This year is one of the most tumultuous ones, with financial crisis in the US, Europe, the Tsunami in Japan, floods in Bangkok and Philippines, political instability in the Middle-east and North Africa. The world in which Jesus was born was not unlike our time. It was a world ruled by the iron-hand of Caesar. The people suffered under heavy taxation and oppressive rule. The people of Israel cried out for a Rescuer, for their Messiah, someone to rescue them out of their bondage.
And, God gave them his Son. That is the most precious, costly and generous gift God could ever give. We should not let the familiarity of the Christmas dull us to the stupendous gift of Christmas - the gift of God's own Son.
But, notice the quiet and humble way in which the Son of God was born. God did not write the announcement of his arrival with bold lettered words sprawled across the sky. He did not get the local press to publish the news across the Roman Empire. No, instead he chose to announce his birth through a few ordinary shepherds grazing their flocks in the field. The hoteliers were so busy making money they did not take notice of his grand arrival. They did not even have a room in the inn for him. Instead he was born in a manger and made to share his bed with the animals.
Christmas is a great mystery. We cannot fully explain it. How could the God who holds the whole world in the hollow of his hands be born as a baby nursing at his mother's breast? The Lord of the Universe did not have a decent room for him to stay when he came?
This mystery invites our wonder. We need to be like Mary who pondered it deeply in her heart. God chooses to reveal his glory through a baby born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.
We need to pause and ponder deeply the meaning of Christmas. We need to get away from the dazzling lights of Orchard, the glitzy world of consumerism and all the hustle and bustle of merry-making to discern the gift of God's own Son. I have made it a habit to stay away from the malls every Christmas, so i can be sufficiently quiet to discern the meaning of the 'Grand Miracle' and be bathed in God's presence.
He came humbly and quietly identifying with the lowly and somehow through his sufferings, he would be the Saviour of the world. Perhaps, in our troubled times, we long for a superhero - a Captain America or a knight in shining armor who would sweep us off our feet and destroy all our enemies. But God works in his own way..he gave us a baby born in manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. He uses the cross as the instrument of salvation.
At the Lord's Supper, the mystery of Christ's birth and his suffering meet. The Lord of the universe came as a vulnerable baby, who would save the world by dying on the cross. Let us wonder at this mystery, which invites us to receive the gift of God's own Son. As we take the bread and drink the cup, let us open our hearts and let the life of God's Son be born in us.
Monday, December 26, 2011
amazon reviews 9
Miracles
by C. S. Lewis
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like an old wine.. it gets better with age, September 27, 2011
This review is from: Miracles (Paperback)
Miracles is one of my favourite CS Lewis' books. Started reading it in my early twenties but found a few chapters difficult. Nonetheless, it has given me a basic framework for what it means to believe in miracles and how that is integral to the Christian story, that would not have been without the Incarnation (dubbed the 'Grand Miracle'). The next decade, I found it easier and even more illuminating, as it had many electrifying passages that cured the 'dabbler of religious ideas' in me, that came subconsciously under the spell of the New Age pantheistic mood that was floating around. In this decade, where some fiery brand of atheists (naturalists in Lewis' term) made a comeback argument against belief in the supernatural, this book is ready at hand to buttress one against its angry rhetoric. Leave aside the big guns - William Lane Craig or David Bentley Hart - for the moment, this brief volume alone is sufficient to blow the rehashed Humean circular logic out of the water together with many other such sophistries. All this is to say that Lewis' works never seem to go outdated.
Having read quite a fair bit of the bible scholar NT Wright on the themes of Resurrection and the New Creation, the chapter 'miracles of the new creation' brought up several 'aha' moments and close connections between these two intellectual giants. This makes 'Miracles' such a pleasure to read ... it offers moments after moments of delightful serendipity. It is like old wine. It gets better with age and yields a special flavor as one reads and grows with it.
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The Cross of Christ
by John R. W. Stott
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one of the best evangelical reflections on the cross, August 30, 2011
This review is from: The Cross of Christ (Hardcover)
This is one of Stott's best books and it remains a gold standard for an evangelical understanding of the cross of Christ. Amidst past and current controversies among evangelicals surrounding the atonement, Stott's nuanced articulation of the christian doctrine of salvation is one of the clearest biblical expositions I've ever read on the cross and how it saves. He eschews the terminology of 'theories' and opts instead for 'metaphors' when discussing the various imageries in the NT in describing the saving work of Christ on the cross such as justification, atonement, reconciliation, adoption and redemption. Each of these metaphors when properly elucidated, as in this book, gives us a different but complementary angle to the mystery of the cross. This book brings together the paradoxes of God's love and wrath, grace and holiness, gift and demand, glory and suffering. It clarifies without squashing the mystery of the redemptive act, blowing apart some popular caricatures of the cross such as 'cosmic child abuse' or 'third-party payment to the Devil'. The book exemplifies a learned, balanced and edifying piece of theological reflections on how the death of Christ brings salvation to the world. I believe it will remain unsurpassed for many years to come.
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Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church
by Pope Benedict XVI
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an inspirational book on the apostles of Jesus and the church, August 16, 2011
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'Tradition is not the transmission of things or words, a collection of dead
things. Tradition is the living river that links us to the origins, the living
river in which the origins are ever present, the great river that leads us to
the gates of eternity.'(pg.28) says Pope Benedict XVI. With this reflection on
what it means for the Church to be 'built on the foundation of the apostles and
the prophets' (Eph 2:20), Benedict presents to us a series of catechetical
instructions on the apostles of the church collectively and individually,
delivered to general audiences between 15 Mar 2006 and 14 Feb 2007.
