Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal
by Richard F. LovelaceEdition: Paperback
Price: $17.82
Availability: In Stock
41 used & new from $5.00
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
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Amazon Book Reviews 2
New Seeds of Contemplation
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.
Comment Permalink
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!
Comment Permalink
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!
Comment Permalink
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.
Comment Permalink
Reaching Out
by Henri NouwenEdition: Paperback
Price: $8.99
Availability: In Stock
34 used & new from $4.50
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.
Comment Permalink
Choices
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
Availability: In Stock
62 used & new from $0.01
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.
Comment Permalink
Love Within Limits: Realizing Selfless Love in a Selfish World
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $16.00
Availability: In Stock
65 used & new from $0.01
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.
Comment Permalink
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.
Comment Permalink
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!
Comment Permalink
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!
Comment Permalink
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.
Comment Permalink
Reaching Out
by Henri NouwenEdition: Paperback
Price: $8.99
Availability: In Stock
34 used & new from $4.50
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.
Comment Permalink
Choices
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
Availability: In Stock
62 used & new from $0.01
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.
Comment Permalink
Love Within Limits: Realizing Selfless Love in a Selfish World
by Lewis B. SmedesEdition: Paperback
Price: $16.00
Availability: In Stock
65 used & new from $0.01
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.
Comment Permalink
Amazon Book Reviews 1
The Orthodox Church: New Edition
by Timothy WareEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.56
Availability: In Stock
79 used & new from $7.14
An honest presentation of Orthodox history and beliefs, February 3, 2009
I echo the sentiment of many readers that this must be the best intro to Eastern Orthodoxy to date - its history and beliefs - in an honest, even-handed and concise one-volume work, striking a delicate balance between depth and breadth for people new to this fascinating branch of Christianity. While this book makes for insightful and enjoyable reading, one cannot help but feel the pain for what the Body of Christ had to be dragged through over fine points of doctrines and nuances in terminology(eg monophysitism, the filioque clause, etc )and personal viewpoints (Possessors vs Non-possessors). When the contention for political power and control entered the mix, it became an even sorrier mess. Ironically, the Eastern Christians received a relatively more humane treatment from the Islamic powers that be during the Turkish rule than brothers of their own kind when they disagreed. Alexander Solzenitsyn must take the cake for his poignant remark that 'the line between good and evil runs right through the middle of each of us,...that deep within even the best of men, there is still a small corner of evil.' Still Kallistos Ware offers a glimmer of hope when he points to promising signs of reconciliation in recent dialogues with the non-Chalcedonian brothers, the Catholic Church and the Anglicans. This is the sort of movement that the world longs to see - a visible, concrete manifestation of Christian charity among Christ's followers. Reading this book is itself a good start in reclaiming our common heritage, owning both the good and bad chapters of our common history and embracing a faith that allows for a rich diversity of faith languages and expressions and recognising that at the foot of the cross, we are all sinners in need of grace.
Divine Embrace, The: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Ancient-Future)
by Robert E. WebberEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.55
Availability: In Stock
28 used & new from $5.00
Not the best of Webber but a good summary of his thoughts on Christian spirituality, February 1, 2009
Like many other reviewers here, I am a Webber fan too! He is our hero in so many ways and a safe guide as we wade through the waters of post-modernism with its many seductions and threats. Webber has in so many of his other works shown us how to live out the Christian faith in an era that bears much semblance to the pre-Constantian period where many other faiths are giving the Christian story a run for its money! This last book in his ancient-future series serves more as a broad overview of his understanding of the Christian story vis-a-vis the various distortions that have crept in through the ages. The Church has had to battle the heresies of platonism that splits matter from spirit in favor of the latter, medieval obsession with one's forensic status before God with its accompanying guilt and legalism, intellectualism and Romanticism which are opposite outcrops of the Enlightenment split between the intellect and experience, and modern day spiritual narcissism and private interiority. Webber lays out these distortions with candor and poignant critique and invites us to recover what the ancient Patristic Church has maintained as the first order understanding of the Christian story, which is one of recapitulation - the salvage and reconciliation of the fallen world to God through the redemptive works of Jesus the Christ by the power of his Spirit. By pointing us to the core of the Christian story, he then lays out the ways in which Christians can make this story their own through the core practices of baptism,repentance and cultivation of Christian virtues, daily disciplines such as work, study and prayer as well as worship and immersion in the life of the church. This pretty much sums up the scope of Webber's legacy in writing and teaching and serves as a good refresher and one-volume consolidation of his lifelong reflections on Christian spirituality. As such, it is a good resource that points us to the various aspects of his thoughts which one can pursue in a more focused way in his other books, such as 'ancient-future evangelism', 'ancient-future time', or 'the younger evangelicals' that go more into the innards. As always, Webber is articulate and methodical, giving us neat schematics that help us follow his thoughts. The references in his footnotes to some ancient sources are very helpful too. He brings out to us treasures of the church, ancient and new!
