Book Reviews
As a learning community in the Evangelical Free Church of Canada we are interested in taking advantage of the insights, challenges, and encouragement that can be found in some great books that have been written recently. With the amount of great material available, no one person can keep up. So you will find here a collection of book reviews and recommendations from a variety of Free Church leaders – some of our top picks from the last year. We will keep adding to this list. We hope this will help you a little bit with your personal learning and equipping for ministry.
Featured Reviews
February is set aside as Black History month, I was faced with the question the other day, what are some good books to read during Black History month? Thankfully, I have several on my shelf. Here are a couple of great recommendations if you are still looking for something to help you grapple with this issue.
The Spirit of Justice
The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance
By Jemar Tisby
Jemar Tisby is a New York Times bestselling author and historian at the University of Mississippi. In this, his most recent book, he traces the history of race relations through the United States. Although he provides a bird’s eye view of most of that history, going period by period through his narrative, he focuses on lots of the individual people that have been significant in the long struggle for justice and equality. As he does, he highlights the incredible connection between faith and the spirit of justice that has led to so many of the reforms that have come.
As someone who stood on the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Who witnessed the monuments in the park across the street to the girls who lost their lives there in a KKK booming. As someone who has visited Fannie Lou Hamer’s Memorial Garden in Ruleville, Mississippi, and followed some of the trail of the Freedom Riders; this book made all those things and many more come to life for me. If you want to engage with Black history, this volume will be incredibly helpful.
But I said, a couple of recommendations, right? So here is one more that is not about history but can help us see a different perspective. It is a great read as well.
Reading While Black
Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
By Esau McCaulley
Esau McCaulley is both an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and an Anglican priest. He also grew up in Alabama and understands the south. In this volume he attempts to provide us with some insight into how the Black church interprets key Biblical texts around topics that connect with the Black experience. You will find chapters on policing, protest, and prayer, working for justice, Black identity, reaction to slavery, and a Biblical understanding of racial anger. All this writing is done within a loose understanding of Biblical lament, or the need to bring our baggage before God, knowing he is the only one who can ultimately bring justice, and finding hope in the fact that God will act.
Reviewed by:
Book Titles (Alphabetical)
The Anxious Generation
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
By Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist, author, and professor. While he does not come from a faith background, his observations and analysis of our present reality are both insightful and helpful. His previous works include “The Righteous Mind – Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion” and “The Coddling of the American Mind.” In this book, he turns his attention to the unfortunately pervasive reality of anxiety in our culture, especially with the younger generation (For reference, Haidt defines anxiety as “the anticipation of future threat”).
Haidt suggests that there has been a significant “rewiring” of minds that became prevalent starting about 2010-2015. This time frame was marked by the rise of the smart phone, and Haidt observes a transition from play-based childhood to phone-based childhood. He states that a “play based childhood strengthens [children], while a phone-based childhood weakens them.” He spends a fair bit of time detailing the harms of phone-based childhood, with lots of data from his world (sociology). His central thesis is that two trends – overprotection in the real world and under-protection in the virtual world — are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation. I believe he supports this thesis quite well.
It must be made clear that Haidt is not suggesting a Luddite approach to life. He does recognize some value in social media, but he is deeply concerned about the impact of social media particularly on the lives of young people, and how their minds are being shaped by it.
And while Haidt is not a Christian, or even particularly religious it seems, he does recognize the value of the sacred. He says that people need to be bound into moral communities that give them a sense of shared meaning and purpose. He suggests that the sacred elevates the collective interests away from the self. In contrast, social media trains people to judge quickly and publicly. In fact, he says that “from a spiritual perspective, social media is a disease of the mind.” Further, he writes that “the phone-based life produces spiritual degradation, not just in adolescents, but in us all.” Quoting Marcus Aurelius, “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.” One can quickly see how his observations may have implications for Christians and the church.
He offers a lot of suggestions for parents, governments, schools, and even tech companies in terms of moving toward a better place. He lists several “foundational reforms”:
- No smartphones before high school
- No social media before 16
- Phone-free schools
- Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence
What this means for the Church
While Haidt does not directly address the church in terms of his suggestions, there is much here for Christian leaders to digest and respond to. The church can offer much of what is needed to help our culture out of this malaise. Haidt’s observations also provide a wake-up call for Christian parents who have let this cultural malaise infect their own families. I think the realities expressed in Haidt’s book are needed for Christian parents, people who work with youth, and Christian leaders overall. It is important for us to understand the reality of the culture we are called to minister to, and to reach with the gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is the path out of this unhealthy environment, and the Church has been stewarded with that message with the intent of taking it to the world.
The Anxious Generation is a worthy read for anyone involved in parenting or leadership. Haidt’s observations and recommendations are helpful, and it would be great if Christians would graciously lead the charge – or at least set a good example. This book highlights the need in our world, but in so doing it also highlights for us the great opportunity we have as stewards of the message of God’s love and healing.
Reviewed by:
The Ballot and the Bible
The Ballot and the Bible
The Ballot and the Bible
by Kaitlyn Schiess
The subtitle of this book, which reads more like a sentence than a subtitle, is “How Scripture has been used and abused in American politics and where we go from here.” That is a great summary of this book, my job as a reviewer is done, ha-ha. Well not quite. There is a lot more going on here, so let’s not judge a book by…you know.
Kaitlyn Schiess is an incredibly intelligent and thoughtful young author, who also appears fairly regularly on the Holy Post podcast. She has an interesting back story. As I mentioned in my review of her first book, “The Liturgy of Politics,” she grew up immersed in conservative culture as a self-described military brat. She attended Liberty University and followed that by earning a masters degree at Dallas Theological Seminary. But she does not completely fit the conservative mould, as is evidenced by the fact that she is currently a doctoral student in political theology at Duke Divinity School. It is precisely this well-rounded understanding of politics that has uniquely gifted Kaitlyn to be able to bring us her last book, and this one.
Some of you may have already been put off by the American nature of this book. Why should I read something about American politics? What relevance does that have for us here in Canada? And maybe you are even thinking the Bible and politics don’t really have much to do with each other – “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s” right? Well, interestingly enough Kaitlyn actually uses that quote from Jesus as a chapter title in this book and explains it might not mean what we sometimes think it means. But she does far more than that in helping us think wisely and biblically about the kinds of political band wagons we jump on and how we use the Bible to frame and support those political positions.
