Book Review: Why God Won’t Go Away by Alister McGrath

First I must confess that once of the books I used in my Constructive Theology class in Seminary was McGrath’s book and it was the most well-worn out book of the lot that I had as I was going through the two semesters of Constructive Theology 1 and 2.  With that said, I was looking forward to reading his work about the New Atheism.

I think the first thing that the reader needs to understand is that this book was not written in order to convince someone to come to Christ.  Instead it was written in order to discuss the concept of the “New Atheism” and review writings of 4 of the most prominent writers in this area, Richard Dawkins, who also teaches at Oxford where McGrath teaches, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

McGrath’s purpose is discuss the logic that the “New Atheism” authors lay out and pokes holes in them to show the flaws of what they believe.  I like the way that McGrath does this since his points squarely puts the ball back in the court of the “New Atheism” authors to explain their positions and account for the holes.  Instead of just point fingers and saying you’re wrong because this is what I believe, McGrath looks at their arguments logically and says okay if this is what you believe that shows that there is no God, then explain these issues or flaws in your logic.

I really liked McGrath’s book.  This book is very informational, well-written/researched book on the “New Atheism” and what the movement is about.  At the same time, McGrath really does provide a logical understand of the flaws that this movement has and provides you with some interesting points to think about regarding the “New Atheism.”  The book leaves me longing to see a debate between McGrath and Dawkins.  While this may not be a book for all Christians, I would recommend this book to anyone who really wants to understand and see what the “New Atheism” is from their perspective with an understanding of the flaws of their arguments from a Christian perspective.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Jolt!

Jolt! is a book about change. It is in the genre of the self-help pull you up by the bootstraps mantra that has been around for years. The author provides 25 vignettes that you can use to help deal with change, overcome difficulties in life and in general change your thinking about things to help you get on the right path.

What this book seems to do is offer a solution for those who fell like they have hit a wall in their pursuit of goals. The author even talks about his own experiences with hitting the wall. His change was the loss of a job, but the overall theme is that in any situation where you are stagnate or just content with where you are unless you have a jolt, you will not change.

One of the things that I like about this book is the faith based aspect of it. Instead of it just focusing out what are dreams are it reminds us that we need to understand God’s bigger plan for us and how we pursue it. I also like the short chapter set up. Instead of feeling that you have to sit down and read the whole book, you can read a chapter, think about it and consider how you might apply it. Or maybe after some reflection, you decide it is not for you and you move on to the next. The book setup gives you the flexibility to do this.

While the book at times may seem like a rehash of yesterday’s self-help, I think that it is a very good book for today’s fast paced, technology savvy world that needs short jolts to help them along the way.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255vf: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fatal Convications Book Review

Fatal Convictions is a melding of spirituality, law and thriller that leaves the reader wanted to continue to turn the page of the book without putting it down. In this story by Singer, he mixes his can’t miss drama with the difficult topic of Muslim culture in American. In his story a Muslim converts to Christianity and soon suffers an honor killing in America. A imam of the a local mosque coming under fire as the evidence mounts up suggesting that he is the one who ordered the honor killing. To make things even worse, the woman’s husband and Imam’s best friend both have past ties to Hezbollah.

In this story the main character Alex Madison who is part time pastor and full time lawyer agrees to defend the imam. He does it though no for the reason of helping to protect someone, but because he thinks it will open the door to a personal injury case that he thinks will give him a large settlement. Even will ulterior motives, the more Madison gets into the case; the more he starts to belief that the imam is truly innocent and soon finds himself dealing with feelings for the imam’s daughter. With the intersection of faith, law, love, Muslim and American relations, Singer finds a way to keep you hanging on to the edge of your seat until you are completely surprised with the how the case ends.

What I like about this book is the way that Singer dances between difficult topics in American society with grace and honor. He paints the portrait of what it means to be a Christian from the stand point of love and grace, but does so while still showing the hones t human side of people, especially a pastor a person who we often forget is a human too. He does a great job of showcasing the struggles that we have when dealing with difficult topics but reminds us of the need to be accepting, loving and grace filled people.

