Author: Josh King

Readability:  1

Length: 247

Author: Brett McCracken

Can cool and Christianity survive together? Brett McCracken does an excellent job answering this question in Hipster Christianity. First after giving us a definition of cool McCracken does an excellent job of journalism in tracking the origins and development of cool. Then McCracken turns to consider the sad history of Christian cool. While this initial work was fascinating in many way I most enjoyed McCracken’s theological analysis of the marrying of cool and Christianity, that is after all why he laid such extensive groundwork. For those who are annoyed or confused by the first two sections you really must read all the way through. In the end McCracken basically says that such a marriage is unholy, but then goes on to give a very nuanced explanation of how they can coexist.

Let’s think for a minute about what Christianity is and why it doesn’t make a good “product.” For one thing, products must be subject to markets, yet God is not subject to the consumer needs or wants of any market. God only and ever deals on his own terms. His grace comes from within him and is bestowed on us as he pleases. It doesn’t come when we are ready for it or when we long for it. We struggle to fathom something that can’t be purchased “on demand” in this day and age, but Christianity is one such thing. God saves at his discretion and on his watch.

Another reason why Christianity doesn’t make a good product is that it doesn’t lend itself to an easy commercial sale. Sure, there are appealing things about it, but there are also not-so-appealing things about it (um… taking up one’s cross, avoiding sin and worldliness, etc.). And although the Gospel is wonderfully simple in the sense that even a child can recognize its truth, it is also mind-blowingly complex in a way that doesn’t lend itself to thirty-second jingles. Marketing requires simplifying, cutting out all friction and obstacles to a sale, and focusing solely on the beneficial, feel-good aspects of a product. To market something is to empty it of all potentially controversial or difficult elements, which is maybe not the best method of communicating the gospel…

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=glo-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0801072220&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Readability:  3

Length: 230

Author: Thomas Schreiner

Have you ever asked one of the following questions?

• Does the Old Testament teach that salvation is by works?
• What is the New Perspective on Paul and how should it be assessed?
• Are Gentiles under the law?
• What is the “law of Christ”?
• Do James and Paul contradict one another on justification by works?
• Is the Sabbath still required for Christians?
• Should Christians tithe?

If you have then Thomas Scheiner’s 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law is very helpful. This is one of the more helpful books that I have read on the relation of the law to Christians today. The format of the book is what makes it so incredibly helpful. While is it not a book that everyone may want to read all the way through, it still would be very valuable for a reference. There is also an annotated bibliography for further reading. For those troubled by the relation of the Old Testament to the New this is a helpful work.

Readability:  1

Length: 217

Author:  David Platt

David Plat writes clearly and powerfully to remind us that American does not equal Christian in Radical. This book is not a protest of America; it is a call to authentic Christianity, a call for which I thank God. May God bless this book not with profits, but with “prophets” who proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ with all their living.

I remember exactly where I was sitting.

It was in a home where leaders of an American church had gathered – a church that had demonstrated great kindness to me in the past, praying for me and even sending me financial support (completely unsolicited). The pastor sat immediately to my right, and a couple of deacons were on the other side of the den. This was Saturday evening, and I have been invited to preach the following morning in their church.

As we sat around the den, they asked me questions about how my wife and I were doing. I shared with them about inner-city ministry in New Orleans, where we were living at the time. I told them about the ministry in housing projects ridden with poverty and gang violence. I told them about ministry among homeless men and women who struggled with various addictions.

Then I told them about ministry opportunities God had recently given me around the world. I told them about people’s receptivity to the gospel in places that are traditionally hostile to Christianity. I told them that, whether in the inner city or overseas, God was drawing people to himself in some of the toughest areas of the world.

Expecting them to share in my excitement, I paused to listen for their response. After an awkward silence, one of the deacons leaned forward in his chair, looked at men, and said, “David, I think it’s great you are going to those places. But if you ask me, I would just as soon God annihilate all those people and send them to hell.”

It got worse.

The next morning we arrived at the church building, and the worship service began. The pastor rose to welcome everyone , and during his introductory remarks began talking about how thankful he was to be living in the United States. I am not sure what sparked the patriotic address that followed, but for the next few minutes he told the church that there was no chance that he would live anywhere else in the world. Amens were firing left and right from the crowd. Engulfed in nationalistic zeal, I was just waiting for Lee Greenwood to burst into song in the background.

Minutes later I got up to preach on going to all nations with the gospel. When I finished, I walked down to the front while the pastor got up to close the service. These were his words: “Brother David, we are so excited about that God is doing in New Orleans and in all nations, and we are excited that you are serving there. And, brother, we promise that we will continue to send you a check so we don’t have to go there ourselves.”

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZfC7vAbte4]

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SqMTMcyhg0]

As of today there are ten reviews Anthony Esolen’s Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child on Amazon; seven are five star, after that there is a single four, three and one star review. I give you the single star review in its entirety.

I was very excited to read this book because I have 4 and 1 year old girls but unfortunately after spending an entire weekend trying to slog through it, I would not recommend this book to a common parent. The 5 star reviews I just read seem to be from other educators and other authors.

The way this author, who is obviously a very highly intelligent person, wrote the book in what I am calling a “high brow sarcasm” that was very difficult for me to read. The book could have been condensed down to a pamphlet stating the 10 points on what to do to save your child’s imagination, which could have been very helpful. But instead it was “if you want to ruin your child, make sure to not do this”, etc., etc. Then he would follow with story after story from the middle ages on down about how children of those ages were out and about exploring and learning. All of his examples and his writings were very difficult language to understand.

I don’t know what else to say. I was just very disappointed with the way it was written and I quit after half the book and won’t be picking it back up.

Ah, poor soul, he has no imagination. I imagine the reviewer didn’t like Lewis’ Screwtape Letters either, he would rather Lewis given a list of ten facts about demons and bid adieu to the devils correspondence. I for myself love satire, as did Elijah (I Kings 18:27), and I love this book.

For the first time in human history, most people are doing things that could never interest a child enough to make him want to tag along. That says less about the child than about us. If someone should say to us, “How would you like to spend most of your waking hours, five days a week, for the next four years, shut within four walls,” we should go mad, that is, if we had an imagination left.  It is only by repressing the imagination that many of us can stand our work.  Some years ago American feminists, in their own right no inconsiderable amazons against both children and the imagination, invented something called Take Your Daughter to Work Day. “See, Jill, this is the office where Mommy works. Here is where I sit for nine hours and talk to people I don’t love, about things that don’t genuinely interest me, so that I can make enough money to put you in day care.”

Imagine, then, never being able to look upon the sky.  That would drive us mad; and madness, unless it is of the sort that is predictable and spends money, would damage our economy. In Lady Windemere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde, Lord Darlington days, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” That is bad. We want our children to look at the gutter, or, at the least, the movie theater or arcade across the street. What we want is to raise human beings that are not burdened with the yearning to look upward… The sky suggests the vastness of creation and the smallness of man’s ambition. It startles us out of our dreams of vanity, it silences our pride, it stills the lust to get and spend. It is more dangerous for the human soul to fall into that for a human body to fall out of.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=glo-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1935191888&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr