A Book Read - The Accidental Anglican

WOW - at one level what are you to make of someone who claims John Wimber, John Stott and NT Wright as his major theological influences??

Anecdotal in form - reflecting upon one man's journey into Anglicanism (bishop no less!) - it isn't one I would recommend to others in the end. It seems overly misty eyed and optimistic about being Anglican.

I can think of much stronger cases to made for both the benefits and indeed the weaknesses of the Anglican Church than this one - I'm really not sure how it got made into a book to be honest - it is rife for a blog or magazine article at best.

A Book Read - God and Stephen Hawking - John Lennox

Easy to read, a good thoughtful engagement with and challenge to the logical consistency of Hawking's dismissal of God, by a professor of Mathematics at Oxford.

I really enjoyed this book and helped me, with other things that I am reading at the moment, to get a better picture of the world we live in, and the debates about it that are currently on offer between scientists of faith and those of atheistic persuasion.

Great read, and for $5.50, great value. 8.5/10

A book Read - Science, Creation and the Bible. Carlson & Longman

Sometimes the more you know, the more you realize you don't know! This is one of those areas. Always tangled in controversy it seem a hard area to do thinking out loud... so here goes!

I started this book with the question, "what is the genre of the creation accounts in Genesis?", unfortunately I finished the book with the same question! Which is not to say I didn't learn a lot on the journey, it's just to say, I think I got off this train a few stations before they did.

In the end their attempt at explaining the complex issue of the genre resulted in a two layered approach - that seems to me for all money to be allegory. Now that is in good company in the history of interpretation, Augustine for one, but I am a little uncomfortable with it as it pretty quickly cuts historicity out from under you - and then Adam becomes the next to go, and the NT speaks confidently about him I think.

I think understanding the presentation of Genesis as being truth focussed to a certain depth is where I am at, so a worldview of creation written for the naked eye - not the electron microscope, helps as it is true in what it tells us, we just have to understand how to read it well.

Worth a read - but not the end of the issue by any means 6.5/10

A Book Read - The Rage Against God - Peter Hitchens

A fella who it seems is most famous for being leading atheist Christopher's brother, who however, has quite an ability to have a crack with a sharp mind when he writes as well. It is a literary 'round or two for a pound or two' and in particular centring around the central issue of the soviet state in the argument for the benefits of a society without God. Peter Hitchens argues that the soviet state is the real face of atheism in practice and that his brother is being disingenuous when he won't acknowledge that point.

Definitely worth a read and a useful book in thinking through a pretty robust defence of the place and value of the Christian faith in western society even today. I liked it and will probably read it again at some point. 8/10.

Another Book Read - Sticky Teams - Larry Osborne

A book about leadership of teams in a ministry context. A few people have really loved this book and recommended it highly, I guess by the time I read it a lot of the wisdom in it had already filtered through various channels to not be a surprise when I read it in the end.

Some good stuff, some slight madness - a warm hug - it is not!! But it is worth a read, particularly considering nearly all the insights included are pretty hard won doing the hard yards of ministry. So some things resonate well, others may work in a particular context, but it makes its points quickly and directly so you can like them or lump them without spending forever trying to work out what he is saying and why it would be important.

As always it does require a small amount of translation from a Nth American context, but then how many Christian books written in the last 20 years don't!

Solid and worthwhile without actually being some sort of 'set text' on church leadership 7.5/10.

A Book Read - Bonhoeffer - Eric Metaxas

If ever there was a perfect storm for evil - surely 1930's Germany was it? How did a country with such a proud intellectual and cultural history descend into such a base level in-humane path? And how could the whole nation be swept up in it?

Well as this book points out, not everyone was swept up in it, in fact a number of people at great risk to themselves actively opposed this great wrong. This story is worth every minute of reading, what a fascinating man, in a fascinating time, involved in some extraordinary actions against an extraordinary evil - in the name of his crucified Lord...

I loved this book 9/10.

A Book Read - Church Planting is for wimps

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to post again about books - because there has definitely been some read since Feb last year!!!

Anyway - this one by Mike McKinley is a good read, a sensible call to move beyond 'celebrity church planting' that seems to be an increasing influence in evangelical circles, and coming from a young guy - who should by current form be more up for the celebrity way of doing things.

All in all a lot of commonsense about the task at hand in being involved in a small church trying to get it together. I liked what he had to say, much of which I had come to the conclusion of previously, such as not really needing a mission statement:

"Look, if you don't know what you're supposed to be doing as a church planter, if you need to write out a statement in order to remember that your church is supposed to evangelize the lost and help Christians grow in Christ, friend, your shouldn't be a church planter. How about casting the vision the way Protestants have cast vision for the past 500 years! teach God's word! Explain it to God's people, and tell them God's Mission and vision and values and strategy for their life. Don't refer them back to some mantra that you make sure everyone in the congregation has memorized. Teach them what the Bible says about what it means to be a faithful Christian and a faithful Church." p62.

Definitely worth the couple of hours it took to wander through it - I'd say a solid 7.5/10!