How to Choose a Translation for All It's Worth

It seems like there is a new version of the Bible every year. When I was growing up, there were about a half a dozen, but the only major players I knew about were the NIV, KJV, and NASB. Now it seems you could throw together 3-4 different letters and you would come up with an acronym for a Bible version.
I have gone through stages, myself. I was solidly NIV growing up. I went to a school which was KJV only, and I rebelled hard against that. I have heavily favored one or the other translation or version over the years, but it seems that I always land on the NIV, which is my translation of choice now. I appreciate The Message, the ESV, and have always had a fondness for the NASB.
In this book, How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth, Gordon Fee teams with Mark Strauss and looks at all the ins and outs of various Bible translations. This is the third book in Dr. Fee's "How to...for All Its Worth" Series (Also, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth and How to Read the Bible Book by Book). This book does not only shed light on how to choose a translation for yourself, but also a little into the purpose for using multiple translations and understanding why there are so many different translations.
The authors also delve into different issues that translators face in the translation process - issues of gender and culture - as well as how to word idioms, and metaphors and poetry. The final chapter is quite helpful as the authors classify and review contemporary versions.
This is a book also which can be helpful to read either straight through or bit by bit as you encounter of face new questions in regards to Bible translations. Whether you are trying to find your first Bible or you have a copy of each translation and wish to understand the background of them, this book will be very approachable for you.

The Way I See It #230

This morning I stopped at my favorite place - Starbucks. As I was sipping my vente Anniversary blend, I noticed the submitted "way I see it" blurb on the side of the cup. This one came from Joel Stein who is a columnist for the LA Times:

Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can't wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They're basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell.

There are a couple of issues I have in reading this blurb. First, Mr Stein implies that heaven has need of new marketing. That the heaven PR machine has rested on it's laurels for a couple of centuries., and needs to merely step it up a bit. Also, Mr Stein seems to be placated quite easily. A luxury hotel? Like CS Lewis says, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." If heaven were only about someplace nice to go, than it would not be heaven. Last, about heaven "getting by", it seems Mr Stein believes that Peter and Judas as in competition with one another trying to sell the more tickets for their respective eternal residences and that hell has just received some bad consumer recommendations.

In reading both John Eldrege and Randy Alcorn, I agree that Christians are, in part, to blame for the misconception that in heaven we will be sitting on a cloud with a harp singing forever. We will not, as Mr Eldrege says, be going to the eternal church service in the sky. Mr Alcorn believes that Christians are to blame for the misconceptions of heaven because we have failed to explore the extraordinary images of heaven presented in Scripture.

While I obviously do not know exactly what heaven will be like, I think we get a good picture from Jesus. Jesus came to make all things new (not change things, but restore then to their created order - an order in which we worked, had relationships and were surrounded by beauty, both created and God). Jesus also came to give us life as it was meant to be, so we could live to the full. There is not one person I know that would consider a full life sitting on a cloud, playing a harp, endlessly singing. Heaven is somewhere I can't wait to go - because of a number of reasons, but mainly,

• because Jesus will be there
• because evil and suffering will be no more
  
• because I will receive a new body
• because Jesus will be there

I encourage you to do a couple of things. First, log onto www.starbucks.com/wayiseeit and write a comment about Mr Stein's contribution. Second, if you wish to read more about heaven, in addition to Scripture, check out a good biblical overview in Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. Mr Alcorn's website, Eternal Perspectives, is also a good informative site. Another place to go is the writings of John Eldrege, and his Ransomed Heart podcast.

Prayer DVD

Last winter, I reviewed Philip Yancey's latest book, Prayer. This past month, Zondervan has released a 6 session small group curriculum based on the book and taught by Philip Yancey. While the book delves deeper into more issues regarding prayer, the small group curriculum is a great primer which will get groups talking about a portion of their lives which most everyone wishes was stronger.

The curriculum covers six topics from the book -
The View from Above - the fact that God has everyone in mind and ultimately his glory in mind, whereas we are mainly concerned about our our needs and wants.
Why Pray? - this session touches on the subtitle of the book and DVD - does it make any difference? Yancey talks about the fact that God knows what we are going to pray about, so why should we go through the motions?
Keeping Company with God - this session speaks to Paul assertion to "pray without ceasing". How is that possible? What does it look like in practice? Yancey speaks of keeping a running inner dialogue with God.
How to Pray - while there is no formula to prayer, there are things that each of us can do to make prayer a daily, regular practice. Each of us need to find our own way to pray, not someone else's.
Prayer Problems - the book tackles this issue both more deeply and more broadly, but the DVD
covers the biggest problem for most people - unanswered prayer. Yancey looks to our expectations as well as potential road blocks we have put up ourselves.
Does Prayer Change Anything? - Something that C.S. Lewis said has always stuck with me - I pray not so much to change God, but to change myself. Yancey picks up on that and talks about how prayer changes us.

