The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood (Reader’s Den Review) October 23, 2011
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In a recent op-ed on CNN.com entitled “Why men are in trouble”, William Bennett stated the current challenges among young men today. He writes,
“Today, 18-to- 34-year-old men spend more time playing video games a day than 12-to- 17-year-old boys. While women are graduating college and finding good jobs, too many men are not going to work, not getting married and not raising families. Women are beginning to take the place of men in man way. This has led some to ask: do we even need men?”
He ends the piece with an unashamed exhortation: “Get off the video game five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married.”
While it’s easy to bemoan the current state of manhood (or the lack thereof), Bennett has helpfully put together an assortment of readings “on the path to manhood”. They are:
- Man in War
- Man at Work
- Man in Play, Competition, and Leisure
- Man in the Polis
- Man with Woman and Children
- Man in Prayer and Reflection
“There are examples worthy of emulation, stories worth knowing, lives worthy studying and remembering, and counsel worth hearing. I have tried to gather a wide sampling of material that can encourage and guide. And so, while this book cannot make you a good man, it should give you a helpful idea of what a good man is.” (xxii)
Book Review: Beyond Opinion October 12, 2011
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There are countless challenges to the Christian faith. Of course this is nothing new. Since the birth of the church, Christians have been called to not only proclaim the truth but also refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9). To the detriment of the church, we have often been on the defensive if not full retreat. In the early part of the 20th century there was the Fundamentalist mentality that argued that to be a faithful Christian and protect the truth from encroaching liberalism, we must therefore hunker down and maintain our ground. Thankfully, though, there were those who realized that Christians were to be salt and light in a fallen world which meant there was no option for retreat. On contrary, men like Carl F. H. Henry and later on Francis Schaeffer, saw it as their Christian duty to articulate and defend the Christian faith in light of the opposing tide of rising postmodernism.
In our present day the challenge remains. The church will forever be required to take a stand on truth and ably articulate a defense of the faith. What we have in this book edited by well-known Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, is a collection of timely essays on whole array of apologetic issues. As is the case with most books of collected essays, there are hit and misses. Thankfully most are well written and offer a cogent argument in their respective issues. As most reviewers have already noted, two that stand out are ”Challenges From Islam” by Sam Soloman and ”Broader Cultural and Philosophical Challenges” by Joe Boot. As a young man who often ministers to youth, Alison Thomas’ “Challenges of Youth” to be particularly helpful in getting to the heart of this challenge.
In short, this book is a useful read which some excellent essays.
Book Review: Same Kind of Different As Me October 12, 2011
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There are some books that present a story and, while good, they the story simply fizzles away into oblivion. And then there are those books that “hook” you, grabbing you by the collar and not allowing you to put it down. Such is this book which tells the story of two polar opposite men, Ron Hall and Denver Moore. While Hall is a prosperous art dealer who travels the world, Moore is a struggling man living in the streets of Fort Worth. At the insistence of his wife, Hall begins volunteering at a homeless shelter which Moore comes to for aid. Eventually these two men meet at the homeless shelter and oddly enough strike up the most unlikely of friendships.
The book is structured by both men alternately telling their stories. Rather than giving up all the details of the story, let me just say that it is one of the most endearing and inspiring books I have read. In a fallen world where there is much hurt and pain, this book offers a redemptive snippet of a selfish man turned into a gracious and selfless man. For the discerning Christian, he will find several tidbits of questionable things. But by in large I think all will appreciate and enjoy this story. It is a story well told and ultimately a story of a friendship one will not soon forget.
Lit!: A Christian Guide To Reading Books (Tony Reinke) September 16, 2011
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I came to faith in Christ while in high school, and ever since then I have been a lover of the Book, i.e., the Bible. It didn’t take me long, though to fall in love with books in general—all kinds. I started off with Joshua Harris’ I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Not Even A Hint (which since then has been retitled, Sex Is Not the Problem, Lust Is). I later moved on to John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to the Apostles and came to grips with what the gospel was (and was not). During my college years I came across J. C. Ryle’s Holiness, which for me opened whole new vistas on the nature of sanctification in the believer’s life.
