Westminster Bookstore
|
Reviews
|
Gospel-Centered Family: Becoming the Parents God Wants You to Be |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by justin
|
|
Sunday, 11 September 2011 14:12 |
|
 Moll, Ed and Tim Chester. Gospel-Centered Family: Becoming the Parents God Wants You to Be. The Good Book Company USA, 2011.
Brief Overview of the Book (Theme, Perspective, Approach):
The book is organized around four parts (Gospel-Centered Family, Grace-Centered Family, Word-Centered Family, and Mission-Centered Family). Each chapter begins with a scenario to consider, followed by a Bible passage to study, then a discussion of the point made by the passage for the purposes of parenting and reflection questions. This format is well-suited to a twelve-part devotional rather than simply reading through the whole in one sitting. The perspective complements that of the books published by Shepherd Press and the materials produced by CCEF. Therefore, the perspective is that of addressing the hearts of our children and not just controlling their behavior.
Critique (strengths and weaknesses):
This was originally published in the UK so there are some differences in terminology. For example, it calls a "spank" a "smack." Most of these are very minor differences. The book is also lacking in detail in a few key places. For example, which of the ideas for discipline (p.42) apply at which age/personality? I would suggest, and it is a book they recommend for further reading, Shepherding a Child's Heart (and Instructing a Child's Heart) in order to fill in this gap. In fact, I am concerned that they have not thought through this page as much as Tripp does. With that said, the weaknesses are far overcome by the strengths. The most important strength of the book is its content. I would heartily recommend this book to all Christian parents because it is brimming with gospel truth and practical Biblical wisdom.
Application (specific, shows just how valuable & relevant the book is):
This book is really good at exposing our respectable middle-class idols as false gods. Rather than children-centered or parent-centered homes, it encourages us to have God-centered homes. One of the most common idols that we worship is our children themselves. The book suggests that with young children parents should spend time working on their marriage relationship so that children learn that they are not the center of the world. Other respectable idols that we worship include education, career and prosperity. We worry about the culture's influence without realizing that we can have an influence on our children that is "just as corrosive of gospel-centered priorities" (p.18). We do this "when we make these things more important than knowing and serving God" -- when we make these things or people idols (p.19). Then the book even helps us to relate to the culture -- to see that with young children we should be concerned with what they watch (of the culture, for example, television) and with older children how they watch it. This book is powerful, it can change your life, because it starts with the parent's heart and applies the gospel.
Representative Quote:
So our children are not the center of the world. Yet that's how we often treat them. We structure our lives around them. We may not give them everything they want. After all, we don't want to spoil them, we tell ourselves. But we do everything for them. Their good sets the agenda. We fit other things around them. We put their education above ministry opportunities. We live in nice neighborhoods so they're not corrupted. Getting them to the church youth group matters more than other people's needs.
The irony is that doing everything for their good is not for their good! They learn that they come first, that their needs are paramount, that the world is there for them. In the west we are perhaps creating one of the most indulged generations ever.
If we put our children before serving God and others, then we make an idol of them. How will they learn to worship God as God if they see us worshiping them in place of God? We don't serve our children well by putting them at the center of our lives, a space reserved for God alone. (p.89-90)
|
|
Last Updated on Sunday, 11 September 2011 15:59 |
|
|
The Invitation: A Simple Guide to the Bible by Eugene Peterson |
|
|
|
|
Written by justin
|
|
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 13:27 |
|
Peterson, Eugene H. The Invitation: A Simple Guide to the Bible. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2008.
I was a member of (and ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament at) Christ Our King Presbyterian Church, founded by Eugene Peterson where he ministered for 29 years. Our family joined during the interim after he had left.
Brief Overview of the Book (Theme, Perspective, Approach):
No matter what you think of Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible -- The Message -- you will like this invitation to read the Bible. The Invitation uses quotes from The Message and actually consists of Peterson's introductions to those books from The Message. It begins with some thoughts "On Reading the Scriptures" that apparently are compiled from another book he has written -- Eat This Book. There is an overview of the Scriptures describing it as five acts: Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, and the New People of God. There are also introductions to sections of Scripture -- "The Books of Moses," "The History Books" (Joshua-Esther), "The Wisdom Books" and so forth. This also shows that his approach is to treat the Old Testament Books in the English Bible order (rather than the Hebrew canonical order). He only combines the most obvious books (like First and Second Kings or Chronicles and the like) in the Old Testament -- books that really were one book in the Hebrew anyway. But in the New Testament he lumps together some of the shorter writings. This is a book written for everyone in our culture.
