a book really liked it Bones of the Hills (Conqueror, #3) by Conn Iggulden	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Really excellent, and so close to five stars. Just some minor quips that some sentences throughout were obtuse and the ending was rushed. But otherwise, incredibly well written. Well paced, exciting, fascinating. I look forward to finishing this seri ...more
Sep 18, 2025 08:18AM · 1 like · like · see review
Caleb Reese started reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 02, 2025 08:08PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Caleb Reese liked Whitney Hunter James's review of Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1):

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Caleb Reese liked Jonathan’s status update

Jonathan is currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)

Caleb Reese liked Cassidy Reese's review of Northanger Abbey:

Caleb Reese rated a book it was ok

What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund

What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church
by Gavin Ortlund

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I've watched hours of Ortlund's YouTube videos and much of this book seemed to parallel that content, if not just reiterate it. I've also had the pleasure of watching even more hours of video responses from apologists from other traditions.

Overall, I've watched hours of Ortlund's YouTube videos and much of this book seemed to parallel that content, if not just reiterate it. I've also had the pleasure of watching even more hours of video responses from apologists from other traditions.

Overall, I think Ortlund does as good a job as one can with a difficult subject: making the case for something as non-homogeneous and non-monolithic as Protestantism. Unfortunately, the way to do that is to defend the lowest common denominator version of it, which ends up excluding the higher church sacramental options. He vies for a catholic view of Protestantism, which, again, is quite broad and therefore unhelpful - the five solas, the Trinity, and dual nature of Christ, the Gospel and you're good to go.

I think that if I hadn't already heard responses to much of Ortlund's content, I would have been more compelled by his arguments. I don't think he means to be deceptive intentionally, but his ecclesial presuppositions and logical-/historical-positive bias leaves him with the obvious explanation that the early church quickly developed accretions (his favorite word) despite us having a conciliar Holy Spirit-guided prototype in Acts 15, a promise to the apostles to lead them into all truth, Pentecost, and a description of the church being the pillar and ground of the truth. There is an incredibly significant tension that one must resolve to be able to accept Nicaea I and reject the ecclesiology, sacramentology, and overall self-understanding of the church at that time. He leans into the Protestant narrative that accretions happened after the Edict of Milan and the apparent subsequent influx of pagan syncretism, but most of the accretions he cited were believed and practiced almost universally before the Edict. How can one call a Mormon a non-Christian because they're non-Trinitarian and yet reject the binding nature of Nicaea I? And how can a church that fought heresies tooth and nail let accretions slip in so easily and ubiquitously?

Ortlund's call for Protestantism as retrieval (ad fontes) would have been more compelling if he could also claim consensus patrum for his tradition. As it stands, the Reformers leaned most heavily on Augustinian tradition for their soteriology and seemed to interpret the other Fathers through him, and thus Scripture through him as well. If only they also wanted to adopt Augustine's ecclesiology and church polity as well!

His chapter on icon veneration, again, would have been quite compelling if I hadn't already heard his arguments and the many responses. Since he's published this, Ortlund has moved the goalpost from icons not being common until the 5th century to now acknowledging that they were clear in the 2nd century but wants proof of veneration then. Michael Garten has some good arguments for this. Unfortunately, this is an example of Ortlund not presenting the fullest picture of the arguments on both sides and leaning on certain evidence as obviously agreeing with him when some nuance and context is required to understand the quotes he puts forward.

I agreed quite a lot on his chapter on the Papacy. The Chieti and Alexandria documents show that the Vatican also seems to agree with him - the early church had a conciliar ecclesiology in the first millennium with the bishop of Rome holding primacy but never universal jurisdiction.

While I appreciated Ortlund's efforts, his arguments might have had stronger internal consistency (beyond the lowest common denominator of Protestantism) if he had argued from a specific tradition within Protestantism as being the most viable option. What you lose in high ecumenism is a sense of confidence in your confession or tradition actually having all "right". This pluralistic approach is novel to the past couple centuries. I appreciate that the confessional Lutherans don't seem to fall for that.

