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review of On This Day in Christian History by Robert J. Morgan
I’m normally not one for 365-day devotional books. Let’s just put that out there right away. I am, however, a fan of this one. Robert J. Morgan, pastor of the Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, TN, knows his history, and because of that this volume is deeply insightful. Though Morgan tends to favor modern history, nevertheless this work runs the gamut of Christian history, drawing from the Early and Medieval periods more than any other calendar-year devotional work I’ve seen. He does not even focus solely on major figures, but truly draws the reader into the breadth of Christian history. Furthermore, Morgan does not succumb to over-spiritualizing and attempting to draw out “life application” from each vignette, but rather allows the historical episodes speak for themselves in most cases. He does include a brief passage of Scripture at the bottom of each page, continually reminding the reader of the source and reason behind this history.
Though this book is not designed to be read in large chunks, I found myself being drawn into several days at a time whenever I picked it up. It is now a mainstay in my bathroom reading selection, an ironically high honor. I would highly recommend this book if you’re looking for something fresher than most dribble put out in these yearly devotional readers…and that’s not just because I’m a student of the history of the Church.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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review of Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers
I was a bit skeptical at first when I sought out this book from Thomas Nelson. The Christian Encounters series features, presumably, notable “Christians” throughout history; I wrap quotes around that because several I’m not sure I’d consider die-hard Christians. Not that their biographies wouldn’t be interesting - it’s just that series like these have a way of distorting facts and emphasizing myth. To my pleasure, Jonathan Rogers has avoided that.
In this really fantastic little book, Rogers looks both at primary and secondary sources to paint a portrait of the life of Patrick, a Roman torn from his life in Britain to be a slave in Ireland, later returning as one of her most prominent missionaries and bishops. I was delighted to see that both extant works generally accepted to have been written by Patrick are included as appendices. Though they are both public domain, it is helpful to have them right on hand. Using these writings as his framework, Rogers works from fact and refers to legend to attempt to fill out a workable biography of the Christian saint. Though others have attempted to do this before, Rogers finds a balance that makes this account both informative and a pleasure to read. Whether you’re a history buff, an armchair theologian, or any other variety of Christian, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a book this size that packs such a huge punch.
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Review of The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister
Sister Joan Chittister, a rather accomplished Benedictine, lives and breaths the cycle of the Church year after year. In this book, which acts half as an apology for the liturgical cycle and half as a devotional call to order, she explores the depth and nature of the Christian liturgical year. Chittister both plumbs the depths of the historical development of many aspects of the liturgical year and examines their significance for day-to-day living. Furthermore, she seeks to examine not just the rationale behind the seasons of the Church, but also the even more fundamental theological roots behind Christian living, such as our understanding of time, Sabbath, joy, suffering, celebration and fidelity.
Whilst I very much did learn from this book, there are certain aspects that proved to be distracting. For instance, though I’m not sure I could suggest a better organizational strategy, the intermingling of almost devotional-level explorations of theological issues with more technical historical examinations of the liturgical year somewhat disrupt the flow of the text. That is probably the worst I can say about this work.
Overally, I think Chittister accomplishes exactly what she set out to do: help the average Christian understand not only how a Christian may live within the liturgical year, but also why a Christian should want to live in such an environment. If you’re looking for more depth, however, I’d recommend Robert Webber’s Ancient-Future Time.
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a quasi-review; or, how having saints secures jesus’ divinity
Strange title, I know. Bear with me.
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why so many atonement theories are bankrupt
In my 2 Corinthians class, we have been discussing various interpretations of Paul’s soteriology/theology of atonement. One of the books we read, Paul on the Cross by David Brondos, highlights the deficiencies of several “popular” (though I’m not using that word in a derogatory fashion, simply trying to connote something that has held the most weight for the longest time) readings of Paul particularly on Jesus’ death and resurrection. That we should be reading such is ironic, especially since Dr. Reese didn’t think about these readings’ proximity to Holy Week beforehand.
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book review
Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe
I think I’ve determined that the thing I like most about this book is more the door it opens on discussion than the book itself. Heresies and How to Avoid Them is a collection of sermessays (yes, that’s a word…but only because I just created it) originally delivered by a number of Anglican pastors as a sermon series, and later spiffed up into a series of essay. So just in that regard, this is a valuable journey into the realm of uniting history/serious theology with laypeople’s thirst for instruction. The authors cover nearly every major early heresy in the Church, starting with the first four main Christological errors dealt with via conciliar action (Adoptionism, Docetism, Nestorianism, and Arianism), then moving on to others of the writers’ choosing (such as Marcionism, Pelagianism, and Donatism). The typical chapter will include an attempt at a scriptural connection to these teachings (though in some cases they seem to be completely unrelated), somewhat of a historical survey of the debate, and then the attempt at application.
Now, as a super-brief expose on heresy for laypeople, this book is good. As a manual for how to think theologically orthodox, this book is not so good. It creates unfortunately high hopes just in its subtitle; yet at the end of each chapter, no matter how good the chapter was (there were three or four solid historical treatments, chapters which I was thoroughly impressed with), the take-away was the same: don’t be like this. The heretic/heretical group was always a misguided good guy, portrayed as someone/people who really were striving for the truth, but somehow got lost along the way. Though the book certainly correctly notes that not all heretics were burned or utterly dismembered for their teachings, it does overemphasize how heretics have historically been villainized - almost to the point where I found myself thinking, “Well, maybe it doesn’t actually matter what I believe, since anyone who thinks differently is just a bully.”
To me, this is unfortunate, because I firmly hold that it does matter what we believe, and heresies/heretics are not just lessons in veering off the path. Yes, I believe that character slandering went on, and shouldn’t have. However, for some reason we have forgotten that the quest for orthodoxy, despite what those suspicious of the metastructure of the Church would say, was founded primarily on the Church’s passion for God - for remaining as close as possible to revelation with faith and the understanding that belief and behavior are two sides of the same coin. I really, honestly do not think the Fathers separated belief from action. So despite the fact that Pelagius might have acted like a pious man - indeed Augustine himself heralded him as such - the real danger in Pelagianism lay in the genetic passing on of its traits and characteristics. Augustine saw that it did not teach the full truth, that we are saved by faith through grace, the evidence of which is displayed in our works, and thus was doomed to created less-than-Christians. So it’s not enough, I think, for a sermon to simply lay out a historical debate and then shake its finger at the audience, saying, “Don’t be like that!” Obviously we don’t want to be heretical, because by the nature of the sermon it has been determined that heresy is bad (though in some circles that is actually the first hurdle to leap); so there must be something else there.
In my conversation with Dr. Pasquarello concerning this book, we did determine that it has one great use - as a tool in homiletics courses. Hearing about a certain heresy in a sermon is a surprisingly good connector to hearing the heresy itself in a sermon. That is, the student could read the chapter on, for instance, theopaschitism, and say, “What would this sound like in a sermon? How can I preach truth and avoid this error?” If these seem like moot questions, either 1) you haven’t spent enough time in church, or 2) you haven’t spent enough time studying heresy. This isn’t a witch-hunt sort of exercise, but a genuine exercise in desiring to preach faithfully the Word of God and the Rule of Faith.
So, to recap: good book, but only if you plan on doing something about it. If you aren’t convinced at the end that it does matter what Christians believe, read another book, talk to me, or consider helping fund my doctoral work :-).
