Month: March 2016

Zondervan Counterpoint Series

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I’ve posted many articles about reading recently and wanted to highlight a series here. I first came across these a few years ago and was instantly intrigued. I thought it was a great way to show differing views with the spectrum of Evangelical Christianity. After reading a few, I’ve put them on my list of must haves for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of a topic.

The book starts with a topic (Adam, Hell, Women in Ministry, etc.), and then has three to five people make their case for their particular view. The authors are usually scholars who have written many books or commentaries on the subject. However, the generally do well writing to a broad lay audience. After each makes their proposal, the others make short critical responses. The original author then has a chance to briefly respond to the criticisms.

I really can’t imagine a way for Christians to get such an in-depth, but (fairly) short and simply written scholarly discourse. Every Christian who has an interest or struggle in belief in a certain issue should start with the Counterpoint series.

If you are interested in buying, you can find them quickly through my amazon store.

Book Review: Do More, Better

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Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity by Tim Challies

Rating – Add it to your list (for most); probably not worth the time (for people already well organized)

Level – Readable, short, step-by-step approach

Summary – It is really difficult to write a summary that doesn’t just rip off the table of contents. Basically, he explains the system that works for him. This includes a mission statement (he calls this a productivity catechism), then finding things that get in the way of your productivity and finally the tools to tackle the problems.

I want to focus on the tools here, because in the month or so that I’ve read this book, I’ve tried to adopt them all. The first tool is a basic task manager. He recommends Todoist, and I’ve jumped on the bandwagon. It’s very intuitive and I use it multiple times a day. The price of the book may be worth this chapter alone. Second tool is a calendar; he recommends Google, it’s nice enough. I use a calendar for everything at work, but never tried to apply that idea elsewhere.  It’s been most helpful in keeping me aware of when I have time to do things and when I don’t; which, in turn, helps my task management.

The final tool, I still haven’t gotten a hold on. He calls it something to gather your information and recommends Evernote. I really like the web clipper extension, but haven’t found much else that is helpful, yet.

He wraps it up by reminding us that for the system to work, you must live on the system and you must maintain it consistently.

Review – I particularly like the lazy-busy excuse/productivity thieve; it hit close to home. There are many things I’d like to do (though I sometimes put it on God) and I wish I was more productive. After adopting the first two of his recommended tools, I’ve already noticed a difference. It sounds like a cheesy add, but not only am I getting more done, but I have more time. This book could be very helpful to anyone who needs a productivity boost.

On Commentaries

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I’m a big believer in the use of commentaries. I put them second on my list of books to buy, once you have the basics. This is mainly because some parts of the Bible are just strange. Others are thousands of years old and in a geography you may not be familiar with. The books of the Bible were written in different languages than we speak today and was given to an audience with a vastly different understand of the world. Finally, good commentaries can give you the differing views out there on a particular difficult topic, or even historical views that have changed due to some new information.

Which ones should I buy?

The unfortunate (for your wallet) answer is, all of them. Seriously, maybe not everything that exist (dozens of commentaries on each of the 66 books), but I have come to believe that you should get the best one you can find for each book, though some can be grouped together. A friend of mine told me this once and I really didn’t like it. It’s tedious and expensive, but it really is the right answer. Well, actually, it is the best answer for some. Most people aren’t going to go buy something like that New International Commentary full set of 46 volumes that cost about $1,500. If you want that many and are willing to spend, it’s better to go book by book.

Why is this case? Honestly, some volumes of a set are just weaker than others. I’d also argue that some books (of the Bible) are more familiar to you with less technical issues, in which case, you can get by with a cheaper, less in-depth commentary.

There are multiple levels of technicality, depth and type of commentary to buy. First would be a single volume(ish) and this is where I’d recommend starting if you haven’t used commentaries before. The second level is for Bible study or devotion, these will be shorter, less technical and written more to a believer about a text and growing in the Word. Third level is for those prepping to lead a Bible Study or a pastor for a sermon; or someone looking to invest the time for a deeper understanding. Final level is academic. These may be highly technical and not always translate the original languages. They will be most engaged in scholarship and least engaged in personal growth. Most people will never need/use these if they aren’t a pastor, seminary student, professor or big nerd.

