January Reading Log

Okay, here goes...

 1. The Grace of Repentance, by Sinclair Ferguson. 3 stars.

This short little booklet by Sinclair Ferguson sets for a classic, Reformed understanding of the doctrine of repentance.  The book has six chapters, the first three of which deserve 4 stars. The last three I thought were the weakest of the book, and seemed to be essays the author had written elsewhere that were thrown into this work to make it a short book length study.

I picked this book up in preparation for an upcoming series at New City Church, & there are some good nuggets that will prove helpful.

"Faith is trusting in Christ; repentance is turning from sin. They are two sides of the same coin of belonging to Jesus." 

"Evil deeds [& thoughts & words] are the fruit of an evil heart. They are not an aberration from our true self but a revelation of it."

 2. The Gospel & the Kingdom, G.E. Ladd. 4.5 stars.

I was first introduced to George Eldon Ladd in seminary with his massive, A Theology of the New Testament." This smaller book dealing with the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ is a good work highlighting the fact that Christ's kingdom is both a present and future reality.  I enjoyed the chapter called "The Kingdom is Today" the most. Overall, it is a very important work.

"The kingdom of God belongs to the Age to Come. Yet the Age to Come has overlapped with this Age. We may taste of its powers and thereby be delivered from This Age and no longer live in conformity to it. This new transforming power is the power of The Age to Come; it is indeed the power of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is future, but it is not only future. Like the powers of The Age to Come, the Kingdom of God has invaded this evil Age that men may know something of its blessings even while the evil Age goes on."

 3. The Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today, by Craig Keener. 3 stars.

I picked up this intro to charismatic theology by the respected scholar, Craig Keener. It had some great moments, but the consistency seemed to be off. He took on John MacArthur's Charismatic Chaos in a few places accusing him of using the worst examples / excesses of the Charismatic movement to make his case. Despite some of the uneven aspects of the work, it was a good overall primer on charismatic theology. It is an important reference for study in this area.

"It is most fully in worship that our hearts can embrace who God is, adoring him and finding the ways of his heart."

 4. Licensed to Kill: A Field Manual for Mortifying Sin, by Brian Hedges. 5 stars.

Brian Hedges has one of the best introductions to the Christian life that I have seen. It is called, Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change (5 stars. Get it!). In that book, he has one chapter on the subject of mortification--or putting sin to death in our lives. What was in good, seminal form he unpacks further in Licensed to Kill. 

This little book comes with a powerful punch and is very practical. I read through it with some men from New City Church and we all benefitted from it immensely. The plus of Hedges work is that he roots our calling to put sin to death in our lives in the Gospel of grace itself. Therefore, there is no "Let go and let God" theology here. Neither is there a "Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" mentality. Hedges does an excellent job teaching us how the Cross kills sin, and further what our active responsibility is in this endeavor.

"If we want to kill sin, we must aim at the right target. That target is not merely bad behavior but the sinful desires of the heart that produce the behavior. Mortifying sin will certainly bring about changes in what we say and do, but we need more than external reformation. Many people change their behavior without changing their heart to any significant degree. But Jesus is concerned about the root and motivation of sinful behavior--our drives and desires--not simply the behavior itself."

Reading Log for January 2011

Below is a record of what I read in the month of January 2011. And to understand the ratings, here is my standard.

5 stars -- I loved it; highly recommended
4 stars -- A great read; recommended; will most likely read it again
3 stars -- Average read; most likely will not read it again
2 stars -- Didn't care much for it
1 star  -- Painful, waste of paper

1.  Hearing Jesus Speak Into Your Sorrow, by Nancy Guthrie.   This is an excellent book by a mother who lost several children.   She doesn't sugar coat the pain of living in a broken world, and she certainly doesn't spout platitudes.  Here you will find a sure guide for journeying through pain and loss, and still seeking God in the process.  While I have a few quibbles with how she worded a few things, I have a much more than a little admiration for the ways in which she worded so much of what she says.   4.5 stars

2.  Servant Leader, by Ken Blanchard.  A good little book with some practical advice about leadership characterized by servanthood.   He strained some of the biblical texts, I thought, to support what he wanted to say, but he had some good things to say.  3 stars

3.  Children of Men, by PD James.   I went into this book wanting to be intrigued by the story.  The first chapter is excellent as James sets up a world in which humanity has lost the ability to have children.   Fascinating premise.  But after chapter 1 it went downhill.  My wife has a hundred page rule on a book--if the author doesn't do it for her by then, she puts it down.  I have a 50 page rule.  I gave James about 85 pages and then started skimming desperately looking for the story to pick up.  Note to James:  I don't care about what a man's earlobes look like, nor the kind of eyelashes he has, nor about his lips, his chin, his eyebrows, etc.  Get on with the STORY.   I'll probably give James another shot with a different book down the road, if only to make my wife happy.  Sum:  1 chapter = brilliant.  Next 10 chapters = painful. Remember, I wanted to like this book.  1 star

4.  The Five Dysfuntions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni.   I started this in December & finished it on the first day or two of the year.   A good little book about leadership that is told via the form of a narrative followed by a section explaining the principles.  Much more entertaining than James!   And the narrative wasn't that great.   He talks about the absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, & inattention to results.  Good stuff that I'll using in team building.   3 stars

5.  Who Made God:  Searching for a Theory of Everything, by Edgar Andrews.   Let me just start by saying 10 stars (okay, I know I'm using a 5 star rating standard, but I really enjoyed this book).   Edgar is a brilliant man (with the credentials to back it up) who takes the whole issue of metaphysics, physics and biology and makes it accessible to the non-philosopher & non-scientist.  And that's no easy task, but Edgar does it with wit & humor.  His chapter introductions are worth the price of the book.   While showing that the New Atheists are offering nothing new but repackaged silliness, he takes on the fairytale of Darwinian evolution and has some critical comments for the Intelligent Design camp as well.   Check out Edgar's website as well as Challies' review.   I will read this one again, and soon.  5 stars

6.  The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission, by John Dickson.  This is an excellent book--one I wished I had written because he says everything I would have wanted to say about the issue of 'promoting the Gospel with more than our lips' (the subtitle of the book).   Dickson contends that it is every Christian's duty to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but not all do it in the same way.  Here are some of the many ways he suggests:  promoting the Gospel with our prayers, our money, through the works of the church, through Christian behavior (being beautiful, he says, and he means by that something like 'living a beautiful and attractive life), through our public praise, through our daily conversation.  Endorsed by all the right people (NT Wright, Christopher Wright, Alister Begg, Ravi Zacharias, Richard Bauckman, Jim Belcher, Tremper Longman, Timothy George--and now yours truly), this book is a must-read for believers (I know, the phrased is over used, but I plan to implement this book in my own ministry and leadership training).  5 stars

7.  Of Mice & Men, by John Steinbeck.  I haven't read this classic story since high school.  I enjoyed it this time around, even though I knew the ending that came all too quickly.   Who cannot love Lennie and his dream of feeding rabbits with his buddy George.   Tragic story, but good story telling nevertheless.   4.5 stars

My wife brought home the library (she's a great wife) the DVD with Gary Sinese (George) & John Malkovich (Lennie).  I somehow didn't get the memo that it was released in 1992.   While some of the transitions were a bit wooden & I wished some of the scenes were a bit more fleshed out, this was a good film.  Sinese is one of my favorite actors (since I first saw him on the silver screen in Forrest Gump), and Malkovich played Lennie to perfection.  4 stars 

Scripture completed:  Genesis, Daniel