Tag: Christian Living Page 9 of 14

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.

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 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.

Moses and the Burning Bush by R. C. Sproul: A Brief Examination at What God Shows Moses About Himself

By HCNewton

On August 22, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Moses and the Burning Bush

by R. C. Sproul

Kindle Edition, 103 pg.
Reformation Trust Publishing, 2018

Read: August 15, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Moses and the Burning Bush About?

One of the church’s biggest problems is that we don’t understand who God is. But in that one revelation—the theophany in which God appeared to Moses—the transcendent majesty of God was partially unveiled. What had been invisible became visible through the theophany.

Sproul examines—briefly—just what God says about himself when he revealed himself to Moses. He shows His holiness, His glory, His Aesity, and more—here is even, as Sproul puts it, “A Shadow of Christ.”

In ten short chapters, Sproul opens up the account of Moses’s encounter with the Lord in the bush that was on fire, but was not consumed.* He doesn’t just camp out in Exodus 3, but spends time in Isaiah, Genesis, and other places, although he brings it all back to this point.

* I’ve learned to appreciate Scott Oliphant’s point that calling it a “burning bush” misses the point, it’s only supernatural to call it an “unburning bush.”

So, what did I think about Moses and the Burning Bush?

… in the burning bush we see the revelation of the person of God, of the power of God, and of the eternality of God. We see the revelation of the compassion of God, the redemption of God, and now, finally, the truth of God.

It has been ages—or at least it feels like it has been—since I’ve read an R. C. Sproul book (at least for the first time). There’s a clarity to the prose that’s almost untouchable by anyone else. He can express deep thoughts in a way that anyone can understand—not that there were a lot of tricky concepts this time out, but that voice is still there. And I’m going to miss it.

This is a nice book, as a sketch of these ideas. I think Sproul was capable of more, he could’ve got into all of these areas with more detail, could have fleshed out the concepts more—and given the reader something to chew on. I’m sure he had his reasons for not, I just wish he’d done more.

Still, if all you’ve thought of is the event itself—not what it meant beyond God calling Moses, it’s probably a good way to introduce yourself to it, but beyond that, there’s probably limited value.

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.

Lessons from the Upper Room: The Heart of the Savior by Sinclair B. Ferguson: A Guided Tour through The Savior’s Night before His Death

By HCNewton

On August 15, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Lessons from the
Upper Room: The Heart
of the Savior

by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Kindle Edition, 241 pg.
Ligonier Ministries, 2021

Read: July 25, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Lessons from the Upper Room About?

In his Gospel, John spends 4 chapters (13-17)* on the night before Jesus was betrayed. The last night He spent teaching, serving, praying with (and for), and being with the Twelve (then Eleven). In this book, Ferguson walks through those chapters, well…let him describe it in his own words:

Lessons from the Upper Room is by no means a complete exposition of John 13– 17. If that were attempted—to adapt some words of John himself—an entire bookcase could not contain the books that would be written!

Nor are these pages a commentary in any technical sense. They are, perhaps, more like the “audio description” function on my “smart” TV set. This facility provides a running commentary on the action taking place on the screen to help those who can follow the dialogue but are too visually handicapped to see it.

* Yes, I know John didn’t think of it in terms of chapters, shush, you know what I mean.

That’s basically what this is, a guided tour through these beloved passages from a trusted guide—pointing out interesting features, maybe helping the reader to think of them in a way they didn’t think of before. Maybe picking up a detail they never notice (or had forgotten they had).

Occasionally, there’s a pointed observation, a reminder that we should do more than read these words, a call to action. Nothing burdensome (see Matt. 11:30), but nevertheless, Jesus’ followers are to serve others as he did himself before supper.

So, what did I think about Lessons from the Upper Room?

I don’t have much to say about this book—that simple description is really all you need to know. Especially if you’re familiar with Ferguson, you know that what you’re getting is helpful.

Speaking of being familiar with Ferguson, I really want to get my hands on the talks that this book started out as. They have to be great—as much as I like Ferguson’s writing, his teaching and preaching are so much better.

I’m not sure I learned a whole lot from this read—a did pick up a thing or two. But this refresher on these passages is a great way to look at again at them. It’s warm, it’s reassuring, it’s stimulating. I can see this as the kind of thing I can read every couple of years as a little boost.

I commend this to you and your attention—it’ll reward your time.

3.5 Stars

Why I Still Believe by Mary Jo Sharp: Mark 9:24 Lived Out

By HCNewton

On August 8, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Why I Still Believe:
A Former Atheist’s Reckoning
with the Bad Reputation
Christians Give a
Good God

by Mary Jo Sharp

Kindle Edition, 240 pg.
Zondervan, 2019

Read: August 1, 2021

What’s Why I Still Believe About?

