Religious
Rob Bell's book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Ever Person Who Ever Lived, has sparked some controversy in the evangelical world. This review is simply one person's perspective on the book and is more my opinion than an actual review.
The author of Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian, was a lawyer for the Justice Department working in the Civil Rights division in the 1990's. He also was the director of the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda. In 1997 he left all that behind to step out in faith to start a non-profit organization to seek justice around the globe. International Justice Mission now has 14 field offices around the world and over 300 people on staff, 90% of whom are nation
Those who know me well are aware that I lost my sister to cancer a few years ago. While this loss isn't the same as the loss of the fictional character Mack in The Shack, I strongly related to The Great Sadness he struggles with in the story. In addition, the spiritual journey that he traveled during his sojourn at the shack closely mirrors many of the thoughts and revalations I have experienced in the past two years. For me, reading William Paul Young's novel was a very personal experience.
A recent visit to the library reminded me that I haven't been reading many biographies lately. Having read a number of books dealing with game theory and decision theory, Pascal's name was on my mind and when I saw this book I picked it up. James Connor looks at the life of Blaise Pascal through the lens of theology in his book, Pascal's Wager: The Man Who Played Dice With God. Pascal, who only lived to 39, is widely known for his mathematical work in probability theory. He is less widely kn
Tim Keller leverages his many years in the ministry in the writing of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Redeemer Presbyterian is located in Manhattan and has a young, urban attendance. For many years Keller took time after the Sunday service to answer questions and many of those questions reflected urban youth. "How can there be one TRUE religion?" "How could a good God allow suffering?" "Why is the church responsible for so much injustice?" "How can a loving God send people
Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road is the work of the Presbyterian pastor and church planter, Timothy Keller. The opening chapters of this book are a vivid reminder to those of us living behind our white picket fences and enjoying the middle class life that while times are tough these days, there are plenty of folks far worse off. After planting the seed of the burden in the readers heart, Keller goes on to lay out an intensely practical and biblical approach for dealing with th
Honest to God was a recommendation from a talented and insightful acquaintance. When she heard that I was going through a spiritual rediscovery in my life, she immediately recommended this book and once I dove in, I found out why! John A T Robinson was a Bishop in the Anglican church who began to question some of the religious activities of the church. Many of the stately and ornate traditions of the Anglican church seemed far removed from modernity and he wondered out loud if perhaps the chu
A W Tozer is an interesting person and I would encourage anyone picking up this book to do a little research on the man before reading. In The Pursuit of God Tozer explores what it means to build a personal and meaningful relationship with God. With flowing prose he explores not just what it means to have this relationship but why we should have it and how we can get there. In just a hundred pages he covers more ground than you might expect.