Culture, culture, everywhere. And not a drop of wisdom to drink. We spend, rightly spend, time and effort to read and interpret the Bible. And the Bible tells us that Jesus lived as a Jew in Roman-Greco times. And we look up from our Bibles and we wonder, "How should we live in our times?"Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends", a collection of essays edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman. 288 pages, published by Baker Academic on March 2007. Available via Amazon Kindle for USD19.99 but if you are listening to this in August 2022, today's book is the Logos Free Book of the Month. If you missed the free deal, not because you didn't know Logos gives free books every month (you do) but because you didn't expect to like today's book (I didn't), then subscribe to Reading and Readers to not miss out on unexpected gems. Yet Another Everyday Theology BookI came to this book with little enthusiasm. The book cover is bland and boring. If I was not 'assigned' to read this book, I would not read it much less spend money on it. I predicted that a book titled, "Everyday Theology", would be another worthy attempt to convince the general audience on the importance of theology in Christian living. I am not just convinced, I am a vocal activist as this podcast can attest. Just goes to show that one shouldn't judge a book by it's cover or title. We need to read the subtitle. It's "How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends". Whenever you are figuring out what the ending in a movie means, you are reading a cultural text. Whenever you are figuring out what to wear, you are interpreting trends. Figure out how what you watch and wear connect to your faith and you have a fair idea what this book is about. This book offers Christian interpretations of architecture, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, fantasy funerals and more.A more academic, but less marketable, title would be, "Cultural Hermeneutics: An Introduction with Case Studies". Biblical Hermeneutics, I know but Cultural Hermeneutics, I don't. Biblical Hermeneutics is a core subject in any seminary. It's about interpreting the Bible. Cultural Hermeneutics is about interpreting the culture.And until this book came along, I didn't know there was a gap in my mental toolbox that Cultural Hermeneutics fills. Journey to Culture TruthMany years ago, in my more innocent age, a friend asked whether I had listened to Eminem's new song. I thought to myself, "I didn't know M&Ms do music. I thought they only made chocolate." Soon, I figured out he was referring to Eminem, a notorious rapper. Fast forward to today, and as a Christian, as a father, what do I do with Eminem and his angry, sometimes violent, lyrics? Is it wrong to listen? And if it is, where do you draw the line?; because most, if not all, the music we hear outside of church has no God, no Jesus, in them. If everything we do must glorify God, then is it more Christian to put aside Eminem and listen to Taylor Swift? Why? Perplexing isn't it? Cultural norms shift so quickly and the Church gives a knee-jerk reaction, appealing more to tradition than a rigorous application of the Bible, and often betraying a lack of understanding of the music, book, film or trend. This is xenophobic, not Christ-centric. I've been on a spiritual journey to find the truth on culture. Along the way, I have found helpful guides.I ask, "If God, who is good, is not in non-Christians, then how can they do so much good? They produce great works of art; in architecture, literature and music." Abraham Kuyper gave me an answer in Common Grace.I ask, "Can I read non-Christian books?" Tony Reinke absolved me of any guilt and I have adapted the reasoning in his book Lit! to movies and music. I learnt what is a good book from Andrew Peterson in his autobiography, "Adorning the Dark". Among other things, a good book makes this world brighter, not dimmer. And I see that in the vision crafted and fought for the childrens book series, "The Green Ember" by S.D. Smith. Oh, to be a hedge-trimmer in that world!My journey to find the truth about culture reached a new milestone with today's book. This book surfaces questions I had but didn't know how to articulate and gives me the tools to read cultural texts. First of all to see television, movies, comic books, video games and the Internet as cultural texts. While the earlier books were helpful to give a framework and a vision, this book, Everyday Theology, tackles Eminem head on.Let's open the book. StructureThe book begins with a Reader's Guide that tells us where this book began (in a Cultural Hermeneutics course Kevin Vanhoozer teaches at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School); what this book is about (how to read culture), how to use this book (which I will explain more later) and whom to thank for this book (the usual suspects, rightly acknowledged and thanked). Following the Reader's Guide, we have four parts: Part 1: IntroductionPart 2: Reading Cultural TextsPart 3: Interpreting Cultural TrendsPart 4: Concluding Untheoretical PostscriptAnd at the end, we have a glossary of methodological terms, information on the ten contributors to this book, and the usual subject index and Scripture index.With that overview, let's go into the details.The MethodPart 1 Introduction should be renamed The Method because that is where Vanhoozer is driving the readers towards. He makes the case for cultural hermeneutics. As befitting a Systematic Theologian who has written books like, "Is There Meaning in this Text?", he unpacks Matthew 16:1-3:The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”The signs of the times can refer to the zeitgeist or the spirit of the age. We are living in an age where the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated but awaiting consummation. If Vanhoozer's opening chapter is difficult, it's because he wishes to ensure readers are on sure footing. That what he is laying out is biblical and possesses academic rigour. Some of us may not care to learn about "locution", "illocution", and "perlocution", some of us do. Bear in mind that Vanhoozer is writing Everyday Theology for the Everyday Christian.He writes: Cultural texts project worlds of meaning that invite us in and encourage us to make our home there. The world of a cultural text—say, for example, the world projected by Friends, Survivor, or Desperate Housewives—unfolds a possible way of living together, a possible way of being human. But we can go further. These culturally created worlds present themselves accompanied by the whisper of their creators: “And behold, it is very good.” There’s the rub. Should we accept the invitation?If you persist to the end, you will be rewarded with: The Method. When I read the phrase, "The Method", my mind went to Hercule Poirot, the fictional detective in Agatha Christie's novel. He often berated Captain Hastings for not using his gray cells and the lack of method in his approach. I like to read mystery novels to 'learn the detective's methods' and look forward to the final reveal. Wouldn't it be super if we could learn it and make our own reveals? That's what Vanhoozer offers here, the secrets to reading the world: the world behind the text, the world in the text and the world in front of the cultural text. Along the way, you ask questions like: "Who made this cultural text and why? What does it mean and how does it work? What effect does it have on those who receive, use, or consume it?" There is more to say but we should move on. We have to move to the other chapters. I stress again that you must complete Vanhoozer's chapter no matter how tempted you may be to skip to Part 2. Reading Cultural TextsPart 2: Reading Cultural Texts has some of the best chapter titles I have read this year. Let me read the titles for chapters 2 to 6. We have here:The Gospel According to Safeway: The Checkout Line and the Good LifeDespair and Redemption: A Theological Account of EminemThe High Price of Unity: The Universal Declaration of Human RightsBetween City and Steeple: Looking at Megachurch Architecture. A short note, written by Prekumar D. Williams, noteworthy in this collection of essays as an instructor in theology at Baptist Seminary of South India in Bangalore, India.Swords, Sandals and Saviors: Visions of Hope in Ridley Scott's Gladiator. A fairly recent movie when this book was published. Let me remind you that this book was published in 2007. Let me also bring to your attention that the movie "The Gladiator" was released in 2000. Yes, it's been that long, it's been 22 years since you saw Maximus commanding gladiators in the arena.I had an impossible time choosing a chapter to talk about. Any of these topics could easily take up a whole podcast episode. From the Eminem chapter, I could jump to today, 15 years after the book, in Christian Hip Hop. In Shai Linne's 2017 album, "Still Jesus", the last track is titled, "Washer's Warning" and in it we hear Paul Washer saying:I came here thinking that I would hear hip hop. I came here thinking that I would hear rappers. I heard preaching. I heard preaching. And I heard a respect for the truth, and a desire to communicate it.Or how about another question that bugs me. In the chapter on architecture, "Between City and Steeple" we read about theaters and malls, steeples, pulpits and communion tables, what I really want to ask the author is: "Hey, you are writing from India Baptist Theological Seminary. I want to know more about that one enticing line in your conclusion: 'Vernacular forms of architecture, ... , have potential to recall a theological heritage and express the identity of a people called to witness in a given culture.' So steeples in Indian churches, yay or nay?" And as I ask this, my mind is thinking about the Haggia Sophia, that great Constantinople Cathedral now a mosque in Istanbul.There are so many jumping points from this book but for the sake of a coherent book review, let us look into the thesis of one chapter. I made my choice and it is the movie: Gladiator.Michael Sleasman writes: Though it may initially surprise the casual viewer, this essay proposes that the theme of visions of hope is a hermeneutical key to the best interpretation of Gladiator. Grappling with hope gives this film deep relevance in a culture where so many are disillusioned by hopes that disappoint; there is a ripeness in the air for a hope that lasts, a hope that is eternal, a hope that does not fail, and Gladiator gropes blindly after such a hope.Sleasman goes through The Method: In the World-Behind-the-Text, we read the influence of classical epics like Spartacus and Ben Hur, a quick analysis of Ridley's Scotts films, and the historical Marcus Aurelius and his family. In the World-Of-the-Text, he explains the plot and characters and whether there is an overt Christian theme in the movie. Ridley Scott says no but also says Maximus dies as a martyr and saviour of Rome. While the Christian influence may be ambiguous, it is clear that Maximus is a religious character. His faith sustains him. This topic is explored in depth in the next section. In the World-In-Front-of-The-Text, Sleasman explores various interpretations. He pointedly says that the privilege of interpretation should be accorded to the director, Ridley Scott, who has said that mortality is the central theme of the movie. But Sleasman refutes: While Scott may have intended something less than Christian, the expression of a deep orientation toward the future may undercut that intention. If mortality were the cultural existential expressed, the question begs to be asked why meeting his family in the afterlife motivates his actions in this world, as Scott himself argues. In the end, I propose, Scott directs better than he knows.And Sleasman proceeds to lay out the Christian vision of hope, contrasts it against what is offered in Gladiator and politely insists that Sleasman has a better interpretation of the movie than the director. He writes:As such, I appeal to the interpretation I believe to be the most comprehensive and yet simplest, as that which resonates with the cultural existentials expressed in this cultural text. Quite possibly, Scott himself may have lacked a full vocabulary of hope to express his own vision and intention, even if this was at a subconscious level.Quite possibly, Sleasman is a bit full of himself. Film critics. The bane of the director's existence. Let me critic the chapter.My question is: "Is it correct to insist on your interpretation over and against the creator's interpretation?"When I say something, I don't appreciate it when someone insists that he knows better than me on what I just said. And we all know how some people can read power politics, gender ideology, conspiracy theories into anything, even the Bible. So are we Christians guilty of reading things into the text when we read the culture? This is a question Vanhoozer, Sleasman and every contributor in this book takes seriously. I have come away from that question with thanksgiving. I am thankful that God is Truth, and I don't have to second-guess God's motives or character in what he says. When a man says I love you to a woman, maybe he has other motives. But when God says I love you to you and me, it is the purest and holiest of motives. So knowing God's standards are ever true, never tarnished, I appreciate what the authors of these essays do in bringing God's standards, God's word to bear in these works. Interpreting Cultural Trends and OthersI finished Part 2, hoping for more. Part 3 gives me more but of a different kind. Now, instead of specific cultural texts, we have broader trends. Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10, look at busyness, blogs, transhumanism and fantasy funerals. Everybody understands busyness and blogs, although Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok have since surpassed blogs in popularity and notoriety. Transhumanism is about being more than human, it is mankind's deliberate attempt to create the X-men. Fantasy funerals is a weird one because how is this a trend? I don't recognise it as anything other than a fetish subculture phenomenon. Maybe when this essay was written fantasy funerals were taking off, and all I say is thankfully it didn't. Part 4 has only one chapter. Chapter 11: Putting It into Practice: Weddings for Everyday Theologians. He brings together everything we read, the Method and the case studies, and shows us how it applies to weddings. And in that chapter, the book ends. I sometimes complain that books end too abruptly. Especially books which are a collection of essays. This is not one of those books. It ends well by bringing to mind Eminem, Gladiator, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, what we have learnt and what we can do as cultural agents. We end the book with a sense of closure. And I think we have the editors to thank. Editors Rock!Editors are the silent heroes of the publishing world. They take lumps of clay and turn it into a Michelangelo masterpiece. Or maybe it's the other way around. Anyways, I don't normally observe the editors work but in this book I am glad to commend the editors. Before each chapter, the editors give a editorial introduction. For example, for chapter 4 on UN Declaration of Human Rights, the editorial introduction begins with:With this essay we come to what at first appears to be a very different kind of cultural text than the music of Eminem. The short editorial introductions link the chapters together, highlighting the differences and commonalities from one chapter to the next. Helps readers know what to look for. Then there are the little box inserts that serve as editorial comments. They have titles like "Behind the Text", "For the Toolkit", "Further Reflections" and "Book Link". "Behind the Text" gives a Behind the Scenes look at the essay. For the Gladiator chapter, it spotlights how Michael Sleasman, the writer of that chapter, surveys various interpretations, assesses them, proposes his own interpretation with evidence. In another box insert, "For the Toolkit", the editor critiques the interpretative technique applied and in "Further Reflection", the editor offers further thoughts on the subject. The editorial comment I most look forward to is the "Book Link". It is a 300-word-or-so essay by Vanhoozer where he reviews books. For example, on the architecture chapter, he recommends Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals by Robert Barron and Angels in the Architecture: A Protestant Vision for Middle Earth by Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson. And Vanhoozer's recommendation are a handy supplement to the further readings suggested by the essayist.In the beginning of this episode, I lamented the lack of resources to deal with specific issues of culture. Now, at the end of each chapter, I am spoilt for choice! With so many editorial comments, it sometimes feels like a teacher giving students helpful pointers their work. Wait. That's exactly what this book is. It's a collection of essays from Professor Vanhoozer's Cultural Hermeneutics class. From the Reader's Guide:My co-editors and I have selected a representative sampling from the one hundred and forty-five term papers written over the past five years. I don't know how heavily the chapters were edited from their original submission but I must commend the final product. It's well organised, the chapters flow seamlessly, the editorial inserts can be intrusive but I don't think so and the book ends with much appreciated closure. It reads so well, as if it was guided by a single mind through multiple hands. ConclusionEveryday Theology is for the everyday Christian. Movies, music, politics, social media, weddings and funerals. No shallow analysis on them with the Gospel message tacked on in the end. The first chapter written by the Professor might be a bit hard reading, but the remaining chapters, the best term papers selected for the best fit, were written by individuals who have yet to develop the fine art of academic obfuscation.One criticism is the book is a bit dated: 2007. While we can see Tom Cruise reprise Maverick, we won't be seeing Russell Crowe reprise Maximus. Won't it be sweet to see The Method applied to Top Gun? And track what has changed from 1986 to 2022 from a Christian worldview. Don't we want more Cultural Hermeneutics? I googled Cultural Hermeneutics and there are no interesting hits. It's not that people are not analysing culture from a Christian Worldview. We have tonnes of blogs, YouTube videos, podcasts speaking for culture, against culture. The problem is we don't a critical mass to work around unlike in apologetics or soteriology or eschatology, where discussions come out of those categories. Discussions on music are labeled music, not cultural hermeneutics which makes it harder to learn the skills of reading culture. When I first started this podcast, there was another podcast idea I was toying with, which was to analyse entertainment from a Christian worldview. Surely, I'm not the only one who sees in Spiderman's "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility" an echo of the Christian's "We are Blessed to be a Blessing". Today's book unexpectedly showed me in book form, what I only imagined could be possible in a podcast. Do you think it's a great podcast idea? If you know anything like it, tell me. If you like the idea enough to do it, tell me and I'll be happy to be your first subscriber. Until told otherwise, I think today's book is a most impressive and unique contribution to cultural discussions. A great jumping-off point to much that is happening around us. It keeps us on our toes to see culture as more complex, and less simplistic as so many suppose. And thus, more opportunities for Christians to be a better reader of culture. This is a Reading and Reader's review of "Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends", edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman. 288 pages, published by Baker Academic on March 2007. Available via Amazon Kindle for USD19.99 and free in Logos for August and only August.I've given so many good reviews lately that you might think I rate every book highly. I try to see the best in every book. But the next book I review is not a book I particularly enjoy. "Pray tell, what is that book?", you say. Well, subscribe to Reading and Readers and don't miss out on any great deals and book reviews. This podcast saves you time and money. Have a good one. Thanks for listening. Book List"Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends", edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman. Amazon. Logos."Common Grace" by Abraham Kuyper. Amazon. Logos."Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading" by Tony Reinke. Amazon. Logos."Wingfeather Saga" by Andrew Peterson. Amazon. Reading and Readers Review."The Green Ember Series" by S.D. Smith. Amazon. Reading and Readers Review.

A preacher walks into a church. A church member asks him, "Can you please preach on worship." The preacher says, "Sure. I've got a great sermon on John 4:24, 'Worship in Spirit and in Truth'.". The church member says, "No, that wouldn't do. The last three preachers preached on that same verse. Do you have something else?" The preacher thought for a while and said, "Nope. I've got nothing." With today's book, you will know how other books in the Bible, verses other than John 4:24, speak on worship. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review Biblical Worship: Theology for God's Glory, edited by Benjamin Forrest, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., and Vernon M. Whaley. 544 pages, published by Kregel Academic in February 2021. Take note, this is a very new book. The list price is USD42.99, available in Amazon Kindle for USD29.92, and available in Logos for July and only July for USD9.99. A very new book for a very low price. I don't think you will ever get this book at a cheaper price.And yes, I know July ends in a few days but in the last episode, episode 47, I did call attention to this deal. If you missed the deal and don't want to miss another one, subscribe to Reading and Readers, and get book reviews on free or nearly free books. Popular vs AcademicToday's book, Biblical Worship, is a Logos Book, which to some, is a signal that today's book is not a book for you. Because the Logos Books are academic, scholarly, technical books, targeting pastors, academics and serious Bible students. But wait... today's book is about worship. If it's archaeology, nobody says anything, few know, few care. Worship, everybody has an opinion. Now, there are many good worship books written for a popular audience. Let me give you a few: "Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God's People", a 9Marks book, written by Mark Merker. Only 176 pages.Another one by Keith and Kristyn Getty, the worship powerhouse couple, "Sing!: How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family and Church". This is also only 176 pages.If you would prefer a shorter book, you can read "The Reset: Returning to the Heart of Worship and a Life of Undivided Devotion" by Jeremy Riddle. I got to know of this book from the "Redman & Riddle" podcast hosted by Matt Redman and Jeremy Riddle. It's like sitting in a lounge over coffee with two accomplished worship leaders tackling worship challenges with titles like: Encounter vs Entertainment or Comfort vs Confrontation or Holiness vs Helpfulness. The point I'm making is there are tonnes and tonnes of great resources on worship so why would anyone want to read a 544 page book by boring old scholars? In fact, if you read the three books I just suggested, the total page count of those three books is still less than this one book. Let me explain the difference between books written for a popular audience and books written for a more academic audience. Books for popular audience like the 9Marks book or the Gettys book or the Riddle book, they are written with one eye on the Bible and one eye on how the church or the family or the individual should worship. On the other hand, for today's book, Biblical Worship or other academic books on worship, what the writers do is they take the Bible, they tear some pages and they chew on these pages. After some years of sucking the ink off those pages, they then write about what they have tasted and it is good! It's not that one type of book is better than the other, different methods, different audience, but I am pushing you to go beyond your comfort zone to read titles that you normally would not.Systematic Theology vs Biblical TheologySpeaking of types, today's book is a theology book. There are two ways to go about theology: Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology. The label Biblical Theology is a bit confusing because it doesn't mean that it's more biblical than Systematic, it just means its focus is on the books themselves. That doesn't seem to explain much, so I will give an illustration because I think its important you know the difference between Systematic and Biblical Theology for you to fully appreciate what you get in today's book.Imagine, if you will, in front of you there are 66 packs of M&Ms; those brightly coloured button-sized chocolates. The Systematic Theologian would tear open all 66 packs and put all the red M&Ms in one pile, all the blue M&Ms in one pile and so on. Then he would study the redness of the reds, the blueness of the blues and so on. Eventually, he will tell you what is the essence of redness. This is the Systematic Theologian's training, to open up 66 books of the Bible to tell you what is the holiness of God, what is sin, what is salvation and so on. This is how most Christians understand theology. Now, we come to the other approach: Biblical Theology. If you give 66 packs of M&Ms to him, he opens them but he doesn't put all the red M&Ms in one pile. He takes the pack, picks out the red M&Ms, and places them next to the original wrapper with all the other colours nearby. When you ask him what is the essence of redness, he picks up the red M&M in front of you and tells you what it means to be red while holding the wrapper and the other colours in his other hand. One way of doing Biblical Theology is to tell you the holiness of God in Genesis, Exodus and so on and perhaps relating the holiness of God to other attributes of God, like love or justice. Which is better: Systematic or Biblical? That's not a good question because we need both. Biblical Theology is helpful when we want to see how a concept or idea is presented differently from one book to the next. But we still need to do some Systematic Theology to unify the elements, otherwise we risk pitting the Apostle Paul against the Apostle James, we do that when we only see the differences and not what they share in common.I needed to explain Biblical Theology because that is the big selling point of today's book. It's a Biblical Theology of worship. StructureConsider the structure of the book: The book is divided into two main parts, Worship in the Old Testament and Worship in the New Testament. There are 21 chapters for the Old Testament and 13 chapters for the New Testament. "Woah... Woah there Terence. Why are we making life so difficult? Why don't we just do a word search on the word 'worship', study those verses and we will know what the Bible says about worship."That doesn't work because:You don't know what you are missing. For example, in the Old Testament, sacrifices are a vivid, visual and fragrant, element of worship. That means when we go into the New Testament, when Paul says living sacrifice, he is using worship language. When he says he is being poured out like a drink offering, that is also worship without using the word worship. What you get is not what you are looking for. For example, when the magi worshipped baby Jesus, they didn't worship him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The magi's worship is different from the Christian worship today. Thus the use of the worship there is not helpful to formulate what is Christian worship.That's why it is helpful to study what each book in the Bible teaches about worship. Hence, why in today's book, we have 34 chapters from 36 contributors. The contributors are professors of the Old Testament or professors of the New Testament. They have written journals and commentaries. There are some recognisable names in the list. These are people who spend a life time chewing on their favourite pages of the Bible.It's easy to see which chapters refer to which books because the chapters are subtitled worship in Joshua, worship in Judges and so on. Some chapters are groupings of books. One chapter that looks at worship in the united monarchy, another chapter looks at worship in the divided kingdom. One chapter is on the pre-exilic minor prophets. Another chapter is on the post-exilic minor prophets. But there is one Bible book that gets special treatment. Instead of sharing a chapter with others, it gets six chapters all to itself. Star treatment. Guess which book would that be? Hint: This is a book on worship. Another hint: Which Bible book has the most chapters. 150 chapters. And the answer, of course, is the Psalms. In the New Testament section, we see groupings, the synoptic gospels is one chapter, pastoral epistles is one, prison epistles is another. The last chapter has a wonderfully anticipatory title: Hallelujah, what a saviour! Worship in the Apocalypse. The whole book ends with a short epilogue from the editors followed by a Scripture index. From the Table of Contents, I can see that it nearly covers the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Nearly covers but not completely. That's because there are some books missing: Proverbs, Job, James and most disappointing of all, Daniel. We don't just miss Daniel and his friends and their faith in God. We also miss out on a deeper look at King Nebuchadnezzar's worship of God. And how the nations will worship God in the last days. It's a big gap in an otherwise comprehensive set of essays. Let's look at one chapter from the Old Testament and one chapter from the New.Worship in the Old TestamentFrom the Old Testament, I have picked the chapter on Joshua, which is chapter 5 and is titled, "Trust and Obedience as Worship to Yahweh: Worship in the Book of Joshua" by J. Michael Thigpen. The editors have instructed every writer to divide their work into three sections: context, theology and significance. So for context, Thigpen begins by telling us how he defines worship and how definition connects with the whole theme of Joshua. The definition is important because we would other wise not connect trust and obedience to worship. Then he gives us a summary background of Joshua, which is helpful to establish the context.Then moving to the next section, the theology of worship, he begins by unpacking Joshua 1:1-9 where God prepares Joshua to be a leader. Thigpen writes:Joshua saw the miracles in the wilderness. He was nearby when Moses spoke with God in the tent of meeting. He had been obedient and called for the people to trust and obey at Kadesh-Barnea (Num. 13–14). Joshua had heard the law given at Mount Sinai, and he had personally affirmed submission to it. He had heard Moses’s exposition of the law just before his death. He had all the experience he needed to believe God would keep his promises, to prompt him to be courageous, to be obedient, and to spend a lifetime meditating on God’s great acts. But God never once mentions Joshua’s experiences or memories. Instead, God points him to the Scriptures that existed at his time—the book of the law of Moses. This sets the tone for the rest of Joshua, emphasizing that the word of God, the Scriptures, are the bedrock of all worship. I'll tell you the significance of this theological insight to me. Every Christian knows that our worship is built on the Word. But what about personal testimonies? Is it wrong? That is not the correct question. The question is where is the place of personal testimonies?And we see here, that Joshua could have relied on personal testimonies, God could have asked Joshua to remember what he had seen. But instead, God emphasises Scripture, "This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth". God emphasises Scripture without dismissing Joshua's experience. Thigpen tells us that this is important for two reasons. First is authentication. Israel cannot determine what is true and false from Joshua's personal experience. It can only do that through Scripture. Second is continuity. What links Israel from one generation to the next is not Joshua's personal experience, it is Scripture. Both of these reasons are true for us today. You nod your head but you ask, "How is this related to worship?"Thigpen makes the case that worship is a matter of life and death. He expounds from Joshua 2 and 7, which contain the story of Rahab and the story of Achan. Thigpen writes:If the story of Rahab helps to confirm the life-and-death nature of worship, the account of Achan inscribes it in stone. Not worshiping the Lord, not trusting and obeying, is deadly.Worship is a matter of life and death. You can chew on this statement for a long, long, time. And by chewing on it, reflecting on the stories of Rahab and Achan, you can draw significance in your own life and situation. Worship in the New TestamentThere is more to say in Thigpen's essay but I want to move to something from the New Testament. My next on is Chapter 31 titled, "Grounded in Allegiance to Christ and Affection for God: Worship in John's Letters" by Andreas Köstenberger. Unlike Thigpen's essay, Köstenberger writes only two paragraphs for the context. One paragraph to summarise the three letters of John and one paragraph to explain that John doesn't directly talk about worship and there is still something here to learn that applies to worship. In the next section, he writes under the heading Personal Experience, Köstenberger comments on 1 John 1:1, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched -- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life". Köstenberger writes:John’s worship of Jesus—the Word of life—is grounded in personal experience. John had encountered the Word that had become flesh in Jesus—the life-giving Word—and had come to embrace him as the God-sent Messiah and God-given atonement for the sins of the world and placed his faith in him. This personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in turn, became the ground of fellowship with others and of the message John proclaimed (vv. 2–3). Thus, properly understood, worship — defined as recognizing the true worth of God’s gift in Jesus and a believing response to it — is at the root of Christian fellowship and proclamation.From personal experience, Köstenberger goes on to elaborate on propitiation, love, spiritual warfare, confession, love revisited and faith. Then he concludes the essay by summarising the theology of worship and tying it with the significance of it for biblical worship in two paragraphs. You will note that a big chunk of this essay is in the middle section, the theology of worship, which I will talk about later.I picked Köstenberger's essay as an interesting contrast with Thigpen's essay. Thigpen says, "God never once mentions Joshua’s experiences or memories." On the other hand, Köstenberger says, "John's worship of Jesus is grounded on personal experience." What each writes on worship for their assigned books is entirely consistent. It's when we put the essays side by side that we can see tension. Is it because Thigpen and Köstenberger are in conflict? Or, more worryingly, is it because Joshua and John are in conflict? This kind of thing happens in Biblical Theology. That is not to say that Systematic Theology guarantees no conflicts but Systematic Theology comes with a mindset to harmonise all the data, its danger is it might interpret the data apart from where the data came from. Another contrast between Thigpen and Köstenberger's essay is how they portion out their words for the three sections. The editors instructed contributors to organise their essays in three sections but the writers were free to write as much or as little in those sections. Some writers wrote a lot for significance and some like Köstenberger wrote very little. As I read this book from cover to cover, it was a jerky experience. It's like watching a movie with a long draggy ending, then in the next movie, the ending just suddenly happened. You are left wondering, "Is that it? Is that how it ends? Oh." Who is This Book Perfect ForThe target audience for this book is clearly the preacher, pastor or serious Bible student. If you are going to write a paper on worship, preach on worship or teach on worship, then this is a helpful book. Recent scholarship, reliable scholars, every chapter has its own bibliography which is a source of other leads. But I want to talk to the everyday reader who I think can benefit from a little stretching of the reading muscles. Who would normally not reach for an academic book because that's not your thing. We all know our worship is ultimately based on the Bible. We may watch YouTube, listen to podcasts, read books, blogs and tweets but ultimately we know we get our understanding of worship from the Bible. The problem is very few of us would read the Bible from cover to cover to study worship. That's why we read the 100, 200 page books because someone else did the hard work. What I'm saying here is instead of reading that, which is okay, it is good, why don't you try going nearer to the Bible. Why don't you read an essay on what is worship in Joshua? What is worship in the Letters of John? Get a more solid grasp of the source material. Reading this book, or any Biblical Theology book, will help you be a better Bible reader, a better Bible thinker. You will be more familiar with the themes and outlines of the books of the Bible. You will see how the writer takes a verse and walks you to the conclusion, so that next time you can take a verse and make your own biblical conclusions. Your understanding of worship will be more than Jesus said we are to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), you can see worship in every book of the Bible. And isn't that a worthy goal? If everybody did this, would we have worship wars? This is not to say that this book is the definitive word on worship and everything here you should accept without consideration. There are statements in the book that I am not fully behind. For example, in one essay it says that the Jerusalem walls in Nehemiah was purely for consecration not for defence. That's my first time hearing it so I need to study it a bit more before I get behind it. In another essay, it says that priests and Levites, their roles are fulfilled by worship pastors today. Once, I would have just accepted that as true. Now I think you need to back it up a bit more and with more nuance. The way I understand it, you can't say worship leaders are priests because we are all priests. You have to explain how does the priesthood of all believers work in that scheme.But overall, many of these statements are not the main thrust of the essay, so accordingly, I set them aside. These statements do not derail the main points of the essay, or the approach, the Biblical Theological approach the writers take, that we can learn. Other BooksAnd if you like the Biblical Theology on Worship approach, what other books can you consider? There are two books here that were cited so often that the editors acknowledged them in their introduction. "For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship" by Daniel I. Block. 432 pages published by Baker Academic in September 2016.and "Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation" by Allen P. Ross. 592 pages published by Kregel Academic in November 2006.If you like the idea of Biblical Theology but on other topics, you will be glad to know that today's book is part of a series called, "Biblical Theology for the Church". There are only two books in the series for now, the other topic is on Biblical Leadership. So there is more goodness to come.There is another series of Biblical Theology that I thoroughly enjoy, which is the NSBT, New Studies in Biblical Theology. It's a wonderful series and quite a few of NSBT books were quoted in today's book. There are 53 books in this series and counting, with titles on race, prayer, redemption, covenant, death and the afterlife, and many more. I've read 7 of them and they are just splendid. ConclusionToday's book, "Biblical Worship" is available for the very, very low price of USD9.99 in Logos. Just go to the Free Book of the Month link, it's not the free book of the month, just scroll down pass the many good deals. I honestly don't see how you can get this book at an even lower price. And even if you missed Logos' offer, I hope you got something out of today's book review that might encourage you to try a Biblical Theology book, if you have never tried one before. Or get away from the online chatter and just draw nearer to the Bible to know what the Bible says about worship.This is a Reading and Reader's review of Biblical Worship: Theology for God's Glory, edited by Benjamin Forrest, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., and Vernon M. Whaley. Today's episode is a special episode because 1) it's the first time I release four book reviews in a month, whew! It's tiring! And 2) I'm releasing this out of the normal schedule because I want to get it out before the month, and the deal, ends. If you don't want to miss book reviews on free books, or on good books, then subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Tell all your friends and they will thank you for it. I am going to take a well deserved rest, I'll see you in two weeks. Bye bye.Book ListBiblical Worship: Theology for God's Glory, edited by Benjamin Forrest, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., and Vernon M. Whaley. Amazon. Logos."For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship" by Daniel I. Block. Amazon. Logos."Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation" by Allen P. Ross. Amazon.New Studies in Biblical Theology Series. Logos.

300 years ago, many Puritans believed the return of Christ was imminent. After all, the Great Awakening was divine proof that America was the last stop in the global harvest. Alas! America today is not the America the Puritans knew. America today needs vision. Not political vision. Or social vision. But a theological vision! And who better to offer that theological vision to America than America's greatest theologian, Jonathan Edwards. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review God's Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards by Sean Michael Lucas. 224 pages, published by Crossway in October 2011.This book is a free book of the month of July from Faithlife. You can listen to this review and get the book, or you can just get the book first. Why wait? This podcast episode will always be around but that free offer ends. Do you know what other free offer ends? God's offer for our redemption. That also ends. One day, maybe tomorrow!, there will be a cosmic conclusion to this age. But Christians do not wait and do nothing. For the redemption we receive, we apply. 300 years ago, Jonathan Edwards saw God's redemption working at two levels: the cosmic and the personal. The cosmic story of Creation and the personal story of a Christian. This vision is found in his letters, sermons, books and published and unpublished material. But we need someone to bring together the scattered pieces to turn it into a coherent picture. Who is that someone? I give you Sean Michael Lucas, professor of church history at Reformed Theological Seminary. His first published work, back in 2003, was "The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards: American Religion and the Evangelical Tradition", he was one of the editors and a contributing essayist. Writing on Jonathan Edwards is no easy task as Lucas explains:One of the things that makes the study of Jonathan Edwards overwhelming is the sheer amount of literature. First, of course, is the amount of material written by Edwards himself. While the definitive Yale University Press print edition filled twenty-six volumes, the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University has made available transcriptions of a wide range of materials online that total seventy-three “volumes.” Obviously, any attempt to master Edwards is futile, although we now have a better opportunity and access than ever before to know what he said.So while he says any attempt to master Edwards is futile, the books he has read, the books he has written, this book we are reviewing now, shows a dedicated attempt to capture Jonathan Edwards theological vision. Thus, the scenario before you is this: "Lucas has done the heroic attempt to distill Edwards' vision into 200 pages. Will you make an attempt at Jonathan Edwards?" This is no trivial question. Edwards comes from a time when a book title is a sentence, a sentence is a paragraph and a paragraph is an essay. By our standards, the Puritans' writing is slow, long, convoluted, yet promising to be deep, meditative and soul-enriching. But, you say, this book, God's Grand Design is not written by Jonathan Edwards, it's written by Sean Michael Lucas, so it's easy right?That's why you need to listen to this review.StructureGod's Grand Design by Sean Michael Lucas is divided into two parts: Part I is Redemption History and Part II is Redemption Applied. The cosmic and the personal.In Part I, we have four chapters, namely:God's Grand Design: The Glory of GodGod's End in Creating the World: Creation, Nature, FallThe Great Errand of Christ: RedemptionThe Summum and Ultimum: ConsumationFrom those four chapter headings you can see God's Grand Design. But if you were expecting a brisk walk from Genesis to Revelation, you won't get it. The book assumes you already have an outline of redemptive history, and if you don't, there are better books for that. What Lucas offers here is Jonathan Edwards' thoughts, commentary on redemptive history. That's Part I. In Part II, Redemption Applied, we have seven chapters, starting with chapter 5: 5. A Divine and Supernatural Light 6. The Nature of True Religion: Holy Affections 7. The Dark Side of Religious Affections: Self-Deception 8. A Love Life: How the Affections Produce Genuine Virtue 9. Means of Grace: The Ministry of the Word 10. Means of Grace: The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper 11. Means of Grace: Prayer, Personal and Global 12. The Christian Life as a Journey to HeavenThe way the book is written, you never doubt that what Lucas writes is what Edwards thought. You know how helpful it is when someone makes a biblical argument, they quote the Bible verse? Lucas does the same. When he tells us this is Edwards theological opinion, he quotes an Edwards sermon or book or letter. Lucas also gets us familiar with other writers, especially in Appendix 1. Appendix 1 is an annotated bibliography. It's so useful, you should just download this book (which is free for July from Faithlife) just for this appendix. You might never read Lucas' book, but you might read a book he recommends here. For example, he briefly reviews four biographies on Edwards: a big one, a short one, a Harvard one and an Iain Murray one. There are around 20 books in his survey. I appreciate his candour. On Edwards book, "The Life of Brainerd", Lucas writes:I am not a big fan of that book either. While Edwards attempted to produce a case study in piety, Brainerd strikes me as overly morose and inward. Considering that the Life of Brainerd is the book that launched a million missions, I like how Lucas is able to critique his hero. To him, Edwards is a man like us. That's actually the title of his essay, which we can find in Appendix 2.This essay, "A Man Like Us: Jonathan Edwards and Spiritual Formation for Ministerial Candidates" is like a biographical sketch, but he says it's not. And it's meant to encourage the reader.So why was it that I finished the book feeling quite discouraged? Listen to what Lucas wrote in the introduction. After briefing describing the themes for the book:To chart these themes well means that at times this book may be rough sledding for some. Having taught on Jonathan Edwards to seminarians, I’ve walked with them through his knotty passages and complex thoughts; but these require careful thought, precise statement, and sometimes rereading.And I was discouraged because there were sections where I didn't get. I know Edwards is saying something profound, Lucas is translating it to my everyday language, but I still couldn't understand it. Even after rereading it a few times! That is why my early drafts for this book review was unfavourable. I felt like I didn't gain much. Until I referred to my notes. I use Logos software to read, so it has a list of what I highlighted. As I went through the list, I was surprised by how much I actually gained. Edwards is dense so the little that I gleaned was also dense. I include this personal reflection early in this review, to be upfront about the difficulty of grasping Edwards' theological vision, as Lucas reminds us it requires careful thought, precise statement, and sometimes rereading. But there is spiritual gold here, and I want to tell you about two gold nuggets. One from each part of the book. Images of Divine ThingsThe big idea in Part I is God's glory and God's glory is the fount from which John Piper sweeps his hands wide, gasps at God's self-glorifying majesty, and invites all God's creatures to be in Christ-centred awe. That is the big idea in Part I but I won't talk about that. Instead I want to talk about one Jonathan Edwards notebook that might inspire my own version. Lucas writes:Because the end of creation is to reflect God’s glory back to him, it is not surprising that Edwards sought to read creation itself for signs of God’s excellency, beauty, and glory. In order to assist him in these reflections, Edwards put together a notebook that he entitled “Images of Divine Things.” In the notebook, he draws parallels between things he saw in God’s world and truths found in Scripture.What I read next is an extensive quote of Lucas citing multiple examples from Edwards: Roses and thorns signify “that all temporal sweets are mixed with bitter,” but even more that “the crown of glory” can come only “by bearing Christ’s cross by a life of mortification, self-denial, and labor, and bearing all things for Christ.” The ways snakes are able to charm birds in order to kill them “are lively representations of the devil’s catching our souls by his temptations.” The silkworm stands as a type of Christ in this way: “when it dies, [it] yields us that of which we make such glorious clothing. Christ became a worm for our sakes, and by his death finished that righteousness with which believers are clothed.” The waves of the ocean during a storm “have a representation of the terrible wrath of God and amazing misery of them that endure it.” Lightning commonly strikes high mountains, spires, trees, and the like; this signifies “that heaven is an enemy to all proud persons, and that especially makes such the marks of his vengeance.”This is the sort of thing that Charles Spurgeon did. It's also the sort of thing I have learnt to avoid in preaching or teaching because these illustrations too easily become what people focus on and remember. But these illustrations are man-made, you can make anything say anything you want. There is no control. In contrast, if you stick close to the text, you are on sure ground, you are safely constrained by the text. That's what I believe and still believe. But now, after reading Edwards, I love how he loves God so much that he sees God's truth everywhere. In the flowers, animals, weather and everyday things. This is evidence of a man constantly thinking, meditating and looking for God. And I would like to be such a man.That's one gold nugget, now to the next.False Affections and Evangelical HypocritesIf Part I of this book is familiar to me, it's because of John Piper, who by the way, is the one who introduced Jonathan Edwards to me. Reading Part I, you cannot fail to see Edwards influence on Piper's ministry. For Part II, chapters 5-8 is familiar to me because I read Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections. I have recommended this book to young people who see a lack of emotions in some services and a flood of emotions in others and were wondering what to make of it. I suggested Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards because his thorough, meditative and precise study on this issue settled the matter once and for all for me. He wrote it so well, I thought there was nothing else that needed to be said. At least that's what I thought until I read this book. These four chapters. And he picks up on things that that I didn't notice before. For example, in chapter 7, "The Dark Side of Religious Affections", Lucas begins the chapter by writing:Though many people are familiar with at least some of Edwards’s argument in Religious Affections, they are probably unaware that there is another, darker side to what he was saying.Lucas later explains: And, as already noted, the burden of Religious Affections was to mark out what true revival and conversion look like. However, what must be recognized is that Edwards also sought to identify the characteristics of false religion; or to put it differently, he attempted to show colonial men and women that they very well might have been self-deceived about their spiritual condition.The signs that they claim are evidence of their spiritual wellness are inconclusive. Lucas goes through each evidence one at a time. Having extraordinary affections, emotions raised to a high pitch, doesn't mean you are converted. Being able to speak fluently and at length of one's spiritual experience doesn't mean you are converted.Being able to quote Scripture or have Bible verses come directly to the mind doesn't mean you are converted. I quote Lucas:The Devil himself can bring texts of Scripture to the mind and misapply them in such a way to draw people away from God rather than to him. A strong response to the Word may not mean anything. A free and engaged worship may also not mean anything.Lucas writes:All of these signs are really “not signs” of a changed life. They are inconclusive tests whether someone has truly experienced a new sense of the heart, new and holy affections that produce spiritual understanding and holy practice. Those who rest on these signs have the potential of being self-deceived about their condition. And that is because these signs can be counterfeited, produce hypocrisy, or subject the individual to “enthusiasm” in ways that cause him or her to be lost in the end.Let us take a step back for a while why this book is helpful. Religious Affections was written in 1746. Jonathan Edwards wrote it in response to what was happening in the Great Awakening. And if you think that the Great Awakening is what happens when you just had a Great Afternoon Napping, then you are Evidence #1 on why everyone needs to read more Christian books. In the Great Awakening, there was a flood of spiritual experiences. And people thought because they had a spiritual experience, that means they are spiritual okay.Lucas writes:Following the seventeenth-century American Puritan, Thomas Shepard, Edwards distinguished between “legal hypocrites” and “evangelical hypocrites.” Legal hypocrites are those who “are deceived with their outward morality and external religion.” Evangelical hypocrites are “those that are deceived with false discoveries and elevations; which often cry down works, and men’s own righteousness and talk much of free grace.” Of the two, Edwards clearly saw the latter as more dangerous. Evangelical hypocrites are self-deceived, having based their confidence of eternal salvation on false signs, and yet defending themselves by claiming that they have “the witness of the Spirit”.Guys, don't you think what I just read could so easily apply to what we are witnessing in today's church? Don't you think if they knew what these words, false affections and evangelical hypocrites, mean, they have a way of soberly reflect on their spiritual life. Plastic flowers, not knowing they are plastic. Tragic. So those are two gold nuggets that I mined for you. In my book reviews, I want to make sure you learn something even if you don't read the book, so I hope you will 1. see God's Truth everywhere you go, and 2. learn two new phrases: false affections and evangelical hypocrites.Concluding ThoughtsAs I go into my concluding thoughts, I am still selective of who would be a good fit for this book. You will note that throughout this book review, I referred to Edwards and Lucas interchangeably. That's a credit to Lucas because he parks the reader in the mind of Jonathan Edwards throughout the book. And that is also a problem because Lucas aims to keep the precise statements precise, he is reluctant to dumb down Edwards for dumb people (like me, not you). So I would read and re-read and re-read and at one point in the book, I actually thought maybe there is something wrong with my comprehension. The words are in English and I don't understand what they mean. I got so frustrated, I skipped to the appendix just to check whether I could understand Lucas' essays. And to my relief I found that I can understand Lucas when he is using his own voice. The problem occurs when he is using Edwards-speak. If you don't know Jonathan Edwards or are uninterested in church history or in theology or in the Puritan literature, then this is not for you. This book needs something in you to work with. A better entry into Jonathan Edwards could be one of the other books Lucas recommends in Appendix 1. Or you could... just read Religious Affections. It's a good book. It settles an argument still relevant today, emotions in service. Even though it was rough sledding, I am happy I finished the book. I can tick off one Puritan book for this year. Yes, I know God's Grand Design was published 11, not 300, years ago. And yes, I know the author is still alive unlike the Puritans he writes about. But 300 year old wine is still 300 year old wine, whether it's served in the original bottle or in a modern wine glass. Lucas preserves much of Edwards style and thoughts, for all the good and bad that brings.Let me close this review with this quote. Lucas is explaining the purpose behind one of Edwards writing.Edwards’s larger purpose was to raise his congregation’s vision from its apparently mundane and petty daily concerns to find their affections engaged by the cosmic purpose that God has in his work of redemption. If you want a vision of God's redemption in the cosmic-sense and in the personal, through the eyes of America's Puritan Theologian, get this book. This is a Reading and Readers review of God's Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards by Sean Michael Lucas. 224 pages, published by Crossway in October 2011. And it's available for free from Faithlife only in July, and USD12.99 in Amazon Kindle. Before you go, normally I don't do this but I am excited to tell you about the next book I aim to review. It's Biblical Worship: Theology for God's Glory. The editors are Benjamin K. Forrest, Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Vernon M. Whaley. 544 pages, published by Kregel Academic in February 2021. It's available for USD29 in Amazon Kindle, the list price is USD42.99. And here is the reason why I'm telling you about it now. It's only USD9.99 in Logos but only for this month, July. The thing is I don't know whether I will be in time to review Biblical Worship before the offer ends. I am eight chapters in and unless the remaining 26 chapters is a dud, this is an immensely helpful resource for worship. One guy writes a chapter on Worship in the Book of Leviticus. Another writes a chapter on Worship in the Book of Joshua. Another writes an entire chapter on Worship in the Book of Judges. And on it goes. If you don't know why that is a big deal, stay tuned for my next review. If you already know that this book is for you, then get it. In Logos for July, it's USD9.99 from a list price of USD42.99. I just can't see it ever getting discounted further than that. If you like that tip, and you would like to send me your appreciation, you can buy me a coffee. Just go to www.readingandreaders.com, and click on the buy me a coffee button. That's all from me. Thanks for listening. Book ListGod's Grand Design by Sean Michael Lucas. Amazon. Faithlife.

Every generation has an apologetics book that they call their own. Will the meme generation trust a meme connoisseur to answer age-old questions on Christianity? Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity" by Neil Shenvi. 272 pages, published by Crossway in June 2022. It's available in Amazon Kindle for USD14.99. I got this book free as part of Crossways Blog Review Programme. Crossway had no influence in any part of this review.AuthorNeil Shenvi is better known as the scourge of the Critical Race Theory (CRT) movement. In his website, shenviapologetics.com, he has reviewed nearly a hundred books and two thirds of them are on race and gender. If you search "Neil Shenvi" on your podcast player, you get episodes like:Confronting Wokeness in the Church with Neil ShenviFoundations of Critical Theory: An Interview with Neil ShenviRacism, BLM, Supreme Court, and Neil ShenviSocial Justice, Critical Theory, and the Bible with Neil ShenviToday we are not reading Shenvi's book on Critical Race Theory. That book is being written, and if you follow him on Twitter, you can get near real-time updates on his progress. For his debut, Shenvi has instead chosen to write a book on apologetics. Do we need another one when we have C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity", Josh and Sean McDowell's "Evidence That Demands a Verdict", Lee Strobel's "The Case For Christ" and J. Warner Wallace's "Cold-Case Christianity". These books are still around. They are still relevant today. In fact, Shenvi often quotes Lewis. If he is quoting Lewis, it begs the question, why not just read Lewis? Can Shenvi do better? Let's see.StructureThe table of contents lists ten chapters. They are:IntroductionThe TrilemmaThe ResurrectionGod and Revelation (Part 1): NatureGod and Revelation (Part 2): The Moral LawArguments against GodThe Gospel (Part 1): The Uniqueness of ChristThe Gospel (Part 2): Christianity and SinThe Gospel (Part 3): Christianity and SalvationConclusionsThe chapter headings could have come from any good introductory textbook on apologetics. Browsing through the chapter sub-headings, most of the material seem familiar but there are some new-ish questions. "What Caused the Universe?" is familiar. "Why is Mathematics So Successful?" is new to me. Chapter Six, "Arguments Against God" covers three topics. The Problem of Evil is familiar. Evolution is familiar. The Hiddenness of God... that's new... to me. If you are a young Christian, or better yet, not a Christian, and have not heard a reasoned argument in support of Christianity, then the content here will be immediately fresh and exciting for you. But if you are familiar with this battle arena, called apologetics, is there anything for you? Apologetics, which I should have mentioned earlier, is the discipline to defend the faith.Let me give you three reasons why I believe you should consider reading this book, whether you are a young Christian, or seasoned apologist, or militant atheist.1. A Reasoned ApproachIn this book, Shenvi plays conversational chess with us. He moves the white pawn. We counter with a knight. Then Shenvi moves his queen to capture our king. And asks us to try again. For example, in chapter two, Shenvi quotes C.S. Lewis' famous Trilemma. Jesus can either be a liar, a lunatic or the Lord. The Bible doesn't allow the options to say that Jesus is a good moral teacher. You just can't. C.S. Lewis, who is the OG, first made the case in his apologetics classic, "Mere Christianity" and the trilemma is a favourite for Christians everywhere. If apologetics is a chess game, the Trilemma is a favourite opening. But it's not a checkmate. Shenvi writes:Lewis assumed that most of his hearers believed the Bible to be generally reliable. While that belief may have been common in mid-twentieth-century England when Lewis was writing, it is certainly not widespread today. Most people view the Bible as an incoherent mixture of fairy tales, moral parables, and legends—a cross between Aesop’s Fables and The Lord of the Rings.How does the unbeliever counter the Trilemma? Easy. The Trilemma is irrelevant. Shenvi eloquently explains why it's irrelevant:We don’t need to worry about the claims of Jesus any more than we worry about the claims of Batman or Aragorn. No one lies awake at night wondering whether to surrender his or her life to Darth Vader. Fictional figures might inspire us, but they do not demand our allegiance.Now we come to the first reason for you to consider reading this book, and that is the "reasoned approach" we read in the subtitle to the book. If he wanted to, this book could be rewritten as a dialogue because there is a lot of back and forth in this book as we go deeper exploring the topics. If you have read Plato's Republic or any Socratic-type dialogue, you know following arguments can be tiring. Shenvi's easy writing style, the logic statements, illustrations and tables makes the arguments easy to follow. The ease of our trail hides the effort he has made to make the complex, simple. The books and writers he quotes do not make easy reading, which goes to my second point. 2. Hear What the Experts SayEarlier when I said Shenvi was playing chess with us, to be more accurate, Shenvi is showing us multiple chess games against other grandmasters. If you, the unbeliever, lose an argument with Shenvi, you could say it's because you don't have the facts. You don't know how best to make the case against Christianity even when you know you are right. You could argue that a better player would crush Shenvi. You are at a disadvantage because Shenvi's is more prepared than you. But that's not true for scientists, philosophers or experts who have made a name arguing against the existence of God in general and Christianity in particular. They are supposed to have the facts. They are supposed to know how to make an overwhelming argument against Christianity. Shenvi takes them on. For example, after explaining the Trilemma, the Liar-Lunatic-Lord argument, Shenvi introduces Bart Ehrman, 'probably the nation's most well-known New Testament scholar'. Referring to the gospels, Bart Erhman says:Imagine playing "telephone" over the expanse of the Roman Empire, with thousands of participants, from different backgrounds, with different concerns, and in different contexts, some of whom have to translate the stories into different languages all over the course of decades. What would happen to the stories?Shenvi quotes Paula Fredriksen, a religious studies professor at Boston University. Shenvi introduces us to the Jesus Seminar, a high-profile group of scholars who have concluded that, "eighty-two percent of the words ascribed to Jesus in the gospels were not actually spoken by him."If you have family or friends who were scared that you will turn into a religious nut, they have probably told you to watch YouTube videos or read books or consider arguments that ultimately came from these experts."Listen to the experts. It's not rational for people today to believe in Christianity." Whether it's on the reliability of the Bible, or the science of creation, or the problem of pain and suffering, the unprepared Christian would be pummelled to the ground, if he or she is not prepared. And Shenvi's book prepares you. It gives you the facts, the step by step reasoning and eventually the confidence to say that the Christian faith is a rational faith, it is a defensible faith. In an Crossway podcast interview, Shenvi explained that many Christians do not know how to defend the faith and many non-Christians are surprised or stunned to hear a rational defence. The problem of pain and suffering? Non-Christians have it worse. Listen to their answers. In contrast, the Christian answer to the problem of pain and suffering is better, its clearer. Our answer matches with reality and our practice. Or consider another one. Science shows that the way creation is, it's 'too perfect' for it to be random. Among the explanations, atheists give is the multiverse. Shenvi writes: It seems very odd for an atheist to scoff at the implausibility of God and then to affirm the existence of an infinite, unobserved, and undetectable ensemble of parallel universes.Let me give a quick recap on why you should consider reading this book.Reason number one is his approach, the reasoned approach in the subtitle of the book. The back and forth draws us in. You don't need a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry specialising in Quantum Mechanics. Shenvi has that PhD, but you don't need it to understand him.Reason number two is Shenvi brings the experts with the latest and best evidence for and against Christianity. And if what is here is not enough, you have the footnotes and the keywords for further research.If this was a chess game, in every chapter, Shenvi is saying checkmate, you don't see it yet, but I'll show you that no matter what you do, I'll checkmate you. Jesus wins. Christianity wins. But the victory celebration here is muted by reason number three. 3. The Best Defence is...Shenvi says proving that Christianity is rational is not enough, we must also show that it is true. He rightly points out that few people believe in Christianity because it was shown to be rational. Rationality is a low threshold. Let me quote my favourite part of the book. It's a long quote. Shenvi writes: Consider an analogy: imagine I’m playing pickup basketball at a park when I suddenly collapse. A crowd gathers, but they don’t agree on what happened. Some people say I just tripped and should get up and “walk it off.” Others suggest I twisted an ankle and may need a brace to finish the game. One person runs to get ice, another to get an ACE bandage, a third to get a bottle of Advil from the pharmacy across the street. All of them offer to help me up to my feet. While I’m lying on the ground a woman rushes up to me with a look of extreme concern. She says: “I’m a doctor. I saw this man fall and I know exactly what happened. We need to get him to a hospital immediately.” She crouches down beside me and says urgently: “You can’t feel your legs and you can’t move. I’m going to call an ambulance; your life is in danger.” I immediately tell the crowd, “Do exactly what she says.”The people around me are incredulous. They think she is wildly overreacting. They begin to question her credentials. They start to speculate loudly about her real, ulterior motives. Yet, in spite of their skepticism, I have reason to believe her. Why? Because I can’t feel my legs and I can’t move. Somehow she knew these two truths, even though no one else did. No matter how implausible her claims might seem to bystanders, I have crucial information they don’t have. I have firsthand, immediate, and undeniable awareness of my own condition. Based on that knowledge, my trust in her is justified.Later, he writes:This story explains how most people come to know that Christianity is true. People put their faith in Christ when they become personally aware of their own moral condition and their need for a Savior. The implicit reasoning behind their decision is easy to follow: Christianity is either true or false. If it is true, then its truth explains its unique ability to diagnose their spiritual condition. But if it is false, then it is an incredible coincidence that Christianity uniquely explains two deep, existential realities entirely by accident.Doesn't what Shenvi describe resonate with you? It does for me. Chapter 7 shows that Christianity is unique. Chapter 8 is on one deep existential reality: sin. Chapter 9 is on the other: salvation.I am going to indulge myself and give you another quote. But this time from a non-Christian. Stephen Prothero, the chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University is quoted here: While it may seem to be an act of generosity to state that Confucians and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews can also be saved, this statement is actually an act of obfuscation. Only Christians seek salvation. A sports analogy may be in order here. Which of the following— baseball, basketball, tennis, or golf — is best at scoring runs? The answer of course is baseball, because runs is a term foreign to basketball, tennis, and golf alike. Different sports have different goals. ... To criticize a basketball team for failing to score runs is not to besmirch them. It is simply to misunderstand the game of basketball. ... Just as hitting home runs is the monopoly of one sport, salvation is the monopoly of one religion. If you see sin as the human predicament and salvation as the solution, then it makes sense to come to Christ. In this same chapter, Shenvi then breaks it down. He decisively shows that not all religions are the same because only Christianity see sin as the human predicament and salvation as the solution. I appreciate Shenvi making explicit the connection between the gospel and apologetics. He is not the first one to discover or write or speak about it. If you read the New Testament, it's there. The gospel and apologetics go hand in hand. Distinct but not separate. When you study apologetics, you can very quickly get lost in the details and forget why you are even doing it. For example, a physicist, Lawrence Krauss, claims that quantum mechanics shows that something can come out of nothing. What do you say to that? Are you a physicist? Do you know quantum mechanics? Are you willing to do a deep dive in this arcane discipline? Shenvi can defend but that's just one topic. An unbeliever can easily machine gun ten questions before you barely answered the first. Knowing this, it's important we focus on the central apologetic thrust: The gospel. I am not talking about the virgin birth, or the miracles of Christ, or the crucifixion, or resurrection or ascension. All these are important and related to apologetics, related to the gospel, but Shenvi reminds us we need to present the gospel itself: sin and salvation, in our apologetics because it is the best defence of the Christian faith. Gospel-Defence TrainingIn conclusion, this book is for everybody: Christians: young and old, non-Christians: docile or hostile. Is Shenvi better than C.S. Lewis, the McDowells, Strobel or Wallace? Let me tell you that, hundreds of years will pass, Shenvi and all the rest would be forgotten, but C.S. Lewis, the Oxford English Professor, will still be fondly quoted. As for the other apologists, they have their own angles. The McDowells have their evidences, Strobel the journalist has his journalistic methods and Wallace the detective has his detective methods.Which made me wonder. What if Dr. Neil Shenvi decided to do apologetics by using his Ivy League training as a theoretical chemist specialising in quantum mechanics? I laughed at the thought. Readers would spin away uncertain, entangled and scattered. At least that's what I thought at first. But on second thought, maybe, just maybe, the benefits of the theoretical chemist's training is not immediately observable. Maybe God has prepared him for such an occasion as this. Maybe looking from God's perspective: You were trained to explain quantum theory, I will use you to explain who I am. You were trained to review scientific peers and their work, I will use you to review scoffers and their work. You were trained to study and present the most fundamental of science, quantum mechanics, I will use you to study and present the most fundamental of apologetics, the gospel of Jesus Christ. By saying this, I'm not saying that God only makes use of apologists who succeed in getting published. If you read 1 Peter 3:15, the verse carved in the heart of apologists everywhere, that verse is written to all Christians not just the few. It says: "give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." (1 Peter 3:15) Do you believe that God prepares us through our knowledge, skills and experience? If so, then Shenvi's book and other resources could be means for our preparation. I am not saying Shenvi and his book is God's gift to mankind, I'm just saying that we should be more prepared to give a reason for our faith. And his is a good resource.Other Resources and Concluding ThoughtsSpeaking of other resources, do we have other books? Newer ones?Well, before this book, the most recent apologetics book I read and reviewed was Eric Metaxas' 2021 book, "Is Atheism Dead?" His book has three parts: science, archaeology and atheism, tackled in more depth and unsuppressed glee. Shenvi's, in comparison, covers a wider range of topics climaxing with the gospel in a more reserved tone. Just to warn you, to the unbeliever, Metaxas' tone is "Take that, you fool!", whereas Shenvi's tone is "Change my mind. Let's have a conversation." Which is why if you give a book as a present to an unbeliever, Shenvi is a much better gift. As for other apologetic books I would recommend, I have been naming them all day. You will find C.S. Lewis, Josh and Sean McDowell, Lee Strobel and J. Warner Wallace in any bookshop that has a shelf labeled apologetics. Does the rookie Shenvi unseat them? No, he doesn't. I believe he joins them. As I said in the beginning every generation needs its heroes, I mean, apologists. And as hostility against Christianity increases year by year, we can only hope that apologists will raise to the challenge each and every time. And that's what Shenvi is doing in his debut book, facing down the challenge against Christianity. If you only know Shenvi and don't like him because of his activism or, more accurately, counter-activism in Critical Race Theory, then I ask that you read this book to get a better sense of the man. He is a Christian who loves the Lord. By reading this, you will know how his mind works and perhaps even be convinced by what he says here. What he offers in this book is a reason to believe and if you accept it, the world will be a bit more sane, a lot less strange and everyone will grow to be more reasonable with one other. This is a Reading and Readers' review of "Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity" by Neil Shenvi. 272 pages, published by Crossway in June 2022. It's available in Amazon Kindle for USD14.99. I got this book free as part of Crossways Blog Review Programme. Crossway had no influence in any part of this review. Thank you for listening.Book List"Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity" by Neil Shenvi. Amazon."Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. Amazon."Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh and Sean McDowell. Amazon."The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. Amazon."Cold Case Christianity" by J. Warner Wallace. Amazon."Is Atheism Dead?" by Eric Metaxas. Amazon. My Review."Alive: A Cold Case Approach to the Resurrection" by J. Warner Wallace. Amazon. My Review.

What happens when you get the world's top interviewer together with the world's top evangelist? You get a book something like today's. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man by David Frost. 224 pages, published by David C. Cook in August 2014. A Free Book, SimpleI got this book for free from Faithlife. But it's not free for you. Just me. I don't know how the deal works, maybe it's only offered to those in the mailing list because when I checked today, this book is offered for USD11.99 in Faithlife. It's USD9.89 in Amazon Kindle. So I guess the lesson here is get on Faithlife's mailing list to get free book deals? Crossway does the same thing. They just gave me two free books: "The Whole Armor of God" by Iain M. Duguid and "The Case for Life" by Scott Klusendorf. Back to the free Billy Graham book. I'm glad I got this free book when I did. Because after reviewing a few heavy books recently: Dale Ralph Davis' commentary on Daniel, Matt Rhodes' manifesto on modern missions, Rula Khoury Mansour's theology of reconciliation, it's a welcome change of pace to read something lighter. To read a book on "a simple country preacher who preaches a simple gospel," as Billy Graham once described himself. On the cover, this book says:Most people know Billy Graham the preacher. Many know Billy Graham the author. In this remarkable book, Graham reveals a personal side that few have seen before.And the one who reveals that personal side is the man who needs no introduction, the equally famous, David Frost, the legendary TV interviewer.David Frost the InterviewerDavid who? Billy Graham I know, but who is David Frost? I realise my ignorance is showing but perhaps to some listeners, Frost is a man who does need introduction.David Frost was a British interviewer known for history-making interviews. A British Larry King, if you like. But better because none of Larry King's interviews got made into an Oscar-nominated movie, titled Frost/Nixon. That famous interview elevated Frost and brought down Nixon who must have thought he could go no further down.It just so happens, or as I prefer to call it, providentially, I finished today's book, the Billy Graham book, in the same week as Watergate's 50th anniversary. That was the extra push I needed to watch the movie, which I thought would be like "A Few Good Men" but on Watergate. You know that scene where Tom Cruise got Jack Nicholson to confess? Well, the British don't do it that way. As much as I am tempted, I won't review that movie, but the reason I mention it is because it sheds insight on the author. What I saw on screen was the power of questions dramatised. Questions can be so powerful. Consider: A counsellor says, "You have told me what happened, now tell me how do you feel?", or when an evangelist calls out, "When you stand before a holy God, what will you say to get into Heaven?", or when you are all by yourself and you wonder, "Who am I?" Questions are powerful. From what I saw of David Frost, the artistic-licensed version in the movie, and snippets of the man in his interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, Benazir Bhutto, Paul McCartney, Ron Howard and others, they all expect Frost to ask the big questions, but they chose to be there so that they can answer them in a frame of sincerity. A private setting, two guys having a candid conversation, for a public revelation. Now that you know more about David Frost, we can look at the book he wrote based on the interviews he had with Billy Graham.StructureLet's open up the book and see what we have. First, we have a foreword from Billy Graham's grandson, Tullian Tchividjian. He writes:Reading about my grandfather’s doubts and failures in black and white offers a refreshing view of his life and his relationship with Jesus and demonstrates the unmerited grace of God for all of us. In these pages, Daddy Bill talks with David Frost about the things he wished he never said, his failures as a parent, as well as those difficult questions he feels he will never be able to answer on this side of heaven.Next, we have a preface from David Frost, written in 1997. 1997? That's odd. This book was published in 2014. Let me check and yeah... David Frost passed away in 2013 at the age of 74. And five years after David Frost, in 2018, Billy Graham passed away at the age of 99. Coming back. The author's preface was written in 1997. The book was finally published in 2014. Since then, we have newer books on Billy Graham. Billy Graham wrote "Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well" in 2013. Mind you, he wrote this in his 90s. And that was not the last book he wrote. Two years later, Billy Graham wrote "Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond". Thus, with newer books around, why read reflections on musty old interviews? The publisher, David C. Cook, wrote in the introduction:Our only question was in regards to the relevance of the interviews. That is, were they still timely? We should have known better from the start. In reviewing the footage we found that far from being dated, they were more relevant now than ever. "Far from being dated, they were more relevant now than ever." And this relevance is clearly seen in how the book is organised. It is not organised chronologically, by the first interview followed by the second, instead it is organised topically, showing what Billy Graham said on this or that topic and you can judge for yourself whether it is relevant or not. Chapter one is titled Billy Graham on Faith in God. Chapter two is Billy Graham on Family and Marriage. And so on the pattern goes: Three is on Politics, four is on Preaching, Evangelism and the Bible, five: Pain and Suffering, six: Presidents, seven: Sin and Temptation, eight: Moral and Social Issues, nine is titled Billy Graham on Billy Graham and the last chapter is Billy Graham on End Times and Heaven. Finally in the book, we have an epilogue and a timeline of Billy Graham's life.Frost On BillyThis book is based on Frost's interviews with Graham but it is not pages and pages of interview transcripts. Do you know how it's like after reading a good biography? You spend the next few days, weeks, reflecting on the person's life? In this case, instead of reading a book, Frost is reading the man. He reflects not just on the many interviews he conducted, he also comments on interviews Graham did with Larry King and Phil Donahue, speeches Graham made at the Oklahoma City bombing, for example, and books and articles others have written on Graham. He is thinking about Billy Graham and selects excerpts from his interviews to flesh out the man to the reader. Consider this exchange:Frost: You’ve been battling Parkinson’s disease for three years or so. Now, is God responsible for that? Graham: I don’t know. He allows it. And He allows it for a purpose that I may not know. I think everything that comes to our lives, if we are true believers, God has a purpose and a plan. And many of these things are things that cause suffering or inconvenience or whatever. But it helps to mature me because God is molding and making me in the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ suffered more than any man that ever lived, because when He was on that cross, He was bearing the sins that you and I have committed. He was guilty of adultery. He was guilty of murder. He was guilty of everything you can think of. And He was guilty of our sins. Now, He suffered in a way that we could never understand. Frost: But, I mean, for instance, I thank God for having three healthy sons. Graham: Yeah. Frost: But, maybe that’s not logical, really, because if I am thanking God for three healthy sons, should the parents of a Down syndrome baby be blaming God?And the two continue back and forth. Frost presses the issue. He asks how should parents of a deformed child look at their situation? He asks, "If you don't blame God for ill health, you can't thank him for good health, can you?" It's not an inquisition, Frost is never hostile to Graham, or any of his interviewees, Frost is respectful but he wants to draw out a part of Billy Graham that the public may not know.Billy on BLM, CRT, AOC and KKKLet's look at another chapter. In Chapter 8, "Billy Graham on Moral and Social Issues", Frost recounts their interview in 1970 on the topic of race relations in the United States. Listen and let's see what you think. Graham says:One of the things that disturbs me in the United States at the moment is there’s a certain element in the black community, a small element to be sure, that wants separatism. ... For example, I know a university right now where the dormitories are completely integrated, but where the blacks are saying, “No, we want our own dormitory; we want our own classes; we want separatism.” Now, whether this is going to be the beginning of something that will grow, I hope not, because I think the only hope for America to settle her race problem is an integrated society. But there are those today that don’t agree with that, in the black community as well as the white community, and whether they will gain momentum or not, I don’t know.What came to your mind as you listened to this? Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory? Is Billy Graham among the prophets? Is he speaking prophetically of the future, 50 years later from where he was? Consider this exchange:Graham: ... It seems to me that we’ve got extremists, David, the extreme right and the extreme left that are almost irreconcilable. And we’ve got a group of people now that really believe in the violent overthrow of the government. Now, they do not have any system that they would like to substitute. They’ve come forward with no plan as yet; they just want to destroy. And I don’t know whether you can carry on a dialogue with this type of person or not. I don’t—some of them I know. They’ll talk to me; some of them will. And I have met with them several times. And I just find that it’s almost impossible to reason. They’re not interested in reason. They’re not interested in dialogue. They’re not interested in sitting down quietly and talking about the problem. They’re interested in disruption, in violence, in destruction to bring down the system.Frost: But then, if you come in a little from that, to on the one hand people like hard hats and on the other hand, you know, protesting students who are protesting violently, but really passionately against the system in some way or another, how do you bring those two groups together? I mean, given that you’ll never bring a Ku Klux Klan man together with a really violent Weatherman? You know what I mean. But how do you bring closer together a right-wing hard hat and a left-wing student?The Bible says, "There is nothing new under the sun." Fifty years on, how true that is.Most of the book is to be expected. Graham on Marriage. Graham on Pain and Suffering. Standard fare in any conference Q&A. Some are unique to Billy Graham. Frosts ask him on Richard Nixon. There is a whole chapter on Presidents. And he talks to Frost about being famous. Things He Said That Make You Go Hmmm... TodayBut those are all things that readers would expect. Let me now quickly tell you a few things that David Frost, Billy Graham and the publishers did not expect. Things that make us ponder a bit more in these times.For example, Billy Graham talks about his controversial trip to preach the gospel in the Soviet Union. Graham was told, I quote, "You will get the strongest criticism from the Christian right, because they will feel somehow that you're compromising with the Devil." Six months ago, this reference to Cold War Soviet Union would be antiquated. Today, the world finds itself wrestling with how to engage with the Soviet Union, I mean, Russia. There is nothing new under the sun. Another unexpected turn of events is Billy Graham's grandson. The cover of the book proudly states, "Foreword by Tullian Tchividjian". At that time, Tchividjian was an upcoming evangelical influencer. Less than a year later, he resigns as a pastor from his church because of adultery. Since the passing of Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, we also saw the passing of Ravi Zacharias, the famous apologist. Except in the case of Zacharias, his life's work, the books he wrote, the speeches he gave, the people he helped are now overshadowed by the scandals that came to light after his death. So we have Graham's grandson Tchividjian and the famous fallen apologist, Ravi Zacharias, I read with a heavy heart what Billy Graham, the man behind the Billy Graham rule, and he said that his greatest fear was: That I’ll do something or say something that will bring some disrepute on the gospel of Christ before I go. And I want the Lord to remove me before I say something or do something that would embarrass God.This is a throwaway statement. Frost included it as a curiosity. Isn't it funny what Billy Graham is fearful of. He is not afraid of death, he is afraid of embarrassing God. Oh, if only we had the same fear. The book ends on a poignant note. I won't spoil it here. I'll just say it was a surprise ending to me. There is no final reflection, concluding thoughts, from David Frost the writer. The book ends with David Frost the interviewer, David Frost sitting across a pastor. It made me wonder, after drawing out the life of Billy Graham, the simple preacher, for the public, did David Frost hear the simple gospel for his own heart and soul? ConclusionIn conclusion, if you are a big Billy Graham fan, you have read all the books, listened to all his sermons, then I don't know how much you would gain from this book. For myself, I know the name but not so much the man. Much of what I know comes from bits and pieces and I knew more in the year he passed away with all the tributes coming forth.This format is a nice one for the not-so-committed reader of Graham. There are many biographies of him but you may not know enough of the guy to want to hear his whole life story. Frost's book is a light read which can convince you that this simple preacher is worth finding out what all the fuss is about. Billy Graham wrote many books on various topics. But instead of reading all those books, you can get a taste, a small sample, from Frost's book. The nice thing about Frost's book is we read Graham's own words from those interviews. Nobody wants to read pages and pages of interview transcripts, so Frost wisely connects the interviews with his own observations. These are observations from a guy whose lifetime job was to interview the fabulously rich and famous and powerful. He clearly enjoyed Billy Graham's conversation. Read this book, you might enjoy theirs. This is a Reading and Reader's review of "Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man" by David Frost. 224 pages, published by David C. Cook in August 2014. Available for USD11.99 in Faithlife, USD9.56 in Amazon Kindle, at the time of this recording.If you are looking for more candid book reviews on a variety of topics, be sure to subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Or visit the website www.readingandreaders.com for transcripts and contact details. Contact me and let's surprise each other with a good conversation. Until then, thank you for listening. Book List"Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man" by David Frost. Amazon. Faithlife.

You look around you and you see all those kings. Call them presidents, prime ministers or supreme leaders. Whatever the title, they are people in power. Who can stand against them? Who can bend them to their knees? Whose kingdom will outlast theirs?Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers. Today I review "The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail" by Dale Ralph Davis. This is a commentary from The Bible Speaks Today series, a series with Alex Motyer, John Stott and Derek Tidball as the series editor. 173 pages, published by Inter-Varsity Press Academic in August 2013. It is available for USD14.05 in Amazon Kindle but if you go to Logos this month, June, you can get it for USD1.99. Yes, you heard it right, you can get this really good commentary for only USD1.99 through Logos.If you visit the Free Book of the Month site you will see the free book of the month and other nearly free books like today's. Whenever possible, I review the free book instead of the nearly free book. I chose not to review the free book but let me give a quick description of it because some listeners might need a bit more incentive to click on the "Download for Free" button.The free book, "Justification: Five Views" is a collection of five essays on justification. Representing Traditional Reformed is Michael Horton, Progressive Reformed is Michael Bird, New Perspective is James Dunn, Deification is Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and Roman Catholic is Gerald O’Collins and Oliver Rafferty. After a writer presents his position, the other four tell him how he is wrong. I mean, they tell him where they agree and disagree.This views and response format helps readers see where the real divisions are. I cannot stress how important it is to see the real differences because, if I can loosely describe it this way, some people are friends when they shouldn't be and some people are enemies when they shouldn't be. I've personally gained from such books for other subjects and if I ever needed to study justification with reference to the New Perspective or Deification, I would most certainly read this book. As of now, I don't feel a burning urge to do so. Hence this book is safely, tucked away, in my virtual library, ready to come to my aid when needed. I put it aside because I really want to read Dale Ralph Davis' commentary on Daniel. Who is Dale Ralph Davis? He was a pastor. He was a professor. He has written lots of books. He comes with strong credentials but I am not giving those details because which church he pastored and which seminary he taught and how many books he wrote does not adequately describe who this man is. I like how a Facebook group dedicated to Dale Ralph Davis describes him:Dr. Dale Ralph Davis is one of the most readable and reliable expositors/commentators of Scripture. He is a master at illustrations in preaching/expositing as well. Any of his books are a welcome read.Everything there is true. Yet, it's too bland. So let me describe him in my terms. Let me tell you how Dale Ralph Davis' writing has impacted me. In Episode 5 of this podcast, I mentioned that I enjoyed, not just enjoy but gained the confidence, to read commentaries after I read Davis, specifically his commentary on 1 Kings. Since then, I have read all his books in the Focus on the Bible commentary series, namely his commentary on Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings (which I have already mentioned) and 2 Kings. I like them so much, having bought the hardcopies, I then bought the Logos softcopy versions of these same books, partly because I lost one. I had enthusiastically lent a friend 1 Kings. I told him, "You must read this book". He must have misconstrued my enthusiasm and took the book as gift. So, it's now a gift. And I got the Logos versions just in case, I ever gift his books again. My enthusiasm explains why when I saw that Davis' commentary on Daniel at USD1.99 in Logos, I didn't think twice. I am tempted to say he is my favourite author but I might have to retract that one day. Just to be safe, I'll say that he is one of my favourite authors. And if you stick to the end of this review, I hope to make you a Dale Ralph Davis fan. But you don't want to hear me raving on about him. You want to know more about the book. So here we go.StructureStructure-wise, "The Message of Daniel" begins with the series preface. The editors, Alec Motyer, John Stott and Derek Tidball intends that the Bible Speaks Today series be: characterized by a threefold ideal:to expound the biblical text with accuracyto relate it to contemporary life, andto be readable. These books are, therefore, not ‘commentaries’, for the commentary seeks rather to elucidate the text than to apply it, and tends to be a work rather of reference than of literature.Following the editor's note, we read the author's preface and our first words from Dale Ralph Davis. His first words hints at the tone he brings to this book and to all his books. I quote: There are a number of good reasons not to write an exposition of Daniel. For one thing, going into print on the book of Daniel makes it too easy for readers of whatever stripe to assign one’s lot among either the kooks or the nincompoops. The book is an interpretive minefield and wherever one comes down on various questions he is sure to disappoint people—one fails to take an ‘obvious’ view here or finds the data too uncertain to take a ‘firm’ one there. However, with a kind invitation from Alec Motyer it seemed only right to overcome reluctance and begin. I felt it was like eating my oatmeal—it would be good for me.Despite the editors' rejection of the commentary label, I'll stick to it because the structure follows a commentary. We have 14 chapters that track the 12 chapters in Daniel. Navigating Word PlaySpeaking of structure, it was Davis who taught me so many years ago to appreciate the literary structure of a biblical book. Before Davis, I knew that structure was important, anybody who ever wrote an essay knows that. But after Davis, I don't just know its importance, I desire to know the structure. If I don't have it, I went searching for it. It's like when soldiers operate in unfamiliar territory. Knowing how to shoot is important but navigating more so. If you know the land, you can ambush, defend, forage for food or vanish like a ghost. If you don't know the land, you waste time and energy, going around in circle, never reaching your goal. With Davis, you will always know the lay of the land. In the introduction, Davis shares the big structure of the book of Daniel. In fact, he doesn't just give one, he shares three proposed structures to emphasise that the complexity of this book shows that this is a book written by a single mind rather than written by a committee. Now every commentary will give you an outline of the book and the chapters but Davis uses all sorts of tricks to get you to turn your eyes to see at the structure. For example, in chapter 2 of the book. He starts: Most of us probably try to avoid beginning a sentence with a conjunction. And I don't know exactly why -- maybe someone along the way has told us it is bad form. In this paragraph where he explains the significance of the conjunction, the word 'And' in the Hebrew text, he started five sentences with a conjunction. Okay, perhaps that humour is a bit too subtle and nerdy for you. He enjoys word play. Which is why he is such a fun guy to read. Renaissance Man of Biblical OutlinesLet's look at another way he brings out the structure.Chapter 2 of this commentary directly corresponds to chapter 2 of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar dreams a dream and challenges his wisemen and court magicians to tell him what he dreamt. Daniel appears to rescue the day. All glory, not to Daniel, but to God. If you think you are familiar with this story, or any of the stories in Daniel, wait until Davis reveals the structure.In chapter 2, he writes:We can break down chapter 2 into broad chunks:And he breaks it down. The focus is not the wisdom of Daniel or the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar. The focus is actually verse 28: "There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries..." "What mysteries?" you ask. Where would be the fun in hearing it from me when you can read Davis' book for yourself? Davis makes you a better Bible reader by showing you the 'secret' structure. It is not a secret. It's there in front of you just that you never noticed it before. In chapter 4, he writes: Tracing the literary shape will help mentally organize a fairly long narrative. It develops like this:And he develops the outline. After which you better understand the text.In chapter 8, he writes:The overall break-down of the chapter is rather straightforward; it tells of Daniel’s vision:And he breaks it down for us rather straightforwardly. And we thank him for it.Great artists understand anatomy. They understand how the body is structured more than the doctors. They have to in order to paint, sculpture and write Bible commentaries. What Davis does with the anatomy of the text is a work of art. Under his skilful hands, the structure outlined is not simply a practical necessity -- necessary for us to navigate the text -- it becomes a map of beauty. We appreciate the Biblical text for its literary quality, what the writer had in his mind when he wrote it.The Writer's MindWhich brings me to my next point. Mature Christians will rightly tell you that it's important to know what is the writer's intended meaning for the text. That is basic hermeneutics or biblical interpretation. Davis demonstrates it for us.Let me share an extensive quote that gives you a good idea of how Davis brings you into the biblical writer's mind. Listen to Davis' commentary on Daniel 3:1-15. Here, Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue and commands people to worship it. I quote: Notice the vicious verbs our writer uses. The very first line tells of the image the king made (‘ābad), and Nebuchadnezzar himself uses the same verb in verse 15. In fact, for an Israelite, Nebuchadnezzar’s statement in that verse (Now if you are ready ... to fall down and worship the image that I have made) sums up the theological asininity of the whole affair. To worship what someone made! But a reader almost ducks under the machine-gun-like occurrences of the verb qûm (‘set up’); it appears nine times (1, 2, 3 [twice], 5, 7, 12, 14, 18), always in reference to the image the king had set up. Swipe the uses of that verb with your orange highlighter, then go back over the text—see if it doesn’t seem as if a kind of cumulative mockery is at work. The image is a ‘set up’ job, as we say. The writer is telling you that it’s no more divine than your knee replacement.Later, Davis comments on the people who obey Nebuchadnezzar:The praise band plays (7a), and the crowd gets its back sides in the air and its noses in the sand and enjoys job security. They felt they had no choice. They ‘had’ to do it. There’s a tremendous invisible coercion that comes from being among a whole mob of flattened worshipers.If the Book of Daniel was a movie, and Daniel the Director, then Dale Ralph Davis would be the YouTuber vividly describing what Daniel the Director was doing in each scene. This is how the Director wants you to see these powerful kings. This is how the Director wants you to see those who put their faith in God. This is how the Director wants you to see God and his kingdom. Illustration, Applications and ReadabilityI don't have the time to elaborate on his masterful use of illustrations. Sometimes illustrations overwhelm the message. But not so for Davis. His use of illustrations is perfect. His choice of illustration, its length and placement leaves you wanting more which he soon satisfies when he makes his next point. The illustrations are more often than not fresh, and applied in a powerful way without detracting from the text.I also don't have time to elaborate on his application. We naturally look for, "What do I get out of the text? Give me something that I can apply in my daily life." This is another area that preachers and writers can go off-balance, to over-emphasise on the application of the text that they unintentionally make the text become all about you. In comparison, listen to how Davis tells us how to apply the text. As an example, I draw from his commentary on Daniel 6 which is Daniel's prayer. I quote:Kneeling in prayer is not a matter of indifference -- it reminds you of your true position. It’s as if you say, ‘I am a servant. He is the King. I do not live in a democracy but under a monarchy. He is not my errand boy. I never present my demands. I am always a beggar at the throne of grace, and, though it is a throne of grace, I never forget it is a throne.’But the most praiseworthy quality of Davis' writing is... Allow me to remind you of the editor's intention for the Bible Speaks Today series. The series is to be: characterized by a threefold ideal:to expound the biblical text with accuracyto relate it to contemporary life, andto be readable.That's it. Dale Ralph Davis' book is immensely readable. Note that John Stott is one of the editors. I love John Stott. John Stott is very readable. But to me, and this is a matter of preference so feel free to disagree, to me, John Stott is readable but Dale Ralph Davis is more readable.If you are a John Stott fan, I imagine you rushing to object and insist I explain how I made the comparison. I did not read all of their books. However, I have read two of John Stott's commentaries in the Bible Speaks Today series. His commentary on the Sermon on the Mount and Galatians. So when I compare two of John Stott's books against Dale Ralph Davis' commentary on Daniel, all these books in the same commentary series, I like reading Davis. Stott is the guy you bring to impress your professors. Davis is the guy you bring to impress your friends. I don't think Stott intended for anyone to laugh out loud reading his commentary. I know Davis did. Great Writing... What About the Content?The careful listener will notice that I have made much of Davis' writing but what about the content? First of all, The Bible Speaks Today series is not a reference series. The editors made the clear enough. All the Daniel stories? Through Davis you will understand how they are all linked together. You will see that they are not random stories collected into an anthology. The writer has an order or structure in place to drive a specific theme: God's Kingdom. What about Daniel's visions? The statue, the tree, beasts, horns, the ram, the goat and more horns. Davis doesn't exhaustively go through the many possible interpretations. He doesn't have the space and he says so. He gives us his interpretation and defends it on the basis of the text. What about the really tricky passages? Like the interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27, the one on the seventy weeks. Davis dedicates a whole chapter on these four verses. But in the end, that may not satisfy the professional doomsday student. My advice: Go read a different book. This is not the book you are looking for. The One Chapter You Need To Watch Out ForLet me tell you one thing. If you are an average Joe who wants to understand the Book of Daniel, what you really need is for someone to explain one chapter, which is chapter 11. I say this because the average Joe already understands the story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the story of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, Daniel in the lion's den, the spooky writing on the wall and so on. You already know those stories. Davis will help you fill the gaps and connect them together. As for the visions of the beasts and the horns, etc... would you want to know what they mean? Of course you do. The images are so fantastical, it's just natural to want to know what the beasts and horns represent. Nobody needs to make an extra effort to make you interested in understanding those visions. And that's the difference with chapter 11. Chapter 11 is a difficult to understand vision but it's not interesting. It's boring. King of the North. King of the South. War. Lots of war. But no details. No last stands. No heroism. It is a prophecy. A fulfilled prophecy. But nobody talks about it. Looks it up. Read Daniel 11. Has anyone preached this to you? Have you studied this passage before? Do you know any song inspired by Daniel 11? Nope. Yet, I contest that Daniel 11 is the most important chapter in the Book of Daniel. What is written here is so incredible that because of this chapter some scholars insist that the book of Daniel must have been written much, much, later than the time of Nebudchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus or Darius. They say it couldn't have been Daniel who wrote it. Because if it was Daniel writing in the time of Darius, that means God has spelled out in great, agonizing detail (read it! It is agonizing!), events that will take place 300-400 years into Daniel's future. It is as if God predicted the winning lottery numbers for 300 years. If God did that, you would want to know. But trust me, this is better than knowing wining lottery numbers. If you get Daniel 11, the question of God's ability to foreknow the future is conclusively put to rest. And in that same deal, you get the purpose of God telling us the future. God tells us the future many times in the Bible, and he explains why to Daniel in his vision. Let those who have ears, hear and those who have eyes, see. For you to see it, it helps to have someone who can give you a good map so that you don't get lost, someone who can get you into the writer's mind, someone to engage you with humour, confidence and ease. Otherwise you are going to feel exasperated reading chapter 11. I can think of no one better than Dale Ralph Davis to be your guide. Final WordsMy final reflection is I know that I am hyping this book up. I have not been so exuberant in my praise for any of the books I have reviewed so far. I must admit, my enthusiasm could stem from the great debt I owe to Dale Ralph Davis. If not for his commentary on 1 Kings, today I would avoid an entire category of books, namely commentaries. Before him, I read other commentaries and they made me feel stupid. That was not the author's intent, I was reading above my level. But after him, I am the reader I am today. Not just a reader of commentaries but more importantly, I am a reader, a better reader of the Bible. Even as I recommend today's book, "The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail", which is available for the low, low price of USD1.99 in Logos for June, I would say that if you are looking for a book by Dale Ralph Davis to start with, I would go with either Judges or 1 Kings. Because Daniel is a more complex book, it has a mix of stories and visions. It has verses that spur debates, debates that will only end when the final horny man appears and Jesus blasts him with his breath. In contrast, Judges and 1 Kings is a more straightforward narrative and Davis is in his element as a storyteller. And I have to stop here before I start reviewing those commentaries. This is a Reading and Reader's review of "The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail" by Dale Ralph Davis. 173 pages, published by Inter-Varsity Press Academic in August 2013. It is available for USD14.05 in Amazon Kindle as of this recording but if you go to Logos this month, June, you can get it for USD1.99. In fact, I am rushing this episode out so that there is a higher chance that you, my dear listener, will go and get it. What are you waiting for? Don't you want the Bible to speak to you today? Don't you want to know God's awesome kingdom that will not fail? Isn't this why you subscribed to this podcast, so that you will not miss a good book deal? I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. Thanks for listening.`Book List"The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail" by Dale Ralph Davis. Amazon. Logos."1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly" by Dale Ralph Davis. Amazon. Logos."Judges: Such a Great Salvation" by Dale Ralph Davis. https://www.amazon.com/Judges-Great-Salvation-Focus-Bible/dp/1845501381. Logos.

