Welcome to the online home of Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer.
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I finished this book almost ten days ago and have not yet been able to write a satisfactory review of it. I began several times, but each time found I was missing some important aspect of it. I believe the source of my trouble is that I read this book only after reading many others that came after. If I had read this book when it was published (1986) I would seen it as groundbreaking. But today, when we are …
To study Abraham Lincoln is to study character. I would be hard-pressed to think of a person who lived since the time of Christ that so fully embodied the qualities and character of a Christian. He was a man who lived with humble faith and firm convictions and seemed always to direct himself by what was right. Perhaps no other character in history other than Jesus has been written about as much as Abraham Lincoln. There are literally hundreds of …
Christian Handbook is subtitled “A straightforward guide to the Bible, church history and Christian doctrine.” Written by Peter Jeffrey (a pastor in the United Kingdom) the book presents a wonderful introduction to the foundations and teachings of Reformed Christianity. The book begins with an examination of the Bible. It first examines how the Bible was written and compiled and then moves to a short overview of each of the Testaments with their settings and teachings. Almost every page contains a …
One of Satan’s greatest triumphs is in convincing Christians to abandon the Bible, or at least keeping them from really mining its depths. He tries to convince us that the Bible is outdated, unimportant or less important than many other things. He tries to convince us that it is difficult to understand and that we should rely on others to interpret it for us. R.C. Sproul wrote Knowing Scripture early in his career to address these concerns and out of …
There are some books I can read in an evening or two and feel like I have a good grasp of what the book is all about. There are others that I can pour over hour after hour and still feel like I am only scratching the surface of the book. Evangelical Hermeneutics falls into the latter category. Though not an easy read, this book is rewarding. Hermeneutics is one of the steps used in interpreting and studying the Bible. …
Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life is a runaway bestseller, having already sold over ten million copies, making it one of the best-selling Christian books of all time. Thousands of churches have committed to leading their congregations through the Forty Days of Purpose program. I decided to spend forty days journaling my way through this book to try to determine what they hype is all about. The Purpose Driven Life proclaims itself to be “more than a book; it is …
All Things Possible is the autobiography of football star Kurt Warner. Though in the media his story is often related as a meteoric rise to stardom, we learn that it was only through time, perseverance and God’s grace that Warner ever got a chance to live out his dream. I was drawn to Kurt Warner’s story for several reasons. First, I am a fan of the St Louis Rams, the team with which Warner has had his success. Second, I …
Hostage tells the story of the kidnapping of three American missionaries from a tiny village in the Panamanian jungle. The book is written by Nancy Mankins, wife of Dave Mankins, who along with Mark Rich and Rick Tenenoff was kidnapped by Colombian rebels. The book continually alternates between the day of the kidnapping and the years of preparation that led the Mankins family to become missionaries to the Kuna tribe. We learn about their call to mission work, the decision …
The Sacred Romance, by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge, claims that it will “invite us to see what God is doing behind the scenes of our lives to woo us to Himself. A glimpse of His wild beauty arouses our desire and puts us on a journey to capture or be captured by love. It calls us to recognize our heart’s deepest longing and invites us on a journey toward fulfillment.” If that is not clear, it is a book …
Every Man’s Battle is the first book I have read in my adult life on the topic of sexual purity. In my teen years I was given books on the topic and I read, enjoyed and learned from them. However, this is the first book I have read on the subject as a married adult. Because I have not done a lot of reading on the subject I am unsure if Every Man’s Battle is a great book that presents …