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.