Justin Taylor's Blog, page 135
October 11, 2013
10 Differences between Buzzwords and Leadership
Philip Nation1. Buzzwords begin as a rallying cry and end as words to broadly applied.
Leadership constantly looks for fresh ways to keep the movement alive.
2. Buzzwords are a poor substitute for the real content.
Leadership offers a vocabulary of meaningful dialogue.
3. Buzzwords give a false sense of momentum when stagnation is the reality.
Leadership identifies stagnation and tackles it.
4. Buzzwords are an easy way to say nothing when those who follow you need to hear something.
Leadership shows the willingness to have the difficult conversations.
5. Buzzwords kill the meaning of a movement.
Leadership continues to give life to a movement.
6. Buzzwords are the escape hatch for the speaker who is unprepared.
Leadership finds a way to be the most prepared person in the movement.
7. Buzzwords provide a facade of being knowledgeable.
Leadership actually learns.
8. Buzzwords give false hope of a possible future.
Leadership tells a beautiful and detailed story of what can be.
9. Buzzwords are big ideas boiled down to the lowest common denominator of thought.
Leadership offers everyone a way to access the big ideas and bring understanding to them.
10. Buzzwords make important words eventually seem disposable.
Leadership redeems the important meaning of words and phrases.
October 10, 2013
What Did Charles Spurgeon Sound Like? A Recording of His Son
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) and his wife Susannah were married in January 1856, and she became pregnant right away with fraternal twins. Charles Jr. and Thomas Spurgeon (1856-1917) were born later that year in September, just a month prior to the tragedy at the Royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall while Charles was preaching.
After his father died in 1892, Thomas returned to England from New Zealand and served for 15 years as pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.
The comparisons between father and son were inevitable, as W.Y. Fullerton recorded in his 1909 biography:
Seen from the midst of the congregation he is not very dissimilar in appearance from his father. There is the frock coat, the little black tie, the quiet self-possessed demeanour, the clear, studied articulation; a voice, not quite that of Charles Spurgeon, not quite so strong and not quite so musical, so marvellously expressive and flexible, as his father’s, but clear and pleasant and melodious, and with many of the late pastor’s modulations and inflexions.
When presently, after the manner of the great preacher, he breaks off from the chapter he is reading and begins to comment upon it, it immediately becomes apparent that he has the same ready fluency of speech, the same easy, familiar style of address, and when he announces his text and plunges into his sermon, he soon shows himself not altogether lacking in the racy way of putting things, the terse and vigorous English, and the strong sense of humour that were so characteristic of the Tabernacle pulpit for many a long year.
Many of the gifts of his father—though no doubt in smaller measure—he certainly possesses, and every here and there one might have shut one’s eyes and fancied that it was the old pastor back again.
During Thomas Spurgeon’s pastorate—August 2, 1905, to be precise—he spoke into a Edison-Bell phonograph, recording the closing paragraph of his father’s final printed sermon. Since no audio exists of the Prince of Preachers himself, this must suffice as the closest approximation.
Source: Spurgeon Online, via Confessing Baptist, Steve Weaver
[If there are any audio engineers out there who want to engineer a better quality version, let me know.]
Transcript:
C. H. Spurgeon’s last words, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, June 7, 1891, recited by his son and successor, Thomas Spurgeon, Edison-Bell Records.
It is cause for real regret that none of my late, dear father’s words were preserved by means of the phonograph. Perhaps the next best thing is for me, his son and successor, to repeat what proved to be his passing message. It should not be less forceful now, fourteen years after its delivery, for the truth of God is unchanging.
If you wear the livery of Christ, you will find him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls. He is the most magnanimous of captains. There never was his like the choicest of princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders. If he bids us carry a burden, he carries it also. If there is anything that is gracious, generous, kind, and tender, yea lavish and superabundant in love, you always find it in him. His service is life, peace, and joy. Oh, that you would enter on it at once! God help you to enlist under the banner of JESUS CHRIST!
