Against Nothingness

Luke Timothy Johnson, Brother of Jesus Friend of God: Studies in the Letter of James . Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. 263 pgs. More studies in James, for the same reason as the last review I did of such a book. This time, however, I had a much better idea of what I was getting into. Johnson is an author I have read several times before. The first book I read by him was his commentary on Luke in the "Sacra Pagina" series. It was for an assignment in my introduction to Christianity course in my undergrad at UofA, and it was one of the books I used that was not on the recommended reading list. It was also the best commentary on Luke that I used, and remains so to this day. Next I came across his Writings of the New Testament . This turned out to be another excellent volume. To cut the story short, my history with reading Johnson meant that I was quite happy to find this book on James in the course of choosing material for this study. Brot...

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. Seriously. The books all tell you that babies will get sick 4-8 times in their first winter. What they don't tell you is that this means you will also get sick 4-8 times in their first winter. Kristina, Hannah, and I seem to be in a cycle of passing colds and flus back and forth. Last night, around 5am, I had to gently lift my lungs up from the floor, where I had coughed them out in my sleep, and put them back in my chest so that I could go take care of Hannah who was crying in her crib. She didn't go back to sleep for an hour and a half. And I still haven't been able to clean up the carpet. I think we are going to have to get professionals for that. But.... Kristina and I are reading a devotional together now, since we finished Wangerin's book on the passion. It is called Wings of Healing. It was written in 1927 by J. Wilmer Gresham, an Episcopal minister, and it has been quite good. Yesterday we read an entry entit...

Earl F. Palmer, The Book That James Wrote , Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College Publishing, 1997. 90pgs. I am currently doing a study in James with a friend, and so a couple weeks ago I dropped by the Regent bookstore and library to get some books on the subject. I decided to buy two, and then see what the library had to offer. Usually, when I am buying books on a subject, rather than getting specific books or specific authors, I talk to the people at the bookstore and get their recommendations. They tend to be good. And that is how I came to have, and read, Earl Palmer's The Book That James Wrote . This short book is a kind of commentary on, or exploration of, the book of James (I know, your shocked). Palmer approaches James as a book written by a pastor seeking to give sound advice and wisdom from within the Jesus tradition. Palmer pictures James as a man throwing stones into a lake, and watching as the waves ripple around the lake. James' themes interact, overlap, and re...

Robert J. Sawyer, Wake , Viking Canada, 2009. 356 pgs. Here we have one of Canada's most successful authors. Sawyer has written 19 novels, and numerous short stories. He has won over 40 awards for his writing, including all three of the top SF awards available (Hugo, Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award). He is the author of FlashForward which is now a popular TV series in its first season. Personally, I have read and enjoyed quite a few of his books, beginning with Calculating God and moving on from there. Wake is the first book in a planned trilogy (which I didn't find out until after I had started the book... I normally hate to read series before they are completed, because I tend to get into them and then they require patience; and while I am an incredibly patient person, I hate waiting! It's so frustrating!) which explore consciousness and being. This particular novel follows four story-lines (though the first two take up the majority of the novel): ...

Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York: Back Bay Books, 2005. 286pgs. The first time I heard of Malcolm Gladwell was when I got my brother's Christmas wish list this year. On it were two books by this guys, What the Dog Saw and The Outliers . I had no idea what these books were, and I thought the titles rather strange, but I like getting people books as gifts, so I headed off to Chapters to take a look. When I got there, the first book I found by Gladwell was this one... and I was significantly less than impressed. It was my shallowness again, my 'Blink' judgement. Here we have a book with an all white cover, designed to look professional and business like, and look at that subtitle! The power of thinking without thinking? Sounds like some lame self-help book that suckers buy because they want a shortcut through the hard work of life. Still, they were the only books on my brother's list, so I picked up What the Dog Saw and figu...

Walter Wangerin Jr. Reliving the Passion: Meditations on the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus as Recorded in Mark. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1992. 156 pgs. Walter Wangerin. Author of The Book of the Dun Cow , and many other excellent works. I had read him before, and enjoyed his writings, so when a friend recommended this book, and had a copy on hand for me, I couldn't resist. Apparently, my friend has been reading this book for Lent every year for a long time now. And that is how the book is structured; it contains 40 daily readings, one for each day of lent, all focused on the Passion of Jesus as told in Mark. So, I got the book, and Kristina and I read it together for our lent. Overall, it was a very good experience. Other than the outline, which I already gave you, this book seems to be focused (at least in many of the readings) on getting the reader inside the story of Jesus' passion. Often Wangerin will write from the perspective of one of the c...