This is an excellent group study and one that will enhance people's communication and communion with God. I believe that prayer is something that many people struggle with and that once people get in a group setting and share struggles and issues they have, they will see that they are not alone. The study will also bring to light helps to those issues.

Decide for Yourself

Today, an oldie but a goodie. I picked up Decide for Yourself about ten years ago, and I can not tell you how helpful I have found it. What this book does is go through many of the major doctrines of our faith and explains some of the varying opinions people hold and/or have held over the years. Then, the author lists out the Scripture references associated with each of the various positions asking questions intended to provoke discussion and insight into that topic, so each person can "decide for themselves" what they believe the Bible to be teaching about these doctrines.
I have used this book in personal study as well as in group study situations, for groups of teens and groups of adults. This book has been a valuable resource for me.
Some of the doctrinal subjects Decide for Yourself covers are the atonement, what is God like, the inspiration of Scripture, the person and work of the Spirit, and what happens after death.
What the book does is open each of the 24 chapters with the background of what the belief is and means, states what the problem is or has been, lists the procedure for "deciding for yourself" by asking questions and listing Scripture to dig into, then encourages readers to write down their own conclusion tot he matter and then offers some follow up questions to the study.
For instance, chapter 8 looks into the will and providence of God. The author lists the differing opinions from Deists, Pantheists (and some liberals), religious existentialists and neo-orthodox theologians, and finally orthodox Christians. Then the problem is stated - How should we think of God's relation to the world of nature and human history? Which views merit your assent. Next questions are qsked and paired with Scripture to draw out insight. Does God overrule evil to accomplish good? (Ge, 45.5; Ps. 76.10; Rom. 8.28; etc.). How does God's providential agency relate to the evil acts of men? (1 Cor. 4.7; Phil. 4.13; Jas. 1.17, etc.). Readers are then encouraged to memorize Ephesians 1.11 and write out their own conclusion. Last, readers look at the significance and answer some questions, including "Why do you think this teaching so often seems offensive rather than comforting?"
Overall, whether you work for a church, lead a ministry in the church or just have questions about faith, ths is an extremely helpful book.

Faith Under Fire

From October 2004-June 2005, Lee Strobel hosted a CNN news talk type TV program entitled Faith Under Fire. He, along with Gary Poole and Zondervan have put together four, four-session DVD's with talks and debates from that original television show. I recently reviewed the second in the series, Faith & Facts. In this study, groups will go through the histoic reliability of the Bible, heaven, hell and the science of creation.

A mission statement for these studies might be a question - "Does the Christian faith stand up to tough scrutiny?" The topics are not debated against a straw man or even decided conclusively at the end of each session. There are two sides presented on an issue, done by people very knowledgeable in their field, who generally disagree with one another, but civilly promoting their viewpoint. At the conclusion of the video segment, Lee Strobel offers his viewpoint on the matter, but ultimately, the final decision of what to believe lies in the hands of the participant.

The videos are spaced out in-between various participant discussion times, with open-ended questions for groups to dig into the heart of the matter at hand, provided in the participants guide.

This is not a Bible study, per se, but a topical discussion meant to get participants talking about what they think about these subjects. Groups will interact with Scripture, theologians, non-Christian thinkers and one another. The DVD does most of the work, so leader's need not be worried about having answers to these subjects. They serve are facilitators who welcome all thoughts and guide the discussion.

Below is a video sample from Zondervan for this series.

RZIM Critical Questions Discussion Guides

"There are so many answers out there and a question to every answer. To ask them is to engage with information. To ask questions about life ultimate questions is to be in the pursuit of God. That's what this series is about: to take you to the heart and mind of God., which is the right destination."
- Ravi Zacharias, Series Editor, RZIM Critical Questions Series

This series is a Bible study series that dives deep into the important questions of life. It will help you shape and/or hone your worldview more in tune with Scripture. Everyday, we see answers to the questions asked in this series:
Who Was Jesus?
Can I Trust the Bible?
What is Truth?
Is God Real?

Television, movies, music and people all relay their answers to these questions. We are able to filter some of what the world tells us, but unless we are spending more time with Truth than with the lie, our values will falter. This series is one way to interact and be engaged with Scriptural teaching on these important worldview questions.
Scot McKnight discusses who Jesus was (and is) by looking at Jesus himself and those closest to him. Darrell Bock believes that we can take a journey back into seemingly foreign, ancient times and see more clearly who we are and who we were created to be, by trusting Scripture. Why is truth objective and relativism unlivable? Paul Copan and Mark Linville explore that in What is Truth? Examine a number of reasons why we can confidently believe that God exists and that he is knowable in William Lane Craig & Charles Taliaferro's, Is God Real?
I think that this series will be one of great help to those in the church struggling with conflicting answers to these questions as well as people who are in contact with friends, family and co-workers with no sense of direction and being blown like chaff in the wind.