Covid is over or eventually over. You got places to go, people to meet. Before you book your trip for your next holiday, why don't you consider reading today's book? Who knows, you might get some soul-enriching ideas for your next destination.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey through the Lands of the Bible" by Wayne Stiles. 176 pages, originally published by Regal in December 2006. The ebook version I am reading is published by Revell in 2014. Available for USD8.99 in Amazon Kindle and free from Faithlife's Free Book of the Month programme. Today's book is free for June and only June. "Going Places with God" is a devotional book. In this book, we have a foreword from Charles Swindoll, 90 days worth of devotionals and right at the end a travelogue from the author's trip to Israel. AuthorWho is Wayne Stiles? What makes him 'qualified' to bring us on a devotional tour through the lands of the Bible? He isn't a historian or an archaeologist. He presents himself as a believer who visited Israel in the year 2000 and never recovered. The experience just filled him up and continued to do so. This book is an outlet for what he wants to share with more brothers and sisters in Christ. He presents to you the Lands of the Bible. What You Get In Each PageFor each devotional, you have at the top of the page a Scripture reference. Read that first. Then you have 1-2 pages of Stiles' devotion material. He ends with a short prayer, a snappy quotation and references to maps which can be found in the book. There are 90 devotionals for you to read a day at a time. I don't recommend you do what I did which is read the whole book in a few seatings. If devotions are meals, they should be slow-cooked, not microwaved. With so many good devotionals in the market, and many freely available online and in your phone apps, why read this book? It's a devotional journey through the lands of the Bible. Let's do a quick quiz.Can you find on a world map, Israel? I can think of at least five reasons why you should. Moses, David, Jesus, Gaza, Armageddon.If I give you a map of Israel, can you pinpoint Jerusalem? How about Bethel and Bethlehem? What about Jericho and Nazareth? Now if I put a map of Jerusalem in front of you, can you locate the Garden of Gethsemane, Calvary Hill or the empty tomb? At this point, maybe some of you are thinking, "Why do I need to know where these places are when I can just use Google Maps?" The answer is this book. Read the book and you will see how helpful geography, biblical geography is, to your faith. There once was a time when Stiles was unconvinced but that all changed.Listen to what Stiles has to say:For the vast majority of my Christian life and ministry, the benefits of understanding the land of the Bible remained hidden like artifacts in the sand. I possessed knowledge of the place names, but they played no role in my study of the Bible except to distract and confuse me. Because I couldn’t appreciate a site’s contribution to the biblical narrative, I dismissed the unfamiliar as irrelevant or, at the very least, of minor importance.But when my wife and I took our first trip to Israel . . . it all changed.I rank the experience of learning biblical geography on the level of learning Hebrew and Greek—probably even higher. I discovered an integral part of Bible study I had missed all my life. Like seeing the whole puzzle put together, I was now able to see the individual sites in light of the whole. I became aware of a cohesion and logic as to why God included geography in the inspired text. My memory of biblical events was strengthened by associating the events with their geographical locations. What I had dismissed earlier as irrelevant I began to recognize as an essential part of God’s dealing with His people.Let me repeat for emphasis one sentence: "I became aware of a cohesion and logic as to why God included geography in the inspired text." Cohesion? Logic? Isn't logic seen in the text? "For... if... how much more..." Pastor John Piper's life and ministry transformed when he saw the Bible not as a bunch of quotations but as a series of propositions. Logic! Now Wayne Stiles is telling us there is logic in geography. In the introduction he writes:... in biblical times, the place itself often played a major role in the significant events that occurred there. Beside the place where water gushed from the ground, there a man drove his tent stake—and so laid the foundation of a city. Rains ran through immovable ravines, and beside those rivers people cultivated their fields and watered their livestock. Where the easiest ground to travel lay, there a wayfarer walked—and so a highway began. Geography affects history.And he gives examples after examples, ninety times over. In Day 4's devotion titled, "A Strategic Move". He writes:A thriving fishing village, Capernaum straddled the international highway that stretched from Syria to Egypt. By choosing Capernaum, Jesus selected a city that enjoyed a constant flow of people who could carry His message to many places. And that’s just what happened. As Jesus preached in Galilee, “news about Him spread throughout all Syria” (v. 24). Not only did travelers take the news north into Syria, but they also took it by other roads into “Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan” (v. 25).This book does not aim to just serve you geographical insights. This is not a factbook of interesting trivia to share in your next sermon or bible study. You can get that from an atlas. Or a geographical commentary. Yes, such a wonderful thing exists. This is a devotional book. If I can illustrate it for you. Imagine you are on a lifeboat at sea for many days, maybe weeks, you are delirious. Water and food is running out. Then you see land. You row towards land. You reach land. You jump out of the boat and kiss the soil. And your eyes go to Heaven and you thank God for your salvation. Okay, that picture might be a tad exaggerated. But the idea is the land brings you nearer to God. That is clearly seen in how every devotion lands on a prayer. For example, in the Capernaum devotion, where he describes Jesus moving to Capernaum as a strategic move, he leads the reader to pray: Lord Jesus, rather than pursuing a place to hide where I can escape the irritation of people and culture’s corruption, help me to see my world through Your eyes. Place me in places where I can have the greatest influence for Your kingdom. Show me today how to seek first the kingdom of God—above my own preferences.He then closes the chapter with a quotation and a map reference. The quotation is from David Livingstone:I will place no value on anything I have or possess unless it is in relationship to the kingdom of God. —David LivingstoneYou will see familiar names: Corrie ten Boom, C.S. Lewis and Jonathan Edwards and some not so familiar names: John Flavel, Thomas Adams, George Swinnock and so on. Names that hopefully will become more familiar to you over time. Last of all, he gives you references to maps that are included in the book. So what I just shared is an example of Day Four in this book. I Need A Map To Find The MapAs part of my review, let me first talk about the maps. The maps are scattered amongst the devotions and the way they are placed is not helpful. Let's go back to Capernaum in Day Four. You read about it, you don't know where it is, you check the map reference and it tells you to go to page 28, 56, 70 and 112. You have to thumb your way to the pages. The problem is the electronic copy doesn't have pages and I shouldn't need to change the setting to see the pages so that I can get to the maps. The references should be hyperlinked. I see the reference. I click on it and I jump to the map. If hyperlinking is a problem, there is another solution which is to just group the maps and put them all at the end of the book as an appendix. That's what most writers or publishers would do. So I'm not sure why that was not done here. Random Walk JourneyMy next criticism is the subtitle is a devotional journey. Keyword: Journey. I suggest an improvement is an actual journey from one point to another. I know that can be difficult because you have the Old Testament, the New Testament and there are many stories of different people at different times in different places. For example, at Day 10 in the book, I'm in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. In the next day, I'm at the country of the Gadarenes. Then next, I'm at the Negev. Maybe I expect too much logic or structure in my geographical devotional journey but I like how Saint Luke arranged his travelogue to progress from point to point. I can guess why Wayne Stiles mixed the places all up in his devotion. You get variety, it's like taking M&Ms from a bag. But I just think if it's arranged as a journey or many journeys: Moses' escape from Egypt to the Promised Land or pilgrims from Jericho ascending to Jerusalem or Jesus turning his face from Galilee towards Golgotha, any of these journeys can help reinforce the cohesion and logic in biblical geography. The land we came from connects to the land we are heading towards. DevotionalThat's my take on the journey keyword. What about the devotional keyword?Does this book help a Christian in devotion? That made me ask: What makes a good devotional? I jotted down some answers. It's not complete. May even be wrong. But this is what I got. A devotional should direct the heart and mind and soul of the reader towards God like how the Psalms does. A devotional should help us gain a knowledge of God and our relation to God. Ultimately, a devotional draws us nearer to God.But having said that, ultimately whether or not you come near to God depends less on the book and more on you. A devotion book jumpstarts the engine but it is not the engine. It doesn't drive the car. A devotional book is a starting point for the scatter-brain, weak-spirited, malnourished life, and this book is as good as any devotional in that regard, but for a devotional to work, the reader's heart must kneel before God. Which brings us back to the question, what makes a good devotional? Consider: What makes Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening a devotional classic? I'm still thinking on this question because I think an answer to this will help me be a better book reviewer. Before I move on to the next topic, I leave you with this thought. A devotional that brings you nearer to God could be a devotional you write for yourself. That would be called a journal. I know many fellow believers who have gained so much from journalling. I think it's a great practice and one I encourage you to consider.TravelogueOne form of a journal is the travelogue. Stiles has a travelogue in this book. He doesn't mention it anywhere. It's almost like an afterthought. I think it's the best part of the book. It is his own devotional journey through the land. What I like about the book is he doesn't sensationalise the experience. Or rather I should say the experience is sensational without exaggeration. Here he writes of his journey towards Jerusalem: This winding way snakes up nearly 4,000 feet in elevation toward the watershed of the Hill Country of Israel. And I had almost come to the top. Almost to Jerusalem. Craning my neck as high as I could, I waited to capture that first view of the city I had imagined all my life. Suddenly, we reached the crest. And there it was below me . . . a panoramic view crowned with the golden Dome of the Rock. I saw Jerusalem. I really, really saw it. But no shafts of light from heaven. No angels singing the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Not even a respectful hush on the bus of travelers with me. Just a few clicks from cameras and horns from the cars behind. I saw the city of Jerusalem . . . in all its ordinariness. And it remains one of the most special moments of my life.The best travelogues makes would-be travellers out of readers. After this book, I am tempted to set aside money to make the trip. I tell myself I need to be fit for all those walks. I am more motivated to study Scripture, especially the land so as to make the trip more meaningful. Just like you would study your holiday destination to make the most out of the trip.As I say all this, I am not saying Stiles' travelogue is especially well-written. He is not a literary genius painting a landscape with words. J.R.R. Tolkien, he is not. In the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien describes Middle-Earth in ways that rouses the reader's imagination. The magic is not just from the plot. The world Tolkien imagines is a world that pulls readers in. We want to visit Middle-Earth. Middle-Earth is amazing because of Tolkien. That is not true for today's book. Going Places with God attracts readers to the lands of the Bible. But the lands of the Bible are not amazing because of Wayne Stiles. It's amazing because of God. For God set his story onto this land. For nearly two decades, people around the world flock to New Zealand to see the places where the Lord of the Rings: the Movie was shot. I am one of them. For more than two thousand years, many more people travel to the Holy Land to see the places where Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul and John walked. In Bethlehem, Christ was born. He walked on the Sea of Galilee. In Jerusalem, the people welcomed him, listened to him, judged him and crucified him. On the third day, Jesus rose again and left an empty tomb. I share one last quote from Wayne Stiles:God used these places to mold the lives of His people in the biblical narrative. And if you will allow Him, He can use it to change your life as well. Begin to recognize that all the places God takes you—many of them painful—have nothing but His glory and your best interests in mind. The irony of going places with God is that the One who travels with us is also our destination. He takes us to these places to give us more of Himself."Going Places with God" is a book that will prompt you to consider a trip to the Holy Land. It's a book you can bring on that trip as you travel. And even if you are not traveling, even if there is no possibility of going to the Holy Land yourself, which is a fact for more people than not, you will appreciate what God has done through these lands and ultimately, what God has done and is doing and will do for you. Let your devotion and praise respond to who he is.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey through the Lands of the Bible" by Wayne Stiles. 176 pages, published by Regal in December 2006. Available for USD8.99 in Amazon Kindle and free through Faithlife in June and only June. Before you go anywhere, make sure to subscribe to this podcast if you have not done so. If you don't, you might miss great books at great prices. So subscribe now and listen to more book reviews coming up soon. Book List"Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey through the Lands of the Bible" by Wayne Stiles. Amazon. Faithlife."Morning and Evening" by Charles Spurgeon. Website.

We all like shortcuts. Why take that long hard road when this road is faster? If we can get things done in a shorter time with the same or even better results, why shouldn't we? It's a no-brainer. What if I told you there is a shortcut to missions? For the Great Commission. Would you take it? Does that shortcut even exist? Find out in today's book review. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions" by Matt Rhodes. 272 pages, published by Crossway in February 2022. It's available from Amazon Kindle for USD12.82 as of this recording. Full Disclosure: I got this book for free from Crossway's Blog Review Programme. They have no input on this review. This book came at just the right time. I've been wanting to read a book-length response to the Church Planting Movement (CPM) and Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) ever since I read how some proponents trash the established church's mission work today as complacent (some truth in that!) and hopelessly outdated. They say that we cannot keep looking back to the glory days of William Carey and Hudson Taylor. Those methods worked a hundred years ago but don't work today. Look at the church in Acts, fast-growing, outward-looking, soul-saving. So get with the Church Planting Movement or Disciple-Making Movement or some other programme, and see the Great Commission in action.I disagree that the old ways are outdated but what do I know since I am not a missionary. I have an opinion but I can't say that the old ways still work, because I don't know. But Matt Rhodes knows and he can! AuthorRhodes is a missionary who has lived in North Africa, serving as part of a church-planting team to a previously unengaged people group. So he has credibility.From his vantage point, in the missionary world, he sees many rushing to use Church-Planting Movement (CPM), Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) and related methods. These methods are, according to Rhodes, are attractive because they are shortcuts. But stay away, so says Rhodes. For there is no shortcut to success. Professionalism is GoodThe book is divided into two parts. Part One is titled: Where Shortcuts Have Led Us: Surveying the Problem. Part Two is titled: Correcting Our Course. In the first chapter, Rhodes argues for professionalism. Wait, didn't Pastor John Piper write a whole book titled, "Brothers, We Are Not Professionals"? Rhodes mentions Piper's book. But the way Rhodes defines professionalism here is to excel in your field, to not be amateurish and slipshod about it. For example if you are going to reach out to an unreached people group, then learn the language. It's not enough to tell them that Jesus loves you over and over again. Rhodes sees professionalism as contrary to the CPM-style approach. He describes CPM-style approach as follows:An Overemphasis on SpeedAn Overdependence on "Silver-Bullet" StrategiesAn Oversized Role Given to Short-Term Mission TripsAn Overweening Skepticism of Intellectual PreparednessHe elaborates on each point. And reading each point, just when you think his criticism is too sharp, stabbing deep into the CPM-practitioner's heart, you read chapters 2 and 3. Yikes! Chapter 2's title is "Movements and Rumours of Movements". Chapter 3's title is "In the Scales of the Scriptures".Before I go into some of his criticisms here, I want to point out the method behind his criticism. After briefly listing what he defines as CPM-style methods and their proponents, Rhodes writes:In what follows, I’ll do my best to characterize each method fairly, drawing quotes from popular resources written by the known leaders and principal designers of these methods. For example, to describe DMM, I’ll generally refer to books by David and Paul Watson and Jerry Trousdale. I don’t assume, of course, that every DMM practitioner agrees with Trousdale or the Watsons in every particular.He follows that by saying:I should also note that there’s much to be praised in today’s most popular methods. Whenever we look at any ministry method, we must attempt to learn what we can. That being said, I've asked a DMM trainer and practitioner to read the book, which he did. We then had invigorating conversations on the book. I'll share what I learnt from that conversation later, after I describe Matt Rhodes book. Movements and Rumours of MovementsAs I was saying, the second and third chapters are the spiciest of the book. In the "Movements and Rumours of Movements" chapter, Rhodes quotes David Watson, who wrote that in Northern India[1], DMM led to 2 million Hindus being baptised in a few short years. This then became 4 million, then 5.4 million and finally 10 million baptised believers. Rhodes asks, "Are these numbers true?"I quote:These amazing successes have supposedly resulted from new methods that depart markedly from the slow, thorough path I’ll be advocating. And I must admit: the numbers are enticing. What missionary doesn’t dream of such success? And who but the most hard-hearted could doubt that these stories are true? After years on the field with little tangible success, many missionaries are ready to try something new; many missions organizations, after long years in the doldrums, eagerly embrace new methods. And so they send their missionaries to be trained.I repeat: no one wants to rain on a good parade. But if we care about the lost, we must do our due diligence.Rhodes worked in population-based statistics for eight years before entering the mission field. He explains possible reasons for what he sees as exaggerated numbers. He shares the experience of other missionaries, including himself, who served in those areas but don't see the explosive conversion claimed in these books. He writes:... publicists of the Bhojpuri movement acknowledge that “sometimes people travel through an area where a movement has been reported and they don’t see evidence of it” but assure us that “you can walk in a jungle and never see any animals. That doesn’t mean there are no animals in the jungle.” This may be true, but it becomes less plausible when the type of jungle animal in question is purported to have a population of 10 million and when all of the other jungle animals object noisily to its presence!In the Scales of ScripturesChapter three is titled "In the Scales of the Scriptures". And no surprise, Rhodes finds the CPM-style methods to be found wanting. He breaks this chapter down to five sections. I'll just share one. The section is titled, "Overemphasis on Rapid Growth". He references David Watson and Paul Watson's book, "Contagious Disciple Making" to write:For example, in Disciple Making Movements (DMM), four generations of churches must be planted every three years for a genuine “movement” to have occurred. That is, within a three-year period, a new church must plant a second new church, which in turn must plant a third new church, and that third church must also plant a fourth new church. In other words, a brand new church should plant another new church in only nine months.Rhodes makes an effort to show that he is not putting words into the these guy's mouths. He has the receipts. Chapter three consists of 40 pages and there are 133 footnotes to these authors. He tries to be fair. He give credit where credit is due. He writes: I love CPM-style practitioners’ desire for lots of people to come to Christ—and quickly. As promoters of CPM-style methods often point out, the church did grow quickly in the book of Acts, and the gospel did spread throughout the entire Roman world within a few hundred years after Jesus’s resurrection.Yet in the scales of Scriptures, speed is not the over-riding priority in Scripture. Rhode writes: Paul writes that he proclaimed Jesus by “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28). According to Paul, then, the ability to teach “with all wisdom” is necessary to lead others to maturity. Until they gain this wisdom, new believers will be seriously limited in their ability to disciple others and plant new churches.And later concludes this section with the following words:We can contentedly follow the pattern of Jesus; he often avoided the crowds in order to spend time with his disciples. It was only when their maturation process was complete that he committed the growth of the church into their hands. We had better not push too hard for grandchildren before the children are fully grown!If you have heard of CPM or DMM or T4T or other similar methods but not much more than that, then you will appreciate Rhodes reading all these books, summarising what they have in common and giving a strong critique, not as an armchair pundit (like me!), but as a missionary who cares very much for the lost and empathises with what these proponents are trying to achieve. He doesn't see them as the enemy, at most he sees them as terribly misguided. There is the question of whether he understands what he read and analysed, but I'll save that question for later.Course CorrectionRhodes says, what is needed is a course correction. That's the title of Part Two of the book. I won't be spending as much time on Part Two of the book, not because it's less important, far from it, but because I want to get to the possible pushbacks against Rhodes.Again, Part Two is important and I would argue more important than Part One. It's easy to destroy an idea, it's harder to build up. Ultimately, this book is not a hit piece on CPM-style methods. Remember, the subtitle of the book is "A Manifesto for Modern Missions". He makes that point clearly, credibly and boldly in the remaining seven chapters of the book which have the following chapter titles: Ambassadors for ChristNew Testament Missionary CommunicationCommunicating Clearly TodayCredibility and Boldness TodayA Long-Term Path for MissionariesEquipping and SendingWork and the Holy SpiritAny one or any church with an interest in missions must read these 7 chapters. By missions, Matt Rhodes is not referring to any and every activity that reaches to the lost, e.g. your soup kitchen or youth concert or personal sharing. By missions he is referring to a long term gospel work to unreached people groups. We are talking about following in the footsteps of William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson and so on. Rhodes argues that missionaries need to learn the language, maybe even translate the Bible into their language. They need to understand the community's worldview and religion in order to best proclaim the gospel. And proclaiming gospel is the goal, not teaching English, not building houses for the poor, not starting up an orphanage. These are all worthwhile initiatives that may happen alongside gospel proclamation but we cannot let secondary objectives becomes the primary. We cannot let the good works, not the good news, become the mission. Rhodes gets down to the nitty gritty details. Are you single, are you willing to stay single? Are you married, is your spouse willing to go into the mission field? Do you have children, will your children be safe where you are going? How will you choose where you are going? By throwing a dart at a map? Does the Holy Spirit answer these questions by giving impressions? Is it wrong to try to figure out the answers with our minds? What is the role of the church? What are milestones to expect? So many questions, so many answers, all from the horse's, I mean missionary's, mouth. Another title for this book could well be, "How to be a Missionary and Succeed".So Part One questions the prevailing CPM-style methods. He writes as if his way is under threat of being overwhelmed by all these new methods, which is funny to me, because the people he is criticising tend to write as if they are the minority and traditional churches are the ones stomping on them. Part Two, to me, is less a manifesto and more of a down to earth look at what mission should look like and how you and your church can prepare for missions. Objection: False DichotomyAs we now move to a critical evaluation of the book, my aim here is not to attack or defend Rhodes but to enlarge the conversation. Let's look at one objection. Rhodes sets up a false dichotomy. The way Rhodes presents it, it is as if what is in Part Two is not part of CPM-style methods. For example, Rhodes emphasises language acquisitions. Just because some proponents dismiss the need to learn the local language does not mean that learning languages is antithetical to CPM-style methods. Some are even translating the Bible into the local language! To be fair to Rhodes, he did say that he can't comment on the broad spectrum of practitioners and can only critique what the architects or designers have written. Be that as it may, if the movement is truly bigger than the architects or popularisers and practitioners have adapted the ideas to address the gaps, then Rhodes' criticisms weakens.Not just on learning the local language. If other practitioners are able to show that they do not over-emphasis on speed, they do not over-depend on "silver-bullet" strategies, they do not give an oversized role to short-term mission trips and they are not skeptical of intellectual preparedness, and they agree and do much of what Rhodes suggests, then we may not have to choose between two methods. The distinction does not need to be as sharp as Rhodes writes here.If that was true, and I can't say that it is, because the spectrum might be wider, it might be narrower, then I would like to think that Rhodes would be happy to be wrong. He would be happy to have more missionaries see and address the gaps in Watson, Garrison, Smith and others, regardless of whether he perceived those gaps accurately in the first place. If true, then someone really should write a book-length response to Rhodes, to correct the record, so that we can feel the real tension between the two approaches. As Proverbs 18:17 puts it so eloquently:The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. In this book, Rhodes has given us a critical evaluation of Watson, Garrison and others, so let's hope someone comes and examines Rhodes. Finding A Real Difference Between The Two MethodsDid Rhodes completely fail to distinguish between the essential core of the two methods, for example on the issue of language acquisition? Cause if he did, then it is a waste of time to read a poorly-researched book that gives the wrong picture of the subject. I don't think so. Let me share one example which came as a big surprise to me. What I thought was an exaggerated description of what had happened seems to be a sought-after outcome of CPM-style methods. Rhodes writes:... CPM-style methods even encourage unbelievers to lead if they seem intent on obeying Scripture. James Nyman tells the story of Aysha, a woman who has read some stories about Jesus and the prophets and reports having obeyed the Bible by arguing less with her husband. Aysha is not even asked whether she has trusted Christ as her Savior — or if she even knows what it might mean to trust Christ as her Savior — before she is asked to coach Wati, another unbelieving woman, as Wati leads Bible studies with her family. As a part of this arrangement, Aysha must decide if Wati’s family “has misconceptions about faith in Jesus” in order to determine which Bible stories Wati’s family should study.As is his way, Rhodes gives in the footnote the author, book and page number for this story. And he also pre-empts the reader's possible incredulity that this is actually endorsed by listing the endorsers:Lest readers imagine Nyman’s approach to be unusual among CPM-style practitioners, it is important to note that his book receives high praise from David Garrison, David Watson, Steve Smith, Steve Addison, Kevin Greeson, Stan Parks, Curtis Seargant, and many other promoters of CPM-style methods.Are you shocked? Then be even more shocked. What I thought was indefensible is actually pretty defensible. Thanks to a DMM practitioner/trainer who helped me understand what is happening here. The unbeliever is not leading a Bible Study as we traditionally understand leading. A better description is facilitating. She is a facilitator rather than a leader.The questions are fixed and the answers are found in the given passage. Both questions and the passage are given by the Christian mentor who is not in the group but is actively coaching the facilitator, so the unbeliever is kept, in a manner of speaking, on a tight leash.They have more reasons for having a non-believer facilitating a Bible Study. But as I try to argue that the leader should be a Christian because only the Christian knows the high-stakes, the eternal stakes involved, only the Christian would pray for the souls of the people in the study, spiritual things are understood by the Spirit and should be conveyed by believers, as I make that case I find that I am arguing against Christians who have an incredibly high view of Scripture, a view that believes anyone who reads and understands the plain meaning of Scripture, will be open to the power of Scripture. I still disagree, strongly, but it's not as incomprehensible or irresponsible as when you first hear it. Many famous conversions happened, for example John Wesley's, just by hearing Scripture, unmediated, without commentary. It's just strange to make it the default approach rather than seeing it as a singular, highly unusual, Road to Damascus event. Paul, Luther and Wesley, however they were converted clearly intended for Scripture to be taught and explained to believers and unbelievers. I Like My Way Of Doing It Better Than...As I argued with my fellow brother in Christ who sees great value in DMM, I recognised in my own heart a desire to win the argument for how I think missions should be done. So if you are like me, I want you to remember this quote from D.L. Moody. Someone criticised his way of evangelism. Moody replied:It is clear you don’t like my way of doing evangelism. You raise some good points. Frankly, I sometimes do not like my way of doing evangelism. But I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.Consider this: One day, I was listening to a Voice of the Martyrs podcast episode on Afghanistan. The interview was on what is happening to the Christians after the fall of Kabul. It was clear that the missionary being interviewed is using CPM-style methods because he was using CPM-style language. On a different day, I was listening to Recorded, a podcast from the Gospel Coalition. The episode title was "Escape from Kabul". I listen to the story of an Afghan believer who eventually interned with Capital Hill Baptist Church, which is Mark Dever's church. Mark Dever, if you recall, is the guy who wrote the foreword to Matt Rhodes' "No Shortcut To Success". This Afghan brother has a different journey which is no less harrowing than the earlier one. We have brothers and sisters in Afghanistan who are suffering for their faith. They are practising both mission methods. Maybe one way is indeed better, more biblical than the other. But our heart, our posture in this discussion is not I win means you lose but let us find a way to win souls together for the Lord. As Rhodes puts it rightly, "Whenever we look at any ministry method, we must attempt to learn what we can."ConclusionIn conclusion, if you are following Church-Planting Movement, Disciple-Making Movement, Training for Trainers, or any other mission method, new or old, you should still read Matt Rhodes. You will not like what he says. You will say he got many things wrong. But since he is quoting those books, then maybe a part of the wrongness is coming from those books. If you are serious about missions, as all Christians should, then No Shortcut to Missions: A Manifesto for Modern Missions, is a must read. It's a book, especially Part Two, that missionaries would say, "I wish I had read this when I decided to be a missionary." This is a Reading and Readers review of "No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions" by Matt Rhodes. If you like this book review, then make sure toe subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Thank you for listening.Book List"No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions" by Matt Rhodes. Amazon.Correction[1]In the podcast, I said Northern Africa when I meant Northern India.

A Palestinian Christian living in Israel writes a book on reconciliation. Palestinian. Christian. Reconciliation. Put all those words together and I coudn't resist to buy, read and review the book.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Theology of Reconciliation in the Context of Church Relations: A Palestinian Christian Perspective in Dialogue with Miroslav Volf" by Rula Khoury Mansour. 352 pages, published by Langham Monographs in January 2020. How did I come across this book? The author is not famous. Yet. Maybe after this book review she will be. You won't see this book in your bookshops. It's not in any bestseller list. Yet. Again, maybe after this book review it will be. AuthorI got to know of Rula Khoury Mansour from an interview Chris Wright did. When I heard she is a Palestinian Christian, I thought, "Cool! Rare species." Listening to the interview, I learnt she wrote a book on reconciliation. That is just too many juxtapositions for me to ignore. I've got to read this book. And so I did.We have an author's biodata on the book's cover but I like how she describes herself in the book. She writes:I believe I am uniquely placed to research the topic of Palestinian Baptists in Israeli and their intra-church conflicts. I approached the analysis of the data not from the unsympathetic lens of an outsider nor from the uncritical lens of an insider. I'm neither solely a woman, wife and mother, nor just a Palestinian Christian, cultural Middle Easterner, British academic, Israeli citizen and lawyer who studied in secular Jewish universities and worked as a public prosecutor in the Israeli establishment. I am all of those identities together. MonographThis book is a monograph, meaning it's her research thesis. I paid good money for someone's research thesis. I still find it surprising that I did this. But why should it be surprising? Instead of reading titilating trashy novels, imagine if we as a society enjoy a good monograph or two. Don't you think the title of this book is far more interesting than any trashy novel? I keep repeating myself but come on man, a Palestinian Christian in Israel writing on Reconciliation. Surely you see how intriguing this is. But is it any good? I've finished the book and I have three words to describe it: Intimate, Practical and Critical. It's intimate because the pastors and church members involved in the church conflicts are so exposed. She doesn't name names, she uses pseudonyms. But there are only 3000 or so Palestinian Baptists in Israel. It's a small community. How did she manage to draw out people who live in an honour and shame culture to speak of conflict which to them is shameful and to have it published for the world to read? This is not a tabloid running a headline, "The Church War You Didn't Know in Israel". This is a practical book on reconciliation. I would like to think that the reason why the people opened up is they saw greater honour in sharing their unique perspective on church conflict that blesses the global church. This is not a how-to book with the title, "Ten Steps to Reconcile with the Utterly Irreconcilable". This book is critical in that it takes a theologian-scholar's framework and tells us where it works and where it doesn't in the Palestinian context. It's a research monograph. StructureI have put off describing the structure of the book because I didn't want to scare you to switch to another podcast. This book has subheadings that only researchers would love: Research QuestionChoice of Qualitative Methodology and Methods Used in the StudyResearch PlanResearch EthicsTake heart, if you are not a research geek, there is still plenty to love in this book. The book is divided into two parts. If you like 'gossip', you'll appreciate Chapters 1 to 5. How did the Baptists wind up in Palestine and why did they leave? And curiously, why did the church splits only occur after they left? Did money and church buildings play a part? Was the problem the old men in power, the young rebellious group, the indomitable women or all of the above? In Chapters 6 to 9, Mansour brings Miroslav Volf's Theology of Reconciliation to the Palestinian context. Miroslav Volf has his own unique lived experience as a Croatian who lived through the Balkan Wars and has since famously contributed towards the theology of reconciliation. Mansour develops aspects of Volf's work into four chapter-length critiques namely: "Theology of Remembrance", "Theology of Forgiveness", "Theology of Justice" and "Theology of Embrace". In Chapter 10, having identified some gaps in Volf's framework as it pertains to the Palestinian context, Mansour makes some recommendation, which includes a stronger role for the community, a place for venting, the need for rituals and dignity restoration and others.Conflict within a ConflictThat's the overview, now let's get into the conflict in Israel. Only this time, it's not the conflict with rockets and bombs, the one debated in the United Nations, the one that arguably can be traced back to Old Testament times. We are going to study a conflict set in the background of a greater conflict. Imagine bombs exploding outside your home, while you are having a family quarrel inside your home. Welcome to the Palestinian Baptist Churches in Israel. The Palestinian Baptists are a threefold minority. As Palestinians, they are a minority in Israel. An unwelcome minority because Palestinians are a reminder of the greater, wider, conflict.As Christians, they are a minority among Palestinians. Palestinians are mostly Muslims. And lastly, as an evangelical, they are a minority among the Christian denominations. Baptists make a tiny tiny slice of the Christian population. Adding more fuel to the mix is how successive generations have engaged with the war around them. Citing historical research, Mansour presents three generations or stages in the Palestinian community: from 1948-1955 it's the survival generation, from 1956-1988 it's the worn-out generation and from 1990-2016 it's the stand tall generation. And each generation deals with church conflict in a different way. I can imagine some Christians getting uncomfortable reading the history of Israel from a Palestinian perspective.For some Christians are so zealous for Zion that any news that implies national Israel is at fault is fake news. Israel is God's chosen nation, it can do no wrong or the burden of proof is so high, it might as well be. The main theme of this book is not the Israel-Palestine conflict. That is the background that influences the conflict in front of us, the Palestinian Baptist Churches. There isn't much here to really trigger you but perhaps reading events from another perspective, from another sister-in-Christ's perspective, will help you see not just the Israeli side, or the Palestinian side, but a Palestinian Christian side.Moving on. Churches A, B and CMansour presents three churches as her case study: Church A, B and C which are pastored by Pastor A, B and C respectively. In this review, I'll pick examples from Church A just to give you a taste of what to expect as you progress through the book. This is the scenario at Church A, Mansour writes:When Pastor A reached pension age, the church committee decided to extend his time as there was no replacement. Two years later, Pastor A and the deacons invited Pastor George to be assistant pastor for six months and then replace Pastor A. Pastor A's wife claimed that George was invited without Pastor A being informed. After six months, surprisingly, Pastor A informed the deacons that he was not ready to resign and wished to continue. He suggested George could work under his authority, but George refused. This resulted in a dispute and many heated meetings. In one meeting, Pastor A overrode the constitution and dismissed the deacons and finally the church split and church A2 was founded. Fortunately, they are all Christians. So after a night of soul-searching, Bible-reading and prayer, the Holy Spirit touched everyone's hearts and they came crying to each other, embracing one another. Right? Nope. In church A, the conflict went on for years. Didn't anyone work to reconcile in these churches? There was. Mansour demonstrated that there were four different approaches used to resolve the conflict. She writes:Two approaches are cultural: (1) The Israeli alternative-legalistic approach and (2) the Palestinian traditional sulha approach; and two approaches are theological: (1) the traditional Palestinian church approach and (2) the Western-Baptist approach. The alternative-legalistic, traditional church and the Western-Baptist approach, if I describe them, will be familiar to you. The one that is not so familiar is the Palestinian traditional sulha approach. It's alien, even exotic. When cultures collide, we become more aware of what we take for granted in our own culture, whether for good or for bad. SulhaLet me quickly go through the sulha approach. Let's say you offended someone. You need to form a jaha. The jaha are the respected elders of the community. A hodna or ceasefire agreement is called so that nobody is allowed to take revenge. The offender provides the jaha with a taffwid. The taffwid is an irreversible written authorisation to act on their behalf and it contains the commitment of the offender's family to obey whatever verdict the jafa reaches. Do you see the difference? One, your family is involved. Two, you commit to obey before you know the verdict. Exciting isn't it? The sulha not only has a different approach, it also has a different aim. In the sulha, conflict is bad, so we need to restore the status quo. In the Western-Baptist approach, conflict may be a good thing, and resolving the conflict may mean changing the status quo. Now imagine what happens when two parties adopt different mechanisms and have different expectations. And it's not as if they write up the protocol up front. A lot of the approach and expectations is implicit, they are not explicitly stated. This research is fascinating. You should stop listening to this review and just buy the very expensive monograph. It's Really Very Simple, We Just Need To...I know what some of you are thinking. You are thinking that all they need to do, all every Christians in conflict should do is simply humbly go to the Bible. Listen to this. I have edited this paragraph for brevity: In case A, the group was given a few worksheets about biblical peace-making in preparation for the meeting. They met for two days. The purpose of this gathering was to discuss the problems and see how they could be resolved. During the meetings, there were sermons and Bible studies based on what Scripture says about unity and reconciliation (with a focus on Matthew 18). Two themes were addressed: relationships between believers and seeking the good of others over one's own desires. Around nine prayer meetings and Bible studies took place during the retreat. While one group met with facilitators, the other group had prayer meetings. Now when I read that, I was thinking, "that's exactly how I think reconciliation work should look like. Lots of Bible and prayer. Then listen to Mansour's explain why the Western-Baptist approach failed:The findings show that studying Scripture together was not sufficient to deal with the conflict. Interveners (missionaries and Western-minded pastors) focused on how to act and related to God and others. However, this approach ignored the pastors' struggles, such as how to deal with feelings of rejection, anger, insult and loss of dignity. Also, it did not take into consideration that the parties were deeply related and influenced by their families, so any agreement was incomplete until approved by the family. Frankly, Mansour has collected enough material on the conflict here to start a fire that would metaphorically burn down all the Palestinian Baptist Churches. She could, if she chose to, make one party the villain and the other, the hero. After all, many of us like our heroes and villains easily labeled. Well, I'm glad that Mansour didn't try to force an easy narrative. She isn't here to sell books, she is here to present her research. And her research shows that conflicts and attempts to reconcile are messy, painful and can be dragged on. There are no villains or heroes in this book. They are all simultaneously sinners and saints.Volf-TimeAt half-time, it's Volf-time. Here we have four superb chapters on Remembrance, Forgiveness, Justice and Embrace. What makes the Mansour's critique on Volf engaging is she uses his framework to analyse what happened to Church A, B and C. And in the process, help us think through aspects of reconciliation in ways that I did not consider before. For example, in reconciliation we all naturally focus on forgiveness because that seems to be where the Bible focus is. In the Parable of the Ungrateful Servant, the servant was forgiven 10,000 talents of gold but did not forgive his fellow servant who owed much less. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father forgives the son despite everything he did. So forgiveness is clearly important but what about remembering? According to Volf, we should remember rightly. We should remember truthfully. Mansour takes this and compares against the churches in her case study. Mansour writes: Pastors remembered and focused on their church's past glory and their contributions. They wondered how the "rebellious groups" could forget these past contributions. Pastor A spent 90 percent of the interview describing in detail the glory of church A during the 1970s-1980s revival. Pastor A's wife told me, teary-eyed, "When I remember [the split] I get sad and so does Pastor A who has served the church all his life." Rami, an ABC leader, told me that history is still alive in people's minds; pastors expected that members would not forget their decades of service, and thus expected that their past contributions must influence the church's present decision-making. The idea here is if you cannot remember rightly, then this hinders reconciliation. This is just one example from the chapter on remembrance. There are more insights and examples which I won't get into.In the chapter on Justice, we consider what is the role of compensation or repentance in reconciliation. Surely, wrongs must be acknowledged and righted before we can speak of reconciliation. In the chapter on Embrace, Volf and Mansour bring out the question of what does embrace look like, should we expect it and how can we work towards it. I have not read any of Volf's writings but if Mansour has presented Volf's work properly, which she should since he is her research supervisor, then I appreciate how these chapters offer a brief introduction to Volf's Theology of Reconciliation. I also appreciate Mansour's analysis against other theologians and ministers of reconciliation. For example, Mansour shows us that Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Truth & Reconciliation Committee in South Africa is less emphatic on justice compared to the other aspects. In this book, Mansour models for us how to adopt a framework to a real-life problem: Church A, B and C, and shows us how well and how poorly the framework applies to the Palestinian context. We know we should adjust any solution or framework to the culture we are working on but we seldom get to study the friction of adopting an analytical model to a real-life culture. This Book May Not Be For YouI like this book. I like the fact that this book exists. Its existence means there are Christians willing to share their reconciliation struggles to bless the wider Christian community. I am thankful that this is a recent monograph which means there continues to be believers studying reconciliation in the practice of the church. I am also thankful to note that the author is an unknown outside of Israel, and here I want to commend Langham for publishing books that some, most(?) publishers would not publish. In fact, my experience with this book was so good, I bought another Langham Monograph which was available at a discount, "Interpersonal Reconciliation between Christians in a Shame-Oriented Culture: A Sri Lankan Case Study" by Mano Emmanuel. This book was discounted to USD6.27 which is a lot cheaper than Mansour's book which cost USD25.99. Warning Dear ReaderHowever, as much as I enjoy Mansour's book and think the USD25.99 price tag worth the insight a Palestinian Christian in Israel offers on reconciliation, I am duty bound to warn you.This is a research thesis. It's not written for a popular audience. Perhaps this book review would generate some well-deserved interest on Mansour and her writing, and make it her while to write a book for the everyday reader. And if she does write another book, I hope she tells us how well her recommendations work. Taking one example, in this book I reviewed today, she successfully showed a need for the people to express the injustice they experienced or the anger and disappointments they felt. She successfully showed how other approaches that did not consider this cultural aspect failed to move the people towards reconciliation. She successfully showed how Volf's framework did not consider this aspect and she recommended venting be part of the reconciliation process, at least for Palestinian Christians. Therefore, this leaves a big gap, a research gap, namely, does her recommendations work in the field? I hope one day to read an evaluation of these methods. It would also be amazing if we can one day read that Church A, B and C achieved reconciliation and how they are sharing the Lord's goodness with other believers. Reconciliation is possible! Do not mistake the Lord's arm to be so short that He cannot save you from your conflicts.Other than buying the book and leaving good reviews, there are other ways we can encourage Rula Khoury Mansour and the Palestinian Baptist Churches in her case study. If you are a researcher, you can the read and cite her work and build on her work to advance the field one step further. More powerfully, if this book has helped you reconcile with another, and what a miracle this is!, then send a note to Rula Khoury Mansour to thank her. And if it isn't too much trouble, I would love to hear it as well. You can find my contact details at www.readingandreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. In conclusion, I found Mansour's book to be an intimate look at the Palestinian Baptist Church, so intimate that I dearly pray my brothers and sisters there would agree in the Lord and I pray that peacemakers would come forth to help them. The book is practical. Since reading the book, I have shared the ideas on the pulpit and applied them in a real life case, specifically the need to remember truthfully and to integrate the past into the present.The book is critical. I learnt how to take a framework and evaluate it critically in my context. When I first heard of Mansour and her book in Chris Wright's interview, I didn't know her book was a monograph. After reading the book, I realised that I can enjoy reading a monograph.Let me close this book review with Matthew 5:9, which says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." May the Lord send his peacemakers and ministers of reconciliation to work in Israel-Palestine and the Palestinian Baptist Churches.This is a Reading and Reader's review of "Theology of Reconciliation: A Palestinian Christian Perspective in Dialogue with Miroslav Volf" by Rula Khoury Mansour. 352 pages. Published by Langham Monographs in January 2020. Thank you for listening.Book List"Theology of Reconciliation: A Palestinian Christian Perspective in Dialogue with Miroslav Volf" by Rula Khoury Mansour. Amazon. Logos."Interpersonal Reconciliation between Christians in a Shame-Oriented Culture: A Sri Lankan Case Study" by Mano Emmanuel. Amazon."Exclusion and Embrace, Revised and Updated: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation" by Miroslav Volf. Amazon.

The evangelical world has no shortage of scandals. But are you ready for the real scandal? The real scandal of the evangelical mind? Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" by Carl Trueman. 48 pages, published in January 2011 by Moody Publishers. You can get the Amazon Kindle book for USD3.99 or you can get it for free from Faithlife. "The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" is Faithlife's Free Book of the Month. In 1995, Mark Noll wrote "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" where he pointed to the lack of a mind in the evangelical. 16 years later, in 2011, Carl Trueman writes "The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" where he points to the lack of an evangel, the good news, in the evangelical. 11 years later, in 2022, Michael Reeves writes, "The Real Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" where he points to the real scandal, which is the lack of integrity. Or at least that would be my title for Michael Reeves' book but perhaps 27 years is too long to play on a book title. The actual title for Reeves' book is "Gospel People: A Call for Evangelical Integrity", which is a more respectable, less scandalous title. So you see from these three books, after nearly 30 years, evangelicalism remains a problem. A problem in defining what it is. A problem in moving the movement and moving it in the right direction. How do you solve a problem like evangelicalism? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means evangelicalism. A flibbertijibbet! A Will-o-the-wisp! A clown!Here comes Carl Trueman in his book with many a thing he'd like to tell evangelicals. Many a thing evangelicals ought to understand. AuthorCarl Trueman is the Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College. He has written many books including the much acclaimed, "The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution". I've read so many good reviews on this book that I have saved this book for a special occasion, much like you would save good wine. When I have a long-ish break and can enjoy this book without distractions, I'll break it out and read it.I first encountered Carl Trueman's writing in First Things, which states in it's website (www.firsthings.com) that it is America's Most Influential Journal of Religion and Public Life. Trueman's writing reminds me of G.K. Chesterton, his keen observation and playfulness in catching you off guard with the absurd. That might not be a fair comparison because: I don't read enough G.K. Chesterton. I've only read one book by him.I don't read enough Carl Trueman. Today's book would be my first book or booklet, by him.Maybe I'm making a superficial comparison because they are both British and write in a British accent.StructureLet's go to the book. After the acknowledgement and introduction, there are three chapters, which are: Losing Our ReligionExclusion and the Evangelical MindThe Real Scandal of the Evangelical MindWith a book as short as this, 48 pages, there is a real risk of giving away the whole book in a review. So for each chapter, I'll try to restrain myself to only one insight. In doing so, I'll show how a 11-year old book by a historian-theologian on a subject as amorphous as evangelicalism can explain what is wrong with people today and guide us on practical matters.Losing Our ReligionIn the first chapter, Trueman begins by listing David Bebbington's definition of evangelicalism. Evangelicalism consists of four hallmarks, namely: A high regard for the Bible as the primary source of spiritual truth, andA focus on the atoning work of Christ on the cross, andA belief in the necessity of spiritual conversion, andThe priority of publicly proclaiming and living out the gospel.Trueman then proceeds to show how that definition is weak because it groups people that should not be grouped together. Imagine a United Nations Human Rights Council with members who are the vilest violators of human rights. That would just be silly. In the same way when the composition of the group is so mixed, it questions the cohesiveness of the label. As you read the chapter, you get a sense of frustration because evangelicalism is supposed to be a clarifying force of good. Instead it's become this mess of a definition and is neither clarifying nor good. I'm over-indulging at this point but the song from the Sound of Music describes the amorphous nature of evangelicalism:How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? When I’m with her I’m confused Out of focus and bemused And I never know exactly where I am Unpredictable as weather She’s as flighty as a feather She’s a darling! She’s a demon! She’s a lamb! She’d outpester any pest Drive a hornet from its nest She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl She is gentle! She is wild! She’s a riddle! She’s a child! She’s a headache! She’s an angel! She’s Evangelicalism! In the movie "The Sound of Music", Maria is an out of place nun. She is a singing nun that doesn't belong in this convent with the other singing nuns. By the end of the movie, she discovers where she belongs. Belonging is a two-sided coin. To know where you belong is to know where you don't belong. There is a boundary between those two states. And that is where Trueman leads to. Trueman argues that for evangelicalism to rise and triumph (eventually, maybe, hopefully), it needs to know where it belongs and where it doesn't belong, what is the boundary. He writes:Admittedly, there are good historical reasons for the wider cultural fear of boundaries. The exclusion of Jews in Germany, segregation in the American South, and apartheid in South Africa all led to great evil. Exclusion has often been based on bigotry and used as a means of control, manipulation, and worse. Seen in this light, an ill-defined evangelicalism is in tune with the cultural moment, more kind and gentle and tasteful than an exclusive movement.However, the cultural distaste for boundaries is also connected to the cultural distaste for truth claims. Such claims necessarily exclude, and in a world where the “it just feels right to me” mentality of the Oprah Winfrey Show is more acceptable than the authoritative “Thus says the Lord!” of Old Testament prophets, affinities between the cultural mind-set and the nebulous doctrine of much of evangelicalism are clear.He later argues: From the time of Paul, the church has drawn boundaries. Such has been considered necessary for her well-being and even her survival. A movement that cannot or will not draw boundaries, or that allows the modern cultural fear of exclusion to set its theological agenda, is doomed to lose its doctrinal identity. Once it does, it will drift from whatever moorings it may have had in historic Christianity.It seems to me that the definition problem is like sorting laundry. You have a pile of laundry and if you ask someone to sort it, he might sort it by size, by gender, by colour, or by any other category. But perhaps the most important category is ownership. Which of the clothes belongs to the person. And to know that, you have to know the owner. You have to hang around the owner long enough to know whether he wears hole-y jeans, or turtlenecks, or pink scarves. That is his, that is not his. Evangelicalism ultimately (or should I say ideally?) belongs to Jesus. He is the owner. Clothes' size is a match to the person, you can wish that that pair of jeans can fit you, but wishing doesn't make it so. In the same way, a church's doctrine or teaching needs to match to Jesus. You can try to tailor a looser or tighter teaching to fit on Jesus, but wishing doesn't make it so. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. The solution then is to know Jesus and thus determine which churches belong to him.Exclusion and the Evangelical MindIn the opening pages of chapter two, Trueman reveals the scandal of the social climbing evangelical academic who, I quote, "who never misses a chance to trash anybody who happens to stand just to his right theologically" and later Trueman continues, who "always finds something of value in, and even fawns over, those to his left." A short diversion. I'm reading another book which is based on an honour and shame culture. And with these two books in my mind, I was just startled to see honour and shame in evangelical academia. Maybe it's obvious to you but I always thought that honour and shame cultures best describes Asian or Middle Eastern cultures, Japanese harakiri or Pakistani honour killings. If used to described the West, you would have to look back in history to Roman-Greco cultures or medieval knights. Or perhaps limited to military subcultures. However, after reading Trueman's description of evangelical academia, the scales came off my eyes. "Hey, you professors are in an honour and shame culture. You see honour in belonging to the left and shame in belonging to the right." Honour and shame by itself is not a bad thing but it is a powerful force. In one culture, it compels fathers to kill their own daughters. Perhaps it is also compelling academics to kill their own beliefs. That is just a diversion that comes from mixing two thoughts together. Trueman's main theme for chapter two is on the interplay between evangelicalism and culture. When you survey the landscape of evangelicalism, do you despair? Have you wondered why evangelical churches are renouncing or reconstructing or rebranding their faith to embrace what the Bible says is wrong. In this chapter, Trueman takes the example of homosexuality and tells us, no, remember Trueman wrote this 11 years ago, he predicts how evangelicals would surrender to the growing pressure to embrace homosexuality. He writes:Predictably, there will be no evangelical consensus on homosexuality because ethical consideration of it rests upon theological categories of biblical authority, creation, fall, Christology, redemption, and consummation—and there is no evangelical consensus in any of these areas. With evangelicalism no longer defined by doctrinal commitments, there can and will be no evangelical consensus on homosexuality. Marry this theological vagary to a strong desire for a place at the cultural table, and greater acceptance of homosexuality among evangelicals is all but assured.Now I'm sure that churches who accept homosexuality will insist they are biblical. I believe they rest their case mainly on God is love. Or at minimum, they may insist the Bible doesn't speak clearly enough on the topic. It is a cultural taboo for the people at that time that is no longer valid for us today. Trueman imputes motive here. They do what they do because there is "a strong desire for a place at the cultural table". This is a big subject. Bigger than this book review or even this book. Trueman's main point here is that evangelicals do not share an united view, there is no consensus, on social issues because there is no consensus on doctrinal statements.My favourite part of the book is this, Trueman writes: It is likely that the coming cultural storms will be best weathered by evangelical organizations and institutions with more precisely defined doctrinal statements, particularly statements that are close to, or identical with, historic creeds and confessions. The last one hundred years of evangelicalism has shown that minimal doctrinal bases do not provide real resistance to heterodoxy and the downgrading of doctrine. Of course, no creed can safeguard orthodoxy alone; fidelity and integrity on the part of leaders and gatekeepers are also required. But without a strong and complete doctrinal confession, gatekeeping becomes nearly impossible, even for well-intentioned and faithful leaders.At this point of my church life, I am reviewing the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 and understanding what it means for the church. Many newer churches or movements aim for minimal doctrinal statements because they don't want doctrine to be a barrier to outreach. We don't want a high barrier to entry. We want a low barrier. So make the doctrinal statement as easy to understand, as non-controversial as possible, but still being true to what we believe. Those are not bad aims. We do want to make it easy, we don't want it to be unnecessarily controversial and we want to make it true. Controversy is an outcome of the truth, controversy is not a goal to aim for. However, in addition to all that Trueman is right. We need a strong and complete doctrinal confession. So it is with great sadness being so convicted of this need that I read the news. I'm reading this book in May 2022. The Church of Scotland, the church of the fiery John Knox, has just recently endorsed draft legislation to let clergy marry same-sex couples. If Albert Mohler is correct, and I heard this from his podcast, The Briefing, there was a study committee in the Church of Scotland and both proponents and opponents agree that the Bible has a negative view on homosexuality. If both proponents and opponents agree that the Bible says it's a bad thing, then how do we explain what is happening in the Church of Scotland? I am sure there is an explanation but I'm not going to do a deep-dive. If anything, this just shows that our hope is not in doctrinal statements, or church history or heroes. Our hope is only in Jesus Christ. God have mercy on us all.The Real Scandal of the Evangelical MindCompared to the first and second chapter, the third chapter is really short. This next part might be a spoiler, since I am going to quote the concluding paragraph to the chapter and thus the book. But if you have been listening intently thus far, much of what he says here is obvious. Trueman writes:Abandoning the myth of the evangelical movement can only help us, as it will free us to be who we truly are and to speak the gospel in all of its richness as we understand it. This is what our day and generation needs.The real scandal of the evangelical mind currently is not that it lacks a mind, but that it lacks any agreed-upon evangel. Until we acknowledge that this is the case—until we can agree on what exactly it is that constitutes the evangel—all talk about evangelicalism as a real, coherent movement is likely to be little more than a chimera, or a trick with smoke and mirrors.For me, the interesting part here is not him identifying the real scandal which is the lack of the evangel. By this point in the book, it's clear where his thesis lies. The interesting part is him saying, we need to "abandon the myth of the evangelical movement". Keep your finger on this phrase. Remember early on I mentioned Michael Reeves' book, "Gospel People". I didn't tell you then, but I'll tell you now, in Carl Trueman's acknowledgement page, he dedicates the booklet to two individuals. One is Todd Pruitt, his co-host in the Mortification of Spin podcast. The other is Michael Reeves. Let me read an extract from the description for Gospel People by Michael Reeves. I quote:Michael Reeves argues from a global, scriptural, and historical perspective that, while it’s not necessary to discard the label altogether, Christians must return to the root of the term―the evangel, or “gospel”―in order to understand what it truly means. Trueman says, "Abandon the myth of the evangelical movement." Reeves says, "It's not necessary to discard the label altogether." They are not contradicting each other. I haven't read Michael Reeves' book. I am just pointing this book out because you may not know of the book and the connection between Carl Trueman and Michael Reeves. After reading the 48 page booklet by Trueman you might want to see what has changed or not changed after 11 years. You might want to see the points where Trueman and Reeves agree or disagree. In fact, I would love to see Trueman and Reeves interact on this issue, perhaps they have but Google or YouTube has not shown me any good results. Perhaps Elon Musk needs to buy them over. Eternal Sunshine of the Evangelical MindSince I can't find it, maybe this is an opportunity for a book concept. Let me pitch it to you. The title of the book is "Eternal Sunshine of the Evangelical Mind". We have three chapters. Mark Noll will write the first chapter. He describes the events leading to the break up within evangelicalism. Everyone just wants to forget the word evangelicalism. It's too painful. It's too heartbreaking. In the second chapter, Carl Trueman will describe how book publishers, institutions and academics are lamenting at the loss of an easy-to-use group identifier but at the same time relishing at this entire new field of study dedicated to the death of evangelicalism. Trueman then notes how like a good funeral, the death of evangelicalism brings all these groups together again. Then in the third chapter, Michael Reeves will describe how churches felt a keen sense of loss. Perhaps, they were too quick to wipe out that memory. There was something special in the movement and so evangelicals agree to get back together and give evangelicalism another jolly good try.What do you think? Does it sound great? Does that describe, predict, what will happen in the next ten years? Or put it another way, don't you want to see Mark Noll, Carl Trueman and Michael Reeves talk about the scandal of the evangelical mind? In conclusion, if you are not familiar with evangelicalism, this 48 page booklet by Carl Trueman is a good primer. And as I hope to show you through my reflections, even if you are not so invested in evangelicalism, I'm not, you can't escape from the the phenomenon. It comes out through the books we read and the politics and wider societal issues we see around us. The trick is having seen evangelicalism in the world around us and understanding how it came to be, we now navigate through this foggy landscape because we know that our hope in life and death is that we are not our own but belong to God. This is a Reading and Readers review of "The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" by Carl Trueman. 48 pages, published by Moody Publishers in 2011. It's available for USD3.99 in Amazon Kindle or free(!) from Faithlife's Free Book of the Month.Do you like your podcasts to be scandal-free? A podcast that shows no lack of a sharp mind, a strong evangel and gospel integrity? So do I. Let me know if you have one. You can find my contact details at www.readingandreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. In the meantime, while we are all searching for the perfect podcast, consider subscribing to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review scandalous, I mean Christian, books for you. Book ListThe Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Carl Trueman. Amazon. Faithlife.The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll. Amazon. Faithlife.Gospel People: The Call for Evangelical Integrity by Michael Reeves. Amazon. Logos.

Every pastor who has served 50 years in ministry should be legally compelled to write a book. After so many years of faithful service to the Lord, they should be designated a national treasure. That's my conclusion after reading today's books.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review two books. The first book is "The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor's Heart" by Harold L. Senkbeil. 312 pages, published by Lexham Press in June 2019. This book has won: 2020 Christianity Today Book Award Winner for Church/Pastoral Leadership2019 TGC Ministry Book of the Year Winner2020 ECPA Christian Book Award Winner for Ministry Resources.This book was so good, it has a spin-off series: The Lexham Ministry Guides. This series includes published guides for:Pastoral LeadershipStewardshipFuneralsAnd they have two more soon to be published titles: 4. Pastoral Visitation 5. Spiritual WarfareAll these books carry the subtitle "the care of souls", tracing its roots to Senkbeil's original book. The second book I am reviewing is "Pastoral Leadership: For the Care of Souls" by Harold L. Senkbeil, the same author as the first, and Lucas V. Woodford. 208 pages, also by Lexham Press, published in August 2021, meaning this was published two years after the first.Two books today. Whenever I review two books, it's because I was forced to. I would rather just review one book for one episode. Here is what happened. The Logos Free Book of the Month for April is the Pastoral Leadership book. I finished all 200 pages and found it dissatisfying. Not because it was a bad book, I'll evaluate the book later in this episode, but because it seemed like I am joining in mid-conversation. The authors are using words which I think I know what they mean but not sure.For example, in a church setting, a young Christian hears the word 'justification' in a sermon. He thinks: "Does the word justification in the passage mean the same thing as in the sentence: Russia has no justification for war." And the answer is no. Justification as the Apostle Paul uses it is a technical term to describe a righteousness imputed on us necessary for our salvation. Coming back to the Logos Free Book of the Month, in this book I frequently read the phrase "the care of souls". You and I could guess the meaning. We would be kind of right. But the authors clearly mean something specific by it. At one point in the book, the author asks:Do these stated policies enhance or hamper the care of souls in this place?Without knowing how he defines the care of souls, you cannot answer the question. And the care of souls is not peripheral to the book, it's the subtitle of the book, spinning of from another book carrying the same name. Listen to what the authors wrote: That’s why we wrote this book: we believe that the heart of all leadership and strategic planning is the care of souls. Pastors are not chief executive officers any more than churches are businesses. If pastors try to run a church and cultivate quality leaders without caring for their souls, that congregation is going to be spiritually dead in the water, no matter how impressive its outward metrics may be. Care for souls is love in action—the enactment of the word of God, to be precise.If you were counting, the authors used the phrase "care of souls" three times. It is a weighty word, foundational to their ministry and writing. Another word that appears just as often is habitus. In the preface to the series, the editor Harold Senkbeil writes: ... all pastoral work is rooted in a pastoral habitus, or disposition. What every pastor does day after day is an expression of who the pastor is as a servant of Christ and a steward of God’s mysteries (1 Cor 4:1).While there are only five chapters in Pastoral Leadership, I finished it, seeing but not perceiving, reading but not understanding. What is this Care of Souls thing that has gripped these authors? And not just them but readers, reviewers, and book award givers, until it has spawned a mini-industry, of Care of Souls Ministry Guides? So I felt that in order for me to do justice to this book review, I had to read the OG, the book "Care of Souls: Cultivating the Pastor's heart" by Harold Senkbeil. This episode will review the books in the order it's supposed to be read. The Care of Souls first, then Pastoral Leadership that flows from it. Care of SoulsThe best place for you to read the Care of Souls is on a farm. Especially a dairy farm with a herd of cows moo-ing. The book offers so much earthy wisdom that it should come pre-packaged with dirt and hay so that you can smell the farm as you read it. Senkbeil takes readers to a rustic time of the past, his past. I quote the first sentences from his introduction: My childhood and youth were spent on a farm in western Minnesota—my father’s farm and his father’s before him. It wasn’t much by modern standards, just a tiny patch of ground. But it was my whole world, and what a wonderful world it was. Any preacher can preach the Parable of the Sower and sound like an agricultural expert but only those who live that life can fill it with detail and surprise. For example, I was reading a section titled, "Spiritual Physicians" and Senkbeil includes this story. As you listen, I want you to know that he is describing the pastoral habitus, the disposition of the pastor towards the flock: In the old days back on the farm, farmers learned the necessity of animal husbandry the hard way. Many of them like my dad were pretty good diagnosticians even though they’d never been to veterinary school. They learned from generations before them and gained significant practical skill by focused observation of the animals they tended, watching carefully for the peculiarities of each animal to learn how they behaved in a variety of different situations. So when they saw something out of the ordinary, they knew they had to act quickly.Here’s one notable example. In springtime when our cows were first let out to pasture, they tended to gorge themselves on succulent new grasses and overeat. Their voluminous bellies could consume quite a quantity of legumes, and on occasion my father needed to take drastic action. When a cow’s flanks began to swell abnormally and she began to pant with increasingly shallow breaths, she was experiencing the bovine equivalent of acid indigestion. The results could be fatal if those gases in her stomachs expanded to the point of stopping her respiration. More than once I saw my dad take out a knife and plunge it into a bloated cow’s side and let out the accumulated gas to save her life. He needed to know exactly where the knife could be inserted without slicing into an artery and killing her. It was radical treatment, that’s for sure, but it was necessary for healing.I shared this story and captioned it the lesson: "Do not overeat lest your pastor has to stick you with a knife." Before you think this is the memoir of a Christian farmer, let me now tell you who is Harold L. Senkbeil. According to the author profile in Lexham Press:Harold L. Senkbeil is executive director emeritus of Doxology: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care. His pastoral experience of nearly five decades includes parish ministry, the seminary classroom, and parachurch leadership. He is author of numerous books, including Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness and Sanctification: Christ in Action.Senkbeil is a pastor's pastor. And if you are a pastor and you don't have a pastor or don't know what a pastor's pastor means, then you should read this book. While a big part of the book is the care of other people's soul, Senkbeil is just as invested in the care of your soul, the pastor's soul. Movie PitchIf this book was to be turned into a movie - and why not? Since it's already spawn a spin-off series of books - the setting would be on a farm. It's like City Slickers but better. You don't know the Billy Crystal movie? You are an impoverished soul. Anyways...A city pastor arrives at the farm to get some much needed rest. Not many people know this but he is thinking of quitting. Half the congregation is upset for all he has done, the other half is upset for all he has not yet done. He has read all the books, joined all the conferences and tried all the foolproof church growth techniques. He is the fool that proved all those foolproof techniques wrong. He is here to get some time and space to plot his next chapter of his life. He just didn't know how that next chapter was going to look like. This movie is not in The Care of Souls book, I'm just conveying as part of my review how the book could be adapted into a movie that captures the book's essence. The pastor meets an old man. The old man draws him in with tales of farm life. Before long, the pastor realises that the stories have a point. A pastoral point. The pastor begins to open up in a way he never did before. Remarkably, the old man listens as if he has heard it all before. The old man gently asks, "What is a pastor?" That's actually the title of chapter one in this book. "What is a Pastor? The Classical Model." I quote:The premise of this book is that action flows from being; identity defines activity. Thus a clearer vision of what the pastoral ministry is will lead to a clearer understanding of what a pastor does day by day.Later Senkbeil writes:The classical texts of pastoral care have always called the cure of souls a habitus, a pastoral temperament or character worked by the Holy Spirit through his means.Skippping forward, I quote:A pastor’s habituation, or character, is what counts most in ministry. This habitus can’t be instilled merely through pedagogy or acquisition of intellectual knowledge, though instruction and knowledge remain vital and indispensable components in pastoral education.This book, the Care of Souls is a manifesto for a return to the pastor's calling, the care of souls, by developing the pastor's habitus. This manifesto is not like some trendy political idea that excites generations of people; an idea that sounds nice in theory but is just fantasy. Instead this manifesto to return to the pastor's calling, the care of soul, is an age old practice that is still being practiced and this book and author is proof. Let me read one line from the book and let's see what you think: This is the heart of the cure of souls: In proximity to the sanctifying Spirit every soul finds its renewal and cleansing.Let me repeat it because this is an important part of the book. Every word in this line is loaded with meaning that fills chapters in this book:In proximity to the sanctifying Spirit every soul finds its renewal and cleansing.The implications are enormous. It's not just we have a more accurate theology. I love it when my theology gets challenged and hopefully closer to the biblical understanding. This can help you in ministering to others. It clarifies what you do. What is ministering. It clarifies what you can and cannot do. And thus save you from burnout. The pastor who feels the weight of the congregation on his shoulders finds relief in this pages as Senkbeil unpacks each word that I just read. In proximity to the sanctifying Spirit every soul finds its renewal and cleansing.Pastors, you have one job and only one job: Bring souls nearer and nearer to Jesus. In that movie idea of mine - yes, I'm pitching a movie project in the middle of this book review - at the end of the movie, we see the city pastor waving good bye to the old man, renewed and invigorated for the next chapter of his life, the care of souls and the nurturing of the pastoral habitus. So that's the Care of Souls. I'll now turn to the second book Pastoral Leadership. And I'll offer my concluding thoughts on both books at the end.Pastoral LeadershipAfter finishing The Care of Souls, the reader will naturally ask, "What's next?" Having left the old man at the farm and having returned to the church, renewed and invigorated for the care of souls, what is pastor habitus maximus supposed to do at the church strategic meeting, or a budget meeting, or a funeral? To find out, get the Lexham Ministry Guide on those topics! And that's where this book comes in, Pastoral Leadership: For the Care of Souls written by Senkbeil and his protege(?), disciple(?), pastor-in-arms, Lucas V. Woodford.I'll now confess that the movie idea I pitched earlier is a artistic adaptation of Woodford's story. There are five chapters in Pastoral Leadership and the first chapter is Woodford's Coming of Habitus story, the story of before and after he met the old man, the real life Professor Harold Senkbeil.Listen to what a wreck he was. Woodford writes: Paranoia and uncertainty about the future of my ministry and the future of the congregation became my nightly obsession. Under the misbelief that if I worked more, tried harder, and was a better leader people would like me more, I began coming into the office at 3:00 a.m. to start my day and staying until late at night, after I had attended the last meeting of the day. Even so, landing on a common and uniting leadership emphasis for the congregation was ever elusive. Strife continued. Factions remained.Later he writes:I was trying to do absolutely everything by my own reason and strength. I knew the Great Commission, I embraced it, and I was trying to fulfill it, even if it killed me! But the growth wasn’t magically happening like all the church growth books said it was supposed to. Those same books said a leader looking to bring change and vibrancy to his ministry should expect all kinds of resistance and animosity and needs to be prepared to endure some misery in ministry and life. They said this was just the price you pay if you want to lead a change toward a passionate, vibrant, mission-oriented church.Then he meets Professor Harold Senkbeil, marking the turning point in his life and ministry: This loving professor and pastor gave me permission to see ministry in a fuller and more historic light, which included profound insight into the care of souls, not just the leading of members. Thus, I began to care more intentionally and classically for the individual souls of the congregation, giving them Jesus as I was called to do, rather than giving them myself, my ingenuity, or my next great idea. I learned that leadership and the care of souls go hand in glove when soul care leads the way.If you are have a hankering for more rustic wisdom, we have two chapters from Senkbeil here. In one chapter he offers an all too real description of Pastoral Depletion Syndrome. If you are not a pastor be careful when you read this. After reading this chapter, you might be compelled to ask for absolution from your pastor.At the end of the book, we have a resource chapter which is an annotated bibliography arranged in five categories: Leadership and Coaching, Emotional Intelligence, Boundaries and Schedules, Team Building and Strategic Planning. Woodford has done the hard work of curating these books so that you don't have to. This chapter alone could be worth the price of the book.That's the end of my review on Pastoral Leadership. Now let's go to my concluding thoughts on both books.Concluding ThoughtsI recommend both books to weary pastors, young pastors, pastors who are going to quit, pastors who are just starting. Both Senkbeil and Woodford tell it like it is. In a different era, what they both did here can be akin to airing out the church's dirty laundry in public. So much is revealed.In a chapter they both co-authored, they present their credentials and convictions:The two of us have been involved in the full gamut of church leadership. We’ve been in the trenches of ministry right alongside other pastors. Each of us have counseled, mentored, and guided pastors one-on-one through the whole range of pastoral experiences—from the edge of disaster to exhilarating success. More pointedly, we’ve pastored these pastors. We have the same theology and share lots of convictions when it comes to ministry, but this one conviction rises to the very top: every pastor needs a pastor.One tip I'll give you here is you should read the Care of Souls book first before reading any of the other books in the Lexham Ministry Guide. Now I'm sure that those books can be read standalone but you will get so much more out of them if you read The Care of Souls first. Trust me on this.With that tip, I have one warning for you: The Lutheran is very strong in these books. The way the books speak of the sacraments (Baptism and the Lord's Supper) is very different from the way I as a Baptist understand them.Another example: Baptismal Therapy. I'm not confident that I fully understand what Senkbeil means when he speaks of Baptismal Therapy. This is something that Senkbeil speaks often and strongly. If Baptismal Therapy means getting Christians to see Romans 6 at work in their lives, then I agree with him and I was doing something like that, but I just didn't understand it in those terms. But if Senkbeil's Baptismal Therapy means something else the way the Lord's Supper means something else to the Lutherans, then I see it as a Baptist would see it, not as he means it. The point I'm making is both books are very Lutheran which is perfect for Lutherans because even if you disagree, you know what you are disagreeing with. For those of us, like myself, who are not familiar with Lutheran theology, even when I agree, I'm not entirely sure I know what I am agreeing with. All this means is I need to make a Lutheran friend. Clearly, Senkbeil and Woodford are Lutheran pastors who believe in what they write. I much prefer people to write their convictions clearly rather than water it down just to appeal to all peoples. Since I highlighted Lutheran so strongly, you might think that non-Lutherans should skip the book. I think that would be a mistake and I'm not the only one who thinks so.Michael Horton, who is a Reformed, not a Lutheran, wrote the foreword to the Care of Souls. After highlighting the close kinship between Lutheran and Reformed Confession, Horton writes: ... the two confessions are different. And it is precisely in this difference that I find encouragement as well as fraternal correction and admonition. Evangelicals rarely encounter confessional Lutheran sources and this is a pity. This book constitutes persuasive evidence of the richness of distinct Lutheran emphases in relation to pastoral ministry. All of us need this wisdom.And on that note, I will wisely end this review. You should read these books because all of us need more wisdom and there is wisdom here for the taking. This is a Reading and Readers review of The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor's Heart by Harold L. Senkbeil and Pastoral Leadership: For the Care of Souls by Harold L. Senkbeil and Lucas V. Woodford. The Amazon Kindle price for both books are USD8.49 and USD9.99 respectively. But if you get them from Logos for this month and this month only, The Care of Souls is USD6.99 and Pastoral Leadership is free! You really should get the books because what are the odds of you finding an old man with a farm to turn your life and ministry around? Pastors, return to your calling to care for souls. Habitus Maximus!Book ListThe Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor's Heart by Harold L. Senkbeil. Amazon. Logos.Pastoral Leadership: For the Care of Souls by Harold L. Senkbeil and Lucas V. Woodford. Amazon. Logos.

Reading and Readers is officially one year old! Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Just not today. Today is a special episode where we celebrate the baby steps of this podcast. On the 19th of April 2021, I launched Reading and Readers and for this anniversary and every anniversary afterwards, I plan to look not at the books but in the mirror. This is a behind the scenes episode. And hopefully this is the beginning of, again hopefully, a long tradition.List of Things to Improve OnI was thinking to do a postmortem review kind of thing, where I describe three things that could be improved and three things I was happy with. Examples of things that could improve include better proofreading. I wince at the English mistakes that get into both the recorded audio and the written post. The podcast can be improved with better editing. I would like to remove the fillers, ah, um, er, and pauses. And the most critical area of improvement, that would cover all the other improvements, would be that I record earlier and not, say, 2 hours before the deadline. I have more in my list but I look at my list and it's boring. Boring because I'm going to say the same things next year and every year after that because this podcast is not my full time job. I have responsibilities and commitments that have only increased, not decreased, in this past one year. Also, this podcast doesn't allow me to prepare a backlog of episodes. I review one, if not two, free books of the month. The premise of Reading and Readers is to encourage readers to get books before deals end. I get access to those free books the same time as everybody else does, which is part of the fun and part of the stress.The quality will get better as I get more practise but honestly I'm aiming for consistency over everything else here. Just trying to knock out one episode every two weeks and sometimes if I can, I'll push one extra episode because I want to share this book I just finished. So if going through my list of areas to improve on is boring, what should I do for this episode? Is there a different way to make a meaningful reflection on the past year? It just so happens that I am in the middle of preparing a study on 2 Thessalonians for my church's bible study. John Stott in his comments on 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4, asks: "What should our attitude be to Christians who are doing well in some aspect of their discipleship?" He then poses the dilemma: if we congratulate them, we risk puffing them up and robbing God of his glory; If we say nothing, we discourage them in their Christian walk. Stott asks us to follow Paul's example, I quote:Instead, we can affirm and encourage people in the most Christian of all ways: ‘I thank God for you, brother or sister. I thank him for the gifts he has given you, for his grace in your life, for what I see in you of the love and gentleness of Christ’. This way affirms without flattering, and encourages without puffing up.When I look through my list in drafting out this episode, I ask "Where is God here?" It feels like a human endeavour absent God's providence. I could tack on "I thank God for this", "I thank God for that" but to me, the attitude that I have now, it feels like I'm doing it because I have to, it lacks depth or insight, there is nothing that leads me towards that utterance of thanksgiving. Is there a way for me to work towards seeing God in this podcast? Then I asked myself, "Do any of the books I reviewed recently help in this?" Two books immediately came to mind: "God, Technology and the Christian Life" by Tony Reinke and "Redeeming Our Thinking About History" by Vern S. Poythress. Reinke's book can help me think about podcasting. Poythress' book is on history and a one year anniversary is history. Poythress' proposed three aspects to history: People, Events and Meaning and provocatively suggested that we can and we should seek to tease out God's purposes in history. Can I apply what I have read in these two books to reflect on the past one year of this podcast's history? Let's find out!PeopleThe first aspect is People. I asked myself, "Who made Reading and Readers possible?" The first person that came to mind was my wife. Before I asked my friends what they thought, I asked my wife and she encouraged me. She helpfully listened as I brainstormed all sort of ideas and she helped pick the podcast cover. I preferred another version and was slightly annoyed she didn't choose my preference but looking back, she was right. And as I reflect, I saw that I should not just look at her active and direct contribution to this podcast but also her passive and indirect contribution. She looks after the home and children so well such that I can squeeze the time to read, write and record the podcasts. God, you are so good to bless me with such a wife. When I mention my spouse, naturally my children come to mind. And although the children have occasionally interrupted my flow of thoughts which I never regained and sometimes when I was in the middle of recording, they would burst through the room chasing each other, laughing or crying, I thank God I managed to hold back my momentary annoyance because at the end of the time, I thank God for my children. My children have directly contributed to the podcast. Because of them I bought, read and reviewed the Green Ember series by S.D. Smith and the Wingfeather series by Andrew Peterson. (If you have children you really should get both series.) Also, I foresee that this podcast will be my legacy to my children. One day I'll be gone and perhaps they might want to hear their father's voice and thoughts, about books and the Christian life. So that thought keeps this podcast going too. I thank God for another important group of people, the church. In my church, some are readers, most are not. But I don't want to approach this as a shared interest sort of thing: I like football, they like football, and I thank God that we all like football. It is within the church that I can live out what I read. I talk to people and as we talk I sometimes share a nugget from something I read. A quote on cheap grace from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a story on forgiveness from Corrie ten Boom or a comment on thanksgiving from John Stott. I share from the life and work of wonderful saints to encourage the saints around me.I don't just thank my brothers and sisters in Christ for being an attentive audience but more importantly, I have matured through the church, through the good, the bad and the ugly. The books make sense because of the experiences I went through and I can, by putting these together, help others.For example, the book "The Peacemaking Pastor: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict" by Alfred Poirier, is so good. I've gone to it for advice and what he has written has encouraged me to stay the peacemaking course. We cannot make copies of the man, I can't invite him to sit in for every conflict my church has, but I can buy copies of his book. It boggles the mind that a church may have solutions to their problems, but nobody knows that it's sitting on their shelves, covered in dust. I don't want to over-promise what reading books can achieve. I'm merely pointing out that there are people who spend a lifetime, 50 years or more, making peace, studying the Bible, preaching, discipling and shining for Christ in the mission field. We are not to copy them blindly but we can learn from them. So I am thankful to God for the church, a people from whom I can draw counsel and joy and also contribute to, via this podcast and other means. EventsThe second aspect of history as defined by Poythress is Events. "What events made Reading and Readers possible?" We have the Covid-19 event. Because of Covid, I bought a good microphone because I can justify the cost. I can use it for work, church and also for this podcast. Because of Covid, others picked up cooking or gardening, I picked up podcasting. Because of Covid, people who would previously do something else, listened to this podcast. One listener even kindly said that Reading and Readers was one of the best things that came out of this Covid. While Covid-19 triggered Reading and Readers, what really made Reading and Readers possible is the technology behind podcasting. This is where Tony Reinke's book, "God, Technology and the Christian life" comes in. To you and I, listening to a podcast is a simple case of downloading one app from the many apps in the store into a smartphone which holds many other apps. You press play and you hear the podcaster's voice. It's as simple as that. We don't think about the technology or events that makes everything I said possible.I can spend an entire podcast episode just exhaustively detailing every technological advancement, but let's just do a quick sample. Mics used to be crazy expensive. You could not plug a mic into a computer. Then you have the Internet which connects you and I together. I watched many hours of online tutorials, many many how to podcast videos, because this is all new to me. I used social media: Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to reach listeners from 33 countries. Big, big names like Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, carry my tiny little podcast. And they carry them for free! And I haven't mentioned the smartphone from which most of you are listening podcasts with. And I've only just mentioned the individual components of the system. I have not mentioned the systems of systems that make innovation and mass distribution possible. Let me quote from Tony Reinke's book, "God, Technology and the Christian Life":Exploring all the implications of the Christ-centered basis of technology would require another book. Here I can simply state the glorious fact. Apart from Christ there is no art, no science, no technology, no agriculture, no microprocessor, and no medical innovation. Apart from Christ, we would have no iPhones. Nothing that now exists, visible or invisible, can exist if it first didn’t exist in the mind of the Creator. So for this episode, as I think about all the events that make Reading and Readers possible, I can only sing, "O Lord My God, How Great Thou Art". MeaningNow we come to the last aspect in Poythress' three point list. After People, Events, it is Meaning. Can we determine God's purpose in history? Go read Poythress' book for a full answer on that question. With this podcast only being one year old, a baby among podcasts, I am going to attempt the question, "What is God's purpose for Reading and Readers?" Let us consider this. Can we say that, humanly speaking, divine purpose can only be derived from what we see and experience. When I accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I testify that everything that happened to bring me to that point was for God's purpose. I confidently say this because it is only God who saves! When God heals a person from cancer, we say it is God's purpose to heal. When God does not heal, we say we don't yet know his purpose. His purpose is hidden. But if we find out some years later that the doctors and nurses who tended to him became Christians because of his life and testimony, we say that maybe he had cancer in order to bring about the salvation of many. So two points to explore here. One, humanly speaking, outside of the Holy Scripture, divine purpose is teased out from what we observe. Two, human speaking, outside of the holy scripture, God's purpose is hidden and will only be revealed in His time.Thus to ponder God's purpose for this podcast seems foolish, arrogant, presumptous, hubris to do so. But to not make the attempt seems to ignore that God is at work in history. God did not finish the Bible, went for a holiday and will come back to work on the Last Days. God is ever present. His hand moves history. So though we not yet know the whys of history, we are told to constantly be mindful of God who is behind history.This is no easy thing. Consider the story of Mars Hill. If you have not listened to the podcast, "The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill", you should. It is like a murder mystery but instead of a dead man, you have a dead church. How did the church die? What killed it? Great question, listen til the end. Now, what if a one year old Mars Hill ventured to divine God's purpose for itself, based on where it was, its direction and early fruits then? It would be way off target. Even now, after the fall of Mars Hill, it's still too early to know what was or is God's purpose for Mars Hill. And it will always be too early. Do we know God's purpose for the British monarchy or American Independence or ancient Chinese civilisation? It's still too early to say. We can only truly know after the curtain closes, when this age ends and even then, with all of history before us, our minds will not be able to grasp God's purposes for every strand of people and events. Only God can reveal His purposes. So until then, this life is like a mystery novel, with us reading it and in it.In reading a mystery novel, the point of the genre is to try to figure out who is the murderer. We have suspects with their motives. We have clues. Some of us may even be so diligent as to sketch out a timeline of where everybody was at what time just so that we can pinpoint who the murderer is. I never figured out who the murderer was but that doesn't stop me from reading mystery novels and trying to because that's where the fun is. And the mystery novelist welcomes us in this. The novelist is not saying, "Drat! Isn't it obvious who the murderer was? What a damn fool the reader is." So, as I venture to the next part, I want you to know that when I speak of God's divine purpose, I speak in human terms, I speak, not the Lord. What you hear next is my bumbling guess, one year into Reading and Readers on what is the divine purpose of this podcast. For listeners, perhaps, there are books that God wanted you to read. And this podcast gave you that extra push to read them, to delight in them, benefit and share these capsules of another person's mind. You must tell me if this happened. I'll print and stick your email on my wall.Or Maybe you agree with me on what I think of the book and you needed to hear some affirmation. Or it could be the other way around, you disagree with me and God wanted you to consider alternate views.Maybe you see what I'm doing here and feel emboldened to launch your own project, a podcast, maybe your own Christian Book Review podcast. If yes, please let me know. Those are some guesses I have for God's purposes for you, the listener. For myself, I know that if not for this podcast, there are books that I wouldn't have chosen to read. If not for this podcast, having opened them I wouldn't have finished; And having finished them, I would have kept silent. Maybe God's purpose is not in the reading but in the skills? Maybe I'm developing skills here for a future purpose that I do not know yet. Maybe there is a book in the horizon that will just transform my life and launch me to a place I never knew I would go but having reached there, I could trace my unexpected journey to this humble podcast. Maybe through this podcast, I'll get to know people that I otherwise wouldn't know: fellow readers, podcasters or authors. Unlikely friendships are a blessing from God. So which one is God's purpose? Maybe all of them. OmnirationalityThis next bit is fun. I'm sure you know of God's attributes. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent. Have you heard this one: God is omnirational. I got this from an article written by Daniel M. Johnson. The title of the article is "Omnirationality and Divine Providence". I quote:God doesn’t just act for some of the good reasons there are to do what he does. He acts for all of them. Baylor University philosophy professor Alexander R. Pruss calls this divine attribute omnirationality. Since rationality is the property of acting for reasons, omnirationality is a good name for the fact that God always acts for all the reasons there are to do what he does. This means all the possible reasons for this Reading and Readers podcast, for you the listener and for me the reviewer, all those reasons or purposes could be all true. Imagine a snooker game where a single shot causes all 21 balls to be pocketed. That would be the greatest game of all time. It would stop the mouths of everybody who watches the video of that game. When the curtain closes for this age, we will see God's omnirationality displayed. And in that God will have all the glory. As I end, let me quote the conclusion to Johnson's article on God's omnirationality. Since I’ve begun making a practice of looking relentlessly for the silver linings of everything that happens, I have found myself regularly rejoicing in the goodness and wisdom of God which I can now more easily perceive in the course of the world. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the fact that I am discerning his mind, and that what I can see of his mind is beautiful, its goodness demonstrated by everything good that occurs. Such a practice is bound to move us to spontaneous praise and thanksgiving; it enables us to obey the command to “be thankful in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).Similarly, we should always be aware of the fact that God has always more reasons than we can see for what he has ordained. We should live in anticipation of new reasons being revealed to us in the course of events, reasons we couldn’t have imagined while we were in the midst of the difficult circumstances that puzzle us. God’s mind is inexhaustible, so that its depths remain always unplumbed.Or in short, Proverbs 25:2, "It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings to search things out."This is a Reading and Reader's ... reflection on its first year. 40 episodes and counting. If you like Christian books, subscribe to the Reading and Readers podcast and tell a friend. For who knows, maybe you have been placed in this position for this purpose. Have a great day, thank you for listening.Reference"The Peacemaking Pastor: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict" by Alfred Poirier. Amazon."God, Technology and the Christian Life" by Tony Reinke. Review."Redeeming Our Thinking About History" by Vern. S. Poythress. Review."Omnirationality and Divine Providence" by Daniel M. Johnson. Article.

