Monitoring Mohler (II) (07/03/09 - 11 Comments)
A couple of weeks ago I said that I was Monitoring Mohler (so to speak), reading through his entire suggested summer reading list. At that point I had read The Unforgiving Minute, With Wings Like Eagles, Hunting Eichmann and World War One. Since then I've read several of the other titles on this list and thought I'd check in. Number five on the list was Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. Mohler says, "Horse Soldiers is...
Does Grace Grow Best in Winter? (06/30/09 - 3 Comments)
To live is to suffer. It is sadly inevitable that in this sinful world, we will all suffer. Some suffer more than others and some suffer for different reasons than others. But the fact remains that all of us will face hardship and pain. Knowing this, we are wise to arm ourselves for those times, to prepare ourselves for the inevitable affliction. Does Grace Grow in Winter?, authored by Ligon Duncan and J. Nicholas Reid...
Book Review - The Betrayal (06/23/09 - 9 Comments)
I wonder what Calvin would have said, what he would have thought, if he could have peered five centuries into the future and seen how he would be honored on the five hundredth anniversary of his birth. Several new biographies; a long list of conferences; books discussing every aspect, every facet of his theology; a bobblehead; and now The Betrayal, a novel that recounts his life as historical fiction. The Betrayal, published by P&R Publishing,...
Book Review - Justification and Regeneration (06/16/09 - 11 Comments)
At the very heart of the gospel, at the very heart of the Christian faith, are two great miracles, two inseparable miracles, through which a dead man is brought to life. The first miracle is justification; here a condemned sinner is made right in the eyes of a perfect judge. The second miracle is regeneration; here a hater of God and a hater of good is transformed into a lover of God and a lover...
You Are the Treasure That I Seek (06/09/09 - 8 Comments)
I spent a few minutes yesterday reading about the new iPhone--the iPhone 3G S. It sounds spectacular. With every generation of the phone the wizards at Apple get one step closer to what people wanted the iPhone to be from the outset--an amazing, innovative, gizmo that does so many things so well. Watching the videos, reading the descriptions, I can feel my heart begin to long for that phone. I know that if I don't...
The Disappearance of God (06/05/09 - 6 Comments)
It is becoming difficult to keep up with the volume of books coming from the pen of Dr. Albert Mohler. In the past eighteen months we have seen five new books and there is still one remaining for later in 2009 (an original work based on a sermon series, slated for release later this year). Atheism Remix began as the W.H. Griffith Thomas Lectures Mohler delivered at Dallas Theological Seminary early in 2008; He Is...
A Praying Life (06/01/09 - 11 Comments)
Any time I write a review of a book dealing with prayer I feel the need to point out that bookstore shelves are already groaning under the weight of such books. There are hundreds, thousands probably, of books on prayer. A new one is going to need to be good--very good--to supplant the excellent resources already available. Paul Miller, perhaps a bit reluctantly, takes on this challenge in his new book A Praying Life: Connecting...
Outrageous Mercy (05/26/09 - 10 Comments)
Martin Luther got it right when he said, "No theology is genuinely Christian which does not arise from and focus on the cross." The cross of Christ is the very center point of the Christian faith; indeed, it is the very focal point of all of history. No event will or can be more significant than this. Little wonder, then, that so many books have been written that teach the cross, reflect on the cross,...
Books I Didn't Review (05/23/09 - 5 Comments)
Here is another roundup of a few books I have received but have chosen not to review. Also, this week I'll list some of the books I've received--ones for which I've not yet made a decision either way. Encouragement: How Words Change Lives by Gordon Cheng. This little book, published by Matthias Media, seeks to teach biblical wisdom on encouragement. I stumbled across it after searching for books on encouragement and realizing that this is...
Book Reviews - This Momentary Marriage & Velvet Steel (05/18/09 - 13 Comments)
John Piper waited forty years to write a book on marriage. It is only after forty years of marriage that he felt like he would have something valuable to say (or something valuable to add to a very crowded genre of book). "Romance, sex, and childbearing are temporary gifts of God. They are not part of the next life. And they are not guaranteed even for this life. They are one possible path through the...