The Culturally Savvy Christian

I saw this book and was immediately intrigued. I had never heard of Dick Staub before (the jacket cover tells me he has a national radio show that has been on for 15 years), but even so, I picked it up. Am I glad I did. I found this book to be a great read and a very challenging one at that.
At first it seems like an updated version of Niebuhr's Christ and Culture, but I found it to be that and so much more. Mr. Staub interacts with a lot of scripture and to a lesser extent much popular culture. A definition he uses to divide the book into three sections (talking about faith, culture, and the two in relation to one another) is:

The culturally savvy Christian is serious about faith, savvy about faith and culture, and skilled in relating the two.

He opens by talking about being savvy about faith and culture. He (rightly) talks about how many people can quote lines from their favorite movies, TV shows, and/or songs than verses from the Bible. I have found this to be true in my circles and, sadly, in my own life. I must say that I found the opening chapter rather depressing - in the sense that we all let such a magnitude of mindless "amusement" (which Mr. Staub says could be defined as 'to be absent in mind'). He then looks at the soullessness of popular culture (celebrity-driven, money-centered, spread by marketing and sustained by technology), but does not at all suggest turning our backs on culture, but rather, engaging it with the soulfulness of Christ.
He then turns to talking about getting serious about our faith. He bashes what he calls "Christianity-Lite". Too often we are not shedding light into darkness, but living duplicitous lives at church and away from church. Mr. Staub says that we need to have God's deep presence, His transforming presence, as well as His loving presence, and explores each one.
Lastly, Mr. Staub offers action on how to maintain a serious faith and actively engage culture - to transform culture, create soulful culture. We do this by countering culture like aliens, ambassadors, and artists. Mr. Staub is very interested in the hope that serious Christians can not only transform culture but also create culture. He is not interested in our Christian sub-culture, but in leading culture with our art, values and creativity.
I would agree with N.T. Wright who writes a sentence of recommendation for the book - "This is an urgent book for our times - and for our health."

Other books of interest touching on this subject:

Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts & Interpret Trends, ed. by Kevin VanHoozer
Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue, by William Dyrness
A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture, by Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor
Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, by Robert Johnston
Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture, by William Romanowski

Happy Birthday - John Calvin

John Calvin was born on this day in 1509. I took a class at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on Calvin's theology and was able to interact with many different works by and about him. Some of these were,
Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait, by William J. Bouwsma
A Defense of the Secret Providence of God, by John Calvin (Out of Print)
The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by Calvin
The Grace of God and the Will of Man, ed. by Clark Pinnock
The Providence of God, Paul Helm
Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty, John Murray
Calvin, Francois Wendel. (Out of Print)

I would recommend any of them (the Wendel biography is a bit dry, though - but also out of print).
Also good websites are,
Wikipedia
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Calvinism Resources Database
The Hekman Library (Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mi)

1 Corinthians

After listening to Mark Driscoll's series on Ruth, I wanted to go through a book of the Bible reading in a commentary and listening to his sermons on the same passage. Mr. Driscoll has a series on 1 Corinthians which took 9 months actual times to go through. The trick was to find a good commentary that was engaging and solid. I wanted to try something different than my favorite series - the NIV Application Commentary - so I grabbed my New Testament Commentary Survey by Carson and looked up what he said. Dr. Carson writes,
"The best commentary on the Greek text of 1 Corinthians is Anthony Thiselton (NIGTC; 2000, / $80.00). The work is very impressive. Over 1,400 pages long, it could easily have been a ponderous volume of massive learning and impenetrable prose. But Thiselton has outdone himself. Every section I scanned was well written, accessible (for readers of this sort of series!), and penetrating."
I am not a reader of this sort of series. I have tried to take Greek twice (as well as German and Spanish) and am not easy learner of languages. However, Anthony Thiselton has published "A Shorter Exegetical & Pastoral Commentary" on 1 Corinthians through Eerdmans. This was much more my speed, with less linguistic emphasis, and more practical outgrowth. However, well done it is, I still found it difficult to muddle through, so I put it aside for Craig Blomberg's 1 Corinthians commentary in the NIV Application series.
This was not a good choice. I found this to be a very week volume in the series and found it to be dry and lacking engagement. Dr. Blomberg is a very good scholar of the Gospels, but I found his treatment of Paul's letter very uninspiring. However, Dr. Carson reports it to be "the best of the middle-level commentaries."
I had never read any of the works in The Bible Speaks Today series, but was always intrigued by it. Even though Dr. Carson mentions David Prior's The Message of 1 Corinthians only in passing, I picked it up and worked through it. I found Dr. Prior's perspective to be very interesting, having pastored in both South Africa and Oxford. His writing was engaging and informative, as well as giving me different takes on the passages than what I was listening to with Mark Driscoll. I found it to be a very fresh exposition.

