Review: Your Marriage Masterpiece: Transform Your Relationship Through God's Amazing Design

Your Marriage Masterpiece: Transform Your Relationship Through God's Amazing Design by Al Janssen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I realise that I had subconsciously come to expect poor theology to line the pages of the any popular level book about marriage. I am so very pleased to admit that I could not be more wrong - Janssen has gifted us (both bible scholars and "lay" Christians) a most wonderful gift in this amazing piece of literature! The content was so finely edited that the 250 pages felt like only a hundred as I devoured page after page; the flow of the book's thesis was extremely easy to follow along and I found that Janssen held my interest and attention throughout. I enjoyed the encouraging and the painful accounts of marriages alike that served as vivid illustrations. But what I savoured the most was his remarkable ability to retell bible narratives! Often when we read Scripture, we do not really understand the narrative well because our modern day context is so far removed from the ancient times.

As a seminary student, I recall spending hours if not days trying to retell the parable of the good Samaritan in an updated, modern day context. Even if I did not want to keep the book for its solid theology and marriage applications (I do of course and will discuss that in a while), this book will be a required reading if I were to ever teach a course on hermeneutics (how to interpret Scripture). For this reason, I felt that Chapter 8 titled "The greatest love story of all time" was worth the price of the book; I was so so very delighted when I found that chapter 18 titled "The great adventure" also was an outstanding paraphrase of a biblical narrative. I did not complete buy a couple of Janssen's interpretations, for example that Adam watched passively when Eve was conversing with the serpent or that the Shunammite woman husband was a king... But theologians can have disagreements and yet hold another in high regard...

As I closed the pages of the book, I felt a sense of awe at the magnitude and the impossibility of the task set ahead of me as a husband to be. Yet at the same time I was encouraged and inspired by the worldview changing presentation of Christ's love for his bride (the church), and our ensuing responsibility to live it out through its metaphor - our marriage.

I heartily recommend this book! This is one of the few titles that I regard to be 6 stars, because it is in a class of its own.

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: The Gospel & Racial Reconciliation

The Gospel & Racial Reconciliation by Russell D. Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Most of us would not consider ourselves as racists. So no harm in picking up the book so that we can gain some knowledge as it may be useful for ministry. Or so I thought...

This tiny book was outstanding. I appreciate how the application and reflection was built upon a sturdy theological foundation. When a "controversial" or "hush-hush" issue is presented in such a manner, us readers would have no choice but to confront the reality of sin in our own lives. Nobody likes to talk much about such topics, and the book's brevity ensures that we do not feel preached at. The book's format was great - consisting of an excellent compilation of chapters from 5 authors. This fine piece of work makes me curious as to how the other titles in this series are like; if they are of the same style and quality, they could form an invaluable set of resources.

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

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Review: Unlocking the Bible: What It Is, How We Got It, and Why We Can Trust It

Unlocking the Bible: What It Is, How We Got It, and Why We Can Trust It by Jeff Lasseigne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lasseigne is a master storyteller - I found myself looking forward to the anecdote that would come with every new chapter (only 1 out of the so many was average and uninteresting; the rest were brilliant in reeling the reader's attention to the topic at hand!). From what I can infer, the primary audience for this book would be lay readers, and therefore most of the material did not have scholarly citations. The downside of this would be that readers who are interested in studying further into any topic covered in the book would have to consult other similar titles for advice/direction. The scholarship however was excellent - a lifetime of research was probably involved in the compiling of material for this title, with few controversial assertions observed by this reviewer (to be discussed in a while).

One section that perhaps best illustrates Lasseigne's amazing ability to digest a ton of material and present it in an easy-to-understand summary, would be the section about the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenees and Sanhedrin (p81-83). First year Bible school students and small group leaders would find sections like these very useful, but as mentioned previously, the lack of citations leaves one with not much guidance for further reading. And when a statement like "there are at least a thousand prophecies in the bible, half of which have already been fulfilled," (p65) it is almost a crime not to provide references and more information about such a claim.

While Lasseigne toed the line of safety when declaring that he was unsure of who the author of the book of Hebrews was, he strangely affirmed that Solomon was the author of the book of Ecclesiastes (p64). His short points (and scholarly citations) in support of this substantive I felt were insufficient for such a bold claim.

Nevertheless, I felt that the concept of the book was actually quite brilliant - establishing all the whys before the whats. But it is a pity the second half - the survey/summary of each book of the bible - was too short to be of much use. Perhaps a better idea would have been to publish the two sections as separate books, and to elaborate further on the surveys/summaries. Weighing in at 300 pages, the book could also deter potential occasional-readers (people who not usually read) from picking it up.

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: When a Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn from Nazi Germany

When a Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn from Nazi Germany by Erwin W. Lutzer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I guess that the first impression most people will have seeing such a title, would be skeptical about whether the author wrote it just because he is trying to come across as some prophecy expert with some sensational theory that would probably interest the prophecy fanatics. Thankfully, this book is far from that. The content is carefully and reflectively thought through, compels the reader to consider how we can use the historical example of Nazi Germany to contemplate how similar modern day America is.

