Review of "Faith in Flux" by Michael Cook

​Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)

It could be argued that the world has never changed so dramatically so quickly. Innovations like the internet and social media have facilitated that. It can also be argued that our society in America hasn't been this divided since the Civil War. Politically, ideological, racial, and religious differences seem to permeate and influence every aspect of our country, and this is particularly concerning when it comes to the field of education.

In fact, one of our favorite lines from this entire book is: “Teaching a student what to think is indoctrination, not education inculcating critical thinking.”

That quote could almost serve as the thesis statement for Faith in Flux. Michael Cook’s book is deeply concerned with the difference between education and ideological formation, between leadership and coercion, between guiding students toward truth and merely training them to repeat approved answers. Whether he is discussing Saint Augustine, classical education, campus discourse, legitimate leadership, or technology in the classroom, Cook repeatedly returns to the idea that education should sharpen the mind, strengthen moral judgment, and prepare people to think critically in a changing world.

Faith in Flux is not really a traditional leadership book. It is more like a curated collection of Christian educational-leadership essays built from Michael William Cook’s PhD journey at Liberty University. The author explains that the book grew out of years of doctoral study, research, citations, and reflection, and that he intentionally tried to make academic leadership topics more readable while keeping much of the scholarly foundation.

Author Michael Cook has always amazed us with his thoughtfulness and insight. His books tend to have a philosophical and ideological bend that lean noticeably to the right (Christian conservative). They can sometimes come across as a bit slanted, didactic, or heavy-handed to some. We think it largely depends on your point of view. If you're already predisposed toward a more right-wing point of view, then this book might resonate with you more. If you're left-wing/liberal/progressive, then this book might upset you—or, preferably, it might challenge you.

The Socratic method and democracy should be about finding better answers and solutions through challenges, debates, and discussions, after all. We're not always going to agree. In fact, not agreeing is part of the process. It's part of what makes this all work. Homogeneous thinking might sound ideal on paper, but it also sets society up for the intellectual equivalent of the Irish potato famine—we can't survive without different ideas, without ideas and beliefs being challenged, and without innovation.

This book is clearly a product of the times—the spirit of the times: the zeitgeist. It seems largely inspired by two critical recent events: the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk and similar events (which brings into question issues of freedom of safe discourse and freedom of speech) and the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the mass-shutdown of schools (which can be argued critically impacted the lives, mental health, and growth of students nationwide).

However, what we appreciate about Faith in Flux is that Cook is not just reacting emotionally to the chaos. He is trying to place that chaos into a larger framework of leadership, education, morality, faith, and responsibility.

In other words, this is not simply a book about “what is wrong with schools.” It is a book about what leaders, educators, parents, administrators, and institutions are supposed to do when the ground keeps shifting underneath them.

That is where the title really starts to work. Faith in Flux is about holding onto faith, ethics, and critical thinking while everything else feels unstable. Cook repeatedly returns to the idea that change is inevitable, but moral confusion does not have to be. Education can evolve without becoming indoctrination. Technology can advance without replacing wisdom. Institutions can adapt without surrendering their principles. Leaders can respond to crisis without becoming authoritarian, cowardly, or reactionary.

One of the strongest sections of the book concerns COVID-19 and its impact on students. This is a subject that many people seem eager to move past, and that is understandable. No one wants to keep living in 2020 forever. However, the effects of the pandemic did not magically disappear when schools reopened and masks came off. Students lost time, structure, social development, emotional stability, and educational momentum. Some students also lost loved ones, security, confidence, and trust.

Cook treats this not merely as a temporary public health crisis, but as a leadership crisis. What happens when schools are forced into distance learning almost overnight? What happens when young children are removed from the social environments that help shape their emotional development? What happens when families without strong technology access are expected to compete academically with families who have laptops, reliable internet, parental availability, and educational support at home? What happens when anxiety, isolation, and academic loss become part of an entire generation’s formative experience? These are not small questions.

And they are not questions that can be answered with easy partisan slogans. One side may want to say, “The shutdowns were necessary.” Another side may want to say, “The shutdowns were destructive.” Cook’s book seems most interested in the harder leadership question: what did these decisions do to children, and what responsibility do leaders have now?

That is one reason Faith in Flux feels timely. It is dealing with the aftermath of major social disruption, but it is also dealing with the deeper issue underneath that disruption: the erosion of trust. Trust in schools. Trust in universities. Trust in government. Trust in institutions. Trust in educators. Trust in media. Trust in experts. Trust in one another. Once trust breaks, education becomes much harder.