For the sake of time, let me lift this from Sharp’s website:

With fresh and thoughtful insights, Why I Still Believe offers a spiritual narrative that presents relevant answers to haunting questions like:

Isn’t there too much pain and suffering to believe?

Is it okay to have doubt?

What if Jesus’ story is a copy of another story?

Is there any evidence for Jesus’ resurrection?

Does atheism explain the human experience better than Christianity can?

How can the truth of Christianity matter when the behaviors of Christians are reprehensible?

At once logical and loving, Sharp reframes the gospel as it truly is: the good news of redemption. With firmly grounded truths, Why I Still Believe is an affirming reminder that the hypocrisy of Christians can never negate the transforming grace and truth of Christ.

Sharp presents herself—warts and all—and her struggle with doubts, and some of what she’s found to address them. I want to stress what the description says about “a spiritual narrative”—that’s what this book is, and along the way, that narrative will touch on those bullet points. I’m not sure what the claim about “reframing the gospel” is about—how does it need “reframing” to be “the good news of redemption”? And as important as a reminder along those lines would be, this is more of an assertion about the hypocrisy of believers being unable to negate anything than it is a reminder (or defense of the faith for it).

Ultimately, I think this is a story about a woman being let down by the shepherds of Christ’s Church—she needed help, she needed guidance, she needed pastoral care and aid in finding the answers that she needed. In the absence of that shepherding, she had to help herself.

So, what did I think about Why I Still Believe?

The chapters that follow are snapshots of my experience in the church and how those experiences shaped me and my beliefs. If you feel the ever-present tension of the beauty of salvation alongside the ugliness of human hypocrisy and evil, you’re not alone. If you are uncomfortable in the church but feel the risk of commitment calling, this book is for you. It is for those who’ve wondered if they’ve been left a cosmic orphan, and wondered again if there’s more to this unshakeable longing to belong. I can’t promise any tidy endings, but there’s still an irresistible Hope.

I’m not going to talk about all the problems I have with what Sharp presented, but there were many. The above quotation is the concluding sentences of the Introduction. Set against those goals, I think she succeeds—she shows that the reader who matches those qualifications isn’t alone, she doesn’t deliver any tidy endings (and the tidy things she does present aren’t really that tidy), and she does assert that there’s an irresistible Hope. What she doesn’t do is give much of a reason for faith against the tension between the beauty of salvation and the ugliness; she doesn’t assure anyone that there’s every reason to commit to Christ’s Bride despite the weaknesses and personal discomfort—nor does she tell the reader much about the Hope she asserts to point to.

What we do get is an honest account of one woman’s stumbling through life, looking for the certainty of faith, looking for answers the Church should provide “to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), and who doesn’t find much. Yet there’s still faith to be found, which is commendable, it is relatable—it is good to know that as we stumble along the path that we’re not alone.

There’s value in this, but that’s not what the book promised, so I can’t get that excited about what it delivered. There’s not a lot of apologetics, there’s not a lot of Bible, there’s not a lot of biblical justification for assurance—there’s almost no Gospel. There are some arguments for the existence of a Deity, but not for the Triune God of the Christian Scriptures. There’s some arguing about some facts about the Resurrection of Christ—but not about what that means.

A lot of what’s labeled (by others or itself) “Evangelicalism” today is really some sort of “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”—and that’s about as close as we get to Christianity in these pages. Although, I’m not convinced Sharp actually delivered that much of anything “Moralistic”—Therapeutic Deism is about it. I’m not saying Sharp isn’t an orthodox believer—I’m just saying that I don’t see much along those lines in this book.

Here I said I wasn’t going to get too deep into my problems—and I really haven’t, but I’ve gotten further along the path than I meant to. So I’m going to stop.

When it came to assigning the nearly-obligatory Stars, I was torn—just what do I rate this? I ended up looking at my own definition of my ratings, and read: “Don’t bother. It’s not bad per se, it’s just not good.” That about sums it up for me.

Can someone read this and benefit? I can’t say that there’s no chance of it, I’m just not sure what grounds there would be for claiming it’s useful. The dross to gold ratio doesn’t give me a reason to recommend this.

2 Stars

Finding Hope in Hard Things by Pierce Taylor Hibbs: How the Hard Things Shape Us

By HCNewton

On July 25, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Finding Hope in Hard Things:
A Positive Take on Suffering

by Pierce Taylor Hibbs

Paperback, 133 pg.
2020

Read: July 18, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

We think we’re stone. Only chisels and hammer strikes can change our shape. But no; we’re wet clay. We’re sediment and soil. We’re waiting for hands. We’re waiting for fingertips. We’re waiting for the pressure of palms. We’re waiting to be shaped by an artist. And the artist’s tools are hard things.

Hard Things are Going to Shape Us in Ways Easy Things Can’t

That’s it, there’s the book in a nutshell—that line and the quotation, there’s the central premise of the book and the kind of way he presents it.

