Books & Tapes

Thu - March 27, 2008

Review - The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul

My review of Sproul's latest work - The Truth of The Cross

Bias disclaimer: Though I received this copy of the book as a gift from Nathaniel, I will be receiving another Reformation Trust book for free in exchange for reviewing this one (as part of their Blog for a Free Book promotion).

There is probably no other author who has had such a profound effect on my theology as R.C. Sproul (to be honest, this may present a more serious bias than getting the book for free). His Essential Truths of the Christian Faith was a formative book for me - my first real introduction to the world of theology. R.C. has a way of taking some of the more difficult theological concepts and explaining them so that anyone can not only understand, but see how exciting and wonderful it is to learn more about the amazing God we serve.

This latest book, as one would expect, is no exception to that. It is a very typical R.C. Sproul book - in a good way - in that its direct, concise, and easy to read. I finished off the entire book in about a week and a half, and that was with highlighting and note taking. The Truth of the Cross examines Christ's death on the cross from several different biblical angles - God's Justice, Christ as our Ransom, Christ as our Substitute, the exchange of Christ's blessedness for our cursedness, etc. In each he explains why the Cross is a necessary part of Christianity, and expounds the glory of the Atonement.

This book seems to be an answer to the ongoing controversy over penal substitutionary atonement. There are many in our age who find the idea that God punished His Son on our behalf repellant. They claim it makes God sound primitive and petty - that He would need to be placated, or that He would unjustly punish someone else in our place. While the Truth of The Cross definitely answers these charges, you need not be aware of the modern debate to enjoy it (I'm only tangentially aware of it, and yet I still enjoyed the book).

It also should be somewhat clear from the subject matter, that people who are more well-versed in theology will find this book mostly a review. That is not to imply that its not worth reading or that you won't find new insights, but if you've studied theology at length and don't know anything about the Cross.... well, "UR doin it wrong" (as the lolcats say). If, however, you or someone you know is new to Christianity or hasn't really studied the Cross in depth, then this would be a perfect introduction.

For me, it was mostly a review, but one very worth the time it took to read. There is truly nothing more important than the Cross, and we can never have studied it too in depth. It's also a great asset to have such a succinct summary of biblical categories for the Cross in my library. I'm sure this book will serve as a nice reminder if I want to review a specific aspect of redemption (to that end, I do wish he had included an appendix or something of Bible verses for future study on each topic).

However, one insight in chapter 7 (The Suffering Servant) really jumped out at me, and I don't think I had thought about it before. R.C. first talks about how we often get things wrong by focusing on the externals - man looks at a person's actions, but God looks at his heart. He notes the many incorrect assessments of the Cross by the people who were there as eyewitnesses - the soldiers view Him as another criminal, the Pharisees and the thief mock Him by saying that He saved others but can't save Himself, the people see Him as being punished by God, even the disciples see this as the crushing defeat of their Lord. Clearly, looking at the Cross from the outside, or from the simple historical details, doesn't lead to understanding its cosmic significance.

But then R.C. takes a close look at Isaiah 53, and specifically v. 4-5: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." (emphasis mine) The interesting thing here is that the crowds that saw Christ as being punished by God actually got it right! He WAS being punished by God, and even for the sake of sin. What they missed was that Christ was not being punished for HIS sin - He was being punished for THEIR sin. This is precisely what Isaiah is teaching in this verse - a remarkable example of how the Old Testament taught the Atonement (including precise specifics) hundreds of years before Christ was even born.

Apart from the content of the book, the printing of the book is high quality which is encouraging since its the first book I've seen from Ligonier's new Reformation Trust imprint. It's a hardcover book, sort of like the old Soli Deo Gloria ones where it has no dust jacket, but the cover is printed with all of the nice artwork and such. I MUCH prefer hardcovers like this, as I always find dust jackets so easily lost/torn/etc and yet these hardcovers look nice (sometimes dust jacket hardcovers are so ugly and plain w/o the dust jacket). It's also a surprisingly small book - a little over 7" tall, which isn't clear from the photos online.

