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| # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages | avg rating | num ratings | date pub | date pub (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | recommender | comments | votes | read count | date started | date read |
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| B007MD0AK8
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| Mar 18, 2012
| Mar 18, 2012
| 
| Off and on over the last past few years I have been thinking about the different metaphors used in the Bible to describe why Jesus came to walk among...more
Off and on over the last past few years I have been thinking about the different metaphors used in the Bible to describe why Jesus came to walk among humanity, died, rose again and etc. (the fancy theological word for this is the “atonement”). Interestingly enough I’m not the only person thinking about this issue as modern Jesus followers re-discover of the mystery of the atonement. Folks such as N.T. Wright, Scot McKnight, John Piper, Al Mohler and Brian McLaren are all offering their opinions on the subject – not to mention those from the mainline Protestant churches, Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Church. A big part of the reason why the atonement is such a big deal today is due to the increasing rift between neo- Calvinists evangelicals (John Piper, Al Mohler et al.) and the progressive evangelicals (N.T. Wright, Roger Olson, et al.). Add to this fire the growth of post-modern and post-post-modern Jesus followers who are looking at Christianity through different glasses/worldviews than their predecessor (Brian McLaren, David Fitch, Scot McKnight, et al.). Knowing all this, I have every excited when I heard that Tony Jones had published an ebook on the atonement, “A Better Atonement: Beyond the Depraved Doctrine of Original Sin”. Tony, for those who don’t know, was a driving force in the emerging church movement of the past few decades and the author of the book “The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier”, which I thoroughly enjoyed. He is also an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and Andover Newton Theological School – meaning that he is a post-modern theologian scholar who, I was hoping, could bring some fresh air to the conversation. And, to a certain extent, he does deliver - even though I disagree with his final conclusion, but I’m getting ahead of myself! =P The outline of the book is fairly simple with the first part being more biographical in the sense that Tony shares with the reader why he started on the journey of questioning the predominant Protestant view of the atonement (i.e. penal substitutionary atonement or PSA). After the ground work is laid, Tony shifts gears into laying out all the views of the atonement the church has held since the time of Jesus (all quotes are from Tony’s ebook): a) Penal Substitutionary Atonement – First proposed by St. Anselm of Canterbury in 1098 AD and picked up by Martin Luther and John Calvin in the 1500’s AD, this metaphors basically states that Jesus died to appease the wrath of God the Father that was directed towards humanity due to our rebellion against Him. b) Union with God – A metaphor that was developed fairly early on in Christianity history with a strong connection to the Trinity and still held by the Eastern Orthodox Church today. In a nutshell, this metaphor views the atonement as an “invitation into the eternal, loving relationship of the Trinity – ultimately, into union with God.” “Orthodox incarnational theology, which is at the core of the original Gospel, teaches that God Himself, the second Person of the Trinity, became incarnate, not in order to pay a debt to the devil or to God the Father, nor to be a substitutionary offering to appease a just God, but in order to rescue us from our fallen condition and transform us, enabling us to become godlike.” c) Ransom Captive – This metaphor focuses on actions of Adam and Eve who “bargained away the freedom of the human race to Satan in exchange for the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Jesus, therefore, came as a ransom for the “captive human race” as stated by Jesus himself (Mt 20:28, Mk 10:45). While this metaphor has been around since the time of Jesus, some folks see “holes” in it as it seems to give the evil one too much power – or as Tony puts it in the book, “It seems that if God is the creator of all that is, then God can act any way that God deems appropriate. And it seems rather unlikely that God would set up the cosmos in such a way that Satan could gain the upper hand and force God to negotiate a deal.” One good thing about the Ransom Captive metaphor of the atonement is that it has a strong emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus, which, sadly, is lacking in some of the other metaphors. d) Christus Victor – This was THIS predominant understanding of the atonement for the first thousand years of the church and is still held by billions of believers today. At its heart, this metaphor simply states that Jesus’ “death is God’s victory over sin and death…the crucifixion is not a necessary transaction to appease a wrathful and justice-demanding deity, but an act of divine love. God entered fully into the bondage of death, turned it inside out by making it a moment of victory, and thereby liberates humanity to live lives of love without the fear of death” e) Moral Exemplar – This is another fairly early metaphor with Jesus being “seen as a moral exemplar, who calls us toward a better life, both individually and corporately…God sent his son, Jesus, as the perfect example of a moral life. Jesus’ teachings and his healing miracles form the core of this message, and his death is as a martyr for this cause: the crucifixion both calls attention to Jesus’ life and message, and it is an act of self-sacrifice, one of the highest virtues of the moral life. We see Jesus’ death, and we are inspired to a better life ourselves.” f) The Last Scapegoat – A recent player on the atonement scene developed by Rene Girard, a French anthropologist/literary critic who is still alive. While this metaphor is fairly complex, the root of it is this: “In Christ, God becomes the one who is rejected and expelled. That is, the scapegoat is not one us who is sacrificed to appease an angry deity. Instead, the deity himself enters our society, becomes the scapegoat, and thereby eliminates the need for any future scapegoats or sacrifices.” g) Substitution, Without the Penal – To be true to fair to St. Anselm of Canterbury, we must mention that his original theory of the atonement is different than the PSA it eventually developed into. For St. Anselm, humanity “owe God a debt, and that debt is obedience. But because of our sin, we are incapable of paying that debt, we are incapable of obedience to God. Jesus Christ, being perfectly obedient to God, is able to pay that debt, and he did so on the cross. We are not thereby freed of our obligation to obey, but we are freed of the arrears that we owe.” h) God’s Solidarity With Us – Jurgen Moltmann, a German Reformed theologian, once proposed that common to every human being is the “experience of godforsakenness.” As such, in “act of ultimate solidarity with every human being who has ever existed, God voluntarily relinquished his godship, in part, in order to truly experience the human condition.” Because of this solidarity that was made available to humanity through the cross, we are “welcomed into the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” [note: To me it seems that the primary difference between this theory and the “Union with God” theory is that the Union metaphor includes an element of humanity being rescued from our “fallen condition” and being transformed while the Solidarity theory is primarily about God experiencing godforsakenness with us.] As you can see there are many, many view on how the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus effected humanity and the world at large. None of these, as Tony mentions, are “superior to the rest.” Each one developed out of the context of a particular time and place and each have a biblical foundation. Sadly though, some Protestant leaders (mostly neo-Calvinists evangelicals) are beginning to use the atonement as a measure of orthodoxy (i.e. if you don’t hold to the PSA view, you are not a Christian)…hence the rift mentioned earlier…. At the end of the ebook, Tony Jones does mention which view of the atonement he holds too as well as why he holds to it. I found this very re-refreshing as a lot of authors try to hide their personal presuppositions behind a mirage of Bible passages and philosophical arguments. For Tony there are four main presuppositions that affect his view of the atonement: 1) He does not believe in demons nor Satan as a being. 2) He hold a high view of God’s freedom – meaning that God can do whatever He wishes. 3) He is a strong Trinitarian which maintains that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit has to have “full volition and participation in what the crucifixion achieves.” 4) Finally, Tony is interested in understanding sin as it relates to humanity both individually and socially. The only two views of the atonement that withstand these presuppositions is the “Last Scapegoat” and the “God’s Solidarity With Us” theories. And of these two, the Solidarity one reflects his view the best. As any long time reader would know, I happen to disagree with Tony’s first presupposition, which means that several additional atonement theories become ‘available.’ However, I do have to say that I do agree with his other three presuppositions which does knock a few of the views out to the side lines. I won’t say that any of them are ‘removed’ completely as they each bring something to the table that the others do not have. To that end, I prefer to hold all these views with open hands while recognizing the tensions caused by this mosaic view of the atonement. :D(less) | Notes are private!