October 9, 2013
8 Questions to Diagnose Your Leadership
In his booklet, Leadership: How to Guide Others with Integrity, Stephen Viars asks these instructive, recalibrating questions:
Do people understand more of God’s mercy because of the way I respond to their mistakes?
Do people understand more of God’s holiness because of my high ethical standards?
Do people understand more of God’s patience because of the time I give to grow and develop?
Do people understand more of God’s truthfulness because of the way I communicate honestly?
Do people understand more of God’s faithfulness because they see me keep my promises?
Do people understand more of God’s kindness because of the tone of my voice?
Do people understand more of God’s love because I go out of my way to help and serve them as I lead?
Do people understand more of God’s grace because I avoid being harsh and unreasonably demanding?
HT: Thabiti
October 8, 2013
Audio Recordings from a Master Storyteller for Kids
Here is a resource families should know about: Greathall Productions, an audio resource featuring the award-winning storyteller Jim Weiss.
Here is a little summary:
Greathall’s primary focus is classical literature, history, and science presented in a clear, exciting way that encourages children to read the originals for themselves. Rather than reading from a set text, Jim “tells” stories in his own words, reinvigorating a timeless oral tradition. He maintains the integrity of the source material in rich language that appeals to grown-ups and children alike. His style is that of a beloved and trusted parent or grandparent, using easy-to-understand, vivid language, occasionally enhanced by explanations and asides. Families tell us they “bond with literature” in their homes and as they drive along in their cars by listening to Greathall recordings.
You can browse through all of their recordings here.
A couple of videos below show Mr. Weiss’s style:
October 7, 2013
C.S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story behind “Mere Christianity” (New Dramatized Audio from Focus on the Family Radio Theatre)
I am delighted to see that Focus on the Family Radio Theatre has a new full-cast audio drama releasing in a few weeks, entitled C.S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story behind “Mere Christianity.”
Here’s a description:
You probably know C.S. “Jack” Lewis as the man who wrote the wryly insightful The Screwtape Letters, the seven children’s stories comprising The Chronicles of Narnia and the masterful defense of Christian belief, Mere Christianity. You may not know that Jack was wounded in World War I. Or that he became a Christian while trying to argue against Christianity. Or that his best-known writings were produced against a backdrop of family difficulties, conflicts with his fellow academics and a world war that impacted every aspect of his life and writing.
Now, for the first time, the dramatic story of the life of C.S. Lewis and the events behind the creation of Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters are played out with a full cast of award-winning actors and an original music score — recorded in London, England, and on location in C.S. Lewis’ Oxford home. Also included in this package is a new, dramatic reading of Lewis’ Mere Christianity—capturing the clarity, intelligence and wit of Lewis’ words in a way not experienced before.
Forged against the hard realities of war and personal difficulty, Mere Christianity was created to speak to a generation that had lost its faith. Time has not diminished its power. Years later, it still articulates Christian truth with fresh relevancy—and the drama behind the book makes it truly come alive.
(Includes eight discs with 3 hours of audio drama, plus a dramatic reading of the complete, unabridged book Mere Christianity.)
Below the fold are the other audio dramas in the series.
An audio drama of the highest quality, Oliver Twist was recorded on location in London with an award-winning cast. This classic story will steal your heart as the timeless characters are brought to life in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s edition of Charles Dickens’ beloved tale. This amazing audio production comes on five CDs, with a bonus DVD that includes behind-the-scenes production footage and the documentary Modern Day Oliver. Purchase of the product also benefits Focus’s “Wait No More” adoption initiative.
With cinema-quality sound and an original soundtrack, this audio drama tells the story of a young orphan sent from a child farm to begin life in a workhouse. After committing the unpardonable offense of asking for more food, Oliver is sent off to apprentice with a coffin-maker whose wife mistreats him. He runs away to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger and Fagin, who trains kids to be pickpockets. Despite his many trials and hardships, he finally gets his happy ending, bringing hope for redemption to all around him
5 CDs. Here is a preview:
Between the lamppost and Cair Paravel on the eastern sea lies Narnia, a mystical land where animals hold the power of speech . . . woodland creatures conspire with men . . . dark forces, bent on conquest, gather at the world’s rim to wage war against the realm’s rightful king . . . and the great lion Aslan is the only hope. Into this enchanted world comes a group of unlikely travelers. These ordinary boys and girls, when faced with peril, learn extraordinary lessons in courage, self-sacrifice, friendship, and honor.