Schiess does this by walking us through various periods of American history. I know, American again, right? But let’s face it. If you want case studies of how people, on various sides of issues, have used and misused the Bible in the political sphere; there isn’t a much more obvious example then our neighbours to the south. Biblical language has been ubiquitous in their political discourse. Kaitlyn begins in the beginning. Not Genesis in this case, but John Winthrop and his famous “City on a Hill.” She moves from those Puritan roots into the American Revolution period and on into the civil war era highlighting the varied ways the different sides used proof texts and Biblcal language to claim their side of issues was right. As she moves into the twentieth century she tackles the social gospel era, the civil rights movement, and the hermeneutics for small government. The thing that came out time and time again is how fair Schiess treats all sides of these issues, and how gracious she is in avoiding casting judgement on those who came up with some pretty twisted interpretations of the Bible.
And then she gets to history that at least some of us remember fairly well. She has a chapter on eschatology and the cold war era, which is fascinating. That is followed by a chapter that compares and contrasts the use of Scripture and Biblical language in the presidencies of George W. Bush and his successor Barack Obama. I will caution you; this chapter may cause you some discomfort. That’s okay! If our reading never challenges our existing assumptions, then it isn’t doing its job. Having said that, the next and second last chapter may also be a little hard to take as it walks through the Trump era.
Schiess ends the book with a look at some different ways the Jeremiah 29, “Seek the peace of the city” passage has been used both in the past and the present. In each case study, Schiess points us to some take aways that would be helpful as we seek to engage both with God’s word and the public square. The conclusion ends with yet another very significant take away. She cites the Bonhoeffer quote, “We prefer our own thoughts to those of the Bible. We no longer read the Bible seriously. We read it no longer against ourselves but only for ourselves.” The italicized emphasis is not mine but from the book.
If you are someone who loves God’s word and cares about your neighbour and your country (and I would hope that would be all of us), then Schiess has provided some good and timely lessons about how we live out Biblical truth in the public square. Even a Canadian can learn a lot from reading this one.
Reviewed by Neil Bassingthwaighte
Bearing God’s Name
Bearing God’s Name
Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters
By Carmen Joy Imes
For many of us, the Old Testament seems like it is distant back story. It is often hard to reconcile what we read in it’s pages with what we see in the life of Jesus, or the epistles. Carmen Joy Imes in this wonderfully enlightening volume brings one of the critical Old Testament events to life for us.
Carmen, who has ties to Canada as a former professor at Prairie College in Three Hills, is now the associate professor of Old Testament at Talbot School of Theology in Biola as well as being named a Holy Post Pundit for the Holy Post Podcast. However, when she wrote this volume she was still on faculty at Prairie College. The material that she covers in this book is a simplified breakdown of her doctoral thesis.
I’m just going to be candid here and say that I have rarely read an Old Testament theology book that was this delightfully engaging, deeply informative, and yet easily accessible. She does a phenomenal job of taking big complex concepts and putting them into simply every day language. I was actually a little surprised by how much new material I ran across in this book.
The book begins by helping us see how the entire Pentateuch is structured to frame Sinai as the pinnacle event. She then presses in to explain how Sinai is the spot where Israel begins to be shaped into the covenant people they have been called to be. The giving of the law is crucial in that shaping. Imes’ take on the Ten Commandments is where the book takes its name from. Essentially, she interprets the first couple of commands as “Worship only Yahweh and bear his name well.” That’s right, she digs into the Hebrew language for the “don’t take the Lord’s name in vain” command. She’s convinced that a better translation is “don’t bear the name in vain” and connects it with image of the high priest “bearing the names of the twelve tribes” on his vestments as he enters the presence of God. This provides a covenantal calling on Israel to represent God to the other nations. Through the rest of the book, she tracks that theme through the rest of the entire Biblical narrative, showing the breakdown of covenant, the prophets attempt to call the nation back, the fulfillment of the covenant in Jesus, and the inclusion of Gentiles into the missional calling to bear God’s name.
Pastors and leaders, or anyone for that matter, please pick this up and give it a read. Your understanding of the Old Testament, and for that matter what it means to be a disciple of Jesus who bears the name of God, will be greatly enhanced.
Review by Neil Bassingthwaighte
Being God’s Image
Being God’s Image
Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters
by Carmen Joy Imes
As I said in my review of Carmen’s first book “Bearing God’s Name”, for many of us, the Old Testament seems like it is distant back story. It is often hard to reconcile what we read in its pages with what we see in the life of Jesus, or the epistles. Carmen Joy Imes is back, after her first book Bearing God’s Name, with a follow up volume that deals with more great Old Testament theology, entitled Being God’s Image
Carmen, who has ties to Canada as a former professor at Prairie College in Three Hills, is now the associate professor of Old Testament at Talbot School of Theology in Biola as well as being named a Holy Post Pundit for the Holy Post Podcast. The material that she covers in this book is a great follow up to her first book which talked about the specific covenantal calling of representing God to others. In this one she tackles the more universal concept of humanity being made in God’s image. This is a very timely issue for us today as it seems like the broader culture thinks we can simply choose our own identity. Imes grounds our identity firmly and deeply in being God’s image. As with her previous book, this one was also very engaging, deeply informative, and yet easily accessible. Rarely have I seen someone be able to lay out complex issues in such simply everyday language.
The book begins, with a bit of fear and trembling by the author, in Genesis 1. In the first few chapters, Imes lays out how the Biblical narrative is a poetically structured look at creation and what it ultimately says about humanity being God’s image in his creation. The two issues of kinship and kingship (read the book to learn more about them) are drawn out. She then moves deeper into the Genesis narrative looking at what was lost and not lost in the fall. She even takes a peek at Noah and Babel before shifting gears.
Part 2 moves us on to Biblical wisdom literature to see how the theme of Imaging God is picked up there. This includes a great chapter on human suffering. Then Imes moves to a third section engaging the New Testament by looking at Jesus, the ultimate image of God. Her take is very interesting. We often think Jesus fulfills this role because of his deity, but she goes the other way. Incarnation apparently matters a lot. Imes continues looking at Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension and continues to trace the “image of God” theme all the way through the life of Christ and right into the book of Revelation.
As I said, this is a great follow up to Carmen’s first book. I would recommend you read that book, Bearing God’s Name before this one. However, this volume is certainly well worth reading after the first one, or even as a stand alone if you like.
Reviewed by Neil Bassingthwaighte
Black History Month Reviews
February is set aside as Black History month, I was faced with the question the other day, what are some good books to read during Black History month? Thankfully, I have several on my shelf. Here are a couple of great recommendations if you are still looking for something to help you grapple with this issue.
The Spirit of Justice
The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance
By Jemar Tisby
Jemar Tisby is a New York Times bestselling author and historian at the University of Mississippi. In this, his most recent book, he traces the history of race relations through the United States. Although he provides a bird’s eye view of most of that history, going period by period through his narrative, he focuses on lots of the individual people that have been significant in the long struggle for justice and equality. As he does, he highlights the incredible connection between faith and the spirit of justice that has led to so many of the reforms that have come.