The sections on free speech and academic freedom connect strongly to that same concern. Cook understands that schools and universities are supposed to be places where ideas can be discussed, challenged, tested, refined, and sometimes rejected. But if students or faculty members become afraid to speak, or if speech itself is treated as a form of violence, then the educational environment becomes distorted. At that point, learning gives way to social pressure. Inquiry gives way to conformity. Dialogue gives way to performance. People stop asking, “What is true?” and start asking, “What am I allowed to say?” That is a dangerous trade.

We also appreciated that Cook doesn't separate leadership from ethics. In Faith in Flux, leadership is not just about efficiency, charisma, productivity, or institutional power. Leadership is about moral responsibility. A leader should not merely ask, “Can I make people do this?” A leader should ask, “Is this right? Is this truthful? Is this just? Is this helping people grow? Is this strengthening their ability to think, decide, and act with wisdom?”

That may be the book’s strongest recurring contribution. Cook keeps pulling leadership back toward conscience.

The Christian worldview is obviously central to this. Cook does not hide his faith, and the book would not make much sense without it. Saint Augustine, Scripture, moral law, virtue, truth, and Christian ethics are not decorative elements here. They are part of the book’s foundation. Cook is not writing a secular leadership manual with a few Bible-adjacent reflections sprinkled in. He is writing from a clearly Christian understanding of education and leadership.

That will be a strength for some readers and a barrier for others.

One of the people most often cited throughout the book is St. Augustine of Hippo, who is treated as a highly credible source on faith, education, virtue, and truth. And, to be fair, he is. St. Augustine is one of the most influential Christian thinkers in history, and his ideas about truth, morality, faith, reason, and education have shaped Christian thought for centuries.

However, this also raises an interesting challenge. If one of the core warnings of Faith in Flux is that education should teach students how to think rather than what to think, then even St. Augustine should not be treated as an untouchable authority. His ideas may be profound, but they should still be examined, questioned, debated, and tested. Otherwise, there is a danger of replacing one form of ideological certainty with another. A Christian education rooted in Augustine may be richer, older, and more morally serious than many modern educational trends, but it can still become overly rigid if students are expected to accept Augustine’s conclusions simply because he is Augustine.

That does not mean St. Augustine should be dismissed. Far from it. It means he should be engaged with seriously rather than merely revered. The strongest kind of Christian education should not be afraid of questions, because truth should be able to withstand examination. In that sense, the most faithful way to honor Augustine might not be to nod along with everything attributed to him, but to do exactly what Cook argues education should do: think critically, search honestly, challenge carefully, and pursue truth with humility.

Christian educators, faith-based school leaders, classical education supporters, conservative readers, and readers who are concerned about ideological conformity in schools will likely find a lot to admire here. Progressive readers may find themselves disagreeing, sometimes strongly. However, disagreement does not make a book worthless. In fact, if Cook’s own argument about critical thinking is taken seriously, then a challenging book may be more valuable than a comfortable one.

The book’s breadth is also impressive. It covers Saint Augustine, the Founding Fathers, Marxism, campus discourse, conflict resolution, mentorship, learner uniqueness, game-based learning, educational technology, project-based and problem-based learning, bureaucracy, legitimate and illegitimate leadership, classical schools, academic freedom, educational ethics, STEM, robotics, coding, makerspaces, and COVID-19. That is a lot of ground. Maybe too much ground at times.

Because this is a collection of essays, the reading experience can occasionally feel uneven. Some chapters feel like academic papers. Some feel like personal reflections. Some feel like leadership advice. Some feel like cultural criticism. Some feel like apologetics. Some feel like warnings. The book does not always move with the smoothness of a single, unified argument. Instead, it reads more like a series of connected intellectual checkpoints from Cook’s doctoral journey.

However, that structure also gives the book a certain usefulness. Readers do not necessarily need to approach Faith in Flux like a novel or a traditional leadership book. They can move through it chapter by chapter, topic by topic, issue by issue. In that sense, it almost functions as a reference guide for Christian educational leadership in a turbulent era.

The best moments are when Cook connects his research to lived experience. His military background adds credibility to his leadership reflections because he is not writing about leadership purely as a classroom concept. He has been in environments where hierarchy, communication, trust, discipline, mentorship, and decision-making actually mattered. That comes through most clearly in his mentorship chapter, where he reflects on being corrected, mentored, and shaped into a better leader. That humility matters.

It is easy for a book like this to become preachy. And, yes, there are moments where Faith in Flux does become forceful. But Cook’s personal reflections help balance that. They remind us that leadership is not just about correcting society, fixing schools, or criticizing institutions. It is also about being willing to correct yourself. A true leader is not simply someone who tells others what is wrong. A true leader is someone who is still teachable.

Michael Cook continues to impress with these thought-provoking books.

Check it out on Amazon!