Tim Keller has a new book coming out in October called ‘The Prodigal God‘, it’s an exposition of the ‘Parable of the Prodigal Sons’ and I get the impression that like ‘Reason for God’ it will be accessible for both Christians and non-Christians alike. It’s released on the 30th and you can currently pre-order from Amazon for around £9, I’m hoping that the Good Book Company might have it in stock at a similar price nearer the time, I’ll let you know.

Here’s a short interview with Keller about the book, and a response from Keller about the use of the word ‘Prodigal’ in relation to God.

Also, Mark Driscoll has lots of books coming out this year which has prompted the launch of Resurgence Literature publishing (ReLit). The first book was Vintage Jesus, I’ve finally got round to reading that so I’ll review it soon.

The latest books out (released last week) are a series of 4 books - ‘A Book You’ll Actually Read‘ - they’re less than 100 pages on ‘The Old Testament’, ‘The New Testament’, ‘Church Leadership’ and ‘Who is God?’. These are the square shaped ones (left). At the end of July there’s a book called ‘Practical Theology for Women’ coming out by Wendy Alsup, a deacon at Mars Hill. ‘Death by Love‘ (right) is coming out at the end of September, from what I gather it is based on Driscoll’s ‘Christ on the Cross’ series and then put in to a letter format. Finally in January 2009 ‘Vintage Church‘ (middle) is being released, subtitled ‘Timeless Truths and Timely Methods’ - it’s in the style of the Vintage Jesus book and I’m guessing will be similar to the Radical Reformission, probably with more of a focus on some of his sermon series (1 Corinthians, Nehemiah) and some practical suggestions. One more thing, they’re also publishing other non-Mars-Hill books, so far just Total Church by Timmis and Chester.

Last week I picked up some books for myself at EMA - Total Church (Timmis and Chester), Why we’re not Emergent (some American guys), and The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Dever)… will give some thoughts when I get round to reading.

You may well be in the middle of exams, you may have finished, either way I need to let you know about a great little resource from the Good Book Company called ‘Don’t Panic!‘. DP is written by Martin Cole and Andrew Roycroft and is essentially a 4-week Bible study guide to help you through exams.

The main ‘feature’ of the booklet is 4 weeks of very short Bible study / devotional times, with the aim of helping us to focus and trust in Christ at difficult times. The studies are simple and help to get our priorities sorted. We start in Nehemiah, go to the Gospels, Psalms, 1 Peter, Colossians and a few other passages here and there. They’re not deep studies going through whole books or chapters, but simple thoughts to get us to put God at the centre when there’s plenty of stressful things competing for our attention.

Each week also includes both a revision timetable and prayer diary to fill in. The booklet is very easy to keep with you during your revision and easy to turn to at any time. There’s also 3 Su Doku, and some word puzzles, the latter were too difficult for me, but it makes for a better revision break than Facebook! There’s also some short articles about how to revise and how to cope with the stress that exams bring, and an interview with a real student, particularly helpful because it’s so honest and down to earth!

Criticisms - I think the cover looks silly, and it would be nice to have the Bible passages printed in the booklet so you can be out revising and not have to carry a big Bible as well. But these are minor things, basically this is a great idea, not one that’s been done before to my knowledge, and it’s been done really well - clear, simple, biblical and God-focused. If you’re a student get it! If you’re a parent, get it for your kids! If you’re a teacher buy it for Christian students you know! If you’re a youth leader, get copies for everyone in your youth group! If you’re involved in running a CU, why not invest in a few copies for your members?

It’s a real bargain at £2.50, and the usual discounts are available if you’re buying in bulk for a group or if you have a UCCF Student Card. I’m hoping there’ll be a new edition out for next year, with new studies perhaps, new puzzles, new articles? News coming soon about some new Bible reading notes from the Good Book Company…

So chapter 1 of Reason for God, following the introduction, Keller addresses the issue that he says he hears frequently in his ministry, he sums it up with the word ‘exclusivity’. That is people taking issue with religions that make truth claims and then who try to persuade others of those claims and who refute the truth claims of other religions. The argument put against religions making truth claims is to say, firstly that all religions are basically the same - equally true (or equally false), and also to say that the divisiveness between these exclusive claims is what causes so much of the war and violence in the world.