As someone who stood on the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Who witnessed the monuments in the park across the street to the girls who lost their lives there in a KKK booming. As someone who has visited Fannie Lou Hamer’s Memorial Garden in Ruleville, Mississippi, and followed some of the trail of the Freedom Riders; this book made all those things and many more come to life for me. If you want to engage with Black history, this volume will be incredibly helpful.
But I said, a couple of recommendations, right? So here is one more that is not about history but can help us see a different perspective. It is a great read as well.
Reading While Black
Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
By Esau McCaulley
Esau McCaulley is both an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and an Anglican priest. He also grew up in Alabama and understands the south. In this volume he attempts to provide us with some insight into how the Black church interprets key Biblical texts around topics that connect with the Black experience. You will find chapters on policing, protest, and prayer, working for justice, Black identity, reaction to slavery, and a Biblical understanding of racial anger. All this writing is done within a loose understanding of Biblical lament, or the need to bring our baggage before God, knowing he is the only one who can ultimately bring justice, and finding hope in the fact that God will act.
Reviewed by:
Christian Poetry in America since 1940 - An Anthology
Christian Poetry in America Since 1940 – An Anthology
by Micah Mattix and Sally Thomas
I’m convinced Christian leaders need to spend more time reading poetry. Reading poetry is a practice that hones our imaginations and allows us to see and hear things in different ways, enabling us to step into new realities. Since poetry actually makes up large swaths of the Bible, even entire books, it would seem we should practice listening to and reading it more.
Recently I ran across this wonderful anthology of Christian poetry that spans a good chunk of the last hundred years. The editors do a very nice job of drawing together a varied collection of poems. I suspect if you were to read it, some would appeal more than others, as was the case when I read it.
One of the best parts of this anthology is the biographical sections on the poets. They really bring the material to life. The format of the book is to present a poet, along with the biography and a few notes on the writing style, and follow that with a poem or two from the selected poet. Whether you love reading poetry, or have just begun to dabble in the genre, I’m convinced that you will find some gems in this volume.
Let me leave you with my favorite piece, a poem by Diane Glancy, an indigenous American with Cherokee roots.
Holy Ghost
All their hosts shall fall down – Isaiah 34:4
Holy Ghost wears furry chaps and a grapevine belt,
a red shirt and a cowboy hat.
He owns the marina by the river.
Hopscotch is his game.
But the clouds are his too.
Most days they are too heavy to let him off the ground.
He stays at the marina selling bait.
He sets a barrel fire to light Father’s message.
He comforts the customers.
Holy Ghost prophesies for the Son’s sake
with a string of words in another tongue.
He tells the Father’s stories.
Comets full of ice once fell to earth and delivered the oceans
so Father could sail.
Their impact made the ocean beds.
The heavens are still falling.
Maple leaves splay on the walk like wrecked stars.
Reviewed by Neil Bassingthwaighte & Bill Taylor
Creating Ministry Champions
Creating Ministry Champions
Creating Ministry Champions
By Charles E Worley
Many of us have had the pleasure of having Charlie minister to or with us. His latest book is a helpful tool. The subtitle summarizes it well, “An introduction to developing and coaching leaders for churches and Christian organizations.” Charlie helped the EFCC immensely with Church planter assessment, bootcamp and coaching. This book is a nice summary of some of that material.
Charlie does a nice job of summarizing what ministry coaching is (there are quite a few different approaches to coaching and Charlie explains each one). He also highlights well the characteristics one need to be a good coach of ministry leaders. He devotes an entire chapter on how to develop the art of listening while coaching. This is especially helpful for us pastors who are used to preaching, advising,
debating….well pretty much talking lots and listening little. Charlie also explains how to ask good questions that will help ministry leaders grow. He provides great resources in the appendices, including a fabulous list of questions that any of us could use as we coach ministry leaders.
This book is eminently practical. Charlie helps the reader to think through how to use coaching to develop ministry plans. He also focuses on how to coach a leader from simply setting vision, mission and values, (making plans) to actually setting up and implementing a strategic plan. Charlie also helps the reader to know what kind of conversations need to happen for a leader grow. His emphasis on making plans to moving a plan forward through implementation is helpful. He also shows us how to
expand the coaching target from an individual leader to an entire ministry team. Charlie has distilled what he has learned from a lifetime of ministry and shared it in an accessible, usable book.
I highly recommend this book. In my book review on Alejandro Mandes’ book “Embracing the New Samaria”, I quoted his reference to a survey of EFCA pastors on “what makes a disciple?” The answers were alarming. It is too easy to assume that disciples will be made by osmosis – by just “showing up” on Sunday and listening. Charlie’s book is a great reminder that there are active ways of helping disciples grow!
Review by Bill Taylor
Deep Discipleship
Deep Discipleship
Deep Discipleship: How the Church can make Whole Disciples of Jesus
By J. T. English
The Church’s call to, and priority of, disciple-making has seen an appropriate resurgence in attention over the past several years, after other concerns for the church seemed to get more “airtime.” That resurgence may be either the cause or effect (or both) of numerous good reads on the topic. While it is already 4 years old, J.T. English’s book Deep Discipleship is one such “good read.”
English comes at the topic from a practitioner’s perspective, weaving between general ecclesial/theological/philosophical discussions and the practical expression of those which his own church has put in place. As one reads through this book, care is needed to be certain that a model is not elevated to the level of principle, even English articulates that is not the intent.
J.T.’s presentation of disciple-making starts with a foundational premise that the church is God’s place for the formation of whole disciples, and the two greatest challenges the church faces in doing so are the “autonomous self” and “spiritual apathy.” He defines discipleship as “reorientation to reality, viewing everything through a God-centered lens” (p21). English then unpacks discipleship around several core questions: Where does discipleship happen in the church? What do disciples need? How do disciples grow? Where do disciples go? Through this, he provides a pretty good picture of holistic discipleship through the ministry of the church.
For me, much of the richness of this book was in the snippets of insight that peppered the pages as English offers many correctives to common soft spots, we find in the Church today. Here is a sampling:
- “Let’s be clear: the church is called to make disciples, and it is time for us to stop delegating our responsibility. Other organizations can come alongside the church, but they can never replace the church.” (48)
- “Do you think your church could disciple its next lead pastor?” (51)
- “Virtual discipleship cannot create deep disciples. Deep discipleship is intensely local.” (55)
- “Community is indispensable to discipleship, but community is not discipleship… The reality is we have relied heavily on community driven spaces to accomplish things that only learning spaces can, and we are paying a steep price.” (83,84)
- “Disciples who are in community but are not learning run the risk of loving their neighbor but not God. Disciples who are learning but who are not in community run the risk of loving God but not their neighbor.” (86)
There are many more worthy comments, and getting the appropriate impact from these requires a fuller consideration of the context. But hopefully, this at least exposes the kind of insights you will find throughout as English talks about the various aspects of discipleship.
