Growing in Christ
book reviews
My 9 & 3/4 Favorite Books of 2011
24 months ago
Books are, in a way, cheap passports to new and foreign lands. For the mere fee of a few green things, one is whisked away into the midst of an adventure, or set on the profits of another’s hard labor in the library. These lands can be as breathtaking as the morning sunrise over the Grand Canyon, and as peacefully beautiful as a baby sleeping. I love my passports. I love my books. I love reading.
Thus, I’ve compiled my small list of the few books I’ve read this year into my favorites. I can’t promise the latest and greatest in the publishing world, but I’ve put together what I’ve read. Without further ado, here are my 9 and 3/4 favorite books from this year:
9 3/4 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
It had been several years since I’d read the Harry Potter series, and I had never read them in a single run. So I queued them up and listened through them back to back in a month, and The Deathly Hallows delivered as beautifully as ever. I won’t say much in case a non-reader stumbles upon this, but not merely is Book 7 my favorite, it’s a deeply beautiful book. It’s the stuff that epic literature was intended to be. Rowling is a masterful storyteller, with a profound sense of what she’s aiming at: The centrality of self-sacrificing love for the good of others. In sum, Jerram Barrs summarizes why I love this book.
9 - Collected Poems by Richard Wilbur
For father’s day my son got me two books, one of them was this collection of poetry by Richard Wilbur. It was a book that I read through the year – that’s kind of how poetry goes I guess – and it regularly dazzled me. I’m not a brilliant man, or even a sharp tool in the drawer, so some of his poems missed me. I blame that on me, not the poet. But when Wilbur did strike, he was shown to have an eagle’s eye for word choice and beauty. He has a way of drawing you into a moment and resting in the pleasure of it. At other times his word play is absolutely delightful. If you’re looking for a poet to help you learn to delight in the world around you, to pause more often and consider the glories of God’s spoken world, then pick up Wilbur and follow his tutoring. For a taste, this is one of my favorite poems by him: God’s Patient Stet.
8 - The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
If there’s ever a man of the 20th century who saw the underbelly of his age, it was C.S. Lewis. This book has the obscure premise of critiquing a grammar book for children, and yet it is an explosively insightful and disastrous critique of the modern age. He pulls out the implications of denying universal values and how denying them changes the fundamentals in how we live. The book is very small, and yet much like the Minor Prophets, he sees right to the heart of evil in modern thinking, and pulls it into the light of day. Not merely did Lewis critique the modern world, but he helped me understand my own thinking and how the unbelief of modernism/postmodernism had infiltrated my thinking, and robbed me of joy. One of the more troubling aspects of this book is the many “predictions” of sorts that Lewis makes, and with the vantage point of a little time and history, looking back and seeing his startling accuracy.
7 - The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies
I’m going to be posting a full review of this book soon, but suffice it to say that the tittle of the review will simply be: Hello fish, this is water. I started reading this book being concerned what my use of computers, cell phones, etc. communicated and taught our son. What I got was a sobering introduction to the air we breath. Challies has done a great service to “digital natives” like myself (people born after 1980) to help us understand not only the technology around us, but what that technologies shows us about our hearts. He helps us see how our hearts run to and then use contemporary technology, and what this exposes about our values and thinking. It truly was the sort of experience where I felt like a fish being introduced to water. Ohhh… so that’s! what’s been going on! As I said, a review forthcoming.
6 - The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distractions by Alan Jacobs
If Lewis helped me see how the modern age was influencing and stunting my joyful thinking, then Jacobs helped me see how my own presumptions had robbed my joyful reading. Jacobs is one of the most engaging and readable authors I’ve read, and he continually helps me think through life with sobriety, delight, and a little chuckle. This was another one of the gifts my son gave me for Father’s day, and I read is soon thereafter. Jacobs helped me learn to take pleasure in reading, and to make that my main goal of reading. The reality is, my reading habits and motives almost completely changed after reading this book. My guilt for “not reading enough of the right stuff” was exchanged with the pleasures of reading the delightful stuff. In many ways this book intersects some of the thinking of Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and Challies’ The Next Story.
5 - Practicing Affirmation by Sam Crabtree
I’ve reviewed this book here, so I wont say much else. What I will say is that this book has helped me to connect finding pleasure in God and delighting in his grace and activity in other people. He’s has a lasting, practical impact on how I approach my wife and friends (and strangers) with the desire to delight in God. If that’s something that interests you, check out my review for more, or just read the book.
4 - When People Are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch
I used to think that “fear of man” was something other people struggled with, primarily teenagers or overly ambitious business men. But I kept wondering why I felt anxious around friends or preoccupied with relational perceptions. All the illusions that I’m not a man pleasure shattered when I read When People Are Big and God is Small. This book has had a lasting impact on how I understand my deep sin pattern of loving the praise of man above all things. I crave the love of others deep down in my twisted heart, and fear their assessment of me. I may not tremble with anxiety about what others think, but I certainly posture like a peacock in my heart and attitude to get other’s approval. It’s the same thing. But that’s not all that’s going on – I’m dehumanizing other people to treat them like they should give me attention and serve me the love I desire. Ed Welch is a skilled physician in the Word and the human heart, and his skill is even clearer in how he guides us in finding the help and hope that the Gospel offers us. Jesus died to save crooked men like me! This book may not be the most scholarly book I’ve read this year, but it is one of the books that exegeted my heart and lead me to Christ. A lifelong skill and grace I need to grow in Christ.
