Book Review: My Simple Faith

My Simple Faith is a series of short yet thoughtful spiritual reflections on a diversity of topics from Spur Football Club loving friends, to Ferraris, to a tortoise named Timmy. Most of all, however, these reflections centre on the author’s own personal experience of the love and grace of God. The author, Sean Bastable, writes with clear simplicity, but his book is not simple in the sense of being simplistic or ignorant of deeper issues. Rather Sean uses this series of very personal reflections to describe how faith can continue to have simple yet profound meaning even amidst the more challenging situations faced in life today. In this, Sean writes about the growth of his own faith and how that has connected with the questions, doubts and differing paradigms of those around him, most especially his good friend Dave (who writes the foreword).

Sean makes no attempts to neatly clarify or tie up any of the big faith questions he wrestles with, but rather he holds them in tension, dialoguing with them in a way that is both graceful and sensitive. Sean grapples with questions such as the authority and trustworthiness of Scripture, belief in God, the nature and shape of God’s love, as well as free choice and consequences, and as he does so he invites his reader into the conversation as a way of stimulating their own thoughts and spiritual growth. Sean writes as a fellow traveller in faith’s journey, and I would warmly recommend this book to anyone who has ever grappled with what it means to follow God in his way of love.

(You can order a copy of this book from www.mysimplefaithbook.com).

Book Review: Transform your work life

"God wants to use you – in the marketplace!"

“Most people will spend between sixty and seventy percent of their lives at work. This is an incredible investment of time, energy and creativity and God has a very particular desire for that huge portion of your life. God cares about every part of your life, not just the parts that are spent in church and on church related activities.” (From the back cover).

In ‘Transform Your Work Life,’ co-authors Graham Power and Dion Forster outline their belief that the God-given destiny of each Christ-follower is intrinsically wrapped up in the marketplace, but that many people never take this truth seriously enough. Christians are too quick to limit the idea of serving God to certain times and places (like Sundays and the church) but surely God can use us in wonderful ways between 8 and 5, Monday to Friday? Power and Forster combine creative theological reflection with down to earth practical advice on how to embrace your God-given calling at work. Through twelve chapters they seek to challenge, teach and guide you to “turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling.”

This book is very well written and manages to express deep concepts in an easy to read style. I recommend it very highly to all Christian readers – to pastors who can learn something about developing the workplace as a mission field for their congregation members and most especially to lay folk who live with that nagging feeling that surely God could use them in some way.

The book is for sale at Christian Republic on special for R88. Also on Kalahari.net for R95 and then in Wordsworth books, Exclusive books and CUM books (for between R100 - R115)

Christian Republic: http://www.christianrepublic.co.za/catalogue/Transform-Your-Work-Life.htm
Kalahari.net: http://www.kalahari.net/books/Transform-Your-Work-Life/34923/37717631.aspx

‘Transform Your Work Life’ is published by Struik Christian Books.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Graham Power is the founder and Board Chairman of the Power Group. He is also the visionary behind the Global Day of Prayer.

Dr. Dion Forster is a consultant and chaplain to the Power Group of Companies as well as the Global Day of Prayer and Unashamedly Ethical movements.

WHAT DO OTHER EXPERTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS BOOK?

“Graham Power and Dion Forster have finally brought the role of the marketplace into the prominence it deserves! When you read the Bible, it soon becomes obvious that the focus of the ministry and outreach of Christ was nearly exclusively on the marketplace. If you are looking for the secrets of how to succeed with your faith in your workplace, then ‘Transform Your Work Life’ is for you.”
(Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, author of ‘The Prayer of Jabez’).

Book Review: Now - Refuse to let the moment pass

In Delme Linscott’s first book, Living Oceans Apart, he addressed a subject that touches the lives of everyone who struggles with the pain of living great distances away from loved ones. It proved to be an important message of hope and encouragement for many.

This second book that Delme has authored, however, is perhaps even more powerful because its message is directly relevant to every human being. Seize the day! Live in the now! Live to the full! Delme freely admits there is nothing new about these messages at all, yet at the same time they are both timeless and priceless.

Timeless, because the tendency to thoughtlessly waste our precious God-given moments of life is sadly a universal weakness clearly evident throughout human history, and thus, requires continual challenge. Priceless, because the immense value of hearing and heeding this particular message just cannot be measured, it can only be seen, tasted, touched and experienced in the quality of relational and personal fruit it will inevitably bear.

Yet, the essence of this message, while easy enough to grasp proves far more difficult to hold onto for any length of time, which again, is exactly why the lessons and truths touched upon in this book are ones that we need to be reminded of repeatedly. Delme has taken up the challenge to help us remember that every moment counts and he has produced a book which I believe will prove to be an absolute treasure-trove of inspiration for many.

Delme has a strongly personal and pastoral style of writing that manages to not only convey his message but also carry it home to the heart. Delme shares that the writing of this book was inspired by the tragic passing of a very dear mutual friend (the Rev. Barry Marshall), and somehow the deep emotions evoked in him by this event are carried through in his words. This infuses the overall message with a passion and urgency that proves difficult to resist.

All this and more is why I voraciously devoured this book, and it is why I will be buying extra copies and handing them out to various loved ones, because I so want them to hear and heed its message. It is also exactly why I am encouraging you to not only carefully read this important book but also act upon it. Now!

You can order a copy of Delme's book from his website www.livingingrace.co.za

('So What' will be featuring an interview with author Delme Linscott later this week in our 'What's News' section).

Book Review: Praying With Jesus - A Year Of Daily Prayers And Reflections On The Words And Actions Of Jesus

Eugene Peterson is one of the most prolific and best-loved Christian authors writing today. He is perhaps best known for ‘The Message,’ but has authored numerous other books mainly in the area of Christian spirituality. Peterson is renowned as a scholar and language expert, but also writes extraordinarily well. I remember hearing him say in an interview that he often spends days reworking just one paragraph to get it exactly right. Through the strength and beauty of his words, Peterson is able to open doors for his readers into deeper understandings of God, discipleship and Scripture.

This book is not one of his better known ones, but really should be. It is classic Peterson – beautifully written and deeply profound and because of its nature and style would make a perfect Christmas gift – hence the reason for including the review now. As the title implies, it is a year’s worth of daily readings – both prayers and reflections – on the words of Jesus.

Peterson works his way through the Gospels of Matthew and John, and encourages his readers to remove themselves from the hurly-burly hectic pace of daily life and to read, listen and pray “with the natural, comforting rhythms of Jesus’ own teachings.”

Peterson reminds us that when we read Jesus’ words we are not looking for information as much as companionship and our aim should be to become shaped and molded by what we encounter. Peterson encourages us read with Jesus in a way that “shapes the heart at the same time it informs the intellect, sucking out the marrow-nourishment from the bone-words.”

Thus, the aim of these devotional readings and prayers is to help slow us down – to discipline ourselves to quietly sit at the feet of Jesus and just soak in His Spirit and Nature. And as we learn to pray regularly and frequently as Jesus himself did, it is through this attentive apprenticeship (or discipleship) that we can discover new depths of relationship with God and others. As Peterson himself says, we can discover "a world in which repetitions deepen into intimacies and a long silence is as eloquent as a sonnet."

I have read my way through this little book twice (separated by a year) to aid in my personal devotions, and really cannot recommend it highly enough. It is jam-packed with wisdom to the point that I actually got more out of it the second time round than the first. It would make a fantastic Christmas gift, but be sure to buy yourself a copy at the same time since you will gain personally so much from it (and no, I am not paid to say that!).