All in all, its a quality book and a good overview of the essentials surrounding the Atonement and the Cross. I recommend it - 4 out of 5 stars.

Thu - March 6, 2008

Joe Carter's book project

Evangelical Outpost's Joe Carter is attempting a unique way of raising funds for a book

Friend and blogger Joe Carter is planning on writing a book, but he has a novel idea on how to actually fund the project (Samuel - not sure if this may or may not work for your novel, but its worth some thought). It is based on the 1000 true fans idea - that artists or content creators need no longer hope for the longshot big win deal, but instead can use the power of the long tail to make a living by creating for their True Fans.

The idea is that every artist has a set of True Fans. They are the people who buy every release, get everything signed, show up for every show, etc. Back in my band days, we always had a few of those people. You could count on them to be at nearly every show, and they were the bedrock of your support. The 1000 True Fans idea is that if you can get 1000 of these type of fans, you can make a living by releasing things just for them. They are happy, because their favorite artist is still making music/writing/etc. You are happy because you can actually make a living and devote real time to the thing you're passionate about.

This is an idea I had been thinking about in the back of my mind ever since PodShow had launched the PodSafe Music Network. Most artists are really not hoping to score the triple platinum, major label, millionaire success. They'd take it, of course, but thats not why they make music. Most of them would really just be happy not having to slog through their day job, tired from being up all night playing music. The 1000 True Fans idea does just that - you may not strike it rich, but at least you might quit your day job.

Anyway, all of this is the background to Joe's idea for funding his book. He is going to attempt to raise $5,350 on Fundable as a sort of advance for the book. In return for people donating, he is offering some perks - $15 or more gets you a signed copy of the finished book, $100 or more gets your name and URL on the dedication page, etc. It's a really great idea and I hope he can pull it off.

My advice to Joe - expand his blog series On Conservatism into a full length book. Lay out precisely what conservatism is, what our main values should be, and how to rebuild a movement that seems to be a bit lost of late.

Thu - September 27, 2007

Book Meme

I've been tagged with the book meme - here are my responses

Note: I found this post which I had written almost entirely, but forgot to post back in July of 2006! I guess its a little behind, but I'll post it now anyway because its hardly time sensitive, though Eating Words has changed names at least twice and can now be found here.

Eating Words (a good blog I hope all of you are reading) recently put up a book meme post, in which he answered a set of questions regarding books that he has read. If you're not familiar with blog memes, they are something of a friendly chain letter - where one blogger will respond to a series of questions and then forward the challenge to 5 others. This way they move throughout the blogosphere quickly and get a bunch of responses.

I was honored that in an update to the post, he not only tagged me, but listed me as an "interesting person." My vanity properly puffed up, I have no choice but to respond. Here is my take on the meme:

1. One book that changed your life:
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, R.C. Sproul
This book introduced me to theology, and really spurred me onto a deeper Christian faith. I don't know where I would be today without this book, but I doubt that I would have had the desire and courage to read some other weightier works of theology.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Freedom of the Christian, by Martin Luther
A classic work that has several distinctives of Lutheranism - most notably the complete and total forgiveness found in Christ and complete lack of any condemning or binding power of the law. It made my Presbyterian friends in the reading group a little queasy thinking about Christians being totally freed from the law.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
My Sherlock Holmes collection - there's something about these stories that just whisks you away to Victorian London. If you ever needed to forget you were on a desert island, you could easily seek comfort in Doyle's world.

4. One book that made you laugh:
Dilbert comics - the fount of geeky hilarity

5. One book that made you cry:
Just about any of the Chronicles of Narnia, but especially The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as well as The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I hate to admit it, but the great truths in these books, so eloquently hidden in a wonderful, magical story, can reduce me to a whimpering idiot. I'm also sure they've made me a better man.