The Moral Vision of the New Testament

One of my favorite classes from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School was New Testament Ethics. The class was about a half a dozen people, including Dr. Bruce Fields - our professor, and with that size, it was very conducive for good discussions. Another aspect of the class that lent itself to good discussions was one of our textbooks - The Moral Vision of the New Testament, by Richard Hays.
This book is an introduction to ethics in the New Testament. Dr. Hays offers three lenses with which to view moral and ethical behavior from the New Testament:

1. Community - the community [the church], in its corporate life, is called to embody an alternative order that stands as a sign of God's redemptive purposes in the world.
   
2. Cross - to be Jesus' disciple is to obey his call to bear the cross, thus to be like him. Our actions are therefore to be judged not by their calcuable efficacy in producing desirable results but by their correspondence to Jesus' example.
3. New Creation - the church is to embody the power of resurrection in the midst of a not-yet-redeemed world.
   

These three images focus and guide our reading of the New Testament texts with respect to ethical issues, according to Dr. Hays. He spends a good deal of time expounding on these images and their benefits.
The last section of the book is what I found to be most challenging, most interesting and that which I have wrestled with for the past 7-8 years. This last section he speaks about particular issues and reflects on them in light of the three images of community, cross, and new creation. Some of the ethical issues he writes about are: violence, divorce and remarriage, abortion, homosexuality, and ethnic conflict.
While all have been very eye-opening and helpful, the section on violence in defense of justice is the one which I have struggled with ever since I took this class. Dr. Hays is a pacifist, and while in seminary, I definitely was not, he really got me thinking. I believe that not I would fall into the same camp as he does. I would recommend this book on the basis of that chapter alone. But the entire book will provoke your thought.

A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God

I needed this book. This was the right book at the right time for me. But it could just be that the thought that Larry Osborne offers in A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God is just a breath of fresh air for those who desire to know God, but struggle.
Have you started a journal only to forget about it or discard it after 2-3 entries?
Have you woken early in the morning to spend time with God only to have fallen asleep?
Have you tried to memorize passages of Scripture but can't get past the first verse?

Please read this book. It will allow you to stop beating yourself up for not living up to a spirituality gauge which people use, not God.

We can please God in ways that are not conventional. We can know God without jumping through certain hoops. Dr. Osborne writes that we all relate to God in different ways. He made us all very different and very unique - so he wants us to relate to him through those ways, not through rules and rituals which have been set up by people. This is not to say that ways which certain people relate to God should be thrown out, just that they are not rules that everyone needs to follow.

I will say that the principles in this book fly in the face of most everything I was taught in Sunday school growing up. I believe that people will either love this book or they will hate it. Dr. Osborne speaks to Christian's (unfortunate) mindset of best practices, how not living up to your potential may be the best, and that God is looking for mediocre Christians.

The idea I really found helpful was that each of us has a unique relationship with God. Dr. Osborne illustrates by using the relationship he and his brother had with their father. Each brother was completely different, and their father related to them in different ways. If their father related to the brothers the same way, one would suffer. Each son was unique, and so their father talked sports and politics with one and music and travel with the other. Neither way was the only way, just the right way for them.

In the same way, if you really get into worship music and I really prefer hiking through nature, neither of us has the only way to connect with God. Both are viable options for either of us to relate with him. We should try one another's approach, but not feel a sub-par Christian if we cannot connect the same way.

I found this book very helpful and really enjoyed Dr. Osborne's interaction with Scripture and his personable writing style.

John Stott on The Bible & the Christian Life

John Stott is one of the great thinkers, writers and preachers of our era. Zondervan has packaged a DVD seminar series of Dr. Stott's in which he speaks to the authority, interpretation and use of Scripture. They bill it as groupware, which is their small group type material, but it is different for any of the other small group groupware material of theirs I have come across.
If you are familiar with the DVD studies that Dr. John Piper or Dr. Tom Wright have put out (with Multnomah and IVP respectively), then you will have an idea of what to expect, format-wise. The six sessions on this DVD are six 45-60 minute talks which Dr. Stott presented at All Souls Church. In these, Dr. Stott presents his teaching on
1 The Authority of the Bible
2 The Nature of the Bible: Double Authorship
3 The Interpretation of the Bible
4 The Problem of Culture
5 Developing a Christian Mind
6 Making an Impact on Society

The "study guide" included is an outline of the lectures and three questions offered for discussion and reflection. I do wish that this was a bit more developed. The questions are good and I think lend themselves to enhancing discussion, but I think it could be done even better.
One of the aspects of the DVD studies which Multnomah puts out from North Point Ministries is having the questions for discussion actually appear on the screen. I would like to see the questions for The Bible & the Christian Life appear on the screen at an appropriate time just after Dr. Stott has spoken about what the question refers to. With each session lasting 45-60 minutes, there is so much that can be gleaned, that if you were to take the time as his is speaking about it, I think it would enhance the comprehension, as opposed to asking all the questions at the end of the session. (This can easily be done by the leader of the study by simply pausing the DVD an injecting the questions, but it would be a nice feature if the DVD did this automatically).
The authority of Scripture and what we believe about Scripture is very important and Dr. Stott does a wonderful job in making these concepts intelligible and applicable.

