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Christopher Wright has established himself among evangelical readers as a leading OT scholar with books like 'The Mission of God' and 'OT Ethics for the People of God'. Now, this is a lighter reading than the other two even as he attempts to struggle with some of the hardest questions Christians (and yes, Atheists too) have asked concerning the God of the bible - the problem of evil, divinely sanctioned violence, the mystery of the cross and the end times. Having dispelled the dead-end solutions people have come up with, he carefully suggests some way forward by putting these 'problems' in the proper biblical framework. Framework is very important because it sets the proper context within which the questions are understood. The literary conventions, the historical contexts and the overarching story of God's progressive revelation are important considerations for our study. Yet, at the end, having given us very helpful perspectives and background insights to chew on, Wright stops at where the bible provides no further clues. He invites us to wonder what it will be like for eyes that are only capable of perceiving black and white to imagine a world of colors. And what will it be like for three dimensional creatures like us to imagine a world with 4-5 or 500 dimensions?
That is what the bible does, revealing to us what we can at best approximate with our finite minds and pointing to a deeper mystery that no man has yet seen, touched or imagined. Wright achieves a delicate balance between solid biblical understanding and epistemic humility. Definitely a good, edifying and informative read! Comment | Permalink
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Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision
by N. T. Wright
Edition: Hardcover
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a little wordy but rewards patient reading, October 16, 2009
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This is a good book to read if one is interested in the current debate between John Piper and Tom Wright on the biblical concept of justification. Wright has in recent years marshalled in a whole new paradigm in the reading of Paul (as well as Jesus) and for those brought up in the Reformed school, it is not easy to make that radical shift in thinking, understanding of terms and perspective. As with most 'new' concepts, it cannnot help but knock off some sparks and meet with some stiff resistance and non-comprehension.
Here, Wright brings the dialogue forward by going out of his way with his extensive clearing of ground, belabored explanations and novel phrases and analogies to invite befuddled readers to look at the whole Pauline landscape from a diffferent vantage point - which, he contends, is more rooted in the biblical metanarrative ('God's single-plan-through-Israel-for-the-world' story) and the first century context. Wright characterises his approach as an out-flanking move rather than a point by point engagement with Piper as he hopes to move beyond the OPP/NPP (old/ new perspectives on Paul) impasse to give us a fresh take on the concept of justification that remains consonant with the classic Reformed view at its heart ie. 'everything Luther and Calvin wanted to achieve is within this glorious Pauline framework of thought'.
For a start, I wish to point out that non-Greek/little-Greek readers like me may need a different translation than the NIV to follow Wright's reading of Paul, esp. Romans and Galatians. Many words and sentence constructions will lead you straight into the OPP framework than where Wright wants to take us in the rethinking of Paul. NRSV might do better and better still, Wright's own translation in the 'Paul For Everyone' commentaries.
Wright can be compared to Luther who revolutionised Western understanding of the gospel with his translation of the word 'metanoite' from 'do penance' to 'repent', as Wright drags out a whole list of 'familiar' biblical terms such as 'God's righteousness', 'faith in Christ/faithfulness of Christ', 'works of the law', 'Christ/Messiah', 'gospel' and of course 'justification' and gives these a whole new shade of meanings in light of Paul's Jewish worldview.
Many of these terms are of course basic to our understanding of the gospel message and the Christian life, so it is easy to get nervous about having our cherished notions overturned. But Wright is no Pied Piper but a deeply biblical and pastoral writer who cares about where we are going with our reading. Though I confess to feeling impatient with his verbosity at times, I do empathize with his need to do that to clear up the fog that often clouds up his dissenters. This book certainly rewards patient and repeated readings. Comment | Permalink
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Paul, Women, and Wives: Marriage and Women's Ministry in the Letters of Paul
by Craig S. Keener
Edition: Paperback
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a clear egalitarian reading of the 'problem texts' in Paul, October 14, 2009
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Craig Keener has given us a clear, even-handed and updated exegetical work on the well-known 'problem texts' that hierarchichalists appeal to as advocating a subordinate role for women in the church and at home - namely 1 Cor 11:2-16, 14:34-35, 1 Tim 2:12-15 and Eph 5:21-33.
Keener argues persuasively that a straightforward reading of these texts does not necessarily do justice to their proper interpretation as these are part of Paul's epistolary address to specific churches who were struggling with certain contextual issues. Reading up the cultural and historical background of the first century setting is essential to the task of biblical interpretation.
In 1 Cor 11, he argues that 'kephale' is best interpreted as 'source' rather than 'authority over' in light of the context where Paul draws the parallel between 'woman came from man' and 'man being born of woman'. Yet, even if for the sake of argument, one should grant that kephale should mean 'head' in the authoritative sense, Paul is simply speaking to a patriarchal culture in which man is assumed to be the head of the woman and he is contextualizing his message to that culture (without necessarily sanctioning or universalizing it) that women should exercise their God-given gifts to pray and prophesy in the assembly without undermining gender distinctions. IOW, the point is to preserve gender mutuality and not gender hierarchy.
In 1 Cor 14, the injunction for 'women to keep silent in the churches' has specific reference to women asking (silly) questions and disrupting the assembly. This is a temporal and local pastoral measure aimed at the lack of education of the women at that time. The counsel for them to learn from their husbands at home was with a view that they could get up to speed in their learning of the scripture. This was a far cry from the then prevailing cultural bias against women studying the sacred texts at all since they were considered spiritually inferior.
In 1 Tim 2, Paul's prohibition for women to teach man should be understood against the background of false teachers in the Ephesian church who were worming around and preying on the women folks who were less educated and hence more vulnerable to being deceived. Unless Paul shares the cultural degrading of the woman's moral and intellectual abilities of his day, the text is not appealing to a universal order of creation that subordinates women permanently, as some hierarchichalists claim. Rather, Paul is drawing an *analogy* between the situation in Ephesus and the fall of Adam and Eve. Part of the parallels is that Eve was not there when the command was given - which was the implication of the statement 'Adam was formed first, then Eve'. In other words, Adam was given the headstart in receiving religious instructions compared to Eve. Paul's counsel therefore was for the women to learn in quiet submission because they were lagging behind in religious instruction due to the social conditions in which they lived and not because women were inherently more gullible.
Lastly, in Eph 5 Paul's speaking to the man as 'head of the wife' is another exercise in contextualization. He assumes the familial structure of the typical Greco-Roman household, that is largely patriarchal, as a given context of his pastoral work. What is revolutionary is that he juxtaposes that structure with the model of Christ's headship over the church and calls the man to lay down his life for his wife as Christ did for the church. There is nothing more submissive than that! It is this sort of sensitive and contextual approach that Paul uses to turn the oppressive structure of the old social order on its head.
Keener goes on to use the hermeneutical history of the issue of slavery as a test case, arguing that Gal 3:28 underscores the trajectory from the NT text that is to be realized as the church comes to grasp more fully the implications of our oneness in Christ. This is admittedly a good point, often made by egalitarians to further strengthen their case. To be complete though, perhaps, I wonder if Keener could devote another chapter addressing the common fear, however misplaced, among some conservative evangelicals that the same trajectory could on the other hand be a short route from 'ordaining gay ministers'.
Much else can be said and harvested from this book, but I thought I would stop at summarizing the salient points of Keener's egalitarian reading, as I understand it, of these pertinent Pauline texts concerning women's ministry and raising a concern of where the egalitarian reading could potentially lead, or so it is argued by the other side. Comment | Permalink
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Athanasius (HarperCollins Spiritual Classics)
by Saint Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria
Edition: Paperback
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an inspiring model of radical asceticism in the best sense of the word, August 27, 2009
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Someone once said that saints are people who exaggerate to a fault what the world neglects. St Antony of the desert is the model par excellence of one who renounces the world in order that the world might be saved. This may be superficially similar to some forms of world-denying monasticism, it in fact is anything but that. He does not escape into the desert in order to be alone with God in the manner of the pseudo-Dionysius' 'flight of the alone to the Alone', nor does he dismiss the human society as simply a web of illusions from which to be freed, here is instead a saint who has at the centre of his ascetical quest the pursuit and practice of love - love for God and fellow men. It is by fleeing the world of the jostling crowds, seductive voices and distorted desires, that he learns to listen clearly to the divine voice and when one has been thoroughly formed by that love that he is able to extend his best self to others in hospitality. This admittedly is not a path for everyone. Antony hears the call when he listens to the sacred text addressed specifically once to another individual (the rich young ruler) and his life has been a beacon to all who find themselves suck into the world and losing their true selves. Not everyone can and should attempt to replicate Antony's life of solitariness and desert asceticism but we can all learn from his life of strict spiritual training which exemplifies the value of silence, solitude, prayer, spiritual resilience, humility, love for God and hospitality towards our fellow men. Comment | Permalink
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How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
by Gordon D. Fee
Edition: Paperback
Price: $11.55
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An excellent guide to reading the bible, August 27, 2009
I had wanted to write a longer review but was pleasantly surprised at the number of detailed and accurate reviews already contributed here. So, in short I would say this is a great book that exactly befits the title. It rescues one from the endemic of biblical illiteracy due not so much to not reading the bible per se as reading it poorly. There is a widespread habit of flattening out the rich diversity of the biblical materials, due in part to a dubious 'fortune cookies' approach that seeks to hear a verse from God for the day. While not denying that God can write straight even with a crooked stick, this 'devotional' practice tends to militate against a proper reading of the ancient text. Fee and Stuart introduce readers to the all-important term called 'genre', showing that the bible is not a flat book of propositional statements lined up side by side each other to be read in a uniform manner but a richly textured literature made up of poetry, narrative, laws, letters, apocalypse, ancient biographies, prophetic oracles, proverbs, parables and so on and each genre demands a different set of interpretative considerations/rules.
It may be helpful to point out that the authors' recommendation of certain methods (mainly critical historical approach) and translations (eg TNIV whereas one can reasonably argue for others such as the NRSV for greater accuracy) is not without its flaws or limitations especially for advanced students, but one should note that it is always a risk an author has to take when making specific recommendations of currently available and accessible tools . On balance, as a book that has as its aims to educate the general reader to start *reading* (as different from doing an indepth study of) the bible in a manner proper to its nature and that honors the intents and context of the inspired writers, it has achieved its goals beyond the mark of excellence. Comment | Permalink
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The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics
by Richard B. Hays
Edition: Paperback
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A refreshing paradigm of reading NT ethics, August 16, 2009
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I am halfway through the book and deeply appreciate the fresh approach Hays proposes in reading NT ethics. Basically, it is a narratival one akin to N.T. Wright's 5-act play as a way of understanding NT authority. The 3 focal images of community, cross and new creation are critical milestones for telling the story of how God was forming a covenant people through which the redemptive accomplishments of Christ on the cross would be fully worked out or implemented in the world, culminating in its final renewal. The ethical question to ask within this narrative framework will be: how can the church best live out her vocation as a cross-shaped people and a redemptive witness to God's eschatological work in renewing the world?
I thoroughly enjoyed the exegesis of the Pauline corpus, the four gospels and Revelation as it takes seriously their distinctive voices and historical contexts before going on to do the work of synthesis and contemporary application. He admits that his interpretation of the text is conditioned by reasons, tradition and (communal)experience which are indispensable to the task of biblical interpetation. This is going to make the task and process of ethical discernment a more demanding but also far more biblical, communal, nuanced and pastorally sensitive one. But, Hays does not see his paradigm as a definitive grid but an *illuminating* lens. It is certainly open to being revised and complemented with other approaches, ways of reading the biblical narrative (such as a less linear one than the one proposed herein) and other scripture texts not discussed here(such as the OT, general epistles, etc as others have pointed out).
Overall, Hays succeeds remarkably in offering us a balanced, honest and faithful way of reading and applying NT ethics. He has put in our hands a very useful hermeneutic tool that will shed much light on the NT ethical writings and significantly influence the way we think about moral issues in light of the over-arching narrative of Scripture. Comment | Permalink
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Arminian Theology: Myths And Realities
by Roger E. Olson
Edition: Hardcover
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A succinct presentation of Arminianism, August 15, 2009
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Where I live, the predestination-free will debate does not quite draw as much interest as in the West for 2 oft-cited reasons: the debate is quite frankly unsolvable by human minds this side of eternity, secondly, one needs to question in what way does it affect our Christian conduct whichever position one comes down to in the end. But notwithstanding these important considerations, I for one have always felt the need for a rationally coherent way of making sense of this aspect of reality and when one works through these issues, one actually begins to see how this seemingly abstract idea does essentially affect how one prays, reads the scriptures, preaches the gospel and relates to God and others, even if one does not consciously think about it. At the same time, the complexity of the case should always keep us within the reasonable bounds of epistemic humility.
Roger Olson has articulated a succint and attractive view of Arminian Theology visa-vis the popular myths and caricatures surrounding it. Besides clearing the fog, I think he does subtly and winsomely manage to commend to 'those with ears to hear' the strength of the Arminian position. There is no doubt that those who already have very firm convictions of their own will remain unpersuaded. I personally think that Roger is spot on that the key to Arminian Theology is not libertarian free will per se, though that is certainly an indispensable part of its position but the very character of God as love as well as the very nature of personal relationships. This contra an earlier reviewer is hardly an 'emotional' argument but a biblical and theological one, in the same way that the Calvinist would root his view on the sovereignty of God, that cannot in any conceivable way be reduced.
