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Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture

Adam Shields —  February 26, 2013 — Leave a comment

Reposting this review because The Wisdom of Stability is on sale for $2.99 for Kindle.

The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile CultureTakeaway: The hard work of building community and developing others has to start with a commitment to stability.  If we are serious about changing the world, making a commitment to a specific geography may be the best way to do it.

When I was in college I had a respected mentor of mine pray Jeremiah 29: 4-6 over me (Jeremiah tells the exiles to go ahead and settle down, stay awhile and make Babylon’s concerns and needs their own concerns and needs.)  I took that seriously.  I expected to stay in Chicago for the rest of my life.  I did for 15 years, but then moved to Georgia in order to be closer to my wife’s family.  While in Chicago for the last 10 years, my wife and I were members of church near the University of Chicago. In a five year period, there were 27 different people that were a part of our small group. At the end of the five years none of the people still attended the church and only one couple still lived in Chicago.  We live in a mobile society (especially those that live in urban areas), even if mobility is down a bit over the past few years.

One of the first things I noticed in this book is that Jonathan Hargrove-Wilson speaks of stability and community in similar ways that Rhett Smith, Shane Hipps and others do.  All of these authors fear that people get just enough community, stability, intimacy from their online or short term relationships to keep them from going deeper and getting what they are really looking for.  There is an anecdote about a parishioner complaining to the pastor that they were not finding community the church they had been attending for almost a year.  The pastor responds that they had only had one year worth of community.  The type of community that the couple was looking for requires 30 years of investment.  In many ways, this is similar advice and focus as Eugene Peterson‘s Practice Resurrection and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.

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How I Changed My Mind about Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent Evangelicals – 2011 Books of the Year

Adam Shields —  December 28, 2011 — Leave a comment

When issues of social change and theology interact their is often more emotion than useful discussion. Emotion has some use, but if it is only emotion then we can loose sight of theological implications. If it is only the intellectual aspects of theology then it is easy to miss the actual impact of people. Jesus’ response to the woman caught in adultery in John 8, took both the emotion of the situation (the women and the people that brought her him) and at the same time was still theologically accurate. I think the balance of this books does quite well balancing the emotion, the theology, the practical implications, the importance of scripture interpretation and more. Because this is a number of chapters by different people it is a good book to sample.

How I Changed My Mind about Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent EvangelicalsTakeaway: Stories make a difference. Listening to how people change their mind over difficult issues is a good exercise whether you are interested in this particular issue or not.

I will tell you up front, I am in favor of the ordination of women. The only theological issue that I have with my current church (which I love) is that women are not ordained and do not serve on both Board of Elders (although there are a significant numbers of women staff).

I first heard of this book when John Armstrong blogged about it (he wrote the first chapter.) It has taken me five months to get around to reading it, but I very enthusiastically encourage you to listen to these stories no matter what your position.

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Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch – 2011 Books of the Year

Adam Shields —  December 24, 2011 — 2 Comments

This is the one of the first books I read in 2011.  And it actually came out in 2010, but still I think it is a book that more people need to read.  The evangelical church needs to recover a sense of secular vocation and Culture Making presents that better than most that I have read.  Andy Crouch is one of the most innovated thinkers of the modern Evangelical world and his new project with Christianity Today on the City and the Church continues to show that.  You can see the roots of Culture Making in his current project.  Culture Making is currently on sale for $3.99 on kindle, so pick it up.

Cover of "Culture Making: Recovering Our ...

Cover via Amazon

Takeaway: If you work in a creative field inside or outside the church and you have not read this book, you are doing yourself a disservice.

It is common for me to recommend books that I am currently reading.  After all they are in my head, I am thinking about them.  I think everyone else should be thinking about them so I can talk about the ideas that are in them.  But this is a book that I honestly think most Christian need to read.

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Heaven is For Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story by Todd Burpos and Lynn Vincent

Adam Shields —  June 17, 2011 — 2 Comments

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

Takeaway: I am not sure all of the interest in heaven is completely positive.