Serve God, Save the Planet

When I told someone that I was reading Serve God, Save the Planet, they responded by asking why I would be reading that "wacked out hippie garbage". It may be wacked out - but only in the sense that Christians are meant to be wacked out. We should not be normal, we are a peculiar people. Too often, we look just like the rest of our neighbors. Serve God, Save the Planet is exactly what the sub-title says - A Christian Call to Action. J. Matthew Sleeth, a former ER doctor & hospital chief-of staff, writes about parenting, eating, home-maintenance, TV, possessions, and many other topics, from a conservationists stand point.
I must say that this is going to be one of my top books of the year. I found this book informational, challenging, and inspiring. A few things that I learned (which I probably should have known)

• Do not eat fast food
• the lint trap in the dryer is what is taken from your clothes & therefore the dryer wears them out more quickly as well as uses a lot of energy
• kids spend more time watching TV than in school a year
  
• I am owned by my possessions

I am an avid fan of the show 24. However, I told my wife about a month ago that this past season was the last one I will watch. I do not want that violence in my mind and spirit. Dr. Sleeth speaks a bit to this invasion of the spirit. He writes, "wasting time and wasting energy are two reasons to curtail TV viewing. The three hundred million TV sets in the United States consume a lot of energy - five times more than is produced by all the geothermal, biomass, solar, and wind sources in the United States. They take energy and materials to manufacture. They are difficult to get rid of and to recycle. They convince us to buy things we don't need, which cost energy to produce, transport, and dispose of. But the real reason tp worry about watching TV has to do with the part of us we can't see or measure: or spirit. Television separates us from our Creator while killing his creation."

This book is a great read and one I would strongly encourage people to read. There is so much we can do to sustain God's creation. This book gives simple (and difficult) suggestions to do this. In the back of the book is a wealth of resources - energy audits, simple suggestions to reduce your energy usage, an earth-care to-do list, and a workbook.

For more information, visit servegodsavetheplanet.org

The Top Five....Books on Atonement

A week late, but here they are - the top five (plus one releasing this fall) books on the Atonement, according to Dr. Greg Strand, Director of Biblical Theology and Credentialing at the EFCA. Having just read the book, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, in which the authors were asked to talk about Scripture, Trinity and the Atonement, I asked Dr. Strand for the best (in print) books on those topics. Today I want to share with you the top books he gave me on the Atonement. In no particular order...


The Glory of the Atonement, Frank James & Charles Hill - ed.
The atonement is the crown jewel of Christian doctrine. And it is the responsibility of each generation of theologians to preserve its heritage, explore its facets and allow its radiance to illumine their day. With The Glory of the Atonement editors Charles E. Hill and Frank A. James III, along with a group of expert contributors, attempt to fulfill this trust at the dawn of a new millennium.

The Glory of the Atonement is divided into three parts--biblical, historical and practical--with each section introduced by an overview essay. In part one evangelical biblical scholars explore the atonement within the contours of Scripture, looking first at the atonement in the Pentateuch, Psalm 51 and Isaiah 53, and then more closely at the major texts of the New Testament.

In part two historical and systematic theologians weigh the atonement in the ancient, medieval and Reformation traditions. The primary perspective of the contributors is the Reformed tradition, which is further represented by essays on John Calvin, Herman Bavinck and Karl Barth. A timely capstone to this historical view is a stimulating consideration of the atonement and postmodernism.

Finally, the implications of the atonement are brought home in part three with a look at the atonement in contemporary preaching and Christian living.

Here is a full-course feast for ministers of the Word, a textbook for students of the Bible and theology, and a valuable resource for any theological library.

The Atonement, Leon Morris
Leon Morris examines the rich variety of New Testament terms used to describe the significance of Christ's death and resurrection.
Why is the cross the crux of Christianity? What are the meaning and significance of the atonement? The Bible uses a host of terms to illuminate the answers to these questions: covenant, sacrifice, the Day of Atonement, Passover, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, justification. In plain English Leon Morris explains each of these words, thus opening up for students, pastors and teachers the fuller biblical dimension of God's great salvation.


