That is all I want to know…
What book has been your favorite in 2010?
What is the best book you have read this year?
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SBC in the NEWS- Embrace churches make first contact in Europe The Baptist Message
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Get Connected by Johnny Hunt
I’m breaking the rules and putting up two, cause that’s just how I roll.
The Heresy of Orthodoxy
Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age
DeYoung and Kluck “Why We Love the Church”
A refreshing read that reminds us the reason churches aren’t perfect is b/c they’re made up of a whole bunch of sinners (albeit, hopefully, saved by grace sinners); yet also focuses on the strengths and needs of churches in a culture where so much anti-church/institution/religion stuff is coming out…
Of course the tired super-spiritual answer will be the Bible, but it is difficult to pick one other favorite! “The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love” by Jonathan Leeman is probably my pick.
Radical by David Platt
“My Grandfather’s Blessings”
by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
A beautiful book that would be meaningful to those whose faith traditions embrace the concept of the ‘CHESED’ of God,
(His merciful loving-kindness):
the abundant mercy and grace of God which overflows and is poured out on mankind as a completely undeserved gift of love.
” . . . mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Book of St. James 2:13
This meaningful book would be a help to those who are berieved, or who care for those who are profoundly ill and suffering.
It is applicable to all those who ‘visit the sick’ in Christian compassion. And especially for those who attend the dying as hospice workers, this book is filled with blessing.
These 4 come pretty close for me:
*Spectacular Sins by John Piper
*Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue by Brad Waggoner and E. Ray Clendenen
*Uneasy in Babylon by Barry Hankins (surprisingly thoroughly enjoyed it though I disagreed with much of it)
*The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love by Jonathan Leeman
I read Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue last year and was surprised at how little attention the book received in SBC life and discussions considering it was friendly, well-done, and a good wrestling ground for what is a discussion that everyone loves to discuss nowadays.
Josh,
I totally agree. I actually hadn’t heard of it, I just stumbled across it in the library looking for books on the CR.
just one?
“Weapons of Mass Instruction” by John Taylor Gatto. Shows how American forced schooling is “dumbing down” the American public and being used as the primary tool to bring about a socialist society.
There’s more to the book, but that is a good synopsis.
SSBN,
Sounds rather propaganda-ish.
that’s like asking a parent to pick their favorite child.
Who made God? by Edgar Allen
Life Together by Bonhoeffer
Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson
Radical by David Platt
Justification by NT Wright
Josh C, NT Wright and the Inerrancy of Scripture.
Josh C seems to be one of the more well read folks who is aware of this board. I notice where he has read a boon on DB and the one by NT Wright; neither of whom make a big deal of Inerrancy and one would be hard put imagining them as outside apologists for all the energy Mohler and his handlers placed on the CR.
From his reading of Wright and DB; wondering what light JoshC can share with us here on Inerrancy; and if he could, possibly framie his response on how NT Wright and DB would respond to Chapter 13 in http://www.sbctakeover.com
Josh C of comment 13 in this thread.
Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite by L. Michael White
ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism by Yves Smith
Michael White also wrote “From Jesus To Christianity.” Michael White takes a neo-orthodox position on the Christian faith as a whole and denies the trustworthiness of the four gospels. I have not read “Scripting Jesus” but I am of the persuasion that it would be a great book for use in a dissertation as to what a Christian is “not” to believe.
I SO badly want to agree and disparage the book and anyone who would read it. However, that would involve a threadjack and therefore I’m going to keep my comments to myself.
I have a greater appreciation for the development of the Christian movement and the Gospels via reading each (i.e., “From” and “Scripting,” respectively). The richness of the Gospels, via the structural and narrative analyses in “Scripting,” enhances, at least for me, the trustworthiness of the Gospels.
An excellent book for the coming shooting season is: Black Rifle ll, The M16 Into The 21st Century. It is an excellent book about a great American tool for the advancement and maintenance of freedom around the world.
Sometimes, CB, you scare me just a little bit!
I know Dave. But I am also sure you sleep better at night knowing “we” are around.
And, no joke Dave, it is an excellent book.
I have a whole shelf full of books about the Yankees – any one of which is a classic.
Dave,
If you do not have: Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend and Say Hey: The Autobiography Of Willie Mays, you have no grasp of baseball greatness.
The Babe was an also ran compared to Willie.
Heretic!
I will check back later. Gotta go see some folks.
BTW, Pete Rose might be number two.
I’ll bet that’s not true.
Great zinger, Dave.
I was hoping someone would get that one.
Teammates by DAvid Halberstam is a great Baseball book.
Dom Dimmagio may be more interesting than his Brother.
Ted Williams Mother was Hispanic.
And then there is the play in the 7th inning of the 6th game of the 46 World Series where Enos Country Slaughter stole home from First Base.
Dave,
A rolling hole in a donut against a $50.00 gold piece it is true.
Another book for a select few of you is A Manual For Writers, Sixth (or seventh depending on where you go to seminary) Edition, by “St.” Kate L. Turabian.
As I’m starting back to seminary, hopefully to finish this time, that you would mention that book gives me nightmares. Run away!!!
If any of you guys are planning to preach through Ephesians, I would like to suggest: Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary by Harold W. Hoehner. It was published last year and far surpasses the works of Peter O’Brien or Earnest Best.
Dr. Hoehner was one of my favorite profs at Dallas.
Dave,
I think he has written what will become the gold standard in commentaries on Ephesians. I have never met him, but I enjoyed and learned from his commentary on Ephesians.
Just finished Greg Gilbert’s What Is the Gospel? Probably the best thing outside the Gospel that I’ve read in a decade.
I just got through rereading the Baptist Faith and Message 1963 edition.
It’s still the best thing I’ve read in a long time.
I don’t know, Bill – the 2000 edition is vastly improved!
Now, lets not open that can o’ worms in this one, okay?
The 1929 one is better or the Abstract of Principles. 1963 got to liberal for me.
1963 was hardly a liberal document. There were a couple of things that needed to be addressed, but to call 1963 liberal is unfair.
Dave, I did not mean liberal in the political sense of today. Compare the two documents, and you will see a trend away from God’s Sovereignty and toward humanistic. 1963 was still solid, but I prefer slow change. I do think 2000 did a good job of addressing feminism.
Joe White,
A friend recommended that book, “Radical” by David Platt. I will have to eventually check it out. He made a good sales pitch for it.
Best book I’ve read (still reading, actually) so far this year is ASP.NET 3.5 for Dummies… but then again, that’s me, and I can use the knowledge for work.
“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien,
“The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger” by Stephen King,
and
“From Sinai to Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible” by J. D. Levenson
Mike,
The Gunslinger series is a good read. I think it would make a great movie series like Indiana Jones only with better bad guys.
Radical By David Platt
and
Forgotten God by Francis Chan
Summer read, The Girl with the dragon tatoo trilogy, a very tough read at times but if you are into a good fiction series these a good
I read “A Theology For The Church” edited by Danny Akin this past year. It is a good intro. work, especially for Baptists. Mark Dever’s chapter on the Church is good. Dave Miller and David Rogers will be greatly enlightened by that chapter. (could not resist saying that Dave)
I’m gonna tag CB here and say Ron Rash’s Collection of Short Stories Burning Bright.
I read the last 30 pages of MacCulloch’s Christianity, the first 3,000 years this afternoon; pretty intriguing; learned something in the big perspective.
Best lecture I heard was Charles Marsh online on Bonhoeffer, March of this year in Berlin.
May think of something else later, but those three stand out at the moment.
Steve,
I have not yet read Burning Bright. I will put it on the list this year.
“What Did You Expect?” by Tripp. Must read for everyone married or soon to be.
and since others are posting two books: “Counsel from the Cross” by Fitzpatrick and Johnson
Finished books? A World Undone by G. J. Meyer on WWI. Working on Bavinck’s Dogmatics, but a long way to go until the whole set is finished.
<a href="http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/6513/nm/Plowshares+%26+Pruning+Hooks:+Rethinking+the+Language+of+Biblical+Prophecy+and+Apocalyptic+(Paperback)/?utm_source=jgardner&utm_medium=blogpartners"Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic by D. Brent Sandy. This book is a great resource if you are interested in the subjects named in the subtitle. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas
The Deep Things if God, by Fred Sanders
The Road to Bythinia. Historical Fiction about Luke and the book of Acts. Really interesting take on the First century church. I liked it. Then Radical by David Platt
Another vote for Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas.
I’d say it’s a tie for me. “Whosoever Will” by Lemke and Allen is one. “Captured by Grace” by Dr. David Jeremiah is the other one. Both are excellent books, and I’d highly recommend them.
David
Mr. Debusk: Glad you read Metaxas bio of DB. http://www.religiondispatches.org took notice of it in a letter from a PCUSA minister Crawford on the Kagan SCOTUS nomination.
I had a reply there; notably Charles Marsh’s upcoming bio of DB should surpass Metaxas for substance.
For sure, as MacCulloch hints in this brief treatment of DB in first 3,000 years of Christianity, the conversations to follow Marsh’s bio of DB as it inevitability will engage the World Mag’s embrace of Metaxas should among other things shed light on Timothy George’s misguided use of the Barmen Declaration to mischaracterize Paul Simmons and SBTS by default.
Fox and Michael,
Metaxas’ bio was excellent. I don’t think I’ve read a better one on anyone.
Brandon, I’m going to read the Metaxas biography. I think you were among the first to mention it on another post, and it’s been on my ‘list’ since that time.
Now others have mentioned it also.
I do have an interest in Bonhoeffer through my advocacy of the Holocaust Museum’s work.
You might want to read Victoria Barnett’s essay on Dietrich Bonhoeffer which is posted on the Holocaust Memorial site. It gives some insight into how Jewish people see his legacy:
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/bonhoeffer/?content=1
Brandon, I don’t know if it will rank with DB for you, but consider the Keith Durso bio of George Truett, a special one for BDW who did a grand review for Baps Today.
Page 34 of the October 09 issue:
http://www.baptiststoday.org/backissues/2009_10.pdf
Moivie and book for CB and Brandon and all;
Baptist preacher has a great review of a great movie. No excuses for any of you missing this movie if it comes within an hour’s drive of you.
