Book Review: Not a Chance

If chance exists, God does not. Indeed, He cannot exist as God if there is such a thing as chance. In sum, this is the thesis behind R.C. Sproul’s Not a Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt of Reason. Anything that comes from Sproul’s pen is worth reading (even a grocery list). This is not your typical theology book by R.C.

If he is known as anything, R.C. Sproul is known as a peerless theologian. He even calls himself a theologian. In Not a Chance, Sproul reveals himself to be a philosopher, historian, and theologian who is not a bit uncomfortable entering the domain of theoretical physics, cosmology, and quantum mechanics.  As a master logician, he disarms ideas that have been passed off as scholarly, erudite, and sophisticated.

This book is written for popular consumption, but it will require some thinking to stay on board with the flow of logic.  Keith Mathison’s concluding chapter “Ex Nihilo,

Nihil Fit” is the icing on the cake.

Do not read this book if you do not want to think. Do not read this book if your mind is closed or if you are so enamored with scientific cosmology that you think that matters of faith are contrary to reason. Do read this book if you desire to be more amazed at the power of the sovereign Creator of the universe.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Baker Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Urban Apologetics

The gospel is good news for the city. This is the subtitle of Christopher Brooks Urban Apologetics. Much has been written, even from an evangelical perspective, about urban and inner city ministry that tends to default to an emphasis on “social justice,” however defined. In the minds of some people “social justice” is a euphemism for greater supportive services and more federal dollars. This is not to infer that there is no place for funded services. But, important as these may be, this is not the gospel. Brooks departs from this call for governmental intervention and actually takes the gospel seriously.

The author boldly tackles issues that trouble the inner cities. He is taking names. Brooks confronts the issues of sexual immorality, abortion, and ethical behavior, to name a few, from a perspective that is theological, biblical, and emanates from a God-centered worldview. Though he may not make friends with statements like this, he certainly speaks the truth; “There is a growing sentiment in our society that the acceptance of homosexuality is the civil rights movement of our day” (p.76); and; “Far too many Christians have unfortunately made the mistake of exchanging personal evangelism for partisan electoral victories” (p. 79).  

Get this book! It is a quick read, but a valuable one.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: A Commentary on Psalms Vol II

Volume II of Allen P. Ross’ A Commentary on the Psalms is a welcomed addition to his fine work on the on the Psalter.  All of the features that made Volume 1 profitable are continued in this work.

Dr. Ross has written with the pastor/teacher in view. The current volume, like the first, is richly devotional in nature. Likewise, it is scholarly without being academically stuffy. This is not to say that A Commentary on Psalms, Vol. II fails to interact with scholarly works on the Psalms. Quite the contrary, Dr. Ross refers to relevant authors and texts as well as variant readings from other ancient versions and textual traditions.

The goal appears to be one of opening the meaning of this rich body of literature instead of obscuring it in pedantic commentary. Psalms is a worship book. This volume brings that theme to light for the student, teacher, and expositor.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Blind Descent

Blind Descent is an exciting story of one man’s attempt to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. Climbing mountains is a passion for Brian Dickinson. After climbing all the major mountains of the world, Everest was the final feather for his cap. Though not planned as a solo summit, when he did reach the top of the world alone, he soon became snow blind and had to navigate his way down to help using his training, his mental and physical resources, and his faith in God.

Dickinson’s outspoken faith in Christ sets this account apart from others who have chronicled similar stories of the assault on Everest. All along the journey, from his home in Washington to the mountains of Nepal, he acknowledges the presence of God in each step. That someone could be so devoted to climbing mountains, and do so to the glory of God, reminds me of the comment attributed to Eric Lidell to his sister Jennie in the movie “Chariots of Fire” concerning his own love for running; “God has made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.”

For those of us who have no idea about mountain climbing in general and scaling Everest in particular, several bits of information will be of interest. Climbing Everest has become something of an industry in Nepal. Every year, many people from across the world try to reach the summit. While climbing to 29,000+ feet is no minor achievement, it is not the extraordinary feat that it was when Sir Edmund Hillary made his climb.

Additionally, climbing Everest is a lengthy process. Unless one is independently wealthy, funds must be secured for the 3 month project. Upon finally arriving at Everest, there are a series of acclimatization climbs that must be made to condition the body for the altitude. Camps also exist for the climbers during these acclimatization climbs.  Apparently, as Dickinson notes, some people are susceptible to altitude sickness and find out that they are unable to finish the climb.