The book is a little long and the plots and characters evolved quite a bit. It almost dictates reading it in a short amount of time as if you put the book down even a little bit, you might find yourself confused with where you left off.

However if you are a fan of thrillers like Grisham and Patterson then I think you will find this an entertaining book which intersects thriller with spiritual matters.

I was provided this book free by Tyndale House Publishing. I was not required to post a positive or negative comment and the thoughts expressed here are my own opinion of the book.

Book Review: The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

I think that this book came with glue on the outside of the dust jacket. Once I picked it up and started to read it, I could put it down. This book continues with the exploits of David Ponder. He has brought to the “Final Summit” by the angel Gabriel. He is one of many people who are picked to help mankind on the quest for the answer to the question “What does humanity need to do, individually and collectively, to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?” David is then put to task to understand this along with the likes of great historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Joan of Arc and even King David.

I liked the book from the perspective of bringing in historical characters that have had an influence of people throughout time to help David with his task. For some it might be difficult to follow the path of the character of David Ponder without having read the previous book The Traveler’s Gift, but to some degree it stands on its own.

I really appreciate the reader’s guide at the end. I think that if one is serious about engaging the book that they should read it then re-read it with a group or oneself and use the reading guide to go along with it.

Another thing I appreciate is that while it is Christian, it is not overtly Christian. Sure the setting is in Heaven, but there is not a bunch of Biblical quotes or theology that is spread throughout the book. I think that this is important since it might allow for non-believers to engage through this book and open doors for possible discussion down the road.

The book is rather history to help give perspective on the characters in the book and some people may not like that, but I appreciate it, especially for those who are not completely familiar with the rich histories of each character.

Some people may also be disappointed with the answer to the question, I will not express it here, but I can say that after reading it, that it provides a valuable insight for all of us. While it may seem overly simplified, it is still something that we have to take into consideration in all that we do, if we do not consider what Andrews says to us in this book, and then we are doomed to live in our own self-fulfilling prophecies.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Doing Virtuous Business by Theodore Malloch

As one of my business friends tells me, he always had a hard time with making money since the Bible does not seem to lend to the practice of making money. Malloch tries to combat that by looking at how we can do business ethically and from the perspective of a religious and moral attitude. He supports this with examples of ethical businesses that perform at level that is higher than their competition.

I got this book primarily for the fact that I do ministry to professional in the workplace. The book is written in the vein of many of business/management/leadership books. It does a good job of creating a biblical business world view. The author couches this belief with a variety of quotes from the Bible and other Christian business leaders who are in defense of capitalism done right.

He also provides a broad since of religions as he includes other businesses which are Muslim or Hindu. While he writes from a Christian point of view, he talks of spiritual capital. He calls this “the fund of beliefs, examples, and commitments transmitted from generation to generation through a religious tradition, attaching people to the transcendental source of human happiness." This is very open to an understanding of the business world as it relates to not only Christianity, but to other forms of religion as well.

He also compares company from family own to larger corporate conglomerates, not leaving out any area type of business. In essence, he shows that anyone in any type of business big or small can adhere to these principles.

The book was an easy read for me as I read it in one sitting. It can be a little business technical in writing, but it appears to be a book written specifically for this group. I highly endorse this book for anyone in the business world who has an interest in learning to live out their faith in the work that they do.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren

Spiritual practices have been around for a long time and McLaren takes a contemporary look at these practices that as Christians we do to try and get closer to God. McLaren likens the concept of Spiritual practices to running a marathon or speaking a language or even playing an instrument. In order to do well at these things you have to train, train, train, practice, practice, practice, do it, do it, and do it. Unless you do this you can’t get the true benefit out of the practices you do.

Like Foster’s classic Celebration of Discipline, McLaren emphasis both person and communal Spiritual practices. He goes through the understanding of practices like spiritual reading, prayer journaling, solitude and silence (which I struggle with everyday), gratitude and tithing and so forth. In essence what McLaren is doing is setting the ground for a series of 8 books that focus on returning to the accident Spiritual practices.

As part of my passion, I have a workplace ministry. As I was reflecting on this while I was reading the book, I realized that McLaren is calling us to do something that I have been trying to convey to folks for many years. That is religion is a life style. We can and should live out our religion in our lives. McLaren even provides some ways to help equip us to do that in our lives in a way that shows love and compassion to folks. McLaren attempts to show us how to cleans our lives and focus on getting closer God.