These classic stories have enchanted millions around the world. Radio Theatre brings them to life in this dramatized audio production. Recorded in London with an all-star cast of England’s brightest talent from the stage and screen, an original orchestral score, and cinema-quality digital sound design, this innovative recording provides hours of entertainment for the entire family. The Chronicles of Narnia includes The Magician’s Nephew; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle.
Note: there are 19 CDs and this includes all seven books. I’d recommend getting this one, which is about 1/3 the price of this one. I think the only difference is that with the latter, each audiobook is in its own hard plastic case, whereas with the former they are just in paper CD pockets.
The Hiding Place is the story of two spinster daughters, Corrie and Betsie, unlikely heroes who became the center of a major underground operation to hide Jewish refugees from the occupying Germans. Even when betrayed and sent away to the dreaded Ravensbruck concentration camp, they manage to create another Hiding Place for those around them. This innovative audio drama closely follows the account of Corrie Ten Boom and features a moving musical score.
3 CDs
The story that has thrilled millions comes to life in a brand new way in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s Les Miserables. This audio drama beautifully portrays the redeeming power of forgiveness through the story of Jean Valjean, an embittered convict whose life is changed by a single act of kindness. Recorded in London with some of England’s finest actors, it will mesmerize adults and families alike.
3 CDs
Combining the stellar script-adaptation skills of award-winning writer Paul McCusker with the best-selling novel by Jan Karon, Radio Theatre’s At Home in Mitford will leave listeners longing for more. Set in the charming village of Mitford, this book will delight listeners as it draws them into the life of Father Tim, an Episcopal rector who finds himself running on empty and longing for change. His bachelor existence is changed and enriched by a lovable cast of characters, including a stray dog, a lonely boy, and a comely neighbor.
6 CDs
Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom
With faith comes a price. What are you willing to pay? That’s the question explored in Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom. Chronicling the life of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this provocative Peabody award-winning dramatization shares the story of one man’s battle against the evils of Nazism, a decadent culture, and compromising church—something that’s not so foreign to society today. Challenging and compelling, it’s entertainment with a message!
3 CDs
In this Radio Theatre audio drama adaptation of George MacDonald’s classic story, a beautiful woman known as the North Wind blows through a small village in Victorian London, and everyday lives are mysteriously enveloped by a power and a glory. Along the way, she visits a poor stable boy named Diamond and takes him with her on her journeys. At the Back of the North Wind explores the place of death in our lives, social injustice, and our deep need for love and forgiveness.
C. S. Lewis, author of the classic Chronicles of Narnia series, said of MacDonald, “What he does best is fantasy—fantasy that hovers between the allegorical and the mythopoeic. And this, in my opinion, he does better than any man. MacDonald is the greatest genius of this kind whom I know.”
2 CDs
Father Gilbert Mysteries: Collector’s Edition
When Louis Gilbert turned in his detective badge to become an Anglican priest, he thought his days of solving difficult mysteries were over. Now, as the vicar of an ancient church in a small English village, Gilbert finds himself as the center of one strange mystery after another. And he brings to each one his unique combination of streetwise smarts and spiritual intuition.
All nine Father Gilbert Mysteries are offered in this special 10-CD collection, providing over 10 hours of audio entertainment.
(Note: Due to themes and scenes of mature nature, these audio drams are recommended for listeners age 15 and older.)
Edward Woodward . . . and Jenny Agutter are just two of the experienced cast that lends its talents to this enchanting audio-play adaptation of the famous story by George Eliot. Betrayed by his best friend and maliciously accused of being a thief, Silas Marner loses everything—his fiancee, his friends, his reputation, and—worst of all—his faith in God and his fellow man. When a beautiful, golden-haired child enters his life—a girl he loves as if she were his own daughter—his life is amazingly changed for the better.