3 - Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Chris by Russell Moore
I reviewed this book here. One of the lasting elements of this book was helping me understand the similarity between Jesus’ temptation by Satan, and my own temptations to sin. Satan offered the same reliefs to Jesus that he does to me: provision, protection, and an inheritance. But the nature of the temptation wasn’t merely the satisfaction of desires, but adoption and identity. In the temptations of Jesus, Satan was offering to adopt Jesus as his own son and be his father. It’s the same with you and me in our temptations. Dr. Moore has done a marvelous work in helping us make the theological and practical connections between the temptations Jesus faced and our own daily temptations. These fundamental and basic points in Moore’s work are regularly on my mind, almost daily, and have immensely helped me understand my own battle to kill sin.
2- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. The premise of the book is very simple: A father has a terminal diagnosis, and sits to write out his life’s reflections and final thoughts to his young son that he won’t be able to watch grow up. This novel is his letter to his son. Robinson has done a masterful job of drawing our eyes to delighting in the world around us. “This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it” (quote here). This work is filled with quiet, meditative, insightful, and powerful insights into God’s world. Don’t read it quickly, read it to savor. Having lately become a father, much of this book took on several layers of significance for me: as a Christian, as a son, as a father. One of the great things about this work is that Robinson has shown us what serious minded, joyful Calvinism can look like in literature without being simplistic, trite, or pedantic. That is, good’ol Calvinistic joy can look a lot like regular life, but with deeper joys and pleasures with Scripture’s glasses on.
1 - The Meaning of the Pentateuch by John Sailhamer
Rarely has a book been so stimulating and helpful on so many fronts. In one single book Sailhamer tackles hermeneutical issues, the history of biblical theology, issues in contemporary biblical theology, structure within the Pentateuch, redaction of the Old Testament, authorial intent, philosophy of language, the nature of revelation, and the meaning of the shame within the Pentateuch. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of these 600 pages. This might not be the book for every Christian to read, but I think everybody would at least benefit from reading the Introduction (free to download at WTSBooks). I’m not sure I agree with every conclusion Sailhamer leads us to in the end, but his thinking is thorough and provocative. His rigorous desire to uphold the inerrancy of Scripture and deriving all theological assertions from that reality is both clear and alluring. He pulls out several weaknesses that have snuck into contemporary formulations of the doctrine of scripture and revelation; namely, that it is the text of Scripture itself, not the history it describes that are innerrant revelation and we misplace our attention to exegete the history. Sailhamer did not merely help me get a deeper grasp on the issues surrounding the Biblical text, but he helped me stand in amazement at the picture God is telling us through the narrative of the Pentateuch and the rest of the Old Testament. He amazed me with God, and helped me mark the Biblical steps towards seeing Christ in the Pentateuch. He’s helped me to be a better Biblical thinker, and thereby, more intimately think the thoughts of God after him.
Honorable Mentions:
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell - A masterful story that draws you in to the 18th century Japanese world and quietly plays a chess game of culture’s colliding. Marvelous book!
- The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton (free!) – I read this upon Alan Jacobs’ mention of it. I was deeply engrossed with it and have gone on to read more Chesterton this year. A thrilling story with quirky characters you can’t help but be enamored with. Very much in the C.S. Lewis vein of literature.
- 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson - These are really good young adult fiction books that are great for family reading. There are three in this series, and all three well worth the read.
There you have it. My favorite books of 2011. If you’ve got any favorite books that you’ve read this year, I’d love to hear what they were!
Book Review: Practicing Affirmation
16 months ago
Have you ever just wanted a handbook on how to be a friend? Maybe you’re like me (but probably not), friendship seems hard and difficult, messy and constantly a source of feeling like an absolute failure. Or maybe you are like me and feel that you get little encouragement from people you think are your friends. I feel both of those relational realities, and if you’re like me, then Sam Crabtree is your man. Not only is he your man, he’s your pastor.
In Practicing Affirmation, Sam Crabtree walks us through the grand reality that affirmation “is the purpose of the universe - specifically, affirmation of God” (11). The great thing about Crabtree’s work is that he orbits in a God-centered universe, and wholeheartedly avoids the psychologized relational techniques, love cups, love languages, and self-esteem paradigms of our culture. Affirmation is primarily about God, and when affirming other people, Crabtree helps us see that we are affirming the “echoes, shadows, and reality of a righteousness not intrinsic to the person being affirmed” (19). Affirmation delights in God and delights in seeing Christlike characteristics in other people. It celebrates the grace of God in those patterns and behaviors in other people.
So what is affirmation for Crabtree? “Affirmation of a recognized quality in a human hints at a real quality in God who stands behind it” (30). And why should we want to practice affirmation? First, affirmation directly relates to our posture towards God. If we rightly love and delight in God, we will seek to affirm God and wherever we see him reflected. Secondly, as it relates to people, affirmation “is like an invigorating sudsy shower after a long day of manual labor. It’s like a cool rain after a long, hot dry spell. It delivers a combination of relief, respite, hope, optimism, satisfaction, and energy. It’s life-giving. It blesses.” (41)
The great thing about this book is that it’s immediately practical. Crabtree doesn’t wait until the end to unpack his affirmation advice. No, from the first page this book seeks to give you handles on how to see affirmation as central to love, and how affirmation works itself out in our lives.
One of the great benefits of this book is that Crabtree, apart from being an endeering author, is a careful pastor. He anticipates our hang-ups and questions. He devotes a whole chapter to Q&A, and several excurses and appendixes on clarifying points. For example, maybe you’ve wondered what the difference is between encouragement and affirmation? He notes: ”Encouragement looks forward and affirmation looks backward” (100). Encouragement looks towards where people can go by God’s grace; affirmation celebrates what God has already been doing in people by his grace.
