Category Archives: Book Reviews

New Book Coming Out on Fasting

As I experiment with my Nook, I am finding places that are giving advance e-reader copies. I was sent an advance e-reader copy of 40 Days without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul  by Russ Masterson.

My initial thoughts are not very positive as to the content of the book. What I DO like about Masterson’s effort is his honesty with his emotions and feelings all through the process. But it’s the process that gets me. It’s almost like he treated walking into a 40 day fast like Morgan Spurlock treated the process of eating McDonald’s food alone for 30 days. Granted, Masterson felt a prompting by the Spirit to do this, but he gives no other indication as to WHY he had to do this. Then, his daily thoughts, while good and somewhat challenging, drifted along a lot like Spurlock’s commentary in Super Size Me. But Spurlock had more substance to his meanderings.

Masterson’s work could have taken some wonderful turns into some incredible human struggles. Instead, they are Twitter posts that leave the reader waiting until the next time he thinks about a cheeseburger.

If you are looking for some good quick human insight into some sheer misery from 40 days of fasting, this is your book. If you are wanting to explore fasting, especially extended fasts, with some in-depth help, this is not where you need to read. His assumptions of the reasons for fasting are a bit off. (“In general, fasting is abstaining from food for a cause.”) Plus, he offers so little help (even after going through this process himself) it would be quite dangerous to attempt an extended fast after reading this book. (He offers less than three pages of practical helps for an extended fast and his assumptions are not entirely true.)

What he DOES hit on is the struggles we face as humans. He comes face to face with some ugly emotions and feelings. He walks through some of those things. Some of the powerful realities of fasting do indeed come through, even in his haphazard fashion of writing.

My concern is people would read this book and say, “Man! No way I am fasting.” That would be a shame. Fasting is such a needed discipline in our lives, we don’t need to be scared away from it!

The e-book is released July 1. I was sent the galley e-reader version from Tyndale with hopefully no obligation to give it a positive review.

I will keep working back through the book to find the nuggets. What I won’t find is some good practical helps and good solid advice FOR fasting, which is unfortunate.

 

Book Review: The Sacred Meal

A book I received from Thomas Nelson to review has sat on my shelf far too long.

The Sacred Meal: The Ancient Practices Series
by Nora Gallagher is a short read on Communion. It is not about the big words (transubstantiation or consubstantiation or any other ones).

She reflects simply on the meaning of communion. Over the centuries the Church has done a fair job of masking the importance of communion. In my own tradition (Pentecostal) we have not understood this sacred meal as the early church understood it. As a pastor, I have moved my church to weekly communion and put it almost center stage. This book is a great help in teaching my congregation why communion is so vital.

Gallagher breaks it down into three main areas: the waiting, the receiving, and the afterward. In the waiting, there is the examination. We wait as we go up to receive communion. As we get ready to receive there should also be an awareness that we are stepping into a practice much older than our current “church.” We are being connected to a world much older than ourselves. Our participation is re-creating this “old world” practice. We are going to a place that is not always visible by daily life.

In the examination is also the look at what hinders us from reaching God and loving others. I loved her definitions of “sin.” We think it’s about “bigger stuff” (like sexual immorality). Often we need to repent of the “little stuff” (like being addicted to the internet and thus cutting off the opportunity to deepen real relationships). The question really is, “What is separating me from God?”

In the waiting we are to examine our allegiances. Are we really assimilating into the Kingdom of God? The table is a great place to examine those attitudes.

In the receiving we are jolted by the fact that we are doing nothing. All we do in this culture is geared toward doing something. It is about productivity. Receiving at the altar is about inhabiting the present.

We hesitate at times because if we open our hands to receive something we may not know what is going to come in. We want to control the situation. It may also mean we’re saying, “I need something,” and we’re not always comfortable with that attitude.

We are receiving Christ. He is the bread of heaven. He is the wine that brings new life. He gives himself. Are we willing to receiving?

In the afterward there is the understanding that grace meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. Communion can be a very powerful experience. We may want to dwell in that presence. But it is temporary. We have to move back into the world, but understanding his presence is truly with us.

Weekly we are undergoing transformation. His presence touches us and slowly our spiritual muscles are being formed. There will be powerful encounters at times. It is not unreasonable to expect those encounters at the table of the Lord.

I am grateful Gallagher doesn’t slip into theological arguments about the “actual” body and blood. She keeps things focused on the practice and experience of communion. We are invited to be players in this great narrative and we would do well to take up our part with great care.