Book Review: Future Leader

It comes with a certain amount of relief to read a Christian leadership book that is not overly unbalanced towards the whole ‘bigger is better’ and ‘onwards and upwards’ kind of thinking that has tended to dominate lately. It is a great strength that the Christian leadership movement through movements like the Global Leader Summit has paid more careful attention to the world of commercial leadership, but sometimes this focus has resulted in the loss of certain fundamental principles of leadership that Scripture emphasizes: Principles such as servanthood, humility and the vital importance of a well-managed interior life.

Viv Thomas’ book ‘Future Leader’ manages to get that mix right. He uses the best of organizational management research but always filters it through very Biblical models. Thomas rightly asserts that “Leadership is a key to success in any organization,” and then engages with what it means to get leadership right in a post-modern context as it is guided by Scripture. Thomas acknowledges that leadership can never be black and white in a world that is filled with ambiguities, and that leaders have to face the great challenge of wisely moving others through messy and confusing circumstances that might never have clear answers or solutions.

Thomas begins by reminding his readers that crucial to all Christian leadership is the realization and embrace of God’s call to lead. He writes, "The great Christian leaders are identified by the quality of their conversation with God." Thomas goes onto describe this ongoing conversation as the “inscape” of the leader as he compares the very different leadership styles of Pontius Pilate and Jesus under the same pressure-filled circumstances. Thomas describes how Pilate would have been a much better leader if he had paid more attention to his “inscape,” or his inner world and character. Thomas speaks of leadership in "blurred times" and our need to find clarity during such times. That clarity comes from re-asserting our followership of God. Thomas warns us to not confuse ‘vision’ with our own agendas because that will inevitably lead to clashes with others.

Building on all of this, Thomas tells us that a good leader will have three main qualities:

1. They will be driven by compassion, not obsession.
2. They will be rooted in relationships, not systems.
3. They will promote life, not self image.

Essentially, Thomas is saying that leadership is always a reflection of our “inscape” – whether that is rooted in Christ and conversant with God - or whether it is more indulgent in ego issues and self-glorification. Before our best-laid plans, great vision, purpose and accomplishments, there is character and the calling to relationship. Within this Thomas not only takes us through a deep and very helpful look at some biblical examples of leadership that will help us affect and change the future for good, he also stresses the vital importance of mentor relationships by detailing the lives of some people who have inspired him.

‘Future Leader’ is clearly written and infused with both wisdom and compassion, resulting in a compelling manifesto of leadership that is thoroughly biblical that provides valuable guidance to every leader's necessary escape from a compulsive and perfectionist approach to his or her role, and into a Christ-rooted leadership that serves in love rather than fear.

Book Review: Hope Against Darkness - The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety

Richard Rohr is a brilliant thinker who writes fluently on a number of different topics relating to human spirituality. In this book, Rohr speaks as a modern prophet who powerfully challenges the current setup of our society and calls us to significant change. In this way, Rohr reminds us of the hope that Christ always offers in confusing times.

Rohr tells us that the age we live in can be termed the “age of anxiety,” and thereafter paints a bleak picture of the prevailing thought, culture and attitudes of our society. So much of how we think, act and treat others is based upon our deeply-rooted anxieties, and results in cultural biases, prejudices, oppression, greed and excessive victimhood, - basically, all our personal inner “darkness”. Rohr points out that this “darkness” results in religious, scientific and cultural fundamentalism and also in what may at first glance appear to be the exact opposite - nihilism. Rohr writes:

"It is much easier to look for someone to blame, sue, expel or expose when there is no coherent meaning or divine purpose in the world. Someone has to be at fault for my unhappy life! As long as we keep trying to deal with the mystery of evil in some way other than forgiveness and healing, we will continue to create negative ideologies like fundamentalism and nihilism in all their endless forms. One demands perfect order; the other denies that it is even possible. Jesus does neither, but lives on the horns of the human dilemma."

Instead of investing blindly in those people and institutions for some sort of misguided security, or conversely living with a sense of victimhood and looking to those same people and institutions as scapegoats, Rohr encourages us to follow the way of Jesus. Here Rohr looks to Christian tradition for mentors who have followed the way of Jesus despite similar social and cultural challenges. Rohr uses the life and example of Francis of Assisi because he believes that Francis lived and thrived in a very similar age to our own.

Rohr describes in detail how following Saint Francis' way to forgiveness and love, and "owning the darkness," can bring us out of the gloomy postmodern depths in which we find ourselves. For example, Rohr says that we all too easily embrace hate instead of love when we feel anxious, because hate is easier to take up and more quickly gives us a sense of control and temporary power over situations that we are fearful of. Rohr writes:

"Hate unites a group quickly, it gives a person identity even if it is a negative one, and most of all it takes away doubt and all free floating anxiety. It gives us a place to stand that feels superior and in control. Hate settles the dust and ambiguity that none of us like. Hate is more common and more immediately effective than love."

Yet, the consequences of hate are immensely destructive to all. This is why Rohr encourages us to follow after Francis and be prepared to “live the emptiness of not knowing" for "You do not have to create all the patterns and you do not have to fix all the failures. What else would be the beginnings of peace? Only people who have moved beyond ego and controlling of all outcomes, only those practiced at letting go, see fear for the impostor that it is. To be trapped inside of your own small ego is always to be afraid. Perfect love casts out all fear. (1 John 4:18)."

Rohr can always be counted upon to offer wonderfully fresh insights into both Scripture and modern society. He is a deep thinker who is able to craft his thoughts together into words that will really make you think, and then think again. I especially loved how he uses the example of Francis of Assisi, a man who followed Jesus so closely and developed his spirituality in a similar age of anxiety to our own. This book is highly recommended!

Book Review: When Christians Get it Wrong

Lately, it has become trendy to write about how negatively Christianity is perceived and how Christians need to accept responsibility for this and more importantly do something about it. There are at least 5 or 6 books that have come out recently regarding this, from the immensely popular ‘UnChristian’to Jason Berggren’s provocatively named ‘10 Things I Hate About Christianity.’ All of these speak to huge problems within Christianity today, and we really should be listening carefully to them, but what I enjoy particularly about Adam Hamilton’s contribution (When Christians Get It Wrong) is his special ability to take complex, controversial ideas and clearly and gracefully explain them.

Hamilton is a Methodist minister of a large church in the States called The Church of the Resurrection, and was also a key-note speaker at the 2010 Global Leaders Summit. This particular book was originally a sermon series which he has bulked out into a book and stemmed from a conversation he had with a young man who carried extremely negative perceptions of Christianity. Hamilton looks at five particular areas of negative perception in Christian behavior; including science, politics, other religions, the problem of evil and homosexuality. All of these areas have their particular controversies and Hamilton spells out how Christianity has tended to ostracise others in the way it has approached and dealt with them.

Hamilton believes that the often errant Christian approach to these issues has raised barriers that prevent people from coming to Christ, and quite often these barriers are formed out of nothing more than our own hypocrisies, prejudices and fears that we hide behind words like “scripture,” “doctrine” and “truth”. In each case, Hamilton affirms that Christianity should be engaging with these controversial areas, but should be doing it in a way that is far more authentic, graceful, loving and thoughtful. As he systematically works his way through each larger issue, Hamilton proposes alternative understandings and approaches that might help people to Christ rather than hindering them. In each of these, he also lays down some challenges in widening our understanding, changing our attitudes and improving our behavior to those we might disagree with. Hamilton also helpfully includes some examples of what it looks like when we “get it right.”

You may not agree with all the conclusions that Hamilton draws, but we can all certainly learn from the behavior adjustments he challenges us to. At the end of the day, what we can all agree with is Hamilton’s desire to remove those unnecessary and sometimes downright cruel stumbling blocks to Jesus that Christians often erect in their churches and general thinking. Hamilton’s common sense wisdom and thoughtful grace shines through every page making this book well worth reading, but don’t just take my word for it because I have included below a recommendation by the renowned pastor and academic Scot McKnight:

“If there was one pastor in the United States to whom I'd go for pastoral wisdom on the issues that divide us and that need pastoral words of warning and compassion, it is Adam Hamilton. Even when one does not agree with each of his proposals, one will come away refreshed, enlightened, and determined to ‘get it right.’ Because we sometimes ‘get it wrong,’ we learn that the only way to get it right is the way of humility, confession, compassion, and renewed commitment to a deeper integrity.”