2 CDs
This captivating new radio drama production based on the beloved book by Lucy M. Montgomery allows listeners to personally experience the world and characters presented in Anne of Green Gables in a whole new way! Anne of Green Gables is the story of a little girl’s feisty spirit and strong determination that win over the hearts of the people of Avonlea, the love and commitment of family, and a poor orphan growing up into a distinguished young woman.
3 CDs
The Radio Theatre production of Amazing Grace provides a prequel view to events featured in Amazing Grace, the movie. It offers listeners a more in-depth and personal story of each of the main characters—William Wilberforce (an evangelical Christian politician), John Newton (author of “Amazing Grace”), and Olaudah Equiano (slave turned quaker merchant)—three men instrumental in overthrowing the slave trade. The original Radio Theatre drama will bring out the essential spiritual elements in each story and show how the efforts of each man turned the tide of public opinion.
6 CDs
Note: Amazon doesn’t seem to be carrying this one right now. CBD says they can ship it by the end of June.
An unforgettable account of betrayal, revenge, redemption, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s production of Ben-Hur tells the tale of a nobleman who fell from Roman favor and was sentenced to live as a slave—all at the hands of his childhood friend, Messala. Once nearly brothers, any hope of reconciliation is dashed after Messala is seriously injured during a vicious chariot race won by the vindictive Ben-Hur. But what makes this adaptation of Lew Wallace’s best-selling story unforgettable is the changed man Ben-Hur becomes after seeing Christ on the cross. Recorded in London with film-style sound, this action-packed production shares that compassion is the true path to redemption.”
2 CDs
Experience Charles Dickens’s beloved story of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future in a 90-minute full-cast drama production. Since 1996, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre has produced innovative audio entertainment for families and individuals. These dramas feature cinema-quality sound design and original music scores.
2 CDs; 90 minutes
In his enduringly popular masterpiece The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis re-imagines Hell as a gruesome bureaucracy. With spiritual insight and wry wit, Lewis suggests that demons, laboring in a vast enterprise, have horribly recognizable human attributes: competition, greed, and totalitarian punishment. Avoiding their own painful torture as well as a desire to dominate are what drive demons to torment their “patients.”
The style and unique dark humor of The Screwtape Letters are retained in this full-cast dramatization, as is the original setting of London during World War II. The story is carried by the senior demon Screwtape played magnificently by award-winning actor Andy Serkis (“Gollum” in Lord of the Rings) as he shares correspondence to his apprentice demon Wormwood. All 31 letters lead into dramatic scenes, set in either Hell or the real world with humans—aka “the patient,” as the demons say—along with his circle of friends and family. This Radio Theatre release also stars Geoffrey Palmer (Tomorrow Never Dies), Laura Michelle Kelly (Sweeney Todd), Eileen Page (The Secret Garden), and other world-class actors.
Includes 10 new songs inspired by the classic book, four behind-the-scenes video documentary featurettes, and a 5.1 surround sound mix. Four CDs, approx. 4 hours total.
Here’s a “behind the scenes” video:
Discover the incredible story of one of American history’s least known, yet most compelling, figures as it unfolds in The Legend of Squanto. This Focus on the Family radio theatre drama is more than just a tale about an honest man who triumphed over tragedy. It is also a tribute to honor, integrity, and the God-given ability to look beyond the color of one’s skin . . . and into the heart.
2 CDs
You can preview the entire audiobook below:
Listeners will be captivated by this moving tale of good versus evil through the life of winsome young sailor Billy Budd. Aboard a 1700s British warship, virtuous Billy is unfairly accused of treason by the villainous Master of Arms—a cold-blooded superior officer intent on Billy’s destruction. Adapted from Herman Melville’s famous novel and presented by Focus on the Family’s Peabody Award-winning Radio Theatre team, Billy Budd will remind listeners of another man, perfectly just, who suffered and died a criminal’s death.