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (05/16/09 - 9 Comments)
Until I read this book I would not have considered God's love as a particularly difficult doctrine. The Trinity is a difficult doctrine to understand, impossible even. The eternal nature of God--that is another difficult or impossible one. But the love of God? I wouldn't have thought of it as such. But this book convinced me otherwise. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson is just a short book (96 pages)...
Books I Didn't Review (05/15/09 - 20 Comments)
With books arriving at my door on a near-daily basis, I cannot hope to read and review them all. I'll admit that quite a few of these books meet an immediately and untimely end in the trash. But many others, even though they are perfectly good, I'm simply unable to read and review. I want to draw your attention to a few of those titles today. These are books I've looked through and perhaps read...
Adopted for Life (05/11/09 - 9 Comments)
In the years since I began reviewing books, I have read titles on a wide variety of topics. But it occurred to me as I considered Russell Moore's title Adopted for Life that I had never read a book that dealt entirely with adoption. Sure, adoption has factored into books on family and books on theology, but never had I read a full-length treatment of the subject. Having heard so much positive press surrounding Adopted...
John and Betty Stam (05/09/09 - 4 Comments)
"The fateful day began with deceptive normalcy at John and Betty Stam's missionary residence in Tsingteh, China. Both the wood-burning stoves had been lit and were starting to heat up nicely, helping to lessen the chill that gripped the large old house that cold, early December morning. The Stams, along with the six Chinese who lived with them in the house, had already eaten breakfast. "John hoped to study and get some correspondence done that...
Book Review - Unfashionable (05/05/09 - 84 Comments)
Every now and again I pick up a book that I feel I should really enjoy. And yet, for one reason or another, it simply does not "click." Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian is just such a book. It has been widely praised by Christians I respect and its six (!) pages of endorsements contain a veritable who's who of prominent Evangelicals, each of whom tells of his esteem for the book and its author. And...
John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor (04/28/09 - 6 Comments)
There are not too many men whose five hundredth birthday is a cause for remembrance, not to mention celebration. Yet here we are, five hundred years after the birth of John Calvin, witnessing widespread celebration of his birth. This year we see many conferences dedicated to understanding Calvin's impact on the church and on society, even centuries later, and we see the publication of many books looking at the man and his theology. It strikes...
Why Johnny Can't Preach (04/21/09 - 17 Comments)
Nineteen sixty-six saw the publication of a book titled Why Johnny Can't Read. Its author, Rudolf Flesh, explained in it that societal changes were leading to illiteracy; children were increasingly unable to read, at least with the effectiveness of the children of years gone by. By the 1980's, Linden and Whimbey had followed with Why Johnny Can't Write in which they showed the similar societal trends were now keeping Johnny (a generic name used to...
The Case for Life (04/14/09 - 23 Comments)
There was a time when my mother was actively involved in the pro-life movement here in the Toronto area. I have many memories of journeying downtown with her, taking the subway and bus with mom, so we could volunteer in some way in the fight against abortion. I have fond memories of it, mostly. At times, though, I am prone to despair as it seems that in the twenty or twenty-five years between then and...
Book Review - Just Do Something! (04/07/09 - 16 Comments)
To be honest, I don't know that we really need another book--yet another book--on guidance and the will of God. Having said that, there is probably no genre of book I recommend more often than this simply because experience shows that many Christians, too many Christians, do not understand how God expects us to know his will and how we may expect him to guide us to those things that please him. We are blessed...
The Bookends of the Christian Life (03/31/09 - 8 Comments)
I met Bob Bevington a couple of years ago. He and I both somehow ended up at a youth conference and we began to chat while walking from the venue to a nearby hotel; we were the only adults around so we must have naturally gravitated toward one another. We were surprised to learn that we were both under contract to write a book--I was writing The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment while he was working...