I appreciate the succinct way he explains the notion of what constitutes
apostolic authority and how the church is constituted by the apostolic witness
as it is and continues to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. As such, the 'gift to
be safeguarded' is also a gift that continues to lead the church to a fuller
realization of the gospel truth and our communion in Christ.
Benedict also takes us through the individual apostles, including Paul ('the one
untimely born') and their associates (eg. Timothy and Titus), bringing out the
specific colours of each character as he meditates on the cameo
appearances/utterances of these in the gospel accounts. Take for example,
Peter. These words strike me as particularly poignant:
"And it seems to me that these conversions of Saint Peter on different
occasions, and his whole figure, are a great consolation and a great lesson for
us. We too have a great desire for God; we too want to be generous, but we too
expect God to be strong in the world and to transform the world on the spot,
according to our ideas and the needs we perceive.
God chooses a different way. God chooses the way of transformation of hearts in
suffering and in humility. And we, like Peter, must convert over and over
again. We must follow Jesus and not go before him: it is he who shows us the
way."
And about Thomas, he writes:
"At first, he did not believe that Jesus had appeared in his absence and
said, 'Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in
the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.'
Basically, from these words emerges the conviction that Jesus can now be
recognized by his wounds than by his face. Thomas holds that the signs that
confirm Jesus' identity are now above all his wounds, in which he reveals to us
how much he loved us. In this the Apostle is not mistaken."
I find my heart deeply moved by comments like these because in a simple but
profound way, he unravels the truths of the gospel contained in the personal
encounters that these ordinary men and women had of the living Christ.
You will find many such gems scattered throughout the simple prose with which he
relates the stories of the apostles to the modern audience. The stories are not
stuffed with information but brief and to the point. In a way, it is like
hearing the gospel once again through the personal portraits of these early,
foundational witnesses of Christ.
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Preaching in the Spirit
by Dennis F. Kinlaw
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forming the preacher, June 17, 2011
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This is not exactly an instructional book on preaching, as in one that teaches how to craft a sermon, improve our delivery or connect with the audience but a book that focuses on the preparation of the preacher himself. For this, it fills a huge gap amidst the scores of books on homiletics. Kinlaw succeeds in giving us a book that encourages and inspires, especially those who feel somewhat daunted by the awesome task of preaching the Word of God. Kinlaw is spot-on that it is not 'by might or by power but by the Spirit of God' that one should approach the task. It is God that makes the difference, not our learning, eloquence or charisma.. therefore the invitation to be filled constantly with the Spirit is an important one and Kinlaw shows us how, with his meditation on the Trinity, personhood and stories of ordinary individuals who were set on fire by God's own Spirit to proclaim his mighty Word. A useful reminder for seasoned preachers and aspiring ones alike.
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Let's Start with Jesus: A New Way of Doing Theology
by Dennis F. Kinlaw
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Knowing God through Jesus, April 3, 2011
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Dennis Kinlaw in this book invites us to streamline our systematic theology through the lens of Christology. That is to say, if you want to get a sharper focus on God, Jesus is the place to start. I do not think by doing so, he is denigrating the traditional full-orbed approach that typically begins with the Prolegomena, the Existence of God and his attributes before dealing with Christ, Spirit, Salvation, Church and Eschatology. Nor is his approach all that fresh or unconventional. What I think Kinlaw seeks to do and does so reasonably well is to go to the heart of the Christian revelation in Jesus the Christ, who reveals the Father and in so doing illuminates the human problem ( which he identifies as 'eritheia' - self-interest) and its remedy in the cross ('agape' - God's self-giving love). The trinitarian shape of his theology is clear as is his emphasis on the intimacy with which God seeks to restore with his people. The book is quite simple to read, without much fanfare or ponderous ideas. The discussion on 'personhood' is quite lucid and the metaphors (legal, familial, nuptial) he chose for the divine-human relations are apt in bringing across the relational thrust of the redemptive motif in scripture. It makes for a good accessible read on basic Christian theology through the Christological/Trinitarian lenses but I have not found anything particularly new or exciting here by way of biblical exegesis or theological insights. In matters of theology, this is not by itself a weakness; just that it does not quite deliver what the subtitle had let me to expect. As it is written at the popular level, Kinlaw could also have livened up his essays with greater interaction with the existential issues of our time. This helps at least the average reader to make the connections between good theology and life.
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Reasonable Faith (3rd Edition): Christian Truth and Apologetics
by William Lane Craig
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an excellent resource for rational Christian apologetics, April 3, 2011
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William Lane Craig is undoubtedly one of today's foremost contenders for the Christian truth claims. Here he puts in our hands a wonderful resource Christians can use to present the Christian faith in a coherent and intelligent way. In the introduction, he makes some really good points about Christian apologetics that sets the stage right for the presentation of the gospel to the modern inquirers. For example, he believes in the ministerial (as opposed to the magisterial) use of reason for Christian apologetics. He agrees with Luther and Calvin that the primary means of conversion is the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. Reason however can serve as a handmaiden of faith by confirming the faith of believers and as a witness to honest inquirers outside the family of faith.
He first deals with the grounds for believing that God exists using the traditional five core approaches: ontological, cosmological, teleological, moral and experiential arguments. He deals with each of these in-depth, interacting with past and present figures that have used these approaches in their own ways. The cosmological argument, in the form of the Kalam argument, is Craig's strongest area not least because he is instrumental in developing and popularizing this line of reasoning in our own day. Though he is a philosopher-theologian, his explanation of the teleological arguments is surprisingly well-informed in the light of modern scientific theories concerning the Big Bang, the super string theory, inflationary theory, etc. Yet, it is the moral argument that many will find most effective in striking at the chords of most people's hearts because this comes closest to the level of our feelings and experiences.