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=16520
CB should be able to easily translate his affection for Ron Rash’s novels to this film which explores similar hardscrabble existence in another part of the country.
And Brandon, my point is Marsh’s work by virtue of many things is likely to surpass the Metaxas effort for substance. For sure as I’ve said many times, Marsh’s family network in SBC and Baptist life from being the nephew of Fisher Humphreys, to the son of Russell Dilday’s successor at 2nd Ponce De Leon, should exact wide conversation in Baptist circles.
I am hoping that part of that conversation engages Timothy George’s use of the Barmen Declaration in his differences with Southern Seminary.
And on several occasions I have linked Marsh’s lecture in Berlin March of this year. Brandon, if you haven’t heard it yet,do.
It is easily googled up.
I’ve got Metaxas’ bio of Bonhoeffer beckoning me from my shelf, but haven’t read it yet. What I’m about to say will let everyone know how far behind I am on my reading, but I would say Crazy Love by Francis Chan is the best book I’ve read so far this year.
Barry Wallace and other fans of the Metaxas bio. I do hope some of you if you can buy only one bio will hold out for the Marsh bio of DB coming out next fall. Get Metaxas from a Library if its an either/or for you as Marsh bio will have the greater substance.
And Bap Hereticus above; hope you will wade into Diarband MacCulloch’s Christianity. As one considering Scripting Jesus, the last 30 pages are grand resource for enlightened folks who may wander here and seek to bring our fundamentalist brethren forward.
At same time it could take me better part of the next three months just to get my hands around those 30 pages, not to mention the 970 preceeding it.
Good brief platform in MacCulloch from which to enter the certain discussion of the Metaxas and Marsh DB bios when Marsh publishes next year.
Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism … edited by Drs. David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke.
“Trouble with the TULIP” by Frank Page
Also enjoyed “Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism”
Another wise reference piece:
http://tinyurl.com/22pnknr
What is the Johnny Hunt book about?
I don’t know if Hunt’s book is about How Far She Went, but I do know that to be a title of a Baptist author who sang in the choir in Woodstock Georgia, Mary Hood. She has spoken At Shorter I believe where Nelson Price is long time Trustee, and was at a writer’s conference at Berry in early 90′s I attended.
I don’t know if she is or was a member of Hunt’s church or not.
Didn’t Hunt baptize Jane Fonda?
I’m pretty sure that was the case.
Here is a look to grand Baptist Mary Hood of Woodstock Georgia.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2455/is_n1_v33/ai_19638481/pg_3/
Why do you this? Why do you cont. to come on blogs and make tear down people? I ask a question about Johnny Hunt’s book which I think is called Connections. Yet, you took it as an opportunity to tear down people.
I did not tear down Hunt’s book. CB Scott who I take to generally be in your column on these matters joins me in adoration of great work of one of Hunt’s undergrad classmates from 75.
Judge Roy Moore’s church where Jerry Vines first campaigned for Presidency of the SBC in 88 is not far from me. I have friends in that church and may be able to get a copy of Connections there.
Sometimes I get to the Samford Library where I can find Charles Kelll’s book Tongues of Fire in the BX 6400′s on the Rhetoric of the Takeover of the SBC. Some CR folks on this board say Hunt carried on the tradition in Orlando in re Ronnie Floyd’s GCR; I don’t know.
I have heard Richard Land is at Bellevue this weekend for a One Day Pastor’s Conference. Steve Gaines, Wayne Dorsett and I had strong but convivial conversation early March 93 on some matters just after an Albert Lee Smith Inquisition of Samford President Tom Corts.
But I digress
Mary Hood was singing in a Baptist Choir while she was writing her short stories in Woodstock Georgia. My Grandmother’s Brother was the legendary Doctor in that neck of the woods first half of the 20th Century before it became a suburb of Atlanta. Many third generation souls of extended family members of that native community were brought into the world by my blood ancestry.
Mary Hood writes about it. She is a Baptist. If CB Scott can converse with me about the short stories. Maybe you should get outdoors more often, Jefty, I don’t know
Stephen, I wish you well—I think for the good of others and to respect the wishes of Dave and the blog owner. I will not respond to you because you are always posting links about how bad it is to be SBC. I am moving on and wish that you find the peace that appears to be lacking in your life.
TO DAVE and OTHERS, I am sorry for my comments that were often written out of frustration and crossed the line at times. I have learned a lesson from Stephen that I need to let go of things. Please forgive me, and I am going to do my best with God’s help to contribute in a godly matter to this blog.
I wish you success Jeff in your aspiration to self improvement. It is a torturous task for us all, and a lifetime matter of fits and starts.
Like Kyle whatshisface song says, We Fall Down and We Get Up.
Anyone know any good books by Arminians?
Dave,
Good work. You did the right thing… again haha.
Brandon Smith:
I owe you an apology for my comments to you over the past week. I make no excuses, I was wrong and I know better.
See Comment 13 and 14 above
I think Piper had done an excellent job in showing the weakness in Wright’s view of Justification.
Mere Churchianity by the late Michael Spencer.
Can I ask a question? It is not meant to be snarky but it will sound that way.
