Latest Reads

Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Church
I just realized that I haven't posted anything about books lately so I figured I would just throw a quick update on some stuff I've read lately.

This was an interesting read, some chapters better than others. I thought Mark Driscoll's chapter was probably the poorest and had the least actual thought involved. It was like he just copied and pasted an extended doctrinal statement from the back of a church bulletin instead of putting some thought into it so that was a bummer. I couldn't quite figure out how John Burke fit into the whole thing and after reading his chapter wasn't sure exactly what he said although he did have some helpful responses to other chapters that I appreciated. I connected most with Dan Kimball's chapter over the others. Doug Pagitt's chapter scared me in places. He almost seems reckless at times with the way he disregards orthodox christian belief from other centuries. In some ways this can be good, but is not always helpful. Karen Ward's chapter was very creative and inspiring for what a community can look like. I don't really want to give a detailed critique of this book and besides you will find a much better one HERE. Overall, the book was extremely easy to read through, the responses were always intriguing but I guess it didn't quite live up to my expectations so I was a little disappointed. As Chris said in his article that I linked it seemed like Driscoll put on a referees shirt and blew the whistle when he perceived a theological foul plus he "cited" 700 bible verses in the book which is a little ridiculous. I think Karen Ward was right when she said that you can be a "biblicist" without using the bible correctly and it seems this may have been the case in this regard. Anyway, I will cut myself off here because anything else I have to say is kind of irrelevant. I am more excited to read "An Emerging Manifesto of Hope." I think it will be much better than this. I would give this book a B.

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
This is another classic no one ever made me read. While it became very dry in places due to the language that Hawthorne uses I can see why this book made such a huge impact. Not only a social commentary on the Puritans but a HUGE statement of sin in general. Really hits the nature of sin and the shame that comes along with it well. So many themes throughout this book it is hard to even catch them all. Some great irony and religious commentary from this time period. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!





Your God is Too Small - J.B. Phillips

This is an older book which was clearly written in a time different from ours, however the first part of the book is timeless. I'm seeing much more value in reading older books than all of the new stuff that just hits the shelves. Phillips deals with the misconceptions we have of God and how our misconceptions drive our actions and our lives. Some of the perceptions are God as a resident policeman or confusing God with your conscience, God as a parental hangover or confusing God with your image of your parents, God as meek and mild or confusing Jesus with sentimentality, and God as a box or confusing God with a denominational leader. There were some great timeless observations that Phillips makes and draws from culture that are worth reading. The second half of the book is basically a general gospel presentation that seems a little outdated although I see how important it is to not only tear down unhealthy images of God but build a healthy view of God from Scripture.

Four Views of Hell

This is kind of a hobby theology book. Honestly the exact nature of hell is not all that important, we know it's a serious subject and a bad place and I'm not sure it matters if it is literal, metaphorical, etc. Most of this is speculation on where scripture is silent. It was an interesting read. Walvord defended a literal hell, Crockett a metaphorical hell, Hayes a purgatorial hell, and Pinnock (always one to be in the minority) a conditional hell or annhiliation. I found Crockett's most compelling but then again, this is rather unimportant as far as theology goes, more just an interesting read rather than having to do with life. I know some would disagree with that however.


Reaching Out - Henri Nouwen

I feel that I should read at least one Nouwen book a year to keep my soul fresh and this was a great one as always. I highly recommend this book. If you haven't read any Nouwen I would suggest "In the Name of Jesus" to start out with. It kind of gives you a picture of where he is coming from and it's a fantastic book.






The Pleasures of God - John Piper

There were places in this book where I felt a definite awe for God and I couldn't help but marvel at the grandeur of God. But much of the rest of the book all I got was that John Piper is a hard core Calvinist. I'm not a big fan of John Piper, especially since I'm not a Calvinist nor am I Reformed in my theology, nor do I even really subscribe to a theological system. You can see how this book would cause problems with that! Anyway, I was hoping it would be more about God and less about a theological system and God picking individuals for salvation but that was a majority of it.