Where Wrath and Mercy Meet, David Peterson
In this collection of papers, delivered at the Oak Hill summer school of theology, four members of the faculty defend a strong articulation of penal substitution in the face of contemporary challenges. David Peterson surveys the atonement in both Old and New Testaments; Gary Williams examines the nature of punishment at the heart of a penal doctrine; Michael Ovey expounds how sin is the 'de-creation' of God's world; and Paul Weston reflects on John's gospel and the lessons it provides on proclaiming the cross today. The collection is then completed with an appendix on justification by faith by Alan Stibbs.


The Cross of Christ, John Stott
The work of a lifetime, from one of the world's most influential thinkers, about the heart of the Christian faith.

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. . . . In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?" With compelling honesty John Stott confronts this generation with the centrality of the cross in God's redemption of the world -- a world now haunted by the memories of Auschwitz, the pain of oppression and the specter of nuclear war.

Can we see triumph in tragedy, victory in shame? Why should an object of Roman distaste and Jewish disgust be the emblem of our worship and the axiom of our faith? And what does it mean for us today?

Now from one of the foremost preachers and Christian leaders of our day comes theology at its readable best, a contemporary restatement of the meaning of the cross. At the cross Stott finds the majesty and love of God disclosed, the sin and bondage of the world exposed.

More than a study of the atonement, this book brings Scripture into living dialogue with Christian theology and the twentieth century. What emerges is a pattern for Christian life and worship, hope and mission.

Destined to be a classic study of the center of our faith, Stott's work is the product of a uniquely gifted pastor, scholar and Christian statesman. His penetrating insight, charitable scholarship and pastoral warmth are guaranteed to feed both heart and mind.

Cross Words, Paul Wells
The post-modern society is so focussed on the internal life of the individual that it makes the significance of the cross a difficult concept to grasp. Even Christians are trying to find alternative ways of explaining it - some have abandoned the concept of atonement entirely.

Jesus, though, is far more than a victim. When God receives and approves the condemned Jesus he transcends the world of oppressor and victim to create a new humanity, capable of new kinds of relationships. Atonement speaks of a transition from brokenness, alienation and the death of love to a place of restoration, healing, and wholeness. A place that holds out hope for deepening friendships and mutual confidence - the exact same things the post-modern mind is lacking, and is looking for.

Pierced for Our Transgressions, Steve Jeffery, Mike Ovey and Andrew Sach
The doctrine of penal substitution states that God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for sin.

Although this is the historic Christian view, it has recently come under attack. Controversy has raged since 2003 when Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Trust, likened the doctrine to ‘a form of cosmic child abuse’.

Pierced for our Transgressions offers a fresh affirmation of penal substitution, engaging with exegetical, theological, pastoral and historical perspectives. It is designed to be useful for pastors, theological students, and all thinking Christians.

The Organic God

The Organic God is part autobiography, part theology and all enjoyable. Margaret Feinberg walks readers through the various stages of her life in her telling about ten attributes of God. Her desire was to get to the root of God, to strip away any pretense, remove any unhealthy filters and see God for who he truly is, naturally. How does she come to this vision of God? Through the Scriptures.
Ms. Feinberg had felt flat in her spiritual life, disconnected from God. "I was tired of hearing what everyone else said about God. I wanted to know him for myself." She figured the best place to start was the Bible and started going through the entire NT and portions of the OT filling dozens of notebooks with her thoughts. This book is the outgrowth of those notebooks.
This book is quite readable, surprisingly deep for the easy conversational style with which she writes and one that I would recommend to any who wish to get closer to their God.
My favorite chapter was the one on the beauty of God - Breathtakingly Beautiful. Ms. Feinberg says that there is something intrinsic about us that is drawn to beauty. And God is more beautiful than anything else ever. The question she asks is a great one to think about-
What do you love about Jesus?

The Top Five....Books on the Trinity

Last week I mentioned that I picked Dr. Greg Strand's brain for his top books in three subjects: Scripture, Trinity and Atonement. Last Friday, I gave you his top books on Scripture, today is the list on the best books on the Trinity (and only one is out of print!). Look next Friday for his best books on the Atonement.

God the Holy Trinity, Timothy George
God the Holy Trinity brings together leading scholars from diverse theological perspectives to reflect on various theological and practical aspects of the core Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Throughout, the contributors highlight the trinitarian shape of spiritual formation. The esteemed lineup of contributors includes Alister E. McGrath; Gerald L. Bray; James Earl Massey; Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.; Frederica Mathewes-Green; J. I. Packer; Timothy George; Ellen T. Charry; and Cornelius Plantinga Jr. This book will appeal to students, church leaders, and interested laity.