Keller talks through the 3 main responses to the problem of religion: to outlaw religion, to condemn religion, or to keep religion private. He then goes on to explain why these responses don’t work, and are inconsistent.

Outlaw Religion - take the 20th Century, the regimes that claim religions cause war and violence have suppressed those beliefs with more brutal violence. The belief that as we advance technologically we would evolve out of religious beliefs has been proved untrue. Those countries that have tried to outlaw Christianity have failed, China being the obvious example.

Condemn Religion - that is by argument and education to make religious belief socially unacceptable. There are several objections raised in this section, “All religions are essentially the same“, “Each religion only sees part of the truth“, “Religious beliefs are culturally and historically conditioned“, and that “Religious beliefs are arrogant“. Keller in essence argues that all these criticisms find their root in unprovable, exclusive claims, and in making the objections reveal their own arrogance, and therefore hypocrisy.

Keep Religion Private - I guess this is a big thing at the moment with all the news about voting on embryo research… Keller argues that we all have religious beliefs (a set of beliefs formed to answer life’s big questions), and that whether we’d call ourselves religious or secular these ‘religious beliefs’ affect all areas of our life - the secularist still makes decisions based on religious beliefs.

There are a number of things I like about Keller’s approach here… firstly he doesn’t assume too much, he’s not specifically talking about Christianity or referencing the Bible, he’s dealing with more basic issues, yet at a level which is intellectually and philosophically robust. Secondly he’s well researched, quoting both secular and Christian academics, using the secular philosophers writings to prove his points - clever! Thirdly, he’s gracious, he exposes the folly and hypocrisy of some arguments, but does not then become proud in his writing, but urges engagement with the big questions. Finally, he’s honest, he doesn’t try and get out of the facts, mainly that religions are divisive and do cause problems!

Keller concludes with a well worked in (not just crowbarred in) explanation of the Gospel of Grace, of Jesus Christ the sacrifice for sinful humans, and the example of unity and peace in truth.

You can listen to the talk on Exclusivity from Redeemer.

Remember I said about Tim Keller doing a talk at a Google Authors event… well here’s the video from that…

The good people at the Good Book Company sent me a copy of this little new book produced by the Christianity Explored guys. It’s designed to be an accompaniment to the course but can stand alone. Until now I’d only skimmed through it, we ordered 25 copies for the events week at Sussex - 5 lunchbars, 5 people each day interested enough to read a book, seemed reasonable… they were all gone by the Wednesday, I think because they look interesting and contemporary, and they cover a broad range of questions.

The book goes through 13 common questions, that seekers, and for that matter Christians will ask about the Christian faith. It’s a small book, about 100 pages, so there’s not a huge amount of detail to the answers - the authors have suggested further reading of a more technical nature.

First thing I guess to say is that this book is not a ‘Reason for God’, ‘Mere Christianity’ kindof book, it doesn’t deal with the big philosophical questions about God, nor does it deal with the complex Science and Evolution questions, and the questions it does deal with, well it only has 10 pages for each, but to go deeper there is the further reading list already mentioned. I suppose also it’s not really apologetics in the ‘be-thinking’ style, although the style of the questions might give that impression. The methodology of the book is more like simply pointing people to the Scriptures and using stories and illustrations to explain the words of Jesus - a good approach!

So who is the book for? Well, it’s aimed at anyone who’s already interested in thinking about God, someone who has genuine questions (so it’s the perfect accompaniment to a Christianity Explored course), and the questions it deals with are more of the moral and spiritual questions about God. I guess it’s fair to say that just in the style of writing and illustrations used that it’s aimed at a younger generation, well under 40, not that young then!

Here are the 13 questions:

1. If you’re really there, God, why on earth don’t you prove it?
2. Isn’t the Bible just a bunch of made up stories?
3. All good people go to heaven, right?
4. If you’re a God of love, why send anyone to Hell?
5. If Jesus really was your Son, how come He got killed?
6. If I can be forgiven everything, doesn’t that mean I can do whatever I like?
7. How can anyone be sure there’s life after death?
8. What about followers of other religions?
9. Isn’t faith just a psychological crutch?
10. Why do you allow suffering?
11. Why do you hate sex?
12. Why don’t you just do a miracle?
13. So, God, if You could ask me one question, what would it be?

