Category: Non-Fiction Page 36 of 61

Opening Lines: The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes

On October 10, 2021

In News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Opening Lines, Theology/Christian Living

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I’ll throw it up here. Dare you not to read the rest of the book.

from The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes:

The prophet Isaiah, being lifted up and carried with the wing of a prophetical spirit, passes over all the time between him and the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Seeing with the eye of prophecy, and with the eye of faith, Christ as present, he presents him, in the name of God, to the spiritual eye of others, in these words: `Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth’ (Isa. 42:1 3). These words are alleged by Matthew as fulfilled now in Christ (Matt. 12:18 20). In them are propounded, first, the calling of Christ to his office; secondly, the manner in which he carries it out.

CHRIST’S CALLING

God calls him here his servant. Christ was God’s servant in the greatest piece of service that ever was, a chosen and a choice servant who did and suffered all by commission from the Father. In this we may see the sweet love of God to us, in that he counts the work of our salvation by Christ his greatest service, and in that he will put his only beloved Son to that service. He might well prefix it with `Behold’ to raise up our thoughts to the highest pitch of attention and admiration. In time of temptation, apprehensive consciences look so much to the present trouble they are in that they need to be roused up to behold him in whom they may find rest for their distressed souls. In temptations it is safest to behold nothing but Christ the true brazen serpent, the true `Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world’, (John 1:29). This saving object has a special influence of comfort to the soul, especially if we look not only on Christ, but upon the Father’s authority and love in him. For in all that Christ did and suffered as Mediator, we must see God in him reconciling the world unto himself (2 Cor. 5:19).

What a support to our faith is this, that God the Father, the party offended by our sins, is so well pleased with the work of redemption! And what a comfort is this, that, seeing God’s love rests on Christ, as well pleased in him, we may gather that he is as well pleased with us, if we be in Christ! For his love rests in a whole Christ, in Christ mystical, as well as Christ natural, because he loves him and us with one love. Let us, therefore, embrace Christ, and in him God’s love, and build our faith safely on such a Saviour that is furnished with so high a commission.

See here, for our comfort, a sweet agreement of all three persons: the Father gives a commission to Christ; the Spirit furnishes and sanctifies to it, and Christ himself executes the office of a Mediator. Our redemption is founded upon the joint agreement of all three persons of the Trinity.

A recent bit of shopping led me to flipping through a few Sibbes books on my shelf—there’s something about his language (especially those first two sentences) that no one today could (should) get away with, but feels entirely appropriate from him.

Also, both his language and subject make me want to keep on reading (and I’ve read it at least 4 times). Your results may vary, but this is catnip to me.

Deeper by Dane C. Ortlund : Ends Up a Bit Too Shallow and Vague

By HCNewton

On October 3, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners

by Dane C. Ortlund
Series: Union

Kindle Edition, 144 pg.
Crossway, 2021

Read: October 26, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Deeper About?

The goal of this book is to call believers to grow in Christ, to experience a deeper kind of Christian life. Ephesians 4:15 and 2 Peter 3:18 call for the Christian to grow, and that’s where Ortlund wants to focus.

He eschews the typical calls for greater discipline, certain acts/habits, intellectual pursuits, or behavioral changes for this aim. Instead, Ortlund wants to pursue this through a focus on Christ we are changed as we look to Him and his benefits.

Growing in Christ is not centrally improving or adding or experiencing but deepening…deepening is that you already have what you need. Christian growth is bringing what you do and say and even feel into line with what, in fact, you already are.

To point the believer to looking to Christ, he focuses on nine different aspects of that action—with one chapter per aspect (that I’ll gloss over because I get into it later).

Sources/Influences

Early on, Ortland makes several references to Henry Scougal’s The Life Of God In The Soul Of Man, which just made me happy. Introducing contemporary readers to Scougall’s classic is a great thing—also, it reminded me that I need to dust off my copy. I’m far overdue for a re-read of that.

I also assumed that the whole book was going to be along those lines. Instead, he seemed to lean primarily on Martin Luther, C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer—not a slouch among them, but none of them are really all that well-known for their work on sanctification.

I’m not saying that’s bad, I’m just wondering if his influences led to some of my ambivalence about the book as a whole.

So, what did I think about Deeper?

