Stopping to Think

  Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice: An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis by Scott David Allen My rating: 2 of 5 stars Read this book on the recommendation of a friend. I was severely underwhelmed. Let me begin by saying that I have a lot of sympathy with his basic premise that social justice ideology as a totalizing worldview is incoherent, dangerous, and not what we want governing our society. As Christians we should want justice, and want it defined on God's terms, not the world's. Having said that, this book doesn't have a lot to recommend it. The explanation of Biblical justice is very thin, and basically came to a classical liberal idea of negative rights without addressing the biblical concepts of corporate responsibility and the positive responsibility of the who have to those who don't. On the flip side, I don't think he did a great job of articulating the very Social Justice mindset he was seeking to critique. I woul...

  "God wonderfully delivers his church from death by death." John Calvin, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, pg 22

  The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It by Jamin Goggin My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a 5 star concept with 2.8-3 stars worth of execution. The essential premise is this: we can either embrace power from below (the way of the dragon), or we can embrace the power from Above (the way of the Lamb). Goggin and Strobel write from the conviction that not only has our culture embraced the way from below (which we should expect), but that the church has as well. We have swallowed the lies of the world concerning the true nature of power and promoted a form of leadership that has little resemblance to the Jesus who emptied himself and took the form of a servant. And the way they go about exploring this idea, interacting with Scripture and by interviewing older believers whose lives exemplify this way from above, is super useful. The concept of simply sitting with and listening to wiser older believers is ...

  "To make hearers into doers, we need to appeal not only to the intellect but also to the imagination." Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers & Doers, pg 70

  Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger My rating: 4 of 5 stars I wish I could give it 3.5, or 3.75. The prose is 4, sometimes five. The story is a solid four, though the plot becomes pretty predictable and I saw the end coming with 12 chapters still to go. There were portions that I found wholly unnecessary. But there were enough interesting subplots to keep me interested. Probably the most gripping thing about this book was the way he circled around this idea of the awful grace of God. It only receives brief mentions directly, but the concept pervades the feel of the book, and I found it...I'm struggling for how to explain the way I felt about it. Helpful isn't the right word, but neither is enjoyable. Moving conjures the wrong image. It'll stick with me. A grace we can't understand. A grace beyond comprehension. A grace that penetrates the ordinary. View all my reviews

  "A preacher must learn to listen to God before he speaks for Him." Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching, pg 26

  The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant My rating: 4 of 5 stars Grant is a fascinating individual, and a good writer. I listened on an audiobook, which made it at times difficult to follow everything he was describing, given that I was unfamiliar with the geography. I assume a good printed edition with battle maps would have alleviated that frustration. Again, because of the audio form, the amount of detail was at times tedious. But Grant's attention to detail is amazing, and it was informative to hear his evaluation of other generals, North and South, as well as his assessments of political leaders. Whetted my appetite for more Civil War history. View all my reviews