Book Review: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

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Rating: Must Have

Level: Easy (though helpful to have familiarity with liturgy); Long (400+), but each day is less than 10 pages

Summary

This is the third book by Gibson and Crossway of a liturgy for daily worship. The first, being a general 31 day guide called Be Thou My Vision, the second one, like this one is focused on a part of the church calendar, O Come, O Come, Emanuel (see my review here), which went roughly from Advent to Epiphany. I have to admit, I was confused by the dates of this book. The subtitle is A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Pascha to Pentecost. I thought this would be a good Monday to post, as Pascha is (I thought) another name for Easter and Pentecost is the 50th day after Easter. However, this is actually a Lent (timeframe) devotional, though Gibson writes “this [book] is not intended to be associated with the traditions of Lent..” I find this an odd and confusing choice.

This book is neither a 40 (or 46, as Sundays don’t count towards Lent) day Lenten Devotional, not is it a 50 day Easter (Pascha) to Pentecost devotional. Instead, it is a 48 day devotional that starts on Ash Wednesday, proceeds 42 days, and then has special service days – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Resurrection Sunday (Easter/Pascha), Ascension Sunday (the Sunday after Ascension Day, which is 40 days after Easter),and Pentecost Sunday.

After a preface and acknowledgements, the books starts with an intro (titled Remembering Jesus), where Gibson makes something of a defense of ‘holy’ days, or having special days of remembrance. It is a really interesting chapter, and if you are in the reformed community, you know that there is a pretty sizeable split with strong feelings on both sides of ‘holy days’. 

The following chapter is a very useful (especially if you aren’t used to Liturgy) ‘how-to’ on using the format, which includes: meditation, call to worship, adoration, reading the Law, confession of sin, assurance of pardon, creed, praise, catechism, prayer for illumination, scripture reading, praise, prayer of intercession (and then further petition/prayer), Lord’s Prayer, benediction, and finally a postlude (doxology).  

There are also appendixes for tunes to various parts of the worship, Bible reading plan, and Author, Hymn, & Liturgy index.

My Thoughts

I still find the subtitle odd and do not understand why they would give it such a name. As noted above, Gibson doesn’t want this to be a traditional Lenten style devotional, but it would seem to me that explaining the difference in the book while giving a clearer title would be more helpful. Another confusing aspect is at one point he refers to this season as the ‘Pascal Season’, which coincides with Lent. This is again odd, as most English speaker use Easter not Pascha, and Easter Season (or Eastertide) is the time from Easter to Ascension Day. It is truly a perplexing decision. That being said, it is another wonderful book. I couldn’t come up with much new to say about how it works, so see below for what I wrote about O Come, O Come, Emanual: 

Honestly, if you attempt any personal or family worship this is a must have. I am a big fan of the structured (liturgical) worship, especially for family devotion. It really doesn’t make it easy to lead or do with your family or community. Really my only (minor) quibble with this is that with 16 parts, it might be just a little too long. However, if you are doing this with a family with young children or you find yourself short on time, there are always parts you can cut. That being said, some sections are only a line or a paragraph long; this shouldn’t take an hour or any extended time. 

If you are unfamiliar with liturgy or structured daily worship this is an outstanding way to get into it. Unless you are from a pretty free-flowing Baptist/non-denom/mega-church background you will probably recognize parts (if not all) of these sections. If you are Anglican, you can see the clear influence of the BCP (which is probably the best book that exist for personal and family worship). 

I know some people don’t like the repetitive nature of some parts of guides like these, saying and can be rote or unfeeling, but really that is up to you. If you don’t take it seriously, or just mindlessly repeat things, then yes, the downside is that it can be meaningless. However, the upsides are a daily reminder of how to worship God, what He has done for us, what so much of the church today and most have always believed and recited, and of course – scripture reading. This is more important than every in church life, especially if you do this as a family/community and use it to help shape and guide children in their beliefs. This is true of any structured worship, but I think is even more important for this time of year, when we are pulled away in so many directions, with so many competing interesting. As I said above, if you are looking for personal/family devotion/worship, this is a must have. 

*I received a free copy of this book from Crossway, in exchange for an honest review. 

