The Faith, Worship, and Life Library

The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action

2008-07-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

Twenty-nine authors have come together to produce a collection of essays calling for the resuscitation of fatherhood in America. What makes this work unique is the wide spectrum from which they write. They disagree at certain points of policy, initiative, and causation. Yet they all agree that fatherlessness for even one child in America is no longer acceptable. This work is edited by Wade Horn, David Blankenhorn, and Mitchell B. Pearlstein

His Excellency: George Washington

2008-06-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

"It seemed to me that Benjamin Franklin was wiser than Washington; Alexander Hamilton was more brilliant; John Adams was better read; Thomas Jefferson was more intellectually sophisticated; James Madison was more politically astute. Yet each and all of these prominent figures acknowledged that Washington was their unquestioned superior" (Joseph Ellis, p. xiv).

Renowned author, Joseph Ellis has put human flesh on the immortal, George Washington. For some this might well leave a bad taste in their mouths. For me, understanding the very human and cultural struggles Washington navigated through to American immortality makes his achievements and character development all the more impressive. Ellis does a brilliant job of reminding us that great men are more often made than born, and Washington's greatness was birthed and matured in first hand experiences with raw human depravity amid high and lofty idealism.

In particularly impressive is Ellis's dealings with the question of slavery and the founding fathers, especially Washington. He notes that many felt slavery severely out of tune with the republican ideals of the American Revolution. Yet he also acknowledges the egg shells the nation, which Washington hoped to build and preserve, was birthed on. While Washington, himself, eventually came to be morally repulsed by the institution itself, this plank took a long and tortuous path at which to arrive. While it was easy for Quaker dissenters to criticize the existence of slavery ... and criticize Washington, himself, neither one of them were responsible holding together a group of people for whom "We the People" amounted to little more than wishful thinking. He believed that the best course was to establish the country on sound footing, and then allow the next generation or two to navigate a course to emancipation.

What Ellis fails miserably at is his handling of Washington's faith. While it is true he was not he Billy Graham of his day, he certainly was an authentic orthodox Anglican believer. Ellis asserts that Washington was a slack Anglican at best, never partaking of Communion. Yet the fact he partook of Communion is indisputable. Besides whether he partook of Communion or not bears little telling on his own faith and in the nature of Providence ... whether Providence for Washington was an impersonal force or the preeminent Christ.

All in all this book is a must have for anyone interested in the study of "His Excellency."

Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism

2008-06-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

"... How could an idea that so consistently showed itself to be incongruent with human nature have spread faster and further than any other belief system ever devised? And how did an idea calling upon so many humane sentiments lend its name to the cruelest regimes in human history?" (Joshua Muravchik, pp. 338 & 339)

Joshua Muravchik presents us in the American "experiment" ample reason to do what we can to avoid the socialist siren. He presents the story of significant socialist experiments in world history (including their unhappy consequences) in a masterful narrative. Particularly interesting is his account of Julius Nyerere's Tanzania and the Kibbutz movement in Israel.

Tagging off of the opening quote, one more question about socialism penetrates our contemporary American political scene:

When socialism is the most failed "experiment" in history, why is its siren successful in casting her spell over our elite populous today? It appears our elite stand ready to butter themselves up and rush to be devoured by the Siren herself ... dragging the rest of us with them.

This book is a must read for us in this election year. For while our three democratic candidates promise the world to include the moon and stars, we forget that only the Creator of that earth, moon, and those stars is the only one smart enough to provide according to the intermeshed intricacies of our deepest human needs. In other words Government makes a pretty pathetic god ... but quite a powerful devil. Yet, the architects of Socialism strove exactly to replace God ... and in the end became the devil incarnate.