Purchase Links: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook

I want to say up front, I am very skeptical about this book.  I am very skeptical about anything that is based heavily on the account of a young child.  There was an extended section in Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me about how easy it is to get children to give detailed accounts of things that never happened.  Things that you think children could not know about, horrible things, children can talk about with candor and sincerity.  The children are not ‘lying’ they are telling you want what you want to hear and you are hearing what you want.  This can be true with adults as well.  We do many things in an attempt to justify our own actions and make ourselves feel better.  Todd Burpo says repeatedly throughout the book that he tried hard not ask leading questions or suggest things that would influence Colton (the son that goes to Heaven).  But it is impossible to independently verify anything about Colton’s trip to heaven or the family’s influence on Colton.  So we have to take their word for it.

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The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges

Adam Shields —  June 15, 2011 — Leave a comment

The Pursuit of HolinessTakeaway: God wants us to be holy.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook, christianaudio.com MP3 audiobook

I, and I think many modern Christians, have an difficulty getting my mind around holiness.  While I know that there are several passages that encourage us to “Be Holy as God is Holy”, I  have been tainted in my understanding of holiness by the legalism that some Christians of the past 150 years.  I believe that a mix of social progressivism, post-millennial understanding of Christ return, and the pietist denominations means that there was a greater focus on external issues of holiness, to the detriment of internal holiness.  It is always easier to create rules and follow them than it is to truly focus on heart issues of holiness.  After all, what is harder, not playing cards, not drinking alcohol, not dancing or not being jealous of someone else, not desiring what someone else has, and not calling someone a fool in your heart.

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God’s Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Adam Shields —  May 27, 2011 — Leave a comment

God's Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth GospelTakeaway: Taking Jesus seriously on economic issues is hard.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook (Paperback is on sale for $6 right now)

Christians often make very bad economists, or at least bad economics writers. They may have good theology, but good theology does not necessarily make good economic sense.  And Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is OK with that.  He wants to focus on ways that we can re-define our understanding of economics.  This is a common theme of both Christian and non-Christian books I have been reading lately.  Economics is increasingly moving toward mathematical/rational determinism and away from ethical theory.

Wilson-Hartgrove is writing directly to move Christians back toward an ethical understanding of economics.  As a student he wanted to change the world through politics and the religious right.  Then he was deeply affected by a homeless man and began a long journey toward redefining what it means to be a Christian.

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Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me: A Memoir of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron

Adam Shields —  May 26, 2011 — Leave a comment

Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of SortsTakeaway: This really is as good as people have been saying.  A story of a boy seeking after God in a round about way.  Told wonderfully and with great love.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition

I was intrigued by Ian Cron’s first book, Chasing Francis. It was one of the early books I reviewed on this blog.  I have followed Cron from a distance since then.  I was mixed in my review about Chasing Francis.  I am not mixed about Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me.  It is a fabulous book.

Cron lived an interesting life.  His early years were living in London with an elegant mother, a father that in the movie business (and undercover for the CIA) and the wealth and privilege that you might expect.  Within a couple years the family was back in the US, his father was an out of control alcoholic, and Ian was adjusting to life in the US, avoiding conflict with his family and trying to understand what it meant to know God.

I do not want to reveal too much of the actual story, but Cron takes us through his growing up years, college, and early marriage.  An epilogue of sorts catches us up with where he is now.  It is a story that I hope he will continue and give us more.

Cron clearly knows how to write, and tell a story.  He is clear in the introduction that this is a memoir and he has taken a few liberties with memory  to make it a good story.  I am glad he is up front about that.  It may put a few people off, but what he is communicating is the story of how Jesus changed him.  What is important is the arc of that story.  The details of the color of someone’s shirt or who said what really does not matter much in the grand scheme of most memoirs.  I hope other memoir writers take notice and tell a good story.

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The book was provided by the publisher for purposes of review.  I gave away the copy once I read it.