Book Review: Second Choice - Embracing life as it is

In ‘Second Choice: Embracing life as it is,’ author Viv Thomas examines how modern society teaches us to live our lives. Thomas challenges the popular assumption that only people who are famous, rich or outwardly successful are counted as being significant. He says that this unhealthy obsession of ours means that we live with idealized versions of how life should be. So whenever our life hits tough times, or things don’t work out as smoothly as we initially imagined, we are left feeling insignificant and as if we have somehow failed. We stop living to the full because our first choice world is no longer open to us and we lose much hope and meaning as a result. We live with a sense of disappointment and growing bitterness.

Yet, Thomas insists, second choice events are part and parcel of all life, they are by no means an indication of a lack of significance. Our lives can have tremendous impact and meaning even if all our first choice dreams crumble around us. To illustrate this possibility, Thomas uses the book of Daniel to throw light on the ‘second choices’ all of us inevitably face. Daniel’s first choice world was thrown into turmoil by his exile and translocation into a new country and vastly different culture that made it extremely difficult for him to live a faithful and God-honouring life. Using Daniel’s experiences as he was forced to operate in this ‘second-choice’ scenario, Thomas explains how wonderful things can still happen if our own lives are dislocated by unfortunate circumstances.

“Second Choice” is well-written and absolutely littered with wisdom. It is by no means a long book, and is easy enough to read, but Thomas’ reflections on Daniel’s experiences, which he intersperses with contemporary stories and personal experiences, is more than enough to leave you thinking for a long time after you finish it. Thomas’s own personal depth, and his experiences as a leader of long standing is clearly evident throughout and if you take the time to grapple with his words you will definitely be enriched as a result.

Whatever you ‘second choice’ circumstances may be - sickness, redundancy, relationship difficulties and more – reading this book will help you to face these realities more maturely and negotiate their difficulties more wisely. God’s intention for us is life in all its fullness and our second choice situations can become places of “grace, community, imagination and maturity if we learn to embrace life as it is.”

Book Review: Searching for God Knows What

Donald Miller, whose best known book is the New York times bestseller Blue Like Jazz, is one of the more popular young Christian writers at the moment. He has been compared with Phillip Yancey, but in many ways is an entirely different writer. Miller has a far more conversational-type style, is less structured, and is not as well researched as Yancey. However, Miller does bring some fantastic thinking to his works, which with his casual style, excellent stories and entertaining humour is probably the reason he is so well received, particularly in the young ‘Emergent church’ set.

Searching for God Knows What is by no means a perfect book, but it is challenging, humourous and very authentic. Miller believes that the greatest desire of every person is the desire for redemption. Every person is continually searching for redemption (or at least the semblance or feeling of it) in his or her life, believing countless gospels that promise to fix the brokenness, but cannot always fulfill that promise. Typically their pursuits include the desire for fulfilling relationships, successful careers, satisfying religious systems, status, and escape, and all of these are part of humanity’s fall.

Miller believes that the inability to find redemption through these ‘gospels’ leads to chaotic relationships, self-hatred, the accumulation of meaningless material possessions, and a lack of inner peace. He outlines how the gospel of Jesus, while the true gospel and the only way to find meaning in life and real redemption, has often been presented in a false way leading people to miss out.

Miller uses his great strength in writing – a very personable and likeable narrative style – to describe how he became an atheist at age 18 because he encountered a version of Jesus’ gospel which he found deeply unsatisfying, and in fact now believes was idolatrous. Miller believes that Christianity as a religion should never be presented as a formula, its tenets broken down into bullets or step-by-step points to fit modern Western thought patterns. Miller also believes that our competitive and materialistic dog-eat-dog world has entered Christianity, and we have become far too quick to judge others based upon pre-decided rules and tenets, instead of viewing them (and ourselves) through the lens of our relationship with Jesus.

At its very core, and Miller argues this again and again, Christianity is relationship and seekers should be presented with biblical stories rather than steps to salvation. Miller talks in detail throughout the book about Jesus, and his role in the salvation of humanity, and how relationship with Jesus is the most important part of the message, and not any rules or guidelines setup by organizations and institutions. Miller argues effectively throughout the book that this relationship with Jesus should affect the way we live, how we view others and ourselves, and promote justice, compassion and care for the poor.

Reading Miller is much like talking with a good (and wise) friend over a cup of coffee or in a small group setting. Due to its simple narrative style, this book can be devoured in a few sittings, but there are a few profound statements and stories that will leave you thinking for quite a while longer. This is not to say that Miller’s book is without weakness. Like any good friend or fellow Bible study member, his thoughts are there to be dialogued with and not accepted wholesale. They need to be carefully considered and chewed over, which I think, is the intention of the book. For example, I found that Miller’s understanding of how propositional truth affects relationship to be fuzzy, i.e. what we do believe about God IS important because that will affect how we relate to him, we cannot dismiss all doctrine as being an unnecessary hindrance to relationship. Miller also shares the typical Emergent church weakness in that he challenges the present systems of church really well, but seems unable to come up with compelling alternatives. Still, this book is definitely worth reading because Miller clearly IS a wise and thoughtful person who has much of value to share.

Book Review: Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament

One of the most common laments of your average Bible reader is how much they struggle with the Old Testament. Whether it is because of the violence, or the strange, almost other-worldly customs, or even just the endless lists and genealogies, the Old Testament is at best ignored by many Christians, and at worst viewed with a great deal of suspicion and anxiety.

Christopher Wright does not agree with this viewpoint at all. In fact, he believes that the Old Testament is an incredibly valuable spiritual resource for Christ-followers because it was so essential to the formation of Jesus’ identity and mission. Wright is convinced that Jesus’ own story is rooted in the story of Israel, and that understanding the story of Israel will broaden and deepen our understanding of Christ.

Wright is an acclaimed Old Testament scholar, but wears his scholar’s mantle lightly and instead writes with a good communicator’s instinct for the lack of awareness and appreciation that the average person might have in regards to a subject he is so utterly proficient in. Wright is obviously passionate about the Old Testament and the importance of studying it, but he is equally passionate about convincing his audience to agree with him on this. The result is a book that is designed to draw the average reader past the misconceptions and prejudices, and into the incredibly absorbing world of the Old Testament.

Rather than tackling the Old Testament en masse, Wright takes 5 chapters to relate Jesus to the following five themes – story, promise, identity, mission and values. Each chapter is fascinating, and will give you plenty to think about as you learn more about just how much the Old Testament can increase our appreciation of the Jesus story. In his own words, Wright sees the Old Testament as telling “the story which Jesus completes”.

My favourite part about this book is how it does succeed in deconstructing various misconceptions and prejudices about the Old Testament, and also how it lays down solid foundations for the reader in instilling excitement and lending new appreciation to the very scriptures, which shaped so much of Jesus himself. This book comes highly recommended and is well worth reading, especially if you are one of those who find the Old Testament scary, off-putting or obsolete. Read this book and I am sure that Wright will convince you otherwise.

Book Review: UnChristian - What a new generation really thinks about Christianity ... and why it matters

The president of The Barna Group, David Kinnaman, has written this controversial but immensely popular book that took American Christianity by storm. Kinnaman has focussed his research on two different generations – the Mosaics (born between 1984 and 2002) and the Busters (born between 1965 and 1983). He then deals with how Christians are generally perceived by these generations, the groups of people they should be serving and evangelising. The result is ‘UnChristian: What a new generation really thinks about Christianity ... and why it matters.”