She has wonderful stories to illustrated the power of communion. She keeps the history of communion very brief. My one caveat here is she makes the same mistake most Christians make regarding Constantine and Christianity. Constantine did not make Christianity the official language of the Roman Empire. He did allow religious freedom. There are still problems when Christianity became so accepted, but I don’t like seeing an error repeated so much.

This is a great read to help walk through the importance of the table of the Lord. We need to value this practice in our lives and allow transformation to take place on a regular basis.

This book was sent as a review copy from Thomas Nelson. I am under no obligation to give it a positive review.

Book Review — The Liturgical Year

I received The Liturgical Year from Thomas Nelson as a complimentary copy for review. I am under no obligation to give a positive review.

But I can’t help but be positive about the two books I have read in this series called The Ancient Practices Series.

Joan Chittister walks the reader through the meaning of the liturgical year. I have grown up Pentecostal, so it is only in the past few years I have looked into the ancient practices regarding liturgy. This book is a tremendous help. Her writing style is completely accessible and almost conversational.

The center of the Christian life should be the Christian calendar, not our civil calendars. The beginning of that year is Advent. The necessity of following the liturgical calendar every year is not to keep repeating things. The purpose is to grow.

This book is about growing wiser, growing holier, growing more embedded in the essentials of life as the years go by rather than simply moving from one time of life to the next.

As we go through these seasons year after year, there is a new depth we can find. There is a new height we to which we can climb. I have understood this for years about studying the Bible. I could study the Book of Ephesians every year and not plunge the depths fully. Yet, when I’ve looked at the liturgical year in the past all I have seen is repetition. It does not need to be that way.

We come to the liturgical year and look at what we already know… year after year. Yet, we can then look deeper and climb higher. We can be surprised by something every year.

Chittister breaks down the liturgical year and then takes the reader on a journey through that year. She discusses the four major kinds of celebrations:

1. Sundays. It is a “little Easter” every week. We remember the death and resurrection of Jesus.

2. Seasons of the year. Advent and Lent are the obvious major observances. Lent came very early in the Church. Advent came much later. (By later, we’re talking late 3rd Century.) The Christian church is rooted in Easter. It is the high point of the year. She walks the reader very carefully through both celebrations, but especially through every component of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. It is a powerful journey.

3. The sanctoral cycle. This is the commemoration of individuals noted for living out the kind of personal holiness they saw in Jesus. There are the feast days of the saints that have been commemorated for centuries. This gets uncomfortable for Protestants. The explanations are refreshing to me. It’s not about the worship of saints. It is about seeing the great examples of godliness and emulating them. I write this on Martin Luther King Day in the United States. We may barely notice this day, but it IS a day to commemorate a great man with a passion for Christ and the cause of equality.

4. Ordinary Time. Between Easter and Advent and then again between Christmastide and Lent there are these passages of time. There is the dailiness of life we deal with all the time. Ordinary stuff. This is where true life is found.

This book is a great primer for the novice. I will access this book all through the coming year so I can learn more of how the Church cycles. I want to draw from this ancient well and learn.

Chittister uses the word “religion” in this powerful statement. I don’t have a problem with it, but maybe substitute “Christianity” or “relationship” if you like. This statement is incredible:

Religion celebrates what the rest of the world forgets — the inherent goodness of life itself. Religion knows that life unadorned and raw is the ultimate high. Everything else is a pale shadow of the real thing. All the excesses in the world — sex, alcohol, drugs, gambling, greed — are simply substitutes for the real thing.

This is a book worth utilizing for at least one entire year.

Book Review — The Next Christians

There is more old “new” news. It seems that we have reached the end of Christian America. It’s “new” because it is still selling books. It’s “old” because I remember this being said by Chuck Colson over 20 years ago. I’m sure it was stated before that as well.

Here’s the thing: they are ALL right. Colson, Greg Boyd, and now Gabe Lyons in his new book The Next Christians. I received this book as a review copy from the publisher. I am under no obligation to give it a positive review.

Lyons takes on the doom and gloom of “post-Christian” America and gives us what I would say is VERY good news. Really.

It has been my contention for quite some time that our cultural Christianity has become so diluted it would do us good as believers to serve in the minority again… you know, like most of the world’s Christians do already.

Lyons sets up the gloom by discussing two types of Christians in America: Those who try to seclude themselves from the tainted culture and those who try to be “relevant.” Both are wrong. I was thrilled to see Lyons go after churches that tend to make their children’s ministries look like Disney World and their adult services like a Starbucks.

