James Sire's Naming an Elephant

James W. Sire (2004) Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept, Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic

James Sire, Christian author and philosopher in this interesting book shares an interesting view of worldview. Aptly titled as naming the elephant, it goes back to the familiar story of three blind men and their perception of an elephant. How will they name the parts of the elephant they felt without knowing the whole animal?

The history of this book goes back to 1976 when Sire published The Universe Next Door where he describes seven types of worldviews. He defines a worldview as

A worldview is a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously or inconsistently) about the basic makeup of our world.

When I first read the book then, I find his definition very cognitive and cerebral. Very chim-lah.

28 years later in this book, Sire offers us his hopefully definitive definition

A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being. (p.122)

I like his new definition better. Sire acknowledges here that knowing is not just a learning a set of presuppositions but also there are other ways of knowing such a learning through the heart by a story. The constructed reality in which we live in is not just cognitive or cerebral but also involves living out our understanding and commitment to it.

In other words, building a worldview is learning , assimilation and commitment to live out the reality that we build. There is a lot of similarities between worldviews and spiritual formation. Spiritual formation also involves learning, assimilating what we learn to build a reality to guide us to live it out in the real world.


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Barry Wain's Malaysian Maverick

Barry Wain (2009) Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Barry Wain is Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. He was a former editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal. An Australian, Wain has spent 37 years as a journalist in Asia.

The book blurb at the back cover,

The grandson of an Indian immigrant and the first Malay commoner to become prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad turned the Muslim-majority Southeast Asia country into one of the developing world's most successful economies. During his 22 years in power he adopted pragmatic economic policies alongside repressive political measures, and showed that Islam was compatible with representative government and modernization...But in mixing business and politics, Mahathir encouraged cronyism and failed to prevent the spread of corruption. Authoritative and impatient, he jailed opponents, sacked rivals and undermined institutions as he pursued his obsession with development...

This is an interesting book that is written by a journalist. His aim was to present and review ex Malaysian prime minister's term of office from the grassroot level.

Demarest's Seasons of the Soul

Bruce Demarest (2009), Seasons of the Soul: Stages of Spiritual Development, Downers Grove IL: IVP Books

Spiritual staged-development has become generally accepted in the last few decades with the acceptance of psychosocial development theories. Psychologist Erik H. Erickson identified that all human goes though eight stages of psychosocial development. Lawrence Kohlberg observed that there are six sequential stages in the development of human moral reasoning. Building upon this psychologist and Methodist minister, James Fowler identifies six stages in which faith develops in a person. However it must be be noted that Fowler definition of 'faith' is a universal faith and not the Christian faith.

In this book, Bruce Demarest, professor of Christian formation at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado seeks to categories spiritual staged-development into

stage one: putting our faith in Christ
stage two: experiencing struggles and doubts
stage three: coming to deeper faith

Demarest suggests that these stages are sequential and is an upward spiral. This is based on a model of the the spiritual life by Old Testament scholar Walter Bruggemann who suggests a three-fold pattern: spiritual beginnings (orientated), spiritual trials (disorientated) and spiritual renewal (reorientated). In a useful appendix, Demarest gave some examples of spiritual development or journey paradigms from ancient and contemporary sources.

While the idea of spiritual journey is not new, Demarest put it into perspective by using examples from the Bible and also some contemporary examples. He made it personal by sharing his own journey which include how his interest in spiritual formation come about.

His incorporation of the dark night of the spirit and the dark night of the senses (both from St John of the Cross) into the stages give a distinct flavour to the book. Where once Evangelical writers steer clear of Roman Catholic writers, now it is heartening to see them interaction with the numerous spiritual writers from both the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox traditions.

This is a good book for those who wants to understand the Christian spiritual life.
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Star Trek: The Romulan War

{contain spoilers}

The francise holder of Star Trek continues to restructure the Star Trek universe in the original and the alternative (Star Trek movie) timeline.