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| May 17, 2012
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May 17, 2012
| Kindle Edition
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| 3.40
| 30
| Nov 29, 2011
| Dec 05, 2011
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| Good book! It grabbed at the beginning and pulled me till the very end. =D Granted, there were a few times where things just seemed to work too well f...more Good book! It grabbed at the beginning and pulled me till the very end. =D Granted, there were a few times where things just seemed to work too well for the characters or where a character was introduced only to disappear forever without an explanation… But overall, I would recommend the book for those looking for fun thriller to enjoy on a lazy summer day. (less) | Notes are private!
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| May 08, 2012
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May 08, 2012
| Kindle Edition
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| 0805080503
| 9780805080506
| 4.01
| 9,297
| 1966
| May 16, 2006
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| Not bad at all... While I have ready the book before, I just finished listening to the audio version of the book read by James Langton. He does a good...more
Not bad at all... While I have ready the book before, I just finished listening to the audio version of the book read by James Langton. He does a good job bring life to the characters and making enjoyable. =)(less)
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| Mar 22, 2012
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Mar 22, 2012
| Paperback
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| 0000222127
| 2940000222126
| 4.00
| 2
| Jul 01, 2006
| Jul 01, 2006
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| Joel Balin and his wife Trace have a long history in the world of traveling musicians, both as former recording artists and as a member of Third Days...more
Joel Balin and his wife Trace have a long history in the world of traveling musicians, both as former recording artists and as a member of Third Days pastoral board. Joel also wrote articles for WORD Music and Inside Worship Magazine in addition to being a senior pastor of the Crossbridge Church in Marietta, Georgia. The main thrust of Joel’s book was to help people break through the barriers of life and sin and enter into a deep intimacy with God. Accordingly he brings out the freedom aspects of worship and how it changes who we are. In some ways the book reminded me of Mark Batterson’s “Wild Good Chase” in that they both have a heart for folks passionately follow God with everything they have. “Too often, our worship and affection is directed towards the things of this world and not God…The question isn’t if we will worship, but who or what we worship. We were designed to worship, and unless God is the object of our worship, something else will be.” There was just something about Joel’s writing style and no-nonsense demeanor that hit a chord with me. Well, that and the fact that I was kinda of looking for a book that helped lay out the biblical prescient for worship, which Joel does beautifully. (less) | Notes are private!
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| Mar 08, 2012
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Mar 08, 2012
| ebook
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| 1935959034
| 9781935959038
| 5.00
| 1
| Nov 22, 2010
| Nov 22, 2010
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| Andy Park is a legend in the worship arena of the Vineyard with songs like “In The Secret”, “The River Is Here”, “One Thing I Ask”, “Revive Us Again”...more
Andy Park is a legend in the worship arena of the Vineyard with songs like “In The Secret”, “The River Is Here”, “One Thing I Ask”, “Revive Us Again” and “Have Your Way In Me”. He is also a pastor and church planter who has been with the Vineyard since the beginning. Accordingly, I was excited to read his thoughts on worship and he didn’t disappoint. The book was a beautiful look how worship influences and involves all areas of our lives. It is not, as some folks like, simply about a half hour of musical instruments and corporate singing on Sunday morning. One of the best parts of Andy’s book is the way in which he weaves together resources and quotes about worship from all over the place into his own story of following God. The end result is truly a worship journey from beginning to end. Favorite quote: “…in our culture of narcissism, we could be lead to believe that intimacy with God is all about feeling loved. It’s as if we believe that if we can get a warm, fuzzy experience in worship then we have been intimate with God. I really enjoy every feeling that comes from worshiping Jesus, but friendship with God is bigger than that.” (less) | Notes are private!