6. One book that you wish had been written:
The complete guide to wise decisions for Brant's life, by God

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
I think I love books too much to wish a book unwritten. There are a ton of books that have had major negative influences, or books that I strongly disagree with, but there's a huge part of me that is glad books have that power - for good or evil. And yes, that is a cop out because I can't think of anything specific.

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton - though those of you savvy blog readers already know you can see the books I'm currently reading in the right sidebar of the homepage. (Note: obviously, this no longer applies, but you can still see what I'm reading now on the right).

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Anything by Forde. I've heard so many recommendations for Forde by Lutherans I respect greatly, that I really need to pick up at least one, if not several, of his books. I'm hoping to convince my reading group that a Forde book would be a good next step.

10. Now tag five people:
Nathaniel
Van
Josh
Nick
Steve

UPDATE: Mere-O Matt has also agreed to take up the challenge. Any other Mere-O friends may consider themselves so tagged if they wish - I'd be interested in hearing all of your thoughts on this.

Wed - July 5, 2006

Sherlock Holmes goes.... Da Vinci?

I came across an interesting line in my Sherlock Holmes story

Reading through my Sherlock Holmes collection, I was quite surprised to come across this passage. It seems that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had something close to a Dan Brown moment. Don't worry, Doyle's prose could never decay to the point of resembling Brown's, but he did throw this little dig at religion into to The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez. This quote from Professor Coram, who's assistant has been murdered:

"Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow," said the old man. "That is my magnum opus - the pile of papers on the side table yonder. It is my analysis of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt, a work which will cut deep at the very foundation of revealed religion. With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I shall ever be able to complete it, now that my assistant has been taken from me."

Now I will admit that it is a rather minor plot point, tossed out as a portion of dialogue, but it intrigued me a great deal. The question I was wondering is did Doyle simply make this up, or was he referring to some specific texts that had been found at the time?

The Nag Hamadi library would be a good candidate, as it was discovered in Egypt and I believe it was Coptic, but it was discovered at the end of 1945 and wasn't publicly released until a while later. Doyle died in 1930, which we can safely say rules that idea out. Along the same lines, the Dead Sea Scrolls also contained some similar texts, but they fall prey to the same problem, having been discovered in 1947.

So what other manuscripts are there to which he could be referring? Well, with a little more intense Googling, I stumbled across this quote from Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels via ReligionFacts' summary of gnosticism:

"The first emerged in 1769, when a Scottish tourist named James Bruce bought a Coptic manuscript near Thebes (modern Luxor) in Upper Egypt. Published only in 1892, it claims to record conversations of Jesus with his disciples - a group that here includes both men and women. In 1773 a collector found in a London bookshop an ancient text, also in Coptic, that contained a dialogue on "mysteries" between Jesus and his disciples. In 1896 a German Egyptologist, alerted by the previous publications, bought in Cairo a manuscript that, to his amazement, contained the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) and three other texts. Three copies of one of them, the Apocryphon (Secret Book) of John were also included among the gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi fifty years later."

Now we're getting somewhere. The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez was part of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which was written in 1905, according to Sherlock Holmes Online. This would definitely mean that Doyle could have been aware of these texts while writing Pince-Nez. In addition, they certainly fit the description - two are from Egypt, all are in Coptic, and the 1773 one could have conceivably been from Syria. Not only that, but their relative newness would fit the idea that the professor's analysis might really uncover something hidden. I think we've found the mysterious texts to which he referred, and solved the mystery of the day that Holmes went Da Vinci Code.

Incidentally, another mystery which gripped me while I was reading this - though for the most part simply due to my ignorance - was what is a Pince-Nez (and how the heck do you pronounce that?). It was obvious from the context that they were glasses, but what distinguished them enough to use this name? It turns out they are glasses that do not use ear pieces; they simply clasp the nose tightly enough to stay on the wearer's face. This is where they get their name as well - literally French for "pinch-nose." As usual, there is an excellent wiki on this, which even has a picture of Morpheus and his pince-nez sunglasses.

