Review: The Temple and the Tabernacle: A Study of God's Dwelling Places from Genesis to Revelation

The Temple and the Tabernacle: A Study of God's Dwelling Places from Genesis to Revelation by J. Daniel Hays
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The numerous full-colour photographs would probably be worth the price of the book to a student writing a paper, or a Christian education teacher. The paperstock is a rather usual glossy thick white type, those that we often see in university textbooks. I however found the pages to reflect too much light and made for a distracting read. The thorough research and resulting insightful discoveries (to the reader) would be typical Hays quality - excellent.

Being a naturally un-arty person, I struggled to find interest in the archaeological or design aspects of the buildings discussed. I did however enjoy the theological segments, especially the chapter on Solomon's temple. Hays even put in an application chapter at the end, which was a nice touch to a very informative book that would build up one's "head knowledge."

I received this book from the Baker Publishing Group's Blogger Review Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics

What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics by R.C. Sproul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although the subtitles state "understanding the basics," I perceive that the target audience would lean more toward the scholarly types (rather than the popular level readers). Weighing in at 250 pages, it definitely would fall short of the 500 or 1000 pages required to be a seminary level textbook, but the content was immense and very rich. It would probably hold the interest of a christian who affirms a reformed position (more so than an arminian-leading believer).

I tried reading this book on three occasions, and as I had to write a review, each time I started from the beginning. I would like to believe that I wrestle close to the middle of the Reformed-Arminian spectrum, but somehow I struggled to plough through the pages. While the beginning of the pages were extremely engaging and interesting, I felt that the meatier content toward the middle was a great challenge to read and digest.

To the Sproul fans out there, I'm very sorry but I find that his ability to explain complex theological terminology and concepts (with elaboration through logic or illustrations) in a manner that the layperson can understand is not on the same level as John Stott, Edmund Clowney or Gordon Fee. Writing an accessible book on such a large topic is truly a daunting task, and Sproul did put up a tremendous contribution with this piece of work. It could have been so much better if there were more pictures, diagrams, highlighted excerpts, quotes etc that would have provided mental breaks to the monotony of page after page of dense knowledge.

I received this book from Baker Publishing Group's Blogger Review Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: One Of the Few: A Marine Fighter Pilot's Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview

One Of the Few by Jason B. Ladd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Before I went to bible school, my book shelves consisted mainly of military history and military biographies. Fast forward 5 years or so, they are now dwarfed with theological titles. I still relish reading about the exciting accounts of men at war, and looked forward to reviewing this title.

As a seminary student, I recognise Ladd's mammoth effort to read, digest and cite from a large variety of sources to substantiate his thesis - from the military experience of himself and others, from pop culture, from Christian theologians, from secular thinkers. Ladd's retelling of military accounts/situations were intense, it rekindled my love of reading about men at war and gave me quite an adrenaline rush.

I initially wanted to flag out the rarity of Scripture in the book, but as I reflected, I think that is not a big issue as Ladd's purpose was probably apologetics and therefore his primary audience (which would not be the bible scholar types) probably would prefer extra-biblical accounts to substantiate the logical arguments put forth. And as the most helpful review on amazon points out, as the beginning of each chapter, Ladd's juxtaposition of quotations of a non-Christian against Scripture is a masterpiece.

I was however rather irritated at being left hanging about the outcome of Arnold the helicopter pilot in the prologue. This was an unwelcome distraction - I found that I was more interested in finding out what happened to Arnold - and the pages in between were standing in my way. When I finally got to the epilogue, I was disappointed at the short conclusion; I guess I was hoping to enjoy digesting what had happened after having waited 250 pages to find out the outcome!

Here are some suggestions for improvement.

Stylistically, I felt that the numerous short chapters were a challenge as a reader. Perhaps similar chapters could be consolidated into larger ones to eventually end up with about 10-15 chapters. Readers take a mental break with the end of a chapter and the beginning of another; I found it exhausting to do so about 30 times and struggled to maintain interest after about 20 chapters.

Formatting wise, the margins are far too wide; adjusting them to the usual one inch could save quite a bit of paper and perhaps even make the book a more compact size. Because the book had no illustrations, it felt like a wall of text. Fiverr.com would be a great source to include an inexpensive illustration for example at the beginning of each chapter.

I received this book from the author for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: A Different Kind of Happiness: Discovering the Joy That Comes from Sacrificial Love

A Different Kind of Happiness: Discovering the Joy That Comes from Sacrificial Love by Larry Crabb
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I struggled to remain interested in the words I was reading and felt sharply disconnected from Crabb's style of writing. I was extremely uncomfortable by his strawman approach to rebutting a comment by John Frame, which he did not elaborate much about what it was and simply passed a few paragraphs of comments that I could not really see the logical flow to. The Scripture passages quoted, if any, followed neither biblical nor systematic theological frameworks. Most of the time though, I found the assertions made were not backed with clear support from Scripture or the field of psychology. Having recently read a book by another Christian psychologist, Dr. Everett Worthington, perhaps set the mental bar of expectation too high; I had hoped and expected to see psychology being governed by the authority of Scripture being explained in layman terminology... But it was not to be.

As I flipped to the back page to check the list of endorsements, I see that the majority are pastors (not theologians, as I'd imagine bible scholars would often be scratching their heads at the multiple verse citing approach to Scripture). It is not often that I read a book that I dislike so much, so I did a quick search on what other reviewers commented, and most had 4 or 5 star ratings for it. So my guess is that this book was written for a very different kind of audience. It would appeal to readers who are looking for a Scripture-light, massively conversational and highly instructional book.