I do believe that this is a book on discipleship that every pastor and church leader would benefit from reading. It not only resets discipleship into its proper place in the church, but it also sets the church itself into its proper place in God’s work. Additionally, English offers many small correctives to some of the errant emphases (or lack thereof) that the church has drifted into over the past years. I found this thoughtful and thought-provoking, helpful, encouraging, and challenging. Each chapter was closed with highlights and discussion questions making its 200 pages very practical as well. It is a great primer for the work of disciple-making we are called to.
Reviewed by:
Embracing the new Samaria
Embracing the New Samaria
Embracing the new Samaria
By Alejandro Mandes
We live in an increasingly multicultural land and this book is a must read. Alex Mandes is a leader in the Evangelical Free Church of America and has been responsible for initiatives such as Immigrant Hope and EFCA Gateway. He is a Hispanic who found Jesus in Texas and then married a good Nordic Free Church girl from North Dakota. He lives out multiculturalism every day!
This book is a fine mix of personal experience and missional theology. Mandes focuses on the United States, but his observations in his first section “Seeing the New Samaria” apply to Canada as well. His personal story is helpful for those of us who have never experienced being an “outsider” or “ethnic minority”. He illustrates for us how the demographics have changed – if not in our neighborhood, in our “province”. In his second section he issues the biblical call for us to “Love the New Samaria”. This necessitates an extension of our vision of God’s Kingdom, an appreciation for the beauty of other cultures and an entering into the pain of the marginalized among us.
The third section is “Reach the New Samaria”. Here he calls us to a transformation in strategy, a renewed emphasis on making disciples and equipping leaders to be able to think like cross cultural missionaries. I appreciated his emphasis on what he calls the G3 – the Great Commandment, Great Commission, building Great Community. He highlights the challenge before us regarding disciple- making. He references a survey of EFCA pastors, where they were asked, “What makes a disciple?” The top answers? 1. Going to church. 2. Listening to sermons and podcasts. 3. Giving money to the church. 4. Being a missionary. If this is our go to strategy for making disciples – then we will likely fail to make disciples – not only of our Samaritan neighbors, but even of our fellow “Jerusalemites”! Nor will we be the type of community Jesus calls us to be. Alex calls us to this in his last section is “Be the New Samaria”. Here he calls us to being a reconciled community, to being a multiethnic family that helps to transform marginalized communities and a body that passes the church forward to the next, multicultural generation.
This is a must read. Whether you live in a large city, small city, town, or rural area, you will benefit from hearing Alejandro’s experiences with white evangelicalism and his heart for us all to think like cross cultural missionaries!
Review by Bill Taylor
Faithfully Different
Faithfully Different
Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture
By Natasha Crain
You might have noticed that we live in a world with new views regarding life and morality. Many evangelicals have simply conformed. Others are running around, lighting their hair on fire, screaming that the “sky is falling” (metaphorically speaking!). What I love about Natasha Crain’s book is that she fairly shows how the prevailing worldview has changed but instead of a fearful rant, she calls evangelicals to respond by being faithfully different. Crain’s subtitle is “regaining biblical clarity in a secular culture.”
Crain does an admirable job of highlighting the “new normal.” She shows how it is no longer “normal” to be a Christian in our culture – and she avoids longing for the “good old days” when it was normal. She explains well the difference between a secular, pluralistic culture, and “secularism”. She also highlights how compelling secularism is – even to Christians.
Crain moves on to suggesting how we ought to be faithfully different in terms of what we believe and how we think. She calls us to reject secular naturalism and to have a supernatural worldview once again. Crain exposes the seductive and all-encompassing nature of secular individualism that runs counter to Christ’s call and intent for us. A Christian version of this secular individualism is so easy for the church to embrace and promote/teach. She addresses doubt, and the rising trend of deconversion among evangelicals. She calls us to reexamine our worldview, rooting out what we have picked up at the secular buffet. She reminds us of Jesus’ call to us morally and warns us to avoid the adopting mere virtue signaling over real concern for what hurts God’s heart. Above all, she argues that we need to learn how to think! This call to discernment stands in direct contrast to secular indifference.
I appreciate her last section because it is a call to faithfully different living. Evangelicals have a bad reputation when it comes to morality. We are seen as only interested in a few moral issues and even then, we are viewed as hypocrites who routinely (and unapologetically) break our own rules. Crain presents the need for Christians to embrace biblical justice instead of a secular social justice. She calls us to speak the truth in love – even if it risks censure from the cancel culture. Crain reminds us that we are disciples of Jesus and that our hearts need to be formed by the gospel, and we need rediscover the power of the gospel so that we have the courage to share it (even in this relativistic world).
I recommend this book. It will be an encouragement to anyone who shepherds people, anyone who has kids growing up in this culture, or those who work in the marketplace where Christianity is viewed negatively as inherently oppressive.
Review by Bill Taylor
The Flourishing Pastor
The Flourishing Pastor
The Flourishing Pastor
By Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson’s latest book is really a must read for all pastors. Tom was to be our speaker at our 2022 EFCC conference. Unfortunately, he needed to cancel, and we missed out on hearing him. His earlier book, Work Matters is a great book as well. The subtitle of this book is “recovering the lost art of shepherd leadership.” Nelson blends personal stories with great biblical exegesis in this work.
In the first part, he focuses on the pastoral calling to shepherd. He reminds us that it is far too easy for pastors to forsake our role as shepherds of God’s people and to go “whoring after other gods.” He speaks openly about the temptation of orienting our ministry goals toward being a celebrity pastor, visionary CEO, or lone ranger kingdom builder. He calls us to find our way home, to embrace obscurity,
return to the basic redemptive message and live out our calling as shepherds with integrated lives. He also reminds us that we have a shepherd who leads us through the dark, dangerous, and lonely places of ministry.
In the second section Nelson continues his call to pastors to be people with integrity of heart. Here he reminds us that we must apprentice with Jesus and pursue integrity and wholeness of life. Nelson’s final section focuses on the skills that shepherds need to master. These skills are not always the things we
imagine as being most important, but they are absolutely integral to successful shepherding. I love his emphasis on how we minister through faithful presence. His four practices of faithful presence are very insightful (and challenging). He speaks about how pastors need to build a flourishing culture for our people. He shares how after ten years of ministry he confessed on a Sunday morning – to pastoral malpractice. He urges pastors to work hard to help our people live out their faith Monday to Saturday –
to find ways to connect what we do on Sunday to Monday. He urges us to use a more biblical scorecard for evaluating our ministry and reminds us how difficult (and important) it is for us to finish well.