Tune My Heart Podcast

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As you probably know, Lent starts this Ash Wednesday. I wrote some thoughts on Lent about 6 years ago. I think my views have matured a little more sense then, but I still don’t entirely participate in Lent. Again, mostly because I don’t know how. I am waiting for Jonathan Gibson, who wrote the Advent to Epiphany guide and has an Easter through Pentecost guide come out soon (check back next Monday for my review), to write one on Lent, hopefully next year. It has been a few months sense I’ve read through the Psalms, so I’ll probably use that Lent as a reason to jump back in.

All that to say, if you are looking for something to do, I have a suggestion – check out the Tune My Heart podcast, which you can find it on Spotify, or any other app of choice (as always: rate, review, subscribe). Tune My Heart is a 30 day, daily worship and prayer liturgy. It is based on the Book of Common Prayer, so if you are Anglican (or one of they other churches who use it) it’ll be familiar and easy to enjoy. If you don’t know the BCP, you’ll enjoy this as something new and different.

The series is 30 episodes long and Lent is 40 days (plus 6 Sundays), so you have built in time in case you miss days. Each episode is less than 10 minutes which can fit into your morning commute, if you are still one of those people (like me) that has to commute every day, or easy enough to wake up a few minute earlier for. Check out the Welcome intro below for more information, then go find it and subscribe wherever you get your podcast.

Book Review: Journey to Bethlehem

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Rating: Put it on your list

Level: Easy, Short (5ish minutes a day/30 days)

Summary

In some ways, this is a typical 30-day devotional, with a section to read, then reflection, etc. However, I think Ryken has done something unique in his choices. It is easy to find a 30-50 day devotional that has writings from numerous authors in the past, but Ryken has only reserved 10 of the days to pure thoughts of others, the remainder of the days are reflections on hymns or poems. 

The book is broken into three sections, the first being Hymns, then what he calls ‘Classic Prose Devotionals’, and finally Poems. Each day follows the same format – the text (e.g. Joy to the World, an excerpt from On The Incarnation, The Magnificat), then a commentary/reflection, then a brief ‘devotional takeaway’, before a final note and word of scripture. There is also a short intro into each of the three sections. Finally, what he calls ‘notes’ which is essentially a bibliography, if you want to find more info, as well as two indexes – one for the people in the book, another referenced scripture. 

My Thoughts

I’ll start with the only thing I didn’t like, and that was the choice of categories. Choosing Hymns and then Poems, is too similar to me (he acknowledges as much in his into to Hymns, stating, ‘Every Hymn begins its life as a poem.’ That is very minor and nit-picky, maybe I just like symmetry too much, but I wonder if the book would have been better off as just hymns/songs/poems. 

Other than that, the book is great, it should be on everyone’ s list/rotation to read around Advent/Christmas. Ryken is a great write, and maybe an even better editor. I really appreciate the summary takeaway and then ending with scripture. His choices for each day are interesting and spread out (there are so many options), but there are plenty you will be familiar with, while adding some that may be new.

I knew six of the Hymns (and four are probably one everyone sang at a Christmas Eve service), the Prose included big names (Calvin, Luther, Augustine) but then other maybe not everyone has heard of (Bernard of Clairvaux, Spurgeon, Athanasius). Interestingly, he added the Nicene Creed to this section, which I really enjoyed. Similarly, the Poems included works of Chesterton, Milton, and Eliot, but I didn’t know any of the others. Except he put the Magnificat in this section, which was a good and interesting point to make. If you aren’t familiar with that name, it is the historic name for the section in Luke 1:46-55w here Mary responds to Gabriel after being told she will give birth to Jesus (it also kind of answer the question Mary Did You Know?, but I’m not trying to start a fight a Christmas). 

Overall, I highly recommend this book, the devotions are short enough to fit into a busy time and his choices of authors and especially hymns/poems makes it interesting and different enough compared to the so many other great and traditional ones out there. So, if you didn’t get to a devotional reading this past December or you did and are looking for something different next year, this is a book to put on your list. 

*I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Free E-Book: Disciplines of a Godly Man

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The Gospel Coalition is offering a free digital copy of Disciples of a Godly Man with an updated study guide. You should be able to download using this link, but it doesn’t say anywhere how long the promotion will last. The ask for your name and email, and you can opt out of the additional newsletters/promotions (though, then you’d miss out on free books sometimes).