Do you guys only read “Christian” books? Now I know the answer in part because not everything posted in the stream is a Christian book, but it looks like the overwhelming majority. So if I could ask the questions without hijacking the stream. Do you only read Christian books or did you assume the post meant just Christian books? I’m just curious. For myself, I’m not an avid reader of most contemporary Christian writing. When I’m looking for that type of nourishment, I usually turn back to CS Lewis, John Bunyan, perhaps Spurgeon.
Well, speaking only for myself, I hav a limited amount of time to do much reading so I have to be selective in what I read. I’ve got some old comic books/graphic novels that I’ll go back and re-read. I probably haven’t read anything else fictional in a good while though. Most of it is either scripture or scripture related (commentaries, theology, yadda yadda)
Here is something for JoeB’s World of Graphic Novels, Seriously.
Luc Sante was a consultant to the movie Ganges of New York. In fact has a grand feature on the DVD version, Sante Talking.
This Belgian Catholic ancestored essayist, is enamored with Hardscrabble Religion and the River Baptism of Tent Revival epoch of Billy Sunday.
Here is a link that continues to fascinate me:
Be sure you read to the concluding paragraphs:
http://www.apexart.org/exhibitions/sante.htm
The kerygma of Sante’s pamphlet for the musing of this board:
Quoting
The ecstatic counterweight to crime was religion, specifically the American phenomena of tent revivals and river baptisms. What I loved about the imagery of religion in pre-corporate America was its stubborn plainness, its resolute materiality. There was no fanfare, no gold, no Gothic architecture—the visual language of religion was consonant with the farmyard and the city street. Poverty constrained it, but dogma also assured its hard, unpainted surface, its words of one syllable, its meta-phorical arsenal that translated scripture into the terms of a life dictated by landscape and weather.
“I have a limited amount of time to do much reading”
That’s funny.
I have read some NY times best sellers, but not in a while. For instance, Beautiful Child was a great book about a boy who struggled with drug addiction. I also read running books since I enjoy running. However, for the most part I read Christian books. I enjoy Spurgeon’s sermons.
I would add I used to read Louis, L’Armor.
Did you stop because he died or was there another reason for you to quit?
CB, I mainly read the Sackett’s series. When I had read them thru twice, I decided to take a break. I am thinking of reading thru them again.
“The Tinker was a learned man.” –Lando Sackett–
“I always keep my guns clean Tyrell.”–Tom Sunday–
Jeff T,
My first experience with Louis L’Amour’s novels was before I became a Christian. I revisited L’Amour’s books a few years after I became a Believer. In reading his books, I found that he wrote from a highly moral and conservative perspective. I began to wonder if the guy was a Believer.
I found that his parents had been Methodists. His mother was rather devout in her faith and his father was somewhat lax.
Later, L’Amour travelled the world as a Merchant Marine. He was influenced by some left wing political philosophies, yet he held on to his mother’s Christian standards also. The struggle between his mothers teachings and what he had learned in his travels is reflected in this quote, “A just man always has his doubts.”
Somewhere, I read that L’Amour recognized a Jewish-Christian code of ethics, knew about and respected many religions, but lived by his own philosophy of life. I have never read of L’Amour having a testimony of faith.
Johnny C. Quarles, on the other hand, who wrote very much in the style of L’Amour and Zane Grey and was a believer. He was a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, OK. Wade Burleson preformed his funeral.
i mentioned stephen king, tolkien, and a Jewish theologian earlier in this thread lol. i’ll let you know if any decent Christian books come out this year.
Bill Mac: Good Question. Maybe someone could find Henlee Barnette or some Baptist ethicist to explore the world of Snarky in Baptist life.
Maybe Ronnie Floyd understands the concept; or Jim Deloach.
I think you have a point. Jefty missed my collegial exploration in some asides about a highly acclaimed contemporary novelist shaped by his Baptist roots one of whose most beloved characters is an exilic figure, much like her namesake in the Old Testament.
For Jeff T as an example’s world to be so limitted is sad.
He could gain great insight from the works of Mary Hood and Flannery OConnor and their advancement of notions of Grace grounded in their deep insight into Biblical literature.
One would hope Johnny Hunt would’ve tapped that grand vein in his own backyard and his disciples would be familiar enough, have some broader education such that simple suggestion would not Inflame them so.
Before I take a morning break do want to leave this window to key passage, page 99 and 100 of a book 25 years ago that made strong impression on me.
I had the grand opportunity to ask President Carter himself about it in 93 in Birmingham at CBF there in a press conference.
The strategic financing of the mid term election of 78 could have reverberations for lot of things:
http://tinyurl.com/3758gf4
I have a question for all. I have Logos Bible Software and tons of books on it. I enjoy having a software program that allows me to buy tons of books, and keep them on the computer, however, lately I am thinking of moving back to regular books. I am about to preach thru Philippians and I am hardpressed to make a decision on buying e-books or regular books. Any thoughts?
Jeff T,
It has been a while since I read a commentary on Philippians. Computer books are great and I use them. Yet, I still use conventional bounded, paper books also. I did preach through Philippians a couple of years ago.
Some books that I found helpful were: Philippians by F.F.Bruce in the NIBC; Philippians and Colosssians by Robert Gromachi; The Epistle Of Paul To The Philippians by Jac J. Muller; Philippians by Moises Silva and Philippians by Frank Thielman.
