Book Review - Can I Really Trust The Bible: And other questions about Scripture, truth and how God speaks

This book is for either the person who trusts the Bible and can’t explain why or for the person who doesn’t trust the Bible and can explain why.  The book contains a clearly laid out, well-orchestrated line of thought with clear examples.

For the first person, this book provides a nice framework for thinking about the reliability of the bible.  It claims to be God’s word (2 chapters), it seems to be God’s word (2 chapters) and it proves to be God’s word (1 chapter).  Using this skeleton to frame the answer to the question raised in the book title, a believer is able to remember and explain to an unbeliever why the Bible is reliable and trustworthy.

The person who doubts the Bible is trustworthy likely has one or two reasons why. Is this case it is fairly easy to search through the book and find the reasons addressed. The author has put many of the common reasons people give for not trusting the Bible, in sidebars.

 

While the book is very short (a small book with 81 pages), it really is substantial and fairly complete. I especially liked the section that explained why the Old Testament books and New Testament books are not in chronological order.  I don’t ever remember reading such a clear and concise explanation.

Even if you already trust the Bible, this book is worth reading. It is a wonderful, short, concise and accessible introduction to the Bible and it’s reliability.  It is one of those books that has explanations worth memorizing and meditating upon.  If you were to read only one book on this topic, this is it.

I received this book free from The Good Book Company via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Book Review - A Vine-Ripened Life: Spiritual Fruitfulness through Abiding in Christ by Stanley Gale

A Vine Ripened Life is a welcome addition to what is often only a mystical explanation of what it means to ‘abide in Christ’. It is a clear explanation of what it means to not only abide in Christ, but to bear abundant fruit.

One of the most useful sections of Stanley Gale’s new book is found in Chapter 1 where he details the essence of abiding with Christ.  “Freedom from bondage to sin for development of the fruit of the Spirit is forged by union with Christ” says Stanley Gale. And that fruit is formed in reliance on the Holy Spirit who is now at work in you, as you focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ by spending time in his word, in prayer, and in fellowship with the Saints.

In this reviewer’s experience, the topic of our union with Christ is often presented as only an objective reality. John Calvin once wrote "We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us....All that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him" (Institutes, III.i.1).     In A Vine-Ripened Life, Stanley Gale makes it clear how abiding in Christ makes it possible to experience the subjective side of the reality of our union with Christ, bearing mature, abundant fruit that manifest itself in a distinctively Christian character.

In chapter 2 Stanley Gale talks of the discipline of the Father and how not to make light of it. He spells out how to recognize it, value it and heed it.

Using personal stories and many biblical references, the fruit of the Spirit is detailed in chapters 3-11. There is an additional chapter on humility and the book ends with a very helpful chapter on grace.

I’ve read other books on Abiding in Christ, including Andrew Murray’s classic work. In comparison, I find this book easier to relate to and more engaging.  I’ve marked this book up so much – I need to purchase one to give away!

I received this book for free from Shepherd Press via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Book Review - healed at last: separating Biblical Truth From Myth by Scott Blackwell

Unknowingly perhaps an author makes his book much more useful than the purpose for which he writes.  And that is what makes this book so valuable even if you are not particularly interested in the age old debate about whether God heals miraculously today or not.

 

I found the book helpful in illustrating the usefulness of Biblical Theology over Systematic Theology, where the bible’s storyline of redemption affects the way we understand how to answer the question of miraculous healing.  In a carefully orchestrated way, Blackwell lays out the story of God’s redeeming a people that provides the appropriate context for answering the question.   The setting is cosmological rather than the American culture of individualism.

His section on Basic bible boundaries and rules provides a very helpful reminder that he will approach the answer to this question using careful exegisis, hermeneutics and homiletics. He even tells us in plain language what these terms mean.

In a loving way he makes clear the difference between Pentecostal/charismatic and reformed evangelical thought on this issue and addresses the difference.

In answering this much debated question Blackwell is to clear about underlying assumptions, makes clear the context for answering the question, makes clear what bias he has, elaborates on relevant personal experience and makes clear the methodology for arriving at an answer.

Near the end Blackwell says:

“ My hope is that this small book might encourage … those who undergo great personal struggles, and help them recapture and redirect their focus so that they might once again testify that God’s grace is perfectly sufficient and his power made perfect, even through our weakness”

This he has done by reminding us our hope is ultimately on the sovereignty of God and the work on our behalf of Christ on the cross and the certainty of our salvation that will be complete at the last day.  The book ends with that great quote from 1 Peter 1:3-9.