I'm recording this 2 hours before I am supposed to publish. It's been a busy week. Lots of deadlines, lots of work. My to-do list looks more like a wish list. Is it possible for busy busy Christians to have a vibrant prayer life? Or is that only for monks in monasteries of the past? Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review Faithlife's Free Book for the month of April, "The Possibility of Prayer: Finding Stillness with God in a Restless World" by John Starke. 188 pages, published by Inter-Varsity Press in February 2020. The List Price is USD15.99, it's offered for USD2.99 in Amazon Kindle at the time of this recording (USD2.99 is a great deal!) and it is free for this month in Faithlife. Finding John StarkeAccording to Ligonier Ministries, Starke is the lead pastor of All Souls Church New York City and an editor for The Gospel Coalition. But according to The Gospel Coalition, he is the pastor of preaching at Apostles Church in New York City. Is All Souls Church the same as Apostles Church? Is he the pastor of two separate churches? I didn't know so I decided to fly over to New York City to visit the two churches for myself and investigate this matter for myself. Then I remembered the Internet, the indispensable tool for online detectives investigating anything from airline crashes to war crimes. So I fired up dear old Google and searched for "All Souls Church New York City". And I got, "As a community, we work to create an anti-racist & LGBTQIA+ affirming congregation, taking action on issues like immigration, climate change, voting rights and poverty & hunger." There is also a link in this church's website to Buddhism and Mindfulness. Obviously, I got the wrong place. I soon discovered that New York City has an All Souls Church, it also has All Souls Christian Church. I found John Starke's Facebook page. He is currently the Lead Pastor at Apostles Church Uptown (which I also verified in the church's website). He was the former lead pastor at All Souls Church (I presume it's the Christian one, because if not, he has a great story to tell) and he is the former editor at The Gospel Coalition. And all this serves as a lesson to us all, "always check what you read online" and "Ligonier Ministries is not always right." I'm sure you are getting a bit restless for me to get to today's book review. You want me to quickly get to the point. But what if the point of the book is to slow down, take a deep breathe, and wait? Realities and RhythmsThe point of the book? Let's hear from John Starke on what this book is about and how it's arranged. I quote:A vibrant prayer life is possible for you. I know it may not seem this way, but the whole thing is rigged for triumph. That doesn’t mean that prayer will be easy or comfortable. It won’t. In fact, we should prepare for the long, slow haul of discomfort, confusion, and frustration, laced with joy, love, stability, and wholeness. There aren’t a few techniques merely to pick up so that next week the struggle for prayer will be over. Instead, there are realities that we need to grasp that lead to pathways (rather than techniques) toward intimacy with God. These realities—like the incarnation of Christ, our participation in Christ’s exalted status, and his participation in our troubled and lowly place—rearrange how we think about ourselves, God, and the world around us.The realities we need to grasp are covered in Part One of the book, titled the Possibility of Prayer. It consists of six chapters and they are:The Impossibility of PrayerThe Places of PrayerThe Invitation of PrayerOutgrowing the Reactionary HeartPain and PrayerWaiting and PrayingAfter understanding these realities, Starke introduces us to the pathways toward intimacy with God. He titles this second half, "The Practice of Prayer" which consists of another six chapters and they are: 7. Communion 8. Meditation 9. Solitude 10. Fasting and Feasting 11. Sabbath Resting 12. Corporate WorshipNormally, I pick a chapter to share with you so that you know what to expect from the book. Sometimes I pick the first chapter. Other times I pick a favourite. I had a hard time choosing.I read one chapter and think, "This is good. I'll pick this one." Then I read the next one, and think, "What a great chapter. This is better." And on it goes. This is a good sign of a good book. Reality of PrayerListen to how Starke describes prayer in the first chapter:Prayer is calling on God for his attention. We ask him to turn away from the exploding stars and supernovas and give attention to our trouble. We ask him to show us mercy. Why would we think this is a good idea?That last question made me stop. Why would we think it is a good idea to call God's attention on ourselves? We are sinners. He is holy. We don't go walk into the savannah calling the lion. The lion is the predator. We are dinner. In prayer, we call God's attention to us. Did you ever stop to think about a universe where a great God listens to man? Cause there are many possible universes out there, you have the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Star Trek Universe, the Atheist Universe and many other man-made, fictional universes, with their own set of rules. What makes it possible in this world, our reality, what makes it possible for us to even pray? If we don't see the reality behind prayer, we understand and do prayer wrongly. Starke gives this example:Our modern world often sees our neighbors, relationships, marriages, religion, family, and civic engagements as enhancements, like a gym membership to enhance bodily health. Things that previous societies might have seen as obligations, we see as enhancements. They are meant to add and benefit, but the minute they begin to require sacrifice, become difficult, or challenge our assumptions, we move on. They aren’t enhancing anymore. Many of us see God like that. And so we think of prayer, too, as an enhancement. But if we take the posture characteristic of what the New Testament calls us toward—poor and needy for him—then our prayers will begin to take a deeper turn.I hope you can see there is much to unpack here, which Starke does in various parts of the book. Do you see prayer as an enhancement, something that helps you to be more spiritual. You tried it, it doesn't work, so you conclude that prayer is not for you. Or you pray but you shouldn't expect a deeply satisfying prayer life. Can you see how that posture is different from what Starke describes? Starke argues convincingly that prayer comes from a posture of spiritual poverty. I need thee every hour, every hour I need thee. Starke said, I quote: "Things that previous societies might have seen as obligations, we see as enhancements." Is it right to see prayer as an obligation? Do you want to read a book that increases your guilt and burden? Let me read an endorsement from Chuck DeGroat, professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary: The Possibility of Prayer is beautiful and deeply countercultural. John isn’t asking us to layer another obligation on top of our lives but inviting us to a fundamental reorientation rooted in God’s presence. Because John pastors a busy people in a busy city, he knows the cultural obstacles and the existential hurdles. But this is a profoundly hopeful and eminently practical book. What a gift this is to all of us!Plot TwistsI get a feeling that Starke is a guy who likes plot twists. In some chapters, he brings me down the path, and I think I know where he is going, when he suddenly goes off to show me something I know but in a new light. When you see a chapter titled, "The Places of Prayer", what do you think? After explaining what Jesus meant by a prayer closet, Starke writes:Maybe early mornings feel impossible. You work late or you’re a morning monster, and for the sake of neighborly welfare you wonder if evening prayers are better. But let me give witness to what I have seen: many a friend has sought to pray later in the day because mornings seemed so hard, but they never sustained any regular habit of it. I’m sure there are any number of reasons why they didn’t keep up with a regular afternoon prayer life, but I imagine one of the most common was that once the day began, it was hard to pause the momentum of efficiency and productivity for stillness. To this I say (I, not the Lord), it may be wise to make your time of prayer in the mornings after all.Reading this, I expected the rest of the chapter to be about prayer closets, how to block out time to pray, how to tell the children to shush while mummy flips an apron over her head to pray. The chapter is titled "The Places of Prayer". How else would you understand "The Places of Prayer"? Places of Prayer, I thought it would be my bedroom, my office, my church, my floor, but Starke tells me the Places of Prayer are:The Burning Bush where God meets Moses. The Throne Room of God where God meets Isaiah. The Eternal Communion of the Trinity. The Place of Prayer is where Christ is at my right hand. (Psalm 16:8). The Place of Prayer is where I am at Christ's right hand. (Psalm 16:11).I thought I was going to one place but I ended up in another. It doesn't happen all the time in the book but enough to make it a fun read. I give you another example of a surprise, this time marked by it's absence. If you had to write a book on prayer, what Bible passage would you include? Let me give you a hint... Our Father in Heaven... Lord's Prayer! Matthew 6:9-15. What does it say for this Christian book on prayer that it doesn't expound the Lord's Prayer? Daring or Foolish? My take is if you are going to expound the Lord's Prayer, you should make sure it fits in the overall thesis and not just make a flitting mention for the sake of it. If it doesn't fit then leave it, and rest your case on the passages that do. This is what Starke did. He doesn't build his book on the Lord's Prayer but that's okay, you can read J.I. Packer's book. Instead Starke builds much of his book on the Psalms, so much so, that I think he should one day write a devotion or commentary on the Psalms. How much does John Starke love the Psalms? Near the end of the book, he writes:I pray the Psalms at the end of the day because I want to go to bed with God’s perspective on my day that’s ending and with the hope that God has for tomorrow. There is more that I want to share but time is running out. Before I go into Part 2 of the book let me quickly quote some portions from the chapter titled "Overcoming the Reactionary Heart". I quote:A reactionary life acts in response to what happens rather than out of our inner lives. We often do not know how to handle what the world throws at us. We simply react. When others hurt us, we react with anger, bitterness, and resentment, moving us to hurt back or pass the pain down the line to someone else.He later writes:A Christian who wants to grow out of a reactionary life and into an enriched soul and spirit must learn to pray the psalms.See the Psalms again! But the point in the chapter is we should look at prayer life as, Starke says, "God's slow, quiet work". When life happens our response is like that of a Zen Master, wait scratch that... why Zen Master? Our response to life should be like that of a Christian Saint, more powerful than a Zen Master because the Christian Saint lives in the knowledge of divine reality. Practice of PrayerAlright, I need to at least say something about the second part of the book: The Practice of Prayer. As he said earlier, we need to grasp the realities, which is in Part One, so that we can know the pathways toward intimacy with God, which is in Part Two. Starke distances himself from the idea of techniques. He prefers to talk about them as rhythms: The practice of prayer consists of primary rhythms (communion, meditation, and solitude), and secondary rhythms (Sabbath resting, fasting and feasting, and corporate worship). He later writes:Our personal times of communion, meditation, and solitude are enhanced by the regular rhythms of Sabbath rest, fasting and feasting, and corporate worship. And our rhythms of Sabbath rest, fasting and feasting, and corporate worship are deepened by our personal habits of communion, meditation, and solitude.I thought I read enough books on prayer to not be surprised. I've read J.I. Packer, Tim Keller, E.M. Bounds and a few others so I found it delightful to learn completely new things. Like the connection between fasting and feasting. I haven't made up my mind about this, he gives enough biblical support to almost convince me, but I have a problem because I always saw fasting as some kind of Iron Man Challenge, not as a prelude to a feast. Another eye-opening chapter is The chapter on the Sabbath was also eye-opening to me. I think most Christians have reached a position on the Sabbath. I've even taught it. I thought I knew enough but it seems I did not go far enough.Written by a ReaderLet me give my overall comments on this book. I don't know how to explain it but, you can tell that this book was written by a reader. I don't want to exaggerate this but when he quotes Henri Nouwen, his writing takes on that persona. When he quotes Robert Farrar Capon, his writing is more witty. It could be just my impression because of the proximity of the quote made me associate the two together. And I don't mean it in a bad way. On the contrary, his enthusiasm for these books and writers is fun to read. Listen to this:Some years back my wife and I discovered what is now one of our favorite books, The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. It’s a culinary reflection on joy and life. It’s a cookbook, but it’s also theology. Capon is funny but also aims to rescue us from the dangers of mediocrity in our eating life, where there’s so much pleasure to be found—even in cutting an onion! My wife and I found the book and we both wanted to read it. So over several evenings, we shared a bottle of wine and took turns reading it out loud to one another. We had so much fun. There were moments when we had to put our glasses down because we had to belly laugh or stop to consider and reread what was just said. “Underline that!” we would say. Those moments stirred intimacy and vibrancy in us.Don't tell me that after hearing that you are not the tiniest bit curious to read the Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. A Book Written For MeI have read many books on prayer. Tim Keller. J.I. Packer. E.M. Bounds. With each book, I'm hoping to learn a bit more, get inspired a bit more, maybe even guilt tripped a bit more, to have a more consistent and vibrant prayer life. One feature of this book is he doesn't tell us about the prayer life of Martin Luther, or John Calvin, or Susanna Wesley. Not that I don't like to learn or enjoy learning from the past. But sometimes it takes a bit of effort to see how knights, castles and horses fits into my world. In those books I love reading the past, in Starke I love reading the present.For example, Starke writes:Without that intentional recognition of his [God's] presence, prayer can seem distant and impersonal. Without the conscious welcome of his company (since he has welcomed ours), communion can often feel about as intimate as email.Communion can often feel about as intimate as email. I get that. I get that praying like shooting off an email is a bad thing. I don't want that kind of communion. So in that sense, Starke's book feels like it's written for me. I struggle to have a vibrant prayer life. I love to read and get introduced to new books and authors. I have read enough books on prayer that I don't miss an exposition on the Lord's Prayer or the prayer life of past saints. I am fairly techie and busy. I want to find stillness with God in a restless world. I can't say at the moment that this book has transformed my prayer life to be more consistent. I don't think all the books I read has been a waste, I think they all play an important role in pushing me forward. Progress is slow. But an inch forward is still an inch. I would like to see what happens at the end of the year, when I do a long-term review to see which books made the deepest impact on me over the year. If I could make one criticism, the book doesn't have enough doxology. With the material he is dealing with, like for example the places of prayer, you have the burning bush, the throne room of God, the eternal communion of the Trinity, as he goes through them, he could have just gone into praise. How marvelous are you O Lord. Just bursting with awe at the reality he is describing. For a book on prayers, he doesn't end the chapters with prayer, nor does he pray much. I mean written prayer. I don't know John Starke. I've never heard his sermons, read any of his articles and this book is his very first book. Is he shy to share prayers? Or is it because spot where he could have interjected with doxology, he doesn't put his own words but instead the Psalmist's. This is a Reading and Readers review of "The Possibility of Prayer: Finding Stillness with God in a Restless World" by John Starke. If you enjoy today's episode, you can find more book reviews at www.readingandreaders.com, that's www.readingandreaders.com. Or you can subscribe to the podcast in your favourite podcast player. Thanks for listening. Book ListThe Possibility of Prayer: Finding Stillness with God in a Restless World by John Starke. Amazon. Faithlife.

The Gospel of Luke is a favourite for many Christians, including R.C. Sproul. In today's book he guides the reader through this beloved gospel, the way Luke wrote it, fixing our eyes upon Christ, from start to end. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke's Gospel" by R.C. Sproul. 400 pages, published by Christian Focus in November 2011. It's available in Amazon Kindle for USD9.99. For this month or what remains of this month, it's available in Logos for free. The Sproul FactorMy faith has been blessed by Dr. R.C. Sproul. Not because of Ligonier Ministries, which he founded. I have watched a few of their videos and teaching series but that's not the big reason. Nor is it Sproul's books. I haven't read his most famous book, the Holiness of God. I'm a bit embarassed to say that the only Sproul books that I have read are his children's books, which I got for my children. We love them. I don't watch or read Sproul. I mostly listen to him on the podcast, "Renewing Your Mind". Although Sproul passed away in 2017, listening to the podcast makes it feel like he is still alive somewhere scribbling with a chalk on blackboard, growling, grinning and chuckling. In Sproul's case, his biggest impact on me was not the teaching, it was the teacher. He was larger than life: the humour, passion, precision in doctrine, the love of life, he loved kidding around. I've read Stephen Nichols' biography on R.C. Sproul but as much as Nichols tries, and it is a valiant effort, you can't capture the essence of Sproul in a bottle. And I think this is the problem with biographies of Martyn Lloyd Jones, or Spurgeon, or Amy Carmichael, or any other saint. If you are a Sproul fan, you might come to this book looking forward to more Sproul. If yes, you might want to stick around for a few more minutes, before you rush off to buy the book.I bought this book. I didn't get this book for free from Logos' Free Book of the Month programme. I got it much earlier. In late 2017, I began a preaching series on the Gospel of Luke. Chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Seeing that I was going to preach through the book over the next few years, I collected what I considered the best commentaries on Luke. After nearly 5 years of studying the Gospel of Luke and using various commentaries, I am confident to review commentaries on Luke.If you are looking for R.C. Sproul's famous wit and deep insights, this is not the book for you.If you are looking for a commentary as a reference, this is not the book for you. I'll give some book recommendations early in this review. If you want to dig deep into the language or the historical, cultural, sociological significance or the different interpretations of the Gospel of Luke then I found the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament on Luke by Darrell Bock to be the best technical commentary. If you want to be moved, to be exhorted, to adore God in His Word then the best devotional commentary to me is the Reformed Expository Commentary on Luke by Philip Graham Ryken. I wanted to lean on Sproul but his book offered so little. Then, Logos gave this book away for free. I have this podcast. So I gave Sproul's commentary a second look. After finishing the book, I understood what Sproul did here. And if you listen to the end, you might be surprised as I was with this book. "A Walk with God" is a no-nonsense commentary. By that I mean he jumps straight into Luke 1:1. There is no background, no outline, not even an introduction to his book because Sproul doesn't want to talk about his book, he wants to talk about Luke's book. The very first words in this book are: I am sure that every Christian has one gospel that stands out as his or her favourite. If I were forced to choose, I would have to select Luke’s. I have studied and taught it in various settings. It seems that the more I read it, the more excited I get about it.At the outset of Luke (1:1–4) there is what is called the ‘prologue’. It is very short, but contains a great deal of important information. In it Luke gives his reason for writing: ‘so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught’ (1:4).Boring TitlesThere are 24 chapters which corresponds to... guess what? Yes, to the 24 chapters in the Gospel of Luke. Each chapter has several devotions. For example, in the first chapter there are five devotions titled:Introduction (I just read some parts of it)Gabriel Sent to ZechariahGabriel Visits MaryMary Visits ElizabethBirth of JohnYou will note that there is no fancy devotion title. The devotion title is essentially the Bible heading. I'm trying to imagine the editor looking at the 104 devotion titles. No alliteration, no provocative line or question to pull the reader in. "R.C. Can't you spice it up a little? Instead of "Mary Visits Elizabeth", why not "The Virgin meets the Old Lady"?"Everyday, somewhere there is a preacher, Bible teacher, thinking of a spiced up sermon title, chapter title. In this book, in this series of devotions, it is straight up, no-nonsense. Mary Visits ElizabethLet's take a deeper look at "Mary Visits Elizabeth". I want to show you want you can expect in this book. This is a commentary on Luke 1:39-56. This is how the devotion begins:After the angel left Mary, she went to the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, Luke records that ‘the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” ’ As the angel greeted Mary, so does Elizabeth. ‘But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ she asks. Young Mary would normally have paid homage to Elizabeth, the older of the two; but Elizabeth recognises that she is in the presence of one whom God had highly favoured.Notice that the way Sproul sets the scene, there is no need for you to reach for the Bible. You have all you need here to picture the setting. He makes a quick comment on the cultural setting: Normally the younger would pay homage to the older but here it is reversed. If he didn't point it out, some readers of Luke's Gospel might have missed it. He then moves towards the emphasis of the devotion, which is Mary's song, also known as the Magnificat. He makes a quick comment on a theological debate: Some say that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was sinless. Sproul cites Thomas Aquinas, who saw in this song, Mary confessing her sins. Sproul restrains himself from saying more. Sproul is an expert on the Reformation. He can write a whole book on Mary's Sin, not that he knew the specifics of her sin, but he knows that Mary like all of us needs a Saviour. He moves on:One of the reasons why Mary sings this song of praise is that she recognised something of great importance: God knew who she was. He noticed her. As a peasant of Nazareth she was not considered to be very important by anybody except her family. Yet God selected Mary to be the mother of Christ. So from the depths of her heart she cries out, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.’ Mary experienced what every human being wants to experience: a sense of her dignity. Sproul quotes Mary's song in full. Luke 4:46-55. You don't have to reach for your Bible to read it. If you are like me, you might not know how to read or appreciate poetry. Sproul is at hand. He writes:Imagine the pomp and circumstance of the emperors in the ancient world. They would march in procession and have slaves bearing their thrones along the way. As they were being carried along, the crowds would bow down to them. They were elevated on thrones in the air for people to admire the self-made gods. Then God would come and, with one tug of his wrist, emperors and kings of the ancient world crashed from their pedestals. This is what Mary says, ‘He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.’After a bit more exposition of the passage, he ends the devotion with the following: Some Christian people seem only as zealous as the strength of the memory of their last religious experience. But there are times when we are called upon to live for Christ when we don’t feel like it, when we don’t have an overwhelming sense of his presence. Every Christian knows what it means to go through the ‘dark night of the soul’. That is when we discover what our faith and memories are made of.Even if you never experienced another blessing from God or sensed his presence again as long as you lived, you would have no justification to do anything but live each day in praise. You could do nothing but live in gratitude to God for what he has already done in your life. We easily forget, but we are fortunate that God does not forget. When he makes a promise, he keeps it. Mary understood that as she sang.What makes a devotion, a devotion, is the way it lands. Somehow the writer must steer the mind and heart from the text, the accompanying explanation or anecdote, and bring the reader towards God. At the end of every devotion, all 104 in this book, Sproul writes with the aim that your eyes gaze up above and beyond the ceiling, to the Holy God enthroned above.As a summary, in each devotion you can expect a quarter of it to be background or setting, a quarter is Bible verses, a quarter is the exposition and finally a quarter is the exhortation. Some devotions are heavier on the background. For example, in Luke 2:1, the Gospel writer Luke name-drops Caesar Augustus. Sproul picks up on that to give us a history lesson on Caesar Augustus. In other history books, even Christian ones, when profiling Caesar Augustus the focus is on how great or how evil he was. Not so for Sproul. He is keenly attentive to the God behind every man. He writes:It was in that small village [Bethlehem] that Christ was born. But notice, the only reason historically why Jesus was born in Bethlehem was because of this powerful imperial decree by Caesar Augustus.It was no coincidence that this imperial decree of Caesar’s happened to take place at this time, forcing them to make the journey to Bethlehem. Here is the most powerful emperor in the world acting out the decree of God himself. Caesar Augustus, in the final analysis, was but a pawn in the hands of the Lord God omnipotent. DevotionsDevotions should be read one at a time with some space in between. Give the reader time to meditate on what was just read. Spurgeon's famous devotion was titled Morning and Evening. You read one in the morning and another in the evening. If I wasn't reading this book, "A Walk with God", to review it, I would do the same. One in the morning, one in the evening. You should give yourself time to meditate between devotions. In the entire Gospels, whether it's Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, what would be the most poignant moment to meditate on? Which part of the story of Jesus, should we pause and ask God to search our hearts? The Crucifixion and Resurrection. I thought he could have written more; an extra devotion or two? I am not asking for emotional manipulation here. You could say that Sproul was being consistent with how he handled Luke's writings. Luke wrote this much, and so Sproul commented that much. But if we take Luke's Gospel as a travelogue, then the Crucifixion and Resurrection is the destination. Because of what these events mean for the whole book of Luke, I think Sproul could have helped the reader see this and show it by slowing, pausing and forcing the reader to meditate on the events of the Cross. Especially, when we consider who this book is for.Who Is This Book For?As I said earlier, I barely touched it when I was preparing sermons. That's because every insight he shares, whether it's on the language, or the historical, cultural, theological, every insight he shares I can find it in a technical commentary. And over there it would be described at length: the historical development and the multiplicity of views or interpretation. Whatever Sproul offers here is light in comparison. In my studies, I didn't just want to know the facts, I also wanted to see and savour God. Here, the pastoral or devotional commentaries are helpful. Forgive me but every time I talk about sermon preparation and commentaries, I have to issue a disclaimer. I don't read commentaries to find the best bits to share on the pulpit. I don't follow them blindly. I don't see them as authoritative. I approach the commentaries the same way I would approach friends. Knowledgeable, yes but not authoritative. My problem with Sproul's commentary is if I was approaching Sproul here, with my sermon in mind, I wouldn't gain much from the conversation. Everything he says, I already know. Mary visits Elizabeth. The younger pays homage to the older. I already know that. Caesar Augustus, the history of the man. I already know that. I know, not because I am knowledgeable or read a lot, but sometimes it's because I've been a Christian long enough to pick up on these things. I've heard it, I've read it, so when I read an insight in Sproul's book, it is rarely new. For this reason, I never took it out of the shelf for the many years I had it, until this month. Now, as I read "A Walk with God" by R.C. Sproul, not for a sermon in mind, but for itself, I can give you a profile of the ideal reader of this book. Imagine a young man wakes up in the morning. He has to go to school. He needs to wash up, eat breakfast, many things to prepare. His mind is racing for the new day. But he doesn't do any of that. This young man has decided to wake 10 minutes earlier every morning so that he would have time to do a devotion. His daily devotion. For material, he doesn't want to do "Our Daily Bread". He has already done that. He found the bite-sized devotion useful but now what he really wants is to go through the Bible. He wants to read the Bible but it's so hard. And he is so busy. He doesn't have the time to do an in depth study and if we are being honest, even if he had the time, he wouldn't know how. So this young man wakes up, opens "A Walk with God" by R.C. Sproul and reads. There are no knots to untangle. He doesn't even need to have two books in front of him. A Bible and the devotion. He finishes the devotion. Gives thanks to God. And the day kicks off. The young man does this every day and after 104 days, he finishes the book. He says to himself, "I understand Luke! I know why he wrote what he wrote and I see God more clearly now than before." With this confidence, he reads other books of the Bible, maybe with help or without. And he has achieved this level of confidence because a teacher once showed him chapter by chapter, what Luke wrote in his Gospel. A teacher showed him that there is nothing scary about exposition. And that teacher, R.C. Sproul wrote this book for that purpose.Sproul's Favourite GospelYou will remember that Sproul said if he was forced to choose his favourite gospel, he would pick Luke's. Well, he loved it so much that he has another commentary on it. The St. Andrews Expositional Commentary on Luke by R.C. Sproul weighs in at 553 pages which is 50% more pages than the book I just reviewed. It's based on a series of sermons Sproul preached as the pastor at St. Andrews. This commentary was published in 2020 which explains why I didn't see it when I was looking for commentaries many years ago. I haven't read the St. Andrews one, but I just make a note here, so that if you are looking for a commentary on Luke by R.C. Sproul, you might want to compare the two and see which suits you better.To conclude this review, "A Walk with God" is written for the Christian beginning his journey. If you can see the purpose, then even the mature Christian can gain from the simple re-telling of the Gospel of Luke as shared by one of the greatest Bible teachers of our time. This is a Reading and Readers review of "A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke's Gospel" by R.C. Sproul. It's available for free. At least for the next few days. Free from Logos. If you missed the free offer, then it's available in Amazon Kindle for USD9.99.Let's end in a no-nonsense, unembellished note. If you like books, if you like Christian books, if you like Christian book reviews, then subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Thank you for listening.Book ListA Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke's Gospel by R.C. Sproul. Amazon. Logos.Luke (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (BECNT) by Darrell L. Bock. Note that it's in two volumes. Amazon. Logos.Luke (Reformed Expository Commentary) (REC) by Philip Graham Ryken. Note that it's in two volumes. Amazon. Logos.Luke: An Expositional Commentary by R.C. Sproul. Amazon.Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon. Website.

Prayers don't have to be long. We can learn and grow from the short prayers of the saints. Hymns don't have to be boring. Hymns can be timeless and enriching moments even for the youngest of Christians, dare I say, especially for the youngest of Christians. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today is a double feature. I review two books for you. The first is the Faithlife free book of the month for March, "Short Prayers to Change Your Life" at 176 pages, published by Harvest House Publishers in 2020 and the second is "Timeless Hymns for Family Worship" by Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth. 80 pages, published in 2021, also by Harvest House Publishers. Short Review for Short Prayers BookWhy did I feel the need to review two books in one podcast? It's because the first book, the free book, the short prayers book is really, really short. It's 176 pages but one page may have one or two sentences. The very first prayer is from Mother Teresa:Everything starts from prayer. Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others. And that prayer is the whole page. The next page is a prayer from Martin Luther: Pray, and let God worry. The entire page consists of those five words. Pray, and let God worry. In this book, all the text is stylised: big fonts and coloured. The short prayers are catchy, in social media terms, they are Instagram worthy. I don't mean that in a dismissive way. I think quotations, and so short prayers, can be formative. When I was growing up, my father would share with me - this was a time when sharing was not a button you clicked in Facebook or Instagram - my father would get little motivation posters in the mail and give them to me. I taped one on my wall, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I remember a young me thinking it was a profound statement. That little quote gave me a big picture view of the little steps I was taking. It was through quotations like these that I gained an appreciation for wordcraft, the punchy, often profound phrasing that tickles the mind.So, as a reader, I don't dismiss this book, "Short Prayers to Change Your Life". Young readers might grow to appreciate a good turn of a phrase. They may even read up on the life of Mother Teresa, Martin Luther and others who are quoted here. For older readers, this book can be a welcome respite from heavier reading. Most importantly, the purpose of a book on short prayers is to encourage people to pray. Sometimes what we need is not E. M. Bound's "Power Through Prayer", which is the best book on prayer I know, sometimes we just need a small nudge. Sometimes all we really need to hear is: Pray, and let God worry. An Instagram-worthy nudge. And this book, "Short Prayers to Change Your Life", is a book of nudges in the right direction. I could prolong this review but it would be me just trying to fill up the time. I'd rather end the episode. But if I end the episode, I feel like I'm short changing you. So that's why I've decided to make this episode a double feature. Free Book + 5 Discounted BooksEvery month Faithlife gives away a free book but you may not know that along with that free book, Faithlife offers five other books at a discount.This month the discounted books they offer are: Love to Eat, Hate to Eat: Breaking the Bondage of Destructive Eating Habits by Elyse Fitzpatrick,Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality by Hillary Morgan Ferrer and Amy Davison,Sweet Like Jasmine: Finding Identity in a Culture of Loneliness by Bonnie Gray,Timeless Hymns for Family Worship by Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie WolgemuthDare to Be: God is Able, Are You Willing by Charlotte Gambill and Natalie Grant.I bought Timeless Hymns for Family Worship. The list price is USD22.99 but for February it's available from Faithlife for USD5.99. All other books I listed are at a similar discount. Timeless Hymns for Family Worship: Bringing Gospel-Centered Moments into Your Home is written by two best friends. Tada and Wolgemuth had also written the four-book Gold Medallion bestselling series Hymns for a Kid's Heart. Timeless HymnsTimeless Hymns has 18 hymns, each with its own chapter. We have obvious favourites; Amazing Grace will make any list of timeless hymns. The list starts with "Holy, Holy, Holy" and ends with "Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow". The hymns are not structured in any particular order, whether alphabetical, chronological or thematic. And that's fine because each chapter is a stand alone, just flip to the hymn you like and enjoy the reflection, story, painting and song. I was expecting the reflections to be more focused on Joni Tada's life or personal thoughts. For those who don't know who Joni Tada is, she is an artist and writer. She has 1000MW smile and is a great encourager in the Christian faith. She is God's blessing to many who suffer. Suffer? You see, when Joni Tada was 17 years old, she had a diving accident and became a quadriplegic. She is paralysed in four limbs.I would like to read the entire foreword to this book. You will see how she writes and why this book was written. I quote:When I was your age, my parents taught me the old hymns of the Christian faith. We sang these hymns around the campfire or while hiking or even at the dinner table after we finished our meal. We sang them so often that I easily memorized all the words.It was a good thing. When I was a teenager, I dove into shallow water, broke my neck, and became paralyzed. When I learned I’d be in a wheelchair all my life, I felt sad and anxious. But when my family visited me in the hospital, they always cheered me up by singing our favorite hymns!These hymns comforted me because they reminded me of God’s greatness. And they also shared great truths about God and His love for me. After hospital visits were over for the day, I sang these hymns at nighttime when I couldn’t sleep. While I sang, I focused on the wonderful themes of trusting God’s Word, holding on to His promises, and looking toward heaven. Soon my sadness and anxiety disappeared.That all happened a long time ago, but I’m still singing all my favorite hymns, and now I’m sharing them with you in this book. You can imagine how happy I am that you now have a chance to sing hymns with your family. I’m hoping you’ll sing them so often that you too will learn all the words by heart. And I pray that each word of every hymn will comfort you as it has me!Reading the foreword, I was expecting a memoir type of book: "Amazing Grace has helped me", "Holy, Holy, Holy is special to me", "Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow is my favourite because..." but it's not. In one chapter, she speaks of Jehoshaphat, his big choir of singers, leading the army into battle. In another chapter, it's the story of Corrie ten Boom who was tired of the praises she was getting. Corrie found a solution. Every compliment and praise she received, she gathered them like a rosebud and in the evening, she would present this beautiful bouquet of flowers and offered them to the Lord. To God be the Glory. For Your FamilyIt's not that Tada or Wolgemuth don't talk about themselves, they do. But the way they set it in this book, is they are just part of a bigger family of Christians: it's not about me, it's about us. They have all these stories to tell, and they tell them to help your family come in to the hymns. Some say that hymns are so old, the lyrics are so difficult to understand, the music is so alien to us today, maybe we should move on from them. This is a complicated topic. There are two extremes to be avoided, hymns-only and never-hymns. Remember Joni Tada's foreword. How the hymns help her. Instead of arguing against the idea that hymns are difficult and alien, making a court case argument, she writes to the family. On the Amazing Grace chapter, she explains grace. Wonderful grace. She explains what grace is as if to a child. To your child. The hymns are a blessing to the church, to the family, she believes it and in this book, she makes them beautiful.In addition to the reflection or devotion, there is a small box that tells the origin story of the hymn or an anecdote of the composer. I have found knowing the origin of the songs to help me better appreciate the lyrics and music. In addition to these writings, every hymn is adorned with a painting. I can imagine children, even adults, brushing aside the paintings because every day, every app and social media is trying to hook you in with an image or a video. And I think we have lost the ability to just look and ponder. Here, it's good to remind the family that Joni Tada is quadriplegic. Show the children a video of her painting. She can't use her hands. She uses her mouth. Your children may do a double take on the paintings in this book. Wow. She did this. This is beautiful. The paintings are beautiful without Joni Tada's story but Joni Tada's story will help people stop and ponder.We have beautiful words, beautiful stories and beautiful paintings for the purpose of bringing out the real stars of the book which are the beautiful hymns. Every chapter includes the song sheet and lyrics. You have a pianist in the home. She can play the hymn. Let everyone sing and praise the Lord, for he is good, so very, very good. The Meaning of Songs and the ChurchAfter I finished the book, I reflected that all of us have a story to tell of our favourite songs. When I say songs, I include hymns and contemporary Christian music. So we all have meaningful songs but sometimes, in contrast to Joni Tada and Bonnie Wolgemuth, we are not able to convey the meaning of our beautiful songs well.Churches used to and I believe still have worship wars. People wanting very much to have their songs sang because it is more meaningful to them than other songs. I suggest that if people could convey why the songs are meaningful, something like how this book has done, I think the temperature in these worship wars can go down. We don't say, be considerate to one another, as a way to manipulate others to give us what we want. One way to help us be more considerate is to hear how songs have ministered to people's lives, people that God has commanded us to love. Then there must be a way forward, that conveys the beauty of God's love and our love for one another. Consider Joni Tada's story. Right now, if you are 17 years old and had an accident, you can't walk, you can't use your hands, all your hopes and dreams just vanished and you don't know how the future will be, can you sing? Do you have a reservoir of songs to sing? The hymns are powerful, not just because of the lyrics or the hundreds of years of consecration but because the old grandfather, the old grandmother in your church, in your family can sing with you. A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Can that old grandfather, grandmother sing a contemporary song? Yes, it's not wrong to sing a contemporary song and I think it is good but we can only give what we have. And what we offer are the songs that comforted us before. If we can see God's purpose for music in the church, I truly think worship wars will be worship pillow fights. The Meaning of Songs and the WorshipperMy second reflection after reading this book is I want worship leaders to read it. I'm also talking to the pimple-faced teenager who leads youth group worship. I would like the people who are choosing songs to think about the songs they sing. Worship leaders know the songs have to glorify God, that the theology is correct, but I suspect that exercise becomes checking the theological boxes. "If all the boxes are ticked, then I can sing it. I really want to sing this song because it sounds so good." Is there another way of choosing songs? People say you should think about the songs you sing but what does thinking about songs mean? This book can help produce a meditative, reflective, deepening worshipful life. The examples are classical hymns but you can learn and meditate on modern hymns and also, contemporary Christian music. Instead of being labeled as the stubborn traditionalist or the shallow trend-follower, we produce worshippers who reflect on the songs we sing not just to tick the right theological or confessional boxes but also in the context of Jehoshaphat, Corrie ten Boom, introducing or explaining Amazing Grace and so much more. Worship leaders, song leaders, if you are not a reader, "Timeless Hymns for Family Worship" is an easy book to begin a reflective approach to music.Don't Get the E-BookAfter hearing my recommendations for this book, if you are thinking of buying this book through Faithlife, don't. I kind of regret getting it, even though it's a great deal. Through Faithlife it's USD5.99, in Amazon Kindle it's USD17.49. I'm going to suggest, if you can afford it, to get the hardcover which is currently sold at USD20.49 in Amazon, especially if you are buying this book for your family. Imagine this picture. The father, mother and little children all squeezed together to read the words and look at the paintings. After reading the chapter on Amazing Grace, the father asks, "Do you now know what God's grace means?" The children hesitantly re-read the text and put together an answer, waiting for the father's approval. The family turns to the last page in the chapter, and together sing Amazing Grace. The mother closes in prayer. The family may finish reading the book together or it may not because you know, life interrupts. But one day, many years later, in God's wonderful providence, a young lady tidies up the shelves and she spies this book, takes it out and looking at the paintings, she recalls the story of the painter. She remembers her family squeezing together, to read, sing and pray. And she takes that book, sets it on the piano, turns to the song sheet and plays Amazing Grace, for her little baby by her side. As much as I love digital books (the premise of this entire podcast Reading and Readers is I review free ebooks every month), there are some aspects to physical books that are irreplaceable. A book anchors a reader or a family's memory in the feel, sound, smell of flipping pages. If you are going to read this book as a family, I strongly suggest you get the physical copy. If you are going to read it by yourself, then Faithlife's deeply discounted ebook is good enough. This is a Reader and Reader's Review of "Timeless Hymns for Family Worship" by Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth. Earlier in this episode I also reviewed "Short Prayers to Change Your Life". Both books are published by Harvest House Publishers. Let me make a short and timeless appeal: Encourage someone to read. The two books reviewed today are breezy, no commitment books. Children and adults can enjoy them. One of the reasons I do this Reading and Readers podcast is I want to see more people read good books. For I believe a good book can nourish the soul. Until next time, keep reading. Book ListShort Prayers to Change Your Life. Amazon. Faithlife.Timeless Hymns for Family Worship by Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth. Amazon. Faithlife .Power Through Prayer by E.M. Bounds. Amazon. Logos.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine echoes the German invasion of Europe 80 years ago. Both Putin and Hitler recite history to justify the war. When a holocaust memorial was damaged in an airstrike, President Zelensky tweeted: "What is the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar? At least 5 killed. History repeating..." The question we pose today is "How should we think of history?" Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Redeeming Our Thinking About History: A God-Centered Approach" by Vern S. Poythress. 256 pages, published by Crossway in 2022. Available for USD18.99 in Amazon Kindle and, as of this recording, it's available for pre-order in Logos for USD11.99. I am reviewing a review copy courtesy of Crossway. Crossway had no input on this review. Vern S. Poythress is a distinguished professor of New Testament, biblical interpretation, and systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary where he has taught for 44 years. He has six academic qualifications, thereby establishing that he is a smart man.His best friend is John Frame. Or at least I think he is because they both share a blog, frame-poythress.org and you only share a blog with your bestie right? I mention John Frame because if you are a fan of John Frame, then you might like this book which builds on Frame's perspectives.Poythress is a prolific writer. Relevant to today's review is a series that began 16 years ago. In 2006, he wrote Redeeming Science, in 2011 Redeeming Sociology, 2014 Redeeming Philosophy, 2015 Redeeming Mathematics, and in 2022 Redeeming History. Or rather it should be Redeeming History instead it's Redeeming Our Thinking About History. I love history. I love to redeem my thoughts on it. I jumped in to the book with high expectations.StructureThe book is divided into five main parts: What We Need In Order To Think About HistoryHistory in the Bible.Understanding God's Purposes in History. (This is the main thesis of the book.)What Does History Writing Look Like?Alternative Versions of How To Think About HistoryThere are 26 chapters over 256 pages. Some chapters are really short, the shortest chapter is 3 pages. Now, I will highlight one or two points from each part. What We Need In Order to Think About HistoryIn Part 1, Poythress argues that history consists of three aspects: Events, People and Meaning. Initially, I pushed back at the idea that people are necessary for history because the first five days of Genesis did not have people and so by his definition the study of the cosmos seems unfairly excluded. But I let it pass. It's early in the book and also because of the way Poythress links people and history: the historian is a person and for history to have meaning you must have people. Fine. Let's move on.All history have these three aspects: Events, People and Meaning. The three aspects depend on each other, so you can't have one without the other two. And all three have God as their source. God controls all events within history. God controls all humans in history. If you have not come to terms that God is in control over everything including people, then Poythress makes a concise case to show you that it's true. As for the third aspect, you know the cliche, "There is a reason for everything"? Well, ultimately it is God who gives a reason or the meaning for history. As images of God, we try to puzzle it out and Poythress' central thesis of this book is historians should articulate God's purpose in history. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Having described the three aspects, the mutual dependencies and the divine foundation, there are useful discussions like the ethical, spiritual, component of history, the need to understand people and historical causes. However I think there is an unnecessary distraction here. Poythress unnecessary links the three aspects: Events, People and Meaning with the Triune God. Three aspects in history, three persons in the Trinity. I won't say that Poythress draws a hard and strong connection but it felt forced and thus distracting. If you are a guy who manages to think of a fourth or fifth aspect to history, you can't propose it because you will break the Trinity relationship. It would be heresy! History in the BibleIn Part 2, after telling us what we need in order to analyse history, he shows us history in the Bible, this wonderful book's unity, diversity and uniqueness. He is saying here, we can learn how to think about history by looking at how God thinks about history. He writes: God is interested in each person. He is interested in history. It is legitimate for us to be interested too. The Bible also indicates that God is concerned about many other subjects. He gives us commands. He tells us about himself. He shows us the way of salvation. So we should not forget that a focus on events and their meanings—the historical aspect—is part of a larger whole in God’s purposes.Understanding God's Purpose in HistoryPart 3, "Understanding God's Purpose in History" is better in posing and framing the question than it is at answering it. Let me ask you, "Is it possible for us to understand God's purpose in history outside of the Bible." For example, "Would you attempt to explain God's purpose for World War 1 and 2?" Please observe that we can explain God's purpose for Assyria to invade Samaria and for Babylon to destroy Jerusalem. As I read Poythress' book and reflect on the news. Can we, dare we, explain God's purpose for Russia to invade Ukraine? The retired evangelist, Pat Robertson, quotes Ezekiel 38 and says, I quote, "Putin is being driven to move against Israel because God says, 'I'm going to put hooks in your jaws.'" Leave aside your response whether you agree or disagree with Robertson's interpretation of Ezekiel here. Put that aside. The question is are we sufficiently informed to know the divine purposes in history, whether it's yesterday's news or events from a thousand years ago? Poythress shows us that we already claim to know the divine purpose. When we give thanks to God for answered prayers, we say it was God's purpose to bless us. When we tell people how we were saved by Jesus, we say it was God's purpose to save us. So in these little bits of church history or personal history, we readily recognise the purposes of God. Therefore how the individual pieces together of his or her life to glorify God is analogous to what the historian pieces together of small and great events to glorify God.In these chapters, even as Poythress asks the historian to be more bold in describing the Divine Purpose, he also sounds caution. His favourite cautionary verse is Job's friends over-reached. They claimed to know more of God's purposes and was proven fools. In the same vein, Poythress warns on seeing God's purpose from our favourite causes, I quote here: We all like to think that God supports our causes, our desires. Too often, sinful and biased desires begin to claim our allegiance. We give allegiance to them instead of subordinating our desires to God’s desires. “My church, my political group, my theology, my family is supported by God,” we reason. So it is easy to deceive ourselves and claim in a proud and self-satisfied way that all events favorable to our cause are expressions of God’s purpose to favor our cause.What Does History Writing Look Like?In Part 4 which consists of three chapters, Poythress shows how the historian can interpret the Hand of God in historical events. The easy chapter is the first one. It's on Rome. Christians against pagans. We have strong confidence to know God's will for Christians and non-Christians. The next chapter is harder, the Reformation. It's Christians against Christians. But it's still doable. When it comes to events within church history it is easier to guess or estimate God's purposes. We do it all the time when we read biographies. God has prepared Corrie ten Boom, Jim Elliot, Martyn Lloyd Jones and R.C. Sproul for a purpose. And we can trace it through the joys and trials, ups and downs of their lives. So it's easier to see God's purpose when writing history about Christians but what about for non-Christians?That's what I was looking forward to in this chapter which is titled, "Histories of Other Civilizations". When I first opened the book, I scanned through the table of contents, and I saw this chapter heading and my mind was just waiting for it. In this chapter, Poythress writes: What about the history of Greece before the coming of Christ? What about the history of the Incan empire before the coming of Europeans? What about the history of the Chinese empire before the time of modern missions? Even after the gospel begins to penetrate a particular culture, there are still many events that do not have a clear, direct relation to the increased spread of the gospel. There are power struggles, wars, famines, and technological advances. How do we understand such events in the light of the gospel and the manifestation of God’s glory in salvation in Christ?If we can answer all these questions he posed we can also answer the earlier questions I posed, how are Christians to think about God's purposes in World War 2 and in Ukraine today. And to my great disappointment, this chapter is only three pages long. His answer is hinted in the sub-heading: The Principle of Limited Knowledge. We could commend him for not over-reaching, for not speculating the mysteries of God but the way the whole book is set up, arguing boldly that we can and should describe God's purpose in history, I expected a stronger example to clinch the case. Alternative Versions of How to Think about HistoryThe final part, Part 5, is subtitled "Competing Ways of Doing History among Christians". In these last five chapters, Poythress is mainly interacting with Jay D. Green's book, "Christian Historiography: Five Rival Versions". It's an obvious change of pace because Poythress doesn't engage so vigorously with anyone in any of the previous chapters. However, it is clear that Poythress is putting forward one particular way of thinking about history, and that is Providentialism. I quote:We know that God controls events because he tells us that he does. But what are his purposes in bringing events to pass? That is a more difficult question. In a narrower sense, a “providential view” of history describes God’s purposes in events. It does not merely say that God did something, but why he did it. Let us call this kind of approach “providentialism.”Throughout this book, it is clear that what Vern Poythress means by redeeming our thinking about history is not just seeing people as sinners and God as judge and maker of the Earth, but redeeming is to see God's purposes in history. When it comes to Christian events, to me, it is a given. It's describing that water is wet. It is easier to see God's divine purposes in the church and individuals. But tell me how to describe God's purposes in non-Christian events. The way he frames the question is tantalising, you want more. The way he answers the question is disappointing. It's like going to a restaurant, the waiter describes this menu item, a mouth-watering taste extravaganza, then tells you, "It's all in the chef's mind. No one has ever tasted it before." The lack of examples, or rather answers to his own question of how to think about Greek, Incan and Chinese history is a let down. And what makes it worse is I think we can. We can trace Greek philosophy, military, economic or political thought to Christianity's history because when the two spheres overlap. But I argue, if you are a student of Incan or Chinese history, you can also see how the spheres overlap. And as soon as you can link any history to Christianity's history, we can begin to estimate God's purposes. The frustration is Poythress is content to tell us such history writing exists and should flourish but doesn't show us examples of it. Another criticism I have for this book is it works hard to connect the ideas to Poythress and Frame's previous work when it should work harder to connect to the works of other historians. In the bibliography, there are 16 references to Poythress and 6 citations to Frame and their ideas were discussed in the book. However, there were references in the bibliography, which judging from the titles, should have been brought in as part of the discussion. The only writing Poythress thoroughly engages with is Green's Christian Historiography, citing it in the last five chapters of the book. Providentialism, the idea of writing history with God's purposes in mind, was as Poythress describes it, "fairly common in the past, but it has become controversial." Are there any historians doing it now? If we cannot find contemporary historians doing it, can we have examples of past historians or biographers? We want to know what is a good example of history writing because we don't want to be like Job's friends, who seeing what happened to people divined the wrong meaning for those events. ConclusionThis is the only book by Vern Poythress I have ever read but it makes me wonder about the other "Redeeming" books in the series. If the other books are like this one, then it reads like a guy who has an analytical tool or framework, which he applies to philosophy, science, mathematics, sociology and history. And there is nothing wrong with that, it's good that we can develop and learn new ways of seeing things. In the case of this book, he sets up the case and fails to deliver. It's just missing one ingredient, show us how it's done right. Unless it's never been done right before. If true, then is Providentialism just nice in theory but impossible in practice? Poythress makes the audacious claim that this is a God-centred Approach. That's an oversell. That's why I expected more. If anything, this book should be titled, A Providence Centred Approach. It would be less audacious and more accurate to the thesis of the book. Has this book redeemed my thinking on history? When I was watching the documentary, "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing", Poythress was right in saying we everyone, Christians, non-Christians do inject a moral view in our history. We need to find a villain in the story. So secular history is not absent of morality, it's just absent of religious morality. When I read on the five views of how to think about history, I was thinking how "Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History" by John Dickson, ticked all the boxes. So despite my criticism, Poythress' book has challenged my thinking on history. The writing is accessible and he clearly wants to set his thoughts on biblical foundations. I just wished he had fully answered the question he posed, "How can we describe God's purposes in history, specifically non-Biblical and non-Christian history?"This is a Reading and Readers review of Redeeming Our Thinking About History: A God-Centered Approach by Vern S. Poythress. Available in Amazon Kindle for USD18.99. As of this recording, it's available as pre-order from Logos.com for USD11.99. I got a review copy of this book courtesy of the publisher Crossway but they had no input on this review. God determines Events, People and Meaning. Listening to this podcast is an event that connects you and I together. But what is the meaning or the purpose of this event? There must be meaning because we don't believe in coincidences, right? We believe in God's Providence. So perhaps, and I want to be careful here, I don't want to over-reach, perhaps the purpose of listening to this podcast, and potentially subscribing to this podcast, is for me to introduce to you books that will refresh and nourish the soul. Always remember that God's purposes are great and wonderful. May you walk in His Will. Thanks for listening. Book List"Redeeming Our Thinking About History: A God-Centered Approach by Vern S. Poythress. Amazon. Logos.Bullies and Saints by John Dickson. Review.Providence by John Piper. Review.

A man walks into the ICU saying, "Help me, I can't breathe". A little girl walks in at the same time saying, "Help me, I have a splinter in my finger." The nurse rushes the girl with the splinter into surgery but tells the man who can't breathe to wait in the lobby. You ask the nurse, "Why?" She explains: "The man had a panic attack. It should go away in a while and we monitor him in the lobby in case it gets worse. As for the girl, she only saw the splinter. One look at her and I knew she was in serious trouble and needed surgery immediately." In todays book review we will look at triage not in hospitals but in the theologicals.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month, and while waiting for the next free book, I pick a book of my choice. And today I review, "Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage" by Gavin Ortlund. Life or Death in TriageThe purpose of medical triage is to get limited and timely help to the right people. You ask, "What do you mean by right people?" If you have many people calling for help, you first get all the people who will live -- they need medical attention but they will live -- and move them to the left. Then get all the people who will die -- no matter what you do for them, they will die -- and move them to the right. Those who are left are people who if left untended would die and it is to them, we give the limited time and resources, a shot to live.Similarly, theological triage sorts doctrines into three levels. First level doctrines are essential and non-negotiable to the faith like the divinity of Christ. Second level doctrines separate believers into their churches or denominations. I so strongly disagree with you, such that I live out my convictions in a separate church, but I still call you brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, you believe in baptism by sprinkling, while I believe baptism is by immersion. Third level doctrines are differences that should not separate fellowship within the local church, for example young-earth or old-earth creationism. Theological triage helps us know how much time and energy to invest in a doctrinal dispute or as the title of the book says, finding the right hills to die on.While the idea of theological triage is simple -- you just sort doctrines into three buckets -- the sorting can be problematic. Imagine a man who was told he will die. So we are moving him to the group on the left. He says, "My situation is not as bad as you think it is. I need medical help. I might live." Or imagine a woman who is asked to go home. She says, "I'm not as well as you think I am. I need medical help. I might die." Who decides these cases? Who is best positioned to do triage? Doctors and other medical professionals. They are not infallible but we trust them - we have to! - to do the hard job of, not treating, we have not reached there yet, but of sorting.I came to Ortlund's book hoping he can help me do triage. I have a doctrine in mind which I see as a first-level issue but some see it as a second- or even third-level issue. I think it's urgent and important, while others are indifferent. Will Ortlund help me? Structuring TriageThe book is divided into two parts. Part one is titled Why Theological Triage? Here he makes the case for theological triage in three chapters. Chapter 1 explains the danger of doctrinal sectarianism or division. Chapter 2 explains the danger of doctrinal minimalism. In Chapter 3, he gives his personal testimony for triage.Part two of the book is titled Theological Triage at Work. The three chapters correspond to the three levels, they are: Why Primary Doctrines Are Worth Fighting For, Navigating the Complexity of Secondary Doctrines and Why We should Not Divide over Tertiary Doctrines. The book ends with a conclusion titled A Call To Theological Humility. Against Doctrinal SectarianismIn the first part of the book, Ortlund argues we all lean either towards doctrinal sectarianism or minimalism. He quotes Martin Luther:Softness and hardness ... are the two main faults from which all the mistakes of pastors come.Do you lean on the hard side? Do you see in every doctrine a fight, every doctrine a hill to die on? Only because all of Scripture is God-breathed and thus necessary to defend with all our might, right? In the first chapter, we read that defending the inerrancy of Scripture does not mean all doctrines are created equal. He quotes Turretin, Calvin, Bavinck, Spurgeon and Baxter. These guys are fighters and they are saying not every doctrine is worth fighting for because, as Ortlund puts it: The unity of the church is essential to the mission of the church.Unity is not a codeword for surrender to minimalism. Unity is in the Bible. While I appreciate Ortlund's reminder to not be too hard because love and unity is essential to our faith, my problem I face is not that I'm divisive. While I'm conscious of that danger, I see a creeping danger of doctrinal minimalism around me. Ortlund writes:I have often heard people say, “It’s not a gospel issue; it’s just a secondary issue.” And, of course, we should distinguish between the gospel and secondary issues. But if we stop at this basic distinction, we risk obscuring the significance of secondary doctrines. I worry that when people make this distinction, they mean something like “It’s a secondary issue; therefore, it doesn’t really matter.” While I sympathize with the instinct to focus on the gospel, we must recognize that distinguishing between the gospel and other doctrines is a complicated task. For example, doctrines can be “secondary” or “nonessential” to the gospel and yet still make a difference in how we uphold the gospel.Against Doctrinal MinimalismThe bulk of chapter two is Ortlund arguing that nonessential doctrines are significant for Scripture, significant to Church History, significant to the Christian life and significant to Essential Doctrines. I found most thought-provoking this quote from Gresham Machen: "Better to be wrong than indifferent". If you know someone who is divisive over doctrine, ask him to read chapter 1 of this book. If you know someone who is dismissive of doctrine, ask her to read chapter 2. This means, if both parties read both chapters, we will understand each other's concerns. Just like how we can better understand Gavin Ortlund's concerns as he works out triage in his own life. Triage in ActionBaptised as an infant, he grew up Presbyterian. Naturally, the seminary he attended was also Presbyterian. Reflecting on his journey, he writes: There is no way I can sufficiently emphasize my gratitude for my experiences. Some of my happiest memories and deepest friendships in my life. ... combination of theological depth and relational warmth... We [Ortlund and his wife] sensed something healthy and beautiful about the theological culture at Covenant Seminary, and we have always felt discontent with pursuing anything less.It's such a glowing review of the Presbyterians that the reader almost signs up to join them and then Ortlund tells you he is leaving. He is not leaving because of personal dissatisfaction, he was happy, but he is leaving because of doctrinal convictions. Triage ruined the trajectory he was heading. But it's okay, he got to write a book. In this chapter, we see triage in practice, not as detached what-ifs, a mental exercise, but as a believer wrestling to make decisions with real lasting impact. For Ortlund, that meant leaving the Presbyterians into the unknown. I was searching for a grand old hymn to describe the tension in the triage but all I got was this: I can hear you, but I won't Some look for trouble, while others don't There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day And ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away What do you want 'cause you've been keeping me awake Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to beWho knew that Elsa's song from Frozen 2 would make a fitting soundtrack for triage? Making the Main Thing the Main ThingNow we enter Part 2, Theological Triage At Work. Now we come to the essence of the matter. How do we do triage? How do we classify doctrines into three levels? It might surprise you to know that classification is a tough technological problem. Complex algorithms are invented to recognise voices and faces, to sort fruits into good or bad grades, to tell whether a painting is real or fake, and even which artist painted it. The way many of these technologies work is to first figure out what is the criteria and then check whether the voice, face, apple or painting fulfil the criteria. And we do the same with doctrine. Ortlund begins with Erik Thoennes' eight criteria on deciding the importance of a doctrine: Biblical clarityRelevance to the character of GodRelevance to the essence of the gospelBiblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught, and what weight Scripture places upon it)Effect on other doctrinesConsensus among Christians (past and present)Effect on personal and church lifeCurrent cultural pressure to deny a teaching of ScriptureNotice that according to Thoennes, the Bible is not the only criteria. We also also consider put historical and contemporary thought on the doctrine and how does this doctrine affect me and my church? Wayne Grudem asks similar questions, eight of them cited in this book. And he also warns us to not ask certain questions. We should not ask:Are the advocates my friends?Are they nice people?Will we lose money or members if we exclude them?Will the academic community criticize us as being too narrow-minded?Will someone take us to court over this?To me, Ortlund's analysis on the criteria and questions are not ground-breaking. While it's helpful to put them together and to talk them through, thoughtful readers working on triage would figure them out. What Ortlund uniquely brings to the table are well-researched and well-written examples. If you were to go back 100 years to the Church embroiled in the biggest controversy of that time, how would you decide on it? Is the virgin birth an essential doctrine? Or is it a doctrine that fellow Christians can agree to disagree? Ortlund brings us through Machen's defence on the importance of the doctrine of the virgin birth. Unlike justification by faith, the virgin birth seems so peripheral. Jesus never said, "I was born a virgin." Nobody taught it in Acts. Nobody mentioned it in the epistles. Ortlund writes:Machen distinguished between affirming the virgin birth and affirming it as a first-rank doctrine. He recognized that in his day “there are many who tell us that, though they believe in the virgin birth themselves, they do not think that that belief is important for all men or essential even to the corporate witness of the Church.” In contrast to this approach, Machen argued that the virgin birth is not a matter of private judgment but is essential to the church’s worship, witness, and vitality. To support this claim, he developed three considerations.If you want to know what are the three considerations, you can read Machen or Ortlund. Now imagine you are transported not 100 years to the past but 500 years. Sitting beside you is Martin Luther. Imagine he is having second thoughts. He questions out loud, is justification by faith alone worth dying for? He remains convinced that it is true but how important is this truth when the Church seems to have moved along fine for a thousand years without it? Or coming back to our time, how essential is justification by faith alone, when Christians are saved without knowing it? Ask yourself: "When you first believe Jesus is Lord, did that belief came together with an accurate grasp of sola fide, faith alone?" Ortlund covers these questions and more. It is ComplicatedIn the next chapter, he navigates the complexity of secondary doctrines. You would think and hope that after we all agreed on the criteria for first rank doctrine, it would be easy to agree on what is a first rank doctrine. No. Earlier, I mentioned the dying man who thinks he has a shot to live. Let me give another example. Why are bats not considered birds? They don't lay eggs. Hmmm... then why is a platypus not considered a bird? It has a duck's beak and it lays eggs but it is classified as a mammal, not a bird. Curious, isn't it? Now imagine when the platypus was discovered, an old ornithologist received news that a new bird species was discovered in Australia. He sells all he has, packs everything and plans to spend the rest of his life studying the new bird. When he realises it's not a bird, but an unique mammal, would he just lazily comment, "Curious, isn't it?" If we don't get the category right, we can over-commit, like the ornithologist flying to Australia to study a duck face mammal. When it comes to doctrinal debates, Christians often over-commit or can't care less, falling into the two extremes. We need a middle category. Ortlund writes:This chapter is the most difficult and complicated of the whole book. And I agree. If you could name the top five controversies among evangelicals, what would they be? Ortlund wades into not one, not two but three controversies in his heroic attempt to show to us, "It is complicated." He does not attempt to resolve them. Just how to rank them and our posture. Listen to what he writes here on the question of women in ministry:Complementarians conceive of egalitarians as compromising liberals, and egalitarians regard complementarians as sexists who oppress women. It would be better to recognize that there are a variety of expressions of each view and to look for points of contact between the more thoughtful and careful proponents of each side, yet without downplaying the differences. There are godly and intelligent Christians on each side. We must be wary of labeling this a second-rank issue on paper but allowing it to occupy a first-rank position emotionally and practically.The tensions exist. The differences should not be dismissed. But don't pick this hill to die on. Don't die here. Don't Sweat the Small StuffThe next chapter is on third rank doctrines. For example, where do you stand on Creation or the Last Days? Ortlund comments:But it is a historical irony that American evangelicals have tended to divide over the peripheral aspects of creation and eschatology while ignoring the more central aspects of these doctrines. Thus, many evangelicals focus more on the timing of the rapture, the identity of the anti-Christ, and the nature of the millennium (all, in my view, third-rank doctrines) than they do on the second coming of Christ, the final resurrection, or the final judgment (all, in my view, first-rank doctrines). Similarly, many evangelicals are intimately familiar with the “creation wars” but have never given any sustained reflection to more basic questions about the goodness and contingency of creation, on which the early church expended so much energy, and which are vital to a Christian worldview.What I got from him here is doctrines can be sliced into first, second and third rank. Let me ask you. Is Creationism a first, second or third rank doctrine? That's a vague question pre-loaded with assumptions. You assume I know what you are asking.But do you mean Creationism, as in whether God created the world? If you don't agree that God created the world, how can you call yourself a Christian? That's a clear first rank doctrine.Or do you mean Creationism, as in whether the days in Genesis 1 refer to twenty-four hour days or not? Is this a second rank or third rank issue? Ortlund points out that some would argue any other interpretation undermines the inerrancy of the Bible, thus making this a first-rank issue. Reflection on What I Read So FarAllow me some reflection after reading this book. What is the difference between the three levels in theological triage? In the first level: "Because we both believe in the Bible, I must do A, and you must do A also." In the second level: "Because we both believe in the Bible, I must do A, and you must do B." In the third level: "Because we both believe in the Bible, I do A, and you should accept A, or vice versa."Ortlund's aim in this book is not just presenting the challenges and the methods to sort doctrines into different levels. More importantly, is the posture of the Christian in the three levels. The way I put it is like this: In the first level: You bring a gun. It's demolish every argument time. In the second level: You bring a rapier. We fence, we score points, we hope to win each other over, but we shake hands after the match. In the third level: You bring a pillow. We fight but we still sleep in the same house. If we enter into a theological conflict knowing the rules of engagement, whether to bring a gun, rapier or pillow, being clear where the doctrine sits, we can have more meaningful exchanges. Perhaps the first question to ask is not, "Why do you believe this is true?" but "Why do you believe this is important?"As I hope you can tell from this review, theological triage is not easy and people will not agree. But that's true of doctors that's why a terminal cancer diagnosis leads to second opinions. Astronomers don't agree. Pluto was a planet since it was discovered in the 1930s. Then, in 2006, Pluto was demoted. What is the most important attitude when it comes to theological triage? Ortlund concludes the book with a chapter titled: "A Call To Theological Humility." Ortlund writes: In doing theological triage, humility is the first thing, the second thing, and the third thing. It is our constant need, no matter what issue we are facing.More Things You Can Do With TriageAfter reading this book, I have this idea that maybe a listener to this podcast can take up. Let's do a triage survey. We sort of know the positions many church leaders take. On women in ministry, spiritual gifts, millennium, creationism, virgin birth and salvation. My idea is do we know how the experts would rank their importance? What if every pastor, preacher, theologian, missionary was to rank the millennium question as third rank? Maybe that would settle the ranking question. Or what if all of them say it's a second rank, then that is a different signal. Notice that the experts may firmly hold conflicting positions but if they all agree on the ranking, on how important it is, that helps us to reflect on our posture towards that doctrine. Whether to bring a gun, a rapier or a pillow to the fight. Now say they don't agree. Opinions are scattered even within the same denomination. Some insist it's first, some argue it's second, and some are indifferent. I suggest that variance could be an indicator of an emerging controversy. For example, Critical Race Theory and the Church. Is it a gospel issue or is it a lot of hot air over nothing? Let me give you another issue. Churches closing down for Covid. If you disagree with your church's position on this, is this cause for separation? Finding the Right Hills to Die On doesn't explore the Covid question but Ortlund wrote a response to Pastor MacArthur in his blog at gavinortlund.com. In that blog you will also find chapter questions for this book. Questions suitable for a weekly small group setting or individual reflection. So what next after this? Is there more room to explore on triage? I suggest yes. Before this book was published I was studying theological triage on a particular doctrine: the New Apostolic Reformation or the concept of modern day apostles. I treated it like a first rank doctrine, a matter critical to the faith and requiring a decisive position in my church. After talking with other thoughtful believers, further reflection and reading this book, my view has shifted. I remain adamant on my position on the New Apostolic Reformation, I remain fully convinced on what the Bible speaks on this matter, but I no longer see it as a first-rank issue. In my mind, it's demoted to second-rank. It's important enough for me to leave my church but not so important that I would see opposing views as heresy. It's at the boundary though. It's pushing near first-rank. That is why I think there is room to explore in triage. I know I'm right. I just want to know how far do I take this argument. Not just in the local church but in the circles of influence I have. And that question applies to you too. So I hope this book on triage is the beginning of a conversation that continues on. Triage is a tool for us to understand and contribute to past, present and future theological debates with the purpose to make us better Christians: quick to listen, slow to speak, humble, bold and steadfast to build up, not tear down, the Church. This is a Reading and Readers review of "Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage" by Gavin Ortlund. So if you had to do triage on this podcast where would I be? Would it be:A. A great Christian Book Review podcast that everyone you know should subscribe to. Or... B. A podcast with potential to live a good and meaningful life if it gets the care, meaning subscribers, it needs. Or... C. A dying podcast that just doesn't know it's dying yet. And if so, I'd like a second opinion. Can you get someone else to listen to this podcast? Perhaps if more listeners shared your view, I would agree.In any case, it is quite clear, you need to tell more people to listen to the Reading and Readers Podcast. Thanks for listening. Book ListFinding the Right Hills to Die On by Gavin Ortlund. Amazon. Logos.

Have you seen this meme before? The first picture is a boy with polio, followed by a picture of scientists working hard in a lab, and concludes with "Science cures polio". Next, we have the same picture of the boy with polio. But this time followed by a group of people praying on their knees to God, and concludes with "Prayer cures nothing". Christian, what do you make of that? Is science and technology robbing God's glory? Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "God, Technology and the Christian Life" by Tony Reinke. 321 pages, published by Crossway in December 2021. Real Life Techno Priest EndorsementFirst off, I didn't know there were pastors in tech companies. Listen to this endorsement:“As both a pastor and an engineer, I continually find the need to interpret the marvels of the twenty-first century in light of Scripture. To that end, this book has been a great blessing. Tony Reinke has crafted an enlightening, balanced, and thoroughly engaging biblical theology of technology. This work is profoundly practical. All Christians should consider it, whether they live inside a major tech center or not.” That was from Conley Owens, Pastor at Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church and Senior Engineer at Google. There is another endorsement from Jeremy Patenaude, Pastor at Risen Hope Church Seattle and writer at Microsoft.And another from Jose Luis Cuevas, pastor, missionary and also Director of Project Management at VMWare Latin America. Reading the news, I get this idea that these tech companies are anti-Christian and anyone who is a Christian, much less a pastor, would not be able to live out his faith publicly in those companies. But thankfully I was wrong. You can work in tech and live out a Christian life. Tech User + Christian = Christian Tech User"God, Technology and the Christian Life" is the latest book from Reinke. He had written Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age in 2019 and 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You in 2017. The only other Reinke book I have read was Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books. I mentioned in my review of Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, how Lit! helped me think biblically about reading. It's essentially a biblical theology on reading. If you love reading, you've got to read Lit!. There are many books that make you a better reader, but there are not many books (I can't think of another) that would you a better Christian reader.Similarly, there are many many resources that make you a better technology user, but there are too few resources that would make you a better Christian tech user. If you are a tech user, and you are, you must read his latest book, "God, Technology and Christianity". You might not just be a tech user, you could be a tech junkie. Is there such a thing as a Christian tech junkie? We all know we are to glorify God in everything that we do (1 Corinthians 10:31) but can we really glorify God when we sing praises for a new gadget or invent a new time-waster? Reinke answers all these questions and more in this book.Questions So Deep It Sounds ShallowThe book is organised around six questions.What is Technology?What is God's Relationship to Technology?Where Do Our Technologies Come From?What Can Technology Never Accomplish?When Do Our Technologies End?How Should We Use Technology Today?Reading those six question, you might be forgiven to think the questions are a bit lame. The first one: What is Technology? It sounds like a lame introduction by a first grader. But seriously. The questions look trivial but they are not. It's like: Who am I? Why am I here? On one level, the answer is simply: "I'm Terence and I'm here to review a book for you." But on deeper level. Who am I? Why am I here? How do we begin to answer those questions? In this book, I reckon you have never heard the question, "What is Technology?" posed and answered the way this book does. Those six questions, let's bring really smart people into the room to discuss them. Reinke brings twelve guys. You know Calvin, John Calvin, but did you know that Calvin believes that the Holy Spirit inspires technological gifts of man to flourish? You know Abraham Kuyper, theological giant. Can you put his common grace theology, which is God's blessing on non-Christians, and put his 20th century outlook next to the 21st century innovator Elon Musk? Reinke did. If you are a tech reader, you must know Wired magazine. Kevin Kelly is the co-founder, a tech minimalist and open theist. Reinke quotes Kelly here:Technology has reached a "self-amplifying" and "self-reinforcing system of creation," the point when "our system of tools and machines and ideas became so dense in feedback loops and complex interactions that it spawned a bit of independence." Now put that sci-fi high-tech futuristic prophecy next to David's slingshot and Saul' armour, which is what Reinke did. Reinke gathers 12 diverse thinkers and mashes their ideas and words into a discussion from a Quentin Tarantino movie. Biblical Theology of TechnologyThat itself would be ambitious enough but Reinke sets a higher goal. This book is his biblical theology of technology. He tells us right from the beginning: "Don't skip the Bible verses. I know you skip them because I do too. But don't skip the Bible verses." And he is right. You must not skip them because those Bible verses are not peripheral to the chapter, they are central. In "God, Technology and the Christian Life", we see how God sees technology, nay, we see how God creates the creator, the user and the destroyer. God is everywhere in this book. Reinke worships a big, big God. Read David and Goliath. Goliath had the big guns right? The big sword, the big armour, the big tech advantage and David did not, right? Read it again. Reinke argues convincingly that this famous battle was not high tech vs no tech. Reinke says it's between a godless Close Quarter Combat Warrior vs. a God-fearing Sniper. Let's read Isaiah 54:16-17:Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”Then read it the way Reinke tells it. Reinke writes: ... here, God makes three incredibly specific claims: (1) He creates the creators of weapons. (2) He creates the wielders of those weapons. (3) He governs the outcomes of those weapon- ized warriors—the ravagers.Reinke zips from Noah's Ark to Babel, from Tubal-Cain to Elon Musk, from the root of the tech tree to a disembodied space-faring future. He weaves the atheist Yuval Noah Harari into the conversation:Ancient sailors, in rickety vessels and without tools of navigation, marked their perilous ocean voyages first with “propitiatory sacrifices,” then, with any divine luck, they returned home “ornamented with wreaths and gilt fillets to thank the gods” in the nearest temple. Steam ships changed all that. Steam ships “killed all gratitude in the hearts of sailors.” Safer tech offers more control, boasts greater predictability, and kills divine thankfulness.And exhorts the Christian to thank God for all the technology, to pray: God break me free from the idols of comfort, and fill me with God-centered awe for the gifts in this world that you have given me to use and enjoy.He quotes Spurgeon, the 19th century preacher:We have heard of engineers who could bridge the widest gulfs... We have seen men who could force the lightning’s flash to carry a message for them; we know that men can control the sunbeams for their photography, and electricity for their telegraphy; but where dwells the man, where even is the angel, who can convert an immortal soul?”Do you realise it? How so many of us have put our faith in technology? Reinke sketches out this Gospel of Technology, a gospel we love to learn, love to share, love to worship. How I love my new phone! The unveiling of the next big thing is like a bright light revelation, a Damascus Experience for so many people. Tell Me What I Think (Or Will Think)And this is another reason why I love this book. He is like Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is famous for telling us what we want before we want it. In this book, Reinke has managed to tell me what I think before I thought it. Let me explain. My favourite Billy Graham moment is the TED Talk he gave. In his TED talk, Billy Graham acknowledged everybody in the room was smart, world-changing type of people. It's amazing what technology has done. But all the technology will not solve three problems: Evil, Suffering and Death. It was the best TED Talk, not in it's style or delivery, but in its offer of Christ to the TED world. That talk left a big impression on me. It moderated all the hype, the promise on AI, nanotech, space exploration, big data and all of it. None of that can solve evil, suffering and death. But as good as Billy Graham's TED talk was, it didn't go deep enough. And I didn't know it until I read "God, Technology and the Christian Life". Consider this question: How should we use technology today? That's the last question posed, the last chapter in the book. What is the Biblical answer to it? Wisdom. We should use tech with wisdom. It's an easy answer, even flippant in its simplicity but oh the depth of the answer here. Reinke doesn't give us loose pebbles from the ground, he mines the Bible. He doesn't give empty Christian platitudes like, "Be wise. It's good to be wise. It's wise to be good. Blah Blah Blah." Instead he mines the revelation of God's Word, finding gold in the unlikeliest of places. I am convinced that this guy really did comb through the whole Bible to develop his theology of technology because I don't think anyone could have found the verses he did otherwise. In this book review, I have shared many insights. So many insights that if this was another book review, I would try to cut some out in order to not give away all the best bits of the book. Don't you hate it when movie trailers are just mash ups of the best parts of the movie? That did not happen here. There is still a lot more to this book. After finishing this book, I re-read the early pages to prepare this review and I was struck by how well Reinke has weaved everything together: Calvin, Kuyper and Musk with Genesis, Isaiah and Revelation. Steve Jobs and the book of Job! Makers, Users and ReadersIf you are, or if you hope to be, an inventor, engineer, biotechnologist, anyone who creates technology. You must read this book. What happens when the tech you create to cure cancer is used to create a killer virus? Or tech to bring out truth is used to spread lies? Reinke offers so many lines of thoughts, so many angles to help the faithful integrate with their technological self. But this is not just to tech elite at Microsoft, Google or Facebook. You are a tech user. You are also a Christian. Read this book to understand what it means to be a Christian tech user. You may not think about the joining of these two worlds, but you should. And if you do think about it, and this book will help you think about it, you will glorify God, you will not despair at the state or the future of the world, all the technology, all of them the bad and the good, will give you cause to see God. Reinke is a realist. Technology heals. Technology also harms. While researching for this book review, I checked Reinke's Twitter. Feb 12 2022, at the brink of an European War, Reinke tweets, "Today I stood under afterburners to test if I really believed God is bigger and more powerful than our war tech. He is. His sovereign orchestration reigns over every pilot and F-35. Even as war tensions rise, I believe it in my rattled bones."If there is any reservation that one would have reading this book, it's how Reinke draws a line from harmful technology to the Sovereign Lord. He does deal with this big question in the book but I'm not going to elaborate it here. Questions on why bad things happen or the relationship on harmful tech and God deserve an answer with more depth than a soundbite or a meme. Just as a hint to how Reinke answers it, I'll just say, Tony Reinke is the host of the Ask Pastor John podcast. If you know John Piper's Big Big God, then it's the same as Tony Reinke's. Related to this topic, you could listen to my review of Providence by John Piper. This book is delightful to me in a way that doesn't happen often. I started this book review podcast because I enjoy reading books, so I read a lot of books on various topics, and I come to those books with presuppositions which gets confirmed, challenged and sometimes changed as I read the book. It's not often that I get surprised. Reinke's book opens up the Bible in a new light. And it's on a topic I deal with everyday, I use it and teach it. There are moments in reading this book that I wanted to dig deeper into the Bible, even get a doctorate on what the Bible says about this aspect of technology. Biblical theology of technology is an unmined field. So many smart people develop technology, I hope there will be smart people to develop this biblical theology of technology. We must not see technology to mean electrify or put a wifi in the church, tech must edify the church.This is a Reading and Readers Review of "God, Technology and the Christian Life " by Tony Reinke. 321 pages, published by Crossway in December 2021. It's USD15.99 via Amazon Kindle. I got a free review copy thanks to Crossway's Blog Review Programme but they had no input on this review. Technology is so wonderful, really amazing. With one button you can start a car. With one button you can buy everything you need and get it delivered to your door. With one button, a country can nuke another country. But the most amazing thing you can do with one button today is to subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. The technology is literally at your fingertips. Make sure you don't miss any reviews. Go on. Subscribe to Reading and Readers.Book List"God, Technology and the Christian Life" by Tony Reinke. Amazon.

"Surely you don't believe that the best explanation for an empty tomb is a resurrection. There must be tonnes of other far more reasonable explanations for that." Really? Well, I've got a cold case detective who says otherwise.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review Alive! A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection by J. Warner Wallace. 28 pages, published in 2014 by David C. Cook. Available in Amazon Kindle for USD1.99. Available in Faithlife for free for this month and this month only. A Detective Enters the RoomWallace is a cold case detective. In his website it says here: J. Warner’s professional investigative work has received national recognition; his cases have been featured more than any other detective on NBC’s Dateline, and his work has also appeared on CourtTV and Fox News.Later it says:J. Warner was awarded the Police and Fire Medal of Valor “Sustained Superiority” Award for his continuing work on cold-case homicides, and the CopsWest Award after solving a 1979 murder. Relying on over two decades of investigative experience, J. Warner provides his readers and audiences with the tools they will need to investigate the claims of Christianity and make a convincing case for the truth of the Christian worldview.J. Warner was not a Christian who chose to study the Gospels and write a defence of the faith. He was an atheist. He did not believe in this Christian stuff. So when he came to the evidence box that is the Gospels, this hard-nosed detective could have concluded that it was all, everything was, a big hoax. The surprise, which is not a surprise to Christians, is the evidence does demand a verdict, and there is a strong case for Christ.Dr. Norm Geisler, Chancellor of Veritas Evangelical Seminary had this to say of J. Warner Wallace:“Few professions better prepare a person to follow the evidence than being a detective. And few detectives are better prepared Christians to be apologists than J. Warner Wallace.”So that is his shtick. J. Warner Wallace wrote Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. Including this book, he has written nine books. Today we review his shortest book: "Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection." The book is so short that in the time it takes for you to listen to this review, you could have read and finished it. Natural Death, Accidental Death, Suicide or HomicideDo you like watching CSI or Sherlock Holmes or Columbo or Murder She Wrote, remember that? I love a good mystery. I've finished multiple readings of Agatha Christie's series of novels. Every story has a dead body. And here, we have one too. To explain how he will investigate the resurrection, Wallace, the homicide cop with over two years of experience, gives us a quick primer on how to think through the evidence. You have a dead body in front of you. What are your options? Is it natural death, accidental death, suicide or homicide? You look at the facts. The facts will help you cross options off your list. A reason why the cold-case investigation has been so attractive to many is because it doesn't front load it with presuppositions. Wallace is not asking you to believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Wallace comes in and just asks, "Just the facts mam."This is the way Wallace puts it:Dr. Gary Habermas and Professor Mike Licona have taken the time to identify the “minimal facts” (or evidences) related to the resurrection. While there are many claims in the New Testament related to this important event, not all are accepted by skeptics and wary investigators. Habermas and Licona surveyed the most respected and well-established historical scholars and identified a number of facts that are accepted by the vast majority of researchers in the field.The Four Facts Friends and Foes AgreeWallace found four of Habermas and Licona's minimal facts to be "the most substantiated by both friends and foes of Christianity", and they are:Jesus died on the cross and was buried.Jesus's tomb was empty, and no one ever produced his body.Jesus's disciples believed that they saw Jesus resurrected from the dead.Jesus's disciples were transformed following their alleged resurrection observations.With these four facts, many explanations can come out of it. Wallace then says that each of those potential explanations have problems, and that includes the Christian explanation. Wallace goes through seven explanations. I think it's fairly comprehensive or at least the main ones are here. So, there is a high chance if you are talking to a non-believer about the resurrection of Christ, one of these explanations will come up. And that would be where this book shines. The explanations which may sound reasonable at first, it might have stumped you as an alternative and plausible answer to the resurrection, I mean, anything is more plausible than a dead guy coming back to life right? So the homicide detective tells you that actually the alternative explanations are not without their problems. I think it's kind of fun to read for yourself what are the other possible explanations for the resurrection, so I won't spoil that part of the book. But I will give you one example, which I think is the common one. Explanation #1: It's All a MistakeLooking at the four facts, the easiest explanation is to just say that the disciples were mistaken. They thought Jesus died but he didn't. And that's why the tomb was empty and there was no body. Because he didn't die. That's why when the disciples believe Jesus resurrected because Jesus didn't die. And their belief, which was false, transformed the disciples. Ta dah! Such a simple explanation. No need for a convoluted resurrection event. My my! How gullible Christians must be. I'm so smart because I thought of this. And 2000 years of an army of sceptics couldn't turn this into an open and shut case. Yeah... about that explanation, the defence would like to call to the witness stand detective J. Warner Wallace. And the defence reminds everyone who is Wallace. He is a detective. A homicide detective. He knows dead bodies. And he tells you that everybody knows whether what they have in their hands is a dead body or a live one. Wallace writes:It’s been my experience that witnesses who first come upon the dead body of someone they care about quickly check for the most obvious sign of life. Is the person who was injured still breathing? This test is simple and effective; everyone is capable of performing it, and even those who know nothing about human biology instinctively resort to it. It’s also been my experience that three conditions become apparent in the bodies of dead people: temperature loss, rigidity, and lividity.He goes on in some detail to explain how those three conditions: temperature loss, rigidity and lividity cannot be faked and cannot be missed. That's not all, this detective is thorough. Do you remember in the Gospels, the guard stabbed Jesus with a spear and there was blood and water pouring out? Wallace explains that a coroner would expect to see water when a person is injured prior to death. So the fact that this little detail was recorded goes a long way to show that the Gospel writers were recording what was actually observed.There are other problems with the proposal. Jesus was whipped, beaten, nailed and he was walking around like a normal guy 3 days later. The Roman soldiers had one job, and one job only, and it was not a difficult job. Make sure that the guy you crucified is dead or you are next. So that off the cuff explanation of the resurrection seems lame now. So what is another possible explanation? Wallace goes through them. Shows you the problems for all of them. That is the main essence of the book. Remember the book is only 28 pages long. Reading this book will help you, whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian, just go through the different explanations. And well, what do you think of it? It's not so open and shut now is it? These are the facts, facts that, I remind you, are attested by both friends and foes of Christianity:Jesus died on the cross and was buried.Jesus's tomb was empty, and no one ever produced his body.Jesus's disciples believed that they saw Jesus resurrected from the dead.Jesus's disciples were transformed following their alleged resurrection observations.The Christian explanation is Jesus was resurrected. The problem? It is a supernatural act. But we have already explored other explanations so which is the most satisfying explanation to you? Mystery Fans Are Suspicious of EverythingI can imagine a reader feeling cornered here. You might feel you are being led down a garden path. And perhaps you want to take a step away from this question and ask. Who profits? That's another great question in mysteries. Who profits? No, not about the resurrection. Is the detective, is J. Warner Wallace, truly an honest sceptic? Why should we accept his reasoning here?Let's once again imagine the detective is at the witness stand and now the prosecution tries to throw some doubt on this witness. Isn't it true that Wallace has profited from his cold-case books? Yes. Isn't it true that Wallace has established himself as a credible apologist? Think of the reputation and fame that comes with it. And if he is profiting, then why would we trust what Wallace has to say? Perhaps five years, or ten years later, he might think it more profitable to come out as an ex-believer. To disavow everything he said was true. And thus play for the other team. So why should we follow the detective's lead? He might be the untrustworthy narrator in this book. The Kaizer Soze of the mystery. Here is the thing. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if J. Warner Wallace later proves to be just a guy out to make a quick buck. I say this to the most sceptical of readers because that would be easier to believe than to believe the resurrection of Christ. The claim of the book is there is evidence. It doesn't matter what Wallace claims. You can check out the evidence. Lee Strobel, the journalist went to look at the evidence. He went into the evidence room as an atheist, and he came out as a believer. You don't have to take any one's words for this. That's the beauty of the Christian faith. It's not dependent on someone's dreams or visions. The cross of Christ is a historical event. And Christians claim, not just claim, the entire faith has Christians as witnesses that the resurrection is a historical event. The Great Revelation is Not The EndBut it doesn't end there. The Christian is not content with you admitting begrudgingly that okay, Christ was resurrected. The finale of the mystery or the puzzle is not to know the final answer, how all the pieces come together. Because in this story, the dead body rose. And because he rose again, as Jesus prophesied, therefore everything else he said is now true. He already did the impossible. "On the third day, I will rise," he said. He didn't mean it in a spiritual way. He did not rise in some heavenly tabernacle, not observable by the disciples. He did not rise in Peter's vision or with a visit by an angel to Mary. Jesus appeared to witnesses. And those witnesses went to the their deaths convinced that Jesus has risen. So this book, doesn't stop here. At the beginning of his conclusion, Wallace writes:It’s one thing to “believe that” Jesus rose from the dead and is who He said He was, but it’s another to “believe in” Him as Savior. Every one of us, at some point in our investigation of the claims of Christianity, has to move from “belief that” to “belief in.” I can remember when this happened for me. As a rebellious, self-reliant detective, I initially denied my need for a Savior, even though I accepted what the Gospels told me about that Savior. In order to take a step from “belief that” to “belief in,” I needed to move from an examination of Jesus to an examination of me. He has more to say, but I really think you can read it for yourself. Who Is This Book For?Who is this book for? If you are a Christian, it's a refresher. You probably know some if not all of the alternate explanations, but it's nice to get reminded of this. If you are a non-Christian, and you think you have a perfectly reasonable explanation, or you are sure there are perfectly more reasonable explanations than a dead guy coming back to life, then you should read this book. In fact, although this book is available for free in Faithlife, you should consider just buying a bundle of this book and just giving it away. People who would normally never read a book might want to. Wallace writes well, he doesn't demean or aggressive push the Christian agenda. He just says, these are the facts mam. And the facts say that Jesus has risen. This is a review of Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection by J. Warner Wallace. It's USD1.99 in Amazon Kindle. Free from Faithlife for February and only February. Why do listeners subscribe to Reading and Readers? Because it reviews a free book every month? Or is it because the reviews are insightful? Or maybe because it covers a range of books from children's fantasy novels to tough theological books? Why don't you investigate why by checking out the evidence. Subscribe to Reading and Readers in Apple Podcast, Spotify or your favourite podcast service and never miss a book review. Book ListAlive! A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection by J. Warner Wallace. Amazon. Faithlife.The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Amazon. Faithlife.Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh and Sean McDowell. Amazon. Faithlife.

Hymn books give way to Powerpoint slides. Church organs to electric guitars. Offering bags to online transfers. Local churches to bible study groups, online communities, the metaverse? Is an insistence on local churches simply a clinging on to an outmoded way of the Christian life? Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "The Local Church: What It Is and Why It Matters" by Edward W. Klink III. 176 pages, published by Crossway on October 2021. This book review is made possible by Crossway's Blog Review Programme. I get the book for free but Crossway has no input in the review. On to the review!Online Services Are Great! Or NotHave you asked or heard this question before: "Why should the church meet physically when online services are just as good?" How do you answer? "It's different, physical is better, online is not what God intended."The conversation can go back and forth with no end in sight. Everybody has an opinion, experiences to share. Everyone has their own ideas of what a church is, what a church service is, and sometimes, just sometimes, they might put forward Bible verses to support their position. And that's the wrong way of doing it. Don't start with a position and search the Bible to support it. Start with the Bible, what does the Bible say about the church? Cutting through the noise, anger, frustration, confusion, in this book Klink offers theological clarity and pastoral assurance: what does the Bible say about the church? His biography reads:Edward W. Klink III (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is the senior pastor of Hope Evangelical Free Church in Roscoe, Illinois and part-time professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He previously served as associate professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. PhD. Part-time professor. Associate professor. Is this a tough book to read? You have got nothing to worry about. Klink explains in his introduction: Although much of my writing thus far has been for scholars or the trained pastor, this book was written with the layperson in view, the average Christian. That does not mean it avoids all meat, for I certainly intended to push readers to broaden their biblical and theological categories as they think about the Christian life and the church. Yet I spend time in the book explaining key concepts and practices, and even include analogies and stories to help make the material more accessible. This book was written with the pastoral intention of offering a resource for “catechizing” Christians by explaining the church to them. It is an introduction to the local church.Structure of Questions and AlliterationListen to the structure and hear for yourself how accessible this book is.After the introduction you have the first chapter and there are six chapters in all in this 176 page book. The first chapter is titled, "What Isn't the Church?" Right off the bat, Klink corrects a few wrong ways to think of the church. After explaining what isn't the church, in the next chapter Klink explains what is the church. Then the third chapter is, "Why Does the Church Exist?", followed with "How Does the Church Function?". After the Christian understands the what, why and how of the church, Klink poses the most pertinent question today, "What is the Connection between a Christian and a Church?" The last chapter is titled, "Twenty Common Questions about the Local Church." Klink loves his alliteration. Every chapter title has a P-letter word next to it. Thus, the chapters can be understood as: Problem, Principle, Purpose, Process, Participation and Practice. By organising the book as a series of questions, the reader immediately sees the relevance. These are not ivory tower abstract ideas. Although you should not skip chapters to read the answer to that one question because each chapter builds on the chapter before it. Even the last chapter, "Twenty Common Questions about the Local Church", his answer makes better sense if you read the preceding chapters. Stop Looking At The Church WronglyLet's now look at the first chapter, Problem: "What Isn't the Church?". Klink breaks it down to four common misperception:The Church is not a MetaphorThe Church is not Coffee with FriendsThe Church is not a Human ProjectThe Church is not a Voluntary SocietyGet ready to be corrected here. Not only on your wrong way you have looked at the church but on the wrong way you have looked at your favourite Bible verses. When Klink says that the Church is not Coffee with Friends, he points out that this idea is derived from a mistaken reading of Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." Wrong interpretations lead to wrong applications. By taking Matthew 18:20 to mean that Jesus or the church is wherever two or three Christians gather it has lead some to think: "I don't need the church. Or at least the church as those rigid traditionalists think of it. I just need to gather two or three together and Christ is with us. We don't need organised religion. We just need each other." This is Klink's response:... too often the way Christians speak of the church is really another way of talking about any gathering of Christians that involves aspects of fellowship and biblical-spiritual topics. But the church is more than the cumulative collection of Christians, no matter its spiritual fruitfulness. Notice a few things. He acknowledges that there is fellowship, there is biblical-spiritual content and there is spiritual fruitfulness. He is not denying any of these good things. Klink is just telling us firmly that the church is not coffee with friends. And it's not because Klink, the pastor-theologian, said so. "Come." He invites us to read the Bible. He zooms out of Matthew 18:20 and shows us the surrounding verses, verses 15-20. He writes: The context makes clear that it is not a magical number gathered together that makes Christ present but that a symptom of Christ’s authoritative presence in the church is a proper handling of sin in a local church.He continues on in his exposition. Klink emphasises that Matthew 18:20 summarises one aspect of what the church does. He later writes: ... the order is important — what the church is (in principle) comes before and explains what the church does (in practice). If you don't know the difference between what the church is and what the church does, you can easily make, what Klink says is, a category mistake. If church is understood to simply a place where you do things, a place where you fellowship, worship, hear a sermon and pray, then it's easy to just replace it with an alternate form of Christianity community, a loose gathering at Starbucks or an online chat group. You can be a Christian without going to church! I have more to say on this but let's move on to another flawed notion.And that is to see the church as solely or primarily a human project. We are very quick to say that the church is not a building but the people. A mob crashes through the gates. Mobs with paint brushes and pots of paint. They chant: "My church, my colours. The only colour on the wall must be... " Then a brave soul comes between the mob and the sacred church walls. "Hold on! Remember! Remember the church is not the building, it is the people!" The mob return to their senses, return their paintbrushes and return to their homes. The statement that "the church is not a building but the people" is true. We can point to the Greek word ekklesia and show how every time the NT authors speak of the church, they were not speaking of a building. However, that statement while true does not mean that the church is of the people, by the people, for the people. I can imagine some people thinking, "It isn't?" No, it isn't. Klink writes:According to the Bible, the church is a divine institution because of the necessary connection between the Lord Jesus Christ and his body, the church. This connection is the theological ground upon which any understanding of the church stands. By saying “theological,” I mean that the significance of this connection requires a summary of Scripture’s message on the topic. Scripture teaches us that the church has a necessarily derivative character, which means the church is not original (it is born from the incarnate body of Christ), it is secondary (it is under the lordship of Christ), and it exists because of another (its power is based on the death and resurrection of Christ).Later, Klink quotes John Webster who says:The church is not constituted by human intentions, activities and institutional or structural forms, but by the action of the triune God, realized in Son and Spirit.This is not just mouthing banalities. This impacts the way you live as a Christian. On one side you have people promoting how to be a Christian without going to church. On this side, the biblical side, Klink says that the church is a divine institution, better understood as the church of God, by God, for the glory of God. Klink closes off this section with this strong message:Any minimization of the church or disassociation from the church by a Christian is actually a rejection of God himself, for the church is his institution and his ministry. I've only shared two of Klink's correction here: The Church is not coffee with friends and the church is not a human project. Depending on how you were brought up or what you see as the problem of the church, you could find the other sections: the Church is not a metaphor, the church is not a voluntary society, to be a big eye-opener, scales may drop from your eyes. You have been reading those bible verses wrongly. You have been seeing the church wrongly. So what is the right way to see the church?Start Looking At The Church As God Sees ItHaving stated the negative case of what isn't the church, Klink moves on to the positive case of what is the church. This he does by explaining the seven attributes extracted from the Bible, centred on God. As I read the seven attributes here, I invite you to think what it might mean in relation to the church. The seven attributes are: The Pleasure of GodThe People of GodThe Presence of GodThe Power of GodThe Proclamation of GodThe Provision of GodThe Purpose of GodKlink loves his alliteration. He loves P-letter words. Alliteration is a useful memory device which you can test for yourself. I'm sure if you pause this podcast now, you will remember some if not all of the seven attributes of the church just listed. These seven attributes did not emerge from a man's vision of what the church should be, like some Christian version of Plato's Republic. Consider, when Klink says the church is the pleasure of God, he quotes part of Isaiah 43:1-7 which says: I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine... For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior... You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you... whom I created for my glory.When Klink says the church is the provision of God, he quotes Matthew 25:31-46, which begins with Jesus saying: For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.As he expounds from the biblical text, he draws from other commentaries and resources which he footnotes. In the second chapter, he cites John Calvin, the London Baptist Confession, J.I. Packer, John Frame, just to mention a few. So you can see, he offers the meat he promised, neatly diced, seasoned and grilled for easy chewing. Inward Loving ReflectionNo matter how much you know or think you know about the church, you will appreciate the insights, even if it's just the way Klink puts it together. Let me share another one. We are familiar with the vertical and horizontal aspect of Christian relationship. Vertical is us and God. Horizontal is us and others. Klink puts it differently. Upward, outward and inward. Upward is us worshipping God. Outward reflects God's missional focus while inward reflects God's affection to his people. Recently, I've been thinking about the inward aspect Klink mentions here, the loving one another part of the church. Maybe it's because of the arguments within the church on how to respond to Covid or seeing people in the church suffering due to the economic downturn. When we strongly disagree with others, do we disagree in a way that demonstrates love? When we see people suffer, do we help? Do you know if anyone in your church is suffering? Are you comfortable sharing your trials and needs with someone in the church? Unlike the other -ologies: Christology, soteriology, eschatology, I find ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church, to be the most reflective because it is the most people-facing doctrine. No Christian thinks they are in a perfect church. And if they think so, they probably haven't been there long enough or haven't served in ministry. So when you read a book on the church, and a good book shows you how God sees the church, you naturally reflect on your own church and your own church practices. And since I mentioned church practises, by the time you reach the end of the book, you may have a lot of question on church practises. Questions like: How does a church help a person grow as a Christian? Why are churches so different? How do I find and join a church? And many more. Klink poses 20 questions in the end and its worth hearing his thoughts on many common questions asked about the church.Careful Criticism Controls CrankinessIf I can offer one criticism on the book is that it is a bit too neatly diced for my liking. This may be a personal preference but I am suspicious of alliteration. Have you tried doing them before? You have your text. You have your points. Now you try to be fancy and turn those points into easy to remember alliteration points. But what happens when your last point resists. It doesn't want to be turned into a word that begins with the letter P. If you can't find the right word that begins with the letter P. Do you choose the closest word? Even if that word does not exactly or fully convey the point you are making?Or do you change the point? You adjust what you want to say so that the content better fits that word?Or do you give up on alliteration? Throw away all the work you have done before? Or do you start over? Find a new letter. Would A or B or C work?Due to my own experience, I don't do alliteration in my teaching or preaching. The gains, memory recall, are minimal compared to the compromises I almost always make. I read Klink's 6Ps in the Table of Contents: Problem, Principle, Purpose, Process, Participation and Practice; and in chapter two the 7Ps to define the church: Pleasure, People, Presence, Power, Proclamation, Provision and Purpose. When I ponder how he managed to produce and present such a perfect list, I could only pontificate, praise and pillage? In making the alliteration, is there a missing attribute, perhaps important but not so important, that didn't make the list simply because there was no convenient P-letter word for it? To be clear, Klink gives no hint of such omissions. Nor do I deny his alliterated points are thoroughly substantiated from Scripture. My question is perhaps academic, but how did he arrive at this seven attributes? Why not six or ten? If I'm spending much time on this it's because I greatly appreciate this distinction between what the church is and what the church does. When I first learnt it, a light bulb came on. Other Books on the ChurchFor this, I owe a debt to "Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church" by Gregg R. Allison. Allison gave me theological categories that helped me think on the seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven life, small group model and many other church models. Each model promises church growth and greater proximity to the biblical church. The key takeaway I got from Allison is there are ontological models of the church and there are functional models. Ontological models build on what the church is. Functional models are driven by what the church does. Does this sound familiar? Allison's definition of the church, he also has seven points, is, in my opinion better than Klink's. Allison explicitly shows the nature of the church with respect to God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The boundaries between the points are clearer. Not so mushy as Klink's. Klink's alliteration may help me remember that the church shows the power of God, the proclamation of God and the provision of God, but having remembered the P-words, I struggle to distinguish between the power of God and his proclamation and provision. You can hear that I am profuse in my praise for Allison's book, but it's a tougher book to read. So I find it hard to recommend to the everyday Christian. A more accessible book that has gone into a fourth edition is Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever. Similar to Klink's Local Church, this book is targeted towards the everyday Christian. Dever's book is helpful. No doubt about it. Especially for the busy pastor. The busy congregation member. It has a no nonsense feel to it's organisation. However, between the Klink's and Dever's, I prefer Klink's because I think first principles are more important in the long run. For example, as churches everywhere struggle with online services: "is it good, is it bad, is it biblical?" Dever's nine marks indirectly address the issue. Klink's does better. But Allison reads the best even though his book was published in 2012. One of Allison's seven definition is: the church is spatio-temporal and eschatological, it means the church is located in space, time and destiny. And with this definition of the church, a church is located in space and time, we can explore the Bible of whether a YouTube anytime, anywhere service is an acceptable replacement or complement to the church. All the books I mentioned are good and all have their place. None have the last word. To illustrate this, look at Crossway's six month publishing schedule. Local Church, the book I am reviewing now, by Edward Klink was published in October 2021. "Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ is Essential" by Jonathan Leeman was also published in October 2021. "The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church" by Dustin Benge will be published in February 2022. No doubt there will be more books written and published as we the church try to make sense of what is happening around us and what is meant to happen to the church, in the church, for the church.ConclusionIn conclusion, you need to read not just one book on the church. But if you are a new Christian or if you are a Christian who has grown indifferent or hostile against organised religion or the church, then you should read Klink's book and consider the this humble pastor-theologian's answer to the question, "Why should I go to church?" This is a Reading and Readers' Review of "The Local Church: What It Is and Why It Matters" by Edward W. Klink III. It's available in Amazon Kindle for USD16.14 and in Logos it's priced at USD13.99.If you like this episode, perhaps I could persuade you to promote it to your preferred friends and family members. Reading and Readers is available in Apple Podcast, Spotify and other podcast services. You can also listen to the episodes in the website: www.readingandreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. A podcast, where I review Christian books for you. Book List"The Local Church: What It Is and Why It Matters" by Edward W. Klink III. Amazon. Logos."Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church" by Gregg R. Allison. Amazon. Logos."Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (4th Edition)" by Mark Dever. Amazon. Logos."The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church" by Dustin Benge. Amazon. Logos.

