Category: book review
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A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Preachers have the best job. People pay us to exegete the world’s best story and then retell it the best way we can. We learn to do this in seminary, from listening to each other, and from conferences and homiletics books. We also benefit from those who don’t have us in mind. I was inspired…
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John Adams
After finishing David McCullough’s book on The Wright Brothers, I remembered he had written a biography of John Adams that I hadn’t read. I don’t know as much about American history as I should, and since I like McCullough’s work, I decided to read that too. It’s long (650 pages) but informative and quite enjoyable.…
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The Wright Brothers
I love meticulously researched history books and last week I finally got around to reading David McCullough’s fascinating The Wright Brothers. Ten takeaways: 1. Wilbur and Orville were earnest, plain-spoken, celebrity-averse, hard-working engineers. They didn’t have flashy personalities that provide great material for a biography. They were simple bachelors who lived with their father and…
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The Art of Writing Non-Fiction
Historian Robert Caro’s new book, Working, suffers from redundancy (similar points, down to the phrasing, reappeared throughout the book), but I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who writes non-fiction. Here are a few of my takeaways. 1. Writing well is hard work. Caro explains his tedious research process—the travel and hundreds of interviews…
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technology & talk
I just finished Sherry Turkle’s book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. It is a bit repetitive and longer than it needs to be, but it also makes many interesting points about the influence of computers and smart phones on us and our culture. Turkle’s main point is that constantly being…
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four views on hell
Zondervan’s new Four Views on Hell is another stellar volume in an already valuable series. I probably assign too many of these “views books” in my classes, but I don’t know of a more economical way to put in students’ hands the best, and most current arguments, from all sides. I finished this one in…
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Interview, Part Two
Here is the second part of the pastor’s interview that began yesterday. 5. Some Christians, I can only imagine, will be inclined to push back on your book, arguing that the church is already too worldly and doesn’t need encouragement to “enjoy life”. How would you respond to such criticisms? One friend asked if most…
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Interview
I spent the last couple of hours responding to perceptive questions from a pastor who wants to share Becoming Worldly Saints with his congregation. I thought that the answers might interest some of you and encourage your faith. I’ll post the first half now and the second half tomorrow. 1. The question driving your book…
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The Happy Christian
Christians know they are supposed to have joy, but what about happiness? That sounds too much like Oprah, or the old Norman Vincent Peale. David Murray has responded with The Happy Christian, a thoroughly practical book that explains why and how no one should be happier than a follower of Jesus. When I started the…
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gone fishin’
This photo is the beach on the Sea of Galilee near Genneserat, where Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. This story illustrates the competing yet complementary relationship between creation and redemption, our human and Christian lives. A week or so after the resurrection, when seven of the disciples were hanging out, Peter said,…
Mike Wittmer 