The Little Friar

Andrew Klavan's The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Come to Faith in Christ sets out the story of how a secular Jewish artist and intellectual from New York wind up on his knees before the baptismal font at age 50.  The journey reads like an Andrew Klavan story, perhaps the best yet because it is the Andrew Klavan story.  All of the narrative elements that fill his more than thirty novels and films become even more vivid in his first nonfiction book because we know them to be not only artistically profound but literally true -- a strong male protagonist in the tough guy tradition struggles against not merely flesh and blood but also "principalities, powers, and the darkness of this world". Klavan's telling of his own descent into suicidal madness and ultimate recovery constitute the book's greatest narrative achievement, as he coherently describes his own incoherence.  But the book's most beautiful passage depicts a mystical experience with his be...

Tony Evans' Kingdom Prayer: Touching Heaven to Change Earth is one of the best books on the spiritual discipline I've read this year -- and is, hands-down, quite probably the best book Evans has given us.  For most Christians, prayer is often neglected -- as if a footnote for the day or an obligatory thing to do to make sure God is informed.  Evans, though, challenges us to see afresh the transforming power of speaking and working with God to transform the world.  Scripture is full of stories of those who accomplish extraordinary things because they refused to rely on their own ordinary powers.  Those who have turned to God for strength and help have found that miracles -- moments when heaven touches the earth -- happen all the time. Kingdom Prayer is an amazing book, and it's one every Christian should read. _________________ I received a free copy of this book from Moody Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Colin Smith's Momentum: Pursuing God's Blessings through His Beatitudes explores the idea that the beatitudes represent a progression, a path to spiritual maturity in the Christian life.  Far from one of those self-help spirituality books, though, Momentum is focused on the spiritual life as a gift of transforming the heart and all its passions through the progression of maturity that is life in Christ. That progression follows certain steps along the path:  Poorness of spirit, spiritual mourning, meekness, hunger for righteousness, mercifulness, purity of heart, and peacemaking: I'm convinced that there is a roots-life-fruit pattern to the Beatitudes:  the first three beatitudes form the roots of a godly life, and since these roots lie in an awareness of our own need, they produce a deep longing for what we do not have.  Becoming poor in spirit, mourning over your sins, and submitting your life to God will produce a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness...

Marianne Wright has given us a valuable collection in The Gospel of George MacDonald .  MacDonald, one of the most prolific and influential writers of the nineteenth century, wrote over fifty books that had a wide reading in their day, and played a significant role in CS Lewis' conversion from atheism.  This anthology brings together selections from MacDonald's novels, fairy tales, and sermons, and offers a clear glimpse into MacDonald's hopeful and faithful Christian vision of a world reconciled to God in Jesus Christ. Arranged topically, each sections gives selections that are accessible for newcomers to MacDonald, most between 10-20 pages.  I was excited to find selections from MacDonald's widely-read Unspoken Sermons , but it's selections from Sir Gibbie, The Princess and the Goblin, Lilith, and At the Back of the North Wind that are lesser-known that made me stop and think -- and pray. MacDonald will doubtless be a challenge to our culture's sentime...

Asked to name his favorite passages from the Bible, Trump said, "It's a toss-up between Genesis 34 and Judges 19.  Both have been an inspiration." Why does Trump want to be president?  I used to think it was the narcissism of power.  Now add the sex:  He thinks he'll get laid more.  In a Trump White House the Blue Room will be known for its films rather than its receptions, while the Green Room will be repainted and renamed the Shades of Grey Room. Why does Hillary want to be president?  I used to think it was the narcissism of power.  Now add the money:  She's sure her connections owe her.  In a Clinton White House, the Oval Office will be known for its around-back deals. Either way, if you want to know what sins plague political leaders, look to monasticism.  There's a reason those vows for monks and nuns involve money, sex and power.  (Same goes for pastors, too.) A big fan of the first few amendments, Trump and Cli...

Jody Hedlund's Newton & Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace imagines the early life of 18th-century preacher John Newton, as well as the inspiration behind his hymn "Amazing Grace" in her novel, Newton and Polly . Fifteen-year-old Polly Catlett is out wassailing in her small English town with her aunt, but Polly is unaware that her aunt uses their caroling as a cover for rescuing children who were smuggled into slavery.  Certain that their actions have been discovered and that they are being followed, Polly and her aunt quickly find a place to hide. Luckily, the young sailor John Newton has noticed their plight and throws off their shadow.  Polly soon learns that their savior is also her cousin when he pays a visit to the Catlett home.  As Polly slowly warms up to her rebellious 17-year-old cousin, she also learns that he fell in love with her the moment he heard her voice while caroling. Polly and John's relationship grows, despite the disparity in temperament bet...