The Giving Gift
by Thomas Allan SmailEdition: Paperback
Price: $14.36
Availability: In Stock
15 used & new from $11.42
An Excellent and Accessible Theological Treatise on the Holy Spirit, January 26, 2009
Few books pack in as much meaty theological reflections on the Holy Spirit as does Tom Smail's 'The Giving Gift' in such a concise and readable fashion. He is an important voice within the Charismatic movement that seeks to root her understanding of the Spirit within the larger ecumenical thought. A student of Barth, he exemplifies the skill of thinking fresh thoughts that are at the same time continuous and in dialogue with the ecumenical creeds and its development. It is therefore not surprising that though an evangelical, he begins his book with Mary as the exemplar - of one who receives the gift of the Son through the Spirit and how through that reception, the work of the Spirit in the giving of life, fellowship and worship is seen in her. What follows is the exposition of the Person of the Spirit in relation to the Father and the Son. He calls the Spirit 'the Person without a face' and the way to properly honor the Spirit is not to exalt him as an independent Personality and focus of worship but as the Person whose distinct character is to put the Spotlight on the Father and the Son, as the NT bears witness to the Spirit's work in evoking our confessions of 'Abba, Father' and 'Jesus as Lord!' Then in four solid chapters, he discusses how the Father is the Source of both the Spirit and the Son and how the Spirit and the Son in turn offer themselves, together with us, to the Father - expanding on Irenaeus's Trinitarian image of the the two arms that extend from the Father, embracing the world. The outcome is a fresh proposal that moves beyond the 'filioque' impasse and addresses the excesses that have often accompanied the unbalanced emphases in the Eastern and the Western Church historically. What I enjoy most about the book is the model it provides in the construction of a mature and vibrant theology of the Spirit in the context of the Trinitarian relationships. We find Smail not only offering critical engagement with important thinkers such as Augsustine, Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, James Dunn, Michael Ramsey and Heribert Muhlen, he also confesses to areas in his earlier book 'Reflected Glory' where it was deficient and in need of revision. Also, he does not come across as an arm-chair theologian cloistered in the ivory tower but one who works out his theology from the trenches of the Charismatic movement, with which he is personally and critically engaged. Read this together with his 'Forgotten Father' and be challenged to reclaim our knowledge of the often neglected and misunderstood Third Person of the Trinity.
Comment Permalink
Come to the Table: Revisioning the Lord's Supper
by John Mark HicksEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.65
Availability: In Stock
21 used & new from $7.24
A fresh rethinking of the Lord's Supper as Communion, January 19, 2009
My church (Church of Christ) went through a two-month long series of sermons using this book as a guide and framework and what came out of it was a reconfiguration of the Supper as a time of fellowship around the table. We have come to appreciate the richness of the Lord's Supper which though a simple meal encapsulates the multi-dimensions and depths of the gospel story. Set in the context of the church's liturgy, the time of Communion takes on a different character each Sunday as a different event of the Christ's story is read and reflected on. John Mark Hicks rightly points us to the focus of the meal as Communion, which is the divine creative intent as well as the eschatological goal of the redemption story. Beginning from the creation narrative through the sacrifices in Israel, the table-fellowships of Jesus, the discussion of the Lord's Supper in Paul's letters and the development of the table in church history, Hicks gives us a grand overview of how the Lord's Supper stands within the rich tradition of God's people, ancient and new, as a central practice that anticipates the perfect communion at the marriage supper of the Lamb. He contends as his central thesis that the 'altar' perspective that has shaped much of Western practice of the Lord's Supper which has tended towards private, penitential introspection should not have overshadowed the 'table' character of the Lord's Supper, which encourages oneness, interaction, hospitality, giving and sharing around a meal. To put it in geometric terms, the vertical orientation of the Lord's Supper should be balanced by the horizontal. Hicks makes the good point that while the cross is the ground for the Lord's Supper, it is the Resurrection that is the focal celebration. We sup at the table not so much to mourn at the foot of the cross, decrying how our sins have brought him there but to celebrate the victory of the Resurrection, as Christ tramples death under his feet! This is not to exclude the place of laments and confession (which should be there as we draw near as a people to the Holy and Sovereign God) but to really see the Lord's Supper as the culmination of worship and the declaration and experience of God's victory in Christ Jesus. I regard this book as an important milestone in the checkered history of the Restoration movement that has traditionally placed much emphasis on the frequency (weekly observance) of the Lord's Supper but has not delved much into its theological meanings or its transformative power. Brother John Mark has given us an invaluable gift with his lucid writing that combines theological depth with helpful practical inputs. Read this judicious book and be welcome to the table of mercy and grace!