Or maybe you’re thinking that all this affirmation talks sounds a bit like Christian-manipulation. Crabtree is our pastor here and helps us see the difference:
While affirmation is a free gift with no strings attached and trusts God to bring about whatever good harvest he wishes to bring from the seed planted, flattery is a bribe, and a direct return is expected – soon.
Godly affirmation approves of Christlikeness and disapproves of anything contrary, whereas the flatterer approves anything – Christlike or not – that may achieve the desired response. (108)
Concluding thoughts
This little book has been immensely helpful for me. Crabtree not only gives us a God-centered appreciation for the value of affirmation, but an application method that is God-empowered. You cannot walk away from this book thinking you’ll make much of Jesus and the reflections of him in other people in your own strength. The Spirit is necessary for the living of this material. If you want to oil the wheels of your relationships with love and grace, if you want to have better eyes to see the activity of God in others and communicate it in compelling and loving ways, if you want to learn how to simply be a better friend, Practicing Affirmation was written for people like me and you.
If you’re interested in a few more quotes from this book, check out these two posts:
Agreeing with Atheists about god
Affirmation is the purpose of the universe
Title: Practicing Affirmation
Author: Sam Crabtree
Boards: paperback
Pages: 170
Volumes: 1
Dust jackets: n/a
Binding: sewn and glue
Topical index: yes
Scriptural index: Yes (Scripture index notations are off by 4 pages in my edition. Publisher has been alerted and subsequent printings will be corrected.)
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2011
Price USD: $14.99 / $9.97 at WTSBooks
ISBN: 978-1-4335-2243-7
This book was provided for review by Crossway but all opinions are entirely my own.
Review: Tempted and Tried by Russell Moore
18 months ago
It seems a little odd to me to try and make a bridge between us on the subject of temptation. If the news outlets are any indicator, Senators still face the temptations of infidelity, government heads still face the temptations to oppress and abuse power, mariages are still fraught with the temptations of adultery and financial anxieties, and on the whole, people continue to live in a fallen, broken world.
When it comes to understanding the nature of the temptations we face and how to find help and hope, there’s no better person to look to than Jesus. Jesus was tempted, and was tempted by none other than Satan himself, in the flesh. It’s this passage out of Matthew 4 about the temptation of Jesus that Russell Moore opens up for us in his book, Tempted and Tried: Temptations and the Triumph of Christ.
Maybe this seems like a strange angle to you in understanding your own temptations. How can Jesus, who was sinless, relate with someone like you and me? Deep down, maybe you whisper with me, “Isn’t learning from giving in to temptations and making mistakes just what it means to be human? So how can Jesus relate with that?”
Here is where Dr. Moore is helpful. In his book he plainly opens up the temptations Jesus faced in Matthew 4 and breaks them down so we see the full weight of what was at stake in each of Jesus’ temptations. At the root of every real temptation Jesus faced was a temptation I feel so desperately allured by every day. Have you ever just wanted to be provided for, protected, and given good things? If you’ve ever faced those desires, and the sinful temptations to get them apart from God, then you have an idea of the temptations Jesus faced.
But this is how Moore’s book is helpful. Jesus didn’t just come to endure the temptations we face on a daily, hourly basis, he came to conquer them. He came to be tempted and tried so that he could vindicate his people to new life. Where our father Adam failed, Jesus came to be faithful.
Ultimately, temptations are about identity – the call of where we’re going to find it, and who’s going to satisfy our cravings. But it’s not just about finding idenity, it’s about who that identity is in. Moore makes this brilliant insight into Jesus’ temptation, and implicitly, our own:
Satan was not just trying to temp 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 granting an inheritance. Satan didn’t just want to be Jesus’ lord, he wanted to be his father. (137)
At the root of temptations are the question: Who are you going to call your father? God or Satan. Bob Dylan once sand, “It might be the Devil, it might be the Lord, but your gonna have to serve somebody.” At the root of Jesus’ and our temptations are the question of who we’re going to serve and root our identity in. Moore is helps us see the real, raw, weighty nature of Jesus’ temptations, and how we are not only assailed by the same temptations, but how rooting one’s identity in Christ through repentance and faith, being a child of our Heavenly Father (rather than our satanic father) is key to walking in newness of life.
If you’re like me, this can all begin to feel a little… invasive. But that’s the point – you and me need the invasion of a Healer, one who can fix our brokenness. This is how Moore’s book is so deeply helpful. Moore is clear and articulate in opening up Scripture, and he aptly exemplifies the sympathy of Jesus for sinners like us in the pastoral, caring heart of Christ he takes in his posture towards us in how he applies Scripture. This book is profoundly practical and rich with good insights into how we live.
I think that on the spectrum of books about sin in the Christian life, Moore’s Tempted and Tried is one of the most accessible books on the subject. Obivously John Owen has written a great deal about sin and temptation, but even abridgments and updates of his work can be rough reading. Moore’s angle of engaging the Christian life through the life of Christ is immediately helpful. If you want to overcome sin with simply more of Jesus, then entering in through the temptations and triumph of Jesus is the place to begin.
In the end, my only critiques of the book is that the chapters are long and that I despise end-notes (the constant flipping to the end of the book!). But, eh… that’s small beans, and I need to get over myself.
If you want to know more about the temptations of Christ and his compassion for sinners like us, read this book. If you want to overcome sin and temptation, but know that such a goal must require Jesus to succeed, read this book. If you’re weary of being beat over the head with moralistic rules on how to overcome weaknesses, read this book. If you want a profound adoration and love for Christ to be the powerhouse in working through temptations and sin, read this book.