I do not have nine things to say. I have one thing to say. Look to Christ. You will grow in Christ as you direct your gaze to Christ. If you take your eyes off of Jesus Christ and direct your gaze to your own growth, you will prevent the very growth you desire…

The nine chapters of this book are not sequential steps in growing; they are different facets of the one diamond of growth. In order to grow, we need to see who the real Jesus is (chap. 1), collapsing into his arms and continuing to do so all our lives long (chap. 2) as those united to him (chap. 3), drinking down his undeserved love (chap. 4) and full legal exoneration on the basis of his own finished work (chap. 5), being therefore freed up to walk in the light (chap. 6) and receive the anguish of this life as the gentle hand of God to help us rather than to punish us (chap. 7), seeing the love of Christ by inhaling the Bible and returning our love to him in exhaled prayer (chap. 8), and actually experiencing the love of heaven through the indwelling Spirit (chap. 9).

It is, no question about it, better than the previous volume in the Union series. But for a book called Deeper, it really leaned toward the shallow, he needed to expand every one of those facets—if for no other reason than to do a better job of showing how they’re facets of the one idea. Because as much as he claims he had one idea in the book, not nine, I really never got that impression. Like the Reeves book on Fear of God, if this is intended to be the “full treatment” of the idea for pastors and other leaders, it falls short.

I liked everything that he had to say, I appreciated the wisdom of it, and I agree these things, as they are rooted in the gospel, need to be emphasized in the believer’s attention and life. But…I always felt like something was missing. Both in his thinking and his presentation—it’s likely just the latter, but without the more thorough presentation, it seems like it’s his logic.

I think most people will find some benefit to this book—not as much as Ortlund aimed for, perhaps–and I’m glad I read it. I just wanted something deeper.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Path of Faith by Brandon D. Crowe: Covenant and Law for Believers from Genesis to Revelation

By HCNewton

On September 26, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

The Path of Faith:
A Biblical Theology of
Covenant and Law

by Brandon D. Crowe
Series: Essential Studies in Biblical Theology

Paperback, 169 pg.
IVP Academic, 2021

Read: September 12-19, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Path of Faith About?

In his Introduction Crowe previews the book as a whole:

The topics of covenant and law are complex and have often been debated, but I’m not interested in getting bogged down in technical debates. Instead, in this book I make four key points.

All people are obligated to obey their Creator.

Though he did not have to, from the beginning God freely entered into a covenant with humanity to offer a reward upon the condition of perfect obedience.

Only Jesus perfectly obeys God’s law, which is necessary for eternal life. Eternal life is granted by grace through faith on the basis of Christ’s work.

Even though we can’t perfectly obey God’s law, the law continues to guide us in how we should live. Obedience to God’s law is still required. And yet obedience is not a burden but the path of blessing.

These are four landmarks to maintain your bearings in the discussion that follows, and they also serve as a handy summary of the book.

From there, the book traces the development of those concepts from Genesis to Revelation and at all points in between—as every book in this series has done/likely will do.

Relation between Old and New Covenant

Obviously, as he’s working through Redemptive History as it progresses, he begins with the Old Covenant—but always keeps the New Covenant in view, as the goal of the Old. I was particularly struck by the way he did this in Chapter 5, “The Prophets: Remind, Reprove, Renew.” I noted a few times how helpful the discussion there was at pointing at the differences between the two covenants, while stressing the continuity of the two.

I didn’t realize (but admittedly should have assumed) that that chapter was merely the foundation for a lot of the chapters to follow—particularly in Chapter 9, “The New Covenant in Practice: Hebrews Through Jude.” Which was just dynamite, and was probably my favorite chapter in the book. It wasn’t necessarily “more practical” than the rest of the book—but its focus on what what The Path of Faith looks like for believers in a post-apostolic age makes it more obviously applicable to contemporary believers.

I should add that a lot of the material in that chapter came from/was similar to Crowe’s The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption: Wisdom from James, Peter, John, and Jude—and I feel compelled to recommend that book at this time (I didn’t do a post on it when I read it back in 2015, or I’d point you to that).

Revelation

Revelation fittingly concludes the biblical canon by echoing earlier Scripture, highlighting the completed work of Christ and sketching a vision for the future. Revelation wrestles with the ambiguities and difficulties of this age but doesn’t leave the plot dangling. Revelation proclaims that Christ rules, and his people will be vindicated. Revelation is an immensely practical book that provides guidance for living today.