Comment Permalink
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
by N. T. WrightEdition: Hardcover
Price: $16.49
Availability: In Stock
49 used & new from $13.95
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A Brilliant Distillation of Wright's Insights into Christian Eschatology, December 2, 2008
I bought this book as a companion in my observance of Advent this year as it revisits the issue of Christian hope. It has been Wright's passionate call for the church to recover a biblically robust eschatology which the Western Church has generally reduced to either an escapist view of heaven or an evolutionary paradigm of human progress. This book is a distillation of his brilliant and massive research of the resurrection of Jesus and how that is connected to God's work in renewing the cosmos. Ironically I first came across this idea from the Jehovah's witnesses who pointed to me the beatitude 'Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth' - that God was not in the business of destroying the world but renewing it. However, Wright is the leading evangelical scholar that reaffirms this idea without the heretical accretions and has connected the dots with his thorough examination of the Resurrection of Jesus from all angles historical and theological and how the resurrection, much more than simply proving that there's life after death (for which the early Jews needed no such evidence), was in fact the inaugural act of God's new creation. And far from redescribing death as a mere transition to the after-life, it is God's defeat of death, which has been the chief weapon of evil that mars God's good earth. This is the overarching thesis of the book, which sets out to examine what early Christians really meant when they said 'Jesus was raised from the dead'. I especially enjoyed the section 'The Surprising Character of Christian Hope' where he discusses what he calls the 'seven mutations' early Christians brought to bear on the dominant Jewish concept of the resurrection in light of the Christ events. This analysis is Wright's unique contribution to the contemporary studies on the Resurrection of Christ - which alone is worth the price of the book! From this premise he goes on to draw out the implications for the theology, worship and mission of the church. Wright names justice, beauty and evangelism as three expressions of the church's tasks that arise out of her Easter hope. It serves as a great starting point for further reflections and shaping of the church's witness and outreach to the world with a creation-affirming gospel. However, where Wrights takes on the corollary subjects in chapter 11 such as the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory and the concept of hell, I find his treatments less satisfying. For example, his understanding that hell consists of the destiny of those who 'refuse all whisperings of the good news, all glimmers of the true light, all signposts to the love of God' and will continue to exist as ex-humans. This in reality pretty much still leaves unanswered the real question of hell (or heaven) for a vast majority of ordinary decent folks who may not have answered the call of the gospel of Jesus but are neither great saints nor crooks. Perhaps, this is an area that the bible gives less information than we wish to know but Wright's explanation of hell being the resultant state of people who persist in being less than human does not quite advance the traditional answer very much. Also, as a matter of style, I tend to get a little impatient with Wright's habit of punctuating his sentences with parenthetical phrases, disclaimers, and qualifications which tend to disrupt the flow of his writing. It could be the side effects of transcribing lectures into a book. I wish at times, he could pack in more substantive paragraphs instead, especially in developing more fully his arguments for the more obscure bits such as how 'initial justification by faith' is squared with 'final justification by the whole life lived' which continues to baffle even many of his sympathetic readers. But, this is only a picadillo I regard in his otherwise eloquent 'wrightings' which other readers might in fact adore. On the whole, it is a great book - a book I believe that will bring to birth many more books as other gifted writers get to build on, expand, fine-tune, and flesh out the paradigmatic shift/recovery in Christian eschatology so elegantly proposed by this brilliant bible scholar.