—–
If you’d like to read a few selections from Moore’s book, I’ve quoted him here, and Tim Challies has put two selections up here and here.
Title: Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ
Author: Russell D. Moore
Boards: paperback
Pages: 196
Volumes: 1
Dust jackets: n/a
Binding: sewn and glue
Topical index: yes
Scriptural index: yes
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2011
Price USD: $13.99 / $10.04 at WTSBooks
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1580-4
Review: Rid of My Disgrace
51 year ago
One if four women and one in six men (statistically) will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. Which means, that if there are four women and six men who read this post, 1/5 of them will have been, or will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. That’s a staggering amount of people. If you’re like me, you’re easily left having a vague notion of the horror of this sin, baffled with a broken heart for the victims of sexual assault, and wondering, “How can Jesus help these people?!” Jesus says he comes to heal the broken, surely if anybody can be described as broken, it’s the victims of sexual assault.
Justin Holcomb and Lindsey Holcomb step along side us in Rid of My Disgrace and help us see the glorious power of Christ to give hope and healing for victims of sexual assault.
I’ll be honest, I read this book backwards. I know, authors have their order of chapters for a reason, but I was far more concerned with how they ended the book then how they began it. Far too often people begin with good intentions of helping the broken, but end in shady places. The Holcomb’s never even come close to this temptation. In part three of Rid of My Disgrace, “Grace Accomplished”, they end, essentially, with a Biblical Theology of how shame and grace interact throughout the Bible and culminate in the person and work of Jesus Christ. They do this to help victims of sexual assault find their sin’s place (both sins done against them and their own sins against God) in the story of God’s accomplished redemption plan in Jesus Christ.
There are two things to note here: 1) The Holcombs do not play games with psycologizing healing for sexual assault victims. They come into the issue with the Gospel in hand to offer Jesus to victims. 2) Along these lines, the book is literally littered with Scripture. They have a very interesting footnoting/endnoting system where all passages of Scripture quoted or referenced are footnoted on every page, while works and authors are endnoted in the back. As I did a scan through the book, they hardly have a page or two without scripture quoted or referenced helpfully at the bottom. This means that those who come to this book for help will be immediately directed to God’s Book, where they will find his grace for healing and hope.
The rest of the book – you know, that part at the beginning that I circled around and read out of order – is equally as helpful as the ending. In part one, they simply open up the issues involved in understanding what sexual assault is (chapter 1) and what its effects are (chapter 2). They define sexual assault, parse the words in what they mean, and help you understand how it applies to victims.
In part two they work through case studies. Each of these stories are heartbreaking simply by their reality. They open each section of “Grace Applied” with a person’s story of being the victim of sexual assault, and then discuss the particular effect that sin had upon that person and how Jesus Christ is not only acquainted with that sin, but is the answer to its need of healing. They work through denial, distorted self-image, shame, guilt, anger, and despair. All conditions we are all aware of, but each subject in the hands of the Holcombs is skillfully met with grace.
I have been deeply struck by how well the Holcombs have sought to understand the victims of sexual assault. They do not trivialize their suffering. They do not push it aside. But they also do not let it loom so large that its unanswerable or left uncared for. Through the course of the book, you see the eyes of Christ weeping for sin, and the hand of Christ offering healing for the needy.
I heartily recommend this book to all Christians in our day. I give the only slight caution of recommending it to younger readers (15-18 y/o) simply due to the content of the testimonials in part two. Parents will want to read through those sections first and judge their own children’s maturity (or walk through the chapters with them). Otherwise, this book will be an invaluable resource for the church in helping them understand how the Gospel engages this pervasive sin in our day.
To Justin and Lindsey, thank you so much for writing this book. I know it is going to be massively helpful to the people of Christ. What I most deeply appreciated about how you addressed the issue in the book is that you don’t shy away from the heart breaking horror of the suffering and evil of sexual assault, but you also don’t shy away from Jesus Christ and his Gospel. I saw a firm setting on the Gospel throughout the book that helped my soul grow tender like Christs for the people who are victims of sexual assault. Thank you for this.
This wednesday, I will be posting a follow up to this review with a question I posed to Pastor Justin about how those who are not victims of sexual assault in the church can orient themselves to care for those who are.
Title: Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault
Authors: Justing S. Holcomb and Lindsey A. Holcomb
Boards: paperback
Pages: 209
Volumes: 1
Dust jackets: no
Binding: glued
Topical index: yes (subjects and names)
Scriptural index: yes
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2011
Price USD: $15.99 / $10.55 at WTSBooks
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1598-9
Review: Think by John Piper
31 year ago
As I’m sitting down to write this review, my friend has been snagged into a conversation with the local Existentialist about the meaning of life (we were supposed to be having coffee). It’s the sort of conversation where you go from “Hello” to “Now follow this syllogism” in about thirty minutes. He’s a well meaning guy, though he’s one of those guys who’s zero’d in on one or two philosophers because they scratched an itch that he had, while not really being tested to see if his own thinking is sound. But the irony strikes me as tangible: Here I am, writing a review about a book on thinking for the glory of God, and my friend (just 10 feet away!) is being challenged to understand an oddity in our day – a man who’s passionately confused yet devoted to trying to think.
This is, of course, a poignant example of 
why John Piper’s recent book, Think, is so desperately needed today. I’m afraid that many Christians do not know how to think like Jesus. We are called to “just follow Jesus”, “be like Jesus”, and ask “What would Jesus do?”, but hardly does anybody give thought to thinking like Jesus. John Piper fills the gap.