It's the beginning of the new year. Places to go. People to meet. Books to read. And what better way to start the year than to read a book titled Sunrises: Reflections on the New Year Ahead. Oh wait... It's titled Sunsets: Reflection on Life's Final Journey. Wait a minute, this is about death? Who thought it was a good idea to start the year by reading a book about death? Well, someone at Faithlife.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Sunsets: Reflections on Life's Final Journey" by Deborah Howard. 336 pages, published on August 2017 by Export Press. The book is available in Amazon Kindle for USD8.95 but it is available for free from Faithlife in January. The author is a Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse. What is hospice and palliative? If you have cancer and the doctor says there is no more treatment, there is no cure, then hospice becomes an option. As Howard explains in her book, hospices do not speed up or slow down death. They do all they can to provide better quality of life for the patient and for the family. The foreword was written by the esteemed theologian D.A. Carson, let me read it:Deborah Howard has managed to link narrative and exposition. Most of the narrative books in this area tell a story, or tell a lot of stories, and nothing more. Many other books provide doctrinal structures, but they are rather abstract. This book combines narrative and doctrinal exposition. Of course, that makes the book a little long; for many readers, however, the combination also makes the book more memorable. And apart from all the little stories, the ongoing narrative of Bachman is not one you are likely to forget.The ongoing narrative of Bachman is an important part of the book and I'll come back to that. I want to repeat what Carson sees as a unique feature: the book combines narrative and doctrinal exposition. I think the author took a big risk putting it together like this. I can see readers who come for the stories and insights of a hospice nurse find the biblical exposition distracting to the flow of the book. I know I did, and let me show you why.Overall Flow of the BookThe first three chapters are titled "Denial", "Why Me?" and "Options". Options here referring to hospice care. These three chapters gives you what you can expect from a hospice nurse cum author. Then we have chapters 4, 5 and 6, chapters which sit more comfortably in a systematic theology textbook. The titles are: "The Sovereignty of God", "The Sovereignty of God in Salvation" and "The Purposes of Suffering". After that, we return to our regular programming. Chapter 7 is "Preparing for Approaching Death". Chapter 8, 9 and 10 deal with questions on angels and things that go bump in the night, death itself, and Heaven and Hell. All very pertinent to the dying and those who care for the dying. Lastly, Chapter 11 is titled "Comfort". Comfort to the dying, to the caring and to the mourning. She shows how all comfort ultimately comes from God. Now that I have given a brief overview of the whole book, I want to show what a typical chapter looks like. Every chapter begins with a snippet of the Bachman story. Howard uses that story as a springboard, a hook, to get into the chapter's topic, whether it's denial, or Heaven and Hell. Every chapter will also include a case study from her experience caring and journeying with the dying.A Big Guy StoryRemember the Bachman story. Here is how we get introduced to the main character: Big Bachman McNair III sat in the doctor’s office with his slender wife seated apprehensively on the edge of her chair beside him. He’d always been a big guy—a talented football star in high school and college. But football wasn’t his only claim to fame. He was a big man in the business world as well and had provided a safe and comfortable life for his family.Then the doctor tells him the news. “You’re crazy,” he raved. “Cancer. Why, I don’t believe that for a second. I’m healthy as a horse. If it weren’t for this back pain, I’d be as fit as I was in high school. I’ve lost down to my college weight already. I just overdid the exercise and pulled my back. That’s all.”We follow Bachman through his life's final journey. His wife Penny is a loving partner throughout the trial. And we later get introduced to Paula Shaw, the hospice nurse with "the bright smile and the twinkle in her eyes". Howard writes: Bachman McNair is a fictional character but one I created as a composite of several patients I’ve known. The experiences he faces in this book reflect actual situations in the lives of those who have shared their stories, their lives, and their deaths with me.If there was no Bachman in this book, it can be difficult to see how the chapters come together as a sequence. We were there when Bachman receives the bad news from the doctor and are there when he, spoiler alert?, he dies and his loved ones processed his death. Each chapter is a step in Bachman's move towards death. We experience Bachman's doubts, pain, embarrassment, friendship, joy and hope, which Howard then picks up and elaborates in detail as one who has walked alongside many many deaths. A Christian's Practical Guide to DyingSo that we get what I call a Christian's Practical Guide to Dying. And she is the only one who can do it in this way. Any pastor-theologian can tell you about the spiritual side of things: doctrines of Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons, "the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". Any doctor can tell you what happens in the body as it gives up life: the heart, the lungs, the brain, hearing will be the last sense to go. Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one can tell you the emotional depth of the days of waiting.But as I read this book, I am struck by how only a hospice nurse comes to her patient, and begins her assignment by listening to her patient's breathing so that she can listen for the change in rhythm that tells her the end is near and that it's time to call in the family to say their farewells. Most nurses expect or hope their patients to get well. Hospice nurses don't. And now in this book, we read how a Christian lives out her theology in the days between life and death. For example, in the first chapter on denial, she doesn't just address the five stages of grief because even unbelievers know and work through the five stages of grief. She tells us where God is in the grief: I’ve seen over the years that the more we understand the way God works in our lives and the stronger our faith in Christ, the better we are able to find the sweet acceptance that proves so elusive for others without that personal relationship with Him. I’m not saying there is no pain. It always hurts to lose someone you love. I’m saying there is never a reason for despair, bewilderment, or feelings of abandonment when we experience His lovingkindness and understand the truths of His Word.In speaking about denial, it's not just denial of the inevitable death. She has another denial she wants to address. She writes: When we say we don’t need a Savior to go to heaven, we are in denial — denying the very Word of God. Too Theological?Some reviewers have commented that the book is too pushy in the Christian bits. In the chapter on "The Sovereignty of God" she presents the sovereignty of God over the earth, over the weather, over Satan and his demons, over governments, over mankind and over life and death. And she dedicates a whole chapter just on the sovereignty of God in salvation. As I read these Bible-saturated, doctrinally rich chapters, chapters which I would normally love and adore, I must confess my thought was "What's a hospice nurse doing writing on a subject better left to pastors and theologians?"These chapters are well-written and well-organised. She cites sermons, books and expounds on many dear and familiar Bible verses to tell me things that I already know and have read written by better hands. As I read, I too thought she should cut down or even remove these chapters that interrupt the flow of her book. But I was wrong. For two reasons. One, I am being a snob. While there are better books on these themes, as she herself said, she is a student of the Scriptures not a Bible scholar. Here is an everyday Christian who has put together these beautiful truths from the Bible and integrated them into her working life. This is the desire of every pastor for every teaching ministry. I want to be a Christian who can hear the same old truths instead of only searching for a new insight or twist to familiar passages. Now to the second reason I was wrong to dismiss these doctrinal chapters, and this is the most important reason. We must remember Bachman. Deborah Howard has written these chapters, and it's not only these God's Sovereignty chapters, all the chapters in this book have a strong biblical flavour to them, because these are important. These are literally, literally, the last words she wants the dying to hear. There is no hope but Jesus. Call to Jesus. Cry to Jesus. Fly to Jesus. You can hear the urgency of a Christian who has experienced the goodness of God and wants you, before you die, to know Jesus. More Than A Pastor-TheologianIn my defence, if I am impatient with her biblical exposition of great truths it is because I am so interested in the story of Bachman, the case studies and the practical insights that no pastor or theologian offer so clearly as the humble hospice nurse here.Pastors accompany and care for many in life's final journey but not in the way that, I've come to realise, hospice nurses do. At one point in the book, a hospice nurse manually removes an impacted stool. Pastors are not in the room for that. It's not something theologians would think or write about. You will never see it shown on TV or movies. It's too embarrassing, impolite and you would never think about the bowel movement of the dying, but here it is in this book. And it's not written as it would be in a medical textbook: cold, detached, matter of fact, these are the things that happen when dying. She draws us in by describing conversations with anxious loved ones, the reactions of the patient and how a hospice nurse works to preserve dignity when death tries to take even that away.Let me read a tip she offers in the book:Don’t be surprised if your loved one begins to have “accidents.” Try to take it in stride, and do what you can to preserve the patient’s dignity as you assist in cleaning her up. Make sure her private parts are covered whenever possible, asking other people to leave the room while you’re working with her and never, never shaming her. Try not to make faces showing revulsion. (If the smell bothers you, here’s a trick I use. Open an alcohol swab and wipe it under your nose. All you’ll be able to smell for a few minutes will be the alcohol.) Many times the patient is already unresponsive at this time or incapable of understanding what she has done. But if she is aware that she has made a mess, it will cause her pain and grief and be a tremendous blow to her already-suffering ego. Another tip I picked up was "Don't insist that the patient eat." Howard recounts a case where she gives this advice and the daughter of the patient, got furious and asked, "You mean you want us to sit by and watch my father starve to death?" And the answer was yes. Did you know that as the body nears death, the digestive system shuts down? If the patient eats, he could experience bloating, cramping, vomiting, indigestion, excessive gas production, diarrhea, or constipation, which is why the nurse says, "It could be a cruelty to force food into a gut that has stopped working properly." I don't want you to misunderstand, the book is more than tips and tricks on caring for the dying. By giving you these examples, I show you that Howard deals with things as it is, this is real, and it's not just real physically and emotionally, she gives it to you, spiritually. Integrating Theology and LifeWhen I talk with people about angels and demons, it's a topic of a conversation. "Do angels exist?" We discuss, debate, take a position, study the Bible, preach, and so on. But in this book, when she asks "Do angels exist?", it's because... let me read to you from the story of Bachman. The family are in the den. When...Looking away from her again, Bachman said weakly, “What do you want?” “What, Daddy?” “Okay. But what did Mama say? Is she going too?” With wide eyes Laura looked back over her shoulder at Sarah and John, who were sitting in stunned silence, watching Bachman. Laura shrugged and softly spoke to Bachman again. “Daddy, what are you talking about?” “I wasn’t talking to you,” he said curtly. “Then who were you talking to?” “To him.” He nodded his head toward the space between the fireplace and the leather chair, pointing one thin finger. They all looked but saw nothing. “You were talking to whom, Daddy? John?” Laura strained her ears to hear his muffled reply. “To ... the angel,” he managed to explain.Howard tells of a real incident where a woman saw an angel everyday for several days before she died. She writes:This is not an isolated incident. It happens fairly frequently. I’m not saying absolutely that an angel is there. I’m just saying that’s what people sometimes report. What do the Scriptures teach about this?So that's what I mean by the theology is integrated with real life. In answering questions like angels and demons, heaven and hell, she does not speculate. She does Scripture. Recommending booksAfter completing this book, I was struck that we should all read a book before we go on a trip.You have travel books, travel blogs, travel vlogs, describing every possible holiday destination and what you can see, hear and experience. The travel guide is full of descriptions, warnings and tips and tricks. But there is that one place everybody will go. A place where everybody should be ready for. Have you read a travel book for your final journey? I don't have any personal recommendations to make but Howard does. She regularly quotes from these books: "One Minute After You Die" by Erwin Lutzer and another favourite of hers is "Trusting God Even When Life Hurts" by Jerry Bridges. From this Jerry Bridges book she quotes, "We must embrace three truths if we are really to trust God: God is completely sovereign, God is infinite in wisdom and God is perfect in love." When I read this, I remember a podcast episode, of a father breaking the news he has late-stage cancer to his children. I went looking for the episode and found it. It's from Truth in Love, a podcast from the Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors. In episode 37, "Talking to Your Kids about Your Cancer", Tim Keeter tells the story:Tim asks, "We talk a lot about God is perfect in his love for us, right? What does that mean?" "That means, he always wants what is best for us." "Not just that, not only does he want what is best for us but he is perfect in his infinite wisdom. So boys what does that mean?" "It means that not only that he wants what is best for us but he knows what is best for us." "That's great. That's exactly right. I got one more." "We also talk about God is completely sovereign. So what does that mean?" "Well dad, it means that not only does God always want what is best for us, not only does he always know what is best for us, he will always bring it about." "When?" "Always." "No matter how severe the situation?" "Yes dad, always." "Good. Because I'm going to give you a chance to practise that right now."You can hear Tim break off in tears. I recommend you listen to the full episode in the podcast, Truth in Love. It's episode 37 and there are many good episodes in that podcast from the Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors. This Jerry Bridges book which has helped Tim Keeter and Deborah Howard and many others proves how books can offer real help, real comfort. In her concluding chapter titled "Comfort", Howard shares that when she wrote this book, she wrote it to comfort people. But as she wrote the book, she realised even more deeply that the only source of comfort is God. Deborah Howard's book has helped me reflect on my own life's final journey. And also those of my loved ones. What a great way to start the year. The whole year is ahead of you. Will what you do this way prepare you for the journey you and your loved ones will take? This is a Reading and Readers review of "Sunsets: Reflections on Life's Final Journey" by Deborah Howard. Foreword by D.A. Carson. Available in Amazon Kindle for USD8.95 but free from Faithlife for January. After reading this book, I have gained a newfound appreciation for the work of hospices and palliative care. So much so that I'm going to make a contribution to the local palliative care centre. I ask that you join me to support hospices. And if you are not sure why you should, just read the book. Or visit a hospice. Thank you for listening. Book List"Sunsets: Reflections on Life's Final Journey" by Deborah Howard. Amazon. Faithlife."One Minute After You Die" by Erwin Lutzer. Amazon. Faithlife."Trusting God Even When Life Hurts" by Jerry Bridges. Amazon. Faithlife.Truth in Love (Podcast) by Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors. Link.

A good advice in life is to "Begin with the End in Mind". If you know where you are heading, you'll know what you are doing. If you agree, then today's book review is for you. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I'm reviewing "Revelation and the End of All Things" by Craig R. Koester. This is the second edition, published in 2018 by Eerdmans Publishing. It's priced at USD9.99 in Amazon Kindle but it's free in Logos for January and only January. Puzzling, Mysterious and Scary RevelationRevelation. How would you describe the last book of the Bible? Puzzling. Mysterious. Scary. You are not alone. Koester quotes a a famous theologian who said that Revelation was "neither apostolic nor prophetic". This famous historical figure could "in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it". He also said that "Christ is neither taught nor known in it". And thus he "advised people to stick to the biblical books that present Christ clearly."Who dares to speak against holy scripture? Why, he is none other than Martin Luther. Who dares to smear such a great man? Why, he is none other than Craig R. Koester, a professor at Luther Seminary who has written commentaries on Hebrews and Revelation for the Anchor Yale Commentary series. He was also involved in the Lutheran World Federation's project on the “The Bible in the Life of the Lutheran Communion” from 2011-2016. Martin Luther is known for his over the top language but what provoked his outrageous comments against Revelation? Koester explains that in 1521 there were three radical preachers stirring up trouble by proclaiming the imminent end of the world. By warning people to stick to the biblical books that present Christ clearly he was protecting Christians from false teachers. Because to follow a wrong interpretation of Revelation can be dangerous. Koester gives three examples. The first group predicted Christ's return in March 21, 1843, then March 21, 1844, then October 22, 1844. Then they argued that Christ did return but he returned invisibly to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary. This is the Seventh Day Adventists. The second group predicted Christ's return in 1874, then 1914. They taught that 144,000 saints have a special status citing Revelation passages. This group is of course, the Jehovah Witnesses. The third group attempted to gather 144,000 people to greet the arrival of God's kingdom which was prophesied to happen on April 22, 1959. When the date passed without incidence, Vernon Howell, who later called himself, David Koresh took over the remnant. Listen to how Koester describes his teaching:Since Isaiah 45:1 calls Cyrus or “Koresh” God’s “anointed one” (christos in Greek), David Koresh argued that many New Testament references to the “christ” referred to a latter-day warrior rather than to Jesus. For example, he insisted that the Lamb who would break the seals on the scroll that contained God’s plan for the ages (Rev. 5:2) was not Jesus, but Koresh himself. He also claimed to be the conqueror on the white horse that appeared when the first seal was broken (Rev. 6:1–2). Like Cyrus before him, Koresh envisioned himself as the adversary of “Babylon,” the term he used for federal agents and other outsiders.When you read how Revelation has been interpreted by the Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses and David Koresh, Martin Luther's over the top warnings seem prudent. Luther in his commentary on Revelation offers one significant insight. Revelation is a message of warning and promise. Throughout this book, Koester will take Luther's cue to show that message of warning and promise. If you know nothing about interpreting Revelation, the first chapter is a must-read. Here, Koester traces the history of interpreting revelation from the early church fathers onwards. Notable names include Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Montanus, Jerome, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and later the Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, David Koresh, postmillennialists, premillennialists, and more. From his big sweep through history, Koester highlights what he sees as important threads and brings them together for his book. For example, Revelation is not a chronological straight line reading. It is cyclical, meaning the same ideas are repeated in different ways. You Literally Don't Know What Literally MeansA central argument he makes is Revelation is not a code book for 22nd century Christians to reveal the divine secrets of current or future events. Koester rejects a futuristic interpretation and holds a historical and timeless interpretation of Revelation. You say, "Why don't we just take a literal interpretation?" The funny thing is everyone says they are taking a literal interpretation. Premillennialists say Revelation literally shows the world will get worse and so Christians must heed the warnings and prepare for it. Postmillennialists say Revelation literally shows the world will get better and so Christians must heed the promises and work towards it. Amillennialists say we must take Revelation as it is literally. It is literally a revelation, a prophecy and a letter.Many end-times debate start at Revelation 20, which is the millennial kingdom chapter, and people interpret the rest of Revelation based on their view on the millennial. Koester asks that we read Revelation not from Revelation 20 but from the first three chapters of Revelation, read it as a letter to the seven churches. Then as we advance further and get buffeted by the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bowls of wrath, the creatures with faces resembling a human, a lion, an ox and an eagle and so on, Koester our steadfast guide will remind us that all these visions were written as a message of promise and warning to the seven churches as they confront assimilation, persecution and complacency. And what they face, we also face. Thus, the message of promise and warning which historically applies to them is timeless for all Christians.Six CyclesIn the start of a chapter, before he begins his commentary, there is a circle or a cycle to be precise. When he comments on Revelation 1-3, the picture is of one cycle. In the next chapter, we see two cycles and so on. What I appreciate is he doesn't just tell us there is this cyclical structure in the book, which we can gather from an outline. What Koester does so well is to show how the cycles connect to each other. For example, at the start of chapter three, he writes:As the previous cycle concluded, Christ stood knocking at the door, waiting for the Christian community to open to him (3:20); but before readers can respond, a new cycle begins as John is shown a door that already stands open (4:1). The contrast is provocative: as Christ asks the community to open their door to him, he opens heaven’s door to them through John’s prose.By showing the connection between cycles, when we reach the final chapter, which is the sixth and final cycle of visions, we are persuaded of his conclusion. Let me quote from him:The peculiar cyclical structure of Revelation, which we have followed throughout this book, directs attention to God and the Lamb as the End of all things. By taking readers through a dizzying spiral of visions, Revelation helps to undercut the readers’ confidence that they can know the steps by which future events will unfold. Those who find a kind of security in knowing where they are on God’s timeline subtly fall prey to a false faith, because God keeps the secrets of his coming hidden from human eyes (Matt. 24:36). Therefore, the kaleidoscopic changes in images that overlap with each other and convey similar messages in multiple guises actually help to show readers the limits of their own abilities to determine where they are in time. As Revelation’s spirals unsettle readers, however, they repeatedly bring readers back to the presence of God and the Lamb, who are worthy of the readers’ trust (Rev. 1:12–20; 4:1–5:14; 7:9–17; 11:15–19; 15:2–4; 19:1–10; 21:1–22:5).Sometimes commentaries ask a lot from the readers, knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, ancient history, literature but Koester makes no such demands. He shows us there is a cycle simply by putting the Bible verses together. Just follow the evidence and you will reach the same conclusions. Not a Reference Book But BetterNormally, if you pick up a commentary on Revelation, it's because you want to know what a symbol means. For example, let me read from Revelation 5:6.And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.Christians understand the Lamb to symbolically refer to Jesus Christ. Nobody takes this verse to mean a literal lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. But you wonder, "What do the seven horns and seven eyes mean?" So you take a commentary, and the one we are reading is Koester's and you are disappointed.To answer your question, "What do the seven horns and seven eyes mean?", Koester just tells us that the horn is a symbol of power (Ps 132:17) and seven refers to God's sevenfold Spirit (Isa 11:1-3). That's it. What Koester lacks in detailed exposition he more than compensates with big picture exposition. He does explain who is the 144,000 redeemed, the woman, Michael and the dragon, the two beasts, the Great Harlot and so on, but he always tackles the question of what the symbol means in light of the whole book of Revelation. Why A Lamb? Why Not Something More Direct?For example, in his comments on the lamb who was slain, the verse we read just now, Koester poses a different question. He writes: This scene is a good place to ask again why Revelation communicates through word pictures rather than in a more direct way. Notice that by asking this general question, "Why word pictures?", the answer will help you grasp the entire book which is full of word pictures. Listen to his answer on why a lamb.In this single vivid image of the Lamb, John brings together multiple dimensions of meaning: vulnerability, sacrificial death, and deliverance. As noted earlier, the imagery also appeals to the emotions and the will by evoking sympathy and a willingness to identify with the one whom the Lamb represents. By juxtaposing the images of a Lion and a Lamb, John portrays the suffering and death of Jesus as an act of power—the power of redemptive self-giving, which accomplishes God’s purposes. The widespread use of the Lamb image in Christian art, music, and worship attests to its ability to capture the imagination.This is a brilliant answer putting forward the theological, emotional, contextual and practical. What is the Beast?Another example, "What is the Beast from the Sea in Revelations 13?" Instead of trying to identify who are the ten horns and seven heads - Are they Roman emperors? Are they the United Nations? - Koester contrasts the Lamb Who Was Slain against the Beast from the Sea. He comments:Many of the beast’s features are hideous distortions of those of the Lamb. Christians believed that the God enthroned in heaven sent Christ into the world as the Lamb who suffered and died for others. In a perverse counterpart to this story, the Devil who is kicked out of heaven sends a beast into the world to make others suffer and die. In previous chapters, readers learned that the Lamb shares the power, the throne, and the authority of God (5:6, 12, 13; 12:5, 10); now they learn that the beast shares the power, the throne, and the authority of Satan the dragon (13:2). Koester later concludes that "the beast exemplifies the threats that confront the people of God in many generations." Do you hear the clash in approach? The clash between the futuristic versus timeless interpretative approach? The futuristic approach tries to map the beast to someone we have to watch out. The futuristic approach is a common way of reading Revelation which Koester rejects. In contrast, the timeless approach warns us to watch out for assimilation, persecution and complacency. The problems that has historically affected the seven churches are the same problems we currently face. Thus, the beast is a timeless symbol of persecution. A Holy City Shaped As A CubeOne last insight. In keeping with what Martin Luther said is the purpose of Revelation, let's look at a promise this time instead of a warning. In Revelation 21, John speaks of the new city, the New Jerusalem. Verse 21:16:The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.If the length, width and height are equal then this city is a perfect cube. 12,000 stadia is 1380 miles or 2220 kilometers. Let's just look at the height. The tallest building in the world right now is not even 1 kilometer high. It is barely half a mile high. Imagine the scale. The mind resists to imagine a cubic city and perhaps resistance is futile. Futile, maybe because the numbers and dimensions point to something else. Koester asserts that the cubic shape points to the holy city as a sanctuary. Did you know that the inner chambers of the tabernacle and the temple, the Holy of Holies, is a cubic space? Let me read from 1 Kings 6:20.The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high...Instead of trying to visualise a cubic Holy City, which is more than 2000 times taller than our tallest building today - How does it look like? How would it be constructed? - let us consider rather the relationship of New Jerusalem with the Holy of Holies. Who Is This Book For?Who is this book for? When it comes to interpreting Revelation, I suggest there are three groups of people. The first group is so intimidated by Revelation that they avoid reading it. The book overwhelms the mind. It's such a hard book, I don't understand it and I'll just skip it because there are 65 other books for me to understand. For the longest time, I was a member of this group.Then there is the second group who are cocksure that they have nailed the interpretation of Revelation using obviously, obviously, the correct biblical approach and nothing would convince them that they are wrong. Even if they stood before the Great White Throne surrounded by the angelic hosts, they would probably tell the Lord Jesus that it's all great and all but the movie, I mean the outcome, is different from the book. Between those two extremes, are people who are timidly exploring Revelation to learn Old Testament allusions and theological categories like eschatology, apocalyptic literature and millennialism. This book has something for all three groups.For the first group, the scaredy cats, this book gives you the satisfaction that you can understand the book of Revelation. I don't know how to impress upon you how wonderful a feeling this is for a book that is so impenetrable for so long. For those who feel lost reading Revelation, Koester offers a map, a cyclical structure, that will help you make sense of all the visions. For the second group, the confident students of Revelation, Koester will not change your mind. He spends more time explaining why he is right, and not why you are wrong. You will gain a clearer and better understanding of one interpretation. Or to paraphrase one of R.C. Sproul's jokes, you will have two interpretations, one is yours and the other is God's. Joking aside, when Christians discuss about the end times we often lose sight of what we agree about the end times. Koester tells us Revelation begins and ends with God and the Lamb. You agree. Koester tells us that Revelation functions to offer promise and warning to Christians. You agree. So while many may disagree with the details or what it means to take a literal interpretation, there is still far more that unites us than separates Christians in this Revelation debate. This book helps build that unity. For the third group, my earlier comments obviously apply but I add another. We don't like being unsure of anything. It makes us uncomfortable, wishy-washy, sitting on the fence. We become tempted to rush into the first position that makes sense to us. If you are still exploring and are not familiar with other positions yet, I ask that you hold on. At least until you understand why other Bible-honouring Christians hold to differing positions. Understanding Revelation As A WholeI have one final reflection that hopefully might tip the balance to get you to read this book. I don't know about you but the Revelation sermons I have heard all came as short series. For example, I attended a conference where Tim Keller preached a series on the seven churches. I remember my pastor preaching a short series on the seven seals. When you consider what Revelation is, with all the psychedelic colours and noise, it's understandable why it's offered as a short series rather than preached from Revelation chapter one to chapter 22. But I understand my experience could be different from yours.All I am saying is, if you are looking for a book that gives you a clear structure to follow and explains the relationships between the chapters of Revelation in a way that you can get it and stirs you with a timeless message of promise and warning, then this is the book to get. This is a Reading and Reader's review of "Revelation and the End of All Things" by Craig R. Koester. It's available now for free from Logos for this month and this month only.Next in Reading and Readers!As regular listeners would know, Logos is not the only one with a free book of the month programme. Faithlife has one. The next book I will review is "Sunsets: Reflections for Life's Final Journey" by Deborah Howard. Let me read the description:Because one death touches many lives, it is important for both those who are dying and those who love them to be prepared for the pain and grief that accompany it. Here Deborah Howard shares words of comfort and encouragement for everyone coping with suffering and death. Her compassion, firm faith in Christ, and years of working as a hospice nurse create a uniquely sensitive, experiential, and biblical volume.Above all, she emphasizes that there is a light that cuts through death's dark shadow. That light is Jesus Christ, and He offers hope and comfort to all who are facing life's final journey.I'm looking forward to sharing my review of this book with you in two weeks. See you then!Book List"Revelation and the End of All Things" by Craig R. Koester. Amazon. Logos.

Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Except today I'm not reviewing any books because this is a special behind the scenes episode. These are the last days of December and I've decided to start a tradition. You are listening to the first ever Reading and Readers Year End Reflection episode. The Desert Shall Rejoice and Blossom like the CrocusAs I look back to April this year, which is when I started this podcast, I remember the trepidation of releasing my first six episodes. In Episode 6, I shared the genesis of Reading and Readers and the meaning behind the cover art. Leaves, river and desert. What has that got to do with reading? Isaiah 35. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. (Isaiah 35:1–2, ESV)These verses express the refreshing, soul-invigorating experience of reading a good book. Reading could be described as an investment with sure profits, a journey into another world or some other imagery. Back when I was trying to think of a name for this podcast, these verses just clicked. And when life becomes dry, a good book is an oasis. Remember that God wants everyone to be a reader, even if it's a reader of one book, the Good Book. I humbly suggest that if we read more books, we become better readers of the Bible. The podcast is titled Reading and Readers. In every episode, my attention is on the reader: young, old, beginner, avid, sinner, saint. What would convince you to start this book? What would stumble you from completing it? What other books could I recommend to you? Today, instead of speaking as a reviewer, I'll share as a reader, how the books I read have impacted me.Chanting the Fruit of the Spirit"Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness" by Chris Wright proved to be a foundational stepping stone in my Christian walk. It's not flashing with marvellous insights. You will not be captivated by the author's wit and way with words. It's rather understated in what it achieved and I wonder whether it would have the same impact on others. In the first chapter, Wright describes how John Stott prays for the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control everyday. That daily prayer just stuck with me until today.I don't know about you but before this, I never bothered to memorise the fruit of the S pirit. I remember the first three and if forced to recite the rest, I would mumble my way through. With a little bit of effort inspired by Chris Wright's book, I am now the proud owner of a mind that can remember nine words in sequence. Yay, for small victories. But did I succeed to pray them every morning like I wanted to? Yes. I was consistent for a few weeks. Then momentary lapses. And three months later today, no. I don't pray them in the morning.However, I chant them. The word chant evokes casting a magic spell or just mindlessly repeating phrases over and over again. Maybe you would suggest the word meditate instead of chant but chant is the more accurate word. It's like this. Something upsets me. Maybe wife, kids, work, church, the news or whatever it may be. Then if I am alert and self-aware, I'll intentionally go through the fruit of the Spirit in my head. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And I just repeat it over and over again. I don't meditate and wonder "What is God's love? How do I love? How am I loved?" I don't do that. I am just 'mindlessly' repeating the verse in my head to short circuit the bad thoughts that threaten to come out as unkind words or regrettable actions. I don't just recite them when angry. When I am washing the dishes or taking out the trash, sometimes I sing a song, my favourite currently is "His Mercy is More" by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa. But often times, I would just recite the fruit of the Spirit. If I don't, I realise my mind would stray towards money, or work, or perhaps some issue somewhere. There is a time and place to think such things but I think more than a solution I need the fruit of the Spirit.Because it's on my mind often, it's something I talk about with my children too. Self-control especially. And sometimes I lead my family in prayer through them. Efficiency and ROI in ReadingThis is an example of how a book can nurture the mind and soul. Am I able to summarise Chris Wright's book? No, I can't remember most of what I read, nor do I try to. I don't think the point of reading is to remember the whole book.The John Stott story is told in the very beginning of the book. Since I gained the most from that story, wouldn't it be more efficient to just read that story rather than the whole book and gain the same effect? But if I didn't read the whole book, I wouldn't get the same effect. When you read a book, your brain is not downloading data. When you read data there is a network effect. The network effect is what happens when you have more people using the product or service. If you are the only person with a phone, the phone is useless. A phone becomes more useful when others have phones. As you read a page, you are consciously or subconsciously connecting that data to other data stored in you. For example, when you read a story like John Stott praying the fruit of the Spirit and that's all you read, you could possibly, maybe, perhaps get the same soul-enriching experience I had. But if I read the same story on a tweet, I wouldn't gain much from it. That story was hammered deeper in my soul because Chris Wright went through chapter by chapter, for example: how God demonstrated love, and how we are to reflect God's love. So my mind was fixated on the fruit of the Spirit for an extended time under the tutelage of an expert. So instead of considering the Return of Investment based on how many percent of the book I remember or apply, it's more helpful to consider who I was before the book compared to after the book. Public Disagreements Stick in the BrainAnother thing I learnt this year was by disagreeing with a book, and publicly stating that disagreement, the idea occupies a bigger space in the mind than it should. To give just one example, All Things New by Pete Hughes. Hughes says that God doesn't have statues in his Temple because we are his living statues. In my review, I questioned the wisdom of describing ourselves as living statues because statues carries undertones of idolatry and we tend to make much of ourselves than of God. Six months later, I still think I am right but interestingly because of that book, I am more aware of Imago Dei, that we are created in the image of God. I am especially attentive to this when I listen to sermons, read the Bible or read other books. Is All Things New by Pete Hughes a book that I would heartily recommend to others? No. I would easily recommend people read Providence by John Piper over that book. However, I have not given the doctrine of Providence as much attention as the doctrine of Image-bearing. Perhaps this proves my point, we tend to think of ourselves more than of God. If All Things New made think more about a subject, there is a set of books that helped me not think about a subject. Monsters are Scarier in the DarkOne of the most popular episodes here is my review of Fault Lines vs Cynical Theories vs Ministers of Reconciliation. When I read the book, Critical Race Theory seemed to be spreading, exploding and threatening the church. I noticed I was growing anxious. Instead of taking a pill for my anxiety, I decided to read some books. This might not be the best treatment for everyone. You might end up more anxious after reading Baucham's Fault Lines. I'm sure there are other books, better books: more even-handed, better researched, better written, but at the end of it, after reading Fault Lines, Cynical Theories and Ministers of Reconciliation I had a starting point to interpret all the news, articles, tweets and books that come my way. I am not an expert on Critical Race Theory and related matters, but I now know enough to have conversations, to ask better questions and to not feel so anxious. A monster is less scary in the daylight than in the dark.So far I have shared how a book inspired a chanting habit, how another book got me attentive to the image of God teachings and how a set of books brought clarity on Critical Race Theory and the church.When the Reading Gets Tough, the Tough Gets ReadingMy last reflection for today on a category of books, let's call them tough books, that I didn't think listeners would have cared much for. It's easy to understand why people listen to my reviews on Paul David Tripp or Eric Metaxas' books. The books are written for a mainstream audience. Big, big pool. It's a surprise when there are as many, if not more, listeners for my reviews on tough books by Walter C. Kaiser Jr., or D.A. Carson or Gordon Wenham. If you go to Amazon or Goodreads and just look for reviews on the Young Christian by Jacob Abbott, it is a desert. So the fact that there are many listeners to my Jacob Abbott review for example, suggests that some are willing to be stretched in their reading. You may not have read those tough books, but your willingness to listen to the review of these books, is a step in the right direction. Let me explain. I once read a reading tip. The advice is to read many books at our comfort reading level, to read some books below our reading level and to read a few books above our reading level. When I read below my reading level, for example children's books like the Green Ember series by S.D. Smith and the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, I am reminded that great stories and big truths come packaged in different sizes. The difficulty is reading above the reading level. I admire people who can read tough books like Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, Freedom of the Will by Jonathan Edwards or Mortification of Sin by John Owen. When John Piper advises Christians to read less books more deeply, I believe he was referring to such classics. Aside from the classics, another source of tough books is the Logos Free Book of the Month programme. When I started this podcast, I did not expect to review many Logos books. I thought many of the books as beyond me, better suited as reference and I didn't have the time or ability to do a review. If you listen to the podcast's earlier episodes, you can hear how intimidated I was. In this year end reflection, I find myself surprised at the tough books I have managed to not only read but also review. In case you don't know, because I didn't initially, reviewing is a lot harder than I thought. In the time it takes to do one review, I could read another book or two!Let me tell you which was the toughest book to read. Recovering the Unity of the Bible by Kaiser and Hebrews by Owen were both hard to read but the toughest was Scripture and Truth, a collection of 12 essays edited by D.A. Carson and John Woodbridge. It's a good thing it's a collection of essays because with a platter of goodies, you can munch on what you like and ignore the ones that cause indigestion.There are a couple of essays in that collection that if turned into a full book, would be too philosophical and complex for me, at least for my reading level now. Let Me Have ItOverall, I'm satisfied with my reading journey for the year and how Reading and Readers have progressed. Since it's the end of the year, I invite you to share your own reading journey. How do you find the podcast? Please send me your feedback via email, or Twitter or the website's contact form. You can find all the contact details in the website at www.readingandreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. Before I end the final episode for 2021, I just want to thank everyone who listens to the podcast. For you it's a click of a play button, for me it's affirmation that what I offer has value to someone. Also I want to give a shoutout to Esther from Boston for helping to offset the costs of running this podcast. She was an early supporter and her early feedback remains an encouragement to this day. Let me end with a quote from Henry Alford (1810-1871) who made this prayer 200 years ago for New Year's Eve. I quote:O eternal God, in these last hours of another year we come before you with our praises, and we would humble ourselves in your sight.We thank you for our preservation during the year that is gone, and for all your mercies in providence and grace; for all your dealings with us that we knew to be blessings; for all in which you have blessed us, though we did not know it.We praise you for your chastisements, for our bereavements, for our sicknesses, for our disappointments and trials.We would also humble ourselves before you, O Lord. We are frail and sinful. We are dust and ashes. We cannot so much as lift up our faces to you, who are the Holy One, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, who inhabits eternity and does not change.But blessed be your name for that refuge that you have provided from your wrath, for that fountain that you have opened for sin and uncleanness. We flee to our Redeemer to hide us. We rest upon your everlasting covenant with us in Him, and we are safe. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.And as we now lie down at the end of the year, committing ourselves to your protection, so may we lie down in peace at the end of life, knowing whom we have believed, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.This is a Reading and Readers Year End Reflection. May the Good Lord bless you for the new year ahead. Remember to send any comments or feedback. You can consider that a kindness to end the year or to start the year. Contact details at www.readingandreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. Thank you for listening.

“This greatest work of John Owen is a work of gigantic strength as well as gigantic size; and he who has mastered it is very little short … of being an erudite and accomplished theologian.” That is J.I. Packer quoting Thomas Chalmers on John Owen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review Hebrews by John Owen. Or to be more precise the Crossway Classic Commentary abridged version of Hebrews by John Owen. The original commentary on Hebrews by John Owen spans 7 volumes at 3600 pages. The abridged version is part of the Crossway Classic Commentary series edited by Alister McGrath and J.I. Packer. In contrast, it's a manageable 270 pages long and is a Logos Free Book for the month of December. John OwenWho is John Owen? Born 1616 and died 1683, John Owen is an English Theologian. According to the Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals:was without doubt not only the greatest theologian of the English Puritan movement but also one of the greatest European Reformed theologians of his day, and quite possibly possessed the finest theological mind that England ever produced.I find it serendipitous that in Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, the next entry is J.I. Packer. Packer has done much to bring Puritan writing to a modern audience, and this book is an example of that. O.G. HebrewsI have the original 7 volumes. I just have them. I can't say I read them. The first two volumes are on the authorship (he concludes that the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews) and other background and theological matters. The commentary proper begins in volume three. To read the book, you have to know Greek, Hebrew and Latin. And also comfortable with reading Puritan English with its own vocabulary and ways. And it helps if you are familiar with church history. Owen commenting on Hebrews 6:4-6 writes:Hence Tertullian, in his book de Pœnitentia, reflects on Zephyrinus, the bishop of Rome, that he had admitted adulterers unto repentance, and thereby unto the communion of the church. But that church proceeding in her lenity, and every day enlarging her charity, Novatus and Novatianus taking offence thereat, advanced an opinion on the contrary extreme.John Owen's Hebrews for Mere MortalsLet us leave behind Owen's 7 volumes and move on to the abridged version edited by Packer. We must thank Packer because by writing this abridged version, that means he read the full 7 volumes. A heroic task in itself. And to then compress and translate John Owen's masterpiece for us mere mortals to sip at. Oh thank you J.I. Packer! Thank you McGrath! Thank you Crossway!Packer pre-empts our thanks by writing in his introduction: Today’s evolutionary mind-set makes us expect Puritan Bible-work to be cruder and shallower than ours, but this classic work joins hands with Matthew Henry’s great exposition of the entire Bible to prove us wrong, even when downscaled as drastically as it is in this abridged version. To present it in this way, in a form more palatable to a modern readership, is for me a privilege indeed.Packer. What a humble guy. From now onwards, when I refer to Hebrews by John Owen, I am referring to the abridged version edited by Packer. OrganisationPacker has excluded the discussions on the author or date or theological themes. The book is structured as thirteen chapters corresponding to the thirteen chapters in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Each chapter is broken down into groups of verses corresponding to the outline. The outline is described in brief in the beginning of the chapter and from there Owen drills down. He expounds on the verses and then expounds the individual words.For example, in the Bible Hebrews 1:1-2 goes like this:Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.To explain 'at many times', Owen describes the progress of divine revelation in four principal parts. First was to Adam, then Noah, then Moses and finally through Jesus. Just to give you an idea of how much exposition to expect, Hebrews 1:1-2 consists of 45 words - depending on which translation you are using. Owen's abridged commentary uses 2500 words or 4 pages to expound those two verses. If you like maths that's a 50:1 ratio. 50 words to expound 1 word. Just for fun. I checked how long was the full "director's cut". To copy the text from Logos into Microsoft Word, I was scrolling and scrolling, trying to reach the end of his commentary on verse 1 and 2 and it took awhile. Owen's unabridged commentary on Hebrews 1:1-2 is 41000 words or 61 pages. That's a 900:1 ratio. 900 words to expound 1 word.Three Examples of Owen's InterpretationWhen reading any commentary on Hebrews, you want to give special attention to how the writer interprets Hebrews 6:4-6. This is the controversial verse that reads, I'm reading from the ESV: For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.The word impossible to restore to repentance has caused no end of controversies. Owen takes the view that the people described here are not believers. I quote his conclusion at length:From this description of these people we can see who the apostle has in mind. It is clear that these people are not true and sincere believers, in the strict and correct sense of that name. There is no mention of faith or believing. In the following verses they are compared with the ground on which the rain often falls but which bears no useful crop. But this is not so with true believers.It is clear that these people had been recently converted from Judaism to Christianity. They received special privileges. For they had received extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues or performing miracles. These people had found in themselves and others convincing evidence that God’s kingdom and Messiah, which they called the coming age, had come on them, and they enjoyed their glories. It must have been some horrible frame of spirit, some malicious enmity against the truth and holiness of Christ and the Gospel, that could turn people like this from the faith and blot out all that light and conviction of truth that they had received. But the least grace is a better security for heaven than the greatest gifts and privileges, wherever they may come from.Another interesting interpretation of his is on Hebrews 5:12, where it says that the word of God is living and active. The way most of us understand it is the word of God refers to the Bible. Owen presents and defends the view that the word of God refers here to Jesus Christ. As per John 1's the Word made flesh. Let's have a look at one more. In Hebrews 11, we have the famous heroes of the faith list. Verse four reads, "By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain". Let me ask you the question, "Why is Abel's sacrifice more acceptable?" My answer was, "Abel gave his best while Cain did not." Owen offers a surprising interpretation. Bear in mind, I have not studied the Letter to the Hebrews before so I'm easily surprised. Owen writes: The difference between Cain and Abel was Abel’s faith. As their faith differed, so did their actions and the objects they used to sacrifice with. Cain considered God only as a creator and preserver, whom he offered the fruits of the earth. He had not thought about sin or how to be delivered from it. Abel’s faith was fixed on God, not only as a creator, but as redeemer also, as the one who, in his infinite wisdom and grace, had appointed the way of redemption through sacrifice and atonement. So Abel’s sacrifice was accompanied with a sense of sin and guilt, with its lost condition by the fall, and a trust in the way of redemption and recovery that God had provided. This is borne out by his type of sacrifice, which was by death and blood: death, which he deserved because of his sin; blood, which was the way atonement came.I have shared three excerpts from the book which shows the gems of insight we can garner from "the finest theological mind that England ever produced". Credit Where Credit is DueCall me shallow but every time I finish a Puritan book, even this abridged one, I see it as an achievement. I make much of the fact that this is 7 volumes condensed into one because I want to remind everyone that one man made a gargantuan effort to study this one letter. He wrote this with the purpose to edify Christians. He did the hard work and we benefited. Just because Owen wrote more than 2 million words in his commentary doesn't mean that we suspend our critical thinking and accept whatever he wrote. No commentator is authoritative in the way the Bible is authoritative. Even so, I finished in one month an abridged reading of a work that John Owen took 16 years to write. Volume 1 was published in 1668 and the work was complete in 1684. And what Packer has done here is to make Owen's thoughts and interpretation accessible to a wider audience. Honestly, Owen's original volume may be too much even as a reference book. The Greek, Hebrew, Latin and presumed knowledge on the reader (Hah! That simply shows how Christian scholars have regressed!) means that the original is too dense and would almost never be read, if not for Packer's abridged version. A Book for Owen FansWhich brings me to my critique of the book. This is the Christmas season and I just realised that the Epistles to the Hebrews is as natural to Christmas as Christmas trees and decorations. Normally, for Christmas we would read Isaiah or Matthew or Luke. You can add Hebrews to the list because it explains why the incarnation is necessary. In that sense, I'm grateful to read Hebrews in this season. Mostly the Bible book and not the commentary. The problem is Owen's structure. For all of Packer's genius in editing, the structure is not designed for easy reading. On the other hand, by condensing the book, Packer cuts off the scholarly nitty-gritty detailed discussions which fits the book's structure. It's too difficult for light reading but it's too light for heavy reading.When you read this commentary, you need to keep the Bible open. When Owen expounds on individual words, it's easy to forget where those words came from. You dive deep into a word and you get lost in the deep waters. What was the sentence where this word came from? By the way, this is a good reason to use Logos because you can link the Bible with the Commentary. On your left is the Bible, on your right is the commentary. When you scroll through the commentary, the Bible will magically scroll to the right verse and it works the other way round as well. This is a really good feature because if you read this book without the Bible open, you will find it difficult to follow the detailed word-by-word exposition. Then there is the quality of the exposition. Sometimes, the exposition seems redundant. For example, Hebrews 11:2 reads, "This is what the ancients were commended for." Owen expounds on three words: the ancients, commended and this. To explain "commended", Owen writes:They received this witness in the Scripture, although it was very different in the world.I appreciate it's difficult to make sense of what I just read. I assure you, it's not a problem with me wrenching that sentence out of context. Owen (or more accurately Packer) gives us a sentence that forces us to read the full version to know what Owen meant. Often times as I read this commentary, I am reminded of a conversation I heard about a seminary student. A professor asked a seminarian who was reading some commentaries, "Do you understand what you read?" The seminarian answers, "No. But when I read the Bible, the commentary makes more sense." Do you get it? Normally we go to a commentary to help illuminate a difficult Bible passage. Here, it's the other way around. And I felt that many times reading this Owen book. If you are going to spend money on this book as a reference, I would suggest getting a good Bible dictionary to do word studies. You can then use it to study other books, not just Hebrews. If you want to study the Epistle to the Hebrews, there are options out there more suitable for devotional reading or technical reference. The original Owen commentary is fantastic as a technical reference if anyone could understand it. And I don't see anyone picking this book for devotional reading. The way I see it, you should only read this commentary because you want a glimpse of John Owen's thoughts on Hebrews. Or because you need to complete Tim Challies's Reading Challenge. He has a box you can tick after you read a book written by a Puritan. Like I said earlier, I am more satisfied than I should be that I finished John Owen's abridged commentary on Hebrews. And I managed to do that thanks to the Logos Free Book of the Month programme for giving me the book for free and this Reading and Readers podcast for the motivation to finish. In fact, perhaps you might want to join me for a Reading and Readers Challenge. You can join me to read every Faithlife and/or Logos Free Book. Then drop me an email or tweet and tell me what you think. Music to Read Hebrews ByBefore I end this episode, I have a bonus for you. When I reviewed the Psalter Reclaimed by Gordon Wenham, I introduced Poor Bishop Hooper to you. Their EveryPsalm project, which releases a song based on a psalm each week, is a great companion to read the Psalms with. For today, I want to recommend a must-listen album to go along with any reading of Hebrews. If you are reading or finished reading Hebrews, you must listen to Psallos, P-S-A-L-L-O-S, that's the group's name, and their album titled Hebrews. This is simply creative genius. The album progresses through the epistle. The first song begins at Hebrews 1 and the last song ends with Hebrews 13. They don't just take words, they convey the feeling, the theme of the letter. How can you make a song about Jesus as high priest? Listen to this. The genius is in the lyrics, so if you can't catch the lyrics, you can go to the show notes, or readingandreaders.com or just search for Psallos Hebrews, it's song number 10. Let me play a snippet for you:Let me tell you ‘bout the high priests, Chosen from among men, sent to represent them, And to act on behalf of a people that have a sin problem. Let me tell you ‘bout the high priest, Once every year, there’s a day where they, Well he enters in the holiest place, To ask grace to be saved from the sin problem. Let me ask you ‘bout this high priest: Sounds like a righteous guy. Is his life spotless and sanctified? Nothin’ condemnin’ him like a sin problem? Let me tell you the sin problem, The funny thing is, as you’ll see, He has the same disease. So he must atone for his own sins first. What on earth? It’s like he’s not a very good high priest. How’s he gonna intercede when he’s got the same infirmity? Wouldn’t the Lord show anger towards him as well Cause just as sinful as the rest of Israel? I see your point but you’ve gotta see mine: These men were appointed by God’s design, Designed to die? No designed to sympathize With the lives of the Israelites. I think you might be losing your mind, there, Thom! Sympathy’s not going to save. I know but listen to what I’m saying, Kelsie. These guys are like shadows and types. Yeah, ineffectual types. Your guitar’s an ineffectual type. But what we can agree on is this: Jesus, He is better, He is infinitely better. Blameless, spotless, sinless, righteous. Able to fight this sinful-itis, Able to right these wrongs that plague us, Able to justify and save us, Able to sympathize with our weakness Cause He has taken on flesh to seek us. He is better in every way Than the Levite priests of the olden days, For His priestly reign will never ever cease, And he is of the order of an ancient priest. As said by the Lord who declared it so And appointed Him a priest by the word of an oath. Let us tell you ‘bout this great high priest What cracked me up was when Thom, the male singer, says, "These men were appointed by God's design." Kelsie, the female singer, shoots, "Designed to die?" Thom answers, "No designed to sympathize." Okay, it's not a song that you can sing along with the church. Although there are some that you can sing along. It's a mix. Their Hebrews album, just like their other albums: Romans, Philippians and Jude, have a mix of songs that are fresh, theologically insightful and together make the album complete. I want to explain what I mean by complete. Have you noticed when you listen to hymns as opposed to contemporary Christian music that hymns seem to tell a story. For example, Amazing Grace ends with "When we have been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise, than when we first begun." So there is a progression in Amazing Grace towards Heaven. So what happens in that one song Amazing Grace is something that happens for the entire album here. So when you listen to Hebrews or Romans, which is my favourite album from Psallos, it feels complete because it begins at the beginning of the biblical book and goes through the emotional, theological, journey in song and the album ends where the book ends. It's beautiful. Ingenious. I think every theologian and Christian should like, follow, subscribe to Psallos. Psallos can help you get Hebrews into your head or Hebrews will help you understand what Psallos is singing. John Owen would love it. And that's my bonus for you.The EndThis is a Reading and Readers review of Hebrews (The Crossway Classic Commentaries) by John Owen. Edited by J.I. Packer. Series Editor is Alister McGrath. I don't see a Kindle version in Amazon, the paperback is selling for $10.66 as of Boxing Day 2021, and for the next 5 days it's free from Logos. And if you are up for the Reading and Readers Challenge, I invite you to join me in reading next month's free book from the good folks at Faithlife. It should be out on the first of Jan and my review, if all goes well, should be released on the 10th of January. Wishing you a blessed 2022, may the Good Lord bless your family and you. Book ListHebrews (The Crossway Classic Commentaries) by John Owen. Abridged. Amazon. Logos.Hebrews by John Owen. Amazon. Logos.Hebrews by Psallos. Website.

We need to pray more; we need to give more careful thought to the content of our prayers; and we need to spend more time preparing our hearts and our tongues for prayer. It is with that in mind that I offer this book.That's Pastor John MacArthur from the preface of his book, "A Year of Prayer". Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "A Year of Prayer" by John MacArthur. 258 pages. Published by Harvest House Publishers in 2014. Priced at USD11.49 in Amazon Kindle and USD14.99 at Faithlife. But for this month and this month only, this book is available for free from Faithlife. I am not a MacArthur HaterJohn MacArthur is the pastor for Grace Community Church. He is also the President of The Masters College and Seminary. He has written countless books and has preached verse-by-verse the entire New Testament over the course of 42 years. A lifetime achievement! Another fruit of his long labours is the MacArthur New Testament Commentary Set, a 33 volume commentary on the entire New Testament. With this, you can know what MacArthur thinks of every verse in the New Testament.With that, I want you to know that I am not a John MacArthur hater. You might think that when I give today's book, "A Year of Prayer", a less than complimentary review. Even when I disagree with him at some points, I still value his opinions. R.C. Sproul's highest praise for MacArthur was if you can show MacArthur that the Bible proves he is wrong, MacArthur would unhesitatingly change his position. The Children's NoteSo coming back to today's book, "A Year of Prayer". The only part I like in this book is the personal note written by his children. They reveal the warm relationship in the MacArthur family and their respect and devotion to their father and pastor. Let me quote at length for this will explain the genesis of this book.A few years ago, a friend approached us and asked what we thought about our dad's prayers being transcribed and published so others could read them. We felt an immediate mix of emotions. We agreed these prayers should be put in print - and we had our children's children in mind here - but we hesitated, because we suspected that our dad would resist. We knew his thoughts regarding the sacredness and propriety of a person's personal dialogue with the Father. So we talked it over with him. As we anticipated, dad pushed back, not enthusiastic about memorialising something so intimate. Respectfully, we asked him to pray about it and consider the loss for those who would never hear or read these prayers if they were not published. We encouraged him to allow his prayers to be available in print - not only for our own posterity but as a legacy for those of his friends around the world who would be instructed and inspired by them.After some time, dad finally agreed ... with one caveat. He asked that his children write this introductory note to the book and explain that it was our desire that he put his prayers in black and white. Sounds the SameAfter I finished the book, I conclude that MacArthur was right to be resistant. It's not as helpful or insightful as his other books or sermons. Page after page the prayers sound the same. There is a thematic arrangement. We have a collection of prayers under the heading of Prayers on Worship and the Attributes of God, Prayers on Joy and Longing and so on, but if I tore out all these prayers and scattered them on the floor, it would be difficult to group them into different themes because they all sound the same.The title of the book is "A Year of Prayer" and there are 52 prayers for the 52 weeks in the year plus the Easter and Christmas prayers, which makes it 54 prayers in total. The year is not fixed to a calendar year, which means Week 1 is not in January and week 52 is not in December. The good news is you can begin this book from page 1, at any time of your life, the bad news is the prayers become even more generic. These prayers do not refer to any people, place or time. Week 52 is not the Christmas season, you will not read a prayer on the Incarnation of Christ.Prayers in ContextI had such a hard time reading this book of collected prayers that I asked myself, "Is it because I don't like the genre? Maybe I don't reading a collection of prayers?" But I think back and I notice that I am pulled into prayers when I know the context. For example, in Episode 11 in my review of the Young Christian, I shared a 200 year old prayer of Christians facing death as their ship breaks up in a storm. I love the prayers in the Bible because it has context. Just to name examples from David. Look at his prayer in 2 Samuel 7. After God promises him an everlasting Davidic Kingdom, David prays "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?" Or consider David's prayer in Psalm 51 after he committed adultery and murder, "Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." I like prayers that have context. The First Prayer "Adoring our Advocate"Let me give an example from the book, the first prayer, "Adoring our Advocate". Like every chapter, it begins with the complete printing of a Bible verse, in this case it's 1 John 2:1-9. Then MacArthur writes: Our Gracious God, we thank you for our heavenly Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, whose death on the cross made propitiation for all our sins - perfectly satisfying every demand of Your holy justice. It is he who brought us out of guilt and into forgiveness, out of darkness and into light, out of our rebellion and into Your love, out of death and into life. He delivered us from this evil world, into Your glorious kingdom. How we praise you for the wonder of Your love in Jesus Christ! We thank You for sending Your Son, the Incarnate One, who was despised, rejected, beaten, mocked and crucified - all in order to atone for our sin. And what I just read is one fifth of the entire prayer. Every prayer is Christ-centred. Every prayer has a Gospel message. We are sinners. Christ died for us. We now live for him. Amazing Grace. The prayers are also Bible-saturated. Every prayer ends with a footnote of bible verses referenced in the prayer. This book can be a really good book if you have only prayed and heard "God give me something" prayers. Here we have example after example of scripture first, and praying from that scriptural truth to convey an ACTS prayer. ACTS: A-C-T-S stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. Supplication is petition, to ask for something. For example, MacArthur petitions: Lord Jesus, Master, Redeemer, Savior, take possession of every part of our lives - Yours by right through purchase. Sanctify every faculty. Fill our hearts with hope. May we flee the many temptations that relentlessly hound us and mortify the sins that continually plague us.Mortify the sins is something he says often in the book. The petitions are generic unlike the Book of Common Prayer which has prayers for peace, for the Church, for families, for guidance and protection. Read the Book the Right WayI make a big deal about the lack of variation and lack of context in this collection of prayers but I confess I am reading this book in the wrong way. Remember, what is the title of the book? "A Year of Prayer". How is the book structured? The first chapter is marked Week 1 and it goes on for 52 weeks. Each week is a new prayer. How did I read it? I read the whole book in a few days. So I read it in a way that it was not meant to be read. So if the reader was to read it the way it was read, you would be getting a weekly reminder of Scriptural truths, praying from it, covering the Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication, using John MacArthur's words that you yourself can say for your own situation, time and place. It's like the Book of Common Prayer in the sense readers can mouth the words and have these prayers applied to them and these prayers are keyed to the Gospel.The book might also be good for anybody who loves or hates John MacArthur. A man's prayers reveals much of the man. And MacArthur's prayers, while it doesn't make for exciting reading, it does show consistency in his preaching and his prayer. As a man preaches, he prays. As I said earlier, if you have only prayed "Gimme, gimme, gimme" prayers before, this will be a massive eye-opener for you for MacArthur's prayers are an extension of his preaching. And so, as you know, MacArthur's preaching and writing is marked by clarity and keeping close to the text. He is not known to craft words to stir the heart. I'm not saying people who craft words are trying to use words to manipulate you, emotionally or spiritually. For example, John Piper loves poetry. He thinks about the words he uses, in its precision and also in how it sounds. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. There is a nice ring to it. MacArthur is not known for poetry. I want to say in the kindest terms that MacArthur's book, "A Year of Prayer" is helpful to know God, to pray to God, to incidentally know MacArthur the man of God, but the book doesn't make good reading. Another Suggestion: Piercing HeavenIf you are looking for a book of collected prayers as a reader, an appreciator of literature, prayers with a nice ring to it, I recommend another book: "Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans" edited by Robert Elmer. 240 pages. Published by Lexham Press in 2019. You can say this is a best hits compilation of Puritan prayers. I haven't finished reading the book, I've only read the first 50 pages but I love it. Similar to MacArthur, there is no local context here. The prayers can be said at any time at any place by any one. But there is a difference between MacArthur's collection and the Puritan's here.Let me read this portion from David Clarkson:Lord, I would be the most miserable person in the world if my hopes were only in this life. Why? Because I am hopeless without Christ’s righteousness. My life could never be comfortable, and there would be no hope at all of eternal life. If you denied me that hope, I would be the most miserable one of all. I may be happy without worldly enjoyments, but all things in the world cannot make me happy without this. So however you treat me in this world, whatever you deny me, Lord, deny me not this. I can be happy without riches and abundance, like Job and Lazarus were. I can be happy even if I am reviled and reproached, as was Christ and his disciples. I can be happy and comfortable in prison, as were Paul and Silas. But I cannot be happy without the righteousness of Christ.Let me read a full one from William Bridge: Lord, we know your words, “The Lord God has given me a well-taught tongue, so I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” I am one of those wearied souls, Lord. I am wearied with my temptations, wearied with inward trouble.So now, Lord, speak a word in due season to this poor, wounded, and wearied soul. Let me serve you, Lord—that is all my desire. Let me see you as you please, when you please. I am done, Lord, I am done. I have questioned and questioned my condition these many years. And I see there is no end of such questioning. I get nothing by it. I am a poor, weak creature, and I fear I will never be able to bear testimony of the truth of Jesus Christ. But you have said, “I will give power to my two witnesses.” I am one of your witnesses. Now then, Lord, give power to me, for I am poor. I see the sinfulness of sin, so let me also see the graciousness of grace, and the fullness of Christ. I come to you for righteousness, because I see my sin is exceedingly sinful. O Lord, keep my soul in the ocean of your free love. Amen.First Comparison: It's PersonalFirst, the Puritan collection is more personal, it uses I language. I am weak. MacArthur would say "we are weak". Obviously every Christian prays personal individual prayers but MacArthur purposely selected corporate prayers. He begins his preface by saying the Lord's Prayer would sound strange and self-centered if it read My Father in Heaven rather than Our Father in Heaven. MacArthur writes:We who love the Lord can’t help sensing that the most vital things we need to pray about go way beyond ourselves, our desires, or our own will. The Spirit within us compels us to lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ at the same time. This book is all about helping us, as God’s people, to pray like that more than we actually do.So, this direction could partly explains why MacArthur's prayers here does not soar to the heavens. Perhaps it would have a different, more personal effect, if he changed the us and we to I and me. Ah... you need to be more selfless!Second Comparison: It's ShorterSecond, the Puritan prayers collected here are shorter. For MacArthur's book, in 258 pages, we have 54 prayers. For the Puritans' book, you will read 50 prayers one third of the way through the book. These prayers don't intend to present the gospel. For example one prayer titled Strength to Stand Under Temptation by William Bridge goes like this: O Lord, I have no strength to stand against this great enemy. I confess it is my duty to resist this temptation, but it is your promise to support me under this temptation. Therefore I put myself upon you. Amen.That's it. Short and sweet.Third Comparison: It's VariedThird, the Puritan prayers collects various authors, many I don't recognise, and each have their own writing styles. So it does make the prayers seem fresh as they say almost the same things in their own different ways. ConclusionIn conclusion, I think there is a place for John MacArthur's "Year of Prayer" for it's corporate, Christ-centred and Bible-saturated nature. It fully satisfies its starting goal to be a legacy to the MacArthur family, both family by blood and by spirit. However, it's not a book to be read in one seating which is clearly stated in the title and in the organisation. The risk is these prayers become boring unless there is some engaging context, which there is none, or there is some writing flair, which MacArthur refuses to indulge the individual, or if and here's the thing if the prayer was not read, but prayed in the presence of God and community. Perhaps that would be the best way of reading this book, outloud mindful of God and believers.Although I haven't finished reading Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans edited by Robert Elmer, the first 50 pages tells me I will definitely come back to this book. The same way one returns to a book of poetry, as one returns to a book like the Psalms.This is a Reading and Readers review of "A Year of Prayer" by John MacArthur. It's available for free from Faithlife for this month and this month only.The next episode will be published in two weeks which will be after Christmas Day. And so, I would like to take this time to wish all my listeners a blessed Christmas. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Thank you.Book ListA Year of Prayer: Approaching God with an Open Heart Week After Week by John MacArthur. Amazon. Faithlife.Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans edited by Robert Elmer. Amazon. Faithlife.

A row of men and women stand shackled. Society sees but says it's normal. They say, "This is the natural order of things". But one old man is rallying men to fight it. To fight this modern day slavery: pornography. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "The Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility" by Ray Ortlund. A Budget for PornPorn addiction is a subject that many Christians find uncomfortable to read or talk about. We know it's wrong. The fact that we continue to struggle against it and often fail puts our faith in doubt. For how can Christians who sing praises to a Holy God, who claim Jesus Christ as Lord over all, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can have, as Ortlund puts it, "a budget for porn in their consciences". The way to win a spiritual battle is to cast darkness into the light. To speak it out into the open. And this book, "The Death of Porn", does just that. The AuthorThe man behind this book, Ray Ortlund, is the Senior Pastor at Emmanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee and served as Professor of Old Testament at Trinity Divinity School, Chicago for nine years. Today's book, "The Death of Porn", is in a different category from the theological books or commentaries Ortlund has written. This is a book of six chapters; six chapters written as six personal letter from an older man - Ray Ortlund is over 70 years old - to a younger man. Modern Day SlaveryEvery chapter begins with, "Dear Son". Although he recognises women can be trapped by porn, this book is written to men. But if you are a woman, keep listening because this book could be of help to you or to someone you love.Ortlund was inspired to write this book because of a letter. In 1791, John Wesley wrote to William Wilberforce that unless the divine power had raised Wilberforce up, Wesley could not see how Wilberforce can continue to oppose that cursed villainy that is slavery.I quote from Wesley's letter:Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away with it. Later, Ortlund writes: ... this old letter got me thinking: What about us today? What if not just one man but a whole generation of men takes a bold stand against the new slave trade of our time - pornography?Pornography is not simply a matter of private conscience or private sin, it's a matter of injustice. I am reminded of J. F. Kennedy who said at his Berlin speech, "When one man is enslaved, all are not free." He was speaking of communism but what he said equally applies to pornography. In this book, Ortlund envisions the death of porn, not just for the individual but for nations.StructureHe divides the book into two parts, three chapters each. The first part is titled: "Reintroducing the Characters" with the chapters, or letters, "You are Royalty", "She is Royalty" and "He is Royalty", Jesus is royalty. Part One is foundational to Part Two. Foundational in the sense if you have all the identities right, men, women and Jesus, then you build on them a good life. But some of us may not know how to build on those foundations and that is where Part Two comes in. Part Two gives practical support and guide on how to overcome porn.The second part is titled: "Reimagining the Future" with the chapters, "We Can Do This", "We Can Work Together", and "We Can Make a World of Difference". Dear SonLet me quote from the first letter Ortlund writes. Listen to the warmth and comfort he offers: Dear Son,You matter. You matter more than you know. That's what I want to talk to you about - your dignity before God, what it's worth to you, and how it empowers you to change the future. Do you believe in your own nobility? Yes, you're a nice guy. But being a nice, likeable guy hardly rises to the stature of your true identity.Long ago, a Christian leader named Irenaeus got right to the point: "The glory of God is a man fully alive." This is not a theological dissection of what is sin. Nor is it just a feel-good pep talk. Ortlund presents biblical truths couched in six personal letters, from Christian to Christian, man to man. In a Crossway Podcast interview, Ortlund explains why he wrote this book:I'm so fed up with Christian man being scolded, shamed, pressured, cornered, belittled as if that would help them, as if that would change them. Ray Ortlund has a wonderful radio voice and listening to his gentle and tender voice will likely move you to read the book.Does being gentle mean coddling? Is he offering a cushion of positive self-esteem? Not at all. In the first chapter titled "You are Royalty", he at one point writes: "We are royal, and we are evil." Ortlund does not offer a psychological solution. he offers the cross of Christ. Addressing the shame men may feel, Ortlund comforts:Do you really think, after the cross, your shame drives God away? Nope. Your shame is precisely where he can re-create you the most gloriously. She is RoyaltyIn the second chapter, "She is Royalty", he quotes Genesis 1:27 "God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." He unpacks the verse: Back when the Bible was written, nobody else was saying that. It's not as though human thought was evolving upward, inching its way toward the equal royalty of the sexes. It's not as though the ancient philosophers and gurus got the ball in the red zone, and then the Bible finally scored the touchdown. No, Genesis 1:27 surprised everyone. It was God speaking into our abusive world with a bold claim: a woman deserves all the respect any man deserves, because she is created in God's image as much as any man.Up next is one of my favourite parts of the book. If you are trying to describe the royalty of women, how would you do it? What picture or illustration would you give that would portray royalty? Ortlund invites us to see every woman as Galadriel, the queen of the elves in the Lord of the Rings. If you have watched the movie where Gimli the dwarf warrior meets Galadriel, you get an idea. God has created every woman with honour, and men are to treasure and protect that honour, even to die for it.The ideas that Ortlund introduces seem to be from an earlier age. Today, do women need to be protected? Today women are doctors, pilots, police officers, presidents and whatever else they desire to be. Do women need protection? Let us listen to one woman's story. Ortlund interviews her for this book. Her name is Tara. She says:My first memory in life was when I was four years old, and I was being assaulted in a bathroom. By the time I was eighteen, I had been hurt by eight people on many occasions. I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't hurting or being hurt.She continues with how she came to work in sex clubs, how she was first video recorded, how she felt, and finally, thankfully, how she was redeemed in Christ. Her story is a harrowing read. Women like her need our protection. Ortlund asks Tara, "What would you want to say to men who look at porn?" I quote the first paragraph of her answer: What if it was your sister? The women used in the sex industry don't just have a face and a body. They have a soul too. They have a name. No woman grows up thinking, I hope I'll spend my life being abused. But every woman in porn has been trafficked. Trafficking is simply making a profit from someone else's sex act. That's every woman in porn. It's all coercive. Every woman is under duress. Every woman would rather be anywhere else. Here I want to respond to a possible push back from some readers. This is not something the book addresses at length, but if you are like me, you might push back against the idea that all women in the sex industry are coerced, under duress and would rather be anywhere else. All women? Some, many, most, sure. But certainly not all.Superfreakonomics, a bestselling book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, was first published in 2011 has one chapter on the economics of prostitution. The authors interviewed Allie. Allie was a programmer. Allie then chose to be a high end escort. In a subsequent online Q&A session, Allie affirms it was her choice. It was not because she was desperate for money or was trapped. She grew up in a healthy family. She goes so far as to even assert:If the social and legal ramifications were gone, I think that being an escort might be like being a therapist. If seeing a prostitute is like seeing a therapist, that would salve the consciences of many men. Perhaps the problem is not porn but illegal, forced, enslaved porn. Perhaps what we need is not the death of porn but the regulation of porn to make sure that only willing women enter the sex industry. Just like the problem was not slavery but illegal, forced and enslaved slavery. What we need is not the abolition of slavery but the regulation of slavery to make sure that only willing women enter the sex industry and willing men get addicted to it. Ortlund rightly calls pornography a justice issue. If we start with the fact that women are royalty then a regulated sex industry does not make sense. For we are not so depraved yet that we don't understand what it means to be treated like royals. It certainly doesn't mean being treated like a prostitute.The call for men of integrity to build a world of nobility is not for men to procure willing sex slaves but to completely demolish, abolish, destroy this slave trade that enslaves both men and women. To realise the glory of men and women as royalty under God's good design.What You Want is JesusAnd the ground, the foundation on which we build this world of nobility is Jesus Christ. In the third chapter, Ortlund quickly dismisses two false versions of Jesus. There is the "Feel-Good" Jesus who "always smiles, always approves, never disagrees". There is the "Feel-Bad" Jesus, for whom your best is never good enough, and who insists you try harder and put your mind to it. What we need is the real Jesus. What we truly hunger and thirst for is Jesus Christ. In one provocative sentence, Ortlund writes:It seems crazy, but it's true. Every time you log on to a porn site, what you're really looking for is Jesus.Jesus is the Conquering Lion. Jesus is the Slain Lamb. Ortlund explains how knowing the lion and the lamb leads to a life free from porn. At this point, Ortlund has written three letters, titled "You are Royalty", "She is Royalty" and "He is Royalty". With our identities secured, what next? Well, death to porn. Part Two tells us various ways. In this review, I'll just speak on one way because this seems to me the most effective way. Let's talk about brotherhood. BrotherhoodBrotherhood here does not refer to a men's group or accountability partner. Brotherhood is more than that. It is men sharing a struggle. It is the difference between me fighting together with you in the foxhole against a common enemy vs me advising you from afar, from the pulpit or as an accountability partner. To see brotherhood is to see the incarnation of Christ. Love in the flesh, real and authentic. As I read Ortlund's description of brotherhood, I realise this was not my first time reading about this.Samson and the Pirate MonksI read about Christians struggling with sexual sins and brotherhood as a solution in another book: "Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood" by Nate Larkin.Nate Larkin was a preacher who writes his true story of sexual sins, lies and his descent into, what I can only describe as, hell on earth. Larkin writes:I was willing to trust Christ, but I was not ready to trust the body of Christ. To be honest, even my confidence in Christ had worn thin. Evangelists and pastors had promised that all my problems would be solved by a personal relationship with Jesus. I had been reaching out for that relationship for almost my whole life, and where had it gotten me? My biggest problem had grown progressively worse, until I was a lying loner hooked on porn and prostitutes. By the time I hit my bottom, even my wife didn’t like me anymore. Of course, my relationship with Jesus had never been quite what the preachers described, not even after I became the preacher. The nagging awareness of my religious hypocrisy had prompted countless silent promises to do better. I had vowed to spend more time with God, get up earlier, pray longer, and memorize more Scripture. I had made these promises in good faith, but I lacked the discipline to follow through on them for more than a few days, and I felt terrible about that. My personal relationship with Christ hadn’t worked, and I knew it was my fault. What I did not yet understand was that while Jesus does offer a personal relationship to every one of his disciples, he never promises any of us a private one.Now next is a spoiler. I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews but when it comes to porn addiction, I think men need to hear that victory is possible. Like any good story you should read the journey and not just the final conclusion. At one point in his story, Nate Larkin confesses his sins to his wife. I quote:Yes, I finally said, and told her about the prostitutes. With almost clinical detachment, she asked for more information. When did it start? How many were there? What were they like? Were they young? Were they pretty? When was the last time? Had I been tested for sexually transmitted diseases? I answered every question as truthfully as I could, and Allie cried. She kept crying, and I was powerless to comfort her.Skipping forward:For the next week, Allie and I barely spoke. Then one afternoon while I was at work, my phone rang. “Here’s the thing,” Allie said. “It’s clear to me now that our marriage was a joke, and I honestly don’t think we can fix it. You destroyed whatever we had. I can’t even describe how much it hurts to think of you—” She paused for a few seconds, then continued. “But I do realize that you have changed. You are not the man you used to be. I’m willing to start over again with the new you, but it will take some time. I think you should move out for a while. Then we can start dating again, and take it slow from the beginning.”I hope that as a reader you would want to know who was the man Larkin used to be. And how did he change. Larkin's book is a story of his redemption through Christ, through authentic brotherhood, and what he experienced is available to you.Death of Porn vs Samson and the Pirate MonksAlthough today's episode is a review of Ortlund's Death of Porn, a quick comparison between Ortlund's and Larkin's book will show you what each has to offer.Both show you the horror of sexual sin. Both show you the hope beyond your sin. Neither of them are self-help books, both books offer brotherhood as a solution to porn. As to how they are different...One obvious difference is the title. Ortlund's book is titled, "Death of Porn". You pass this book to any guy and neither of you have to say anything. The subject matter is clear from the title. Larkin's book is titled, "Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood". I got this book at a discount, thinking it was an adventure novel. Samson and the Pirate Monks. I got a shock when I read about this man's descent into sexual hell.Larkin's book is his story. He is on a stage and sharing his testimony. And testimonies, as you know are powerful. The abolition of slavery was achieved partly through stories. Ortlund's book is not his story. He is not on stage telling about his life. He is writing a personal heartfelt letter to you.Ortlund's book is easier to read. Both are written for the popular reader. Larkin's book is a bit longer 224 pages while Ortlund's is 160 page but that's not why "Death of Porn" is easier to read. Larkin's book is one long story while Ortlund's book is six separate letters. Ortlund wrote it in such a way that you can finish one letter in one seating. Ease of reading is important because if you are getting this book for someone, maybe yourself, you need to know which book to get. If your guy is a reader, who likes to read biographies, then Larkin's is a good fit. But many don't read, have no time to read, or have very short attention spans. Some people have told me they read can one chapter today and forget the chapter tomorrow. If you are that type, then you should definitely get Ortlund's book. Again, one letter in one seating. Six letters in all. Easy for the busy man.ConclusionAnd you really want to get more men to read the book so that they don't freak out. Imagine. I go to you. You are a brother in Christ. I start spewing out my deepest darkest sin and shame. You listen. And you don't know what to say. You don't know why I'm sharing with you all these. And you get the feeling that the next things out of your mouth better be good or things are going to get bad fast. Of course, I exaggerate for effect but the truth is it would be good if everyone was on the same page. So unless you have someone in your church who is teaching this or better yet modelling brotherhood, you might be the only guy looking for a brotherhood. You don't have to wait for the church leadership to start a teaching on brotherhood. If you can't explain, this book helps you to explain. You can't read yourself out of porn, but through this book you can know how God looks at men and women and how we are to look at Jesus and to see God's solution in his people. Through this book and it's encouragement and other solutions which I did not cover, we can altogether call for the Death of Porn.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility" by Ray Ortlund. The book is available for USD11.99 at Amazon and USD13.99 at Logos. I'm hoping Crossway might do that thing they sometimes do, which is make the book available for free if you sign up to Crossway. If you want to know more about the book, you should listen to the three Crossway Podcast episodes: the first episode is an interview, second is the author reading the introduction and first chapter of the book, and the third is a Q&A session. I recommend you subscribe to the Crossway Podcast, especially if you like reading. And if you liked reading, you will like Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. I reviewed this book as part of the Crossway Blog Review Programme but I didn't receive any benefits other than the review copy.Book List"The Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility" by Ray Ortlund. Amazon. Logos."Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood" by Nate Larkin. Amazon.