What we see on different sides of the debate is a different theological motif being adopted as the controlling key that determines how one reads the biblical evidence - in the one, it's the love of God and in the other the sovereignty of God. (This does not mean that Arminians deny God is sovereign - myth 5 in the book - or that Calvinists reject God is love; just that their emphases differ and hence these attributes are conceptualized differently) The motif once chosen, often implicitly, will bring out a different pattern, and hence a different way of explaining the human-divine interaction. Great minds have wrestled with this philosophical conundrum and it is fascinating just to read how they each try to construct their case. What I appreciate most about Olson's book is his gentle and respectful tone, combined with the clarity and force with which he lays out the classical Arminian position. Once the terms are defined and the misconceptions cleared away, the real debate can then properly ensue. This is what the book seeks to do, which he succeeds admirably and on this count alone, it is certainly a helpful contribution to the intra-ecclesial disputation of this difficult but important subject. Comment | Permalink
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Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition (JPT Supplement)
by Simon Chan
Edition: Paperback
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A breakthrough in Pentecostal theology!, August 9, 2009
Here's a ground-breaking book on Pentecostal Theology in the context of the 20th Century's Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. Pentecostalism was and still is without doubt one of the most powerful Christian movements that has impacted the church worldwide, bringing fresh vigor and awakening to many traditional churches and Jesus to many parts of the world that have not previously heard the gospel. Like all bona fide works of the Spirit, together with the spiritual advancement comes a fair share of controversies, sidetracks and criticisms as well.
One of the weak points of Pentecostalism as a movement has been the lack of a thoroughgoing theological reflection of its practices. This has led to not only some theological confusions and a poor understanding of the Pentecostal distinctives in relation to scripture as well as the larger tradition of the Church of Jesus Christ, it has also weakened its ability to pass on its tradition to the next generation in a coherent way - what Simon Chan calls 'the process of traditioning'. Taking a leaf from K Barth, he suggests that it is not a matter of getting the new generation to slavishly reproduce the same formula pure and simple but to pass on a living tradition, one that is open to thinking fresh thoughts and allowing the Spirit to take us to a deeper grasp of the truth and remains at the same time rooted within the larger Christian tradition.
The much debated conception of the 'baptism with the Spirit' and 'tongue speaking as an initial evidence of the second work of grace' is discussed and clarified in the light of the biblical narrative and earlier streams of Christian spirituality. He sees a parallel between this experience and the contemplative one that speaks of passing from the phase of acquired contemplation to that of infused contemplation, where there is sense in which one simply lets go and lets God. There is a sense of falling into God's arms and being held by him in a loving embrace. It is a kind of carthartic moment that is often accompanied by involuntary phenomena such as 'ecstasies and visions' which contemplatives speak of or the' ecstastic utterances or glossolalia' described by Pentecostals. This helps one see the kinship between the Pentecostal experience and the larger contemplative tradition. It is in the light of such a relationship, that one can make sense of its own distinctive practices and mature to a deeper appreciation of its place within our life in the body of Christ.
So, rather than speaking of glossolalia as an initial evidence, he helpfully suggests the word 'concomitant' as a descriptor of what is going on. It is not so much a 'proof' of whether one has received the Spirit or not than the sort of thing that often accompanies a genuine experience of being held by God's Spirit. It is like shedding tears when one's sad, but a sad person does not always shed tears! Also, as the contemplative masters have always warned against being too caught up with 'visions and ecstasies' as a sign of great faith, he cautions us against being fixated by these extraordinary experiences, be it 'tongue speaking', 'holy laughter', or being 'slain by the Spirit'. Such a fixation would only hamper the genuine growth of the Christian towards spiritual maturity in faith, hope and love even if these experiences are helpful at certain points or phases of the Christian's encounter with God.
He quotes the Cyprian's adage 'extra ecclesiam nulla salus' favorably in the sense that salvation when understood aright cannot be separated from one's life within the body of Christ. This is in light of Chan's high ecclesiology which is rooted in the logical priority of the church before creation. This is different from the popular view of the church as a sociological entity that results primarily from human actions and aims largely at human ends. It is the Father who elects, the Son who institutes and the Spirit who constitutes the church, to the praise of God's glory. With this human-divine conception of the church, Chan sees the Eucharist as the basic locus for the exercise of the Spirit's charisms such as reconciliation and healing. The gifts of the Spirit should not be abstract from the context of the the body of Christ, which is the firstfruits of the new creation but should rather be seen as part of God's eschatological project in calling forth a people holy and blameless, to the praise of his glory. This is the high point of Chan's ecclesio-pneumatological reflection which is a necessary remedy to today's penchant for private Pentecostal experiences as well as the human pragmatism that often plaques the church's worship and mission.
This is the kind of book that I've been longing for to come out from within the Pentecostal movement. It helps put the Spirit-inspired movement in the broad stream of the Christian tradition and helps Christians nourished by the Pentecostal stream to understand their distinctive practices and to grow towards maturity in Christ as they draw from the larger heritage of Christian spirituality, instead of being tossed to and fro by every new theological fads and novelties that come along.. that are usually touted by teachers who have little acquaintance with historical theology.
I am however unaware of how this unique contribution has been received by Pentecostal teachers and theologians since its publication. If the price of this slim volume can be lowered or perhaps a more popular version can be written to reach a wider audience, the church at large will stand to benefit from Simon Chan's fresh and insightful take on the subject. May the Spirit continue to guide us into all truth! Comment | Permalink
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Amazon Book Reviews 4
Practical Mysticism
by Evelyn Underhill
Edition: Paperback
Price: $9.90
Availability: In Stock
Mysticism for Everyone!, August 2, 2009
Some people say 'mysticism is a dangerous thing. It begins with mist and ends in schism' (haha)! Evelyn Underhill diffuses this myth with this artistically written book addressed to the 'practical man who has lived all his days amongst the illusions of multiplicity'. She calls mysticism 'the Science of Love' - it asks us to stop seeing the world through our egoistic lenses and see it instead as it is. The world in fact for all its parts and diversity points to the Whole, the Real that gives unity to everything. The path of mysticism needs not be as ethereal and mystifying as it sounds to many people. It is a practical skill, to put it simply, of learning to see - a skill that the great theologian Thomas Aquinas reckons that is proper to all people, if only they get some training!
This is what the book is about. It invites us and tantalizes us with the rudimentary steps of learning to see..with our inner eyes/ the eyes of the heart.. a spiritual discipline mystics call 'contemplation'. The great obstacles of spiritual perception are 'thoughts, convention and self-interest'. We need to stop asking the instinctive, selfish question 'what's in it for me?' and see things as they really are and adjust ourselves to that reality, which we will discover far transcend the narrow confines of our self-centred, parochial world!
Underhill gently invites us to some basic preparatory exercises of contemplation, training our eyes to see again by taking some simple objects to gaze upon, ceasing all habits of analysing, dissecting, measuring or labelling. As Teresa of Avila taught her disciples, 'I want you to do no more than to look.' That simple exercise when persisted long enough will gradually alter our way of looking at things, ourselves, others and the world around us. She then takes us through the three forms/phases of contemplation - the 'natural, the spiritual and the divine'. In short, they are (a) contemplation of the physical world, (b) inward contemplation in stillness and silence and finally (c) infused contemplation where we let go and God takes over and removes the last vestiges of our pride and self-interest, leading to union.
In the last chapters, she eloquently handles the practical man's greatest resistance: 'what is this all about? is it not another navel-gazing exercise fit for the idle?' No, she contends, the mystical life far from being an escapist exercise, a dreamy pastime, an altered state of consciousness or simply a 'spiritual' experience as an end in itself, is in fact a most practical life-transforming discipline that will overhaul one's vision and unleash our God-given energy for the world! We become what we were meant to be! That is, to become a consuming fire - energised by the vision of the Whole as well as the well-exercised muscles of our will and love, 'nakedly stretched out through long periods of boredom and trials' and directed towards the mending of the broken, the union of the estranged, saving of the lost and the redemption of the world!
While Underhill clearly acknowledges and draws from the common discoveries of the mystical vision and insights in various religions, her contemplative worldview (if i can put it that way) remains firmly rooted in the Christian story that speaks of the telos of our communion with God as well as the renewal of the space-time cosmos for which her life and energy had been generously poured out! Comment | Permalink
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Spiritual Combat: How to Win Your Spiritual Battles and Attain Peace
by Lorenzo Scupoli
Edition: Paperback
Price: $10.85
Availability: In Stock
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a no-holds-barred manual of spiritual warfare, August 2, 2009
Like most spiritual classics, this book is best read slowly and in small portions at a time and then repeatedly over a substantial period of time. I tried reading it at first in one sitting and nearly got bowled over with spiritual indigestion! It is aptly described as a manual which methodically lays out strategic steps and guidelines for battling temptations and casting out one's inner demons. There are three main ideas:
1. Distrust yourself
2. Trust God
3. Various methods of overcoming temptations and winning spiritual battles.
This book confronts the deceitfulness of our fallen human nature and the endless justifications we are capable of generating to cover up our faults. Like a powerful microscope, it searches out our hidden faults and calls us to cultivate humility and trust God to change us. He organizes his materials under several spiritual exercises such as prayer, celebrating the Eucharist, governing our hearts, persevering through trials, yielding to God and cultivating inner peace.
Some counsels are so radical I think they are suited for 'spiritual commandos'. I nibble at the hem of this book's wisdom and hope to master the basics. The effects have been immensely humbling. It is no wonder that St Francis de Sales kept it with him for so many years. It is the sort of book that is so deep in wisdom and practical in scope one needs a lifetime to runminate over it and let it turn us right side up. Comment | Permalink
by Evelyn Underhill
Edition: Paperback
Price: $9.90
Availability: In Stock
Mysticism for Everyone!, August 2, 2009
Some people say 'mysticism is a dangerous thing. It begins with mist and ends in schism' (haha)! Evelyn Underhill diffuses this myth with this artistically written book addressed to the 'practical man who has lived all his days amongst the illusions of multiplicity'. She calls mysticism 'the Science of Love' - it asks us to stop seeing the world through our egoistic lenses and see it instead as it is. The world in fact for all its parts and diversity points to the Whole, the Real that gives unity to everything. The path of mysticism needs not be as ethereal and mystifying as it sounds to many people. It is a practical skill, to put it simply, of learning to see - a skill that the great theologian Thomas Aquinas reckons that is proper to all people, if only they get some training!
This is what the book is about. It invites us and tantalizes us with the rudimentary steps of learning to see..with our inner eyes/ the eyes of the heart.. a spiritual discipline mystics call 'contemplation'. The great obstacles of spiritual perception are 'thoughts, convention and self-interest'. We need to stop asking the instinctive, selfish question 'what's in it for me?' and see things as they really are and adjust ourselves to that reality, which we will discover far transcend the narrow confines of our self-centred, parochial world!
Underhill gently invites us to some basic preparatory exercises of contemplation, training our eyes to see again by taking some simple objects to gaze upon, ceasing all habits of analysing, dissecting, measuring or labelling. As Teresa of Avila taught her disciples, 'I want you to do no more than to look.' That simple exercise when persisted long enough will gradually alter our way of looking at things, ourselves, others and the world around us. She then takes us through the three forms/phases of contemplation - the 'natural, the spiritual and the divine'. In short, they are (a) contemplation of the physical world, (b) inward contemplation in stillness and silence and finally (c) infused contemplation where we let go and God takes over and removes the last vestiges of our pride and self-interest, leading to union.
In the last chapters, she eloquently handles the practical man's greatest resistance: 'what is this all about? is it not another navel-gazing exercise fit for the idle?' No, she contends, the mystical life far from being an escapist exercise, a dreamy pastime, an altered state of consciousness or simply a 'spiritual' experience as an end in itself, is in fact a most practical life-transforming discipline that will overhaul one's vision and unleash our God-given energy for the world! We become what we were meant to be! That is, to become a consuming fire - energised by the vision of the Whole as well as the well-exercised muscles of our will and love, 'nakedly stretched out through long periods of boredom and trials' and directed towards the mending of the broken, the union of the estranged, saving of the lost and the redemption of the world!
While Underhill clearly acknowledges and draws from the common discoveries of the mystical vision and insights in various religions, her contemplative worldview (if i can put it that way) remains firmly rooted in the Christian story that speaks of the telos of our communion with God as well as the renewal of the space-time cosmos for which her life and energy had been generously poured out! Comment | Permalink
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Spiritual Combat: How to Win Your Spiritual Battles and Attain Peace
by Lorenzo Scupoli
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a no-holds-barred manual of spiritual warfare, August 2, 2009
Like most spiritual classics, this book is best read slowly and in small portions at a time and then repeatedly over a substantial period of time. I tried reading it at first in one sitting and nearly got bowled over with spiritual indigestion! It is aptly described as a manual which methodically lays out strategic steps and guidelines for battling temptations and casting out one's inner demons. There are three main ideas:
1. Distrust yourself
2. Trust God
3. Various methods of overcoming temptations and winning spiritual battles.
This book confronts the deceitfulness of our fallen human nature and the endless justifications we are capable of generating to cover up our faults. Like a powerful microscope, it searches out our hidden faults and calls us to cultivate humility and trust God to change us. He organizes his materials under several spiritual exercises such as prayer, celebrating the Eucharist, governing our hearts, persevering through trials, yielding to God and cultivating inner peace.