That last sentence is going to strike more than a few readers as odd—but it shouldn’t. While the previous chapter was my favorite, this one took a lot more thought and reflection—and was more striking for me. Believers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are not used to reading Revelation for reasons other than “cracking the code” and figuring out the eschatological message of the book. Which isn’t to say that’s not important—but as Crowe argues, the book is more practical than that.

It’s crucial that we recognize and heed Revelation’s calls to faithfulness in life. We go astray if we think of Revelation as a fatalistic book of predictions. Revelation does not teach us to shut our eyes and sing, Que Será, Será (“whatever will be, will be”). Instead, Revelation provides motivation for faithful covenant living in the present, in light of God’s promises about the future.

This means Revelation is not only about the future; it’s about the entire age of the church, from the first coming of Christ to his second coming. It doesn’t focus only on the last few years of world history; it’s about every era of the church’s history. It’s about things that are persistently true. As one helpful book on Revelation puts the matter, “[Revelation] is a book for every age. It is always up to date.”

Given that reminder about the purpose of Revelation, Crowe’s able to point to the call for faithfulness, the motivations to perverse and the promise of the consummation of the covenants at the end.

So, what did I think about The Path of Faith?

It has been a while since I’ve read a book in this series—primarily because the outline was getting a bit repetitive, and it was causing me to glaze over a bit. It’s been long enough and (based solely on recollection without looking at a prior volume to compare) I think Crowe approaches it with a just-noticeable tweak to the standard outline that I was able to appreciate what he was saying without struggling to differentiate this work from the others.

Even without that gap for myself, I found this to be one of the (if not the) strongest volumes in the series—Crowe is able to deliver on explaining his summary from the introduction, explaining and expanding on them in each era of Redemptive History so that those of us living in the New Covenant age can profit from what was written for our benefit in the Old and seeing what our Covenant Head accomplished for us and for our salvation.

This is a great work on the ideas of Covenant and Law and I strongly encourage you to give it a read.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck: A Modern Classic Worth Its Weight in Gold

By HCNewton

On September 19, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

I must be insane for even trying this one…what can I possibly say about this? But it’s been over a month since I finished this, and I’ve got to pull the trigger on this now before I overthink it any more than I already have.

The Wonderful Works of God

by Herman Bavinck

Hardcover, 549 pg.
Westminster Seminary Press, 2021

Read: January 3-August 8, 2021

Thus the confession of the trinity is the sum of the Christian religion. Without it neither the creation nor the redemption nor the sanctification can be purely maintained. Every departure from this confession leads to error in the other heads of doctrine…We can truly proclaim the mighty works of God only when we recognize and confess them as the one great work of Father, Son, and Spirit.

In the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is contained the whole salvation of men.

What’s The Wonderful Works of God About?

Over a century ago, Herman Bavinck gave the world a gift when he abridged his magnum opus, Reformed Dogmatics (a four-volume set) into one volume—simplified for the laity. It was translated into English in the 1950s and published under the title Our Reasonable Faith. In 2019, that same translation was re-typeset and republished as The Wonderful Works of God (a better translation of the original title) with a new translation of Bavinck’s Foreword—which was left out of the original English edition, for some reason.

And wow—what a treasure this is. Over 24 chapters—none that are terribly long—Bavick covers all the necessary topics—Revelation (General and Special), Scripture, the Nature of God, the Trinity, Creation, Sin, Redemption, Eschatology, and so on. You can read each chapter in one sitting pretty easily, but they’re deep enough that you might not want to.

Strengths and Weaknesses

It’s my habit to talk about strengths/highlights of a book along these lines, as well as things I think the author could’ve done better at. When it comes to Bavinck (or the writer of any systematic theology), I’d be punching above my weight as a reader and as a blogger to do that. Instead, I’m limiting myself to the experience of reading the work.

I’ll talk more about the strengths in the next section. As for weaknesses? One of the best parts of this book is that it’s primarily positive/constructive–here’s how the Church has understood and developed its ideas about X. He rarely spends time critiquing/criticizing a teaching or a group. When he does, he does so effectively (for example, see his comments on Chiliasm). I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more of that–I’m all for following a writer/teacher down a path, I just like a little warning when I’m about to stray off of it while I’m at it.

So, what did I think about The Wonderful Works of God?