The answer Lyons sees in the new Christians is really an old answer as well. He is probably reaching out to the twenty and thirty-somethings (which I oppose if this is how this book will be taken), but the answers lie within the ancient faith.

The third type of Christian Lyons sees are called “Restorers.” They want to engage the culture, but they are firmly rooted in the ancient faith. Lyons speaks to the need for spiritual discipline and church community and the centrality of the gospel. But in that rootedness, there are those engaging the culture in “new” ways. (Again, it’s NOT new. Try reading Luther and the call of vocation.) Lyons gives us nice refreshers, so it’s good. Just, PLEASE, do not treat Lyons work as “cutting edge” or something “new.” He’s just reminding us how to live in the minority but doing so with power.

He describes the Restorers as “Provoked, not offended. Creators, not critics. Called, not employed. Grounded, not distracted. In community, not alone. Countercultural, not ‘relevant.’” (And if I haven’t stated it clearly enough, I REALLY like that last point!)

Again, Lyons is a refresher. I would encourage you to read more deeply from those who have gone before. There are some prophetic voices who have cried out in the wilderness for a lot longer than Lyons. Names like Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Chuck Colson, Tim Keller… (And Lyons recognizes this in his book.)

Let this book with its fine illustrations give you a catalyst for thought.

Book Review — In Constant Prayer

I received In Constant Prayer from Thomas Nelson for a book review. I am under no obligation to write a positive review.

In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson is an invitation to take up the ancient stream of the daily office. Growing up Pentecostal, it has only been in the last ten years I’ve more fully explored the liturgical stream of Christianity. This book is in that stream. It is a call to simplicity. Find a morning prayer and evening prayer liturgy that fits and pray. Don’t just talk about prayer. Pray.

Benson is open and honest about his own journey. He writes as a poet and artist, not as a theologian, and it is a refreshing read.

I find myself challenged by his words. The thoughts are simple. His examples are easy to follow and powerful. Let us enter into this great stream of the Church and find the river of joy in prayer.

Book Review — In His Image Devotional Bible

Just what I need: another Bible!

My biggest complaints in the past is our utter dependence on study Bibles. We don’t study the Bible enough!

Also, I’m not a personal fan of the New Living Translation. I like it as a pastor, however. It is a great translation to give to people who have not spent many years reading the Bible.

So, I get this Bible from Tyndale for review. I am not under any obligation to give it a positive review.

But I must say I really like this concept! It is not meant to be a study Bible. It is meant to be more of a “spiritual formation” Bible. There are topics to explore, but they are all related to attributes of God. It is an attempt to get the reader to slow down. Think. Meditate. Pray.

There are key articles on the attribute of God at the end of the biblical text. There are also helpful articles within the text. It is organized well. You get the entire text of the New Living Translation with devotional/prayer commentaries alongside. The format is not overwhelming at all. If I want to just read the text, the small commentaries along the way don’t get in the way too much.

Overall, I think this is a good addition for believers. We need to slow it down. We need some help in drawing our thoughts to God. This devotional Bible is worth the look.

THAT SAID… (so I won’t post what is next on Amazon or anything).

I am looking forward to Nov. 1 when we can review the NIV2011 online. I am anxious to see how this is going to hold up to our expectations. Once that is done, I have been giving some serious thought to how I approach my Bible addiction. (My name is Dan, I’m a Bible addict.)

Should the NIV2011 edition be a good one, I will then wait until next year to make a purchase of it in print. Should it disappoint as an update, I will not plan any future purchases.

Blogs I have followed are making good points. With all of our translation wars in this country, we are getting spoiled with all kinds of translations while there are areas of the world yet to get the Bible in their own language. In that spirit, I am going to make a pledge. The money I would foolishly spend on buying yet another Bible for myself will be spent on agencies getting the Bible out to people who desperately need it around the world. (It’s not much. Maybe $100 a year or something.) But I want to break my own addiction and work to make sure the power of the Word reaches millions who have yet to read the living words of Christ in their own language.

At any rate, concerning THIS particular Bible, I give it a good thumbs up.

Book Review — Beyond Opinion

Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias is a well laid-out book on apologetics.Zacharias is the general editor and authors a couple of chapters. Other authors work for Zacharias’ apologetics ministry in some capacity.

While the book has a major section on how to answer different kinds of religions and opinions we face in our world today, the best part of the book is found in the last half. The real matter is Christians living out what they believe. That is the best apologetic.

