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April 15
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Jeffery
gave
to:
Mere Christianity (Paperback)
by C.S. Lewis
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my rating:
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Jeffery said:
"Remarkably clear and helpful. When I first read it in October 2002, it was like a laser beam to my brain. Lewis successfully walks the tightrope of articulating Christian essentials without settling upon denominational distinctives. He also has an...more
Remarkably clear and helpful. When I first read it in October 2002, it was like a laser beam to my brain. Lewis successfully walks the tightrope of articulating Christian essentials without settling upon denominational distinctives. He also has an unparalleled genius for analogy, which he employs to describe everything from the relation of faith to works, to the relation between individual and society. I still hold this book in high regard. My only quibble with it is that he begins the book with a weak argument for the natural law. I wouldn't recommend it to a religious skeptic, but rather to a Christian who wants to more fully understand his faith in an accessible, living way. The Christian who has accepted the truths of the faith but has not perceived their harmony and beauty should read this and find himself saying silently, "I get it. Now it makes sense." Highest recommendation....less
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Jeffery
gave
to:
Brideshead Revisited (Paperback)
by Evelyn Waugh
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my rating:
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Jeffery said:
"Waugh's descriptive abilities are formidable, whether used to describe a scene, a taste, a personality, or an emotion. The only other writer I can think of who so effectively and beautifully employed modern English was Fitzgerald. Waugh adds to his...more
Waugh's descriptive abilities are formidable, whether used to describe a scene, a taste, a personality, or an emotion. The only other writer I can think of who so effectively and beautifully employed modern English was Fitzgerald. Waugh adds to his narrative abilities a wicked sense of humor, the kind that gives the reader a sly, knowing grin. Somehow Waugh even manages to infuse the novel with "the operation of divine grace", which he says is its major theme. Perhaps the quality of this book that most compelled me was that it was alien to anything contemporary: stylishly decadent, vaguely heroic, unrepentantly aristocratic, gleefully wicked while at the same time keeping a respectable veil over its wickedness. All the characters are believably human: the saintly Lady Marchmain has her spots, even Sebastian has his virtues, and only the industrial philistine Rex Mottram comes off as one-dimensional, which might be the intention of the author. Highest recommendation....less
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Jeffery
gave
to:
John Adams (Paperback)
by David McCullough
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my rating:
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Jeffery said:
"The best biography I've ever read. I especially enjoyed reading the correspondences between himself and Abigail. McCullough rescues Adams from relative obscurity by painting him as a figure whose pugnacity and adherence to principle lent much vigor...more
The best biography I've ever read. I especially enjoyed reading the correspondences between himself and Abigail. McCullough rescues Adams from relative obscurity by painting him as a figure whose pugnacity and adherence to principle lent much vigor to the cause for Independence. Later these same qualities cost him much politically, but in the process helped save an infant nation from itself. God give us more John Adamses....less
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Jeffery
gave
to:
The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot (Paperback)
by Russell Kirk
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my rating:
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Jeffery said:
"Kirk's prose style is archaic and enchanting. His history of ideas, with his thesis of conservatism as a disposition rather than an ideology, is broad and forceful, not easily harnessed or contained by any existing political platforms around in 2008...more
Kirk's prose style is archaic and enchanting. His history of ideas, with his thesis of conservatism as a disposition rather than an ideology, is broad and forceful, not easily harnessed or contained by any existing political platforms around in 2008. Perhaps this is why he is still so revered. Especially enjoyable are his investigations of Burke, Newman, Maine, and Eliot. ...less
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Jeffery
gave
to:
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (Paperback)
by Donald Miller
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my rating:
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Jeffery said:
"I was much warmer on this book the first time I read it, but have since become a bit disenchanted with how it has been used to justify all sorts of subjective defections from Christianity, as well as to encourage a great deal of fuzzy thought and fee...more
I was much warmer on this book the first time I read it, but have since become a bit disenchanted with how it has been used to justify all sorts of subjective defections from Christianity, as well as to encourage a great deal of fuzzy thought and feeling concerning God, the scriptures, and the church....less
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Jeffery
gave
to:
Flannery O'Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters (Library of America)
by Flannery O'Connor
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Jeffery said:
"I've read "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and "The Comforts of Home". O'Connor describes a fully embodied Gospel in these grotesque short stories, one which is shot through with grace and sacrifice. The grace of God is an ...more
I've read "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and "The Comforts of Home". O'Connor describes a fully embodied Gospel in these grotesque short stories, one which is shot through with grace and sacrifice. The grace of God is an irresistible product of events and motives, both righteous and wicked. God works through us, whether we want Him to or not, and it is not always pretty in her stories, as she does not shy away from ugliness and a gothic sensibility....less
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Jeffery
gave
to:
Rocking the Roles: Building a Win-Win Marriage (Paperback)
by Robert Lewis, William Hendricks
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read in April, 2007
Jeffery said:
"Sound, biblical, applicable, readable stuff; highly recommended to anyone considering marriage, in order to engage your hopes and questions with Christian truth. Lewis develops a model of manhood and womanhood, and their unity in the sacred institut...more
Sound, biblical, applicable, readable stuff; highly recommended to anyone considering marriage, in order to engage your hopes and questions with Christian truth. Lewis develops a model of manhood and womanhood, and their unity in the sacred institution of marriage, that goes beyond the selfish, narrow categories that our culture offers us. Against both gender-equal and "traditional" understandings of marriage, Lewis suggests the biblical model is one which both preserves the headship of the husband while also emphasizing the sacrifice and service he must render ("servant-leadership"), as well as the necessary and natural complementarity of man and woman as "one flesh". Thanks to God for Robert Lewis!...less
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New comment on Jeffery's review of
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present
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Jeffery
gave
to:
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present (Paperback)
by Jacques Barzun
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my rating:
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Hi Jeff!