The Holy Trinity: Reflections on Christian Faith and Practice, Robert Letham
When it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, evangelicals have underachieved. In The Holy Trinity Robert Letham helps to redress this shortcoming. He offers a well-researched volume about “the One who is utterly transcendent and incomprehensible.” After examining the doctrine’s biblical foundations, the author traces its historical development through the twentieth century, and engages four critical issues: the Trinity and (1) the incarnation, (2) worship and prayer, (3) creation and missions, and (4) persons

Our Triune God, Peter Toon
Who is the God of the Bible? From both within the church and outside her walls the orthodox doctrine of the Holy Trinity, declared in Scripture and passed down in ecumenical creeds and local confessions of faith, is under attack. The emerging absence of a Trinitarian mind-set so prevalent in the church today has enormous implications for the future of the Christian faith. Concerned to counter contemporary attacks on the doctrine of God, Peter Toon here demonstrates the existence and priority of a Trinitarian pattern in Scripture and defends the essential role of the Trinity in Christian belief, faith, and practice.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles and Relevance, Bruce Ware
Bruce Ware provides an approachable examination of the doctrine of the Trinity. He discusses the relationship and roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the practical implications of the Trinity for our lives.

God in Three Persons, Millard Erickson (Out of Print - links to amazon.com used copies)
This contemporary approach to basic doctrine offers a crucial tool for students who want comprehensive, consistent, logical theology. God in Three Persons will enhance undergraduate theological courses and has applications for graduate systematics and historical theology study. Erickson surveys the background for today's debate, showing that modern controversies simply rephrase old arguments. At its core this book is a close study of Scripture, especially the key teachings of John's Gospel. Erickson also considers whether belief in the Trinity is requisite to salvation, whether it makes any practical difference in the Christian worldview, and whether it is logical and intelligible. The book's contemporary statement of the Trinity doctrine sets forth and applies all biblical evidence to Christianity at large and worship and prayer in particular.

Esther - NIVAC

I had just read the NIV Application Commentary on Ruth & was digging the Old Testament women, so I decided to move on to Esther. I referenced Tremper Longman's Old Testament Commentary Survey to see which commentary he felt was the best. He gave Dr. Jobes' NIV Application Commentary on Esther 5 stars & said, "Without a doubt this is the best commentary to buy on Esther." Well, that recommendation sold me, so I picked it up and read through it. Since it only the first commentary I have read on Esther, I cannot say if it is the best, however, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As you probably know, Esther is the only book in Scripture which does not explicitly speak of God, and Dr. Jobes does well to speak in how in our contemporary situation, we quite seldom hear God speak & rarely witness a blatant divine miracle. So, Esther is really quite a contemporary book. Esther speaks of believers being used by God in secular positions - something that people are looking for today. How can I be used of God in my workplace, in my neighborhood, in my _______? Esther is quite a contemporary book.

I have mentioned what I enjoy about the NIV Application commentary before (in my review of Dr. John Walton's commentary on Genesis), so I will not go into that again. But what I specifically liked about Dr. Jobes' commentary on Esther is that she paints Esther and Mordecai as human. They are not necessarily role models (Esther wins her position based on her sexual prowess), but they are real people, struggling and God obviously works through them (even though it is far from obvious at the time). Dr. Jobes deals with tough subjects comprised within the book such as holy war, feminist issues, and trusting God when he is not seen.

The Top Five....Books on Scripture

I recently asked Greg Strand, Director of Biblical Theology and Credentialing at the EFCA, about books he would recommend in certain subjects. Having just read the book, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, in which the authors were asked to talk about Scripture, Trinity and the Atonement, I asked Dr. Strand for the best (in print) books on those topics. Today I want to share with you the top books he gave me on Scripture. In no particular order...

1. Standing on the Rock, James Montgomery Boice. Boice presents evidence that not only has God spoken through His Word, but He has a trustworthy and authoritative message. This updated revision of Standing On The Rock includes a new chapter on the Bible's sufficiency in meeting our society's psychological, social, and spiritual needs. This timely book provides the answers you need to be an effective witness and is also an essential guide for seekers and new believers.




2. Scripture and Truth, D.A. Carson & John D. Woodbridge, editors. In this book, various theologians who defend biblical inerrancy look at issues that have been raised by contemporary scholars. They define and analyze what Christians mean when they say Scripture is truth.

3. Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon, D.A. Carson & John D. Woodbridge, editors. "These thought-minded essays are the channel through which conservative scholars must steer for competent interaction with current critical theories, for helpful direction in focusing the battle over Scripture, and for reflection of conflict areas that Evangelicals must themselves resolve. This work rises above the shallow shadow-boxing over inerrancy and engages central concerns with academic ability and dignity. It puts on the agenda issues that Evangelical leaders must now wrestle: Does the Bible contain different kinds of truth? Is all divine revelation rational? Is the canon really post-apostolic? No reader will agree with all that is said; some will loudly disagree here and there. But all students will be stimulated and serious readers edified at the frontiers of current debate."
Carl F. H. Henry