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| Mar 08, 2012
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Mar 08, 2012
| Paperback
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| 080508049X
| 9780805080490
| 4.11
| 16,377
| Jun 22, 1965
| May 16, 2006
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| just finished re-reading it (via audio book this time), and it was just as enjoyable as the first time. =)
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| Feb 23, 2012
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Feb 23, 2012
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| 0061472808
| 9780061472800
| 3.78
| 185
| Oct 01, 2008
| Oct 28, 2008
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Feb 10, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 0307265722
| 9780307265722
| 3.94
| 1,256
| Aug 09, 2011
| Aug 09, 2011
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Feb 10, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 1400032059
| 9781400032051
| 4.04
| 7,948
| Aug 04, 2005
| Oct 10, 2006
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Feb 10, 2012
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| 0307282694
| 9780307282699
| 3.96
| 17,019
| Sep 01, 2003
| Dec 13, 2005
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| Not bad. The giant roach and bat thing too me a while to get used too (ick!), but after I got used to it, the book was pretty good. =)
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| Jan 26, 2012
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Jan 26, 2012
| Audio CD
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| 0316196991
| 9780316196994
| 3.90
| 2,952
| Jan 01, 2011
| Nov 01, 2011
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| For the first since April 1927 the famous detective Sherlock Holmes is back in print with a new canonized adventure chronicled by Dr. John H. Watson. T...more For the first since April 1927 the famous detective Sherlock Holmes is back in print with a new canonized adventure chronicled by Dr. John H. Watson. That is correct, the Conan Doyle Estate, who has ultimate control over the writings and characters developed Arthur Conan Doyle, has authorized – nay, they commissioned – a new Sherlock Holmes novel. The author they chose to write is iconic novel was none other than Anthony Horowitz of Alex Rider fame, which by the way are fairly good young adult adventure books. The book in question is entitled “The House of Silk” and was published a few months ago on November 1, 2011. Luckily Boise has a good library system and I was able to read this iconic book within a timely manner. =D My reaction to said book? I loved it!! It was captivating and thrilling from the get go with Dr. Watson writing in the preface why he choose to lock the manuscript up in a vault with instruction for them to be published 100 years later: “It was impossible before – and I am not just referring to Holmes’ well-known aversion to publicity. No, the events which I am about to describe were simply too monstrous, too shocking to appear in print. They still are. It is no exaggeration to suggest that they would tear apart the entire fabric of society and, particularly at a time of war, this is something I cannot risk.” In having finished the novel, I do have to say that Dr. Watson was correct – the crime that was committed involved people throughout the highest reaches of society and would have caused untold damages had the people of London known about it at the time. Granted, in hindsight, that might not have been that bad of a think knowing the nature of the crime… Regardless, the novel is self was fantastic! I can’t really say if the writing style was exactly “Holmism” as I have not read the original is quite some time – that and I’m not really a textual criticism scholar. All I can say was that enjoyed myself thoroughly and hope that Anthony Horowitz will write some more. =D (less) | Notes are private!
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| Jan 23, 2012
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Jan 23, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 0060608528
| 4.29
| 2,386
| Jan 01, 1954
| Oct 25, 1954
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Jan 16, 2012
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| B006H4PFZ8
| unknown
| 3.97
| 38
| Dec 01, 2011
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| In this book Scot McKnight tackles Romans 16:7, which is a fairly controversial verse in the whole women in church leadership debate. For those who re...more
In this book Scot McKnight tackles Romans 16:7, which is a fairly controversial verse in the whole women in church leadership debate. For those who recall, Romans 16:7 makes reference to an apostle named “Junia.” I put the name in quotes as the debate sounding this verse is limited to whether or not the Greek name is feminine (Junia) or masculine (Junias). The crazy thing is that while history is littered by writings on this verse, the hard fact remains that all of the Greek manuscripts we have for the book of Romans lists the names as feminine (ie. Junia). Meaning, therefore, that there was a female apostle during the time of St. Paul, which, seeing that he knew of her and publicly called her “outstanding among the apostles”, means that his words in Corinthians and Timothy were most likely not as limited or as universal as previously thought. As one can imagine, some people were unable to digest this information so they did the next ‘best’ thing: they changed the Greek word from feminine (Junia) to masculine (Junias). Interestingly enough this happened fairly “recently” – as in it was in 1927 when the German scholar Erwin Nestle changed the word in his composite Green New Testament (13th edition). Granted, he did make mention on the change in the footnote…which still does not excuse the gender change. Sadly enough this change remained even after Nestle died and Kurt Aland took over as editor…well, kinda. Aland actually when a step further and removed the footnote referencing the gender shift in 1979. Crazily enough, Nestle and Aland were not alone. The other main Greek composite New Testament used by seminary students was published by the United Bible Society and, yes you guessed it, also had changed the gender of Junia to Junias. It was not until the mid-to-late 1990s that both publications changed the spelling back to what was actually on the manuscripts – i.e. the name when back from Junias (masculine) to Junia (feminine) where it should have stayed in the first place! In reading this, some of you are probably wondering what else have been changed as not many of us are reading the ancient manuscripts… To that end, I just have to say that I am extremely happy that we live during a time of free flowing information with thousands and millions if not billions of people having access to the manuscripts via museums, photographs, etc. All these eyes means that the type of changes made above are no longer possible on such a large scale. All of this underscores the value of reading outside one’s particular theological group and/or culture as there is a lot you can learn from those who disagree with you. (This also builds a good case as to why it is good to read multiple translations of the Bible whenever possible.) Another book that is helpful in the whole women in church leadership debate is Derek Morphew’s book “Different But Equal”. This is book is great as it brings in the “here and not-yet” Kingdom Theology into a cloudy subject.(less) | Notes are private!
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| Jan 16, 2012
| Apr 30, 2012
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Jan 16, 2012
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| 0830747753
| 9780830747757
| 4.33
| 6
| Jun 16, 2009
| Sep 13, 2010
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| A few months ago I was the very happy winner of a book giveaway by Tony Campolo on his website, RedLetterChristians.org (which I highly recommend read...more
A few months ago I was the very happy winner of a book giveaway by Tony Campolo on his website, RedLetterChristians.org (which I highly recommend reading!). The book that I won was called “Stories That Feed Your Soul” and is a collection of nonfiction inspirational short stories revolving around the following eight themes: 1) Freedom From Condemnation 2) The New Life In Christ 3) Intimacy With God 4) The Call To Rescue Creation 5) Living With Hope 6) Praying In The Spirit 7) God’s Plan For Us 8) The Assurance We Need At first I read one story per night while putting my son to bed, but soon I found myself eagerly eating up the stories as I saw the hand of God working in each situation. They truly did bring to light some of the nuances of living out our faith day-to-day while causing me to stop and reflect on my life. The stories are also very useful in communicating complex ideas and theological points. Point in fact, I paraphrased one of Tony’s stories in my sermon last week on a whim as it just seemed to fit and, would you believe, it was the one thing folks remembered! Why this may not reflect good on my sermon, it does highlights the power of stories – perhaps that is why Jesus taught in parables? =?(less) | Notes are private!