What is truth?” Pilate asked (John 18:38), perhaps not as a serious question since he did not wait to hear Jesus’ answer. Yet his question epitomizes an age-long query that arises in the human mind and has been the object of many discussions throughout the history of philosophy. That's a quote from today's book, by Roger Nicole. And while Pilate may not have taken his own question seriously, the authors in today's collection of essays do. They all contend for the Scripture and Truth. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review Scripture & Truth, a collection of 12 essays edited by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Scripture & Truth is a Logos Free Book of the Month. You can buy it for USD25.99 in Amazon Kindle, or download it for free in Logos if you do it before November ends, which is less than 10 days from today.Scripture & Truth. 446 pages, published by Baker Academic. The first edition was published in 1983. Today I review the second edition, published in 1992. Scripture & TruthIn the preface to the second edition, the editors wrote: ... the issues treated in the old edition have not vanished from contemporary theological debate. Today, scholars continue to address questions such as these: What is the nature of truth? How have Christians viewed the authority of the Bible during the last two millennia? What are ways to interpret Scripture in a responsible fashion? These questions have, if anything, taken on greater prominence in the Christian community. For this reason the demand for Scripture and Truth has not abated.30 years on, this book reads as if it was written for today. It's a classic.Speaking of classics, have you watched that Akira Kurosawa movie, "Seven Samurai"? A village hires seven samurais to protect them from bandits. Each samurai has their own expertise and style. The Seven Samurai was later adapted into the Western, "The Magnificent Seven". We have gunslingers instead of sword-wielders. We can arguably trace the influence of the Seven Samurai in movies like Star Wars or Avengers. In today's book, we have the editors assembling a team of twelve warrior monks to do battle to protect the church against a great threat. Instead of guns or swords, they wield pens and typewriters. Each writer has their own expertise and style. The result is 12 battle essays from a witty dozen. The doctrine of Scripture that we know to be true today is thanks to the ink spilled by them and others like them. The twelve essays are divided into three groups. Do you recognise these names?In first group is the Biblical Essay group. Here we have five essays from Wayne Grudem, D.A. Carson, Richard Longenecker and Moises Silva. In the Historical Essay group we have four essays from Philip E. Hughes, Geoffrey Bromiley, Robert Godfrey, John Woodbridge and Randall Balmer. The third group and last group consists of three Theological Essays from Roger Nicole, Paul Helm and J. I. Packer. If you are not aware, then let me tell you that these are a list of distinguished scholars. Also note that 40 years have passed since Scripture & Truth was first published. In 1990, Philip Hughes returned to the Lord, Geoffrey Bromiley in 2009, Roger Nicole in 2010, J. I. Packer in 2020, and Richard Longenecker passed away in June this year. 40 years on and their words continue to speak to us today. You can take this collection of essays as a sampler. Who knows you might find your next favourite author here! To keep this podcast manageable, I pick one essay from each group, and hopefully this will give you a sense of what to expect from this collection. BiblicalFrom the five essays in the Biblical group, I chose D. A. Carson's "Redaction Criticism: On the Legitimacy and Illegitimacy of a Literary Tool". If you are familiar with redaction criticism, then please let me explain to those who are not familiar. What are the tools of a carpenter? A hammer, drill, saw and many others. What are the tools of a Bible scholar? Textual criticism, historical criticism, redaction criticism and many others. When we read Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me", the Bible scholar could ask, "Do all manuscripts have the exact same words or are there variations?". That's textual criticism, to ask questions on the text or the manuscripts. If he asks, "Who was the Pharoah and what do we know of him?", that's historical criticism. So let us not be intimidated by textual criticism or any other criticism. They are simply tools. And tools can be helpful or they can be useless. The question Carson poses here is, "Can redaction criticism be a legitimate tool?" Carson narrows the scope to the New Testament only. By narrowing the scope it is easier for readers to understand the issue. For example, we know there are overlaps between the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke. How do we explain that? One answer is "There are overlaps because the three gospels are using the same source". Scholars then use source criticism to figure out what is the original source. Then, form criticism appeared. The background is folklorists and anthropologists study oral tradition in primitive cultures. They categorised oral stories into specific shapes or forms. You can have many different types of stories, each with their own characteristics. For example, a miracle story must look like a square. Just bear with me for a moment as I try to simplify things. If the miracle story that we received has the shape of a square, then form critics conclude that the story was faithfully transmitted. But if the story does not have the correct form, "I expected a square but I got a pentagon", then form critics conclude that the story was edited from the source. Scholars use form criticism to categorise different parts of the Bible and determine whether it was faithfully transmitted or not. Redaction criticism takes another step forward. Scholars notice that the NT authors were not just passing stories on. They took the stories and edited them to express their theologies. So now, scholars use redaction criticism to distinguish between what is traditional or authentic versus what is edited. If you think this tool sounds iffy, it is. Carson lists 20 common criticisms against redaction criticism. I give you one example:Carson informs us that form criticism came from folklorists who were trying to get at the original oral stories when it was first spoken 300 years ago. However, unlike those oral stories from primitive cultures, the Gospels were: 1. written within 60 years of events making it possible to check your source and 2: the gospels were written in a literate culture. People wrote things down. So the use of form criticism and hence redaction criticism is suspect. The essay ends with two examples of how redaction criticism is used and suggested guidelines. Carson gives the answer to his question:How legitimate, or illegitimate, is redaction criticism as a literary tool? If its application to questions of authenticity depends on its roots in radical form criticism, the answer must surely be that redaction criticism is well-nigh useless. Yet, Carson knows that some scholars see some good in redaction criticism. He responds:If conservative Evangelical scholars adopt redaction criticism of the conservative variety and, believing that it is an objective tool, ignore the doubtful historical assumptions that make up at least part of its pedigree, they are likely to find themselves in an intensely embarrassing position. Embarrassing because if you say that this verse is authentic as a result of using redaction criticism. What happens when for another verse, the tool tells you that it is unauthentic? What do you do? But what does redaction criticism have to do with the everyday Christian today? Plenty! Today, there is a fault line in the church because some say Critical Race Theory (CRT) can be an objective tool, while others say it can't. Let me repeat what Carson says but with one small redaction, one small edit. If conservative Evangelical scholars adopt Critical Race Theory of the conservative variety and, believing that it is an objective tool, ignore the doubtful historical assumptions that make up at least part of its pedigree, they are likely to find themselves in an intensely embarrassing position. I know it's not right to use Carson's words here and apply it to a different tool with different assumptions and pedigree. I'm just saying Carson's essay sets a standard for intelligent discourse. It asks and answers the question. I'm asking a new question for today: "Is Critical Race Theory a legitimate or illegitimate tool?" And I'm calling for people to write like how Carson wrote to bring clarity to a divisive topic.HistoricalThe next group of essays is the Historical Essays. The first is titled, "The Truth of Scripture and the Problem of Historical Relativity". Is it possible to learn from history or are the events and people too far away for us to meaningfully learn from them? The next three essays combat the notion that Scripture inerrancy was a recent innovation or a recent priority. Bromiley tells us what the church fathers believed. Augustine, Origen, Tertullian and others make their appearance. Then Godfrey tells us what the Reformers believed. We hear from Martin Luther, John Calvin and Francis Turretin. And the last historical essay by Woodbridge and Balmer tells us what 19th century Christians believed. We hear from A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield and many others from that time. Let's take Robert Godfrey's essay as an example. His essay's title is "Biblical Authority in the 16th and 17th Century: A Question of Transition". In 1979, Jack B. Rogers and Donald K. McKim wrote "The Authority and Interpretation of the Bible: An Historical Approach". Godfrey writes:they [Rogers and McKim] insist that the greatest Christian thinkers, including the early Reformers, fully recognized errors in the form of the Bible while maintaining the faithful fulfillment of its function.If Rogers and McKim are correct in one of their claims, that Martin Luther and John Calvin did not subscribe to Scripture inerrancy or take this doctrine as a high priority, then it implies Christians can hold to the doctrine of salvation and also believe the Bible contains errors. Although if we concede the human writers can make errors in some places of the Bible, why can't they make errors in the doctrine of salvation... and other doctrines? But how are we to refute Rogers and McKim's claim? They are not questioning the Bible, because if they did we could just read the Bible. They are questioning Luther and Calvin. To check would require us to read much if not all of Martin Luther's writings, to read much if not all of John Calvin's writings. Thankfully, we have Christian historians to do that for us. Robert Godfrey offers a concise response in one essay.First, Godfrey quotes Luther. Listen to Luther here:But everyone, indeed, knows that at times they [the Fathers] have erred as men will; therefore, I am ready to trust them only when they prove their opinions from Scripture, which has never erred.After establishing Luther's commitment to inerrancy, Godfrey responds to the Rogers-McKim proposal. Rogers and McKim say that "Luther stressed God accommodated Himself in speaking to man in the Scriptures." Humans make errors. Human language is prone to errors. Thus, for God to speak using human language means errors. Godfrey tells us that is a leap in logic.Rogers and McKim goes on to point out: Luther's comments on the lack of beauty in Scripture,His list of recognised errors, andHis question on canonicity All of which Godfrey responds by showing what Luther and other scholars have said.After Luther, Godfrey turns and does the same for Calvin: What did Calvin wrote, what did Rogers-McKim propose and finally Godfrey responds. One particularly damning piece of evidence is Calvin's declaration that Luke had "made a manifest error". Godfrey shows us the sentence in context. Calvin did not say the Bible or the Apostle Luke was in error but he suggested the copyist was in error. This is a textual criticism issue, not a Scripture inerrancy issue. The rest of Godfrey's essay covers the Reformed Confessions and Catechisms, English Puritanism, and Reformed Orthodoxy and Francis Turretin. All in order to decisively refute the Rogers-McKim claim that the Reformers did not hold to Scripture Inerrancy.Apparently the Rogers-McKim book was the centre of a firestorm when it was published 40 years ago. After reading Godfrey's short treatment on this topic, you may want to read for yourself the Rogers-McKim book and even a book length critique. John D. Woodbridge wrote "Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal". 240 pages. Published by Zondervan in 1982. "Why would I want to?" you ask. For the same reason we learn and remind each other of World War 1 and 2. Because humans commit errors and we are always in danger of committing the same ones. We really should pay more attention to historians. TheologicalThe next and last group is the three Theological Essays consisting of Roger Nicole's "The Biblical Concept of Truth", Paul Helm's "Faith, Evidence and the Scriptures" and J. I. Packer's "Infallible Scripture and the Role of Hermeneutics". I pick Paul Helm's essay and he begins like this: Let us consider the following situation. Mrs. Jones is worried about her husband’s loss of weight and his lassitude. With some difficulty (for her husband has never needed a doctor before) she persuades him to have a series of medical tests. The tests strongly support the view, the consultant tells her, that Mr. Jones has cancer. Mr. Jones says he has never felt fitter and that the consultant is probably incompetent.In this situation there are three different kinds of questions that arise and need separate treatment: the question of whether or not Jones has cancer, the question of what evidence there is that he has cancer, and the question of what would persuade him to accept the diagnosis that he has cancer. These three questions are connected, but they are not the same question. Let us see why not.Later Helm connects the cancer scenario to the Bible:Exactly the same three questions arise about the Bible. Is the Bible the Word of God? What evidence is there for the Bible’s being the Word of God? What evidence ought to persuade people that the Bible is the Word of God?This essay is not a mini version of Josh McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict". Instead of listing and explaining all the evidence, Paul Helm is concerned to ask sort of evidence might provide adequate answers. The keyword is what sort of evidence. And there are a few views. Externalism says that external evidence validates the Bible. For example, signs and miracles. Helm asks by what standard do we accept such evidence? There are counterfeit signs and miracles. What is a reasonable evidence to you may not be reasonable for me. And come to think about it, doesn't externalism encourage would-be believers to insist on signs and wonders in order to believe? Contrary to externalism, there is fideism. You have heard of Sola Scripture? It means "By Scripture Alone". Sola Fide is "By Faith Alone". Fide is L atin for faith. Fideism is: the view [is] that the proof or evidence that the Bible is the Word of God is not to be found in a set of external criteria, but elsewhere. The contrast established by fideism is not necessarily between faith and reason but between faith and external proof.There are three types of fideism. The first is: "I don't need evidence, I just need to have faith." And presumably because there is no need for evidence, Helm wastes no time elaborating this view. The second type of fideism has Helm discussing Alvin Platinga's paper, "Is Belief in God Rational?" I summarise the discussion to mean: "My faith is so foundational, so basic, so indivisible, that is nothing else underneath the foundation. There are no further reasons or whys for my faith." Helm then explains why he finds this unsatisfactory and moves to his solution.Which is the third type of fideism. This is the view that: the Bible is the Word of God is a matter of its own evidence, and there are external arguments leading to this view.Are you confused? Because I was! Helm just wrote pages on why externalism is wrong and here he suddenly supports it. Then Helm explains that externalism and the other two types of fideism share one thing in common, they all consider evidence apart from the Bible. Whereas, Helm's view is we must take the Bible as evidence and there is evidence outside the Bible to support this. Let us hear from Helm's own words:“Considering the content of the Scriptures” means not merely looking at what the Scriptures say about themselves but examining the force or impact of the Scriptures. Part of the reason for believing that a person is a king may be that he says that he is a king. But the evidence that he is a king is much stronger if he is seen exercising the prerogatives of a king. It is not simply that the Scriptures say that they are the revelation of God that is the evidence for their being so, but also that they function as the Word of God. Let us try to look at this in a little more detail.As I read Helm's explanation, it dawns on me that Helm is trying to explain the way the Holy Spirit creates belief. There is more - a lot more! - but let me select just one quote here:The internal testimony of the Spirit is not to be thought of as in some way short-circuiting the objective evidence or making up for the deficiencies in external scriptural evidence, nor as providing additional evidence, nor as merely acting as a mechanical stimulus, but as making the mind capable of the proper appreciation of the evidence, seeing it for what it is, and in particular heightening the mind’s awareness of the marks of divinity present in the text in such a way as to produce the conviction that this text is indeed the product of the divine mind and therefore to be relied on utterly.Scholars need to be precise and Helm is no exception. Helm pre-emptively distances himself from the accusations of subjectivism. There is the subjective component in the person. But there is the objective component, "the text and its meaning, something public and verifiable." He writes:But surely this appeal to religious experience is purely subjective, isn’t it? Not necessarily. If an engineer predicts the collapse of a bridge and it collapses, his prediction has physically objective confirmation. But physical objectivity is not the only kind of objectivity. Suppose Smith wonders whether Robinson really dislikes him. If Robinson does dislike Smith, then in a sense this is subjective, something about Robinson’s state of mind. But in another sense it has objectivity. It has objectivity if, for example, it is sustained in varied sets of circumstances, if it is expressed in different ways. In the case of religious experience similar sorts of tests apply, and a person may become rationally convinced of the objectivity (i.e., the reality) of God’s love, even though God does not have objective physical reality.Feeling loved is a subjective experience. But the people and events that produce that subjective feeling has an objective reality. You can quote Helm for Valentine's Day or wedding anniversaries. ConclusionI hope my choice of Carson, Godfrey, and Helm's deep and thought-provoking essays will entice you to read the rest of the collection. If the book wasn't free, I would never have gotten it. Scripture inerrancy is not a current issue in my side of the world and the book cover was attractive 30 years old ago. However, to my surprise, in Scripture & Truth, I found scholars assembled to fight a now forgotten battle. Like many forgotten battles, we don't realise the debt we owe to these men and all like them who fought to secure the doctrine of Scripture and so the many doctrines that flow from it. This is a Reading and Readers review of Scripture & Truth, edited by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Currently priced at USD25.99 in Amazon, but free for November from Logos. Logos is offering two books for free this month. The other one is "Making Sense of the Trinity: Three Crucial Questions" by Millard J. Erickson. The best thing about free stuff is you don't have to choose between the books, you can just get both of them today and read them later. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you.Book ListScripture and Truth by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Amazon. Logos.

Psalm 91:1–6 (ESV):He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.A fitting, hopeful and comforting Psalm for these difficult times. But there is more to the Psalms than your favourites. Have you read all 150 of them? And if you have, have you made sense of them? Today's book might just show you how.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today's book is "The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms" by Gordon Wenham. 208 pages, published by Crossway in 2013.Gordon Wenham is a British Old Testament scholar famous for his Word Biblical Commentary on Genesis and New International Commentary on the Old Testament on Leviticus. If you browse his books in Amazon, you will see a list of academically leaning Old Testament work. The book, "The Psalter Reclaimed" is a collection of eight essays, drawn from separate lectures over the years. Thus, there is understandably some overlap between the essays. What Are We Doing Singing the Psalms?The first essay, "What Are We Doing Singing the Psalms?" describes how the Psalms was used in Temple Worship and later in synagogues and churches. Also, Wenham suggests the Psalms was designed to be memorised. And he doesn't just mean your favourite Psalm 23, "The Lord is My Shepherd". Some psalms were acrostic or alphabetically structured to ease recall. Psalm 119 is acrostic. It's also the longest chapter in the whole Bible with 176 verses. That's a lot to memorise. But that's not all, based on ancient literature and practices, Wenham suggests that the entirety of the Psalms, all 2,527 verses, could be intended to be stored in memory, which makes your memorisation of Psalm 23 a lot less impressive now. You could counter that the ancients had to memorise because they had no Bible. There was no printing press so obviously everything had to be stored in memory. But memorisation has it's own reward as Wenham writes:As a reader memorizes a text, he becomes textualized; that is, he embodies the work he has committed to memory. This does sound like the act of eating the Bread of Life or living out what is meant to abide in him as he abides in us for we embody the Word that we have committed to memory.Through Speech Act Theory, Wenham shows the increasing level of involvement; moving from a lower level of involvement when we listen to a sermon, to a higher level when we say amen to that sermon, to an even higher level of involvement when we sing or pray the psalms. In our experience, we know that our songs shape the church. What Wenham did in his first essay is to show that Speech Act Theory applied on the Psalms proves our experience is biblically supported. That should be a frightening and/or promising prospect to church and worship leaders. Praying the PsalmsThe second essay is titled, "Praying the Psalms". Wenham lists the types of psalms: Psalms of Praise, Lament, Penitential, and Messianic Psalms. The book of Psalms is more than "Everything that has breathe praise the Lord". It contains a spectrum of emotions: from joy to grief. The wide variety of psalms points to a much wider biblical response to the human experience.However, for an essay titled "Praying the Psalms" Wenham is heavy on the variety of psalms and why they are important but too light on how to pray with them. How does a Christian pray the psalms in celebrating a newborn or mourning a death? How do we pray the psalms in Covid or Afghanistan, in marriage or in our careers?I expected this chapter to be more practical like Donald Whitney's "Praying the Bible". In his book, Whitney shows readers how to pray our everyday prayers in an always fresh way. For example, every day I pray for my children's salvation. Today I read Psalm 23. From Psalm 23, I pray, "The Lord is my shepherd, may you O God be the shepherd of my children" and I continue praying to God with that psalm. If that piques your interest, I encourage you search for "praying the Bible". You will find Whitney's book, articles and videos. Reading the Psalms CanonicallyComing back to "The Psalter Reclaimed", the third essay in this collection is the most eye-opening. "Reading the Psalms Canonically". What does canonically mean? Imagine if I printed each psalm on separate cards. So I will have 150 cards. For suits, instead of diamonds, clubs, hearts and spades we would have praises, laments, penitentials and messianic. Now I deal all the cards in front of you. And I take a pen and label the cards: Psalm 1, 2, 3 until 150. Eventually, what you have in front of you on the table is all 150 Psalms labeled accordingly. Some scholars say that there is no method in the arrangement of the psalms. The cards were dealt randomly. Psalm 103 being in front of Psalm 104 is a coincidence. Accordingly, the appropriate way to interpret a Psalm is to take one card off the table, and find out everything you can about that one card. We ignore the label, Psalm 103, and we ignore it's position in the book.The canonical approach says something different. While it doesn't dispute studying the psalm itself, it asserts that the cards were not laid out randomly. Similar to how you would arrange a playlist in Spotify. One playlist is different from another, and there may be a story behind the playlist. The canonical approach says that the editors have arranged it so that there is a story to tell from Book 1 to Book 5. Yes, there are five books in the Psalms. And Book 3 ends with Psalm 89, which is a lament. Wenham writes: However, books 4 and 5 respond to the lament of Psalm 89 with the call to trust in the Lord’s rule, not in human rulers, “without giving up the hope in the eternity of the Davidic covenant.”There are more insights but the main thing is as Wenham puts it:If, as I think has been demonstrated, the psalms have been arranged thematically, by title, and by key words to form a deliberate sequence, it is imperative to read one psalm in the context of the whole collection and, in particular, in relationship to its near neighbors.If this is the first time you have heard of this way of reading the Psalms, then you should buy me coffee, cause I have just introduced you to a brand new way of reading the Psalms that will last a lifetime. Previously, you thought the only way was to pick and choose out of a set, now you learn that it can be read cover to cover with a story behind the sequence for you to discover. Reading the Psalms MessianicallyThe fourth essay is "Reading the Psalms Messianically". Some scholars argue the king in the Messianic Psalms is not referring to a future Messiah. The king mentioned is a historical king in that time. On the cross, when Jesus said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was quoting the first line of Psalm 22. According to these scholars, Jesus was not claiming a prophetic fulfilment. He was simply singing a song, just like how we would pick a song to sing to fit an occasion. Wenham quotes Hans-Joachim Kraus a proponent of this view:Jesus, by praying this psalm on the cross, “enters into the deepest suffering of God-forsakenness, that those who pray the Old Testament experience . . . that is, Jesus declares his solidarity with the whole fullness of suffering.”Do you agree with that? Do you agree that Jesus was merely declaring his solidarity with the whole fullness of suffering rather than explicitly fulfilling prophecy and making a theological point. Well, I don't agree. It sounds like a rationalistic reluctance to admit supernatural prophecy. In this essay, Gordon Wenham sidesteps the question of the original setting in Psalm 22 to reemphasise the prophetic fulfilment, I quote: We can read it historically as a lament of a royal figure on the verge of death with his enemies looking on, hoping for his imminent demise. But the New Testament clearly sees it as more fully realized in the crucifixion. And later he concludes:This seems to me an excellent case of sensus plenior, of realizing the full meaning of the psalm long after it was first written and the crucifixion had been seen.Oh no! Sensus plenior! If you listened to my previous review of Recovering the Unity of the Bible by Walter C. Kaiser Jr., you would have heard my wrestling with this sensus plenior or verses can have more-than-one meaning way of intepreting. Kaiser insists there is only one meaning, not two or more. Does it make a big difference? If you read Kaiser and teach there is only one meaning and next week you read Wenham and then teach the NT gives a fuller meaning to the OT, you have just twisted yourself in a knot. You are inconsistent in the way you interpret the Bible. While, I can't comment on whether there is a big or small difference, I suggest that it's good to be aware and to be deliberate on how you interpret the text. We are now halfway through the book, four chapters in. Notice that I have mentioned scholars a few times and I just discussed Bible interpretative methods. This is a scholarly book that prompts and welcomes such conversations. For the rest of the review, I'll quickly go through the fifth, seventh and eighth essay and circle back to the sixth essay because the sixth is the best of the collection. The Ethics of the PsalmsThe fifth essay is "The Ethics of the Psalms". In this essay, Wenham shows how neglected the Psalms are when it comes to ethics. The Psalms, just as well as Proverbs, teaches us so much of what is right or wrong in God's eyes. He systematically goes through each of the ten commandments and where it's seen in the Psalms. Interestingly, there are a lot more psalms condemning lying. Wenham suggests why, I quote: the Psalms themselves are examples of the positive use of the tongue for the praise of God. This makes the tongue’s negative use to destroy one’s fellow man especially reprehensible.The Psalms doesn't just amplify the ten commandments, a main theme is to contrast the righteous and the wicked. Let me read Psalm 1 in it's entirety and I'm sure you would agree:Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.That was Psalm 1. The canonical approach, which if you remember, emphasises on the arrangement of the Psalms. Psalm 1 being programmatic means the main theme of the entire book includes the way of the righteous and the wicked. If you want to know more, you'll be happy to know that Gordon Wenham wrote an entire book on this subject. "Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Songs Ethically", 250 pages, published by Baker Academic in 2012. Psalm 103: The Song of Steadfast LoveThe seventh essay is "Psalm 103: The Song of Steadfast Love". If you want to know how to expound a psalm using the canonical approach, this is your chapter. I give you one example insight. Psalm 103 and Psalm 104 are connected. They both start with the line, "Bless the Lord O My Soul". That is obvious. What is not so obvious is Psalm 104, 105 and 106 form a set. Psalm 104 is Creation. Psalm 105 tells the story of Abraham to Exodus. Psalm 106 continues from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Knowing now that Psalm 103 is a prelude to Israel's history (Psalm 104 to Psalm 106), this gives us a fresh insight to God's steadfast love, God's hesed. When we read verse 8-9:The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.We remember that the next few Psalms echo the steadfast love of the Lord in God's dealing with Israel.The Nations in the PsalmsIf the seventh essay is an example of an exposition of one psalm, then the eighth essay is an example of a topical study of the Psalms. The essay's title is "The Nations in the Psalms" and Wenham exemplifies how topical studies should be done. If I can plea to you, and I don't just mean a pastor or preacher, I mean the everyday Christian, if you want to know what the Bible says about any one topic, whether it's marriage, apostles, homosexuality, spiritual gifts, any topic common or controversial, you must know what the whole, I emphasise whole, Bible says on that topic. You should not do what many people do which is to limit your study to a few verses and rashly conclude from those few verses. "Wow. That means I'd have to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation to find all the relevant verses and study them." Yes! "That will take a lot of time." Yes! But we have a lifetime to be humble and learn. Which is why this eighth essay is so precious in its precision. The title is not "The Nations in the Bible", it is "The Nations in the Psalms". The Psalms has much to say about the nations, and this essay explores the different aspects. Judgment. Promise. The positive and negative aspects. This essay is an excellent example on how to do a topical study using the canonical approach. The Imprecatory PsalmsLastly, I want to talk about the best essay in the book: "The Imprecatory Psalms." The Psalms are not all "Bless the Lord O My Soul", there is a category of Psalms that does not bless but rather curse. Listen to this portion from Psalm 58:O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. And this Psalm ends with:The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.” Break the teeth in their mouths?! Bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked?! Is this coming from the beloved book of Psalms or from a bloodthirsty monster? Imprecatory means to call down evil or curses. Examples include Psalms 12, 44, 58, 83, 109, 137 and 139. It's not one, two or three, there are a few. They are so problematic that some churches have taken them out of reading schedules. The idea is to skip them because the content is so out of sync with 'proper' Christian teaching. Wenham summarises the views of various people on the imprecatory psalms. Calvin said it is right for the righteous to hate wickedness, yet also to remember that it may be God's purpose to bring them into repentance. Kirkpatrick said the sentiments shown in the imprecatory psalms do not belong in the age of Christ. Calvin and Kirkpatrick are older voices, so Wenham helpfully presents some contemporary thoughts from Derek Kidner who is closer to Kirkpatrick and Alec Motyer who is closer to Calvin. Wenham devotes much of the chapter to the Roman Catholic Erich Zenger's work. He explains why: Zenger’s exegesis is careful, thorough, and sensible. Here I should simply like to quote his initial plea for taking these texts seriously if we are to understand them. He pleads for dialogue with these violent psalms, and true dialogue involves taking the other side seriously. We must understand them before we can express our disagreement. These psalms may seem very foreign to us on first acquaintance, but we need to ask ourselves why that is so. Could it be something in us that makes it difficult for us to appreciate their standpoint? Such honest introspection could lead to a lively struggle with the text and even to seeing them as friends, not as enemies. Indeed that could lead to a change in our perspectives.My reflection after reading this essay is the imprecatory psalms simply show in painful and graphic detail what other psalms and prophecies mean by judgment. If you are a Christian who is put off by the imprecatory psalms, what do you expect when Christ returns to judge the evil? A slap on the wrist? Then what is the salvation from judgment that we are so grateful for? If we are shocked by the violence in the Psalms, let that be a warning to evil-doers of the wrath of God to come. Because for us who are covered by the blood of Jesus, these verses are a relief for we have been passed over from that violence. And more importantly, these verses are a comfort to those presently suffering that God is indeed the Judge of all the Earth. The idea that churches are removing selected psalms from scheduled reading is troubling. How does that align with the teaching that all of Scripture is God-breathed, inspired and inerrant? If we can take some out of reading circulation, what stops us from removing the uncomfortable parts from the Bible? The imprecatory psalms are not difficult to understand, hence why it's so distressing. Instead of removing it, we should teach it. Wenham's essay here is helpful and just for this essay alone, you should download the free book as offered by Faithlife for November. This essay would be a useful reference for anyone who stumbles at the imprecatory psalms. RecommendationWho is this book for? Personally, I think this book should be a Logos Free Book of the Month instead of a Faithlife Free Book of the Month, because it's more technical than Faithlife's usual offerings. Some readers might protest because they read it just fine, "It's okay!", and would recommend it to anyone. Let's take the analogy of cameras. Some cameras are like the phones you use, they are point-and-shoots. You click one button and it takes the shot without fuss. Professional cameras like DSLRs require you to fiddle with the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. These are technical terms. This might shock you but the professional cameras do not have auto mode. You have to learn the technical terms to use the cameras. Then there is the prosumer camera. They sit between the professional DSLRs and consumer point-and-shoots. This book is like a prosumer camera. It is written by a scholar for a scholarly-ish audience. However, if you don't let yourself be intimidated by the tone and form, the essays are accessible enough for remarkable insights.CriticismAnd this leads to my main criticism. I question the decision to publish this as a collection of essays. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading a good collection of essays. My next book review is the Logos Free Book of the Month for November, "Scripture and Truth" which is a collection of 12 essays from 12 authors. Gordon Wenham is the sole essayist in this book which consists of essays on one topic, the Psalms. And the essays has been arranged so that the first tells us how the Psalms was used, the third introduces us to the canonical approach and seventh and eighth apply that canonical approach. So there is clearly an editorial move to link one essay to the next, which begs the question, "Why not rewrite the essays to be a regular book?" A rewrite will remove the repetitions of background and quotations that appear between essays. An introduction and conclusion chapter will cement the ideas presented here. When I finished reading the last essay, I felt the ending was too abrupt. It is ironic that I'm calling for a stronger editorial hand for a book that emphasises and celebrates the role of the editor behind the Psalms. ConclusionIn conclusion, this book will help you read and learn from the Psalms. It will help you reclaim an appreciation and love for how the whole book comes together but because of the scholarly tone and emphasis, it is not clear to the casual reader how to reach the goal of praying and praising with the Psalm. For that I recommend you get Donald Whitney's book, "Praying the Bible", it's only 112 pages. This is a Reading and Readers review of "The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms" by Gordon Wenham. Listed for USD11.99 in Amazon Kindle and USD16.99 in Faithlife but it's now for November, this month and this month only, a free book from the good folks at Faithlife. If you like the idea of reading the Psalms from first to last, you might appreciate EveryPsalm by Poor Bishop Hooper, a husband and wife music ministry. EveryPsalm is a three year project to release a song based on a psalm every week. From Psalm 1 to Psalm 150. A great complementary listen while you pray and praise with the Psalms. Let me end today's podcast with a clip from Psalm 1. Please search Poor Bishop Hooper for the whole song and more. Book ListThe Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms by Gordon Wenham. Amazon. Faithlife.Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney. Amazon. Faithlife.Recovering the Unity of the Bible by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Amazon. Logos.Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Songs Ethically by Gordon Wenham. Amazon. Logos.ReferenceSound Effects. zapsplat.comEveryPsalm by Poor Bishop Hooper. Website.

If the Church is a force of good, then how do you explain the Crusades? The Inquisitions? Today we look at a book that addresses those questions head on. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review "Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History" by John Dickson. No Such Thing as an Honest ManThe keyword is 'honest'. Why can't the subtitle just be "A Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History"? The word honest is there because there is a suspicion that a Christian, any Christian, is not able to be objective when it comes to the Church. Pre-empting this thought, Dickson writes:I imagine Christopher Hitchens would be deeply suspicious of the project of this book. I can hear him groaning: As if a Christian believer—even a mild-mannered Anglican one—would be willing to look into the darkness of Christian history and provide anything like a fair-minded account! As if a Christian “apologist” could admit that the “saints” can be as brazen “sinners” as anyone, and sometimes worse! I suppose only readers who finish this book will be able to judge if my imaginary Hitchens is correct. Any protestations I offer at this point are predictable and empty. I will simply admit that I have felt Hitchens’s presence—ghostlike—in my study as I write this book. So why is John Dickson the right man to tell us the history of the Church? This is an excerpt from his online biography:With a first-class honours degree in Theology from Moore Theological College and a PhD in ancient history from Macquarie University, John was a Fellow of Macquarie’s Department of Ancient History (2004-17), and now teaches 'Historical Jesus to Written Gospels' at the University of Sydney (Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies). During 2016-2021 John is a Visiting Academic in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University, where he is researching Christianity and education in the ancient and early medieval worlds. In 2019 he was appointed the Distinguished Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Public Christianity at Ridley College in Melbourne.He has the credentials. He has written over 18 books and 3 documentaries, so let's look at "Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History". Honestly, A Bloody AtrocityYou know how in a flash forward works in a movie? The movie begins lets say with, the hero trying to disarm a bomb. The bomb explodes. Blood, limbs, shock and fear. How could this happen? He is the hero?! Then in the next scene, we see a peaceful garden and the words printed out "10 days ago" and the movie progresses from that time towards the bomb. That is what happened in this book. Dickson starts with a flash forward, a bomb, the Crusades. He brings out that most damning black mark against the Church, then he rewinds time 1000 years ago and shows how the church progresses from that time towards that black mark and beyond.What he does this in these first two chapters reveals his approach for the rest of the book. He doesn't sugar coat the atrocities. He shows us how all of us, never mind Christians or non-Christians, any human would be aghast at what the church did. And to avoid being accused of giving a false representation, Dickson often quotes their own words. Dickson writes on the time when he was filming a documentary on the Crusade in Jerusalem: With gruesome glee and obvious exaggeration, Raymond of Aguilers, a leader of the First Crusade, wrote of this fateful day in the “ides of July”: Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands, and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. . . . It was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies.That sounds more like a journal entry from an ISIS member than a devout Christian. There is more but I skip to the moment when Dickson had a crisis of faith during filming. He writes:Retelling these horrible details to camera as I stood in the sacred plaza outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque was the moment I sensed a loss of faith in the church. It was not simply that I had read the sources, rehearsed my lines, and now found myself standing in the hideous spot where it all happened. It was because directly in my line of sight as I delivered the lines, just a metre to the left of camera, was our Muslim guide and “minder” assigned to us to show us around the site and keep onlookers satisfied that we really did have permission to film in this spot. Her name was Azra, a Jerusalem Arab Muslim with perfect English. She watched me deliver my lines, over and over until I got them right (I am not a one-take wonder). By the time we got the take the director liked, I could see that Azra had a tear in her eye. I suddenly realised this is not just a gory piece of history. For Jerusalem Muslims—for many Muslims, actually—this event is a source of pain, shame, and even anger.You want an honest look? You got an honest look. Dickson is a tender-hearted Christian who loves the church. He sees telling the truth of the church's history as necessary for genuine Christians. Even to admit the church's darkest sins. But he reminds us, it is not all dark, there is also inexpressible light.The Beautiful TuneDickson illustrates this point by an act of public humiliation. In the book he shares a video, which I went to watch, of him awkwardly handling a cello. It is even more cringe worthy when heard side-by-side with a concert cellist, Kenichi Mizushima.Dickson hammers the point: Disregarding Christianity on the basis of the poor performance of the church is a bit like dismissing Johann Sebastian Bach after hearing Dickson attempt the Cello Suites.This Beautiful Tune, that is the Teaching of Jesus, is heard throughout the whole book, which implies it's heard throughout the whole of Christian history. If you can hear it, you, whether Christian or sceptic, will be able to perceive the church in all its glory and shame. Not with rose-tinted glasses where the church does no wrong, nor with distorted lenses where the church does no right. And to speak the truth of the Church in its shame is, Dickson argues, the Christian way, as Jesus taught it in the first century. He writes:It was the Master of the church himself who said I should worry more about my own sins than the sins of others. The same Lord who called his followers to pursue love, peacemaking, purity, and all the rest also insisted, in the same sermon, that Christians should be quick to admit personal fault and slow to condemn the faults of others.As a Christian who loves the Church, this book is simply the writer applying the lessons of Christ in his work as a historian and apologist.There is one more first century teaching: he titles the chapter, "Good Losers". While some today see the church as a bully, it was clear in the first century that the church was the one being bullied. Early Christians were willing to suffer, to lay down their lives, for their faith. That beautiful tune has not disappeared today. He writes:In December 2018, for example, one hundred Christians from the underground house church movement in Chengdu, China, were arrested and detained. Most were released shortly afterwards. The leader of the group, Wang Yi, was secretly tried at the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court and sentenced to nine years detention, the longest sentence given to a house church pastor in a decade (I have personally met others detained for just a year or two). In a letter smuggled out to the west shortly after his detainment, Pastor Yi describes his philosophy. “The gospel demands that disobedience of faith must be nonviolent,” he writes. “The mystery of the gospel lies in actively suffering, even being willing to endure unrighteous punishment, as a substitute for physical resistance. Peaceful disobedience is the result of love and forgiveness. The cross means being willing to suffer when one does not have to suffer. For Christ had limitless ability to fight back, yet he endured all of the humility and hurt. The way that Christ resisted the world that resisted him was by extending an olive branch of peace on the cross to the world that crucified him.”In this Good Losers chapter, with this Persecuted Church in China example, Dickson shows how the Beautiful Tune in the first century is very much alive today. Which begs the question, how does the crucified "love your enemies" Jesus Christ lead to torture-and-murder Crusades? And we get an answer in this trek through history. No Sketches on Martin Luther HereThe first two chapters presents the most damning event in Christian history. The next three chapters presents the beautiful teaching of Jesus. And these first five chapters, as I have briefly introduced, sets the scene for the remaining twenty, there are 25 chapters in all in this 347-page book. The remaining chapters range from the 300s during the time of Emperor Constantine all the way to today with the sex abuses in the modern church. Roughly, the chapters are concentrated on the 300s (6 chapters), 1100s (5 chapters) and modern (5 chapters). I say roughly because some chapters overlap. A careful listener will wonder how many chapters does he spend on the Reformation? Well... he speaks of the 1500s only as a background to the Wars of Religions in the 1600s. Meaning, he spends very little time in the Reformation. Gasp! How could a man with a first-class honours degree in Theology do that to the Reformation? Well, he does care for reformation, just not Reformation with a big R. It's reformation with a small r. One of the central thesis of this book is that the church has an auto-correct mechanism by way of the Beautiful Tune. Just when you think the church is hopeless, it reforms and corrects itself, multiple times over the ages. Because it's not a theological history, he doesn't spend time on Martin Luther or John Calvin or any other theologian. You'll have to look elsewhere for that. Also, looking at the title, "Bullies and Saints", you might mistaken this book as a book of short sketches of famous peoples or events. You know books with titles like "50 Christians that every Christians should know". Nothing wrong with those books, I have plenty of those books on my shelf, I find them helpful but this is not one of them. Even though its title is "Bullies and Saints", this book is not a patchwork of mini-stories. Instead, the later chapters build on the earlier ones. For example, Dickson shows us one man, the revered St Augustine, and how his brief writings on Just Wars in the fifth century later influenced a theology of Holy Wars leading up to the Crusades and even today.Understanding the reasons and circumstances doesn't make any murder less horrific but it does offer lessons.And I suggest that one lesson that history offers here is that us Christians need to be careful in our theology because small, very small, deviations can lead to unintended and horrific consequences some generations later. Will the church learn from history? Or will future historians trace future horrors to bad decisions we make today? And I can think of some of them right now.Christian Light in SlaveryHowever it's not all a horror show. In this review, I've not spent any time on the charity, hospitals and schools, the good that the church has done. Dickson does a terrific work, not so much as balancing the scales, but to say good is good, evil is evil. And there is a tremendous amount of good that we continue to experience today because of the church, some directly, many indirectly. But maybe it's because of my belligerent atheist past, in a book like this, I tend to gaze into the horrors of the church. Before I was a believer, I was a know-it-all, I knew the church's sins and would rub my Christian friends face in it. As an atheist, it was easy for me to point out the American South's slavery as evidence for Christianity's 'inherent' hypocrisy. In those days, I could milk that cow for all its worth.Then God decided I was to be a Christian. I soon discovered the life of William Wilberforce. Now, if you are a Christian, you should know this name. Because this name (among many others) will help you answer the difficult question of Christians and slavery. For example, slavery was abolished in the British Empire in the 1800s because of Christians like William Wilberforce. In this book, Dickson shows me further insights. Did you know that the Christian argument against slavery was articulated as early as the fourth century. Gregory of Nyssa, a bishop in Cappadocia, born in 330AD wrote: Whenever a human being is for sale, therefore, nothing less than the owner of the earth is led into the sale-room.That was written 1500 years, 1500 years!, before the abolition of slavery. And Dickson makes a very powerful point:It is a mistake to imagine that the push to end slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was a secular project as opposed to a religious one. There was religion on both sides, to be sure. The difference is: the arguments against slavery were almost entirely religious or quasi-religious, whereas the arguments for slavery were economic, scientific, and pragmatic, as well as religious.What I just shared is an assertion that can be verified. In that time, was there another argument against slavery? And this question is still relevant today as people condemn the Church for its slavery past yet too many are ignorant of the Church for freeing the slaves. Just like a DNA test would exonerate a wrongly accused man and release him from 20 years of prison, so history can right a wrong. Revisionist or Honest Truth Telling?In this way, I'm asserting that Dickson is an honest man. Or at least a historian that has written an honest account. And I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Other historians have endorsed him. It is not surprising for a book like this to have strong endorsements from Christian writers and thinkers like: Collin Hansen, Rebecca McLaughlin and John C. Lennox. If you are a sceptic you would dismiss all Christians as living in the same echo chamber. The book is all the more credible when we have endorsements from esteemed historians. Teresa Morgan, Professor of Graeco-Roman History, University of Oxford endorses the book: “This is that rare thing—a book that speaks equally to Christians and sceptics. Combining gripping historical narrative with a keen critique of contemporary debates, Dickson makes one of the most honest, challenging, and compelling cases for Christianity you will ever read.”I'll read another endorsement from Tom Holland, a British Historian, a non-Christian, who writes:“Bullies and Saints is a commendably honest work that goes beyond simple apologetics: one that is all the more subtle in its effect for being often very apologetic.”While the book is of interest to all Christians interested in our past, Dickson is clearly inviting the sceptic, which is no surprise if you know his history. Dickson arranges debates between Christians and non-Christians. That debate is how he introduced himself in this book. Dickson writes books with titles like "The Doubter's Guide to the Ten Commandments" to directly address sceptics. He founded The Centre for Public Christianity, "a not-for-profit media company that offers a Christian perspective on contemporary life." He is the host of a podcast, Undeceptions, one of the top Christian podcast in Australia, which has this tagline: "Advocating for the Christian faith in a sceptical world." All this explains why and how the book was written. And leads to my one tiny criticism or question. Saying the Church is Good is Only the BeginningCollin Hansen, editorial director of The Gospel Coalition, endorses this book: I don’t often hear people question these days whether or not Christianity is true. I hear them ask whether or not it’s good. And that’s the challenge John Dickson accepts in Bullies and Saints. I'm not suggesting that Dickson write a different book to answer a different question, "Is Christianity true or not". I'm not questioning whether Christians should give a good answer to whether Christianity is good or not, we should. Looking at the big picture, I am asking or wondering whether giving a definitive answer to that question will be sufficient? You see, there was a time, and since we are reading a book of history, there were many times, when society believed that Christianity is good. It was a given. But knowing that Christianity was good, that the church was good, did not do much in terms of a spiritual transformation. For a long time, society was a majority of people who were nominally Christians, individuals who profess a faith in name only. This book introduces us to another category, individuals who are ethically Christians. We have the historian Tom Holland and social capital researcher Andrew Leigh who are not Christians but are happy to credit Christianity for their moral code. People who are happy to go to church because they notice their children behave better after a sermon. How far should we celebrate this? Because nominally or ethically Christians are not Christians.Don't get me wrong. Dickson has explicitly written on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. He states it four times in this book. And he has defined the central moral logic of Christianity as: God's love for us must animate our love for all. So there is the gospel message. I suppose my concern is that this book is so good at making its case that the church is good that some readers might think this is the best way, the only way, to make the case for Christianity. And some, through no fault of John Dickson, might fail to see that ultimately it is God and only God who is good. Setting The Book Within a Christian's TimelineThis book is not the end. It answers the question of whether Christianity is good or not. But we need the provocation or the offensive question of whether Christianity is true or not. If true, what does that mean for you, Christian? For you, the unbeliever? This book expresses a Christian honesty and compassion that would attract or soften a Jerusalem Arab Muslim but it lacks the sharp edge that would lead to a Christian conviction. For that, you will need a follow up book or better yet a deeper conversation. Is Christianity true or not?I can't find any fault in this book, so I thought to frame the book within the bigger picture. It's a delightful read. For Christians, a sobering and hopeful look at our history. For sceptics, a beginning I hope for spiritual conversations. The conversation cannot just end with the conclusion that the church is good. It must go beyond it, and see the source of the beautiful tune.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History" by John Dickson. If you like this review, then get it while it's still on a discount. As of the 31st October, it's on a 86% discount in Amazon. Bullies and Saints is priced at USD3.99 from a list price of USD28.99. I don't know how long this discount will be so get it while you can. And if you like discounts, then you should, like me, visit Challies.com regularly. The Challies Kindle Deals has saved or cost me a lot of money, depending on how you see it. And if you like free books and would like to know more, be sure to listen to the next episode of Reading and Readers, where I will review the Faithlife Free Book of the Month for November. What is it? I don't know. Every month I wait eagerly in anticipation. Until next time, keep reading.Book ListBullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History by John Dickson. Amazon. Faithlife.

"In a day of polarization to extremes and consequent fragmentation of churches and individual lives, we need to heed his [the Apostle John's] call to hold together truth and love on the basis of God’s self-revelation throughout the Scriptures and especially in this text [the Epistles of John]." That was a prescient quote from 1988 by David Jackman in his book, "The Message of John's Letters". What revelation does the Apostle John's letters have for us? If you want to know more, don't go away.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. When I can, I try to squeeze in a Logos Free Book of the Month, depending on what Logos is giving away. For this month, it's "Exalting Jesus in 1, 2, 3 John" by Daniel L. Akin. Confidence to Review a CommentaryCoincidentally or providentially, my senior pastor just completed a sermon series on 1 John. And after him, I preached a sermon on 2 John. With the Apostle John still ringing in my mind, I feel more confident on reviewing this 288 page commentary on his letters. "Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John" is part of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, CCE for short, which boasts 35 books so far with more in progress. Let me read the Amazon description of the commentary series: Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition. The nature of the book gives added confidence that I could finish the review before the free promotion ends. The series editors, David Platt, Daniel Akin and Tony Merida explain: ... the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series has pastors in view. While we hope others will read this series, such as parents, teachers, small-group leaders, and student ministers, we desire to provide a commentary busy pastors will use for weekly preparation of biblically faithful and gospel-saturated sermons. This series is not academic in nature. Our aim is to present a readable and pastoral style of commentaries.And if the CCE's commentary on 1,2,3 John is any indicator, then they have achieved their aims of "a readable and pastoral style of commentaries". Although I must point out to my listeners that easy to read is relative. If you are in a teaching position in church or you are a keen student of the Bible, if you understand or want to understand what is hermeneutics and homiletics, then you'll appreciate this review.If not, then please know that most book reviews in this podcast are not commentaries. For example, you can listen to my review of children's books by S.D. Smith and Andrew Peterson or "Redeeming Money" by Paul Tripp. Structure and AuthorComing back to "Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John", to make this review on a commentary interesting, this the structure. I'll tell you two things I like, two things I don't like. And I'll do that by comparing it with another commentary on 1, 2, 3 John. I'll call this other commentary, Commentary X. Near the end of the episode, I'll reveal the title and author of this mysterious Commentary X. In doing this side-by-side review, you will not just learn more about this month's free commentary from Logos but you will hear how to compare two different commentaries, which could be important if you are out shopping for one. First, let me give a quick brief on the author. Daniel, or Danny, Akin is the President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. So it's a good thing I'm not reviewing his book as an assignment in his seminary because that would be a bit intimidating... given what I have to say. On his website, he lists 25 books he has written which includes 12 books for the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series, and among many books, there is with an eye-catching title, "God on Sex". If I did a review on that book, maybe I'll get more subscribers. I hear that sex sells. I should ask Akin if his book sales confirm it. In short, Akin has an impressive CV and has written for both scholars and general readers. How did he do for his 2014 book, the CCE Commentary on 1, 2, 3 John?Positives: Readable and ContemporaryThe first positive is, as I've mentioned, it's readable. Non-academic. Non-technical. Any reader, without any theological training, can pick this book up and profit from it. Every chapter begins with a one sentence 'Main Idea' followed by a catchy outline. For example, chapter one which covers 1 John 1:1-4, begins with the following one sentence Main Idea:Jesus Christ is the God-man who is the one basis of true Christian fellowship and eternal life.Next is the outline:Have a Passion to Know This LifeHave a Passion to Share This LifeHave a Passion to Enjoy This LifeEasy to read, easy to digest, easy to remember. The Main Idea and outline is helpful to guide the pastor or confirm his initial forays into the text.The second positive is the contemporary voice. Akin references John Piper, Chris Tomlin and other contemporary voices. He also addresses questions ordinary people ask today not questions scholars ask many decades ago. Negative: Sometimes Little AddedNow, I'll move to the negatives which will be longer because I try to substantiate my criticisms by comparing it with Commentary X. The first negative is in some parts (not all!) it feels like he is just paraphrasing what the passage says. For example, the Apostle John writes in 1 John 2:8: "At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining."We read this today and wonder, how is this commandment new? Listen to how Akin explains it here: And the newness is threefold. First, it is new and true in Jesus. Second, it is true and new in us, those who “walk just as He walked” (v. 6). Third, it is true and new in us because “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (cf. John 1:5, 9).It is new and true in Jesus. It is new and true in us. But that's just what the original verse said, I quote, "a new commandment ... which is true in him and in you". And as part of his reason Akin quotes back to us the verse, "the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining".This is as if I asked you, "Why is the sky blue?" And you answer, "Because it is blue." It sounds Zen but that's not an explanation or exposition. And if reading the bible verse back to you helps you, then you don't need this commentary. Thankfully, if Akin doesn't stop there. Otherwise, my criticism would be sharper. He elaborates. But is the elaboration helpful? Listen to how he continues:In Christ the command to love one another is strengthened, deepened, expanded, and given a depth of meaning and understanding never seen before His coming in the incarnation. And now that same kind of supernatural love is being seen and experienced in those who love Him and abide in Him. But there’s more! Perfect love as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has dealt a death blow to darkness. Darkness is on the run and it cannot outrun the light. In fact the darkness is already departing and the true light already shines! The light of the world (John 8:12) has come. The King of light and love is already reigning, and the fullness and consummation of that reign is just around the corner. How we love one another gives evidence of all of this.The way I read it, his elaboration midway turns to spontaneous doxology, to praise. Which I can appreciate, except I wanted to know what 1 John 2:8 means. If I knew what it meant, I too would like to burst into praise.Perhaps the problem with the repeated paraphrasing here is due to the nature of the letter itself. If you are familiar with 1 John, you know that it 'suffers' from thematic repetition. Perhaps it is the repetitive nature that is responsible for the tiredness in this reader-reviewer. It's not CCE's fault because the source material is the way it is.Except... when I read Commentary X's exposition on this same verse, I am enlightened. Remember the question I posed of 1 John 2:8 is "How is the commandment new?"In Commentary X, it says: The law of love is new in the sense that it is seen in Jesus and established by him through his death and resurrection. This command is also new in that Jesus by his obedience fulfilled the whole of the law and gave it “a depth of meaning that it had never known before” (John 13:34b, 35). Finally, this command is new because for those who believe it makes possible a new and eternal life in which they are motivated by the grace of God to fulfill the law of self-sacrificing, Christlike love.In comparison, Commentary X is here saying almost the same thing but saying it better and to the point. Does every chapter in the CCE have this same problem? No. And not always in the way I just described. Sometimes the disconnect appears as a list of facts, Bible verses or a lengthy quote that seems out of place in the flow of the argument. Negative: Unsatisfactory Difficult PassagesThe second thing I don't like about the CCE's commentary on 1,2,3 John is when he deals with a difficult passage, he doesn't present the merits of the different views. Now I understand the goal is not to be academic, which to some conjures up pages and pages of exhaustively listing and debating every minutia of data to arrive at no conclusion. First of all that is not true. Depending on which audience it aims for, an academic commentary can give concise and conclusive arguments. The CCE doesn't handle well the tension between being devotional on one hand and expositional on the other, especially for difficult passages.1 John 5:6, "water and blood"I'll give you an example. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 5:6, "This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth." The obvious question is "What is the water and blood?"Christ-Centered Exposition (CCE)This is what CCE has: Some see [the water] as a reference to the water of physical birth, the water that flowed from our Lord’s side when He was pierced on the cross (John 19:34–35), or even the two sacraments or ordinances of baptism (water) and the Lord’s Supper (blood). This last perspective was held by both Martin Luther and John Calvin. However, the historical context of refuting the false teachings of Cerinthus, who said the Christ-spirit descended on the man Jesus at His baptism but abandoned Him on the cross, points strongly in the direction that John had the baptism of Jesus in mind.Why is Martin Luther and John Calvin wrong? Akin doesn't say. We don't have enough data to weigh the merits or to understand how and why Akin made his conclusion.Commentary XOn the other hand, this is what Commentary X has concerning Luther and Calvin's interpretation:First, John is concerned with combating false teachers who denied the human nature of Jesus. It is therefore unlikely that John would now switch topics. Second, John uses the past tense (ho elthōn, “the one who came”) which reflects a past, completed event in history, whereas baptism and the Lord’s Supper are recurring observances. Third, although water seems to be a likely synonym for baptism, the same is not true for blood and the Lord’s Supper.He explains why Luther and Calvin are wrong. And this is a small part of a larger section explaining how other views came to be and why they too are wrong, before settling to the same conclusion as Akin's in the CCE. NICNT, TNTC, WBCOn the question of water and blood, I checked the academic commentaries I have: Howard Marshall's New International Commentary on the New Testament (the venerable NICNT), John Stott's Tyndale New Testament Commentary (TNTC), Stephen Smalley's Word Biblical Commentary (WBC). These commentaries gave helpful insights to the question which is to be expected because they give nitty gritty details often at the expense of accessibility. Although I think the Tyndale New Testament Commentary or TNTC as a series manages to give a good balance in a concise volume. The Bible Speaks Today (BST)The Bible Speaks Today, BST for short, is a commentary series with similar aims to the CCE. David Jackman, whom I quoted in the beginning, is under similar constraints to Akin for the CCE. Comparing how they treat 1 John 5:6 side by side, Jackman is more focused on expounding the text while Akin tends to drift towards... exalting Jesus. Akin would punctuate his commentary with statements like: "Jesus is the anointed Son", "Jesus will be the suffering King", "Jesus was not a mere man. He is the Son of God who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", "Praise His name, He did come to die for us, and He did come to change us!" Akin's writing is more exultation and less exposition. Preaching the Word (PtW)I want to make a special mention of David Allen of the Preaching the Word series. His commentary on this passage is a combination of creative writing and exposition. I quote: As the courtroom comes to order, our eyes are riveted on an aged man who stands and approaches the front of the court. A former fisherman, he is now famous worldwide as the only surviving member of the original twelve disciples who followed Jesus. His name is John.So Allen goes on a different track with this passage, he doesn't weigh the merits of different views but rather brings out the testimony and witness feel of the passage.1 John 5:16, "Sin that leads to death"Coming back to my review of "Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John", I had prepared another example for comparison. 1 John 5:16 which says, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that."This too is a puzzling verse. The question "What is the sin that does not lead to death and the sin that does lead to death?" arises naturally for any reader of this passage, and so more is expected from any commentary. And the CCE is found lacking. While it tells us the three views, again it doesn't explain how it came about or why we should accept CCE's view in comparison to others. The conclusion is simply asserted. On the other hand, Commentary X explains the different views, compares the data and while it reaches the same conclusion in the CCE, it gives the reader confidence. In my opinion, the preacher especially needs that confidence because his preaching is a result of that confidence. Not in his own ability but in what the Bible says. Hence the preacher studies as much as he can, given the time, money and ability he possesses. I'm not saying the preacher can publish a journal paper out of his studies, merely that his conclusions can be supported or defended from the text. Revealing Commentary XNow, what is this Commentary X that somehow always reaches the same conclusion as the CCE but substantiates them better? And I dare say communicates them better. It can substantiate better because Commentary X is an academic commentary and is thus expected to substantiate arguments. But you ask, "How can it be fair to contrast the CCE with an academic commentary? The CCE is doing what it promised. A non-academic devotional commentary for the busy pastor that exalts Jesus. Comparison would be apples to oranges. Totally unfair!" Ah... but I argue it's not. It's a delicious comparison! Because... Commentary X is the New American Commentary or NAC for short, on 1, 2, 3 John which is written in 2001 by a scholar by the name of Daniel L. Akin. Yes, the same Akin who wrote the CCE. If you felt that I was a bit hard on Akin's CCE work, it was because I have both his NAC and CCE in mind. So I knew Akin possessed the scholarly depth and writing flair to address my main concern with the CCE but did not because of it's different purpose.New American Commentary (NAC)The NAC is an academic work. The book begins with a discussion on the author, date and place of writing, the occasion, purpose and theology of the epistle. Every chapter assumes some understanding or at least some appreciation of the Greek, textual criticism, theology and historical development. Thus, it's not easy book to read hence why I didn't and couldn't read the whole book for this review. I only used it as a reference to the difficult passages in 1 John 5:6 and 16. What sets apart this NAC book from all the other 1 John commentaries earlier and also showcases Akin's scholarship is the marvellously long discussion on the structure of 1 John. In this discussion, Akin presents:a summary of Raymond Brown's survey of 26 outlines from different scholars,several outlines from more scholars using discourse analysis,even more outlines from another set of scholars this time using rhetorical criticism, before he finally presentshis own proposed outline.I'd like to think that the multiplicity of structures for 1 John validates my own struggles in outlining this epistle. In case you haven't caught on, I quite like the NAC compared to the CCE. Akin is more focused in the NAC and even with all the academic baggage, in my opinion the argument still reads and flows better. In the CCE, sometimes the not-well-resolved tension between expounding and exalting makes the argument seem interrupted and lacks substance, which is a pity when we now know how much Akin can bring to the discussion. Maybe you say the problem is I'm reading it as an argument when I should read it as a devotional. It's a devotional man! Don't expect something else from it. Just enjoy it! The thing is I do enjoy devotional commentaries. David Allen's chapter was good and I thoroughly enjoy the Reformed Expository Commentary Series. I suspect, and this is only a suspicion, I'm not getting much out of the CCE because the material would come out better if it's preached not read. Synergy: 1 + 1 = 3I do have a reason for bringing up Akin's NAC and it's not to pit it against his CCE. Instead of saying which is better, which listeners would argue is not fair, and I agree, I'm comparing them because I want to propose to you that they are complement one another. Instead of choosing between the NAC and CCE, why not just get both? "What?! I barely can read one and you want me to get two?""Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John" is free for October so that's a no-brainer but even if you had to pay for both books, it might be worth it. Let me explain the synergy. Synergy is what happens when the combined effect is greater than the sum of the parts, or 1 + 1 = 3.When you get both the NAC and the CCE, a research commentary and a devotional commentary by the same author, you get a peek at what happens going from one stage to the next. We can see sermons as a two-stage process. Hermeneutics then homiletics, or interpretation then delivery. If a sermon is a car, the first stage is to fill the tank, and the second stage is to drive it. Sometimes the problem for the preacher is there isn't enough fuel in the tank, and he ends up pushing the car on his own strength. Meaning the hermeneutics is weak, and the sermon over relies on addressing felt needs, personal testimonies, even dreams and visions. Other times the problem is the pastor finds he has too much fuel and turns his car into an oil tank truck. What was supposed to be a Christ-exalting sermon becomes a lecture on Greek grammar. How can preachers improve on moving from interpretation to delivery? Books on both hermeneutics and homiletics have chapters to bridge that gap but there is a limit to how many examples authors can squeeze into a book. If only, we had an author who would take one whole book of the Bible, show us how he does the interpretative work for every verse in that book and then show us how he would put everything he learnt and deliver a series of sermons on that book. What would that book be... Genesis? Too many stories scattered all around. Matthew? Too long. Hmm... it would be good to have something shorter but not too short and thematically focused. Of all the books in the Bible, the epistles of John best fits that requirement. That ladies and gentlemen, is the synergy you get by getting Akin's NAC which is the interpretative work and Akin's CCE which is the delivery work on 1, 2, 3 John. Even though it's not a one to one correspondence, the books don't refer to each other, I think it works really well to see how one man interprets a whole book and later puts it down as a series of sermons or in a devotional setting. You don't often get this type of arrangement so I wanted to highlight that in this review. In this review, I explained the difference between an academic and a devotional commentary. I also shared one way, not the only way, to evaluate a commentary is simply to see how it deals with a verse. Pick a verse that is confusing like "blood and water", or controversial like, "women should be silent in the church", or important like the atonement, and see how the commentary deals with it. I have explained to a brother in Christ that we should not view commentaries as authoritative because only the Bible is authoritative. We should view commentaries as friends, knowledgeable friends for sure, friends who have dedicated a lifetime to understand a narrow part of the Scripture, but friends whom we can still argue with in a respectful way. ConclusionIn conclusion, even though the Akin's CCE and NAC are both commentaries on 1, 2, 3 John, they each serve different purposes. The NAC is an academic book. The CCE is a devotional commentary written for busy pastors. For lighter reading the CCE can be read cover to cover as food for the soul. As a reference on difficult passages, the NAC is better positioned to help you. If you get both together, you get the benefit of seeing how one man interprets and delivers from one book.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Exalting Jesus in 1, 2, 3 John" by Daniel L. Akin. If you are listening to this in October, then this book is available for free only in October, only via Logos. And if you missed the offer, well, you should subscribe to Reading and Readers because every month I will review at least one free book for you. You have a very special person in your life, who believes in Jesus, obeys Jesus and loves you in a way that no one else would. Yes, your pastor. If he doesn't know it yet, you should tell him about the Logos free book of the month programme and even this podcast that reviews Christian books. October is Pastor Appreciation Month, so go and appreciate your pastor. Until next time, keep reading!Book List"Exalting Jesus in 1, 2, 3 John (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (CCE))" by Daniel L. Akin. Amazon. Logos."1, 2, 3 John (New American Commentary (NAC))" by Daniel L. Akin. Amazon. Logos."The Epistles of John (New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT))" by Howard I. Marshall. Amazon. Logos."The Letters of John (Tyndale New Testament Commentary (TNTC))" by John Stott. Amazon. Logos."1,2,3 John (Word Biblical Commentary (WBC))" by Stephen S. Smalley. Amazon. Logos."The Message of John's Letters (The Bible Speaks Today (BST)) by David Jackman. Amazon. Logos."1-3 John: Fellowship in God's Family (Preaching the Word)" by David L. Allen. Amazon. Logos.

When was the last time you heard a sermon or read a passage and thought, "Huh! I never looked at it that way before." Today's book promises you a new set of eyes to see passages in a new light.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review the Faithlife Free Book of the Month for October: "Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Parables: Discovering New Insights in Familiar Passages" by Doug Newton. 208 pages, published by David C. Cook in August 2018.The First Samaritan MomentDo you remember your first time hearing or reading the Parable of the Samaritan Man? Wow! Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the religious elite. What a wise and powerful answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" Do you remember how the weight of the parable came to bear on you? "Can I do that? What does this story mean to me? Will my life now be forever changed?" Fast forward some years, and you have heard many sermons on the Good Samaritan, you have read many articles on the parable, you have explained the parable to others, perhaps even teaching it in Sunday school. Now, when a preacher comes up to preach on the Parable of the Samaritan Man, or the Parable of the Sower, or the Parable of the Prodigal Son, or other familiar passages, before he has finished reading the passage, you have outlined his sermon and are now just tapping your watch waiting for him to finish. Unless, of course, the preacher offers new insights. And if he does, those old passages spring back to life. You are gripped by the revelation of God speaking into your life again. Don't you want a book that promises new insights on familiar passages? Doug Newton's book "Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Parables: Discovering New Insights in Familiar Passages" offers more than new insights. The keyword here is 'discovering'. He gives you the tools for discovery.Fresh Eye SeriesThis book is part of a three-book Fresh Eye series. Let me quote from the book's introduction to the series:My primary mission with this book series is not to share new insights I’ve uncovered. My greater desire is to reveal specific techniques that will allow you to make new discoveries about familiar passages that can revive your love for the infinite Word and transform your work in teaching and testimony.The series consists of three books: "Fresh Eyes on Famous Bible Sayings", "Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Miracles" and "Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Parables", which is the one free for October from Faithlife. All three books in the series offers to teach readers how to discover new insights on familiar passages. Running Man Makes Every EffortWho is the writer making this offer? According to his online profile: Doug Newton is the cofounder and director of the National Prayer Ministry of the Free Methodist Church-USA. The author of twelve books, he served for thirty years as a senior pastor and for fifteen years as editor of Light & Life magazine.This profile doesn't convey Newton's passion to (I quote) "help people see the Bible with fresh eyes and expectancy." This is a pastor who preached two sermons back-to-back while running on a treadmill just so that he could illustrate what the Greek word spoudazo in 2 Peter 1:5 means. I can almost see the pastor huffing and puffing, "Spoudazo in the Greek means make every effort." Some listeners would be attracted to such gimmicks. Some would be turned off. I have used gimmicks, mostly in sermons targeting children and youth. Now if you think it's acceptable to use such visual aids for children and youth, then rejecting them on the main Sunday Service might reveal a personal preference rather than a theological line. While we could discuss whether the sign acts of Ezekiel and Jeremiah allows preachers to use gimmicks, that is not the point of the book. Suspicious Gimmicks and Insights?Even though I employ gimmicks, I am suspicious of them. Gimmicks like sermon illustrations and personal testimonies can take a life of its own and hijack the sermon. Similarly, even though I offer and desire new insights on familiar passages, I am also suspicious of people offering them, because these phrases are also used to cover distorted or false teachings.My suspicions are not assured by Newton's interpretative approach, I quote: Other scholars have argued that a parable should be reduced to one simple lesson. Seminary students are often trained in that school of thought. Thankfully, a resurgence of interpretation theories has allowed for allegorical readings of parables and their ability to convey multiple points at once.He later continues:We need to use our limited permission and let the parables take us into Spirit-guided research, reflection and application, in harmony with the whole Word of God. He says clearly good things (i.e. it should be in harmony with the whole Word of God) but what does he mean by "allegorical readings of parables and their ability to convey multiple points at once"? Bingo: Jesus' ParablesLet's find out in the book. What are the new insights that Doug Newton offers in this book and how helpful are his techniques on discovering them? Excluding the introduction, there are ten chapters for the ten parables he has selected. Let me pause and ask you, "How many Parables of Jesus can you remember?" If you are not driving, I suggest you pause this podcast now and list the Parables of Jesus that you remember. Because we are going to play Bingo, the Parables of Jesus version. If your list, the list that you made, includes all ten of the parables in this book, you can shout, "Bingo!" and earn the admiration of all your peers. By one count, Jesus spoke more than 30 Parables, so get going. Fun for the whole family!Let's hear it. The ten parables you will find in this book are: The Hidden Treasure, The Vineyard Workers, The Lost Son, The Friend in Need, The Unmerciful Servant, The Wise and Foolish Builders, The Five Talents, The Shrewd Manager, The Lost Sheep and lastly, the Good Samaritan. How many did you get? Are all these parables familiar to you?Walkthrough the Hidden TreasureI'll walkthrough the first chapter, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure to show what readers should expect for the rest of the book. First, he leads in with a brief story, humorous and relevant to the point he will eventually make. Soon he introduces the parable, in this chapter he quotes Matthew 13:44:The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.He then tells us what the traditional view is. I quote: One common interpretation ... [is]: the kingdom of heaven is such a precious treasure that we, like the man, should give up everything to lay hold of it. Of course, that’s absolutely true—but probably not what Jesus was talking about. So let’s flip our minds upside down, shake out the old teaching, and ask the Holy Spirit to help us discover something new. Let’s start with a quick review of the facts:What did the man buy? Don’t say “treasure.” He wanted the treasure, but he had to buy the field where he found it in order to possess the treasure. That’s an important observation.How did the man come up with the money to buy the field? He sold everything he owned.What was his frame of mind while doing that? He was joyful.Finally, what was the kingdom of heaven like? Wait . . . don’t say “treasure.” The first thing you must do whenever you approach a parable that begins “the kingdom of heaven (or God) is like . . .” is to put the parable’s elements inside a parenthesis so the phrase “kingdom of heaven” applies to everything that follows. This parable is not saying the kingdom of God is like any one element in the parable, such as the treasure or the man or the field. Rather, the parable is saying the whole picture that follows is what the kingdom of God is like. That is, the man finds treasure, hides it, joyfully sells everything, and buys the field. Given that basic rule of interpretation, we cannot interpret this parable the common way—that the kingdom of God should be like a treasure to us.Four Things I Like About YouLet me tell you four things I like and one I don't. First, I like how he challenges us to really read the text and not just recall whatever we have heard or learnt. Here is the text, read it for yourselves. Second, I like how teaches by asking questions. I believe that effective learning is often asking the right questions instead of giving the right answers. And if this book helps readers ask better questions, it's a good book. Third, he makes a distinction between right teaching and right interpretation. He affirms that the kingdom of heaven is a precious treasure to us, that's right teaching, but he claims that's not what Jesus was talking about, that's not the right interpretation. I think this is an important distinction which preachers and teachers should know. Fourth, I like it that he says the traditional interpretation is "probably not what Jesus was talking about." If you recall, earlier he said one parable may convey multiple meanings at once. I like this because he doesn't say there are two meanings. He says the traditional meaning is wrong and that makes it easier for me to argue against, which you will hear later.You are the Treasure! It is You!But I haven't yet told you what is his conclusion. After telling us that the kingdom of heaven is not the treasure but the whole picture of the man finding, hiding, selling and buying, where would this interpretation lead to?He leads us by reminding us to be aware and to check our assumptions. Then he throws the big question: "What if the man in the parable is not us? What if the man who finds the hidden treasure is Jesus?" If so, then it is Jesus who gave everything up in order to gain the treasure, and the treasure would be us!How does Newton support this interpretation? Ironically, for a man who seeks to overcome an interpretation we have received via tradition, he begins his argument by appealing to an earlier tradition. On the picture of the man being Jesus, he writes: Did you realize that for the first thousand years of Christendom that picture was likely the more common way of understanding salvation? It is sometimes called Christus Victor.Using Christus Victor as the interpretative key, Newton then confirms this to be the right way of thinking by connecting the joy, selling and buying in the parable to Hebrews 12:2 "For the joy set before him he endured the cross...", Philippians 2:6-7, "[Jesus] made himself nothing..." and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."Finally, Newton tells us how this Christus Victor interpretation can make a different in our lives. Christ gave up everything in order to gain you, his treasure. He writes: When you become His, Jesus wonderfully and lovingly turns your life upside down and erases the sin, shame, corruption, and marks the Devil left in your life, granting you a clean slate and heart that He writes on by His Spirit. Because you belong to Him.This chapter ends, as does every chapter, with two sections titled 20/20 Focus and Vision Check, both of which I will explain later. Standing Up For TraditionBut first I want to ask, "Are you convinced with Doug Newton's interpretation? The parable of the hidden treasure is not about us giving all we have to gain Christ but instead is Christ giving his life to gain us?" Let's be clear, both teachings are right. If the teaching is not taught here, it is taught elsewhere in the Bible. We are asking, "Which is the right interpretation of this parable?"Let us look at the context. The Parable of the Hidden Treasure sits in the midst of a string of parables! In them, Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to: a man sowing good seed in the field,a grain of mustard seed,leaven,hidden treasure,a merchant in search of fine pearls,a netand closes with Jesus saying:Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.What is the treasure here? Can the treasure be us? Or is it more likely that the treasure is the kingdom of God, the old treasure is the old understanding we receive from Moses and the prophets and the new treasure is the new understanding we receive from Jesus and the apostles?Second point. In the string of parables, what is the unifying theme? Or asking it another way, "What triggered this string of parables?" We read in Matthew 13:10 that the disciples after hearing the Parable of the Sower asks Jesus, "Why do you speak in parables?" And Jesus answers them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." If we take the trigger as the interpretative key, it becomes clear. The good soil receives God's Word and produces a hundred-, sixty-, thirty-fold. Jesus explains he speaks in parables because there are two sets of people: the one who has and the one who has not. As we follow the string of parables, we see that in the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, Jesus is continuing his teaching; he is describing a man who gives up everything to gain the kingdom of heaven. The man who has, for whom more will be given. The man who is the good soil. The man who will be saved. The man is you and me. The man is not Jesus. Right Teaching Good ChristianAt this point, you might think, "This book isn't any good, is it? Terence just said Newton got it wrong." Well, I think he interpreted the parable wrongly but I think the his teaching is right. Many of his interpretations and questions lands on a note of Christian compassion, kindness and care. His section titled 20/20 Focus asks 3-4 questions or prompts which if you do them would make you a better follower of Christ. I Got It Right Because Of HimAs for his insights being wrong, well, get this... my conclusions that you heard earlier, I employed two of Newton's interpretative techniques. The star of the book is not the new insights, it's the techniques to get new insights. The different insights are examples of what you can get by applying the techniques. This is made clear in the section titled Vision Check. For the first chapter, Newton writes:Whenever you begin to think about anything, you start with assumptions you’re not even aware of. The key to clear thinking is to release those assumptions. Don’t let them control what you see before you check them out like we did in this parable. (Are we right to assume the man who bought the field is a person like ourselves?)Newton is right. We may assume we know what the text says. We should not be defensive if asked to check our assumptions. Vision Check is a key feature of the book for two reasons. First, he explains, in simple terms, the interpretative technique used in the chapter. Second reason is he asks you to practice the technique on a given bible verse and compare your answer against his. For example, on checking assumptions, he writes:Practice this skill by going to 2 Corinthians 9:15, where Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” First, identify what most people assume Paul meant by the “indescribable gift” and hold it in question. Then read the preceding verses (vv. 6–14) to see if the common assumption fits the context. Or is the “indescribable gift” referring to something else? Hop on dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app to compare your thoughts with mine.I went to the website and found a 4-minute video of Newton going through his answer for the homework. It's a really nice personal touch to have the author walkthrough the exercise with you. He does this for every chapter so by the end of this book, you would have practiced 10 interpretative techniques. And if you get the whole series, you can learn 31 of them. You might think that I would not recommend this book after disagreeing with his primary conclusion in the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, and your interpretation of my comments would be wrong. He has insights which I agree with. What Triggered It All?Remember when I said, let us find out what triggered the string of parables? Well, that's the technique Newton presents in chapter three, applying it on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This all too familiar passage is often taught to emphasise God the Father's great love, which is not a wrong teaching but not the right interpretation. Newton shows us that by asking what triggered this parable, we see that this is the third parable following the parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and thus in keeping with the pattern, the Prodigal Son would be better named the Lost Son. And what triggered this series of three parables? We read in Luke 15:2:The Pharisees had grumbled saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." And Jesus responded with the three parables where the recovery of the sheep, coin and son leads to joy! Joy in heaven, joy before the angels of God and joy in the prodigal's home. Instead of grumbling as the prodigal's brother did, the Pharisees should be rejoicing! Newton writes: Even though we might like to bask in the father’s love as the parable’s emphatic point, Jesus clearly combined the three parables into one strong rebuke of the Pharisees’ attitude.Did Newton discover an insight previously unknown to man? No. In a sermon, Charles Spurgeon linked the three parables together. John MacArthur has a book, "The Prodigal Son" where he points readers to what triggered the parable. The important thing is not who discovered the insight or even the insight itself but how we get there. In this chapter's Vision Check, Newton writes: You never fully understand what’s going on in a person’s mind until you know what triggered what he or she did or said. You have to ask, “I know what you said, but why did you say it? What are you getting at?”So how is it that two man can employ the same methods but reach different conclusions? Well, I would say that for the first chapter, Newton did not go far enough in asking what triggered the parable. But if asked, he probably would explain why he is right and I am wrong. And I want to point out that the difference is because we are wrestling, not with each other but with Scripture. I am happy with any book that gives me more tools to wrestle with Scripture and Newton does a great job of inspiring readers to try the tools for themselves to get fresh eyes on the text.Do You Mean New Insights or 'New Insights'?Which leads me to my final thought on the premise of the book. When we say we want fresh eyes or new insights on familiar passages, what exactly do we mean? If it's music, when I want fresh and new insights, do I mean it's the same hymn but I now appreciate it better because I know it was composed by a mourning father as his ship sailed past the site where his daughters drowned? So it's the same hymn played the same way but it's now more significant to the listener. Or in the second case, when I say fresh and new: do I mean it's the same hymn but jazzed up, with drums and electric guitar, a faster tempo and more modern. It's the same hymn but because it's presented differently, it's fresh to our ears. Or in the third case, when I say fresh and new: do I mean change the song because the song has been overplayed and it's about time for everyone to hear something different but the same. We are not talking about music here, we are talking about interpretations. My worry is some people like the idea of fresh eyes and new insights because they want, above everything else, novelty. That is dangerous and I would argue underlies the temptation "to go and serve other gods - gods that neither you nor your fathers have known." (Deuteronomy 13:6). Novelty is not but it can be a form of idolatry.For others, fresh eyes and new insights is a thunderclap to wake slumbering Christians. You have heard the Good Friday message so often, how can we make it as meaningful as the first time you heard it? Why don't we show a clip from the movie the Passion of the Christ? Is it gimmicky? Maybe. Is it necessary? No. Does it help the congregation see what Jesus went through for sinners? Yes. So the audio-visual is meant to compensate for our lack of imagination and because we are so far away from that time and place. Thus, the text becomes fresh without changing the message. But do we need to make the delivery more hip and trendy with audio visual magic to make it fresh? No, as Newton abundantly shows. Another example in books, is John Piper's 700 page Providence. In an interview, Piper affirmed he doesn't say anything new about God's Providence. His position is an old position. He gives fresh eyes and new insights by showing the connecting parts, a more complete picture than the scattered pieces we have. Therefore, the techniques in this book can: give you a deeper appreciation and understanding of a traditional view,make the traditional view more significant (or if you prefer, more relevant) by bridging ancient Scripture into modern times, orchallenge the traditional view to be replaced with an alternate view. A view that can be God-glorifying right or dangerously wrong.In short, the techniques introduced in this book are like scalpels. The results depend on the surgeon. And I hope this doesn't come across too macabre, but failed surgeries are rigorously studied for surgeons to learn what not to do. We should do the same for interpretations. And we do!More Interpretations HelpWhen we study apologetics, we study heresies, which are often wrong interpretations of key passages. In a similar but less consequential way, when we study different interpretations of Jesus' parables, we are applying the discipline of humbly taking in an alternate view, analysing it from all angles using all the techniques in our disposal and deciding whether is it true or not. Just like how I appreciate reading commentaries that debate the merits of different interpretations, I appreciate Newton explaining how he arrives at his insights even as I disagree with him. One added bonus of knowing more interpretations is it takes the wind out of people who are chasing after novelty. Your friend comes to you and says, "Did you know that this passage could be read in this way and that? It's shocking isn't it how we have been misled all these centuries?!" And you listen and say, "Oh... I know that view. Have you considered so and so before you accepted it as true?" If your friend is chasing novelty, he will be discouraged by your response. But if he aims for truth, he will engage and want to know more, and you will be ready. Concluding ThoughtsIn conclusion, I like the book because of the interpretative techniques. The new insights he offers are a mixed bag. It's only 208 pages and written in a very accessible way, plenty of personal anecdotes and humour. If you are bored or spiritually dry, you could give this book a try. You might just wake up with fresh eyes. Don't forget it's now available for free for this month and only this month from Faithlife.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Parables: Discovering New Insights from Familiar Passages" by Doug Newton. I confess one area in frequent need of freshness here is how to persuade you to share this podcast with more of your friends. Maybe instead of new insights, you need new friends. Not for my benefit - you are making an assumption there! - but for the kingdom of heaven. I am working on another review on a free book for October. It's the free book from Logos, "Exalting Jesus in 1, 2, 3 John by Daniel L. Akin. I may need an extra week to prepare the episode but I aim to publish it before the month ends. Just get the books and tell your friends about the free books (and this podcast that reviews them!). Take care and God bless! Book List"Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Parables: Discovering New Insights from Familiar Passages" by Doug Newton. Amazon. Faithlife.

An atheist jumps off his seat and runs to his friend, "The Bible itself says, 'There is no God.' The Bible says that!" His friend, a Christian turns and smiles, "That's in Psalm 14:1. You should read the whole verse my friend for it says "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" After today's episode, we'll see that it's not just the Bible that atheist have read wrongly. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Previously, I reviewed Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham and Imprisoned with ISIS by Petr Jasek. I dropped an email to the publisher, Salem Books, saying I enjoyed the two books, thanks for publishing them. They replied asking if I wanted to review an upcoming book, "Is Atheism Dead?" by Eric Metaxas. I said, "Yes! I loved his Bonhoeffer book." I had also suggested another book of his, "Seven Men", to a young adult who was on his way to a reading habit. Soon I had in my hands the advanced review copy of "Is Atheism Dead?" Advanced review copy means that what I have here might be different from the final published copy but it should not be substantially different. And if it is substantially different than whoops, I have to re-do this podcast episode. Rallying Christians to Storm Atheists PositionsThe title "Is Atheism Dead?" is a riff on that famous 1966 Time cover asking, "Is God Dead?" Fifty years later, proclaiming that God is dead is no longer as shocking as it was then. Atheists survey the battlefield and consider the battle all but won. Christians are on the retreat in politics, science, education, even within the church, liberal theology has taken over many institutions. In this book, Metaxas launches a counter-offensive against the atheistic worldview. He shows that science, true science, pure science detached from a foreign atheistic worldview shows what is obvious: life in this universe is not a random occurrence. Second, archeology unfailingly confirms what the Bible says happened, actually happened. And third, Metaxas argues atheism in concept and in practice eats itself. These three parts (science, archaeology and atheism) form the book and form a rallying cry for Christians to bring the battle to the atheistic side. Big Bang Theory: Friend or Foe?The offensive starts at the beginning: The Big Bang Theory. He writes: Infinite time was the darling of many atheists who maintained that “with enough time” anything was possible, and God was unnecessary. Whenever anyone objected that certain things could not have happened randomly and without some “Designer” or “Creator,” those wed to the atheist materialist position would object that “given enough time” anything could happen. Life could arise randomly out of non-life in the primordial oceans. Amoebas could become redwoods. Aquatic creatures could become flying mammals. It was only a matter of having enough time, for time covered a multitude of sins.Metaxas then outlines how Big Bang Theory came to be -- Einstein makes an appearance -- and how, to their great dismay, atheists were forced to confront a universe with a beginning, the universe is 13.8 billion years old. Now to us, 13.8 billion years is such a huge number, it might as well be infinity. Surely it still gives atheist the allowance to say "given enough time, anything could happen". However, if you consider that the earth is only 4.5 billions year old, in the time scales we are talking about, you pretty much have to get things right the first time for life to happen. Imagine you have 13.8 hours before everyone comes for the party, and it takes 4.5 hours to bake the cake. Given infinite time, you could try different recipes, throw all the ingredients together, and hope to bake the perfect cake because given enough time, anything could happen, even a perfect cake. But if you only have 13.8 hours to bake it, and it takes 4.5 hours to bake one, then you need to plan. If you only have 13.8 billion years to make life happen, you can't hope for things to come together randomly. "Whoa... whoa... hold on here. What's this about 13.8 billion years and 4.5 billion years. I believe the earth is 6000 years old!" So we have here a Young Earth Creationist who answered the call and showed up to fight the atheists and he suddenly realises that he is sharing a foxhole with a Christian, who is repeating the same billions of years nonsense that atheists are saying. What was supposed to be a two way pistol fight has become a three way Mexican standoff. Ah right. Metaxas doesn't deal with that tiny little conflict between Young Earth and Old Earth Creationists. In the book, he frames the fight as one side believes God created everything and the other side believes there is no God. I'd like to suggest respectfully that if you hold to Young Earth Creationism that you continue to hold on to it. Don't let this book persuade you otherwise because Metaxas doesn't mention and then refute Young Earth Creationism. He is not so much arguing for Old Earth Creationism, he is arguing against atheism, hence the title, "Is Atheism Dead?" You know how Star Trek or Star Wars or Marvel Universe have its own in universe logic? Whether it's tractor beams or light sabers, it obeys it's own in-universe physics. What Young Earth Creationist can gain from this book is that in a billions of years universe, which atheists and popular culture know to be true, this universe shows that life is not a random occurrence. Therefore, Metaxas is saying Christians need to know the argument "Given enough time, anything could happen" is dead in the water. Christians need to take the fight to the atheists to ask them, "Do you know that your heroes, your thinkers and scientists have admitted that the evidence is compelling: life is not a random occurrence?" The Big Bang Theory is only one part of a greater argument. A Dime's Worth of Mass Would Collapse the UniverseNext, t here is also the fine-tuning argument. A big part of what Metaxas does is to convey how easily it is for life not to exist. Metaxas quotes many scientists on this and one of them is Hugh Ross, a Caltech astrophysicist, from his book "Why the Universe is the Way It Is":At certain early epochs in cosmic history, [the universe’s] mass density must have been as finely tuned as one part in 10 to the 60th power to allow for the possible existence of physical life at any time or place with the entirety of the universe. This degree of fine-tuning is so great that it’s as if right after the universe beginning someone could have destroyed the possibility of life within it by subtracting a single dime’s mass from the whole of the observable universe or adding a single dime’s mass to it.Crazy huh? And that is only for one parameter, the mass of the universe. Metaxas describes other parameters including the size of the earth, the relative mass of the moon, the location of the solar system, the properties of water, the properties of light and the four fundamental forces. And he only lists some in this book because there are 200 parameters to get exactly right for life to happen. 200 parameters!That's like going to Vegas pulling the arm of 200 slot machines in a row and hitting the jackpot for every one of them. What are you going to tell the casino owners as they strap you to a chair for a trip to the bottom of the ocean? "I'm just really lucky"? What if you told them, "Let me call my science professor. She'll tell you how it's not just likely but inevitable that this could randomly happen." You call her. You explained that you are on the edge of an existential crisis. And she says, "Nobody is that lucky. The machines must have been rigged." And that's where atheism has left the non-believer. No help whatsoever to deal with the evidence. Metaxas quotes Stephen Hawking:If the overall density of the universe were changed by even 0.0000000000001 percent, no stars or galaxies could be formed. If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed before it reached its present size.Metaxas quotes Francis Crick, one of two scientists who discovered DNA's double helix.An honest man armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.Metaxas quotes Richard Dawkins, the most famous atheist in the world.During an interview for the 2014 film Expelled, he [Richard Dawkins] allowed that yes, the astonishing and baroque complexity of DNA might indicate “a signature of some kind of designer,”... Despite Hawking, Crick, Dawkins and others conceding the complexity of life and the force of the fine-tuning argument, they don't end up believing in Intelligent Design. So what do they believe?Instead, and what I'm about to say is disappointing for atheists, they suggest... Francis Crick suggested aliens. Dawkins calls that an intriguing possibility. Others suggest multiple universes. Ideas like this are the plots for Alien and Marvel movies. Others still cling on to random occurrence, a happy accident, saying isn't it amazing? 200 jackpots in a row! We are really blissfully lucky (and ignorant)!But can we trust Eric Metaxas with the science? Are the numbers right? He is not a scientist. He graduated in English from Yale. He wrote bestselling books on Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther, more of a religious biographer rather than a hard science guy. Would you trust him to make sense of the origin of life and the universe? Well, I won't. Which is why I'm grateful he doesn't claim to be smarter than he is. He puts forward scientists both religious and atheists, their books, their quotes and their thoughts. Metaxas did not discover any of the things here, he is merely assembling a story that all the scientists know but re-telling them to Christians who should know that the Big Bang Theory has destroyed the atheist argument that "Given enough time, anything could happen", that there are at least 200 parameters that are so fine-tuned to defy a happy accident, we are just not that lucky. And we can't say it's evolution because water doesn't evolve, light doesn't evolve. There is survival of the fittest over successive generations. Every condition was perfect from the beginning. Digging Deep to Find the Bible TrueOther than the science, the next thing that Christians need to know is archaeology has never contradicted the Bible. Not once. King David was fictional, they said. Like King Arthur was fictional, they said. There was no evidence he existed, they said. And by that they mean the Bible does not count. And lo and behold, archaeologists discover carved into a memorial stone from 8th Century BC, the words: "the House of David". My favourite chapter in the book is the "Three Misbehaving Boys Who Changed History". It's three stories, each story starring a naughty boy. I told one story over breakfast, another during lunch and the last one at dinner. So while my wife and children were having their meals, I was telling them of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, Hezekiah's Tunnel in 1880 and the Silver Ketef Hinnom scrolls in 1979. I took my story outline from Metaxas, simplifying what Metaxas wrote here:... when we are dealing with the Bible, one finds a predictably high level of skepticism, especially among those who don’t take the text very seriously. Thus many have claimed the Bible texts were “changed” in the course of their being “copied” over the centuries by the monks of the Middle Ages. Skeptics suggest the monks—in league with “the all-powerful Church”—transformed them into what the church wanted, rather than what they originally were. I then asked my children what would it take to prove that the Bible was never changed? The answer, to their delight, came from a young shepherd boy looking for his lost sheep. He finds a cave. Thinking his sheep might have gone in that cave, he throws a rock and hears broken pottery. Against every parent's wishes, the young boy enters this cave alone and finds treasure. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Metaxas tells it:Surely the largest jewel in this dazzling treasury were the two-thousand-year-old copies of the thirty-seven books of the Bible, which showed that what we possess today as our own Bible is precisely the same as what existed then. Never in human history has an observed absence of change so instantly and dramatically changed everything.In a way this book is a collection of stories, there are many people in this book with their adventures, hopes and dreams told amidst the cosmology, biology and archaeology. Metaxas writes in a way that we can take the bare essence and retell it to delight even young children.And there is more! Metaxas describes the story behind the long lost Hittite civilization, the Moabite stone, Pilate's stone, Pool of Siloam, Herod's Temple, Sergius Paulus' inscription, Gallio inscription and more. And what I just listed are the older discoveries. He covers new ones. For example, in one chapter he details the discovery of the childhood home of Jesus. Metaxas writes:First of all, on the face of it, the idea that a simple home built over two thousand years ago would survive and eventually be identified as belonging to anyone specifically seems absurd. And in this case, we are talking about a very out-of-the-way village or town called Nazareth, and about an unknown carpenter/builder named Joseph who raised his family of several children there, including his eldest, Jesus. This would have been where his wife, Mary, raised their children and cooked their meals. But this place—both the town and the house itself—would have been distinguished principally by being undistinguished. This was not a palace or any kind of structure that was any different from the innumerable other structures built throughout what we today call the Holy Land. It would have been a very simple home for a working-class family in an obscure village. Why should any such place survive beyond a century or two?The book by Dr. Dark describing this finding was published in late 2020. Other recent discoveries include: In 2018, a seal ring was found bearing the name of Pontius Pilate.In 2019, a tiny ceramic pomegrenate was found in Shiloh precisely matching the description of those described in Exodus 28:33-35.In Christmas 2020, a "mikvah" purification bath was discovered from the time of Jesus near what was believed to be the Garden of Gethsemane. And one of the most exciting recent discovery is the discovery of Sodom. It's a story of a man, Dr. Collins, who believes what the Bible says is true and goes out looking for it despite unbelievers saying it's a fable and believers saying it's under the Dead Sea. At the site, he discovers an artifact, an artifact more important than Thor's hammer, because Thor's hammer is fictional but Sodom is not. Dr. Collins has proven that Sodom is as real as the city you are living in now.Countering AtheismFinishing the archeology part, we are not done yet. There is a third part and it's to me, the most debatable part, not in content but in tone. I like Eric Metaxas when he is happy. A happy Eric is exuberant in his praises, whether it's on Bonhoeffer or the seven great men or the science and archeology he describes. Full of wonder and awe. An angry Metaxas is...Let me read to you what he writes about people he doesn't like. I quote, you judge. Metaxas writes: Richard Dawkins may have spent his career doing science, but in talking about what science actually is he has shown himself to be hopelessly confused. We might expect scientists to be able to do science, but we should not expect them to understand the idea of science any more than we can expect a fish to understand how he swims. And again:But the New Atheists seem to revel in tossing caution and nuance to the wind. So to search for rhyme or reason in what they say can sometimes be like trying to parse the ravings of a madman. In particularly purple flights they contradict themselves at nearly every turn of phrase, boustrophedonically doubling back on themselves again and again in ways that seem tangential and tangled, and yet the proudly indignant determination with which they speak captivates us and carries us forward until it seems we have entirely forgotten the objection that a moment ago bothered us, for they have moved on and are still moving on and on and on. Part of this may be intentional strategy on their parts, but whether conscious or unconscious—or what part of each—is impossible to say.I could defend the writing. Elijah egged on the Baal prophets. Jesus and the Apostle Paul called people, "Brood of vipers and dogs". Militant atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are notorious for their hostility against the faith and they only deserve what they get.But on the other hand, Elijah commanded all the Baal prophets be killed, which means whatever license he may have, may not apply to us. Jesus was silent before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod. And Paul in Romans 9 said, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh." And as bad as Dawkins and Hitchens and the rest of them may be, Christians have been gracious to men far worst than them. If we take one of Metaxas frequent targets in the book, Christopher Hitchens, who wrote "god is not great", God deliberately spelt with a small g. He has a nasty reputation. I don't know much about him and I don't really want to but after reading his name so often, I opened a book that I bought a long time back but never gotten around to: "The Faith of Christopher Hitchens" by Larry Alex Taunton. Let me quote from Taunton's book: While I do not quite want to say that the public Christopher was a sham—perhaps an occasional actor might be a better description—he said and did things in my company that would lead one to conclude that this public manifestation of Christopher Hitchens was not the real one.In another part of the book, Taunton writes:You see, in one manifestation of himself, Christopher Hitchens was everything the people in this room thought him to be: a radical Leftist, sympathetic Marxist, and militant atheist. But in another, more carefully guarded and secret book, Christopher Hitchens was something altogether different. And therein lies the remarkable plot twist in the tale that is Christopher Hitchens’s life.Metaxas has a chapter on three famous atheists who converted out of atheism: Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Anthony Flew. Which makes one wonder if Christopher Hitchens lived a bit longer perhaps he too would have accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.If you prefer a less spicy book that argues against militant atheists, you should check out "The Dawkins Letters" by David Robertson. Robertson wrote open letters to Richard Dawkins which Dawkins published in his website. These letters were then adapted into a book. The tone is conciliatory for example, in one chapter it starts this way: Dear Dr Dawkins, I would like to apologise if I am in any way misrepresenting your position. It is not intentional. I disagree with what you say and it would therefore be pretty pointless to write about what you are not saying. However, I am becoming more and more convinced that your position is primarily a philosophical and religious position, rather than one you are driven to by science.And it ends in this way:And one last thought. One thing that really annoys some atheists is when Christians promise to pray for them. Why do we pray for you? Skipping ahead:Therefore, to pray for you is a supreme act of love because it asks for the best for you. And Jesus tells us that we are to love our enemies. So I do pray for you and for all those who have been deluded into thinking that there is only the material, and that their Creator does not exist. Forgive me.The third part has many good things going for it, Metaxas counters common atheist points like: religious wars (they ignore more deaths are caused by secular states), religion suppresses science (they ignore many scientist past and present are religious, including Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo) and many more good points. Because Metaxas engages directly with atheism's talking points, he comes across frustrated at the arrogance and ignorance he sees. ConclusionIn conclusion, "Is Atheism Dead?" has many great stories that are simple enough to be told over family meals and deep enough to get you exploring science and archaeology with the many books Metaxas cites and recommends. With regards to his tone, I see it as Metaxas getting tired of seeing Christians on the retreat when Christians are the ones with the winning positions. He is going down the line kicking soldiers out of the ditches, shouting, "We have the guns, the tanks, the enemy has nothing. They are cock-eyed and shooting blanks. So come on!" Which stirs up the troops at the expense of the other side. You see, not all atheists are worked up like Dawkins or Hitchens. And for them, a respectful yet convicted tone as found in "The Faith of Christopher Hitchens" by Larry Alex Taunton or "The Dawkins Letters" by David Robertson, would be more welcome. Ultimately, I don't think the tone detracts from what the book offers and Metaxas does achieve his aims. The question, "Is Atheism Dead?" is deliberately provocative and rallies Christians to confront atheists with the knowledge that life is not a happy accident, archeology has proven the biblical record over and over again and atheists simply have no ground to stand on.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Is Atheism Dead?" by Eric Metaxas. If you like this episode and my other episodes, don't you think more people should know about Reading and Readers? You learned so much in this episode didn't you? Do you know anyone else who likes science? Or archaeology? Or the question of atheism? Think of a name, make sharing your aim. The next episode, I'll review Faithlife's Free Book for October. See you then. Book ListIs Atheism Dead? by Eric Metaxas. Amazon.The Faith of Christopher Hitchens by Larry Alex Taunton. Amazon.The Dawkins Letters by David Robertson. Amazon. Faithlife.Sound Effects from zapsplat.com and uppbeat.io.

