Really Bad Reviews of Really Good Books

One of the great benefits of the internet is the way it can give everyone an equal voice. Of course one of the great drawbacks of the internet (for there is no great technological advancement that doesn’t come with both benefits and drawbacks) is the way it can give everyone an equal voice. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the realm of reviews. Whether you an expert or an amateur, a friend or a foe, a teacher …

Six New Books to Consider Reading – Three-Minute Thursdays #13

Welcome to another edition of 3 Minute Thursdays. You know how it works—we put three minutes on the clock and in that short period of time, I will look at some of the books I’m most excited about that are coming our way, or have come our way in the month of January.   The list: The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down by Albert Mohler Graciousness by John Crotts Bible Matters by Tim Chester Supernatural Power for Everyday …

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Love Thy Body

It is always a big deal when Nancy Pearcey releases a new book. It’s a special pleasure when that release is timed for the beginning of a new year. Such is the case with Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. In this new work she brings her unique voice to some of the most pressing moral issues of our day. “In Love Thy Body,” she promises, “we will move beyond click-bait headlines and trendy slogans to …

PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire

In 1974, Jim and Tammy Bakker founded a little television program they called The PTL Club. It began inauspiciously in a former furniture store, but by the mid-80s had exploded into a bona fide phenomenon and a ministry that reached around the globe. They traveled the world, dined with presidents, and gathered countless millions of followers. They became rich and powerful, owners of a massive 2,300-acre ministry center and theme park. They also became almost unbelievably corrupt. By 1987 it …

Best Commentaries on Acts

Series Introduction: I live in a small house. I work in a small office in a small church. For those reasons and others I will never have a huge library. When I add a book I almost always remove a book, a practice that allows me to focus on quality over quantity. Over the past couple of years I have focused on building a collection of commentaries that will include only the best volumes on each book of the Bible. …

Reviews I Didn’t Write

I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I’ve decided to put together some occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Here are a few notable links I’ve collected over the past few weeks. The World-Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips – review by Douglas Wilson. “Phillips begins with the facts of creation and sin, moves on to God’s plan of redemption for us, …

30 Minute Reviews

I receive far more books than I could ever read and review. Even when I toss the ones that are very obviously not worth anyone’s time, a lot remain that I would like to read but simply cannot; this is especially true now that I am preaching and teaching a fair bit, meaning that more of my reading must be directed in specific directions. What I have been trying to do lately is select the ones that look good and …

Counterfeit Gospels

Another book about the gospel. We have seen the release of all kinds of books about the gospel lately–books defining the gospel, books preaching the gospel, books sharing how to live with the gospel at the center of life. Is there any room for another one? Absolutely there is, and Trevin Wax has delivered it in the form of Counterfeit Gospels: Discovering the Good News in a World of False Hope. Wax is convinced there is crisis in the church …

A Meal With Jesus

I didn’t mean to read A Meal with Jesus. I receive enough books to review that I cannot possibly read them all. Last week I decided I would grab a selection of them and spend half an hour with each–not enough to read them through, but enough to get a bit of a feel for each. It didn’t work too well. A Meal with Jesus was the first book I picked up and once I began reading it I couldn’t …

For the Love of India

In the summer of 1805 a young man set sail on the long, perilous journey to India. He left friends, family and prospects behind in order to serve as a missionary in a foreign land. Already suffering the tuberculosis, the disease that had claimed the life of his mother and would soon also claim his two sisters, he forsook the prospects of a comfortable life as a minister or scholar and traveled to the far side of the world. He …