But I didn’t simply read Christian books. I quickly began devouring stories like The Chronicles of Narnia (okay, you can quibble about that one) and Harry Potter and Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. For two years, almost every Saturday morning with a cup of coffee, I worked my way through David McCullough’s wonderful retelling of President John Adams. I could endlessly go on and share how different books have come into my life and have helped me think better and see the world differently.
But I will say this, in many ways we are what we read. Though not always perceived, books make certain indelible impressions upon the reader. We will not always be aware of the mark they are making, but unquestionably books are molding us and refining us, allowing us to expand our thinking, to venture into worlds unknown and times not our own.
While there is a shift now taking place with the emergence of the e-book, I believe books—actual printed works with covers in-between—will continue to have an integral role in our society, not least in the presentation and exchange of ideas, and in the simple yet beautiful act of painting with words as stories unfold and worlds are created and history is retold and leaders are formed. All this is but a foretaste of the power of books.
I say all that to simply set the stage for why I so enjoyed reading Tony Reinke’s new book, Lit!: A Christian Guide To Reading Books. I think Leland Ryken’s blurb got it right:
“Reinke writes with an infectious and winsome enthusiasm. It is hard to imagine a reader of this book who would not catch the spark for reading after encountering Reinke’s excitement about reading and his carefully reasoned defense of it.”
I picked up the book today and could not put it down. As a lover of books, to say I enjoyed it is an understatement. I was instructed and challenged all throughout. In the first half Reinke gives us the theological underpinnings of reading from within a Christian worldview. And in the latter half of the book he offers some practical advice on reading, ranging from how to decide what to read to note-taking in the marginalia to reading together with others in community. Rather than giving a thorough review of the book, I’ll just provide some of the quotes that resonated with me or simply made a point very well.
Here they are. Enjoy.
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“The concern is whether Christians … will be patient enough to find meaning embedded in words, or if we will grow content with the superficial pleasures offered to us in the rapidly shifting images in our culture…. [A]s a word-centered people we must learn to prize language in a visually-dominated world. If our hearts prioritize images over language, our hunger for books will erode.”
“We do not yet live in the age of the eye; we live in the age of the ear, we live in the age of revelation and promises and books…. For now we sing, ‘Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight.’ “
“The difficult work required to benefit from books is at odds with the immediate appeal of images. As Christians living in an image-saturated world, we must guard our conviction about the vital importance of words and language. For it is words and language that best communicate meaning.”
“Revealed truth does not answer all the questions in life, but it does provide a framework for understanding everything else.”
“Christians can read a broad array of books for our personal benefit, but only if we read with discernment. And we will only read with discernment if the biblical convictions are firmly settled in our minds and hearts. Once they are, we have a touchstone to determine what is pure gold and what is worthless.”
“God is the source of all beauty, and beautiful literature written by non-Christians is a gift from the Giver. And it’s a gift to he enjoyed.”
“Mature readers know when to read quickly and when to read slowly…. Each book has its own terrain…. The perceptive reader can read the terrain and shift gears in response.”
“We get one chance at this life. We have one body, one mind, and one life to live. Reading provides us with a vicarious experience of others’ lives.”
“Reading literature is about absorption, about bring lost in a story, and about delighting in the beautiful prose of a gifted writer.”
“Reading is a discipline, and all disciplines require self-discipline, and self-discipline is the one thing our sinful flesh will resist.”
“Book reading is not just a matter of time management; it’s a matter of warfare.”
“[W]e like distraction. We want distraction. Distraction is how we stay busy enough to avoid the self-discipline required to read books.”
“I am quick to Tweet and slow to think. I am quick to Google and slow to ponder.”
“Childlike faith in the gospel is an unsinkable buoy when we find ourselves drowning in the details of a books that is over our head.”