The second half of the book follows a broadly systematic theology format in presenting the case for Christianity, dealing with the historical investigation of the Christ event, the plausibility of miracles, the identity of Christ and the Resurrection. His presentation shows a mastery of current scholarships concerning the historical Christ. Craig also goes the extra length in helping the budding Christian evangelists in using the materials presented here effectively and anticipating the possible objections and evasions commonly encountered.
Craig has done much in commending the Christian faith to the Western intelligentsia (especially in debates with his own peers - university dons and professors in tertiary institutions) and raised the level of discourse for all who are interested in an honest, rational inquiry into the existence of God and the Christian truth claims. In this book form, one gets to sit down and consider the solid case he has put forward on this vital topic. What it does for me personally, among other things, is that it blows apart the persistent 'postmodern' suggestion that people will not be persuaded by sound reasoning, what it takes in our pluralistic society for anyone to entertain the idea of changing one's mind is to tell a gripping narrative. Craig shows cogently both in his book and in his ministry that such a suggestion borders on a profound misunderstanding of the nature of Truth and, at worst, a sinister lie. He has done us all a great favour in reviving the place of rational apologetics in the Christian life and witness. Take and read!
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The Divine Milieu
by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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Lord, teach us how to see!, March 30, 2011
This review is from: The Divine Milieu (Paperback)
"This little book does no more than recapitulate the eternal lesson of the church in the words of a man who, because he believes himself to feel deeply in tune with his own times, has sought to teach how to see God everywhere, to see him in all that is most hidden, most solid, and most ultimate in the world. These pages - put forward no more than a practical attitude - or more exactly perhaps, a way of teaching how to see." writes Teilhard de Chardin in his introduction.
I have not read enough of this eminent scientist-theologian to judge if he is a pantheist, a panentheist or a true blue monotheist at heart (though in this book alone, he explicitly distances himself from the first). But this book articulates a vision of reality through the lens of Creation-Incarnation-Resurrection-Parousia that one is hard pressed not to take his Christian orientation seriously. He writes expressly to the 'waverer' who may be shaken by the modern cosmological discoveries that the gospel of Jesus gets relegated to a narrow, archaic piece of relic that has no room for the wider universe.
Presenting the universe instead as the divine milieu, that is, the whole world as a God's creation invaded, penetrated, shot through, indwelt by the presence of God by virtue of the Incarnation of Christ, he invites us to see the world anew not as an extension of the divine (as in the 'false trails of Pantheism' pg 129-130), or an evil product to be eventually destroyed (as in 'Manichean dualism' pg 105) but as the very realm in which Christ will take up his residence and fill it with his fullness (pleroma). If so, the whole life of the Christian and of the whole Church is to be bound up with the divine movement that will bring all things under the unity of Christ. Nothing therefore falls outside the divine milieu - our active endeavour to work for good and resist evil as well as our passive diminishments by misfortunes, setbacks, sufferings and death. God can use the 'two halves of our existence' (active and passive) to bring about the fullness that he intends.
The cross stands as a central symbol of this vision where the climb to Calvary exemplifies the human endeavour and fidelity in moving towards the light of God (not swooning/slumbering under its shadow, as is sometimes misconstrued) and the surrender to God's power of resurrection.
To appropriate this vision, the virtues of purity, faith, fidelity and charity are indispensable for both the individuals and for the body of Christ.
There is a warning throughout the book against passively resigning to what is - the evil, injustice, misfortune - and mindlessly attributing that to God's will. Instead, no true Christian detachment is exercised unless one has given his maximum strength to work with God in struggling against evil. Leaving aside the mystery and origin of suffering (nowhere does he suggest evil to be a necessary part of God's plan or that God is in any way responsible for it), he makes clear that our unrelenting and sustained resistance against evil belongs intimately to God's redemptive work. The true Christian attitude never loses sight of the fact that God's grace is ultimately what works through us, furnishing us with the sustained impulse to do his will and utilizing even the 'waste matter' of our existence, namely our failures, sufferings, weaknesses for his good purpose.
Interspersed with prayers, and written in a passionate, lyrical style, this inspiring classic helps us capture a larger vision of the gospel story. Instead of narrowing down our scope to only the private 'spiritual' and 'religious' compartments, he broadens our vision of the world as one in which God acts powerfully to save, renew and indwell with his all-pervasive presence. This book gives us an integrated Christian worldview that makes sense of the seemingly disparate elements and spheres of life and give us a powerful impetus to dive deep into the full business of human life, if only to lose ourselves completely in the divine milieu.
This is thoughtful, soul-stirring and life-changing literature as the introductory quote makes clear: it's a book that teaches us to see...God in all things. As this book basically engages at the world-view level and is therefore unabashedly philosophical, I reckon that the reader must be primed by some familiarity with this level/sort of thinking to make the best of it.
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Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor
by Ben Witherington
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a stimulating conversation on the christian view of work, March 17, 2011
This review is from: Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Paperback)
This is one of several evangelicals' recent contributions to the theology of work from the christian perspective. Ben Witherington notes that until the last decade, there has been a dearth of theological reflections on this important aspect of the christian life. This is a glaring deficit, considering that we spend an enormous part of our life working, that the bible has a great deal to say about this subject and that work can and ought to be the main domain where the disciple of Christ is spiritually formed, fulfills his calling and brings glory to God. It is a strange omission in most works of christian theology. This is a welcome corrective to the long neglect.
