Against Nothingness

Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra. Penguin Books, 2013.  Achebe is a giant in African literature and his acclaim is well deserved. Until reading this book, however, I had only read his fiction. I picked this up because it was on the 'New' shelf at the library and because it was by Achebe. I was not disappointed.  There was a Country  is part biography, part event driven memoir, and part critique, all surrounding the Nigeria-Biafra war. The biography comes in Achebe describing his early life and personal involvement in events leading up said war. This section of book is more personal and, thus, more moving. The second half of the book is largely impersonal, focusing on the events of and after the war. Finally, as a conclusion, Achebe laments the current state of Nigeria and much that has happened since the war.  On the one hand, I do not know enough of the history to judge this book as an account of events, or of Nigeri...

Clarke, Arthur C. Childhood’s End . Random House, 1954 (1990). The Overlords have come. They have ended war, ended hunger, and unified the world. But who are they? And what are they really after? And will humanity succumb to a growing malaise and lack of creative striving in the face of this newly given peace? These are the questions which begin this great sci-fi novel. I don’t normally review sci-fi books on here. I read plenty of them, being my genre of choice when it comes to fiction, but they are typically akin to the martial arts movies I enjoy: Briefly enjoyable and suited to my tastes, but nothing to write home about.  Still, in every genre, no matter how specific, there are hidden gems. Here is one of them. What you will find in this book is, of course, Clarke’s creative vision of a specific future. Yet embedded within are also ideas about humanity, religion, science, purpose, and the meaning of life. And while you may or may not agree with Clarke’s ideas...

Smith, Gordon. Called to Be Saints: An Invitation to Christian Maturity . Intervarsity Press, 2014. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me. -         Col. 1:28-29 That we may present everyone mature in Christ. Is this the end we strive towards, personally? Is it what we wish and pray for those around us? Is it what our churches are about? Smith wants us to say “yes.” Not only that, he is concerned that we know understand the content of the Christian Maturity for which we strive. And so he has written this book. Though not exhaustive in his vision, Smith argues that maturity in Christ is founded in, begins with, and is all about union with Christ. From there maturity has four marks: Wisdom, Good Work, Love, and Joy. Naturally he means something specific by each of these....

Thielicke, Helmut. The Silence of God . Eerdmans Publishing, 1962. I am almost always in the middle of a book of sermons. I read them both to increase my own skill as a preacher and to hear, in the voice of these other preachers, the word of God preached to me. For the year 2014 I am also almost always in the middle of a book by Helmut Thielicke. I am experimenting this year with taking one author who I respect and learn from and attempting to read all of their books. I’m not sure if I am going to make it. Thielicke wrote a lot. Much about Thielicke’s writing impresses me; more than I am willing to type out in a book review. One of the constant themes, however, is his ability to speak deeply into the experience of doubt and struggle in faith. So far this book does this best. The Silence of God is a collection of ten sermons – six ‘regular’ sermons and four ‘festive’ sermons (those preached on holy days). Each deals with the ways silence of, or questions of, or action...

We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing , by Lieutenant James C. Whittaker. 1943, Public Domain. This is the tale of eight men lost in the pacific in 1942. Stranded on rafts with four oranges, no water, one watch, life jackets, a Bible, and a few flares, they hope for rescue and struggle to survive. In the end, seven make it. On the way some find more than just hope of rescue; some find faith in God. I came across this book because Helmut Thielicke referred to it in one of his sermons. It sounded like an interesting story so I looked it up. I was pleased to find it free online and I read it. This was the right choice. It is an excellent story, worth reading. In reading that recommendation you should know that this is a book which fits into two genres I quite enjoy: Survival and Conversion. One of the first fiction books I fell in love with was The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I read it multiple times and then read everything else I could find by Paulsen. It is th...

Bob Fu, God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom . Baker Books, 2013 Herein lies the tale of Bob Fu. Born in China, full of ambition and a desire to improve his home, Bob eventually became involved in the protests which ended in Tiananmen square. The resulting punishment and depression were the context for his conversion and the beginnings of a ministry that would lead him to found China Aid.   I don't want to give away too much more of the story; you should read it for yourself. And that, I suppose, gives away the rest of this review. I find a good Christian biography to be a very encouraging and challenging thing. Good in the sense that it is well written but, more importantly, good in that it displays the work of Jesus in the life of one of his followers. This, God's Double Agent, was a good Christian biography. And you should read it. Did I say that already? It's worth saying twice.  Conclusion: 5 Stars. Rec...