Although this study focuses mainly on how Americans view American Christians, its findings are very applicable to all countries that have been affected by Western Christianity. This is because large sections of today’s population in the Western world, ages 16 to 29, view Christianity as "antihomosexual," "judgmental," "hypocritical," "too involved in politics," "sheltered," and "insensitive to others.” And Kinnaman doesn’t just make these statements up, because they are all derived from verifiable data compiled by The Barna Group over an extensive period. Essentially, we are told, there are huge sections of people – a majority, in fact – who find Christians unpleasant company for a variety of reasons. That would explain those glares around the staff coffee machine that you were wondering about.

This shouldn’t be surprising since the anti-Christian voice has been pretty loud in the media lately. For example, recently there was a lot of fuss made because Anne Rice (the Vampire author) decided to give up on Christianity as a direct result of Christians and the constant prejudice she was encountering in them. There is a world-wise malaise with Christianity propped up by mistakes which are made by a minority of us: like hateful, anti-gay statements; or the priest abuse cases; or the in-authenticity of some of our prosperity gospel preachers; or the fact that many Christians don’t live what they preach.

Kinnaman takes a blow-by-blow look at the descriptors, analyzes the stats, and makes suggestions for corrective action that are largely helpful, if not earth-shatteringly so. He investigates each critique in its own chapter, such as ‘Hypocritical,’ ‘Antihomosexual,’ ‘Sheltered,’ ‘Too Political,’ ‘Judgemental’ and ‘Get Saved!’ (which looks at unauthentic and fly-by-the-seat evangelism that fails to express any route to spiritual depth or indeed any real concern for the evangelical ‘targets’).

In these chapters, Kinnaman tries to outline a plan for better interaction between Christ-followers and non-Christians, and he probably nails it best in his chapter on how the world defines the church as “sheltered” when he explains that “outsiders” need to see that Christians can get involved with them in the world, while at the same time maintaining a “balance” between “proximity and purity.”

Kinnaman quotes Mike Metzger of the Clapham Institute:
“Being salt and light demands two things: we practice purity in the midst of a fallen world and yet we live in proximity to this fallen world. If you don’t hold up both truths in tension, you invariably become useless and separated from the world God loves. For example, if you only practice purity apart from proximity to the culture, you inevitably become pietistic, separatist, and conceited. If you live in close proximity to the culture without also living in a holy manner, you become indistinguishable from fallen culture and useless in God’s kingdom.”

As you can see though, Kinnaman has not really given a clear answer, rather he just restates the same problem in another way. This in essence sums up the weakness of his book in that he does an excellent job of analysing and explaining and using the data to effectively challenge Christians, but struggles to come up with compelling answers to the questions posed. Kinnaman's clearest vision is for the church to fix its "image problem" via real, personal change – in other words to focus on journeys of greater depth. However, even in this Kinnaman fails to clarify how the church as an institution can take this journey. Or at least if he did, it wasn’t clear to me.

I would still recommend ‘UnChristian’ highly. It is a valuable diagnostic tool for the Church, and its ‘American’ focussed lessons can easily be applied to South African contexts with a bit of creative thought. If you are wondering how the ‘non-Jesus’ people in society might perceive you, then this is definitely the book to read. At the very least, reading it might help instil a greater humility within Christianity at large, and also develop greater urgency that we take seriously the need to engage more deeply with the people who live among us and who have differing faith or value systems.

Book Review: An Altar in the World - A Geography of Faith

Barbara Brown Taylor calls this book a “field guide” to spiritual practices and as such encourages her readers not to read it from cover to back, but rather to pick out and read the chapters most relevant to their lives. This actually works because Taylor examines everyday practices such as walking, working and nature, and so you tend to find there are parts of the book that are always relevant to where ever you happen to be. Taylor sees ‘mundane’ practices as means of revealing small windows into heaven and sensing God’s presence. Each chapter takes simple customs, like encountering people, getting lost and daily chores, and provides an alternate view to these routine happenings.

Taylor writes beautifully and reading her is something like an orchestral experience of the mind and soul. The mastery of her prose is enough to curl your toes in sheer delight, like seeing drizzled honey and melted butter soak into warm, freshly baked bread. She tells the most exquisite stories that leave you feeling a little breathless afterward, as if you had actually shared the whole giddy experience with her.

Each chapter is a series of reflections on the different practices of the engaged spiritual life. The 12 different chapters cover subjects as diverse as "The Practice of Paying Attention," about reverence, "The Practice of Wearing Skin," which addresses incarnation, and "The Practice of Paying Attention to God," which focuses on prayer. My favourite, however, is her chapter on "The Practice of Encountering Others." The following quote from this chapter will explain exactly why it spoke to me so powerfully:

“What we have most in common is not religion but humanity. I learned this from my religion, which also teaches us that encountering another human being is as close to God as I may ever get -- in the eye-to-eye thing, the person-to-person thing -- which is where God's Beloved has promised to show up. Paradoxically, the point is not to see him. The point is to see the person standing right in front of me, who has no substitute, who can never be replaced, whose heart holds things for which there is no language, whose life is an unsolved mystery. The moment I turn that person into a character in my own story, the encounter is over. I have stopped being a human being and have become a fiction writer instead.”

I thoroughly enjoy the writings of Barbara Brown Taylor, but she may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For example, some of her thoughts on ‘God as a lover’ may leave you blushing although she does follow in the footsteps of some of the ancient Christian mystics here. Also, while she roots her teachings in Christianity she does draw upon the wisdom and spiritual practices of other religions. What must be remembered is that she is not advocating the doctrines of these religions but merely encouraging us to learn from their spiritual disciplines.

Frankly, Taylor lost me a little when she wandered too far down anyone path - I preferred it when she kept it simple and revealed concrete ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of devotion if we pay attention to what we are doing and take time to attend to the sights, smells, and sounds around us. In this way Taylor encourages us to question conventional distinctions between the sacred and the secular, and to learn that no physical act is too earthbound or too humble to become a signpost to God. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do.

Book Review: Getting Involved with God - Rediscovering the Old Testament

This has to be one of the best books I have read over the last year, and it certainly managed to stir within me a deeper appreciation for the Old Testament. Author Ellen Davis is the associate professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School in the United States, and this book is based on a variety of her sermons and lectures given over a period of fourteen years.

I know what you are thinking – if it is written by an OT professor then surely it is at best dry and dusty, and at worst overly complex and out-of-touch. While Davis’ book certainly is marked by quality scholarship, it is at the same time highly accessible to the general reader. Each chapter is a fairly short spiritual reflection on an OT story or passage, which actually lends itself very well to some form of small group study.

In a nutshell, Davis seeks to reveal the story of God’s quest to have a relationship with humankind as captured in the Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures). She engages the average person of faith as she challenges common misconceptions about the Old Testament and tackles some of its tougher passages such as the Binding of Isaac and the cursing Psalms.

Davis’ strength is her ability to creatively describe ways in which the Old Testament, even with its more difficult and confusing texts can speak directly and relevantly to contemporary issues such as meaningful work, sexual expression, unconstrained consumerism, and ecology. The only weakness I picked up is that Davis sometimes seems to stop short of fully engaging the extreme ethical difficulties raised by some of these texts. For example, as much as I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on the Binding of Isaac, I found her explanation for this story, as the urgency of God to be assured of Abraham’s love, did not adequately deal with my concerns over a God who would ask for the death of a child in order to soothe his own anxiety. I felt Davis took me on a journey that she didn’t quite complete.

Ellen Davis isn’t very well known beyond students of her particular field, which is a real pity because she writes powerfully and I guarantee that reading her would be extremely helpful in terms of your own spiritual formation. This book is highly recommended.