Under the title of Magnalia Dei, the wonderful works of God, I wish to give a simple explanation of the Christian faith in a book of modest scope, as confessed by the Reformed churches (Gereformeerde Kerken) in all times and lands.

Many contemporary readers will roll their eyes at the “simple explanation” and “modest scope” that Bavinck mentions in the first paragraph of this Foreword. But really, it kind of is. Ambitious and complex would describe his Dogmatics. Contemporary readers being flummoxed has more to do with educational standards and the other ways we’ve let our minds rot.

I should stress—by “simple” I don’t mean easy, I just mean not that complex. This is readable by anyone who’s willing to put a little work into it, Bavinck’s point is being something that anyone can understand and profit from it.

The book is steeped in Scripture and you can sense it on every page—following that Bavinck will explain the catholic* understanding of the doctrine—and then narrows the focus of the chapter to a Reformed understanding. It’s a pastoral work, a compassionate work, and one that will repeatedly point to the Gospel as well as the Majesty of the Triune God.

* Catholic=universal, that is. Small “c” catholic, not capital “c.”

While I’d recommend people put the effort into Reformed Dogmatics this is a far easier place to start reading Bavinck. (I made the mistake of coming at those works in the wrong way). There’s plenty to chew on in these pages, but it’s nothing to be daunted by. I’ve read a few single-volume systematics like this—none compare to the depth, clarity, and usefulness of this one.

If you’ve yet to read this, it’s time to fix that.

5 Stars

How to Slay a Dragon by Cait Stevenson: A Historical Approach to Major Fantasy Tropes

By HCNewton

On September 16, 2021

In Fantasy, History, Non-Fiction

How to Slay a Dragon:
A Fantasy Hero’s Guide
to the Real Middle Ages

by Cait Stevenson

Hardcover, 188 pg.
Tiller Press, 2021

Read: September 14-16, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

From the Back of the Book

I tried to come up with my own summary, and it kept coming out like those horrible paraphrases you turned in to your teacher after basically sitting down with an encyclopedia for ten minutes—technically not plagiarism (at least not to a sixth-grader’s mind), but not really original work.

Instead, let’s just see what the back of the book says:

Grab your magical sword and take the place of your favorite fantasy character with this fun and historically accurate how-to guide to solving epic quests.

What should you ask a magic mirror? How do you outwit a genie? Where should you dig for buried treasure? Fantasy media’s favorite clichés get new life from How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages, a historically accurate romp through the medieval world. Each entry presents a trope from video games, books, movies, or TV—such as saving the princess or training a wizard—as a problem for you to solve, as if you were the hero of your own fantasy quest. Through facts sourced from a rich foundation of medieval sources, you will learn how your magical problems were solved by people in the actual Middle Ages.

Divided into thematic subsections based on typical stages in a fantastical epic, and inclusive of race, gender, and continent, How to Slay a Dragon is perfect if you’re curious to learn more about the time period that inspired some of your favorite magical worlds or longing to know what it would be like to be the hero of your own mythical adventure.

So, what did I think about How to Slay a Dragon?

It’s a great concept—fantasy readers (and writers, I assume) are frequently talking about authenticity and if X technology or practice really fits with an era. Or how would you really go about doing Y? We’ve needed something like this book for years.

It’s just clever—it’s not just about the topics that Stevenson addresses, it’s how the topics are dealt with. There’s a great deal of wit in the setup and explanation of each one—and the way they flow from subtopic to subtopic. Jumping from person to person, location to location, and so on could seem erratic or jarring, but she makes it feel like it flows naturally.

I love her voice—I honestly wish I wrote the way Stevenson does. It’s not just the humor, it’s the way she approaches an idea. It’s the kind of prose that if I decided to get serious about writing that I’d want to study emulate.

Yet…this was one of those strange, I can’t explain it at all, the whole is less than the sum of its parts reads for me. It impressed me on all fronts, and yet I was bored almost the entire time. Until the last 40 pages or so, I’d eagerly pick it up and dive in, and then my mind would start wandering within a page or so.

It absolutely could be just what was going on for me this week, it’s likely just me—I fully expect after I post this and look around at what others say that I’m going to see a lot of raving. But I just can’t do that.

I’m sticking with the 3 stars because of the sum of its parts and because one of the first notes I made was, “if she keeps this up, she’s got a lock on 4+ stars.” Otherwise, this would be 2 stars.

By all means, fill up the comment section with ways I’m wrong about this one.