Mark A. Noll. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity (3rd Edition). Baker Academic, 2012. 356 pgs.  How do you compress two thousand years of religious history into one textbook? Many have tried and I have, unfortunately, suffered through their attempts (thanks to seminary). You could do a poor overview of as much as possible, cramming in dates and details until the student's head explodes. You could attempt to do justice to major themes while covertly focusing all attention on your favorite moment or person (Martin Luther anyone?). Personally, I don't think there is a good solution. But, if I had to pick one, I would choose Turning Points .  In this book Noll delves deeply into thirteen turning points in Christian history. Obviously there is some subjectivity in which points one chooses (in the introduction Noll lists ten options he considered but left out, just to give us an idea of how complex this process is) but despite this the appr...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Signet, 1972. 142 pgs.  I don't know how I made it this long without reading Solzhenitsyn. Somehow. Earlier this year a good friend  pointed me to his  Nobel prize speech , which is well worth reading. That same friend  then lent me this book, which I finally got around to reading. In summary this book is one day in the life of a man sentenced to ten years in a Siberian labor camp.  The book opens as Ivan wakes up and, being slower than normal, is called forward by a guard to receive his punishment. Ivan experiences a minor victory in that his punishment is merely to mop the guardroom floor. Barely 10 pages into the book and the (no doubt realistic) picture Solzhenitsyn paints of a Siberian labor camp is bleak. No matter how Ivan felt, I was struck again and again by just how terrible this all was. His victories were small highlights which lit the extent of tragedy to m...

Michael John Cusick, Surfing for God: Discovering the Divine Desire Beneath Sexual Struggle.  Thomas Nelson, 2012. 224 pgs.  Pornography is a plague of epidemic proportions among men right now. I seriously doubt I need to share with you any of the statistics. But you should know that it is not the widespread nature of this problem which made me request this book to review. No, two other reasons rose to the fore: 1. I am a youth pastor and so continually walking beside, praying with, and counseling young men who struggle with addictions to pornography. 2. I, myself, went through an addiction to pornography. At the time, the only book people gave me on the subject was Every Young Man's Battle. That was a fine book, in it's own way, but not all that helpful in dealing with sexual addiction in the age of internet abundance. By the grace of God I was set free without a better book on the subject, but that has not kept me from continually watching for such books.  Thi...

Mark Buchanan. Your Church is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down . Zondervan, 2012. 240 pgs.  Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between life in Jesus and the life we live, between the Church of Jesus and the churches we have. In his own words, "What happened? When did we start making it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy, cautious instead of bold, self absorbed instead of counting everything loss in order to be found in Christ?" This, then, is a book for those who wish the church looked more like the kingdom of God.  What follows, then, are 18 chapters of pleas, stories, examples, and explanations of what it means to be the true church of Jesus Christ. Buchanan shares with us how Christ makes all things new, how Christ calls us to trust and work for healing and reconciliation and forgiveness and love, and how this will get us into trouble.  A friend of mine commented that this book could...

There is no good time to reach the end of a book. If the book was bad you should not have finished it. If the book was good you will wish it had not ended. If there is no good time to finish a book there are even fewer good times to finish a series. And woe to he who reaches the end of a ten book series which has been years in the reading and re-reading. Indeed, one mourns. I do.  For some people the quality of the writing ceases to matter somewhere between the 3rd and 5th book of any series. The flawed gamblers logic of "I've already invested so much" takes over and momentum alone carries us through to the end. I have never been such a one and so, in agony, I have left behind me a ragged trail of unfinished series. Yet when a series is good enough to hold my interest the agony I experience, through my own foolishness, has often been no less. I keep starting series before they are completely written and so I face the specter of uncertainty as I await with eagerness...

Alister E. McGrath.  Mere Apologetics: How to Help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith . Baker Books, 2012. 208 pgs.  What does it mean to help others find faith? What is evangelism? Apologetics? And how do we take part in these activities effectively? Throughout history there have been many great defenders of the faith but now, in the face of modern challenges, McGrath argues for a more flexible and deeper approach. Hence this book. Mere Apologeitcs, as an introductory level text, seeks to answer some of the basic questions of apologeitcs, such as those listed above, while getting down to the level of methodology in terms of how we defend our faith. Other topics include: the theological basis for apologetics, pointers to faith, and gateways of apologetics.  As an introduction to apologetics Mere Apologetics is one of the best I have read. McGrath does indeed lay out a flexible approach to defending the faith while fitting a stunning amount of useful inform...

Andrew Murray.  Power in Prayer: Classic Devotions to Inspire and Deepen Your Prayer Life . Bethany House, 2011. 167 pgs.  A second good devotional book in the same month? What are the odds? Then again, when one of them is by Andrew Murray, those odds go up significantly.  What we have here is an edited, and updated, collection of over 150 select devotions on prayer from the vast array of such entries Andrew Murray has left for those interested. They are updated in that the language has been made modern, and selected seemingly with the intention of being the best of what is available (which is all pretty good stuff in my opinion).  Andrew Murray has long been a go to author for me. His devotional thoughts are not made up of theological genius, nor stunning literary style. They are simple and many of them seem like common sense after you read them. And yet, they are powerful. They are poignant. Spiritually speaking, they usually hit uncomfortably cl...