Book Review: God on Mute

Who would have thought that a book with a core theme of God’s silence during suffering would have made me laugh so much? Pete Greig, co-founder of the 24-7 prayer movement, has tackled this immensely complex and emotive subject and produced a wonderful book that manages to confront some of life’s biggest questions head on, but does so with typically dry British wit. In his own words, Greig wanted to write a book about suffering that wasn’t a terribly complicated theological tomb, or a collection of pithy sayings and unhelpful easy answers. Instead he wanted to write an “honest, practical book” that could fit on someone’s bedside table in between a “Reader’s Digest and a cappuccino”.

Greig succeeds in this probably because ‘God on Mute’ arises out of personal experience thus making it part theology and part biography. Greig shares the terrible moment when his wife Samie was first diagnosed with a brain tumour “the size of an orange.” Although the tumour was successfully removed, Samie continues to suffer severe epileptic seizures that drastically affect her quality of life. Every night she goes to bed, Samie is not sure whether she will wake up in a hospital the next day, she still cannot drive, is continually exhausted and has lost much of her independence

Greig reveals that as the leader of an international prayer group, this experience left him feeling both helpless and useless because so many of his prayers for healing and help seemingly went unanswered. He writes with searing honesty about this period of his life: “I was scared that Samie might die if I didn't pray enough, or if I didn't have enough faith, or if I didn't fast enough, or if I didn't bind some disembodied principality, or if I didn't repent of some root sin . . . I prayed at best like a child and at worst like a charlatan looking for snake oil.”

However, it is exactly this kind of honesty that makes the rest of what Greig has to say so compelling. Anyone who has ever struggled with feelings of suffering and unanswered prayer will relate to his words. The best part of the book in my opinion is that Greig follows the structure of the Easter story, which is perhaps the single most powerful Biblical precedent for our own experiences of suffering and silence. Greig follows Jesus’ own journey through the Easter weekend from his heart wrenching experiences in Gethsemane (Oh God, please take this cup of suffering away from me), to the loneliness of the cross on Good Friday (My God, why have you forsaken me…), to the deafening silence that followed his death on Easter Saturday.

Through a combination of being courageous enough to speak out his own worst fears, and layering this into the raw honesty of the Easter story, Greig allows his readers space enough to face their own most uncomfortable questions about God. Greig never succumbs to the temptation of flippant answers, instead he provides the space and honesty required to respectfully discuss and own life’s toughest questions and therein to find our own meaning and hope. As Greig himself said in a recent interview: “I’d like God on Mute to contribute to the shaping of a culture of greater honesty in the church, whereby we can publicly echo the laments of the psalms, the despair of men like Job and even the doubts of the first disciples, without condemnation.”

Greig is a wonderful story teller and deftly weaves all sorts of anecdotes into his overall narrative, all the while managing to make comments that are guaranteed to have you smiling which is vital when dealing with such a heavy topic. Ultimately, we learn that silence doesn’t have to be terrifying and faith destroying, instead it is actually an opportunity to draw even more closely to God as we honestly and courageously journey more deeply into life’s complex yet immensely enriching realities. For as we do that we shall find that God is with us in ways that are beyond easy explanations. Greig himself sums this up the best as he writes, “Our desire is always to be airlifted out of the theater of war. But more often than not, instead of airlifting us to safety, God parachutes down to join us.”

Book Review: The Ten Commandments - Laws of the Heart

I wish more people read books by Joan Chittister. In my opinion, Joan is one of the wisest Christian authors currently plying their trade, and I don’t think I have ever read a book by her that has not left me feeling somehow richer for the experience.

In this book, Chittister tackles the rather complex subject of the Ten Commandments but does so in a way that is tremendously life-giving. She certainly enabled me to see and understand the Ten Commandments in a way that I had never before. Throughout this relatively short book (around 150 pages), Chittister continually returns to the issue of what the Ten Commandments are and are not; for example, that they are about "praise, human responsibility, justice, creation, the value of life, the nature of relationships, honesty, veracity, desire, and simplicity of life."

Ultimately, the Ten Commandments are not so much about restrictions; as they are an “adventure in human growth.” This is why Chittister believes we should not be so much convicted by them as we should be transformed by them. Her subtitle for this book is “laws of the heart,” and she manages to find a tremendously helpful spiritual practice for each of the ten: reflection, respect, remembrance, caring, life, commitment, sharing, speech, self-control, and assurance.

Chittister looks at each of the commandments in three parts: firstly, an investigation of the historical understanding; secondly, the situations to which the commandment applies today; and finally she also includes reflection statements for personal consideration as we try to live out our own “adventures in human growth.”

Typically, Chittister includes some wonderful stories that grip your attention, and also plenty of memorable quotations that stick and resonate with both your mind and spirit in a wonderful way. I particularly enjoyed her chapter on not taking the name of God in vain, for here Chittister reminds us that this Commandment is by no means about simple swearing, but rather about the human tendency to take God’s name and blithely attach it to our own viewpoints and opinions. She challenges the church deeply on this issue; that we far too easily and carelessly use God’s name to back up personal viewpoints that are often only used to exclude and hurt other human beings.

Chittister writes: "When we use the name of God to demean or diminish any other human being, it is not they whose merits we measure. It is ourselves. And in public. How embarrassing."

I have mentioned only one, but I guarantee you that Chittister’s three pronged treatment of each Commandment will bring fresh life to your own faith. Too often, Christians allow the Ten Commandments to fade into relative spiritual obscurity in their personal journeys because they are not too sure exactly what to do with them, other than to do their best to keep them. This book forges a way forward in this regard, reminding us to keep the Commandments not just as rules in a book, but rather as “laws of the heart” that will breathe life, growth, hope and compassion into the way we view ourselves and others. With this in mind, the book concludes with Chittister's assessment of the Two Great Commandments of Love. Here she makes a powerful case for measuring our spiritual development in terms of these laws of the heart.

I heartily recommend this book. In fact, I finished it with a deep sigh of satisfaction on a plane in between Cape Town and Durban, and then promptly left it behind. So if you ever happen to find my copy floating around an airport somewhere, please call me with it (after you have read it of course!)

The Ten Commandments - Laws of the Heart is written by Joan Chittister and published by Orbis Books.

Book Review: The Hour That Changes Everything - How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be

John van der Laar has over three decades of experience in leading worship and uses every moment of this vast experience to craft together a book which really should be required reading, not only for all pastors and worship leaders, but for every Christ follower who seeks to engage in worship more fully and open-heartedly.

John challenges two popular misinterpretations of worship: Firstly, the consumerist version which sees worship as a time to ‘fill me up,’ and secondly our common failure to grasp hold of the truth that acts of corporate worship should fundamentally change who we are as individuals. In other words, our acts of worship should result in us becoming more like the people God originally created us to be, centring our selves upon what matters to God most in terms of mission, compassion and justice. As John says the way we worship should define the way we live, and that the result of the act of worship should be “that we find ourselves automatically living in a Cross-carrying, Christ-following, contributing and compassionate way, because we have encountered the crucified, selfless, eternally-loving Christ in our worship, and we are becoming a little more like this Jesus each day.”

John continually highlights the primacy of the Church’s worship service as being the “fountainhead” from which this kind of life and ministry can flow, and states that “the worship service is at the very heart of the Church’s mission, identity and work of spiritual formation.” All of this explains the title of the book – “The HOUR that changes everything” – in that our times of corporate worship should intrinsically transform us as faithful Christ-followers, and through us the world should be changed for the better.