Moving backwards in the original Star Trek universe, the Star Trek novels are picking up where the Star Trek television series, Enterprise was unfortunately and prematurely canceled after the 4th season. The 5th season was supposedly to deal with the Romulan War.

According to the Memory Alpha website

The Earth-Romulan War, also known as the Romulan Wars, was a major interstellar conflict fought from 2156 to 2160 between the forces of United Earth and those of the Romulan Star Empire. Earth was assisted by its allies Vulcan, Tellar, and the Andorian Empire. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")

The two sides knew little of each other before the war, and little after the war. Based on the limited state of knowledge that still existed in as late as 2266, the war was summarized as "Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous; and only the Romulans know what they think of Earth."

This novel continues the story after the novel Kobayashi Maru. The Romulans has perfected a technique of telecapturing Coalition (future Federation) ships and the climax of this novel is that Kobayashi Maru was destroyed. Kobayashi Maru went into Star Trek lore as the classical no win scenario.

The true situation was explained in this novel. Enterprise was escorting the Kobayashi Maru when they were attacked by Klingon ships telecaptured by the Romulans. The Enterprise has to leave the Kobayashi Maru behind in order to avoid being telecaptured. The telecaptured Klingon ships destroyed the Kobayashi Maru.


The novel The Romulan War tells of the early stages of the war. The Romulans are winning and the Coalition are having a hard time. Vulcan are abandoning the Coalition. One interesting note is that to prevent their ships from being telecaptured, earth ships are reverting from digital display to knobs and lights. This will make them look like Kirk's Enterprise which comes later. A very clever innovation for the continuity.

The novel makes for interesting reading but was draggy at times as if the author were trying to stretch it out for a few more books. I only wish authors will tell the story instead of trying for trilogies or multiple books. This novel emphasize the building of Daedalus class starship as a cheaper alternative to the NX series.

The Genesis Enigma

I read this interesting, newly published book, which I picked up at a departmental store in downtown Melbourne, on the 8 hour flight from Melbourne to Singapore.

Professor Andrew Parker is one of those scientists who are Christians that do not see a dichotomy between science and religion. Presently he teaches at Green College at the University of Oxford and at the University of Sidney. He is also the Research Leader at The Natural History Museum in London. With his impeccable scientific background, Parker attempts to approach the first two chapters of Genesis - the Creation account. He takes pains to establish at the beginning of the book of his belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. However he takes issue with those who takes the first two chapters of Genesis literally. The first two chapters should be understood as an account on how life was established on earth as by one who narrates an event. Thus the 'days' are not literal 24 hours but periods of time.

Starting from the Big Bang and using the latest scientific discoveries, Parker relates the scientific account of evolution to the first two chapters of Genesis. In the first chapter of Genesis, there is twice when God said, "Let there be light" - verse 2 and verse 14. Parker attributes the first light (v.2) to be the event after the Big Bang when energy is converted to matter thereby forming atoms and later suns, galaxies, and planets. Then he shifted his focus to earth where in the hot, volcanic surface of the earth, complex molecules came together to form single cells organism. These cells became more complex by using photosynthesis to store energy. The first complex organisms to populate the land were plants thus agreeing with the Genesis account.

It is in the second account of light (v.14) that Parker proposes his bold assertion. He suggests that the second account is when eyes were evolved. These newly evolved organisms were better at survival because they can see (see the light?). This, Parker postulates, is the reason for the fantastic expansion of new species in the Cambrian Period in earth's history. This is his 'Light Switch Theory' which won him the 'Scientist of the Year' award by The Royal Institution (London) in 2000. It is the evolution of eyes that aided in the evolution of sea creatures, birds and land animals. Parker is convinced that the evolution theory is no longer a theory but established facts. Thus he implies that creationism and intelligent design is not rational.

The main thesis of this book is that there is no way the author/authors of the first two chapters of Genesis can know enough about the Big Bang and evolution to describe so accurately the order of events for the development of life on earth. This and the question of 'what is energy' before the Big Bang is the Genesis enigma. Parker suggests that the answer can only be God.

