Since Bookwi.se now has more than 400 book reviews, I felt it was time to start making the back catalogue a bit more useful. Over the next couple weeks I am going to add a series of topical books review summaries that highlight particular book subject areas. This will be a bit subjective and I plan to continually update these posts. At some point I will add a page that lists all of the subject areas to make it easier to browse. I am a topical reader. I tend to read at least 4 or 5 books in an area over a six month period before moving onto another areas. I want to make this useful for people, so if anyone has a suggestion about renaming the category (currently a very boring ‘Book Review Topical Index’) or suggestions for navigation I am very open.
Books Reviews Directly on the Holy Spirit
Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit by Clark H Pinnock
I think that the Holy Spirit is quite neglected, both in my own theology and in general among most Christians. Some Christians seem to have replaced the Holy Spirit with the Holy Scripture as the third member of the trinity. The book started out with one of the best theologies of the Trinity that I have ever read.
If you read one book on the Holy Spirit, this should be it.
Who is the Holy Spirit: A Walk with the Apostles by Amos Yong
Yong uses the paralellism of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles to look at how the Holy Spirit empowers Christians to work in the world. What is most interesting is the use of Luke and Acts to compare the work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The biggest problem of the book is that it is a little too wide ranging. It it were a bit more focused I think the argument would have been a bit better. There are times when Yong spends so much time talking about the work that the Holy Spirit is doing through the apostles that the Holy Spirit almost drops out of the picture. That being said, it is well worth reading.
Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan
The basic premise is that many Christians are living as if the Holy Spirit did not exist. Or worse, actually do not think the Holy Spirit exists. I started this about 3 or 4 days before the Barna Group released a study on Christian’s view of the Holy Spirit. I had no idea how many people (Christians) have wrong views of the Holy Spirit and the Trinity. This study was an attempt at understanding how people of different generations view the Holy Spirit so the results are by generations. Only 56% of Christians (older Christians were 64% ranging down to 38% of young Christians) believe that they “consistently allow their lives to be guided by the Holy Spirit.”
Chan is not attempting to write a book of theology of the Holy Spirit or the Trinity, he is trying to tell us about the Holy Spirit and in a very pastoral way lead us into a right relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Bookwi.se Book Reviews/Posts Indirectly About the Holy Spirit
- Two Books on Prayer by Daniel Henderson
- The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God but Live As If He Doesn’t Exist by Craig Groeschel
- Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard
- The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer
- Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul’s Path to God by Gary Thomas
- A Life Together: Wisdom From the Christian East by Seraphim Sigrist
- Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament by Peter Enns
- The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond by Bill Hybels