As a structural framework for this book, John uses William Temple’s famous quote: “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.” John convincingly argues that these words can be used as a very helpful pathway between the Scriptures and Christian thinking regarding worship. After initially explaining what is meant by the word ‘worship’ and how exactly worship should change who we are and how we live, John then structures the rest of the book around the five particular statements in Temple’s quote. Chapters Three to Seven look at topics such as: “Becoming Holy,” “Becoming True,” “Becoming Beautiful,” “Becoming Loving,” and “Becoming Purposeful.” Space precludes me from going into too much detail, but these five chapters are truly excellent with each offering a great deal to think about. Personally, I felt most challenged by the chapters on ‘Truth’ and ‘Beauty’ and recommend carefully reading (and re-reading!) what John has to say here.

Since John is so concerned with the act of corporate worship being an intrinsic part of transforming worshippers into faithful Christ-followers, he devotes the entire second half of his book to assisting this process. In fact, the author makes the point that the main content of the book should be seen as a “catalyst” for the second half, which is comprised of a set of invaluable resources. Here John provides daily devotional guides, small group notes and Sunday service resources all set over a 50 day journey that are all specifically designed to aid and assist in the corporate act of worship. This is a highly effective tool that promotes the book’s central message because in wrestling with this content together, a faith community can share in the journey of more fully understanding what it means to worship God corporately, and thus also more faithfully embodying that worship in terms of living live as God designed us to.

So read this book, but even better read this book alongside others – with your church or small group. John’s book is a tool that enables us to go more deeply in understanding worship, but I suspect that journey of depth will become even more meaningful if it is done alongside others.

You can order a copy of this book from John’s website at http://sacredise.com

Note that there is a discount on bulk orders.

Book Review: Prayer - Does It Make Any Difference?

This is perhaps Philip Yancey’s best book since the acclaimed ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’ and ‘The Jesus I Never Knew,’ and once again, Yancey tackles a subject that is at the very heartbeat of the Christian faith – prayer.

In theory, prayer is vital to every God-follower, an opportunity to connect in an intimate way with God, but in practice many find prayer to be confusing, difficult and more than a little frustrating. In ‘Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?,’ Yancey tackles both the theory and practice of prayer in a way that only he can. He views the topic through an investigative journalist’s eyes, as he probes and challenges it, but he also wrestles with the topic as a believer who himself has faced many dry, difficult moments of prayers seemingly disappearing into thin air.

Yancey explores such questions as: •Is God listening? •Why should God care about me? •If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? •Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent and capricious? •Why does God seem sometimes close and sometimes far away? •How can I make prayer more satisfying?

All of these are very real human questions, and Yancey is courageous enough to voice them when many of us have been too afraid to speak them out loud. The result is a book that anyone and everyone who is keen to learn more about the theory AND the practice of prayer should definitely read. This book is quite an emotional read at times because Yancey so skilfully draws in personal stories and testimonies regarding the highs and lows of ordinary people’s prayer lives, and the disappointments that seem to occur for some in this regard (including his own). Yancey writes from his heart, both thoughtfully and candidly, and his gift with words means that he can shift his readers' perspective just enough to gain new insights. At the very least, Yancey manages to get his readers to think more carefully and comprehensively around deep and difficult subjects like this.

While Yancey does not even begin to pretend to have answers for all our questions regarding prayer, he does continually point back to the single most importance aspect of prayer which is our relationship with God. “I have found that the most important purpose of prayer may be to let ourselves be loved by God,” says Yancey. I could not miss the strong chord of yearning contained within Yancey’s more personal reflections, and ultimately this in itself is a reminder that prayer is a doorway which contains some of our deepest hopes and dreams.

If you have ever struggled with prayer or just want to learn more about the subject, then you will benefit greatly from reading this book.

Book Review: Sex God

Rob Bell was recently named in the top 25 of most influential Christians in the United States, and he certainly seems to gain a lot of attention for both his teaching and writing. In Bell’s first book, ‘Velvet Elvis,’ he looked at some really wide issues of faith and life, but here in his second book, he narrows that focus down to the topic of sexuality and its connection with human spirituality.

In ‘Sex God,’ Bell argues that despite the fact the church often doesn’t talk about sex, both sexuality and spirituality are fundamentally connected and so you just cannot talk about sex properly without talking about God. Similar to his preaching style, Rob Bell writes in a conversational manner, with short and often witty paragraphs, and provocative chapter titles designed to draw your attention such as “God wears lipstick,” “Sexy on the inside,” and “Leather, whips and fruit” – well, they certainly managed to gained my attention!

Throughout this book, Bell attempts to peel back the layers of why we act the way we do, and to connect our spirituality with everyday life, and our everyday life to God our Creator. Bell makes the point again and again that ‘sex’ is not an act within itself, but instead points to something much larger and more spiritual about human beings and reality.

The first part of the book argues that “our sexuality is our awareness of how profoundly we’re severed and cut off and disconnected.” Secondly, Bell says that our sexuality is “all of the ways we go about trying to reconnect.” (Both quotes from p. 40). He deconstructs some of the very damaging myths about sexuality that our society propagates (excuse the pun), and outlines how these myths can destroy our intrinsic God-given identity. I especially enjoyed his definition of freedom (from sexual lust and more) on p. 75 where Bell states that it isn’t about being able to have what we crave, but rather freedom is being able to go without what we crave and be fine with it.

In the second half of ‘Sex God,’ Bell also deals with the concept of marriage and says that, “The point of marriage isn’t marriage. It’s a picture.” Bell points to the deeper context of sex and marriage as mission. Dealing with words like submission, headship and sacrifice, Bell scales the redemptive beauty of the wedding gospel found in Ephesians 5. The vulnerability of marriage can be a little scary - “Being naked is terrifying,” Bell writes, but our desire for someone to accept us no matter what speaks to a deeper need, a need for the unconditional love of God; a love that’s worth the risk. In these chapters Bell also handles the hoary question of “submission in marriage,” and the book is worth reading for his thoughts on this alone.

Don’t make the mistake, however, of thinking this book is only for married couples. Bell attempts to deal with the full scope of sexuality as an expression of human hunger for intimacy with ‘something more and someone else.’ ‘Sex God’ is a thoroughly enjoyable beginning primer on sex, marriage, and God, and is written in a charmingly simple manner. I might disagree with a few things he says here and there, but on the whole this is an excellent read.

Book Review: Surprised By Hope

N.T. (Tom) Wright is respected around the globe as one of today’s foremost Biblical scholars. Not only is he highly appreciated in academic circles, but Wright is also a ‘fan-favourite’ amongst many of the average church-going crowd. This is because he manages to combine excellent Biblical scholarship with a compelling writing style that is accessible by your normal reader.

In “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church,” Wright has put together an impactful and far-reaching work that should be read by every Christian old enough to pick up a book. “Surprised by Hope” addresses what to Wright, is the two-sided coin of Christian hope. The first hope is what we can expect as Christ-followers before our bodily death, while the second kind of hope addresses what happens after we die. Wright argues that these two aspects of hope should never be understood separately, and that it is only in understanding Biblical Christian hope in all its fullness that we can expect to faithfully fulfil the mission of the Church.

Wright’s book is quite frankly, brilliant. He exposes as false many of the popularist Christian versions of the afterlife such as that heaven will be a time of disembodied, eternal bliss spent amongst the clouds and angels of heaven. Wright shows how this type of thinking has more in common with Greek philosophy than Scriptural teaching. Wright also forcefully argues against the dualism that is inherent in so much of our spiritual thinking that regards physicality and the material aspects of life as inferior. Wright depicts how the New Testament vision includes the redemption of not only our physical bodies but also of all Creation itself.

As Wright himself says, “This book addresses two questions…First, what is the ultimate Christian hope? Second, what hope is there for change, rescue, transformation, new possibilities within the world in the present? And the main answer can be put like this. As long as we see ‘Christian hope’ in terms of ‘going to heaven,’ of a ’salvation’ which is essentially away from this world, the two questions are bound to appear unrelated…But if the ‘Christian hope’ is for God’s new creation, for ‘new heavens and new earth’ – and of that hope has already come to life in Jesus of Nazareth – then there is every reason to join the two questions together. And if that is so, we find that answering the one is also answering the other.”