While the scientist in me cheered Parker on as he describes the various scientific processes in his book, however the theologian in me was troubled by the way he try to fit together the Genesis account and the theory of evolution. Parker's discovery of the development of the eye as the Big Bang of evolution is a major milestone in evolution theory. However I was not comfortable when he applied it to explain the second account of 'let here be light' (Gen.1:14).

This is an admirable attempt to reconcile the theory of evolution with the first two chapters of Genesis by an eminent scientist. However, like eminent theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher in the nineteenth century who tried to reconcile Christianity to the scientific worldview, it creates more questions than answers. There will always be gaps in our understanding of God and his handiwork.

This is a good book and I will recommend it to those who wants to know more about what happens after the Big Bang and how life appears on earth.

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The 100 Best Business Books

Apparently 11,000 business books are published in the United States every year. These books pile together will stand as tall as a nine-story building. So what do busy executives do? Read a condensed 'Reader's Digest' version of these books. What do really very busy executives do? Read the abstract of these condensed books. And what do a busybody like me do? Read a book of abstract of 100 best business books of all time.

This 2009 book offers the best summaries of many of the business books I have read. Hey, don't ask me why I read business books. I am just a ignorant provincial doctor in a small town. It also make accessible to me, many of the business books I have wished I have read.

check out their website to download an extra chapter not found in this book.
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Measuring the Immeasurable

Goleman et al (2008), Measuring the Immeasurable (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc).

This is a collection of essays by many writers about science and spirituality. There is a wide range of articles from using the scientific methods to measure spiritual experiences to understanding the spiritual experiences itself. Some of the writers are well known while others are not. Some essays engaged the subject seriously while other are pure baloney. The main thesis of the book failed not because of the use of science but in the use of a generic spirituality. A genetic spirituality is utterly meaningless in that it can be taken to mean anything. That is precisely what many of the writers did. A serious engagement of science and spirituality needs to define what both science and spirituality are.

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The Genesis Genealogies Code

Abraham Park (2009), The Genesis Genealogies (Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd).

Abraham Park was the moderator of the General Assembliy of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, Hap-dong Conservative. Basing on Deuteronmy 32:7 "Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you," Abraham relates the Mosaic words "days of old" and "years of generations" to the ten genealogies in Genesis.

Taking each genealogy in turn, Park examines the names of the people, the duration of their lives and the order in which the names appears. Then he draws the fascinating conclusion that each of the ten genealogies reveals God's divine administration of redemption. That is, in each genealogy, there is the recurrent pattern of the fall of man, repentance and God's salvation.

Finding the hidden message in the genealogies is almost as exciting as reading the Da Vinci Code and equally as fascinating.

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A Stroke of Insight

Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight (London: Penguin Books, 2006)

Dr Jill Taylor is a neuroanatomist affiliated with the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute in Bloomington, Indiana. On 10 December 1996, Jill (37 years old) developed a stroke due to a rupture in an AV malformation (blood vessel) in her brain. Aside from the brain damage due to hypoxia (due to lack of oxygen because of reduced blood flow), she also had a blood clot which need neurosurgical removal a few months later. Being a Harvard trained scientist, Jill was able to clinically observe her stoke-in-evolution. This is the account of her observations where she was only able to perceive the world through her right hemisphere(brain) for the period before her operation and the gradually retraining of her left brain after the operation.

She noted that she experienced profound peace and interconnectness with all creation when she was using only her right brain. She liken this sense of peace to a religious experience or experiencing Nirvana. The left brain is associated with rational thinking and brain chatter. When she was rediscovering the use of her left brain, she discovered that she does have a choice to response positively or negatively to any situation. This is her 'stroke of insight.' The default preprograming was apparently to respond negatively to any situation with anxiety, worry and unhappiness.

There are some interesting aspects of her account. Is it possible that the right brain, being more intuitive are more sensitive to the transcendent and imminent God? Is the development of the spiritual life a development of the interconnectiveness through our right brain?