Sam Serio's Sensitive Preaching to the Sexual Hurting brings a rich pastoral wisdom to one of those issues that preachers tend to avoid:  Sex. Serio offers a number of pastorally sensitive, helpful resources to pastors and teachers in addressing sexual issues -- including casual sex, abortion, sexual assault and rape, child molestation, pornography, same-sex attraction and more.  These are timely topics, and Serio has given the church a graceful gift in providing this thoughtful, practical tool. Drawing on a tradition that traces all the way back to Gregory the Great's Pastoral Rule , Serio helps preachers negotiate the baptismal waters of gentle care, encouragement, and comfort with richly textured "sensitive preaching".  I'm particularly drawn to Serio's ability to weave together the importance of the preacher's own character and habits of care with quality preaching about one of the most sensitive issues in our culture.  While many pastors prea...

Christina Vinson's 365 Devotions for Finding Rest provides devotional guidance for those whose lives are hurried and who long to find the rest that is everywhere commanded and practiced in Scripture -- from the Sabbath rest to the rest of those who place their faith in God.  This is a particularly relevant and important devotional for those whose lives have a certain kind of madness about them -- the day-to-day demands that eat away at our time, our lives and our very selves.  God has made us for refreshing times of the Spirit -- that's the point of the Sabbath rest throughout Scripture -- and 365 Devotions for Finding Rest will provide opportunities to stop and breathe in that Spirit. ________________ Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers < http://booklookbloggers.com > book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am...

The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation by Richard Rohr and Mike Morrell explores that one topic that seems to occupy so much theological thinking these days -- the doctrine of the Trinity -- in ways that allows us to make connections with real Christian living. That's because, usually, the doctrine of the Trinity is the reserve topic of trained academic theologians who discuss the "homoousian" ("of the same substance") of each of the divine figures while trying to leave room for "periochoresis" ("mutual indwelling"). Leaving the trinity to vague theological concepts allows academics to divorce the doctrine from life. Rohr and Morrell will have none of that. Immediately, even from the first pages of Paul David Young's (of The Shack fame) foreward, theology is given its proper context, because "bad theology is like pornography". Young immediately sets the stage for what is to follow. That is, a confession o...

Oswald Chambers' Devotions for a Deeper Life provides insights into holiness, absolute devotion, and the pursuit of God that began in his more well-known devotional guide, My Utmost for His Highest .  This devotional is built from a number of articles that Chambers wrote in the early twentieth century, and offers a full years' devotions that bear some of Chambers' most important themes for a new audience.  Chambers is able to combine deep theology and practical reflection in simple, terse reflections.  There are meditations here covering a number of topics, from prayer to the Holy Spirit.  So more than a simple devotional, Devotions for a Deeper Life can become a means for God's call into ordinary lives to become transformed into Kingdom lives. ________________ Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers < http://booklookbloggers.com > book review bloggers program. I was not required to w...

Shelly Miller's Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World is one of the most significant and timely books on Sabbath-keeping that I've read in some while.  Miller has given us a book that our western world needs.  We are entrenched in a society that is obsessed with working, with filling every hour, with being busy and "doing".  Some years ago, I vowed to stop using the pelagian "I'm too busy" excuse to continue in my sin.  "I'm too busy" is never a human life as God intends it.  Simply look at Jesus, at the time he went away for prayer and stopping work, and it's obvious that "finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a busy world" is important theological work. While so many of us find our value as human beings in our work, Miller reminds us -- a message that's particularly important for pastors to hear -- that we are worthy, we are loved, no matter what!  "In yoga pants, ... in a room that looks li...

Tom Langford was my theology prof at Duke Divinity.  He was also the supervisor for my master's thesis on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I've missed Tom's wise and grace-full voice in my life for over sixteen years.  So I was excited to find his wife Anne Marie had posthumously released a number of his personal essays, written toward the end of his life, and compiled in Reflections on Grace .  (I'm still waiting, though, for the publication of the collection of his personal journals, with all the prayers and poetry that Tom had shared with me toward the end of my time at Duke.) It was Tom, after all, who helped me begin to negotiate some difficult moments in my own theological development, and it was his CT 32 lectures (all of which centered around the grace of God in Jesus Christ) that helped me begin to formulate, even when I didn't realize it, my own theology of grace. So when I found this little book, I became excited. From the opening words -- "God present ...

It's a privilege to see tonight's full moon: the stars through cloudy covers peek, the silver glow leaps over houses, and big and full the moon is bright. Upon the grass the droplets gleam. The air is still and lightly cool. On beam of moon my heart takes flight -- it's a privilege to see tonight's full moon.

How Odd of God to choose human beings, like me, to share the word of God with the world.  Or perhaps putting it a bit differently, what makes me think that my words from the pulpit can be a vehicle for God to speak to a congregation?  The fact is, the effect of my words on a congregation isn't in my hands.  That doesn't mean I don't prepare or work hard at my craft.  It simply means that once the words leave my mouth they are no longer mine. Those are the kinds of things Willimon ponders in this excellent little book.  The book  How Odd of God is the published form of Willimon's 2014 Macleod lectures on Preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary.  Willimon writes in the opening paragraph of the book's introduction that "election is God's act whereby our lives are wrenched out of our control and we are commandeered to witness, thereby enabling the joy of talking about something more important than ourselves, our families, or our churches...

