Review: The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Timothy Keller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thank the Lord for Timothy Keller's passionate exploration of Jesus' famed parable. This was the book that got then anti-christian me back on track again. Having grown up in church, I was all too familiar with the elder brother types and could relate so very well to the younger brother. Only then did I realise in my hatred of the elder brother types, I took was just as legalistic and lost.

Most of us would have never heard this well known parable being taught before in this light.

I highly recommend this book! In fact this is highly likely to be my book of choice whenever I am have the privilege to disciple a person. I hope that the grace of the prodigal father would touch and change the hearts of the lost sons out there - whether they be like the older or the younger son in the parable.

Buy a few copies if you must! And journey together chapter by chapter (or two by two chapters) with your small group. I have not had the opportunity to review it, but I do know that Keller has a resource that is catered to the small group setting. It is titled "The Prodigal God Discussion Guide with DVD."

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Review: Proclaiming a Cross-Centered Theology

Proclaiming a Cross-Centered Theology by Mark Dever
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed the read and was astounded to find that almost every chapter was outstandingly well written, engaging and thought-provoking (well except R C Sproul's which I found to be rather mediocre). Perhaps the fact that the origin of this book was a series of conference messages makes is so exceptional. While bible scholars may be prone to drifting toward excessively complex (or convoluted) theological messages when writing an article, book or thesis, having to present that same work at a conference often warrants summarising the content to its creme de la creme.

Although I find that I resonate more with Arminian and Charismatic scholars than I do with their Calvinist counterparts, I have often found that these Reformed theologians continually astonish and encourage me with their passion for sound doctrine (and therefore sound theology), orthodoxy and most importantly, a cross-centered Gospel. I am so thankful that the fruit of that conference a decade ago lives on through this book, and that so many more readers can be blessed.

The editors did not leave the readers with just a mountain of hard hitting theology too high for the average pastor to scale - C J Mahaney's penultimate chapter compelled the budding bible teacher to engage in (i) a deep reflection to seek the Lord for a (pardon the Charismatic terminology) greater measure of faith and gratitude and (ii) a renewed desire to be a joyful minister in his service amidst our often humble circumstances.

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Review: Anointed to Heal: True Stories and Practical Insight for Praying for the Sick

Anointed to Heal: True Stories and Practical Insight for Praying for the Sick by Bill Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is essentially a minuted version of Randy Clark and Bill Johnson interviewing one another. So you can search for the Audio Book or the DVD if you prefer those formats to reading this book. I felt that the book ended too soon - this is one of the few books whereby the authors could have probably added more content, elaborating on the existing material or supplementing them with more illustrations/examples/explanations of testimonies/personal insight.

I grew up in a thoroughly charismatic church and am studying in an Assemblies of God-affiliated seminary. However, my love and passion for faithful, exegetical preaching/studying of Scripture has drawn me toward my present expository-centered church, which has led to my leaning toward a more reformed position toward healing, miracles and deliverance - that these are not the normal operations of the Holy Spirit.

While I still am not a cessationist, I acknowledge that my posture toward pain and suffering - physical, psychological, economical etc. - is that of desiring more of a reality of God than for deliverance from the problem. I am therefore highly encouraged by Clark and Johnson, who challenge my theology and remind me how my brothers and sisters in Christ are so precious in God's sight and how we complement one another in ministry. I am also compelled to reconsider my level of faith and expectation for divine intervention when I pray for another person, even if he/she is a pre or post Christian. I highly recommend reading (and lending the book to others to read) Randy Clark's personal healing testimony (first chapter in Part 2 of the book).

If I enjoyed the book so much, then why the 4 star rating? While I understand the intention to faithfully reproduce the interviews, the impromptu follow up questions and a back-and-forth dialogue do not make for readable or thorough coverage of a topic/subject matter. I felt that many of the chapters, especially in the second part of the book (Bill Johnson interviewing Randy Clark) were abruptly cut off pre-maturely without covering what they were discussing. Hopefully in the subsequent editions these could be ironed out so that readers would not be left hanging.

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

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Review: The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication

The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication by Justin Wise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being a millennial, the first portion of the book was quite a challenge to read through, because I could not really appreciate the dialogue of how the world was like before our modern day digital communications (at least not as well as the boomers). Yes I grew up with dial up internet and Compact Discs (CDs), but I felt that too many pages were committed to setting the stage for the primary substantives to come later. Initially I guessed that Justin Wise's primary audience was targeted at the latter group.

But I was so WRONG! The content started to get really interesting towards the end, where I felt that finally Justin is writing to me as well! And he provided some really valuable and sagely advice for us eager tech-savvy youngsters who feel that our tech-handicapped church leaders ought to go online. What would that be? I highlight recommend that you purchase the book (or borrow it) to find out! The couple of chapters towards the end of the book swayed me toward increasing the stars from 3 to 4. What then could make this a 5 star book? Perhaps for future revisions, the front material could be edited for brevity, and have a final product of 100 pages (down from the current 180).