Many are first attracted to Christianity because of its simple message. Later, when one reads the whole Bible, that simple message becomes lost in the 66 books with its diverse authors, times, places and subject matters. It doesn't help when scholars seem motivated to highlight the diversities at the expense of what holds the Bible together. Does anything hold the Bible together? Today's book confidently answers "Yes!" Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. In the last episode, I reviewed "Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness" by Chris Wright, a free book for September from Faithlife.Faithlife is the maker of Logos, a Bible Software that has its own Free Book of the Month program. The books in Logos are more theological and academic which can be tough for me to read, much less review. However, when I see a Logos book that is within reach of a general Christian reader, I push myself to get the review out early so that you will hear the review while it's still September because the book is not "free while stocks last", it's "free while it's still September". But if you listening to this after September, you can hear the review and decide whether this book is worth $23.99 in Logos or $8.99 in Amazon Kindle (prices may change after recording). And to make sure you don't miss out on any great deals, subscribe to Reading and Readers. The Logos Free Book for September is "Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan and Purpose" by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. 256 pages, published in 2009 by Zondervan Academic. A Beautiful Orchestral SymphonyA bright-eyed Christian leaves everything behind to enter seminary. He sees himself getting trained in order to enter full-time ministry, wherever God calls him. To be a shepherd to the flock. To preach to the nations. To burn mightily for a great God. After some time in seminary, he quits, leaves the faith and is never seen again. Or if he stays, his awe and wonder is now replaced with cynical scepticism. For he is now awakened to the overwhelming evidence that the Bible is not the beautiful orchestral symphony he thought. Rather, it is a discordant noise where God suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, the real writers are nameless editors writing hundreds of years after the events and the core message of the Bible? There is no 'core message of the Bible'! There are many messages, each jostling to capture the flag of your doctrinal leanings. In some dictionaries, seminary is defined as the place where faith goes to die. If only someone told that bright-eyed Christian that the beautiful orchestral symphony he heard and thought he knew was real. That the diversity of Scripture does not sink the message but bouys it up. As Kaiser argues: Accounting for all of this unity in the midst of obvious diversity spread over these centuries with some sixty-six contributions of some forty different writers in three languages on three continents is mind-boggling. There can be no real answer unless we also receive the claim of the writers that there was a supernatural aspect and a guiding mind at work in their writings as well. If God was behind the production of all these contributions, then the unity is the result of a driving plan and the harmony reflects what he has willed and purposed.Kaiser is an OT BossWalter C. Kaiser Jr. is the distinguished professor emeritus of Old Testament and president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Let me name some of his books which are relevant to today's review. Kaiser wrote "Mission in the Old Testament", "An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics" with Moises Silva, "Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament", "The Promise-Plan of God", "Hard Sayings of the Old Testament" and "A History of Israel". I list these books because: Some listeners may not know that Kaiser is a boss in Old Testament scholarship. Well, now you know.As you heard, Kaiser has written books on mission, hermeneutics, promise-plan of God as well as preaching and teaching. In today's book review, we have chapters titled: "The Unity of the Mission in the Old Testament", "The Unity of the Bible and Hermeneutics", "The Unity of the Bible and the Promise-Plan of God" and "The Unity of the Bible and Expository Preaching and Teaching". It looks like today's book is an abridged collection of Kaiser's other writings centred on the theme of unity.In his book "Hard Sayings of the Old Testament", Kaiser addressed head on difficult verses and apparent contradictions. Reading these contradictions is like getting IKEA parts and figuring how each part connects. You could have sworn it was impossible until you read the manual and it all fits. Dealing with the unity question, he shows us how many parts of the Bible fit together.To be transparent, before Recovering the Unity of the Bible, the only Kaiser book I read was "A History of Israel", the 1998 edition. I loved it. Hence, my enthusiasm for today's book when it was offered for free. Similarly, if you like a chapter here and there, you can thank me for your future shelf full of Kaiser books. Family Feud for OTLet's get to the book. There are sixteen chapters plus preface and epilogue. The first three chapters set up the groundwork. What is unity? What is diversity? How do we harmonise the diversities?Let's play Family Feud on the first two chapters and see how many answers you can get. Welcome to Family Feud, the Reading and Readers version. We asked an undisclosed number of Old Testament scholars named Walter the following question. What are the different types of unity in the Bible? What is unity? For example: on one hand, you have Genesis, on the other, you have Exodus, in what way are they the same? You say the author, the time it was written, the place it writes about, the people. Okay, that's easy because it's Genesis and Exodus. Two books. Now think what is the same between Genesis and Revelation. Now what is the common thread for all 66 books in the Bible. So coming back to the question: "What are the different types of unity in the Bible?" Kaiser lists and explains six: StructuralHistoricPropheticDoctrinalSpiritualKerygmatic, meaning there is one preaching message.I would have guessed doctrinal and the preaching message. How did you do? I think you will do better in the next question. We asked the same undisclosed number of Old Testament scholars named Walter this question, "What are the different types of diversities in the Bible?" I think is easier to think of differences than similarities. And the answer comes up on the board. languageauthorshipqualificationplaceformssubject mattertime (covering 1600 years).The problem is not the diversities. We know them. Christians do not just accept these diversities, we celebrate them. The problem is for others the vast diversities justify the contradictions. "Well, of course, they contradict. It is only natural since the authors were separated by hundreds, thousands of years, across different lands, background, culture and more. Obviously this will lead to contradictions. To expect anything less is to delude ourselves." In this book, Kaiser shows us how modern scholarship makes much of the diversities and ignores the unity. A country that plays up people's differences instead of a common cause will fracture. A religion that stresses on diversity and ignores the unity will collapse. The question becomes, "Is there a genuine point of unity or is it naivete? Does the Bible present a chorus or a cacophony?" Kaiser wants to tell you how the differences can be reconciled. Kaiser wants us to recover the unity of the Bible. Questions Answered Through UnityInstead of reading to you the titles for chapters 3 to 16, I'll pose questions that is answered in the chapters. These are just sample questions to give a sneak peek on what is in the chapters. The first question: "Who killed Goliath? David or Elhanan?" In 1 Samuel 17, David killed Goliath. But in 2 Samuel 21, it says "Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite." In chapter 3, "The Harmonization of the Diversity", Kaiser lists seven sources of biblical discrepancy. To answer the question of who is Goliath's killer he points out 1 Chronicles 20:5, "Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite". Then as only an Old Testament scholar can, Kaiser explains how a copyist of earlier manuscripts got it wrong.Next question: "Does anything unite the sprawling Old Testament books?" In chapter 4, "The Unity of the Hebrew Bible", Kaiser introduces David Noel Freedman, who wrote "The Unity of the Hebrew Bible" which inspired the title for today's book. Kaiser commends Freedman saying:Freedman has given us a most creative and unusual approach to the question of the unity of the Old Testament. He has made a strong case of the message and plan of the Old Testament. Freedman suggests that the Ten Commandments outlines nine of the OT books. Do you remember the Ten Commandments? We will walk through them.The first two commandments. "You shall have no other gods" and "You shall not make any idols". Both were broken in Exodus 32, Aaron makes the golden calf and says, "These are your gods O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."The third commandment, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God" was broken in Leviticus 24. A man blasphemes and is stoned.The fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath" was broken in Numbers 15. A man gathers sticks on the Sabbath and is stoned.The fifth commandment, "Honour your father and mother" was broken in Deuteronomy 21. A son rebels and is stoned.The sixth commandment, "You shall not murder" was broken in Judges 19-21. A Levite's concubine is brutally murdered throwing the whole nation into uproar against the tribe of Benjamin.The seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery" was broken in 2 Sam 11-12. King David and Bathsheba.The eighth commandment, "You shall not steal" was broken in Joshua 7. Achan takes what God said no one should and is stoned.The last two commandments, "You shall not lie" and "You shall not covet", were both violated by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel who conspired to get Nabal killed through lies because Ahab coveted Nabal's vineyard.I just gave a summary of Kaiser's summary of Freedman's suggestion that the Ten Commandments provides a structural unity to these nine books. The rest of the chapter shows how the rest of the OT books, the prophecies and wisdom literature, come together as a coherent piece. Unity in the New and AllIf the Old Testament is coherent, what about the New? "Isn't it clear that James and Paul contradict each other?" In chapter 5, "The Unity of the New Testament", Kaiser tackles several alleged differences within the New Testament and shows that the differences between James versus Paul or Jesus versus Paul or Paul versus Paul are overstated. Yes, you heard me right, "Paul versus Paul". Some scholars argue that the Paul in Acts is different from the Paul in the Epistles and suggest a conspiracy, a cover up, by Luke. I never even heard of this conspiracy but if this conspiracy ever crosses from academia into the pews, Kaiser has helped us prepare and refute this and other alleged contradictions. At this point in the book, we have had some practice handling diversities for OT and NT. Let us put get together the two Testaments. Let us now ask: "Is there a unifying theme for the whole Bible?" Can you think of one? What about the Messiah? In Chapter 6, "The Unity of the Bible in it's Messianic Promises", Kaiser traces the development of the Prophecy-Fulfilment approach and introduces a better approach which is the Promise-Plan of God. This Promise Plan of God will be further elaborated in Chapter 11 and Kaiser wrote a whole book on this topic. Also in this chapter, Kaiser introduces E.D. Hirsch's famous distinction between "meaning" and "significance". I don't know about famous. I've never heard of Hirsch or his famous distinction or presumably the famous problem that this famous distinction solves. Reading this book is a humbling experience for me. But this meaning and significance distinction is a good one and I'll share more at the end of this review. Partying with OT ProfessorsI need to warn readers that this is an academic book. And if this is your first time reading an academic book, it can be daunting. Let me read an example section:J. G. Herder (1744–1803) and J. G. Eichhorn (1752–1827) concluded that the whole idea that the Old Testament contained a prediction of a coming Savior was merely a dogmatic imposition laid over Scripture. Prophecy had only a single meaning, which could not be maneuvered into depicting a coming Messiah. Both men felt that the end of the eighteenth century had erased the concept of Messiah from the Old Testament altogether.E. W. von Hengstenberg, however, mounted a massive attempt to stem the negative tide against a messianic interpretation of the Old Testament in a three-volume set that appeared from 1829 to 1835. A second edition, now in four volumes, appeared between 1854 and 1858, entitled Christology of the Old Testament and a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions.Here, Kaiser is tracing a historical battle between two ways of interpreting the Messianic passages. And here, readers face their own battles to make sense of strange names, of times past, on matters obscure. If I may offer this suggestion to the general Christian reader.It's like going to a party where you don't know anybody else except for your friend who brought you there. And your friend is Walter C. Kaiser Jr. So he pulls you along and introduces you to his friends. This is so and so, his job, who he gets long with and who he doesn't get along with. Some of us would find the people at the party interesting but some are just looking for the buffet table. So you politely move past the people to the buffet table and stack your plates with delicious goodies.What is rude in a party is perfectly acceptable when reading a book. So just skim, skip and scroll through. One day, you might want to get to know E.W. von Hengstenberg and his work. But until that day comes, don't feel that you have to be fully engaged with von Hengstenberg when there is a beautiful buffet spread just behind him. Thus, while there are parts of the book can be difficult reading, I want to stress that aside from occasional strange names, dates, places, theological terms, discussions on the Greek and the Hebrew word and grammar, it is a readable book. As seen in the questions the chapters answer.More Questions and Unity ChaptersConsider, have you ever asked, "Why is God in the Old Testament different from the New Testament?" or "Why are the heroes in the Old Testament so bad? Abraham lied. David committed adultery. Hosea married a prostitute. They do not reach the ethical standard of the New Testament. In chapters 7 and 8, Kaiser explains the Bible's Unity on God and God's People. By the way, Chris Wright's book, "Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit" shows that the Fruit of the Spirit is rooted in the character of God as revealed in OT and Jesus in the NT. Chris Wright is also an Old Testament scholar and has been cited positively in Kaiser's book. Christ Wright's book is also free in September. For more information, watch the episode before this one. Let's move faster. We just finished chapter 8 and there are altogether 16 chapters. The remaining chapters cover questions including but not limited to: "Has the Church replaced Israel?", "Is the Law of God now obsolete?", "How are the Old Testament saints saved?", "Is Mission (reaching out to the nations) found in the Old Testament?", "Is there a biblical way to interpret and to teach and preach?" And these questions are answered in these chapters which address unity in relation to: the People of God, Kingdom of God, the Promise-Plan of God, the Law of God, the Doctrine of Salvation, the Mission, Hermeneutics and Expository Preaching and Teaching. Unity of Scripture, Another Way to Read ScriptureAs I digest this book which is only 256 pages long but so packed with ideas, puzzles, solutions, history and theology, let me offer a unifying reflection. Many of the questions posed in this book and this review are familiar to me as I grew up in the faith. I didn't ask about the Greek or the Hebrew in different manuscripts but I did ask about why God is different in the Old and the New Testament among many other questions. I didn't know that these questions could be tackled with the doctrine (can I call it a doctrine?) of the Unity of Scripture.Inerrancy of Scripture is more familiar and Christians will die on that hill. Although inerrancy and unity are two sides of the same coin, inerrancy doesn't offer an obvious way to reveal or settle alleged contradictions. Consider this two statements: God's wrath is clear in the OT.God's mercy is clear in the NT.Is there an error to be corrected in these two statements? No, but the unspoken contradiction is God's character is different. So if we look at them from inerrancy of Scripture we would not see the problem or the way forward. On the other hand, inerrancy affirms that the Bible has no contradictions. All 66 books is in harmony with each other, a chorus not a cacophony, a unity amidst diversity. If we now look back at the two statements: "God's wrath is clear in the OT. God's mercy is clear in the NT." and perceive them through the lens of Unity of Scripture, it brings out the problem. Why are they not the same? And it also points to a solution. We need to show that God's wrath is also clear in the NT (which it is) and God's mercy is also clear in the OT (which it is). Which means if look at Bible through the lens of Unity, it gives us another way of wrestling with the text. And even answer categories of questions that at first seem unrelated but are actually rooted in the unity/diversity question. That's my high level big idea reflection. On Meaning and SignificanceKaiser gave me something else to think about which is the distinction between "meaning" and "significance". I never knew there was a distinction or even that it can make a difference in how I interpret the Bible.This is how I illustrate it. You are at church. Your pastor comes to you and shouts, "Get out!" What is the meaning of "Get out!" The more we know of the context the more we understand the meaning and significance of what the pastor said. Maybe there is a fire and the pastor is asking you to get out of the church to save your life. Or maybe the pastor just realised that you have been stealing money from the church and wants you to get out of the treasurer position. Or maybe, you came to pastor because of demonic possession and the pastor is saying get out, not to you but to the evil spirit within you. So the more we know, the more we understand what the pastor meant by those two words "Get out". And the significance can change or grow. Based on the different meanings we deduce that the pastor can lead in an emergency or is financially responsible or can do exorcism. These would affect how the church is like, how others interact with him. Hence the significance of one "Get Out" event can colour the future.What Kaiser argues is that there is only ever one meaning. There cannot be two or more meanings. You may have more than one significance which can change but there can only ever be one meaning. The pastor shouting "Get out!" cannot mean "Get out because there is a fire" AND "Get out because you stole" AND "Get out you demon, I banish you to Hell!" Therefore, here is Kaiser's point, in the light of the New Testament revelation, he argues that the meaning in the Old Testament did not change or multiply. It still retains the same meaning in that context but its significance may be more in light of the New Testament. There is no double meaning in the Old Testament. He works this out in greater detail especially in the last two chapters of the book on hermeneutics, preaching and teaching. Forgive me of my indulgence but let me quote Kaiser at length: Kaiser quotes Chris Wright:We may legitimately see in the event, or in the record of it, additional levels of significance in light of the end of the story—i.e., in the light of Christ. [He went on to say:] Looking back on the event [of the exodus] … in the light of the fullness of God’s redemptive achievement in Jesus Christ, we can see that even the original exodus was not merely concerned with the political, economic, and social aspects of Israel’s predicament. There was also a level of spiritual oppression in Israel’s subjection to the gods of Egypt.Kaiser comments:Notice that Wright carefully used the words “additional levels of significance” that could come from the “end of the story.” This is a whole world apart from what Sidney Greidanus argued after he surveyed the fact that some scholars prefer to use “sensus plenior, or the analogia fidei (“rule of faith”):Kaiser then quotes Greidanus:I continue to favor the name that refers to the broadest possible context and gives due recognition to God’s acts in history, “redemptive-historical interpretation.” Whatever name we use, the important point is that a passage understood in the contexts of the whole Bible and redemptive history may reveal more meaning than its author intended originally. For example, it is not likely that the author of Numbers 21 realized that in relating the story of the bronze serpent he was sketching a type of Christ. The type in this passage is discovered only from the New Testament perspective when Jesus makes use [John 3:14] of this event to proclaim his own saving work.Kaiser comments:Everything in this quote was going well until Greidanus used the words “may reveal more meaning than its [human] author intended originally.”I have not decided where I stand on this yet. I'm still thinking about it. What about Isaiah's prophecy on the virgin birth? I thought this should be interpreted as double meaning. One meaning, applicable to Isaiah speaking to King Ahaz. A second meaning, brought out by Matthew into Isaiah's prophecy. Sadly, Kaiser didn't have this passage as an example in this book. I would love to know how he interprets it. Perhaps some of you think the distinction is artificial or trivial. But I agree with Kaiser on the dangers of one approach over the other. A search for deeper or another meaning in the Old Testament even with the New Testament to guide us, may result in imposing a foreign meaning and teaching it to be true. If we are not careful, we would be teaching what is not true and leading people away from what is true.Recover the Unity of the BibleTo conclude, there is plenty in this book to meditate on and for that reason I recommend more people give this book a try, especially those I think can be stretched a bit in your reading. I'm not asking you to stop reading your devotionals or Christian living books and be a snob. Far be it! I'm saying we can all benefit from the fine scholarship that Walter C. Kaiser Jr has devoted a lifetime to, in order to enrich and deepen the Church and recover the Unity of the Bible.This is a Reading and Readers review of "Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan and Purpose" by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. I'm sure we are all united in our desire to mature in the faith. I humbly suggest one way is to read books that stretch the mind. It's not the only way. In my circles we are very careful to not over-stress the pride of the intellect. Yet, I fear we are not stressing enough we are to love the Lord our God with our mind. If you know a brother or sister in Christ who would benefit from today's review, please share it. My name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Have a blessed day! Book ListRecovering the Unity of the Bible by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Amazon. Logos.A History of Israel: From the Bronze Age through the Jewish Wars by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Amazon (2017 edition). Logos (1998 edition).Sound Effects from zapsplat.com

Pop Quiz! Can you list the Fruit of the Spirit? More importantly, do you show love, joy, peace? Are you patient, kind, and good? How strong is your desire to exercise faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? A man prayed everyday that the fruit be ripen and he was the most Christ-like person people around him knew. Stick around for a fruitful review. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. In this episode, I review Faithlife's Free Book for September. Yes, you heard me right. It's free. So if you have not done so, go create a free account at Faithlife.com and get this free book. Download now and read it later. Today's author is a preacher at All Soul's Church UK, contributor to The Bible Speaks Today commentary series and is the International Ministries Director at Langham Partnership. He completed his PhD in Old Testament economic ethics at Cambridge University and continued to teach, preach and write on the Old Testament, so much so that one reviewer thinks of him as O.T. Wright. He is none other than Christopher J.H. Wright. His book, "Cultivating the Fruit of the Holy Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness" is 157 pages, published in January 2017 by InterVarsity Press. A Fruitful Prayer AnsweredThe introduction begins with a prayer, followed by a description of the man who prayed that prayer:Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more. Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you. Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That was the prayer that John Stott prayed every day when he first woke up in the morning. It hardly seems surprising, then, that many people who knew John Stott personally said that he was the most Christlike person they ever met. For God answered his daily prayer by making the fruit of the Spirit ripen in his life. And what the Spirit of God does, above all, is to make those who put their faith in Jesus to become more and more like the Jesus they love, trust, and follow.This introduction haunted me. Stott's prayer and life compelled me to rethink what am I doing with mine. I made a decision for Christ many years ago but I am far from being the most Christlike person my family and friends know. As I reflect, I realised what happened. I am committed to Christ but I am not committed to Christlikeness. I say this knowing and teaching that there is no commitment to Christ without a commitment to Christlikeness. I would put in another way, there is no justification without sanctification. I taught the fruit of the Spirit to Sunday School children. I have know I have work out my salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in me, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13). I know all this but after reading John Stott's prayer and his life, I realised that I don't have the desire. Not as much as John Stott did. And so, now I want it. I want to be Christlike. I have started my day praying that I too will bear the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit. This, by the way, is the goal of the book. In 2012, Chris preached a series on Galatians 5:22-23 as a prelude to a Langham Partnership campaign titled, "9-a-day: Becoming like Jesus". "9-a-day" was derived from a British public awareness campaign named "5-a-day" to have at least five portions of fruits or vegetables a day. Healthy eaters would ask one another, "Have you had your 5-a-day?" The Langham campaign would have healthy Christians ask one another, "Have you had your 9-a-day?"I See Where You Are Going With ThisCan you guess how many chapters there are in this book? Ah... and can you guess the titles? I can read your mind. Yes, if you exclude the introduction and conclusion, the book has nine chapters titled, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Let's do something exciting today. Before I go to the review, let's do a mental trick. I'm going to read to you the list again. As I read, I want you to pick one. Just pick one from the nine. Then I'll tell you what you picked. Yeah, I can do that. Don't freak out when I get it right.Ready? Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-Control. You have picked one. The one you picked is. I'm getting a fuzzy picture. A pineapple? Pear? Peach? Ah... you picked peace. And the crowd goes wild. Thank you. Thank you. I expect to soon appear in America's Got Talent. And if I got it wrong, it's not my fault, it's you. You did not have faith. Joking aside. Chris writes in a way that pre-empts the reader as if he can read our minds. For example, in the introduction, when he is putting the list in context, he knows where we will go wrong. Chris writes:Let’s notice first what this text is not. It is not a list of virtues, matching the list of vices just listed as “acts of the flesh.” In Greek and Jewish texts from that time, there were common matching lists of vices and virtues that were supposed to shape people’s behavior. Basically they said, “Don’t do these things (the vices). Rather, do these things (the virtues).” In either case, the emphasis was on what you should not do and what you should do instead. Of course, there is some similarity with Paul’s double listing here. But lists of vices and virtues could also easily be used simply as lists of rules—“don’t do this list” and “do this list.” And that is definitely not what Paul is talking about here. Paul is not saying, “Don’t try to obey all the rules in the Old Testament law; here is a much easier set of rules to obey instead.” That would be to replace one wrong attitude with another one. Paul is not really talking about rules at all.This is what I mean by Chris reading our minds. He foresees pitfalls and he pulls us back. You are going the wrong way. He does this in other places in the book. Let me continue where I left off. Here he tells us the right way. He just said that Paul is not really talking about rules at all. I quote:No, the key to understanding what Paul is saying here lies in the metaphor he uses—fruit. All the lovely words he writes are, taken altogether, the fruit (singular) of the Spirit. Now fruit is the natural product of life. If a tree is alive, it will bear fruit. That is the nature of being a living tree! Fruit is what you get when a tree has life within it.Why does a tree bear fruit? Not because there is some law of nature that says it must. But simply because of the life within it, rising up from the soil and water that feed its roots and flowing in the sap through every branch and twig. A tree does not bear fruit by keeping the laws of nature (if we can use our imagination and think like a tree), but simply because it is a living tree, being and doing what a tree is and does when it is alive.Bring Out Loving-KindnessFor this review, I will pick my favourite chapter as an example of what you can expect from the whole book. The chapter is on kindness. Throughout this book, Chris tells us that the fruit of the Spirit mostly matches a quality of God as "he reveals himself both in the Old Testament and in the person of Jesus Christ". For example, the first in the list is love. Well, God is love. Here the connection is obvious. God is kind? Not so obvious.Yet, it's so true as Chris goes on to prove. He takes the Hebrew word hesed, which is often translated as steadfast love or mercy and shows why it used to also be translated loving-kindness. Here is where the reader depends on and is thankful for Chris Wright's expertise in the Old Testament. He tells us that the Hebrew word hesed has a wider, deeper, richer meaning that gets lost in translation. He makes his case from Psalm 23, Psalm 136, Psalm 145, Isaiah 63, Acts, Romans and Titus to show that God is kind. Let me quote him at length so that you can see how he strings those Bible verses together: The Israelites really celebrated God’s kindness. Their history was full of examples of his “kindnesses” that they could recount. "I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses." (Is 63:7)Chris continues: So when Paul wanted to tell people in Lystra what the one true living God is like, he focused on God’s kindness: “He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” (Acts 14:17).Chris comments:That is very Old Testament language, even though Paul was addressing people who had no clue about the Bible. But the God Paul was telling them about, the God who was so different from all the many gods they worshiped, is the God who shows his character in what he does—even in his generosity in creation toward all human beings.Paul was very aware that the kindness of God was “available” to all people, but he was also grieved that as fallen sinners we so easily reject it, and fail to understand that God’s patient kindness is meant to lead us to repentance and salvation: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (Rom 2:4).In these book reviews that I do, I want to point out aspects of the book that you may at first fail to appreciate. What Chris did here with the Bible verses is like flower arrangement. It looks easy until you try it. In your hands, those gorgeous and beautiful flowers becomes an abomination. It takes skill to put together and present Bible verses well.Chris takes a light touch on the Bible verses, allowing the verses to stand out and bloom as it were. For the section I quoted earlier, there are 251 words. 104 words or 41% is a direct quote from the Bible. These are the cut flowers. With the remaining 59% of his words, he shows: Israel celebrated God's many kindnesses,Paul used Old Testament language to evangelise andPaul warned sinners to not show contempt on God's kindness.This is concise and persuasive reasoning at it's best.In this same chapter, Chris highlights kindness in the story of Ruth and Boaz, but I was more touched by the kindness he describes in David. Chris writes:The friendship between David and Jonathan, son of King Saul, is legendary. They both knew that Saul was determined to kill David if he could. But they also knew that David had been anointed to be king in Saul’s place eventually. That would have been a big threat to Jonathan who, as Saul’s son, could have expected (and wanted) to be the next king. So Jonathan asks David to swear lifelong loyalty to him and his family—no matter what would happen. His words explicitly ask David to model himself on God in doing so:“Show me unfailing kindness [hesed] like the LORD’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”I skip forward: Later, when Saul and Jonathan had both died in battle with the Philistines and David had become king of all the tribes of Israel, David remembered that promise to Jonathan, and the very terms in which it had been made:David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness [hesed] for Jonathan’s sake?”Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”“At your service,” he replied.The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”“Where is he?” the king asked.Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.David said, “Mephibosheth!”“At your service,” he replied.“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” (2 Sam 9:1-7)Chris comments:So the Old Testament, then, taught that hesed—kindness—was part of the character of the God of Israel, and should also therefore be part of the character of his people.Notice again. A light touch on the Bible verses. Quoting the Bible in full. Letting it speak for itself. Is Careful Handling of the Word a Fruit?I must commend Chris on how he handles the Word. Some preachers and writers might say, "Don't let details get in the way of a good story." Chris disagrees. When it comes to the Word of God, he treads carefully. For example, at one point he brings out four verses from Proverbs. All four verses have the word 'kind' to strengthen his case. But he weakens his case by pointing out:The word hesed does not occur in all the following texts (sometimes it is the word for compassion which is very close), but the sense of generous kindness to others, especially the needy, is clear.When I see Chris not overstate his case, my trust and respect for him grows. Many teachers overstate their case. They force the evidence to fit their agenda. Chris Wright doesn't. For myself, I want to be as precise in my thinking and writing as he evidently is.But lest you think the whole book is just bible verses with light commentary, that's not what I'm saying. Like I said earlier, I want to show you the flower, or rather verse, arrangement, the expertise and skill that may go unappreciated. Kindness in Me and OthersIn one section, after describing the kindness of Jesus, Chris looks to himself: So if being a disciple of Jesus means that I ought to follow his example, why do I so often fail to take the time to be kind to others in daily life? Even though I’d like to think that I’m generally a kindly sort of fellow, I know that there are many—far too many—occasions when I could show some kindness to another person, but don’t. Probably nobody notices, but I feel guilty about it inside. Why does it happen? Well I can answer my own question, and maybe you would answer differently, but it is certainly a challenging question to ask.Often it’s because I’m too busy and don’t want to be interrupted. I’ve got things to do, people to see, work to get done. I’m out and about, I’m going somewhere, and I have an agenda and a schedule and time is precious. So the moment flies past when I could stop and just talk for a while to that homeless person, or when I could go over and offer to help that stranger looking a bit lost. I didn’t do anybody any harm, but there was a kindness I could have done, and it got left undone. I was not willing to let my life be interrupted in order to show kindness to someone else. Not very like Jesus.This kindness chapter arrived at an opportune time for me. A young lady I know, let's call her Mary, lost her father in a tragic car accident recently. She had just arrived in the big city, no friends or family nearby. She couldn't fly home in time for the funeral because of quarantine. I was worried she had no one beside her, virtually yes but physically no. Then to my relief and delight, a sister in Christ, visited her and offered to stay with her for a week. She could have chosen to make a call or send a message, a song or a prayer. Not that there is anything wrong or less with doing that. That's what I did. However, by visiting and staying, this sister in Christ is, as Chris puts it, "willing to let life be interrupted in order to show kindness to someone else."I thank God that I could witness Christians showing God's kindness to others. Are you willing to let life be interrupted to show kindness to someone else? There is more to the kindness chapter but I want to move on. I have used this chapter to show you what to expect from Chris Wright and his book. What I have showed so far is: He lets the Bible speak for itself, letting the Bible make it's own case.He shows care and precision in handling the Holy Word of God.He models how to move from the knowledge of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, to reflect on our everyday lives.Hey! Where Are the Stories, Man?If you read enough Christian books, you will notice in this book something missing. There is little to no personal anecdotes, sports metaphors or inspirational stories. He writes: ... since I hope this book will be helpful to other preachers (as well as general Christian readers), I have deliberately not included much by way of illustrations and stories. That may seem strange since sermons need appropriate illustrations to help emphasize their main points and make them memorable. And certainly every one of the items in the fruit of the Spirit could be illustrated abundantly with examples and stories. But one crucial element of good preaching is that it should be not only faithful to the biblical text, but also relevant to the local context of the preacher and listeners. So I hesitated to multiply examples drawn from my own context in the UK.Let me pause here. I should remind readers that Christ Wright is the International Ministries Director for Langham Partnership. Langham Partnership's vision is to "see churches in the Majority World equipped for mission and growing to maturity in Christ through the ministry of pastors and leaders who believe, teach and live by the Word of God." Before his appointment as International Director at Langham Partnership, Chris had taught at Union Bible Seminary India for five years and from 1988 to 2001 he was at All Nations Christian College, an international training centre for cross-cultural missions, as Academic Dean and later, Principal. In his profile we can understand his sensitivity to teaching across cultures. And as someone who has to puzzle out baseball and American football illustrations in Christian books, him going the whole nine yards is a home run. Self-Control in GodI do have one area of contention. It's more like an enquiry. His main thesis for the book is the fruit of the spirit is rooted in God's character. We love because God is love. We have joy because the Holy Spirit is in us. We have peace because Christ is our peace. He matches the character of God to the fruit of the Spirit for all except one. Chris says that God does not exercise self-control because God has no evil desire. Chris goes on to deal honestly with sex and sins of the tongue. And he pre-empts the reader who thinks, "Young people! Huh! They need to exercise self-control." As he does so well, he arranges and carefully presents Scripture to convince us that self-control is for the old, the young, men and women. My question is, "Is it true that God does not exercise self-control?" Let's explore this together. My first thought is self-control can be understood as control over great power. Imagine the Incredible Hulk juggling eggs. This giant who breaks mountains with a punch does not crack any of the eggs. Impressive control, no? So similarly, God has this vast power that he keeps under control otherwise we would all perish for our sins are many. But my reasoning doesn't work because in the fruit of the Spirit, self-control is not over our strength. It would be easier to juggle eggs than to control our desires. My second thought is did Jesus practise self-control? In the desert against Satan, Jesus was tempted. He was really tempted, not just having the outward appearance of temptation. I would even argue Jesus was tempted more than any man. At the same time, we agree with Chris Wright that Jesus did not have a sinful nature. Jesus did not have any evil desire and his oneness with God the Father was complete. There was nothing in his will that was contrary to God's. And if I'm correct, then the self-control should be better understood as acting on temptation rather than on evil desires. Which means Jesus practised self-control because he did not give in to his temptation. What do you think? And if I'm right and Wright is wrong, I mean Chris Wright's understanding of self-control should be understood to act on temptation instead of evil desires, then all nine of the fruit of the Spirit is rooted in God's character. Which would be neat. But as I hope you can tell, my challenge is minor and depends on how we define self-control. If his understanding of self-control is right, then Wright is right. Fruit for Who?Who is this book for? For all the reasons I mentioned, if you are teaching or will teach Galatians 5:22-23, you should get this book even if it's not free. But it is free for this month only via www.faithlife.com. He exercised self-control in not overstating his case and not getting himself in the way of Scripture. For personal or small group study, there are 3-4 reflection questions at the end of the chapter. And as a bonus, every chapter has a link to a free 10-15 minute video of Chris Wright and others explaining the chapter. I can see a group watching the video and answering the questions afterwards.I would say this book is really best for those who want to grow in Christlikeness or like me, need to want to grow.John Stott prayed that the fruit of the Spirit will ripen in his life. His life was a testimony that his prayers were answered. After reading this book, I want what John Stott wanted. I want to grow in Christlikeness. And this book helped me cultivate that want and growth, as I hope it will for you too.This is a Reading and Readers review of Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness by Christopher J.H. Wright.This month is a special month because we have two outstanding books. You just heard my review of one. And the next one is the Logos Free Book of the Month, "Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan and Purpose" by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. I'm going to publish this next week, instead of two weeks later, because I really hope more people will get this free book, which is only free at www.logos.com. If you know anyone who likes free books, Christian books, good books, then tell him, tell her, to listen to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Before I sign off, one final question to you. Can you list the fruit of the Spirit? Bye bye! Be fruitful.Book ListCultivating the Fruit of the Spirit by Christopher J.H. Wright. Amazon. FaithLife.

"It was supposed to be a four day visit. It turned into a 445-day imprisonment. And if God had not intervened, he would have been there for the rest of his life." Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. For today's review, I pick a book about a Christian who was imprisoned with ISIS and lived to tell the tale.There is a reason for picking this book. Last week, I watched boys fall from planes and girls scream behind airport fences. Later, I read this Gospel Coalition article by Mark Morris: I listened as an Afghan pastor spoke through tears about his friend, a faithful believer, whose village was taken by the Taliban three days earlier. This dear brother’s 14-year-old daughter was ripped from his arms and forced into sexual servitude in what the Taliban would dub as “marriage” and her “dutiful Islamic privilege and responsibility.”I want my children to have an understanding, suitable for their age, of what is happening in the world. For the past few Sundays, my family would watch an episode of Torchlighters. It's a cartoon series featuring heroes of the faith. After Kabul fell, I chose the episode on Richard Wurmbrand. Wurmbrand was a pastor in Communist Romania. He was imprisoned for 14 years. Upon release, he wrote of his experience and started The Voice of the Martyrs, VOM for short, an organisation that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Torchlighters, the cartoon series is a part of VOM's work to shine a light on persecution.Today's book opens our eyes to persecution: the evil, the people and the God who preserves the faithful. Today I review Imprisoned with ISIS: Faith in the Face of Evil by Petr Jasek. Petr Jasek was the VOM man in charge of Africa, who oversaw more than 300 projects all over Africa. In December 2015, Jasek was in Sudan at Khartoum airport, in a queue eagerly waiting for his trip back home to Prague. Jasek writes:Just as I began to move, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. “Sudanese security,” a man said in stern, broken English. “Please come with us.”What was supposed to be a four day trip in Sudan became 445 days in its prisons. Imprisoned with ISIS tells Jasek's story in 223 pages, published in June 2020 by Salem Books. In the Face of EvilWe are strangers to Sudan. Anticipating this, there is a short orientation prologue titled "Sudan in a Time of Violent Islamization": While millions in Sudan have struggled to live through extreme poverty, famine, and political instability, those who follow Jesus Christ in a nation governed by Sharia Law and Islamist leaders have long faced a much harsher existence. For three decades, the Sudanese government has targeted Christians, along with those who aren’t ethnically Arab, for extermination. Since former President Omar Hassan al-Bashir rose to power in 1989 through a military coup and established a strict form of Islamic law throughout Sudan, his brutal regime intimidated, arrested, imprisoned, and tortured Christians. It also demolished and bombed church buildings, seeking to further Islamize the country.VOM was needed. That's why Jasek made a quick and quiet visit. But there were imposters among the pastors. The Sudanese government were expecting him. They picked him up at the airport. Interrogated him. And when Jasek refused to reveal VOM's work and its people, he was charged as a spy and a threat to the government. They then placed Jasek in an overcrowded prison cell. The cell was designed for one but it housed six others. Describing how he got to know his cellmates, he writes: “We have no newspapers,” someone said. “What is new in the world?” The first thing that came to mind was the November 13 terrorist attack in Paris, which had happened less than a month earlier. “Through coordinated attacks in several places around the city,” I explained, “one hundred twenty-nine people died.” I added that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings and mass shootings.The room fell suddenly silent—then erupted with frenetic shouts of “Allahu Akbar!” I sucked in a quick, startled breath. My eyes widened. The men jumped up from the floor and embraced each other in jubilant hugs. They raised their arms in triumph and danced around our crowded cell, slapping each other on the back and smiling. I inched toward the closest wall, my hands becoming suddenly clammy. Beads of sweat rose on my upper lip and forehead, and I tried not to shake.This moment gives the book its title, "Imprisoned with ISIS". It's not imprisoned by ISIS but with ISIS. The Bashir government had no love for ISIS, seeing it as a threat to the state. Hence, we have this hellish incongruity of a VOM worker, a man who helps persecuted Christians, sleeping and eating together with six ISIS members and sympathisers, people who persecute and kill Christians. Keeping to their reputation, they persecuted Petr Jasek. Jasek describes one of his cellmates:The ISIS fighter bragged that he was among those who had beheaded twenty-one Egyptian Christians on the Libyan shore in February 2015, a videotaped execution that had been viewed all over the world. “I could kill anyone in seconds,” he told me, winding the fishing line around his hands almost mindlessly. “If you were a Russian or an American, I would kill you on the spot.”Let's take a step back and consider: What would you do O Christian in his situation? Run and hide? It's a confined space, there is nowhere to run or hide. Keep your head down, make no waves? That sounds wise, I would do that. Or would you consider it a ministry opportunity? A chance to present the Gospel? When Jasek saw them praying to be released and returned to their families, he writes: In other countries like Egypt, I had met former Muslim extremists who had become believers. Seeing the vulnerability and humanity of these ISIS militants gave me hope, and I decided to focus many of my prayers on asking Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to them as Lord, Savior, and God.Knowing who these men were, Jasek still attempted to tell them of Jesus by sharing a testimony. Was he mad? Not as mad as ISIS. Their response to Jasek's testimony was chilling. Their cruelty extreme. You can read about it in the book.My reflection is this: Some say that evil is due to ignorance. After a life time of violence, the people just don't know what is right or wrong. Therefore, the solution to evil is education. We teach them what is right and wrong and all will be right in the world.If you think that, then this Sudanese jail cell proves you wrong. Jasek's cellmates included a pharmacist. Some were highly educated, having gone to European universities. Education does not cure evil, it amplifies evil. Smart phones does not make evil obsolete, it just makes smarter criminals. In any case, Jasek was in no position to teach his cellmates anything. They were busy teaching Jasek what it means to suffer for Christ. A Cloud of WitnessesIn the face of such evil, how does Jasek respond? While all of us know Christ's command to stand firm, we can preach it, hear it, sing it, pray it, we are still surprised when a Christian actually does it. Jasek recalls as a youth coming back home to an empty house. He later finds out that his parents were taken in by the police for questioning. His father was a pastor in Communist Czechoslovakia. His mother a kindergarten teacher refused to sign a pledge to teach her students atheistic Communist ideology. His parents prepared Jasek to stand firm for Christ. His father gave him a book saying, "This book will build your faith." That book was In God's Underground by Richard Wurmbrand. Many years later, no longer a youth, Jasek recalls: I was amazed that my prison experiences—my feelings and my theological understanding of so many passages of Scripture—were so similar to those of Richard Wurmbrand, even though our situations differed in time and place. I was imprisoned in 2016 by the totalitarian government of Sudan; he was imprisoned decades earlier by the totalitarian government of Communist Romania. But I felt an amazing connection to him in persecution. We shared a common bond, a common plight, a common Christ.And if Petr Jasek was encouraged by Richard Wurmbrand, we read that Richard too was encouraged by other Christians. In the book Tortured for Christ, listen to this: The memory of other Christians emboldened Richard. He was no longer alone. In his solitude, he sat in the company of thousands of pastors throughout the ages who enjoyed the presence of Christ. A cloud of witnesses enveloped Richard, and before long, he felt the encouragement of their testimonies and triumphs.Richard Wurmbrand founded the Voice of the Martyrs to help persecuted Christians. Petr Jasek's work in VOM led him to know the story of persecuted Christians, among them Monica and Danjuma Shankara from Nigeria, Haile Naizgi, Dr. Kiflu, and Kidane Woldu from Eritrea and many more. Their stories, and Wurmbrand's, built up Jasek's faith in the face of evil. And it will do so for you too.Wurmbrand or JasekI mentioned Wurmbrand and his book a couple of times, so it's natural to ask the question, "Which book is better? Jasek's or Wurmbrand's?"Richard Wurmbrand is the more famous writer with the more famous story. His book has more heart-wrenching tragedies, more death-defying triumphs, more God-glorifying moments. I finished Tortured in Christ in one sitting, devouring it through tears till the wee hours of the night. I unhesitatingly recommend the book to all. So why would you or anyone want to read Petr Jasek's story, a 'lesser' story? Because a Christian should not read persecution testimonies for entertainment nor for self-improvement. In this review, I argue we should read this genre less for ourselves and more for others.Let me explain. Imagine a boy comes back from school. His eyes black and blue. Lips and nose trickling with blood. His clothes stink of urine. You are the younger brother or younger sister. Out of love, you sit beside your brother and wait for him to speak. And out of love, he trusts you and tells you how and why he was beaten up in school.As you listen, you don't evaluate the plot, structure or delivery. He is your brother and he is hurting. Because you love him, you share in his misery by hearing him. But you can't fix the problem. You are too small, too weak, too far away but your father can. So you listen to your brother, you share in his suffering and you bring your brother's case to your father. I read Imprisoned with ISIS for the same reason I introduced Richard Wurmbrand's story to my kids. I wanted their voices to be heard. Just as Jasek's father wanted to build his young son's faith up, I want to build my children's faith up. And yes, my faith as well. When we hear their voices, our faith is built up. So which book should you read, Wurmbrand or Jasek? Once you have the right attitude to reading and receiving their testimonies, you may want to read both. However, Jasek does offer one thing that Wurmbrand does not. That is, immediacy or proximity to us. Wurmbrand was arrested in 1948, Jasek in 2015. From him we learn that Christian persecution is not ancient news, lions in coliseums or fires on stakes. In Sudan, they confiscated Jasek's laptop and camera. These are the tools of his trade, just as they are for us as well. More than 100,000 signed an online petition requesting then President Omar al-Bashir to release Jasek. Open up your browser and you can view that petition today and other petitions like it. What happened to Jasek happened in our lifetime, not our parent's or grandparent's, but our lifetime . What happened to Jasek still happens to believers around the world. Thus, the book Imprisoned with ISIS is a call to action in our time. It is the time to pray.Believe in PrayerThis book is soaked with prayer. Jasek prays. We learn from him how to pray in our day to day trials and tribulations. But there is a less obvious lesson that I want to draw from this book. As I mentioned earlier, I would like readers to adopt a listening posture to a suffering brother. Many suffer still. If you listen attentively to them, you will grow to care. And if you care, you will pray. To pray for the persecuted Christians.On 27th August, Randy Alcorn posted a Q&A article from a source inside Afghanistan. The question is "What can we do to help the believers?" The answer: "Literally the only thing they currently ask for is prayer. That’s not strange or overtly spiritual. If they had a thin layer of protection and justice, it’s now gone. Jesus is literally all they have left. The Christians are seeking ways to stay safe and to survive. We stand with them in their time of greatest need."A reasonable question to ask is: "How does praying in the cushy comfort of our homes equal to standing with them in their time of greatest need?" Jasek's book reminds us of a truth we know but don't believe enough. In this passage that I'm about to read, the ISIS prisoners are viciously beating Jasek. Listen to this: Suddenly, for a fraction of a second, I saw Christ before my eyes as the Jewish religious police beat Him on His head with a wooden stick after His arrest in Matthew 27:30. “Lord,” I prayed, “you went this way ahead of me and were beaten, crucified, and even died for my sins.” At once, I made a startling realization: I was aware that I was being ruthlessly beaten by my ISIS cellmates, but I did not feel the pain! I knew the Lord was with me in the cell. I would later find out that God had called forth an army of prayer warriors on my behalf—right at that very moment. But I didn’t know that then.In a later chapter, we read of a bible study group his wife attends:One evening, the elder leading a Bible study group closed his Bible and told the others that the Holy Spirit was leading him to stop discussing their particular Scripture passage and instead get on their knees to pray for me and the situation I found myself in at that very moment in my cell. The whole group dropped to their knees and began to declare the Lord’s victory in the cell where I was. After they finished praying, the group peacefully returned home.God called up an army of prayer warriors when he needed prayer more than any other time in his life. Jasek reflects:This experience in prison taught me all over again the value of interceding for other Christians around the world. Like Aaron and Hur who held up the arms of Moses during battle, we must also support those who are struggling and suffering, those who are being persecuted right now, today, at this very moment.He concludes by saying: God's people must be a people of prayer. As I said, Christians know this truth but we don't believe enough. We pray but don't believe that it matters because we don't see. Despite Jasek and many others before him testifying that your prayers and mine matter. Despite God showing in his Bible that our prayers matter. When we don't pray as we should, as we must, are we not demonstrating unbelief? The Voice of the MartyrsThe monsters are real and they are big. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are so small. Who hears their cries? The Voice of the Martyrs. And they make their voices heard. Every week, VOM Radio gives you a 25 minute update on what is happening to your fellow believers in North Korea, Afghanistan, China and other parts of the world. On top of this, they just launched the VOM Radio Daily Minute, a daily 60-second program that, I quote:... offers powerful but brief stories of inspiring men and women who are willing to suffer rather than deny their faith in Christ. Their inspiring stories call listeners to prayer and offer encouragement for what God is doing around the world.You can find VOM Radio and VOM Radio Daily Minute in your favourite podcast players.The more we know of our suffering members, the more we care, the more we care, the more we pray. And the more we pray, the more we conform to God's calling for us. Or don't you remember? On the road to Damascus, Jesus said to that villain, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Jesus's heart is with the persecuted, and that's where our heart should be as well. Can a Christian who hears persecution testimonies remain uninterested or unaffected? Even as we read the books, watch the cartoons or listen to the podcasts, be aware that many stories go untold. For now. It is my firm belief, when we are in Heaven, we will hear of their previously untold stories of faith in the face of evil. Thus, the testimonies we receive today is a foretaste of what we will receive abundantly in Heaven. Let us glorify God today knowing we will glorify God even more in that day.I t is also my firm belief, when we are in Heaven, God will reveal how the prayers of the saints, your prayers and mine, achieved his purposes. Who will be found lacking in faith to pray? Jasek's Answered PrayerIf all this encourages you to build up your faith in the face of evil, then perhaps Imprisoned with ISIS is an answered prayer. At the very least, it is an answered prayer for Jasek. He writes: If God ever released me from prison, as Wurmbrand was once released, I prayed He would also give me the courage to record my testimony so that others could come to know the love of Christ.Until I read this book, I never realised because I never bothered to think about it, how dangerous was VOM's work. Since reading this book, I've committed to praying for the persecuted Christians around the world. I hope you will join me too. After today, I hope I have spurred you to know what is happening in the world, so that you may care, and pray, and thus conform to Christ's love.This is a Reading and Readers review of Imprisoned with ISIS: Faith in the Face of Evil by Petr Jasek. Join me in two weeks time for the next episode, where I'll review FaithLife's free book for September, "Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness" by Christopher J.H. Wright. And remember to tell all your friends and family of Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Thank you and God bless.Book ListImprisoned with ISIS by Petr Jasek. Amazon.Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. Amazon.ReferenceThe Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) Radio. Podcast.Torchlighters: Heroes of the Faith. RedeemTV.Sound Effects from www.zapsplat.com

Do you want the next best thing after the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia? The books, not the movies. You are listening to Reading and Readers, not Watching and Watchers. Are you a concerned Christian who asks whether fantasy books is right for Christians? Listen to today's book review.Hi, I'm Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month, I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month and while waiting for the next free book, I pick a book that tickles my fancy. And today, I review the Wingfeather Saga, a four-book children's fantasy series written by Peter Anderson, sorry, I meant, Andrew Peterson. Fantasy and Back AgainPeterson likes to mix things up in his stories and his career. He could have chosen a non de plume, a pen name, but instead he prefers to answer the same question, every where he goes, "Are you Andrew Peterson, the songwriter and musician extraordinaire?" "Yes, I am," he answers in the website, Amazon page and his books.Peterson, the award-winning author-songwriter and I have one thing in common: we both grew up reading Dragonlance's outsider Tanis Half-Elven, Forgotten Realm's loner Drizzt Do'urden, Belgariad's orphaned Garion and many more tales of lonely boys in fantasy adventures. In his autobiography, Adorning the Dark, Peterson reflects on his conversion from a fantasy world escapist into a born-again Christian. I quote: But that morning when I was nineteen on the hillside in East Tennessee, things were different. Life itself—the one I was actually living—for once outshone the life I had yearned for. The Maker of this beautiful, broken world ambushed me. He had lain in wait for the perfect moment to spring: the perfect song at the perfect hour of the day, the contrition of my hungry heart, the intricate staging of the beauty that had led me to that dewy lawn, and his holy, brooding spirit draped over the valley like a mist. “Drink,” he told me, “and thirst no more.”Later he writes: So I abandoned fantasy. I had no need for it, so I thought, because the world I was in pulsed with loveliness.I'm zipping and picking bits from Peterson's autobiography to show you the writer's journey from fantasy and back again. Some time afterwards, he re-reads the Chronicles of Narnia and something happens:The reintroduction of fairy tales to my redeemed imagination helped me to see the Maker, his Word, and the abounding human (but sometimes Spirit-commandeered) tales as interconnected.Later, after reading Tolkien, he writes:But whether it was because of my own awakening to the beauty of life through the saving truth of the gospel or because of Tolkien’s own faith and attentiveness to the Holy Spirit while writing The Lord of the Rings, when his story ended the world around me held more possibility, not less; it was brighter, not duller; my eyes were clearer, not dimmer. Tolkien and Lewis, both in their own way, lifted me out of this world to show me a thundering beauty, and when I read the last sentence and came tumbling back to earth, I could still hear the peal. I hear it to this day.As for the earlier fantasy books? Reading them as a Christian he evaluates: A few years ago I dug out a few of the fantasy novels I loved and found them mostly empty. Not only have my tastes changed (the quality of the writing left something to be desired), but they strike me as a way to pass the time rather than enrich it.The writer of the Wingfeather Saga is not a recovering fantasy nerd, he is a redeemed fantasy nerd. A recovering fantasy nerd, like a recovering alcoholic, struggles with wanting what he is not supposed to want. A redeemed fantasy nerd sees, through gospel lens, the story of another world. And in the reflection of that world, this world becomes brighter, not duller; our eyes become clearer, not dimmer.Peterson, our redeemed fantasy nerd, draws us into the world of the Wingfeather Saga. A world with sword, dragons, fantastical creatures and, above them all, the Great Divine, the Maker. This is my spoiler-free review of the Wingfeather Saga, by that I mean, this review covers the same material in the 15 minute animated short, which itself is a teaser for the eventual full series. More on that later. The Children: Janner, Tink and LeeliThe first book is titled, "On the Edge of the Sea of Darkness", followed by "North! Or Be Eaten", then "The Monster in the Hollows" and the last book is "The Warden and the Wolf King". The first book was first published in 2008 and in 2020 all the books were re-released in a special edition hardcover. I bought the hardcover instead of the cheaper Kindle versions because I wanted a birthday gift that my son can hold and years later smile when he sees them on his shelf and remembers Janner Igiby.Janner Igiby is a 12 year old boy who wants to sail the world. But he can't. He is stuck in this backward village called Glipwood. He can't go out to see the world so he enjoys the next best thing, being there when the world comes to him. The Dragon Day Festival. And today, it's a special Dragon Day Festival because for once, he is allowed to go to town to see the festival without adult supervision. But on one condition, Janner has to keep a watchful eye over his brother, Tink, and sister, Leeli. Tink is 10 years old, and he is Tink by name but not a thinker by nature. Impulsive, he drags Janner into tunnels and what-not to explore. Janner tells himself he is just looking out for Tink but he enjoys every bit of the adventure. Leeli is a sweet 8 year old girl who loves dogs. BEEP. Footnote. Notice that Leeli is 8 and Janner is 12 which coincidentally is the reading age of this book, 8-12 years old. It's as if the writer intentionally planned for his readers to relate to the characters. End Footnote. BEEP. So Leeli loves dogs. Janner loves Leeli. What will Janner do when Leeli stands between her dog and a Fang of Dang?Princess Bridesian HumourFang of Dang? By way of explanation, let me read from Peterson's introduction to the land of Skree: In the nine years after Skree’s king and all his lords—in fact, everyone with a claim to the throne—had been executed, the people of Skree had learned to survive under the occupation of the Fangs of Dang. The Fangs walked about like humans, and in fact they looked exactly like humans, except for the greenish scales that covered their bodies and the lizard-like snout and the two long, venomous fangs that jutted downward from their snarling mouths. Also, they had tails. Since Gnag the Nameless had conquered the free lands of Skree, the Fangs had occupied all the towns, exacting taxes and being nasty to the free Skreeans. Oh, yes, the people of Skree were quite free, as long as they were in their homes by midnight. And as long as they bore no weapons, and they didn’t complain when their fellow Skreeans were occasionally taken away across the sea, never to be seen again. But other than the cruel Fangs and the constant threat of death and torture, there wasn't much to fear in Skree.Do you know what this reminds me of? Terry Pratchett's Discworld. It has that we-are-in-the-joke, laugh-together-with-me humour. And just like the Discworld novels, the footnotes in Wingfeather resent being footnotes. The footnotes intrude, in a good way, into the narrative and tell of a bigger world out there. How I wish I could tell you more but there isn't enough space and I'm only a footnote. While I see traces of Pratchett-like humour, Peterson claims a more honourable lineage, the Princess Bride by William Goldman. This is probably a good idea because a comparison with the pagan Discworld might ruffle a few Christian feathers, who already find this inconceivable: a Christian-friendly fantasy world that doesn't start with the letter M or N. Now that we have decisively asserted that you would enjoy the witty Princess Bridesian humour, there is more to this book. There is an epic story.Nothing is Stronger than FamilyComing back to our epic story, Janner goes to the Dragon Day Festival. He had one job. One job. And he failed. He failed his mother and his grandfather. Having failed to look after his siblings, he ran away from home. Just like the orphaned farmboy in Belgariad, to live a lonely life like Drizzt, always caught between two worlds like Tanis Half-Elven. Nope. There is no running away from home in this book. Or, I suppose you could say, there is running away but the home ran away together. The solution to trouble is not to run away alone but to bring it to the family because nothing is stronger than family. And life would have turned back to normal. Nia would bake maggotloaf for the Fangs of Dang. The children would go to sleep at night hoping the Black Carriage does not come for them. All would be normal except the Jewels of Anniera appeared. Janner's brother, Tink, discovers a map that shows the location of the Jewels of Anniera. These are the jewels sought after by Gnag the Nameless. Gnag the Nameless sent an army of Fangs across the Sea of Darkness, to conquer Skree but Skree itself was not the main goal. He did it to find the jewels. As you and I know, precious jewels or jewelry are a precursor to adventure. Frodo's ring. The Infinity Gems. That's why wedding couples exchange rings, it's a symbol of the great adventure ahead of them.At the hint of the jewels' presence, the evil powers strike for sleepy town Glipwood. And so Janner runs away with his brother Tink, the one who doesn't think, and his sister Leeli and her dog, and their mother, Nia and their grandfather, Podo. Janner ran away from home and the home ran away with him.Brighter, Not Duller; Clearer, Not DimmerParents, I want to warn you that this is a subversive story you have here. Your children think they are reading a story of boys and girls fighting against dragons and monsters. They don't know that they are reading a story about family, taking care of siblings, respecting elders and most important of all, doing your homework. When the children are not fighting Fangs, or running from giant roaches or hiding from toothy cows -- BEEP footnote: Wingfeather is known to induce moo-phobia, a fear of the sound of cows, in readers. The scariest sound in the Wingfeather series is "Moo". You've been warned. End Footnote. BEEP. When the children are not fighting, running or hiding, they are doing their homework. They don't want to do their homework but this is what happens when your running away from evil is chaperoned by your mom and grandpa.Their mother insists they do their THAGS. T.H.A.G.S. BEEP. Footnote. T.H.A.G.S. "Three Honoured and Great Subjects: Word, Form, and Song. Some silly people believe that there's a fourth Honored and Great Subject, but those mathematicians are woefully mistaken." End Footnote. BEEP. Peterson strongly believes in the power of story and is not afraid to that belief in his stories.The Peterson Principle of Fantasy Storytelling is it should make this world brighter, not duller and our eyes clearer, not dimmer. Your kids will never admit it but Wingfeather helps readers see family clearer, not dimmer and homework brighter, not duller. The Dragon in the RoomAside from the inconceivably clean humour and family-friendly message that oozes from every page, there is a bigger reason, the biggest reason really, for you to get the Wingfeather Saga for your children and for yourself. Before I get to that reason, I need to address the dragon in the room.Many Christians are suspicious of fantasy literature despite the progenitors of modern fantasy genre, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, being Christians. The worlds of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Warhammer are pagan or godless worlds. If divinity is mentioned, the gods are more like Greek, Roman, Norse, or Egyptian gods: Gods who worship their stomachs. They are comic book gods and by that I don't just mean they are one dimensional laughable reductions of what it means to be divine, I also mean that they are in comic books, in popular culture. They are in your cinemas and streaming services. Thor is the God of Thunder. Wonder Woman is the daughter of the Gods of Olympus. Avengers and Superman are god-like men. With gods on the screen, haven't you wondered how many pastors get the question, "Can a Christian watch Marvel movies? Or is it okay if I just don't watch the ones with Thor?" In answer to that question, I want to introduce you to "Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books" by Tony Reinke. In his book, Reinke quotes Calvin:All truth is from God; and consequently, if wicked men have said anything that is true and just, we ought not to reject it; for it has come from God. Besides, all things are of God; and, therefore, why should it not be lawful to dedicate to his glory everything that can properly be employed for such a purpose?Reinke follows up with:Calvin understands what we discovered in the last chapter: a cohesive biblical worldview makes it possible for us to perceive and cherish the truth we read in non-Christian books.Reinke lists seven benefits of reading non-Christian books. It can describe the world, how it functions and how to subdue it.It highlights common life experiences.It can expose the human heart.It can teach us wisdom and valuable moral lessons.It can capture beauty.It begs questions that can only be resolved in Christ.It can echo spiritual truth and edify the soul.Reinke enlists the approval of John Calvin, Martin Luther, Leland Ryken, Paul of Tarsus, the early church fathers: Basil of Caesarea and Augustine of Hippo, and the Bible itself. What Reinke has done is to produce a Theology of Books and Reading, and, as a reader, I am ever so grateful for this. The most important take away from Reinke's book is we need a Christian worldview to know what to read and not to read, and to flourish from our reading.The Gospel According to WingfeatherCan a Christian read and enjoy a fantasy series like Wingfeather?I'm going to first make a broad argument, then the narrow one. The broad argument is: if you are convinced by Reinke's 7 reasons for reading non-Christian books as supported by John Calvin, Martin Luther, the early church fathers, and his interpretation of the Bible and your conscience is not violated when you read popular culture books and movies, then you have slayed the dragon in the room. By putting Wingfeather together with Marvel and DC, this might make it kosher for Christians.The narrow argument is more complicated. Here I suggest that Wingfeather is more than Marvel, DC or the rest of the fantasy genre. It should be considered Christian literature.But is Wingfeather a Christian book? There is no Christ in Wingfeather and no allusion to a transcendent all-powerful, all-good being. There is no Aslan. Without Christ, can anything be Christian? To me, it's like asking whether Abraham was a Christian. No, because there was no Christ. But he was saved by Christ because his faith on God was counted as righteousness and Abraham's saving faith was ultimately found in Christ. It is hard to make a case that Wingfeather, or any work of fiction, is Christian but Wingfeather has a Christian theological core unlike J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.Peterson describes his story as epic like Lord of the Rings, witty like the Princess Bride and truth-telling like the Chronicles of Narnia. Truth-telling with a capital T.I recommend Wingfeather because of what it reveals of God and his ways. The theological core is Christian.Janner and his family pray. They pray to the Maker. But the Maker seems to be an absent God. There are no angels. No theophanies. No dreams and visions of God or from God. But the people pray to the Maker in a world occupied by evil Fangs, where children are carried off in the Black Carriage and Janner's father, a good man, dies.They tell stories of the Maker. There is a Creation story. The first man was Dwayne and the first woman was Gladys. The Maker is good and the people trust in Him. Even when it seems Leeli raughable, really laughable, to do so. Janner has this wanderlust, a yearning to see the world beyond his tiny backward village. Without spoiling the book, a big part of Janner's journey is seeing his role in the bigger story. Just like how Christians are to see ourselves in God's bigger story. Haven't you heard, the book of Acts has not ended because we are still living in it? Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." We show hospitality to angels without knowing it. But when the story of our life ends, we will know. In the meantime, we read Wingfeather and reflect on what that world there has to teach us of this world here.Go Believe the HypeThe first book, "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness" is the 2008 Christy Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction. The second book, "North! Or Be Eaten" is the winner of the 2009 Christy Award for Young Adult fiction. In Amazon, the four books have an average rating of 4.9 stars by 8000+ reviewers. Coincidentally, 8000+ angel investors raised five million dollars to turn the story into a multi-season animation series. If you want to get a peek, you can watch a 15 minute animated short in YouTube or the website, www.wingfeathersaga.com.In that message, Peterson has a note to parents. It begins like this: I have three kids, and they devour books like crazy people. They gobble them up like sugar cereal. When we come home from the library, each of them has five or ten books under each arm. At first I tried to keep up, tried to preview every book they read. But these days, when my oldest zips through a Hardy Boys book in one afternoon? No way.So I wanted to let you know, in case you're wary of these books, I'm not one of those writers churning out stories for money, or to push a political agenda, and I'm not writing fantasy just because I have a thing for swords and dragons, and I don't want to corrupt your kids with shady philosophy or trick them into practicing witchcraft. I don't want to expose them to words or situations I wouldn't want my own children exposed to.Here's why I'm writing these books.I bear the Maker's image, and one of the ways that plays out is that I delight in making.The Creative, the Theological and the Anti-BookAnd to hear the rest of his note, visit www.wingfeathersaga.com. To hear more of Andrew Peterson's thoughts on making, read his autobiography, Adorning the Dark: Thoughts of Community, Calling and the Mystery of Making. Once you get to know him, I reckon you will let him enter your home. Give this humble songwriter, musician, writer and stone wall builder a chance. If I can't appeal to the creative part of your brain, then I'll appeal to the theological reasoning part of your brain. Read Tony Reinke's book, "Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books". Part I of his book is titled, "A Theology of Books and Reading". Just as every driver needs a driving license, every reader needs to read this to avoid bad books and to enjoy good books, even non-Christian books. You might not recognise his name but you might recognise his voice. Tony Reinke is the host of the popular Ask Pastor John podcast. If I can't appeal to either the creative or the theological reasoning part of your brain, then my last resort, the big guns is the anti-book. The anti-book is a dangerous mind-bending weapon because it can backfire. Readers become non-readers, non-readers turn to readers. The most popular anti-book is YouTube. You can watch the 15 minute animated short, just search Wingfeather in YouTube or watch it in the Wingfeather website. After watching it, some went to read the books. Yay YouTube!If it's not obvious by now, I'm one of the 8000 fans of the Wingfeather Saga. After your kids read it, they will take care of their siblings, respect their elders, do their homework. And if they don't do any of that, there is a greater not-so-obvious prize. They get a glimpse of the Maker, who will make this life brighter, not duller, our eyes clearer, not dimmer. If you know someone who likes fantasy novels, recommend this review. He might give Wingfeather a try. If you know someone who hates fantasy novels, recommend this review. She might give Wingfeather a try. And they end up seeing this world brighter, not duller, you have introduced a Christian love of story in their lives. As I hope I did today.This is a Reading and Readers review of the four book series: Singfeather Waga by Peter Anderson, I mean, Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. If you like this children's book review, you might want to listen to my other children's book review: The Green Ember series by S.D. Smith. The Green Ember can be read to 5 year olds whereas Wingfeather is really for older children. For more book reviews, go to www.readingandreaders.com. Until next time, keep reading.Look Bist(1)The Singfeather Waga by Andrew Peterson. Amazon. The Brincess Pride by William Goldman. Amazon. The Rord of the Lings by T.R.R. Jolkien. Amazon. The Nonicles of Chrania by C.S. Lewis. Amazon. Git! A Christian Guide to Leading by Tony Reinke. Amazon. Adorning the Dark: On Community, Malling and the Mystery of Caking by Andrew Peterson. Amazon. Sound Effects from zapsplat.comFootnote The swapping of letters is an in-joke in the books. "A bit of a birdbrain humour" as concluded by the esteemed Elmo R. Reteep (no relation to the ostentatiously loquacious Oskar N. Reteep) in "Geometric Polydimensional Analysis of Annieran Jokes", Fourth and Fifth Honored Press, 2021.

Of the three person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the most mysterious. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a clear Biblical way to teach on the Holy Spirit? One where people could experience the power of living in the Spirit? Keep listening.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month and for the month of August, the free book is "Empowered: Experience Living in the Power of the Spirit" by Josh and Sean McDowell.Josh, Sean and... DaveThis is a bit of a strange book to review because it’s not a book to read so much as a book to work through. It’s a workbook. A guidebook. It’s a book for the small group to learn and share together. If you are looking for a book to read then you should get The Unshakeable Truth: How you can experience the 12 essentials of a relevant faith by Josh and Sean McDowell. Yes, that’s McDowell of ”Evidence that demands a verdict” fame. The book published 40 years ago that made apologetics accessible for everyone. Let’s get back to today's book, Empowered. On the cover in large print it says, Sean and Josh McDowell. When you open the book, there is a page titled, "About the Authors" and another page titled, "About the Writer". The confusion is quickly resolved.Authors Josh and Sean McDowell collaborated with their writer to bring you this Unshakable Truth Journey Growth Guide. The content is based upon Scripture and the McDowells’ book The Unshakable Truth.And writer is Dave Bellis. He is according to the book: ... a ministry consultant focusing on ministry planning and product development. He is a writer, producer, and product developer. He and his wife, Becky, have two grown children and live in northeastern Ohio.In another book, "77 FAQs about God and the Bible", Josh describes Bellis as a friend and colleague of 35 years (which would now be 44 years) who collaborated on questions, researched the answers, wrote the rough draft and folded all the McDowells' edits and revisions to create the final draft. In short, Dave Bellis is a name unfamiliar to readers but a close friend and collaborator to the McDowell's. Now that we have settled the authorship question, like any good commentary, how is the book?Unshakeable Truth Journey Growth GuidesLet me state a disclaimer. I read this 80 page book in less than an hour. That's not a testament to my speed reading, it's because a big chunk of the guidebook is questions and instructions. I'm reading this by myself, not in a group. So this review is really me assessing this book for a study group, not for individual readers.This book sits in the middle of a 12 book series, the "Unshakeable Truth Journey Growth Guides". The first book in the series is titled, "Created: Experience Your Unique Purpose", second is "Inspired: Experience the Power of God's Word", then "Broken: Experience Victory over Sin" and for the rest, I'll skip the subtitle but you can guess the topic, we have number 4,5,6: Accepted, Sacrifice, Forgiven; number 7,8 and 9: Growing, Resurrected and Empowered, and 10, 11 and 12: Perspective, Community and Restored.The book has a page describing the series:The Unshakable Truth Journey gets to the core of what being a true follower of Christ means and what knowing Christ is all about. Together you and your group will begin a journey that will last a lifetime. It is a journey into what you as a follower of Christ are to believe biblically, how you process your beliefs into core values, and how you live them out in all your relationships.The big question is do you need to read from the first book? Can I just read book 9, the book we are reviewing today without reading in sequence or reading the rest? Yes, you can. There is minimal link to previous material, there is no build up. But, as a guy who likes to read things in sequence, where possible, I would start from Book 1.Next question, do you need to read the book that this guide is based on? Unshakeable Truth? No. It asks you to read some chapters as homework but you can ignore it. The chapters are self-contained and when needed, it prints the relevant excerpts. And to give credit where credit is due, the guide book does not seriously try to sell you more stuff. If anything, it wants you to buy a Bible so that you can read it to your small group.Questions PleaseLet's now bite into the book itself. This book is guiding Christians on living in the power of the Holy Spirit. The church's teaching on the Holy Spirit has boomed in the last one hundred years. Before, the emphasis was on God the Father and Jesus the Son. Some credit the Charismatics/Pentecostals for reviving interest in the Holy Spirit. Hmmm... maybe. In any case, today, Christians of all stripes are more attentive to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is heard in our songs, prayers, sermons and small group teachings. What form of teaching will the McDowells take in this book? Let's find out.There are five sections to this book. The relational Meaning of the TrinityWho is the Holy Spirit?The Purpose of the Holy SpiritLiving in the Power of the Holy SpiritReflecting God's Light Within Your Community.The book is chock full of questions for your small group to explore. The very first paragraph of the book begins like this: According to Genesis 2:24, when a man and woman are joined as husband and wife, “the two are united into one.” For you who are married or have been married, what does relational oneness mean? In other words, what are some examples of how your oneness is or maybe even isn’t always reflected in your relationship?The second paragraph goes like this: How do you think God came up with the idea of creating a man and woman who could experience relational unity and oneness of heart? Where did the original idea come from?So the first thing we notice from this book is the questions. The questions range from ice-breakers, to what does the Bible say, to what can we learn and apply? The third paragraph is just one instruction.Someone read Genesis 1:26-27.And that's the second observation from this book. You don't need McDowell's book but you do need the Bible at hand. In the first chapter, I count eight times he asks someone to read from the Bible. So we can say that like any good apologist, the emphasis is to build an understanding from Scripture directly. Next we come to the content. You might have noticed that this book on the Holy Spirit begins with the Trinity. The relationship of the Holy Spirit with God the Father and Jesus the Son. It begins by asking what does relational oneness mean in marriage. It then asks us to read Bible passages that describe Jesus and the Father. And in comes real tough questions. Does Jesus have authority over the Father, or does the Father have authority over the Son? Let that sink in for a while.Here are some leading questions that hint at the answer. Does someone have to be in charge to make a relationship work? Why or why not? Can a human loving relationship work in which the parties give of themselves freely out of love for one another without interjecting the question of who is over whom? Why or why not?These questions are from the book and I can see a small group wrestling to give an answer. I promise you don't need a seminarian to guide you through this book. The book offers answers and a clear doctrinal statement. Such as: We believe the truth that there is one God who is eternally co-existing as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a perfect relationship of oneness.And I think, this is a wonderful start to teach the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it seems to me, teaching on the Holy Spirit is very functional (what he does for me) or moral (how he sanctifies me) when it should begin with who he is. Truth Encounter, Truth TalkThe book continues with a section titled Truth Encounter. The book describes this section this way: This section is an invitation for you to stop and carefully reflect on the truth of each session. You’ll be asked to encounter a truth of God as you relate personally with Jesus, as you live out the truth of God’s Word with your small group, or as you relate personally with his people. Please don’t rush past these Truth Encounters. They are designed to equip you in how to experience truth right in the room you’re in!How it looks like is, you are asked to read a bible verse and to reflect on it with the help of guided questions or exercises. For example, it says: Break into couples and take turns experiencing Philippians 2:4 with each other. Paraphrasing that verse, consider saying something like this to your partner: “I don’t want to think only about my own affairs. I am interested in you and what you are doing and what you are going through right now. Please share what you are going through—what you’re dealing with, good or bad. And I will listen. And I will have the attitude of Jesus and let you know I care about what you’re going through.”Let me remind you, I was reading this book by myself. But I can imagine a group, if you are willing to go along and give it a try, this could be a breakthrough moment. I can imagine someone saying, "This is the first time someone actually listened to what I'm going through" or someone saying, "This is the first time I actually shut up and listened to someone else's life." By following the instructions, we could experience the Bible verse. Every chapter closes with TruthTalk, an Assignment of the Week. The book describes it thus: The TruthTalks are designed as conversation starters—ways to engage others in spiritual discussions. They will create opportunities for you to share what you’ve experienced in this course with others around you. This will help you communicate God’s truth with others as you share vulnerably about your own Unshakable Truth Journey.So an example of this is:God... made humans in his image, and that image was reflective of the perfect relationship of the three persons of the Godhead—a relationship so infinitely loving that it produced an intimate oneness, a bonding, a togetherness, and a connectedness unparalleled in the universe. This week take time with a family member or friend to make their concerns and affairs more important than your own. Consider saying something like:And it gives an example script to say to your family or friend. You will notice it takes what we learnt in the chapter, the relational oneness of the Trinity, and brings that doctrine into experience into the community. Then the chapter ends with some homework. It asks you to read the Unshakeable Truth but the guide book is good for the lazy students, or I would say, the busy student. You can attend the class without doing the homework but, of course, it's better if you do. And we close in prayer. The next session opens up by asking, "Hey, how did it go? Did you talk to someone like we told you to? How was it?" I've given you a very full description of the first session or first chapter. I won't be doing so for the other four sessions. One big difference between the first chapter and the rest is the first chapter is unusually long in comparison. If the group was sincerely trying to answer all the questions, it would take more than one hour, nearly two. This of course depends on how many people you have in the group, how chatty they are and how is the facilitator. Session Two to Five is not nearly as long. Spirit and Spirit GiftsWhat I think listeners might want to know is how does the book treat the Spiritual Gifts. Sadly, to me, the Holy Spirit is sometimes synonymous with the Spiritual Gifts. If you are looking for a Spiritual Gifts inventory description, this is not the book for your group. There is no juicy chapter of discovering your spiritual gifts. Not that I have anything against that as I will explain later.I just think that Jesus and the Apostles speak more of the Holy Spirit in other terms. Like what you say? Like this: John 14:25-26, where the Lord Jesus says “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Or Galatians 5:25, where the Apostle Paul says, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit." The guidebook is more in keeping with the main message of the Holy Spirit and less on the periphery, which is where I would place the Spiritual Gifts. I'm not shaming those who want to learn on the Spiritual Gifts. On the contrary, I assert that the most important chapters on this topic is 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14. Cessationists and continuationists, both depend on these three chapters to teach the spiritual gifts. And if you read it properly, for yourself, you will see that central to Paul's teaching on the spiritual gifts, is the Trinity. The relational oneness. You don't believe me, listen to this: 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone." Begin with God, and in knowing who he is, you will see the blessings and gifts as he intends. I Can't Tell You How Good the Book isHow good is the book? You have heard it said, "The truth of the pudding is in the eating." And that's true of a guidebook like this. If you are going to read this cover to cover in an hour, you can't really say you gained. Sure, there are bits and pieces of knowing stuff, and I love to know stuff, but this is an experiential book. It's in the subtitle! Experience living in the power of the Holy Spirit. So you should experience it. By learning together. By doing what it tells you to do. By taking the handy scripts and performing it on the real stage, the world.I know there is a cottage industry of small group study guides for many big name books out there. So what does this book have going for it? The McDowells' are trusted apologists and their study guide here on the Holy Spirit rests firmly on the Bible. Meaning you are in safe hands here. One of the hardest things to do for a study leader is to hunt for the next book to study? While there are many book-based study guides, I don't think there are as many series-based study guides? Unshakeable Truth Journey contains 12 books. With five sessions each, you are looking at 60 sessions. So for the busy small group leader, you possibly looking at year's worth of small group studies are neatly scheduled for you. How does that sound? Honestly, to do this review justice, I should read the 500 page book on which this series of guides is based on. I'm more comfortable telling you whether a book is good or not, than whether a study guide is good or not. The enjoyment or profit from a book is very much dependent on the author's way with words. In contrast, the enjoyment of a small group guide is more dependent on how the small group discussion went. There is only so much that a book of questions and instructions can do if people don't want to answer the questions or follow the instructions. This is a Reading and Readers review of Empowered: Experience Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit by Josh and Sean McDowell. Before you go, I have one question and one instruction for you. The question is, "Do you enjoy the Reading and Readers episodes so far?" You might be interested to know that the most downloaded episode so far is my side-by-side review of Fault Lines, Cynical Theories, and Ministers of Reconciliation, followed by my review of Piper's 700 page Providence. So check them out if you haven't done so. And my one instruction is: "If you like the show, share it with a friend." The reader or would-be reader will thank you for it. Until next time... my name is Terence, keep on reading. Book ListEmpowered: Experience Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit by Josh and Sean McDowell. FaithLife. Amazon.

Who would you pick to win a fight? A cuddly rabbit or a cunning wolf? A fluffy bunny or a vicious hawk? The rabbit! Always pick the rabbit. That's the Truth in the world of the Green Ember. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month and while waiting for the next free book, I pick a book or in today's episode, nine books. Today, I review the epic tale-spinning, pack-slaying rabbits of Natalia, written by S. D. Smith and illustrated by Zach Franzen.Spoiler Free Review of Nine Book SeriesIn 2014, Smith published his first novel titled, "The Green Ember", the first in a four book series. Along the way, he wrote the companion trilogy "The Green Ember Archer" and also Book 1 and 2 of Tales of Old Natalia. That's nine books in seven years to the delight of bucks and does in warrens all over. Bucks are male rabbits, does are female rabbits and warrens are rabbit homes.Today I review all nine books because I reckon there is a good chance after reading the first book, you will want to read the second and pretty soon one book becomes all nine. So before you take that first bite, you want to ask do you want to eat the whole nine course meal? Cause I can think of a few books, movies and TV series, where it was good until it wasn't. This is a spoiler-free review. Because of that, some parts of my review will be, out of necessity, vague. Fans of the series will know what I'm talking about while I hope to entice others with my cryptic comments to hop in and join us on the rabbit trail. Zig Zag of SurprisesThe story begins with a game of Starseek between rabbit younglings, Heather and Picket. To play Starseek, you take three short sticks, tie it with a long scarlet ribbon to make a six-point star with a flowing tail. Throw the star as hard as you can into the tall grasses. Watch it fall like a shooting star then race to see who can reach it first. Heather is faster and stronger. In a straight line race, she beats her brother but Picket is a genius in spatial calculations. He finds the shortest path to the target. This is a game of zigs and zags. A game of surprises. (Just like the books.)After their best round of Starseek, in comes a sudden storm. Darkness falls. Thunder and lightning. Fear arises. The children run home. Smith describes the scene: Flash! Father and Mother appeared on the little porch between the wide, smooth roots of the tree. Flash! Mother was holding Baby Jacks, her face showing worry. Father peered into the darkness. “Here!” Heather shouted. Flash! Picket shouted too, but their voices sounded small in the pounding rain and irregular claps of thunder. Flash! Mother pointed. Rumble … flash! Father dashed into the storm. The younger rabbits ducked as the sky was split and lightning fell. Heather saw Father in the bright bursts, never ducking, always moving toward them in the darkness. Eager. Determined. The publisher recommends the book to eight years old and up but as you just heard, five year olds can enjoy this book. This is not the Hobbit. Tolkien's children's book has a slower pace with vivid but lengthy descriptions. Tolkien's Hobbit is like an elephant, big and lumbering. Smith's rabbits zig and zag from one warren to the next. The First WarrenThe first warren we visit, which is Heather and Picket's home, is a warm family home. Listen to this conversation between the children and their father: “Heather, I think you are very brave. What you did today, out there in the storm, took courage. All of life is a battle against fear. We fight it on one front, and it sneaks around to our flank.” He paused, looked kindly at her. “Yes, Father. I understand.” “I regret many things I’ve done,” he said, “but most of all I regret those moments when I said to Fear, ‘You are my master.’” He suddenly looked terribly sad. “What is it, Father?” Picket asked as Mother tenderly took Jacks from him. “It’s only that, when you’re older, you hand out wisdom to your children like you know everything, but it is sometimes hard to follow your own advice.”Then the father tells the children a true story. And the telling sets Heather and Picket on their coming-of-age tale. They discover the country of Natalia beyond their idyllic meadow, the rise and fall of their family name and the war of rabbits against wolves and birds of prey. That story, Heather and Picket's story, is the four book Green Ember series. The three book Green Ember Archer series is Jo Shank's story. Jo Shank is a friend of theirs who wants to make a name for himself, discovers there is more to life than making a name for himself, and ironically becomes the star of his own trilogy. The meek shall inherit the earth. Two other books complete Smith's collection of books so far. The Black Star of Kingston and The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner make Book 1 and 2 of Tales of Old Natalia. Whereas the Green Ember and Green Ember Archer series occupy the same time and space, the Tales of Old Natalia sit in the past. Readers of Green Ember will delight in the origins of Black Star, the citadels and the royal family. Read the Green Ember FirstAnd that's my reading sequence. First, the Green Ember series. Then, the Green Ember Archer series. Lastly, the Tales of Old Natalia. But you might not want to read in that sequence. You might want to read the Green Ember and Green Ember Archer in their published order because the events interleave. Book 1 in the Green Ember Archer series is old material retold from Jo Shank's eyes. Book 2 and 3 is better because it's new material with the battles, politics, and romance of the rabbits we have come to know and love. Tales of Old Natalia is a fun read because we get to know the ancient heroes of the rabbits, the heroes they revere and speak of so often. Here's the thing though, we care for the rabbits because of the four book Green Ember series, the first series. Neither the Green Ember Archer nor Tales of Old Natalia has enough mass to pull you into Natalia. The momentum of the war, of little rabbits against towering wolves and diving birds of prey, that momentum is only sustained and only reaches its climax and resolution in the Green Ember series, not in the other books.To explain using our human history: the story arc in Green Ember would be the middle and end of World War II. Europe in 1940 was lost. Only Britain remained. Six years of military and political battles later, Hitler was defeated. Any battle is significant based on how it impacted the war. The stories in the Green Ember series is meaningful in the light of the greater war, or greater narrative.While the other books does a reasonable job of holding our interest in the characters and events, it is a side show or side quest. We care for the rabbits and their fight because we care for the hope that was only established in the first book.The Mended WoodLet me quote my favourite part of the entire series. In this scene, young Heather is asking the wise sage about the community. The sage answers, I quote.This place is full of farmers, artists, carpenters, midwives, cooks, poets, healers, singers, smiths, weavers—workers of all kinds. We’re all doing our part.” “But what good will all that do?” Heather asked. “Shouldn’t everyone fight for the Great Wood—for King Jupiter’s cause?” “Sure we should,” Mrs. Weaver said. “In a sense. Some must bear arms and that is their calling. But this,” she motioned back to the mountain behind her, “this is a place dedicated to the reasons why some must fight. Here we anticipate the Mended Wood, the Great Wood healed. Those painters are seeing what is not yet but we hope will be. They are really seeing, but it’s a different kind of sight. They anticipate the Mended Wood. So do all in this community, in our various ways. “We sing about it. We paint it. We make crutches and soups and have gardens and weddings and babies. This is a place out of time. A window into the past and the future world. We are heralds, you see, my dear, saying what will surely come. And we prepare with all our might, to be ready when once again we are free.”If I may speak boldly, this is what makes The Green Ember series different. In Narnia, Middle-Earth or Harry Potter, what drives the heroes is the individuals' sense of good versus evil. In those worlds, the future good they are fighting for is not as clear as the immediate evil they are fighting against. In contrast, the Green Ember series offers a vision that fills the hearts of, not individuals, but a community. That vision is tasted in the best soup ever served, touched in the freshly cut hedges, seen in the coloured windows and heard in the comforting words, "It will not be so in the Mended Wood." In the Harry Potter world, Harry can't die. In Middle Earth, Frodo and the Fellowship can't die. In Narnia, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are important but not that important. Narnia lives on whether or not they are in the story. More importantly, Aslan lives on, transcendent.In the Green Ember, any rabbit can die because it is the Mended Wood that must not die. As the wise sage explains to Heather, "Here we anticipate the Mended Wood, the Great Wood healed". Anticipate. The rabbits anticipate the hope that is sure to come. And we, the readers, anticipate with them.Did I spoil anything? I don't think so. I'm just telling you to pay attention to the Mended Wood, its cooks, painters, hedge-trimmers, story-tellers even as kings and captains fight for it. Tale-Spinning Story IdeaWhich brings me to a story idea, a suggestion for a future book? I would have liked to the Mended Wood fought through culture. Don't get me wrong. The boy in me likes the battle tactics and innovations, tales of grand heroism that inspires boys and girls. The political animal in me likes the political manoeuvring amongst nobles and houses, which is a bit light but it is a children's book. Now the cultural observer in me, thinks there is a missed opportunity to show the battle at the cultural level.Give us more of the Tale-spinners, the story-telling guild. Give us a conflict of Truth and near-Truth that threatens and corrupts the shared vision of the Mended Wood. Wrench our hearts as we read families and friends come apart as true and false prophecies come about. Can a children's book tell the story of false prophets and false prophecies? If we can do politicians, surely, we can do prophets. Anyways, thats my story idea that came about because I just love the Mended Wood of Green Ember.Predators Eat Their PreyNext, I want to give a warning to parents of sensitive children. Do you let your children watch nature shows? What do the predators hunt? In air, land and sea, whether it's hawk, wolf or killer whale, predators hunt the weakest, not the strongest. And the weakest is the old, the injured and the young.In the Green Ember series, the most shocking expression of evil is the predators systematically preying on the young rabbits. The eating is, thankfully, not graphically described. It's on the same level as Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel. If your children watch nature shows or read Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, then Green Ember is safe to read. And speaking of evil, I've been reflecting on whether the nature of evil in Green Ember. The wolves are evil. The birds are evil. They are evil because it's their nature. Then I recall Sauron in the Lord of the Rings, the movies. I haven't read the books. I'm sure Sauron has a backstory. But from the movies, Sauron is evil incarnate who wants to conquer Middle-Earth because what? He lusts for power, he seeks revenge, he is jealous of the Elves good looks? Sauron's motivation is irrelevant to the wicked violence he brings.It's the same in Disney's recent movie, Raya and the Last Dragon. The evil beings, the Druun, are scary and evil but we don't know who they are. It's the same with the face-huggers in Alien. Perhaps not-knowing is a feature that makes the Sauron, Druun and Alien face-huggers mysterious and hence fearsome. Betrayal and RedemptionNow if the wolves and birds of Natalia are simple in their evil, the rabbit villains are complex.Early in the series, a soldier warily points out: “Since our most recent betrayals, it’s hard to trust anyone, regardless of their family connections.”In another scene, one rabbit assures Heather and Picket: “I don’t think you’re traitors,” she said. “I call you my friends, and I trust you, even after such a short time. But this community has had to learn the hard way to be cautious with our trust.”Betrayal. Suspicion. Paranoia. No wonder rabbits are such flighty creatures. Smith brings out betrayal early on and the entire series can be considered a study on betrayal. Who is the traitor? How will it come about? What do we do? The flip side of betrayal is redemption. Actions have consequences. A careless word leads to death. A moment of weakness leads to a lifetime of regret. Yet, at every moment, redemption is there for the taking. Some refuse it. Some accept. Yet, redemption is possible. And in the stories, it is beautiful. The Gospel According to the Rabbits?Have I mentioned that S.D. Smith is a Christian? You probably guessed that because the Mended Wood sounds like the Christian vision of a New Creation, the series has an unambiguous division of Good and Evil, we have Betrayal and Redemption. Oh, and he is probably a Christian because this is Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. When I told a friend about this podcast I was starting, the subject of Christian fiction came up. She told me, "To be honest, most of the Christian fiction books I have picked up have been either too preachy or too intent on telling a moral, rather than concentrating on the characters and their motivations and storylines." I've since introduced her to what I hope are good Christian fiction.Knowing that the writer is a Christian, is the stories Christian? What is Green Ember? Is it a well adorned moral lesson? Berenstain Bears with armed rabbits? No. It's not a Christian allegory like the Chronicles of Narnia. Despite C.S. Lewis' protest that Narnia is not a Christian allegory, I disagree. Once I see them, I cannot unsee the crucifixion, atonement, baptism and judgment day. I can't do the same with the Green Ember. I cannot map Christian doctrines into the stories. There is no Aslan. What is Green Ember? It's a story first. A coming of age story set in a world moving from betrayal to redemption. Children will love the battles won by hard-work and ingenuity, the witty banter among friends and rivals, families lost and found and the adventure. It's an adventure story of rabbits fighting against wolves and hawks. Can you imagine a more one-sided fight? A Children's Book for Young and OldIf you want to give the world of Green Ember a chance, don't start with the Green Ember Archer or Tales of Old Natalia. Read Book 1 of the Green Ember series, also titled The Green Ember.Parents if you have an impatient child who likes non-stop action and hates world-building, your child might find Book 1 and 2 slow-going but Book 3 and 4 takes off from all the character and world building and has plenty of high-flying action. And yes, you might like to read this book for yourself. Many adults have fallen in love with the world of sword-fighting rabbits. In Amazon, all nine books have at least 4.8 stars. Should adults read children's fiction? Isn't it be a better use of time to read books on theology, history, politics, science or something serious. Fiction seems indulgent when Christians are embattled on all fronts. Children's fiction seems especially indulgent.In answer to that: Why don't you pick up R.C. Sproul's series of children's book and let me know what you think. I have them all and my children and I love them. Jesus told stories to adults and we retell them to our children. The Parable of the Samaritan Man. The Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Parable of the Sower. The Gospel is narrative. Remember the story of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Peter and Paul. Stories have a way of disarming the mind, which is why this is the toughest review I have done so far. The ideas are not put up front, unlike Piper's Providence or Baucham's Fault Lines. In stories, the ideas are underlying, content to lie there or be dug up. Smith's Green Ember series does not preach Christianity at you but there is an unmistakable Christian worldview underlying his stories. When the end of the world comes, and all is revealed, many will be surprised at how stories changed the world. How children's stories changed the course of history by invoking delight and wonder in the reader. Narnia is one of them. And for many, so is the Green Ember. Before I end, let me quote Andrew Peterson, from his autobiography, "Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling and the Mystery of Making". What he writes on song-writing here applies to story-writing or any other creative work.Since we were made to glorify God, worship happens when someone is doing exactly what he or she was made to do. I ask myself when I feel God’s pleasure, in the Eric Liddell sense, and it happens—seldom, to be sure, but it happens—when I’ve just broken through to a song after hours of effort, days of thinking, months of circling the song like an airplane low on fuel, searching desperately for the runway. Then I feel my own pleasure, too, a runner’s high, a rush of adrenaline. I literally tremble. There is no proper response but gratitude. The spark of the idea was hope; the work that led to the song was faith; the completion of the song leads to worship, because in that startling moment of clarity when the song exists in time and history and takes up narrative space in the story of the world—a space that had been empty, unwritten, unknown by all who are subject to time—then it is obvious (and humbling) that a great mystery is at play.What he describes as the great mystery of the creative act is what delights me in the Green Ember. The Mended Wood of the future, is anticipated by the present, through the creative acts of the community in the midst of war. That's the role of the arts in the Church. Stories are not indulgent. Stories adorn the truths we treasure. In conclusion, get the first book, titled The Green Ember. If you like it, you will probably get the whole collection. I recommend it to children and prescribe it to adults in need of a good dose of imagination.This is a Reading and Readers' review of nine books: The four book Green Ember series, The three book Green Ember Archer series and the two books in the Tales of Old Natalia, written by S.D. Smith and illustrated by Zach Franzen.The next children's series I will review is Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather series. I asked my son which is better: Green Ember or Wingfeather. He said both are good, it's difficult to choose. He wants me to drop the books I'm reading now to get into Wingfeather. I will but not so soon. Do you have any children's books that you would like me to review? Let me know. My contact details are at www.readingandreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. Thank you for listening. Book ListThe Green Ember by S.D. Smith. Amazon.The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Amazon.Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Amazon.S.D. Smith's Amazon Author Page. Amazon.Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson. Amazon.Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga. Amazon.