In several places, ladder bridges have been constructed to cross deep crevices. The first climbers likely had to make do without these aids.

Blind Descent was one of the books that I read in a day. It is written in a way that keeps the reader engaged to the final page. The reader feels that he is right there on Everest with the climbers.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Tyndale House Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

 

Book Review: A Godward Heart

John Piper encourages the heart, stimulates the mind, and renews the spirit with his recent devotional A Godward Heart. Perhaps “devotional” is misleading. When thinking of devotional, one often pictures a single page consisting of 3-4 paragraphs, usually illustrating some well-known Bible verse, and ending with a cheesy poem. Piper’s submissions are more like essays with a devotional flare. He calls them meditations.

This volume consists of 50 meditations that are somewhat random in subject. They represent a set of diverse topics such as, “What Will the Final Judgment Mean to You,” “Abolition and the Roots of Public Justice,” “When Signs and Wonders Go Bad,” and “Coed Combat and Cultural Cowardice,” to name a few.  The subjects are all over the place, but there is a common thread through them all: a desire to display the supremacy of God in all things and to treasure the pleasures of Christ for the glory of God. Piper manages to shine the light of the gospel even when dealing with such topics as the role of women in combat. In addition, his meditations are deeply basted in Scripture. All “opinions” have been sifted through the grid of God’s Word.

A Godward Heart is the latest addition to Piper’s series of heart stirring meditations. My initial exposure to these writings was reading his first book of meditations, A Godward Life. I highly recommend these meditations as part of your devotional reading. John Piper never fails to stimulate deep thinking while at the same time causing the heart to be lifted in worship to our God.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from The Crown Publishing Group as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

 

Book Review: A Commentary on Judges and Ruth

Robert B. Chisholm provides a helpful addition to the Kregel Exegetical Library in his Commentary on Judges and Ruth. He combines these books into a single volume commentary because the events in Ruth take place during the period of the Judges. In fact, Ruth is the transition between the Judges and the monarchy. This is demonstrated by the obvious record of David’s genealogy at the close of the book and the association with Bethlehem at the beginning of the book.

Chisholm deals with “problem passages” with candor and clarity. He portrays Gideon as a flawed leader, Barak as a reluctant warrior, and Samson as morally weak and tragic hero. He deals with the unadvised vow of Jepthah straightforwardly. Instead of attempting to put a pious spin on the situation, he sees a man vowing to give a human sacrifice that he somehow thinks will be pleasing to the Lord. When his promise encompasses his daughter, he offers her as a sacrifice, thinking that fulfilling this vow is more honorable than breaking the vow, repenting of his rashness and unbelief and sparing a human life. This commentary deals with these people as they likely lived.

Chisholm provides his own translation of the books and presents this translation separating and identifying structural elements. Although those with a working knowledge of Hebrew will derive the maximum benefit from this book, it has value nonetheless for the non-Hebrew student. This author clearly has the pastor /teacher in view. Each section includes paragraphs like “homiletical trajectories” and “theological principles.”

A Commentary on Judges and Ruth is a resource that should be a part of Bible student, teacher or pastor’s library. I look forward to further volumes in Kregel’s Exegetical Library.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Book Review: What's Your Worldview

What’s Your Worldview guides the reader through the menu of possible worldviews based on the answers given to leading questions.  These are what James Anderson calls Life’s Big Questions in the subtitle of the book. I have read several books on worldview from a Christian perspective and this offers a refreshing approach. Instead of categorizing worldviews into the three larger ones (theism, materialism, and transcendentalism), Anderson lists many sub-categories as classes of worldviews in themselves. For example, Judaism and Islam are listed separately, not as a kind of theistic worldview.

This work contains brief chapters, each dealing with an important question, such as “Is there objective truth,” “Is there more than one valid religion,” “Is there a God,” and so on. The chapters conclude with the question and, based on the answer, direct the reader to a new section.

Anderson admits that his perspective is biased, but recognizes that all of our perspectives are biased in one way or another. The primary issue is whether Anderson’s conclusions are rational. In a respectful, non-polemic fashion, this book deals with the various worldview options available in contemporary culture. The author likewise admits that his own perspective, a Christian-theistic worldview, has areas of cognitive dissonance as well. However, when all the options are presented, the Christian worldview is shown to provide a rational and intellectually satisfying way of understanding who we are, why we are here, and what lies ahead.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Crossway Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

Book Review: Seeking the City

At the outset, I want to acknowledge that I received this book free of charge in exchange for a review. Of course, I was not required to write a favorable review. Having said that, after reading this book, I felt I was somehow violating the principles expressed in this book by not paying for it. Seeking the City: Wealth, Poverty,and Political Economy in Christian Perspective is a massive work of 880 pages of text. This alone may prevent its distribution in a popular market, but that would be unfortunate. Chad Brand and Tom Pratt have given the evangelical world a counterpoint to much of the literature available on poverty, social justice, and the role of business in today’s market.