I very much enjoyed the laid back style of the book, there’s lots of good, contemporary illustrations that are both funny and personal which I think helps the reader to warm to the book and to what the author has to say. It’s also very Biblical, which I guess may not be great if that’s the reader’s big obstacle to faith, but it’s good that the question about the reliability of the Bible is addressed at the start, and of course I thoroughly believe in Biblical Evangelism - after all the book is about asking God questions, so God’s word must be where we look for the answers!

One part I particularly enjoyed was from question 3, author Paul Williams recounts his time working at the Bedfordshire Times, a newspaper I have read on at least one occasion. He explains the time when he got an opportunity to sit at the bosses desk… great little story, amusing, and a great illustration of Sin, our dethronement of God. It’s also good that the book ends by directly addressing the reader, what would God ask us? We are taken to the parable of the rich farmer… what good is it if we gain the world, but forfeit our soul?!

You can get this book from the Good Book Company for the bargain price of £5, yep you worked it out, that’s £3.75 if you are the proud owner of a UCCF Student Card! Consider getting some copies especially if you’re running lunchbar talks or hosting a Christianity Explored course.

Unexpectedly, Father bought a copy of Keller’s book, came in the post today. So had a read of the introduction. Keller sets out to explain the situation we are at in our culture (a distrust between sceptics and believers) and why we should all honestly and carefully approach the big questions in life. Here’s some initial points…

• Relate to the American context… there’s a lot of talk about the social, political, religious issues in the USA. The UK is very different, but I think we can see our own issues of how the church relates to the culture, and how faith and society can engage.
• Believers and Sceptics need to move beyond the point of denouncing each other to the point of being able to disagree.
• Believers need to be honest about and wrestle with their doubts - “a person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if they have failed over the years to listen patiently to their own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection”
• Atheism is not believed by a consensus of society and is not empirically provable, therefore it takes just as much faith, and has just as many doubts as any other belief.
• Keller concludes the introduction with 3 stories about New Yorkers who came to faith having struggled with suffering, self-image, and the intellectual credibility of Christianity.

Keller seems intellectually robust, philosophically aware, and yet humble, personal and honest. Looks like it’ll be a good read if I get round to it! Having read Mere Christianity the other month, it does seem like the ‘modern’ version, with Keller writing to the next generation than Lewis was.

Here’s a video of Tim Keller on his book tour, giving a talk at a university. I didn’t really listen to the talk (I’d already listened to the individual ones on the Reason for God website) but was more interested in the Q&A afterwards, he’s very gracious in his answers and is clearly very well read - I’d have liked him to come and do a lunchbar at Sussex.

With Easter approaching I wanted to read a book on the cross, but with the pressures of work I didn’t have time to pick up a ‘big one’, but this little CJ Mahaney book packs a big punch, it’s short but meaty.

CJ starts off with some basic foundational points; Paul describes the Gospel as of “first importance” (1 Cor 15), it should be the main thing in our lives and we need to keep it the main thing. But he points out there’s 3 other beliefs that draw us away from the Gospel:

1. Subjectivism - basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions
2. Legalism - basing our view of God on our own performance
3. Condemnation - being more focused on our sin than on God’s grace

The book goes on to deconstruct these errors and to put our focus back on God’s grace given to us at the cross. One of the things I love about this book is that CJ is so good at taking complex theological words and the different facets of the cross making them easy to understand, and thoroughly practical: love, justice, penal substitution, justification, redemption, sacrifice, wrath, ransom, expiation, judgement, imputed righteousness, suffering… all this great doctrine is interwoven into simple exultation of the cross, and the call to live life with the cross at the centre of all things.

The book is worth reading if only for chapter six and seven; they are powerful and emotive, bringing the truth of the cross to the reader with great clarity and conviction. Chapter six explains what’s going on in Gethsemane, Jesus is taking the cup of God’s wrath, his soul is “sorrowful”, he falls down and prays that God would take the cup away… CJ shows the pain caused, the anguish and agony when God’s wrath is placed upon someone, the spiritual separation from God is great, Jesus feels this pain. But, this is my cup that Jesus takes, “He took the cup that was reserved for me”, the sorrow that we see in Jesus in the garden should be what we experience now.