“In the good news of Jesus Christ, overwhelmed readers find peace, and joy, and the courage to keep reading…. We grab a new book and we press on, not as slaves bound to a chore, but as liberated sinners who read to delight in the gifts of our God. We press on, reading and thanking God for the light we do see in books, and for his illuminating grace that lights our way.”
Reinke near the end of the book makes the point that mature readers…
1) prize wisdom;
2) cherish old books;
3) keep literature in its place;
4) avoid making books into idols; and
5) cling to the Savior.
If you already are a reader or would simply like to begin building the experience of reading in your life, then this is a book for you. Tolle lege.
January/February (2011) Book Briefs March 16, 2011
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I’ve been hesitant in doing this blog, fearful that I might be bragging or showing off or even afraid of the perception that I’m bragging or showing off. But since reading Kevin DeYoung’s post “Doing Good, But A Little Less Than Others,” (a must-read!) I realized that we all have our particular interests and hobbies, and I’m no better for what I like (or don’t like for that matter). I enjoy reading and it consumes a good deal of my days. And to be honest, I feel like I read very little, at least compared to many of the men whom I look up to my life (one of them read ten a week; yikes!)
That said, here’s what I’ve been reading over these few months.
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January/February 2011
1. Joel Beeke and Mark Jones, ed. A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-Centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin, Profiles in Reformed Spirituality (Reformation Heritage Books 2009). Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680) was a Puritan pastor. This little book begins with a biographical introduction followed by 35 selections of Goodwin’s writings. Goodwin is not the most accessible of the Puritans (like say Thomas Watson); his writing style at times might be dense. But in the end I think the reader will be amply rewarded. Here’s a little nugget to whet your appetite: “[Prayer] prevails, not because of the performance itself, but because of the name in which it is made, even Christ’s name. Therefore, as a weak faith justifies, so a weak prayer prevails as well as a stronger, and both for the same reason, for faith attributes all to God, and so does prayer. As faith is merely a receiving grace, so prayer is a begging grace.” Amen and amen!
2. John Piper. Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Crossway 2010). Refusing an either-or separation of intellect and feeling, of passion and knowledge, this book calls on Christians to engage their minds in the pursuit of loving God. A challenging book that has required me to think, this has become one of my favorite books by Piper.
3. Laura Hillenbrand. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption(Simon & Shuster 2010). This is the kind of book you begin reading and can’t put down. Louie Zamperini’s story, retold here, is an epic story you’ll probably never forget. There’s no point in giving even a general plot line. (Rumor has it that it’ll be made into a movie, starring Nicholas Cage.) Hillenbrand has the amazing ability of taking a story and weaving it into such a powerful, forward-moving prose. I plan on reading this one again.
4. Andrew Bonar. The Biography of R. M. M’Cheyne. M’Cheyne was a man of holiness who sought above all else to please Christ and live for him. Though he only lived to about 28, his life and love for the Savior and for souls continues to inspire many, including me. Bonar writes of M’Cheyne: “His soul was prepared for the awful work of the ministry by much prayer, and much study of the word of God; by affliction in his person; by inward trials and sore temptations; by experience of the depth off corruption in his own heart, and by discoveries of the Savior’s fulness of grace.” Read that again slowly. These are indeed the ingredients of a faithful man of God. May his tribe increase in our generation!
5. Pat Conroy. My Reading Life (Nan A. Talese, 2010). I saw this book while on break from work at my local Books & Books, and of course the title piqued my interest. I have yet to read any of Conroy’s novels, but I found this book a treat. Conroy walks through various episodes of his life in which reading to one degree or another has had a profound impact on his life. And, of course, all throughout Conroy states things in beautiful prose. Here’s one example: “Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next ten years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down on contented residence in your heart.” It’s saddening to see how Conroy attributes a sort of religious role to literature; I reach for a story to save my life,” he writes at one point. But with healthy discernment many will find this a pleasurable read.