The basic message of the book is this: Piper contends that loving God with our minds means that “our thinking is wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fulness of treasuring God above all things” (19). Piper’s means of making this point is by expositing Scripture. His main texts, as I read the book are Luke 10:21 (God has hidden these things from the wise and understanding), 1 Corinthians 1:20 (God has made foolish the wisdom of the world), 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 (God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ) and Matthew 22:35-40 (You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind).
This may be easily passed by (who actually looks up all the Scripture references in books?), but to me it is one of the enduring qualities of this book. What is so refreshing about this means of building his book is that when we close the book, we’re built up in Scripture, understanding it better, and left leaning on God and his Book, not Piper and Think. This, my friends, is a sign of a faithful ministry.
This book will, I think, strike a cord with many people on many different levels. Piper works through the place of the mind and thinking in the Christian life, and then contrasts biblical thinking to intellectualism, anti-intellectualism, and relativism. Following the teaching of Jesus, he appeals to the Christian to be firmly fixed in the Bible, thinking good hard thoughts for the sake of stoking one’s affections with the glory of God and loving their fellow man.
Personally, this book was well timed and deeply helpful. It gives me hope to see that logic “is a furnace driving the engine of love” (54), not merely a cold, sterile tool for entertainment between the ears. That is, the mind isn’t merely the information hard-drive of the body that just stores information until you want to pull it up. No, thinking is about loving. However, for ”thinking to be loving, it must be more than thinking” (84). That is, the mind was made for working and serving something other than itself. ”[W]hile it is true that the mind and heart are mutually enlivening, it is also clear that the mind is mainly the servant of the heart. That is, the mind serves to know the truth that fuels the fires fo the heart” (36).
You mean to tell me that I don’t leave my brain at the door when I come to treasure Christ, but actually take it up as my chief tool in knowing and enjoying the glory of God? This. is. staggering. It is not my mind that needs to be repented of, but my shallow, selfish, and sinful thoughts that haven’t served my heart rightly as God intended.
There are great things in store for those who read this book. I think this may be one of Piper’s easiest primary books to read. Throughout the book he’s constantly explaining Scripture and helping us to see where his own thinking is going. Piper’s pastoral wisdom and care make this book not only accessible in content, but enlivening in application. I left the book wanting my thinking to be “wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fulness of treasuring God above all things,” and I think you will too.
Title: Think
Author: John Piper
Boards: hardcover
Pages: 210
Volumes: 1
Dust jackets: yes
Binding: sewn
Topical index: yes (subjects and names)
Scriptural index: yes
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2010
Price USD: $19.99 / $10.39 at WTS Books
ISBN: 978-1-4335-2071-6
I did receive this book free from Crossway Books for review, but the thoughts are unsolicited and completely my own.
Review and Giveaway: Collected Writings on Scripture
1 year ago
At the end of this post there will be instructions on how to enter the book giveaway. Now that you’ve skipped ahead and already entered your name, I hope you enjoy the book review!
REVIEW
D.A. Carson’s latest book, Collected Writings on Scripture, is fundamentally nothing new from the author. Just as the title indicates, this is a collection of his writings on the subject of Scripture. Section one is devoted to standalone articles that the author has written on various subjects within the field of the doctrine of Scripture. Section two consists of reviews Carson has written of other books on the doctrine of Scripture. With that in mind, let me introduce my review as follows:
The Don’s latest book is split in two sections.
I shall do the same here, and I pray: No objections!
PART 1
—Summary—
Chapter one, “Approaching the Bible” presents a basic introduction to the doctrine of Scripture, addressing the questions What is the Bible? and How do we interpret the Bible? This chapter, I think, could easily be handed to any believer as a crash course on the doctrine of Scripture, and they’d be more thoroughly enriched to love and enjoy the Bible.
Chapter two, “Recent Developments in the Doctrine of Scripture” holds to its name and engages a wide range of issues stemming from postmodern affronts, addressing revisionist historyography to The New Hermeneutic and epistemological issues. Of the first section of the book, I think this might be the most immediately helpful chapter for readers, engaging a wide range of battle lines on the doctrine that are increasingly working their way into the normal life of the church, especially the younger generation as it realtes to the epistemology of postmodernism. However, if you think you’re getting out of this chapter without a word to you, dear Christian, please remain in your seat. Carson has a challenging word for Evangelicals on the diminishing authority of the Scriptures in churches today.
We are experts, and we live in a generation of experts. But the cost is high: we gradually lose our sense of indebtedness to grace, we no longer cherish our complete dependence on the God of all grace, and we begin to reject themes like self-sacrifice and discipleship in favor of courses on successful living and leadership in the church…Mere conservatism must not be confused with godliness, mere discipline with discipleship, mere assent to orthodox doctrine with wholehearted delight in the truth. (107)
This illustrates the classic, clear-eyed Carson who sees issues, not in terms of polemics, but in terms of faithfulness. And he calls you to the same.
Chapter three opens up the issue of unity and diversity in the New Testament as it relates to the development of Systematic Theology. Here Carson gives interaction to the nuances of the New Testament in biblical theology and the summarizing work of systematic theology.
Chapter four engages the issues of redaction criticism and how it can be used helpfully, in spite of all the poor ways it has been used by scholars in the past. Redaction criticism should not be seen as the churches enemy, but a tool exegetes can use in how they understand the theological structures biblical authors are presenting.
And finally, Chapter five deals with the clarity of Scripture. Is it still relevant to us today? Has the church always held to it? Yes, and yes, and thank you Carson. While there are many authors in the Bible, there is one Author behind it all, using the Bible to edify and strengthen his church through the ages.