Some counsels are so radical I think they are suited for 'spiritual commandos'. I nibble at the hem of this book's wisdom and hope to master the basics. The effects have been immensely humbling. It is no wonder that St Francis de Sales kept it with him for so many years. It is the sort of book that is so deep in wisdom and practical in scope one needs a lifetime to runminate over it and let it turn us right side up. Comment | Permalink
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God)
by N. T. Wright
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A ground breaking book on the New Testament!, July 26, 2009
This is *the* major paradigm-shattering book on the New Testament since perhaps Bultmann's Theology of the New Testament. He addresses the existing divide between the modern positivist reading and the postmodern phenomenalist reading of the texts. In the one, there is a facile assumption of empirical evidence - 'bare facts' requiring no interpretation - as an absolute foundation of truth ('what you see is what you get!') and in the other, a silly notion of truth as completely subjective ('truth lies in the eye of the beholder'). In a classic Anglican middle-of-the-road fashion, he posits instead a hermeneutical method he calls critical realism or the epistemology of love (following the philosopher Bernard Lonergan) which advocates getting inside the worldviews of the times in which the New Testament was written in order to understand its message.
Worldview according to Wright corresponds to the inter-connected structure of story, questions (and answers), symbols and praxis. He applies this paradigm in his reading of first century Judaism and then of early Christianity, set within certain historical fixed points such as the crucifixion of Jesus and the martyrdom of Polycarp - events that are well-attested to in the ancient documents. The outcome is a breathtaking perspective that shatters or revises just about almost every aspect of our cherished reading of the New Testament through other grids such as denominational confessions or certain momentous periods of church history, not to mention the fabricated versions of postmodern fantasies currently going around.
One begins to see Jesus the Messiah emerging out of the historical, cultural and theological issues that the New Testament writers engaged with and for once, we see how the often abstracted (or co-opted by anachronistic schemes) notions of biblical authority, hope, salvation, even god (rendered in small cases throughout for some very good reasons) and other essential Christian doctrines make sense in light of the narratival worldviews of the early church.
While we may not agree with all of Wright's conclusions, he gives us a grand narratival backdrop against which to read afresh the New Testament writings. This book is an important one to read in understanding his methodology which will shape the later volumes in the series on Jesus, Resurrection, Paul and the church. Essential reading for all serious students of the New Testament! Comment | Permalink
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Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation
by Thomas Keating
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An easy, down-to-earth and powerful read on contemplative prayer, July 20, 2009
Fr Thomas Keating has written a book that gleans from among the best of the Church's contemplative resources such as John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Cloud of Unknowing and presents it afresh with a gentle and winsome voice to today's would-be contemplatives. For many who find some of the deep classics on prayer such as those mentioned somewhat dense or obscure will find much to resonate with in 'Invitation to Love'. The method of Centering Prayer which he has helped develop and promote for our generation is a simple and rewarding way of prayer if one sets aside regular time for it. It is together with faithful practice and spiritual growth that one comes to grasp more deeply what is written here. However, even if one is a newbie to Centering Prayer or treads a different prayer path, there is much that one can relate to and find Keating's insights helpful such as in the famous 'night of the sense' and 'night of the spirit' which are commonly encountered in one's prayer as one advances. Familarity with such experiences helps one persist and let God take us to a deeper level of union with him.
Then, there is that beautiful story about Bernie, a real person of great love and generosity, who lives his life to the hilt in a monastery and when the time comes for him to let go, he drops everything in less than a moment's notice. It's an inspiring story of how true prayer makes a person fully human, fully alive!
This is one of the best books on prayer I have ever read - easy, down-to-earth and powerful. Highly recommended! But be sure to read 'Open Mind Open Heart' before reading this for a group grasp of Centering Prayer, which is the backbone of Keating's thoughts on prayer. Comment | Permalink
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Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics)
by Soren Kierkegaard
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a penetrating look at the nature of faith , June 13, 2009
Soren Kierkegaard's works are notably difficult to read. Fear and Trembling is perhaps the least formidable in comparison. Still, in this book some knowledge of Hegelian philosophy/ terminology and Greek mythology is almost indispensable in understanding him aright. Words like 'ethical', 'universal' are not to be taken in the contemporary sense. They have specific meanings given by Hegel referring more or less to what conforms to cultural norms and in Kierkegaard's milieu to its middle class morality. It is this sort of 'universal ethic' that he wants to separate from bona fide Christian faith.
Abraham's famous act of faith in offering his to be sacrificed at the behest of God is a supreme example of what Christian ethic is all about - not a simple conformity to what is generally accepted by human society but a radical obedience to divine commands that may at times fly in the face of the prevailing sensibilities. This is what is meant by the famous line that Abraham's act was 'a teleological suspension of the ethical'.
Kierkegaard here writes through his pseudonymous author, Johannes de Silentio (John of Silence, who is anything but silent!) who seeks to penetrate the mystery of faith with his rational mind. He succeeds for the most part in describing faith by saying what it is not; the knight of faith can be reduced to neither the knight of infinite resignation nor the tragic hero (eg. Agamemnon in Greek mythology). It stands as a class of its own - and this is the radical call of faith, which even the articulate silent John has no words to positively explicate it, save that it is a 'marvel', a 'miracle'. Many are mistaken to see this as a blind leap or a mindless choice. It is better to see faith, from SK's point of view, as a supra-rational act, or better still a gift that is wrought by God. Yet, it is a faith that does not come cheap. It is as John of Silence says, 'faith was a task for a whole lifetime, not a skill to be acquired in a matter of weeks or days.'
I would recommend this to any reader with an intellectual and religious bent and for the reflective Christians who are wondering what to make of his faith. Not an easy read but rewarding to those who plough at it, preferably with some help.
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The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
by Gregory A. Boyd
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a Kierkegaardian voice for our time!, June 4, 2009
There's a lot I admire about Greg Boyd - his passion, intelligence, eloquence, energy, courage, and ability to think outside the box. This book is one more thought-provoking and controversial addition to the list of books and sermons he has put out. I am not an American but am curious about how the church everywhere should live out the kingdom of God (a political term!)in relation to the socio-political system she finds herself in.
In America, I think there had been a sincere attempt at least among the founding fathers to implement the system of governance on biblical principles. The results have been a mixed one - the worldly corruption of power, greed, violence, moral decadence on the one hand as well as the the godliness, missionary zeal, generosity, ethical commitment on the other hand. Though America is probably moving towards a post-Christian mood, there are opposite voices that call for a retention or retrieval of good old fashioned biblical values as well.
I think Boyd's analysis here is accurate on many fronts - exposing the hypocrisy of the church's self-styled moral police stance, the lack of sacrifice and compassion relative to her moral indignation towards certain social ills (eg abortion, gay issues), the quick resort to violence and even vengeance in spite of the biblical bias towards mercy and reconciliation, etc. Greg's call for the church to a radical embodiment of the 'power under' life under the cross is a poignant one that needs to be heard, imbibed and practised with great urgency in our time. The call to authentic Christianity of cross-bearing and radical obedience and the unmasking of the thin pious veneer of civil religion, exemplified by the intense energy spent in championing certain religious trappings and so on makes Boyd Greg a contemporary Kierkegaard, who once called the slumbering Lutheran church ('christendom') to task in 19th century Denmark.
The Myth of a Christian Nation is a much heeded call for the real Christians in US and everywhere in the world to stand up under the banner of the cross!
My reservation, which I hope should in no way detract from Boyd's prophetic voice is that the book leans too much on the church's separation from the business of the State. I think while the church has a unique call to be herself as God's holy, compassionate people, she too has the vocation of being the salt and leaven of society as well as an outpost of God's inaugurated reign on earth. This makes the powers that be a temporary custodian of law and order in society and subordinate to Christ's rule over the world. However limited, temporary and easily tainted with the dark forces, the state still serves a God-appointed role for good. The church does have a prophetic role in speaking God's mind to the powers and assists them in every possible way to do what they have been called to do. This of course does not mean the church should resort to strong arm tactics or other dubious means to do that. Here, I am with the late Lewis Smedes who once said concerning the church that it needs not be an either-or situation but a both-end; the church is called to be BOTH compassionate AND prophetic to the world. If early church tradition is anything to go by, there were strong precedences there too of Christians confronting the pagan emperors in the name of Christ, in spite of the church's status as a persecuted minority and predominantly pacifist stand, which Boyd apparently holds. What the church needs to do is not to shy away from speaking up in the public arena but to be what she has been called to be - the cross-shaped people of God - and earn the right to speak again with the voice of true justice and compassion! No mean task of course, given the fragmented and secularised state of the church in modern America - hence, Boyd's prophetic voice remains as timely as it is mostly on target! Comment | Permalink
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Jesus and Politics: Confronting the Powers
by Alan Storkey
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highly illuminative of Jesus' political milieu!, May 28, 2009
I have found this to be a very readable and illuminating book that helps put the gospel accounts within the first century political context. I went away appreciating much better the words and deeds of Jesus as well as the pathos of the people around him. In a story-telling fashion, one is taken through a captivating historical tour through the political events leading up to and surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Lots of interesting stories (some pretty gruesome ones though)surrounding the prominent first century political personages and parties. Herod the Great and his son, Herod Antipas, received quite detailed and interesting treatments perhaps to provide the contrasting backdrop against which we see the emergence of Jesus' gentle and compassionate rule.
The book successfully disabuses one of any a-political or other-worldly conception of what Jesus came to do and proclaim. Indeed, the kingdom of God, which is the central message of Jesus, is charged with unmistakable political overtone and the first century audience would have not missed the implicit challenge of Jesus' claims of Messiahship against the powers that be - be it the Herods, the Jewish temple establishment or Caesar. Yet, the kingship of Jesus is so unlike anything in the world that it effectually turns the worldly systems of power and domination upside down.
One small shortcoming of Storkey's conception of God's kingdom, if i should nitpick a little, is that while trying to steer clear from the coercive model of worldly politics, Storkey's kingdom of God at times sounds little more than a voluntary club, where individual choice reigns supreme. Surely, the enthronement of Jesus the King issues more than a polite invitation. It is rather more like an authoritative summons: 'Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, down on your knees!'
Though this book does not delve deep, as one might wish, into the complexities of how the politics of Jesus actually works out in our contemporary world - e.g. issues of state-church relation, forms of government, just war theory and pacifism, pluralism and political toleration and so on, it lays out a basic groundwork for further critical reflections on these knotty and complex issues. His chapter on the taxation issue could be a starting point and model of how Jesus' political approach would subvert the worldly systems.
However, even if political theory is not what one is after, this book is still a boon for bible readers, teachers and pastors as it serves as a highly enlightening account of Jesus' political milieu, which makes sense of everything we read about in the gospels. For many like me who have been reading the bible for decades with only a passing regard for first century Jewish history and political struggles, one will get the exhilarating sense that this book presents in Philip Yancey's words 'the Jesus I never knew'! Comment | Permalink
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Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future)
by D. H. Williams
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A good primer for evangelicals' foray into the Patristics, May 21, 2009
Putting it simply, this is a book written primarily for Evangelicals showing us how to embrace Tradition (which Williams more or less limits to the Patristic consensus of the first five centuries) without shedding our Protestant identity. Catholics may benefit as well by understanding the place of tradition from the Protestants' perspective. Williams admits at the outset that this book was in part a response to his learned Catholic friend's remark that 'to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.' The knee-jerk reaction of most Protestants I know when invited to consider what the early church fathers have to say was to shy away and cling on to a narrow understanding of sola scriptura or to suspect one of flirting with the Roman Catholic dual-source theory of authority where the Bible and Tradition stand on equal footing. DH Williams attempts to address these, in his view, unfounded fears by arguing how the canonization of Scriptures themselves grew out of the context of the patristic church that was guided by its liturgy, oral tradition, the rule of faith as well as a somewhat loose and unsettled canon of texts. The relationship between Scripture and Tradition is not a combative one but complementary. On the other hand, neither is there any suggestion that the fathers are infallible, monolithic or on par with apostolic authority. In fact, given the variegated and sometimes eccentric nature of the early fathers' writings, one might respond with a certain degree of healthy skepticism as to how consensual really was their 'consensus' but Williams' point is well taken that we modern readers should at least take their interpretation of the sacred Scriptures seriously, given their proximity to the apostolic source.
Attention is also given to other obstacles that Protestants might have in reading the fathers such as the modern suspicion towards the fathers' penchant for allegorical interpretation, how the Protestants' sine qua non of 'justification by faith' stands up in the face of the Patristics (and vice versa), the issue of sola scriptura and so on. In all, the author puts together quite a good case in addressing theses concerns. It certainly is not the last word on the subject and is open to challenge and inquiry on several fronts. Nonetheless, his is an important voice in the ongoing conversation.