"The biblical account of Adam and Eve's fall explained the hardships of life. It also portrayed mankind's capacity for evil as well as good, suggesting that we might ameliorate the hardship by cultivating our better natures. As Harrington's bold promise suggests, socialism made things easier. Not only did it vow to deliver the goods in this world rather than the next, but it asked little in return. At the most, you had to support the revolution. At the least, you had to do nothing, since ineluctable historical forces would bring about socialism anyway. In either case you did not have to worship or obey. You did not have to make sacrifices or give charity. You did not have to confess or repent or encounter that tragic sense of life that is the lot of those who embrace a nonsecular religion. No doubt, many or most of those drawn to socialism felt some sense of humane idealism, but its demands were deflected outward onto society as a whole. If this is what made the religion of socialism so attractive, it also explains what made it so destructive" (Muravchik, p. 343).

Fatherless America: Confronting our Most Urgent Social Problem

2008-06-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

Fatherhood is a social role that obligates men to their biological offspring. For two reasons, it is society's most important role for men. First, fatherhood, more than any other male activity, helps men to become good me: more likely to obey the law, to be good citizens, and to think about the needs of others. Put more abstractly, fatherhood bends maleness ... in particular, male aggression ... toward prosocial purposes. Second, fatherhood privileges children. In this respect, fatherhood is a social invention designed to supplement maternal investment in children with paternal investment in children (David Blankenhorn, p.24)

David Blankenhorn has given us a superb picture of the state of "Fatherhood" in the United Sates ... at least 10 years ago (as this book was published in '95). But ... and that's a big nasty but that needs to be wiped ... things have only gotten worse.

Rather than waxing eloquent on tips for being better fathers, Blankenhorn looks much broader to the contemporary notion of fatherhood itself. That is a huge distinction that consumes 90% of his much needed message. In addition to giving the contemporary scene, he briefly reviews the historical drama leading up to the demise of fatherhood, as well as giving a picture of healthy fatherhood and some public policy directions which should be heeded.

Filled with then contemporary research, solid thinking, and masterful phrasing, this book is not merely hard to ignore ... its hard to put down. I lapped up every word that dripped from its oasis-like pages, eagerly hoping to hug my wife and baby girls a bit more passionately. If you only read one book on fathers, fathering, or fatherhood this year ... choose this one.

The Apostles' Creed

2008-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

William Barclay has attempted to give the Church a contemporary manifesto in analyzing the Apostles' Creed. However, I can only say "attempted" since he has given way too much ground to theological liberalism.

While I can certainly appreciate his detailed analysis of the Creed (324 pages worth), and while we certainly need to be humble in our approach to truth, I feel that Barclay has waffled on some important issues, rendering the heart force of the Christian faith a mere paper tiger.

For example: In his analysis of "I believe ... in the forgiveness of sins" he maintains that Jesus did not die instead of us but for us. He doesn't believe there is a shred of evidence in the New Testament that the Atonement contains an element of Substitution about it. He argues that it would be totally unjust for a totally just God to pour out his wrath on the sinless Jesus. He then explains that the language of sacrifice was used because the early writers were Jews ... and to Jews sacrifice only meant the means of restoring right relationship between God and Man.

So how does he work out this quandary he has created for himself? On the one hand he proclaims that Scripture doesn't teach substitionary atonement. On the other hand he acknowledges Scripture is full of sacrificial language regarding the death of Jesus. What is his solution?

Until Jesus came no one knew what God was like. In Jesus we see what God is like ... particularly the love of God. In Jesus we see God's love for his enemies ... and if Jesus had stopped short of the Cross ... then there would have been a point beyond which the love of God would not go.

While this all might "feel" nice, the truth is that which Scripture might well teach that there is not a point beyond which the love of God will not go (except against human free will), this in no wise captures the whole of the love of God nor of the justice of God. In the Old Testament forgiveness came only with the sacrifice of blood (Hebrews 9:22). The whole of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus's death fulfilled the Temple ritual system in one final act that forever made reconciliation with God possible ... not only mere reconciliation but transformation into his image. "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:12-14; ESV).

I'm afraid that if you exclude the full picture of God (which includes his wrath) you arrive at an impotent picture of his love. God's love is one that is transformative even in the vilest of men. Barclay's version of God's love is transfixed on weak victim-pity, which doesn't require transformation in depraved man.