Her account of her insight on the left brain also rises some interesting questions. Is our spiritual development a reprogramming of the neuropathways of the left brain by perception, spiritual disciplines and choice? Is that what St.Paul meant when he wrote, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things" (Phil.4:8)?

I find this fascinating especially in the study of physiology of religious experiences. Maybe I should name this 'neurotheology' !

More about Dr Jill Taylor here

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown's latest offering of the exploits of Harvard Symbologist Professor Robert Langdon is another round of conspiracy theories, symbols, ambitious people and murders. This time it is located in Washington D.C. and involves the Freemasons and Ancient Mysteries. There is a lot of Masons mythos in this novel, too much in fact that at times it reads like a non-fiction book. Surprisingly for a best selling novelist, the character development is poor and inconsistent, and the writing is choppy. The writing and storytelling is not as smooth as in his previous books.

Nevertheless, it is an excellent book to read for relaxation for a few hours.



Read this review by Ben Witherington.

Will the Real St.Paul Please Stand Up?

Written by two Jesus scholars, this 2009 HarperOne book is a fascinating search for the real Paul, a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. Marcus Borg is Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture, Emeritus at Oregon State University and Canon theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, co-authoring this book with Catholic theologian, John Dominic Crossan, an Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at DePaul University in Chicago. Thus there is a lot of scholarship behind the book and an interesting interaction between Protestant and Catholic theology.

These two scholars purposed to discover the theology of the origin historical Paul. They carefully lay the groundwork by emphasizing that Paul can only be discovered by interpreting his writings through the context of the communities he wrote to, the early Jesus movement, first century Judaism and the influence of the dominant Roman empire. They further set the stage by identifying four 'Pauls.'

(1) The "Radical" Paul who wrote Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians and Philemon.
(2) The "Reactionary" Paul who wrote 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus
(3) The "Conservative" Paul who wrote Ephesians, Colossians and 2 Thessalonians
(4) The Paul as depicted by Luke in Acts

According to the authors, the "Radical" Paul is the historical Paul and the other three are attempts by others to modify his teachings in order to make it acceptable to the Roman Empire.

This "Radical" Paul

(1) is against slavery (the authors did a masterful study of Philomen)
(2) is for equality of the sexes
(3) is a Jewish Christ mystic in his personal encounters with the risen Christ
(4) understood the cross as (a) God's plan is for peaceful empire (versus the Roman empire); (b) participatory atonement as a transformational pathway; and (c) revelation of God's character
(5) Justification by grace through faith is God's distributive justice, not retributive justice. God's grace for a new nature or 'Spirit transplant' is available for all people.
(6) Life together 'in Christ' is a sort of 'share community' of Gentiles and Jews.

This is an interesting fusion of Protestant and Roman Catholic Pauline theology done during the Year of Paul as celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church. The authors put forth convincing arguments for their claims but it would have been better if a more detailed study is presented instead of what appear to be a brief abstract of certain key points. A work of this magnitude should merit more than 224 pages (Hardcover edition) and a single page of notes!

While this is an excellent work of scholarship, it begs the question, "what then?" Are we supposed to only retain the seven epistles of the "Radical" Paul and throw away the rest? That will be a large proportion of the New Testament we will be discarding. Yet that is what we must do if we follow through in this study and remain true to Paul's teaching.

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Classics of the Reformation

from ChristianityHistory.net

My Top Five Classics of Reformation Studies

Timothy George | posted 9/03/2009 01:28PM

My own approach to Reformation studies has been greatly shaped by the authors of these five classic studies, each of whom I have been privileged to know personally. George Huntston Williams was my major professor and great friend at Harvard University, and I serve now as his literary executor. The first book I published was in a series edited by Heiko Oberman, a scholar of enormous energy and one of the finest classroom teachers I have known. Roland Bainton was a marvelous storyteller and had a distinctive knack for making history come alive. Jaraslav Pelikan was a scholar who transcended limits. He was a master linguist and wrote with sterling clarity. Patrick Collinson I met only once at a conference on the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation. I have learned more about the Puritans from him than from anyone else.