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| Jan 16, 2012
| Jan 20, 2012
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Jan 16, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 0830825681
| 9780830825684
| 4.58
| 163
| Jan 11, 2007
| Jan 01, 2008
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| The sad thing about living in a Western influenced culture is that we rarely have the opportunity to hear and learn from our brothers and sisters in t...more
The sad thing about living in a Western influenced culture is that we rarely have the opportunity to hear and learn from our brothers and sisters in the East. Kenneth Bailey tries to remedy this issue with his book “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels.” “Middle Eastern Christians have been called the forgotten faithful. The world knows that across the centuries there have been Jews and Muslims in the Middle East. For the most part, however Middle Eastern Christians evaporated from Western consciousness after the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. Few are aware of the existence today of more than ten million Arabic-speaking Christians who possess a rich heritage of ancient and modern literature. Speaking a Semitic language, these Christians are a people who live, breathe, think, act and participate in Middle Eastern culture; they are rooted in the traditional ways of the Middle East. Their voices, past and present, need to be heard in biblical studies.” (Preface, pg 11-12) Accordingly Bailey draws from a collection of Syriac, Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic commentaries, Bible translations and other writings to bring a fresh look at the message of Jesus. It is this connection to our Eastern family that makes Bailey’s book so refreshing and welcoming. In other words, this isn’t a novelty book full of ‘new’ theological ideas. Nay, a lot of what he says is similar to what I’ve heard before or has worked out myself with the Lord. The genius of the book is Bailey’s reliance on the Church Fathers of the East who illuminate the culture around the life of Jesus. Take for example the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16. For those of in the West this parable tends to be ignored as it seems that Jesus is praising someone who cheats their boss and lies about it. Yet, as Bailey points out, the ‘missing’ piece in the story is the community in which the steward and his boss lives in. Once you ‘add’ that piece back into the story, you begin to realize that there is more subtlety to the steward’s actions that glorified his master and placed him in a position of shaming the community as a whole or hiring the steward back. “The parable is built on the psychology of an oppressed peasantry, such as is known to have existed in Galilee at the time of Jesus. The steward is a Robin Hood figure, a countercultural hero. But at the end of the story, Jesus calls him ‘a son of this age/world.’ He is smart enough to know that his only hope to put his entire trust in the unqualified mercy of his generous master. His morals are deplorable. Nonetheless, Jesus wants ‘the sons of light’ to use their intelligence, like the dishonest steward, and to trust completely in the mercy of God for their salvation.” (pg 341) As you can see, this isn’t so much a ‘new’ concept as it is a deeper one with more meaning and depth. It’s like watching a movie in 3-D as opposed to 2-D. You get the general jest of the film in both formats, but the 3-D version just brings things to life as the images bring you into the world of the movie. Bailey’s culture studies does this with the life of Jesus, bring you into the world in which Jesus lived so that the depth and genius of his words and actions come alive. “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes” is definitely a good book to have on hand when studying the life of Jesus. Kenneth Bailey, by the way, is an American Presbyterian minister who spend 60 years (1935-1995) in the Middle East living and breathing the culture of the land. Forty of those years were spent teaching New Testament Bible classes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus. PS => Bailey recently published a companion book called “Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians.” While I personally have not read this one yet, I’ve heard that it is just as good as “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes.” So if you are studying Paul or 1 Corinthians this may be a book worth picking up. (less) | Notes are private!
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| Jan 16, 2012
| Jan 27, 2012
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Jan 16, 2012
| Paperback
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| 0805080481
| 9780805080483
| 4.00
| 17,708
| 1964
| May 16, 2006
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| I recently re-read the book via listening to the audio book and it is just as engaging as the first time. Alexander does a good job of weaving moral a...more
I recently re-read the book via listening to the audio book and it is just as engaging as the first time. Alexander does a good job of weaving moral and ethical values into a fun action back book. If you haven't read it, give the entire Chronicles of Prydain a try, I'm sure you will enjoy it. :)(less)
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| Jan 13, 2012
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Jan 13, 2012
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| 0316017922
| 9780316017923
| 4.00
| 72,513
| Jan 01, 2008
| Nov 18, 2008
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| One of the most popular myths in the USA is the one in which a person success against all odds by themselves. These are the ‘rag-to-riches’ stories to...more
One of the most popular myths in the USA is the one in which a person success against all odds by themselves. These are the ‘rag-to-riches’ stories told throughout the nation to give hope to those ‘without’ while boosting the pride of those ‘with.’ Yet as Malcolm Gladwell shows in his book “Outliers: The Story of Success” these stories are far from truthful. Instead they leave out very important details about how a person rose through the ranks – details that show that individual people own a ton more to their ancestors, the people around them and their cultural than perhaps they want to admit. Take for example Canadian hockey players. If you look at the birthdates of all the professional hockey players in Canada you will find that an overwhelmingly number of them were born in January, February or March versus the other nine months of the year. Why is that? Well in Canada, the youth hockey league determines eligibility based upon birthdates with a start time of January 1st. Therefore children born closer to the beginning of the year have longer to develop physically and mentally than their team mates who were born at the end of the year. This advantage causes them to stand out among their peer which gives them more face time with the coaches who like to encourage start players. As time goes on, the slight advantage of a birth date builds into a huge advantage that eventually leads to disproportionate birthday numbers mentioned. In continuing along those lines Gladwell shows how ‘rags-to-riches’ superstar Bill Gates – the college dropout turn world’s richest man – owns his success not to his own work ethic, which does helped mind you, but to the opportunities given to him by his family. As in, Gate’s parents put him in an exclusive preparatory middle school which just-so-happened to have both a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and the mainframe computer time to run it – something virtually unheard in 1968. This slight advantage over others in his generation lead to various opportunities in high school for Gates to work as a computer programmer during the beginning of the computer revolution. As time went on all of these choices combined to propel Gates to the forefront of success – something that could never have happened without the opportunities offered to him by his family and the location of his schooling. It is as Dallben said to Taran in Lloyd Alexander’s “The Book of Three”: “Nothing we do is ever done entirely alone. There is a part of us in everyone else…” We are all interconnected to each other and to a Creator who is watching and working among us. Yes, we have the freedom to decided what we do with the opportunities presented to us – but the opportunities themselves are usually determined not by our own merits but by those around us including the Lord God Himself as well as where and when we are born. We are not lone ships on an ocean but part of a tapestry woven by the Lord of Heaven and Earth. (less) | Notes are private!
