Book Reviews

Luke by John MacArthur

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Luke (MacArthur Bible Studies)Takeaway: Learning scripture from a variety of teachers is important.

I have decided I am going to try a different format of scripture reading.  The main issue for me is that I read too much and too quickly and that after a while I start reading scripture in the same way as I read everything else.  So I am being intentional, repetitive and trying to slow down as I read scripture.

I picked up this bible study a while ago when it was offered for free on kindle.  I decided to start with Luke intentionally in part because I had this bible study and wanted to be intentional in reading a diverse group of authors as I read about the book I am actively reading.

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From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer

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From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of TechnologyTakeaway: Technology is shaped by its human creators, but also in turn shapes its human users. (This is the book I have been searching for on Technology and Christianity.)

I am a geek wannabe. I fix a lot of friends computers and my less techie friends often ask for advice. But my skills pale in comparison to John Dyer, John Saddington, and a bunch of other twitter friends. In spite of the fact that I am a nanny and not a full time tech worker, I have been thinking a lot about technology and how we as Christians should be reacting. Over the past couple months I have read two decent books on Technology and Christianity, Tim Challies’ The Next Story and Adam Thomas’ Digital Disciple. Both have real value, but the book I have been looking for is John Dyer’s From The Garden to the City.

The main theme of the book is that while we as humans create technology (and that is part of our God given role), the resulting technology shapes us in ways that we often ignore. A personal example happened yesterday. My wife and I are heavy users of our phones for social media and texting, but we do not actually use them to make a lot of phone calls. Our smart phones are not neutral devices as many Christians want to say, neither good nor evil. Yes, we can choose to do good things or evil things with the phones, but the very fact we have the phones affects the way we interact in the world.  Technology is not deterministic; we can overcome natural tendencies. But without reflection and insight we, often are just unaware of how the technology affects us.

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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 MarriageTakeaway: Communication is the center of marriage.  Almost everything, both good and bad, is a result of communicating with our spouse.

One of the best things my wife and I have done over the past year is to lead a small group for newly married couples.  We have seven couple that were married from 5 weeks to 1 1/2 years when we started.  We are wrapping up the group this month and will start a new group in August.  Leading the group has really required that my wife and I have serious conversations about what is good and bad in our own marriage and the marriages of those around us and how it is we can encourage new marriages to become strong.  I really recommend leading a group like this.

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The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley

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I had a conversation with the Author in the comments of my review on Amazon. I am reprinting that conversation here. I need to re-read the books because clearly I did not get all of it. Whenever I disagree with an author, I want to make sure that I am communicating their argument correctly, in a way that they would agree that I have understood. Farley was kind enough to dialogue with me to move me closer to understanding what he was trying to communicate. The conversation is at the bottom.

The Naked Gospel: Jesus Plus Nothing. 100% Natural. No Additives.Takeaway: The overall point, that Jesus plus anything else is no longer the Gospel, is right.  But his method of dismissing most of scripture, including much of Jesus’ own teaching, makes it so I am hesitant to recommend it.

It took me about 3 years, but I finally got around to reading this book (or most of it anyway.)  A friend asked me what I thought of it and gave me a copy, but we were never able to schedule a time to talk about it, and I did not read it until now.

Farley grew up in a legalistic church background.  He reached a crisis of faith when he realized he never could share the gospel with enough people, he never could live righteous enough, he could never become holy by his own power.

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Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman

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Rating: 3 Stars Purchase Links: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook I first heard of Klosterman a few weeks ago on Bill Simmons’s BS Report podcast. I enjoyed his analysis of Charlie Sheen, the Oscars, and rock music. This book seems to be his most popular, so I figured I’d start with this one. Overall, … Read more

The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is by NT Wright

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The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was & IsTakeaway: The search for who Jesus is, is important for every generation, not because Jesus changes, but because we do.

I honestly cannot express how disappointing it is that when listening to the introduction (this was an audiobook) I find that this book is based on a series of lectures that NT Wright gave while in Chicago speaking to seminary students and others for a conference put on by Intervarsity in 1999.  Because I was in Chicago, and was a seminary student in 1999, and I had no idea that this conference happened.

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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (David’s Review)

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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

One of the benefits of multiple reviewers is that we can read the same books and give our different takes.  Adam’s previous review of Unbroken is here.

Louie Zamperini has an incredible story. It’s amazing what one person can experience in a lifetime. His story made me really think about what I would do if I had to go through what he did.

While I don’t think Hillenbrand intended to make any political statements with the book, I couldn’t help but think about Louie’s story of torture and the current debate in our country on gathering intelligence on prisoners of war. Hillenbrand gives you a little bit of history on Japan during World War II.

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Digital Disciple: Real Christianity in a Virtual World by Adam Thomas

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Digital DiscipleTakeaway: God is with us, whether we are in the virtual world or the physical world.

Billed as one of the first Episcopal priests of the Millennial generation (a bit too often).  I believe this is the first book on technology and Christianity that was written by a digital native.  While I appreciate some of the thoughts of Shane Hipps and Tim Challies and others, the reality is that we are still too early in the process to fully see how the digital revolution is going to affect our society and more importantly Christianity.

Adam Thomas is much more positive about God being with us as we are in digital space.  He adapts the Psalms 139 “if we are in the valley you are there, if we are in the heights you are there” idea to include “if we are on a quest in World of Warcraft you are there”.  This is the overriding message of this short book.

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The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight

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The King Jesus GospelTakeaway: The Gospel is about proclaiming Christ as Lord over all, not primarily about personal salvation.

Some books just give words to those ideas that have been floating around in your brain and suddenly you have a way to express what you were not previously able to express.  The King Jesus Gospel is one of those books.

Over the past months, I have been struggling through understanding scripture and the church and the gospel and how it all relates.  Of course, not all of my questions are answered and of course, I am not sure about all of McKnight’s answers, but his basic thesis, that we need to re-orient the way we talk about the gospel I am convinced is one of the most important messages I have heard.

Early in the book McKnight summarized his thesis (which he does a number of times throughout the book).

“Perhaps the most important thing I can say about what this book will argue boils down to these points:

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