Book Review: Basil of Caesarea: His Life and Impact by Marvin Jones

This is one of the most difficult books I have had to read in a long time.  It was difficult primarily because of my unfamiliarity with world history and the subsequent difficulty in knowing the position the characters play, and partly because of the way the book is laid out.  The book is not chronological or linear, except in an iterative way.  Not having a detailed table of contents made it difficult to see the development of thought and the flow of the book.

For these reasons, I would suggest reading a hardcopy of the book, rather than with an eBook reader.  I found the eBook version hard to reread previous sections and keep track of where I was in the general framework of the book. Below is my attempt to give a rough outline that might prove helpful to those reading the book.

1.       Basil’s life: An overview

2.       Conversion and theology

a.       Salvation

                                                                           i.      Asceticism

                                                                         ii.      Asceticism, Arianism and the church

                                                                        iii.      Theological development(Homoiousios, Homoousios and Hypostasis phases)

                                                                       iv.      Bishop Basil

                                                                         v.      Marcellus

                                                                       vi.      Marcellus, Athanasius, and Basil

b.      Pastoral Public Ministry

                                                                           i.      Ministry of the Word

                                                                         ii.      Worship

                                                                        iii.      Preaching

                                                                       iv.      Continuing Theological Development

                                                                         v.      Reward in heaven

                                                                       vi.      Basil’s contribution to Evangelicalism (The Scriptures and the Church)

                                                                      vii.      Theological Development

3.       Solace in the desert

a.       Intro

b.      Saint Anthony, the Anchoritic monk

c.       Pachomius, the Coenobitic monk

d.      Monastic trip

e.      Monastic reform

                                                                           i.      The rationale for coenobitic reform

f.        Basil’s contribution to Evangelicalism

                                                                           i.      Holiness in the church

                                                                         ii.      The moral Rules and the Large Asceticon

4.       Development of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

a.       The Nicene Creed

b.      The Arian resurgence

c.       Athanasius’s contribution to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit

d.      Didymus the Blind

e.      Contribution to Evangelicalism

5.       Basil’s Contribution to the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

a.       Arianism in the Late 360s

b.      Basil’s On the Holy Spirit

c.       Prepositions and deity

d.      Council of Constantinople

6.       Basil’s Hexaemeron

a.       Allegory versus literal

b.      The witness of the Hexaemeron

c.       Richard Lim’s theory

d.      The Content of the Hexaemeron

e.      The sovereignty of God

f.        Six literal days for creation

g.       Creation instantaneous and ex nihilio

h.      Young earth and evolution

i.         Contribution of the Hexaemeron

j.        Contribution to Evangelicalism

7.       Basil Speaks Today

a.       Ecclesiastical contributions

b.      Theological contributions

Overall I found the book quite helpful in understanding the importance of knowing the struggles that are behind the very concise, precisely worded creeds left to us by our forefathers in the faith. In addition, I found the excellent discussion of monasticism and asceticism quite helpful and relevant to the issues now facing the church.  One of my favorite quotes from the book (Kindle location 1301-1302)

“Again, Basil seemed to reject the isolationism of the monastic movement simply because his devotion to the Scriptures compelled him to think ecclesiologically.”

I received this book for free from Christian Focus via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Book Review: Active Spirituality: grace and effort in the christian life by Brian G. Hedges

In a progression of fictional letters, author and pastor Brian Hedges explores the tension between grace and effort in the Christian life.  In this way Brian helps a fictional Chris understand the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints as he seeks to grow in his walk with God in the midst of temptation and discouragement.  I thought the book started out a bit slow, but by the third chapter, I was hooked.

One of the striking features of the book, is Brian’s use of solid Christian fiction and nonfiction to help illustrate the many scripture references he uses.  For example, in the chapter on backsliding, after carefully laying out the scriptures in which God reminds us to remember his saving acts, Brian uses the memorable story of Jill seeking the lost prince of Narnia in C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair.  In this, and other chapters are frequent uses of Paul Bunyan’s The Pilgrims Progress, several of C.S. Lewis’s books, excerpts from John Owen, John Newton, J. I. Packer, Leland Ryken, Charles Spurgeon, Octavius Winslow, William Gurnal, Gordon Fee, Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, Augustine, William Bridges, John Calvin, D. A. Carson, and many others. He also uses Baptist and Presbyterian church standards and hymns.

