Book Reviews

Together in Prayer: Coming to God in Community by Andrew Wheeler

July 15, 2026October 20, 2011 by Adam Shields

Together in Prayer: Coming to God in Community Takeaway: Small group prayer is fundamentally different than individual prayer or pastoral prayers.

Prayer is an important part of the growth of any Christian. Small groups or community groups are a significant part of the discipleship strategy within most churches. Unfortunately, prayer within small groups is not usually given the attention that it needs.

Prayer, more than most spiritual disciplines is something that is caught more than taught. Most people learn to pray either as small children at bed time or by listening to pastors or other church leaders pray in large group setting. Neither of these two styles of prayer lends itself a small group setting well.

An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L’Engle

October 18, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Interesting how preconceptions affect the reading of a story.

It is odd to read a book for the first time as an adult, when you started the series as a pre-teen. Like Many Waters, this has a very different feel from the first three books of the series. It is actually the fifth book of the Wrinkle in Time Series and the fourth book in the Polly O’Keefe series.

Time is erratic in L’Engle’s books. The books in both series cannot easily be pinned down to a particular time or even easily be pinned down to fit into one another.

Against Calvinism by Roger Olson

July 15, 2026October 17, 2011 by Adam Shields

Against Calvinism Takeaway: This might better be called ‘Against a strong version of TULIP’

Against Calvinism is part of a two book series that try to present the arguments For Calvinism (my review) and Against Calvinism with as much grace and humility possible. Roger Olson (Against) and Michael Horton (For) introduce one another’s books and it seems have reviewed and commented on each other’s books before publication. I appreciate Horton’s introduction to this book that affirms Olson’s Christianity and good faith and the attempt to bring more light than heat to the discussion. (I also have For Calvinism and will post the review once I finish it.)

Olson takes a specific tack in this book, not to argue against Calvinism as a whole (he affirms many parts of Calvinism) but to argue against particular interpretation of Calvinism that he call ‘High Calvinism’. This is very strong view of the set of ideas that are detailed in the acronym TULIP. After an introduction about the purpose of the book and a fairly long chapter on the diversity within the Reformed church, Olson works through each of the parts of TULIP and shows why he believes that the system is not the best method of understanding God and God’s work in the lives of Christian. This leads to a lot of repetition; this book could easily have been 50 to 80 pages shorter and probably would have been a better book.

The Bible: A Very Short Introduction by John Riches

October 14, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Still not the book I am looking for on the bible.

Last week I stumbled on the Very Short Introduction series and was very impressed with Mark Noll’s book on Protestantism. This week I ventured in again and was much less impressed. The bible is a hard topic. But I was really put off by the focus and direction. The first chapter was on approaching the Bible as either classic literature or sacred text took me a while to get over. I actually had to go back and re-read it after reading the whole book. After the second reading I was not as irritated once I had some context, but I think it shows some of the editorial problems of the book.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Christian Encounters Series) by Peter Leithart

July 16, 2026October 13, 2011 by Adam Shields

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Christian Encounters Series) Takeaway: Biography is not historical fiction.

I am a fan of Dostoevsky. I have read several of his book and want to read more. I have another Dostoevsky biography that I purchased a while ago but I have not gotten around to reading yet. So I was really looking forward to reading this book.

The Christian Encounters Series is intended to be a series of basic Christian biographies that are to be informative, show the person’s Christian background and show how we can be Christians in a number of backgrounds. I like biographies and I tend to read pretty heavy biographies, but I also enjoy simpler biographies. A well done biography does not need to be long, but it does need to have a clear focus.

Whose Bible Is It?: A Short History of the Scriptures by Jaroslav Pelikan

July 15, 2026October 12, 2011 by Adam Shields

Cover of "Whose Bible Is It?: A Short His... — Cover via Amazon

Takeaway: The Bible has a long history.

I started listening to this because I am looking for a book on the history of the canon and how we use scripture to recommend as an introduction. Before this week I have told people that I have read and enjoyed this book. But once I was into it a little but I realized I have not actually read this before. I thought I had read it, and maybe I had started it, but I had not read it.

Jaroslav Pelikan is an important scholar of the history of Christianity. I first read him in a Christian history class in seminary. Some day I will get back and read the rest of his series of five books on the history of the development of Christian doctrine. Pelikan was a professor at Yale from 1962 until his retirement in 1997. He was also a Lutheran pastor for most of his life until 1998 when he converted to the Orthodox Church.

The High King by Lloyd Alexander (Prydain Chronicles #5)

October 10, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: The final story is strangely satisfying.

The High King is the last of one of the best-known Young Adult fantasy series before Harry Potter. It won the Newberry Award in 1969. This was about the same time the Lord of the Rings trilogy took off in the US (the last of the Lord of the Rings books was published in 1956).

The High King is the most like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It has the most action; it is the most focused on large-scale battles. It is the most exciting, and up until this reading, it was my favorite of the series. It is still an excellent book, but Taran Wander is more interesting as a character study. I like the action books, but they are what is driving my reading. I first read the series first in the mid-1980s and was in its target audience.

Luke’s Gospel From Scratch by Donald L Griggs and Paul W Walaskay

October 7, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: A basic introduction to Luke that is not simplistic or reductionist.

Regular readers of my blog know that I am working through a six month study of Luke. There are links to other books I have read an reviewed on Luke below.

I took Jerry Bridge’s suggestion to really delve deep into a book instead of surface reading scripture. So from July through December this year I am just reading Luke. The most important discovery I have made is that just reading will only get you so far. You NEED to use commentaries and other helps if you really want to understand a passage.

Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Noll

July 15, 2026October 6, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: The common thread of Protestantism is diversity, focus on scripture and change.

I first heard of Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction on a podcast from Books and Culture magazine. I am a regular reader and listener to their short weekly podcast and have first heard of a number of books that I have enjoyed from them.

I am also not familiar with the Oxford Short Introduction series. But after having read this one, I will read more. There are more than 200 books in this series over a very wide range of topics. I cannot speak to the series as a whole, but I like the idea of a series that is oriented toward short books on a wide range of topics written by top scholars in the field and oriented toward an educated reader.

Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander (Prydain Chronicles #4)

October 5, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: At some point, growing up means finding meaning and joy in work and yourself.

Taran Wander is my favorite book of the series. In many ways, it is different from the rest of the series. Is it still a book focused on a quest, but instead of saving someone, defeating an enemy, or finding a magical device, it is about Taran finding his heritage.

As a young teen (probably really a tween), there are several points in the books where I actually learned something that I used later. Taran wanders through Prydain to seek out his parentage because he wants to propose to Eliowayn. But she is a princess, and he is an orphaned Assistant Pig-Keeper.