Adam Shields

The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Marshall

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The Reformation: A Very Short IntroductionTakeaway: The Reformation is very important to the history of Christianity and Europe, but the mythology of the Reformation is often overplayed and detrimental to understanding modern history.

This is the third book I have read in the Oxford Very Short Introduction series.  And I continue to be impressed.  I have done some reading on the reformation and taken two different History of Christian classes that included the reformation.  But even at only 135 pages of content, this book was able to add to knowledge of the Reformation.  The plan of this book is to debunk some of the myths while showing how much the different sides of the reformation really agreed.  Here is the thesis statement from the book:

Myths are not lies, but symbolically powerful articulations of sensed realities. It is probably safer to believe that all the myths about the Reformation are true, rather than that none of them are. The goal of producing a totally unmythologized account of the Reformation may be an unachievable, or even an undesirable, one. Nonetheless, this little book ““ drawing on the best, not always impartial, modern scholarship ““ will attempt to explain what sort of phenomenon the Reformation was, to assess its impact across religious, political, social, and cultural areas of life, and the character of its legacy to the modern world.

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Some Kindle Rumors and News

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Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...
Cover via Amazon

CNet is reporting that Amazon is likely to ship a color e-ink kindle sometime in 2012.  E-ink screens are important because they do not have a backlight and require light from an external source just like a regular book.  This is better on the eyes and better for people that have sleep issues associated with backlighted screens (about 10% of the population).

Liliputing (a computer news site devoted to small sized computers and tablets) had two stories of interest.  One is that the USPS has said that starting May 16, 2012, you can no longer ship lithium batteries or devices that have lithium batteries overseas.  This would include Kindles, iPads, cell phones and a variety of other electronic devices.  This will impact several charities that use USPS to get ebook readers to troops.

Kindle Fire users have a new security features with the new update.  Parental controls, password protected purchases, locking the web browser and disabling portions of the library are all features in the new 6.3.1 operating system upgrade.  These features are useful for parents that are concerned about their children using the Kindle Fire unassisted.

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The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler

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The Explicit GospelTakeaway: The Gospel needs to be understood and Explicit.

I want to affirm Chandler’s desire that people really understand the Gospel. (Although we have a different definition of what is actually the meaning of the word gospel.)  He was struck one day by the number of people that his church was baptizing that said the equivalent of “I grew up in a Christian home and going to church but I never heard the gospel until…”  I heard and have thought the same thing.  Was it that the gospel was not preached or was it that you did not understand?

But like many, his path toward defining and pushing the importance of the gospel takes a pretty standard line.  God is great, God owes you nothing, we are saved by God’s grace alone, our desire for this world is really a mis-placed desire intended for God. So we must emphasize our sin, the reality of hell, and our lost-ness without Christ.

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Fields of Gold (Generous Giving) by Andy Stanley

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Fields of Gold (Generous Giving)Takeaway: In spite of the fact that some Christians misuse scripture about giving, those portions of scripture are still there and we need to focus on the right meaning, not avoid them.

As I have said before, my wife and I lead a small group of newly married couples.  Our next topic is finances.  So when I was offered this book to review I read it with that in mind.

This book was written by my pastor.  So I am not completely unbiased and I have heard much of this content before in sermons or other teaching.

But the thing that most struck me here is that in spite of the fact that Health and Wealth gospel preachers misuse scripture on giving, God still is interested in how we think about and use our money.

Andy Stanley starts with the fact that we often think about giving wrong.  It is not ‘God gets this amount and everything else is ours’.  It is God have given all of it to you and you are merely a steward of it all.  So God wants us to invest it.  That investment should be in God’s kingdom.  This does not mean that we can’t use money on things we need, but that if we have the right attitude toward the money, those things that we really need are far less.

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Now You’re Speaking My Language: Honest Communication and Deeper Intimacy for a Stronger Marriage by Gary Chapman

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Now You're Speaking My Language: Honest Communication and Deeper Intimacy for a Stronger MarriageSummary: A wide ranging book on communication in marriage.

Last night we finished discussing this book in my small group.  My wife and I lead a small group through our church for newly married couples.

This is the first time we have used this book for discussion, although I read it last year.

As we evaluated the newly married curriculum last year most of the group leaders thought that the biggest weakness of the curriculum was that we did not have anything on communication.  So this book was added (and it replaced a couple other books) as the center of the curriculum.

It is not a long book only 268 pages, but it feels really long because it has 23 chapters.  Most weeks we covered 2 or 3 chapters and we took a break in the middle.

At the end my evaluation as a discussion book for a group is a little mixed.  I still think that for most newly married (and long term married for that matter) couple, communication is one of the biggest issues that we face.  And this book gives entry to many other areas because it discusses communication around them (communication around sex, spiritual intimacy, defensiveness, etc.).

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The Diety Formerly Known As God by Jarrett Stevens

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The Deity Formerly Known as GodTakeaway: A reminder that we are not God.  We need to submit to God and not try to get our idea of God to submit to us.

Books that help us correct our false ideas about God are everywhere.  There are so many because we have a sinful nature that tries to recreate God in our image.

Imaginary Jesus uses humor and a fictional memoir filled with false Jesus characters and the main character has to find the right one.

The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love With the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith uses our understanding of the relationship between the Son and the Father to correct our understanding of God.

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And Both Were Young by Madeline L’Engle

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And Both Were YoungSummary: A post-World War II boarding school is the setting of a classic coming of age story.

I have read a number of Madeleine L’Engle books over the last year or so.  Originally I wanted to re-read the Wrinkle in Time series.  Which led me to the last two books in the quintet that I had not read previously.

I also ran across Camilla, which along with And Both Were Young, are her two best known books writing in the late 1940s.  They are both classic coming of age books.  More about what it means to grow up and become and adult than about sexual discovery (which is what coming of age books have come to mean recently.)

Both books dealt with very serious issues and I was surprised that young adult literature of the time allowed.  Camilla included issues of divorce, suicide, affairs and more.

And Both Were Young is set in the last 1940s in Switzerland.  Philippa (Flip) is sent to boarding school there.  Her mother recently died in a car accident and her father is an artist that is going around the world to document children that have been affected by war.

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