Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History by Carl Trueman
Divine Excess: Mexican Ultra-Baroque by Ichiro Ono
Boiling Point: Monitoring Cultural Shifts in the 21st Century by George Barna and Mark Hatch
Open Heart by Frederick Buechner
The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel by James B. Jordan
Portofino by Frank Schaeffer
The Scottish National Covenant: A Tercentenary Sketch by George David Henderson
Face to Face: Meditations on Friendship and Hospitality by Steve Wilkins
On Ugliness by Umberto Eco
Telling Queen Michal's Story: An Experiment in Comparative Interpretation
A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky
The New Jerusalem by G. K. Chesterton
The Challenge of Easter by N. T. Wright
Saving Grandma by Frank Schaeffer
Better Coin Collecting by Tom Mulligan
Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950 to 2000 by Iain Murray
Untune the Sky: Occasional, Stammering Verse by Douglas Wilson
Reading the Lines: A Fresh Look at the Hebrew Bible by Pamela Tamarkin Reis
Chessmen by Frank Greygoose
Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James
Theological Liberalism: A Handful of Pebbles by Peter Barnes
Instructing a Child's Heart by Ted and Margy Tripp
Modern Dispensationalism and the Law of God by O. T. Allis
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Books John read in 2011, Part 2
In April and May I finished 24 books, making it a total of 54 for the year to date.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
A good taste of Wright's writing
The Challenge of Easter by N. T. Wright
This book is excerpted from Wright's The Challenge of Jesus. I read it during Easter week, and found it quite thought-provoking. It is, in fact, a very good introduction to Wright's writing.
Firstly, Wright's theme of the Kingdom of God comes out in this book. Wright sees New Testament Christianity as being "Jewish no-king-but God theology - with Jesus in the middle" (p. 12). He emphasises how the Jewish concept of the Kingdom of God concerned public events ("The end of Israel's exile, the overthrow of the pagan empire and the exaltation of Israel, and the return of YHWH to Zion to judge and save") and is thus much more than a new spiritual experience or sense of forgiveness.
Secondly, we see here Wright as an apologist for the physical resurrection of Jesus. He takes issue with Barbara Thiering (who says that Jesus was crucified, but did not die on the cross, p. 8) and Dominic Crossan (who does not believe that Jesus was buried, p. 22). This sort of defence is greatly expanded in Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God.
Thirdly, Wright draws some fascinating parallels between the gospel accounts and the creation narratives in Genesis. He notes that Jesus was crucified on the sixth day of the week, which corresponds to God's completion of creation (p. 33) and he was rose on the first day of the week, which inaugurates a new creation. He then says, "Mary goes to the tomb while it's still dark and in the morning light she meets Jesus in the garden. She thinks he is the gardener, and in one important sense he indeed is" (p. 34.)
Fourthly, this book contains an example of all that for which Wright gets criticised - puzzling statements of dubious orthodoxy. He says on p. 59 that Jesus did not know he was God, if by "know" we meant what the Enlightenment meant. Now, this statement is incomprehensible to me, but whatever Wright means by this, it would seem that a lot of people will be left confused as to what he is saying.
So perhaps this book has the best and worst of Wright. But like C. S. Lewis, I often find doctrinal books more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and this was a useful book to read in Eastertide.
John Dekker
This book is excerpted from Wright's The Challenge of Jesus. I read it during Easter week, and found it quite thought-provoking. It is, in fact, a very good introduction to Wright's writing.Firstly, Wright's theme of the Kingdom of God comes out in this book. Wright sees New Testament Christianity as being "Jewish no-king-but God theology - with Jesus in the middle" (p. 12). He emphasises how the Jewish concept of the Kingdom of God concerned public events ("The end of Israel's exile, the overthrow of the pagan empire and the exaltation of Israel, and the return of YHWH to Zion to judge and save") and is thus much more than a new spiritual experience or sense of forgiveness.
Secondly, we see here Wright as an apologist for the physical resurrection of Jesus. He takes issue with Barbara Thiering (who says that Jesus was crucified, but did not die on the cross, p. 8) and Dominic Crossan (who does not believe that Jesus was buried, p. 22). This sort of defence is greatly expanded in Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God.
Thirdly, Wright draws some fascinating parallels between the gospel accounts and the creation narratives in Genesis. He notes that Jesus was crucified on the sixth day of the week, which corresponds to God's completion of creation (p. 33) and he was rose on the first day of the week, which inaugurates a new creation. He then says, "Mary goes to the tomb while it's still dark and in the morning light she meets Jesus in the garden. She thinks he is the gardener, and in one important sense he indeed is" (p. 34.)
Fourthly, this book contains an example of all that for which Wright gets criticised - puzzling statements of dubious orthodoxy. He says on p. 59 that Jesus did not know he was God, if by "know" we meant what the Enlightenment meant. Now, this statement is incomprehensible to me, but whatever Wright means by this, it would seem that a lot of people will be left confused as to what he is saying.
So perhaps this book has the best and worst of Wright. But like C. S. Lewis, I often find doctrinal books more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and this was a useful book to read in Eastertide.
John Dekker
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Where my tastes lie at the moment
Or, what happens when a newly expectant mother goes to the library.Some brief thoughts on the two books that stand out.
Better Birth was a helpful, balanced discussion of the varying philosophies of birth. The best chapter was filled with birth stories from mothers reflecting on what went well and what they would like to change about their experiences. The stories pretty much cover all the options of "place": hospital, birth centre, home, etc.
What to Expect has been the most useful on a daily basis. Any time I have a weird symptom, the book comes out and then I say, "ah, yes. this happens to other people, too." I especially like the week-by-week descriptions of what's happening with the baby.
I also recommend Sheila Kitzinger's books, but don't have anything to say about the specific titles above, other than that Rediscovering Birth is more of an anthropological study and I probably wouldn't leave it lying around the house 'cause of some of the photos.
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