4. Nothing But the Truth, Brian H. Edwards. "The battle for the Bible continues. Liberal scholarship and sceptics continue to cast doubt upon the authenticity of all Scripture and its inerrancy. Here is a book rich enough in content to stir the minds and hearts of all who love the Bible and at the same time clear enough for all to understand the arguments so powerfully presented for the full and final authority of Scripture. The Christian church needs this updated version of Brian Edwards’ excellent Nothing but the truth. The Bible is its own defence, but books like this one are enough to confirm the faith of God’s people that it is what it says it is, God-breathed from beginning to end. I heartily commend it." — Martin Holdt, Pastor of Constantia Park Baptist Church, Pretoria, South Africa

5. The Revelation of God, Contours of Christian Theology Series, Peter Jensen. Peter Jensen examines the role of the Bible in divine revelation, beginning from biblical categories of the knowledge of God and the gospel. He sets out to define the Gospel in the first part of the book by looking at the work of Christ in a redemptive-historical and soteriological fashion. He concludes by stating that the Gospel, therefore, is revelation because in it God's Kingdom-establishing project is revealed.

Happy Birthday - Karl Barth

Karl Barth(pronounced "Bart") was a 20th century Swiss theologian in the Reformed tradition. A vigorous opponent of theological liberalism and modernism, he is known as "the Father of Neo-Orthodoxy".
Early life and education
Karl Barth was born in Basel, Switzerland and spent his early years growing up in Bern where his father taught at the university. Barth began his studies in Bern in 1904 where he was introduced to Kant, whose Critique of Practical Reason he called 'the first book that really moved me as a student'. Barth went on to study at Berlin, a center of Protestant liberalism, later studying at Tübingen and finally in Marburg in 1908. While at Marburg, Wilhelm Herrmann had a great influence on Barth. After Marburg, Barth spent ten years (1911 - 1921) as a pastor. This had a profound impact on his theology as "Barth's liberal assurances were initially undermined by his exposure to the Swiss social democratic movement... The outbreak of the Great War further disillusioned him... most of his former teachers signed a declaration of support for the Kaiser [in support of Hitler]." Barth described his experience:

An entire world of theological exegesis, ethics, dogmatics, and preaching, which up to that point I had accepted as basically credible, was thereby shaken to the foundations, and with it everything which flowed at that time from the pens of the German theologians.

Barth returned to Scripture, especially studying the Romans in 1916 which resulted in his commentary, first published in 1919. His commentary resulted in a new-found prominence in Germany.

As a result, Barth was offered a position as Honorary Professor of Reformed Theology in Göttingen. Teaching at Göttingen from 1921 - 1925, he later held posts at Münster (1925–1930) and Bonn (1930–1935). Other key points involve Barth's first (and later abandoned) volume of the Christian Dogmatics (1927), his study of Anselm (1930), the first volume of the Church Dogmatics (1932), his debate with Emil Brunner over natural theology, the Barmen Declaration of 1934, and his travel to Rome in 1966 to talk with those involved in the Second Vatican Council among many other things. Barth retired at the end of the winter semester of 1961-62, and his health began to decline in 1964. Barth passed away on December 10th, 1968.

Theological perspectives
It has been said that "a 'Barthian theology' is just as impossible as an 'Einsteinian science', but just as there is a pre-Einsteinian science and a post-Einsteinian science, so there is a pre-Barthian and post-Barthian theology, for the contribution of Karl Barth to theology is, like that of Albert Einstein to nature science, so deep-going and fundamental that it marks one of the great eras of advance in the whole history of the subject"
From Theopedia

Also visit these sites for more information on Barth-
Wikipedia
faithnet.org.uk
Here
Time Magazine Cover Story, Apr. 20, 1962

The Incomparable Christ

I was looking for the book, The Cross of Christ, by John Stott & came across The Incomparable Christ, also by Dr. Stott. The Cross of Christ was not in stock (so I ordered it) by while I waited for that, I read The Incomparable Christ. Many books have been written on what the New Testament has to say about Jesus, about what church history has to say about Jesus, and what Jesus wants for us today. In this volume, Dr. Stott surveys all three of those areas (he breaks up church history into two segments - general thought about Jesus & how Jesus inspired historical people).
Most surveys are basic overviews, tying the pieces together without going into too much detail and helping solidify the basics to people. That is not what this volume does. Although it is a survey, Dr. Stott digs into the books of the New Testament and gives concise vignettes of many well known and obscure figures in church history (from Martin Luther to Ernst Renan).
The thought of the historical figures were very interesting, but I found the analysis of the individual gospels to be the most helpful to me personally. (This may be old insight to you), but tying together the miracles of Jesus to the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John was a new, fresh insight for me (I am the Bread of Life -- feeding of the 5000).
Honestly, I did get a bit bogged done in the section on Paul's letters, but I still found the insight to be compelling. The last section of the book, Dr. Stott really dives into the book of Revelation and expounds on ten visions of John about Jesus and how Jesus challenges us today.