Book Review : frameworks : Eric Larson

While I was in seminary, we were frequently assigned an Old Testament or New Testament Introduction book as a bird's eye view of the biblical books covered in the course.  My experience with these "Introductions," however, made clear to me that the introductory nature  of those volumes referred more to the relatively short treatment of each biblical book and not the quality or accessibility of the treatment.  Which means that an average OT/NT Introduction book may very well be intimidating for folks who are genuinely seeking a better understanding of Scripture, yet don't have the supporting resources provided in a seminary environment.

This presents a fairly wide gap in the literature available to the vast majority of Christians seeking help in understanding the literary background of the most important Book around.  The Bible is the very Word of God and careful handling of the Word shouldn't be alone practiced by those men called to shepherd the local church in pastoral ministry.  The Scriptures necessitate responsible handling by all, which can be helped by the responsible use of a volume that treats the big picture, background, authorship, and intent of the books comprising the Old and New Testaments.  In writing frameworks, Eric Larson seeks to fill this void with an accessible resource he labels "An Extraordinary Guide for Ordinary People."

Mr. Larson's efforts are, by and large, helpful and function as they are intended.  Nowhere does he intimate that this book is intended to replace Guthrie's New Testament Introduction.  His style of writing is accessible (more on that below) and the book's structure is memorable and helpful.  Though the book's content comes in around 350 pages, it is graphically rich and presents helpful images that capture the theme he intends to communicate.  The scholarship draws water up from disputed wells so as not to confuse readers with unnecessary adventures into academia.  It is, largely, a fairly helpful resource.

There are a couple things that I would encourage future efforts in this vein to avoid.  Larson's writing, intentionally accessible, is, at times, a bit too casual.  Titus is compared to Red Adair and, while I understand his rationale, this example - along with others - displays a bit too much liberty taken in characterizing the people and literature of the New Testament.  It is memorable, but may not be helpful and accurate in its memorability.  Additionally, while I recognize the desire to avoid over-complicating issues of scholarship, there is a lack of complexity to his treatment that may oversimplify some things.  The only issue I found with the content itself was what seemed to be a portrayal of the Law and Old Testament institutions that was only abolished by Christ instead of fulfilled.  It might be me being picky, but I believe it makes a big difference when we look at the Old Testament finding its fulfillment in the Savior, rather than a sense of abandonment for the New.  Otherwise, frameworks would find a decent home in most any evangelical church.

Altogether, Mr. Larson has done a very decent job in providing a resource to Christians seeking to gain a better understanding of Scripture without the intimidating likeness belonging to a number of resources that are otherwise very helpful.  This book, with the slight reservations mentioned above, would do well for any Christian to pick up and gain a more helpful understanding of the New Testament.  Thank you to the publisher for providing a complimentary review copy, which was provided to me free from expectation of a positive review or recommendation.

Swimming Lessons, Chicken McNuggets and the Enlightenment

I really tried to come up with a catchier title than "Swimming Lessons, Chicken McNuggets and the Enlightenment," but that title alone warrants an explanation.  And you're probably wondering what that explanation is.  Well, hold tight and rest assured, there's a point to all of this.

One of my favorite memories from my childhood is the scent I'd pick up, almost without fail, every time I got into the car after swimming lessons.  Swimming lessons aren't, in themselves, a very fond memory for me.  But for some reason, almost every time I got in the car after swimming lessons, I would smell Chicken McNuggets.  I don't know if this was wishful thinking on my part or if anyone else has ever had that experience.  But whatever it was, it's one of those comforting scents that has stuck with me over the years.

Needless to say, a lot changes between your 10th trip around the sun and your 20th.  Happy Meals don't bring the promised happiness anymore.  Eating at McDonalds turns into a last ditch effort to satisfy hunger.  And, while it might be a "natural" phenomenon to find most people in their adolescent years and early twenties trying to distance themselves from things that just aren't "cool," I've noticed something: it's not just a post-adolescent issue any longer.  It's a cultural issue.

