Through A Glass Darkly

I picked up this book at the local bookstore to browse through as I drank my tea…hours later I was 100 pages in and couldn’t put it down.  I ended up reading the book in one sitting there in the bookstore.  Needless to say, wonderful book!  This book is written by a journalist in Italy who followed an American priest who was sent to Rome for training in exorcism.  There has been a resurgence of this ministry and the Church of Rome is seeking to equip its leaders appropriately.  This book highlights the new course taught in Rome concerning the rite of exorcism, the priest’s apprenticeship there in Rome and does this all while weaving in the Church’s teaching on evil and exorcism.  If you are at all interested in this topic, read this book!  May God grant more qualified, godly, experienced exoricists to His Church.

The author, David Kinnaman outlines the five points he wishes to make with this book:

1. The language issue – David wants to be sure that his readers understand the power of language and labeling and therefore will not be referring to “nonbelievers” as “pagans”, “the lost” or “seekers” because that focuses on what they are not and can be demeaning and can undermine our ability as Christians to “see them as human beings and as individuals.” So he settles on the word “outsiders” though he does express his discomfort with this term as well. [I wonder why Jesus called people "snakes" and "white-washed tombs full of dead men's bones"? Maybe that kind of harsh language is only reserved for the religious folk.] He also introduces us to the two generational groups that he will be interacting with…the Mosaics (born between 1984 and 2002) and the Busters (born between 1965 and 1983).
2. God cares about “outsiders” – good point and should always be at the forefront of all we do as the church! He gives us an interesting fact about the number of those between the ages of 16 and 29…he says there are 24 million of them and nearly 40% are “outsiders” where the Boomers (those aged between 42-60) and the Elders (those aged 61 and up) only have 27% and 23% as “outsiders.” That is an interesting statistic and gives us an idea of the kind of America we are headed for if those numbers don’t change.
3. Christianity’s inside image problem – David tells us that this perception issue that he has found among the 16 to 29 year old “outsiders” is not exclusive to them, prominent church leaders share the perceptions. This is not a surprise either given the superficiality of much of American Christianity.
4. The size of Christianity in America – According to Barna’s numbers, there is still about 50% of America that goes to church and this is a motivating factor for David and Gabe to write the book, “Look Church! Look, how the world views you.”
5. The mirror – David and Gabe hope that this book will produce genuine humility in Christians and thus change their ways. I agree. We should always seek to remove whatever is not profitable for the furtherance of the gospel. So, God please grant it for the sake of your Son and His kingdom. Amen.

I am going to be posting several times on a relatively new book entitled, UNchristian written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. Kinnaman is current president of the Barna Group, the massive Christian research organization founded by George Barna. Gabe served as the vice president of John Maxwell’s INJOY ministries in Atlanta, GA and has now started his own non-profit organization called the Fermi Project which seeks to bring together church and society leaders and social entrepreneurs and innovators in order to make a positive impact on culture. They have come together after three years of thorough research and interviewing of mainly 16-29 year olds to try to determine what this generation “really thinks about Christianity…and why it matters.” I saw this book about 4 months ago in our local bookstore and picked it up and put it down quickly without much interest in the topic. I come to these posts with a bit of a bias. I usually don’t like this kind of thing. I think that we obviously need to be wise and sensitive to those around us and how they percieve us but to write a whole book on it and criticize the Church for how the world percieves us…come on! Sure, there will always be imperfections in the Church and sure that will always be an excuse for people not to consider the real claims of the Church, but really, is that something to spend 3 years “researching” and “interviewing” and then publishing so we could all feel real guilty that our neighbor might think that we are homo-phobs? Anyway, I really am trying to become more sensitive to some things and grow in some areas in my own walk, so I thought I would give the book a try and see…and the three of you who may read these thoughts get to “hear” what I have to say about it. Caveat: just because I got the book in an attempt to be sensitive doesn’t mean that I will be. I really don’t have the desire to be real colorful with all this, it is really just a way for me to express my thoughts on the “page” and grow in my own abilities to express my thoughts. I have added an interview that CNN did with Gabe on the book. Take a look.

I was at the bookstore the other day and saw something quite revealing.  We all remember the fuss last fall about Ted Haggard and the allegations regarding his secret life of debauchery and gross hypocrisy.  Well the book about it all from the written by the one with whom Ted had the relationship was released this past summer.  I have not read the book and it really isn’t on my list, but I did think it was quite revealing how the publisher presented the cover shot for the book.  The bust of a handsome, clean-cut baby-faced nice guy.  Maybe Mike is a nice guy.  Maybe he’s funny and a joy to be around.  I don’t know.  What I thought was interesting was the fact that he is being played as the victim.  The poor homosexual community just doing everything with honesty and integrity (at least they are open about their sexual preferences) and along comes a pompous evangelical giant who secretly enjoys sodomy and illegal drugs all the while leading millions in political and religious rallies decrying the horror and socially destructive influence of such a life-style.  Now I do agree that this was the worst kind of hypocrisy and I am glad that it was exposed for the world to see and thank God that Ted’s church handled the situation the way they did.  But isn’t it something that this guy who prostitutes himself to other men and apparently sells illegal drugs is the hero?  Is this the picture of the American hero?  Have heroes just become those who will point out hypocrisy and expose it regardless of how depraved their own lives are?  I think it is.  And I think it is exactly this kind of thing that exposes how desperately our culture needs not only people of courage (which there is no doubt Mike Jones demonstrated), but most importantly, holiness.