Here I Stand Roland H. Bainton

This book was first published in 1950, the year I was born. I first read it as an undergraduate, and it hooked me on the Reformation. Here I Stand tells the story of Luther as it has never been told before or since. Doctor Martinus almost steps off every page, a real human being beset by guilt but saved by grace. The woodcuts Bainton included in this book are a visual feast of Reformation iconography.

* * *

The Radical Reformation George Huntston Williams

Williams argued that the Radical Reformation deserved scholarly attention in its own right, not merely as a reactionary "left wing" to other movements. This book traces the interconnections among a multitude of radical reformers, all of whom challenged the ecclesial and political structures of their time in their quest for an authentic Christianity. Williams himself coined the term "Radical Reformation" and provided a typology for understanding this amorphous movement. The Radical Reformation, he argues, consisted of three major thrusts: Evangelical Anabaptists, Spiritualists, and Evangelical Rationalists. These are not meant to be hard and fast categories but a way to understand essential themes and common patterns among the religious dissenters who stood on the margins of the official churches of the 16th century. This is a book filled with theological insight as well as massive historical detail.

* * *

The Elizabethan Puritan Movement Patrick Collinson

This book was first published in 1967 and helped to define the entire field of Puritan studies. Collinson interprets the Puritans in terms of their own self-understanding and burning desire for a "further reformation." A model of historical research based on extensive use of primary sources.

* * *

Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) Jaroslav Pelikan

This is the third volume in Pelikan's five-volume set, The Christian Tradition. The cover of each of these volumes is marked by a distinctive color: red for the early church (symbolizing martyrdom), gold for Eastern Christendom (glory), purple for the Latin West (suffering), and sky blue for modernity (the sky is the limit?). The Reformation volume in this series is green—signifying renewal, new life, new beginnings. The chronological parameters place the Reformation in the context of late medieval and early modern times. Like nearly everything Pelikan wrote, this is a work of magisterial extent and nuanced detail. Historical theology at its best.

* * *

Luther: Man Between God and the Devil Heiko A. Oberman

Originally published in German in 1982, this book is a masterpiece of Reformation history and theology. Oberman gives us a vivid account of Luther, his personal struggles, and his ecclesial import, all set in the context of the culture of late medieval society. Oberman's portrayal of an apocalyptic Luther, haunted by the devil and living on the edge of time, is a corrective to more domesticated versions of the German reformer. By looking at Luther "warts and all," we can see more clearly the abiding validity of his reforming work and theological insights for the life of faith today.

* * *

By Timothy George, author of Theology of the Reformers and General Editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, forthcoming from InterVarsity Press

The Path of Celtic Prayer

God, bless me this day,
God bless me this night;
Bless, O bless, thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life;
Bless, O bless, thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life,

God, bless the pathway on which I go,
God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my reposte;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my reposte.

"The Journey Prayer" of Brendan (taken from Carmina Gadelica)


This is an excellent book by Calvin Miller (2007, InterVarsity) on Celtic Spirituality. Aside from a general introduction to Celtic spirituality, Miller narrows his focus to Celtic forms of prayers.

Calvin Miller writes,

I have written this book for two reasons. First, I want to address the way the Celtic people related to God to keep their devotion centered on the Savior. But I also want to demonstrate how these ancient lovers of God were able to strip away institutional business and empty religiosity that can separate Christians from Christ.

He classifies Celtic prayers as

(1) Trinity Prayer (the art of loving all of God)

(2) Scripture Prayer (praying the Bible back to its author)

(3) Long, Wandering Prayer (seeing life as a single , unending prayer)

(4) Nature Prayer (poetry and praise in ordinary life)

(5) Lorica Prayer (asking God for protection)

(6) Confessional Prayer (living in agreement with God)

It would not have been an easy task to categorise the prayers of Celts into six neat categories. Many prayers would fit many categories while some are more narratives than prayers. While Miller has been very informative in the 'closely linked to nature' spirituality of the Celts, one wonders how he is to achieve his second objective because the Celts never did have an institutional church. And he did not explore the fact that Celtic Christianity is syncretic with paganism.

