Last weekend I officiated a wedding in Grand Rapids. Between the rehearsal and ceremony I hunted down some amazing theology book deals!
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Summary: When a madman calling himself Nero abducts five strangers to a mysterious island, events are set in motion that may very well trigger the catastrophic events of the Book of Revelation. These five strangers quickly discover that Nero intends to torment these five people in his sadistic games as he asks the question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" Review: Jason Brannon opens The Tears of Nero with explosive intrigue and action. The reader, like the protagonists, are thrown right into the conflict without reason or explanation. This is a gutsy move on Brannon's part. On the one hand, it grabs the reader's attention. On the other hand, though, it results in very little upfront characterization. Indeed, the opening chapters of the novel are propelled forward by plot and not by the characters. But something interesting happens as the five strangers traverse the dangers and traps of the island... as they get to know each other, we begin to bond with them. It took me time to care about most of the characters, but before I knew it, I really did. The Tears of Nero is an amalgam of genres. Adventure, spy, supernatural tale, and esoteric religious thriller all accurately describe this story. This book took me a long time to read. Not because it is massive (although it is long) or because it was boring. By no means! Personal life events severely limited my free time. The result, though, was that I was able to spend months inside this supernatural mystery. The story built over months, and the tension paid off in the end. I only have mild criticisms for the book. The Nero character's timeline of life events didn't always seem to add up for me. And the main crux of the book, Why does God allow bad things happen to good people? has a reasonable answer by the end of the book, but as a theologian I anticipated a more robust response to this age-old "problem of evil." Beyond those hiccups I enjoyed the world Jason Brannon has created. And while this is a stand-alone novel, Brannon sews into the narrative a few subplots that will work their way into a follow-up novel. Fans of spy, cult-plots, supernatural warfare and religious thrillers should check out The Tears of Nero. It's a great book. Rating: 4.5/5 (I REALLY Liked It!)
(Same name... Different Nero!)
Summary: Phil A Newton and Matt Schmucker explore the role of elders in the church through personal experience, historical evidence, contemporary support and the biblical text itself. Review: Once again I find myself in a book that came along just at the right time. In the church I serve it is a public matter that the Administration Team is reworking our constitution. One of the major changes we are moving toward is having a plurality of elders. Elders in the Life of the Church is a timely and helpful guidebook toward this transition. It is written largely for a Baptist audience, which tends to have a single elder (pastor) and perhaps a deacon board which functions as both an elder board and deacon/servants. Newton and Schmucker explore the biblical evidence for a plurality of elders leading the church very well. They also point to the difficulties of transitioning from a single elder model, and help their readers navigate some of those problems. Furthermore, I appreciated their balanced approach. They are not making a call in this book to get rid of the senior pastor, but instead for the senior pastor to be joined in his duties by godly persons who will lead the church with him. I found many of their keen insights timely for my own transitional process. They give practical guidelines for this transitional process. They even go as far to give a script for the ordaining/installation of new elders (as well as a charge to the congregation)! Overall, this book will be useful for persons who need a robust look at elder plurality in the New Testament. It will also be useful for churches trying to transition into the biblical model. Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It!) Find it at Kregel here. Find it at Amazon here. Note: I received a physical copy of this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review.
Summary: Robert B. Chrisholm provides an exegetical and homiletical analysis of the books of Judges and Ruth. Review: Kregel continues to raise the bar in quality and useful commentaries. Chrisholms' is no exception to the growing library of commentaries the publisher has been putting out. The author understands narrative structures, which is often neglected in commentaries. Judges contains big, epic, long-form stories. Chrisholm recognizes this and divides the book into eleven stories. He discusses these sections as stories and outlines them as stories. He follows the tension and the themes as they unfold in the text. The exposition is detailed, but not bogged down in minutia. Chrisholm focuses on the main issues, and resists going down too many rabbit trails. The commentary also seeks to provide "big ideas" for the text. The reader is given an exegetical idea, theological idea and a preaching idea. Being a "big idea" preacher myself I find this rather useful. My only criticism in the whole book, though, is that these ideas are often clunky and unfocused. A good "big idea" is very simple. A "big idea" should have no, or very few conjunctions. Chrisholm has many. However, his big ideas are useful and function as good sounding boards for the ideas I've devised from the narrative. His work on Ruth is also quite wonderful. I won't go into detail, but his analysis of Ruth and Boaz at the threshing floor is masterful. He rightly rejects traditional and progressive interpretations and understands the text on its own terms. In literary terms. I have no plans on preaching through either of these books anytime soon, but Chrisholm's treatment of the text makes me want to scrap my other plans and work my way through these books. Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It!) Find it at Kregel here. Find it on Amazon here. Note: I received a physical copy of this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review.
