I am reposting this 2009 review because The Good Book is on sale for $.99 for the Kindle Edition and audiobook is $3.99 with purchase of the Kindle Edition. Summary: A non-practicing Jew reads the Old Testament and blogs his way through it. The Good Book was interesting, maybe the last chapter the most interesting of all. The … Read more
Summary: If you know you want to explore more about theology and the bible but are not sure where to start, this is a good place. This is the third of Ed Cyzewski’s ‘books’ that I have read. One of the books was really just a short, but I appreciate where Cyzewski is coming from … Read more
Summary: Differing perspectives on theological issues allow us to see other views and approach our views with more clarity. I have recently started reading Richard Beck’s blog Experimental Theology. I was briefly introduced to Dr Beck 10 or 12 years ago via a mutual friend at a conference, but only recently have I started reading … Read more
Summary: The Trinity is not just one of our theological points, it is essential to the entire Christian faith. My year of reading about the Trinity has been mostly disappointing. I have not read nearly as much as I wanted, but I have been disappointed in almost everything I have read. The only book I have really … Read more
Takeaway: The story of American Politics, without God or Religion is an incomplete history. I very much respect Mark Noll’s work as a historian. So after re-reading The Civil War as Theological Crisis, I looked around to see if there were any audiobooks of Noll’s works. I listen to a lot of audiobooks because a … Read more
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 … Read more
Takeaway: We really need to read theologians for themselves and not allow others to define them for us. Barth was not a US Evangelical, but he was clearly a Christian that took his Christianity seriously and did much for the church as a whole. Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook Let me start by saying … Read more
Summary: A history of the early Christian political and theological history. I am not sure that the book’s subtitle, “How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years,” helped my perception of the book. I have read two previous books by Jenkins, The Lost History of … Read more
Summary: A good overview of the Old Testament, not just the content of the Old Testament, but interpretative methods, ancient culture, and ways scholarship interacts with ancient texts. I am a fan of Great Courses and “Very Short Introduction to” books. But one of the most common weaknesses is that in a brief survey, the … Read more
Summary: Short history of Reconstruction and Jim Crow. I am a fan of the idea of concise introductory books about big topics that give enough information and context to a subject but do not overwhelm the idea. Several publishers have books like these. For example, the Oxford Very Short Introduction series has over 300 books, … Read more