2 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Nine Nasty Words by John McWhorter: Reading This Book Aloud Will Fill Your Swear Jar in a Hurry

By HCNewton

On September 13, 2021

In Non-Fiction

Nine Nasty Words:
English in the Gutter:
Then, Now, and Forever

by John McWhorter

Hardcover, 270 pg.
Avery, 2021

Read: September 2-6, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s key is that the stock of curses is ever self-refreshing, The fashions change, as always and everywhere, but what persists is taboo itself, a universal of human societies. What is considered taboo itself differs from one epoch to another, but the sheer fact of taboo does not. Language cannot help but reflect something so fundamental to our social consciousness, and thus there will always be words and expressions that are shot out of the right brain rather than gift-wrapped by the left one.

What’s Nine Nasty Words About?

McWhorter looks at nine of the “bigger” profanities in English (with some asides to discuss related words), tracing their history, evolution, varying definitions, and contemporary usage. He points out periods where they were verboten, periods where they were perfectly acceptable—and what made them profane again.

The flow of the book comes from this thesis*:

On that matter of evolution, profanity has known three main eras—when the worst you could say was about religion, when the worst you could say was about the body, and when the worst you could say was about groups of people. The accumulation of those taboos is why “just words” like h***, s***, and n***** respectively harbor such sting.

I don’t know how accurate that is, but it kind of makes sense—and it works pretty well as a framework for the book, too.

* The book uses the actual words, I wimped out and elided them.

The chapter headings give you a pretty good idea of what the book covers and shows how the framework is used (with the addendum at the end):

1 D*** and H***: English’s First Bad Words
2 What Is It About F***?
3 Profanity and S***
4 A Kick-A** Little Word
5 Those Certain Parts.
6 Why Do We Call It “The N-Word”?
7 The Other F-Word
8 Being in Total Control, Honey!
9 A M************ Addendum

So, what did I think about Nine Nasty Words?

I largely enjoyed this book, I find the history and evolution of English fascinating—and while I try to eschew the use of profanity, I’ve found the development of those words very interesting—and I can appreciate a clever and inventive use of them in art.

This was a great look at those words—in particular, I enjoyed McWhorter’s demonstration of how the words function as various parts of speech, as well as the varying nuances of meaning. It was a clever mix of entertainment and education.

McWhorter has a great style, too, throughout the book he sprinkles little gems like:

To understand how language changes without allowing a certain space for serendipity is to understand it not at all.

The [N-]word is indeed twenty-first-century English’s Voldemort term,

The chapters on slurs—”words about groups of people”—mixed in a bit too much contemporary social commentary for my taste, but I’m pretty sure most people won’t agree.

On the whole, this was a great mix of entertainment and education, I doubt this is the definitive work on the subject (and McWhorter would likely agree), but it’s a solid work and I’m glad I read it.

3 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Holier Than Thou by Jackie Hill Perry: We Can Trust God Because of His Holiness

By HCNewton

On September 12, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Holier Than Thou:
How God’s Holiness Helps
Us Trust Him

by Jackie Hill Perry

Paperback, 168 pg.
B&H Books, 2021

Read: September 5, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I don’t remember the day I thought about it and i my coffee was iced or warm. What I know is that what I thought, and what I thought of, I wanted an answer for: “If God is holy, then He can’t sin. If God can’t sin, then He can’t sin against me. If He can’t sin against me, shouldn’t that make Him the most trustworthy being there is?”

What’s Holier Than Thou About?

The impetus for this book came from that above thought—although as she notes, one of the goals of the book is to remove that “if” from the phrase “If God can’t sin.” If He, and He alone, is really worthy of that trust—how should that impact our lives? What a “blessed” assurance it is to understand and embrace God’s holiness as an intrinsic part of His nature and to then remember his promises are “Yea, and amen.”

On the one hand, that might seem kind of obvious, nothing worth writing a book about. But if you stop and think about that for a minute, what all the implications of it are, how it can (and should) shape our lives? That’s when you remember that that profundity is often hidden in simplicity.

From this jumping-off point, Perry spends the five chapters looking at the holiness of God from various perspectives—as a characteristic of God, as His moral perfection, as His transcendence—what the implications of God’s holiness mean that when it comes to sinful men, and (in a great angle) what it would mean for Creation and Humanity if God were not holy. Then she follows that up with two chapters on the sanctification of believers—how we reflect that Holiness.