Chapter seven is called “Your Face in the Crowd”, who do we identify most with in the crucifiction accounts; the disciples, Pilate, Judas, the women, the crowd? Martin Povey spoke at BH last night and made it clear why we can all identify with Judas, we’ve all betrayed our saviour. The lyrics to a Mars Hill song, can’t remember the song or the exact words, but it was along the lines of “Judas sold you for 30 pieces, I’d have done it for less.” CJ puts us in the crowd above other places, we’re the ones calling for Jesus to be crucified, it’s our sin that sent him there!

You can get a book called “The Cross Centred Life” for the bargain price of £6 from the Good Book Company, that’s £4.50 with a UCCF Student Card… although it is a reduced version, my book is called “Living the Cross Centered Life” and has a white cover, the book on GBC is called “The Cross Centered Life” and has an orange cover… according to Matthew, my one is two books brought together- “The Cross Centered Life” and “Christ our mediator”… anyway, whichever book you find, buy it and read it! Will have to read Humility soon, another highly rated book by CJ.

How do you spell Centered? I would have spelt it “Centred”… am I being stupid, or is it one of those silly American spelling mistakes?

Much has been written over the years about this book and the others in the Joshua Harris series… I myself was annoyed when JH wrote yet another book about dating, called ‘Stop Dating the Church’ - I later found out this wasn’t actually about dating! Anyway, I read this a couple of months ago…

A lot that has been spoken and written about this book and his other one (I kissed dating goodbye) has been a bit negative I think, particularly in the UK. I think that’s because we come with a basic misunderstanding about the book, that is we think “this is Josh Harris telling us how to do relationships the right way”, and also I guess people will have been told by their churches or families “read this book, this is the right way to do relationships”. I think we come with the wrong view, JH makes it clear that the book is advice based on personal experience, not a one-size-fits-all or legalistic approach… and if we’re not convinced then he makes the point again on his blog.

There is an issue I have with the book however, courtship as he describes doesn’t work here, or isn’t easy, unless you want to marry the girl next door - how are you supposed to ask someone’s parents permission before you know if they’re interested? Anyway, I think the courting model does work in home-school, Christian-right, parts of the USA… but probably not here.

What I do like however is the stories, after all it is a personal book, JH shares his story of how he got together with his wife as well as other stories about friends… I guess at heart I’m a bit of a romantic, I love the story of the little drummer boy in Love Actually for one, and the stories in this book, there’s one about ‘Rich and Christy’ which makes me get a little bit emotional, for about 10 seconds before my manliness kicks in again! Some of JH’s personal stories seem a bit over the top, a bit legalistic, but you can see that he’s all about doing the right thing, honouring God, respecting his sisters in Christ and not entertaining even a hint of immorality.

Personally I prefer a model of Christian dating, or ‘Dourting’, which is a bit more realistic to a more ‘normal’ situation - which Mark Driscoll has explained in his latest sermon along with some good humour (see Christian dating bubble), you can see that sermon here.

I still have a bit more to read, but I think the last bit is more aimed at engaged couples. Another book on a similar vein that I’m going to read is ‘Married for God‘, by Christopher Ash, it’s being plugged at church at the moment for £7.99 - fortunately I got a free copy at EMA!

I know it’s sin to dislike “joyful Christians”, but sometimes it’s hard not to, particularly when occasionally you do meet the ‘Ned Flanders’ type who is constantly rejoicing, always joyful - maybe I’m too English and reserved, maybe I should be seeking some experience to give some joy, maybe I’m just a grumpy old man, maybe I’m typical, maybe I’m in need of some more sanctifying…?

Sometimes I really dislike John Piper also… “God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in him”… he makes joy, and satisfaction in God sound easy and normal. Really? Maybe it’s just me but I find it hard to be joyful a lot of the time… life is stressful, sometimes I wonder if God is gonna answer my prayers, sometimes sin just gets in the way, sometimes sin seems more attractive than God,

On a side note there’s some interesting discussions about JP’s theology and the subject of Christian Hedonism in the blogworld, Ed Goode has given some thoughts with a few other references here.

However, before I slate Piper too much, he does also write books to flesh out his ’slogans’, they kindof explain and defend his ‘brand’ of Christian Hedonism. I just read this little book ‘When the Darkness will not lift’, which as I understand is pretty much the last chapter of a slightly bigger book ‘When I don’t desire God’. It’s thinking about the topics of depression and suffering and how we can find joy in the midst of these.

