Summary: We are saved by grace but by grow by discipline. I am very supportive of the Spiritual Formation work of James Bryan Smith and his mentors Dallas Willard and Richard Foster. Theologically I really do agree that a theology or spiritual practice that focuses on conversion but stops there without leading into the grace … Read more
Reposting this 2011 review because the Kindle Edition is on sale for $1.99 Takeaway: Wonderful illustration of creation as metaphor It has been decades since I have read the Chronicles of Narnia. I remember my mother reading them out loud to us on family vacations. We spent a lot of time listening to my mom read on … Read more
Summary: A description of the famous short Orthodox prayer with a lot of insight into the Eastern Orthodox Church. I read a lot of books on prayer. I found The Jesus Prayer on a random amazon surfing trip. I have had it on my kindle for a couple months reading a little bit at a time … Read more
Summary: A brief overview of the role of spiritual formation in the Christian life. One of the areas that I think that many Evangelicals have missed is the concept of spiritual formation. It is not that Evangelicals don’t do many of the things that make up spiritual formation. They pray, they read their bibles, they … Read more
Summary: Brief introduction to the Catholic perspective on Saints (with a little bit about Angels). Over the past couple years I have tried to read a book a month that is intentionally outside of my tradition to expand my understanding of Christianity and to better understand the perspectives of other traditions. Scott Hahn has been … Read more
Summary: A Catholic understanding of the role of spiritual direction. One of the most important reasons to regularly read outside your stream of Christianity is that the same words or concepts are treated differently because of the experience of the different stream of faith. That difference can often spark new understanding, or at least fresh … Read more
The Wolf of Wall Street is a memoir written by the wolf, himself, Jordan Belfort. The book is about how Jordan got his start in the stockbroker business, how he made as much as 23 million dollars in one day, how he got wrapped-up into drugs and sex, and how it all came crashing down. … Read more
I have posted my list of favorite books I read over the previous year since I started Bookwi.se. In years’ past, I wrote a brief introduction and then reposted the review and spread the ‘best of’ list over two weeks. This year I have a lot more books that I think need mentioning. I had … Read more
If you are looking for a last minute Christmas gift, you might look at the Coffee With Jesus by David Wilkie. I have been a regular reader of the comic strip on Facebook and Twitter. The Grad Student Blog at Wheaton had a review of it the other day and I think it would appeal to … Read more
On twitter I was asked about the likelihood of Amazon getting an Oyster-like feature (all you can read ebooks for a monthly fee.) I think the ‘all you can read’ system, like Oyster, has a pretty low chance of ever being offered on Amazon. But Amazon does have the Amazon Prime Lending Library. (Sometime referred to … Read more