There are probably some far better ones out now. LIke I said, it has been a while since I read anything on Philippians.
I have the same dilemma. I love Logos. My whole Logos Library is with me wherever I go. But, I’m a “Boomer” and maybe not so “techy,” so I like the smell of dusty old books (or dusty new ones — I don’t dust very often).
You can’t do a word search on a hardback. I’m torn between the two. I’m going to try to strike a balance and buy a little of both from now on.
I’m sure I did not do anything but add to your frustration — but I feel that is one of my spiritual gifts
Some books I read this past year that I wish the hogs had eaten before I read them are:
When Men Grieve, by Elizabeth Levang; Lessons Of Loss and Meaning Reconstruction And The Experience Of Loss, both by Robert Neimeyer; Grief, Dying And Death, by Therese Rando and Death And Grief: A Guide For Clergy, by Alan Wolfelt.
Coming Back Stronger Drew Brees, but I also liked
The 4 hour work week by Ferris
What is the 4 hour work week about? I would love to have a 40 hour work week.
That’s me, I preach 3 times on Sunday and once on Wednesday – four hour work week.
The Trellis and the Vine
Trellis and Vine was given to me this week, and I am reading it too.
The Holy Trinity by Robert Lethem
SSBN,
I’m a geek with a love for all things electronic, but analog books don’t crash on you when you least expect it, or require antivirus preventive measures—that is worth several pluses on the opposite side, truthfully.
You must be a geek if you referred to books as “analog.”
Back to books; over at SBCToday blog I have appealed to CB Scott to read the Dan Carter biography of George Wallace.
There I have the witness of native son Howell Raines, Pulitzer Prize winner, with whom I spoke on the occasion of his grand lecture at Samford with Profiles in Courage celebrant Alabama Congressman Carl Elliot in the audience.
I would hope all of you will read the Carter bio of Wallace, and even better the two grand Baptists of his time in Alabama whom Raines rightly praises in the testimony I left for CB.
Also Profiles in Courage has two other Alabamians in addition to Elliot whose story many of you will want to become familiar with.
I recommend it as well.
Dan Carter on George Wallace
Profiles in Courage, both volumes.
And the Steven Suitt bio of Hugo Black’s days in Alabama
Steve,
Here is the last response I made to you at SBC TODAY.
Steve,
We may be talking past each other. I am majoring on spiritual absolutes. You seem to be majoring on the subjectiveness of the secular.
Again, let me say, I am not defending George Wallace while he was in his lost condition. I am not defending him after he became a Believer either.
I am simply stating the record as it is and nothing more. The record states that he repented of sin and believed the gospel. The record states he then went to Black churches and asked to be forgiven for his past actions against the Black race in Alabama. The record states that Black Christians in Alabama forgave the man.
The record also states that the Johnson family refused to forgive him.
The spiritual absolute is that the Johnson family refused to be obedient to the biblical mandate to forgive George Wallace.
I am in no way saying Judge Frank Johnson was not a good and honest Judge ahead of his time in Alabama. The record states plainly that he was a tremendous Judge and was far beyond his peers in seeing the truth of human justice and equity for all men.
Nonetheless, he did refuse to forgive George Wallace. That was an absolute spiritual failure on his part. The reading of Scripture makes that very plain.
I do not need to read any other source to understand that reality. The Bible is sufficient to relate spiritual absolutes. The books you recommend in this case may be right about who and what George Wallace was before he became a Believer. But they are insufficient to describe who and what he “is” in Christ now.
George Wallace is now a saint of God having been made such by the atonement of Christ. His story is a story of grace reaching and saving a vile sinner. It is nothing more. It is nothing less.
Let me do it another way.
You stated that Johnson would have been Lincoln were he to have lived in his day. That fine with me.
I will say that George Wallace would have been Rube Burrows were he to have lived in his day. (Rube Burrows was know as the Alabama Wolf in his time if you are not acquainted with him.)
Nonetheless, all of the above is none consequential relating to the spiritual absolute that George Wallace, according to the record, was once blind, but now he can see.
Steve, I really think that you thought you would introduce me to a story of Wallace and Johnson of which I knew nothing. You were wrong. I think the fact that I can trade facts of Alabama history with you “blow-for-blow” bothers you because you are not used to such being the case. Therefore, you try to belittle me by endeavoring to present to me individuals or books that you feel can intimidate me. By this time you should have realized that does not work.
The truth is Steve, I often let you off easy because for some strange reason I like you. I think it because you remind me of a kid I kinda took in several years ago. His family name is Cole.
Don’t chastise me SBC Voices owners.
I will say no more about George Wallace repenting of sin and believing the biblical gospel here today.
I know that is not the subject of the post. But all the books in the world cannot deny the fact that the record states that a vile sinner like George Wallace repented of sin and became a follower of Christ in such a way that he went to Black churches in Alabama and asked for forgiveness of his treatment of Black people in Alabama.
It is a story of grace in the heart of a vile sinner. Of course, I realize it is probably the case that not too many of you were vile sinners when you were saved, but I was. So the Wallace story is one I really enjoy.
David Miller,
CB and Fox,
Come on guys, you know better!