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Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul’s Path to God by Gary Thomas

Adam Shields —  May 24, 2011 — Leave a comment

Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God

Takeaway: People are reflection of God. The ways God creates people to draw near to him are a gift to the church. God has created us all with a desire for him, but those methods of spiritual growth are not the same. Gary Thomas talks about 9 ways that we can draw near to God.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook

This is a book I have had on my shelf for a long time and just finally got around to reading it.  I have read a couple of books that are similar, most recently Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster.  Streams of Living Water is focused on the different Christian faith traditions and their strengths and contributions to Christianity as a whole.  Sacred Pathways is focused on individual spiritual temperaments and how the way God has made each of us, affects the way that we are designed to love God.  Unfortunately, some people fall into the trap of believing that all spiritual growth should look the same (30 minute quiet time, daily prayer alone, Sunday School attendance, active service to the poor, etc.).  Instead, if we read our bibles it is pretty easy to see that the characters of scripture had different temperaments, different ways of relating to God and different pathways to spiritual growth.  The focus of this book is to give a brief overview of 9 different methods for reaching out to God, along with a short questionare on each chapter and some pastoral advice about places that each temperament tends to be helpful and places each temperament tends to have issues.   The final, fairly short chapter is very useful for helping people make a plan for spiritual growth based on their own temperament, while maintaining a good balance with areas that they may be less comfortable.

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No Argument for God: Going Beyond Reason in Conversations About Faith by John Wilkinson

Adam Shields —  May 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

No Argument for God: Going Beyond Reason in Conversations About FaithTakeaway: A faith that can be fully understood by science or logic is no longer faith.  As Christians we need to embrace that Christianity is above human logic.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition

I am not a fan of apologetics.  In general I do not read it and I think primarily the purpose it serves is to help Christians feel comfortable in their faith.  I know that over simplifies things, but if even I, who am a long term Christian with a very good theology background see all kinds of logical holes in most apologetics books I do not think it is really going to move a large segment of people to faith.  My pastor has said several times, that people rarely have theological issues with God, they have emotional issues with God that they may hide behind theological issues.  But when you push, usually the theological questions fall away and the emotional issues come back.  So I have been hoping someone would write this book.

Wilkinson starts by asserting that Christianity is nonsense.  By that he means that is really is beyond our ability to understand completely through our senses and therefore literally “nonsense” (above the senses).  Much of the first half of the book is biographical to help the reader understand the limitations of reason and different ways to talk about Christianity.  My favorite part of this section is a discussion about what science and logic can determine.  Wilkinson says science and logic are good at understanding the “What” questions.  If we ask “Why” questions, “Why is that flower there?”, science is limited in its ability to respond.  Science can talk about how it evolved to have those colors or how it fits into the biosphere around it but science and logic cannot really give an answer to Why that does not become circular.

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Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Adam Shields —  April 28, 2011 — Leave a comment

Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 5)Takeaway: This is one of the classics that everyone should read.

Over the past few years there has been renewed interest in Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  There is a very good documentary (available for streaming on Netflix).  Then two biographies of Bonhoeffer have been published in the last two years (I reviewed Eric Metaxas’s  and have now read but have not read the Ferdinand Schlingensiepen biography, which has been much better received in the academic world and I think is a better biography.)

Much of the interest and resources for Bonhoeffer study is a result of a new 16 volume series of Bonhoeffer’s works.  Previous, to this series that is published in English by Fortress Press, there were only limited editions of Bonhoeffer’s books that had significant translation issues.

I have purchased three of these volumes (they are not cheap, so many people are still purchasing older editions.)  The volume that includes Life Together (Bonhoeffer’s most read book) also includes his book on the Psalms (Prayerbook of the Bible).  I am not reviewing Prayerbook of the Bible here, but will later.  There is a significant amount of extra material in these books to give context and understanding to these two short books.  Life Together is only a bit over 100 pages, but page for page I think is one of the most useful books I have ever read about spiritual growth and the role of community within the church.

The book has only six chapters (Preface, Community, Day Together, Day Alone, Service, and Confession/Communion.)

One of the most useful things that I heard on this reading (I have read this at least twice previously, but not in the last 10 years) was Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the limits and strengths of community. These are two long quotes, but I think shows that Bonhoeffer is not being idealistic about his view of Christian community:

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