Blogger Review Books – Page 15

Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomas Sedlacek

December 27, 2011 by Adam Shields

Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street Takeaway: We have begun to think that modern capitalism is the only right way to think about economics. This book tracks how economics has been thought of throughout history and calls us to rediscover some of what has been lost.

Very few book do I read that just surprise me by their originality. The Economics of God and Evil is one. Sedlacek is a Czech Economist, journalist and Economic Advisor to the first Czech President after the fall of communism. This book was originally written and published in Europe (and was adapted as a theater piece) before being reworked and now published in the US.

Few really well documented books (footnotes are about a third of most pages) also clearly explain fairly academic subjects as well as this book does.

The concept is that Sedlacek traces several texts that show how we have thought of economics in history. These include the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Old Testament, Ancient Greece Philosophy, Christianity and New Testament, Descartes, Mandeville (who I had no concept of) and Adam Smith. He showed how the concepts of economics were different under each of these worldviews and how they influenced the rise of Western Thought about economics. Throughout he gives hints about places where he thinks that modern economics may have ventured away from what might be a better explanation.

Read My Lips by Debby Herbenick and Vanessa Schick

November 23, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Yes, this book is about celebration of women’s genitalia.

If you have a book review blog you get asked to review all kinds of books. Some I review, some I do not. But I decided to review this book for a couple reasons. First, although I am a guy, I am married, I am the nanny for two little girls and my wife and I lead a small group for newly married couples. So I regularly read and think about marriage and sex issues. If you look through my archive, you will find a number of books about sex and marriage. In general, I have not been a huge fan of any of them. All books on sex, gender and/or marriage seem to have several common problems. 1) They try to address too large of an audience. Issues that are appropriate to talk about in one context are not appropriate in another context. 2) They either suggest marriage/sex are really difficult, or really easy and tend to lack balance. 3) They are either Christian focused and tend not to address issues that confront real people, or they are non-Christian focused and tend to not have any moral guide.

After the jump, the review will be more on the rated R side. (Mom you may want to stop reading now.)

Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Gregg Allison

November 16, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Theology does not exist in a vacuum.

Historical Theology is a massive and far reaching undertaking. All theology has a history and a context for when and why it first came to prominence. My personal learning style is such that I tend to learn best when I understand the context of why.

My frustration with my seminary Historical Theology class was that it was focused on the thought and theology, but rarely talked about they history and the why around the thought.

Gregg Allison is writing a Historical Theology to accompany Wayne Grudem‘s Systematic Theology. I have not read Grudem, I used Erickson’s Systematic Theology text in college. But regardless, Allison is writing on the history of the basic points of theology that would be included in any systematic theology.

Obviously this is not a short book. And even at almost 800 pages, I still want more history and more wide ranging discussion. Allison says in the beginning that he is not dealing with Orthodox Historical Theology. So this is a historical theology of the western church, and as you read, you will see that it is a historical theology that is focused on providing context to Evangelical readers. I understand why he is fairly narrow in his wide-ranging task (in part because this book intended to be a partner to Grudem’s Systematic Theology), but I think that Allison’s conservative Evangelical understanding of theology would be better served if he was a bit wider ranging in his understanding of history. And I am sure that the general Evangelical student would be better served by a work that showed them that they are not the center of the Christian world.

Against Calvinism by Roger Olson

October 17, 2011 by Adam Shields

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.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Christian Encounters Series) by Peter Leithart

October 13, 2011 by Adam Shields

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.

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.

The Night of the Living Dead Christian by Matt Mikalatos

October 4, 2011 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: There is no other author quite like Matt Mikalatos

We need more theologians that use an allegorical/satirical look at monsters to get their theological point across.

I very much enjoyed Matt Mikalatos’ first book Imaginary Jesus (my review) and I have passed it on to several people. So I had high hopes for the second book.

In both books a semi-fictional Matt is the main character. In Night of the Living Dead, mild-mannered Matt, in his self-appointed role of neighborhood watch coordinator, sees his neighbor turn into a werewolf and then see his neighbor’s wife leave him. Matt, accompanied by the previously introduced Mad Scientist and his robot, attempt to cure the neighbor (Luther) of his werewolf problem.

Money Secrets of the Amish

August 24, 2011 by All Old Users

Book Giveaway: See end of review for rules

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

In “Money Secrets of the Amish” Lorilee Craker finds a way to cram 25 pages of material into a 220 page book. I didn’t want to be critical of this book at all. In fact there are actually a lot of good tips in the book, however, if you read the table of contents you can pretty much figure out what to do without having to read the book.

The author did spend some time visiting the Amish in her research for the book and there are some fun anecdotes about her time spent among the Amish. She herself grew up Mennonite and was inspired by an NPR report on an Amish bank that had its best year ever in the middle of the financial meltdown late in the last decade.

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.

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.