Elliot Ritzema's Blog, page 9

Adam and Eve—Just My Archetype (A Review)

The work of Old Testament scholar John Walton has been on my radar at least since 2012, when I read his bookThe Lost World of Genesis One(I reviewed it on the blog here). The central insight of that book—that the creation account of Genesis 1 has to do with functional origins, not material origins—made sense of the text in its ancient context. At about the same time, I went up to Regent College in Vancouver to see Walton deliver a talk called “Genesis Through Ancient Eyes.” In this talk, he p...

Making Habits Easier to Break (and Make): A Review

In recent years, Gretchen Rubin has turned herself into something of a happiness guru. She has written two books called The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, and even hosts a podcast called “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.” As part of her investigations into happiness, she has put some thought into how people form, change, and maintain habits. This has led to her book Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives.

In the book, Rubin does not generally advocate particular ha...

Words about Friends: A Review

Wesley Hill is an assistant professor of New Testament at Trinity School in Ambridge, PA. He published a book with Eerdmans earlier this year called Paul and the Trinity.But in addition to his academic interests, he is also known for having written the bookWashed and Waiting, which chronicles his journey toward identifying himself as gay.

As a Christian who believes that the Bible and Christian tradition testify that the only legitimate expression of sex is within heterosexual marriage, howe...

How to Be Mission-Oriented Elders: A Review

When I read my friend James Matichuk’s review ofEldership and the Mission of God: Equipping Teams for Faithful Church Leadership, I wanted to get my hands on it as well. While, unlike James, I am not a pastor, I am on my church’s leadership team, and wanted to read something that would help me reflect on what it means to function faithfully in that position. I also was looking for something that I could recommend to the rest of the team, and after reading it I found that this book fits the bi...

Grandpa’s Notes in a Book about World War II

Today is the 70th anniversary of VE Day, the day Germany surrendered and ended World War II in Europe. It has put me in a reflective mood, since my grandfather, who passed away last September, was in Europe that day. He was in Lippstadt, Germany, a few days away from turning 21 years old.

Grandpa loved to tell stories of his time in the service during World War II, and his family loved to hear them. When I was in Grand Rapids for his memorial service, I pulled out one of his books about the w...

Savor Every Day: A Review

I picked up Shauna Niequist’s devotionalSavor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Arebecause I had read and heard herinterviewed on various blogs and podcasts, and my wife is a fan of her writing. Niequist has developed a devoted following through her three previous books,Cold Tangerines, Bittersweet, andBread & Wine. Much of this book is excerpted from those books, so those who have read them may find a lot of these devotions familiar.

The hardcover is an attractive book, with a cloth c...

A Case for Christian Nonviolence: A Review

How should Christians respond toinjustice and evil? Is it acceptable to use violence? How do you define violence, anyway? The debate over how to answer these and otherquestions has gone onfor a very long time, with Just War theory holding the upper hand over pacifism since about the fourth century.

Ron Sider’s contribution to this conversationhasa provocative title:Nonviolent Action: What Christian Ethics Demands but Most Christians Have Never Really Tried. However, it cannot really be charac...

Donald Miller Gets Close: A Review

The sportswriter Red Smith once said that the writing process was easy: “You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.” Over the last dozen years, Donald Miller has shown through a series of memoirs just how far you can go by sitting down and bleeding for the benefit of your readers. The two of his previous books that I’d read,Blue Like Jazz andA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, were characterized by a blunt honesty that sometimes made me wish he’d kept his thoughts to...

Transformed Together on the Emmaus Road: A Review

Recently the leadership team at my church read Ruth Haley Barton’s bookPursuing God’s Will Together as part of our ongoing effort to be a community that is actively discerning God’s will rather than merely leading an organization. When I saw that Barton had released a new book about spiritual transformation in community,Life Together in Christ, I thought it would be a good way to continue that journey of discovering what it means to follow Jesus with other people.

Barton begins the book by nam...

I Need to Buy a Pair of Work Sweatpants: A Review

In the time that I have been working for my current employer, my workspace has changed several times. When I started, I was working in a sort of glorified hallway. But there was not a lot of traffic walking by, and I was interested in getting to know my coworkers (and glad to have a job), so I didn’t mind that much.

After about a year, I moved to the floor where I currently work. There are some offices, but most people work in an open office areathat is divided into four sub-areas. The longer...