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| Jan 13, 2012
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Jan 13, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 0974075620
| 9780974075624
| unknown
| 4.40
| 10
| unknown
| unknown
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| Over the years I have heard various comments about Randy Clark – most of which tended to focus on a small period in Randy’s life. In 1994 Randy was an...more Over the years I have heard various comments about Randy Clark – most of which tended to focus on a small period in Randy’s life. In 1994 Randy was an average Vineyard pastor in St. Louis when the Lord used him to spark a revival in Toronto that spread throughout the world. Yes, Randy was the guys who preached the first sermon on January 20, 1994 of what would later become known as the “Toronto Blessing.” Having mixed feelings about the revival and its effect within the Vineyard and throughout Pentecostal/Charismatic circles in general, I was cautiously excited when I saw one of his books inside a box of giveaway item destined for our church’s food pantry/clothing closet. My feelings were even more mixed when I noticed that the book was focused primarily on impartations – i.e. the laying on hands by one person with the purpose of transferring a spiritual anointing to another person. It should be noted my mixed feeling with such a topic comes having grown up within Pentecostal/Charismatic circles and having heard many a sermon preached about impartations and “mantles” (a reference to Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2). Accordingly, I know that there is a biblical and historical precedent for such an impartation, it is just that over the years I have seen people chase after such impartations – going from one revival to another, one pastor superstar to another, chasing a spiritual ‘superpower’ that would allow them to bypass the mundane life on this planet and become a spiritual ‘giant’….. Yeah, you know the abuse… So there I was - face to face with a book by a controversial pastor on a controversial topic. And being me, I choose it as a traveling companion on the long ocean flight to the Philippines this past November. :) The book itself is split into three main sections looking first at the biblical and historical precedent for impartations before moving into an experiential look at the fruit or outcome of the “Toronto Blessing” and/or other revivals in which Randy prayed over someone to receive an anointing. The third part of the book is about the purpose or goal of such an impartation, which is to spread the word of God throughout the world for the glory of God. It is within this last section that Randy really shines as he drives home both the purpose and the cost involved in receiving the anointing of the Lord “It is not enough to simply have someone pray for you or prophesy over you. The word from the Lord must be met with faith, taken a hold of and walked in. God had a destiny for the children of Isreal when He led them out of Egypt. Yet, unbelief kept that generation from ever reaching the land of God’s promise. Rolland [Baker], Heidi [Baker], Leif [Hetland], and others like them are walking in God’s promised destiny for their lives, but not simply because of a single act of impartation or prophecy. It is because they have chosen to receive by faith what God has promised, whatever the cost, and have determined to lay everything else down in reckless live for Jesus, in total submission to His every leading.” God wants to use His people to reach the nations for His glory. He wants sons and daughters with a heart for the broken, the poor, the diseased and the demonized. And being a good God, He wants to equip His children with the power and ability to DO something about these injustices. Receiving an anointing has nothing to do with the person being anointed in that it does not make that person any more or any less of a child of God. The purpose of such an anointing is to reach the nations for God – it is power with a purpose. Unfortunately while the last part of the book shined, I was really disappointed in the first section as Randy only spent nine pages out of the 242 pages in the book discussing the biblical foundation for impartations. Basically he simply did NOT seriously engage the Bible in his discussion of impartations – instead the book was mainly a series of stories outlining the personal experiences of Randy and those to whom he has prayed over and anointed. As you can imagine, this was a HUGE disappointment as I was hoping for a good solid biblical look at impartations and anointing. There is so much depth and life to the Bible I know that Randy could have easily spent 100 or so pages diving into the Scriptures. Yet, for whatever reason, Randy chose to bypass biblical scholarship and stay within the experiential realm. Note that I’m not against direct personal experience – far from it!! The majority of the Bible is actually written history of personal experiences detailing the work of God among His people. Furthermore Revelation 12:11 tells us that followers of Jesus triumphed over the evil one by the “blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” No, I’m not against personal stories or experiential knowledge. I just think that we need to maintain a balance in which we have BOTH biblical scholarship and experiential knowledge. Unfortunately in focusing on the experiential side of things, Randy inadvertently reinforces the ‘superhero’ aspect of anointing that he is trying to dismiss. This also happens through Randy’s retelling of the impartations he has received from others. And while the lure of “counting” anointings can be strong (over the years I have felt the allure of wanting to be ordained in an apostolic succession church), I feel that it takes away from the true anointing of the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ. In conclusion, while I think that Randy Clark’s book “There Is More” is alright I also think the topic could have been approached differently with a stronger emphasis on the biblical view of impartations.(less) | Notes are private!
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| Nov 12, 2011
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Jan 02, 2012
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| 0756404738
| 9780756404734
| 4.51
| 28,302
| Mar 01, 2011
| Mar 01, 2011
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| At 993 pages the second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle is an epic in and of itself, let alone when combined with 672 page first book, “The Name of t...more
At 993 pages the second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle is an epic in and of itself, let alone when combined with 672 page first book, “The Name of the Wind.” Even more to the point, the audio book version of “The Wise Man’s Fear” took over 43 hours – which translates into multiple weeks listening to the life and adventures of Kvothe (the main character). I mention the length of the book up front as it is usually the first thing that people see when look at the book. However, please don’t let the page length stop you from reading this book. It is, like its forbearer, a phenomenal book that pulls you into a different world and allows for the characters to evolve according to the culture and situations presented. In a lot of ways, the Kingkiller Chronicle is more of an autobiography then a typical fantasy novel as the main character is narrating his life story to “The Chronicler” who is writing it all down. This means that the majority of the book is written in the first person with occasional jumps forward to the ‘present’ time where Knothe and the Chronicler are sitting in an inn. While I enjoyed the book, I do have to say that it drag a bit in the middle… it was almost as if the details of Kvothe’s life too over from the primary story line of Kvothe’s search for the Chandrian who killed his parents. I also found myself holding my breath waiting for Kvothe’s expulsion from the University as mentioned on the back of Book One and Two – only to find out that nothing happened… Patrick Rothfuss is going to have a lot of loose ends to tie up in Book Three…so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if he (and the publisher) add a fourth book to the series like Christopher Paolini did in his “Inheritance Cycle.” I guess we are all going to have to wait for until Rothfuss finishes Book Three (which if he continues at the same publication rate, should be out in 2015).(less) | Notes are private!