Did this book do enough? Stay tuned to find out! ...more

Caleb Reese liked Cassidy Reese's review of What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church:

Caleb Reese started reading

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)
by Agatha Christie

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Caleb Reese rated a book it was ok

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
by Joseph Smith Jr.

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

And it came to pass that I FINALLY finished this slog of a tome.

So many thoughts. First, the good, if you could call it that? I don't know if Joseph Smith was a con man or was automatic writing through demonic influence (or a bit of both?) but you'v And it came to pass that I FINALLY finished this slog of a tome.

So many thoughts. First, the good, if you could call it that? I don't know if Joseph Smith was a con man or was automatic writing through demonic influence (or a bit of both?) but you've got to sort of admire the ridiculous length of this book. He had his own sort of world building and, while not fleshed out, included a panoply of characters - so many that you couldn't keep up with them over the hundreds of pretend years. He was also obviously quite well versed in Scripture and its language, despite no education.

It reads like bad Christian fan fic. It's a play on the OT, about a small group of Israelites who flee from Jerusalem before its destruction and find refuge in...South America? It's very obviously false, not the least because he copied so much from the KJV INCLUDING A TYPO THAT THE KJV INCLUDED which would not have been possible if he were truly just translating through some stones in a hat something that was written thousands of years before the KJV had that error. Lol.

There were enormous sections copied from Holy Scripture...Scripture woven in and out to the point where one couldn't always tell truth from lie. What a masterful way to twist truth.

One particularly egregious section was where Joseph literally wrote himself into the book, breaking the fourth wall (sort of), claiming that a prophet would arise named Joseph. LOL.

It also obviously lacked nuance and subtlety. While the OT is replete with messianic prophesies, they're all purposefully vague-ish (see the NT for why), but the BoM is on the nose - not only is Jesus Christ mentioned by name many times before he actually comes, but then he shows up in South America and preaches the sermon on the mount (sermon on Machu Picchu?) and does some other stuff and then re-ascends after saying he's going to go hit up some other spots.

Also...is no one else picking up on the fact that both he and Mohammad were visited alone by "angels"? No one is suspicious of this connection?

Praise God I'm done with this exhausting novel. Please, LDS people, consider that your private judgement and potential personal spiritual experience is NOT enough upon which to base your faith. Don't trust the demon-influenced con man. ...more

Caleb Reese started reading

Star Wars: Ambush at Corellia (The Corellian Trilogy, #1)
by Roger MacBride Allen

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Caleb Reese rated a book really liked it

Bones of the Hills (Conqueror, #3)
by Conn Iggulden

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Really excellent, and so close to five stars. Just some minor quips that some sentences throughout were obtuse and the ending was rushed.

But otherwise, incredibly well written. Well paced, exciting, fascinating. I look forward to finishing this seri ...more

Caleb Reese started reading

The Screwtape Letters
by C.S. Lewis

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Caleb’s Year In Books

Caleb D. Reese’s Followers (10)

Caleb’s Bookshelves

Caleb’s Friends (49)

2025 Reading Challenge

Caleb D. Reese

Goodreads Author

Combine Editions
Caleb D. Reese’s books

Caleb is Currently Reading

rss
Caleb’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

See a Problem?

Preview — Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

See a Problem?

Preview — What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund

See a Problem?

Preview — What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund

See a Problem?

Preview — Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

See a Problem?

Preview — Star Wars by Roger MacBride Allen

See a Problem?

Preview — The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

recent posts
Caleb’s Groups

Caleb’s Friend Comments

	Hypothermia 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Zompires it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blackout by Caleb D. Reese (Goodreads Author), C.T. Vroman 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Loki Reborn 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shadow Warriors 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Caleb D. Reese’s Followers (10)

Caleb D. Reese

Goodreads Author

rssCaleb’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

See a Problem?

Preview — Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

See a Problem?

Preview — What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund

See a Problem?

Preview — What It Means to Be Protestant by Gavin Ortlund

See a Problem?

Preview — Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

See a Problem?

Preview — Star Wars by Roger MacBride Allen

See a Problem?

Preview — The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

rss
Caleb’s Recent Updates