1 CD
One of the best-loved stories of all time, The Secret Garden is presented in high-quality and entertaining Radio Theatre drama. This classic tale, enriched with Biblical values, reflects themes such as helping others and believing in people. Mary, a young orphaned girl, meets her bedridden cousin, Colin. She discovers an enchanting secret place, separate from the outside world. It is in this place that Colin and Mary learn lessons about overcoming obstacles. By putting their faith in God and others, their lives are forever altered. This story will captivate audiences of all ages.
2 CDs
In first century Palestine, the physician Luke is on a mission to save the life of his friend Paul. His task: chronicling the life of a carpenter’s son from Nazareth named Jesus. Luke searches for firsthand witnesses to the miracles and controversies surrounding the man they call “the Christ.” Luke’s travels take him through violent roads, and he encounters his own miracles along the way. Be an eyewitness to Luke’s quest for the truth in this Radio Theatre production featuring England’s finest actors and cinema-quality sound design.
9 CDs
Combining the stellar script adaptation skills of award-winning writers Paul McCusker and Philip Glassborrow with the beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott, Radio Theatre’s Little Women will captivate listeners with its poignant story and top-notch cast. Through trial, illness, poverty, disappointment, and sacrifice, four sisters place family above all else, reinforcing the qualities of honesty, contentment, and joy.
Note: We’ve enjoyed this one as a family; it is currently out of print, but I’ve included it in case you want to get a used copy.
October 5, 2013
Keller Reviews Two Books on Homosexuality and Christianity
Tim Keller looks at Wesley Hill’s Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality and Sam Allberry’s Is God Anti-Gay? And Other Questions Christians Ask about Homosexuality, the Bible and Same-Sex Attraction.
Here is his conclusion:
But even with this disagreement, I’m glad to see the beginning of something crucial here. These two writers are beginning to describe a particular pathway of Christian discipleship. A literature is going to get started. Others who share their experience and stance are beginning to write about it, too. But this ‘movement’ is still very embryonic. Ironically, we live in a time in which it takes more courage for authors to publicly take this position than it is now to embrace homosexual practice as compatible with Christianity.
These are books written by men who are not experiencing their lives as impoverished or sub-human. Their commitment to chastity within the lives God has given them is one of finding fulfillment and identity in their relationship to Christ.
As you can tell, I’m quite glad to recommend both these books.
You can read the whole thing here.
October 4, 2013
The Best Biographies? Survey Says…
I recently surveyed 18 scholars (most of them history professors) asking them for their top recommendations of those biographies that represent biography writing at its finest. I did not specify that they had to be studies of religious figures, but given whom I asked, it is not surprising that this was the dominant field for recommendations.
All in all, they offered 90 nominations, and you can see all the posts here.
In this unscientific survey, the top vote getting (by a wide margin) was George Marsden’s, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, followed by Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, then, Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, and finally Darryl Hart’s Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America. In addition, there were nine other books that tied for fifth place, each receiving two nominations a piece.
Here are the top vote getters and the comments by their nominators.
Happy reading!
1. George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Yale University Press, 2003).
[9 nominations]
Mark Noll: “Marsden succeeds in bringing biography to theology and theology to biography with unusual clarity about both the person and the times.”
Bruce Gordon: “From start to finish, pure elegance of prose and a magisterial command of Edward’s thought and character.”
Doug Sweeney: “This is the definitive biography of our most important evangelical intellectual.”
John Fea: “The best biography of Edwards ever written and a model for religious biography.”
Thomas Kidd: “At the top of my list.”
Tom Nettles: “For the purposes of seminary class, I use Murray’s biography. To show, however, in a charming but serious-minded way to a secular public how seriously and deeply a Christian can think about issues of ultimate importance, this is the book to loan (you could not give many of them away).”
Nathan Finn: “Marsden’s work is the gold standard for a scholarly biography that is at the same time sympathetic toward its subject. His A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards is also great.”
Mike Reeves: “Marsden shows beautifully what a biography can do, for he not only tells a good story, his sensitive observations and reflections humanise you as you read.”