Wright then spends the rest of his book practically showing how embracing this kind of hope will dramatically impact the mission of the Church. Here he focuses a lot on the Kingdom and the Church, and he manages to powerfully flesh out the dramatic points concerning Christian hope he makes in the first half of the book. I cannot recommend this book more highly! Don’t be frightened away because it seems a little heavy because the great importance of this topic means that any effort in reading it, is well worth it. It wouldn’t be a case of hyperbole if I said the Church NEEDS its Christians to be reading this exact kind of book.

Book Review: The Illustrated Guide to Bible Customs and Curiosities

Why did Bible people wash each other's feet? What was wrong with Leah's "tender eyes"? Why were the Israelites forbidden to boil a young goat in its mother's milk? What did Jesus mean about His "yoke" being "easy"? The Bible, in particular the Old Testament, is filled with accounts of strange practices and confusing stories like these. While the ancient Israelites understood their meaning, modern readers find many of them quite puzzling.

This is what this wonderful little book is all about. The Illustrated Guide to Bible Customs and Curiosities is written as a companion to the Bible and will be especially helpful to those who find their reading of the Bible somewhat stymied by its more perplexing stories. This guide will not only clear up any confusion but also open up whole new exciting worlds for you as you are brought deeper into Scripture by better understanding the customs and practices of the cultures and contexts it describes.

More than 750 clear, concise and orderly entries are included, covering every book of the Bible in order. Full-color illustrations as well as sidebars and photographs enhance the text, making The Illustrated Guide to Bible Customs and Curiosities both informative and entertaining.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to make their Bible reading more meaningful.

The Illustrated Guide to Bible Customs and Curiosities is written by George W. Knight, and published by Barbour Publishing.

Book Review: Knowing Christ Today - Why we can trust spiritual knowledge

Just before I read this book I was warned that it was rather heavy going, and the author himself agrees with this assessment when he states in the introduction that it is a bit of a mental workout. Whatever you do, don’t let that stop you from reading this book because it is well worth any and all effort. Willard does not apologise for making us concentrate a little, and neither should he. In Dallas Willard, the Christian faith is gifted with a clear thinker who is not only able to intelligently dialogue with some of the dominant modern philosophies that are opposed to Christian thought, but also to challenge them to the core.

Willard sets out to do exactly this in ‘Knowing Christ Today,’ by throwing down the gauntlet to those in both the secular and religious spheres who assert that it is not possible to know Christian truths. The core thesis of ‘Knowing Christ Today’ is that it IS possible for knowledge and faith to support each other, and indeed that rational and reasoned knowledge of Christ and what Christ proclaimed is essential for healthy, balanced faith. Willard argues that the “standard of knowledge is truth and proper evidence” and he then leads his readers through various proofs for God’s existence; the resurrection of Christ, God’s continued involvement in daily life and then the logical possibility of vibrant spiritual practice centred on an “interactive life with Christ.”

Each chapter deals with compelling questions such as, "What is real?" "Who is good? and "How does one become good?" Willard writes with keen understanding and compelling conviction, and here his skills as a professor at the University of Southern California's School of Philosophy, as well as his own wide reading of various theologians, sociologists and philosophers are clearly evident. Each chapter ends with helpful questions which could easily be used in Bible studies or small groups.

I wholeheartedly recommend reading this book, but don’t just take my word for it, rather hear what some well known Christian thinkers have to say about it:

"The Knowledge of Faith" may not be an easy read, but it is a must read. It is for your life.” (Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline).

“This is clear, lucid thinking about what matters most, as is desperately needed today. Only Dallas Willard could have written this, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t need to read it.” (John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, author of The Life You've Always Wanted).

“A spiritual defense of the proposition that faith and reason are not contradictory.” Peter L. Berger, Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University).

Book Review: Blue Like Jazz

Blue Like Jazz is subtitled “non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality,” and it is a series of very personal and yet ultimately helpful musings on Christian teachings and ideas. Donald Miller has a laid back but very readable style of writing and so although Blue Like Jazz is classified as non-fiction, it is by no means difficult to read. The book has become particularly popular amongst university age students because Miller wrestles with his spirituality in a way that easily relates to postmodern generations, but people of all ages will find much to inspire and encourage them in this book. If the book has a weakness, it is probably because Miller’s conclusions are a little too rooted in his own experience and not held accountable enough by the wealth of church history and tradition.

I would warmly recommend this book as a thoroughly good read. Read it as it is intended however, an engaging, sincere and refreshing honest journal of Miller’s personal spirituality, struggles and other thoughts – don’t expect Blue Like Jazz to be what it is not.

Blue Like Jazz is written by Donald Miller and published by Thomas Nelson.

Essential Christian Books to Read

In a recent blog post, popular pastor and writer, Eugene Cho, made a list of ten books that he would recommend all Christians should read. Cho feels that these books have impacted Christianity immensely and proved extremely helpful to their readers over the years.

If you are interested in reading any of these books, they would be available from a sites such as Amazon, Exclusive, Kalahari or my personal favourite – loot.co.za.

The list is compiled in no particular order.

• Testament of Hope – Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton
• Celebration of Discipleship – Richard Foster
• Mere Christianity – C. S. Lewis
• Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger – Ron Sider
• Wounded Healer or Return of the Prodigal Son – Henri Nouwen
• Dogmatics – Karl Barth [yes, all 13 volumes]
• The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society – Leslie Newbiggen
• The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• The Politics of Jesus – John Howard Yoder

Cho then went on to list another ten books that narrowly missed his initial cut.

• Knowing God – J.I. Packer
• Theology of Hope – Jurgen Moltmann
• Old Testament Theology – Gerhard von Rad
• The Moral Vision of the New Testament – Richard B. Hays
• A Theology of Liberation – Gustavo Gutierrez
• Irresistable Revolution – Shane Claiborne
• Transforming Missions – David Bosch
• The Jesus I Never Knew or What’s so Amazing About Grace – Phillip Yancey
• Christ and Culture – H. Richard Niebuhr
• Moral Man & Immoral Society – Reinhold Neibuhr

Finally, Cho also compiled a list of 'honourable mentions'.

• The Hiding Place [Corrie ten Boom]
• Confession [Augustine]
• Summa Theologica [Aquinas]
• The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind [Mark Noll]
• Let Justice Roll Down [John Perkins]
• The Prophetic Imagination [Walter Brueggemann]
• Any one of Francis Shaeffer’s trilogy
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy [Tolkien]
• Surprised by Hope [N.T. Wright]
• Silence [Shusaku Endo]
• Traveling Mercies [Anne Lamott]
• The Brothers Karamazov [Dostoyevsky]
• Life Together [Bonhoeffer]

You can read Eugene’s blogs on http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/

Book Review: A Twenty Yard Stroll

If you have the desire to live a Full Life or wish to understand what values you will need in order to have all your aspirations satisfied, then I encourage you to embark on a Twenty Yard Stroll today.

This book gives you a step by step journey guide on how you can receive that Full life, to find that “something”, that joy, which is so often missing in our lives. It dares you to start taking that first step.

I recommend reading this valuable resource as the reader is challenged to put the journey into practice.

Should you wish to purchase a copy of the book on line please go to the website of the publisher Cobble Crab Publishers http://www.cobblecrab.co.za or e-mail jeanne@cobblecrab.co.za

A Twenty yard Stroll was written by the Rev. Dr. John Bailie and published by Cobble Crab Publishers.

(This review has been written by Jeanné Persson).

Book Review: Transform Your Work Life

"God wants to use you – in the marketplace!"

“Most people will spend between sixty and seventy percent of their lives at work. This is an incredible investment of time, energy and creativity and God has a very particular desire for that huge portion of your life. God cares about every part of your life, not just the parts that are spent in church and on church related activities.” (From the back cover).