The Gospel

One thing that I found reassuring and impressive throughout the book was that while the point of the book was to remind us about the holiness of God, how He should be seen as perfect in distinction to the fallen humanity we see all around us. She never uses that as a way to induce fear and despair, never tells the reader to give up—or to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to a makeshift righteousness (a futile effort, anyway). Instead—she points to the Gospel. There is always the promise of Christ’s work for His people, His redemption in the midst of this—our only hope.

Sanctification

The other strength of this book is the way that Perry uses two chapters to address the believer’s response to God’s holiness in their own.

The first chapter is what will separate her from most books on the topic—following John Owen, she talks about sanctification as the immediate* work of the Spirit through the work of rebirth/regeneration and the changing the nature of the believer.

* that is, “acting or being without the intervention of another object, cause, or agency;” not “instant.” (definition from Merriam-Webster.com).

That established, she can then move in the next chapter to the transformation of the believer through beholding the Holy One of Israel, believing in Him, and thus becoming like Him as we follow His ways.

Keeping the horse before the cart on this topic is so essential, and so often overlooked.

The Cover

This isn’t something I usually address, but I have to take a moment to talk about the cover design—it’s just brilliant. It may be difficult to see in the thumbnail above (it probably is, but I have the paperback sitting next to me, so it’s impossible for me to not pick up the details on the .png file), but there’s this faux-distressed, bent cover, well-read/reread look to it. The book looks like I’ve read it a few dozen times—and carried it with me for a couple of moves, probably had it stacked under something for a few months.

I absolutely love it (sure, when I pulled it out of the box, I was initially annoyed when I saw the condition it seemed to be in, before I realized it was supposed to look beat up and worn).

So, what did I think about Holier Than Thou?

God’s holiness is essential to His nature and fundamental to His being. His holiness is what makes Him good, and loving, and kind, and faithful. Without holiness, God wouldn’t be beautiful, and so because of it, He is eternally attractive. Think about the opposite of it being present in Him and you may see my point. If He were sovereign, but wicked, with no inner righteousness to restrain His hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if the world was no more. If He had all power without love, our refusal to love Him back would result in cosmic abuse or maybe a million more floods with no rainbow to promise His relent. If He were an unholy God, what would salvation even mean? What is deliverance to a self-centered “savior”? Thankfully, our God is incomprehensibly holy and therefore completely beautiful in all of His ways and works. This is why we are invited to worship Him as such, and in so doing, we become just as beautiful as He is.

This is a terrific review or refresher on this vital topic. It can also serve as a wonderful introduction to it for those who need one. And for everyone, using the works Perry footnotes and alludes to would be a great way to follow up on this book.

For myself (and this is why I’m rating this low for a book I just described as “terrific”), I didn’t learn much—if anything. It felt like a retread of a lot that I’ve read before. It could’ve been a little deeper and still qualified as a retread. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s near-underwhelming.

However—her starting point for this book really impressed me, although I’d have preferred another chapter or two working out that idea after the rest of the book. But it’s Perry’s prose, her style, her near-lyrical* descriptions and depictions of ideas, events, and concepts—that kept me going. There are paragraphs that demand to be re-read—and occasionally to read aloud—I absolutely loved this aspect of her writing, and it’s going to be why I gladly recommend this to others, why I’d likely buy it for others, and why I’ll likely be quick to buy her next book.

* How not-at-all-surprising for a poet and hip-hop artist to have lyrical prose.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Genius’ Guide to Bad Writing by R.T. Slaywood, R.C. Martinez: For Those Who Are Curious About Writing Worse

By HCNewton

On September 7, 2021

In Humor, Non-Fiction

The Genius’ Guide to Bad Writing

by R.T. Slaywood, R.C. Martinez

Kindle Edition, 39 pg.
2021

Read: September 4, 2021

It’s time to disappoint your readers!

What’s The Genius’ Guide to Bad Writing About?

A guide for the writer who is tired of success and wants to reclaim their lives from answering the siren call of fortune and fame that comes to every author. Slaywood and Martinez have a 10-Step program guaranteed to ruin a novel or two and stop a career dead in its spot.

Obviously, this is a satire—although I can think of more than a few authors that seem to have found this book before its publication (I’m going to assume it slipped through a wormhole and was delivered to them years ago). I’ll be nice and not name names here, but I think Slaywood and Martinez are owed some money if they could figure out how to collect it.