—Who Should Read This Book—
There are two categories of people who should read this book:
- Pastors. For those especially called to the ministry of the Word, they need material that will keep them informed on what issues are at stake in our own times. The book itself isn’t written as a comprehensive discourse on the doctrine of Scripture, but I think it is a helpful complimentary volume to those books to keep a pastor up to date and fresh in his thinking on the subject. Some articles are more difficult than others, but in typical Carson fashion, it doesn’t stay like that for long and hanging with him will pay off in helping you think about the issue more clearly. I think every pastor should have a copy of this in their library because at some point they are going to be confronted with one or several of the issues Carson addresses in this book, and they will find it a dear friend indeed.
- Lay students. The people I have in mind here are folks who are twofold: 1) People who not pastors or professional scholars, but are readers all the same; and 2) Students in higher education especially interested in figuring out these subjects. The literary world is rift with horrible books on this subject, and I think laymen and women who have the mind to engage these issues should read this book and have the material readily on hand to help those with questions in the church. Carson’s material here will help people who enjoy scholarly commentaries that might use exegetical tools questionably be able to understand why they feel uncomfortable with the conclusions these scholars use and yet still be able to benefit from their resources.
PART 2
This section of Carson’s book includes major book reviews he’s done on works about the doctrine of Scripture. A summary here seems unnecessary since he has nine book reviews all addressing different areas. The two books that Carson does engage that I think people will find most relevant are his reviews of Peter Enn’s Inspiration and Incarnation and N.T. Wright’s The Last Word/Scripture and the Authority of God. These two have raised a lot of attention in America in the last few years, and Carson’s insights and penetrating analysis give us helpful guides in thinking through the nature of Scripture in the modern debate. It is, for example, helpful to think through how the analogy of the Incarnation of the Son of God maps on to the word of God in human words. As Carson asks:
If the incarnation is to be our model for how we think of Scripture, or even of Scripture’s humanness, how do such elementary distinctions as these play out? What might it mean to say that Scripture is composed of thoroughly human, but perfect, documents? Or does the analogy break down? If so, why and where? None of this is discussed. (269)
When it comes to addressing Wright’s book, Carson is equally helpful and penetrating in the types of questions he prompts us to ask about what is being presented.
—Why You Should Read This Part—
In addition to my thoughts on who should read this book above, I’d like to give a further observation unique to this section. In this section, Carson teaches us how to think. In how he presents each book’s material fairly and precisely, and then moves into how he picks up each issue, turns it around, and asks insightful questions, he’s showing us how to process theological issues in the presence of God. One doesn’t get the impression of arrogance or belittling. But neither does one get the impression of fluffy and easy appreciation. Carson sets out to show us what to appreciate, how to appreciate, and how to critically set aside and ask good, hard questions. What is presented in this section, I think, is a challenging and encouraging example of how a Christian mind should think through difficult issues with grace and conviction, under the authority of Scripture.
Conclusion
All in all, I think the book is an important supplementary read on the doctrine of Scripture that will keep the reader abreast of the major issues of our times in this field and give them guidance on how to think them through to the glory of Christ.
Title: Collected Writings on Scripture
Author: D.A. Casron
Boards: hardcover
Pages: 335
Volumes: 1
Dust jackets: yes
Binding: sewn
Topical index: yes (subjects and names)
Scriptural index: yes
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2010
Price USD: $27.99 / $18.47 at WTSBooks
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1441-8
*Yes, I stole this book facts-sheet summary from Tony Reinke!
GIVEAWAY
Ok, so Crossway has graciously provided another copy for me to give away, and here’s the rules:
- How to enter: Leave a comment on this post.
- US addresses only.
- You can only enter once.
- The giveaway will end on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 10pm Eastern Standard Time with the winner being announced Friday, October 15.
Review: The Secret of Communion with God
2I think some times the Puritans get a bad wrap. Yea, they’re hard to read, and everybody thinks of witch burning when they think of them… But that’s kind of like associating the State of Alabama with The University of Alabama: Don’t lump all the good people in with the bad. (That’s right, in this case, Alabama is bad, very bad.)
In The Secret of Communion with God by Matthew Henry,
readers will see just how helpful, caring, and pastoral the Puritans are. Henry’s tone through the whole book is like a warm grandfather, eager to help his grandchild learn how to do the basic, important things in life (like count, or hit a ball). The subject of the book is prayer – an area that every Christian feels is weak in their lives. Henry, in biblical fashion, is not eager to condemn or damn people lacking much motion in their prayer lives. He follows the pattern of the Bible and holds up a picture of who God is, God’s mercy to us to enjoy him, and encourages us towards the discipline of prayer with excitement about the grace we’ll receive.
Summary
Matthew Henry starts his book on communion with God by defining prayer for us:
Prayer is lifting up the soul to God, and pouring out the heart before him; yet, as far as the expressing of the devout affections of the heart by words may be of use to fix the thoughts, and to excite and quicken the desires, it is good to draw near to God, not only with a pure heart, but with a humble voice; so we must “render the calves of our lips.” (13)
That is, prayer is lifting up the soul to God, using words to fix our attention and thoughts on God, while also using words to instruct our emotions and affections to enjoy God. Ultimately, prayer is good because we draw near to God. Through the book, Henry applies this to our souls through the course of the day.