There is always the danger of looking at Celtic spirituality through romantic rosy lens, and making the jump into applying it to Christians in the 21st century. Nevertheless this book is a good study of one of the many forms of Christian spiritualities throughout Christian history.

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How Technology Shapes our Faith

In this 2009 book published by Zondervan, Shane Hipps , Lead Pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church builds upon his previous book (2006), The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and the Church. My review of that book here.

Covering almost the same ground as his previous book, Hipps draws heavily from the theories of Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman. The main thesis of this book is very relevant for the Church. "Instead of simply resisting or caving in to (electronic) cultural forces, we are invited to study and understand them. Only then will we learn to use them rather than be used by them" (p.182).

This is a call for the Church to understand the power of the media and its positive and negative influences. Using his background in marketing, Hipps gave his readers a good overview of the consequences of the media. He defines the media as McLuhan did; that any technology that expands our senses and communication.

He suggests that the print media is what defined Western linear thinking. This was superseded by the image media which leads to postmodernism and now the electronic media which leads to virtual communities and virtual relationships. Two worthwhile quotes are "if oral culture is tribal and literate culture is individual, the electronic age is essentially a tribe of individuals" (p.107) and "if oral culture is intensely connected or empathic and print culture is distant or detached, then our electronic experience creates a kind of empathy at a distance" (p.108). Each media has its technological base from which it creates a cultural community around its uses and abuses.

Hipps' book, like his previous one is good in descriptive but not in prescriptive concerning how technology shapes our faith. Most of us are aware that technology does indeed shape our faith and we even agree with McLuhann that the "media is the message." What we want to know is how do we make sure that the message is not corrupted by the media. This is a good book in the ongoing dialogue of the Church and culture.

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Planet Google

Randall Stross is professor of business at San Jose State University. He is the columnist for Digital Domain at The New York Times. In this 2008 book published by Atlantic Books, London, Stross outlines the influence of Google.com by narrating the development of the company and its various innovative products. Written in a non-technical format, this is an interesting read on the history of the Google company. It reveals numerous behind the scene developments which are not obvious to the general public.

Stross is very thorough in his treatment of the subject. He starts with describing the battle between open and closed-source software. The open-source software is epitomised by Google in that "information wants to be free." The opposite of this is Microsoft with its closed-source software and its opposing thought that "information is too valuable to be free."

Google started with an Internet search engine software with "a grand aspiration: organize the world's information." In the process, it developed a highly sophisticated software that can learn and organize information at a level and rate astonishing to our perception. This algorithm is what distanced Google from Yahoo in the speed at which it searches out information. Google also wants to scan all the books in the world so that its search engine may index and search the contents.

In its expansion to collect information, Google soon discover that that are many types of information -video, maps and emails. The Google search engine was not able to handle these different forms of information so Google bought YouTube, Keyhole (which led to Google Earth), and developed gmail.

Reading the book gives me a better understanding of the nature of information, and of knowledge. It is interesting that Google is able to develop an algorithm that can search, index, and even 'understand' digital text. Yet that algorithm is unable to cope with video. To shift out pornography, hate messages and extreme violence from other videos is beyond the capability of the algorithm. What a human mind can differentiate instantly is beyond the capability of this very sophisticated software. Yet is superior when it comes to indexing digital information texts.

I am curious to see how Google will proceed to organise the world's information from now on

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Man of His Time for All Times

W. Robert Godfrey paints popular portrait of Calvin as pilgrim and pastor on Christianity Today.com May 2009
Interview by Collin Hansen
May 18, 2009

The occasion of John Calvin's 500th birthday has spawned several books on the much discussed, less understood pillar of the Protestant Reformation. Interest in the Genevan pastor and theologian has surged of late, yet even many of his devoted followers are more familiar with caricatures than history. Westminster Seminary California president and professor of church history W. Robert Godfrey seeks to counter this problem with a new popular-level biography, John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor. He was interviewed by CT editor at large Collin Hansen.