Throughout the book, the author interacts candidly with the major conversational partners on the christian understanding of work and does not hold back from critiquing the thoughts of eminent writers and theologians, past and present, such as Miroslav Volf, Jurgen Moltmann, Gene Veith, Martin Luther, Augustine, David Jensen and Andy Crouch and putting forth his own case. Those familiar with Witherington's background will not be surprised by his inclination that shapes the way he thinks about work. His Wesleyan, Arminian, Pacifist leanings are conspicuous, and his tone is one of unabashed confidence in the biblical veracity of his position.
He begins with a theologically-oriented definition of work for the Christian and he puts it in the perspective of one who is lives in anticipation of the new creation. Work is for the Christian more than seeking self-fulfilment or meeting human needs or making money to survive/prosper but a participation in God's eschatological project of bringing in the new creation. Work from the Christian perspective cannot be understood apart from the cosmic renewing work of the Spirit of God.
Then he takes us through some key biblical passages on work and basically cautions us against either demonizing or divinizing work. The biblical warnings against workaholism and a promethean approach to work are as clear as they are against sloth. It is important to see work as part of but not the be-all and end-all of what it means to be human. It is to balanced with play, worship and rest.
He seeks to correct, in his view, certain distortions of the biblical understanding of work in some forms of christian thoughts such as the clergy-laity divide, the sacred-secular dichotomy, the meticulous supervision of human affairs by an all-controlling God, an aversion to works due to a faulty understanding of works-righteousness, and the theology of separate spheres and realms of duties that allow Christians to violate biblical teachings in his 'official line of duty'. In all, he argues for a more coherent, holistic view of work that allows all Christians to live out the kingdom vocation through good, honest, edifying labour.
He reminds us that Christians are 'God's workmanship created in Christ for good works' (Eph 2:10). The nature of good work, as such, is discussed. Honesty, diligence, creativity and excellence are important ingredients of what constitutes good work. But the basic commitment of the Christian is not only towards a high quality of our work but the highest kind of work that has been entrusted to us by God. That is the work of fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It is with this basic eternal, redemptive framework that he discusses the concepts of 'calling' and 'vocation'. Under this rubric, the place of marriage and celibacy, 'church work' and 'non-church' vocations as well as the issue of remuneration are discussed.
Within 166 pages, he covers a lot of grounds and we may complain that he could have gone deeper in some of the more controversial points he touches on and that his definitions of what constitutes 'work' or 'calling' are a little difficult to follow but as a primer, it is quite a treat. It is not a book that will satisfy you with clear-cut answers and unassailable arguments but the sort of book that will 'tease your brain into active thought', as Witherington loves to say and do. Written in a witty and stimulating way, this latest installment by a very learned and articulate writer entertains as much as it educates.
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Thank God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross
by William H. Willimon
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the shock effect overdone, February 27, 2011
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Let me say that I have been a long-time fan of Willimon's sermons and writings (such as 'Resident Aliens', 'The Service of God', 'Pastor', 'Conversations with Barth on Preaching') but this book which I had looked forward to reading for the Holy Week was a letdown. It could be that Willimon had written some really excellent stuff in the past that my expectation from him has been unrealistically set. My disappointment stems from the uneasy feeling that he is trying too hard here to make Jesus stranger, more subversive and offensive than he really is. Alright, I take it as a given that Jesus is larger than anyone can conceive. It is true that Jesus has been tamed by centuries of domestication and remaking him in our own image...but I am not convinced by the silly portraits Willimon here made him out to be.
For example, the first sermon which zeroes in on Jesus' forgiving his enemies, calling it his 'pre-emptive forgiveness' (a phrase coined to counter the pre-emptive strikes of American military campaigns?) appears to be an exercise in caricaturing what forgiveness is. He seems to take the first of 'Jesus' last words on the cross' as the first and the last word the whole bible has to say about forgiveness. It is true that we have put too many hedges and qualifiers around the gracious act of forgiving but Willimon's taking his words to a one-dimensional extreme seems to fly in the face of the bible's own complex and nuanced conception of that divine-human transaction. It does not take into account that forgiveness proffered is not the same as forgiveness received. It breezes over the fact that God does sometimes withhold mercy (Mt6:14) and that Jesus calls the apostles to sometimes do likewise in their ministry (Jn 20:23). It does not say anything about the condition of those who would die without mercy, having crucified the Son of God all over again (Heb 10:26). There is a lavish, subversive, generous petition for mercy on the cross but it is predicated on the ground that 'they know not what they do' in the sense that Jesus meant it. Curiously, the connecting word 'for'(gar) was left out of his exegesis.
Indeed, Willimon's thesis makes no such nuances but pushes for what appears to be a no-holds-barred blanket application of divine mercy. It sounds shocking and 'shocking' has become something of a novelty lately but the message is not one that one can ulimately live with, nor does it prepare a disciple of Christ to practise forgiveness in a complex, broken world.