Finally, it ends with a chapter that tantalizes us with a sampling (rather limited though) of the fathers' words which showcases the spiritual depth and apostolic faithfulness that emerges from that era. The reading list appended is also quite useful as an introduction to the vast literary and spiritual reservoir of the early church fathers.
I am especially struck by his favorable reference to JI Packer, one of evangelicalism's stalwarts, who 'declares that the Reformation is over, by which he means that the forging of our Protestant identity should no longer be done in the furnace of heated anti-Catholicism.' Wow! What a great time to be a Christian! - i thought. Yet, the realist side of me still cringes at the fundamentalists' die-hard cry that the battle is far from over. But I remain hopeful for better days to come and am immensely thankful for such a project as the Evangelical Ressourcement series that points us to such a rich fountainhead of the Christian tradition. Comment | Permalink
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The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message
by Cynthia Bourgeault
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Brilliant but quite misguided IMO, May 13, 2009
Cynthia Bourgeault is without a doubt a spiritually sensitive, exceptionally bright and articulate writer. Her Wisdom Jesus contains more than a few nuggets of deep wisdom indeed and helps us to develop an ear to some deep insights into Jesus' words and deeds. But she might have overdone her 'pushing the metaphysical envelope' and overturning of the traditions way too far. I am rather surprised at several points in the book where she not only attempts to subvert creedal formulations, she seems to stand above the canonical interpretations of Jesus as well (including those of the apostles Paul and John!). So I wonder what vantage point does she stand on that enables her to critique the canonical writers and opt for non-canonical sources instead as the more reliable authority for showing us who the real Jesus is.
Then I realize that it has to do with what she calls 'the inner certainty and sovereignty that comes out of direct knowingness'(paraphrased). While it may well be true that there probably are vestiges of the 'imago dei' within us after the Fall that are capable of apprehending the numinous, the author has not quite grappled with what the prophet Jeremiah calls 'the deceitfulness of the human heart'. Certainly, the doctrine of 'total depravity' and 'original sin' may have hardened into harsh dogmas in some fundamentalist circles, however, the reactionary swing to an almost unquestioning acceptance of one's inner (mystical) authority is equally unwise.
Christian readers may get past the anachronistic and extraneous terminology such as 'Jesus the tantric master', 'binary/egoic operating system', 'ihidaya' in relation to the very Jewish Jesus, etc with a fair amount of generous orthodoxy, but her assertion that 'Jesus came first and foremost as a wisdom teacher that sought to transform human consciousness' is way over the top. Such a wisdom teacher would hardly need to be put away by the political powers, much less crucified. In her reading 'the Kingdom of God' is reduced to what goes on in the interior consciousness of an individual and thus stripped of any political and cosmic overtone, which a careful reading of the NT texts would actually bear out.
There are solid gems of wisdom no doubt in her writing as we would also find in other religions that one can benefit from, but it is likely that the author has drunk too deeply into the mixed streams of Eastern religions as well as the non-canonical 'Christian' sources (Nag Hammadi) for her reading of Jesus to fairly represent the Jesus of Nazareth. This is another example of how Jesus can be made to fit into any mold we construct when the cultural, historical context - especially the Jewishness - of the Christ event is not taken seriously enough.
Perhaps, hers is an attempt at reading what mystics call the 'anagogical sense' of Scriptures which in itself can be a profitable enterprise, but let's not call it 'Jesus in context' by any means as she does. A healthy dose of a serious historical study of Jesus such as 'Jesus Quest' and 'Jesus the Sage' by Ben Witherington or 'The Challenge of Jesus' and 'Jesus and the Victory of God' by Tom Wright would be a needed corrective. Comments (4) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jul 14, 2009 10:08 PM PDT
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Orthodoxy
by Gilbert K. Chesterton
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packed with witty logic and childlike wonder!, March 8, 2009
Indeed there is no one like G.K. in our generation though there are not a few who have been nourished by his poetic brilliance and second naivete. His sentences are packed full of witty logic that teases our minds to active thought. If one simply reads it like a text book trying to reproduce the arguments later, it will not do the text justice. It is the sort of book that provokes you to think rather than does the thinking for you.
The book has many memorable quotes and they jump out at you every now and then when one engages other books that deal with similar subjects as explored here - creeds, apologetics, orthodoxy, rationality, myths, etc. Recently there has been a rehash of some old charges at Christianity for being too meek on the one hand (as in 'turn the other cheek') and too violent on the other (the Crusades, witch hunt, etc), I'm once again reminded of Chesterton's poignant remark that the critics are often shooting from both sides of the mouth and end up totally incoherent. 'What if the reason why we find the man in question (ie. Jesus) either too thin or fat is because he is of the right shape, and we are the odd ones?' quips GK. The point is that the Christian faith is so richly textured and paradoxed that it could not have been invented by mere logic. It is so intricately shaped as the key to the world's many faceted-questions and mysteries. G.K. makes the Christian creeds come alive as a rich and life-changing narrative that renders all heresies thin, fluffy and dull by comparison indeed!
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The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
by Henri J. M. Nouwen
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An indepth and evocative reflection on the story of the prodigal sons and the compassionate father, March 5, 2009
This book lends itself to the spirit of Lent and serves well as a study resource for this season of healing and repentance. Here we have the genius of Rembrandt and Nouwen put together as they retell with their own lives the Return of the Prodigal Son, or better still, the Welcome of the Compassionate Father. It is a call to the 'inner sanctuary' where we hear God's gentle whisper 'you are my beloved son, on whom my favour rests.' Like the prodigal sons - younger and elder - we often 'leave home' to find our own way of proving our own worth. In doing so, we cut ourselves off from the Father, who requires no such posturing from us, and get entangled in the destructive web of addictions in the world.
God loves us no matter what and there's nothing we can do to make him love us more or love us less. This is the fundamental basis of our lives as children of God. This is so basic and yet we often miss it and allow it to be smothered by the loud and seductive voices of the world to push ahead of the others, to win adulations and applause and to prove that we are worth something in a way that others are'nt. Reading this book is a way back to the Father as we hear his voice calling repeatedly to us 'You are my beloved child - always! Would you come home? Would you join in the celebration?'
Yet, the reflection does not end with the sons. Nouwen was prompted by a friend who told him, 'whether you are the younger son or the elder son, you have to realize that you are callled to become the father.' This points us to a greater truth of the story: the central character is indeed the father who loves without asking to be loved in return and whose compassion is without limits. Comment | Permalink
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The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
by Lee Strobel
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A solid case for the historical evidence for Christ, February 28, 2009
This is a great entry-level book of Christian apologetics/evidences that introduces us to what some of the experts have to say about the state of evidence for Jesus' claim to be the Christ ie. the anointed Saviour of the world. Strobel, a journalist who sought out to disprove the case of Christianity on the basis of the evidence (documentary, archaeological, biblical, theological and medical)ended up on the weight of the evidence a believer. Of course, not everyone will agree with the way he builds up his case and some may point out ways in which he may have been biased by his own proclivity to Christian belief. But, the nature of faith as such whether held by a theist or an atheist will always be conditioned by subjective human will and judgement. So the charge of biasness kind of misses the point.
Yet, the book does provide a good ground for consideration for anyone looking for a face value presentation of the currently available historical data that bolsters the Christian claims and it will not be an exaggeration that by a reasonable historical standard, it is very compelling. For example, it takes more faith to believe that Alexander the Great existed and was a great Greek Conqueror than to believe in the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth and his Messianic claims on the strength of the historical records since the accounts of Jesus were written by people who were contemporary to the eye-witnesses compared to the extant biographies of Alexander composed more than six hundred years after his death.
What I also appreciate about the book is that it introduces us to some of the leading spokesmen for Christianity who have brought their respective specialties to bear on the task of commending the Christian faith to serious inquirers, not least Ben Witherington, Craig Blomberg, Bruce Metzger, Greg Boyd and Don Carson, who are outstanding scholars in their own rights. A condensed summary of the some of the strongest arguments for Christianity that one finds in this book alone is worth the price of this relatively inexpensive book. Lee Strobel is to be commended for his brilliant and courageous way of presenting his case for Christ to the public even if one goes away unconvinced. I think, however, it is a book that at least shows that one owes himself a chance in his lifetime to listen to what some of the current experts have to say about this one unique person who without a doubt have influenced the world more than anyone else throughout history. For believers who have been practising their faith without the need for 'signs' or 'evidence', they will be delighted and encouraged to find out that even the rocks have a way of crying out the name of their Messiah! Comment | Permalink
by N. T. Wright
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A ground breaking book on the New Testament!, July 26, 2009
This is *the* major paradigm-shattering book on the New Testament since perhaps Bultmann's Theology of the New Testament. He addresses the existing divide between the modern positivist reading and the postmodern phenomenalist reading of the texts. In the one, there is a facile assumption of empirical evidence - 'bare facts' requiring no interpretation - as an absolute foundation of truth ('what you see is what you get!') and in the other, a silly notion of truth as completely subjective ('truth lies in the eye of the beholder'). In a classic Anglican middle-of-the-road fashion, he posits instead a hermeneutical method he calls critical realism or the epistemology of love (following the philosopher Bernard Lonergan) which advocates getting inside the worldviews of the times in which the New Testament was written in order to understand its message.
Worldview according to Wright corresponds to the inter-connected structure of story, questions (and answers), symbols and praxis. He applies this paradigm in his reading of first century Judaism and then of early Christianity, set within certain historical fixed points such as the crucifixion of Jesus and the martyrdom of Polycarp - events that are well-attested to in the ancient documents. The outcome is a breathtaking perspective that shatters or revises just about almost every aspect of our cherished reading of the New Testament through other grids such as denominational confessions or certain momentous periods of church history, not to mention the fabricated versions of postmodern fantasies currently going around.
One begins to see Jesus the Messiah emerging out of the historical, cultural and theological issues that the New Testament writers engaged with and for once, we see how the often abstracted (or co-opted by anachronistic schemes) notions of biblical authority, hope, salvation, even god (rendered in small cases throughout for some very good reasons) and other essential Christian doctrines make sense in light of the narratival worldviews of the early church.
While we may not agree with all of Wright's conclusions, he gives us a grand narratival backdrop against which to read afresh the New Testament writings. This book is an important one to read in understanding his methodology which will shape the later volumes in the series on Jesus, Resurrection, Paul and the church. Essential reading for all serious students of the New Testament! Comment | Permalink
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Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation
by Thomas Keating
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An easy, down-to-earth and powerful read on contemplative prayer, July 20, 2009
Fr Thomas Keating has written a book that gleans from among the best of the Church's contemplative resources such as John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Cloud of Unknowing and presents it afresh with a gentle and winsome voice to today's would-be contemplatives. For many who find some of the deep classics on prayer such as those mentioned somewhat dense or obscure will find much to resonate with in 'Invitation to Love'. The method of Centering Prayer which he has helped develop and promote for our generation is a simple and rewarding way of prayer if one sets aside regular time for it. It is together with faithful practice and spiritual growth that one comes to grasp more deeply what is written here. However, even if one is a newbie to Centering Prayer or treads a different prayer path, there is much that one can relate to and find Keating's insights helpful such as in the famous 'night of the sense' and 'night of the spirit' which are commonly encountered in one's prayer as one advances. Familarity with such experiences helps one persist and let God take us to a deeper level of union with him.
Then, there is that beautiful story about Bernie, a real person of great love and generosity, who lives his life to the hilt in a monastery and when the time comes for him to let go, he drops everything in less than a moment's notice. It's an inspiring story of how true prayer makes a person fully human, fully alive!
This is one of the best books on prayer I have ever read - easy, down-to-earth and powerful. Highly recommended! But be sure to read 'Open Mind Open Heart' before reading this for a group grasp of Centering Prayer, which is the backbone of Keating's thoughts on prayer. Comment | Permalink
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Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics)
by Soren Kierkegaard
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a penetrating look at the nature of faith , June 13, 2009
Soren Kierkegaard's works are notably difficult to read. Fear and Trembling is perhaps the least formidable in comparison. Still, in this book some knowledge of Hegelian philosophy/ terminology and Greek mythology is almost indispensable in understanding him aright. Words like 'ethical', 'universal' are not to be taken in the contemporary sense. They have specific meanings given by Hegel referring more or less to what conforms to cultural norms and in Kierkegaard's milieu to its middle class morality. It is this sort of 'universal ethic' that he wants to separate from bona fide Christian faith.
Abraham's famous act of faith in offering his to be sacrificed at the behest of God is a supreme example of what Christian ethic is all about - not a simple conformity to what is generally accepted by human society but a radical obedience to divine commands that may at times fly in the face of the prevailing sensibilities. This is what is meant by the famous line that Abraham's act was 'a teleological suspension of the ethical'.