David Murrow.  Why Men Hate Going to Church . Thomas Nelson, 2011. 256 pgs. We all know that not all men hate going to church. I think we also all know that in most churches there are more women than men. Why is this? Where are the men? According to David Murrow we have made church an overly, and overtly, feminine experience and are now reaping the dubious rewards of such efforts. Through three sections Murrow makes the persuasive argument that we do have a problem, that it is a result of tailoring the church culture towards women, and that we can do something about it. Not only can we but we must, for without men churches slowly, but surely, perish. Or so argues Murrow; I happen to agree. Why Men Hate Going to Church   is an excellent book. It is provocative, well researched, and thoughtful. There were several moments during reading when I nearly gasped, in shock and delight, as Murrow refuses to pull any punches. In speaking of the feminization of worship, and...

Hugh Halter.  Sacrilege: Finding Life in the Unorthodox Ways of Jesus . Baker, 2011.  Sacrilege  is a book out to answer one question: What does it mean to be like Jesus? The premise of the book is that Jesus was sacrilegious (that is, he de-sacralized, treated as not holy, things which had been treated as holy) and as his followers we ought to be as well. To explain what he means by this, Halter follows in the steps of the likes of Bonhoeffer and Dallas Willard in centering his answer to the books question on the beatitudes, with lots of practical advice and personal stories along the way.  In a church which clearly needs to rethink what it means to be like Jesus, this book comes as a big step in the right direction. No book could say all that needs to be said on this topic, but what Halter does have to say is worth listening to and think about. Personally, there was not much new here; people such as Bonhoeffer and Dallas Willard have said...

Ross Lawhead.  The Realms Thereunder (An Ancient Earth) . Thomas Nelson, 2011. 400 pgs.  Beneath Great Britian lies a sleeping army ready and waiting for the great battle between good and evil. Daniel Tully and Freya Reynolds are normal school children. Until they accidentally discover, and awaken, two of the sleeping knights in that army. Thus begins their adventures in the realms thereunder. Knights, immortal and ancient wise men, trolls, gnomes, dragons, and an evil wizard seem to be in only the beginning in this enjoyable series.  Reading The Realms Thereunder  felt like a return to an older style of fantasy novel. It comes from a time when confused youths with swords could become heroes, a time when fantasy still had an element of the fairy tale, and it is well done. While maintaining the ambiguity of the human soul, the deceitful shadows of evil, and the reality of our confusing and often sorrowful life on earth Lawhead manages to pull the reader ...

Skye Jethani.  With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God . Thomas Nelson, 2011. 224 pgs.  This book was provided by Thomas Nelson, through Booksneeze, for review.  The copy for this book might as well read: Why are there so many problems in the church? (A few specifics are listed: burn out, lack of freedom in Christ, etc.) Is it possible we have misunderstood the call of the Christian life? Jethani argues that this is just what we have done. He believes that most Christians in the modern west have settled for less than a relationship with God; they have settled for life under, over, from, or for God when what they ought to desire is life with God.  I think that for many people, Jethani is right. While I am not sure that all the problems of the church can be laid just here, it would certainly take us a long way to get these issues straight. Through the first five chapters Jethani explores the first four ways of relating to God as the failures they ...

ed: C. Stephen Evans.  Exploring Kenotic Christology: The Self-Emptying of God . Regent College Publising, 2009. 360 pgs.  Full disclosure: This book was provided by Regent College Publising for review.  "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,  did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,  taking the very nature of a servant,  being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself and became obedient to death--  even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place  and gave him the name that is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,  in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,  to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:5-11 Have...

Jerry Root and Stan Guthrie.  The Sacrament of Evangelism . Moody Publishers, 2011. 288 pgs.  Root and Guthrie offer a way of looking at life that makes us open to God's presence everywhere. They then apply to evangelism. The result is an entirely different way of thinking about evangelism; it is not about us doing anything to God, but about allowing God to do things to us. It is about going out into the world, finding that God is already there, and engaging with His ongoing activity. Through four sections, each with five chapters, Root and Guthrie explain this world view, explore it's implications, and offer some practical advice on actually doing it.  Suffused with wisdom and humility, The Sacrament of Evangelism was an exhilarating read. It is evident that each section of this book seeks to open the readers eyes to God's presence and strengthen in the readers heart a desire for God. This combination perfectly illustrates what Root and Guthrie ar...