I don’t often post links to free books (actually, I don’t often post at all anymore), but Disciplines of a Godly Man is my most read post of all time (and the most so far this year, as of Jan 4, so people are trying to start the year off right). In fact, if you search ‘reviews of Disciplines of a Godly Man’ I’m on of the top real results, even above The Gospel Coalition’s review (probably why they are giving it out for free, they feel threaten by the MMT). Anyway, go read my review, and then get the free book or by the hard copy, it really is a great book.

Book Review: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

/ J.K. / 2 Comments

Rating: Must Have

Level: Easy (though helpful to have familiarity with liturgy); Long (400+), but each day is less than 10 pages

Summary

This is another outstanding book by Gibson and Crossway, similar to Be Thou My Vision, but this one being focused on Advent, Christmas, and ends on Epiphany. For those unfamiliar, that is January 6th, so to have a round number of 40 days, it may start before ‘official’ Advent. That was the case this year, Advent started yesterday (which is late in the chronological Calendar), and the book starts on November 28th, which was last Tuesday. 

After a preface and acknowledgements, the books starts with an intro (titled Waiting For Jesus), where Gibson explains his reasons/hopes for this book. The following chapter is a very useful (especially if you aren’t used to Liturgy) ‘how-to’ on using the format, which includes: meditation, call to worship, adoration, reading the Law, confession of sin, assurance of pardon, creed, praise, catechism, prayer for illumination, scripture reading, praise, prayer of intercession (and then further petition/prayer), Lord’s Prayer, benediction, and finally a postlude (doxology).  

There are also appendixes for tunes to various parts of the worship, Bible reading plan, and Author, Hymn, & Liturgy index.

My Thoughts

Honestly, if you attempt any personal or family worship this is a must have. I am a big fan of the structured (liturgical) worship, especially for family devotion. It really doesn’t make it easy to lead or do with your family or community. Really my only (minor) quibble with this is that with 16 parts, it might be just a little too long. However, if you are doing this with a family with young children or you find yourself short on time, there are always parts you can cut. That being said, some sections are only a line or a paragraph long; this shouldn’t take an hour or any extended time. 

If you are unfamiliar with liturgy or structured daily worship this is an outstanding way to get into it. Unless you are from a pretty free-flowing Baptist/non-denom/mega-church background you will probably recognize parts (if not all) of these sections. If you are Anglican, you can see the clear influence of the BCP (which is probably the best book that exist for personal and family worship). 

I know some people don’t like the repetitive nature of some parts of guides like these, saying and can be rote or unfeeling, but really that is up to you. If you don’t take it seriously, or just mindlessly repeat things, then yes, the downside is that it can be meaningless. However, the upsides are a daily reminder of how to worship God, what He has done for us, what so much of the church today and most have always believed and recited, and of course – scripture reading. This is more important than every in church life, especially if you do this as a family/community and use it to help shape and guide children in their beliefs. This is true of any structured worship, but I think is even more important for this time of year, when we are pulled away in so many directions, with so many competing interesting. As I said above, if you are looking for personal/family devotion/worship, this is a must have. 

*I received a free copy of this book from Crossway, in exchange for an honest review. 

Christians and Halloween

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If you have questions or concerns about Halloween from a Christian perspective, check out this video from inexplicably not bald, devastatingly handsome friend, Pastor Scott Schneiderman. Scott has been on of my closest friends since kindergarten, and is a pastor of a church up in Virginia. If you like the video, check out his site – http://www.re-quip.org – for more and/or give him money.

I really like the focus on amoral decision making, and I think it is something pastors and other leaders in the church need to remind us more often. Kevin DeYoung does a great job of this about decision making in his book, Just Do Something. Beyond that, Scott dives into the history and misconceptions about Halloween. Definitely worth a listen, and if you prefer podcast, search re-quip in your player of choice.