Kierkegaard here writes through his pseudonymous author, Johannes de Silentio (John of Silence, who is anything but silent!) who seeks to penetrate the mystery of faith with his rational mind. He succeeds for the most part in describing faith by saying what it is not; the knight of faith can be reduced to neither the knight of infinite resignation nor the tragic hero (eg. Agamemnon in Greek mythology). It stands as a class of its own - and this is the radical call of faith, which even the articulate silent John has no words to positively explicate it, save that it is a 'marvel', a 'miracle'. Many are mistaken to see this as a blind leap or a mindless choice. It is better to see faith, from SK's point of view, as a supra-rational act, or better still a gift that is wrought by God. Yet, it is a faith that does not come cheap. It is as John of Silence says, 'faith was a task for a whole lifetime, not a skill to be acquired in a matter of weeks or days.'
I would recommend this to any reader with an intellectual and religious bent and for the reflective Christians who are wondering what to make of his faith. Not an easy read but rewarding to those who plough at it, preferably with some help.
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The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
by Gregory A. Boyd
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a Kierkegaardian voice for our time!, June 4, 2009
There's a lot I admire about Greg Boyd - his passion, intelligence, eloquence, energy, courage, and ability to think outside the box. This book is one more thought-provoking and controversial addition to the list of books and sermons he has put out. I am not an American but am curious about how the church everywhere should live out the kingdom of God (a political term!)in relation to the socio-political system she finds herself in.
In America, I think there had been a sincere attempt at least among the founding fathers to implement the system of governance on biblical principles. The results have been a mixed one - the worldly corruption of power, greed, violence, moral decadence on the one hand as well as the the godliness, missionary zeal, generosity, ethical commitment on the other hand. Though America is probably moving towards a post-Christian mood, there are opposite voices that call for a retention or retrieval of good old fashioned biblical values as well.
I think Boyd's analysis here is accurate on many fronts - exposing the hypocrisy of the church's self-styled moral police stance, the lack of sacrifice and compassion relative to her moral indignation towards certain social ills (eg abortion, gay issues), the quick resort to violence and even vengeance in spite of the biblical bias towards mercy and reconciliation, etc. Greg's call for the church to a radical embodiment of the 'power under' life under the cross is a poignant one that needs to be heard, imbibed and practised with great urgency in our time. The call to authentic Christianity of cross-bearing and radical obedience and the unmasking of the thin pious veneer of civil religion, exemplified by the intense energy spent in championing certain religious trappings and so on makes Boyd Greg a contemporary Kierkegaard, who once called the slumbering Lutheran church ('christendom') to task in 19th century Denmark.
The Myth of a Christian Nation is a much heeded call for the real Christians in US and everywhere in the world to stand up under the banner of the cross!
My reservation, which I hope should in no way detract from Boyd's prophetic voice is that the book leans too much on the church's separation from the business of the State. I think while the church has a unique call to be herself as God's holy, compassionate people, she too has the vocation of being the salt and leaven of society as well as an outpost of God's inaugurated reign on earth. This makes the powers that be a temporary custodian of law and order in society and subordinate to Christ's rule over the world. However limited, temporary and easily tainted with the dark forces, the state still serves a God-appointed role for good. The church does have a prophetic role in speaking God's mind to the powers and assists them in every possible way to do what they have been called to do. This of course does not mean the church should resort to strong arm tactics or other dubious means to do that. Here, I am with the late Lewis Smedes who once said concerning the church that it needs not be an either-or situation but a both-end; the church is called to be BOTH compassionate AND prophetic to the world. If early church tradition is anything to go by, there were strong precedences there too of Christians confronting the pagan emperors in the name of Christ, in spite of the church's status as a persecuted minority and predominantly pacifist stand, which Boyd apparently holds. What the church needs to do is not to shy away from speaking up in the public arena but to be what she has been called to be - the cross-shaped people of God - and earn the right to speak again with the voice of true justice and compassion! No mean task of course, given the fragmented and secularised state of the church in modern America - hence, Boyd's prophetic voice remains as timely as it is mostly on target! Comment | Permalink
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Jesus and Politics: Confronting the Powers
by Alan Storkey
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highly illuminative of Jesus' political milieu!, May 28, 2009
I have found this to be a very readable and illuminating book that helps put the gospel accounts within the first century political context. I went away appreciating much better the words and deeds of Jesus as well as the pathos of the people around him. In a story-telling fashion, one is taken through a captivating historical tour through the political events leading up to and surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Lots of interesting stories (some pretty gruesome ones though)surrounding the prominent first century political personages and parties. Herod the Great and his son, Herod Antipas, received quite detailed and interesting treatments perhaps to provide the contrasting backdrop against which we see the emergence of Jesus' gentle and compassionate rule.
The book successfully disabuses one of any a-political or other-worldly conception of what Jesus came to do and proclaim. Indeed, the kingdom of God, which is the central message of Jesus, is charged with unmistakable political overtone and the first century audience would have not missed the implicit challenge of Jesus' claims of Messiahship against the powers that be - be it the Herods, the Jewish temple establishment or Caesar. Yet, the kingship of Jesus is so unlike anything in the world that it effectually turns the worldly systems of power and domination upside down.
One small shortcoming of Storkey's conception of God's kingdom, if i should nitpick a little, is that while trying to steer clear from the coercive model of worldly politics, Storkey's kingdom of God at times sounds little more than a voluntary club, where individual choice reigns supreme. Surely, the enthronement of Jesus the King issues more than a polite invitation. It is rather more like an authoritative summons: 'Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, down on your knees!'
Though this book does not delve deep, as one might wish, into the complexities of how the politics of Jesus actually works out in our contemporary world - e.g. issues of state-church relation, forms of government, just war theory and pacifism, pluralism and political toleration and so on, it lays out a basic groundwork for further critical reflections on these knotty and complex issues. His chapter on the taxation issue could be a starting point and model of how Jesus' political approach would subvert the worldly systems.
However, even if political theory is not what one is after, this book is still a boon for bible readers, teachers and pastors as it serves as a highly enlightening account of Jesus' political milieu, which makes sense of everything we read about in the gospels. For many like me who have been reading the bible for decades with only a passing regard for first century Jewish history and political struggles, one will get the exhilarating sense that this book presents in Philip Yancey's words 'the Jesus I never knew'! Comment | Permalink
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Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future)
by D. H. Williams
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A good primer for evangelicals' foray into the Patristics, May 21, 2009
Putting it simply, this is a book written primarily for Evangelicals showing us how to embrace Tradition (which Williams more or less limits to the Patristic consensus of the first five centuries) without shedding our Protestant identity. Catholics may benefit as well by understanding the place of tradition from the Protestants' perspective. Williams admits at the outset that this book was in part a response to his learned Catholic friend's remark that 'to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.' The knee-jerk reaction of most Protestants I know when invited to consider what the early church fathers have to say was to shy away and cling on to a narrow understanding of sola scriptura or to suspect one of flirting with the Roman Catholic dual-source theory of authority where the Bible and Tradition stand on equal footing. DH Williams attempts to address these, in his view, unfounded fears by arguing how the canonization of Scriptures themselves grew out of the context of the patristic church that was guided by its liturgy, oral tradition, the rule of faith as well as a somewhat loose and unsettled canon of texts. The relationship between Scripture and Tradition is not a combative one but complementary. On the other hand, neither is there any suggestion that the fathers are infallible, monolithic or on par with apostolic authority. In fact, given the variegated and sometimes eccentric nature of the early fathers' writings, one might respond with a certain degree of healthy skepticism as to how consensual really was their 'consensus' but Williams' point is well taken that we modern readers should at least take their interpretation of the sacred Scriptures seriously, given their proximity to the apostolic source.
Attention is also given to other obstacles that Protestants might have in reading the fathers such as the modern suspicion towards the fathers' penchant for allegorical interpretation, how the Protestants' sine qua non of 'justification by faith' stands up in the face of the Patristics (and vice versa), the issue of sola scriptura and so on. In all, the author puts together quite a good case in addressing theses concerns. It certainly is not the last word on the subject and is open to challenge and inquiry on several fronts. Nonetheless, his is an important voice in the ongoing conversation.
Finally, it ends with a chapter that tantalizes us with a sampling (rather limited though) of the fathers' words which showcases the spiritual depth and apostolic faithfulness that emerges from that era. The reading list appended is also quite useful as an introduction to the vast literary and spiritual reservoir of the early church fathers.
I am especially struck by his favorable reference to JI Packer, one of evangelicalism's stalwarts, who 'declares that the Reformation is over, by which he means that the forging of our Protestant identity should no longer be done in the furnace of heated anti-Catholicism.' Wow! What a great time to be a Christian! - i thought. Yet, the realist side of me still cringes at the fundamentalists' die-hard cry that the battle is far from over. But I remain hopeful for better days to come and am immensely thankful for such a project as the Evangelical Ressourcement series that points us to such a rich fountainhead of the Christian tradition. Comment | Permalink
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The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message
by Cynthia Bourgeault
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Brilliant but quite misguided IMO, May 13, 2009
Cynthia Bourgeault is without a doubt a spiritually sensitive, exceptionally bright and articulate writer. Her Wisdom Jesus contains more than a few nuggets of deep wisdom indeed and helps us to develop an ear to some deep insights into Jesus' words and deeds. But she might have overdone her 'pushing the metaphysical envelope' and overturning of the traditions way too far. I am rather surprised at several points in the book where she not only attempts to subvert creedal formulations, she seems to stand above the canonical interpretations of Jesus as well (including those of the apostles Paul and John!). So I wonder what vantage point does she stand on that enables her to critique the canonical writers and opt for non-canonical sources instead as the more reliable authority for showing us who the real Jesus is.
Then I realize that it has to do with what she calls 'the inner certainty and sovereignty that comes out of direct knowingness'(paraphrased). While it may well be true that there probably are vestiges of the 'imago dei' within us after the Fall that are capable of apprehending the numinous, the author has not quite grappled with what the prophet Jeremiah calls 'the deceitfulness of the human heart'. Certainly, the doctrine of 'total depravity' and 'original sin' may have hardened into harsh dogmas in some fundamentalist circles, however, the reactionary swing to an almost unquestioning acceptance of one's inner (mystical) authority is equally unwise.
Christian readers may get past the anachronistic and extraneous terminology such as 'Jesus the tantric master', 'binary/egoic operating system', 'ihidaya' in relation to the very Jewish Jesus, etc with a fair amount of generous orthodoxy, but her assertion that 'Jesus came first and foremost as a wisdom teacher that sought to transform human consciousness' is way over the top. Such a wisdom teacher would hardly need to be put away by the political powers, much less crucified. In her reading 'the Kingdom of God' is reduced to what goes on in the interior consciousness of an individual and thus stripped of any political and cosmic overtone, which a careful reading of the NT texts would actually bear out.
There are solid gems of wisdom no doubt in her writing as we would also find in other religions that one can benefit from, but it is likely that the author has drunk too deeply into the mixed streams of Eastern religions as well as the non-canonical 'Christian' sources (Nag Hammadi) for her reading of Jesus to fairly represent the Jesus of Nazareth. This is another example of how Jesus can be made to fit into any mold we construct when the cultural, historical context - especially the Jewishness - of the Christ event is not taken seriously enough.
Perhaps, hers is an attempt at reading what mystics call the 'anagogical sense' of Scriptures which in itself can be a profitable enterprise, but let's not call it 'Jesus in context' by any means as she does. A healthy dose of a serious historical study of Jesus such as 'Jesus Quest' and 'Jesus the Sage' by Ben Witherington or 'The Challenge of Jesus' and 'Jesus and the Victory of God' by Tom Wright would be a needed corrective. Comments (4) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jul 14, 2009 10:08 PM PDT
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Orthodoxy
by Gilbert K. Chesterton
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packed with witty logic and childlike wonder!, March 8, 2009
Indeed there is no one like G.K. in our generation though there are not a few who have been nourished by his poetic brilliance and second naivete. His sentences are packed full of witty logic that teases our minds to active thought. If one simply reads it like a text book trying to reproduce the arguments later, it will not do the text justice. It is the sort of book that provokes you to think rather than does the thinking for you.
The book has many memorable quotes and they jump out at you every now and then when one engages other books that deal with similar subjects as explored here - creeds, apologetics, orthodoxy, rationality, myths, etc. Recently there has been a rehash of some old charges at Christianity for being too meek on the one hand (as in 'turn the other cheek') and too violent on the other (the Crusades, witch hunt, etc), I'm once again reminded of Chesterton's poignant remark that the critics are often shooting from both sides of the mouth and end up totally incoherent. 'What if the reason why we find the man in question (ie. Jesus) either too thin or fat is because he is of the right shape, and we are the odd ones?' quips GK. The point is that the Christian faith is so richly textured and paradoxed that it could not have been invented by mere logic. It is so intricately shaped as the key to the world's many faceted-questions and mysteries. G.K. makes the Christian creeds come alive as a rich and life-changing narrative that renders all heresies thin, fluffy and dull by comparison indeed!
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The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
by Henri J. M. Nouwen
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An indepth and evocative reflection on the story of the prodigal sons and the compassionate father, March 5, 2009
This book lends itself to the spirit of Lent and serves well as a study resource for this season of healing and repentance. Here we have the genius of Rembrandt and Nouwen put together as they retell with their own lives the Return of the Prodigal Son, or better still, the Welcome of the Compassionate Father. It is a call to the 'inner sanctuary' where we hear God's gentle whisper 'you are my beloved son, on whom my favour rests.' Like the prodigal sons - younger and elder - we often 'leave home' to find our own way of proving our own worth. In doing so, we cut ourselves off from the Father, who requires no such posturing from us, and get entangled in the destructive web of addictions in the world.
