Book Reviews – Page 154

The Oak and the Calf by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

August 17, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Being a writer is a calling.

One thought that struck me early in the book. Solzhenitsyn was writing in ‘the underground’. He was only sharing his writing with a handful of trusted readers and was not receiving much criticism to help improve the writing. He wrote a play and as he reflected back on that play he said, “…convinced as I was that what matters most for the writer was truthfulness.” But then the play flopped. He later realized that that form does matter. And to ignore form as an author, especially the fast changing forms of theater, was to ignore the reader.

It is also very interesting how much effort he put into writing. He went to the Gulag because of his writing in the 1950s. But still he continued to write in secret. It was years before anything was published and he almost never shared anything during that time. But he continued to write.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs

August 16, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: We should read more of what we want in order to develop a love of reading and worry less about developing ourselves by reading ‘what is important’.

Purchase Links: Hardcover, Kindle Edition
(Kindle Lending is Enabled, if you have a kindle or kindle app you can borrow this book)

This is a book that just makes sense. The basic idea is that we should be reading more of what we enjoy and not pay as much attention to the books that ‘everyone’ says we should be reading. This works for me for a number of reasons.

Evil and the Justice of God by N.T. Wright

August 12, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Forgiveness is supremely important (chapter 5 is probably worth the price of the book.)

Purchase Links: Hardcover (with DVD), Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook

Wright, after the horrors of Sept 11, the 2004 tsunami, Katrina and the 2005 Kashmir area earthquakes set aside his intent to write a book on atonement and instead wrote a book about why we need the atonement. I really do appreciate Wright’s pastoral intent and the fact that he wants to affect the church, not just the academic world. But I am a bit mixed about this book.

The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love With the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith

August 11, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: There are many false narratives that detract us from the real God.

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

The Good and Beautiful God is the first in a three book series that is intended to be read as a group, particularly in a group context. I am reading them by myself, but I have all three books and I am planning on reading them all over the course of the next couple months. Good and Beautiful God is particularly about understanding God the father as Jesus understands him, as father and as God.

Much of the first 10 to 15 percent of the books is concerned with background and an introduction to series. There are some good things here (like the fact that one of the big things that we need to do to know God is get enough sleep).

However, the real start of the book is when he describes how he and his wife were first told that their soon to be born daughter would be likely still born, or die soon after birth because of a genetic defect. Their daughter was born, and did have a variety of genetic defects, and lived for about two years. The struggle with why this happened, along with the stunningly bad theological advice and counsel that they received (a pastor friend took Smith out to eat and asked him whether it was he or his wife or both of them that had sinned to cause the death of his daughter), drove them to seek a new understanding of God.

With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani

April 10, 2024August 10, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Christianity is about a relationship With God.

Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition

You know how sometimes you read a book and at 10% in you are enjoying it, at 30% you are ready to through it across the room, at 50% you are ready to give it another chance and by the end you enjoyed it but are glad it’s done? If you have not experienced that, you might want to pick up With.

The concept is pretty simple. Jethani thinks that we should live life with God. This is over and against the other four postures in relation to God, Over, Under, From and For.

The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck–101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers by Ron Clark

August 9, 2011 by Adam Shields

The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck--101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers Takeaway: If children are not succeeding in school, you are not trying hard enough. And that ‘you’ includes means, parents are not trying hard enough, teachers are not trying hard enough, administrators are not trying hard enough, kids are not trying hard enough.

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

My wife is a teacher; I work part time with an after school program. My Mother-in-Law just retired as a principal in June and my Mom retired as a teacher last year. Many of my friends are related to education in one way or another. Personally, I spend a fair amount of time reading about and thinking about education theory and practice (at least for a non-educator).

School reform is a hot topic, but the largest problem, in my mind, is scalability. There are many very good solutions to the problems of education, but very few of them really scale because they are so dependent on either the people or the cultural context where they are working.

The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning

August 8, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Brennan Manning is the greatest communicator about the radical grace of God that I know.

I often hear complaints that a church or particular stream of Christian faith only preaches grace, with the implication that they are not preaching the whole gospel. Manning clearly believes that the gospel is grace and anything other than grace is something that is either being added to the gospel or it is something that should be taught that is a result of the gospel, not the gospel itself.

I mostly agree. I understand both sides of the argument. I know that there are people that preach grace in a way that is not the gospel. They preach a grace that has no sense of holiness or weight to it. The result of this type of gospel is that their is no sense of what it is that grace has done. It may seem like grace is the center of this type of message, but the power of grace is missing because there is nothing that the grace of God is doing in our lives.

Saying Yes to No: A Biblical Approach to Disagreement Among Christians by Patrick Webb

August 4, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: If there are people, there will be disagreement. Avoiding disagreement, or insisting on a ‘be nice’ Christianity does not solve the problem. Instead, we need to focus on disagreeing in love and with purpose.

Purchase Links: Kindle Edition, Paperback

I am on a personal investigation of books about how to disagree as Christians. I am giving a talk in September on the subject. But the main reason I am giving the talk is because I am trying to force myself to think a bit more deeply about how we as Christians can disagree and still fulfill Jesus’ John 17 prayer “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (NASB)”

It is pretty easy to look around at the Christian world and see lots of people being examples the opposite of this prayer. It is not all that easy to find really good examples of how Jesus’ John 17 prayer is being fulfilled. I think in large part it is because movements toward unity are a lot harder than disagreements. It is often very slow gradual steps toward unity, but breaks in unity are often loud and well publicized. One of the best books I have read on the reason for this unity is John Armstrong’s Your Church is too Small. I have read it and plan on reading it again very soon.

A ‘Down and Dirty’ Guide to Theology by Donald McKim

August 3, 2011 by Adam Shields

A "Down and Dirty" Guide to Theology Takeaway: A unique, and useful overview of what theology is about. More of introduction to the study of theology and Christian thought than introduction to theology itself.

It is a rare book on theology that includes a section on theological jokes. I have to admit that while I thought some of them were fairly funny, my wife and some friends that I told a couple of the jokes to, were not as amused. It was probably that I am the world’s worst joke teller.

This is a very unique introduction to theology. There is nothing in this short book that I thought was extra or could have been cut, but it was not what I thought of when I thought introduction to theology. This is a quick book. I read almost all of it on a plane ride. In the end it is really about 100 good pages of content with a little bit more in the appendix and introduction. When I think of an introduction to theology I primarily think of a short systematic theology. That is probably not the best way to introduce someone to theology, but that is what I think of.

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson Book 5)

February 26, 2024August 2, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: The Hero is often the hero in a way they do not anticipate.

Percy Jackson, in the last book of the series, is sure he is “the one” of the prophecy. He is going to have to save Olympus and defeat Kronos. So he debates undertaking a dangerous task to prepare himself.

Of course, there is always a problem with his love life (since Hera cursed him).