This is the season of “Best of” lists, and I’m sure Pierced For Our Transgressions by Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey and Andrew Sach will be on more than a few lists. In the past year, Pierced For Our Transgressions may be the best-reviewed, highest recommended book in the Reformed blogosphere. It was also one of [...]
Review: Thank God For Evolution! by Michael Dowd
18 Dec by
UPDATE: Rev. Dowd has graciously joined the comment thread. Thank God For Evolution! is available as a free pdf download. If you haven’t read the book and don’t plan on it, please keep your comments about the book and the author appropriately humble. Don’t expect a creationist debate in the comments of this post. Also, [...]
Review: The Gospel According to Starbucks by Leonard Sweet
1 May by
I finally read a book by Leonard Sweet. That’s a pretty big deal for me, as this was something like the fifth one I’ve started, failing to finish -or even get three chapters done in- the other four. Sweet is a futurist, professor of evangelism, church renewal advocate and sometimes part of the emerging conversation. [...]
Review: Picturing the Gospel, by Neil Livingstone.
25 Apr by
When I first received Neil Livingstone’s book Picturing the Gospel, I flipped through it and said “This won’t be good.” I put it on the bottom of my book pile and didn’t read it for several weeks. This week, I’ve read the book. Several chapters twice. Not just a good book….it’s an outstanding book. So [...]
Review: Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, Robert Webber, General Editor.
22 Apr by
Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives. General Editor: Robert Webber. Contributors: Mark Driscoll, John Burke, Dan Kimball, Doug Padgitt, Karen Ward. Zondervan, 2007. What is it about the emerging church that makes it so difficult for Christians to talk about it? Probably because there is no emerging church. There are a collection [...]
A Response to Roger (Questions on my review of “The Truth War”)
13 Apr by
“Roger” is a co-worker who asked several questions about my review of Dr. John MacArthur’s “The Truth War.” I’d like commenters to suggest good books on postmodernism and the emerging church. Thanks. Roger asked me for complete definitions of postmodernism and the emerging church. That’s a lot of reading, listening and work, Roger. There are [...]
Review: The Truth War by John MacArthur
2 Apr by
UPDATE: Lifeway was kind enough to send me this link to an “Author Interview” with Dr. MacArthur regarding this book. UPDATE II: Macarthur’s takedown of John Armstrong is critiqued by Andrew Sandlin. I would like to thank Phenix and Phenix Literary Publicists for providing a review copy of this book. There are two ways I [...]
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Blogging from “Worship and Arts” Part 3
30 Mar by
I’d like to thank Campbellsville University for hosting this conference. It’s been great and I hope they have many other similar events. At his third session on “Lament,” Michael Card spoke about Jesus the Lamenter. These are a few thoughts I wrote down in my notebook as I listened. Scripture reading: Isaiah 53. Then he [...]
Blogging from “Worship and Arts” Part 2
29 Mar by
I want to run through some of the highlights of Michael Card’s teaching sessions on “The Lost Language of Lament.” These are all short summaries from my notebook. On 9-11, Calvin Seerveld called Michael and said, “See….you have no songs to sing.” The language of Lament is the lost language of worship, and that loss [...]
Blogging from “Worship and Arts” Part 1
I’m going to try and blog the conference a bit. (Thursday morning, 9:09 a.m.) I’m at the “Worship and Arts” conference sponsored by Campbellsvile University. (Actually at a local church) Small crowd. Michael Card is the main teacher. John Mark Macmillan- who I’ve never heard of- is leading worship. He brought a band. It’s pretty [...]