God loves us no matter what and there's nothing we can do to make him love us more or love us less. This is the fundamental basis of our lives as children of God. This is so basic and yet we often miss it and allow it to be smothered by the loud and seductive voices of the world to push ahead of the others, to win adulations and applause and to prove that we are worth something in a way that others are'nt. Reading this book is a way back to the Father as we hear his voice calling repeatedly to us 'You are my beloved child - always! Would you come home? Would you join in the celebration?'
Yet, the reflection does not end with the sons. Nouwen was prompted by a friend who told him, 'whether you are the younger son or the elder son, you have to realize that you are callled to become the father.' This points us to a greater truth of the story: the central character is indeed the father who loves without asking to be loved in return and whose compassion is without limits. Comment | Permalink
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The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
by Lee Strobel
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A solid case for the historical evidence for Christ, February 28, 2009
This is a great entry-level book of Christian apologetics/evidences that introduces us to what some of the experts have to say about the state of evidence for Jesus' claim to be the Christ ie. the anointed Saviour of the world. Strobel, a journalist who sought out to disprove the case of Christianity on the basis of the evidence (documentary, archaeological, biblical, theological and medical)ended up on the weight of the evidence a believer. Of course, not everyone will agree with the way he builds up his case and some may point out ways in which he may have been biased by his own proclivity to Christian belief. But, the nature of faith as such whether held by a theist or an atheist will always be conditioned by subjective human will and judgement. So the charge of biasness kind of misses the point.
Yet, the book does provide a good ground for consideration for anyone looking for a face value presentation of the currently available historical data that bolsters the Christian claims and it will not be an exaggeration that by a reasonable historical standard, it is very compelling. For example, it takes more faith to believe that Alexander the Great existed and was a great Greek Conqueror than to believe in the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth and his Messianic claims on the strength of the historical records since the accounts of Jesus were written by people who were contemporary to the eye-witnesses compared to the extant biographies of Alexander composed more than six hundred years after his death.
What I also appreciate about the book is that it introduces us to some of the leading spokesmen for Christianity who have brought their respective specialties to bear on the task of commending the Christian faith to serious inquirers, not least Ben Witherington, Craig Blomberg, Bruce Metzger, Greg Boyd and Don Carson, who are outstanding scholars in their own rights. A condensed summary of the some of the strongest arguments for Christianity that one finds in this book alone is worth the price of this relatively inexpensive book. Lee Strobel is to be commended for his brilliant and courageous way of presenting his case for Christ to the public even if one goes away unconvinced. I think, however, it is a book that at least shows that one owes himself a chance in his lifetime to listen to what some of the current experts have to say about this one unique person who without a doubt have influenced the world more than anyone else throughout history. For believers who have been practising their faith without the need for 'signs' or 'evidence', they will be delighted and encouraged to find out that even the rocks have a way of crying out the name of their Messiah! Comment | Permalink
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Amazon Book Reviews 3
Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal
by Richard F. LovelaceEdition: Paperback
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
A spiritually rejuvenating book, July 25, 2006
This book has a riveting spell on me since I first read it a decade ago and has continued to shape the fundamental landscape of my understanding of theology and spirituality ever since. He traces his conversion from atheism to his reading of Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, that led him to a journey of spiritual inquiry, where he met Christians of different shades and backgrounds. It was however the Reformed tradition/Puritans that had the most profound impact on him and opened him up to the transforming power of the gospel. He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to abberant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice. Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration. He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.
Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life
by Simon ChanEdition: Paperback
Price: $15.64
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A Rare Treasure Indeed!, April 27, 2003
Simon Chan's book is a very edifying read. A unique book of a kind that marries theology and spirituality almost seamlessly. He sets a good theological basis for our understanding of God, church, salvation and sin before drawing out an 'ascetical'(spiritual disciplines) program, that is accessible even to novices. His discussion on sin is very well distilled. The radical nature of sin is well expounded, which helps one see the genius of such doctrines as 'justification by faith'. He then helps us see how that can be lived out in a way that is both congruent and effective, thus healing what Lovelace calls 'the sanctification gap'(between being declared holy and becoming holy). His writing is peppered with various quotations, making it easy for me to know where he is coming from and pointing to sources for further reading. In so doing, he does not go over grounds which other writers have trodden and yet stands on the shoulders of such giants of the Church. He focuses his insightful comments on specific issues that confront the church today,especially in the context of Asian churches that are swept by such forces as individualism and globalization. His analysis of differences between Western and Eastern thinking helps one to do theology with greater discernment and sensitivity to the pecularities of one's culture. Much more can be said about the book but it certainly serves as a wonderful resource for anyone committed to 'living unto God'.
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by Richard F. LovelaceEdition: Paperback
Price: $17.82
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
A spiritually rejuvenating book, July 25, 2006
This book has a riveting spell on me since I first read it a decade ago and has continued to shape the fundamental landscape of my understanding of theology and spirituality ever since. He traces his conversion from atheism to his reading of Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, that led him to a journey of spiritual inquiry, where he met Christians of different shades and backgrounds. It was however the Reformed tradition/Puritans that had the most profound impact on him and opened him up to the transforming power of the gospel. He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to abberant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice. Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration. He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.
Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life
by Simon ChanEdition: Paperback
Price: $15.64
Availability: In Stock
32 used & new from $12.70
A Rare Treasure Indeed!, April 27, 2003
Simon Chan's book is a very edifying read. A unique book of a kind that marries theology and spirituality almost seamlessly. He sets a good theological basis for our understanding of God, church, salvation and sin before drawing out an 'ascetical'(spiritual disciplines) program, that is accessible even to novices. His discussion on sin is very well distilled. The radical nature of sin is well expounded, which helps one see the genius of such doctrines as 'justification by faith'. He then helps us see how that can be lived out in a way that is both congruent and effective, thus healing what Lovelace calls 'the sanctification gap'(between being declared holy and becoming holy). His writing is peppered with various quotations, making it easy for me to know where he is coming from and pointing to sources for further reading. In so doing, he does not go over grounds which other writers have trodden and yet stands on the shoulders of such giants of the Church. He focuses his insightful comments on specific issues that confront the church today,especially in the context of Asian churches that are swept by such forces as individualism and globalization. His analysis of differences between Western and Eastern thinking helps one to do theology with greater discernment and sensitivity to the pecularities of one's culture. Much more can be said about the book but it certainly serves as a wonderful resource for anyone committed to 'living unto God'.
Comment Permalink
Amazon Book Reviews 2
New Seeds of Contemplation
by Thomas MertonEdition: Paperback
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52 used & new from $7.49
An Excellent Gateway to Merton and the Contemplative Life!, August 8, 2008
Seeds of Contemplation is a great gateway to Merton's many profound and enriching works on prayer and spirituality. It contains many short chapters which deal with the basics of the contemplative life - solitude and community, silence and words, distractions and dark nights, faith and doubt, etc. It is a helpful and essential guide for any who aspires to be a 'contemplative' - that is, to grow in the life of prayer and communion with God (and Merton would caution that we use this loaded word carefully). It clears the ground by explaining what contemplation is and is not, the unmasking of the false self, the place of solitude and silence vis-a-vis the community, the experiences of distractions and dryness and interacts with the traditional imageries of the 'living flame' and being 'touched by God' that one frequently encounters in the classical mystical writings (such as John of the Cross, Cloud of Unknowing). It really is an excellent introduction of the contemplative life for the beginners. Yet, he has said elsewhere too that if anyone desires to be a contemplative, let him not think of himself as anything else but a beginner! This book is a combination of clarity and profundity and few books succeed in making sense of the contemplative life to the lay reader without making it sound either pedestrian or esoteric. The beauty with which it is written and the timeless quality of its counsels to people in every age that thirst for authenticity and a life of deepening union with God makes it an enduring classic.
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Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year
by Robert E. WebberEdition: Paperback
Price: $18.00
Availability: Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
11 used & new from $9.98
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A helpful Guide for Observing the Christian Calendar., July 27, 2008
Robert Webber has written an inspiring guide especially for Christians who are learning to appropriate the practice of observing the Christian Liturgical Calendar. He does a good job in explaining how this ancient-future discipline is a great aid to spiritual formation and lays out the full Calendar of seasons from Advent to Pentecost and the special festive days such as Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration, Good Shepherd, Christ the King Sundays. By reflecting on the themes of these special days and seasons, he helps us enter more deeply into the celebration. He also suggests the peculiar disciplines such as fasting, baptism, giving and cake-cutting (!) that go with the respective festivals as well as questions for our group/individual study and reflections. To be sure, it can be pretty exhausting trying to read it from cover to cover. It is better to be used as a reference as we move through the liturgical seasons like trekking the himalayas with a good map and an experienced Sherpa. I have found this approach to be extremely nourishing and formative. Webber is a wise guide in the area of spiritual formation and he writes with clarity and unusual eloquence. I thank God for his invaluable and lasting legacy. P/S: For readers who have reservations about festive observance as a valid Christian discipline in view of texts like Col 2:16-17 and Gal 4:10, they should take heart that these texts have more to do with clinging back to the now, from the Christian POV, obsolete Jewish festivals which were a shadow of Christ, not the reality. Clearly the issue is not with the observance of seasons and times per se (which the early Church evidently practised such as the Lord's Day and plausibly Easter) but the failure to recognize the *Time* of God's inbreaking kingdom in Jesus the Christ. Further, Rom 14:5-10 gives at the minimum the freedom to observe sacred days as one is so persuaded in his own heart. And it certainly should be done in the spirit and context of Christian liberty and spiritual formation, than as a legalistic thing. Hope this helps!
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Mustard Seed vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future
by Tom SineEdition: Paperback
Price: $20.00
Availability: In Stock
61 used & new from $0.01
A book that will rock the world should its proposals be taken seriously., July 27, 2008
Tom Sine belongs to a rare breed of thinkers who dares to take seriously Jesus' teaching of the kingdom of God. He applies his futurist's foresight to what the world can be like if enough Christians start taking the Lord's call to be the salt of the earth and mustard seeds of faith. Too often, we have given ourselves the excuse that we can remain where we are in our secular vocation and continue to do the Lord's work just as faithfully. Without debunking this approach absolutely (as it certainly works for some), Sine gives us the pause by pointing out that in practice that has easily become for many Christians a safe cover for building our own empires while leaving a mere pittance of time, energy, money and other resources for the Kingdom of God. Sunday is a day where we give a polite nod to the revolutinary message of Jesus but the rest of the workaday week is business as usual! The Bible has some strong words for such a subterfuge! Yet, this book is not simply a book of diagnosis or indictment but a concrete proposal for implementing a 'mustard seed' program(s) that takes seriously the issues of poverty, social injustice, fragmentation of society, environmental pollution and other contemporary ills that come with McWorld - the world of globalization - and poses a challenge to Christians who will take up the call courageously to revamp their whole way of life in the light of Jesus' call of discipleship. It is one of those rare Christian resources that do not delve merely in abstractions and generalities but is committed to working out the brass tags of what it means to be Christ's followers in the 21st century. This is a brilliant exercise in what Walter Brueggemann calls 'hopeful imagination' that will call into question the status quo, bundled with lots of helpful data and practical strategies that will usher in the new. One has to ready himself for the challenge as he opens this book.
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A Testament of Devotion
by Thomas R. KellyEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
Availability: In Stock
53 used & new from $4.99
Deep calls to deep amidst the roaring waterfalls!, July 27, 2008
The Testament of Devotion is a gentle invitation to slip into the divine centre amidst the whirlwinds of competing demands, incessant noise, superficial crowds and breathless hurry. Thomas Kelly, a Quaker writes as one who has stumbled upon the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price for which he would trade everything for - a life that grows out of an inner place of calm, peace, clarity and centredness. This divine centre, this inner peace is available to all who would pause and breathe deep and slip gently into it. It does not require the straining of the intellect, or elaborate rituals but humble obedience - a surrender to the 'Hound of Heaven' that offers us this gift of quiet, trust and rest. This place is where you learn to trust the Creator, the Savior and the world's true Lord and know that all is well, all manner of things is well. What we have here is a distillation of Quaker spirituality where the doctrine of the Inner Light of Christ can be realized in the lives of ordinary people and not just the super saints in all the routine and vagaries of modern living - a simple, gentle book that has the power to change us from deep inside. Be warned!