Now, that is the first sermon/chapter in the book. I could have skipped over this and hoped for a more balanced treatment in the others but my hope sadly went largely unmet. Somehow Willimon continues to take far too much 'poetic liberty' with the words of scripture to the point of being prosaic. Consider this:
'Death is the ultimate rip-off...In one of his parables, Jesus compared God to a thief who comes in the night while we are asleep and think we are secure, and steals everything we've got. Not the nicest image about God but a truthful one. In the end. God is going to rip off everything that we thought we had.' (page 69) We get his point about the ephemeral nature of life but one wonders if all these immodest language and confusing half-truths about Jesus comparing God to a thief that comes to rip us off are all that necessary. There's a good chance that many of such off-hand allusions are not even accurate if one takes the trouble to examine the texts closely. In this instance, Willimon appears to have conflated two different parables (Mt 24:42-44; Lk 12:20) from different places to make a point quite different from what Jesus actually says in either parable.
Over and over again, he appears far too eager to 'get at the shock of what Jesus says' (page 20) that it does not matter that Jesus actually means no such thing.
As such, the general tenor has been one that is big on 'shock value' and 'provocativeness' and little on what the final words spoken by Jesus really mean, how they breathe new life into the church and guide us in the way of the cross, he commands us to bear daily. He seems tired of the old truths and seeks to hit the audience with something 'fresh' by straining the texts.
P/S: This critical review in no way detracts from my deep admiration for Willimon's scholarship and ministry as a whole but I do so out of a frank appraisal of this particular work, in the hope that perhaps we read/hear him with the respectful critical engagement his work deserves.
by C. S. Lewis
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like an old wine.. it gets better with age, September 27, 2011
This review is from: Miracles (Paperback)
Miracles is one of my favourite CS Lewis' books. Started reading it in my early twenties but found a few chapters difficult. Nonetheless, it has given me a basic framework for what it means to believe in miracles and how that is integral to the Christian story, that would not have been without the Incarnation (dubbed the 'Grand Miracle'). The next decade, I found it easier and even more illuminating, as it had many electrifying passages that cured the 'dabbler of religious ideas' in me, that came subconsciously under the spell of the New Age pantheistic mood that was floating around. In this decade, where some fiery brand of atheists (naturalists in Lewis' term) made a comeback argument against belief in the supernatural, this book is ready at hand to buttress one against its angry rhetoric. Leave aside the big guns - William Lane Craig or David Bentley Hart - for the moment, this brief volume alone is sufficient to blow the rehashed Humean circular logic out of the water together with many other such sophistries. All this is to say that Lewis' works never seem to go outdated.
Having read quite a fair bit of the bible scholar NT Wright on the themes of Resurrection and the New Creation, the chapter 'miracles of the new creation' brought up several 'aha' moments and close connections between these two intellectual giants. This makes 'Miracles' such a pleasure to read ... it offers moments after moments of delightful serendipity. It is like old wine. It gets better with age and yields a special flavor as one reads and grows with it.
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The Cross of Christ
by John R. W. Stott
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one of the best evangelical reflections on the cross, August 30, 2011
This review is from: The Cross of Christ (Hardcover)
This is one of Stott's best books and it remains a gold standard for an evangelical understanding of the cross of Christ. Amidst past and current controversies among evangelicals surrounding the atonement, Stott's nuanced articulation of the christian doctrine of salvation is one of the clearest biblical expositions I've ever read on the cross and how it saves. He eschews the terminology of 'theories' and opts instead for 'metaphors' when discussing the various imageries in the NT in describing the saving work of Christ on the cross such as justification, atonement, reconciliation, adoption and redemption. Each of these metaphors when properly elucidated, as in this book, gives us a different but complementary angle to the mystery of the cross. This book brings together the paradoxes of God's love and wrath, grace and holiness, gift and demand, glory and suffering. It clarifies without squashing the mystery of the redemptive act, blowing apart some popular caricatures of the cross such as 'cosmic child abuse' or 'third-party payment to the Devil'. The book exemplifies a learned, balanced and edifying piece of theological reflections on how the death of Christ brings salvation to the world. I believe it will remain unsurpassed for many years to come.
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Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church
by Pope Benedict XVI
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an inspirational book on the apostles of Jesus and the church, August 16, 2011
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This review is from: Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church (Hardcover)
'Tradition is not the transmission of things or words, a collection of dead
things. Tradition is the living river that links us to the origins, the living
river in which the origins are ever present, the great river that leads us to
the gates of eternity.'(pg.28) says Pope Benedict XVI. With this reflection on
what it means for the Church to be 'built on the foundation of the apostles and
the prophets' (Eph 2:20), Benedict presents to us a series of catechetical
instructions on the apostles of the church collectively and individually,
delivered to general audiences between 15 Mar 2006 and 14 Feb 2007.
I appreciate the succinct way he explains the notion of what constitutes
apostolic authority and how the church is constituted by the apostolic witness
as it is and continues to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. As such, the 'gift to
be safeguarded' is also a gift that continues to lead the church to a fuller
realization of the gospel truth and our communion in Christ.
Benedict also takes us through the individual apostles, including Paul ('the one
untimely born') and their associates (eg. Timothy and Titus), bringing out the
specific colours of each character as he meditates on the cameo
appearances/utterances of these in the gospel accounts. Take for example,
Peter. These words strike me as particularly poignant:
"And it seems to me that these conversions of Saint Peter on different
occasions, and his whole figure, are a great consolation and a great lesson for
us. We too have a great desire for God; we too want to be generous, but we too
expect God to be strong in the world and to transform the world on the spot,
according to our ideas and the needs we perceive.
God chooses a different way. God chooses the way of transformation of hearts in
suffering and in humility. And we, like Peter, must convert over and over
again. We must follow Jesus and not go before him: it is he who shows us the
way."
And about Thomas, he writes:
"At first, he did not believe that Jesus had appeared in his absence and
said, 'Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in
the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.'