This is a great book for pastors. It is a great tonic for all the temptations that afflict us. It will restore your awe for the privilege we have to shepherd those our God loves so much. And it will feed your soul. It just may encourage you to be a flourishing pastor!
Review by Bill Taylor
Leading Together
Leading Together
Leading Together
By Bryan D Sims
We live and minister in a changing world. Shepherding and leading during a time of change is challenging. Further, North American society seems to be becoming more and more polarized. The subtitle of Bryan Sims’ book is “The holy possibility of harmony and synergy in the face of change.” You can see why I was drawn to this book!
Sims begins his book by arguing his case for shared leadership. He calls us to kenosis and adaptive leadership. This is an in person, shepherding kind of leadership that stands in direct contrast to the North American ideal of heroic solo leadership. His second part calls us to a new framework for leading together. Musicians will appreciate his jazz music metaphor. Historians will understand his shift in focus
from “great man history” to scenius – an intelligence of the whole. While we love putting our heroes (people like Martin Luther) on a pedestal, it is instructive to recognize that others were part of creating a culture that allowed great leaders to make good decisions and pursue prudent actions. Sims also reminds us that Jesus’ call for His people is to harmony – a oneness that is supernatural in nature.
Sims calls us to a spiritual leadership that mimics our Master. He argues that this leadership is non anxious, abiding, humble and courageous. He concludes with some wonderful advice on how to create transforming environments and fruitful processes that help us ask the right questions. These processes also produce fruit of the Spirit along the way. In a world where autocratic heroes are in the news far too often (for all the wrong reasons), where polarization, dissension and splits plague too many churches, where leaders are open to charges of spiritual abuse, this is a must read for shepherds of the flock!
Review by Bill Taylor
The Life We’re Looking For
The Life We’re Looking For
The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World
By Andy Crouch
I am going to say it right off the top – you must read this book! Andy Crouch is one of the most thoughtful writers in all of evangelicalism. I think this is his best book yet. The subtitle is a helpful guide to understanding the book “reclaiming relationship in a technological world.”
Crouch beautifully describes the world we thought we wanted. That is a world where technology makes life easier, convenient, with more time for leisure. He shows us how impersonal technology makes this world and how lonely we have become. He explains how we have traded personhood to get the superpowers technology affords us. He relates our addiction to technological superpowers to how the
ancients viewed magic. His chapter on money and mammon – as a world system that we live under and worship – is worth the price of the book.
If you are interested in artificial intelligence (AI), then you will love his chapters on boring robots and how the next tech revolution will both succeed and fail. His discussion of the redemptive role of God’s people within this kingdom and our evangelical addiction to short term “impact”, rather than long term, boring, incarnational “influence” is a prophetic word to the North American church. I loved his call for us to move from “devices” to “instruments”, where we once again use tools to bless persons, not diminish them.
And then there is his last three chapters. These are the most hopeful and discouraging of the book. Here Crouch calls us to move from our thin North American view of family to a much more robust biblical form of household. He calls us to be the kind of household that values the unuseful. He urges us to see ourselves as a great cloud/chain of witnesses/persons who are one through the ages – the body of Christ. It is a grand vision, and it is biblical. Yet Crouch is also brutally transparent about what the costs are to this biblical household of faith – the price that most are unwilling to pay for real Christian community. He shares from personal experience what we must give up in terms of individual autonomy and privacy/anonymity if we want to experience this kind of fulsome, beautiful and yes, difficult and annoying community. The nagging question I am left with is “do I really want to experience the full personhood and beauty of Christian community enough to sacrifice the idols of autonomy and anonymity that technology feeds?”
I will say it again – read this book! Prepare to be inspired with hope and challenged by the cost.
Review by Bill Taylor
Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes
Misreading Scripture
Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes: Patronage, Honor, and Shame in the Biblical World
By E. Randolph Richards & Richard James
I found this book very helpful. The subtitle summarizes well the three issues that I, as an individualist struggle to understand: “Patronage, Honor and Shame in the Biblical World”. Two notes right off the top: Note #1 – you must read this book if you want to avoid routinely missing the point of the biblical text, or worse, misinterpreting the text – badly. Note #2 – If you haven’t read E. Randolph Richards’
earlier book “Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes”, you need to read it first. It will save you making all sorts of hermeneutical blunders. This book is an excellent, deeper look at some of the issues the first book identified.
This work compares collectivist and individualist cultures. The authors are missionaries who were raised in an individualist culture and then ministered in collectivist cultures. They sprinkle great stories throughout that help you see how we can misunderstand the biblical text, and neighbors who come from a collectivist culture. Further, they help us see how we can miss the point of many of the biblical stories and parables and how our brothers and sisters raised in collectivist cultures view the message of the text differently (and often more accurately) because the Bible was written in a collectivist context. I especially enjoyed seeing how radically countercultural Jesus, Paul and the biblical authors were as they
both affirmed and challenged many of the boundaries/assumptions of their collectivist culture.
The three parts of this book are all very helpful. The first section explains the social structure of the biblical world. The authors explain how kinship works very differently than family in an individualist culture. They discuss how patronage and brokerage work and how these realities informed God’s community of faith in the Old Testament and the Church. The second section examines the social tools that enforced and reinforced the values of God’s communities of faith. The tools were honor, shame, and boundaries. They argue that in individualist cultures these three things (especially shame) are routinely dismissed as systemic evils, but that there is in fact, good and bad uses of all three tools. The show us examples of this from the biblical text. The last section asks the question, “why does collectivism matter to me?” Here they remind us that we need to understand collectivism to understand the biblical text and many of our neighbors who grew up in a different culture with different values. They focus on redeeming kingship and boundaries, noting that Jesus and the apostles redefined who our family is. This has real implications for church life. They also focus on redeeming patronage and brokerage. This has implications for how we view leadership and shepherding in the church.
I loved Randolph’s first book – and this one is very good too. I found his emphasis on good and bad uses of patronage, honor, and shame very helpful. As individualists it is too easy for us to dismiss all three as systemic evils that the church in collectivist cultures need to reject (a new form of colonialism more rooted in our culture than the Word). The authors helpfully show us how patronage, honor and shame are both good and bad. They can be used to bless individuals and restore them to the community – or used to disparage individuals and alienate them from the community. Canada is increasingly multicultural, and a growing portion of the EFCC are brothers and sisters raised in collectivist cultures.