Why did you organize your biography around the themes of "pilgrim" and "pastor"?

Many approach Calvin first of all as a theologian, and he certainly was a great theologian. But his theology emerged out of his own spiritual journey and struggles. In the first part of the book I focus on that spiritual pilgrimage of Calvin, because his experience and his reading of the Bible are critical to understanding his vision of Christianity. In the second part of the book, I follow his pastoral career because he regarded his calling as primarily that of pastor. His work as theologian and biblical commentator really served his work as pastor. Organizing the book as I did also allowed me to try to integrate Calvin's life with his thought more than most books do. We have biographies of Calvin that contain little theology and we have introductions to his theology that have little of his life. I have tried to provide an introduction to both and to show how interrelated they are.

read more

Christianity is about Truth and Feelings

My copy of this book has not arrived yet but I like this book review by Jay Wood. I suspect that I will agree with Willard that the Christian life is more about knowing Christ than knowing about Christ.

More Than Deep Feelings

Dallas Willard argues that we really can know Christ.

W. Jay Wood | posted 6/09/2009 10:31AM

Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge by Dallas Willard HarperOne, May 2009 256 pp., $17.99

Imagine that after a routine checkup, your doctor says, "My hunch is that you have cancer and must undergo extensive surgery." Would you feel confident going under the knife based on a hunch? Would your confidence grow if the doctor said he had a "strong feeling" or "believed" you had cancer? Obviously not. When the bodily stakes are high, we want to be guided by knowledge—not belief, opinion, or conjecture. Only knowledge gives the doctor's counsel authority.

Why, then, in matters of the soul are we content to be guided by a faith consisting of deep feelings or inner experiences? Why should we be surprised when nonbelievers politely decline to change their lives because we have pious opinions and strong sentiments?

Sadly, says Dallas Willard, those outside the church (and many within it) have ceased to see the Christian religion as a source of knowledge, as a system of claims that successfully tracks the truth and by which we can be guided confidently. So too, says Willard, has the longstanding tradition of objectively true moral knowledge given way to talk about one's feelings and preferences. Willard's Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge (HarperOne) calls on Christians to recover their faith—and the moral claims that accompany it—as a body of knowledge that can withstand appropriate testing and be proclaimed with confidence.

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Relational Evangelism

I see a trend moving away from the 'confrontation' style of evangelism using the Four Spiritual Laws to a more humanising relational evangelism. I am happy about this because basically evangelism and sharing the gospel is about relationships. Here is an interesting interview from Christianity Today.

The Changing Face of Apologetics

Lee Strobel doesn't think the traditional methods work anymore.

Interview by Stan Guthrie | posted 6/11/2009 09:22AM

The Unexpected Adventure: Taking Everyday Risks to Talk with People about Jesus by Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg Zondervan, May 2009 304 pp., $9.99

Lee Strobel has written many books—The Case for Faith, The Case for Christ, and The Case for the Real Jesus among them—that provide intellectual reasons, wrapped in stories, for the Christian faith. Stan Guthrie, Christianity Today managing editor for special projects, interviewed Strobel, a former pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, at the Christian Book Expo in Dallas about his latest title, written with Mark Mittelberg: The Unexpected Adventure: Taking Everyday Risks to Talk with People about Jesus (Zondervan).

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Longing for God

Richard Foster & Gayle D. Beebe (2009), Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotions, Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press.

Richard Foster is the founder of Renovare in Denver, Colorado. Gayle Beebe is president of Westmont Colleg in Santa Barbara, California.

This book reminds me of the approach taken by Richard Foster (2001) in his book, Streams of Living Water. While in Streams, Foster divided the Christian traditions, here they try to divide the spiritual life as seven paths of Christian devotion. These paths are
(1) The right ordering of our love for God
(2) The spiritual life as journey
(3) The recovery of knowledge of God lost in the Fall
(4) Intimacy with Jesus
(5) The right ordering of our experiences with God
(6) Action and contemplation
(7) Divine ascent

The authors have selected a few Christian spiritual saints from the past to support each one of these path. For example in the path of action and contemplation, John Cassian, Benedict of Nursia and Gregory the Great were chosen as examples and a small sample of their wrings were quoted.