The LORD Reigns: A Theological Handbook to the Psalms

2008-06-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

James L. Mayes has given those of us who care about Christian worship an exhilarating reminder: worship is about declaring to one another and the world ... and to God ... that the LORD reigns. Mayes not only calls us back to God-centered worship, but he also deals with topics that are not pleasant for our 21st Century social palates (ie. war-talk, calling on God to take vengeance on enemies). While we, in our 21st Century liberal sophistication tend to look down on the social ethics of a time long past, we tend to forget that we are just as beset with idols in our churches as they were in yester-year. In studying the Psalms the call to cast down our idols is larger than Buddha's belly.

"Worship led by the psalms sets the congregation in a polytheistic world, which it claims for Adonai. Does that make it anachronistic? Some serious assessments of our culture say it is as much pagan as it is secular. The idolization of sex, wealth, patriotism, armed force, ethnicity, for example--that is, taking a good for the power that define and orders human life-- continues and revives the old paganism. Tom Wright in his incisive book New Tasks for a Renewed Church calls the roll of the ancient gods to name the powers of modern culture: Mars, Mammon, Aphrodite, Gaia. He argues, rightly, I believe that it is urgent for the community of faith to identify the powers for what they are. You know, of course, that Gaia, the earth goddess, has been given a literary epiphany in Christian theology. The confessional situation of the church has haunting similarities to that of Israel in the eighth century and Christians in the second (sic). Monotheizing, liberating the good realities of life and world from the perversion of divinization, is again the crucial agenda. The praise of psalms as confession is the liturgy for the mission" (p. 68).

What's So Great about Christianity?

2008-04-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Dinesh D'Souza is following in the footsteps of Ravi Zacharias and C.S. Lewis. D'Souza answers the rising stars in the militant atheist camp with his unique but sharp & entertaining witt. His voice is certainly a breath of fresh air in the midst of the postmodern, leftist hurricane breaking on the shores of Evangelicalism.

While the postmoderns have done well to remind us that living the gospel is a necessary part to effective gospel witness, many seem to have forgotten that effective vocal presentation and defense is needed just as ever in our day and time. The likes of Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and most secular-progressive professors in state universities illustrate this clearly.

In this particular work D'Souza addresses objections not normally found in the apologetic material, namely reassessing the Spanish Inquisition and Galileo. He takes a theistic evolutionary perspective, emphasizing that evolution is not the problem ... Darwinian philosophy is. Conservative Christians might be put off by this, but stick with him. Even if you guys don't agree with him, he makes a great case for purpose and design in creation in general and even emphasizes points that young earth creationists have failed to address adequately (ie. the problem of the travel of light from the far reaches of the universe).

This work is also important for another important reason. D'Souza demonstrates that sound intellectual Christianity is not simply the property of White people, as he, like Zacharias, is Indian. Truly Christianity has gone global ... which is the call of Christ. Below gives you a flavor of this work:

"First, Christianity makes sense of who we are in the world. All of us need a framework in which to understand reality, and part of Christianity's appeal is that it is a worldview that makes things fit together. Science and reason are seamlessly integrated in a Christian framework, because modern science emerged from a Christian framework. Christianity has always embraced both reason and faith. While reason helps us to discover things about experience, faith helps us discover things that transcend experience. for limited, fallible humans like us, Christianity provides a comprehensive and believable account of who we are and why we are here" (p. 300).

Jesus

2008-04-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

World-renowned Jewish scholar, David Flusser, presents a biography of Jesus set in Jesus's own time and culture. He paints this picture of Jesus with his knowledge of the writings and mindsets of the various Jewish sects at the time of Jesus. His goal is to demonstrate that the Jesus of the Gospels (mostly the Gospel of Luke) is in fact the authentic Jesus of history and not simply the Jesus of the early Church.