You will not only understand the biblical text better if you read this book, you will also better understand your brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Review by Bill Taylor
The New Orthodoxy: Canada’s Emerging Civil Religion
The New Orthodoxy: Canada’s Emerging Civil Religion
The New Orthodoxy: Canada’s Emerging Civil Religion
by Bruce J. Clemenger
If you are a Canadian aged 40 and above, and if you have lived your entire life in Canada, then you might have a vague (or not so vague) sense that Canadian culture has changed – especially in the past 20 years. In his excellent book The New Orthodoxy: Canada’s Emerging Civil Religion, longtime Evangelical Fellowship of Canada leader Bruce Clemenger carefully unpacks the evolution of liberal democratic thought and practice in Canada. Bruce has served the EFC since 1992 and has led the EFC to have intervenor status at various Supreme Court cases in his 30 years in Ottawa. He has been ideally placed to observe and explain the shift from classical to republican liberalism now evident among Canadian policymakers. In part one of this paper, I will briefly summarize Bruce’s account of those changes. My hope is that this will help Christian leaders understand more, and fear less, the changes in the political landscape. I think many of us intuitively “know” political and moral attitudes have changed in Canada and we suspect they have led to less positive view of the church by many Canadians (particularly Canadians in the social and political sphere). In part two, I will provide some theological and discipling points for those leading the church. In part three…
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World
By Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky
Heifetz and Linsky define Adaptive Leadership as “the act of mobilizing a group of individuals to handle tough challenges and emerge triumphant in the end.” More specifically, they, along with Grashow, have provided a handbook for navigating leadership and its challenges in a complex and changing world. Though written over 10 years ago, the relevance and practical application of this material is as appropriate today as when it was written, and will continue to be so for years to come.
In a very readable presentation, the authors articulate how adaptive leadership enables a leader to thrive. They describe how adaptive leadership builds on the past rather than jettisoning it, that it relies on diversity, that it takes time, and happens often through experimentation. Adaptive leadership works with the DNA of an organization — displacing, reregulating, and rearranging it. Thus leadership in adaptive challenges will generate loss, but they help us understand how and when that can be a good thing. The perspective on leadership, change, and loss is alone worth the price of admission for this read.
With this larger framework the authors unpack a series of steps necessary for successful adaptive leadership. The first of these steps is diagnosis, beginning with diagnosis of your system or culture, then of the adaptive challenge before you, and finally of the political landscape in which you are working. They articulate the process of diagnosis with profound insights, great examples, and practical steps to take on the journey. This format makes the book more than just a reference text, but rather more like a very helpful roadmap.
After helping us diagnose the system, they walk us through the challenge of mobilizing the system by making healthy interpretations and interventions, and help us understand what it means to act politically in a helpful and appropriate way. Part of mobilizing the system includes orchestrating conflict,and building a culture that is effective with adaptive change. Again, their wisdom, examples, and next steps are insightful.
But their insights go beyond the corporate, as they then turn their attention more specifically to the leader, helping us understand our own systemic nature and what that means for our organizations and our role in those organizations.
Throughout their presentation are numerous golden gems that make the book worth reading simply for those individual takeaways. For example, as they talk about the leader’s role in adaptive challenges, they make profound observations about how a good adaptive leader needs to move away from predictability so that others cannot neutralize his/her leadership. In their challenge to diagnose the political landscape, they help us understand some basic steps that will aid in the successful development and rollout of any adaptive response to a challenge.
At the end of the day, as they walk us through the practice of better understanding our organization, ourselves, and our challenges, and then leveraging the strengths and opportunities each provides, they are giving leaders an amazing tool for successful navigation of the significant challenges we face in a changing world. Their insights are applicable to all organizations (big, small, profit and non-profit organizations alike) and all leaders. Anyone interested in being a leader that is effective in a challenging and changing world should read this book. This is exactly why you will hear these authors and this book quoted so often in many leadership discussions. This work is foundational, but also extremely practical and readable. There is additional benefit if you can read it together with other key leaders on your team.
Reviewed by Terry Kaufman
Practicing the King’s Economy
Practicing the King’s Economy
Practicing the King’s Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Learn, Spend, Save & Give
By Michael Rhodes & Robby Holt
As evangelicals, we are often afraid to discuss social justice or economics. We have a lingering distrust of the social gospel (nothing wrong with that!) and we often assume that the economic and political system we live in is somehow God’s preferred system (there is something wrong about that!). Michael Rhodes and Robby Holt do a fabulous job of sharing biblical principles that Christians need to grapple with as we live out our faith in this political and economic world. They then share great stories of how Christians and churches are trying to live out each principle.
Their first principle is about worship – “God, not mammon.” This is an especially important call to those of us who assume that capitalism and consumerism are unequivocally good things (we may even assume that these two things are God’s intended plan for humanity). They share some great stories about “cross shaped giving.” The second principle revolves around the Lord’s table – “one table, one baptism, no distinction.” The authors stress the biblical centrality of community for God’s people, sharing great stories of “potluck” that go far beyond what we have all experienced at our church.
The authors insightfully look at Old Testament examples to help us to think about work, wages, gleaning and giving. They share awesome stories of how the church can help those inside and outside of the church to understand their work and to glean. I loved the section on “no poor among you” and the stories about how Christians and the church can invest in ways that alleviate poverty. The section on “the heavens declare” was a great call to biblical stewardship of all of creation. I especially loved the
last section on sabbath. It was an inspiring call for those of us in leadership to build rest in the lives of those who serve with us (and in our own lives as well!).
This is a great book! It may challenge some of your political assumptions! Yet it will do so from Scripture, and it will further fire your imagination for how you can do life and ministry in ways that reflect His Kingdom values – His Kingdom Economy!
Review by Bill Taylor
A Quiet Mind to Suffer With
A Quiet Mind to Suffer With
Wisdom from Babylon: Leadership for the Church in a Secular Age
by John Andrew Bryant
John Andrew Bryant pulls back the curtain on his life and lets us see the skeletons in his closet, as he chronicles his story of grappling with significantly debilitating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He does so in a way that is intensely honest, unbelievably courageous, and beautifully crafted. John’s OCD led him to a stay in the psych ward, for a time. This book is the story of how the Good News of Jesus has enabled him to suffer patiently with his mental illness.
The very first thing you should notice about this book is a glossary of terms. Typically, we would find technical language in a glossary. But not here. This list contains the names John uses to poetically describe his life. The list contains terms like: The Siren, The Realm of Ceaseless Cognition, A Body That Expects the World to End, The Strangers, and The Howling Boy. Without becoming familiar with these phrases and the way John is using them; the book would seem even stranger than it already is.
I would hope that the second thing you might notice is that John’s writing is breath-takingly but hauntingly beautiful. For me, this was not just John’s story, it was also a piece of art that has been drawn from the deepest darkest recesses of his soul. What else could be the source of this kind of art.