I received this book from the Moody Publishers Newsroom program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry

The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry by Mandy Smith
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The tone and vocabulary of the book are spot on for the target audience; pastors, even those without a theological education, would fine it easy to follow Smith's train of thoughts. In the opening chapter of the book, Smith states that she did not want the book to seem to be centered on her, and that it not be simply a book for women pastors. Unfortunately those are two attributes that I feel would aptly describe the book. This is not to say that it is entirely not useful to non-women pastors/ministers, but it would appeal to better to women pastors, especially those from a charismatic/pentecostal background. Indeed, if there was a woman lead pastor I wanted to bless, this book would be high on my list of books to consider as gifts.

Having read to the end of the book, I was disappointed that the authentic-oozing title (which was what prompted me to request this title for review) did not quite aptly describe the contents. Other issues I have with the book would be her scarce quotation of Scripture, and when she did, it was usually with the eisegetical lenses (i.e. putting a meaning contrary to what the original biblical author had intended). An example of Smith's eisegesis would be the application of Revelation 3 on page 190.

A suggestion of improvement (which would persuade me to give it 4 stars) would be to reword the book's title to something along the lines of "The Woman Pastor" or "A Woman in God's Service" and to market it for the charismatic/pentecostal audience (not just woman lead pastors, but women serving in their local churches). For readers looking for a book on the topic of serving in ministry (especially pastoring) through great difficulty/feelings of inadequacy/hurts, see Gary Preston's Pastors in Pain, which is out of print (you can try finding a copy on bookfinder dot com).

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

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Review: How to Read Exodus

How to Read Exodus by Tremper Longman III
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Longman III has produced an easy to read guide geared at the beginner/intermediate readers, though I can see that cell group or bible study leaders or even pastors may find it useful. The material would assist one in teaching/preaching from the book of Exodus to a lay audience being the content is kept consistently easily-digestible and understandable. The most valuable part of the title would be part 4, where Longman III essentially provides a concise summary of the theological narrative that pans out in the book of Exodus - reading this part would let you catch a glimpse of the 40 chapters in record time.

I especially appreciated how the topics were segmented into bite-sized chunks, with the ideas and substantives being relatively easy-to-follow. Also very useful how Longman III started off with inviting us readers not to merely take the reading/interpretation/study of Exodus as merely an intellectual exercise, rather the thought-provoking discussion questions served to point us toward how we modern readers would want to and can faithfully apply the theological principles in our lives. Having read (and reviewed) Longman III's excellent title in the series How To Read Genesis, I was pleasantly surprised at how while similarly structured, the opening chapters of a Q&A of the two books had differently worded responses - he did not just cut and paste, but appears to have responded from scratch - and so the read was fresh even if the response he gave was similar! As with the other books in this series, Longman III provides bite site comments on the commentaries on the book, which is essentially similar to what you find if you were to purchase his Old Testament Commentary Survey.

Interestingly, the strength of the book was also its weakness (especially for more theologically advanced readers) - the lean paperback (of about 200 pages) meant that I went away wishing that some topics were explored at greater length. To name a few examples: the earlier or later dating of the book of Exodus, God hardening of Pharoah's heart, Chapter 11's discussion about the false dichotomy of the ceremonial and moral law (where he left us readers with multiple questions for reflection without giving us the "textbook" answer of his position on the topic).

Overall the material was engaging, though because of the relatively larger scope of events Exodus had as compared to Genesis and yet the similar page count of about 200 pages, I felt this title did not provide as much insightful theological reflection and depth-wise was not as extensive in comparison. If in subsequent revisions, Longman III expands the content more extensively, this could be a wonderful companion to the brilliant 5 star How to read Genesis.

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

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Review: How To Read Genesis

How To Read Genesis by Tremper Longman III
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book's brevity makes it exciting and accessible to lay Christians, and yet the well founded theology would bring a smile ever so often to the bible scholars. Longman III writes with sagely scholarship and wisdom that brought so much clarity and reflection as I read it.

I'm perplexed as to how he managed to pack in so much content with so little words; I felt it was a perfect marriage of popular and scholarly theology. Its as though his lifetime spent in scholarship of Genesis have been summarised into this nifty little book. In 175 pages, Longman III brings us on a journey in hermeneutics, apologetics, authorship, outline, extrabiblical literature, finally an overview of 3 main sections of Genesis, relationship with the NT and finally very useful reviews on Genesis commentaries.

It could be argued that the chief aim of a teacher is not to impart content and knowledge, but to create a love for learning in the student. Longman III kept my attention from start to finish, and I think that he did more than that - I now have a renewed interest in learning and teaching (though specifically OT material)! Perhaps it would take the form of a small group bible study on the book of Genesis? I am interested to read (and review) Longman III's other titles in this series, and hopefully they would be as good or even better than this one!

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

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