Critique (strengths and weaknesses):
The opening essay is great and makes me want to go out right now and buy and read Eat This Book. The Invitation is a simple introduction and does not pretend to be comprehensive but accessible and practical. It does this quite well. The greatest weakness of the Old Testament treatment is its slavery to the English order of the books. Peterson is aware (as his other books demonstrate) that the Hebrew canon follows a different order and that this makes a difference in our interpretation, but he follows the English order in this book. This was a good book, but that would have taken it to a whole new level of helpfulness. It also would have been helpful to see the differences in perspective of some of the smaller New Testament books that were lumped together whereas he could have combined Ezra-Nehemiah (one book in the Hebrew) and solved some of the introduction complications he ran into by not doing so. Using quotes from The Message was refreshing because I did not find myself skimming over them as often is the case with familiar passages in similar books. He does come across as having missed some things though -- like the narrative analogies in Judges comparing each character to Saul in unflattering ways.
Application (specific, shows just how valuable & relevant the book is):
Peterson encourages us not to be led to see God in our stories but instead to find our place in God's story. This introduction/invitation to the Bible is good because it gets us into the Bible and its big story. It is not an introduction that gives lots of background information or outlines or other common introductory issues. Instead the book is much more practical and pastoral. Even the analogy of the Books of Moses to human development stages is helpful -- Genesis is conception, Exodus is birth and infancy, Leviticus is childhood schooling, etc. These kinds of observations help us to see the bigger context of God's story in terms that are familiar to our own stories.
Representative Quotes:
In order to read the Scriptures adequately and accurately, it's necessary at the same time to live them. Not to live them as a prerequisite to reading them, and not to live them as a consequence of reading them, but to live them as we read them.
Reading the Scriptures isn't an activity discrete from living the gospel; it is integral to it. ... (9)
When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we're being led not to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God's. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves. (11).
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 07 October 2010 13:39 |
|
The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation |
|
|
|
|
Written by Rev Marple
|
|
Thursday, 31 December 2009 00:00 |
The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation
Sailhamer, John H. The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009.
Brief Overview of the Book (Theme, Perspective, Approach):
This 612 page (plus indexes) magnum opus has several concerns. One is to make sure that we do not relegate the Old Testament to a substandard status in comparison with the New Testament. He even goes so far as to say that the Old Testament was the early church's New Testament. Unlike the factions within Judaism, Christianity did not create its own form of the "Hebrew" (portions in Aramaic) Scriptures but accepted it as their Scriptures and added more books to it. This complements his argument that the Old Testament is about a coming Messiah King from the tribe of Judah and the New Testament identifies that Messiah as Jesus. He does not want to read the New Testament back into the Old Testament but rather to read the Old Testament into the New Testament. This means includes seeing how the Old Testament interprets itself before moving to the New Testament. And it is worth noting (as he has a whole chapter about it) that when we are talking about meaning we are speaking about the meaning of the words of Scripture. His focus on the words of Scripture complements the focus of the words of Scripture on the words of Scripture (i.e. Joshua 1 and Psalm 1, cf. Neh 8:8).
As you can already tell, the book is about much more than the meaning of the Pentateuch. Sailhamer discusses the way the prophets and Psalms interpret the Pentateuch. This leads him to describe the compositional strategy and seams of Jeremiah (see pages 404ff and 494ff) and the Psalms (Psalms 1-2, 72, and 145) as he earlier had done the same with the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. The seams of the Hebrew Scriptures even led him to highlight Daniel and the end of Chronicles (two of the last three books in the Hebrew canonical order with Ezra-Nehemiah in between).