The book consists of three simple parts: How to begin your day with God, How to keep your day with God, and How to end your day with God. Henry discusses the three parts of the day in simply applying a Psalm to our lives. For beginning the day he applies Psalm 5:3 – “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” Here he opens up how to begin the day in one’s attitude towards God and expectations in reading his Word. The Christian has much to be grateful for in beginning their day, and much to ask God for grace in as they look towards the day ahead. If you’re needing help in seeing why you should begin your day in prayer, and how you should be praying to God, this section will be helpful for you.
In the middle of the day, Henry applies Psalm 25:5, “for you I wait all the day long.” Henry goes through here and applies “waiting on the Lord” in how to spend the day with God. He helps us to ask what we are boasting in through the day. Am I boasting in God in my attitude and approach to the day’s activities? Or am I boasting in myself? The Christian’s life is bound up in dependence on Jesus Christ, and Henry beckons the soul to rest in Jesus.
Finally, Henry closes the book by applying Psalm 4:8 to how we end our days, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Here we see how to think about the day behind us. To be repentant of the sins we’ve committed, thankful for the mercies we’ve received. The grace of God to give us peace in Christ through the Gospel is applied to our souls to help us join with David in knowing real peace as we lie down. Henry closes by drawing our attention to think on that final peace we will know in death, to draw sobriety from that, as well as joy for that day when we will see our Lord Jesus.
Reasons to like the book
As I read through the book, I felt instructed on how to think about daily prayer and how to make a discipline of the normal events of the day into moments where I express simply faith in Christ. Many books on prayer want to address specific issues about prayer – how to pray for certain things, how to understand theological issues in prayer, etc. Other books want to give only practical guides for prayer – how to’s and when’s – without giving any instruction. Henry’s little work gives you a whole vision of why you should pray during the day. The book feels like a parent helping their child see consolations in the heavens; Henry points to regular moments of our lives, stands us in them, and points us up to see how the glory of God relates to them.
One of the ways I want to use this book from here is to go through and make little short lists of his guidance of the types of things to be praying about for mental joggers. For example, when waking, Henry reminds us that we are dependent upon God, and lists out several areas that we see this: Our happiness depends on God; our guilt makes us dependent on mercy; our souls depend on God for life; our safety from enemies depends on God; our impending death makes us dependent upon God for every moment of life; we depend on Christ being members of his body, the Church; we depend on God for strength and wisdom in all of our relationships. That’s a helpful list to keep in mind when thinking about the day’s business ahead.
Personally, the most helpful chapter in the book – and I think the most needed for Western Christians – is his section on waiting upon God. American’s are not patient. The call and application to wait in prayer upon God is very helpful.
Favorite quotes
Here are my favorite (small) quotes from the book to wet your appetite.
We read of preaching the word out of season, but we do not read of praying out of season, for that is never out of seas: the throne of grace is always open, and humble supplicants are always welcome, and cannot come unseasonably. (11)
Wherever God finds a praying heart, he will be found a prayer-hearing God. (12)
What a shame is this to us, that God is more willing to be prayed to, and more ready to hear prayer, than we are to pray. (14)
If you love God, you cannot be to seek for something to say to him, something for your hearts to pour out before him, which his grace has already put there. (16)
Though we cannot by our prayers give him any information, yet we must by our prayers give him honour. It is true, nothing we can say can have any influence upon him, or move him to show us mercy, but it may have an influence upon ourselves, and help to put us into a frame fit to receive mercy. (19)
God’s word must be the guide of your desires, and the ground of your expectations in prayer; nor can you expect he should give a gracious ear to what you say to him, if you turn a deaf ear to what he saith to you. (20)
Prayer is heart’s-ease to a good Chrisitan. (26)
Whatever you do, begin with God. (27)
Aurora musis amica – “The morning is a friend to the muses” and if the morning be a friend to the muses, I am sure it is no less so to the graces. (28)
It is not enough to say your prayers, but you must pray your prayers (38-39)
When you have prayed, look upon yourselves as thereby engaged and encouraged, both to serve God and to trust in him; that the comfort and benefit of your morning devotions may not be as the morning cloud which passeth away, but as the morning light which shines more and more. (39)
To wait on God, is to live a life of desire toward him, delight in him, dependence on him, and devotedness to him. (44)
Desire is love in motion… delight is love at rest. (45)
Something or other the soul has that it values itself by, something or other that it reposes itself in; and what is it? God or the world? What is it that we pride ourselves in ? Which we make the matter of our boasting? (45)
To wait on God is to make his will our rule. (47)
And then it intimates this, that those, and those only, can expect to be taught of God, who are ready and willing to do as they are taught. (48)
Did we think more of death, we would converse more with God. (71)
O that, when I awake, I may be still with God, that the parenthesis of sleep, though long, may not break off the thread of my communion with God, but that as soon as I awake 1 may resume it. (99)
Conclusion
Ultimately, I think this is a really helpful book on prayer. I highly recommend it to anybody looking for a little puritan book to guide them in thinking about prayer, and stir their affection to be with God.
——
I was given this book for free by the publisher for reviewing.
Review and Giveaway: Church Planter
1 year ago
At the end of this post there will be instructions on how to enter the book giveaway. Now that you’ve skipped ahead and already entered your name, I hope you enjoy the book review!