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| Dec 15, 2011
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Dec 15, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 0830837485
| 9780830837489
| 3.88
| 16
| Feb 16, 2010
| Feb 16, 2010
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| "There is a counterintuitive aspect of engaging with the spiritual practices of church. Though spiritual formation is chiefly an inward reality, we of...more
"There is a counterintuitive aspect of engaging with the spiritual practices of church. Though spiritual formation is chiefly an inward reality, we often work on our heart, mind and soul through bodily or external practices. This is true of all the spiritual practices of church. But we need to keep in mind that it is the inward part of our life from which outward action flow.” All too often followers of Jesus get caught up in what is new, different, and/or exciting. We want to be on the forefront of what God is doing so we forget the practices of the past. Sadly enough this ‘new’ equal ‘better’ mentality has cast believers into the sea without an anchor or a compass. In order to know where one is going, one has to understand and know where you have been. In his book “Giving Church Another Chance: Finding New Meaning in Spiritual Practices,” Todd Hunter seeks to bring back an understanding of nine practices of the church: Going to Church: Being Sent as Ambassadors of the Kingdom Quiet Prelude: A life of Centered Peace Singing the Doxology: Radiating the Glory of God Scripture Reading: Embodying the Story Hearing Sermons: An Easy-Yoke Life of Obedience Following Liturgy: A Lifestyle of the Work of the People Giving an Offering: Simplicity of Life Taking Communion: A Life of Thankfulness Receiving the Benediction: Blessing Others The awesome thing about this book is that Todd walks the reader through each of these nine practices while using his own life as a backdrop. Starting with his choice to follow Jesus as a nineteen year old college student amidst the 1970’s Southern California Jesus Movement through his time in the Vineyard to his current adventure with the Anglican Church, Todd beautifully and masterfully brings a new passion to these ancient practices. “This book is written for everyone who has tried church and found it wanting, but somewhere deep within they still desire a spiritual life in the way of Jesus. I understand; it happened to me.”(less) | Notes are private!
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| Dec 07, 2011
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Dec 07, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 0892836024
| 9780892836024
| unknown
| 3.83
| 6
| unknown
| unknown
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| Using his life as a background, Don Williams pulls the reader into the journey he took as God broken into his life and expanded his worldview. As such...more
Using his life as a background, Don Williams pulls the reader into the journey he took as God broken into his life and expanded his worldview. As such in some ways, this book is more of an autobiography then an 'true' theology book. Granted, this is one of the true strengths of the book as theology should never be divorced from life. Instead we must walk out what we believe and allow the Lord to shape our lives through the Bible and theology (which, BTW, simply means the ‘study of God’). Don does this beautifully – interweaving his life story with the biblical concepts that helped shape his live and ministry. “For the Bible, God is King and we are called into his kingdom where he wants to reign directly and dynamically in our lives and extend his reign through us to this hostile, fallen world. Only when we have been established in this biblical worldview both intellectually and experimentally, will be rid of our bias against miracles. In this way we will be prepared for God’s direct actions to break in upon us, even if, at times, we wish they wouldn’t.”(less) | Notes are private!
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| Nov 23, 2011
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Nov 23, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 0312861877
| 9780312861872
| 3.68
| 35,578
| 1991
| Jul 15, 1996
| 
| **spoiler alert** Three months ago I was introduced to Orson Scott Card through his book “Ender’s Game.” Seeing how awesome his envisioning of modern...more
**spoiler alert** Three months ago I was introduced to Orson Scott Card through his book “Ender’s Game.” Seeing how awesome his envisioning of modern technology (a lot of which have come true since the book was published) and study of human nature was, I eagerly jumped into the second book of the series, “Speaker for the Dead.” This book was even better!! True, it was not as action backed as “Ender’s Game” but nonetheless it was an amazing book that dove deep into the human behavior. How does one treat an alien race that is different than one’s own? How about a human who is reacting out of guilt and secrecy? Can you learn to understand someone, even when they are ‘evil’ and do bad things? It was with great joy that I picked up the third book in the series, “Xenocide” (especially since book two ended before everything was resolved). Sadly enough, I have to report that “Xenocide” failed to uphold the same standard as the first two… =( Well, kind of… the first three-fourth of the book was fairly good as Card tried hard to explore how one could live side-by-side with aliens, who by their very existence, places your life in danger. He also explores the nature of life and what it means to be alive. I grant you that these are not easy questions/topics to explore…so some grace must be given to Card for tackling such concepts. However I must say that Card ended up backing himself into a corner with tons of major problems for his characters that could not be solved easily… So instead of letting them die or having them fail, he jumps the shark and solves 95% of the problems with one action. [Spoiler Alert!] Normally I let an author get away with as there are times when something has to give…yet… when Card has his characters recreating their bodies, figuring out faster-than-light travel, bring 3,000 year old dead people to life, and developing new forms of a virus by simply wishing for it… sorry, I can’t go there… that is a tad much for me. True, he develops a huge ‘scientific’ theory/argument for such wishing…but no…can’t buy it. =? Sorry, Mr. Card, but you lost me.(less) | Notes are private!
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| Oct 28, 2011
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Oct 28, 2011
| Paperback
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| 0802861849
| 9780802861849
| 4.27
| 26
| Jun 15, 2010
| Jun 15, 2010
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| God used James Smith’s book, “Thinking in Tongues”, to give me permission to connect my mind and my heart in a way that I have never done before. Both...more
God used James Smith’s book, “Thinking in Tongues”, to give me permission to connect my mind and my heart in a way that I have never done before. Both are to be trusted; both are to be respected and used for the Glory of God.(less)
| Notes are private!
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| Mar 19, 2011
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Oct 10, 2011
| Paperback
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| 075640407X
| 9780756404079
| 4.55
| 47,824
| 2007
| Mar 27, 2007
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| As the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle, “The Name of the Wind” does a good job of setting the stage and developing the characters that will the...more
As the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle, “The Name of the Wind” does a good job of setting the stage and developing the characters that will then (I’m assuming) play a bigger role in the two following books. The interesting thing about this book – well, the Chronicle in general – is that it is split between two different time frames. In the ‘present’ time, the main character is an inn-keeper hiding on the edge of civilization. He is fairly happy in this new role…except that deep within himself there is a longing for the glory days of old. So he begins to tell the story of this life to a scribe who wanders into the inn on accident…. This is where the second time frame comes in – the time frame of the past. It is in this time frame that takes up the lion share of the book as it is full of daring adventures, romance and history (the history is important as it helps one to understand the new world created by Rothfuss for his characters). Being a fantasy novel, there is magic and the like – only in this series, the magic is more along the lines of Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In Rothfuss’ universe, this means that the ‘magic’ used by the characters are based upon ‘scientific’ laws and principles. For example if a character wanted to lift an object using ‘sympathy’ (one of the types of ‘magic’), the user would have to use enough force to lift that object regardless if they were actually touching it or not. In addition, matter can not be created nor destroyed – thereby removing some of the more unbelievable uses of magic (as opposed to ‘believable’ magic) promoted by other fantasy books. All in all, “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss was a good book – great characters, great plot, perhaps a tad long…but overall alright. Nope, the saddest part about the book is that fact that book two was just released this year – meaning that I will have to wait three to four years for the last book of the trilogy. :( (less) | Notes are private!
