Ask Pastor John 750 Bible Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions
by Tony Reinke

I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. Yet once I got into this book, once I saw what it is and isn’t, and once I began to actually read it, my skepticism quickly subsided.

Perhaps the most important thing to note about Ask Pastor John is that the author is not John Piper. Rather, it’s Tony Reinke. It’s Reinke’s name that is written in big characters on the front cover. Piper is mentioned only as the author of the foreword. Yet the content is clearly Piper’s. So what gives?

Back in 2013 Reinke, an employee of Desiring God, proposed a new podcast called Ask Pastor John. The format would be simple—Piper would answer questions posed to him in advance. Rather than offering off-the-cuff answers as he might during a conference Q&A, Piper would spend time in preparation, giving his responses more depth and weight.

What was supposed to last for just under 400 episodes has now reached into the thousands. The episodes have been listened to hundreds of millions of times and, by Piper’s own testimony, is the most common feedback he hears from people who interact with him—they tell how much they have been shaped and blessed by it.

Yet not everyone is going to listen to hundreds of hours of podcasts (or would even want to). The book, then, is a kind of “narrative synthesis” of 750 of the most popular episodes, the majority of which deal with situational ethics. Reinke says it “is a core sample of John Piper’s mind and theology” that is meant to serve four purposes: To map the ground they’ve already covered so as to avoid repetition; to topically curate the episodes already created; to celebrate Piper’s investment in the podcast; and to acquaint readers with the scope and depth of the podcast archive. “Basically, my prayer is that by making dozens of the major podcast themes browsable in print, this book will make the archive more useful to you at the very moment you need it. This book doesn’t have an index; it is the index, an index to serve you as you serve others.”

While there is a sense in which the book is meant to prompt readers to become listeners, there is another sense in which it offers plenty of its own value. What Reinke has done is arrange episodes under topical headings. Then he has combined the content of related episodes and condensed it into a short and readable Q&A format.

I enjoyed gaining brief answers to a multitude of questions and enjoyed seeing how Piper brings the truths of Scripture to bear on practical matters. I enjoyed disagreeing with him on a few matters, but such disagreements help sharpen my own thinking. The book is a fascinating and helpful archive, whether taken with or without reference to the podcast that was its origin.