One of the things that I notice is the McLaren makes references to his own beliefs and concepts that he has outlined in some of his previous books. This can be awkward if you are not really familiar with him and have not read him. While the book stands alone, it does warrant some background on the author to really grasp what he is referring to in this book.

Overall I really liked the book; however, knowing the way that McLaren rubs some people the wrong way, it is possible that this could be a very polarizing issue as McLaren’s beliefs and concepts run deep in it. If you are not familiar with his concepts this can be a difficult read for some.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Couples Who Pray

I have to admit that I was very intrigued with this book, especially in light of the fact that this is a practice that my wife and I try to commit to doing already. The premise of this book is that couples who pray together have better outcomes than those who don’t. The book suggest that if you spend at least 5 minutes a day for 40 days in prayer with your spouse that communication will elevate, you can reach more agreements, respect rises, satisfaction in your love life and that happiness is a way of life.

I have to say that I do not know about better outcomes since life happens, but I can say that they have better marriages. They are able to deal with adversity better than those who don’t. They enjoy richness in life that is only brought about through prayer. I know having been in a marriage from both perspectives, one that did not pray together and one that does, but with the same wife of course that the relationship is much better with prayer.

The book provides some real life examples of people whose marriage was saved from the brink of divorce through prayer and it provides some real life examples of what prayer can do. Prayer is a door to God and this book concentrates on explaining the importance of that door. One thing I would caution folks about is that this book places a big emphasis on prayer and that it can change things. Prayer can change lives, but prayer is a discussion with the couple and God. Any change that comes from prayer, God deserves the honor for that work in the life of the couple. I think the book comes a little short of being clear in that respect, but it is still a good book and resource for couples.

If you are willing to sit down with it as a couple and spend the forty (or more) days with it. I believe the book as the power to be very impactful. It has the ability to put you on the right path to true Godly change in your marriage. I highly recommend this book for any couple who in any state of marriage. I believe that it can have an impact regardless of what season of life you are in. The book also has an online component that helps to supplement the book and keep you striving to achieve the 40 day challenge.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book review: Living Life in the Zone

This book is a 40 day spiritual guide to help men grow in their faith. The authors are the founders of a ministry related to sports, so as you can imagine the book is filled with rich images of athletes and sporting events. Even the way the lessons are laid out with a coach’s corner, game plan, playmakers, home field advantage tend to shows the athletic tendencies of the authors.

The 40 days of lessons are divided primary in to six areas to help strengthen an individual man. The first section deals with finding out how you know you are living a life in the zone. The next four deal with relationships, being in the zone and dealing with your wife, then with your children, your friends and then relationships at work. The final section is about finding your zone as you look to the future.

I really enjoyed each section and really felt like the authors did a good job addressing the areas that men really need to think about, especially in their spiritual growth. I felt, as a man, that the book connected with me and really provided me some really good insights to think about in my spiritual growth. Each section provided a take-a-way that was useful for me and I think can be helpful to anyone who reads it.

One of the most useful things that I found was the Home Field Advantage section. Most of the time devotionals have us focus on the specific topic and how to improve in and expound on it. While this book does too, the Home Field Advantage section adds a little twist. It asks you if there are any prayers, concerns or request or praises, which you have. It is a simple process, but one I think that we tend to forget sometimes. It is easy to think about these in the midst of a Sunday school lesson or small group, but often as individuals, at least for me, it is not something I really think about. I pray and spend time with God, but this is a little added benefit to my time with God that has helped make my prayer life better.

I also liked the motivational aspect of the playmakers section. In this part of the devotional, the authors provide some stories from the world of sports to help provide some motivation, inspiration and something to think about. These stories are a great way to see faith in the real world and also provide someone that men can look to as role models in terms of other men of faith.

I recommend this book for any man that is looking for a way to grow spiritually in their life, relationships and their future. Not just the sports fan, but any man. This book will help you focus on God, get into the zone and coming closer to being more like Jesus in your everyday life.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”