Unsure of what to expect, I was drawn to this title because of the work I do. I minister at a Rescue Mission in a rust belt city. We are very familiar with federally funded agencies, some of which use government dollars to entitle people under the guise of empowering them. Brand and Pratt speak clearly to this tendency.

Among evangelicals, social justice seems to be canon law. Perhaps we sense guilt or embarrassment that our historical emphasis on the gospel has resulted in neglect of poverty and injustice. Certainly, as Brand and Pratt concur, it is not a Christian virtue to see people destitute and hungry and fail to be moved with compassion. The difference is in how that compassion is expressed and what one means by social justice.

For many, social justice means a redistribution of wealth.  It is a more acceptable term than socialism. The premise behind Seeking the City, however, is that the best way to relieve poverty is to create wealth. The authors move the readers through a biblical theology of poverty and wealth, defining biblically the concept of justice. The second part shows how these principles were worked out historically – and how they were misused historically. The final section deals with the philosophy of economics and how this “trickles down” to street level.

The authors present a summation of the principles they expound in these statements:

It is not giving away money and resources that produces wealth and alleviates poverty. It is work and training/education and business acumen and risk taking and entrepreneurship and a host of other human character traits employed in the presence of property rights protections, the rule of law, and most of all, the elimination of corruption from the governments who rule where poverty exists. To load American Christians with guilt about the deaths of millions of children in the underdeveloped world because of what we are not doing about tithing is a gross misuse of supposed moral authority (italics original).

American culture is on the entitlement train and there seems to be no way to bring it to a halt. Furthermore, not a few voices from the evangelical side wholeheartedly endorse greater levels of entitlements. Brand and Pratt do a masterful job of demonstrating that this is not biblical, it is not helpful to the ones for whom it is directed, and, instead of being an expression of social justice, it is manifestly unjust.

Every Christian who is involved in any kind of charitable enterprise would do well to read this book. It is worth the effort.

  

 

Faith

“If we define faith as credulity, as a leap in the dark, then no, that’s not what it is. I’ve put it in these words: God has put enough into this world to make faith in Him a most reasonable thing. He has left enough out to make it impossible to live by sheer reason alone.”

- Ravi Zacharias, Decision, March 2014, p.21

Apostle of the Last Days

There may be some who read Apostle of the Last Days: the Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul and find to their surprise that it is not their father’s eschatology. C. Marvin Pate describes the content of Paul’s letters in the context of the contemporary views of the parousia held by Jews, Judaizers, Greeks, and Romans. Although there are charts that compare and contrast these views with Paul’s teaching, there are no timelines or prophecy charts so beloved by evangelical Christians.

According to Pate, Paul’s consistent premise in his epistles is that the last days began with the advent of Christ. This is termed “inaugurated eschatology.” Simply put, Paul does not teach that the last days are past, or that they are yet to come, but that they have begun.

As a recovering dispensationalist, I was interested to read how Pate treated the famous “Rapture passage” in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He writes,

Though the concept of a secret rapture of the church before the advent of the great tribulation followed by the visible second coming of Christ is enormously popular in American religion, there is no basis for such in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the key passage in the debate. This is because Paul equates the “rapture” (1 Thess. 4:13-18) with the parousia/second coming of Christ (98).

At times it seems as though the author gave too much attention to trying to find cultic religious themes as targets of Paul’s theology. However, it should be noted that the appearance of this may be more a reflection of this reviewer’s ignorance than a reflection on the author. Certainly modern interpreters are often guilty of failing to consider these cultural motifs in their study. Pate’s discussion of the background of Artemis worship in Ephesus was extremely valuable.

I was surprised to find several printing errors in the book. The outline of Paul’s theology in the introduction on page 31-32 is repeated on page 33-34. On page 131, a Scripture reference is given as 1 Cor.20. On page 261, Philo is quoted, “Therefore, if any desire comes upon the O soul…” (thee?). This is not indicative of Kregel’s usually excellent work.

Apostle of the Last Days is a valuable addition to one’s library on Pauline theology.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”