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| Sep 19, 2011
| Oct 10, 2011
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Sep 19, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 0812550757
| 9780812550757
| 3.94
| 51,985
| Mar 1986
| Aug 15, 1994
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| I may be strange and part of the few…but I definitely liked “Speaker for the Dead” better than “Ender’s Game.” Don’t get me wrong, “Ender’s Game” was a...more I may be strange and part of the few…but I definitely liked “Speaker for the Dead” better than “Ender’s Game.” Don’t get me wrong, “Ender’s Game” was a great book as I mentioned previously. Yet, in all it’s glory, “Ender’s Game” is really nothing more than a long prologue to the real story – the one about human nature and how we deal with people who are different then we are – the story of hurt, pain and choices that come to rule you despite everything you do – the story about the freedom of truth and the healing touch of transparency – being real with people and sharing the pain within. “No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one’s life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.” -Andrew Wiggin “Once you know what people really want, you can’t hate them anymore. You can fear them, but you can’t hate them, because you can always find the same desires in your own heart.” -Andrew Wiggin In addition, I would say that next to the “Ugly American” this is the best cross-cultural book out there as it highlights the different viewpoints of life between humans and the aliens. No matter how hard we try, we usually end up trying to fit the actions and values of the foreign cultural into our own framework. Unfortunately this does not work… If we really want to understand someone, we must step outside of ourselves and try to see the world from through their eyes, their values and beliefs. It is hard thing to do…but it is something that our Lord Jesus did when He came from Heaven to Earth to walk among us and to show is the Way forward.(less) | Notes are private!
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| Sep 09, 2011
| Sep 19, 2011
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Sep 09, 2011
| Paperback
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| 0830833153
| 9780830833153
| 3.77
| 13
| Jan 31, 2009
| Jan 26, 2009
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| A lot of our preaching and teaching focuses on how to get saved – or, if you prefer different words, about the rescuing hand of Jesus who has come to...more
A lot of our preaching and teaching focuses on how to get saved – or, if you prefer different words, about the rescuing hand of Jesus who has come to deliver us from sin and death. When we do talk about life in the Kingdom of God it is usually with the goal of getting something through applying biblical principles that are suppose to produce certain results. Or, in some streams, we talk about maintaining a ‘holy’ life full of rules designed to keep us from being polluted by the sins of the world. It seems that very little time is given to walking with Jesus and doing what He is doing. In his book “Christianity Beyond Belief” Todd Hunter seeks to teach us how to walk with Jesus beyond our time of rescue. It is a book that looks at the gospel of Jesus, the role of the church and our own lives with new eyes – trying to see what life would be like if we knew that we would be living tomorrow. In one of his best quotes, Todd describes the life of a Christian accordingly: “The Christian life is life in the kingdom, living as ambassadors of the kingdom. It is being the cooperate friends of Jesus, living in creative goodness for the sake of others through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Followers of Jesus are both friends with Jesus and ambassadors of Jesus, joining with Him to tell the world about Him through His power. Notice the focus? It is about Jesus and others and not about us. We have been brought with a price and our lives are not our own. This is a hard teaching in a land of hyper-consumerism, individualism and entertainment. Instead of joining together in communities dedicated to helping each other walk through this tough life, we go to coolest religious club in our area – and then leave a little bit later as they did not met our needs. We claim to be looking for the ‘meat’ of Christian life, yet rarely do we leave the comfort of our couches. The ‘meat’, as John Wimber used to say, is in the streets. It is teaching others how to follow Jesus – it is being faced with the difficult decisions of life – it is praying with a lady on the verge of suicide and hoping beyond hope that Jesus shows up – it is giving out a box of food to a hungry person while praying for the presence to God to come and tear down the injustice and pain that surrounds them. It is not enough to simply bring people out of darkness; we – the followers of Jesus – must bring people INTO the Kingdom of God. It is Christianity beyond believing.(less) | Notes are private!
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| Sep 09, 2011
| Sep 23, 2011
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Sep 09, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 0812550706
| 9780812550702
| 4.22
| 254,552
| Sep 1985
| Jul 15, 1994
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| Wow was this book good! Card had all the elements of a world class book (which is why it won a butch of awards). Unlike a lot of sci-fi writers, Card f...more Wow was this book good! Card had all the elements of a world class book (which is why it won a butch of awards). Unlike a lot of sci-fi writers, Card focused on the story and the characters with the technology being secondary, existing only to help foster or move the story along. This dynamic created a world into which you are immersed. Don’t get me wrong, the technology in the book was crazy good – especially if you consider the publication date (1985). Several of the things he foresee and forecasts in “Ender’s Game” has become reality now! That, my friends, is sci-fi!! So do yourself a favor, grab a cold drink, find a soft chair and curl up tonight with “Ender’s Game.” As far as myself, I’m off to find the sequel, “Speaker for the Dead.” (less) | Notes are private!