Brandon,
Yes we do, but you just have to admit that if the power of the gospel is sufficient to save George C. Wallace and give him the understanding through the discipleship of the Holy Spirit that he should go to Black churches in Alabama and ask forgiveness for his wrongful acts against Black people in Alabama it is a wonderful thing.
A gospel that is of such a power to cleanse dirty hearted, evil sinners like George and cb is great and glorious. I realize that many fine “books” have been written about the sins of George Wallace and they are certainly most factual in content. But the glory of it all is that the end of his story is that his story intersected with the Good Story of Jesus Christ and now his name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
The story of George Wallace should give any low-down, egg sucking, bigoted dog in this country a valid testimony that the grace of God provided by the atonement of Jesus Christ is sufficient to save saints and sinners, losers and winners, whores and gamblers, thieves and sweet souls departed, fools and kings, bigoted Alabama governors and mercenaries, goat herders and cattle rustlers, Jews and Gentiles, and Baptists too. Books are good and I love them, but the gospel will stand and make men free who have never read a book or have the ability to read one. A-Men.
C.B., now THAT was quality writing !
CB, post #106, nearly the best blog post I’ve ever written outlining the power and sufficiency of the gospel!
I was almost moved to tears . . . but real men only cry when their wives tell them to
I agree SSBN—-thanks to CB!!! more thanks to Jesus.
As for George Wallace, CB took a point I was making about Judge Frank Johnson and ran with it straight to his absolutist mindset.
At SBCToday I left him with the words of Pulitzer’s Howell Raines and left the challenge to explore Dan Carter on the matter; Carter by the way who at Emory was proff of a class of 7 students at one time; one of whom was Brent McDougal recent ExDir of the Alabama CBF who has now taken a church in Dallas.
I heard Howell Raines say in the presence of Profiles In Courage Winner Carl Elliot at a sublime lecture at Samford in the early 90′s the Two greatest men to breathe the air of Alabama in the 20th Century were Martin Luther King Jr. and Judge Frank Johnson. Since then in the quote I left for CB at the other site he has named Hugo Black.
All three of them Baptists.
Amen
It was my honor to host Black’s grandson, Stephen, at Collinsville High School April 30, 2006 on the stage where my Mother received her HS diploma in 39 in the town where she was baptized about 500 yards from where she is buried.
I chose the verse on the stone for her and My Dad:
The Godly He Doth Set Apart.
The 2nd Amen.
Now for books for which this thread is intended. Here is a quote from the best book on Christianity so far in the 20th Century says Strobe Talbot and Jon Meacham.
Page 51, another roadblock for Paige Patterson and Al Mohler to substantiate the claims of NT Wright on MarkNoll when it comes to the tragically flawwed rubric of Inerrancy:
Quoting:
“Altogether the chronology of the Book of Genesis does not add up as a historical narrative when it is placed in a reliably historical context.”
Maybe if Pressler had read that in 65, he woulda never taken his Jr. Boys Sunday School Class from 2nd Houston up to Baylor to chastise Jack Flanders. a WWII flying hero.
Steve,
What document in human existence reveals a more “reliably historical context” than the creation narrative in the Book of Genesis?
I think Genesis is true; the question remains does it claim to be History and Science or is a foundational document for people of Faith. Wasn’t it Russell Dilday who said we shouldn’t claim more for the Bible than it claims for itself?
I know Adrian Rogers claimed a lot for the Bible in his speech in 79 given among other places at West Rome Baptist Church. I listened to that tape often around that time. I think Ed Mcateer was handing Rogers a lot of material and only God Knows where McAteer was getting it as there seemed to be a concerted effort to paint Jimmy Allen’s good friend as a secular humanist.
BEst I remember from the sermon Adrian Rogers did a lot of exegesis on the Tower of Babel and had the recurring Phrase “Let US”.
And then there is that discussion about Rogers and President Carter in the White House, but I digress.
Just because Paul Pressler said something doesn’t mean I take it as the final word on Scripture. We have gone around that block before.
And there is that whole matter between Underwood and Lyle at Baylor covered in MOther Jones I have linked on several occasions.
Is the Bible a book about Jesus, or is it a tool for you and Judge Pressler and the BFM 2000 to divide a country and turn it toward a Texas Regulars Headset. That was the question best I can make UNC chancellor Bill Friday shared with Cecil Sherman, best I can interpret it. See my article on the problems Tom Corts faced in Baptists Today in the year of our Lord 2000.
As for creation, the fellow at Brown, The Christian Ken Miller had a good book I don’t think you and Judge Pressler have come across yet, but I imagine Jack Flanders would have been more than happy to entertain at Baylor: Finding Darwin’s God.
But here is why I came here this morning. A new book.
I’m not sure what to make of it yet; I think maybe a good lens is to look at it as you would the Christ Figures in Faulkner, Joe Christmas in Light in August, or the works of Flannery O Connor; even Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree one reviewer has essayed “Suttree as a Barefoot Jesus”
Big Provocations this morning at ed.com:
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=16527
Wasn’t it Russell Dilday who said we shouldn’t claim more for the Bible than it claims for itself?
And he got WAY better than he deserved. Further, he showed his true colors by who he chose to work with after they (rightly) drummed him out of SWBTS.