Serious Christian students of the Scriptures will find his insights fascinating. However, be forewarned that Flusser is a fully practicing Jew, who merely admires Jesus for his message, but rejects him as messiah. His reasoning is that Jesus failed to bring about the full redemption of Creation, especially Israel, because he was executed. In addition Flusser is a scholar standing in the tradition of German high criticism. While Flusser has made a fascinating argument for the Jesus of Scripture being the Jesus of history, he insists that John and Mark have not portrayed a fully accurate historical picture. He even insists that Mark distorts the historical record to engage in anti-Semitism.

Flusser has great potential for furthering Christian understanding of the thought-world of Jesus. Flusser's passion is to help the world hear the authentic (as he understands Jesus) message of Jesus. Truly, the modern Evangelical church who is often embroiled in the culture wars (and rightfully so) needs to remember the message of Jesus. Consider Flusser's comments in his Epilogue:

"The core of the Gospels is the material that was preserved by Jesus' (sic) first disciples. Not long thereafter various individuals began making internal revisions to this precious nucleus of material, and eventually the Evangelists themselves revised and augmented it. Yet Jesus' (sic) message was never lost. It can still be heard today -- even if it has not been the focus of the belief in Christianity throughout the ages. Over the long history of the Church, however, the religion of Jesus himself did become vital for small groups -- to one of these dear groups (the Mennonites) the present book is dedicated. I hope that somehow in the future the situation will improve, and the Church will begin placing more stress upon Jesus' (sic) message" (p. 177)

Enjoy Flusser's call to return to the actual message of Jesus. However, read with caution.

Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence

2008-04-01T22:06:00.001-07:00

Taken off of his wildly successful work Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman has teamed up with Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee to address leadership concerns in the rapidly changing global world of business.

"Increasingly, the best of breed lead not by virtue of power alone, but by excelling in the art of relationship, the singular expertise that the changing business climate renders indispensable. Leadership excellence is being redfined in interpersonal terms as companies strip out layers of managers, as corporations merge across national boundaries, and as customers and suppliers redefine the web of connection" (p. 248).

The authors capture a telling comparison of two people in leadership, both having the responsibility of communicating to their employees the inevitable layoff looming in the future. The first leader failed to connect with the latent emotions in the room, and nearly had a riot on his hand. The second leader not only connected with the latent emotions in the room but channeled them in a direction of successful post-employment. The difference was skill in relationship.

The authors take the reader into the latest (as of the book's printing) neurological research and explain how the brain functions under stress and peace. They relate many anecdotes and go out of their way to make complex ideas more understandable. The authors describe the latest (as of the book's printing) research into other areas of leadership but which are nonetheless related to emotional intelligence.

Overall the book accomplishes that which it set out to do. I would caution readers unfamiliar with social science research to "count the cost" before attempting this book. The research element can be overwhelming and cumbersome for those unfamiliar with social science research. The other complaint is that I am walking away from having read the book and have not really come closer to understanding how to apply emotional intelligence to leadership endeavors. I only am impressed that I should do so. Well, after reading Goleman's Emotional Intelligence I came to the stark realization that emotional intelligence was vital to observe and practice religiously.

Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith

2008-04-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

"The roots of Christianity run deep into Hebrew soil. Though the Hebrew heritage of the Church is rich and extensive, many Christians are regrettably uniformed about it. most of it has been treated either passively and superficially, or more often, it has simply been left unexplored.... Time has come for the Church to have a renewed biblical vision. It has sown the seeds of neglect long enough" (Marvin Wilson, p. xv).

Wilson has provided a remarkable introduction into the Jewish mind and culture behind both Testaments of Scripture. As his quote poignantly states, the average Christian is especially ignorant of the Book they supposedly revere as the "infallible Word of God." Much of this shame should blanket our "Bible" colleges and seminaries, so says Wilson.