Comment Permalink
The Worldly Church: A Call for Biblical Renewal
by Leonard AllenEdition: Paperback
Price: $8.95
Availability: Not in stock; order now and we'll deliver when available
20 used & new from $0.01
The bomb that went off in Campbell's playing field?, July 26, 2008
This must be the bomb that exploded in the Stone-Campbell Restorationist playing field sounding off a siren that calls for a serious navigational check lest it goes off further down the sectarian, splintering precipice. For a movement that rallies the call to unity on the strictest interpretation of 'sola scriptura' ('speaks where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent'), the Churches of Christ in America and worldwide have undergone innumerable splits, ecclesiastical quarrels and ugly contentions. From one of the fastest growing religious bodies at one time, it has become a scattering of mostly small-sized fossilized institutions that have a particularly strained way of reading the Bible and viewing other Christians. Leonard Allen, Michael Weed and Richard Hughes have written a sharp but compassionate book on the crisis and were among the first bold voices that put the finger on the problems that have plaqued the movement from the start. The Restoration Movement founded by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell had grown out of a particular era in American history, tired of religious wars and 'human traditions' and spurred on by the Reformation plea to have each person studying the bible for himself, the commonsense Baconian approach to reading the bible and other humanistic agendas that have all but ruled out the place of mystery in religion. This era had shaped a people who began to view church tradition and communal reading of scripture with suspicion and have opted for the individual as the final arbiter of biblical truths. The one hundred plus years that followed have shown this to be a recipe for disaster. Allen et al and others that followed have done the RM a great service by steering the ship back to the original intents of her founders, who though fallible and wrong-headed in many ways, were basically right in calling God's people to stand united on the basis of our first allegiance to scripture and not allow sectarian bias or church traditions to trump it, the first step of which was to drop the various denominational labels and be 'Christians only' and to constitute the Church around the visible marks of baptism and the Lord's Supper. However, when their descendants began to dismiss the Church before them as apostate and took on the task of reinventing the whole wheel, they ended up throwing away the baby along with the bathwater and the mystery, the sense of communion with the larger Church, appreciation of the sacraments, the contemplative life and spiritual formation were lost. What is left is an impoverished tradition that is open to the worst secular winds that blow along - individualism, pragmatism, human self-reliance, rationalism, consumerism - in short, worldliness. Two decades have passed since the book's publication, I honor the authors' bold and timely clarion call. The churches that have heeded it in one way or another have begun to see better days in church life, worship and brotherhood ties. I wish that the movement will continue to grow out of its sectarianism and bring to the table of ecumenicity its own gifts and contributions that the Lord has blessed her with for all her foibles and misses till we all be one and mature in Christ.
Making Sense Out of Suffering
by Peter KreeftEdition: Paperback
Price: $10.39
Availability: In Stock
61 used & new from $3.18
An amazing synthesis of answers to the question of suffering., July 26, 2008
I read Kreeft's Making Sense out of Suffering more than twenty years ago and since then have gone on to read quite a number of other books on the same thread. I must say that Kreeft's book stands as one of the best, if not the best concise one-volume popular work that brings together a variety of disciplines - novelists, poets, prophets, philosophers, scriptures - to bear on the age-old existential issue of suffering. The book carries with it the suspenseful quality of a who-dunnit, that makes it unput-downable once you embark on it. You keep racing and grasping forward as the answer gets better and better with each chapter till you come to see afresh the familiar face of the One, acquainted with sorrows and griefs and by whose stripes our wounds are healed. Kreeft is not only a wise man. He is an empathetic conversational partner. What begins as a book that engages the intellect ends with words that touch the heart deeply. It is one of those books I count in my now sizeable collection as one that has left in me a deep imprint of truths that has pointed me and keeps pointing me to the Saviour. Thank you, Professor Kreeft!
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Liturgical Theology: The Church As Worshiping Community
by Simon ChanEdition: Paperback
Price: $15.64
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35 used & new from $14.00
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A Challenging Proposal for Evangelical Worship Renewal, July 24, 2008
Simon Chan has given us here a challenging proposal that takes the evangelicals' self-searching mode a huge step forward as regards its worship and liturgy. In the intro, he evaluates the recent calls for renewal of the evangelical movement by theologians such as David Wells, Donald Bloesch and Stanley Grenz. Taking off from the works of Grenz and Robert Jenkins, the fresh insights he brings to the table include the need for the evangelical church to go beyond discussing style and technique and develop a more robust self-understanding that is rooted in the perichoretic union with the Trinity ie. the ontology of the church. What is interesting is his view of the church as prior to creation in the divine economy. This in his view has far reaching implications for the ecclesial life. Rather than being co-opted as a handmaiden to the world's agendas, the church's raison detre is found in God's irrevocable gift of election to the praise of his glory. This means that the church is most clearly herself at worship. Drawing largely from the Great Tradition (of the first five centuries), he sees the normative liturgy as constituted by Word and Sacrament, flanked on both ends by the welcome and the dismissal. Within this order, he sees the Eucharist as the basic centre that gives shape and orientation to the liturgy. This is a corrective to the evangelicals' tendency in seeing the whole service as revolving around the sermon. It is the Eucharist, he contends, that realizes the Church in her most basic character as communion. Chan then fleshes out his proposal as he looks at Christian initiation (Catechism)and the Sunday Liturgy and concludes with some thoughts on how the church can be formed spiritually through 'active participation' in worship. His program is a far cry from the mass appeal, humanly contrived and instant gratification models we see so much in the popular evangelical scene but if taken seriously and with perseverance, the church may for those rare times find herself buoyed up again by God's own Spirit to be what she has been called to be from before the foundation of the earth. Chan's writing is eloquent and lucid, evident of a first rate theological mind with both feet planted firmly on the ground. His relatively simple prose may mask deep insights that can be mined only through patient listening (lectio divina!), ruminations and further readings. My only small 'complaint' is that the book is too short, leaving some assertions less rigorously argued than I would wish for (but he did make clear that this is not a full-blown work on liturgical theology) and this gifted teacher needs to write more and bless the Church with his refreshing insights.
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Reaching Out
by Henri NouwenEdition: Paperback
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Nouwen at his Systematic Best!, July 3, 2008
Someone once quipped that Henri Nouwen was such a gifted writer that anything he scribbled out even on a discarded bus ticket deserved to get published! Having read many of his published works, I would nod heartily at that hyperbolic statement! There is in Nouwen's simple and beautiful literary expressions a profound grasp of life in the Spirit with all its odd tensions and paradoxes. This shows in the schema he uses in this book which sees the progress in the spiritual life not so much as a ladder one climbs unabated to the end goal (visio dei!) that traditional authors deigned to employ. It is more like the polarity that one shuttles back and forth between the Spirit and the flesh (in the language of St Paul). But here he creatively uses the idea of "Reaching Out'- to self, to others and to God. In these three movements of outreach, one finds himself experiencing the deepening of the life of faith when he moves from the false self of loneliness to the true self of solitude, from hostility towards others to hospitality and finally from the illusions of hubris to prayer. These concepts are not new but Nouwen has a refreshing way of weaving together the ancient Scriptures and the time-tested wisdom of the spiritual fathers and mothers with the modern struggles of contemporary men as well as his own existential issues. He writes in such a way that those with eyes to see could recognize the images and stirrings of their own hearts in them and perhaps discover for themselves the way out of the maze one often finds himself. I particularly love the way he retells the ancient stories of the Zen masters as well as the Eastern Orthodox teachers. No one tells them like he does within the larger reflections of what it means to live the spiritual life ie. 'to live a life in the Spirit of Jesus Christ'. In this he shows his ecumenical spirit and his clear discernment of truths within the diversity of faith traditions, while remaining deeply anchored in the gospel. One small complaint that some readers make of Nouwen is that his prolific writings often lack the systematic character that would have helped believers construct a more comprehensive and well thought out understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. I think this critique has some merits because many of his writings are done in the forms of letters (You are my Beloved), spiritual journals (Genesee Diary), case studies (Wounded Healer) and biographical reflections (Adam) which carry a plethora of gems here and there, which some feel need to be pieced together into a crystal glass! Then again, perhaps these genres are a more accurate reflection of life itself with all its messy bits and mysteries that do not yield to neat systematization. Having said that, if anyone must have a book that sets out the thoughts of Nouwen in his systematic best, this might well be the book he is looking for as Nouwen answers in three movements the book's central thesis: 'What does it mean to live in the Spirit of Jesus Christ?'. Savour this book slowly and meditatively and be nourished by this deep well of inspiring truths that move the heart as well as the mind.
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Choices
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Hard nosed approach to ethical decision-making., November 7, 2006
I find Smedes' approach to ethical decision-making extremely helpful, especially for people who do not settle for hand-me-down rules and simplistic solutions. While I do not agree with all that Smedes concludes in all of his ethical musings, I find myself constantly challenged by what he writes, to think critically about life's issues, which are often complex, and full of tensions, paradoxes and uncertainties. Every chapter gives an insightful, real-life and highly readable account of the principles(outlined in the Table of Contents) he commends to us in ethical decision-making. I find that his emphasis on developing the character rather than having the 'right answers' exactly right and his conclusion that 'getting it right is not the most important thing, being forgiven is'(rough paraphrase) tugs at the heart of all who yearn and desire to live right and yet find ourselves falling repeatedly into the hands of grace and hence energized by it.
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Love Within Limits: Realizing Selfless Love in a Selfish World
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $16.00
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Smedes at his best, July 27, 2006
I have been a fan of the late Lewis Smedes whose insightful writings have been a rare inspiration in the field of ethics and theology. Besides 'Forgive and forget' and 'Mere Morality', this book has been IMO one of his best works on ethics. He combines deep ethical insights with beautiful prose, that croons in your imagination long after you have put down the book. Using Paul's rhapsody on 'Agape love' in 1 Cor 13, he teases out the powerful drives of the love that knows no bounds - love does not seek its own self, love is not haughty, love has poise, love believes and risks with a kind of reckless abandonment, love hates evil, love gives hope... and at the same time holds all these superlatives in tension with the finitude of the human lover. So while the far-flung larger-than-life characteristics of love are eloquently expounded, Smedes discusses how love works itself out in our day to day world, conditioned by limited resources, human sinfulness and societal constraints. What we have is a hard-nosed treatment of the virtue of Christian love as it is exercised in the fallen world with the accompanying virtues of discernment and justice. Smedes writes with the theological acumen of Aquinas and the literary prowess of Shakespeare! Destined to be a classic.
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by Thomas MertonEdition: Paperback
Price: $10.85
Availability: In Stock
52 used & new from $7.49
An Excellent Gateway to Merton and the Contemplative Life!, August 8, 2008
Seeds of Contemplation is a great gateway to Merton's many profound and enriching works on prayer and spirituality. It contains many short chapters which deal with the basics of the contemplative life - solitude and community, silence and words, distractions and dark nights, faith and doubt, etc. It is a helpful and essential guide for any who aspires to be a 'contemplative' - that is, to grow in the life of prayer and communion with God (and Merton would caution that we use this loaded word carefully). It clears the ground by explaining what contemplation is and is not, the unmasking of the false self, the place of solitude and silence vis-a-vis the community, the experiences of distractions and dryness and interacts with the traditional imageries of the 'living flame' and being 'touched by God' that one frequently encounters in the classical mystical writings (such as John of the Cross, Cloud of Unknowing). It really is an excellent introduction of the contemplative life for the beginners. Yet, he has said elsewhere too that if anyone desires to be a contemplative, let him not think of himself as anything else but a beginner! This book is a combination of clarity and profundity and few books succeed in making sense of the contemplative life to the lay reader without making it sound either pedestrian or esoteric. The beauty with which it is written and the timeless quality of its counsels to people in every age that thirst for authenticity and a life of deepening union with God makes it an enduring classic.
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Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year
by Robert E. WebberEdition: Paperback
Price: $18.00
Availability: Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
11 used & new from $9.98
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A helpful Guide for Observing the Christian Calendar., July 27, 2008
Robert Webber has written an inspiring guide especially for Christians who are learning to appropriate the practice of observing the Christian Liturgical Calendar. He does a good job in explaining how this ancient-future discipline is a great aid to spiritual formation and lays out the full Calendar of seasons from Advent to Pentecost and the special festive days such as Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration, Good Shepherd, Christ the King Sundays. By reflecting on the themes of these special days and seasons, he helps us enter more deeply into the celebration. He also suggests the peculiar disciplines such as fasting, baptism, giving and cake-cutting (!) that go with the respective festivals as well as questions for our group/individual study and reflections. To be sure, it can be pretty exhausting trying to read it from cover to cover. It is better to be used as a reference as we move through the liturgical seasons like trekking the himalayas with a good map and an experienced Sherpa. I have found this approach to be extremely nourishing and formative. Webber is a wise guide in the area of spiritual formation and he writes with clarity and unusual eloquence. I thank God for his invaluable and lasting legacy. P/S: For readers who have reservations about festive observance as a valid Christian discipline in view of texts like Col 2:16-17 and Gal 4:10, they should take heart that these texts have more to do with clinging back to the now, from the Christian POV, obsolete Jewish festivals which were a shadow of Christ, not the reality. Clearly the issue is not with the observance of seasons and times per se (which the early Church evidently practised such as the Lord's Day and plausibly Easter) but the failure to recognize the *Time* of God's inbreaking kingdom in Jesus the Christ. Further, Rom 14:5-10 gives at the minimum the freedom to observe sacred days as one is so persuaded in his own heart. And it certainly should be done in the spirit and context of Christian liberty and spiritual formation, than as a legalistic thing. Hope this helps!