As a student of Christian spirituality, I welcome the revival of interest in the leaders of the spirituality tradition. The Desert Fathers and Mothers, Christian mystics, spiritual directors and spiritual writers are enjoying a revival of sorts. Their works are being taken down from dusty shelves and their writings are being reprinted. These saints are very complex people and they lived in a time and space very remote to our time and space. Therefore I fear when they and their works are used to support certain views of spiritualities without reference to the context in which their works were produced. Oops. Sorry about the rant.

This is a well written book by two scholars of Christian spirituality. The seven paths mentioned are well defined but somehow felt too 'neat.' I hope now that Christian devotion is categorized, it will not be systematized and formulatized. In his book, Streams, Foster identifies six dimensions of the Christian life. After the publication the the book, Renovare organises spiritual formation groups which meet regularly. During each group meeting, they make sure they study or conduct activities that touches upon these six dimensions. While this sounds like a balanced Christian life, somehow it is too artificial and again, neat. Christian life is more complex than that. It is not a formula but a way of life.

After saying all that, this is a good book to read about Christian spirituality.

N.T.Wright's Justification

N.T. Wright (2009), Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision, Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

N.T. Wright is Bishop of Durham and was formerly Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey and dean of Lichfield Cathedral. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. Wright's full-scale works The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God are part of a projected six-volume series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God. Among his many other published works are The Original Jesus, What Saint Paul Really Said and The Climax of the Covenant. He is also coauthor with Marcus Borg of The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions and the volume on Colossians and Philemon in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series.

This is an interesting book because it is mainly written in response to John Piper (2007)'s The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright which was in turn written in response to N.T. Wright's perspective or the so called "new" or "fresh" perspectives on Paul. So when two theological giants goes into the ring with each other, the rest of us mortals should sit back and enjoy the show. Unfortunately, many have decided to get into the ring with them thus making what should be a theological dialogue into a free-for-all melee.

In this latest round, Wright was forthcoming in saying that he wrote this book in response to Piper and that he needed to defend himself to avoid being branded a 'villain' in this dialogue.
In the preface itself, Wright lays down his thoughts about Paul. He seek to frames the argument by structuring it as,
(1) the nature and scope of salvation (which he has dealt within his Surprised by Hope , 2008 , San Francisco: HarperOne).
(2) the means of salvation
(3) the meaning of salvation

It is mainly in the meaning of salvation that the main focus of this book is about or rather what the Pauline understanding of salvation is. Wrights identifies these themes,
(1) Paul's doctrine of justification is about the work of Jesus the Messiah of Israel
(2) Paul's doctrine of salvation is about covenant (God's covenant with Abraham)
(3) Paul's doctrine of salvation is focused on divine law court terms
(4) Paul's doctrine of salvation is bound up with eschatology i.e. Paul's understanding of God's future for the whole world and God's people. Or more specifically present justification and final justification.

The issue lies in the exegesis and hermeneutics of key texts and Wright went into a few of the key ones in this book. I believe he has dealt with the key texts fairly and accurately. It is not so much in the exegesis itself but in the nuances in the hermeneutics. In the Reformed tradition, theology is always forming and reforming. This means that there is always room for dialogue and it is the height of arrogance for anyone to think that they have the full understanding of all theological truths. Also it is folly for anyone to think that all Christians have misunderstood Paul for the last two thousand years. I prefer to see it as expanding our understanding of Paul's writings in light of our latest scholarship. Personally I do not think that Reformed theology is being threatened by this argument that has been going on for the last two decades. If it is so easily toppled, this means there is something wrong with it. I believe that Reformed theology is big enough for such dialogue to take place without too much emotionalism and mud-slinging.

This is a good book to read in the series of books that Wright is writing in defending his thinking about Paul. As he takes pain to point out it is a work in progress. I am looking forward to his coming fourth book (about Paul) in his Christian Origins and the Question of God series.

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