Comment Permalink
Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
by Richard J. FosterEdition: Paperback
Price: $11.86
Availability: In Stock
40 used & new from $4.95
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Simply Excellent!, August 23, 2008
I must say Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity ranks among the most helpful and spiritually formative books in my personal life. It is so well-written that there's not a wasted line in it and it's cogently presented, biblically grounded and immensely workable! No, it's not a book about how to save the world economically, or even about winning the world to Christ, or making heroic sacrifices. Rather, it's about what the Danish prophet Kierkegaard calls 'the purity of heart' - the simple intention in seeking the Kingdom of God. In it is freedom, joy and fruitfulness which Jesus speaks of when one chooses God for his master, over and above all others, not least the spirit of mammon. I especially love his chapter on the Divine Centre which Thomas Kelly has taught us about. Oh what a life it is to slip into that oasis, that wellspring that nourishes our lives amidst the frantic pace and noise that so easily pushes us over! Foster is an excellent writer who demonstrates how writing can be such an art. It is informative but not stuffy, revolutionary but not naive - he exercises great poise and deliberation even when discussing the intricate balance one needs to strike in living simply. He invites us to see how the life of simplicity is such a joy, that even the seemingly arduous discipline of 'praying unceasingly' can be a game we could delightfully enter into. I find myself informed, uplifted and challenged on nearly every page. It is a very well-rounded book that draws deeply from the rich resource of ancient spiritual tradition (which is vintage Foster!) as well as from scriptures and offers practical strategies for both novices and the experienced how simplicity can be embodied both individually and corporately in our world today. If the modern church were to embrace just a fraction of its counsels, she will be a great beacon of hope to a world bent on destroying itself with its militant consumerism and be a credible witness to the in-breaking Kingdom of God which is one of justice and compassion.
Comment Permalink
What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?
by N. T. WrightEdition: Paperback
Price: $13.26
Availability: In Stock
46 used & new from $9.04
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A Great Summary of Wright's View of Paul and the Gospel., August 21, 2008
Tom Wright is at the forefront of Pauline scholarship as well as studies on Jesus. His historical instincts, engagement with primary sources and 'big picture' exegesis have led him to a fresh reading of Paul in the historical context of the Graeco-Roman-Jewish world of the 1st century. The outcome is a breathtaking view of the Gospel as understood and preached by Paul to a world dominated by the Roman imperial cult, pagan idolatry, Greek wisdoms and Jewish Messianic hopes. It is in such a world, Wright argues, where Paul does his business and his writings can best be understood against this background. This means that the popular, truncated notion of the gospel as a timeless system of salvation that will 'save our souls' and 'get us to heaven after we die' would have to be jettisoned in favour of the gospel that announces God's reign that has been inaugurated here on earth in the person of Jesus the Messiah. This means that the gospel has a much larger scope (indeed cosmic) than the private relationship one has with God or the eternal destiny of the individual souls. Rather, it speaks of God's faithfulness to the world he has made and how through the covenant relationships with his people, he will set the world aright - culminating in the new heavens and the new earth. This way of reading Paul would require a paradigm shift for Christians who have got used to reading the NT through the 'works righteousness vs salvation by grace' debates that have coloured our reading of Paul since Augustine. Hence, the evident unsettling of some readers. Wright's proposal, while we do not have to agree with every fine point of his exegesis , has the huge edge over the traditional reading for taking the historical setting far more seriously and in so doing invites us to hear Paul afresh as he announces the good news in all its ramifications. I've found this book to be a great primer to Wright's other more extensive treatments of Paul in many of his other works, including 'Climax of the Covenant', 'Paul in Fresh Perspective' and 'Paul for Everyone' commentaries. I recommend it to anyone who is open to letting his reading of Paul be challenged by one of the most respected NT scholars of our day.
Comment Permalink
Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination
by Eugene H. PetersonEdition: Paperback
Price: $10.92
Availability: In Stock
57 used & new from $3.85
A book that strikes like thunder bolt!, August 8, 2008
This is the book that got me hooked on Eugene Peterson's prolific works. Back in my younger days, wrapped in all the scholastic debates (or more accurately 'confusion') about the genre of Revelation, cryptic imageries and numbers, theories about the Beast and the Millenium, crystal-balling the times!, this book rescues me from all of that and puts me in a completely different country where one begins to make sense of this highly misunderstood book of the bible. It is more like a drama, a powerful liturgy and hope-filled imagination enacted by and for those with eyes to see - beyond the present turmoil and horror and tragedy the world finds itself inextricably stuck in. Every chapter presents Peterson's masterful reflection on God's last authoritative speech on a different theme - scripture, church, worship, witness, evil, judgement, heaven and more. 'Oh death, be not proud!... One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die. ' says John Donne. This book is a thunder bolt that speaks back to a broken, tumultous world: evil and death do not have the last word, God does! Reversed Thunder remains one of the most scholarly and edifying commentaries on what John saw on the island of Patmos - that should make us all fall flat on our faces as though dead. Maran atha!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)