Book Review: Christianity and Science

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Rating: If you are looking for something

Level: Difficult (wordy, academic style, knowledge of enlightenment and higher critical philosophies/theories is helpful); Short – 230 pages

Summary

The book has 13 chapters – Intro, How the Concept of Christian Science Emerged, Defects That Clung to Christian Science, Positive Science, Evaluation of Positivism, Consequence of the Verdict, The Concept of Science, The Natural Sciences, The Humanities, Theological Science, Revelation, The Blessing of Christianity for Science, and A Christian University. There is also a lengthy Editors’ Introduction, which explains some of the translation issues and gives a little bit of background in to Bavinck’s life and situation. 

Written in 1904, but looking back over the previous 50-70 years, the book focuses on changes to society and to the university system that has come from recent official moves towards liberalism and secularism. Bavinck is focused specifically on The Netherlands, but also broadly on the post-enlightenment and higher critical movements of Europe in general. 

There is a also a good explanation of what Bavinck means by ‘science’, which was essentially synonymous with ‘learning’ or ‘knowledge’, and science was often still in the title of disciplines (e.g. Theological Science). The book was also originally titled Christian Science, which the editors changed due to the current American religious movement. However, the phrase is used throughout the book. 

It should also be noted that this is not a discussion of Christianity vs. Science, in the way of some of our modern American discussions. 

My Thoughts

I’ll get the negative out of the way first, if you haven’t read Bavinck before, it can be difficult. This may only bother me, but he has sentences that run for paragraphs, and paragraphs that run for pages. Also, he is distinctly a product of his time, the theological and philosophical arguments that were raging at the time are front and center in his writing. While most people are probably familiar with Kant, I’d guess that Schleiermacher is less well known (though maybe not to the type of people that would read a Bavinck book), let alone the list of other German philosophers and theologians that have faded into obscurity. The editors make short notes as to whom he is referring and what they did, but without some background knowledge, I’m not sure how impactful it is. The notes help for those who were contemporary politicians in The Netherlands, because their thoughts/arguments are pretty straight forward, but the writings of the academics and their nuance may be lost. 

That being said, so much of his writing then is still applicable to us today. It is odd as an American, hearing the arguments about the Government funding private (including religious) schools, but most of Europe started in a different place than we did. They are coming from an official (confessional) religion and then moving secular. So, often ‘equality’ means funding all viewpoints/religions equally, while here it means funding none. For a more modern/current take on these issues, look up Michael Bird, as he writing/arguing some of these same issues right now in Australia (where the Government does fund all schools). 

There are some esoteric arguments in the first few chapters, especially about ‘positivism’, but especially starting in the Humanities chapter to the finish, the writing sounds very contemporary. He points out the issues/problems of ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ argument of morality, while also criticizing the ‘private matter’ of  a ‘preference and taste’ view of choosing a ‘personal religion’. The Theological Science chapter discusses how theology can/should be taught and the issues of many schools moving (in some cases required) to religion departments; pointing out that if there is no universal or deeper truth, then the studies of religion may as well move to History or Psychology departments, or if the Bible is just writings, why not a subset of Literature? Finally, the University chapter is wild it how it almost predicted the future. He feared the political re-shuffling of the professors based on ‘openness’ and ‘tolerance’  not actually being use the way the word implies. He states, ‘according to the doctrine, there is room for all, but according to life, only for us and our friends. If you ever see studies/surveys of professors today and see their very narrow set of beliefs/viewpoints (for the most part), you can see he is correct. He even points to the fact that professors come from other professors and is less about how might be the ‘best’ and more about ‘who do we want to get along with’, which is just interesting to see that written 120 years ago. 

Overall, as is just about everything from Bavinck, this was a great book, he is truly a talented and gifted writing/academic. I just wonder how many people would benefit from this book, or rather who the audience would be. So, if you like Bavinck and are exciting more of his works are being translated to English, this will be pretty great. If you are in academia, you would also benefit. Obviously, some of the issues are a bit dated and the refences to contemporary Dutch politics isn’t always applicable. However, if you are studying or wanting to learn more about history and how we’ve gotten to our modern moment, this could be helpful. So, if you are looking for something, this book is great, but I do think you need to be looking to get much out of it. 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Review: The Beginning of the Gospel

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Rating – Put it on your list

Level – Moderate, written at popular level but Biblical knowledge is helpful; short (less than 200 pages).