However, the real question, Steven, is this:
Can a person go to heaven apart from repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ? That question is answerable only with a “Yes” or “No” and a real Christian wouldn’t hesitate to answer it.
JOeB:
or Tee Joe; can your Mother spell your name or do you know that famous quote by Will Campbell on the occasion of his conversation with PD East, the fellow who wrote the Magnolia Jungle.
For Southern Baptists,
“This Little Light” by Christa Brown is a must-read,
whether one agrees with the author or not.
This is one book that should be required reading for those of all faiths, and most especially for those who have the responsibility for the care of innocent people in the Church, especially the children.
A review of this important and powerful book has appeared in the London Times Literary Supplement:
http://www.stopbaptistpredators.org/documents/TLSreview.pdf
It is my personal opinion that this book should be read by church leaders. In addition, it is my opinion that common sense must be employed when reading this book for evident reasons. And I might add, there are better resources available to learn how to stop those who prey on children in the local church.
It is also my opinion that Southern Baptist churches need to do a better job, in general, in the protection of children against those who would use a local, autonomous church as a venue to abuse children.
I have found through the years that Christians are far too often ignorant as to their legal accountability and moral obligations as caretakers of children in matters of child abuse in local church settings. Many local churches seem to practice an unhealthy leniency toward those who would abuse children.
Come on, CB, you know that the only people who molest children are those that think the gospel is exclusive (i.e. you can only be saved through faith in Christ and repentance from sin), that the scripture is inerrant, and that women cannot serve as pastors. Further, you know that the only people who care about children are those who recognize the true gospel, the “royal law of Christ”, is “just love everybody and God has to accept you”, that the bible is just a collection of writings by men and women about not and it is not inerrant, and that the repugnant idea that women cannot serve as pastors was just Paul’s prejudice and his personal opinion (much like his prejudice against those poor homosexuals).
Ain’t you learnted nothing yet?
Hands down, the best book(s) I have read this year: Thomas Aquinas, Lectures on the Letter to the Romans (and parts of his Summa).
Not bad. Almost 130 comments before we started to go off the rails.
Good point Bill Mac; now what do you think about the book with the ED link above. Topic is books and you may find this interesting.
Also good book on baseball referees came out earlier this year, or maybe it was last.
Al Mohler lists several books in this blog up today August 16:
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/08/16/the-inerrancy-of-scripture-the-fifty-years-war-and-counting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlbertMohlersBlog+%28Albert+Mohler%27s+Blog%29
Try:
Knowing God by A.W. Tozer
1) The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen
2) Preaching & Preachers by Martyn Lloyd Jones
3) Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
4) Knowing God by J.I. Packer
5) Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur
6) Atonement by Leon Morris
7) Fit Bodies Fat Minds by Os Guiness
9) The Gagging of God by D. A. Carson
10) In My Place Condemed He Stood by J.I. Packer & Mark Dever
11) Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis A. Drummond
Just to name a few great reads…..
Corrections on book list
Knowing God is by J.I. Packer
Pusuit of God is by A. W. Tozer
Passages from your favorite books outside the Bible; any takers.
I pledge to hold off until at least three others contribute.
“The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. In their effort to achieve restful “adjustment” to unregenerate society they have lost their pilgrim character and become an essential part of the very moral order against which they are sent to protest. The world recognizes them and accepts them for what they are. And this is the saddest thing that can be said about them. They are not lonely, but neither are they saints.”
by A.W. Tozer from his article “The Saint Must Walk Alone.”
“They sat silent in the coal-black cave of vines. Ma said “How’m I gonna know ’bout you? They might kill ya an’ I wouldn’ know. They might hurt ya. How’m I gonna know?”
Tom laughed uneasily, “Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on’y a piece of a big one—an’ then—” “Then what, Tom?”
“Then it don’ matter. Then I’ll be all aroun’ in the dark. I’ll be ever’where–wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’— I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. See? ”
Tom Joad saying bye to his Momma in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
“For the enmity of the world was newly plain to him that day, and cold and inameliorate as it must be for those who no longer have cause except themselves to stand against it.”
Page 331 Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing.
Earlier in the novel he has a grand passage about the Priest and the Colindancia.
I always took Marney or Will Campbell to be the Colindancia, and the Priest as symbolic of Pressler, Patterson; even moreso Mohler as the Baptist analogy.
Side note; provocative discussion of the Cordova Mosque at Bl.com. I’m amazed The Voices hadn’t started a discussion here.
Steve,
I have been reading, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States by Benjamin F. Morris.
Here is my favorite passage thus far:
“Washington died December 14, 1799, aged sixty-eight years. Great as he was in life, he was also great in death. He fought the good fight, and death to him had no terrors. His death was worthy of his Christian faith and character.
“I die hard,” he said; “but I am not afraid to die. I should have been glad had it pleased God, to die a little easier, but I doubt not it is for my good. ‘Tis well! Father of mercies, take me to thyself.”
On his dying bed lay an open Bible, the book of God, which he had read in the family circle and in his private devotions, and in the light of its heavenly truths his great soul passed, doubtless, into the light and immortality of heaven.”
