G.K. Chesterton, “Tremendous Trifles”

I checked out this book after reading a convincing recommendation of it by a young online pundit — and I’m glad I did.  The whole book is online here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8092/8092-h/8092-h.htm#link2H_4_0012 G.K. Chesterton is, of course, an important Christian writer and apologist, his writings influencing, among others, C.S. Lewis.  Now, this particular book is simply a … [Read more…]

Two “Old” Books: “Resurrection” by Leo Tolstoy and “The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America” by Richard John Neuhaus

C.S. Lewis wrote, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”  And if you’re looking for an old book, I just finished reading two that I’m happy to recommend.  I hasten to add that neither of them would … [Read more…]

R.C. Sproul, “The Holiness of God”

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…]

Peter Kreeft, “Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley”

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…]

N.T. Wright & Michael F. Bird, “The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians”

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…]

A Dialogue on Scripture

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…]