Summary

This book is part of Crossway’s New Testament Theology series, and I think it is a fairy unique angle for study. The series preface says they are seeking, in this series, to take a Biblical Theological approach to the major themes of each book covered. If you aren’t as familiar with the term Biblical, it is as opposed to the more common Systematic way of handling theology; the latter being focused on topics first (sin, the church, etc.), while the former looks at overarching themes that unfold as you read through the Bible (or individual book in this case).

The book is broken into seven chapters – Divine Identity, Revelation, The Kingdom of God is at Hand, Repent and Believe the Gospel, Follow Me, What Moses Commanded, and Died, Buried, and Raised. There is also an introduction and epilogue. The intro chapter in this series is consistently one of the best out there on the topic. The on for Mark is less than 15 pages, but acts as a mini commentary. 

My Thoughts

This is a solid study on Mark. As mentioned above, it isn’t a traditional commentary, but focuses more on themes/theology of book. My main criticism would be that the chapters are almost too disparate. Other books in this series, while not having a unifying theme, still seem to flow more cohesively. That being said, if you are looking to teach/preach on Mark, this a book to add to your list. 

Particularly chapters one, two, and six are interesting in the connections he makes. First, who Jesus actually claims to be (and who his followers thought he was) is supposedly debated often today, but in reality His claims are clear. The chapters on handling the Old Testament is also instructive.

Something unique to Orr’s approach is the connection with both Peter and Paul to Mark. Mark is often associated with Peter’s perspective in the Gospel, but he also worked with Paul, and many of the theological elements of the Epistles are present in Mark. Whether Mark or Matthew were the first Gospel written is debatable, but either one would come later than most Epistles, so much of the original audience had the knowledge and writings, before the had the Gospels. I think that is hard for modern readers to remember, because we view it (and the Bible is arraigned) chronologically. There is also often a criticism from those outside the church that the Epistles, especially Paul’s, were a later change to Jesus’ message and that they altered the theology of the Gospels. Orr does a good job showing not only how aware Mark was of those letters but how his Gospel interacted (and agreed) with them.

If you are doing a Bible study or preparing a sermon series, this book can’t really stand on it’s own and would need to be supplemented with additional commentaries (especially if it is a sermon series). However, the chapters could be a good outline for a study and the book raises many good points and tackles some of the more confusing elements. If you are interested in deeper study of Mark, put this on your list. 

 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Psalms in 30 Days

/ J.K. / 2 Comments

Rating: Must read

Level: Quick, easy; over 300 pages, but meant to be spread over 90 readings

Summary

This is a 30 day devotional through all the Psalms, with Morning, Midday, and Evening readings, based on the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and other prayer books. All reading start with a call to prayer, include Psalms, and the Gloria Patri. The Morning and Evening readings are slightly longer and include Confession, Blessing, Canticle, Lord’ Prayer, and what he labels Prayers of the Church, which is a prayer from either the BCP or someone in Church History – Augustine, Luther, etc.

My Thoughts

This may be my favorite devotional of all time. At least the format, and prayers, etc. outside of the Psalms; I’m not a huge fan of the CSB Psalms, but it certainly isn’t a bad version (there are worse ones that are far more popular). If you have ever used the BCP, this will be pretty familiar by mixing the Daily Offices (all four – Morning, Midday, Evening, & Compline) with the daily prayer (Psalms), but in a daily devotional format (not reading Psalms, then flipping to various canticles, collects). I really enjoyed Wax’s collection of prayers of the church; it was a solid mix of old, very old, newer, prayer book, and also famous and less known prayers. 

If you have never used the BCP, you may want to after this book. Being something of a BCP light, but with just the Psalms and not the full office readings (the whole Bible in a year) is a great introduction. This devotional is also a good way to introduce someone to Psalms readings. Reading through the Psalms monthly dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and has been practiced by millions of Christians. 

I am more used to the Morning/Evening breakdown, but the Midday was a nice touch, it was shorter than the others, so if I couldn’t get to it at lunch, I’d either read it when I got home from work or add it to the Evening (which I think is shorter than the Morning, but not by much). On average, you read five Psalms a day, so it works to something like a 2-1-2 (though obviously not that nice and easy as sometimes you may read up 9 in a day as in the 140’s, or may spend days in one Psalm, as in 119).