Hibbs focuses on three of the hard things he’s faced in his life—the death of his father, his anxiety disorder, and his struggles with self-doubt. These case studies are just that, things that his readers can relate to, sympathize with, and find similarities in their lives. After that, Hibbs points to finding Christ and His purposes in the hard things, and that’s where we find hope.

Anxiety disorders, Crohn’s disease, cancer of the spine, the death of your father—these things happen. What matters most is not what happens to you but how you perceive and respond to it. Perception and response—that’s the key.

So, what did I think about Finding Hope in Hard Things?

I’ve talked about two of Hibbs’s books here before—Finding God in the Ordinary and Struck Down but Not Destroyed: Living Faithfully with Anxiety. The former is a collection of essays about finding God in ordinary, minute things in life; the latter is a thoughtful and thorough look at how Hibbs has dealt with his Anxiety Disorder, and how the reader can apply these things to their own problems. This book combines the best of the two approaches to these books—we don’t get a systematic look at suffering. Instead, we get essays based on his studies, based on his observations and thoughts.

I loved this approach, this style. Most books on suffering that I’ve read are meditations or studies on the relevant Psalms—maybe a passage or two from the Gospels or Epistles. Hibbs doesn’t do that, he talks about where he is, where he’s been, where his readers are/have been/will be. He’s learned the lessons of those other books and now he’s internalized them. He can meditate, muse, and reflect—and that’s what these essays are.

As with his earlier book, these essays are wonderfully put together, a pleasure to read, even without the content.

On an episode of The West Wing, Leo McGarry tells a story:

“This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out.

“A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you. Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

“Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I’m down in this hole can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

“Then a friend walks by, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.'”

I thought about that story a lot while reading this. Hibbs is that friend. He knows the way out of the hole—better yet, he understands why the hole is there and how it’s used by God to make us into who He wants.

This isn’t your typical book on suffering, it’s better.

3.5 Stars

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Faithful Theology: An Introduction by Graham A. Cole: Basics for Building a Theological Method

By HCNewton

On July 4, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Faithful Theology: An Introduction

by Graham A. Cole
Series: Short Studies in Systematic Theology

Paperback, 106 pg.
Crossway, 2020

Read: June 27, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

…faithful theology is a human project that arises from wise reflection on the self-revelation of God. Because it is our reflection on God’s revelation, it is always to be reformed and corrected by that revelation…it is one thing to have an evangelical’s high view of Scripture. It is quite another to know how to derive teaching (doctrine or theology) from Scripture.

Cole’s purpose in this is to give his readers a method to use in “doing faithful theology.” Moving from Scripture to doctrine. Trying to balance orthodoxy, orthokardia, and orthopraxy (right opinion, right-heartedness, right practice of life), Cole organizes his approach through five elements, exploring each in a chapter. The first element is the foundation on which the others are built—God’s self-revelation in Scripture. The second is reflecting on the witness of the theology and practice of the Church through history—not on an equal footing with Scripture, but it should inform how we approach doctrine. The third element is realizing our context as we do theology—we’re in a fallen world, yet we are redeemed and are awaiting the return of Christ. Our thinking, our theologizing needs to be done fully aware of what that means. The fourth is centered on wisdom. We need to be wise in our application of the previous. The last element puts all of the above together and focuses it in a doxological direction—our theology should be a service to God.

Throughout, Cole uses examples of these principles applying to Christological and Trinitarian thought. There are some other examples, too, Which is a tremendous help—if for no other reason than they’re bedrock doctrines on which there should be no disagreement. He brings up baptismal practices at one point as an example of something where there’s an opportunity for a divergence of opinion, standing in contrast to Trinitarian dogma.

So, what did I think about Faithful Theology: An Introduction?

This is an easy read, full of solid, useful advice. I found it a little wanting, a little…uninspired? A little basic? I’m not sure precisely what word I want but it’s somewhere in that vicinity. But it’s supposed to be basic—it’s an introduction. It’s a tool to be used as someone begins working on their theology. So, what do I know?

The for Further Reading and books/articles suggested in the footnotes are helpful, but I didn’t feel inspired to track any of them down right away, but they seemed like solid and useful recommendations.

The last chapter, where he brought all the ideas together and gives a great example of how to use his elements in shaping our Trinitarian dogma is great. It makes all the rest of the book worth it.

It’s good stuff, I think it’ll be helpful to a lot of readers. I just wanted a bit more. I think Swain’s book on the Trinity left me with higher expectations. I’m looking forward to the next book I get in this series to see which of these first two are more representative of the series as a whole.

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.

What Happens When We Worship by Jonathan Landry Cruse: An Introduction To or Gentle Reminder of The Supernatural Event of Worship

By HCNewton

On June 20, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

What Happens When We Worship

by Jonathan Landry Cruse

Paperback, 186 pg.
Reformation Heritage Books, 2020

Read: February 28, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s What Happens When We Worship About?