In ‘Transform Your Work Life,’ co-authors Graham Power and Dion Forster outline their belief that the God-given destiny of each Christ-follower is intrinsically wrapped up in the marketplace, but that many people never take this truth seriously enough. Christians seem all to ready to limit the idea of serving God to certain times and places (like Sundays and the church) but surely God can use us in wonderful ways between 8 and 5, Monday to Friday? Power and Forster combine creative theological reflection with down to earth practical advice on how to begin to embrace your God-given calling at work. Through twelve chapters they seek to challenge, teach and guide you to “turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling.”

This book is very well written and manages to express deep concepts in an easy to read style. I recommend it very highly to all Christian readers – to pastors who can learn something about developing the workplace as a mission field for their congregation members and most especially to lay folk who live with that nagging feeling that surely God could use them in some way.

You can order a copy of this book by visiting the website www.christianrepublic.co.za

‘Transform Your Work Life’ is published by Struik Christian Books.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Graham Power is the founder and Board Chairman of the Power Group. He is also the visionary behind the Global Day of Prayer.

Dr. Dion Forster is a consultant and chaplain to the Power Group of Companies as well as the Global Day of Prayer and Unashamedly Ethical movements.

WHAT DO OTHER EXPERTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS BOOK?

“Graham Power and Dion Forster have finally brought the role of the marketplace into the prominence it deserves! When you read the Bible, it soon becomes obvious that the focus of the ministry and outreach of Christ was nearly exclusively on the marketplace. If you are looking for the secrets of how to succeed with your faith in your workplace, then ‘Transform Your Work Life’ is for you.”
(Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, author of ‘The Prayer of Jabez’).

Book Review: Into Your Hands Lord

Into Your Hands Lord, is written by John Baillie, a minister in Johannesburg. The book is an account of the Lord’s hand in Bailie’s life. He embarks on a journey which highlights how small incidents can have a very significant impact on one’s life and how each and every one is ultimately connected.

Bailie unassumingly takes no credit for his achievements, and merely states that through God’s grace, he has found Jesus as his personal Saviour, and that he is constantly being shaped into the person Jesus knows he needs to become. Today, each and every experience of his amazing life journey is begun with the words: “Lord, today, into your hands I place my Spirit.”

Accounts of these events were easy to comprehend. It's an easy read, and, I believe, inspired by God. I recommend it highly.

(This review has been written by Jeanné Persson).

Into Your Hands Lord has been published by Cobble Crab Publishers.

Should you wish to purchase a copy of the book on line please go to the website of the publisher Cobble Crab Publishers http://www.cobblecrab.co.za or e-mail jeanne@cobblecrab.co.za

Book Review: My Simple Life (Sean Bastable)

My Simple Faith is a series of short yet thoughtful spiritual reflections on a diversity of topics from Spur Football Club loving friends, to Ferraris, to a tortoise named Timmy. Most of all, however, these reflections centre on the author’s own personal experience of the love and grace of God. The author, Sean Bastable, writes with clear simplicity, but his book is not simple in the sense of being simplistic or ignorant of deeper issues. Rather Sean uses this series of very personal reflections to describe how faith can continue to have simple yet profound meaning even amidst the more challenging situations faced in life today. In this, Sean writes about the growth of his own faith and how that has connected with the questions, doubts and differing paradigms of those around him, most especially his good friend Dave (who writes the foreword).

Sean makes no attempts to neatly clarify or tie up any of the big faith questions he wrestles with, but rather he holds them in tension, dialoguing with them in a way that is both graceful and sensitive. Sean grapples with questions such as the authority and trustworthiness of Scripture, belief in God, the nature and shape of God’s love, as well as free choice and consequences, and as he does so he invites his reader into the conversation as a way of stimulating their own thoughts and spiritual growth. Sean writes as a fellow traveller in faith’s journey, and I would warmly recommend this book to anyone who has ever grappled with what it means to follow God in his way of love.

(This review has been written by Gareth Killeen, the editor of 'So What?').

Review of Now - written by Delme Linscott

In Delme’s first book, Living Oceans Apart, he addressed a subject that touches the lives of everyone who struggles with the pain of living great distances away from loved ones. It proved to be an important message of hope and encouragement for many.
This second book that Delme has authored, however, is perhaps even more powerful because its message is directly relevant to every human being. Seize the day! Live in the now! Live to the full! Delme freely admits there is nothing new about these messages at all, yet at the same time they are both timeless and priceless.

Timeless, because the tendency to thoughtlessly waste our precious God-given moments of life is sadly a universal weakness clearly evident throughout human history, and thus, requires continual challenge. Priceless, because the immense value of hearing and heeding this particular message just cannot be measured, it can only be seen, tasted, touched and experienced in the quality of relational and personal fruit it will inevitably bear.

Yet, the essence of this message, while easy enough to grasp proves far more difficult to hold onto for any length of time, which again, is exactly why the lessons and truths touched upon in this book are ones that we need to be reminded of repeatedly. Delme has taken up the challenge to help us remember that every moment counts and he has produced a book which I believe will prove to be an absolute treasure-trove of inspiration for many.

Delme has a strongly personal and pastoral style of writing that manages to not only convey his message but also carry it home to the heart. Delme shares that the writing of this book was inspired by the tragic passing of a very dear mutual friend (the Rev. Barry Marshall), and somehow the deep emotions evoked in him by this event are carried through in his words. This infuses the overall message with a passion and urgency that proves difficult to resist.

All this and more is why I voraciously devoured this book, and it is why I will be buying extra copies and handing them out to various loved ones, because I so want them to hear and heed its message. It is also exactly why I am encouraging you to not only carefully read this important book but also act upon it. Now!

You can order a copy of Delme's book from his website www.livingingrace.co.za

(This review is part of the foreword in the book itself, and has been written by Gareth Killeen, the editor of CruxMobi).

Review of Now - written by Delme Linscott

In Delme’s first book, Living Oceans Apart, he addressed a subject that touches the lives of everyone who struggles with the pain of living great distances away from loved ones. It proved to be an important message of hope and encouragement for many.
This second book that Delme has authored, however, is perhaps even more powerful because its message is directly relevant to every human being. Seize the day! Live in the now! Live to the full! Delme freely admits there is nothing new about these messages at all, yet at the same time they are both timeless and priceless.

Timeless, because the tendency to thoughtlessly waste our precious God-given moments of life is sadly a universal weakness clearly evident throughout human history, and thus, requires continual challenge. Priceless, because the immense value of hearing and heeding this particular message just cannot be measured, it can only be seen, tasted, touched and experienced in the quality of relational and personal fruit it will inevitably bear.

Yet, the essence of this message, while easy enough to grasp proves far more difficult to hold onto for any length of time, which again, is exactly why the lessons and truths touched upon in this book are ones that we need to be reminded of repeatedly. Delme has taken up the challenge to help us remember that every moment counts and he has produced a book which I believe will prove to be an absolute treasure-trove of inspiration for many.

Delme has a strongly personal and pastoral style of writing that manages to not only convey his message but also carry it home to the heart. Delme shares that the writing of this book was inspired by the tragic passing of a very dear mutual friend (the Rev. Barry Marshall), and somehow the deep emotions evoked in him by this event are carried through in his words. This infuses the overall message with a passion and urgency that proves difficult to resist.

All this and more is why I voraciously devoured this book, and it is why I will be buying extra copies and handing them out to various loved ones, because I so want them to hear and heed its message. It is also exactly why I am encouraging you to not only carefully read this important book but also act upon it. Now!

You can order a copy of Delme's book from his website www.livingingrace.co.za

(This review is part of the foreword in the book itself, and has been written by Gareth Killeen, the editor of CruxMobi).