There is no commentary or thoughts written regarding the Psalms, as this follows the prayer book model, which may seem different to those more used to the modern ‘daily devotional’ style. I personally prefer this style, as the ‘daily devotion’ can be hit or miss and oftentimes it seems the author had a short passage in mind before picking a verse (or whichever Psalm, if it is one of the many Psalms devotionals). If you want to keep reading the Psalms, but prefer that style, Keller’s is probably the best and he stretches it to last a whole year. However, the prayer book style has been lost and often it seems daily reading/devotionals have become overly complicated. Martin Luther reportedly told people to say/read a Psalm and then say the Lord’s Prayer and get on with your day. Luckily, we are more literate and have infinitely more access to books/materials than even the richest parishioner from 500 years ago. That doesn’t mean we have to over complicate it, but being able to read all the Psalms (not just recite the few we have memorized from church) and other prayers/confessions is the best of both worlds. If you have any interest in the Psalms or daily prayer, this is a must read. If you already reading the Psalms on a monthly basis, swap this in for a month a year to great benefit. 

Book Review: From the Manger to the Throne

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My Rating: Must Read

Level: Moderate, written at popular level but Biblical knowledge is helpful; short (less than 200 pages).

Summary

The book is broken into seven chapters – The Great Reversal; Peace on Earth as in Heaven; Israel, the Gentiles, and Isaiah’s Servant; The Way of Life; The Success of the Last Adam; The Son of Man’s Rule and the Ancient of Days; and The Year of Jubilee. There is also the series preface, book preface, intro, and an epilogue. If they chapters don’t look chronological to you, it is because they aren’t. The unique aspect of this series is that it seeks to catch all the major theological themes, but in commentary style.

My Thoughts

This is the first book I’ve read in Crossway’s New Testament Theology series, and I think it is a fairy unique angle for study. I’ve seen this book (or series) occasionally referred to as a commentary (not by Crossway) and while that isn’t technically correct, I can see where people are coming from. If you took a true scholarly commentary on Luke (e.g. Baker’s) and stripped out just the sections on theological themes or maybe an excurses on angels, you’d end up with something like this book. The series preface says they are seeking, in this series, to take a Biblical Theological approach to the major themes of each book covered. If you aren’t as familiar with the term Biblical, it is as opposed to the more common Systematic way of handling theology; the latter being focused on topics first (sin, the church, etc.), while the former looks at overarching themes that unfold as you read through the Bible (or individual book in this case).

Now, the seven themes Gladd has chosen are probably not the consensus themes among theologians/scholars. I imagine if you asked 10 people to pick seven themes, they might agree on three or four of them. Even as I read, I caught myself wondering whether one or two of the topics really belonged. That being said, I actually think this adds to the potential use for the book. As I read, I kept thinking about how great this would work as a small group or other Bible study. I would have loved to hear others’ feedback on some of the threads Gladd pick’s up on. He obviously makes compelling cases in each chapter and backs up each point with scripture from all over the Bible, so I don’t think any of them are ‘wrong.’ For a pastor a bible study leader, that gives you some compelling material to challenge people.

I was pretty much hooked on this after the intro while long for an intro to a book this size (over 10% of the pages) it makes sense once you read it. Gladd takes you through a quick summary of all of Luke. It was probably one of the most concise, while still being dense and comprehensive, overviews of any book of the Bible I’ve ever read. It really would be a great way to start off a Bible study.

I wouldn’t recommend this book as the first thing someone reads on Luke, or even for a new believer. To be as short as it is, you need some level of scripture to begin. This book would best be used in self study as a supplement to a regular commentary or, as I mentioned, an eight part Bible study with a group. I think getting everyone caught up on Luke from the intro, then spending a study time on each chapter would be a great use of this book and lead to some interesting discussion. For pastors preaching through all of Luke, this would certainly give you some ideas to focus on and themes to pull out and make sure are coming out in your sermons. While being somewhat technical, it is well and is a fair quick and easy read; it is also short at under 200 pages. If you are already familiar with Luke and look for another way to study, or leading a study, or are a preacher, this book is a must read.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.