The “Illustrations”

I thought the idea behind this was clever and well-executed. They picked up a half-star from me for this. It reminded me of the footnotes in Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz, David Hayward, but with a different flavor.

Formatting

The formatting on part of this is a little iffy—it largely is going to depend on what device you use to read it. My Paperwhite was fine but it was irritating to read on my phone (I’d wager my Fire Tablet would’ve been okay, but maybe not as nice as my Paperwhite—I’m just too lazy to charge the thing for this post). But the amount of irritation is minimal, this is just a caveat lector (mostly inspired by an online review that seemed overly irritated).

The Table of Contents is just wonky and ugly, but I’m 60% sure it’s supposed to be. And even if I’m wrong, it’s the Contents, if you’re spending enough time on a 39-page book to get worked up about a poorly formatted Table of Contents, you really need to ask yourself some questions about your priorities.

So, what did I think about The Genius’ Guide to Bad Writing?

It bothers me greatly to write something so brief, but with 39 pages, there’s not a lot to say unless I give a line-by-line commentary.

It is intended to be a brief work, and I don’t hold the length against it. I enjoyed what is there, while I do think I’d be happier on a bang-for-my-buck level if the book was twice as long. Unless the authors were just on fire, more than twice as long would’ve gotten tiresome (see: The White Man’s Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon).

This is a quick, fun read that’ll bring a grin to the face of readers. Take a few minutes and enjoy yourselves.

3.5 Stars

The Person of Christ: An Introduction by Stephen Wellum: Scriptural and Historical Perspectives on Christ

By HCNewton

On September 5, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

The Person of Christ: An Introduction

by Stephen Wellum
Series: Short Studies in Systematic Theology

Paperwork, 180 pg.
Crossway, 2021

Read: August 29, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Thinking through all chat Scripture says about Jesus and wrestling with the church as she has sought to faithfully confess Christ is not an easy task, but it’s absolutely necessary, especially if we are going to think rightly about God, the gospel, and the entire Christian faith, The study of Christology is not reserved for academic theologians; it’s the privilege, responsibility, and the glory of every Christian.

What’s The Person of Christ: An Introduction About?

In this installment of Short Studies in Systematic Theology, Wellum examines the doctrine of the Incarnation, the Second Person of the Trinity, and the Divinity of Jesus.

He spends four chapters opening the Scriptural testimony concerning Christ and the Incarnation. Then he looks at the development of the Church’s teaching and doctrinal formulation from an historical perspective—pre-Chalcedon, post-Chalcedon, and then contemporary issues. Finally, he gives a couple of chapters of theological reflection and summary.

The Strengths of the Book

I really appreciated most of the book, but two chapters, in particular, stood out to me—Chapter 2, “The Identity of Christ from the Bible’s Storyline” and Chapter 8, “Jesus as God the Son Incarnate.”

Chapter 2 lies the foundation for the next two chapters of the consideration of Christ as presented in the New Testament by examining the storyline of the Old Testament starting with Creation, the Fall, and then seeing how the Law and Prophets point to the coming Messiah.

Chapter 8 draws the testimony of Scripture and the formulations of the creeds, confessions, and theology of The Church throughout history into ten doctrinal statements explaining the essential elements of Jesus’ identity and the doctrine of the Incarnation.

The call to action in the last chapter, “Recovering the Centrality of Christ.” is a great conclusion—something that not every entry in the series has had, but is a welcome presence, and does a good job of wrapping up the book, summing up the high points and pointing the reader to application.

As One of the Short Studies in Systematic Theology

Of the four entries in this series that I’ve read this is the least accessible overall—most of the book is just fine on that front. A large part of that less-than-accessibleness comes from the fact that this appears to be a shorter version of Wellum’s 2016 book, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ. Assuming I’m right about that, he should’ve edited a bit more for this. Part of the first chapter (“Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms to Identify Christ”) and most, if not all, of the seventh (” Current Challenges to Christological Orthodoxy”) seem unnecessarily technical, and possibly beyond the Introductory nature of this series.

I’m not saying they’re completely inaccessible to laity, but they felt out of place for both the series and the rest of the book. Maybe it was just my mood or attention span as I read it, but those parts of the book in particular, bugged me.

So, what did I think about The Person of Christ: An Introduction?

