Category Archives: Book Review

Review: “You are the treasure that I seek” by Grey Dutcher

Review

|

You are the Treasure that I Seek (But there’s a lot of cool stuff out there, Lord)
Greg Dutcher
Discovery House, Grand Rapids, 2009, 208pp.

Do you have a sinful habit you long to be done with? Do you have a particular sin you keep on confessing to God and others? Do you have a sin that blots your conscience, leaving a stain that fades gradually, only to receive a fresh splotch of guilt the next time you fall prey to it? You hate it, and yet you are caught in it. It seems to be a sin you cannot live with­out. In fact, it feels bigger than that; it feels like a sin that cannot live without you. Perhaps in answering these questions you thought about pride, greed, envy or lust. Did the word ‘idolatry’ come to mind? (more…)

Review: “The ordinary hero” by Tim Chester

Review

|

The Ordinary Hero: Living the cross and resurrection
Tim Chester
Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, 2009, 224pp.

When asked to review The Ordinary Hero, I imagined an inspiring biography—a tale of bravery or of remarkable achievement by someone like you and me. I was mostly wrong. This is not a biography; it proclaims the meaning of the cross and resurrection for our lives. It’s a tale of bravery, but not in the third person; it’s about you and me. It calls on us all to “live the cross and resurrection” (p. 12). For Tim Chester, this is what an ‘ordinary hero’ does, and he challenges those who claim to be Christian to live out the implications of that claim. I found his book challenging and insightful in its application of the events of the cross to our lives. (more…)

Book review: Unpacking forgiveness

Review

|

Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical answers for complex questions and deep wounds
Chris Brauns
Crossway, Wheaton, 2008. 240pp.

She approached me with her daughter after the Sunday night meeting. I usually love questions from listeners—especially if they are related to the sermon. Her question was, but only obliquely: she asked me whether I thought she ought to forgive her husband who had been systematically violent towards her for years and years. I knew straight away I was way out of my depth. I also knew that the answer I gave her was probably going to ring in her and her daughter’s ears for a long time. How on earth can you prepare for pastoral situations like this? (more…)

“Jesus. All about life”, by Murray Smith

Review

|

 

Jesus. All about life (Youth Edition)

Murray Smith

Bible Society NSW, Macquarie Park, 2009. 135pp.

Murray Smith has put together a smart and sassy little book called Jesus. All about life. This 135-page creation has an obvious connection with the evangelistic campaign of the same name, but Smith’s book is aimed squarely at teenagers. It’s the sort of book you could easily imagine sitting on a teenager’s bedside table (or, more likely, somewhere on the bedroom floor underneath a recently discarded jacket). (more…)

The book and the vine

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

|

One of the more fascinating books I read last year had the ironic title The Book is Dead. Long Live the Book. It was a book seeking to persuade me that books are history. (more…)

Book review: “Christ and the future”

Review

|

Christ and the Future: The Bible’s teaching about the last things
Cornelius P Venema
Banner of Truth, Edinburgh, 2008. 240pp.

True story: I’m at a bowling club, and a slightly drunk middle-aged man approaches, recognizing me as the local Anglican minister. We get chatting as he waits for his lift. I ask whether he has any church connections. It turns out his wife’s sister is married to a Baptist pastor. “Is that a fact?” I say. “Do you ever talk to your brother-in-law about what he believes?” He says he doesn’t see him that often, but he’s a pretty good bloke, and he did lend him a book recently, which he read. (Praise God!) “What did you make of it?” I ask. He says it was pretty interesting stuff; it was called Left Behind. Have I read it? (more…)

Naked God

Review

|

Naked God--cover

Martin Ayers has recently published his first book, Naked God (AUS | US). Paul Grimmond caught up with him recently to talk about what motivated the book and what it’s like to be an author for the first time.

Paul Grimmond: What’s it been like to write your first book? (more…)

Kids@church/Click: Some great material for your children’s Sunday School

Review, Sola Panel

| | 2 comments

 

I teach Sunday School for children regularly, but I don’t always have the time and energy to write my own lessons. So last year I found myself in the market for Sunday School material.

Thanks to a friend trawling through the shelves at a Christian bookshop, what I discovered was kids@church, put out by Youthworks in conjunction with CEP. (In Britain, it’s published as Click by The Good Book Company). I suspect that lots of churches in Sydney are familiar with this material, but many other churches aren’t.

(more…)

Introverts in the church

Sola Panel, Up front

|

Is the coffee hour after church your favourite hour of the week? If it fills you with more dread than root canal, then Introverts in the Church: Finding our place in an extroverted culture (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2009) is the book for you. Adam McHugh, a Presbyterian minister and one-time hospice chaplain, shows how introverts can survive and thrive in the Christian community without succumbing to anonymous isolation or burnout. (more…)

Book review: “Outrageous Mercy: Rediscovering the radical nature of the cross”

Review

|

If you’re reading this, you probably need no convincing that regular reflection on the cross is a pretty good idea. But maybe you’re not sure that Outrageous Mercy: Rediscovering the radical nature of the cross deserves a place on your ‘Want to read’ list. I certainly wasn’t convinced; I’d never heard of William P Farley before this book came across my desk. What’s more, since I do like to judge a book by its cover, it didn’t immediately strike me as essential reading. With so many great books on the cross available, I confess that, on first glance, Outrageous Mercy looked a little too light and a little too American to really grab me. (more…)

Busting the myths about the Crusades

Review

| | 15 comments

 

Across the 12th and 13th centuries, the noblemen of Europe conducted a series of ‘Crusades’ in the Holy Land. Over six or seven centuries, this period history was largely neglected, but then the 20th century saw a resurgence of (negative) interest in these Crusades, which generated a number of myths that took over popular opinion.

I don’t know how many times over the years I have found myself flummoxed in evangelistic conversations when the question is thrown at me, “What about the Crusades?”

(more…)

Calvin and Sandy’s survey

Review

| | 1 comment

I’m sorry, Sandy, at the end of a fairly exhausting year, during which God has continued to show his goodness and kindness in all sorts of ways, I lack the will and strength to fill in your survey about books I’ve read this year. Although may I take this moment to recommend the most brilliant—and, in fact, the only—book ever released by Matthias Media under the title Encouragement, as well as the chortle-worthy, friendly but occasionally disappointing Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years by Michael Palin. (more…)