Basically, from these words emerges the conviction that Jesus can now be
recognized by his wounds than by his face. Thomas holds that the signs that
confirm Jesus' identity are now above all his wounds, in which he reveals to us
how much he loved us. In this the Apostle is not mistaken."
I find my heart deeply moved by comments like these because in a simple but
profound way, he unravels the truths of the gospel contained in the personal
encounters that these ordinary men and women had of the living Christ.
You will find many such gems scattered throughout the simple prose with which he
relates the stories of the apostles to the modern audience. The stories are not
stuffed with information but brief and to the point. In a way, it is like
hearing the gospel once again through the personal portraits of these early,
foundational witnesses of Christ.
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Preaching in the Spirit
by Dennis F. Kinlaw
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forming the preacher, June 17, 2011
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This is not exactly an instructional book on preaching, as in one that teaches how to craft a sermon, improve our delivery or connect with the audience but a book that focuses on the preparation of the preacher himself. For this, it fills a huge gap amidst the scores of books on homiletics. Kinlaw succeeds in giving us a book that encourages and inspires, especially those who feel somewhat daunted by the awesome task of preaching the Word of God. Kinlaw is spot-on that it is not 'by might or by power but by the Spirit of God' that one should approach the task. It is God that makes the difference, not our learning, eloquence or charisma.. therefore the invitation to be filled constantly with the Spirit is an important one and Kinlaw shows us how, with his meditation on the Trinity, personhood and stories of ordinary individuals who were set on fire by God's own Spirit to proclaim his mighty Word. A useful reminder for seasoned preachers and aspiring ones alike.
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Let's Start with Jesus: A New Way of Doing Theology
by Dennis F. Kinlaw
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Knowing God through Jesus, April 3, 2011
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Dennis Kinlaw in this book invites us to streamline our systematic theology through the lens of Christology. That is to say, if you want to get a sharper focus on God, Jesus is the place to start. I do not think by doing so, he is denigrating the traditional full-orbed approach that typically begins with the Prolegomena, the Existence of God and his attributes before dealing with Christ, Spirit, Salvation, Church and Eschatology. Nor is his approach all that fresh or unconventional. What I think Kinlaw seeks to do and does so reasonably well is to go to the heart of the Christian revelation in Jesus the Christ, who reveals the Father and in so doing illuminates the human problem ( which he identifies as 'eritheia' - self-interest) and its remedy in the cross ('agape' - God's self-giving love). The trinitarian shape of his theology is clear as is his emphasis on the intimacy with which God seeks to restore with his people. The book is quite simple to read, without much fanfare or ponderous ideas. The discussion on 'personhood' is quite lucid and the metaphors (legal, familial, nuptial) he chose for the divine-human relations are apt in bringing across the relational thrust of the redemptive motif in scripture. It makes for a good accessible read on basic Christian theology through the Christological/Trinitarian lenses but I have not found anything particularly new or exciting here by way of biblical exegesis or theological insights. In matters of theology, this is not by itself a weakness; just that it does not quite deliver what the subtitle had let me to expect. As it is written at the popular level, Kinlaw could also have livened up his essays with greater interaction with the existential issues of our time. This helps at least the average reader to make the connections between good theology and life.
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Reasonable Faith (3rd Edition): Christian Truth and Apologetics
by William Lane Craig
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an excellent resource for rational Christian apologetics, April 3, 2011
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William Lane Craig is undoubtedly one of today's foremost contenders for the Christian truth claims. Here he puts in our hands a wonderful resource Christians can use to present the Christian faith in a coherent and intelligent way. In the introduction, he makes some really good points about Christian apologetics that sets the stage right for the presentation of the gospel to the modern inquirers. For example, he believes in the ministerial (as opposed to the magisterial) use of reason for Christian apologetics. He agrees with Luther and Calvin that the primary means of conversion is the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. Reason however can serve as a handmaiden of faith by confirming the faith of believers and as a witness to honest inquirers outside the family of faith.
He first deals with the grounds for believing that God exists using the traditional five core approaches: ontological, cosmological, teleological, moral and experiential arguments. He deals with each of these in-depth, interacting with past and present figures that have used these approaches in their own ways. The cosmological argument, in the form of the Kalam argument, is Craig's strongest area not least because he is instrumental in developing and popularizing this line of reasoning in our own day. Though he is a philosopher-theologian, his explanation of the teleological arguments is surprisingly well-informed in the light of modern scientific theories concerning the Big Bang, the super string theory, inflationary theory, etc. Yet, it is the moral argument that many will find most effective in striking at the chords of most people's hearts because this comes closest to the level of our feelings and experiences.
The second half of the book follows a broadly systematic theology format in presenting the case for Christianity, dealing with the historical investigation of the Christ event, the plausibility of miracles, the identity of Christ and the Resurrection. His presentation shows a mastery of current scholarships concerning the historical Christ. Craig also goes the extra length in helping the budding Christian evangelists in using the materials presented here effectively and anticipating the possible objections and evasions commonly encountered.
Craig has done much in commending the Christian faith to the Western intelligentsia (especially in debates with his own peers - university dons and professors in tertiary institutions) and raised the level of discourse for all who are interested in an honest, rational inquiry into the existence of God and the Christian truth claims. In this book form, one gets to sit down and consider the solid case he has put forward on this vital topic. What it does for me personally, among other things, is that it blows apart the persistent 'postmodern' suggestion that people will not be persuaded by sound reasoning, what it takes in our pluralistic society for anyone to entertain the idea of changing one's mind is to tell a gripping narrative. Craig shows cogently both in his book and in his ministry that such a suggestion borders on a profound misunderstanding of the nature of Truth and, at worst, a sinister lie. He has done us all a great favour in reviving the place of rational apologetics in the Christian life and witness. Take and read!