Mon - November 14, 2005

November Challies.com giveaway

This month's giveaway from Challies.com - enter from here and up my chances

It's time yet again for Challies.com's giveaway. This time he is giving away an Outdoor Bible (printed on plastic so it can withstand any outdoor abuse - even being submerged in water) and a book of the winner's choosing from a bunch of different authors. Enter here:

All of my usual disclaimers apply - by clicking over from here you give me an extra chance in the drawing, and I promise to read/review anything I receive from this drawing here on the blog. So go ahead, get yourself a chance at winning, and at the same time, up your chances of reading a review of all this right here on this blog.

Mon - September 19, 2005

Septemeber Challies.com giveaway

Another Challies drawing, another vain attempt to get free books

Challies is having another giveaway -

Click on the image above to enter. Usual disclosure applies - by entering from here you give me an extra chance at winning (thank you), and if I do win I promise to read and review anything I win. Of course, this month's giveaway is an ESV Bible and one other book, so the read and review really only applies to the other book (I already received an ESV bible for part of the ESV BIble Blog's promotion, and reading and commenting on the Bible is already the main function of this site).

Mon - August 15, 2005

Another Challies.com giveaway

Click here, win books (or at least, help me win books)

As has become the monthly ritual, Challies.com is giving away more free books:

Click the above image to enter. My continuing promise and disclaimer still applies - by entering, you get me another chance to win, and if I win, I promise to read, review and summarize whatever books/CDs I win on this blog.

Tue - March 29, 2005

New Category - Books & Tapes

I've introduced a new category to track my thoughts as I read books and listen to tape (or CD) series

I've seen a few blogs lately, some by a few of my friends, who are using their blogs to chronicle their thoughts as they read through different books - with some blogs being devoted to nothing but a sort of diary as the person reads through great books. As I am currently reading a couple different books - from Pilgrim's Progress to Play Poker like the Pros - this idea of blogging as I read through them became more and more alluring to me.

First off, it provides a great way for recording key details on the book. Outlining a particular work and drawing out some of the great quotes from it provides all of us an easy way to see what a book is about and determine if its worth our time. Furthermore, it is a great mechanism for recall - if I want to remember where it was that issue X was brought up in book Y, I can look back through all my posts on it and see where the author was discussing that. In the same vein, if there is a quote I think is particularly good and I want to use it at a later date, I put it in the post for easy retrieval. I really enjoy highlighting my books, and taking notes in the margins and on title pages, so I can really digest the work and remember things quickly if I come back later. Blogging on the books just seems like a natural extension of that.

Another great benefit is the ability to immediately react and think about the book. Good books will often spur thoughts in our mind that we want to discuss with others. Writing a post on a tough point in a particular chapter is a good way to get the thoughts out in a way that verifies your understanding and clarifies your thoughts on it. This ties in with the first post, where its nice to be able to come back and see what you thought about a particular book at a later date - perhaps you had forgotten a key piece of information you had stumbled on while reading that book.

Lastly, its just nice to have things recorded in a place that lasts. I've really already mentioned this in both of the above things, but it is a good reason on its own. Blogs have a virtue of organizing things and storing them for the long term (mine are not only deployed on a server that is backed up, but stored locally in my blogging software, backed up there and on my iPod - geeky overkill, yes, but its all automatic). It's really quite ironic when you think of how intangible software or blog posts are - open up a computer and you won't see them, turn it off and they're gone - and yet they are somehow so much more reliably lasting than, say, a book. A book I can hold in my hand, but if my house burns down I can't have that exact book in countless places throughout the world to be retrieved almost instantly by an effortless press of a button.

My only reservation was a fear that I might clutter up the blog with too many posts on different books. I'm hoping that this won't happen, and I've created a new category to contain all these reviews/commentaries - Books & Tapes. Everything I've said above could just as easily apply to a tape series (or now more common, a CD series) and so I thought I would include my thoughts on these as well. I hope you'll all enjoy this new section and that I can provide you with some edifying reviews of books on many different topics.