I mentioned in some post a while ago that I intend to review all the books I read. Why am I doing it? A couple of reasons. First, by reviewing a book I force myself to summarize it and think about it, cementing what I have learned in my mind and hopefully aiding in my long term memory of it. Secondly, it is a good way for me to practice my writing. Of course, this requires me not to get lazy as I do it, which can be a problem. Thirdly, I hope that by reviewing this books I can provide anyone who reads them with some insight and help in deciding whether or not they want to read that book. That explained, I have 4 books to review right now... so get ready :)

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism . New York: Dutton, 2008. 281 pgs. We do indeed live in an age of skepticism. Questions about religion, God, Christianity, and pretty much everything else (except science, TV, and youtube I guess) abound. I've been a student for a long time, and a pastor for a short time, but in both positions I have run into a lot of questions. So, books like this are always interesting to me. Especially when they are well written and highly recommended, as this one was. He opens his book with an awesome quote: "I find your lack of faith - disturbing." - Darth Vader And from there he takes a very interesting approach to what might be traditionally called apologetics. He lays this approach out in his introduction. He asks people to doubt, but not in the way we are used to. To those who believe, Keller encourages them acknowledge and wrestle with their own doubts, as well as with the doubts of skeptics, friends, neig...

About a week ago I posted these questions . How would I answer them? I think I need to start by saying that these are not questions to answer once and for all. Rather, they are questions to consider in the midst of our relationships. They are questions to come back to in order to help us think through how we ourselves might be contributing to a problem, especially a problem we thought we were trying to solve. Take a look at each of those questions; they all have that kind of situation in the background. When trying to love, we can cause our loved one to lose their own identity. When trying to control, usually in order to help, we really just make it easier for the other person to be week. In allowing dependence, which we may do in order to hold another up, we hurt. And so on. So, these are not really questions without context. The implied context is a relationship in which one party, in trying to help, is actually hurting. I think the (slight) exception is the last questions...

We all know the saying: What goes in must come out. And it's so true. But how often do we apply that to our whole lives? I have had reason to consider this in the past, as I have examined contributing factors to my own bad behavior and struggles with sin, as well as when I have tried to think about using my time well. I am sure most of us have heard the analogy about keeping our 'tanks full'? Avoiding 'burnout'? Been warned about how you won't have anything to give if your not getting something? Maybe I have just heard talks like that a lot because I have been studying to go into ministry (and am now doing it) and so I got all kinds of warnings along these lines. Whatever the case may be, in my past and yours, I have had lots of reasons to think about this. And its not exactly a new theme; Jesus and Paul talk about it often. Mark 7:14-23 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said,"Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside you can...

Michael J. Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul's Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2001. 401 pgs. Finished. Well, actually I finished a couple of days ago; right about the time I posted this . It's taken me a couple of days to write this because I have been trying to think about what I want to say. First, let me tell you about the book. This book explores Paul's 'cruciformity.' That is, his desire to "know nothing except Jesus Christ - that is, Jesus Christ crucified." The book focuses on the intersection of the cross with experience in the writing, teaching, and life of Paul. In order to examine this, Gorman spends four chapters (1-4) examining Paul's experience of God (Father, Son, Spirit, Three-in-one). He then moves on to explore and expound upon cruciform faith, love, power, and hope. And if your wondering about that one term stuck in the middle, the one that seems out of place in the nearly...

Haven't done one of these in a while. Obviously, I've been thinking about the books I am reading; but you can see my other posts for that. Now that I am done school (YIPEE!), the next 'project' to work on is getting ordained. Right now the Alliance district offers two tracks for ordination. One is called the individual track, and the other the cohort track. Apparently this second is being pushed. What's the difference? Well, you read the same books, meet all the same requirements, but if you are on the cohort track you meet twice a year with your cohort (group of other pastors doing the same process) to talk, hear speakers, and so on. I believe there is also interaction from a distance over the year. So, its the same program but one offers more input/community and takes more time and money. I really don't want to do the cohort track... My job takes me away from my family for overnight trips enough already! This week is pretty sweet though. I have some ...