This book will be out in November of this year. Looks like a great resource!

This looks like a great book as well. Should be a good read for those who don’t understand or have never heard of varying views. These books also tend to demonstrate the non “straw-man” nature of each argument.

Piper has been a tremendous help to me in my walk. But I think he is barking up the wrong tree on this one. Should be a good read nonetheless.

Also, here is a link to what looks like a great resource for understanding exegesis during the Reformation.

Although I haven’t been blogging much at all lately, I have been reading a bit. Here are a few of the books that I have read over the last several weeks. Protestants be warned! These are Catholic books by Catholic authors.

What a great book. Written before Howard entered the Roman Catholic Church, he wrote this book to help evangelicals understand a bit more about the historic faith, particularly its worship. Very friendly and appreciative of evangelicalism.

Another great book…at least I thought. Not because I agree with all of the conclusions of the Hahns, but because it shows the real struggle with friends and family as one moves to a different expression of the Christian faith (although Catholics wouldn’t quite say it like that). A great read on how a reformed scholar finds the Catholic Church.

Very good book. If you don’t know anything about the reasons people “cross” themselves, this is a great read.

This was my favorite. Following the lead of Meredith Kline and others regarding the “oath” nature of the sacraments, Scott Hahn takes you on a whirlwind study of the seven sacraments, focusing primarily on the Eucharist. You may disagree with the numbering of the sacraments. You may disagree with his understanding on the presence of Christ as he understands it at the Eucharist, but his depiction of the Table of the Lord as covenant renewal is wonderful! Pick it up and read.

So, I am finally working through Yoder’s “watershed work” in New Testament ethics. I must admit up front that I am not a pacifist. I have no desire to become a pacifist. And all the arguments I have heard for pacifism thus far have been short of compelling. However, I have not yet read Yoder and if this work is all that it is built up to be, I may be challenged in my thoughts. Anyway, I have read the first chapter that is titled The Possibility of a Messianic Ethic in which Yoder surveys briefly various approaches to Jesus and the possibility of ethics in general. His conclusion is that though there is great diversity regarding who Jesus was, the social context Jesus found himself in, and the kinds of problems he addressed, the large majority of new testament scholars do not believe Jesus to be an apolitical figure. It seems Yoder is happy with that…okay, no problems here. He also makes some qualifications on his amateurish abilities as a new testament exegete and historical-critical scholar. However, he feels the issues involved in new testament exegesis (reconstruction of the “actual” sources, redactors, etc.) does not pose a problem for his work because none of those studies have shown Jesus to be something radically different from what the actual text (in its present form) presents him to be.Enough of all that. In this opening chapter Yoder hints at his agenda and if my instincts and reading of him are correct, he seems to be moving in the direction of lifting Jesus out as the norm for all social ethics. If this is the case, it will be interesting to see how he handles, Moses, Paul and their “ethics” as well. I did think it interesting that he said he would not deal much with the sermon on the mount…don’t yet know what that’s all about seeing that that is one of the most compact ethical statements found in all of scripture! But I am sure he has his reasons, which I will be enlightened to soon enough.

I did appreciate his lack of confidence in natural law. He makes this statement early on and with great clarity,

“The connection of this discussion to the theme of the present book is of course that the impact of these several arguments [that the classical theological appeal to ground ethics is found in "nature, reason, creation, and reality," ie. natural law], each in its own way, is to set the authority of Jesus aside, not by avowing that one chooses not to follow him, nor by reading the story and finding in it a different message, but by claiming that in one way or another Jesus’ claims on the disciple’s life are set aside a priori, on systematic logical grounds. The inquiry to which this volume is dedicated aims to test whether being thus set aside is fair to the intent or the substance of the New Testament texts.”

Amen! I like that. We must look to what the texts actually say. I hope to find consistency with this statement throughout the remainder of the book. Let’s see.

Waltke, Bruce K. Creation and Chaos. (Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1974)

For those who have never read a book on the literary structure and theological import of the creation account in Genesis, this is a great read. Most Christians read Genesis 1-2 through the grid of science. I find this tendency in both young earth and old earth writers. But this little compilation of lectures delivered by Dr. Waltke 30 years ago, are a gold mine of insight. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the conclusions of this work, this is definitely the road we must take in our discussion of creation. As Dr. Waltke says, “the purpose of creation is doxological.” Scientific exegesis blurs that very reality.

Ross, Hugh, Creation and Time (Colorado Springs, CO:  Navpress, 1994).

Well this book was my entrance into the young earth/old earth debate.  I had read some of Henry Morris’ stuff years ago, but I haven’t read much of anything regarding the various views of creation that are afloat in the Christian community.  I thought the book was an interesting read and it made me wish that I had paid more attention in science class as a child.  Ross chronicles the rise of young earth creationism within the last century and a half or so and then defends the orthodoxy of old earth creationism.  While I am far from concluding on the matter, I do have to say that I don’t see the issue of the age of the earth as a determining factor of orthodoxy…this point at least, I think Ross makes well.  I have several other books that I will be reading related to this issue, so stay tuned.