I agree. From Liberals playing cut-happy with critical scissors, to evangelicals who are attempting to look and sound smart, to raving lunatic Fundamentalists who won't talk to anyone, contemporary Christianity has become a bastard step child of her Jewish cradle ... and "sho-nuff" proud of it. Liberals take great pride in surgically removing the supernatural from the Sacred. Afterwards they attempt to insert the botox of modern Secular-humanist philosophical and ethical ideals. From what I can tell the near absolute skepticism of mainstream Biblical scholarship falls like a house of cards when the Jewish mind and culture behind the Bible is seriously studied.

Many scholarly Evangelicals attempt to retain a certain measure of the supernatural, but end up undercutting the very foundation of their faith ... the Scriptures. A friend said to me in a parting shot from a conversation about Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, "My faith is not held captive to some dead book. Rather my faith is in the living Jesus." Yes, but the Jesus that lives in you may not be the living Jesus of THE faith, who was authentically Jewish. Another friend interpreted Jesus's sitting down on the mount in Matthew 5-7 as castigating hierarchical respect for Teachers of Torah. When I corrected him, he responded by saying that we had learned in seminary that it is impossible to get back into the minds of the writers of Scripture. While I understand his cautionary angst concerning "Authorial Intent," which is the call to either have "absolute" knowledge of the mind of the Biblical authors or none at all, I cautioned him that it is in fact possible to arrive at solid interpretations based on the cultural mindset at the time. Unfortunately, Asbury Seminary had failed to teach him this ... and even more unfortunate was the fact he was graduating soon from that institution with a Christian education Masters.

In wrestling around with commentaries on the Scriptures, I now see how much easier understanding the Scriptures are when read from the Jewish-interpretive-lens. Wilson's work is a must read. It is a phenominal introductory to the Jewish theological world, touching on the history of Jewish-Christian relations, the call to the Church to return to a place of humility as the wild shoots grafted into the Jewish Olive tree, the Jewish mind set and culture. Especially excellent is his treatment of marriage and family, the Passover and Communion, and education ... all from the Jewish perspective. If anyone is looking for a great place to start revisiting our Jewish heritage, Wilson's book is the place to start. It is easy to read and readily digestable, without being flaky or lacking in substance. Surely I felt as though I were attempting to sip from a fire hydrant.

"A Christian's frame of reference must be constructed of sound building blocks derived from Scripture. But God's people can scarcely be expected to heed Paul's admonition to "work out" their salvation (Phil. 2:12) within that biblical frame of reference unless they know how that frame is constructed" (Wilson, p. 5).

Patrick: The Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland

2008-03-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

Maire B. de Paor has produced a gem of a work, greener than the Emerald Isle itself. In our 21st Century, secularized American culture the 5th Century Patrick has been lost amid the green, fuzzy wigs and breath-blown foam topping of the good 'ale.

de Paor meticulously analyzes the only two extant pieces of literature Patrick left for his spiritual posterity. I do agree with the reviewers on Amazon. Reading her work is not exactly an easy slide down the rainbow. However, for those willing to put in the time and effort, the reward is worth far more than any pot of gold could provide. You will perhaps be ... as I was ... quite inspired to do a check-up on the status of your spiritual life with Jesus, longing to sell all disturbances of that relationship to perserve your soul (see Matthew 16:23--25). de Paor does a magnificant job of demonstrating his work to be that of no mere "rustic," as Patrick loved to refer to himself. His command of language and literary device in artistic-literary communication is surpassed only by the depth and power of his orthodox Christian faith. Not only does she include her adept and comptent commentary on his two works, she also includes them (in both Latin and English!!!), as well as a masterful description of Patrick and the socio-political situation into which he was born and into which he found himself enslaved in in Ireland. Patrick is a study-must for we American believers, who take seriously the call to help build the Church right slap-dab in the midst of our own personal and cultural depravity.