We live in a culture suspicious of the common.  I say suspicious, because it's not only passe to shop at WalMart or buy a Happy Meal for your kids, we're convinced by pop culture that it's downright dangerous.  What restaurant does your mind think about when you hear this: Do you know what they put in that stuff?  Or what store do you think about when you hear this: Do you know how much they pay their employees and where they get their products?  Without debating the merits of fried food or clothes made in China, it's fairly clear that we're supplied with reasons to be suspicious of things that aren't "specialty" or stores that help us "live our lives."  Exposing the practices at your local Burger King will land a spot in the headlines - showing up and doing the same at Qdoba?  Not so much.

All of this goes back to a revolution in our cultural thought that took place a couple hundred years back during "the Enlightenment."  The Enlightenment was helpful in some respects, encouraging a more robust use of our minds.  For the Christian, a sadly neglected venue for worship is the life of the mind.  The Great Commandment includes love of God by way of our thinking and the challenges of the Enlightenment served as a catalyst (even if it was in response to some arrogant worldviews) for the church to engage our thinking for the glory of God.  However, the cultural fallout from the Enlightenment was not so positive.  At its core, the Enlightenment championed a philosophy that was even too radical for pagan Greece and can be summed up by way of Protagoras' statement: "Man is the measure of all things."  That concept drove Enlightenment thinking and still drives popular thought about the self in relation to the world to this day.  What you feel, what you think, what you sense about the world around you is, in the final analysis, what matters most.  Objectivity and subjectivity are blurred together and we are left to ourselves to decide not only matters of right and wrong, but matters of truth and falsehood.

So how has the Enlightenment affected our view of things common?  Here's my take on it: the cultural move to (ultimately) de-objectivize everything has cheated people out of the sense of uniqueness we ought to have as beings created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Instead of finding an identity outside of ourselves, we've been told that our identity is up to us to either realize or construct for ourselves.  Instead of understanding we were created for the purpose of glorifying God, we've been told that we are chance accidents, a collection of cells that could just as well have ended up arranged as a prairie dog.  Instead of understanding our work as a calling, we've been told it's there to pay the bills so we can spend the rest of our time trying to figure out or live out who we are.  It's a wholesale cheapening of human existence - and if that's all we are, who wants to be or be associated with something common?

When I became a dad, I renewed my license to stop at McDonalds and buy Chicken McNuggets.  And you know what?  I still like them.  Particularly with the barbecue sauce served in the containers with foil that, if you're not careful, will end up adhering to surfaces via the residual sauce.  So there's some food for thought today.  It's not deep and weighty theology.  But it's been on my mind lately.  Let me finish by saying: you can eat a Happy Meal to the glory of God.  I should be back in a day or two with more from Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.

To God Alone Be the Glory,
-Chris

Book Review: The Cross and Christian Ministry

I had two endorsements of this book in the back of my mind before even beginning it. The first came from my former lead pastor, whom I remember speaking very highly of The Cross and Christian Ministry. The second is the fact that there has been little, if anything, that Dr. Carson has written and I have not benefited from. So coming to the book, I had expectations that this volume would follow along those lines and be generally helpful and biblically faithful. Without surprise, Dr. Carson's work succeeds at both points.

Let me begin by saying that the Corinthian letters hold, in my opinion, some of the most necessary corrections for the American church today. The nature of the letters as corrective generally lends themselves to addressing "problems" in the life of the church. The problems developing in American evangelicalism increasingly reflect the issues present among the confused Corinthians. Which makes any venture into these letters a profitable one for the pastor/elder or Christian looking to understand what faithful ministry (and Christian living) looks like in an environment hostile to the unique design the gospel supplies to the character of Christian life and ministry. Dr. Carson also wrote a book entitled A Model of Christian Maturity, which takes up some of the issues in 2 Corinthians. Both of these books are very helpful and I would generally recommend both of them as faithful in accomplishing their stated purposes.

The Cross and Christian Ministry takes up various passages in the first Corinthian letter and applies them to the contemporary Christian and Christian leader. Without going into the details of each chapter, it suffices to say that the themes drawn from the letter are more than necessary for any Christian (most certainly the pastor) to have a solid understanding of. The fundamental disparity between the world's values and the gospel's values, between the priorities of fallen men and the priorities of Jesus Christ, are so glaringly evident to us, yet very difficult to leave the former to pursue the latter. And that's where the Corinthian letters, particularly the first, have so much to say to those of us who are tempted to assume worldly priorities and cloak them with Christian garb. Dr. Carson draws out the priorities of a cross-centered life and ministry that necessarily means change on the part of the earnest man of God.