The book has one major thesis: the canonical Pentateuch is actually the Second Edition or Pentateuch 2.0 that highlights themes already present in the First Edition. And many sub-theses concerning its interpretation in light of the strategy of the authors. One concerning the theme of faith is that the Pentateuch employs the same strategy as the lament pattern to highlight the importance of faith: emergency, promise, faith, certainty (Gen 15, Exo 3-4 and in reverse as Num 14, and highlighting unbelief in Num 20). One concerning the theme of law is that the various written laws were added after major transgressions. The covenant at Sinai was originally to resemble the one with Abraham -- living by faith one would walk according to the stipulations written on the heart. Throughout the discussion Sailhamer looks to the intertextual "learned quotations" and these patterns to see the "intelligent design" of the human author.
Critique (strengths and weaknesses):
Sailhamer offers a very well thought out approach to understanding the Pentateuch. No one can accuse him of shortcutting to easy answers to the complicated issues. And he has clearly wrestled extensively with the approaches of others to the issues (including learned interaction with Vos, Coccejus, Calvin, and Augustine). It would help the average scholar-pastor if he had translated many of the sources he quotes in Latin, German, and etc. But it is obvious that this book is the product of years of study and reflection where he does not hesitate to articulate how his approach disagrees with others.
I appreciate his metaphors for describing the canonical Pentateuch as "the Pentateuch, 2nd Edition" or "Pentateuch 2.0." The point being that the additions of comments in the narrative, language explaining obscure poetic texts (you can identify them often by seeing the breaks in the parallelism), the additional poem and epilogue at the end of Deuteronomy, and other texts were not random updates but reflect the "intelligent design" of an anonymous author. The purpose of these updates was to accent the relevance of the text for a later generation. Sailhamer is not very clear on the extent of the updating he believes was done, and every time it seems like he is going to make such a conclusion he stops short, instead stressing that his approach is to interpret the present text.
Sailhamer makes lots of interesting observations about the Hebrew Scriptures and reads many of these observations into the New Testament. He believes that the Gospels and Paul, in particular, understand the Pentateuch and how it has been interpreted in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. For example, Sailhamer argues that Gal 3:19 and Matt 19:8 understand correctly the strategy of the Pentateuch adding laws after transgressions. And likewise, Matt 2:15 understands Hosea 11:1 correctly in the strategy of that book. These things have been a matter of great debate in scholarly circles and there are many who would beg to differ with his conclusions because their approach to the text is different.
It is definitely a strength that Sailhamer spends so much time on the major poems of the Pentateuch and their learned quotations of the "promise narratives" was an interesting observation. But I am not persuaded by his argument that the Second Edition is a prophetic edition. If this was a major part of the thesis statement (which it appeared to be at the beginning, but I left out above because it did not seem to be in the end) he did not demonstrate thoroughly enough why it would be a prophetic edition rather than a wisdom edition, especially since some of his other writings suggest the latter.
Application (specific, shows just how valuable & relevant the book is):
I found the faith pattern helpful in explaining questions that I myself had about the Genesis narrative. How he suggests that the Pentateuch (which I would call the Torah) compares and contrasts Abraham and Moses is particularly helpful. But the greatest value of this book lies in its tracing of biblical-theological themes and allusions throughout the Scriptures. Pastors need to know their Bibles and need to meditate day and night on the word of God. I found it particularly interesting that the theme seems to be private meditation on the word rather than public. As a pastor, I find myself stressing public meditation on the word in Sunday worship. This is somewhat to correct the belief among many today that one can go it alone in the walk of faith (i.e., without the church). But the text of the Hebrew Scriptures does stress at its very seams, as Sailhamer points out, the importance of individuals studying the word of God day and night. This reminds me that both need to take place and that individual meditation on the word is vital. This is why this book is valuable -- it got me to ponder on the word of God and to think about my own presuppositions as I approach the Scriptures.
Representative Quote:
Although the Sinai covenant began as an extension of God's covenant with Abraham, the Pentateuch is clear that Sinai was to be replaced by another covenant and assigned a new purpose as law for a people tainted by the sin of the golden calf. To be sure, the Pentateuch was not assigned the status of being Israel's law code. That was a role to be taken over by the laws of the Sinai covenant. The Pentateuch, itself an expression of the hope for a new covenant, was set over against the Mosaic law of the Sinai covenant. This shifting role of the Sinai covenant in the theology of the Pentateuch can be seen already in the beginning stages of the Sinai covenant (Ex 19-24).