Example of a commentary length/depth based on 1 Peter (which is only 5 Chapters) –

New Bible Commentary – 17 pages

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – 80 pages

Tyndale Commentary – 248 pages

Word Biblical Commentary – 416 pages

My Recommendations

Single Volume(ish) – I say ‘ish’ because, while there are good intentions of getting a commentary to one volume, that leaves you with one big-ass book. I personally use and recommend the New Bible Commentary. I also use the abridged version of the The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, which is actually two books, Old and New Testament.

Bible Study/Devotion:

  • Expositor’s Bible Commentary – This is another great into/first step, offering lots of great info from an evangelical perspective and can be had at a great price when you buy use or the old (12 volume) edition.
  • NIV Application – Has its feet in both the study and devotional side, though is quite large at 42 volumes.
  • Sets like the Weiserbe and Boice (I haven’t used either, put Boice is on my list) that are more focused on devotion is something I have in mind here. If you ever buy an entire set from a single author, it must be for devotional purposes, as no one person can be an expert on every book of the bible.

Message preparation:

  • New American Commentary – These are solid scholarly written books, while remaining somewhat brief (41 volumes, so combing some books). Easy to find used volumes for $10-15.
  • Tyndale – Probably the least technical of those I’d recommend. Also, great prices, they printed them in paperback and you can find old copies or used ones at a great price. Olive Tree often has them on sale for $99, which is a hell of a deal.

Academic:

  • Baker Exegetical Commentary
  • New International Commentary
  • New International Greek Commentary
  • Word Biblical Commentary

 

Other Places for Recommendations:

You’ll probably notice that I didn’t go into detail about which commentary for which book. Two reasons for this, my main goal is to give you an idea of what’s out here and secondly, I haven’t read multiple commentaries on every book of the Bible. Instead, I use these guys to help me select which commentaries to get.

Best Commentaries

Challies

John Piper

Ligonier

You can also find all the commentaries I’ve used or recommend at my amazon store.

 

Blogging Bavinck 1 – The Man

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Part of my “Just Do Something” was to be active in this blog and use it as a place to publicly share my thoughts. Additionally, it forced me to put thoughts down in writing. Most of this is focused on working on two different projects. The one here today, is reading through and writing about Reformed Dogmatics. This is a massive four volume work (the shortest of which is just shy of 700 pages), and will likely take me more than a year to write about. So, here it goes.

Herman Bavinck was a badass Theologian in the Netherlands. He is not widely known in the US, as his work has just recently (2008) been completely translated to English. He is becoming quite well known in the Reformed community in the us, if you are in seminary or a theology nerd.

Born in 1854, he completed his theological training at Leiden in 1880. He went on to be appointed professor of Dogmatics at Kampen Theological Seminary before eventually coming to be a professor of theology at the newly formed Free University of Amsterdam in 1902 (free in this since of being under control of neither the church nor the state). Where he stayed until his death in 1921. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and named to the Senate of the Netherlands Parliment. He was a contemporary of Abraham Kuyper in Amsterdam and B.B. Warfield, even participating in the Stone Lectures in 1908.

His magnum opus, Gereformeerde Dogmatiek was published between 1895 and 1901; revised, expanded and republished between 1906 and 1911; published again, unaltered in 1918; with different pagination in 1928; finally translated to English and published between 2003 and 2008. There was also an abridged (from 3,000 pages to 850) edition in published in English in 2011. Many of his other work have also been or are currently being translated.

I am not too far (100 pages or so) into the first Volume, Prolegomena, but I can already say, it’s tough. Not only is it dense and academic (probably 30 pages on why we should use the term ‘dogmatics’) but it has a bit of an antiquated feel. You have references to metaphysics and the concern for these new scientific departments of religion, as opposed to Theology.

Anyway, should be interesting, check back next Monday as we dive deeper in to Prolegomena.

For more info on Bavinck:

Biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Bavinck

Follow along with me, go buy the whole set here – Reformed Dogmatics (4 Volume Set)

Why You Need a Study Bible

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American Christianity has an interesting relationship with the Bible. Many of us claim it is our favorite book, but we know its contents much less well than citizens of other countries. I think one reason is our dual mentality of ‘no creed but the Bible,’ which leads us to know less of what we believe, and our misunderstanding of ‘Priesthood of all Believers.’