…ultimately I want to recover worship from the doldrums. Let me rephrase that: I want to recover the perception of worship as being the doldrums. Worship is never dull, but we are sometimes. Churchgoing is monotonous and mundane only because our eyes are blinded to the supernatural wonder that is taking place all around us. The reality is that worship is an exhilarating experience. So we don’t need smoke machines, more lights, dramatic presentations, louder music, mystical theology, or entertaining speakers to make worship exciting. We simply need to understand what’s going on in the first place.

This is not a manual for the “how-to” aspects of worship, nor does it wade into the “style” debates and conflicts, he doesn’t look into the “why” we do certain things in worship (although he brushes against the idea). This is about the supernatural aspect to the ordinary, weekly event. This is something too few people think about when it comes to worship—we’re pretty focused on what we do for those few hours, but Cruse’s thesis is that this approach is backward.

Central Thesis

This book is written from a simple but important premise: something is happening when we worship. Something happens to us, Something happens between us and the people we worship with, and, most importantly, something happens between us and God.

Humans are not the primary actors in worship—we are primarily acted upon. We’re involved, we’re active, but only in the secondary sense. Something happens. Something happens at every stage, in every act or element of the service. This book sets out to survey this.

He does this by sketching out “A Brief Theology of Worship.” Focusing on what worship is, that the worshipper is being shaped by the event, meets with God as He renews His Covenant, the worshipper submits to God’s acts and call in this time and we do so while communing with the saints. This is about one-third of the book and it informs the rest.

The heart of the book focuses on “The Parts of the Service,” looking at what God does, what happens in each part. This has a distinctly Reformed flavoring and will include things not in typical Evangelical Protestant services, so some of these ideas may not be what the reader is used to.

The concluding chapters focus on the ordinariness of the extraordinary service (the extraordinariness of the ordinary service is probably how I should’ve put that)—how what we think of as usual, normal. ordinary is so much more and we ought to understand this. And part of that ordinary work ought to be preparing for the service, and he gives direction for that to end the book.

Highlights

I thought this was just an outstanding book, and could easily write a few paragraphs about why each chapter was so valuable and helpful. But I’m going to limit myself to a brief paragraph about two chapters that really stood out to me (on future readings, I fully expect other chapters to stand out in the same way)

In Chapter 12, “We Get a New Name,” Cruse spends a chapter on the Benediction. I’ve read and own at least a dozen books on Worship and I don’t think I’ve ever read more than a couple of paragraphs about the Benediction—much less a whole chapter. This was gold. I’d grasped and been taught about its importance before, but this kind of focus was new to me. He begins by describing it as:

God blesses His people by confirming that His name is on them for good in Christ, and thereby strengthens them to serve Him in the week ahead.

He expands that, reminding readers what having God’s name on them, ties it into Baptism and develops the idea into God sending His people into the world.

The chapter on singing was another stand-out, saying that it’s a gift of God as

a fitting way to praise Him for His work, pray to Him with our deepest needs, and proclaim to one another the sanctifigyin truths of the gospel.

It’s a measured, careful, and encouraging look at this often contentious topic. His approach ignores the controversy, focusing on weightier matters. Like so many things in the book, I found it refreshing.

Wait, Did I Miss Something?

I was thinking about this book a few days after finishing and stopped dead in my tracks when I had this thought. I don’t think that Cruse mentions the Regulative Principle of Worship by name. I could be wrong here, but if he does, he doesn’t make a big deal of it.

Typically, Confessional Presbyterians/Reformed Christian books on the subject are full of references to the RPW, many such books are defenses of, studies on, of that principle. For an entire book to be written for our camp without that is stunning.

Don’t get me wrong—this is a book about Regulated Worship. The RPW is reflected in the pages, but I don’t think it shows up by name. I find that refreshing.

So, what did I think about What Happens When We Worship?

Admittedly, we are just going to be scratching the surface here. There could easily be ten more chapters in this book, and each chapter could easily be ten times longer. But I’m not seeking to present a fully exhaustive treatment on the subject of worship. Rather, this is meant to be an important introduction to, or perhaps a gentle reminder of, the topic. My aim is to whet your appetite when it comes to worship. For indeed it is in corporate worship that we are able to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8).

Cruse writes crisply and clearly with an approachable and engaging style—there’s nothing daunting about the writing, some of the ideas might take a little work to understand if you are reading this as an introduction—but it won’t be because of the writing.

Cruse wrote my conclusion for me in his first chapter—that’s what the book sets out to be, and he accomplished that. Edifying, educational, orthodox, and even devotional—this book will introduce you to the vital topic or will gently remind you of the things you’ve been taken for granted. Either way, it’s something you should read.

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.