This book was very helpful in my understanding of grace. There is a definitive line drawn through the book which threads grace into the various disciplines of Christianity which relieves the pressure of performance and the pride of accomplishment. It would be a good book to read regularly as I would be prone to forget the simplicity of the gospel.
This was a very informative book that cut through all the lore surrounding American education. Marsden combines general cultural history and anecdotal stories to provide a colorful story of the birth, growth and death of the American University. It's not exactly a quick read but worth each turn of the page.
I my best understanding of prayer has been mystical and other-worldly and certainly tainted by a heavy dose of cynicism. Dana received this book while volunteering at Piper's pastors' conference and promptly suggested it when I confessed my struggle with prayer. Paul Miller shares some of the deep suffering and frustration in his own life and how a life of prayer has opened his heart and mind to the work of God. It is a very easy read and Miller is easy to relate to. It puts perspective and application to scriptural commands regarding prayer and provides a nice contrast with our Western DIY culture.
John Piper is able to break down the topic of thought in relation to faith for the layman. This book provides encouragement and humility while deconstructing both secular philosophy and the anti-intellectual movement within the church. It is a quick read that goes down easy and fills you up while leaving you hungry for more (metaphor alert!) It would be nice if Piper came out with a more detailed sequel.
Ron Nash is excellent when it comes to fusing history, philosophy, politics, economics and worldview. This book is particularly insightful as it is a compact assessment of the various definitions of justice as they relate to political philosophy and how they are often misrepresented. He then went on to give the most common objections to the free market and the rational refutations of those arguments. Though there is a chapter devoted to how "justice" and freedom relate to morality, the entire book is dedicated to exploring these interlinks, proving they are not as illusive or complex as we are led to believe.
Ron Nash tackles an interesting topic in
The Meaning of History by looking both at some common concepts of historic meaning as shaped by specific worldviews and what the consequences of those are. He then proceeds to examine some of the most prevalent philosophers who directly addressed this issue. The main tension is between cyclical and linear views. His basic point can be seen in the nihilism or determinism seen with cyclical views versus the meaning ascribed past events in the progress of a linear view of history. He has a final chapter on Neo-Marxism which is by itself intriguing and ties nicely with contemporary ascription of historical meaning. At only about 160 pages it is a quick, insightful book that gives much to consider.
This is a very heady book that would require several additional readings to begin to comprehend. The first 2 sections deal with the theistic proofs from natural theology and common grace. The 3rd section is a critique of presuppositionalism. I found some of the arguments in all three sections to be quite persuasive and others to be less so. I find the arguments for the role of reason in apologetics to be very interesting. The most valuable lesson I got from this book was the love and respect demonstrated for the proponents of presuppositional apologetics by Sproul et. al. They disagree on method but never doubt the commitment to or honor of God's Word.
Willing to Believe is a detailed, yet brief analysis of the controversy over free will. Sproul give some historical perspective and then goes on to summarized the positions of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Arminius, Edwards, Finney and others. Though written from the perspective of a historical Calvinist, the various views from full Pelagianism to contemporary Evangelical Semi-Pelagian are fairly treated. The argument is framed in the philosophic interpretation of scripture and the attributes of God leading the reader to inescapable conclusions that I found quite compelling.
My Dad has recently gotten into historic exploration novels, of which he has given me several, and this has been the first of which I have read. It was surprisingly engaging, written in novel form and reconstructed from the various interviews and daily journal entries recovered from those who braved this trip. It gives not only a detailed account of Roosevelt's near fatal journey through the Amazon, but also some background into the man himself. It makes for quick reading and is an exciting well written tale.
This was next in my Ron Nash series that Dana bought for Christmas. I was really interested in where he would take the topic, being both Libertarian leaning and a Social Conservative. This book was very similar to
Freedom, Justice and the State, and expanded the topic of justice in society. It was interesting following Marsden's book on The
Soul of the American University to combine some of the history of Marsden with the philosophy of Nash in the decline of "American" Christianity from orthodox into the social gospel so prevalent today. His last chapter on Liberation Theology, really the radicalization of the social gospel, was quite good.
Few people have shaped would history like Martin Luther and few biographies give such as fair and honest treatment as Here I Stand. Bainton's study of Luther feels like it came from the mind of Luther himself and his views on faith, his rejection of the papacy and reformation of the mass and sacraments stand as the foundation for Protestantism. His overwhelming reverence and fear of the Transcendent God are nearly forgotten today. His torment seems it was a result of that never really being tempered by grace. I thought the passages from Luther's own pen were the most profound and moving.
With in congress Ron Paul is one of a kind. Most find him nutty and outrageous and many in the news media find him wordy, not fit for sound-bite reporting. This makes all the more necessary the reading of his books to understand and appreciate his insight into current and historical policy decisions guiding this once great country. As a contemporary politician he is one of the best commentators on political and economic theory (as if they can be separated) since Hayek, Rothbard and Friedman. I agree with almost everything he says but I do find his Universalism religious views naive. Sadly in this generation, liberty needs to be defined.
Following our trip to Berlin I became very interested in WWII and cold war politics and history. Dana bought this book for me following some good reviews. It was as detailed as I could handle and went well beyond my geographical knowledge. What I found fascinating was coming to some understanding of the major characters involved, the geopolitical intrigue that existed within both the Axis and Allies as well as the factors involved in the buildup to the U.S. entry into the war. There was some commentary and speculation provided by the author but it appeared to fit within the events of the war. Some of the most revealing moments were the way in which the Soviets sacrificed huge numbers of men in an attempt at winning the war of attrition and the Allies Imperialistic aims at the end of the war.