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Mustard Seed vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future
by Tom SineEdition: Paperback
Price: $20.00
Availability: In Stock
61 used & new from $0.01
A book that will rock the world should its proposals be taken seriously., July 27, 2008
Tom Sine belongs to a rare breed of thinkers who dares to take seriously Jesus' teaching of the kingdom of God. He applies his futurist's foresight to what the world can be like if enough Christians start taking the Lord's call to be the salt of the earth and mustard seeds of faith. Too often, we have given ourselves the excuse that we can remain where we are in our secular vocation and continue to do the Lord's work just as faithfully. Without debunking this approach absolutely (as it certainly works for some), Sine gives us the pause by pointing out that in practice that has easily become for many Christians a safe cover for building our own empires while leaving a mere pittance of time, energy, money and other resources for the Kingdom of God. Sunday is a day where we give a polite nod to the revolutinary message of Jesus but the rest of the workaday week is business as usual! The Bible has some strong words for such a subterfuge! Yet, this book is not simply a book of diagnosis or indictment but a concrete proposal for implementing a 'mustard seed' program(s) that takes seriously the issues of poverty, social injustice, fragmentation of society, environmental pollution and other contemporary ills that come with McWorld - the world of globalization - and poses a challenge to Christians who will take up the call courageously to revamp their whole way of life in the light of Jesus' call of discipleship. It is one of those rare Christian resources that do not delve merely in abstractions and generalities but is committed to working out the brass tags of what it means to be Christ's followers in the 21st century. This is a brilliant exercise in what Walter Brueggemann calls 'hopeful imagination' that will call into question the status quo, bundled with lots of helpful data and practical strategies that will usher in the new. One has to ready himself for the challenge as he opens this book.
Comment Permalink
A Testament of Devotion
by Thomas R. KellyEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
Availability: In Stock
53 used & new from $4.99
Deep calls to deep amidst the roaring waterfalls!, July 27, 2008
The Testament of Devotion is a gentle invitation to slip into the divine centre amidst the whirlwinds of competing demands, incessant noise, superficial crowds and breathless hurry. Thomas Kelly, a Quaker writes as one who has stumbled upon the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price for which he would trade everything for - a life that grows out of an inner place of calm, peace, clarity and centredness. This divine centre, this inner peace is available to all who would pause and breathe deep and slip gently into it. It does not require the straining of the intellect, or elaborate rituals but humble obedience - a surrender to the 'Hound of Heaven' that offers us this gift of quiet, trust and rest. This place is where you learn to trust the Creator, the Savior and the world's true Lord and know that all is well, all manner of things is well. What we have here is a distillation of Quaker spirituality where the doctrine of the Inner Light of Christ can be realized in the lives of ordinary people and not just the super saints in all the routine and vagaries of modern living - a simple, gentle book that has the power to change us from deep inside. Be warned!
Comment Permalink
The Worldly Church: A Call for Biblical Renewal
by Leonard AllenEdition: Paperback
Price: $8.95
Availability: Not in stock; order now and we'll deliver when available
20 used & new from $0.01
The bomb that went off in Campbell's playing field?, July 26, 2008
This must be the bomb that exploded in the Stone-Campbell Restorationist playing field sounding off a siren that calls for a serious navigational check lest it goes off further down the sectarian, splintering precipice. For a movement that rallies the call to unity on the strictest interpretation of 'sola scriptura' ('speaks where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent'), the Churches of Christ in America and worldwide have undergone innumerable splits, ecclesiastical quarrels and ugly contentions. From one of the fastest growing religious bodies at one time, it has become a scattering of mostly small-sized fossilized institutions that have a particularly strained way of reading the Bible and viewing other Christians. Leonard Allen, Michael Weed and Richard Hughes have written a sharp but compassionate book on the crisis and were among the first bold voices that put the finger on the problems that have plaqued the movement from the start. The Restoration Movement founded by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell had grown out of a particular era in American history, tired of religious wars and 'human traditions' and spurred on by the Reformation plea to have each person studying the bible for himself, the commonsense Baconian approach to reading the bible and other humanistic agendas that have all but ruled out the place of mystery in religion. This era had shaped a people who began to view church tradition and communal reading of scripture with suspicion and have opted for the individual as the final arbiter of biblical truths. The one hundred plus years that followed have shown this to be a recipe for disaster. Allen et al and others that followed have done the RM a great service by steering the ship back to the original intents of her founders, who though fallible and wrong-headed in many ways, were basically right in calling God's people to stand united on the basis of our first allegiance to scripture and not allow sectarian bias or church traditions to trump it, the first step of which was to drop the various denominational labels and be 'Christians only' and to constitute the Church around the visible marks of baptism and the Lord's Supper. However, when their descendants began to dismiss the Church before them as apostate and took on the task of reinventing the whole wheel, they ended up throwing away the baby along with the bathwater and the mystery, the sense of communion with the larger Church, appreciation of the sacraments, the contemplative life and spiritual formation were lost. What is left is an impoverished tradition that is open to the worst secular winds that blow along - individualism, pragmatism, human self-reliance, rationalism, consumerism - in short, worldliness. Two decades have passed since the book's publication, I honor the authors' bold and timely clarion call. The churches that have heeded it in one way or another have begun to see better days in church life, worship and brotherhood ties. I wish that the movement will continue to grow out of its sectarianism and bring to the table of ecumenicity its own gifts and contributions that the Lord has blessed her with for all her foibles and misses till we all be one and mature in Christ.
Making Sense Out of Suffering
by Peter KreeftEdition: Paperback
Price: $10.39
Availability: In Stock
61 used & new from $3.18
An amazing synthesis of answers to the question of suffering., July 26, 2008
I read Kreeft's Making Sense out of Suffering more than twenty years ago and since then have gone on to read quite a number of other books on the same thread. I must say that Kreeft's book stands as one of the best, if not the best concise one-volume popular work that brings together a variety of disciplines - novelists, poets, prophets, philosophers, scriptures - to bear on the age-old existential issue of suffering. The book carries with it the suspenseful quality of a who-dunnit, that makes it unput-downable once you embark on it. You keep racing and grasping forward as the answer gets better and better with each chapter till you come to see afresh the familiar face of the One, acquainted with sorrows and griefs and by whose stripes our wounds are healed. Kreeft is not only a wise man. He is an empathetic conversational partner. What begins as a book that engages the intellect ends with words that touch the heart deeply. It is one of those books I count in my now sizeable collection as one that has left in me a deep imprint of truths that has pointed me and keeps pointing me to the Saviour. Thank you, Professor Kreeft!
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Liturgical Theology: The Church As Worshiping Community
by Simon ChanEdition: Paperback
Price: $15.64
Availability: In Stock
35 used & new from $14.00
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A Challenging Proposal for Evangelical Worship Renewal, July 24, 2008
Simon Chan has given us here a challenging proposal that takes the evangelicals' self-searching mode a huge step forward as regards its worship and liturgy. In the intro, he evaluates the recent calls for renewal of the evangelical movement by theologians such as David Wells, Donald Bloesch and Stanley Grenz. Taking off from the works of Grenz and Robert Jenkins, the fresh insights he brings to the table include the need for the evangelical church to go beyond discussing style and technique and develop a more robust self-understanding that is rooted in the perichoretic union with the Trinity ie. the ontology of the church. What is interesting is his view of the church as prior to creation in the divine economy. This in his view has far reaching implications for the ecclesial life. Rather than being co-opted as a handmaiden to the world's agendas, the church's raison detre is found in God's irrevocable gift of election to the praise of his glory. This means that the church is most clearly herself at worship. Drawing largely from the Great Tradition (of the first five centuries), he sees the normative liturgy as constituted by Word and Sacrament, flanked on both ends by the welcome and the dismissal. Within this order, he sees the Eucharist as the basic centre that gives shape and orientation to the liturgy. This is a corrective to the evangelicals' tendency in seeing the whole service as revolving around the sermon. It is the Eucharist, he contends, that realizes the Church in her most basic character as communion. Chan then fleshes out his proposal as he looks at Christian initiation (Catechism)and the Sunday Liturgy and concludes with some thoughts on how the church can be formed spiritually through 'active participation' in worship. His program is a far cry from the mass appeal, humanly contrived and instant gratification models we see so much in the popular evangelical scene but if taken seriously and with perseverance, the church may for those rare times find herself buoyed up again by God's own Spirit to be what she has been called to be from before the foundation of the earth. Chan's writing is eloquent and lucid, evident of a first rate theological mind with both feet planted firmly on the ground. His relatively simple prose may mask deep insights that can be mined only through patient listening (lectio divina!), ruminations and further readings. My only small 'complaint' is that the book is too short, leaving some assertions less rigorously argued than I would wish for (but he did make clear that this is not a full-blown work on liturgical theology) and this gifted teacher needs to write more and bless the Church with his refreshing insights.
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Reaching Out
by Henri NouwenEdition: Paperback
Price: $8.99
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Nouwen at his Systematic Best!, July 3, 2008
Someone once quipped that Henri Nouwen was such a gifted writer that anything he scribbled out even on a discarded bus ticket deserved to get published! Having read many of his published works, I would nod heartily at that hyperbolic statement! There is in Nouwen's simple and beautiful literary expressions a profound grasp of life in the Spirit with all its odd tensions and paradoxes. This shows in the schema he uses in this book which sees the progress in the spiritual life not so much as a ladder one climbs unabated to the end goal (visio dei!) that traditional authors deigned to employ. It is more like the polarity that one shuttles back and forth between the Spirit and the flesh (in the language of St Paul). But here he creatively uses the idea of "Reaching Out'- to self, to others and to God. In these three movements of outreach, one finds himself experiencing the deepening of the life of faith when he moves from the false self of loneliness to the true self of solitude, from hostility towards others to hospitality and finally from the illusions of hubris to prayer. These concepts are not new but Nouwen has a refreshing way of weaving together the ancient Scriptures and the time-tested wisdom of the spiritual fathers and mothers with the modern struggles of contemporary men as well as his own existential issues. He writes in such a way that those with eyes to see could recognize the images and stirrings of their own hearts in them and perhaps discover for themselves the way out of the maze one often finds himself. I particularly love the way he retells the ancient stories of the Zen masters as well as the Eastern Orthodox teachers. No one tells them like he does within the larger reflections of what it means to live the spiritual life ie. 'to live a life in the Spirit of Jesus Christ'. In this he shows his ecumenical spirit and his clear discernment of truths within the diversity of faith traditions, while remaining deeply anchored in the gospel. One small complaint that some readers make of Nouwen is that his prolific writings often lack the systematic character that would have helped believers construct a more comprehensive and well thought out understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. I think this critique has some merits because many of his writings are done in the forms of letters (You are my Beloved), spiritual journals (Genesee Diary), case studies (Wounded Healer) and biographical reflections (Adam) which carry a plethora of gems here and there, which some feel need to be pieced together into a crystal glass! Then again, perhaps these genres are a more accurate reflection of life itself with all its messy bits and mysteries that do not yield to neat systematization. Having said that, if anyone must have a book that sets out the thoughts of Nouwen in his systematic best, this might well be the book he is looking for as Nouwen answers in three movements the book's central thesis: 'What does it mean to live in the Spirit of Jesus Christ?'. Savour this book slowly and meditatively and be nourished by this deep well of inspiring truths that move the heart as well as the mind.
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Choices
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Hard nosed approach to ethical decision-making., November 7, 2006
I find Smedes' approach to ethical decision-making extremely helpful, especially for people who do not settle for hand-me-down rules and simplistic solutions. While I do not agree with all that Smedes concludes in all of his ethical musings, I find myself constantly challenged by what he writes, to think critically about life's issues, which are often complex, and full of tensions, paradoxes and uncertainties. Every chapter gives an insightful, real-life and highly readable account of the principles(outlined in the Table of Contents) he commends to us in ethical decision-making. I find that his emphasis on developing the character rather than having the 'right answers' exactly right and his conclusion that 'getting it right is not the most important thing, being forgiven is'(rough paraphrase) tugs at the heart of all who yearn and desire to live right and yet find ourselves falling repeatedly into the hands of grace and hence energized by it.
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Love Within Limits: Realizing Selfless Love in a Selfish World
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $16.00
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Smedes at his best, July 27, 2006
I have been a fan of the late Lewis Smedes whose insightful writings have been a rare inspiration in the field of ethics and theology. Besides 'Forgive and forget' and 'Mere Morality', this book has been IMO one of his best works on ethics. He combines deep ethical insights with beautiful prose, that croons in your imagination long after you have put down the book. Using Paul's rhapsody on 'Agape love' in 1 Cor 13, he teases out the powerful drives of the love that knows no bounds - love does not seek its own self, love is not haughty, love has poise, love believes and risks with a kind of reckless abandonment, love hates evil, love gives hope... and at the same time holds all these superlatives in tension with the finitude of the human lover. So while the far-flung larger-than-life characteristics of love are eloquently expounded, Smedes discusses how love works itself out in our day to day world, conditioned by limited resources, human sinfulness and societal constraints. What we have is a hard-nosed treatment of the virtue of Christian love as it is exercised in the fallen world with the accompanying virtues of discernment and justice. Smedes writes with the theological acumen of Aquinas and the literary prowess of Shakespeare! Destined to be a classic.
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