Overall, I liked it—I do think it would’ve been stronger without the chapters I mentioned in the previous section (or just with them reworked). But pushing that aside—this is an important entry in the series and focuses on things that too often get ignored.

I appreciated this entry in the series, but do hope the next entry I read is a little more in line with the others. Still, get your hands on this—what it does right is very good, and the rest isn’t bad, either.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Faith Among the Faithless by Mike Cosper: An Example of Being Faithful (while Stumbling) in a Hostile World

By HCNewton

On August 29, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Faith Among the Faithless:
Learning from Esther How
to Live in a World Gone Mad

by Mike Cosper

Kindle Edition, 208 pg.
Thomas Nelson, 2018

Read: August 8, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Faith Among the Faithless About?

This is hard to sum up briefly, but I’m going to give it a shot—we live in a compromised age, society is changing, shifting—it’s difficult to predict what the next few years are going to look like, but one thing is certain: Western Culture, particularly that of the U. S., isn’t going to look anything like it did before. How is the Christian to react?

Many hold up Daniel as the model of how to behave in a culture hostile to the Faith. Cosper thinks he’s the wrong model

…there’s a problem with looking to Daniel: Most of us aren’t a Daniel. In fact, we are far from it. As much as we recognize that our culture is in decline, we also kind of . . . like it. Christians in general consume as much mass media and are as addicted to pornography, as likely to divorce, as consumeristic, and as obsessed with social media as the rest of our world. Again: we’re immersed in a secular age, and it’s had a profound effect upon us…while [Daniel is] a great model of faithfulness, I’m not sure he’s the best reference point for most of us.

Instead, he suggests we look to Esther.

…her story is more complicated than [the storybook versions we’re used to]. And much darker. It’s less VeggieTales and more Game of Thrones, with a lot more sex, murder, and impaling than the usual version of the story would imply. (There’s actually quite a bit of impaling.) Mordecai and Esther’s motivations are sometimes murky and sometimes blatantly self- serving.

As in Esther’s day, the Church is compromised, we’ve taken on a lot of the World’s values, and we should look for people in the Bible who find themselves in that situation rather than men like Daniel.

Esther’s story reveals a way forward in a culture where people of faith find themselves at the margins of society. She neither clutches for power nor seeks self- protection. Instead, she faces reality, embraces weakness, and finds faith, hope, and help from a world unseen…Her story is also an invitation to those whose faith, convictions, and morality are less than they wish they were.

When we examine Esther, we see that

…the story is a reminder that God doesn’t abandon his people, no matter how dark their circumstances, how compromised their hearts are, or how hidden he may seem.

So Cosper examines the Biblical account, retelling the story in a very non-Sunday School way and uses that to illustrate the situations that believers may find themselves in and how we can learn from Esther and Mordecai (both positively and negatively) in our cultural moment.

I’m going to end up writing twenty thousand words if I don’t cut myself short, so I’m going to do that.

So, what did I think about Faith Among the Faithless?

Whatever happens in the years and decades to come, we can be sure that faithfulness looks pretty much like it did three thousand years ago. Sometimes it looks like Daniel: a steady path of spiritual formation and obedience. But sometimes, and perhaps more often than not in the world we occupy today, it looks more like Esther: a path of awakening, risk, vulnerability, and, ultimately, hope.

This book is told in an easy, breezy style—full of wit, and wisdom. Cosper knows how to communicate engagingly and clearly. I walked away thinking Cosper would be a fun guy to talk books, TV, and The Bible with. But that style doesn’t belie the seriousness of the material, this is a high-stakes situation, and he’s fully aware of that. But Cosper uses his style to connect to the audience, not to sugarcoat anything.

It’s clear that Cosper has done his research on the book—I wish he’d shared more of his homework in footnotes for the reader. Not necessarily to check his work, but to expand on it—to get a greater appreciation for what he summarized.

Do I agree with every jot and tittle? Of course not. But there’s a lot to appreciate here, and more to chew on, to reflect on, and to learn from. There’s hope in the darkness—and Cosper is good to point the reader to it. It’s not because we’re morally strong and faithful like Daniel, nor does it come from the weakness that characterized Esther’s early life and then the ways she found to do the right thing. The hope of the book of Esther is that the Lord is faithful when we are not, and he will provide for His people.

I do recommend this book, it’ll entertain you and then make you think as well as pray.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.