There is only one point of question/concern I have with her work. In relating how she came to entitle her work, she writes, "But above all else, the title has been chosen so that this book may be a source of comfort for the youth of Ireland who are leaving our shores today, and, in particular, for those among you who, like Patrick, are 'illegal aliens' on foreign soil. May this lonely exile be the point of departure for your inner, spiritual renewal as it was for Patrick, so that our pilgrimage, like his, 'may not be in vain'" (p. 211, 212). I shall hope she is wishing this work will inspire the same quality of Christian Spirituality that Patrick was given by the Holy Spirit and to which he embraced. I to pray this for the people in my own churches to whom I am reading his Confessio. However, she almost sounds like the spirituality she is encouraging is a re-embrace of Irish-racial-pride. I get this from reading the first sentence in the quote with the second. Perhaps this is a misread ... I do hope so. Afterall Patrick "sold" his social status to become the slave of Christ in order to help the Irish to enter into the citizenship of Heaven. May we American Christians never sell our citizenship in Heaven for our American citizenship.

The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature

2008-03-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

John J. Collins has done an excellent job of bringing his readers into the worlds of Jewish apocalyptic writing. My own understanding of this type of writing was quite narrow, believing that it merely entelled discriptions of the end of the world. However, tasting the Jewish apocalyptic dishes has been fascinating. Particularly intriguing for me has been the introduction to the writings found at Qumran. Accordingly, I have now purshased an English translation of the Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, published by Penguin.

However, I must say that while Collins has done a good job at opening the door to the Jewish apocalyptic world, his hosting job has been less than satisfactory. While I was quite intrigued by his introductory analysis of literature of which I was not familiar, I was less than thrilled with his treatment of Daniel and the teachings of Jesus and Paul. He attributes the authorship of Daniel to the mid second century BC and to an evaluation of the Maccabean Revolt. He attributes many of Jesus's sayings concerning the end of the world to the early church. Several of Paul's teachings are attributed to his later disciples. Thus he seems to take a more "Jesus Seminar" approach to the development of Scripture.

While I can certainly appreciate the great possibility that the author of the book of Revelation was addressing contemporary socio-political needs, an absolute approach in this direction is both exegetically and theologically unwarranted. Such an ideology serves to divorce "super" and "natural," believing a priori in a totally naturalistic explanation for the content and formation of Scripture. It has been and continues to be exegetically demonstrated that an "already-not yet" tension is characteristic throughout the New Testament.

What in the world does my last sentence mean in "plain English?" Collins writes, "Jesus had been expected, at least by some, to restore the kingdom of Israel, but he had ignominiously failed to do so" (p. 262). He seems to make the mistake of assuming that Jesus had attempted to set up both an inner spiritual revolution in Israel, as well as begin an outward political revolution against Rome ... and was thus crucified as a "political pretender." The problem is that when read on his own terms, Jesus flatly denies he is attempting a Maccabean Revolt Part II. Yet he does maintain that he is the apocalyptic messianic figure of Daniel 7:14. In other words Jesus teaches that with him the old word is indeed passing away and the new world is dawning. Yet the new world will not completely arrive until his second return. Paul more fully elaborates on this theme.

This is called the "already-not yet" tension in the New Testament. Jesus is the sovereign king, ruling and reign right now. Yet the kingdoms of this world will officially become his at his return. We can experience the glorious life in the Spirit right now, such as the experience of divine healing, special personalized messages from God delivered through other people, etc. However, we still experience death, disease, and social destabilization resulting from human sin nature. These will not completely pass away until the return of Jesus.

Listen to Collins's concluding remarks:

The apocalyptic revolution is a revolution in the imagination. It entails a challenge to view the world in a way that is radically different from the common perception. The revolutionary potential of such imagination should not be underestimated, as it can foster dissatisfaction with the present adn generate visions of what might be. The legacy of the apocalypses includes a powerful rhetoric for dnouncing the deficiencies of this world. It includes the conviction that the world as now constituted is not the end. Most of all, it entails and appreciation of the great resource that lies in the human imagination to construct a symbolic world where the integrity of values can be maintained in the face of social and political powerlessness and even of the threat of death (p. 282).

