Adam Shields

Ultimate Prizes by Susan Howatch (Church of England #3)

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Ultimate Prizes by Susan Howatch (Church of England #3)Summary: An Archdeacon, with a fondness for drink, seeks after his debutante.

The Church of England Series continues to enthrall me.  As I write this I am almost finished with the fourth book of the series I have read in less than a month.

I am normally not a fan of Christian fiction.  But this is not normal Christian fiction.  First, it is oriented around the Church of England in the early and mid-20th Century.  Second, it is primarily about clergy that are in need of spiritual counsel and redemption.

Third it is not Christian Fiction that has a salvation story and then all is right with the world.  Instead, as with the first two books of the series, the redemption story happens fairly early in Ultimate Prizes and then the rest of the book is about how the main character deals with the fact that he got what he wanted.

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Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works by James KA Smith

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Takeaway: Worship, Spiritual Development, Discipleship, all are based on what we do, not just what we think.  Plans for growth and worship based primarily on knowledge break down and leave Christians ill prepared for actual life as a Christian.

It has been six weeks since I have finished Imagining the Kingdom and I am still not sure how to write the review.  But I finally decided that the review is not going to get better the longer I think about it, it is going to get worse.  So I need to just write and apologize for not having fully processed this book.

Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works has a deceptively simple premise.  Growth is based on practice.

Early in the book is a memorable illustration.  Smith, having being influenced by his his wife to read more about eating healthy looks around for a pen to highlight a passage from one of Michael Polen’s books.  As he is looking around he realizes that he is sitting (and eating) in a Costco food court.

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Offsite: John Le Carré

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Yesterday as I was sorting through my RSS feed I ran across several John Le Carré articles on Slate.  Since I posted a review of Smiley’s People (last book of Le Carré’s Karla Trilogy and 8th book in the George Smiley series) I held the posts to turn today in the John Le Carré day. … Read more

Smiley’s People (A George Smiley Novel) by John le Carré

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Smiley's People by John le CarréSummary: Smiley catches Karla’s trail again.

This is the sixth George Smiley I have read since August.  It is also the third of the sub-trilogy that started with Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy.

Overall this is one of the best of the series.  If you are not a stickler for reading series in order, then the three best of the series are Tinker, Tailor, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Smiley’s People.

In Smiley’s People, George Smiley has again retired.  At the conclusion of the Honorable Schoolboy, Smiley had lost his shine.  He and his people had found Karla’s plot, but the British Intelligence system was in disgrace, they did not capture Karla, Smiley’s agent was killed and the USA had swooped in and claimed the little credit that was left to claim.

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Through the Eye of a Needle by Peter Brown

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Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD by Peter Brown

Takeaway: The variety of ways that the Christian church understands wealth and economics has a long history.

One of the reasons that we should read Christian history is because it can give us context for our own modern issues.

Because there are limited sources for late Roman history, Brown uses a variety of historical methods. Most interesting for me was the personal narrative of Christians, Augustine, Ambrose, and a number of people that I had no knowledge of prior to this book.

Culture has always influenced Christianity. So late Roman culture expected those of great wealth to give gifts to the city either through the games and circuses or through community building projects.

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Heat Wave (Nikki Heat) by Richard Castle

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Heat Wave by Richard CastleSummary: First of a series of book that are written to be the books of Richard Castle (the author in the TV series Castle.)

My wife and I are huge fans of the TV show Castle.  So ever since I found out that there is actually a series of books that were written to coincide with the books that Richard Castle writes in the show.

I was interested enough to want to read this, but not enough to actually buy it.  I picked it up at my library on audiobook.

In the TV show, Richard Castle is a mystery writer that works follows the police murder detective Beckett.  He is inspired to write the book Heat Wave about the police detective Nikki Heat and the journalist Rook.

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