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| Aug 23, 2011
| Aug 29, 2011
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Aug 23, 2011
| Paperback
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| 0307588270
| 9780307588272
| 3.88
| 330
| 2010
| Jan 26, 2010
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| The teachings of Jesus of Nazareth are full of radical and controversial concepts. Yet none of them are as controversial and unpracticed as His words...more
The teachings of Jesus of Nazareth are full of radical and controversial concepts. Yet none of them are as controversial and unpracticed as His words to love your neighbor as yourself. Volumes have been written throughout the course of history detailing who is and is not one’s neighbor. Or to use different words, who do I need to be nice too? And who can I hate and belittle as an enemy and still make it into heaven? We want to know – we want to have firm rules that help peg people into nice little boxes. Boxes of friends, co-workers, family, folks-to-be-nice-too, jerks, those-who-I-wish-was-dead, and so-on-and-so-on. Yet across this us-versus-them desire runs the clear words of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” –Matthew 5:43-48 Clear words….we are to love and bless both those who love us and those who hate us; those who do us good and those who harm us; those who like us and those who do not. It is this heart – the heart to love and bless people - that motivated Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis to set out on a journey across the Middle East to meet with “some unique and influential personalities who most in the United States, including the government, think of as enemies who belong on Most Wanted list.” They wanted to ask them simple questions about their lives – what did they like? Dislikes? Did they have a favorite movie or jokes? – in an effort to get to know them as fellow humans created in the image of the Creator of Heaven and Earth. “Tea With Hezbollah” is a travelogue of this journey through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Damascus, and Jerusalem. Along the way they met with a variety of people including Islamic scholars, leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, Bedouin princes, Palestinians, and more. They even tracked down a descendant of the group immortalized by Jesus in His famous story of being a good neighbor – yes, they had tea with a Samaritan. I know that in writing this post there is a chance that I will be labeled and boxed away into a pigeon hole somewhere – but the world as we know it is not simple. If we are going to follow Jesus we must remember and physical live His words to love and bless everyone. To me, the first step towards this is to try to get to know my neighbors in the Middle East – to hear their stories and learn about their dreams, likes and dislikes – to see them not through the eyes of the news media, but to see them as Jesus see them. A hard task…one filled with potholes and pitfalls….one that may puts me at odd with the popular cultural that seeks an ‘enemy’ to destroy….yet if my Lord can love and forgive those who physically tortured Him, then through His Spirit I can love and bless those in the Middle East whom I may never see. (less) | Notes are private!
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| Aug 04, 2011
| Sep 12, 2011
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Aug 04, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 1433670038
| 9781433670039
| 3.37
| 118
| Dec 10, 2010
| Jan 01, 2011
|
| Deep inside of us we all want to think that we are unique – some special and different than everyone around us. And on one level that is true as our p...more
Deep inside of us we all want to think that we are unique – some special and different than everyone around us. And on one level that is true as our personalities, physical features, background and the essences that make us “us” is unique and different. Yet on larger level we are not unique. Instead we all tend to take on the characteristics of our culture and, to a certain level, the characteristics of our generation. In the reading the book “The Millennials: Connecting to America's Largest Generation” by Thom S. Rainer and Jess Rainer I was really struck by how much of my thinking and values were shared across the 77.9 million people born in the United States between 1980 and 2000. (Being born in the first half of 1980, I am on the forefront of this generation – the largest, by the way, since the 75.5 million Baby Boomers of 1946-1964.) For example, for years now dating back to high school, I have stated that my goal in life was to ‘change the world.’ I remember singing worships songs on that theme and wanting to live life that made a mark on history versus simply existing. What I didn’t know that that this value of making a differences is a common across the Millennnial generation regardless of religious affiliation. Another common value is the Millennials desire to be relational and to seek out mentors and teachers who can help them move forward through the twists and turns of life. This value is vastly different than the previous two generations (Boomers and X) who typically valued independence and threw off the ‘chains’ of their elders and struck out on their own. Given that the Millennials saw the difficulties caused by this, it is not too surprising to me that we decided to seek out advice and guidance. The third shared value is that Millennials tend to have an innate desire to learn. If things continue, this generation is on track to being the most educated generation in the world with over 30% of the generation graduating college. Again, this perpetual desire to learn is something that has defined my life as I have continued to read widely and pursue postgraduate education. The last common statistic that this book highlight was yet another one that I have personally experienced over the years. By far and large the Millennials generation are not religious. They have forsaken the churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and whatever of their parents and typically opted for agnosticism – that is, they tend to place religious matters on the back burner and just focus on the here-and-now. On the good side, those Millennials who have chosen a particular religion or faith have typically jumped in with both feet. On an experiential level I have seen this very thing with folks my age either forsaking the church or giving everything they had to Jesus and His body. I myself am a perfect example of this as is my wife. All in all this book was eye opening and very informative about myself and my generation (abet, being a forerunner, I do have some Gen X characteristics as well). However before I end this review, I do want to point out that I was disappointed in how the authors dealt with the faith issue and how they defined Christianity. Namely they narrowly defined Christianity to only include evangelicals who believed the way they do – which, in all honestly, they did admit up front in the chapters before discussing the matter. It is just that the more I follow Jesus the more I realize that His followers have no boundaries and we would be wise to remember that. But, like I said, the authors do mention their biases and so this one item is not a deal-breaker, instead it is more like a pet-peeve. :p Blessings. (less) | Notes are private!
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| Aug 2011
| Nov 16, 2011
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Aug 01, 2011
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0884691772
| 9780884691778
| 4.33
| 6
| Dec 01, 1985
| Dec 01, 1985
|
| Originally written in 1971 and recently re-printed for the fifth time in 2006, Moses and the Gods of Egypt by John J. Davis is defiantly a classic tex...more
Originally written in 1971 and recently re-printed for the fifth time in 2006, Moses and the Gods of Egypt by John J. Davis is defiantly a classic textbook on the book of Exodus. A quick look online shows that Davis has a multitude of accreditations covering forty-plus years has an archaeologist, professor and theologian. Shoot, he was even on the Old Testament translation team for the New International Version (NIV) Bible as well as a contributor too the study editions of the NIV, New American Standard Bible and the Christian Life Edition of the New King James Version of the Bible. With such a background you can guess that this book follows the basic evangelical theology and interpretation of Exodus - not that there is anything wrong with this view. It is just an observation for those of you who have studied that part of the Bible in college, Bible studies, church training schools, etc. The really jewel of the book (and the reason I bought it) is Davis handling of the Ten Plagues. More than anyone else I have read or heard about he brings out the religious and political customs of ancient Egypt and shows how the plagues were a direct battle against the gods of Egypt. Yet he does not stop there – he also brings to light what the average Egyptian on the street would have thought or felt during this time – which is something we often forget about. Definitely a good reference book to have on the bookshelf.(less) | Notes are private!
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| 1
| Jul 28, 2011
| Sep 09, 2011
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Jul 28, 2011
| Paperback
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