The second section of the book deals with “Internalizing the Questions and Answers.” The focus is on the believer being convinced of their own faith. We’ve made our Christianity too much about US and not enough about the transcendent God. We also need to answer the tough questions in our own lives. Questions of doubt, despair, depression, suffering, denial, etc.

The third section deals with “Living Out the Answers.” Our greatest failure in “apologetics” is failing to live out what we believe. We can have good systems to answer other systems of religion and belief, but if our life does not match up and can be seen as genuine, it’s nothing. When we are transformed, the world has a chance at transformation.

Zacharias gives the example of missionary Mark Buntain. Zacharias preached in Buntain’s church in Calcutta at the age of 19. Buntain was full of encouragement and helped Zacharias get started in ministry. Buntain was full of love and compassion, ministering to the hardest parts of Calcutta throughout his missionary career. When he died, India broke their own rules about allowing foreigners to be buried on Indian soil. Buntain had lived out the gospel so fully among the people of Calcutta, he was buried in Calcutta.

This book was far more useful because of its appeal to a transformed life. Just having good systems of answers is not enough in our world.

I received a complimentary copy from Thomas Nelson, and am under no obligation to write a positive review.

Book Review — The Devil in Pew Number Seven

I interrupt this hiatus for a book review. Since I asked for books to review, I feel I need to get them reviewed in some sort of a timely fashion, even if I tried to give myself a hiatus from blogging.

The Devil in Pew Number Seven is a true story. The book was sent to me for review by Tyndale, though I am not under any obligation to write just a positive review.

This is a compelling story of a pastor’s family in the south in the 1970s. They went through horrible abuse by a very deranged individual in their church. I lived through a lot of church abuse in my day, but nothing I saw involved this kind of terrorism. Rebecca Nichols Alonzo writes of her family and the ugly days of pastoring a church in a tiny town in North Carolina. Though the church thrived, one particular man in the church just simply hated the pastor. His abuse included hurling verbal abuses at the pastor during the Sunday services and “anonymous” letters. But it went far beyond anything I’ve ever seen or experienced.

The vengeful man actually set off explosives near their home and tried to contract a killer to assassinate the pastor.

Eventually, through the violence of another man battling alcoholism, the pastor and his wife are shot. The pastor’s wife dies in that shooting. The pastor goes into horrible bouts of depression. The book is written from the viewpoint of the daughter, who was only seven or eight when her mother was tragically killed.

The main theme of the book is forgiveness. It is about blessing those who really do persecute you. The author and her brother work through forgiveness both for the killer and the vengeful old man who tried to blow up their house.

The book lacks depth. I was left wanting to know more. The reader is left without a lot of detail on deeper issues. How did that congregation stay so supportive so long? This is a book that could go much deeper into a riveting story. Everything flies by too quickly.

Overall, the look into abuse and forgiveness makes it a compelling read.

Book Review — Exploring Ecclesiology

When Society for Pentecostal Studies was at North Central University earlier this year, I purchased Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction by Brad Harper and Robert Louis Metzger. Over the past couple of years I have been stirred to learn more on the subject of ecclesiology. This book has become a primer for me. After 20 plus years in the ministry, I am finally getting around to defining my theology of the church! It’s about time!

Harper and Metzger are evangelicals and approach this subject with that background in mind. Their critiques of the evangelical church ring true. They know the system. This is far more meaningful for me because I know these critiques to be true. It is different hearing it from an evangelical who knows the system than a Catholic theologian who may not know the system at all.

Harper and Metzger are evangelical, but their ecclesiology is incredibly powerful. While evangelical theology is individualistic, these authors fly against the grain. From the opening paragraphs they make this clear: The church is our mother. (Sounds downright Catholic.)

What is vital is the life of the Church. As believers, and especially evangelicals, we have divided up the gospel and made it individualistic and consumer driven. We need to gather once again around the foundations of baptism, the Eucharist, the Word, and the creeds. We need our faith pared down to the simplicity of this gospel. We need to thoroughly engage our world through the power of the Spirit. The Church is where we learn our uniqueness in Christ. And we ARE unique. We ARE different. We need not apologize for it.

I have blogged somewhat extensively on different thoughts from this insightful book. This is a book that needs to be digested thoroughly by every evangelical pastor in America. We need to shake off consumerism and our ghetto mentalities. It is time to worship the incredible Savior and engage this world through sacramental living. We are unique. Let’s live like it.