I received this book from the Baker Publishing Group's Blogger Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: Spiritual Warfare for Your Family: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Children

Spiritual Warfare for Your Family: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Children by Leighann McCoy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

From what I understand, McCoy's principal thesis seems to be that we have to fight back against the devil through spiritual warfare. She writes from the personal pain of praying for her "perfect" daughter to break up with cohabiting with a man only to see her bearing a child out of wedlock. She writes in a mostly conversational style with short comments on bible passages that she would draw analogies from to support her statements. Interestingly, she quotes from reformed theologians such as John Piper and David Platt, but still retains an eisegetical approach to Scripture. This book would therefore appeal to readers who are looking for bible verses and instructions to deal with what they perceive to the spiritual warfare in their families.

A few areas for improvement though: I wished that she had cut short the storytelling of her personal life, because unless she is a famous theologian or preacher, I'm guessing the average reader would not appreciate so much detail. I felt that the book would have been much better if it stood at 200 pages (towards the end I was honestly struggled to hold my interest and would not have finished it if I did not have to write a review). I also did not feel the same sense of assuredness and confidence in the Lord and one's resulting delegated authority, as compared to for example, when I had read a Randy Clark book on healing breakthroughs.

For the application of spiritual warfare about specific issues (in Part 6 of the book) - many of which were spot-on relevant, I however wished that she had elaborated more on each point by going more in depth instead of just skimming the surface. The prayers at the end of these sections were immensely helpful though - relating as one struggling in a specific area, the template prayer helps convey what we would want to but yet perhaps be unable to utter.

A few pet peeves though, some more serious than others. As a perfectionist, the blurry low-resolution black and white photographs made me feel so very dissatisfied (I'd rather they had not included them). For her to quote Dr. Worthington's account of his mother's murder and brother's suicide, spending multiple pages talking about his REACH model of forgiveness, I felt that it was almost criminal for her not to provide a proper reference. Having recently concluded a 20 page academic paper on healthy church growth, which included a lengthy segment on church discipline, I cringed at the use of Matt 18:18 in the final pages (the context was church discipline, not spiritual warfare).

I received this book from the Baker Publishing Group's Bethany House Blogger Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: Dreams and Visions: Understanding and Interpreting God's Messages to You

Dreams and Visions: Understanding and Interpreting God's Messages to You by Jane Hamon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I did find it quite puzzling that the book started out with an invitation to non-Christians to say the sinner's prayer at the end of the introduction. The second thing I found strange was the opening vision in Chapter 1 - which ended with a series of questions of what its purpose could be - but oddly Hamon never went back to discuss the matter further. The first couple of chapters were disappointing, with multiple bible narratives in quick succession being cited to in support of the author's substantives (reminiscent of the typical eisegetical charismatic book that I'd get rid of as quickly as I can).

Thankfully, the book got better! In the subsequent chapters, the bible narratives were retold at greater length (exegeted quite well in fact). I especially appreciate the segments on what were NOT dreams/visions in chapters 4 and 5 (Natural dreams and visions; False dreams and visions). Chapter 6 (Knowing the Source of your dreams) was my favourite chapter, especially the segment of "determining factors of spiritual dreams," (p65-66) which is also repeated in kind at the closing chapter. Basically, the content is about the few steps one can take to determine if a dream/vision is from the Lord or not. It is not that Hamon provided a scheme of things that made dream/vision interpretation super easy, but I appreciated how she approached them with a holy expectation and reverent posture toward understanding them.

The book almost fits into the category of a what a work of art a spirit-led Christian can write, without having to engage into proof-texting or making theologically shaky assertions. I honestly did not expect myself to like this book (because I found the front matter a little strange), but I thoroughly enjoyed the effort to be exegetically responsible and how so very practical the rest of the content was. As an avid reviewer, I can only keep books that I feel are really excellent - 6 stars out of 5 (otherwise I'd run out of space on my bookshelf); and this title is one of those I'd want to keep for the ages.

I received this book from the Baker Publishing Group's Chosen Blogger Review Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: Jesus Talked to Me Today: True Stories of Children's Encounters with Angels, Miracles, and God

Jesus Talked to Me Today: True Stories of Children's Encounters with Angels, Miracles, and God by James Stuart Bell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Growing up in a charismatic church and having turned away from the faith entirely (which I attribute to dogmatic leaders, pastors who did violence to Scripture on a regular basis, and of course most of all, my own wretched sinfulness), I have found reformed theology and non-charismatic churches to be a breath of fresh air. However, the reverent interpretation, teaching and preaching of God's Word somehow comes with a lower emphasis on the supernatural.

This book's wonderful stories have compelled me to think back - does God communicate to his children directly and is the supernatural realm real? So much memories of my own personal encounters came flooding back, and whenever a book compels me re-examine my theology, I have to take a step back and reflect. I appreciate and cherish such experiences so very much.

Bell did a commendable job in compiling and editing so many stories; unfortunately I cannot give this book 5 stars because I am unsure of the authenticity of some of the accounts. The yardstick for me still is the bible, and some of the details did not match up with what Scripture tell us the supernatural and/or heavenly realm is like.

I received this book from the Baker Publishing Group's Blogger Team Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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