Do you struggle with money problems? Who doesn't? What if I told you there was a quick-fix to all your money problems? Would you be interested? Well, you shouldn't. Money problems have deep underlying causes and looking for quick-fix makes it worse. Today's book offers you not a quick fix, not a long-lasting fix, but an eternal fix.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month and for the month of July, the free book is Redeeming Money: How God Reveal and Reorients Our Hearts by Paul David Tripp. Let me give you a quick financial tip, if you have money problems, you might want to get this free book, which is worth $15, but is free from Faithlife for July.Budgets Can't Rescue You From YouThe author Paul David Tripp is a pastor and has written many books on suffering, parenting, marriage, sex, leadership and best-selling devotionals. On his website, his biography says: Throughout his life, Paul has planted a church, founded a Christian school, wrote worship songs and toured with a Christian band. He was a faculty member at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) for many years, a lecturer in Biblical Counseling at Westminster Theological Seminary, a Visiting Professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a pastor at Tenth Presbyterian Church.In this book Tripp is a pastor and counsellor, not a professor or scholar. He knows the struggles of wanting and not having, of searching many tools but ending up fools, of failing and failing when they really should be winning. Tripp sees your need and it's not a better budget.I believe that a good budget can be a powerful restorative tool, but your budget does not have the power to rescue you from you, because your budget has no power to control your willingness to follow it.Your's is an internal problem, not an external one. A matter of the heart, not the mind. Redeeming Money is not a long book. It has ten chapters spread across 176 pages. Let me breakdown the book from the two ends and work towards the middle. There are ten chapters. Chapter one raises awareness on the way you look at the world. Chapter ten raises your resolve to change your world. Chapters 2 and 3 looks at the Christian beginning: Man and the Fall. Chapters 8 and 9 looks at the Christian end: Heaven and God's Agenda. The remaining middle chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 are on the Lord's Prayer, Money, Treasure and Love. Seeing With Gospel GlassesIn the first chapter, Tripp explains:My goal in this book is to root everything I write about money in a distinctly biblical worldview. Even more specifically, I want to help you look at money and money problems through the lens of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am deeply persuaded that we will never make proper sense of the world of money, which influences us, perhaps more deeply than we realize, unless we first put on our gospel glasses. He then explains the four foundations of a Gospel Worldview namely: At the center of the universe is a God of incalculable gloryWe live in a world terribly broken by sinGod offers us his heart and life-transforming graceWe were created to live for something bigger than ourselvesHaving explained these four foundations, Tripp applies the above message of grace in every chapter. So he never allows you to wallow in self-pity or props up your self-esteem for the next fight against debt. He applies the Bible to your money problems but he doesn't begin with what the Bible says about money. He doesn't rush to 1 Timothy 6:10, "The love of money is the root of all evil". He will but not at first. As you heard, he begins with seeing how you see. This is your worldview which he asserts needs to be a Gospel Worldview. Then having put on gospel lenses, he puts his hands on the sides of your head and turns it to see, not the money mess you made, but the mirror.Questioning The SelfHe writes:You can’t understand money if you don’t understand who you are, and money is one of the principal ways you demonstrate who you think you are. There is no better indicator of the identity you have assigned to yourself than the way you use money. Why does one person proudly throw money around? Why does another person use her money to buy all the cultural markers of success? Why is that neighbor of yours so proudly vocal about his charity? Why has yet another person never been able to stay out of debt? Why does that couple quietly give away such a big portion of their income? Why is your friend so gripped with money fears? Why does she struggle with envy and embarrassment whenever she is around her wealthy friends? Why does he try to hide the fact that he grew up in poverty? Why did Jesus talk about this topic more than any other? Why is money such a big deal? Why are some of us never satisfied, even though we have so much money, and why are some of us content with so little? The answer to all these questions is identity. I picked this text for two purposes. This text is how Tripp leads you to the subject of chapter two, our identity. This text is also an example of his writing style. In every chapter, Tripp throws you question after question. He makes you revisit your thoughts on money and the thoughts underlying those thoughts. And if that wasn't enough, at the end of every chapter, he lists some questions, helpful for small group studies.Maybe it's his counselling background. Counsellors love to ask questions. Counsellors don't tell you what to do or think or feel, they ask. The reason, so I've been told, is when you answer a question, you own your answer. If I told you the answer, even if I said the exact same thing you said, my answer would not be effective as yours. When you answer, the light bulb comes on.But I object. What if I see the problem and the solution but you can't see them? I say this because some people think the answer is in you, the answer is always in you. The trick is digging it out. What if the answer is outside of you? What if the answer is not a revelation from you but a revelation from God? This is the conflict of worldviews. And notice I used questions to get you there. That's how Tripp does it in the book.His questions are aimed at finding what you believe and to compare your reality against the biblical reality. Your worldview against the gospel worldview. In the Bible, the self is not the answer to our problems. Tripp describes four identities: Creature, Sinner, Sufferer and Saint. You would never come up with all four on your own. Grace, Sweet GraceAs an experienced counsellor, Tripp is keenly aware and sensitive on Christians beating themselves up on their failures. Throughout the book, even as he reveals the problems in your heart, he doesn't want problems to be the last word. He is so quick, so very quick, to bring in grace. After describing the dumb things saints do, saints still pile up debt and get into money mess, Tripp writes:So saints commit themselves to using their money according to God’s purpose and for his glory, but when they don’t, they do not give way to humiliation, desperation, and personal recrimination. Instead, with hope and courage, they get up, dust themselves off, seek God’s forgiveness, rescue, and empowerment, and determine to grow in their commitment to live with their money God’s way. Has your money life been shaped by the blessing of knowing you’re one of God’s saints?If you struggle with money-problems and have tried and failed to get out of it, his often repeated message of grace is what you need to hear. Tripp here offers a message of grace that is greater than your failures. This is not a book that says, "You can do it if only you put your mind to it. If only you have more discipline. If only you had made better choices, married better or stayed single, or got that job or not, then all your problems would be solved." No, what you need is the grace of God first and above all else. Tripp doesn't just say it, he shows you from the ultimate source of all reality, the Bible.You and Your Money in EdenIn chapter three titled, "Warning and Hope", Tripp unpacks an eight-point exposition of Genesis 3, Adam and Eve eating the Forbidden Fruit. It's such a familiar story that I'm sure you can tell it right now to me. But can you see yourself in that story? Can you see the source of your money woes in that story? As I read to you the eight points, I want you to reflect on your own life and your money problems. According to Tripp, this is the cause of Adam and Eve's fall and it's possibly yours as well: They listened to an alternative voice.They wanted what was prohibited.They thought they knew better.They minimized God's present provision.They allowed themselves to doubt God.They decided to step over God's boundaries.They denied clear potential consequences.They shifted the blame to someone else.As he explains what those points mean, the question is posed, "Do you minimize God's present provision?", "Do you doubt God?", "Do you shift blame?" And before you think the book is just a bunch of questions, Tripp explains. I give you an example from point number six: In the countless little moments of every day, we make inescapable moral decisions. No matter the subject, the decision is always about the same thing: will I choose to stay inside God’s boundaries and do what he says is right, or will I step over God’s boundaries and do what will get me what I want? If a Christian husband is yelling at his wife, saying things to her he should not say, he’s not yelling because he is ignorant of the fact that it’s wrong. He’s doing it because, at that point, he doesn’t care what God says is wrong. There is something he wants, and he will do whatever it takes to get it. In the same way, Adam and Eve didn’t eat the forbidden fruit because they were ignorant of the fact that it was forbidden. They knew where God had placed his boundaries, and they willingly stepped over them to get what they wanted.Tripp wrote, "There is something you want and you will do whatever it takes to get it." Does that sentence expose you? Cause that's what Tripp is doing here. He is exposing your innermost desires. The subtitle of this book, Redeeming Money is: How God Reveals and Reorients Our Hearts. God reveals our hearts. God Reveals the HeartThis is not a man psychoanalysing you from afar using the knowledge and experience of Man. Tripp puts all of us, including himself, under the scrutiny of God's revelation. He confesses: I like to be in control. I like to have my own way. I like my plans to happen without interruption. I like people to agree with me. I like my days to be predictable and easy. And because I like these things, I am tempted to use my money to get them. Money can give you control. Money can purchase an easier life. Money can even make people like you more. Money can buy temporary pleasure, comfort, and ease. He ends his confession by reorienting our attention away from us to God. He says:Making ourselves the most important thing is natural, but it is not the way God designed us to live, so it is not the pathway to the wholeness of life that we all want.Do you see what is happening here? The subtitle of the book is How God Reveals and Reorients Our Hearts. It is not enough for God to reveal who we are and what is in our hearts. God reorients our heart. God Reorients the HeartI'll give you one example from the book and that is through prayer.Chapter four is built on the Lord's Prayer. Recall the Lord's Prayer. Which verse in the Lord's Prayer is relevant to money? Which verse do the hungry and the bankrupt run to?Give us this day our daily bread. But Tripp says hold on!The Lord’s Prayer is not born first from need. Much of our prayer arises from need and involves a long list of things that we hope God will deliver. The words of this prayer arise from a posture of surrender, which is precisely why it is so helpful when it comes to how we view and use the money that has been entrusted into our care.Tripp walks us through. When we pray "Our Father in Heaven" we identify first as children of God and recognise the provisions and potentials that come with that identity. When we pray "Hallowed be your name" we commit to a grander purpose, which is to glorify God's name and not ours. When we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done" we do not pray "my kingdom come, my will be done". There are many books written on the Lord's Prayer. The simple truth is praying the first half prepares us to pray the second half. Through the Lord's Prayer, God reorients the heart, we say not my will but yours be done. Tripp says:It’s only after surrendering your heart to the first part of the Lord’s Prayer that you can honestly pray these words. Embedded in this prayer is a request for a contented heart. Embedded in this prayer is a request for the ability to trust in the Father’s promise to provide. Embedded in this prayer is a desire for a heart filled with praise and not complaint. Embedded in this prayer is a cry for freedom from a heart ruled by an endless quest for more. Embedded in this prayer is a cry for rescuing and empowering grace.Play It On RepeatAnd what I just read leads me to my next point: the repetitions in this book. The spoken word is distinct from the written word. So when a preacher preaches "Embedded in this prayer is a request for..." over and over again, he can build towards a climax. And the crowd responds, "Preach it brother, preach it." But when the repetition is written, and read in silence, the writing is boring. In this book, it doesn't happen all the time but enough to be noticed.And it's not just phrases in sequence, it's also ideas over chapters. Have you sat under a preacher whom you wished ended his sermon 10 minutes earlier but instead recaps his points? I am that preacher. And I can tell you why. In my mind, what I'm saying is important but I don't know whether you got it so I'm going to say it again just to make sure you got it. Earlier I commended Tripp because he ends every message on the message of grace. That message of grace can sound like an over played song. I see the problem is some paragraphs is so general, that it could be placed anywhere in the book. For example, one of last paragraphs in chapter 5 goes like this: When I misuse money, I don’t misuse it because I am ignorant or without a budget. No, I misuse it because at that point I don’t care what God or anyone else says. I want what I want, and if I can use my resources to get it, I am going to get it.Have you heard that before? You heard it in chapter 2. I just read chapter 5. The same idea gets repeated in different forms.At this point, long-time listeners might jump at me and say, "Terence, when you reviewed John Piper's 700 page Providence you said his repeating was like a grandfather leading a child to cross the road. But here for Paul Tripp's 170 page book you are more critical. Please explain." Piper's written word is meant to be read more than preached or spoken. His ideas and the way he structures them, that long string of pearls, needs more hand-holding. Also Piper wrote the book so that you can read from the middle, which is only possible because he recaps. Now for Tripp, his written word is the spoken word written down. It's conversational: I'm talking to you over the table and not talking down at you from the podium. It's less authoritative in tone and more approachable which is a selling point. Although Tripp doesn't advocate it, you could read from the middle of the book. But his is a smaller book. And in contrast to Piper's Providence, the subject matter is simpler and coupled with simpler writing style, the repetition is more pronounced. One of my goals for this podcast is to help you enjoy the books I review. And there is an easy way to fix this repetition. Just space out your reading. Read one chapter a day. Don't read two chapters or more. If you take it at the right dosage and give the chapter time to digest, it will go down better. I took the whole bottle, swallowed it in one gulp and got an upset stomach. So don't finish the book in one seating.Practical Me-istic Present-ismWho is this book for? In this book, Tripp addresses practical me-istic present-ism. I wish he coined a phrase that rolls easier off the tongue. Me-istic, as opposed to theistic, means a religion not of God but of the self. Present-ism as opposed to eternity, is the idea there is only life now, no after-life. Christians will protest and say, "But we don't believe that. We worship God and believe in the after-life!" Which is when the third word comes in. Practical. Tripp contends that Christians don't deny orthodox beliefs but they live contrary to their beliefs. The way they spend their money shows a worship of the self without eternity in view.So the book addresses practical me-istic present-ism and the many who live it. But what if you are a family struggling with mounting medical bills? So you are not worshipping the self or living the fast life. You are praying "Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done." You are praying for medical funds not new iPhones. Does this book help? It can. But you have to read it right. The truths are universal. Who we are. Genesis 3. Lord's Prayer. What we treasure and love. You can take all these truths and apply them in your own poverty-stricken, God-honouring life. But be aware that when Tripp applies these truths, he is not looking at you. His eyes are on the majority culture, those who need to hear, "You cannot serve both God and money".On the other extreme, there is little here to persuade a man like Warren Buffett, a wealthy man who lives a good moral life. He gives generously. But that's what we thought of Bill Gates too. What I'm saying here is it's obvious that this book helps the financial or moral bankrupt but it's not so obvious how this book helps the self-made man, who sees no need for God in his life.Redeeming MoneyAfter all my criticisms of his book, the repetition and the narrow audience, is it a bad book? No. It could do with some improvements but many, countless millions, would live a better life, if they just understood and applied just one chapter of this book. That's how good the book is, just one chapter, well-read and well-applied, would lead a fallen bankrupt to God's own riches.After all, how can it be a bad book if Tripp gives a correct diagnosis and correct treatment for many people's money problems. And here is the kicker. Tripp is not out to solve money problems.The subtitle of the book is How God Reveals and Reorients Our Hearts. What's the title of the book? It's not Solving Money, as if money is a problem to be solved. The title is Redeeming Money. How does the book begin? We must first learn to see; to see ourselves the way God sees us; that is redeeming man, who are created in the image of God. Once we achieve that, we can eventually see money the way God sees money, not as evil but as a way to express God's generosity. That is redeeming money. Let me read Tripp's summary paragraph in the chapter titled The Generosity Agenda.We need a brand-new way of thinking about money, a way that is rooted in the gospel story and its narrative of the lavish grace of God, most powerfully pictured in the amazing gift of the Lord Jesus. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God frees us from our bondage to ourselves (in terms of money, that means always starting with our interests and concerns) and he frees us to find our identity, meaning, and purpose in him. He calls us to embed our personal money stories in the larger generosity story of Scripture. This means resting in the fact that he has committed to provide everything we need (not want) and accepting that he calls us to be part of his mission of grace. So we view our money not primarily through the lens of personal provision, but through the lens of God’s generosity mission on earth.The Best Book on Finance Bar NoneLet's look at some other books on money. Have you heard of Randy Alcorn? Alcorn has written two books on Money, one titled "Managing God's Money", the other is "Money, Possessions and Eternity". I haven't read them but whenever the subject of money comes up, Alcorn's books gets mentioned.But there is a better book. One so good that both Paul Tripp and Randy Alcorn will tell you to put down their books. Don't read theirs, read this one. It's the original money management book cited by every Christian author. It's the one that says: "You cannot serve both God and money". It's the Bible, of course! Extra points if you can name which Gospel that came from: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John?Bible Quiz time. Which Gospel is this from: "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God"?Which Gospel has Zacchaeus giving away half his riches to the poor?Which Gospel has the Rich Man in Hades pleading with Abraham and Lazarus?Which Gospel has the Widow and her two copper coins? All of them, everything I just asked, comes from the Gospel according to Luke.Luke's Gospel is short. It has two thousand years of five-star reviews and while many critics trash it, they don't matter. It's written, I mean inspired, by the Holy Spirit and endorsed by God the Father and Jesus Christ. And all Christians are promoters.Since all Christian books are validated against the Bible, if you have not done so, you should read it and study it. You have not reached the stage where you can say you have read enough of the Bible. Just this week, I thought of this riddle. In Luke 18, Jesus instructed the rich young ruler to sell and give everything he had to the poor. But in Luke 19, Jesus praises Zacchaeus when he only gave half to the poor. The more you read, the more questions come up. And as you ponder, God reveals and reorients. And you do what Paul Tripp did, you write a book. In conclusion, Paul Tripp's book can be the answered prayer for many stuck in money problems. Tripp does not give the reader financial tips nor does his questions lead to a journey of inner self-discovery. Instead he gives a diagnosis and prescription of the soul in need of God. His questions lead to God's Revelation and Reorientation of the heart. The repetitive writing style is fixed by just spacing out the reading. And while the material could have been expanded to reach an even wider audience, he conveys universal truth and applies them to the majority. There is a chapter on a life of generous giving under God's magnificent grace, which you got to read it to enjoy it.This is a Reading and Reader's review of Redeeming Money: How God Reveals and Reorients Our Hearts by Paul David Tripp. When Faithlife gives you a free book, they are saving you money. When I review that book, I'm saving you time. So please give generously your time and review or subscribe to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Thank you for listening.Book ListRedeeming Money by Paul David Tripp. Amazon. Faithlife. Managing God's Money by Randy Alcorn. Amazon. Faithlife. ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal:Luke. Amazon.

Duty. A word that was full of meaning 200 years ago. Less so today. Can an author from 200 years ago tell us to do our duty? And tell it to today's young Christians? Find out in today's book review.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review a book from Faithlife's Free Book of the Month and while waiting for the next free book I review a book of my choice. And my choice for today is "The Young Christian; Or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty" by Jacob Abbott. Now I was looking for a book on Christian duty. I searched online for Christian duty or duty of a Christian, but I couldn't find any promising books written in the last 100 years with that title. If I missed a book, you can let me know.According to Google. The word 'duty' was popular in the 1800s but its usage fell after the 1900s. Now, what happened in the 1800s? Well, there was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where Admiral Nelson sent a signal: "England expects that every man will do his duty". And the British did do their duty and they won that day. 100 years later, nearly one million British men did their duty and died in World War I. The mood of the country is best captured by the Oxford Union's motion stating, "This house will under no circumstances fight for its king and country". There is no more talk of duty. And so we can chart the high point of duty in Nelson's "England expects every man will do his duty" to fall in use with Oxford Union's, "This house will under no circumstances fight for its king and country". Do you see the high point and the low point?And just like that Christians have lost a good word. Today we are losing many other good words like virginity, marriage and family. There was a time when these words were commonly understood and were aspirational, noble and good.You see duty is not the same as responsibility. You can be responsible for evil, for a crime, but you cannot have a duty to do evil. Duty is a good thing that is expected of you from society, church or family. Now, that expectation, like any expectation, can be overbearing, but we manage the expectation not remove it completely.As I said, there was a time that duty was commonly understood and was aspirational, noble and good. Today let us go to those times, we go to the 1800s. Let me read from a biographical sketch on today's author:The man responsible for writing the first fictional series for children, for introducing many of the key types and techniques of series books, for popularizing the genre virtually single-handedly, and for writing some of the earliest American juveniles deserving of the term "children's literature" was the multi-talented Jacob Abbott.Now, in my research, Jacob Abbott was born in 1803, 2 years before the Battle of Trafalgar. he became a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and later a pastor. He and his brother founded Mount Vernon School, a high school for girls. In his lifetime, he wrote more than 200 books, one of which is "The Young Christian; Or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty", which we now go to.In the opening sentence of this book, it reads:This book is intended to explain and illustrate, in a simple manner, the principles of Christian duty; and is intended, not for children, nor exclusively for the young, but for all who are just commencing a religious life, and who feel desirous of receiving a familiar explanation of the first principles of piety.He then explains that it's easier for someone to understand illustrations from their youth than it is to understand illustrations from their future which they have not experienced yet. So that's why his illustrations are mostly on the youth side. Now, I want to remind you that this is a man who started high school and pioneered children's literature, so when he offers a non-apology, like what I'm about to read, I just smiled. I quote:I have made no effort to simplify the language. It is not necessary to do this even for children. They, will understand the language of maturity easily enough, if the logic and rhetoric are theirs.Meaning: if they can think, you don't have to baby talk them. All right, so let me quote again, he continues:It is a great but a very common error, to suppose that merely to simplify diction, is the way to gain access to the young. Hence a sermon for children is seldom any thing more than a sermon for men, with easy words substituted for the hard ones. This goes on the supposition that the great difficulty is, to make children understand religious truth. Whereas there is no difficulty at all in this. The difficulty is in interesting them in it. They will understand readily enough, if they are interested in the form and manner in which the subject comes before them.I read this and I was just hooked. Okay, you got me at this part because I teach the youth and I have been advised not to use hard theological words because it pushes the young people away. And my response is: when people need money, they can understand the word employment. Similarly, if people need God, they can understand atonement. If the country can teach the importance of vaccination, the church can teach the importance of sanctification, and if the school can teach genetics, we can teach apologetics. The young can understand. They really can. And like Abbott, I believe the difficulty is not in making them understand, the difficulty is making them interested in it. Because they understand many difficult things from school and in life.Now, if you were to write a book to explain Christian duty to the young, how would you begin that book? Would you start with God? With goodness, his grace and mercy? Or would you start with the spiritual disciplines? Like reading the bible, praying or you know, songs and worship to God? Or would you start with young Samuel, David or Daniel. Then from their good examples gently lead the reader to how a young Christian is to live today.One of the best things about reading all old books is that their minds work differently from ours: The words they use, the way they structure their sentences and also their ideas. Abbott begins with a chapter on confession.In this chapter, the first chapter, he tells a story of two brothers and their father. The brothers wanted to go ice skating with their friends. The father said, "Yes, but you must not go past the bend for the ice might crack beyond the bend." The brothers said yes and they went. After some time, their friends wanted to explore beyond the bend.The brothers hesitated, remembering their father's instruction, but they thought there would be no harm to follow their friends up to the bend. There was unfortunately no line to show where the band starts or ends. So before long the brothers realized they were past the bend and they just went off with their friends, forgetting their father's instruction.At this point in the story, I thought the ice would crack. They would fall in, their father would rescue them and the boys would learn an important lesson. But no. The boys had their fun. They returned safely. They returned home on time. The family did not suspect anything. They asked how was the fun day? And the boys were evasive. They could not sleep at night. The guilt of disobeying their father was heavy in their heart.Soon in the story, the younger brother confessed to his father how he disobeyed, and the father said, "I saw you were troubled, but I thought best to leave you to ponder." So the father was sensitive to the conscience that has been pricked. After confessing, the boy's conscience was clear. And the rest of the chapter developed the need for confession, exploring what happened in that story that he just told.Now reading this, I thought this was a very quaint idea and today do children feel bad for this obeying their parents? They should, shouldn't they? Would they feel bad until they cannot sleep and they must confess to unburden their guilt. You see, I don't think handling confession is something that is taught in today's parenting class. The modern parenting approach does a very good job telling parents that we are not gods, but they don't tell us that parents are appointed by God. This book is written with that view. The parents in this book, the fathers and the mothers are not overbearing. There are positive role models. They are not know-at-alls. Even this view is refreshing.Consider the movies you watch. How often is the father absent or messed up or a bumbling clown while the children get him out of trouble? Where is the father figure? The wiseman, compassionate, strong, a father that the children can look up to. This book is kind to both children and parents.There are 12 chapters and let me list them first. Then later I'll explain what those chapters contain. First is what we have just read is the Confession. Next is the Friend. Then prayer, consequences of neglecting duty, Almost a Christian, difficulties in religion and evidences of Christianity. Then you have the practical aspects of Christian duty which is a study of the bible, the Sabbath, trial and discipline and personal improvement. Then the whole book closes with a conclusion.So in the chapter on the Friend, there are a lot of goodies in each chapter, but I because of time, I can only describe parts briefly. In the second chapter he describes Jesus and he writes:Inquirers after the path of piety are very slow to learn that the Savior is the friend of sinners. They will not learn that he comes to help us while we are in our trials and difficulties, not after we get out of them. How many say in their hearts, I must overcome this sin, or free myself from that temptation, and then I will come to the Savior. I must have clearer views of my own sins, or deeper penitence, or awaken true love to God in my heart, and then, but not till then, can I expect Christ to be my friend. What! do you suppose that it is the office of Jesus Christ to stand aloof from the struggling sinner until he has, by his own unaided strength, and, without assistance or sympathy, finished the contest, and then only to come and offer his congratulations after the victory is won? Is this such a Savior as you imagine the Bible to describe?There is more but I just want to tell you that you will love the Jesus, whom Abbott describes here, who would be a great comfort and assurance to all.The next chapter is on prayer. And let me give you the problem scenario that I think I face, and many Christians face. If someone is sick, and if I pray, "God let your will be done." Someone might say that I have no faith that I should pray more confidence that God will heal the person. But if I pray, "I proclaim God's healing on you." Someone might say I'm being presumptuous of God's will because it may not be God's will for him to be healed. Abbott gives an illustrative prayer from a ship caught in a storm. It is a long prayer. I'm going to quote it at length. This is a prayer from 200 years ago, which I think is very instructive. I quote:Grant, Holy Spirit, that all of us who are now present, exposed to this danger, may come with our whole hearts to thee. When in health and safety we break thy commands and neglect our duty, and then when danger comes, and no arm but thine can help, we are ashamed and afraid to come to thee. But O, our Father, let not one of us hesitate now. We thank thee for teaching us, by so irresistible a proof, how dependent we are upon thee. May we all be willing to learn the lesson, and may we bow humbly before thee now, even if we have never bowed before. "We come to ask that thou wilt protect us in this danger, and bring us safely to our homes. Thou canst protect from greater dangers than these. Wilt thou protect us. Save us from finding our watery grave here in the deep, and save our beloved parents and brothers, and sisters, at home, from the anxiety they must even now feel, and from the anguish such tidings of our destruction must give. Almighty Father, save us, we pray thee.It doesn't end here. He continues:Nevertheless, not our will but thine be done. We see but a part, and thou see st the whole. If thou see st it to be best that we should go down here to a watery grave, we would acquiesce in thy will. We have solemnly given ourselves to thee, and chosen thee for our portion. We have, if we love thee at all, committed ourselves to thy care and to thy disposal. We have rejoiced in this dependence upon thee when we have been in health and safety, and we will not shrink from our covenant to be thine, now we are in danger. Do with us as good in thy sight, only give to us all a calm and happy acquiescence in thy will. Pardon our sins, so that we may be at peace with thee; and whether we are to live or die, may our hearts be thine, through Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.That was a lovely prayer.The next chapter is the Consequences of Neglecting Duty. And he writes:Reader, is your name on the sad catalogue of those who read religious books and listen to religious instruction merely to bring the question of duty again and again before your minds, only to decide that you will not do it?The whole book always asks this question. Do you hear but not obey? Do you hear the duty but you still reject it? And what follows in the consequences of neglecting duty is a retelling of Louisa. A true story. Also a horror story. I don't want to reveal the ending or the story itself because it ruins the reading. But knowing that many will not read this book, I will convey the warning.Don't think you can repent anytime you want. Knowing the truth of God does not mean you can repent and come to God repent when you can. Now and turn to God. Now. Don't delay. The moment may pass and never return.And in the next chapter, he follows up on the warning, he describes a young man who decides he wants God but finds it difficult to change his circumstances, his friends and his habits. So this young man decides that he will be religious once he enters college. But at college he finds there's so much work and so he vows to be religious when he returns home for the holidays. And this goes on. He never becomes religious. Abbott pinpoints one reason why a man is almost a Christian. That's the title of this chapter. Almost a Christian. And one reason is because the man is never willing to say, "I am willing to be a Christian now." In this same chapter he describes two other reasons why a man is almost a Christian: a love of the world and a fear of the world. Almost a Christian, a very terrible and scary phrase.The next chapter is dealing with the difficulties in religion. And I'm going to read another long quote because it's so relevant not just to religious questions, but also every other question that faces us today. And Abbott here offers much needed wisdom. He writes:It is characteristic of the human mind not to be willing to wait long in suspense, on any question presented to it for decision. When any new question or new subject comes before us, we grasp hastily at the little information in regard to it within our immediate reach, and then hurry to a decision. We are not often willing to wait to consider whether the subject is fairly within the grasp of our powers, and whether all the facts which are important to a proper consideration of it are before us. We decide at once. It is not pleasant to be in suspense. Suspense implies ignorance, and to admit ignorance, is humiliating.I think that describes a lot of people on Twitter and everywhere else. With that background, he addresses questions like: Why suffering? What about human accountability? What caused God and so on?But he makes this very wise point. He looks past these questions and points out that the inquirer is sometimes not sincere. After describing how a person tries to find a loophole in the Bible instead of dutifully loving and serving God, Abbott writes:you strive to perplex your minister, or your Sabbath school teacher, or your parent, and thus find a momentary respite from the reproaches of a wounded spirit by carrying the war away from your own conscience, which is the proper field, into your pastor's or your parent's intellect. While the argument is going on here, your sense of guilt subsides, conscience is seared, and you fall back to coldness and hardness of heart.I love that sentence. It's long. I understand it's long. But it says that sometimes people ask questions because they don't want to deal with the heart problem, the conviction of sin and so on. Instead they want to ask about evolution. They want to ask about homosexuality. They want to ask about about contradictions, apparent contradictions in the Bible. So bringing the war out from the heart and into the minds of the pastor, into the minds of the parent. I think this is a very keen observation, very good observation here.Now the next one is again trying to deal with the mind. The title is evidences of Christianity to convince the reader that Christianity is valid, there is proof for it. And this is the worst chapter of the book. This book is 400 pages long and this chapter is nearly 100 pages. As I read through this chapter, I nearly gave up because today you have better written, more up to date books to present the evidence of Christianity. I recommend Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ". Other popular books are Josh McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" and J. Warner Wallace's "Cold case Christianity". So I'd just recommended three books and I would say that you could skip this chapter. It is a long and difficult chapter. Abbott makes a good point though that everyone should pay attention. Young Christians need to know the evidences of Christianity. It's not just about doing good or having lots of Bible knowledge, you also need to be able to defend the faith. I think that is true 200 years ago and true I think more so today.So in the last part you have four chapters on the study of the bible, the Sabbath, trial and discipline and personal improvement. This is all very practical. They're very good. They're very useful. He gives examples after examples so that the young person can actually follow and do. And he gives reasons.For example, on the Sabbath, a person may ask why do the Sabbath, how do I do the Sabbath? Is there flexibility? And he explains why it's unreasonable to insist on strict starting and ending time. He explains that what happens to the sea captain? How does he do the Sabbath? He departs from the UK for example in one time zone but ends in the US, in another time zone. Which time zone does he follow? So he makes very good arguments of this type of form. Very practical. Not very theoretical, abstract sort of thing, but just like how are we going to practice the suburbs when we are in two different time zones as we travel?Yet he also gives very pastoral type of advice. He also says that a flexible understanding of when the Sabbath starts and ends should not be a license to break the Sabbath in the local church. So very biblical, very practical, very well explained. I think these four chapters is all like that and I have learned new things as well from the way he describes these disciplines.In the conclusion, he writes this:I shall say nothing; in these few concluding paragraphs, to those who have read without coming in heart to the Savior. If they have not been persuaded ere this to do it, they would not be persuaded by any thing which I have time and space now to say. I have however, before ending this volume, a few parting words for those who have accompanied me thus far, with at least some attempt at self-application—some desire to cherish the feelings which I have endeavored to portray—some penitence for sin, and resolutions to perform the duties which I have from time to time pressed upon them.So he ends his book by appealing once more for for the reader to do their duty. He ends the book with a plea to the reader and with some emotion, a plea to parents. He writes:Your religious influence over your children will depend far more on your example, than upon your efforts to procure for them good religious instruction.So saying to parents, don't just buy books and tell them to read. You have to be an example, do your duty O Parent!Now there are some criticisms for this whole book.One, many of you guys will not read it because the typesetting is awful. I don't know whether there is a better copy in Amazon, but I can tell you that the one I have, the headings are inserted in the middle of paragraphs, hyperlinks are wrong, words are misspelled because they scan it and some words cannot be recognized. So sometimes some words you have to guess. Okay, so type setting is absolutely awful.Next point is the author is a product of his time. Jacob Abbott is overly optimistic of the Christian redeeming society. There is one section, lengthy section on him on the story of bringing bibles and religious teachings to the prisons and he writes with such great hope of what this will do that I find it tragic reading this misplaced optimism 200 years later.Also Jacob Abbott, as a product of his time, he uses words that might get him in trouble, not might, he will get in trouble today. For example, he describes efforts by Christians to make savages civilized. I just want to say savages as understood then and as should be understood today is not referring to race or religion but behaviour. Every so-called advanced civilization, whether Greek or Chinese has a word to describe savages and whites can be savages too as so famously shown in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" or the TV series "Walking Dead". I can say more but I'm not going to say more. If you're sensitive to words like savages as understood by people of earlier times, then please don't read this book. I don't want this book to get banned.Another criticism is that the target audience, the youth will not appreciate this 400 page book. It takes a bit of effort to read the long sentences and sometimes overly long illustrations. I really hope that a publisher will modernize and reprint because this book, "The Young Christian" can be a good gateway book for many Christians as they journey through, maybe eventually through the Puritans: Spurgeon, Bunyan and maybe even Calvin or Luther because this is a very nice easy way to go into that time and culture and way of thinking.And if there is a reprint I would gladly buy this and pass it off to my children and to my friends' children because it is, it can be a very good book. The youth should recognize and appreciate the honesty on the religious instruction. Let me just quote some more things from Abbott. He describes a useless way of reading, I quote:she reads the chapter on confession, and understands what I mean by full confession of all sins to God, and forms the vague and indefinite resolution to confess her sins more minutely than she has done; but she does not, in the spirit of that chapter, explore fully all her heart, and scrutinize with an impartial eye all her conduct, that every thing which is wrong may be brought to light, and frankly confessed and abandoned.In the whole book he says he wants us to do, not just read. And he continues in the conclusion chapter:Now there is no question that many Young Christians will read this book in the manner I have above described; that is, they throw themselves as it were passively before it, allowing it to exert all the influence it will by its own power, but doing very little in the way of vigorous effort to obtain good from it. They seem to satisfy themselves by giving the book an opportunity to do'them good, but do little to draw from it, by their own efforts, the advantages which it might afford.Now, isn't that a problem with many of us readers? We read many books and do very little of the instructions. So he makes a very good observation there.I have hope in the young that I think that maybe some of the young will enjoy this book because they want truth boldly told and this book, if you can overcome the typesetting can help you.As for parents, you will find a sympathetic and encouraging tone in this book. The modern parenting movement, as I said, is very good at telling us that we are not gods, that our children are individuals with have their own journey to walk and moral compasses to navigate. Well, this book from 200 years ago will tell you that parents are appointed by God to help the young learn what is their Christian duty before God.And may we all do our Christian duty before God.This is a Reading and Readers review of "The Young Christian; Or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty" by Jacob Abbott.England expects that every man will do his duty. Can I say, podcasters expects that every listener will do his or her duty to subscribe, share and review? No, I think that's stretching the word duty too much. So let me just make that as a request.And another request is if you have read any of Jacob Abbott's books, can you get in touch with me? I am curious to know how did you come across his books and what do you think of his writings? Any of it, not just this particular one, but any of Jacob Abbott's books. And maybe you can make a recommendation to me to read and to introduce to my children. And if anyone has thoughts on the book, my review, or on the Christian duty, please email me. My contact details are at www.reading andreaders.com. That's www.readingandreaders.com. Thank you for listeningBook ListThe Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Amazon. Faithlife.Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. Amazon. Faithlife.Cold Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace. Amazon. Faithlife.Referencehttps://readseries.com/auth-a/ab-bio.htmlSFX by www.zapsplat.com

Are you tired of a religious life that only begins and ends on that one day in the week? Do you yearn to live out a Christian life Monday to Sunday as God had originally intended? Do you want to experience All Things New? Keep listening!Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review a book from Faithlife’s Free Book of the Month. And for the month of June that free book is All Things New: Joining God’s Story of Re-Creation by Pete Hughes.All Things New Can Mean Many ThingsIf you search for the title “All Things New” in Amazon you may be surprised to see many other books titled All Things New. All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between by Fiona and Terryl Givens. All Things New: Bible Study Book: A Study on 2 Corinthians by Kelly Minter. All Things New: Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love by John Eldredge. All Things New: Revelation as Canonical Capstone by Brian J. Tabb. Making All Things New: Restoring Joy to the Sexually Broken by David Powlison. Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life by Henri Nouwen. And there are more! One reason for mentioning all those titles is to make sure you get the right book. Another reason is to show that the phrase All Things New can mean many things to many people.And for Pete Hughes All Things New is about Re-Creation. In the beginning, there was Creation. Because of Adam we have de-creation, which is also known as the Fall. Because of Jesus, we have re-creation, as in we re-create, re-store, re-new what was originally intended. So Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation are the three points that make a V-shape.As Christians we are agents of Re-Creation. When we know who God is and what God is doing, we know who we are and what we are to do.Re-Creation By Your New Best FriendHe could say we are agents of Re-Creation and write a book based on, “Be the light of the world, salt of the earth” or other similar passages. Instead what Hughes does is he argues from the Grand Narrative, the Big Story of the Bible. To Re-Create, we must look to what was in the beginning. And that begins the first of six parts in the book, where each part is 3-4 chapters. He has fancier titles but I summarise it like so:The first part is Creation. Second, Israel. Third, Jesus: His incarnation and ministry. Fourth, Jesus: His Death and Resurrection. Fifth the Church. Sixth Heaven and Hell. The six parts roll out a vision of what Re-Creation is.But this book is not a sermon series or a classroom lesson on the grand narrative of Scripture. We are getting a kitchen table with your new best friend. He tells you how he and his wife, Bee, met, it’s a really funny story. He shares the traumatic events when his first child was born, the excitement of starting King’s Cross Church and more. A entertaining story teller, you will enjoy reading of his fears, doubts, hopes and joys of his church, family and life and like any good teacher, he lands the stories to a point he wants to make. For example, in telling how he and his wife met, he shows how their children are curious on the origin of their family. In the same way, we too want to know the origin of our family of faith. And thus to know Israel. And that’s how the chapter on Israel begins.He doesn’t have a preach-y tone. He has a young, I don’t know all the answers, I’m trying to figure things out just like you are but let’s walk through life together tone. This probably appeals to young millennials and the unchurched who are suspicious of authority figures. Many churches struggle to attract this group but King’s Cross Church does it well. And maybe it’s the tone and also Hughes’ understanding of this difficult to reach group.According to Hughes, "Millennials are increasingly dissatisfied, though, with a spirituality that doesn’t really work from Monday to Friday. But if the end goal is the renewal of all things, then our careers are incredibly important. As followers of Jesus we are tasked to be agents of renewal to every sector of society. We partner with Christ in the renewal of politics, education, business, entertainment and the arts. The full glory of that renewal awaits Jesus’ return, but every endeavour in line with this vision now will last for eternity."Hughes says the problem is we offer a truncated, shortened, reduced, story.He writes: "The danger of a truncated story is that it leads to a truncated understanding of mission. A more holistic understanding of mission still emphasises the need to proclaim the message of the cross and call people to repentance, whilst equally emphasising the church’s role to alleviate the poverty and suffering that rob people of life, to steward the creation we have been entrusted to look after and to work towards the renewal of the culture we are embedded within."These are all good reminders and Christians can get behind the broad strokes of his argument. Perhaps the differences is in how we get there. How do we steward Creation? How do we do renewal in politics? Is he calling for environmental activism? Political activism?He writes: “If there is a strategy for cultural renewal, community transformation and kingdom ministry present in the gospels and book of Acts, it would have two solid foundations: become more like Jesus and follow the leading of the Spirit. Everything else is built on this.”Does anybody disagree with becoming more like Jesus? And following the leading of the Spirit? It all sounds good.The Build Up Reaches A Creative ClimaxThroughout the book he builds up this anticipation. In this Grand Narrative, he explains what it means to be human, how idolatry lead to De-Creation. Chapter by chapter we read of Israel and Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. In Jesus we have at long last Re-Creation. Because of him, we are agents of renewal. We want to know how does this look like. Then it comes. The chapter is titled: Disciples shaped by the Story of God. In this chapter, Hughes tells us how the churches got it wrong. It’s not knowing stuff about Jesus. It’s not Being Good. It’s not Doing Good. It’s so much more. Come on, tell me what it is.And then he writes: If we are to follow the way of Jesus, who fulfils the whole narrative of Scripture through his life, death and resurrection, then the shape of his life must inevitably become the shape of our lives. Did you get that? The Big Story of the Bible: Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation corresponds to the Big Story of Jesus: Life, Death and Resurrection. If we are to follow Jesus, then the Big Story of Jesus must shape our lives.The Big Story of Jesus is his life, death and resurrection. These three points are the V-shape of Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation. Moving downward from Creation to De-Creation is incarnation. In the Incarnation, Jesus was compassionate. Exodus 34:6-7 “God is compassionate”, Matthew 9, Matthew 14 “Jesus had compassion”, Colossians 3:12 “we must clothe ourselves with compassion”. Therefore, we need to be compassionate disciples.The second point is De-Creation. Here we have the cross. Jesus was courageous. Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the Gospel”, 1 Corinthians 1:18, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’ Matthew 16:24, whoever follows me must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Therefore, we are to be courageous disciples.Moving from De-Creation to Re-Creation is the Resurrection. The creme de la crème of book, or at least it should be. After all, Hughes’ thesis has built up to this point. All Creation is moving towards Re-Creation and we must let the Resurrection of Jesus shape us. He writes: “Filled with resurrection hope and the Spirit of God’s new creation, we begin to creatively engage with the surrounding culture and partner in God’s mission to make all things new.”He quotes Picasso, ‘We are all born as artists. The challenge is to remain an artist.’ He quotes Ken Robinson, we are ‘educating people out of creativity.’ He quotes no Scripture in support.The earlier sections was longer and can be traced to the Bible. We need to be compassionate like Christ. Courageous like Christ. But does the Bible really say be creative like Christ? Or that Christ calls us to be creative?He writes: "As we freely receive his restoration, we might more freely give, and therefore journey towards the kind of creativity that renews culture. This calling is both our history and our destiny. It was the creation mandate given to Adam and Eve to establish culture and extend it throughout the earth. It is also our Re-creation mandate, to redeem culture and extend God’s redemption throughout the earth. Creativity is a non-negotiable for such a task."I get the Re-Creation mandate. I think that was done very well. I just don’t see Creativity is the non-negotiable part. Hughes asserts it. But we could just as easily assert Perseverance is non-negotiable or Obedience is non-negotiable or Faith is non-negotiable. And they are all true. But to say that the big lesson from the Resurrection is we are to be Creative based on scanty evidence is a big let down.At The Brink of Apostasy, Without Much AssuranceAnd so we come to my criticism of All Things New. He asserts these new ideas or claims but doesn’t always support them. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't.In the foreword to this book, Pete Grieg writes: “it brought me to the brink of apostasy several times before reassuring me that, in fact, its message is orthodox to the very core.”Grieg mentions apostasy to show how edgy, how dangerous this book is. He is right. I was brought to the brink of apostasy several times. Unlike Grieg, I was not reassured.I was not reassured. I give you three examples. According to Hughes:1. We are God’s living statues.2. Solomon was an oppressive slave master.3. Jesus was a revolutionary.We are God's Living StatuesAccording to Hughes, other religions have temples and in their temples they have statues or idols but Yahweh does not have statues in his temple because we are his living statues.He writes: “God has made each of us to be his living statues in the world. The man-made replicas are an offence; they have no life in them. They can’t love their Maker and enter into relationship with him. But we can. As God’s living statues, we are created to be God’s real presence in the world, filling the earth with the glory and presence of God.”So that sounds good because you have by God, for God, to God. So it looks good.But when I read this I immediately thought of Romans 1 on idolatry. And to my delight and surprise, in the next chapter, he quotes Romans 1 and describes and condemns idolatry. At this point, I know I am supposed to be reassured that his Living Statues statement is orthodox because he condemns idolatry.But call me old-fashion but I don’t see any benefit to speak of us as living statues. In the Bible, statues are always bad. Statue of Nebuchadnezzar. Statue of golden calf. Yes, sure the Hebrew word for statue is the same word used for image of God. It’s more straightforward to see that God does not have a statue in his temple because God directs us to worship the Creator and not Created Things. So the empty temple is not because we fill up that gap, but because we are not to worship something instead of God. Introducing the idea of living statues can distract us from that simple and straightforward teaching. To use statues to describe image of God is like using prostitution to describe marriage. If people only understand prostitution, then we are forced to describe marriage in those terms. But I suggest we can understand the image of God without looking at ourselves as living statues because statues is too close to idolatry.Solomon Was An Oppressive Slave MasterNext, did you know that Solomon was an oppressive slave master?He writes: The same people rescued from forced labour in Egypt enslaved others to build a temple for their God. The irony is tragic. The people of God became so blind that they couldn’t spot the problem of using slaves to build a temple for the God who liberates slaves.In Deuteronomy 17:16 states the king must not acquire great number of horses for himself, which Solomon violated. 1 Kings 11:4 states that Solomon’s wives turned his heart after other gods, thus Solomon violated the main commandment from God. Hughes quotes these passages as evidence of Solomon’s fall. And so I am suppose to be reassured of his orthodoxy. But I’m not. I think when he says that Solomon is an oppressive slave master he is using a modern day lens.Today people can be drafted to fight national wars. Maybe a 100 years in the future, people will say this is barbaric. In ancient times, people were drafted to build national buildings. Was there another way? Perhaps a historian can tell us. But I don’t think the Bible condemns how Solomon built the Temple. I could be wrong but Hughes does need to give more evidence to prove his case.Because, you see, God denied David’s request to build the Temple because David shed blood. So God can stop people from building the Temple. And before the horses and chariots, before the wives and concubines, Solomon built the Temple to God’s explicit approval. His Presence, the Shekinah glory manifested in that Temple. And in 1 Kings 9, after the dedication of the Temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, to affirm that God heard his prayers and God is faithful to his covenant to David.And the Bible has many other passages in the Old Testament about slavery, which neither Hughes nor myself have time to write or to comment on. The point is the idea that Solomon was an oppressive slave master needs more evidence and he needs to deal with the counter arguments to better make the case because I think it's not a simple one to make.Jesus Was A RevolutionaryNext, did you know that Jesus was a Revolutionary?He writes: "So why did Jesus die? There are two questions involved here: the historical question (why did the Romans kill him?) and the theological question (what did his death accomplish?)." He later continues: “whatever theological answer we provide, it has to be consistent with the historical answer that Jesus died as a revolutionary inaugurating a new kingdom.”Did the Romans crucify Jesus because he was, he really was, a revolutionary? Do we ignore the fact that Jesus rejected the crowd who wanted him to their revolutionary leader. Ignore the fact that the Jewish leaders wanted him dead for any reason they could find. Ignore the fact that the judge, Pilate, did not believe Jesus to be a revolutionary and literally washed his hands. Ignore the fact that Jesus himself said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” To me, it’s as clear as day that Jesus was not leading a revolt against Rome or the social order of the day. A revolt against Sin and Death and Satan, yes, but that would be the theological answer not the historical answer.According to Hughes, our theological understanding of Jesus should be consistent with the historical answer. And I’m supposed to be reassured because he doesn’t dismiss the theological answer, he merely enriches our understanding. But that understanding is wrong. He says, the Romans killed Jesus on the charge that he was a revolutionary therefore he must be one. But if the Romans had killed Jesus because he was a pirate or a thief, should we consider the historical answer even if the charges was false? By calling Jesus a revolutionary, it just makes it easier to make Christians social revolutionaries but that’s not what Hughes is calling for, is he? But he brings us to that brink and doesn’t reassure us enough that he has not gone past that brink.So, Hughes has brought me to the brink of apostasy without reassuring me:1. We are living statues. Am I committing idolatry when I think of myself that way? 2. Solomon was a slave master. But God so clearly approved of Solomon’s Temple does that mean God approves of oppression?3. Jesus was a revolutionary. Paul says, “Follow me as I follow Christ”. Was Paul a revolutionary? Am I supposed to be one?Making The Case for AnnihilationismI know he doesn’t have time to elaborate on these ideas because remember his big idea is the grand narrative that shows Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation and how we are agents of renewal. But isn’t he aware that these things he mentions are explosive? At the very least, he should include some footnotes.And you say, “Terence, Terence. Footnote? He is a foot soldier, not a scholar or theologian. He is in the frontline reaching out to the lost. He can't give you footnotes.”I beg to differ. Hughes has this chapter titled, “Rethinking Hell: Throwing the Serpent out of the Garden City”. He argues for annihilationism. He claims that according to the Bible, believers will enjoy eternal life in Heaven but Non-believers will not have eternal torment in Hell. Instead they will die and no longer exist.He knows this is controversial. So he presents bible passage after bible passage, he cites books, he addresses the possible counter-argument. I am not convinced but I like the ground work. I appreciate the argument for annihilationism even when I disagree with the doctrine and his conclusions.Who should read this book?There is this genre called business biographies where the book tells the origin story of Subway, IBM, Google and so on. You could think of this book as a biography of Pete Hughes and King’s Cross Church, their journey set in the narrative of Scripture. If you attend or want to attend King’s Cross Church, this book will tell you much about the pastor’s personality, life and theology and how the church began and where it’s going.But if you are looking for a big idea book, the book title says more than it intended to say. The title is All Things New. I thought it merely meant the restoration of God’s original purpose, the pristine original purpose of Eden towards the New Earth. I didn’t know I was getting in this book:A new way of looking at ourselves. A new way of looking at Solomon. A new way of looking at Jesus, Sin, and Hell. A new word to describe the fall, De-Creation. A new word to describe renewal, Re-Creation. And new outline to the book of Matthew. A new this and new that. Not that Hughes originated or created these new ideas. It’s new in the sense the average Christian may not have heard of these ideas before. So he brings all these new things to you, the Bible seems fresh and exciting with new insights. You are sitting at the Hughes kitchen table and he is telling you all these things and you go wow. I never knew that. Wow. I never read it that way.Now new or old doesn’t mean right or wrong. But because it’s new it does require more evidence to persuade us away from the old understanding. Evidence which I have explained he sometimes gives and sometimes doesn’t.So how should we read it?We read it the way he wants us to take it. The places he goes light, we go light. The places he goes heavy, we go heavy. It’s like a brainstorming session. Ideas get thrown out and not all ideas make sense or are valid. But the ones which stick get fleshed out more.Take him as he wants us to take him. Don’t see him as an authority figure. I don’t mean any disrespect but I think that’s how he likes it. He doesn’t have all the answers. In his journey, these ideas resonated with him and he is sharing them. He may not have put them together properly but he is sharing what he has. I think if we take him and his book at that level, then this book will not sink from our expectations.The irony is the big idea he has, the big idea that the Christian life does not start with Sin and end with the atonement, that there is the wider narrative of Creation, the Fall, Redemption and Renewal which is necessary for the full Christian life and that we must, must live out that life. That big idea? It’s not new. Image of God, Church and CultureIf you want to understand the image of God in the Big Story of Scripture, I recommend you read Created in God’s Image by Anthony A. Hoekema. His explains us as the Image of God in four parts the Original image, Perverted Image, Renewed Image, and Perfected Image. You will not look at yourself in the mirror the same way.If you want to go beyond the Man and look at society and culture, I like Center Church by Tim Keller. I read the three volume version which is 886 pages long. All Things New is 336 pages. Let me quote from Keller:" When the institutional church gives attention to cultural engagement — the fourth and final ministry front — it does so primarily by discipling a community of believers who work as the church organic. By teaching the Christian doctrine of vocation, the goodness of creation, the importance of culture, and the practice of Sabbath, it should be inspiring and encouraging its members to go into the various channels of culture. It equips its filmmaker members, for example, to be distinctively Christian in their art and work through solid Christian instruction."I appreciate survey he did on how the different schools of thought have grappled with how the church relates with or, sometimes, against culture. It was also Keller who introduced me to Abraham Kuyper.Pro Rege by Abraham Kuyper is not for the faint of heart. There are three volumes, 500 pages each. Remember, in All Things New, Hughes wants to see agents of Re-Creation in every sector of society: politics, education, business, entertainment and the arts. Kuyper says: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”So read Keller and Kuyper if you want the big idea of cultural renewal set on very firm foundations. And yes, I know one is 900 pages and the other is 1500 pages which is why I was hoping All Things New would say the same things in a shorter book to reach a wider audience. He tries to but in my opinion the main message is lost in the newness of many other things.ConclusionAll Things New is against a truncated narrative of Scripture and a truncated mission of the Church. The Christian life does not start with sin and end with atonement. It is wider. It is more. His stories and new ideas which stretches from Creation to Heaven will excite readers. The set up is good but the pay off was flat. It’s not convincing that the Big Re-Creation message, the Big Jesus Story in the Resurrection is that disciples are to be Creative. He needs to write another book. Re-Creation: The Creative Spark of Life to make that argument in full.In All Things New, he says so many new things that forced me to stop and think. Which is good. I suggest every reader to weigh what he says and not just blindly accept them. I’m sure he agrees. I appreciate his zeal for God and reaching out to the lost and sharing his ideas with a wider audience, although I hope he will re-think some of what he wrote. Not all that glitters is gold, not all that is new is true.This is a Reading and Readers Review of All Things New: Joining God’s Story of Re-Creation by Pete Hughes.Let me try saying something new. Instead of ending the podcast by asking you to review, or share, or visit the site. I want to say thank you. Thank you for listening to this tenth episode. And especially thank you to Esther from Boston. Esther was kind enough to buy me coffee! If you visit the website, there’s a button. You click on it, and you put in an amount. The idea is to buy me coffee as a show of appreciation. Esther wrote that the reviews helped her buy two books. If you want to know more visit: www.readingandreaders.com. That’s www.readingandreaders.com. Thanks Esther. And thanks everyone for listening. Have a blessed day!Book ListAll Things New by Pete Hughes. Amazon. FaithLife.Created in God's Image by Anthony A. Hoekema. Amazon. FaithLife.Center Church by Tim Keller. Amazon.Pro Rege by Abraham Kuyper. Amazon. FaithLife.

A fault line emerges in the church. Critical Race Theory is a danger to the church and society. How should Christians speak on racial justice and reconciliation? All this and more in today’s review.Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review a book from Faithlife’s Free Book of the Month. And while waiting for the free book for the month of June, I review a book of my choice. For today, make that three books.Listening to Three Reviews Side-by-sideToday’s review is inspired by my experience shopping for a microphone. The microphone reviewer would set up three mics side by side. Listening to them side by side gives us a perspective that a solo review would not.So today, in the same way, I’m going to review three books side by side, so that you get a perspective that you would not get from a solo review.I chose the first book after I saw a meme of Voddie Baucham walking away from an explosion labeled Critical Race Theory. What caused that explosion? His book Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe released in April this year at 270 pages. In his book, Baucham cites James Lindsay, an atheist. Curious, I looked him up and discovered that Lindsay is a co-author, together with Helen Pluckrose, of the book: Cynical Theories How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody.Now I have two books to review. After reading them, I figured that I have a good grip on how Critical Race Theory harms the church and everybody else. And wouldn’t you know it, up comes a book on racial reconciliation, Ministers of Reconciliation: Preaching on Race and the Gospel. It is a collection of 13 essays, edited by Daniel Darling. It was just published this month. I couldn’t resist checking how pastors would speak on racial justice and reconciliation. So this would be my third book to review. Will they employ woke language? Keep listening to find out.Fault Lines is Personal (in a good way)Now to the first book review. Fault Lines is a personal book written by Voddie Baucham. Personal because he shares about himself and his dear friends.The first two chapters is titled A Black Man and A Black Christian. His father was left when he was young. He owes everything to his mother. She protected, sacrificed, advocated and disciplined him. Once, taking a shortcut home, a man shoved a gun in Baucham’s face. Soon after that, young Baucham and his mother moved away.You can see from his life that Baucham personally experienced the need for a father, for a good education and to run away from crime. He came out relatively well and he has advocated the tried and tested ways of doing well, which is strong families and education saying no to crime and saying no to victimhood.It’s a personal book because he speaks of his dear friends. He charges that some of his friends, highly influential Christian leaders, are turning to wokeism, to Critical Theory. He quotes them. And while those quotations do look bad in terms of this Critical Theory, I wouldn’t call them proof. There is a difference when John Piper says, “My God” and when Richard Dawkins says, “My God”. One is a believer, the other is speaking the language of a culture.Why does he name names? I quote: "My goal is not to destroy, but to expose, warn, and correct in hopes that, “they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will”. And yes, I do mean to call these ideologies demonic.Critical Race Theory is a ReligionOne of the most useful parts is chapters 4, 5 and 6, where he describes Critical Race Theory as a new religion.This religion’s understanding of the universe is Critical Race Theory or Intersectionality. Original sin is racism. The law is antiracism. The Gospel is racial reconciliation. Instead of Levites as priests, it has oppressed minorities. The way to atone is through reparations. The way to be born again is to be woke.He writes: ”In case you’re wondering about its soteriology, there isn’t one. Antiracism offers no salvation—only perpetual penance in an effort to battle an incurable disease.”The Situation is FluidIn the book Baucham brings up what happened with the “Dallas Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel” as well as the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)’s Resolution 9 on Critical Race Theory. He cites these incidences as evidence of the fault line and the documents, the Dallas Statement and Resolution 9 are in the appendixes of this book.There is an important footnote related to the SBC that you might miss, which is, I quote: “As this book was on its way to press, the Council of Seminary Presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention released a statement on November 30, 2020, that is nothing short of a complete repudiation of CRT as well as Resolution 9. While the organization condemns “racism in any form,” the seminaries agree that “affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message.”So he says here that this was this footnote was included in this book, “as this book was on its way to press” shows that this is an ongoing and developing issue in the SBC.Threat to the Church and Everyone ElseIf you are bewildered by how everyone has gone woke, this book helps to orientate the disoriented and assures you that you are of sound mind. Baucham clearly explains how and why Critical Theory is a threat to the church.The next book I’m reviewing explains how and why Critical Theory is a threat to everybody else. It’s not just a church squabble, Critical Theory is an existential threat to all of society.Speaking of threat. Sometimes I tell people that doctrine, some doctrine is a potential threat to the church and sometimes people would tell me that I’m over reacting. Debates on doctrines like the trinity or incarnation is limited to the academics. They stay in the seminaries and has no relevance or impact to evangelism, missions or the everyday Christian life.Sadly, history and current events have shown that what happens in universities or seminaries do not always stay there.Critical Theory is Cynical TheoryCynical Theories How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay was published in August last year.In chapter one of Cynical Theories, we read that postmodernism was limited to political theorists, philosophers and artists. They say that there is no objective truth. Everything is meaningless. It’s all doom and gloom. If postmodernism stayed limited to those few, all would be well. But it did not. It jumped out.In chapter two, the authors write: We therefore might think of postmodernism as a kind of fast-evolving virus. Its original and purest form was unsustainable: it tore its hosts apart and destroyed itself. It could not spread from the academy to the general population because it was so difficult to grasp and so seemingly removed from social realities. In its evolved form, it spread, leaping the “species” gap from academics to activists to everyday people, as it became increasingly graspable and actionable and therefore more contagious.Postmodern PrinciplesThe most helpful part of the book is the two postmodern principles and to a lesser extent, the four key themes. They introduce the two postmodern principles in the first chapter, and in the second chapter show how postmodernism evolved and is now applied. In the next five chapters we read how it’s applied in postcolonial theory, queer theory, critical race theory and intersectionality, chapter six is feminisms and gender studies, and chapter seven is disability and fat studies.So how can we understand this post modern principles? Let me explain the two postmodern principles using fat studies because I think this can still shock people. It’s scary how what used to be shocking is now normal: science is oppressive, gender is fluid, only whites can be racist. I think, or I hope, people can still be shocked by what Critical Theory says about obesity. But maybe what is shocking today will be normal tomorrow. That’s how fast the virus spreads.The first principle is the postmodern knowledge principle. It is a: “Radical skepticism about whether objective knowledge or truth is obtainable and a commitment to cultural constructivism.”Alright, What does this mean? You have heard it said that obesity is unhealthy according to science. According to postmodern knowledge principle, science is not value neutral and there is no objective truth that being fat is bad or obesity is unhealthy. It is just what science says. But there are other voices that are equally true that say obesity can be healthy.The second principle is the postmodern political principle. It is: “A belief that society is formed of systems of power and hierarchies, which decide what can be known and how.”You have heard it said that obesity is unhealthy. You heard it because that’s what the systems of powers and hierarchies want you to hear. They oppress fat people. They discriminate against fat people. Fat is bad, not because it’s unhealthy, but because thin people don’t like fat people.The solution is not diet and exercise. The solution is to change society’s hatred for fat people.Can you follow that? That is the postmodern political principle.And so, in summary the two postmodern principles are:1. There is no truth.2. Truth is decided by the powers that be.Isn't this scary? It’s been said before and it’s worth saying again. We are living in George Orwell’s 1984.If you haven't read that novel, you should go and grab it. You will see scary similarities between today and that book.Theme of Losing My IndividualityCynical Theories describes four major themes in postmodernism, namely:1. The Blurring of Boundaries2. The Power of Language3. Cultural Relativism4. The Loss of the Individual and the UniversalJust like the two principles, the themes help us detect the smell of Critical Theory in other fields.Let me describe one of them, the loss of the individual. In chapter 5 on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, the authors write: "…, there is nothing complex about the overarching idea of intersectionality, or the Theories upon which it is built. Nothing could be simpler. It does the same thing over and over again: look for the power imbalances, bigotry, and biases that it assumes must be present and pick at them. It reduces everything to one single variable, one single topic of conversation, one single focus and interpretation: prejudice, as understood under the power dynamics asserted by Theory."What does Intersectionality look for? Prejudice. We don’t check whether it exists. We just need to find out where it exists. It’s kind of like you don’t check whether your husband or wife is having an affair. You assume it’s true. And you filter everything he or she does, no matter how innocent it may be, under the assumption of guilt. You are guilty! I just need to find out how you are guilty. And everybody is supposed to think that way.This is the loss of the individual that Pluckrose and Lindsay writes: Even if a person were a unique mix of marginalized identities, thus intersectionally a unique individual, she would be understood through each and all of those group identities, with the details to be filled in by Theory. She would not be understood as an individual.” If you are a black lesbian, you are supposed to think like a black, like a woman, like a homosexual. These three identities intersect, you are supposed to think like everybody else in those three groups, but you are not supposed to think as an individual."What it's saying here is that if you are a black lesbian, you are supposed to think like a black person, like a woman person and like a homosexual person. Okay, so you're thinking in three groups, these three identities intersect, but you're supposed to think like everybody else in those three groups, you're not supposed to think as an individual. Because if you say you're black and you say that you don't believe that whites are racist, then you are not following the group identity.Voddie Baucham describes this thing as Ethnic Gnosticism. Ethnic Gnosticism is where all blacks think alike. If you don't think alike, you are broken, you are not black or not black enough.Comparing Fault Lines and Cynical TheoriesSo when we look at Fault Lines and the book Cynical Theories, both books are helpful in describing Critical Theory and its danger. Baucham to explain for the church. Pluckrose and Lindsay for society in general.Both books rise the alarm by presenting case studies and evidences so that the reader goes “Ah hah! So that explains it. So this explain what I'm seeing in the newspaper - does anybody still read the newspaper? - reading the news and watching on Youtube and listening to all these politicians and professors. I finally understand what is going on in the world.” So that is useful.However, there are crucial differences between the two books. Fault Lines is easier to read. Yes, it's a shorter book, plenty of stories and relatable. Cynical Theories is harder to read. You can get loss in the technical names, history and connections. It’s written for a popular audience, it's not scholarly, but because Critical Race Theory is so alien, it sometimes feels very surreal. You don't really understand how did these people can come to think in that way.More importantly, the most important difference is Fault Lines is written by a Christian arguing for the Gospel. Cynical Theories is written by atheists arguing for liberalism. Pluckrose and Linday’s saviour is liberalism. Baucham’s saviour is Jesus Christ. His solution to racism is the gospel, which leads us to our third book.Ministers of ReconciliationMinisters of Reconciliation: Preaching on Race and the Gospel”, a collection of 13 essays, edited by Daniel Darling.Russell Moore, wrote the foreword: "This book includes reflections from many who have taught and preached on these matters, and these essays may well spark within you ideas for how to stand for Christ on these issues in your church or family or community."These matters, what he's referring to, is racial justice and reconciliation.Let me remind you of how I came to this book. After reading Fault Lines and Cynical Theories, the idea is to see whether do these 13 essays on racial justice and reconciliation, do they refer to Critical Theory?Now, I want to strongly emphasize here. Whatever we read in the essay does not prove or disprove the author’s position on Critical Race Theory. They were not writing about that topic. And so, they may have a nuanced position which is not communicated in their essay. These are Christian pastors writing on racial justice and reconciliation for Christians in difficult times.I think it's important for me to emphasize this because I don't want people to think that I encourage a woke hunt. You're just looking for things that is woke.I just want to demonstrate with this book how understanding critical race theory can be helpful in in reading and listening to what other people say around us.The Bible on Racism in 60 secondsTo understand how this book, Ministers of Reconciliation is structured, try to imagine this:You step into an elevator. The other guy in the elevator is a world famous professor on Christian ethics. You ask him about racial justice and reconciliation. He only has 60 seconds to answer you on such a complex and inflammatory topic. What can he say?He could say: You should read Genesis 1:27 “created in the image of God”, Psalm 139 on the God who sees. Jeremiah 38,39 the African who rescued Jeremiah. Don’t forget the words “go and make disciples of every nation” in the Great Commission. Pick up on the racial themes between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, between Peter and Cornelius, and between the Jews and Gentiles in Romans 15. Also study the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12 and the Ministry of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:19. Paul speaking on Peter’s hypocrisy in Galatians, Jesus breaking the dividing wall in Ephesians 2:11-18, the chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation and people of God’s possession in 1 Peter 2:9 and Revelation 5:9-10 which says, “By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Read all that and you will have a good idea of what the Bible says on racial justice and reconciliation.Sixty seconds pass, the elevator door opens, he walks out and you are left with 13 rich and meaningful bible passages to read and savor.And if you want to hear 13 different pastors expound on these 13 bible passages, you get this book: Ministers of Reconciliation.Does This Lean Woke?This is a side-by-side book review, so I pick up on two examples from this book. One example hints at woke language, the other decisively does not.In the book’s first essay, Matthew D. Kim gives a definition of racism from Scott B. Rae and Jemar Tisby. As you read, as you listen, do you hear anything woke. He writes:Racial prejudice has been defined by Scott B. Rae as “negative stereotyping on the basis of race and/or belief that particular races/ethnicities are inferior to others. Racism is the combination of racial prejudice and the institutions of power in any given culture that enable a group to perpetuate patterns of discrimination.… (pause. There are ellipses here which means he removed a sentence, I will pick up on this.) However, no one’s race exempts them from holding immoral racial prejudices.”Similarly, in The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby writes, “Racism can operate through impersonal systems and not simply through the malicious words and actions of individuals. Another definition explains racism as prejudice plus power. It is not only personal bigotry toward someone of a different race that constitutes racism; rather, racism includes the imposition of bigoted ideas on groups of people.”This is the outline of what I just read: Rae defines racism. Kim says similarly. Tisby defines racism. You have two definitions which Kim connects by the word similarly. After reading Fault Lines and Cynical Theories, I have become woke on woke.First, there are two important sentences missing from Rae’s definition. His definition begins like this: “it is helpful to distinguish between racism and racial prejudice, since they are two somewhat different things.” Remember the ellipse? The sentence that was removed reads: “This distinction is part of the reason why some groups insist that minorities cannot be racist, since they don’t have the power necessary to enforce racial preferences.” and then Rae contrasts: “However, no one’s race exempts them from holding immoral racial prejudices.”Did you miss it? Let me just repeat it. Rae's definition: “Some groups insist that minorities cannot be racist… However (see where contrast kicks in?) However no one’s race exempts them from holding immoral racial prejudices. Rae is saying minorities can be racists or hold immoral racial prejudices.Okay, so that is Rae's definition of racism. Now we compare Rae's definition with Tisby's. Now, before I continue, Baucham is very critical of Tisby. So when Tisby’s name showed up in this essay, I read it again.He mentions it quite a few times in his book.Tisby says: “Another definition explains racism as prejudice plus power.” Prejudice plus power?Hey, I read that in Cynical Theories. I checked and this is what Pluckrose and Lindsay writes, “We are told that racism is prejudice plus power,' therefore, only white people can be racist.” Because only white people, according to Critical Theory, have power, only white people can be racist. Blacks don’t have power, so they can’t be racist. And therefore you see that this definition is different.The missing sentence from Scott B Rae is important for context. Rae says minorities can be racist or hold immoral racial prejudices. Jemar Tisby says minorities cannot because racism is prejudice plus power. No power, no racism.Not here that the meaning of racism has changed. We all speak English, but some speak a different English. So when someone tells you, asks you the question, "Do you think racism is wrong? And you say, "Yes". "Racism is wrong? Do you want to fix racism? If you see racism, you want to solve it?" And you say, "Yes, I would like to be a part of that. I don't want racism to happen." And then they said, "All right, so let's support reparation. Let's go and be an activist." You say "No, I don't want to be an activist. I don't want to. I'm not supporting reparations." And then they say you are a racist because you are complicit in the activities of the dominant culture, which you're not willing to speak against. So, therefore you are a racist. And you're like, what the heck just happened? The meaning of racism has changed. So when you agree to whatever Critical Theory says, you have to be very careful.Similarly Or In Contrast?I’m making much of this one paragraph in this one essay to reveal the bigger picture. Those who lean woke say “similarly” but those who are against woke say “in contrast”. The former want to highlight how Christianity can co-exist with Critical Race Theory methods. The latter say any similarity is superficial and is far outweighed by the vast differences in worldview.Hear the argument. Baucham is not saying that Christian leaders have left the Christian faith to knowingly adopt the new religion of Critical Theory. They don't say that. Baucham is not saying that. He is saying they don’t know that Critical Theory is a religion. They think it can be a useful tool.One says similarly. The other says in contrast. Like night and day. Like light and darkness. Like God and another religion. You cannot worship both God and Critical Theory. People didn’t know. So with his book, Baucham is saying, “Now you know. You have no excuse.”If you are following my arguments so far, then you will immediately grasp the significance of the next example.This Is Not WokeAnother essay ,this one written by Bryan Loritts starts like this:On the evening of March 13, 2006, a group of Duke University lacrosse students paid two African American women to strip for them at a party they were throwing. Five minutes into the festivities, one of the strippers abruptly quit and ultimately accused three of the men of rape."I skip to one paragraph later: "The DNA evidence didn’t match any of the lacrosse players, and the woman who cried “rape” was ultimately revealed to have fabricated the whole thing. We had all been had, hoodwinked, bamboozled. Race can be quite the con artist, aiding and abetting our deepest presuppositions, seducing us to add or subtract value simply by the color of a person’s skin. Try as we may, race has attached itself not only to our skin, but to our minds, casting an ever-present shadow and coloring our perceptions. We just cannot seem to get rid of this demonic system predicated on appearances…"This is an attention grabbing introduction, he writes well. And parts of his experience cuts to the heart.He writes: “On cool mornings, I will throw on my hoodie and venture outside. As I walk, it’s common to see people, who happen to be white, go to the other side of the street to avoid me. Right or wrong, my assumption is that this is because I am a large black man in a hoodie with his hands in his pockets and walking briskly. I find myself at times chuckling at the irony: while they are walking to the other side of the street, I’m reciting Scripture and praying for things like the multiethnic church to become the new normal in our world.”So you see, even though in the beginning of the essay, he says that that the charge of racism against the African women was wrong, was found to be wrong. At the same time he shows us that racism is alive and kicking in his world. And not only that, after explaining further about how he experienced racism, Loritts confesses the sin of racism. I quote:"A few years later, God called me to go to a predominantly white, wealthy church on the other side of town. I walked into that church like Jonah walked into Nineveh. People were helped by my preaching, and many came to Christ, but my heart was bitter.Then the chapter expounds on Acts 10. And you see how this man of God reflects on his sin of racism and thrusts himself upon the word of God. How does this sinner overcome his sin? Let me quote:"As you know, our adversary has sought to make race a political or merely sociological issue. But when the preacher comes to texts such as ours and carefully excavates the ancient narrative in such a way as to show the congregation that the agenda is not being driven by CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC, but by the heart and mouth of a holy God, we now position them to deal with God. This truth should give us both courage and great sleep at night. Expository preaching—letting the text set the agenda for the message—is the preacher’s best friend, especially when dealing with inflammatory topics such as racism.BBravo! Bravo! I mean, even his essay is something that you can preach from. You see the conviction of the Gospel, of the power of the Gospel to cure and heal and restore the sinner's heart, the racist heart. Oh this is just wonderful!Who Is Woke? Who Knows?In the final analysis, I don’t know where any of these writers stand on Critical Race Theory. This book was not designed to be read after Fault Lines and Cynical Theories. This book is not a sample given to students to sniff for woke teachings. I don’t want anyone to get that impression. This book stands by itself.It is a book that aims to heal and recover a biblical vision of racial justice and reconciliation. Matthew D. Kim had far, far more to say on Genesis than citing Rae’s and Tisby’s definition of justice. Bryan Loritts had far, far more to say on Acts than his experience of racism. Every essay is an exposition of a bible passage but I couldn’t elaborate on them because I’m reviewing the book side by side with Fault Lines and Cynical Theories. You have 13 pastors writing from their heart on what breaks their heart namely racial injustice. And the only thing that can heal that heart is Jesus Christ.Bible's Power, not Woke's PowerMy biggest take away from this book is you can speak powerfully on racial justice and reconciliation without using woke language. If you say “power, privilege, white supremacy”, you have to define them because the meaning has been muddied by Critical Race Theory. People in the pews they don't know what you're talking about because they may agree, but don't realize what they're agreeing on.So some try. I believe some try to use woke language as a bridge to Scripture. Thinking that, "If I speak your language, I am successfully contextualizing the message so that you can hear God speaking through His Word." Okay, that's the idea. And I don't think it works.I fear that eventually, if you go down this road, eventually Scripture will be used as a bridge to wokeness. Scripture will be used as a bridge to Critical Theory. Because in trying to package Scripture to appeal or appease the Woke crowd, you will sacrifice truth.Now remember Critical Theory’s two principles: 1. There is no truth. 2. Truth is what the Powers that Be say it is. If pastors normalise woke language, the pew will eventually hear from outside the church, you speak woke, the outside world also speaks woke, but outside they will hear that there is no truth and they will eventually come to the conclusion that you are saying what you saying because you, as the Christian group, the dominant group in the culture, want power over me. They will interpret every interaction in terms of power and privilege. Because that is what you've been telling them from the pulpit. Power and privilege. So don't do that. Don't use work language.Sin is Universal, Thank God so is the SolutionMy final thought: Guys. Racism was around long before America was founded. Inter-generational racism is not unique to America. It’s everywhere. Name me a country with no racists? England? France? Turkey? Iran? China? Japan? Malaysia? Zambia? Nigeria? Cuba? Racism is everywhere. Sin is in every person's heart. When you limit the racial conversation to whiteness, white supremacy, and white fragility, what you are doing is you take away the Gospel’s universal power to identify and kill the sin of racism.What if an Israeli family and a Palestinian family wants to reconcile and they come to you Christian because they have heard of the Power of Jesus to reconcile Jews and Gentiles, to remove the dividing wall, to enable hate-filled people to forgive all sins. What will you say? Are you going to say dominant culture, systemic racism? Give me a list of people killed in the past? And the solution for proper reconciliation is reparations?Haven't you read the story of Corrie ten Boom and the Ravensbruck guard? She could not forgive him. Read the story. She obeyed God. She knew what Jesus said. And she chose to forgive and the Holy Spirit filled her. Holy Spirit work is what we want to see between Israel and Palestine, between blacks and whites, between husbands and wives, between brothers and sisters. That's what we want to see. Not Critical Race Theory.Comparing Fault Lines, Cynical Theories and Ministers of ReconciliationAnd that’s what the best of Fault Lines and Ministers of Reconciliation has to offer: God. In contrast, Cynical Theories’ solution is: Liberalism. But Fault Lines and Ministers of Reconciliation, written by Christian authors, Christian pastors, they are offering God as a solution.In this side-by-side review, we see that Fault Line and Cynical Theories describe the danger of Critical Theory to the church and to society. After reading these two books, we can detect wokeness in what we read and hear.The best of Ministers of Reconciliation and Fault Lines shows that the way forward is to speak loudly and clearly that what the world needs is not a better philosophy or sociology or political activism, what the world needs is God the Father, Jesus and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Only through God, can we see an end to the sin of racism once and for all. The problem is man reject God’s solution. And reading all these three books just shows ever more clearly what is the right path ahead of us.This is a Reading and Readers side-by-side review of Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham, Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay and Ministers of Reconciliation, a collection of 13 essays, edited by Daniel Darling.Send Me a ReviewHow did you like the side-by-side review? Did you find it helpful or not? Let me know your thoughts. I would also like to request your write a review. This is the ninth episode. It’s early days and your reviews helps to keep the fire in me going. You don’t have to do it via a podcast player, you can just go to the website and submit the review in the contact form or email me direct. The website address is www.readingandreaders.com. That’s www.readingandreaders.com. Thank you for listening to Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. God bless!Book ListFault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe by Voddie Baucham. Amazon. Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. Amazon. Ministers of Reconciliation: Preaching on Race and the Gospel, edited by Daniel Darling. Amazon. Logos.