The contents of this book are adapted from addresses delivered by Dr. Carson, which makes them inherently practical. Dr. Carson is particularly gifted in driving home solid theological content in engaging ways. Again, I have usually benefited from anything I have read written by D.A. Carson and this book stands in that line. While the book is shorter than others you might pick up by him, The Cross and Christian Ministry is still well worth the read and should be an assigned as an exit requirement for those graduating from seminary. Seasoned pastors would do well to come back to the priorities Dr. Carson draws out in this book. The Cross and Christian Ministry is a worthwhile book that supplies a much-needed perspective on genuine Christian ministry and living in light of the Cross.

(The folks at Baker Books kindly supplied me with a complimentary copy for review. I was not required to provide a positive review of the book.)

Book Review : Lost Letters of Pergamum

The world of Christian fiction isn't typically filled with a host of substantive, biblical, and obedience-provoking titles these days, at least so far as my impression of the landscape goes. If a book isn't about the Amish, it might as well stay off the fiction racks. Sadly, theology and a compelling story rarely seem to have a place together in the Christian publishing world. Reading through Bruce Longenecker's book The Lost Letters of Pergamum, however, proves to be an exception. Here's why:

• The book, while not strictly "fictional," is historical fiction - which basically means that the license taken to put words in the mouths of characters is a license taken with great attention to the probability that such characters would say what the author has them say. In the case of Longenecker's book, the dialogue mainly consists of a series of fictional letters sent back and forth between Antipas of Pergamum and Luke the Physician (and chronicler of Luke-Acts). What's fascinating about the interchange is that the characters are based on real men, with good biblical scholarship informing the content and style of their correspondence. It's not an historical stab in the dark, but a very real presentation of what an interaction between a first century Christian and pagan may have looked like, particularly those in the higher ranks of society. While the book is clearly fictional, nothing in it reads anachronistically. This needs to be done well for a book written as historical fiction and Longenecker does an excellent job of it.

• The attention to historical accuracy sets up the characters in a compelling way. Though I knew these letters were fictional, I remained interested to find out what would happen to the characters (some of whom, like the main characters themselves, were very real people in the first century).

• The evangelistic tone of Luke's letters to Antipas and the church's relationship to Antipas both made a significant impression on me. The way in which Luke respectfully and clearly engaged the pagan Antipas is a model for the kind of evangelism that usually happens in the workplace. Luke persisted in holding the truth before a man whom he initially knew through "professional" channels in a way that is highly instructive for those tempted to neglect speaking Scripture truth in favor of aimless "relationship building." Equally instructive is the way in which the church at Pegamum (at the fictional Antonius' house) openly received Antipas, while displaying genuine Christian living in their interactions. Both serve to convince Antipas of the truth of the gospel. I would not hesitate to suggest that Longenecker intentionally designed these interactions to instruct, which they do well.

• The first and twenty-first century risk of compromising the gospel is clearly in view, as one church shows a preference for comfort at the expense of their faithfulness to the Lord Jesus. It should not be overlooked that this was a real temptation for the apostolic church facing increasing persecution and lingers today. This, along with Antipas' eventual martyrdom, provide a sobering tone to the book that could otherwise be avoided in a fictional account. Those, along with other sobering moments, provide depth to the book.

 If you're looking to get a better picture of life in the first century church and don't care to read "textbook" type books, The Lost Letters of Pergamum is a sure choice to inform and entertain. It's relatively short at under 200 pages and reads very quickly. I would also recommend the book as a supplement to any Early Church History course, from Sunday School to seminary level. It does a very good job of bringing facts about the first century church together in a way that those familiar with that period of history can generally agree with and those wanting to be familiar can receive a helpful guide.

(The folks at Baker Academic kindly supplied me with a complimentary copy for review. I was not required to provide a positive review of the book.)