We think it’s easy to just grab the Bible, read it through, and understand everything. In good literalist fashion, I once sought to find the most literal version of the Bible I could find. That led me to the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Of course, it hadn’t crossed my mind to try and learn Koine Greek.

Reading parts of the Old Testament, I came across phrases such as, “and his nose became red.” What? Well, it’s an idiom for becoming angry. Who knew that ancient Israel didn’t use the same idioms and maxims as modern Americans? So, I conceded defeat and looked for a more ‘dynamic’ translation.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Just Do Something

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Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will by Kevin DeYoung

Rating – A must read

Level – Very readable, short.

Summary – Many people search for God’s will, but American Evangelicals, especially Millennials, have made it an art form. He claims that doing this ‘leads us to no where’ and calls us ‘directionally challenged’ (these are names of the chapters in the book). The basic point is that too many of us sit on our asses ‘waiting’ for God to have a perfect opportunity just fall on us. All this waiting means we don’t accomplish much. The essence of his book: trust God and Just Do Something. Another great takeaway is that God’s Will is about moral decisions. Where we live or which job we take is a non-moral decision.

Review – I found his sections regarding the life of his grandparents especially intriguing. Maybe because my granddads are also quite old and are believers. There is a great section where he asks one granddad about considering God’s will for his job. His granddad’s answer, he hadn’t really thought about that. He knew he needed to pay bills and he knew that required work, so he went and found some.

This book really challenged me on a very personal level.  I felt he was describing me in the parts about waiting to the point of doing nothing, waiting for God to make it happen essentially. He also talks of fear, and people hiding behind God. I believe that is part of my problem. I’m scared to take a risk, but it’s very easy to say, ‘It’s not God’s time, yet’ or something to that affect. While I had some specific convictions, I hope that it would challenge every Christian who reads it to do something.

 

 

Building Your Theological Library

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I read a lot. My library started quite small, first with just a Bible, then the realization I needed a Study Bible and commentary to really help me understand. From there I moved on to Theology proper and issues of Christian life. All this led, of course, to the terrible idea that I should start a blog, but I digress. Below is a guide to getting started. First set are the necessities, from then on I give categories to buy (in bold) and a few recommendations of each.

If you want to buy and use amazon, please go click the links or go through my store.

The “Introduction to Christian Life” Library:

The “I Want to Know More” Library

  • Commentary – New Bible Commentary, The Expositors Bible Commentary
  • Broader Christian classics – Desiring God by Piper, Knowing God by Packer, Mere Christianity by Lewis, etc.
  • Church History – Church History in Plain Language by Shelley
  • Systematic Theology – Erikson or Berkhof; Outlines of Systematic Theology by A.A. Hodge
  • Topical books (broad) – What Does the Bible say about Homosexuality by DeYoung; How to Read Genesis by Longman

The “I Want a Deeper Understanding” Library:

  • Bibles – you can pick up a topical study Bible here, or a bi-lingual version
  • Church History – History of Christianity in North America by Noll; The Story of Christianity (2 Volume) by Gonzales
  • Commentary – Full version of Expositor’s Bible Commentary; Tyndale Commentary (this one is shorter and works well digitally, Olive Tree often has a $99 sale); New American Commentary
  • Theology – Biblical Theology by Vos; Historical Theology by Allison; Institutes of Christ Religion (2 Volume) by Calvin (Battles translation)
  • Topical Books (narrowed)– Inspiration and Incarnation, Evolution of Adam by Enns; Any of the Counter Point series from Zondervan
  • Basics of Biblical Greek/Hebrew

The “I Don’t Have Any Friends” Library:

  • Bible – Interlinear or parallel Greek/Hebrew Bible
  • Commentary – Word Biblical, Baker’s Exegetical, New International, etc.
  • Theology –Systematic Theology by Hodge;Reformed Dogmatics by Bavinck(Follow along with Blogging Bavinck)

You can buy all these books from my store.