The final thing I want to highlight about John’s book, is how the gospel is absolutely central. John’s entire reason for writing is not to say, “I found Jesus and now I’m better.” But rather to show how a daily and very practical understanding and outworking of Christ’s death, resurrection, and return is the only way that he can navigate the journey of life with his illness. John would describe his journey with Jesus this way, “I have learned to tell myself that Christ is the Mercy that has been offered, that I am servant and guest of the Mercy that has been offered, that I am headed into the future provided by the Mercy that has been offered, and that, until it arrives, the only thing I can really do is behold, be patient, and bear witness to the Mercy that has been offered.” That’s a tall order for anyone, let alone someone who has an overwhelming compulsion to, “know for sure, figure it out, defend myself, and make it right.” As John chronicles his journey of attending to the Mercy that has been offered, he shares how the good news of Jesus has been brought to bear on his shame, abandonment, self-hatred, and trauma. He has daily begun, “to be delivered from my compulsions through hearing. To accept what I am feeling in prayer. And to be where I am by offering (of himself).”
This book hit pretty hard for me. I can see myself all too clearly in much of what John writes. Muted in comparison, but I’m still there. Many journal pages later, I’m still trying to process. It will be a while. Mental health is a key issue for all of us. Discipleship and spiritual formation of our hearts and yes, our minds, is more critical than ever. That’s what John’s beautifully disturbing book is all about.
Reviewed by: Neil Bassingthwaighte
Reignite Your Leadership Heart
Reignite Your Leadership Heart
Reignite Your Leadership Heart: Inspiring Women to Unleash Their Full Potential
By Ann Griffiths
Ann is one of our own! She served as the EFCC Women’s Ministry President and has continued to serve at Abbotsford EFC (now Mill Lake Church) in Women’s Ministries, music and so much more. So yes, Ann is focused on encouraging women. Her subtitle is “Inspiring Women to Unleash their Full Potential.” Yet I would argue that this is not only a book for women. Men – especially men in ministry leadership also need to read this book. It will inspire you, warn you, break your heart, and encourage you. It will also help you be an encouragement, rather than a discouragement to the women you minister with.
Ann masterfully weaves her own story with many biblical stories. She shares honestly how God anchored a broken life in hope, how wounds turned into cracks, how God graciously led her back to Him by grace, and how He restored her and led her again to serve. Ann transparently speaks of the joys, disappointments, hurts, failures, and successes she has experienced along the way. Yet she beautifully
retells her own story in the context of God’s bigger story. She insightfully turns our eyes to God’s redemptive work through His people as demonstrate in the Word. She shows us how God uses people today in that same mighty work of transformation.
This book is food and medicine for the hungry and hurting soul. It is inspiration for those who want to join God in something beautiful, redemptive, and so much bigger than their own story. The principles gleaned from the Word are great, but this book is even more powerfully encouraging because Ann has authentically shared the cost and rewards of what following Jesus has meant in her own life. This is a story and call to humble influence and transformation. Read and have your passion for God’s
redemptive work reignited!
Review by Bill Taylor
Thriving in Babylon
Thriving in Babylon
Thriving in Babylon
by Larry Osborne
While written in 2015, Thriving in Babylon reads like it could have been written today. Osborne uses Daniel’s story to teach us about living in a “fast changing and godless society.” He suggests that Daniel is not an adventure story, nor is it a prophecy manual; Osborne writes, “Whenever we turn the bulk of our attention to deciphering the obscure, we tend to miss the obvious….” He sees in Daniel’s story that Daniel “found a way, in a culture far more wicked than anything we face, to glorify and serve God with such integrity and power that kings, peasants, and an entire nation turned to acknowledge the splendor of the living God.”
It all starts with a grasp of something we can too easily forget when caught in the backwash: God is in control of who is in control. “How big is our God?” he asks. Daniel’s answer is encouraging.
But, as always, Larry is a realist. He talks about the reality of, and proper perspective in, difficult times. What does it mean when it seems like the bad guys are winning? Larry suggests that we generally draw the wrong conclusions and look for the wrong results. He then suggests three big needs (again based on what we see in Daniel’s story):
- Hope. Osborne talks about hope killers like conspiracy theories, myopia, amnesia, and political bandwagons – some very relevant words for our time.
- Humility. Osborne’s discussion includes issues like credibility and spiritual warfare.
- Wisdom. In this final section, he engages us with the power of perspective, and even challenges us by talking about compromise and fear.
There is so much more he provides in his very readable easy-going style. He never comes across as a preachy know-it-all, but rather a fellow sojourner who has learned a few lessons along the way that he is willing to share. Here are few snippets to further pique your interest:
- “It’s easy to obey God when we agree with him. But that’s not really obedience. We haven’t learned obedience until we do what he says despite our doubts, confusion, or concern that his way won’t work out.”
- “Without perspective, everything gets blown out of proportion. We catastrophize. The loss of privilege becomes harsh persecution. Opposition becomes hatred. And every legal or electoral setback becomes cause for anguish and despair. In short, we evaluate and extrapolate without putting God into the equation.”
- “If we claim to be followers of Jesus, there’s never a good reason for panic. God loves a mess. After all, it takes a mess to have a miracle.”
- “The fact is, if we’re unwilling to treat godless leaders with respect, we’ll have no chance of influencing their decisions and actions.”
So, if you want some solid encouragement, and direction, for your heart in the midst of chaos, pick up this read.
Reviewed by Terry Kaufman
What if Jesus was Serious
What if Jesus was Serious Series
What if Jesus was Serious
Series by Skye Jethani
I recently finished both of these short devotional-like reads by author and Holy Post podcast co-host Skye Jethani. They are volumes three and four in his “What if Jesus was Serious” series. The series kicked off with the first book, released in 2020, simply entitled “What if Jesus was Serious?.” It was a look at the Sermon on the Mount over 73 short chapters. When I say short, that is exactly what I mean. A chapter is only a couple of pages long and is accompanied by a doodle (like the ones you see on the covers of the books) that helps to visually illustrate the primary point of the chapter. Skye’s intention was for the book be read in bite sized pieces. The first book really connected with readers, many of whom said the doodles were worth buying the book. Skye released another volume the next year, “What if Jesus was Serious about Prayer?.” This second book followed the exact same format – short chapters with doodles – and focused on the relational aspect of prayer, encouraging readers to treat prayer more like on-going conversation. As the EFCC Prayer Catalyst, I highly recommend it.
That brings us to these two volumes. Although “What if Jesus was Serious about the Church?” was released in 2022, I didn’t get around to reading it until this year. I immediately followed it up with the book Skye just released this summer, “What if Jesus was Serious about Heaven?.” Both are great little reads. They are written in the exact same format. the book on the church focuses our attention on the church as family and follows five basic themes” the family reunion, the family meal, the family gathering, the family business, and the family servants.