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The Divine Milieu
by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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Lord, teach us how to see!, March 30, 2011
This review is from: The Divine Milieu (Paperback)
"This little book does no more than recapitulate the eternal lesson of the church in the words of a man who, because he believes himself to feel deeply in tune with his own times, has sought to teach how to see God everywhere, to see him in all that is most hidden, most solid, and most ultimate in the world. These pages - put forward no more than a practical attitude - or more exactly perhaps, a way of teaching how to see." writes Teilhard de Chardin in his introduction.
I have not read enough of this eminent scientist-theologian to judge if he is a pantheist, a panentheist or a true blue monotheist at heart (though in this book alone, he explicitly distances himself from the first). But this book articulates a vision of reality through the lens of Creation-Incarnation-Resurrection-Parousia that one is hard pressed not to take his Christian orientation seriously. He writes expressly to the 'waverer' who may be shaken by the modern cosmological discoveries that the gospel of Jesus gets relegated to a narrow, archaic piece of relic that has no room for the wider universe.
Presenting the universe instead as the divine milieu, that is, the whole world as a God's creation invaded, penetrated, shot through, indwelt by the presence of God by virtue of the Incarnation of Christ, he invites us to see the world anew not as an extension of the divine (as in the 'false trails of Pantheism' pg 129-130), or an evil product to be eventually destroyed (as in 'Manichean dualism' pg 105) but as the very realm in which Christ will take up his residence and fill it with his fullness (pleroma). If so, the whole life of the Christian and of the whole Church is to be bound up with the divine movement that will bring all things under the unity of Christ. Nothing therefore falls outside the divine milieu - our active endeavour to work for good and resist evil as well as our passive diminishments by misfortunes, setbacks, sufferings and death. God can use the 'two halves of our existence' (active and passive) to bring about the fullness that he intends.
The cross stands as a central symbol of this vision where the climb to Calvary exemplifies the human endeavour and fidelity in moving towards the light of God (not swooning/slumbering under its shadow, as is sometimes misconstrued) and the surrender to God's power of resurrection.
To appropriate this vision, the virtues of purity, faith, fidelity and charity are indispensable for both the individuals and for the body of Christ.
There is a warning throughout the book against passively resigning to what is - the evil, injustice, misfortune - and mindlessly attributing that to God's will. Instead, no true Christian detachment is exercised unless one has given his maximum strength to work with God in struggling against evil. Leaving aside the mystery and origin of suffering (nowhere does he suggest evil to be a necessary part of God's plan or that God is in any way responsible for it), he makes clear that our unrelenting and sustained resistance against evil belongs intimately to God's redemptive work. The true Christian attitude never loses sight of the fact that God's grace is ultimately what works through us, furnishing us with the sustained impulse to do his will and utilizing even the 'waste matter' of our existence, namely our failures, sufferings, weaknesses for his good purpose.
Interspersed with prayers, and written in a passionate, lyrical style, this inspiring classic helps us capture a larger vision of the gospel story. Instead of narrowing down our scope to only the private 'spiritual' and 'religious' compartments, he broadens our vision of the world as one in which God acts powerfully to save, renew and indwell with his all-pervasive presence. This book gives us an integrated Christian worldview that makes sense of the seemingly disparate elements and spheres of life and give us a powerful impetus to dive deep into the full business of human life, if only to lose ourselves completely in the divine milieu.
This is thoughtful, soul-stirring and life-changing literature as the introductory quote makes clear: it's a book that teaches us to see...God in all things. As this book basically engages at the world-view level and is therefore unabashedly philosophical, I reckon that the reader must be primed by some familiarity with this level/sort of thinking to make the best of it.
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Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor
by Ben Witherington
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a stimulating conversation on the christian view of work, March 17, 2011
This review is from: Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Paperback)
This is one of several evangelicals' recent contributions to the theology of work from the christian perspective. Ben Witherington notes that until the last decade, there has been a dearth of theological reflections on this important aspect of the christian life. This is a glaring deficit, considering that we spend an enormous part of our life working, that the bible has a great deal to say about this subject and that work can and ought to be the main domain where the disciple of Christ is spiritually formed, fulfills his calling and brings glory to God. It is a strange omission in most works of christian theology. This is a welcome corrective to the long neglect.
Throughout the book, the author interacts candidly with the major conversational partners on the christian understanding of work and does not hold back from critiquing the thoughts of eminent writers and theologians, past and present, such as Miroslav Volf, Jurgen Moltmann, Gene Veith, Martin Luther, Augustine, David Jensen and Andy Crouch and putting forth his own case. Those familiar with Witherington's background will not be surprised by his inclination that shapes the way he thinks about work. His Wesleyan, Arminian, Pacifist leanings are conspicuous, and his tone is one of unabashed confidence in the biblical veracity of his position.
He begins with a theologically-oriented definition of work for the Christian and he puts it in the perspective of one who is lives in anticipation of the new creation. Work is for the Christian more than seeking self-fulfilment or meeting human needs or making money to survive/prosper but a participation in God's eschatological project of bringing in the new creation. Work from the Christian perspective cannot be understood apart from the cosmic renewing work of the Spirit of God.
