On Christmas Eve, a nice little gift arrived in the mail, thanks to HarperOne Publishers. It was N.T. Wright’s newest book, Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good. It’s set to release on January 6th.
The book comes in the vein of a few of Wright’s other releases in recent years:
A month or so ago, I received a review copy of Scot McKnight’s newest release through Brazos Press. It’s entitled Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church. McKnight is one of the leading New Testament scholars alive today and I have personally appreciated his writings, especially his 2 books The Blue Parakeet and The King Jesus Gospel. You can also check out his blog, Jesus Creed.
His new release is almost like a “part 2” of The King Jesus Gospel, taking us a bit further in not just understanding the gospel, but the kingdom of God and the church. Continue reading
Not too long ago, I received a review copy of Peter Enns’ newest release, The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. Thanks to HaperCollins for the book!
As with most books, the subtitle easily identifies the thesis of this work. Enns takes issue with a strongly conservative, evangelical approach towards defending Scripture, or perhaps even more, his challenge goes out to all who embrace the word inerrancy as an apt adjective describing the nature of Scripture.
I actually think that, to understand Enns’ theological views and perspectives, one needs to know his story. It is a tough one, one that stirs empathy in me. What is that story? Continue reading
As I shared before on here, a couple of months ago, I received a review copy of a new release from IVP. The book is Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus, co-authored by Christopher Smith and John Pattison.
I can truly say that this is one of the better books I’ve read on the church in my 17+ years as a Christian, for it captures a lot of what I see the church called to in the present-day.
What is that call? Let’s explore through the lens of Slow Church. Continue reading
This past weekend, I completed John Grisham’s most recent novel, Sycamore Row. I’ve read all his books (except for a couple of the children’s novels). This was truly an enjoyable read, mainly for 3 reasons:
1) I hadn’t read a fiction novel in a few month’s time, with my head mainly stuck in theology.
2) The book takes you back to where Grisham’s novels all began: the 1980’s in Clanton, Mississippi. Specifically it connects back to his first published novel, A Time to Kill.
3) For me, the book had a good, emotion-evoking end.
Here’s the Amazon blurb: Continue reading
The Prodigal Thought 