6. Paul Johnson. Churchill (Penguin 2010). I didn’t enjoy this biography as I thought I would. As an American, I don’t understand much of the British political system, and the author doesn’t go at any length in explaining. Because of its brevity, it seems this is the kind of biography for one already acquainted with Churchill. Furthermore, Churchill is a wildly contradictory figure (well, aren’t we all?), and as such, there is much that draws me to him and there is also much the repels me. I’m going to pick up another biography. Any suggestions?
7. Ronald C. White. Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural (Simon & Shuster 2003). Before reading this book, I didn’t know much about Lincoln’s Second Inaugural. If you didn’t know, it was delivered at the closing of the Civil War, forty-two days before his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. I can now not only appreciate the speech, but also see the brilliant simplicity of these words that have long captivated the American imagination. Frederick Douglas, the famed African American abolitionist and orator, wrote the day of the speech: “The address sounded more like a sermon than a state paper.” Any lover of history will find this an enjoyable read.
8. Elisabeth Elliot. Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (1956; reprint, Hendrikson 2008). ”He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” What can I say? Here’s a man who though dead more than fifty years continues to inspire countless believers to give of themselves with fiery missionary zeal. “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”
9. Arnold Dallimore. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival, Vol. II (Banner of Truth 1980). God raises certain men through history to fulfill a special task. There’s no doubt that God raised Whitefield up in the 18th-century to be one of the greatest vehicles of awakening both in England and in the colonies. Dallimore’s two-volume biography is the most definitive. Time and again I found myself weeping as I read, praying, “Oh God, do it again!”
The Power of the Book December 15, 2010
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Last week I requested the day off from work so that I could be at the Main Library’s annual book sale in Downtown Miami, a 15-minute bus trip from where I live. I woke early and made sure to be there before it began. As I got nearer I became adrenalized, like a little boy about to enter Disney World. Once there, I immediately went to the history/politics section, knowing I wouldn’t find any worthwhile books in the “religion/spirituality” area. I was able to pick up the remaining David McCullough books I had not yet read—a buck each! (By the way, I haven’t read a finer historian than McCullough.) I also managed to find a few biographies I had being eyeing for some now—on Ivan the Terrible (after all, I need to know who it is I’m named after), Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt among others. I also picked up some a lot of the classics, many of which I have been too intimidated to tackle. And then I struck gold: I got the Harvard Classics set for 10 dollars. What a steal! This 51-volume set from 1909-10, still in pristine condition, usually goes for $700. I quickly looked around, wondering why the crowd already packing the library had missed this. Well, the problem—if you want to call it that—was figuring how to take the two large boxes of books home. I had to take two bus trips. Alright…not a problem.
I sit now in the library, preparing yet another lesson on Galatians for my youth tonight, with commentaries sprawled over my desk. The challenge is taking the timeless truths of God’s Word and communicating them clearly and in an engaging manner so that God would be honored and my guys would be built up in Christ. Central in all this, of course, is the Book and books. Countless men—both alive and dead—regularly teach me and guide my thinking and raise questions I never thought of as I wrestle with Paul’s letter to the Galatians, his passionate attempt to awaken these new converts from the insidious false teaching of the Judaizers.
As I take a break from this, I cannot help but reflect on the power of the book. There is no question in my mind of the power of the printed word. Ever since middle school, and ever more so after becoming a Christian in high school, I have been a lover of books. While there is a shift now taking place with the emergence of the e-book, I believe books—actual printed works with covers and pages in-between—will continue to have an integral role in our society in the presentation and exchange of ideas and in the simple yet beautiful act of painting with words, as stories unfold and worlds are created and history is retold and budding theologians are equipped to be unashamed workmen.