……………………………………pages 644-645…………………………………………………………
Steve, if such leaders could once again stand able in the governance of this nation, I believe it would be a good thing.
The Catholic Scholar Garry Wills is a big fan of Lincoln. I understand Lincoln to have read only two books, or one author and a Book; Shakespeare and the Bible.
I own a copy of Adam Nicolson’s God’s Secretaries; highly praised book of 7 or so years ago about the creation of the King James Version of the Bible.
I noticed a few years back it was the subject of a group discussion of the Anniston Book Club. I thought about going down for the discussion but didn’t make it.
Garry Wills, as I have mentioned before, in American Christianities on sale now for 6 bucks at Barnes and Noble, has great concluding chapters on how something close to your sentiment and yearnings for another WAshington has been contorted into a religion card, a God card in political machinations.
My friend Randall Balmer laments these distortions as well. I do hope you and JOhn Killian will find a way to purchase both copies. Maybe go halves on the total purchase and share between your two church libraries.
I remember when I read the following sentence the first time, I was stunned and pledge to myself to commit it to memory. I worked on it for some time but it would come and go.
I had the chance to see Alice McDermott at Sewanee Writer’s conference about an hour 30 minutes away last summer but did not make it up.
Here is her grand what could be the epitaph for my failures in romance:
”In the arc of an unremarkable life, a life whose triumphs are small and personal, whose trials are ordinary enough, as tempered in their pain as in their resolution of pain, the claim of exclusivity in love requires both a certain kind of courage and a good dose of delusion.”
Page 209 or Charming Billy
For links to Randall Balmer, twice Nelson Dotson lecturer at Samford (I heard him there in 2002 sitting an aisle across and a pew in front of Bill Hull) and his latest book on American Evangelical pilgrimage from Revival to Politics.
It is published by Baylor.
http://www.randallbalmer.com
I also left a note for Dr.Killian this morning at Musings from Maytown. I think he is lecturing at Judson College this fall; and a good reading of Wills and Balmer should up his value for Dr. Potts and friends.
Steve,
I thought you had asked for “favorite passages” from books read. I did not realize you were only looking for another springboard to crank up another CR fight.
I will let you fight with someone else on that front today. Maybe tomorrow I will feel froggy about a good CR fight, but not today. Frankly, I had hoped other folks would enter the Kummer post about child abuse in Baptist life, but you friend Gene Scarborough came there last night and ravaged the “Calf of Great Hope” so I guess that hope is vanquished also. So a CR fight today pales in the shadow of what could have been.
Nonetheless, I will leave you with a quote from someone I notice you mentioned from time-to-time, Flannery O’Conner, from her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” about the Apostle Paul.
She said, “I reckon the Lord knew that the only way to make a Christian out of that one was to knock him off his horse.”
Chew on that one Steve. I have always liked it. Maybe I will be up to fighting about the CR tomorrow, but not today. But keep at it, maybe Vol, Louis or Joe will come along and “knock you off your horse.”
CB:
The Charming Billy quote speaks for itself. While constructing it I remembered a a few points from I had left out of the response to your George Washington Quote.
So you wrongly accuse me; wasn’t spoiling for a fight or a hijack, just pointing out some other references for the universe of you GW quote about the Bible and Our Great Country.
Bill Leonard likes Flannery a lot; and the first time she registered with me, or cemented my evolving affection for her; was when I heard Carlyle Marney reference her not far from my home in Upstate SC a couple months before he died.
Bill Leonard anecdotes Flannery in his legendary sermon about water baptism, Immersion. Her story about the hardscrabble kid who comes out of the water on the Far bank and an elder tells him: Before you were baptized you were good for nuthin, but “You count now.”
Reminder to CB Scott: Will share soon great quote from Pearl in EL Doctorow’s grand novel about something close to your heart; Sherman’s March Through Georgia: The March
The Three Great Suspicions, Luther and Marius, and page 905 of Diarmand’s Christianity.
I’m open if Louis and Bill Mac and Jim Champion want to talk about it.
You not going to invite me tonight Steve?
I think I’ll start with them, CB, no offense. ARound here they are the most likely to give it a fair hearing out of the box.
I did like the Mule story and do need to know what valley your wife left to catch the train to Knoxville or name the comment number if you already responded.
Had a grand conversation with a fellow tonight who was puttin his hands on “Serena” for the first time. Went deep into the Gospel according to Ron Rash, a Third Testament indeed.
I hope you get Burning Bright soon. I can’t figure what you’re waiting for.
No excuses for you and Killian and Mike Shaw wading deep into First 3,000 years of Christianity. I’ve spot read about 100 pages already and got in deep tonight.
Also CB I already got you backlogged waitin on you and Louis to read The Lost Traditions chapter of Fisher Humphreys.
In the meantime we can chatter–prattlin, Ithink is what Rash calls it–about the meaning of the Cormac McCarthy quote in the Doris Betts Sunday School link I threw up here and Will Campbell’s Theology of Bastards; and Debra Granik’s Theology of AND and how Thump Milton could be an Old Testament character of sorts.
I think Killian could preach on Thump; Thumpin it, as it were.
And Oh, page 905 in Diarmand, a new kerygma for Dr. Killian.
Did he ever tellyou about Boston Killian of Collinsville?
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