Piper clearly and concisely takes us through a variety of what I guess you’d call ’stumbling blocks’ to joy. Depression, suffering, sin - Piper takes these and honestly and helpfully shows us the issues, gives us some encouragement from scripture and helps us to see that joy is attainable because it rests not on our feelings but on the grace of God ministered through Christ. Although Piper can be blunt as well, in one chapter he says “Do your duty”, basically just get on with life… not quite that blunt, but he’s right isn’t he, apathy and idleness is a place for sin and temptation, whereas getting on with life, getting on with serving and worshipping God (even when we don’t feel like we want to, when we don’t feel joyful) is how we can fight for joy - and in that to pray that God would give us joy.

This is a small book, and JP recommends obviously his bigger version as well as some big old books for further reading such as; Lloyd-Jones - Spiritual Depression, John Owen - Overcoming Sin and Temptation, Richard Sibbes - Bruised Reed, Richard Baxter - The Cure of Melancholy, and some others…

Interestingly the end of this book includes the story of William Cowper, who was deeply encouraged by the ministry of John Newton who shared his life and the grace he had found in Christ with him. Right up until his death Cowper was troubled by depression and attempts at suicide, but authored many hymns testifying to the grace of God.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

from ‘God moves in a mysterious way’

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away;
and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

from ‘There is a fountain filled with blood’

I say it’s interesting that the book concluded with this testimony because not long before I saw his story here…

Well for whatever reason, possibly deadlines it took me quite a while to read this, but that wasn’t so bad,it’s a book that you can read one chapter each week without losing an idea of what’s going on, each chapter being a little shot of good stuff every now and then. The author Kris Lundgaard, has taken the best bits from John Owen’s writing on sin, temptation and defeating it. It’s packed with loads of gems and little nuggets of gold in talking frankly about sin. The book is split into 4 chapters but really has two main themes; 1) analysing the nature and power of Sin and its tactics to tempt and deceive, and 2) biblical, prayerful, and thoroughly practical strategies for defeating sin. Each chapter ends with some questions which really help to focus thinking on what’s being discussed- would make a great small/prayer/accountability group study. Very helpful and practical, easy to read. Good stuff.

Uncle Stevo, who was running the CB3 book stall this year was trying to get rid of his last few books… of course I snapped up a copy of Desiring God for £7 - bargain… and was also intrigued by the History Makers biography series; Luther, Calvin and The Cambridge Seven, there’s lots more too.

The main reason I got this book was because I wanted to read some more about C.T. Studd - one of the Cambridge Seven, missionary to China, Congo, maybe some other places, the founder WEC, and source of the quote “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” But if I’m honest, I was always more interested by the fact that he was the best all-round cricketer of his day, and gave up a promising international cricket career to serve God in an overseas mission field.

Anyway…the book was quite hard to read at first, loads of different names and random diary entries. But I love the background details, about the mothers and missionaries who were praying, about how the Seven came to faith - largely through the ministry of D.L. Moody, and of Hudson Taylor, his vision and prayer for workers to come to China. The book doesn’t talk about their work in China but is focused on the Seven, their conversions and their call to overseas gospel work.

What did the Seven achieve? Clearly they were called and used mightily by God, and their legacy can be seen today… despite oppression the church in China stands, around 70 million strong! China has the potential to become the largest missionary sending country with the ‘Back to Jerusalem‘ march. And their influence extends beyond China, the work and example of these 7 has led to the sending of may more missionaries, establishment of worldwide missionary organisations as well as the founding of student Christian movements… Norman Grubb, son-in-law of C.T. Studd started UCCF… so in fact the influence of C.T. Studd has contributed to the fact that I’m part of a Christian Union at Sussex University today!

I always thought that China is a closed country, the church is underground and no one really knows anything about it… that’s not true… John Piper recommended this website China Soul - under the heading “The Cross - Jesus in China” there’s 4 videos about the history and the present of the Chinese church. Hearing some Chinese Christians talking about their faith and the persecution they face is both a great encouragement and truly humbling.

“God does not deal with you until you are wholly given up to Him, and then He will tell you what He would have you do.”