To be fair, Collins is perhaps the least liberal of the Jesus-seminar-style scholars. Afterall he maintains the great likelihood of Daniel having been written by one author. Yet, is Scripture simply the product of the human imagination for psychologically coping with undesirable political situations and orthodox Christian faith a pipe dream? Such a conclusion is boogy-man-in-the-closet, which needs the bedroom light of sound exegetical and theological logic to extinguish it.

No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning

2008-03-10T11:02:00.001-07:00

Hands down this is the best book on American education available. Well documented, Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom advocate that much needed solid educational reform will target cultural pets that rabbidly impede learning. All students can learn...with the right educational life habits nurtured in the home and school.

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

2008-03-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

Atheism is not dead. Very well written and hard-hitting, Sam Harris poses a tough challenge for all people of every faith. In fact he claims that religious faith is the primary cause for most attrocious violence in the world. Reading Harris illustrates why we people of faith need to put serious forethought into the "whys" and "hows" of what we believe.

Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship

2008-03-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

Reframing worship is past due for the Church. David Peterson suggests, "Worship must involve certian identifiable attitudes, but something is seriously wrong when people equate spiritual self-gratification with worship" (p. 17).

Hell: The Logic of Damnation

2008-03-10T10:52:00.001-07:00

When it comes to the ideas of heaven and hell, many people (believers and non-believers alike) have lots of emotion ... but very little in the way of mature thought. Out of his philosophical treasury, Walls presents a very compelling case for hell in light of the goodness and justice of God.

The 360 Degree Leader

2008-03-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

John Maxwell's The 360 Degree Leader wisely underscores that leadership need not only be found at the top of organizations. Effective leadership can and should be found right slap-dab in the middle of the organization ladder. Leadership that can develop in the middle, effectively influencing those over you, your peers, and those under you, is leadership that will naturally rise to the top. Leadership is not simply positional authority, but rather personal influence.

Heaven: The Logic of Eternal Joy

2008-03-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

If you are tired of the same-old, same-old, fluffy-puffy, shallow treatment of heaven, Dr. Jerry Walls is an angelic messanger for you. However, this work is highly philosophical and technical. And, no, you might not agree with all of his conclusions. For example, he argues very well for the need of some type of purgatory in any Christian system that takes seriously the Scriptural notion: "without holiness no one will see the Lord." Walls is well worth the reading investment.

Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization's End

2008-03-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

Do you want to laugh about the possibility of being burnt to a flaming crisp via the end of the world? Lawrence Joseph batters up the discussion of the infamous date 12-21-12 (December 21, 2012), by drawing from scientific observations, historical probabilities, and even theological moorings. Tim LaHaye groupies or the liberal Christian scholarly vanguard will not find Joseph amusing. While he is far from my main academic commentary on Daniel or Revelation, he does provide prime fat lighter for a crackling discussion. Especially intriguing is his observations of the Christian West from Islamic eyes. Though of Lebanese nationality, he himself is not Islamic.

Reading his book this year (January, 2008) has been interesting to say the least. He predicts increasingly warmer years to come until the big "ka-boom" with increased sunspot activity. However, this year has been the coldest winter on record in the last 30 years. It has been recently reported that sunspot activity is actually at an unusual low. Nonetheless, his read is indeed interesting.

A Case for Amillenialism: Understanding the End Times

2008-03-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

Are you a bit dissatisfied with the theology of the Left Behind series? While I have no doubt that Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHay are good men who truly love the Lord, as a former Pre-tribber, I grew quite aggitated at the emptiness and selfishness I felt growing inside of me. All I cared about was getting out of the earth scene.

That all began to change when I began to realize that God has called me to more than personal comfort. In fact I now am realizing that God is calling his Church to suffer great risk for knowing him, bringing others out of sin and into saving relationship with him, and executing his justice upon his earth. Christianity is also about the here and now. Dr. Riddlebarger's A Case for Amillennialism presents a Biblically-sound picture of the end times that is hand-in-glove in sinc with the picture of the suffering-but-willing-to-risk-it-all-for-the-rescue-of-sinners type of Church.