Jamie Holmes' Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing defies simple description, unlike any number of other popular psychology texts that intend to teach readers "seven simple steps" for overcoming uncertainty.  Instead, Holmes weaves together an interesting array of diverse stories about ambiguity.  It turns out that there’s a great deal in common with a ostensibly disparate events:  A 1950s doomsday group, the precipitous increase in marriages after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Nonsense highlights the important contributions embracing uncertainly make to negotiating the real world of our everyday lives.  Holmes helps us understand that only do we need to tolerate uncertainty as a necessary and a harsh reality of life, but that we need to begin thinking of it as beneficial.  As Holmes writes, "In an increasingly complex, unpredictable world, what matters most isn't IQ, ...

Okay, so it's an election year in the United States.  And yet again it's time to say something. Michelle Obama has said quite a bit already , and I can't add anything more to her words. But there's something that needs to be said around recent developments involving Donald Trump. The word "flawed" has been bandied about this political season in the US, most notably as a few Christians of significant influence cobble together bizarre arguments for how Americans might in good moral conscience support Donald Trump.  Most prominently, Jerry Falwell drew a comparison between Trump and Israel's King David , and more recently, radio host Sean Hannity added to that comparison .  Their arguments suggest that both Trump and David are "flawed" leaders who either rule over, or might rule over, a great nation.  King David was God's "flawed" man, and on analogy, Trump might be as well.  While Trump is no saint, to expect a saint is ...

C. Baxter Kruger's Patmos:  Three Days, Two Men, One Extraordinary Conversation is an amazing journey into a trinitarian Gospel that highlights how the church's life, even in the midst of struggle with the world, is a testament to God's work of reconciliation instead of separation.  Kruger has given us a story of Aiden, a burnt-out theologian from Mississippi, who travels back in time to meet with John on Patmos.  The conversations that ensue between the two men over three days explore all the ways in which Aiden's burnt-out spirituality is grounded in a false gospel of division and isolation and judgment.  Instead, Aiden is given the divine gift of visions -- with the Lamb surrounded by all creation.  Those visions become the foundation for a real Christian hope. I haven't read a novel like Patmos in a long time.  In some ways, Kruger's story is reminiscent of The Shack .  The writing is compelling and the plot makes Patmos a real page-turner. ...

Hannah Anderson's Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul digs the fertile ground of our souls to expose the roots of our worry and stress in pride.  We believe the subtle lie that we can produce humility on our own by intentionally squelching the lies of our ego.  Anderson takes us on a journey through personal stories, historical accounts, and introductions to a variety of plants and herbs as she gently points the reader to a life-altering truth:  Maybe our hectic lives don't need better planning, harder work, or more self-made remedies.  Instead, the fruit of peace and rest naturally grow from humble roots pressing down into Christ. Humble Roots is an amazing book that I found myself reading and re-reading entire pages, finding a refreshment for a pastoral soul that's all too wearied by so much worry and stress.  Anderson's is a real gift to the church and one I'll be recommending again and again. _________...

Heather Holleman's Guarded by Christ: Knowing the God Who Rescues and Keeps Us explores how we can use mental images to help us recall scripture intended to keep the presence of Christ and his work in the forefront of our minds -- no matter our circumstance.  Holleman points out how society is becoming evermore reliant on the internet and smart devices to store information, and as a result we are neglecting the importance of memorizing God's Word.  When we're stressed by work, family, depression, or anxiety, we are helpless to recall the very truths that would bring us comfort, guidance, and healing. Similar to how David envisioned God as his strong fortress or tower, Holleman asks readers to picture Jesus as a fortress for our souls.  A place inside us where we're crucified and guarded from sin, self, and Satan.  She proceeds to "furnish" this fortress with a catapult of Christ's righteousness, a moat...

Bryan Loritts' Saving the Saved: How Jesus Saves Us from Try-Harder Christianity into Performance-Free Love explores how a performance-based view of God's love dampens our joy, increases our guilt, and diminishes the glory of our great God.  We want a reason to live:  "You want this.  I want this.  That's why we're on our way to the gym, embarking on another diet and trying with all our might to make better moral choices".  But Lorritts urges us to look to Christ rather than the internal lawyer which seeks to push us to perform more (and condemn us when we don’t meet our standards).  This is an important message for Christians in a day and age where our attempts to avoid liberalism and antinomianism (anti-law) could lead us to swing the pendulum too far.  The answer to these issues is not to run to legalism and performance, but rather to God himself seeking God's abiding love. Lorritts utilizes Scripture and good theology to explore all ...