Then he takes us through some key biblical passages on work and basically cautions us against either demonizing or divinizing work. The biblical warnings against workaholism and a promethean approach to work are as clear as they are against sloth. It is important to see work as part of but not the be-all and end-all of what it means to be human. It is to balanced with play, worship and rest.
He seeks to correct, in his view, certain distortions of the biblical understanding of work in some forms of christian thoughts such as the clergy-laity divide, the sacred-secular dichotomy, the meticulous supervision of human affairs by an all-controlling God, an aversion to works due to a faulty understanding of works-righteousness, and the theology of separate spheres and realms of duties that allow Christians to violate biblical teachings in his 'official line of duty'. In all, he argues for a more coherent, holistic view of work that allows all Christians to live out the kingdom vocation through good, honest, edifying labour.
He reminds us that Christians are 'God's workmanship created in Christ for good works' (Eph 2:10). The nature of good work, as such, is discussed. Honesty, diligence, creativity and excellence are important ingredients of what constitutes good work. But the basic commitment of the Christian is not only towards a high quality of our work but the highest kind of work that has been entrusted to us by God. That is the work of fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It is with this basic eternal, redemptive framework that he discusses the concepts of 'calling' and 'vocation'. Under this rubric, the place of marriage and celibacy, 'church work' and 'non-church' vocations as well as the issue of remuneration are discussed.
Within 166 pages, he covers a lot of grounds and we may complain that he could have gone deeper in some of the more controversial points he touches on and that his definitions of what constitutes 'work' or 'calling' are a little difficult to follow but as a primer, it is quite a treat. It is not a book that will satisfy you with clear-cut answers and unassailable arguments but the sort of book that will 'tease your brain into active thought', as Witherington loves to say and do. Written in a witty and stimulating way, this latest installment by a very learned and articulate writer entertains as much as it educates.
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Thank God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross
by William H. Willimon
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the shock effect overdone, February 27, 2011
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Let me say that I have been a long-time fan of Willimon's sermons and writings (such as 'Resident Aliens', 'The Service of God', 'Pastor', 'Conversations with Barth on Preaching') but this book which I had looked forward to reading for the Holy Week was a letdown. It could be that Willimon had written some really excellent stuff in the past that my expectation from him has been unrealistically set. My disappointment stems from the uneasy feeling that he is trying too hard here to make Jesus stranger, more subversive and offensive than he really is. Alright, I take it as a given that Jesus is larger than anyone can conceive. It is true that Jesus has been tamed by centuries of domestication and remaking him in our own image...but I am not convinced by the silly portraits Willimon here made him out to be.
For example, the first sermon which zeroes in on Jesus' forgiving his enemies, calling it his 'pre-emptive forgiveness' (a phrase coined to counter the pre-emptive strikes of American military campaigns?) appears to be an exercise in caricaturing what forgiveness is. He seems to take the first of 'Jesus' last words on the cross' as the first and the last word the whole bible has to say about forgiveness. It is true that we have put too many hedges and qualifiers around the gracious act of forgiving but Willimon's taking his words to a one-dimensional extreme seems to fly in the face of the bible's own complex and nuanced conception of that divine-human transaction. It does not take into account that forgiveness proffered is not the same as forgiveness received. It breezes over the fact that God does sometimes withhold mercy (Mt6:14) and that Jesus calls the apostles to sometimes do likewise in their ministry (Jn 20:23). It does not say anything about the condition of those who would die without mercy, having crucified the Son of God all over again (Heb 10:26). There is a lavish, subversive, generous petition for mercy on the cross but it is predicated on the ground that 'they know not what they do' in the sense that Jesus meant it. Curiously, the connecting word 'for'(gar) was left out of his exegesis.
Indeed, Willimon's thesis makes no such nuances but pushes for what appears to be a no-holds-barred blanket application of divine mercy. It sounds shocking and 'shocking' has become something of a novelty lately but the message is not one that one can ulimately live with, nor does it prepare a disciple of Christ to practise forgiveness in a complex, broken world.
Now, that is the first sermon/chapter in the book. I could have skipped over this and hoped for a more balanced treatment in the others but my hope sadly went largely unmet. Somehow Willimon continues to take far too much 'poetic liberty' with the words of scripture to the point of being prosaic. Consider this:
'Death is the ultimate rip-off...In one of his parables, Jesus compared God to a thief who comes in the night while we are asleep and think we are secure, and steals everything we've got. Not the nicest image about God but a truthful one. In the end. God is going to rip off everything that we thought we had.' (page 69) We get his point about the ephemeral nature of life but one wonders if all these immodest language and confusing half-truths about Jesus comparing God to a thief that comes to rip us off are all that necessary. There's a good chance that many of such off-hand allusions are not even accurate if one takes the trouble to examine the texts closely. In this instance, Willimon appears to have conflated two different parables (Mt 24:42-44; Lk 12:20) from different places to make a point quite different from what Jesus actually says in either parable.
Over and over again, he appears far too eager to 'get at the shock of what Jesus says' (page 20) that it does not matter that Jesus actually means no such thing.
As such, the general tenor has been one that is big on 'shock value' and 'provocativeness' and little on what the final words spoken by Jesus really mean, how they breathe new life into the church and guide us in the way of the cross, he commands us to bear daily. He seems tired of the old truths and seeks to hit the audience with something 'fresh' by straining the texts.
P/S: This critical review in no way detracts from my deep admiration for Willimon's scholarship and ministry as a whole but I do so out of a frank appraisal of this particular work, in the hope that perhaps we read/hear him with the respectful critical engagement his work deserves.
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