When viewed from the perspective of the strategy of its composition and its treatment of the various collections of laws, such as the Decalogue, the pentateuchal narratives present themselves as an extended treatise on the nature and purpose of the Sinai covenant. The author of the Pentateuch is intent on showing that Israel's immediate fall into idolatry with the golden calf brought with it a fundamental shift in the nature of their covenant with God. At the outset of the covenant, the text portrays the nature of the covenant in much the same light as that of the religion of the patriarchs. Like Abraham, Israel was to obey God (Ex 19:5; cf. Gen 26:5), keep his covenant (Ex 19:5; cf. Gen 17:1-14) and exercise faith (Ex 19:9; cf. Gen 15:6). Though they immediately agreed to the terms of this covenant (Ex 19:8), Israel quickly proved unable to keep it (Ex 19:16-17). In fear, they pleaded with Moses to go into God's presence for them while they themselves stood "afar off" (Ex 19:18-20; 20:18-21). In response to the people's fear and disobedience, God wrote out for them the Decalogue, as well as the Covenant Code and the plans for building a tabernacle. As depicted in the Decalogue and Covenant Code, Israel's relationship with God was based on the absolute prohibition of idolatry and the simple offering of praise and sacrifice. The covenant was still very much like that of the patriarchal period, except that now it had clearly defined stipulations ("the ten words").
[As Sailhamer continues, he notes that the golden calf incident marks the decisive change to a law with a multitude of stipulations, then the people's sacrifices to goat idols (Lev 17:1-9)leads to the addition of the Holiness Code. Deuteronomy adds more laws, but then begins to talk of a different kind of covenant (see Deut 29).]
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 07 October 2010 13:45 |
|
|
The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism |
|
|
|
|
Written by Rev Marple
|
|
Saturday, 28 March 2009 00:00 |
The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. New York: Dutton, 2008.
Brief Overview of the Book (Theme, Perspective, Approach):
The book is a tool for evangelism. He gets people in his setting in New York city to doubt their doubts. He would be considered conservative by the culture where Scripture is considered conservative and he would be considered liberal by the culture where Scripture is considered liberal. Therefore, he is in a unique position to reach out in a very liberal city. He does not shirk back from the controversial topics like there being just one true faith, suffering, the sins of Christians, and hell. Instead, he tackles these subjects 'head on,' so to speak. Technically speaking, this is a book of applied apologetics (in the tradition of Van Til).
Critique (strengths and weaknesses):
Like with most people, I would not agree with absolutely everything that he says. However, the strengths of this book far exceed any weaknesses. It is not the book that I would have written, but that is mostly because I am serving in a different context and have different interests and style. I would be interested if anyone has any comments about arguments you find particularly persuasive in the book. While his critique resembles Van Til, his positive argument is open to the criticism that it moves away from this approach. [Take a look at my sermon for Easter 2009 for a positive approach sometimes relying on things Keller says but making a different apologetic, what I hope is closer to Van Til's approach.]
Application (specific, shows just how valuable & relevant the book is):
I actually appealed to things that Keller says concerning the difference between religion and faith in Jesus Christ in some of my sermons on the clash between Jesus and the Pharisees. This is probably the best part of the book to apply in the context of the Bible belt. Nevertheless, I will not hesitate to refer back to the other arguments made in this book when people assert the views he addresses.
Representative Quote:
The noted religion scholar John Hick has written that once you become aware that there are many other equally intelligent and good people in the world who hold different beliefs from you and that you will not be able to convince them otherwise, then it is arrogant for you to continue to try to convert them or to hold your view to be the superior truth.
Once again there is an inherent contradiction. Most people in the world don't hold to John Hick's view that all religions are equally valid, and many of them are equally as good and intelligent as he is, and unlikely to change their views. That would make the statement "all religious claims to have a better view of things are arrogant and wrong" to be, on its own terms, arrogant and wrong. (11)
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 07 October 2010 13:44 |
|
The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians |
|
|
|
|
Written by justin
|
|
Saturday, 17 January 2009 18:48 |
Carson, D. A. The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993.