While I'm no American (I'm Singaporean), I keenly follow world politics and enjoyed this masterpiece of a book. Before I started my interest in reading theological titles, I devoured WWII military history books. This title interestingly meshed my two favourite topics together. Lutzer's brevity ensures that there is never a dull moment for your attention to wane. I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the read, but that would be inappropriate vocabulary to describe my somber mood after having completed the book. Preachers are to exegete both Scripture and the audience; Lutzer here did a fine job in exegeting history and today's political climate in the USA. In my opinion, this is a 6 star (out of 5) book.

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: Loving My Actual Life: An Experiment in Relishing What's Right in Front of Me

Loving My Actual Life: An Experiment in Relishing What's Right in Front of Me by Alexandra Kuykendall
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book has a unique format, somewhat like a daily journal for one month "experiments" in every chapter. So because she has actually tried to put these ideas into real life practice, the book doesnt come across as the work of a wannabe psychologist-cum-life-coach-author giving her two cents worth. While I do appreciate the practical suggestions and see how they could actually be quite useful when implement in my own life, I do wonder what the references or sources are.

To be honest, after the few few chapters, I found it extremely difficult to read through every single day of the journal entries. I guess if I were Kuykendall's close friend, I'd be sincerely interested. Or perhaps if Ravi Zacharias or D A Carson (or whoever your favourite authors/theologians would be) were to share their day-to-day lives with readers, then it would be a great delight. But for me, I felt that it was a bit too much detail that did not catch my interest.

A caveat though... Although I get the impression that the book seems to be a Christian title, I was hard pressed to find citations of Scripture or perhaps even quotes from other authors from the field of Spiritual Formation/Christian Living. So I guess this book would be an ideal gift to pre-believing or post-Christian friends you think may need find useful a regime to cope with their busy lives a little bit better?

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: Mommy Needs a Raise

Mommy Needs a Raise by Sarah Parshall Perry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First things first, while the title does not specify this, the author's primary target audience is not the mother balancing work and motherhood, but the Stay at Home Mum (SAHM as Sarah terms it). That is not to say that husbands and working mothers would not enjoy the book, because I, a recently married husband without any kids on the way, sure did thoroughly savoured the read. More so than I had expected - for it helped me glimpse into and made me fear and appreciate the awesome task that lies ahead for my beloved bride when the little ones would come along. As soon as I closed the final pages, I was thinking that it would be a waste to simply leave the book on my bookshelf, I had to give it away to a friend who is the midst of wrestling in the ring of SAHM. (Sadly my wife is more of a numbers person and would read hear a verbal summary than plough through the leaves of a book, no matter how good I tell it is!)

Usually when I discover that a book is a sneaky biography (unlike what the title had misled me to believe), the feeling would be discovering that your favourite chocolate milk in your fridge had turned sour - I at least do not appreciate paying $10-20 to read about a person's self-praise and self-glorification etc. BUT not only does Sarah write well, I really enjoy reading about her larger-than-life arty-farty personality and probably connected with her earnest humility of the heights from which she has fallen to be a SAHM. I appreciated she was honest and forthright in declaring this was a book about her journey and her family's right at the get-go.

The reason I did not award a 5 star rating is that many of the references were Amercian (I am a Singaporean and could guess what Patient First and Mr Coffee meant, but other non-Amercians may not). Therefore the book is not really catered to an international audience, as Sarah did not footnote to explain what localised references meant (perhaps in the next revision that could be done)? While the first half of the book was amazingly exciting to read, the second was in comparison not as engaging. Perhaps it is none of Sarah's fault that the working woman's lifestyle seemed so much more exciting than the SAHM.

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

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Review: The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives

The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives by Peter Scazzero
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I first attempted to read this book in 2015 and now (in 2016) I read it again for the purposes of a school assignment.

While the content is not overly complex, I am quite puzzled as to where Scazzero plants the foundation of his thesis from. My polytechnic diploma in psychology better prepared me to read the book critically and yet I came away quite disappointed. I do understand where he is coming from, basically to embrace the brokenness in you (and your family) and not to work yourself until you have nothing left. I do hope to see some proper citations from the experts in field of psychology to add some credibility to the "emotionally healthy" schema.

The Scripture references were often proof-texts of a point he was trying to make, and after a while I had to force myself to finish the book. Basically if you are looking for a (as the subheading goes) strategy, a work-based step-by-step formula, this is the book for you. But if you are interested in meaty ecclesiology, look up Timothy Keller's Center Church or Edmund Clowney's The Church. See also Carlson and Lueken's Renovation of the Church for an account of how two co-pastors moved away from formulaic style approach to running a church.

To top off my discomfort with this book, Chapter 12 was basically advertisements to Scazzero's other books and programs. I cannot recommend this book because of its questionable psychology, allegorical use of Scripture and outrageous self-publicity.

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