Best Christian Books of All Time Reviews: Knowing God, Pt. I

Today I released the first part of a review of Knowing God by J.I. Packer.  It can be found on InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Blog by clicking here.

Here's an excerpt from my review:

Knowing God is the set of labels on a rough topographical map of the rugged country that is the study of God and the Christian life. But the book directs its readers toward more than a refined understanding of the Divine. Although Packer is certainly interested in introducing theology as a contemplative science, he is also, and more so, interested in pointing out the reason for that contemplation. The danger of theology for its own sake is that “it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it . . .” (21).  I’m sure that if you haven’t been on the dealing end of this pride, you’ve been the one who’s felt weight bearing down on you from a conceited theologian. So what can we do? The rule, says Packer, for turning our knowledge about God into knowledge of God, “... is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.”

Click here to see the full review.

The Magic Carpet Ride: Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In an age that increasingly values relativistic individualism at the cost of any substantial ethic, the Church has, by buying into the trend, lost much of its firm footing.  Nobody really knows how to confront the “current issues,” and those who’ve stood upon orthodox Christianity are left like Alladin, standing on the last remaining bit of rock protruding from a boiling bed of molten lava.  And we’re tempted to do nothing.  We’re tempted to huddle together with shouts of fear and accusation, praying for the magic carpet to sweep us up and out of the mouth of this monstrous cave.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, stranded in a Nazi prison after attempting to assassinate Hitler, asked this question: “have there ever been people in history who in their time, like us, had so little ground under their feet…?”  The perceived ground under the Church has done nothing but shrink since Bonhoeffer made that statement more than fifty years ago.  Spiritual formation was Bonhoeffer’s answer to the shrinking ground, and it must also be ours.

When Jesus addressed his disciples in the Gospel According to John he didn’t say, “oh yeah, everybody will love you guys.  You’ll be safe and sound until I decide to whisk you away into a land of clouds and trumpets and white cloaks.”  No.  He told them that the world would hate them.  He told them that they would face incredible hardship, even be dragged to court for standing firm on his name.  But Jesus looked into the eyes of his confused disciples and told them to take heart, because he had overcome the world.  Even when it looked as though the lava was about to bubble over the last stone pillar, it was not.  The often unperceived reality is that Jesus is still King over the wind and the waves.  Abraham, the Apostle Paul, Augustine of Hippo, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the pastor preaching substantial truth in today’s world of ethical flux all have one thing in common:  Trust.  Through radical trust the disciples and apostles were—and are—spiritually formed by the one with the name on his thigh, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Spiritual formation is the strongest commitment I have, because it is my commitment to Christ and his power in my life that make me fully human.  My relationship with Jesus, through discipleship and worship, instruction and evangelism, learning and community, is the only firm ground upon which I am able to stand.  And part of this commitment involves my transmitting it to others.  As Paul exhorted Timothy so very long ago, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also,” so also have I been commanded.  I am being strengthened by trusting the unmerited favor that is mine through Christ Jesus, and I am called to entrust robust theology and the knowledge of His grace to others.  What a beautiful life.  There is no magic carpet, but there is a God who is right there with us in the mess.

Revisiting FAME

A couple of days ago I wrote something for InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Blog.  It was a rewrite of the post below--"FAME."  Click here.

Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, ca. 480-470 BC, (British Museum).

FAME.

Plato's Symposium 208d:
"Every one of us, no matter what he does, is longing for the endless fame, the incomparable glory that is theirs, and the nobler he is, the greater his ambition, because he is in love with the eternal."

John 12.25-26:
"Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

I am constantly tempted by the desire for worldly fame and affirmation.  If I'm honest, that was one of the underlying reasons for starting this blog.  I wanted to give my thoughts room to explore via public domain, but the desire to be noticed was--and is--certainly difficult to tear away.  However, when I come to a quiet place and I'm left with my awareness and the reality of God, I am reminded of the beautiful, pure and ultimate honor given by the Artist of Life himself.  I eagerly await the day when--trusting that I endure to the end with his help--he takes my head in his hands and says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." The fame and affirmation of men and women will surely die with death, but the honor of God goes on without end.  Note: I've expanded and updated this post here.

Quote of the month about Jesus.

"I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."

–Napoleon

The Resurrection and the Life in Monastic Art

The Great and Holy Resurrection of Christ, painted by the Greek Orthodox Fathers of Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece.  Vatopedi was founded in the 10th Century CE. See more here: http://www.mountathos.gr

Civil Rights, Gandhi and the Religion of Tolerance

It is a rare household that's ignorant of the name “Gandhi.”  Equally rare, however, are those with knowledge of his life beyond trendy cliché. His life tells a complex story; it is, after all, a human story, riddled with virtue and vice.  One of the virtues Gandhi developed over his life—one which he prized and others still esteem him for—was tolerance.  He was tolerant of ignorance, political differences, and even violence committed against himself.  But the tolerance of M. K. Gandhi was limited, especially regarding many forms of religion and ethics.

Many scholars of South and Southeast Asian Studies have regarded Gandhi’s religion as the source of his tolerance. He encountered many religious traditions early in his traveling life and public career, and the Hindu culture that raised him increased his understanding of religious diversity. Although he was brought up in a Hindu household with a devout mother, Gandhi kept himself unattached to any particular sect, and he claimed that his “inner voice,” something like Socrates' daimon, guided the beliefs to which he did adhere (Gandhi, 2008). This inner voice was his chosen spiritual guru for his lifelong quest toward a religion of tolerance, non-violence and reason.

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