Parents, Keep Reality Before Your Children: Buy Good Books

I'm not a fan of horror movies. At all. Unfortunately, the converse of what I'm recommending to you today - getting good kids books for your home - as a parent desiring to "keep reality before your children" provokes a response that approximates those horror movies produce in me: disgust, groans, eye rolls, and the general desire to look the other way. While it might not be that bad most of the time if you know the right places to look, a stroll down the aisle at Wally World or Target isn't (typically) going to get you a haul of "Christian" books that have any business being labeled that way. So for all the parents who have wondered why they've stocked the shelves with Left Behind: The Kids series or why they should trust the near death experience of a 3 year old to provide frontline fodder for their kids, here's a breath of fresh air: the books are out there. And they're getting easier to find. Hopefully this post helps direct you to some of them.

A number of months ago, I became convinced that as a dad, I had a responsibility to make sure that my kids were getting a steadier stream of truth through children's books than they were getting. If you're anything like us (and you very well might, because we're not like people who aren't like us and your family is probably like those who are like yours) you tend to accumulate books and toys for your kids quickly. Unexpectedly. In a way that seems like you had a subscription plan that delivered them to you while you were passed out somewhere. And most of the time, those books don't communicate a whole lot - or a whole lot that is true and hearty - about God and the gospel. That's what gripped me. As I looked at all the books that we had sitting around about how many animals you could count or stories about a mouse eating cookies, I felt strongly that I had a responsibility to my wife and children to make sure that they were "resourced" appropriately. I'm big on equipping as a priority in ministry and it was high time to make sure that my home was equipped to teach my little ones, even during play time, that life is about more than silly stories, nursery rhymes, or princesses.

At the end of the day, there's really nothing wrong with stories about princesses or ballerinas for little girls. It's the vacuum created of rich, true things when those other stories suck the air out of your home. A daily struggle ensues for every Christian parent, as we seek to lead our children to see the glory of God in the gospel, to see that life is not about getting more and more stuff, but loving God and loving people for His glory. And I don't want to tilt the struggle any more in the favor of worldliness and sin than it already is. So I decided to 'roid up my children's library with books that intentionally grounded my kids in the truth of God in ways that are entertaining, accessible, and biblically faithful - a really good mixture.

Ultimately, our family worship time is the place where the gloves come off and we, as a family, have our sparring matches against the encroaching values of worldliness and sin present in our own hearts, by praying, memorizing Scripture, going over a good, solid catechism (of the Spurgeon variety) questions, reading Scripture, singing praises to God, and talking about the Word of God. But it's not just there that my kids are learning truth. They need to exercise if they're going to be any good for the big events and that means I can't let them eat only dessert throughout the day and wonder why they're not caring about what we're doing during that important time. Their hearts are in our stewardship. And I'll tell you this: I'm certainly not going to let Dora the Explorer teach my kids more about life than godly men and women who have prayerfully sought to get some engaging and biblical content into our hands. So from one dad to other parents (or potential parents) - take your stand on what your kids books say about what you're trying to accomplish at home.

So You Want Some Examples, Eh?

That's my story. But here's where I want to really help you, if you're looking for it, get a solid start at putting together a decent set of books for your kids. All I'm going to say about the below books is that I don't think you can really go wrong if you add them to your home. They're all written in order to lead your kids to seeing God and Christian living rightly and biblically. Here's a list, with links to Westminster Theological Seminary's Bookstore website for you to look at. (WTS Bookstore has Amazon-ish prices, even better at times, as well as good, fast service. I give them a thumbs-up and encourage you to give them a look as an option for getting your books.) They also have a kids category for you to look through. Here are some top picks:

Pilgrim's Progress

Get Wisdom!: 23 Lessons for Children About Living for Jesus

Gospel Story Bible

The Barber Who Wanted to Pray

The Donkey Who Carried a King

The Prince's Poison Cup

and here's the link to FAQ's about their children's section. It gives a good perspective on why they stock the books they do and links to different categories of children's books. It's well worth the time to look through what's out there.

These are just a few examples. But they're good. And you'll find a lot more, as most everything at WTS Bookstore is "trustworthy" and not going to teach your kids to live as Christians without knowing their need for Christ (like, sadly, a number of well-intentioned children's books can). I do hope that, if you're a parent, you take a good look at what your choices about media and books are teaching your children about life - and if its reinforcing what you really desire them to learn. Let's strive together to serve our children well for their good and God's glory.

To God Alone Be the Glory,
-Chris