In many ways I am what I read. Though not always perceived, books make certain indelible impressions upon the reader. It makes no difference whether one remembers all the details of the book or not. In one way or another, if read well, a book becomes part of you. After a meal is eaten, a person is not always aware of all the digestive activities that take place. Indeed, we all know that our daily meals contribute to our long-term health, for better or worse. And so it is with our reading of books. We will not always be aware of the mark they are making, but unquestionably books are molding us and refining us, allowing us to expand our thinking, to venture into worlds unknown and times not our own.
Coming from an amateur reader, I realize this is all but a foretaste of the book’s power. And for that reason, I have not given up on the book.
I’m Not Yet Home July 5, 2010
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There’s a kingdom that will perish; there’s a kingdom that will last. There’s a kingdom built by sinful hands; there’s a kingdom built by God. So go my thoughts on this 4th of July.
Our “indivisible” nation will pass in a fleeting moment and give way to the city of the divine architect. In this grand city faith will be sight, hope will be fulfilled, praise will be pure, fellowship will be true, love will be unmixed, riches will be untarnished, peace will be protected, goodness will be supreme, laughter will be exuberant, and joy will be complete.
But the climax of it all will be Christ. Oh, the loveliness of Christ! He will bring unbounded pleasure to His own. Righteousness will be His reign. And His love will prove victorious as we behold the eternal scars that set us free. In short, Christ will be heaven’s theme song through the ages as we exult in the salvation of our great and glorious triune God.
Now that’s something to die for.
The Hole In our Gospel (Reader’s Den Review) June 28, 2010
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I eagerly welcome any book that proposes to pinpoint blind spots in the church. I know there are many. I also believe that the American church has traded the sufficiency of God’s Word and the clear proclamation of the gospel for a message more appealing to the itching ears of our generation. So when I saw Richard Stearns’ book The Hole in Our Gospel, I immediatey thoughts he would confront this issue. I was disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s much to commend and even applaud in the book. Stearns very honestly traces how his faith was a private faith; he saw no need to step out of his comfort zone and get into the messy needs of those around him and around the globe. So throughout the book he wants Christians to stop being so ingrown and not simply believe some facts about Christ that require any real sacrifice. Amen. I agree. But as the book progresses, it seems that he shortchanges the message of the gospel for the implications of the gospel.
While one can learn much from this book and even take action to do more, I believe that the theological foundation for much of what Stearns attempts to argue is somewhat shoddy and anemic. There is a hole in our gospel, but it is not the hole that Stearns presents.
Weak Disciple June 3, 2010
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But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
God, who knows our frame and our pride, rather than compounding our folly of self-trust, lovingly rids us of ourselves to showcase his own sufficiency.
When really weak in ourselves, and conscious of that weakness, we are in the state suited to the manifestation of the power of God. When emptied of ourselves, we are filled with God. Those who think they can change their own hearts, atone for their own sins, subdue the power of evil in their own souls or in the souls of others, who feel able to sustain themselves under affliction, God leaves to their own resources. But when they feel and acknowledge their weakness, he communicates to them divine strength. (Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians [Grand Rapids, 1973 reprint], 289.)
What comfort that is! As a weak and stumbling disciple, I turn again to the reassuring grace of the gospel. I am thankful, Lord, that you meet me in my weakness and prove to be mighty.
The Cross in Our Trials April 6, 2010
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“It is the glory and beauty of his love to us, polluted sinners, that is an infinitely pure love. And it is the peculiar sweetness and endearment of holiness, that it has its most glorious manifestation in such an act of love to us. All the excellencies of Christ, both divine and human, have their highest manifestation in this wonderful act of his love to men—his offering up himself a sacrifice for us, under these extreme sufferings. . . . He suffered that we might be delivered. His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, to take away the sting of sorrow, and to impart everlasting consolation. He was oppressed and afflicted, that we might be supported. He was overwhelmed in the darkness of death, that we might have the light of life. He was cast into the furnace of God’s wrath, that we might drink of the rivers of his pleasures. His soul was overwhelmed with a flood of sorrow, that our hearts might be overwhelmed with a flood of eternal joy.”
- Jonathan Edwards