In no way do these other illustrations get in the way of or take away from the impact of scripture. The illustrations taken from literature serve to add weight and clarity. Brian is quite pastoral and not wooden, shallow or dry. The letters have the feel of good literature, in that they evidence progression in the emotional life of Chris and his relationship to the letter writer Brian. They realistically deal with the ups and downs of the Christian life and thus serve as an encouragement to us who need assurance.

The book has two very useful bookends.  The first chapter is an opening letter to the reader explaining how the resurgence of Reformed theology has increased the awareness of the extent of grace not only in beginning the Christian life, but in living the Christian life.  While he applauds this, his experience has been that this truth can seem to dismiss the necessity of effort in continuing as a Christian.  In laying out the definition of doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, he explains perseverance as requiring both grace and effort in order to find our place in heaven.

The last two chapters contain more detailed information on the sources he quotes.  Many of the works noted in the Bibliography should be on the new Christian’s reading list, and contain both old and new works well worth reading.

Are you struggling with assurance or the relationship between grace and effort in the Christian life? Then this book is one you should read.

I received this book for free from Shepherd Press via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Book Review - Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves To One Book by Kenneth Berding

Note: Since writing this review the website mentioned (http://biblefluency.com) is now complete! It leads you through a 12 week program that will not only qualify you as biblically literate, but will also train you to recite the storyline of the whole bible. Visit the website and view the free videos, music and other free resources rather than reading the book reviewed. The program is suitable to do as a family. A suggestion: use it as a ready-made Family Worship/Devotions. It is best for Junior High to Senior Adult, but can easily be adapted for younger children.

I grew up at a time when most people knew some basic facts about the bible.  My parents could expect almost anyone I encountered to remind me how my behavior was not in line with that required by the God of the Bible.  But that day is long gone.  Kenneth Berding has written a useful resource for the church to supplement efforts to increase Bible Literacy. It is a book “about learning, living and loving the Bible that would teach and stir the hearts of our people” says author, Professor and church elder, Berding.

This book lays out the underlying spiritual causes of the present predicament of Bible Illiteracy. As such, it is not a devotional book, nor a how to interpret the Bible book, nor a book about the doctrine of Scripture.  It is a book that makes a case for hearing, valuing, understanding, applying and obeying the scriptures. Each chapter has a “Digging Deeper” section that uncovers the spiritual issues related to the topic. Kenneth Berding closes each chapter with a prayer and questions quite suitable for small group bible study or to gauge your own understanding of the chapter.

He follows these chapters with two helpful appendices, one on memorizing the scriptures and another making an announcement of an upcoming Bible Fluency program to be released by Weaver Press in the summer of 2014. 

Here are the topics of the 6 chapters.

Chapter 1 – Hearing the Word.  How little this generation knows about the Bible and the underlying causes.

Chapter 2 - Valuing the Word. The origin of our underlying distrust of the Bible.

Chapters 3 and 4 - Understanding and Applying the Word.  Why we struggle to understand and apply the bible. He provides a framework for how to do so.

Chapter 5: - Obeying the Word.  Here he addresses sentimentality, avoidance, the opinion that I have the right to decide and the possibility that one is still not at peace with God.

Chapter 6: Speaking the Word. Berding issues a call to not only read, learn and obey the bible, but to talk about it regularly with each other.

The book is quite readable, well laid out and has the right amount of personal stories as illustrations. His use of scripture makes his arguments convincing.  I would not hesitate to use this book as a starting point for developing a bible fluency program for yourself or your church.

I received a free copy of this book from Weaver Book Company via Cross Focused Reviews in exchange for an honest review.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

I just finished a  wonderful memoir written by a gracious and intelligent author. This was a wonderful read and break from my normal genre. There are a number of reviews on Amazon. 

I most certainly would rate this one high. I grew fond of the Dad and wish that he had the tools to deal with the issues underlying his addiction to alcohol.  My emotions were like water in a bathtub when entering or exiting; sometimes great admiration for his sensitivity and creativity but swamped by depth of sorrow for his cluelessness or choice to ignore the needs of his family.

Here was a family that homeschooled without calling it that.