This month's episode of the Untold Podcast was written by Matt McKinney. I love the story he sent in, but I also appreciate his creative work on his comedy/review/riffing show POS:TOS on YouTube. He loves Star Trek... which is why he hates bad Star Trek! And there's plenty of bad Star Trek out there. Matt expertly guides us through these horrible episodes like Virgil led Dante through the bowels of Hell. The show is hilarious, witty and also intellectual. I'm convinced Matt and "Off Screen Kim" are geniuses. Right now Matt is releasing the second series of "Not Our Savior" videos, which focuses on Star Trek's unfair hack-job on religion and religious themes. Matt is honest and fair, though. And I appreciate that. Did I mention his comedic timing is spot on? You can find his YouTube channel here. Take a peak. (Fair warning, some mild colorful language from time to time.) Summary: Boyd Seevers explores the weapons, organizations, tactics and motivations of Ancient Near East cultures in Warfare in the Old Testament. Review: Warfare in the Old Testament is an absolutely useful reference for ancient warfare as depicted in the Bible. While the Old Testament often reports what happened, it often leaves out how it happened in terms of the battles. This, of course, is just fine. We have all the data we need to follow and know God. But Seevers' book helps stoke the modern imagination with historical data on how warfare was carried out. We are given in-depth looks at the tactics of Israel, Egypt, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. There's plenty illustrations of weapons, soldiers and war machines to give the reader an idea of how these battles were carried out. Additionally, and one of my favorite features, Seevers writes a historical fictive story from the perspective of a soldier from each of these nations to introduce the peoples. These stories are invaluable insights into the psychology and motivation of the cultures explored. I also found myself enjoying the many end notes Seevers included in this book . He is a to-the-point writer, but is simultaneously highly detailed. As a pastor, I will be returning to this book when I'm preaching narratives dealing with warfare amongst these nations. I am particularly excited to be able to use the knowledge I've learned to more accurately portray the drama of the biblical narratives in my first-person sermons. As a modern reader, Warfare in the Old Testament this book has given my imagination greater depth, which in turn, will enhance my reading experience. Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It) Find it at Kregel here. Find it on Amazon here. Note: I received a physical copy of this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review.
Summary: Dennis Jernigan has written some of the biggest Christian worship songs. The documentary Sing Over Me follows his life-long struggle with homosexuality and his journey to find his identity in Jesus Christ. Review: Sing Over Me is a feature-length documentary. It is a bio-pic of sorts about the man behind popular worship songs like, “We Will Worship the Lamb of Glory”, “Thank You”, “Great is the Lord Almighty”, “I Belong to Jesus”, and “You Are My All in All” among many others. In our current moral-shifting climate, this film thankfully doesn't spend time dipping into political controversy. Nor is it a polemic against anyone or anything. Instead, it is a refreshing testimony. It is the journey of a deeply gifted man, who was equally tormented about questions of his identity. The film doesn't leave the viewer wondering how things will turn out. Right from the beginning we find that Dennis Jernigan has found his identity in Christ alone. He finds his meaning in Jesus. He finds his joy in the presence of the Holy Spirit. But even though the audience knows the end of the story, the journey is still riveting. I was personally moved and convicted while watching his story. Moved to have a deeper compassion for all peoples in all situations. And I was convicted that, time and again, I need to find my greatest joys not in anything less than the Lord Jesus Christ. Sing Over Me is currently in the screening process, but I hope it finds wide distribution in the near future. The cinematography is top notch. The storytelling method is rather unique and exceeds many methods coming out of Hollywood today. My only criticism is that two scenes slowed down the pace of the film and took me out of the movie. But this is a relatively minor criticism. I'm looking forward to supporting this film as it finds wider distribution. We need more Christian filmmakers telling stories like this. Sing Over Me is humbling, powerful, convicting, riveting, heartbreaking and Christ-honoring. Head over to their website and subscribe to their social media to stay on top of this wonderful film. Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It) I purchased the trade paperback version of the Valiant Entertainment title, Unity, last week at my local (and awesome) comic book store. As I opened up the book, the words "Geeks of Doom" caught my eye on the back cover. To my surprise, the publisher quoted my review I wrote for the Geeks of Doom! I'm thrilled Valiant thought well enough of my review to reprint a part of it on such a great title! You can read my original review here! Gutsy, high-conflict, page-turning storytelling... If you want a great jumping on point, this is it." - Geeks of Doom Last week I shared some general comments about the "Big Idea" of the biblical Noah story, and the limitations of any Bible adaptation (good or bad). This week I saw Darren Aronofsky's movie and wanted to compare and contrast his "Big Idea" with the "Big Idea" of the original text. (Warning Spoilers below!) I don't want to go into a full blown review. Paeter Frandsen has some great thoughts on his podcast. In short, from a film standpoint, it was very well done. The animal CG was a little weak, but the plot, pacing, cinematography, and acting were all superb. I didn't care for the film score because it tried too hard to sound like it wasn't trying too hard. But let's move to the Big Idea. I propose that the Big Idea of the biblical story is as follows: Exegetical Idea: When humanity became so wicked Yahweh annihilated them with a flood, Yahweh preserved righteous Noah's family to begin anew. Subject: What happened when humanity became so wicked Yahweh annihilated them with a flood? Complement: Yahweh preserved righteous Noah’s family to begin anew. The Darren Aronofsky film also has a big idea: Exegetical Idea: When the creator saved Noah's family from the flood that annihilated wicked humanity, Noah decided to let humanity begin anew when he only saw love in his granddaughter's eyes. Subject: What happened when the creator saved Noah's family from the flood that annihilated wicked humanity? Complement: Noah decided to let humanity begin anew when he only saw love in his granddaughters eyes. So, it's a bit different in some significant ways. Now before anyone starts to argue the big ideas I've proposed, let me point out that the Big Idea of any story is found at the surprise twist. The point in the story where the major tension is resolved. In the newly released film, the tension is resolved when Noah decides to not kill his newly born granddaughters (the soundtrack says so)! The homiletic (take-away) idea in the biblical story is: We should walk with God when no one else is because only believers will be saved from judgment. (I lost an attender over this!) The homiletic idea in the Aronofsky film is something along the lines of: When we see the wickedness inside every human being we should try to find the goodness in people. (Aronofsky made millions with this!) The film's big idea, as you can see, is very much off kilter with the biblical narrative.
But I don't want to poo-poo the whole film. I enjoyed the first two-thirds very much. As a whole I liked the film. I also appreciated a number of themes and accomplishments in the movie: 1. Total Depravity is affirmed. No one understands Original Sin as much as Noah in the film. 2. Aronofsky gave us a believable, working model for the Ark. 3. We see a couple of instances of God's undeserved favor (a.k.a. grace). So, there you go. The Big Idea is wrong. The film is entertaining. And it got a few theological themes correct. But let me once again write... even if the Big Idea was correct, no film or adaptation can ever, ever, ever carry the same transformational power as the Word of God. (Shameless sermon plug here). Summary: The brutal pale-skinned Angleni have made a truce with the peoples in the land of the three tribes. Their arrival has left the three tribes battle-worn and willing to do almost anything to avoid conflict. The Angleni's hateful desires are not satisfied with the truce, though. And their lusts and religion are prophecied to one day take over the whole land. None of this is on the minds of young Loic, a general's son, and Satha, a woman from a poorer clan whom Loic chases after. But in the midst of their growing relationship, forces far more powerful and deceptive than the Angleni sweep the couple into a physical and spiritual struggle that threatens to change everything. Review: Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell is an absolute masterpiece of literary fantasy fiction. The author has built a world filled with people groups, supernatural entities, clans, theology and intrigue that is at once alien while still feeling very familiar. More than the world, though, McDonnell's characters drive the story and give it a heart. One of our protagonists, Loic, is a passionate, yet tender-hearted young man. He says whatever is in his heart, which at times is commendable, but often is embarrassing. Satha, our other protagonist, in many ways complements Loic's zeal, but carries a deeper wisdom than her suitor. This book isn't for everyone, though. Human sexuality drives a good portion of the story. Thankfully, fantasy tropes help the story talk about the male sex drive in rather frank ways without being too specific. But in Wind Follower we see the beautiful, the ugly and even the pathetic aspects of the sexual drive. This isn't always easy to read. By no means. There was one point that upset me to my core, and I didn't return to the book for two weeks. Now, I'm not a sheltered reader. I did my undergraduate work in Creative Writing at SUNY New Paltz. I've read stories featuring depravities and injustices. But what makes McDonnell's story so compelling, and even devastating at times, is her deep characterizations. I couldn't help but feel the pain of her characters as they endured the wickedness of others. But McDonnell, unlike many other writers of great literature, does not leave us in the dregs of human ugliness, but she also shows the beauty of real life. I am also indebted to the author for showing how a group of people can follow a theology brought to them by a hateful people. In this case the message matters more than the messenger. And the truth is the truth, no matter what kind of people know it. Wind Follower is literary fantasy in all its splendor. Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It!) Find it here on Amazon. |
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