The church planting varsity league of the 21st century, Acts 29, has finally released their first book on church planting: Church Planter by Darrin Patrick. In particular, Patrick’s work is about raising the bar for ban’s (boy+man=ban) to stop merely being humans with male plumbing, but men who are defined by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The subtitle of the book gives away its three sections: The Man, The Message, The Mission. Under “The Man” Patrick spends a chapter on each the seven characteristics of what a man should be: Rescued, Called, Qualified, Dependent, Skilled, Shepherding, Determined. Under “The Message” he says that a man’s message should be The Historical, Salvation-Accomplishing, Christ-Centered, Sin-Exposing, Idol-Shattering Message, with a chapter on each aspect. In section three, he talks about how the heart of a man’s mission is compassion, the house of the mission is the church, the how of his mission is contextualization, the hands of his mission are care, and the hope of his mission is city transformation. Needless to say, Patrick covers a wide range of material in this book that lands at a mere 238 pages.
Main Review
At the center of this book beats a heat
centered on Jesus Christ and him crucified. This got me excited about the book. At no point does Patrick slip into the all to easy vein of moralistic guilting. Darrin Patrick is a pastor, a pastor who loves Jesus, and you get the sense through the book that Patrick wants us to know the power of King Jesus as it relates to the call of some to plant churches. He wants what God wants, what the Bible clearly calls men to (if they should so choose to let the Bible speak for itself): men who know the power of Christ to rescue them from sin and call them into a life with God. He makes appeals to men being men of God simply because they are fundamentally rescued men.
Eric Simmons has noted that page 25 of the book where he talks about “What does it mean to be rescued?” is worth the entire price of the book. I couldn’t agree more. But let me add a couple more places that the book is worth its weight in gold. In chapter three, Patrick gives a fresh and helpful exposition of 1 Timothy 3’s qualifications of a pastor. Seriously rich and illuminating stuff here. Further, on page 124 in chapter 9 on “Salvation-Accomplishing” I have a huge star for personal reference where Patrick goes through and gives an extensive Scripture listing of “The blessings that Christ has procured or us through his death and resurrection [that are] immeasurable”. I know I will be continually referring back to this helpful listing (along with a section a few pages over on the imputed righteousness of Christ).
A further helpful aspect of the book that I would note is Patrick’s pastoral care for us through the material. He likes to ask you lots of questions to help you think through things. These tend to be at the end of chapters. He also wants to keep you from going off on bad roads from various things he presents. So very often he presents biblical truth, applies it to your life, and then gives observations (typically two or three) on how people can avoid this truth, supress it, take it the wrong way, etc. His wise insight will be helpful in guiding many men on a godly path of pursuing a church planting calling.
These two things, I think, make the book unique in the literature being published these days that is aimed at church planters and church planting. Many books strike a completely pragmatic approach where they describe techniques of leadership and church models. Here, Patrick exemplifies that which is greatly needed and for which Acts 29 is to be deeply thanked: He sticks to the Gospel and let’s the power of Jesus Christ be the engine by which church planting runs. In this respect, I think this book will prove to be invaluable to any church planter.
In some ways I feel this book is mistitled. It should be something along the lines of “Being A Christian”. The book centers around what the Gospel of God (the message) does to a person rescued by Jesus (the man) and what it sends them to do (the mission). Certainly the book is applied to those called to be pastors and church planters, but the sense I kept getting through the book was simply that, as all commentators have noted, the call of godliness on the pastor is the call of every Christian. Very little of this book is relegated to only church planters.
Critique
The strength of the book lies primarily in the first two sections: The Man and The Message. Certainly the third section has it’s strengths, but I think along the lines of Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 3 and 1 Corinthians 15, Patrick’s instructions about who the man is, and what he’s about are primary.
The two concerns I would have about the content of the book have already been noted by others (ironically one was Mark Dever’s recommendation printed in the book!). I’d simply say that I think Patrick should have given more discussion to the qualification of a man’s love and care for his wife, especially given the fairly stark picture he paints of the modern man in his preface.
Secondly, I am not sure I fully agree with some of the applications Patrick makes for mission of church planting in section three. Patrick opens the last chapter in presenting the statistics of modern population grouping to show that a vast majority of people live in the city today. He then proceeds in two steps to make the case that we should aim to plant in cities and then aim to see the transformation of those cities by the power of the Gospel.
My concern here is that quiet simply the people who are moving to the city are young, 20-30 somethings, who have the ability to up and move, which means that the unintended effect of setting to minister in cities is that we end up aiming to plant to people who are like us, 20-30 somethings. Additionally, the people who live in rural or suburban areas might not be the targets in mind with this “plant in the cities” approach and largely (though unintentionally) be over looked. I think this application and appeal for church planting to the cities is helpful, but I merely sit back and wonder how helpful it is. Will people, in say, rural Michigan be the targets of church planters inspired by this book? I’m not a wise man, nor a wise cookie, so take my concern for what it’s worth.
Overall
I think all Christians who want a simple, packed, and “go to” manual in getting clarity and insight into who they are as a Christian, what they’re called to, what their message is, and where they should be thinking about going will benefit from this book. If I were on a church planting team (or by some absolutely bazaar twist of providence leading a team) I would want every person with me to have a copy of this book. The strength of the book lies its ease of accessibility and helpful insight. While I have my disagreements, they’re relatively small on the scale of the vast stores of Gospel glory that this book brings to the table. I’m certain that this book will become a standard in the years to come for men thinking about or in the process of church planting.
May God be so kind as to use this book to raise up more men to be church planters that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would go to the ends of the earth.
You can purchase the book at WTS Books.
Book Giveaway
The folks at Crossway have graciously provided a free book for a giveaway. Thanks guys! Here are the rules for the giveaway:
- How to enter: Leave a comment on this post.
- Include one reason why you want the book!
- You can only enter once.
- The giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 152010 at 10pm Eastern Standard Time with the winner being announced Thursday, September 16, 2010.
- I cannot be bought off, but I do like candy corn.