Sean Lucas voted for this one, too.
2. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (1st ed., 1967; new edition with an epilogue, California University Press, 2000).
[9 nominations]
George Marsden: “A classic work and a great exposition of the man and of his era.”
Allen Guellzo: “A stupendously erudite re-creation, not only of Augustine, but of the entire world of late antiquity.”
Fred Sanders: “Exquisitely well written, Brown’s book rises above merely reporting the stages along the way of Augustine’s life—though it narrates them well, so readers who need the basic facts can use this as an introduction—and somehow lets the reader empathize with Augustine at each of his different ages. They’re all here: the wild youth who wanted ‘chastity . . . but not yet,’ the ladder-climbing young professor of rhetoric, the idealistic convert, the pastor who had to adapt his theology to the needs of the masses, the celebrity bishop pushed into more and more responsibility, and the consolidator of Christian orthodoxy as the lights of Rome were winking out.”
Doug Sweeney: “Brown has spent his career recreating the world of late antiquity. This biography places our most fecund doctor of the church in that context beautifully.”
Nathan Finn: “Many church historians consider this to be the best scholarly biography of a major Christian leader, and I’m often inclined to agree. A close second to Mardsen’s biography of Edwards.”
3. Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1950; reprint, Penguin, 1995).
[5 nominations]
Mark Noll: “Newer scholarship has altered details (the book was first published in 1950), but it remains a captivating account of a life-changing person in a life-changing era.”
Doug Sweeney: “It remains the most widely read bio of Luther for good reason. It is a wonderful read on the most important Protestant pastor in history.”
Darryl Hart: “A colorful treatment of an even more colorful figure that captures the central dynamic of the Reformation, namely, how to be right with God.”
Tom Nettles: “A beautifully crafted story of a rough and resolute man whose discovery of truth so melded itself into his soul that he feared to distinguish between his truth-informed conscience and the final claim of God on his life.”
Mike Reeves: “A true masterpiece of a biography, Here I Stand draws you deep into Luther’s life so you both understand and feel the significance of what he faced and what he did.”
4. D. G. Hart, Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America (Johns Hopkins, 1994; reprint, P&R, 2003).
[3 nominations]
Carl Trueman: “An important study of a key figure in the fundamentalist-modernist debate which also helps to demonstrate why the simple polarities of liberal/conservative are incapable of capturing the nuances of what actually happened.”
Kevin DeYoung: “Hart writes lucid prose about a figure he knows inside and out. By helping us understand Machen, we come to understand an entire era in American church history.”
Sean Lucas voted for this one, too.
Richard S. Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (Cambridge University Press, 1980).
[2 nominations]
Allen Guelzo: “A glowingly comprehensive and sympathetic biography of one of the greatest of scientific minds.”
George Marsden: “Excellent at presenting Newton’s thought in the context of its times.”
David McCullough, John Adams (Touchstone, 2001).
[2 nominations]
Kevin DeYoung: “The guy can flat-out write. No one does popular (yet substantive) biography as well as McCullough.”
Nathan Finn: “McCullough is a master storyteller. If I ever write a biography, I hope it reads half as well as this excellent popular biography of America’s second president.”
Paul Johnson, Churchill (Viking, 2009).
[2 nominations]
Kevin DeYoung: “Johnson demonstrates that you can write meaningfully about a massive subject in a short biography (181 pages). This book is especially strong in the lessons it draws from Churchill’s life.”
Mike Reeves: “This little book reads like champagne, Johnson’s very style of writing capturing the fizz and pop of his subject.”
Allen C. Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Eerdmans, 1999).
[2 nominations]
Kevin DeYoung: “This book shines because Guelzo is an excellent writer, with a knack for penetrating insights and fresh interpretations. I felt like I got to know Lincoln, so much so that by the end I was terribly sad when he showed up at Ford’s Theater.”
Sean Lucas voted for this one, too.
Bruce Gordon, Calvin (Yale University Press, 2009).
