R.C. Sproul is an important American Reformed theologian, and John Piper calls this book a “classic.” One fan of Dr. Sproul told me that a great value of this book is that the holiness of God reminds us how unholy we are. Along those lines, I noted, “Fear, discomfort, other-ness: That and not simple adoration … [Read more…]
I have Professor William Lane Craig to thank for flagging this amazing book, in a video of him speaking that I watched and took notes on years ago. It is a tour de force argument in favor of the historicity of the book of Acts. It is also extraordinarily evenhanded. The book’s basic scope and … [Read more…]
Colin J. Hemer’s book The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History prompted me to think about why Luke wrote Acts. The beloved physician tells us he wrote his Gospel for the “most excellent Theophilus” (Luke 1:1-4), who is likewise mentioned in its sequel Acts (1:1), but the point of the writing and then … [Read more…]
I read about this book in a number of different places, but in particular I had saved this description (128, footnote omitted) of it from George M. Marsden’s Mere Christianity: A Biography (discussed here on this blogsite): One commentator refers to [Kreeft] as “perhaps the most lucid and prolific Catholic apologist in the English-speaking world.” Kreeft’s … [Read more…]
I thought it worthwhile to include this link to T.S. Eliot’s introduction to an edition of Blaise Pascal’s Pensees. As the name of this blogsite indicates, I am a great fan of Pascal’s — and T.S. Eliot is, well, T.S. Eliot. I learned about the introduction from a recent Wall Street Journal review by Joseph … [Read more…]
This is a great big book: 889 pages, plus another 96 pages of bibliography and indices. Amusingly, the interlibrary loan slip accompanying the book had handwritten on it, “* Caution: heavy*.” The length and scope of this book require that I begin this blogpost by spending some time simply describing just what the book … [Read more…]
This 1975 book is essentially a beautiful 191-page essay by Malcolm Muggeridge, giving us his take on the Gospels. Now, when you think about it, those four mini-biographies of Jesus are together the most important 80,000 written words (the length of a quite short novel) we humans have, and of course Muggeridge is one of … [Read more…]
This excellent 1976 book by Malcolm Muggeridge is a little over 200 pages long (no index or footnotes) and lavishly illustrated, with all of the color illustrations being works by William Blake. There was a television series by the same name, produced in association with Time-Life Films and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation among others, and … [Read more…]
Genesis 3 is the chapter about Adam, Eve, and the apple. It’s an essentially self-contained narrative (although the last verse of chapter 2 foreshadows it and the first verse of chapter 4 rather logically follows it — and, for that matter, the murder recounted in chapter 4 sadly and inevitably comes next). Its 24 verses … [Read more…]
This post, presented as a dialogue, addresses what I think are some basic issues raised by Christians’ recognition and use of Scripture. What do you mean by Scripture? Most dictionary definitions say simply it is writing that a particular religion holds to be “sacred” or “holy.” So it is writing that is God-related, but of … [Read more…]