The Impossible DoctrineCan a book explain the most impossible doctrine that has confounded all Christians everywhere, the Trinity. Can a book prove that the Trinity is in the Bible? Can a book written by a Pentecostal be affirmed by a Reformed? Find out in today's book review.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review a book from Faithlife's Free Book of the Month. The free book for May is "The Trinity, Practically Speaking" by Frank D. Macchia. Macchia is the Associate Director of the Center for Pentecostal and charismatic studies at Bangor University UK. He is also the Professor of Christian Theology at Vanguard University, U. S. A.Macchia was the President of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and editor, for more than a decade, of the Dociety's journal Pneuma. Now if Pentecostals or Charismatics scare you, don't be scared. He has written a book to be read and enjoyed for all Christians and he does not push Pentecostalism in this book.Defending the TrinityNow for a book on the Trinity, there is surprisingly little mention of Arius or any mention of the Council of Nicaea. Arius denied Jesus was God, which led to the Council of Nicaea to condemn him and thus formulating our understanding of the Trinity. And there is no mention of either Arius or the Council of Nicaea because Macchia is only interested in showing you that the Trinity is in the Bible.Okay, Christian, here's a challenge. How would you defend the Trinity? Someone asks you, "What is this three in one? Can't you Christians decide whether your God is three or one? Did you fail Math? And isn't it true that the Trinity is a man made concept, since the Bible never uses the term?"How would you answer?Well, I would answer it this way. God is one, Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, The Lord is One.” God is three. The three appear in the baptism of Jesus Christ. God the Father spoke, Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended. Another place where the three appear is in the Great Commission, where Jesus said to baptize the disciples "in the name of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. And another way I would put my argument is that all three are divine. God the Father is obviously divine. Jesus is God and divine from Scripture. We can show that. And the Holy Spirit is also divine, so God is one. So we conclude that God is a Trinity.The Inevitable Train RideNow in this book, Macchia does make the same points that I made but he structures and presents his argument differently. Let me outline the book, which at the same time would show the outline of his argument.In the prologue, he explains why understanding the Trinity is a practical necessity. We should not think of it as a puzzle to solve. It is necessary to Christian life. The prologue presents the drive, the motivation, to read the rest of the book.In chapter one, he outlines his approach. First, only God can save. God the Father saves. Jesus the son saves. The Holy Spirit saves. Because only God can save, therefore God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit is God. That is the approach outlined in chapter one, which is then fully developed in the whole book.Throughout the book, Macchia effectively uses a train metaphor. By boarding a train in the first station, "Only God can save". We continue down the track and inevitably reach the end station, "God is a Trinity". You will be satisfied in the neatness of his logic and the steady progression through each chapter's overwhelming Biblical evidence.In chapter two, he convinces the reader that the Bible is the ground to knowing God. So we will only know who God is through the Bible. And this leads nicely to the beginning of the argument in the next chapter.Chapter three, God the Father saves. The Old Testament makes this very clear.Chapter four, Jesus the Son saves. The New Testament describes only Jesus fulfills the salvation prophecies and only Jesus saves us from our sins.Chapter five the Holy Spirit saves. the Bible clearly shows that only the Holy Spirit works justification, sanctification and glorification in us. And those are the three aspects of salvation.And chapter six, because only God can save and God the Father saves, Jesus saves and the Holy Spirit saves, therefore God is three persons in one. God is a Trinity, And chapter six deals with the ways on thinking about this conclusion. Is it tritheism? Three gods. Is it subordinationism? Is Jesus a lesser god? Or is it modalism? Does God wear three hats. Macchia, wisely doesn't attempt to explain how the Trinity works. Instead, he asked us to reassess our ability to understand. Just as how a dog doesn't understand how a human thinks so why should we think we can understand an infinite and eternal God?Practically SpeakingThe last two chapters, chapter seven and eight, presents the practical necessity of the Trinity. Chapter seven describes the communal God and trinitarian salvation, Macchia writes:The doctrine of the Trinity enriches our understanding of salvation. It shows us that salvation is not primarily about escaping hell or having our guilt relieved. Salvation is being rescued and healed by the loving embrace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Salvation is about deliverance from the alienation of sin and death for communion with God and all of the blessings that go with this.In short, salvation is not just about saving us from something, it's also saving us for something. In chapter eight, the last chapter, he links this communal God, this trinitarian salvation to our worship, witness, ethics and hope. The chapter ends with hope, and thus the whole book ends with hope.End of Part OneThis is a book that all Christians can read. To follow the logic is like taking a train from A to B. The train just follows the track. There are no distractions, no detours. You begin with "Only God can save" and you end up with "God is a Trinity".And that ends part one of today's review. Today's review is different. I have divided it into two parts. The first part is for the general reader. If you want to know what is the Trinity, what the Bible says of the Trinity and why and how it's important in your Christian life, Macchia's book does a great job in 180 pages.The next part, Part two is a bit different. It's for Reformed or Pentecostals or those interested in those two theologies and/or ecumenism. Now, why did I mention Reformed or Pentecostals specifically? Because I smell them in some parts of the book.Now I want to make this very clear before I go into part two. Macchia has clearly put a lot of effort to make this book for all Christians. But if you are from either Pentecostal or Reformed, I would like to show you what to look out for when you read this book. And I will do this through my criticisms and commendations. So listen carefully, because then you can tell me whether my points are on target or off.Bible as Privileged Voice?The first criticism is more like a question, what is Macchia's take on the sole, only, authority of the Bible. In chapter two, which if you remember, he makes the case that the Bible is the source of God's revelation, but he has this section and I quote:Moreover, I don’t deny that other texts besides the Bible have some truth in them and can be used of the Spirit to create a thirst for God and (implicitly) for Christ.Other texts besides the Bible has some truth in them. I think that we can agree, kind of, here because we can interpret it to say that common grace, general revelation. Yes, so we say that people and unbelievers can write things, create things that reflect the glory of God without necessarily knowing what is the truth behind them. Behind the words and behind the creation, so we can still follow and agree.Then he continues, he says that:That some valid experience of God is possible outside of the Bible cannot be denied, even if it is not entirely accurately explained by those who have had it. My point is not that the Bible is the only avenue of the Spirit’s voice; I mean that, validated by the risen Christ, the Bible is the privileged voice of the Spirit that functions as the standard for judging all other experiences.Now, for me, that sentence is problematic. I would have written that the Bible is the only avenue, it is the only voice of the Spirit because I would just put it as separate from all other texts and all other works. But Macchia explicitly, so it's not even implicit, he puts very clearly up front that the Bible is not the only avenue for the Spirit to speak and that the Bible is the privileged voice.Now, I hope you can see why that sentence can make it very problematic. Alright, but he doesn't develop it in the way that will make you worried. I'm still giving Macchia the benefit of the doubt because he overwhelmingly refers to scripture. For that chapter and for the whole book, he never never refers to any extra-biblical revelation. He never says, "Jesus told me in a dream, the Spirit impressed upon my heart, an apostle prophesied this message to me, I saw an angel who told me". He never alarms me with such pronouncements.So I'm thinking that the sentences that I read just now, I'm thinking he means general revelation or if you want to accommodate what he said, it's kind of like how Nabeel Qureshi, a former Muslim had visions and dreams that led him to the Christian God. Now, careful Christians will be wary, careful, of denying a miracle or any vision or dreams because it may be from God. But at the same time the careful Christian would also not make much of it, meaning we do not build our faith on anyone's experience miracle, including our own. We build our faith on the word.Can We Pray to the Holy Spirit?Now, the second criticism is the way he answers the question, "Can we pray to the Holy Spirit?" He rightly explains:The reason that the Holy Spirit is not addressed in prayer in the Scripture is that the Spirit functions as the person of the Godhead who empowers prayer from within us.That's right. It's the Spirit that allows us to pray. We cannot pray if we do not have the Holy Spirit. Macchia describes the Holy Spirit as the shyest person of the Trinity. But then in that same page or same section, he also writes:Yet, though it is not generally natural to pray to the Holy Spirit, given the Spirit’s role as the divine power from which we pray, there is nothing in Scripture against this practice or that would in principle discourage us from doing this.Again, he writes:It may not be the natural thing to do, given the tendency to simply pray by the power or agency of the Holy Spirit. But doing something that might seem a bit awkward does not make it wrong.The Pentecostals' theological strength has always been the Holy Spirit. But this strength has sometimes been distorted by individuals such that the Holy Spirit outstages God the Father and Jesus the Son. So when Macchia says things like I quote:In glorifying Christ or the heavenly Father through Christ, we implicitly glorify the Holy Spirit anyway. We might as well make that explicit on occasion and mention this in prayer and in worship.Now for me, there is nothing objectionable per se. My issue is he doesn't say enough to regulate the Holy Spirit-focus excesses that is sometimes seen in charismatic circles where there's too much attention on the Holy Spirit. So he doesn't give enough guard rails to make sure that it doesn't become too much.Idols are NothingSince we are talking about the Holy Spirit and Pentecostalism or Charismatic, let's do this exercise. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say charismatic? All right now, give me another thing that comes to mind. Now, give me a third. Now what came to your mind? I would guess that when you heard charismatic or Pentecostal, you would have thought of speaking in tongues, baptism in the Holy Spirit, faith healing and maybe spiritual warfare.Macchia doesn't bring up speaking in tongues, but he did make passing remarks on spiritual warfare and faith healing, which I'll go into now. In a section on idols, instead of describing demons, evil spirits or territorial spirits, which sometimes I read in charismatic literature, Macchia writes:These idols are in themselves nothing more than empty material.Again, he writes:The gods that legitimated these idols were nonexistent and powerless, to be sure. But the human lust for power that fueled the making of religious systems of idols and rituals was real.Okay, that's interesting. This remark over here shows a very different view of what I would think most people think all charismatics believe, which is the very supernatural spiritual warfare type of thing.No Guarantee of Wealth or HealthIn the chapter of the Holy Spirit, Macchia lightly touches on faith healing. He says this, he writes:Faith effects wholeness of life-producing shalom, or well-being in God, in all. I don’t refer here to a guarantee of wealth or perfect health, but I do believe that the life of the Spirit leads to a deep sense of wholeness and strengthening of body and soul to fulfill the will of the Lord. So there is no you know that preaching that goes like this, "God wants you to be wealthy, God wants you to be healthy. All you need is to have faith. If you have faith and then..." they carry on. The reason why you are not rich or healthy is because you have no faith. And what did Macchia write? "I don't refer here to a guarantee of wealth." So that goes counter against what some faith healers preach and proclaim.Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Never MentionedNow, if Macchia, can put aside charismatic theologies which he does not affirm. Can he put aside charismatic theologies which he does affirm. Can he put aside a precious doctrine, like the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Macchia did write the book, "Baptized in the Holy Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology".In the Holy Spirit chapter, after explaining how the Holy Spirit is the down payment today of a future fullness (Ephesians 1:13-14). He writes this:This is what water baptism signifies, namely a dying to self (as we are buried with Christ in the water) and a rising again to a new life centered on Christ (coming up out of the water; see Romans 6:3–5). This new birth is what happens when the Spirit comes into us at the moment of our faith in Christ; we are born anew from above (John 1:12–13). The Holy Spirit binds us to Christ and indwells us at the moment of our initial faith in Christ and brings us into right relation with Christ (which is our justification).I like this one because sometimes talking to charismatics they make me feel like I don't have the Holy Spirit. They say things, they may not say directly, but imply that the spirit is not in me or is indwelling in me. He says very clearly that in our justification, the Holy Spirit comes in and in dwells now.The point here is that you would expect him as a Pentecostal, having mentioned water baptism, that he would follow up very, very naturally with Baptism in the Holy Spirit, but he doesn't. Honestly at this point, I'm more impressed by what he does not say than what he does.The rest of the chapter is describing the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification with fully agreeable statements like this:The Holy Spirit turns our deepest affections and yearnings into Christ-like desires. Who would deny that? Who would have a problem that? "The Holy Spirit turns our deepest affections and yearnings into Christ-like desires."So Macchia does this thing where given opportunities to write more on spiritual warfare, faith healing. Baptism in the Holy Spirit or spiritual gifts, he doesn't. Macchia has much to say, but he doesn't say it. As a card-carrying Pentecostal, this book does nothing to defend or promote Pentecostalism. And I think that is interesting and I salute him for his discipline in writing this book.Do I Smell Reformed?Now, my next commendation is that he says more than he needs to say on Reformed. For my Reformed listeners, I want you to be the judge because I think this sounds like Reformed theology, but maybe my senses may be a bit off. Listen to this, Macchia writes:Though we must be obedient to the Holy Spirit to grow, even this obedience is empowered by God. Nothing is earned by us or due fundamentally to our doing. It is all by God’s grace, his undeserved favor.I can hear a Reformed preacher preach this. Does that sound Reformed to you? Maybe it's for all Christians. But when I read it, I looked at it again because it sounds like Reformed. Now let me give you some more. Listen to this:True, we must freely cooperate with God’s grace to be saved, but the freedom to cooperate is by the very Spirit of God.The word cooperate makes it sound like synergism. Two agents are involved in our conversion. But the condition for cooperation, the necessary precursor to cooperation is the Holy Spirit. The freedom to cooperate, or can I say the freedom to choose, comes after the Holy Spirit comes in, or can I say regenerate? That's monergism, right? You tell me. Now, maybe you need a bit more evidence because I'm giving you a or two sentences here and there. Well, he has more, he has more, but I'll give you a final one, a long one.Now pay attention because when I say works, I find that works is a favorite word among Reformed. In this paragraph, Macchia explains how faith and repentance leads to conversion. Macchia writes:It is important to see faith and repentance as inseparable and integral aspects of one larger act of turning to God. If we do not do this, it will be possible to see repentance as the separate and necessary requirement before we can have faith. Repentance then becomes a requirement that we have to adequately fulfill before we are worthy of faith, making works the requirement for faith.Did you catch what he said? He's talking about the sequencing. Yes, another favorite thing that Reformed people like to talk about the sequence our conversion. And he says that if we are not careful, can I say that if you're not careful, repentance becomes works which disqualifies faith. Now let me read again:The convicting power of the Holy Spirit allows the word of God to come alive in us as a source of grace in converting to God, for the Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:15–16).Now, in that one, what I just quoted, if I want to summarize that, it says that the Holy Spirit convicts us to repentance. It smells very Reformed to me now. Perhaps I'm seeing things that are not there. Spooky. Everywhere I go I see dead people, I mean, sorry, Reformed Theology.Mystery SolvedAnyways after I completed the book, I looked up on this Pentecostal author. And I managed to find one piece of the puzzle that solves the mystery.You see, Professor Frank D. Macchia is an ecumenical theologian. He was the chair for six year dialogue between Trinitarian and Oneness Pentecostal. Okay, so that explains maybe why this book is out here.He was also in an international dialogue between Pentecostals and - guess who? - Reformed. Mystery solved. That's why this book written by a Pentecostal, to me, sometimes smells Reformed.Recommending PackerNow let's go to some book recommendations. Maybe I have stirred up some interest in Pentecostal or Charismatic. Now there is this book and I recommend it. It's J. I. Packer's book, "Keep in step with the Spirit". And I'll quote for you, one of the passage, it is Packer giving a positive aspect. He writes positive and negative aspect of Pentecostals. Let me quote to you the positive aspect. Packer writes:Charismatic books and songs show that whatever may be true of this or that individual, the mainstream of the renewal is robustly Trinitarian, and the stress on the Holy Spirit’s ministry does not displace the Lord Jesus from his rightful place as Head of the body, Lord and Savior of each human limb in it, and the constant focus of affection and adoration in the worship of his and our Father.So Packer could have written those words - robust trinitarian - in a review of Macchia's book.Recommending ReevesIf you want to know about other books on the Trinity from perhaps a Reformed perspective, there is this book "Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith" by Michael Reeves. Reeves has written a biography on Spurgeon and contributed to the book, "Reformation Theology: A Systematic Summary".I have not read this book, but the guys at another Christian book review podcast has. If you search for "A Good Book Review" you can find a review of Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves.Readers Pentecostal, Reformed and AllNow to my concluding thoughts. Despite my criticisms of the book, I think the general Christian reader will not pick up on those Pentecostal, Reformed issues. Most may not see it or smell it. The Scripture is given so much emphasis here that nobody will ever think Macchia gives any credence to extra-biblical sources.I want to commend Macchia because he has managed to keep his Pentecostalism in check, even though he is a card-carrying Pentecostal. I really respect him for that because there were so many opportunities where someone less discipline would have just gone into it and just explain about spiritual gifts and so on and why those other charismatics are wrong and so on. He doesn't. So I want to give him a full credit for restraint.As for the Reformed smell I get, maybe if I reread the book, I would pick up on more such hints. And it would be like rewatching Shutter Island or Sixth Sense. But if you're not sensitive to such things, the general reader won't notice them.I repeat my conclusion from part one. This is a book that all Christians can read to follow. The logic of the Trinity is like taking a train from A to B. The train just follows the tracks, there is no distraction, no detours. You begin with, "Only God can save". You end up with, "God is a Trinity". It's a very satisfying train ride.If you are Pentecostal or Charismatic, I really hope you will read this book because I have read some charismatic literature and it’s page after page of personal visions and dreams, apostolic and prophetic announcements and really questionable, I dare say distorted, biblical interpretations.I would say to you, my Pentecostal and Charismatic brothers and sisters,consider reading Macchia or Gordon Fee or Ben Witherington or Craig Keener, just to name a few. Just read these Pentecostals, Charismatics than the earlier guys.Because, allow me a minute of personal observation, I've noticed this and I describe it in this way. Imagine two conferences. Held side by side. In one conference, the speaker is able to explain everything the Bible says on the prophet Jeremiah. He is an expert on the prophet Jeremiah. God has given him this gift. Now in the other conference, the speaker is Prophet Bill who claims he can prophesy directly to you what God wants for you in your life today. Which one would you go to? Would you go to the conference where you will learn what Prophet Jeremiah has to say? Or would you go to the conference where Prophet Bill will claim that this is what God is speaking to you right now.I suggest that in today's times, Prophet Bill would have far more attendees and that is not a good thing, which is why to my Reformed listeners, I think you should read the book. See whether you get any alarm bells ringing. I don't think there is. I think, and I have to be very careful here, this might be a Pentecostal book that John MacArthur could endorse - with some minor edits. Overall, it is a Biblical exposition on the Trinity.And it's this biblical foundation that could help some Reformed readers to appreciate that the charismatic movement is not completely overrun by scandals, super-supernaturalism, and "I don't need a Bible because I have the Holy Spirit in me". This book will help you see Charismatics in a different light. And hopefully help some Charismatics see themselves in a different light.God is a TrinityIn conclusion, unlike Macchia, I have gone off the tracks in this book review. His book is just about the Trinity, nothing about Pentecostalism or Reformed. And I've been highlighting that for the past 10, 15 minutes and my aim, dear listener, is to show why this book is unique compared to other books on the Trinity and it is worth reading if you know what to look for.For all readers, if you read this book, you will follow the logic of scripture. Only God can save, Jesus saves, the Holy Spirit saves. Because only God can save, therefore God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit is God in three persons. God is a Trinity. And our Trinitarian salvation is a practical necessity. It changes how we look at God and how we live for God.This is a Reading and Readers review of "The Trinity, Practically Explained" by Frank D. Macchia. Free in Faithlife for May and $16.49 in Amazon Kindle as of today. So get it if you can.Speaking of Practical NecessityBefore you go, I have three requests of a practical necessity. One, please subscribe. Two, please share with a friend, Pentecostal, Reformed or otherwise. And three, review the podcast. This is the 8th episode of the podcast and I'm really hoping to get some reviews by the 10th episode. While I do enjoy reading the books that I review for you, I also look forward to enjoying reading the reviews that you review for me. All right, so I hope you can review this podcast. Stay bless and keep reading. Thank you.Book ListThe Trinity, Practically Speaking by Frank D. Macchia. Amazon. FaithLife.Keep in Step with the Spirit by J. I. Packer. Amazon. Logos.Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. Amazon. SFX by www.zapsplat.com

(Edited Transcript of Podcast)Providence Starts HereJohn Piper drops a 752 page book titled Providence. 752 pages! This must be an author who trusts that God himself will bring readers to read this book. Readers who can commit the time to see and savor the providence of God. Are you that reader? Listen to today's review.Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review a book from Faithlife’s Free Book of the Month. And while waiting for the free book for the month of May, I review a book of my choice. And my choice for today is Providence by John Piper.Piper and I Go Way BackWho doesn't know John Piper? For one thing young Christians or perhaps Christians who swim in different waters from mine. For a start, I can tell you that Pastor John Piper is a respected preacher and teacher. And that is an understatement. Instead of reading his resume, let me share with you what Pastor John Piper means to me. In doing so, I declare any biases I may have in reviewing this book. And at the same time, you will know Piper and myself a bit better.One of my greatest joys or crowning achievement in life, was completing Piper’s sermon series on Romans. That’s 225 sermons, preached chapter by chapter, verse by verse, over many years. After that I started and completed his sermon series on Hebrews, which was only 52 sermons long.Since then, I have not followed or watched or listened to his teaching on a regular basis. A lot of his work comes to me as articles or YouTube videos that were recommended by the people around me.I have never read the book that made him famous, which became the name of his ministry: Desiring God. I never read it because from his sermons, he had already fleshed out this Christian Hedonism that he became famous for. God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him.I admit my theology has been influenced by Piper’s teaching. So can I be unbiased in reviewing this great man’s work? This is an important question to me because I want to be impartial on the books I review.So I asked myself this question, what is the worst thing I can say about Providence by John Piper? And here it goes: This book is a mishmash bundle of previous books with clever marketing that was published in order for 75 year old John Piper to cash in on his influence before he retires.If true, could I say that? Because that was quite nasty. I think I can, but in a more tender and less offensive way. But to say that would be a lie. I am pleased to say that this book is worth all the praises it has received and more praises to come. Also, Piper can't cash in on this book because this book is available for free in desiringgod.org. Let me repeat: This book is available for free in www.desiringgod.org. Also Piper can't cash in when people are not paying money for it.Four Invitations To ReadKnowing that it is free, would you read it? Well, it depends on what it's about, right? It's 30 years of John Piper's ministry put together in one book, but it's not using materials scavenged from other works. It's a new work built from the ground up on the theme of providence or purposeful sovereignty. Providence in reference to God means, and I quote, "the act of purpose, fully providing for or sustaining and governing the world."In the introduction, Piper extends four invitations to the reader. Now hear this and decide whether you want to accept his invitation.First, he invites you into a biblical world of counterintuitive wonders. Okay, he brings you into the Bible. He says, I will argue that these wonders are not illogical or contradictory, but they are different from our usual ways of seeing the world—so different that our first reaction is often to say, “That can’t be.” But the “can’t” is in our minds, not in reality.Second, he invites you to penetrate through words into reality. He writes, "The issue is this: Is the reality that I see in the Bible, and call providence, really there?" Later he continues: "The all-important truth is whether there is a reality in the Bible that corresponds to my description of the goal, nature, and extent of God’s purposeful sovereignty."He wants you to see that the words he is a putting forth describes reality, describes what is happening in the world.Third, he invites you into a, I quote, "God-entranced world. Jesus said to look at the birds because God feeds them (Matt. 6:26) and to consider the lilies because God clothes them (Matt. 6:28–30). Jesus’s aim was not aesthetic. His aim was to free his people from anxiety."And if you read Providence, you can be free from anxiety.Fourth, and finally, he invites you to know, I quote, "maybe as you never have known, the God whose involvement in his children’s lives and in the world is so pervasive, so all-embracing, and so powerful that nothing can befall them but what he designs for their glorification in him and his glorification in them (2 Thess. 1:12)."Ultimate Goal of ProvidenceIf you accept his invitation, the rest of the book is divided into three parts plus a conclusion.Part 1 defines providence and answers the question: "When God glorifies himself is that arrogance?" and the answer is no. Part 2 is titled "The Ultimate Goal of Providence". This is divided into three sections, beginning with Creation, actually before creation, and continuing with Israel from Abraham to Exile. And lastly, the last section, the third section is the New Covenant. What is this ultimate goal? Piper writes in the third section, "What we have seen in all the stages of providence—before creation, through the works of creation, and in the election of Israel, the exodus, the conquest of the promised land, the period of the judges, the monarchy, and the exile and its reversal—is that the ultimate purpose of God’s providence is that God be known and enjoyed and praised for who he really is: “You shall know that I am the Lord.”That is the ultimate goal of providence. And he describes it in different ways throughout the whole three sections.Is God in Control Over Everything?Those three sections help us to understand Part 3. Part 3 is titled, "The Nature and Extent of Providence". This has nine sections which encompasses 30 chapters. Did I mention that this is a 750 page book? Nearly 500 pages is in Part 3. In these chapters, God's providence is over or God is in control over nature, satan and demons, kings and nations, life and death, Sin, conversion and Christian living.The last chapter is the conclusion where he summarizes Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. And he ends the book with 10 effects of seeing and savoring this providence. The 10 effects end this book nicely. I feel like a kid at the toy shop where the generous owner gives me this and gives me that and this and that. The 10 effects is fills my hands and I leave the shop with my hands full of praise to God. That is a wonderful way to end this book.Stopping the Mouth of the ReaderNow you understand the whole structure, but how does it actually read? It is like reading the last chapters of Job but instead of God appearing, Paul appears. Let me try to explain. Do you know the story of Job? Job experiences suffering, his friends come to comfort him. They talk a lot and finally God answers in thunder. He stops everyone's mouths. Job literally says in Job 40:4, "I lay my hand on my mouth" and so the key here I want to give you is that people could not say anything anymore because their mouth was stopped by what God has revealed.And so in Providence by Piper it's kind of like this: Mankind experiences suffering and Christians and non-Christians talk a lot and in Job God thunders, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" So God is arguing from nature. But instead in Providence we have Paul arguing from Scripture, but the result is the same. God is God, who are you to speak and we get our mouths are stopped.So that's what I hope you understand. It feels like the last chapter of Job, but instead of God appearing, Paul appears and everyone's mouth is stopped. Everyone is just fully convinced of Providence as stated clearly in the Bible.Now, I'm not saying Piper is Paul or Providence is the Book of Job, I'm just trying to convey to you the sense as I read it, this book is thunders with biblical convictions.Too Many Bible VersesLet's look into the writing. Modern writing tends to go very heavy on anecdotes and how-tos. There's nothing wrong with anecdotes. Jesus told many short stories or parables. There are some personal stories in this book, but it's not really a memoir. It's not meant to be full of John Piper's life and ministry.Many books also have the writer explain applications: 5 ways to do this, 10 ways to do that, 3 ways to do this. When I read Providence, in every chapter, you are really only asked to do one thing: to be satisfied in God. That's the feeling I get. So there is not much of 5 ways to do this and that except perhaps the 10 effects of seeing and savoring. Even then, those are really the effects rather than what we should do.Now, there is one thing that this book is very heavy with and that is Bible verses there are too many, at least, that's what I thought when I first Piper promote his book. There are 3000 Bible verses in 700 odd pages. I once heard a sermon by a first timer preaching for a special occasion. So the person never preached before and someone must have told the person that you can't go wrong with Bible verses because that's basically what I got. I got a lot of Bible verses that day, I couldn't see how they were linked, some were taken out of context and I don't remember the main message. I only remember that there were too many Bible verses. I was worried that I would get the same feeling reading 3000 verses in 700 pages.But thankfully, no, if Bible verses are spices and herbs, John Piper has skilfully served a dish with 3000 spices and herbs on a perfect plate. Or if Bible verses were gems or jewels, Piper is showing the reader diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and he puts them all in a very nice crown, a beautiful crown for the king of kings. The Bible verses are treated very respectfully by John Piper and he presents them to the reader and invites us to taste, to admire God's revealed word.Piper Unleashes His Inner PuritanSome have told me before that Piper is hard to read. Yes and no. He is a gifted communicator. His preaching and writing are very successful global ministries. He has made complicated theology easy to understand for many people.But at the same time I think he secretly wished that he was born 300 years ago during the time of the Puritans: Owen, Sibbes or Edwards. And just to support what I just said, the Puritans have long book titles. I give you an example from John Owen: The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalance of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers together with The Ways of its Working and Means of Prevention, Opened, Evinced, and Applied with a Resolution of Various Cases of Conscience Pertaining to It.Don't worry if you don't understand what I just read because I'm not too sure I understand it either. But it is a very, very long title. Then you wonder what am I talking about? Because John Piper's Providence. The title is one word. So why do I say that John Piper wants to be a Puritan? Because he must have restrained himself. By the time he reached the 700th page he just unleashed his inner Puritan. In the conclusion chapter, the 10 effects. All the subheadings are long. Long as in it stretches across my 24 inch monitor. Let me read to you the longest. It's the 9th effect. Remember this is supposed to be a subheading. It's supposed to be a title. He writes:Seeing and savoring this providence shows us that evangelism and missions are absolutely essential for people to be converted to christ, because God makes them the means of his work in creating saving faith.Now, that's a long title and your english teacher will tell you to shorten it. But Piper is Piper. I want to explain that because we were talking about whether his writing is difficult to read. In a way. He writes many chunks of thought in one sentence. You have many chunks, many words coming in, but each of those words have meaning. He's careful in putting those words together. He's a poet as well. This is the way Piper thinks. Piper has shared in a sermon that when he realized that the Bible can be read as a reasoned argument rather than bumper sticker quotes, a light bulb went on.Reading Sin In The MiddleSo if you want to know how to read John Piper, you have to understand that there is a chain of thought and this comes across in his writings. And if what I'm saying is true, which I think it is, you have to follow him from the start and it's no good if you read from the middle, which is why I don't suggest you take Piper's advice on one way of reading this book. Piper says that this book can be read as a reference and he has written it in a way to help people read it from the middle.Let me read to you from one of the most controversial sections in this book. It has eight chapters and it is on God's Providence over Sin. Does God author Sin because that's a common accusation against Calvinism or Reformed Theology. So reading from the opening lines of this section. Let me read what Piper says:In the preceding chapters of this book, we have seen so many instances of God’s governing the details of nature’s events, Satan’s action, the deeds of kings, the movements of nations, and the moments of life and death that we are led naturally to think of God’s providence as all-encompassing, all-pervasive. In other words, after seeing the extent and nature of God’s providence portrayed in chapters 16–25, our expectation is that there is no sphere of life — no matter how ordinary or seemingly insignificant — where providence is suspended or limited in its ultimate and decisive dominion.Did you hear that? The earlier chapters lead naturally to think of God's providence as all-encompassing, all-pervasive. Again, he writes, after seeing the extent of nature of God's providence portrayed in chapters 16-25. So if he read from the middle having not read those chapters, you are just taking Piper's word for it. Why should you take Piper's word that what he says is true? Because in those earlier chapters, Piper shows you scripture after scripture, arguing that God himself says His providence is all-encompassing, all-pervasive. Piper puts you in a position where you content not with Piper but with God. Which is where we should be. We should wrestle with God. Is this true? Is what the Bible here says, true? And if true, then the end result is our mouths are stopped and we marvel at God's Providence. But we can't do that if we skip chapters. So, yes, that means if you read this book, to fully gain from it, you should read this from beginning to end. And if so, you will appreciate Piper's frequent recaps. Like a grandfather holding his grandchild's hand to cross the road, he holds you, even though you think you are big enough to cross the road by yourself. What I mean is he tends to repeat his points in the beginning of every section or every chapter, but this is only to make sure you follow his long chain of thought to fully expound on God's Providence.Slay The Real Calvinist Dragon, Not The Cartoon OneLet me ask who should read this. Most of the people who read a book like this are people who are not intimidated by thick books and probably agree with Piper because it's kind of hard to read a book on something you disagree with. What more when it's two or three times longer than your usual fare at least that's my own experience.But I think if you disagree with Piper, you should read this book. If you have any, you know, problems with Reformed Thought or with Calvinism then if you want to escape the cardboard Calvinist or the cartoon Calvinist, you should read this book. We all have experienced the Calvinist, who is a terror to his non-Calvinist friends. Maybe he ends up not having any friends left. You see, the Reformed Thought is so neat and structured that sometimes, sometimes, people fall in love with the Reformed System rather than the Bible and they end up arguing from systems when they really should be arguing from the Bible and sometimes they end up just arguing and arguing.So from your life experience, you may get this impression that Calvinists are always angry people, always arguing people and thus it is good for you to read Providence just so that you know what Calvinists like John Piper actually believe and teach. If you want to slay the dragon that is Calvinism you need to know the real dragon, not the wooden stage prop. You need to go beyond the arguments that you may have heard and you may have heard caricatured. The arguments are so reduced and simplified that they don't really express the system. So go ahead and surprise your Calvinist's friends by reading John Piper's Providence.My second point to those who might be be willing to be persuaded to read this is that Piper deals with opposing thoughts with some tenderness. Obviously he's a man of convictions but he doesn't demean, instead he pleads for us to look at the problems from a biblical perspective. Like I said, the most controversial section is the one on God's Providence over Sin. In that section, there is a chapter title, "Things We Know and Things We Don't Need To Know". In that chapter he deals with the Libertarian Free Will argument and after describing some possible explanation, he writes:Which of these possible explanations is, in fact, true is not decided by assuming the texts can mean only that man’s will is decisive in the moment of conversion. To assume one explanation or the other from the texts alone would be reading into the text the assumptions we already have, not reading out of them what is really there.Now, this is a controversial topic and maybe there's a bit more background that you dear Listener is not familiar with but let me just carry on and I'll explain what the point I'm trying to get. Piper continues:It is a mistake to assume that ultimate human self-determination is a feature of biblical thinking. Ultimate self-determination, as a trait of man’s will, might be taught in Scripture, or it might not be. That needs to be decided from the teaching of Scripture, not from philosophical assumptions we bring to the text. This book is about what the Bible teaches. In the present chapter (as well as chapters 28–33), we ask, What does it teach about God’s providence over the sinful human will? I am arguing that it teaches that God, in his infinite wisdom and goodness and holiness and justice, knows how to govern the good and evil choices of all humans without himself sinning and without turning human preferences and choices into morally irrelevant, robot-like actions.Let me just pause here for a moment. The last part, did you hear that? So he's making this statement which is the one of the main contentions in this God's sovereignty and human responsibility debate. He's asking us to not argue based on philosophy or what we think should or should not be. But what does the Bible say? And I think everybody should be able or Christians should be able to agree with what he says here. So he is inviting us to consider his arguments from Scripture. So even if you disagree with him, it's good for you to know what what he thinks of how the Bible presents that God can govern the good and evil choices of all humans without God being a sinner and without turning humans into robots. So let me continue. Okay, just a bit more. Piper writes:Therefore, in what follows, we should make every effort not to assume that ultimate, divine control over evil makes God evil or strips man of moral accountability. The question we should be asking is, What does the text teach about reality? Let us not bring to the text our philosophical assumptions that dictate what God’s wisdom and goodness and justice must do.Like I said, this is the most, to me, the most controversial aspect of this whole Calvinism or Reformed System. And I'm not going to talk about that here, but I just want to say that I think it's well explained in this book and it's something for you to consider. I see it being put forward in a pastoral tone and not so much on a debating tone. I hope you can take it that way. And if you cannot agree with the conclusions, at least agree with the method and if you can do that, you can gain from this book and go beyond the cartoon Calvinist thinking or arguments.Be Free From The Trivializing Effects Of NetflixNow that is for those who disagree with Piper and can take a 700 page book. Now I want to talk to another group of people and there are people who can agree with Piper, who can read thick books but have been distracted by Netflix and other shallow entertainment.Am I being too harsh? Have you listened to Paul Washer? He makes me feel like I'm wasting my life because I'm not planting churches in Peru. Compared to him, all I'm asking is that you read a book. But anyway I'm jest.I believe the church needs people who can follow a sustained argument. I didn't say argue a lot. I said follow a sustained chain of thought from what the Bible says to what the church teaches doctrine. Your watching sports or Netflix can be good relaxation. I'm not saying they are sin, but what I am saying is it's quite difficult to see how Netflix helps build up the church. I'm sure you can make that argument but perhaps we can follow the argument in Providence rather than your argument from Netflix.According to Piper, the fourth effect of seeing and savoring this providence is it helps protect us from the trivializing effects of culture and from trifling with divine things. And here is the chicken and egg situation. If you read this book, you will look at the serious things of God seriously and you will take lightly the things that the world takes seriously. The problem is some of us are taking the things of the world's seriously and the things of God lightly. And it is this group of people who will not read this book. So the ones who really need to read this book are the ones who often times do not. So I ask that you consider, if not this book then another book, but stretch your mind, your heart, your spirit a bit more and try to feel the weight of divine things. That's my plea to you.700 Pages? Can I Have More?Do I have any criticisms of this book? Yes, the book is too short. There should be Volume 2. The 10 effects are too brief. They come out like a machine gun at the end of the conclusion and I think that more can be said. But maybe Piper's publishers said their printer could not take any more pages.What can be in Volume Two? Well, you could have how this providence helps us in the day to day things. Not the heavier parts that Piper has explained. He has bridged into our world. So I'm not saying it's all theological, scholarly. It's not, it's by no means a scholarly work. It's meant to be read by the everyday man. But maybe Volume Two could connect the dots on school, work, marriage, parenting and retirement. Just help to connect the dots in everyday life.Volume two could help us look at how providence is like in the saints. Piper has written many short biographies. I have counted 27 in the desiringgod.org. I read some and I recommend that you read them if you're not familiar with Piper's writing. These are very short books. Some are less than 10 or 20 pages. So if you're not sure whether you want to buy or read Piper, you can just download and read these shorter biographies to get a feel for how he writes. And as I was saying, maybe these type of things can be in Volume Two. The whole point is to see what he has written in Volume One and to expand it a bit more in the effects it has.But the funny thing is this, if there is such a volume. Most likely people will not read Volume One, they will just read Volume Two which just ruins the whole point of what I just said.This Will Be Read 300 Years Later!I really enjoyed this book and this is my concluding thoughts. This book has the potential to be a classic. We have John Owen's books on temptation, Richard Sibbes' Bruised Reed, Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections. These are books that are still read 300 years later. 300 years! Piper's providence might have a chance to be read 300 years later as thorough biblical exposition on God's purposeful sovereignty.Why Pay When It's Free?So what else can I say? Buy the book. No, seriously, I mean buy. I know the book is free. I knew it was free for download when I bought it, but I still bought the Logos version. Why Logos rather than Kindle? Well because uh Lagos has more features and is more suitable for Christian study. Kindle doesn't cater for Christian studies and the features are limited. I can talk about it on another episode one day. But anyways, I bought the Logos version. Now why did I buy it and not just download the free one? Because I'm a fool.I'm not brought up this way. I mean we don't pay for things that we can get for free.And my reason is this, my reason for paying rather than just downloading for free, is over the years I have gained much from Desiring God ministry in my Christian life and walk. But I know myself. I don't see myself anytime in the future giving money to Desiring God ministry because I will give to my local church and the ministry here. But I would like to contribute or do something. And what I can do is buy the book.I have watched a video where Piper explains that he doesn't take in the book sales royalty. He says that all the royalties don't go to him. Instead it goes to a ministry fund and at the end of every year the board sits and thinks on how to give the money away for ministry.So my buying this book is just a way of contributing to a ministry that has helped me over my Christian walk.Providence Brought You Here, Thank God!I bought the book, having the confidence that I will profit, spiritually profit, from this book. I paid full price for this book and I profited greatly. I have no regrets. My hope is whether you pay or get the book for free, that you will profit from this God-exalting, Jesus-loving, Spirit-empowering, Providence- proclaiming, reviewer-exciting, reader-enticing book. This is a Reading and Readers review of Providence by John Piper.What Great Providence has brought you to listen to this episode. Let me describe the chain of events. It just so happens that whatever circumstances you were in, it has led you to listen to this episode. It just so happens that John Piper's book of 30 years in the making was published in April, which just so happens to be the time when I'm looking for a good book to review after I just launched the Reading and Readers podcast. Which means if I didn't launch my podcast and Piper didn't published this book on Providence, you wouldn't have listened and profited as much as I hope you did today. So let us praise God for His Providence. Do you think Piper's Providence will be a classic, read 300 years later as much as we read Owen, Sibbes and Edwards today? If yes, email me. If no, email me too. My contact details are at www.readingandreaders.com. Thank you for listening.Book ListProvidence by John Piper. Amazon. Logos.Free Biographies by John Piper. Desiring God.Where do John Piper's Book Sales Go? YouTube Video.Sound Effects: https://www.zapsplat.com/

(Edited Transcript of Podcast) Behind The ScenesWhat is Reading and Readers? How did it come about? What goes into making a podcast? Where is this podcast going? All these questions and more answered in today's special episode. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers podcast where I review Christian books for you. Except I'm not reviewing any books today. One of my favorite things to do in terms of the movie experience is to watch the Behind The Scenes feature where the director shows you what goes on behind the camera. So today we're just gonna do a bit of that. First up let me explain something odd about this book review podcast and that would be the cover art. The cover art does not have any books or bookshelves or persons reading books on it. Instead what you get is a desert, a river and leaves. So what’s up with that? Desert Alive And No Books In SightThe reason behind that just to give you the behind the scenes look at what goes on here. I hired a graphic designer, Hanna, to do the cover art. And that process of me getting the graphic designer and also choosing the song for this podcast is an episode by itself. But anyways, I was trying to describe to her what I intended for this podcast. In my first draft to her, I explained that the way I see it, many people, their lives are like a disaster zone. It's like an earthquake or tsunami and people are struggling in their lives. So I see my role as bringing some aid, some encouragement, some light into the darkness and struggle because I think a good book can do that. A good book can shed some light into many things whether it's suffering or God's sovereignty or temptation and so on. Many writers spend time to think about those things. A good book can do good. And I was describing these things to Hanna. And I wondered whether there was a biblical metaphor to describe what I just said. What came to mind was Isaiah 35. Let me just read from Isaiah 35. It's a familiar one. I read from verse 1 to 2 and later verse 5 to 7. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. If you can just imagine, if someone was to draw it out or animate it or make a movie out of it. It's such a glorious thing when the God comes and out of the desert there is life. So to me it's such an inspiration for what God can do in people's lives. And I find that my role, if I can put it that way, is maybe my one small role is to share what I read in the hopes that it can bring life into your desert and barren thoughts or struggles. There Is A Book For ThatBefore I started this podcast journey, I was already sharing book reviews. For example, once there was a young lady who asked about what I think about emotions in the worship service. Because you have people arguing. On one side, they say that an emotion-led service is a problem. The problem being that truth may or may not be told. Your emotions go wild and once the emotion subsides, what do you have left? Then you have the other group who says that an emotionless service is a problem because there is no feeling, there is no heart, there is no joy, there is no zeal. And so they say that services with no emotions is a dead service. So this young lady asked me what are my thoughts and I directed her to Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards because I read that book and to me he just conclusively, he just made it very clear the role of emotions and religious affections in the Christian life. So I directed that book to her, she went to buy it and she read halfway. She hasn't finished it yet but she found it useful. Then on another day a young man asked me for book recommendations. At that time Jeff Vanderstelt’s Gospel Fluency was available for free. So I asked him to read it. He finished it and liked it. We had a couple of conversations about how to apply what we have read and he asked for more book recommendations. I gave him a few books from my library. I mentioned young man and young woman because it's part of my ministry. I look after youth ministry in my church and later on these youths become young adults. And I continue to mentor them and one of the ways I mentor them is by recommeding books. We have this chat group where we ask questions and one young lady was reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship. She posted screenshots, parts of pages, where she doesn't understand and the people in the chat group then discuss about what Bonhoeffer meant. If you think that I'm surrounded by readers, it's not really true because by far these are a minority in my circle, but I do encourage those around me. If given a chance I would share, I'll share about the books that I'm reading, I'll share about how this particular book can help you. And I just want to extend that love of reading good books to the people around me. Now, just because I enjoy reading books doesn't necessarily mean that a person would enjoy reading reviews. Now for that I have to thank Tim Challies. I got introduced to challies.com many years back and I read his book reviews. It struck me that I enjoyed reading his book reviews. It was a very interesting thing for me that I learned from the book review without reading the book. And he made me interested to get those books and to read them. So I owe a debt of gratitude to Tim Challies for his book reviews over the years and the many books he recommended has indeed helped me. Free Book? Good!As you have heard, I help young people and one of the things I try to get them to do is read books. One of the reasons why they tell me they don't read is because good books are expensive. Sometimes I would put to them and say that well, it seems that you guys can afford games and movies and expensive coffee. But yes, good books are expensive. That's why I chose to review Faithlife’s free book of the month. I'm already buying and downloading their books every month. I was thinking that if I reviewed these books then they can hear share about why this book is worth reading and maybe it would just compel them and also you dear listener to download a free book. Did I mention, it was free? So that's why I do what I'm doing over here in the hope that more people will read. Books Are Harder To Review Than MoviesSometimes the book reviews is for a buying decision. But now because it's free, there is no buying decision. The other decision is whether do you want to commit a portion of your life to reading this book. Is this book worth reading? So that's my role as well. The other thing I noticed is that some people don't read reviews to make decisions. They read reviews to know what other people think about the book. So that's what I try to do here as well. And when I say the book is good or book is bad, I try to be very conscious of the fact that these writers spend a lot of time writing. So writing is a craft and I appreciate them. The five books that I reviewed for this podcast, they're all written by christians by godly men. So I when I criticize their work, it doesn't mean that these are bad works. It just means that I personally don't like the book. And I give reasons why. Similarly some people may not like certain movies or like certain food or like certain songs. So it is a preference sort of thing. I try to be gracious and yet truthful to what I think. I reserve my harsher comments on false teachings and books that distort the faith. So far we have not reached those books yet. But maybe one day I will share a few books that have. Now let's talk about something else. What happens in making a podcast because some people may want to know what's happening behind here. Well, first of all, I have to read the book and it's not like watching a movie. I say that doing a book review podcast is a lot harder than doing a movie review podcast. Now, a movie reviewer could actually disagree. And until that day when we have a face off and maybe a bit of a debate, I think that watching a movie only takes two hours, even the tv series, which takes how many hours, it doesn't compare with the complexity and time and effort that is needed to actually read a book. So reading a book is hard-ish compared to watching a movie. And reading a book to review is a bit different from reading a book for my own self. To write the review, I have to do a bit more research. For example, for the first podcast episode, it's Deep Church by Dr Jim Belcher. Now there were so many reviews. That book was released 10 years ago and when it was released, there was so much noise, there was so many people saying it was such a great book, so many people saying that it's not. So 10 years later, I'm trying to make sense and adding my thoughts into that conversation. On the other hand, you have Dr Dru Johnson, which is the fifth episode. Now, he wrote the commentary on Genesis 1-11 and I think that he is not as well known as the other four authors. Dr Jim Belcher, Dr Russell Moore, David Jeremiah, or Skip Heitzig. So Dru Johnson is an author that is not very well known. So I have to research him a bit more and I hope that more people will read it, even though he may not be as well known as the other four. Okay, so that is the the reading and the review part. So I have to structure all my reviews and do a bit of research around the book and the authors and the theme. Podcasting Is Technically ChallengingThen we have the technical part. The technical part is things like the recording, the uploading, the distributing and so on. So, for example, for this podcast, I had to research on microphones. I've never dealt with microphones other than use them. So now I have to research a bit on what is a good microphone for podcasts: the different types, different costs, different things that I need to look at. And I got a good one for this podcast. After that we have editing software. I never use Garageband before. Then I tried it out and I tried different software and I figured out to get a good one to use for this podcast. I also have to figure out on the hosting of the podcast for the audio and hosting the podcast is different from hosting the website. I have to figure out how to make those two things happen. Regarding the podcast host, I'm very happy to use a Bcast. Bcast is very new but they have many interesting services. One of them is transcription. So after I have the audio of the podcast, I upload it and then I can click a button and I can get the transcription. The text is not perfect, I have to edit it so that takes time as well. But it's nice to have that service packaged in this podcast host. I will leave an affiliate link at the bottom because I think it's quite good. So if you are interested, you can just have a look at this Bcast as a podcast hosting service. So the other thing which I have to do is social media. Now if you know me, I'm really not keen on the whole social media scene. I really don't like it because I'm a bit old fashioned even though I’m in the youth ministry. Anyways for this podcast, I created a Twitter and Instagram account. I’m still not sure whether at this time whether to create a Facebook Page. But anyways I'm putting it out there. I'm not sure yet what I'm gonna do with them, but I'm hoping that I can just use it for conversation rather than just promotion and advertising. I have those social media channels if I need to and at the moment I just have to think about what am I gonna do with them. So that's part of the learning curve I guess. There's a lot of learning curve in doing this podcast. More than I thought. I thought all I would do is record and share. So I wouldn't be doing much more than what I normally do with my friends or the young people here. But in the end, I had to spend quite a bit of time on many things. The Future of Reading And ReadersSo let's look into the future. I’ve told you how this podcast came about and what is required to get one episode out. Now let's just share a bit of my vision for this Reading and Readers project. I hope that in six months time I would be able to apply for the Faithlife affiliate program. I don't know exactly all the details on what I will get or be able to benefit as an affiliate but I am a big fan and customer. I've got so many of their books. I'm hoping that by being an affiliate there is something that I can offer to listeners or readers, whether directly or indirectly. In six months time. I'm also looking at Crossways Blog Review Program. They have a six months minimum for people to apply. And if I do get in, if they approve me, I will be able to access pre-release books which means that I can review some of those books earlier. If I can review earlier you can make an earlier buying decision. That could be important if you are looking to buy a book for a friend or family in time for their birthday or Christmas or a special event. So I'm looking forward to get early reviews out so that you can make a timely buying decision. Community of Christian ReadersLooking beyond six months, I have big hopes for this podcast but I do struggle with making sure I don't get too far ahead of myself. The important thing is whether we can build a community, whether we can get enough people who are interested in this niche, this Christian book reviews. And if we can have a community of people then the things that I mentioned just now, like affiliates and blog review program, those things can easily happen. But if it's only just me talking to myself, which is one of those nightmares that I have regarding this podcast, you just throw it out there and and the only person listening to it is me. So anyway, if we can have a community that can gather together for Christian book reviews, the same way that there are communities that gather for camera or microphone reviews or entertainment, like music and movies. If they can have communities around those things, I think we can have a community for Christian book reviews. I'm sure there are people out there who love to read Christian books. Otherwise all those books are published for who? I mean it must be for people who like to read them. Right? So I hope that enough people enjoy reading and listening to reviews like I do. So that's why every episode I ask people to subscribe or write a review and even visit the website so that we can build this community. Sharing a Good ThingAnd there is a reason. I'm gonna explain to you because maybe some of you don't know why. Why is it that every podcast asks that you subscribe or download or share the podcast with a friend? And the reason is because when you subscribe, it actually does something to the algorithm. That’s how channels and podcast go up the ranks when you search for something. What pops out? What pops out depends on the level of interests and the level of interest is dependent on subscription, downloads and so on. The more people like it then the more people will see it and this creates a virtuous cycle and that is what every podcast and every channel Youtube channel and so on is going after. And what does that mean for this Reading and Readers podcast? If you like it and you subscribe and you share your friends and more people get into it, what happens is that the chances of this podcast coming up in a search becomes higher so that other readers, other would be readers, are more likely to see this and my hope is they can get introduced to good books. As I mentioned early on, a good book, can turn the desert into life and help some gain a fresh perspective on their situation. There are so many books and I don't want to review them here now, but there's so many books that makes me savor the salvation that I have. There are books that has made me humble by the lives of the saints. I mean I was sharing with this young brother and he said look at Eric Liddell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I've read the mini biographies and I'm so humbled by what they have done in their sacrifice for the faith. And yes, I can now have a conversation with this young man about all these Christians and not idolizing them but sharing about what the faith has meant to the saints. And I think it's just a wonderful thing. If more people know who Amy Carmichael, Bonhoeffer, Liddell, Spurgeon and so on, if they know more of these names, I think it would be a great benefit to the Christian life. I can go on I can go on but for now I just want to say that this is a behind the scenes look at Reading and Readers. If you like what you hear, if you like the book reviews, share it with someone, tell someone who likes to read or someone you think would like to read one day and encourage them to listen and pick up a book to read. If you like this podcast, please subscribe, write a review and visit the website. Readingandreaders.com. And with that thank you very much for listening. I don't know what the future holds but I trust in God's Providence. Until next time, keep reading. Affiliate LinkAffiliate means I make a commission if you purchase. Bcast Podcasting Host. https://bcast.fm?via=terence

Let’s Start From the BeginningHave you had the experience where someone comes to you with a problem and then you say, “Let's start from the beginning?” Well, we have a lot of problems in this life and in this world. So why don't we start from the beginning. And what can be more of a beginning than Genesis? Let’s do that with today's book Dr Johnson. He will guide us through Genesis chapter 1 - 11. Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today's book is from Logos’ Free book of the Month for April 2021. The book we are reviewing today is a book from the commentary series, Transformative Word. The title of the book is “Universal Story: Genesis 1-11” by Dru Johnson. The Reverend Dr. Johnson teaches biblical literature, theology and biblical interpretation at the King's College in New York City. He has a colorful background as it says here: Before academia, he served two years active duty and five years in the reserves of the U.S. Air Force-involved in counter-narcotics operations in the Amazon basin of Colombia from 1993-98. None of that is related to this book, but I thought his counter narcotics operations a world far away from Genesis 1 - 11. The Outlandish ScopeNow, why does he title this book “Universal Story”? I'm going to explain using his words and it's a long paragraph. Genesis 1–11 is outlandish in its scope. The opening chapters parade stories of humanity intertwined with the most intriguing subjects we still wrestle with today: the beginning of the cosmos, the nature of humanity, family, sex, deceit, death, murder, mass murder, ecology, agriculture, urbanization, and more. No topic seems to escape the sweeping narratives of Israel’s initial history. This early history is the story of humanity, but also the story of “all creatures of our God and King,” as Saint Francis once put it. It is the story of astronomers, entomologists, cartographers, historians, and social workers because it seeks to explain place, history, and the lineage of every human endeavor. It is the story of stories, because it is a story about how all of these things came to be the way the Hebrews knew them to be, and the way we know them today. In other words, all stories about life and reality in this universe are in some way subsumed under the early history of Israel’s Scripture. So you can see that he makes a very sweeping case that we need to understand Genesis 1 to 11 in order to understand everything else around us. This book is structured with chapter one as the introduction of which I just quoted at length. In chapter two you will learn why it's 1 to 11 and not 1 to 10 or 1 to 12 because of the way the book of Genesis is written. And in the same chapter two you will also see how what we believe in and what we know of the Christian faith from the New Testament, Old Testament can all be traced to Genesis And after that, in chapters 3-7, these five chapters explains Genesis 1 - 11. Now there are 11 Genesis chapters, but he doesn't divide them equally into these five chapters. There's one chapter for Genesis 1, one chapter for Genesis 2, one chapter for Genesis 3-4. One chapter for genesis 5-9 and one chapter for Genesis 10-11. If you're keeping track, that means the emphasis of the book is on chapters one and two. And understanding chapter one and 2 of Genesis is foundational to understanding the remaining chapters. So after explaining Genesis 1 to 11, Dr Johnson has two chapters which explains what we have just learned in connection with science and ethics today. And the book wraps up with a conclusion and recommended reading. The Missing ChapterThe attentive listener would have noticed that we have a missing chapter. I said in the beginning that this book is part of a series, the “Transformative Word” series. And what is this series about? We don't have the typical introduction by the editor of the series or a chapter just describing what is the series about. It's not in this book, it's not in Amazon and I could only read about this series in Logos, the website. This is what it says. God’s Word is transformative. It is this conviction which gives the Transformative Word series its name and its unique character. Series Editor Craig G. Bartholomew has worked alongside authors from around the world to identify a key theme in each book of the Bible, and each volume provides careful biblical exegesis centered on that gripping theme. Later it continues: The result is an engaging, accessible thematic exploration of Scripture, poised to offer you new and refreshing insights. The Transformative Word volumes were designed to pair with your favorite commentary, to enrich your study with a thematic as well as exegetical perspective. What all that means is that this book is not meant to replace a very rigorous academic, technical or full commentary. It’s designed to be read alongside another commentary. So that explains why this book is so short. It's a commentary which is only 128 pages. You see just like Faithlife, Logos has a free book every month. I have committed myself to review a Faithlife book every month but I don't dare to do that for Logos because the Logos free book is a thick and academic commentary. I just don't have the time and maybe even the ability to review those type of commentaries. But that's what makes April's free book different, it's only 128 pages. So I thought why not give it a read and I'm glad I did. Commentaries Are Not For MeNow some of us listening may be put off by commentaries and you say and you think: “I'm not a preacher, pastor, scholar or theologian. I'm not even the overachieving Bible study leader who really studies the Bible before he leads. So I don't think I want to listen.” But wait, wait, don't go yet. When you hear my story, you might want to hear the rest of the review. So this is how my story goes. In the first two years of my Christian life, I wanted to understand more about the Bible. I went to the church library, I took a book. It was a commentary on Genesis. I read it and it was hard going. I understood the words but the discussion on the Hebrew language, other manuscripts and other Ancient Near East sources just confused me. I felt like I was in the middle of a discussion that has been ongoing for awhile amongst very smart people and I was just not one of those smart people. Because of that I didn't touch commentaries. Some years later I met a brother in Christ. He saw that I love reading and he asked me to read commentaries and I said “No, no, no”. I tried and it didn't work. He said there are different types of commentaries and what I read was an academic commentary really meant more for those who do research or scholarship rather than for the layperson. He suggested I read 1 Kings by Dale Ralph Davis, so I did. And I'm so happy I did. It was a funny book, insightful. It made me think. It made me understand what 1 Kings was about. And so I really gained from reading commentaries after that. Dru Johnson's Universal Story reminds me of those easy to read commentaries. It's one of the easiest commentaries to get into. Reading Genesis For New InsightsLet me put it to you this way. If the book of Genesis is a national park, it is a national park that you have visited very often. Sunday School teachers around the world have guided young children to color the skies as God created the heavens and the earth. And many Sunday School children sit enraptured when the teacher tells them about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve and the Serpent. Who has not heard those stories before? You have already read those chapters. These are very familiar stories to you. So you might ask why read a commentary on something that you are so familiar with. Well, the difference here is the tour guide. This is not your Sunday School teacher and God bless him or her for their service to all of us. The tour guide in this book is Dr Johnson. And he leads you through those familiar points in Genesis 1-11 and he avoids those pits. He tells us about those places where you have creationists and evolutionists and how they have argued and so on, but he doesn't make us stay there. Instead he allows us to get a broad understanding and he moves on. Then at some point he would just stop and ask that you take a look at that tree. Remember, we're in a national park. All right. So there's a tree over there, it's a tree you have walked past dozens of times. But now he points it out to you and say, “Do you see that bird? It's a rare bird and its nest is there on that branch.” And you look at it and you wonder, “I walked past this tree dozens of times, but I've never noticed that amazing and beautiful bird. Or the nest that is on that branch.” What I'm trying to describe here is the wonderful feeling we get. What the series editor meant by new and refreshing insights. How Dr Johnson does this is by asking interesting questions. What Exactly Went Wrong in Eden?Let me give you an example. In chapter five, there is this section where he asks what exactly went wrong in Eden. Was it when the woman listened to the serpent? Or was it when she hinted at an extra command onto God's command? Was it when she lusted for the wisdom of the fruit? Was it when she took it? Or when she ate it? Or when the man who was standing there the whole time ate the fruit. Now, many of us we understand the story of the Eden and we understand the Fall came about because the two ate the fruit. But here he asked what exactly went wrong. He makes a very interesting point. He asks us to read Genesis 3:17. In this passage, it says that God, God said to the man, “because you listened to the voice of your wife”. So Dr Johnson says that the problem, God's diagnosis of the problem, was that the man listened to the wrong voice. So that was a perspective I've never considered before. It was not really the eating. What really prompted everything according to God in Scripture, is the man listened to the wrong voice. Now, another question that I never pondered before was, did the serpent lie? I always thought the answer was yes, or at least he told a half truth. But here, Dr Johnson claims that the serpent spoke the truth. This is how he explains it. I quote: The serpent predicted three things: 1) they would not die in that day, 2) their eyes would be opened, and 3) they would be “like God” knowing good and evil. Dr Johnson then shows that after eating the fruit, they did not die in that day. So the serpent did speak truth. Number two, the scripture also says that their eyes were both opened and they knew that they were naked. So The Serpent did not lie, the eyes did open. And the third thing was that they would be like God. In Genesis 3:22, God said, “Behold the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil.” So Dr Johnson writes: Everything the serpent said came to fruition precisely as he said. What does this mean? If nothing else, we learn that just because someone has authoritative knowledge, does not mean that we should listen to them. This is an insight which I've never considered before and I don't know about you, but I've always thought that being authoritative, knowing what is really true is enough for us to follow. But here we see that we can have two authoritative voice: the authoritative voice of God and the authoritative voice of Satan. Where what Satan says is also true, but in this case we should not follow him. Reflective QuestionsEvery chapter has this type of insights where he shows us something that I'm not familiar with. Under his capable hands, Genesis 1-11 becomes new and refreshing. Every chapter ends with the suggested reading. We have a Bible passages to read alongside. And there are also questions. Now if you're looking to this book as a bible study book, something to bring to your small group, it can be that book. The only thing I would caution is that some bible study books are more directed meaning you can find the answer in the Bible or in the book that you're reading. That's not true for this book. In this book, the questions are very reflective. It's very open ended. So it's not as guided. You will not find the answers to the question in the bible or in the book. For example, the questions for the chapter I just explained is: “How do the stories we tell create voices we listen to? How can we learn to critique these voices with the voice of scripture?” It's very reflective. It is something that there is no firm answer to. I find it very engaging and you could have many good discussions but I just want to tell you that you will not find the answer in the Bible or in the book. Asking Different QuestionsNow after explaining Genesis 1-11, he has these two chapters where he deals with science and ethics today. Many will come to a commentary on Genesis to get answers to those type of questions: Young Earth, evolution, sexual ethics. If you're looking for a definitive, deep and wide study to get a conclusion that you can bring to your next debate or get some points that you can bash the other fellow with, this is not the book for you. I would say you probably want to get books written by Ken Ham or others like him. Apologists who are really debating and answering these tough questions. Universal story by Dru Johnson doesn't repeat many of the arguments for or against those topics. Instead, he asks different questions. For example, on evolution, he says this: The term “evolution” has many uses and layers. By “evolution” I mean the explanation of the current biological diversity based on principles of survival of the fittest, scarcity of resources, and propagation. These three principles are meant to explain how humankind rose to rule the world. These same principles that became the dominant force in biology for the next 150 years bear strong resemblance to the concerns of the biblical creation stories. Now, if you don't understand all the biological stuff, don't worry. The point I want to make over here is that he says that the principles that concern biology in terms of evolution are the same or similar concerns that has been stated in the Biblical creation stories. He makes a case of how survival of the fittest, scarcity of resources and propagation are mentioned within the Biblical creation stories. As I was reading, I was not sure whether I agree or not agree, but I thought it was very interesting. There are some people who say that science and the bible is basically explaining the same thing in different ways. So whatever tensions that exist, actually, all those tensions can be explained as different ways of looking. Dr Johnson, I think, correctly perceives it. That's not exactly true. There are some cases where it is describing the same thing, but in some cases it is two worldviews clashing. And Dr Johnson here makes the case that we need to have a biblical understanding of these topics. Otherwise, if we use the scientific way of interpreting the world, we would abandon the biblical perspective. So he makes that case well. He's not one of those people who say that we are all saying the same thing but in different ways. He makes a strong case for the biblical point of view. More Books From the SeriesLooking at book recommendations. Normally, I would maybe suggest books by Dr Johnson or maybe some books on Genesis. But today I'm going to do something a bit different. I'm going to suggest that you consider getting some books from the Transformative Word commentary series. The reason why I say this is: it's different, it's as they say, an unique character. It's easy to read. It's not a 750 page commitment to pick up one of these books. Because of Johnson's book, I bought a few more of the series. I bought Habakkuk, Daniel and Hebrews. Because it's April. Let me explain. Each of those books that I just mentioned would cost you $5.99 in Amazon for the Kindle copy. And I know prices in Amazon fluctuates, but that's the price that I see today. Now if you're going to get the four books that I mentioned from Amazon, you're going to be looking at $24. Now, if you were to get it from Logos in April, you're gonna get all those four books: You're gonna get Genesis 1-11 by Dru Johnson, Habakkuk by Heath Thomas, Daniel by Barbara Lai and Hebrews by Adrio Konig. You're gonna get all four of these four books for $7 and minus a few cents. $24 in Amazon, $7 in Logos. So I got it all for $7. I would say that this book, Universal Story by Dru Johnson to be worth the full price. It's really an enjoyable read and insightful. So if you want to get those books I suggest you get them in April. I Like CommentariesBefore I finish my review, I just want to mention that I looked at the final chapter where there is this further reading, reading recommendations. We have commentaries and under academic commentaries I see Golden wen Hamm's World Biblical commentary. Guess what? That's the book I picked up so many years ago in my church library. That is the book that made me nearly give up on commentaries because it was just too difficult for me to understand. But it's not that it was a bad book. It was just a book that was too advanced for me at that time. This this is why I appreciate books like Universal Story by Dru johnson because it makes it so much more accessible. It makes it easy. And we understand that it doesn't take a scholar or professor or theologian to understand what the Bible says. You can explain things in a way that ordinary people can understand. And you understand not just from a cognitive, like I know something new, but also how it helps you grow as a Christian. Which voice are you listening to today? Do you put too much emphasis on what is authoritative, not realizing that what is authoritative may not be the right voice to listen to. This book is very good. It's accessible. It asks good questions. It packs a punch in 128 pages. It's like a featherweight knocking down other heavyweights. This is a Reading and Readers review of Universal Story: Genesis 1-11 by Dr Dru Johnson. The Universal Podcaster’s AppealBefore you go, I want to tell you another universal story. And this is the universal appeal that all podcasters everywhere has asked for since the genesis, the beginning of podcasting. And that appeal is this: If you like this podcast, please subscribe, review or visit the website. The website for this podcast is readingandreaders.com. And I just want to say that this episode, episode five, concludes the five reviews for the launch of this Reading and Readers podcast. The next episode, episode six, will not be a book review. It will be a behind the scenes episode on how reading and readers came to be, it's genesis so to speak, and how it works and where this podcast is heading. So if you're interested in that, check out the next episode. Thank you very much for listening. Book ListUniversal Story: Genesis 1-11 by Dru Johnson. Amazon. Logos. Faith Amid the Ruins: The Book of Habakkuk by Heath A. Thomas. Amazon. Logos.Glimpsing the Mystery: The Book of Daniel by Barbara Leung Lai. Amazon. Logos.Christ Above All: The Book of Hebrews by Adrio Konig. Amazon. Logos. Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

(Edited Transcript of Podcast)Proving Atonement From 66 BooksHow important is the cross in the Bible? Christians would say, “Very, very, very important. The whole book is about the cross in the Bible. All 66 books point to Jesus.” “Can you prove it? Can you back up your claim that all 66 books point to Jesus?” And with today's book, the answer is yes. Hi, my name is Terence, and I'm your host for Reading and Readers Podcast, where I review Christian books for you. Every month I review Faithlife’s Free Book of the Month and for the month of April, the free ebook is Bloodline: Tracing God’s Rescue Mission from Eden to Eternity by Skip Heitzig. According to his biography: Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the world through his multimedia ministry including a nationwide half-hour radio program, Connect with Skip Heitzig. He is the author of several books including Bloodline, You Can Understand the Book of Revelation, and The Bible from 30,000 Feet. His book, “The Bible From 30,000 Feet” is 600 or so pages long. It’s on how to read all the books in the Bible in 52 chapters. Wait a minute. There are 66 books in the Bible, not 52. And yes, what he has done is he has combined some books like the prophets together. The three Gospels are in one chapter, and there are some epistles which are combined in some chapters. So you get 52 chapters, which leads to 52 weeks, which means you can read one chapter a week to finish the book in one year. Now, why am I bringing up “The Bible from 30,000 Feet? I thought we were reviewing Bloodline.” Yes, we are but I'll explain why in a moment. The Bible bleedsBloodline is a book where the title refers to the redemption of Christ. Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. The Blood of Christ. Heitzig writes: History hinges on a single pivotal event: the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. There, God’s great redemption of mankind was accomplished—a rescue mission that culminated at the end of Christ’s three-and-a-half-year public ministry but began before the world was formed. This incredible tapestry is woven throughout the Scriptures in red. The great Bible teacher of yesteryear, William Evans, noted, “Cut the Bible anywhere and it bleeds.” The blood of Jesus stains every page, every book, in both testaments. Evans observed that “the atonement is the scarlet cord running through every page in the entire Bible”; it “is red with redemption truth.” That is where the title Bloodline comes from. He also refers to the story where Jesus, after his resurrection, walked with two disciples to the village named Emmaus and as they were talking, they went to a place and they had dinner at the table. Jesus then said to them, And I quote Luke, Chapter 24:25-27. And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. The last part is where we get the biblical support for what Hietzig does in this book. Look at the last sentence: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Every part of Scripture points to Jesus. So that is what Hietzig has done in this book. One chapter, many booksThe structure of Bloodline is as follows. Remember how many books are there in the Bible? 66. Now there are 16 chapters in this book, that is 16 chapters plus the introduction, plus the epilogue. Now those 16 chapters are in canonical order. It's not chronological. Meaning they are arranged by the groupings of the books as you read in the Bible. If it's chronological, you would have the Prophet Isaiah and his prophecies coming up in Second Kings. If it's chronological, you would have Paul’s missionary trip to Galatia, coming up in the Book of Acts. But it's not chronological, its canonical. What you get is things like the first two chapters. The first two chapters of Bloodline is on the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Then later on, you have a chapter, one chapter, which is subtitled The Monarchy. In it you have 1st, 2nd Samuel, 1st, 2nd Kings, 1st 2nd Chronicles, all these six books in one chapter. You have one chapter, subtitled, wisdom literature. In it you have Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Lamentations. All these books in one chapter. And you have combinations of grouping of prophecies in various chapters, the four Gospel and Acts is one chapter. You have various chapters that group together the Letters. So you have the the Pastoral Epistles, the Prison Epistles and the General Epistles as grouped into separate chapters. And you have the last chapter on, obviously Revelation. That is how he has arranged the book. It's going according to how the Bible itself is structured. Writing Challenge? Now I want to give some criticism first in this book review. Then I will go to the positives. The biggest criticism I have of this book is that it's a self imposed creative challenge. Do you know those challenges where you have the professional photographer and give him a toy camera? He then has an assignment where he takes a photo and you see, wow, that picture is so amazing even though he was constrained by using a toy camera? Well, you've seen those challenges where the professional uses dumbed down tools. In this book, Heitzig has handcuffed himself. He has handcuffed himself by various constraints. He's trying to achieve many things in one book. He is trying to: 1. Tell the big story of the Bible.2. Write about the atonement. 3. Make it easy to read. He doesn't assume that the reader knows much of the Bible, so he makes it easy to read, easy to understand. 4. Refer to all 66 books of the Bible. He doesn't skip any one of them.5. Do all of the above in a short book in 250 pages or so. Remember that in his previous book, “The Bible From 30,000 Feet” it was 600 pages. So here we have bloodline 250 pages to deal with 66 books and his earlier book, he did the same with 600 pages. So he doesn't have a lot of pages. And because he doesn't have a lot of pages, there are some parts which comes in very rushed. Okay, so I think that he could have done a better work. This is my assessment. Example from PhilemonOne of the best parts of this book, for me, was the section on Philemon. And the reason is Philemon itself is just a single letter. It's just one chapter. It's self contained. So he could write the summary of it quickly. For example, he writes: Reading between the lines of this epistle, it’s generally believed that Onesimus, a slave of the Christian leader Philemon, stole money from his master and ran away to Rome, thinking, I’ll just blend in and get lost in this big city. Instead of getting lost, however, Jesus found him: Somehow Onesimus met Paul, who was still in prison, and Paul led him to Christ and found out his story. In this letter, Paul appealed for Philemon to receive Onesimus back to him not just as his slave, but as his new brother in Christ. Now this is a mastery of a summary because over here you have the characters Onesimus, Philemon and Paul. You have the background of the city. And you also have the intent. Paul appealed to Philemon to receive Onesimus back to him, not as a slave but as a brother. So it's a very masterful paragraph and he does a background for almost every section because he needs to explain to the reader what's going on in this book. After this, he would share some insights from that book. Some of us, the general reader, may not be familiar the Bible and may find it fascinating. This is how he ends in this way. In this Philemon section, he writes: That’s how it is with God: He loves to restore people. He looks for hearts that are broken, for people who have made bad choices, who are beat up and scarred. He loves to turn people around. And when you choose to become part of His family, His bloodline, that’s what He will do for you. If you bring your broken heart to Him, the master mechanic, He will rebuild it. He’s in the business of restoration and redemption. So you see here, that he is. He ends by connecting it to the bloodline metaphor and he wants, he's inviting us to worship. And he says that he writes that, “more than merely inform about God's astonishing rescue operation, I want you to be inspired to worship him.” That is his intent. He begins with a background. He gives some insights, and then he ends by a connection to the bloodline. He wants us to worship God by the end of it. Runway too short, can’t takeoffLet's take this passage as an airplane. So if the background is the engine and the worshipping final paragraph is the take off. I could not take off because there was not enough runway. There wasn't enough space to build up so he could not build up on the insight for it to lead us to a sense of “God, you're so amazing. I am so in awe of you” because just as he is getting there, it ends. The plane does not crash. It’s not a tragic incident. But it just putters along and he goes back. Taxis back to the start and he tries again to take off. And oftentimes it doesn’t. It just doesn't work. He just doesn't have enough runway to take the plane off the ground, and I will show you why I think so. First, GenesisAll right, in the book, in Bloodlines you have in there a chapter. There's a section in one of the chapters. It refers to Genesis 33:15. Now in the book, it's one page. If you go online, you go and search for Heitzig. You look for his sermon series on Bloodline and you find that there is a sermon title: “The Cure for the Curse.” The exact same subtitle in this book: The Cure for the Curse. It's a one page section, very short, not much runway. In the sermon, it's one hour. It's a one hour, 5 point sermon of the same name. So you see, he can expound at length about one verse. But he couldn't do it in this book because he had no pages. Second, RuthI give a second example. In the Book of Ruth, I found that I couldn't connect the dots. He makes a conclusion that I disagree with, and I couldn't see how he made that conclusion. Let me read to you and you see whether you know what I'm talking about. Heitzig writes: More than anything, the book of Ruth shows us how God chose us and paid the highest price to be able to call us His beloved children. Now, when I read this, I was thinking “More than anything. Wow, this is, like, more than anything.” The Book of Ruth shows us how God chose us and paid the highest price. But I didn't get that. How did God chose us and paid the highest price in the Book of Ruth? What is the highest price? Did I miss something? And later on, in another section, Heitzig writes: Boaz put a significant portion of his resources and his reputation on the line to become Ruth’s bridegroom, and Jesus set aside His heavenly glory for a season to buy your salvation with His blood. So the great sacrifice, the highest price that God paid that is demonstrated in Ruth is demonstrated by Boaz. But how is that so? Because the way I read Ruth is that Ruth has made a bigger sacrifice than Boaz. What has Ruth done? She has left her home. She has left her family to live together with her mother in law in a foreign land. And this positive compliment is not just my assessment. It’s in the Bible. In Ruth 2:11, it says, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.” So Boaz has a positive view of Ruth. Not just Boaz, the people have a positive view of what Ruth has done to leave her family, to leave her home, to stay with Naomi. And if you say that Boaz has put a significant portion of his resources and his reputation, in what sense? Yes, I know Ruth is a Moabite. Yes, I know that in marrying Ruth there is a threat to Boaz’s inheritance. That's why the other guy did not take Ruth in. I know that, but the Bible doesn't make a big deal about this. In fact, the Bible, the Book of Ruth seems to make a bigger deal, I would say, of what Ruth has done in choosing God. So now hear me clearly, I'm not even saying that I'm right and Heitzig is wrong. What I am saying is that I couldn't connect the dots. He doesn't give me enough words. He doesn't give me enough evidence in this book to show me that more than anything, the Book of Ruth shows us how God chose us and paid the highest price to call us his beloved children. Third, MonarchyAnd last example. And this one, I think, will convince you: when he comes to the monarchy. The monarchy that started with Saul and ended with the last kings of Israel and Judah. There is the United Kingdom. And then there was the Divided kingdoms. The monarchy in Bloodline is one chapter that covers 1st, 2nd Samuel, 1st, 2nd Kings and 1st 2nd Chronicles. And that is all covered in 14 pages. In his other book, “The Bible from 30,000 Feet”, each of those books, I just told you, is a chapter by itself. So you have six chapters, and all together those six chapters form 53 pages. In those 53 pages he gives the background, he links to the to the gospel, and there's a sense that he calls to worship and so on. So you have three times as many, four times as many pages in the “Bible from 30,000 Feet”. Bloodlines chapter on the monarchy is very rushed. In Bloodlines, Saul is barely mentioned. David has two sections. Solomon seems to take the most central position and there is little to nothing on the Kings of Israel and Judah. But what can you expect with 14 pages? The writer spends a lot of words and paragraphs explaining to the reader, the general reader who doesn't know the background. By the time you have finished explaining the background, you don't have much room to say anything else. You need this book, or something like thisAfter finishing with my criticisms, let me now turn over to the positive aspects. If you judge the book by the constraints that it has imposed on itself, all right, it's a good book. There is no book that I know of that attempts to tell the big story of the atonement in an easy to understand way from 66 books under 300 pages. If that is what you're looking for, I think there is only one book, and that is Bloodline. If you think there's another book, please let me know. Now, despite the flaws, and I think those are big flaws, I think that Christians should know the breath of the Bible and how every book connects to the Atonement, how all 66 books can be traced to the Cross of Christ, because: 1. It immunizes you from this understanding, this popular notion, that the Christian Bible is a storehouse of quotations where you just look for verses to put up in Instagram. Or it's just quotations that you read on bumper stickers. No, it's not. If you understand how every book is actually God-breathed, you can overcome all manner of apostasies and false teachings. If you just understand the whole counsel of God. So this book helps in that. 2. It answers the challenge that the Bible is an inconsistent mess. You have 66 books, dozens of authors, a mishmash of genres: poetry, narrative, letters, apocalyptic literature. So it's a mishmash of things. But with this book, it helps Christians understand. There is one message that even though there are dozens of authors, there is really only One Author. And the book is centered on Jesus Christ. 3. The atonement itself is very important, so even if you don't read about the 66 books and so on, but if you understand the atonement, that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. If you understand this, you can interpret the Bible correctly. You can evaluate sermons and teachings. Does your teacher, preacher, pastor or leader hold to the atonement? It is one of the most important doctrines in the Christian faith. So you should understand what is the atonement. Pre-millenial WarningAnother thing that I want to say about this book as a caution, not as criticism, is he refers to the millenial. In various parts of the book, he makes a pre-millennial interpretation of the verses. For example, let me read: A curious feature of the millennial kingdom (Christ’s 1,000-year reign on a refurbished earth) is the presence of another temple, complete with some animal sacrifices. So you see over here, that there is the Christ 1000 year reign on the physical earth, and you have another temple, a real future temple in the real city of Jerusalem. I personally don't hold to pre-millennialism. I'm a-millennial. Now, if you think that means I'm not biblical and close to blasphemy, then please consider it as part of my journey. As I consider the Bible and every passage I read, I try to think about the question: How does this correspond with the pre-millennial, post-millennial or a-millennial interpretation? Now here's the thing. If you have very strong feelings because I do not hold a pre-millennial position or you think otherwise, that strong feeling or hostility that comes out is probably the reason why nobody talks about it anymore or preaches about it much nowadays. Because it invokes a lot of those unpleasantness where people are quarreling and arguing about things that seem so far away and not important. Now here's the danger. What we have today is that many people think that eschatology or the teachings on the last days is not important, and that is so wrong. I think eschatology is important. I think that even though we don't know the details, we do know that yes, Jesus will come back and we win. Okay? Christians win. The Kingdom of God reigns. That's true. But we should understand what are the different views so that we can make sense of the different parts of the Bible. So I think that is very important. I appreciate what Heitzig has done in this book. Even when I don't hold to that. Because as I read it, I can see that. Okay, this is how he interprets Ezekiel. This is how he interprets those passages, and it gives me an opportunity to reflect. I just want to mention this because of some of the readers may be surprised by the strong pre-millennial position that he takes in this book, but I think that if you understand how to read it, I think you would be better off with it. Books without Bloodline’s ConstraintsNow, let's go to my conclusion. Is Bloodline a good book? I don't think it's a very good book because of the constraints. I don't know what happened. I mean, why can't we just increase the page count, for example? Is it a marketing issue? Is it a publishing issue? Is it a creative writing challenge sort of thing? I don't know why he handcuffed himself such that he could not have more space to write. It's good in light of the constraints. It’s unique. But it's not something that you can read in one sitting. I think that the plane couldn’t take off. The runway is too short, so I find that very jarring in many, many ways. If you're not looking for a book that fits all those constraints, there are other books that I can recommend. If you want an easy to read a book for the whole Bible, I would suggest children's books. Okay, if you're trying to help a young believer or a child understand, one of the easiest ways is just give a children's Bible book. I would recommend “Biggest Story” by Kevin DeYoung. He looks into the centrality of Jesus. He goes through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but makes it easy for children to understand. So I would recommend the Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung. As you move forward, maybe you want to read more about how the 66 books relate to the central theme. I've read several of those type of broadening books. I have not read “The Bible from 30,000 Feet”, but that looks like a good book. And I think that at 600 pages, one chapter a week, I think you should gain from reading that book. So I would recommend that book for you to have a look at. If you're looking at the Atonement, then I would suggest this book that I really enjoyed, John Stott’s “The Cross of Christ”. I found it very engaging. He goes into the atonement, and you can see the depth of what the Cross of Christ means for the believer. John Stott is a very gifted teacher. So those are some of my book recommendations. Ending lineIf you enjoy Heitzig’s teachings, I think that he does a better job of explaining all that we've talked about in his sermons, in his teaching series. If you just looking for devotional book, this can be it if you don't mind the runway being too short. You just want a very quick and easy read every day. Then, yes, this book will be good for you. But beyond that I find that there are better books that I can recommend. So this is a Reading and Readers review of Bloodline by Skip HeitZig. Before you go, can I ask you to do something? If you are a Christian, that means we are both of the same bloodline. We can both trace a line from Jesus on the cross to where we are today. If you like the podcast, can you hit the subscribe button, write a review or drop me a line at readingandreaders.com. As an encouragement, not as a compulsion. Thank you so much. If you're not a Christian, I hope you will hear carefully to what Heitzig has to say. I get this from his chapter on Revelation. Let me read to you: All through this journey we have seen very clearly that at the center of all Scripture is a single person: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the megatheme, the protagonist from Genesis to Revelation. In the Old Testament, Christ is promised by the prophets. In the Gospels, Christ is presented. In the book of Acts, Christ is proclaimed. In the epistles, Christ is pondered. And in the book of Revelation, Christ’s return is predicted. It’s all about Jesus. Boiled down to its irreducible minimum, the Bible is about one person and two events: Jesus Christ and His first and second comings. Jesus dealt with sin the first time He came, and the second time, He will rule and reign with those who are cleansed from sin. Thank you for listening. Book ListBloodline by Skip Heitzig. Amazon. Faithlife.Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung. Amazon. The Bible From 30,000 Feet by Skip Heitzig. Amazon.The Cross of Christ by John Stott. Amazon. Faithlife.

(Edited Transcript of Podcast) Ethical Man Gets Tempted Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert. Because you are in Christ. That means you were there, too. And because Christ is in you, you too, can overcome temptation. Or is it? Today's book is "Tempted and Tried: Temptation and The Triumph of Christ" by Dr Russell Moore. Dr. Russell Moore is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Prior to his election in 2013, Moore served as the provost and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also taught theology and ethics. Now here is a man who teaches ethics and he becomes the president of the ethics Commission. So we might think that this highly ethical person might not understand the temptations that the everyday person faces. And, we would be wrong, because in the opening pages of this book, he shares a personal story, of him in a hotel lobby between him and an attractive receptionist while his wife and Children are outside in the rain. In this very short story, Moore shows us that he is a man subject to temptation, just like any of us. And more importantly, he shows that the temptation can strike in very subtle in ways that we do not realize, if we're not careful. Christian Norm In fact, that is why Dr Moore wrote this book. In an interview with Justin Taylor, Dr Moore answered that this book was a book for the Christian who wonders, why is it that after becoming a Christian, he is still subject to so many temptations? And maybe there's something wrong with his faith because as a mature believer, temptation should go away, shouldn't it? Dr Moore explains the struggle against temptation is part of the normal Christian life. Another objective of this book was for Christians to be more precise in thinking about sin and temptation. There are those who are being tempted, who then despair and say, "I'm sinning". In contrast, there are those who are sinning and delude themselves by saying, "I'm being tempted". Actually, sin and temptation are two separate categories related but separate, and here in this book, Dr Moore helps us think more precisely about these terms. Before, During and After the Desert Temptation The way the book is structured is that you have the first two chapters that situate us in temptation. So, if you are a person who thinks that you suffer no temptation or you have a good grip on temptation, then the first two chapters will be humbling. On the other hand, if you think temptation is impossibly overwhelming for you and no one understands you, then the first two chapters will be very encouraging. When we go into chapter two, we have it here written the baptism of Jesus, and this is an important chapter because it explains why Jesus is able to help us in our temptation. Here you have John the Baptist telling Jesus, "I should not be baptizing you. You should be baptizing me." Jesus gave this very cryptic answer, he should be baptized by John "to fulfill all righteousness". Its not so much that Jesus had to repent. Jesus never sinned so there was no repentance for sin. Instead Jesus had to be baptized because we had to, because we are the ones who need repentance. Because Jesus is our high priest, he is one of us. So by identifying himself with us, the incarnation, the truly God truly man, he helps us in our temptation because he has overcome. Now it is critical we understand who Jesus is before we go into the heart of the book. Namely, the three temptations of Jesus in the desert. Chapter three, four and five are the Temptations. The first one is the turning of stones into bread. Then you have the devil taunting Jesus to jump so that the angels will catch him. And the last temptation is that Jesus should worship the devil in order to get all the kingdoms of the world. The next chapter is how are we to think and practice what we have learned in the first five chapters. And some readers might be tempted to skip to read this chapter because you are facing temptation right now and you want to get some help. Immediate help. Well, that would not be a good idea, because chapter six is a practical application of earlier chapters. Meaning if you skip you will not understand how to apply what is stated in Chapter six. We Are All Tempted In this book review, I want to share three insights namely temptation, Satan and Jesus. And these insights span across the whole book. Throughout the whole book, Moore persuades us that all of our temptations in everywhere in every form, the temptations that we face in school, in home, in the office, whether you are a man or woman, whether you are born in Africa or in Tokyo, wherever you are in whatever place, whenever time, all of our temptations can be traced to the three temptations of Jesus in the desert. That is a big claim. If you can see Jesus in the desert as fighting for you and knowing that Jesus has indeed face temptation that is common to all men, then you will see him as a person who understands where you are now, in whatever temptation you face. For example, Moore writes, the connection between food and sex. The desire for food and the desire for sex is connected. Now, this is not a novel observation. C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity made the same point. Commenting on sex, Lewis writes, "There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food. They would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interests of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips." Here, Lewis describes the striptease of food and shows the absurdity when it comes to us thinking about sex. Moore writes more food for thought. He elaborates that the desire for food and the desire for sex are God given desires which have been corrupted. Psychology and Cover Up Moore also writes about the temptation from the psychology of the person. He wants to show us how temptation works on us and how there is this risk that we will go into extremes. One of the extremes is where you think you are exceptional. Moore writes, "You start to see yourself as either special or as hopeless, and thus the normal boundaries don't seem to apply. It might be that you are involved in certain patterns right now and that you would if asked, be able to tell me exactly why they are. They are morally and ethically wrong. It's not that you are deficient in the cognitive ability to diagnose the situation. It's instead that you slowly grow to believe that your situation is exceptional. I am a God. And then you find all kinds of reasons why this technically isn't theft or envy or hatred or fornication or abuse of power or whatever." When I read , I thought of Ravi Zacharias, the name behind the biggest sex scandal of 2021. If you have read the reports, Ravi does think that he is exceptional. Even as he goes out and talks about the goodness of God behind the scenes, he is inflicting much pain and hurt to many women. So this book, written 10 years ago, helps us to understand and interpret current events, whether it's Ravi Zacharias, the apologist to millions who falls from grace or your church member who is caught or entangled in some other scandal. Do you remember how you responded to the sex scandals or to any scandal in the church? Were you dismayed at the damage this did to Christianity? Now listen to this, Moore writes: "The demonic powers not only will give us what we crave, but they will assist us in covering it over, for a little while. That’s precisely the irony. Often you are fueled on from one temptation to the other because you haven’t been caught. This gives you an illusion of a cocoon protecting you from justice. The powers, though, don’t want you to get caught—not yet, not this early in the march to the slaughterhouse. They don’t have a mere seventy or eighty years to live. They are ancient and patient and quite willing to wait until your downfall will bring with it the most catastrophic consequences—for you, for your family, for the kingdom of God, and to the image of Christ you carry. So they’ll help you cover it all up, and then they’ll expose you—mercilessly." So we see here the nature of the spiritual warfare that the enemy is willing to help us cover up until we reach the end of the slaughterhouse. This slaughterhouse metaphor is used very powerfully in Moore's writing in chapter two, and here we can see the way Moore portrays Satan. Clash of Samurais He portrays him as the ancient cunning power. Satan is not a comic with a pitchfork and a tail. Nor is he a buffoon that gets easily outmatch and outwitted by Jesus in the desert. We see here that there is real spiritual warfare between the believer and the devil, and we can see this exemplified in the spiritual warfare between Jesus and Satan in the desert. There is real temptation at stake. The problem with the temptation in the desert is that we don't understand what happened. It's kind of like when you watch a Formula One and you see that the lead driver enters the pit. Why did he go into the pit? Because we don't understand the rules of the sport. Or we watch a movie and we see that there is one big monster fighting another big monster. What's happening? Who is the good guy and who's the bad guy? We don't know, because maybe began the movie halfway through. So if we don't understand the rules or the story, we cannot make sense of it. Imagine you're watching a Japanese samurai movie. And on the right, you see the Black Samurai coming. He is undefeated. He has killed millions of warriors and there is blood on his blade. And on the left you see the White Samurai who has just completed his meditation and he is weak from fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. The two warriors clash. The Black Samurai slashes for the gut. Jesus deflects. The devil aims for the legs. Jesus deflects once more. Lastly, the devil aims for the heart and Jesus in the very last second manages to deflect the blade and the Black Samurai rides and runs off, fleeing from the White. That scene is not in the desert writings on the temptation when we read in the Gospels. But here's the problem. The reason why we cannot fully understand the desert temptation is because it happened too fast, and what we needed was to have some background to understand who is the Black Samurai. Who is the White Samurai? Or rather, who is the devil and who is Jesus? And this is where Dr Moore helps us. He draws the context from Deuteronomy so that when the two of them exchange Bible verses, Dr Moore shows us the power and the meaning behind it. He portrays the devil not as being outwitted so easily by Jesus, who is able to respond with a better Bible verse. But instead the devil knows the desires of Jesus and knowing the desires of Jesus, the devil delivers a very precise and powerful blow to Jesus, which Jesus should not have been able to deflect. But Jesus knows who he is. He is the Son of God. His relationship with God, the father is pure. He is the Son of Man. He fully stands with and stands for the children of Adam. The devil has always been able to tempt all the children of Adam to sin. He has never failed. And he did tempt Jesus. Do you know what is at stake here? If Jesus was tempted by Satan to sin in any one way, we would all fall. The atonement requirement for a perfect sacrifice would never be met. How would you tempt a beggar with a little money? How would you tempt the King with a great amount of money? How would you attempt the son of God? If we see through the desert temptations how tempted Jesus really was, we can appreciate and marvel that Satan failed. Jesus was tempted, but he did not fall for temptation. Jesus never sin. He knew he will get all the kingdoms of the world. But it will be from the hand of God, the Father, not Satan. I Am Your Father, JesusAnd here is where there is one part of the book which I am not convinced. Let's see whether you can see what it is. I quote from Dr Moore, he writes, "Satan was not just trying to tempt Jesus; he was attempting to adopt Jesus. Satan, in all three temptations, is assuming the role of a father—first in provision, then in protection, and now in the granting of an inheritance. Satan didn’t just want to be Jesus’ lord; he wanted to be his father." I don't know what you think about that paragraph, and I want to assure you that Dr. Moore does write more about it and that he does give good evidence and good support for it. After some reflection, (and this is after being convinced the first time I read it because I thought it was a very interesting and counter-intuitive insight) I disagree. The traditional idea is that the devil wanted Jesus to act independently. I don't think the devil wants to be a father. What do you think is a father? What comes to mind for me, it means the father is self sacrificial. He loves, he wants to care, and all that motivates the father. That's that's what I think. And that's not true of the devil. So the actions may seem to be like so and I realized that the devil is an imposter and he he does try to be the ruler of the world and be a spoiler. I'm convinced that the devil wants to steal Jesus from God. I'm convinced that the devil wants to steal the father's glory, but I wouldn't put the emphasis so much that the devil was wants to be a father to Jesus. I don't think the devil cares. And in that sense, I don't think he can be a father. I guess my point of difference is the way I interpret the word father and the way Moore over here adapts it to his claim. Now, having said that, this claim is not the whole book so Moore doesn't keep pushing this idea to the reader. In fact, it is just an observation made out of the various chapters and scriptures. But it's not something that you need to to believe in order to accept all the other conclusions, meaning you can still hold on to the traditional understanding that Satan was trying to get Jesus to act independently and set himself up as God himself. Help Me Overcome So let us look into this question: Will this book help me overcome my temptation? I believe many people will reach out for this book because of that. And the trite answer is no. And no book can help you. Only Jesus can. And in that sense, this book is good because it points you always to who Jesus is, to understand the temptation, how he overcomes it, who Jesus is and who we are in him, the truly God truly man. So all that actually helps strengthen our understanding of temptation and sin. The deeper answer is trying to understand what you mean by overcome temptation. If you mean overcome temptation to mean that you will have no such experience, no tugging of the heart, no struggle, no fight, then no, this book will not help you. And as Dr Moore earlier wrote, that is not what this book intends to achieve. You will and should struggle with temptation. That's part of normal Christianity. But this book will help you fight the fight. This book is very good, especially in the second last chapter to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfort. It overcomes any excuses you may have regarding temptation. And he makes very clear the difference between temptation and sin. More Help Are there any other books that may help you in this when you go into? I searched in Amazon, and I searched for the word temptation. There are two categories of books. First category is what we're looking at today. And there is one author that comes up prominently, which is John Owen. So John Owen is a Puritan writer, and he has written extensively, deeply on temptation and on sin. Other than John Owen, there doesn't seem to be a lot of other authors or books on this topic. The other category, when you look for temptation, is the trashy novels, and you want to avoid that in every way possible. You don't have a wealth of library or resources on temptation and sin. Whereas if you compare with a search on grace or blessing or goodness, you will have multiple books by multiple authors throughout the ages. So I just want to make a comment here that if your understanding of sin is weak, then your understanding of grace is also weak. You need to understand sin in order to understand grace. Now this book is not about sin. This book is about temptation. So when you read this book, you will understand the differences between sin and temptation. And it's important because a confusion here can bring a brother or sister down. And that's why this book is good for teachers and counselors, even parents or anybody who is any position to advise people on temptation. And I would say that that would be everybody. So this book helps to encourage those who are struggling with temptation and at the same time warns us not to indulge in temptation to sin. Writing Wins But let's say you are one of the few who have read John Owen, all of John Owen. And let's say that you clearly understand the differences between sin and temptation. You also understand sin and grace in terms of the gospel. So you understand all these things. Is this book still worth reading? I say the answer is yes, simply because it is well written. Every reviewer I read says that this book is well written, and Jared Wilson from Gospel Coalition writes this way: "And I was stirred to fight my own temptations to writerly envy at his deft phrasing and moving composition." And I agree. Dr. Moore just pulls you in. Every thought exercise makes you wonder. Every story he shares has you engaged. And it's just a wonderful, well written book, a great resource for the church and one that I think that every Christian should read. So I I would like to end by just showing an example of the writing and also the conviction that can come out of reading this book. This passage explains the relationship between temptation, Jesus and the Devil, the demonic forces. So let me read it: "Ultimately, the agony of temptation is not about you or me. We’re targeted because we resemble Jesus, our firstborn brother. We all, whether believers or not, bear some resemblance to Jesus because we share with him a human nature in the image of God. As we come to find peace with God through Jesus, we begin a journey of being conformed more and more into the image of Christ. The demons shriek in the increasing glory of that light, and they’ll seek even more frenetically to put it out of their sight." The demons shriek in the increasing glory of the light of Jesus. I had a picture in my head when I read that. Today's book is "Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ" by Dr Russell Moore. Resist the Temptation to GoYou might be tempted to close this podcast. Don't. I ask you to resist the temptation for a moment. Before you go, please subscribe to Reading and Readers. If you found this podcast helpful, please write that in the review as an encouragement to me and as help for other would be listeners and readers. For more information and on how to contact me, you can visit the website readingandreaders.com. I end this with a quote from the book. May demons shriek in the increasing glory of that light of Christ in you. Thank you for listening. Book ListTempted and Tried by Russell Moore. Amazon. Faithlife.Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen. Amazon. Faithlife.Sound Effects from zapsplat.com