[2 nominations]
Darryl Hart: “A smartly conceived narrative that allows Calvin’s ‘greatness’ to emerge not from hindsight but from the accidents of sixteenth-century Europe.”
Sean Lucas voted for this one, too.
Harry S. Stout, A Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism (Eerdmans, 1991).
[2 nominations]
Darryl Hart: “A provocative account that looks past hagiography to capture the human (and sometimes unflattering) aspects of Protestantism’s greatest evangelist.”
Sean Lucas voted for this, too.
Faith Cook, William Grimshaw of Haworth (Banner of Truth, 1997).
[2 nominations]
Michael Haykin: “A biography that I hold dear because it is a challenge to my wimpishness, something this Canadian Christian historian deeply laments. Grimshaw was a true radical.”
Mike Reeves: “Atmosphere, action, great character: it’s Wuthering Heights meets Whitfield-Wesley revival.”
Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore (1956; reprint, Judson Press, 1987).
[2 nominations]
Nathan Finn: “This is my all-time favorite biography. Anderson provides an appreciative, but realistic portrayal of an inspiring missionary pioneer.”
Michael Haykin: “A riveting missionary narrative of the life of Adoniram Judson.”
Iain H. Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Volume 1, The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 (Banner of Truth, 1982) and D. Marty Lloyd Jones: Volume 2, The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981 (Banner of Truth, 1990).
[2 nominations]
Tom Nettles: “This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.”
Michael Haykin: “The two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd- Jones, the most powerful twentieth-century influence on my life.”
October 3, 2013
20 Biography Recommendations: Nettles, Haykin, Finn, and Reeves
Tom Nettles is professor of historical theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His most recent publication, years in the making, is a major biography of Charles Spurgeon.
Here are his top biography recommendations:
1. Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer.
This is a slap in the face for those of us who are always looking for the politically appropriate [safe] time to say something true.
2. George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards.
For the purposes of seminary class, I use Murray’s biography. To show, however, in a charming but serious-minded way to a secular public how seriously and deeply a Christian can think about issues of ultimate importance, this is the book to loan (you could not give many of them away).
3. Roland Bainton, Here I Stand.
A beautifully crafted story of a rough and resolute man whose discovery of truth so melded itself into his soul that he feared to distinguish between his truth-informed conscience and the final claim of God on his life.
4. Sharon James, My Heart in His Hands: Ann Judson of Burma.
Sharon James gives a sensitive and vigorous unfolding of one of the most intensely important lives of nineteenth-century American evangelicalism. Without Ann Judson, American evangelical foreign missions might never have gotten off the ground.
5. Iain Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 and D. Marty Lloyd Jones: The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981.
This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.
[JT note: see also an updated and revised one-volume abridged edition.]
Michael Haykin is professor of church history and biblical spirituality, as well as director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Here are his recommendations, in chronological order:
1. Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards.
A biography of the remarkable American theologian that brings the reader face to face with Edwards’ God.
2. Faith Cook, William Grimshaw of Haworth.
A biography that I hold dear because it is a challenge to my wimpishness, something this Canadian Christian historian deeply laments. Grimshaw was a true radical.
3. Andrew Fuller, Memoirs of Samuel Pearce.
A classic biography that is focused on Pearce’ s piety, which cannot fail to impact the heart for good.
4. Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore.
A riveting missionary narrative of the life of Adoniram Judson.
5. Iain Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 and D. Marty Lloyd Jones: The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981.
The two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd- Jones, the most powerful twentieth-century influence on my life.
Nathan Finn is associate professor of historical theology and Baptist studies, and fellow of the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture, at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Here are his recommendations:
1. Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (1956; reprint, Judson Press, 1987).
This is my all-time favorite biography. Anderson provides an appreciative, but realistic portrayal of an inspiring missionary pioneer.
2. Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge (Eerdmans, 1977).
This is a winsome popular biography of a key pastor-theologian in late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century British evangelicalism. Required reading for pastors.
3. George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Yale University Press, 2003).
Marsden’s work is the gold standard for a scholarly biography that is at the same time sympathetic toward its subject. His A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards is also great.
4. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 2nd ed. (University of California Press, 2000).
Many church historians consider this to be the best scholarly biography of a major Christian leader, and I’m often inclined to agree. A close second to Mardsen’s biography of Edwards.
5. David McCullough, John Adams (Simon and Schuster, 2003).
McCullough is a master storyteller. If I ever write a biography, I hope it reads half as well as this excellent popular biography of America’s second president.
Michael Reeves is Theologian-at-Large at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology.
Here are his recommendations:
1. Roland Bainton, Here I Stand
A true masterpiece of a biography, Here I Stand draws you deep into Luther’s life so you both understand and feel the significance of what he faced and what he did.
2. George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards
Marsden shows beautifully what a biography can do, for he not only tells a good story, his sensitive observations and reflections humanise you as you read.
3. Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror
Tuchman does two extraordinary things here: she maps the history of an age (fourteenth century Europe) through the story of one man, and she forms in us a real emotional attachment to this character who otherwise is so distant and foreign.
4. Paul Johnson, Churchill
This little book reads like champagne, Johnson’s very style of writing capturing the fizz and pop of his subject.
5. Faith Cook, William Grimshaw of Haworth
Atmosphere, action, great character: it’s Wuthering Heights meets Whitfield-Wesley revival.
October 2, 2013
10 Recommended Biographies: John Wilson and Marvin Olasky
John Wilson is editor of Books & Culture and editor at large for Christianity Today magazine.
“It is impossible for me to say these are the top five, but I can say here are five biographies I think are wonderful, each in its own way.”
1. John Benedict Buescher, The Remarkable Life of John Murrary Spear: Agitator for the Spirit Land.
Buescher has written a marvelous life of a subject (“ahead of his time” in a drastically muddled way) whose resistance to any conventional narrative—not to mention his sheer bad taste—would have daunted a lesser biographer.
2. Samuel Johnson, The Lives of the Poets.
Some of the best “biographies” are much shorter than book-length, giving us the gist of a life; Johnson set the standard.
3. Hugh Kenner, The Pound Era.
Part biography, part “literary criticism,” part intellectual history—and altogether extraordinary.
4. Simone Petrement, Simone Weil: A Life.
There are drawbacks to a biography written by a friend of the subject, but this is nevertheless an indispensable account of the enigmatic, God-haunted Frenchwoman.
5. Frances Stonor Saunders, The Woman Who Shot Mussolini.
This heart-breaking story of Violet Gibson (the woman of the title) and Italy under Mussolini juxtaposes the mental instability of a devout Catholic woman, cruelly abandoned by her family (though her “madness” made a kind of sense), with the megalomania of Il Duce, long indulged.
Marvin Olasky is editor-in-chief of WORLD Magazine.
Here are his top five biography recommendations:
1. Ira Stoll, Samuel Adams: A Life (Free Press, 2008).
As Adams’ biblical faith helping him to balance zeal with wariness, he fomented a revolution that (unlike those in France and Russia) did not end in a bloodbath and dictatorship.
2. Thomas Kidd, Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots (Basic, 2011).
A great life with surprising twists, including Henry’s 1773 analysis of the slavery system as anti-biblical, repugnant, and destructive to liberty—but hard to give up.
3. Phillip Simpson, A Life of Gospel Peace: A Biography of Jeremiah Burroughs (Reformation Heritage Books, 2011).
Places a spotlight on little-known Jeremiah Burroughs, 17th-century explainer of how to gain the “Rare jewel of Christian contentment.”
4. Robert J. Norrell, Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington (Harvard University Press, 2009).
Historians have either angelized or demonized him, often unaware of the twisting racetrack he had to run on to keep from being run over.
5. Stanley Kurtz, Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism (Simon and Schuster, 2010).
Refrains from hysteria and methodically shows how Obama takes steps “designed to slowly but surely move the country closer to the socialist ideal.”
Justin Taylor's Blog
- Justin Taylor's profile
- 44 followers
