The biographer is a fan of the emperor, but the book is pretty dry. There is a separate chapter on the Meditations and a separate appendix on “Christianity.” I noted that his “[q]uoted letters are like Paul’s in closing and greetings to others.” And I photocopied and kept pages 99-100 (excluding the carryover paragraphs at … [Read more…]
This is a really good book, and it ends with a chapter that is explicitly Christian. I think the author sometimes overstates what he has shown, but he does show a lot and it is always helpful, even if it is not quite as definitive as he sometimes claims. Obviously the existence of life after … [Read more…]
N.T. Wright is a generally a social liberal, but that’s not too intrusive in this book, and he’s no knee-jerk since he is great on monogamy, supporting chastity and opposing gay sex (230-34). He quotes an old prayer (233), “Help us, Lord, to want what you want us to want.” On the other hand, Joe … [Read more…]
This book is very good at putting Jesus in historical context. In this regard, the author uses the analogy of “a perfect storm,” including Rome’s vision versus the Jews’ vision. Wright’s recurrent complaint is that many Christians today see Jesus as our Redeemer but not as an earthly leader. Speak truth to power, he says … [Read more…]
This book contains some decent insights on Biblical interpretation, but the author — member of the Jesus Seminar and all that — is always liberal in his conclusions, which becomes annoying and compromises his credibility (versus, say, N.T Wright, a liberal who nonetheless now and then will reach a conservative conclusion based on clear text). … [Read more…]
I noted after I read it my sense that the beginning of the book was better, that it seemed to get more strident and less persuasive toward the end. Here’s a short chapter-by-chapter summary. Chapter 1, “A Logical Reason”: (a) The fact that the Bible claims over and over again to be the Word of … [Read more…]
This book is a very good summary of Lewis’s writing, though organized by theme, not by the work: reasons for Lewis’s success, reasons to believe, what God is like, who is Christ, miracles, faith and reason, rivals of Christianity (little on Islam, by the way), Christian living, prayer, death and beyond. I wrote down this … [Read more…]
I had read this book before, so these are just some thoughts on listening later to the audiobook: There is surprisingly little on Christianity per se. It covers his early life through his conversion, but ends there. He first became a theist, and the book really focuses on that rather than his becoming a Christian … [Read more…]
In this collection, I noted the Christian reading list in this letter excerpt (page 345): The first real work of the Gospels on a fresh reader is, and ought to be, to raise very acutely the question, “Who or What is this?” For there is a good deal in the character which, unless He really … [Read more…]
The author makes much use of non-New Testament sources, especially Apocrypha, early church fathers, etc. Much is also speculative, and pretty thin on the more obscure Disciples. And Barclay has some heterodox views (not seen in this book, though). Still, there is much that is good and interesting here, and the book is well-written. In … [Read more…]