Brief Overview of the Book (Theme, Perspective, Approach):
The premise is that the cross is more than just the means of our salvation. Carson says,
The cross not only establishes what we are to preach, but how we are to preach. It prescribes what Christian leaders must be and how Christians must view Christian leaders. It tells us how to serve and draws us onward in discipleship until we understand what it means to be world Christians.
The chapters are "The Cross and Preaching" (1 Cor 1:18-2:5), "The Cross and the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 2:6-16), "The Cross and Factionalism" (1 Cor 3), "The Cross and Christian Leadership" (1 Cor 4), and "The Cross and the World Christian" (1 Cor 9:19-27). The approach is exegetical (interpreting the text) and the application is to Christian leadership.
Critique (strengths & weaknesses):
Carson does the work of interpretation convincingly and thoroughly. He teaches, using different words, the same thing that I heard at WTS: our message, methods, and character need to reflect Jesus. His approach is balanced -- explaining that Paul was a competent communicator (cannot appeal to 1 Cor 2:1-5 to be lazy in sermon prep or delivery). The example of the preacher who switched from high Arabic to street Arabic is especially illustrative -- people should not be more interested in his Arabic than his Savior. (We might add great accents from across the pond?) He challenges popular ways of reading 1 Cor 2:6-16 and 1 Cor 3...interpretations that result from sin. And he reminds those who follow Christian leaders that their leaders are accountable to the Lord Christ "and therefore to avoid judging them as if the church itself were the ultimate arbiter of ministerial success" (98). In other words, he teaches those who follow Christian leaders as well as Christian leaders themselves. Overall the book is interesting and challenging. Its weakness lies in its brevity.
Application (specific, shows just how valuable & relevant the book is):
I found the chapter "The Cross and Factionalism" especially helpful. He explains that the architectural analogy in 1 Cor 3 is about the work of Christian leaders. Even when building on the right foundation these leaders might use materials that will not withstand the heat on The Day. The worker whose building materials are not going to withstand the heat will be saved (as if running out of a burning building) but will have nothing to show for their labors. We must give an account of our service on The Day. As Carson says,
People may come, feel "helped," join in corporate worship, serve on committees, teach Sunday school classes, bring their friends, enjoy "fellowship," raise funds, participate in counseling sessions and self-help groups, but still not really know the Lord. If the church is being built with large portions of charm, personality, easy oratory, positive thinking, managerial skills, powerful and emotional experiences, and people smarts, but without the repeated, passionate, Spirit-anointed proclamation of "Jesus Christ and him crucified," we may be winning more adherents than converts. (80)
The immediate application (of which I need to constantly remind myself), in my own words, is to remember to whom we must give an account and therefore to remember how we must focus our energies and to die on that hill (as the saying goes, and very appropriate for the cross). This is different than the measures of the world and the tendency of factionalism ('I follow so and so'), which makes a particular leader their hero to be praised rather than God.
Best Quote:
An excellent illustration of his son vomiting if he was not burped as an infant is applied to 1 Cor 3 this way:
There are Christians who are international-class projectile vomiters, spiritually speaking, after years and years of life. They simply cannot digest what Paul calls "solid food." You must give them milk, for they are not ready for anything more. And if you try to give them anything other than milk, they upchuck and make a mess of everyone and everything around them. At some point the number of years they have been Christians leads you to expect something like mature behavior from them, but they prove disappointing. They are infants still and display their wretched immaturity even in the way they complain if you give them more than milk. Not for them solid knowledge of Scripture; not for them mature theological reflection; not for them growing and perceptive Christian thought. They want nothing more than another round of choruses and a "simple message"--something that won't challenge them to think, to examine their lives, to make choices, and to grow in their knowledge and adoration of the living God. (72)
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 07 October 2010 13:41 |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 2 |
|
sermons on itunes
iTunes Store
Click to Open My iTunes Store Where My Sermons Are Still Free
* iTunes
|