The most recent volume on heaven is the one I feel is his best book in this series. I’m probably biased, however. Skye spends time attempting to correct faulty understandings of heaven and p0tentially even our primary goal for the Christian life. Way back in 2011 when Jethani released his book “With” (which I think is a must read for every Christian) he was encouraging readers to focus on Jesus as our treasure and the ultimate aim of the Christian faith. In this volume, Jethani starts by suggesting some Christians have mapped the Christian life with heaven as the ultimate aim. He feels that is not Biblical, and it’s from there that his desire for correction springs. His thoughts in this book are built around five themes: the kingdom of heaven has come near, the kingdom of heaven is like…, Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, I am going to prepare a place for you, and the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord.. If you have not engaged with Skye Jethani’s writing, or the writings of scholars like N.T. Wright who have helped shape Skye’s thinking in these areas, you may be a bit surprised at where Skye believes the Biblical text leads us.
Pastors and leaders, I don’t believe this series of books is written with you as the target audience. However, as leaders, we are always looking for good resources. Here are some great resources. The accessibility and simplicity of these books means that the average everyday person can engage them easily. Personally, I think they would be great tools to get into the hands of young people. The visual experience will connect with them well.
I don’t know if Jethani has plans to bring out further volumes in this series or not. I hope so, but even if he does not, he has gifted the church with four masterfully done little volumes. If you haven’t read any of them, I would encourage you to pick up the first one, as it is kind of foundational to the series. However, after that, dive in to whichever one of the other three most appeals to you and enjoy. But do more than enjoy. Hand them off to others who can benefit as well.
Reviewed by Neil Bassingthwaighte
Winsome Conviction
Winsome Conviction
Winsome Conviction – Disagreeing Without Dividing the Church by Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer
by Tim Muehlhoff & Richard Langer
In this excellent tutorial for us, Muehlhoff and Langer, who come to this topic with church, pastoral, communication, and teaching experience, push into a topic most pastors and churches know is there, but do not actually spend time addressing. The issue is “differences,” and how we can and should handle them. The authors suggest that while “we may have more disagreements with nonbelievers, our disagreements with believers are more problematic and emotionally charged.” In consideration of this they suggest that the real problem is not that we hold different convictions, it is that those convictions are poorly formed, and that is what leads to incivility. They further suggest that the answer to this challenge is that we need to “re-examine and recover the realm of disputable matters,” which they say are different than either “moral absolutes” or “matters of taste.” In other words, “disputable matters” are a middle ground, and we need to learn to shape them, and our handling of them, in a biblical way. Honestly, there are a lot of issues for which we form convictions – this is no small playground. At the end of the day, they say, we must form our convictions in order to please Jesus not ourselves.
Part of their argument includes what they call a “spectrum of convictions” – a template that starts with confessional beliefs and then moves to moral mandates, core values, and finally to guidelines for conduct. Within this framework we are challenged to manage our convictions appropriately, and they help us navigate that by spending time talking about how to communicate our convictions, protect unity, and the challenges of “perception” and “echo chambers.” As they walk through these, they offer some good pathways to help us.
They then spend time considering power dynamics and civility before they launch into the area of healing within the Body of Christ. In this section they talk about goals, character, troubleshooting (identifying things we do naturally that exacerbate pain), properly understanding our convictions, and guidelines for hard conversations.
Throughout, they both unpack this idea of convictions being a forgotten middle ground and also provide us with some good road maps, danger signs, and destinations toward a better handling of convictions within the Body of Christ. As they do this, they are not inviting a “free for all,” but rather suggest the appropriate use of fences we can talk over rather than divisions, the expression of authentic disagreements, and an appropriate posture for us in a diverse community that pleases God.
This book is certainly worth the read, and probably should be required reading for every Pastor and Board member in every church.
Reviewed by Terry Kaufman
Wisdom for Faithful Reading
Wisdom for Faithful Reading
Wisdom from Babylon: Leadership for the Church in a Secular Age
by John H. Walton
The Old Testament is strange territory. We know that as soon as we begin to read it. But just how strange may actually surprise us. Often, we don’t take into account just how different the time, the people, the history, the culture, the language, the framing stories, and the understanding of Old Testament people were in comparison to ours. Yet it was in that time, to those people, with their history and framing stories, etc. that the Old Testament was communicated. Not ours. When we jump into reading the Old Testament without the right tools, without using wise principles and practices, we will likely fail to understand it well.
That is what Old Testament scholar John Walton is attempting to help us with in Wisdom for Faithful Reading. John Walton is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School. He has written many other works on the Old Testament, recently authoring several volumes in his Lost World series: The Lost World of Genesis 1, The Lost World of Adam and Eve, The Lost World of the Flood, and the Lost World of the Torah to name just some of them. He has also authored other books on Old Testament history and culture and is a contributor to the IVP Bible Backgrounds Commentary. This is his ballpark. He is at home here.
Early in the book, Walton explains his title. It is not Wisdom for Right Reading but rather Faithful Reading. Two things go into that. First is humility. But second is methodology. Being faithful to the text is crucially important to John. this is evidenced by some of Walton’s primary principles:
- When we depart from the author’s literary intentions, we are no longer submitting our interpretation to the authority of the tex.
- We should always be alert to the dangers of reading Scripture through our language and culture.
- Our accountability in interpretation is to track with the author.
- Our interpretation should be supported with evidence that can identify the author’s literary intentions.
- Our task is to find our place in God’s story.
These primary principles guide Walton through the rest of the sections of the book. He first addresses General Biblical interpretative practices, followed by specific sections on the Pentateuch, Narrative, Wisdom, and Psalms, and finally Prophecy and Apocalyptic literature. As he walks through these sections, he lays out some of the practices that make for faithful reading. Here is a sampling: a text cannot meant what it never meant, the Bible was written for us but not to us, reading the Bible instinctively is not reliable, a literal reading means being accountable to the author’s intentions, a genre discussion must precede an authority conversation (that’s an interesting one), all translation is interpretation, Torah is more about instruction that cultivates wisdom than legislation that results in law, we have to understand a text literarily before we can understand it historically, prophecy is not prediction, apocalyptic is not prophecy. All the way through the book Walton challenges readers to do Biblically faithful interpretative work before jumping to application.
Walton has laid out a wealth of great interpretative tools in this one volume. In fact, if you are familiar with John’s other work, you will sense that he has taken most of the key principles from those works and has laid them all out here in one place for us. If you want to understand the Old Testament well, I would encourage you to pick this book up. May it aid you as you grow in your understanding of Scripture.
Reviewed by Neil Bassingthwaighte
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