Month: April 2016

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Review of ‘You Are What You Love’ by James K. A. Smith

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This review first appeared at InfluenceMagazine.com. James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2016). You Are What You Love by James K. A. Smith is a small book with large ambitions. It aims to reshape the way evangelical Christians understand discipleship, replacing their emphasis on thought with an emphasis on desire. Rather than saying, “You are what you think,” Smith urges Christians to say, “You are what you love.” For Smith, this reshaping of discipleship is not something new, but something old. Both the Bible and the pre-Enlightenment … Continue reading Review of ‘You Are What You Love’ by James K. A. Smith

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Review of ‘Windows into the Bible’ by Marc Turnage

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This review first appeared at InfluenceMagazine.com. Marc Turnage, Windows into the Bible: Cultural and Historical Insights from the Bible for Modern Readers (Springfield, MO: Logion Press, 2016). “The past is a foreign country,” wrote British novelist L. P. Hartley; “they do things differently there.” We modern Bible readers would do well to keep Hartley’s dictum in mind. Why? Because the question, “What did the Bible mean?” takes precedence over the question, “What does the Bible mean for me?” We cannot correctly apply biblical wisdom to our lives until we understand what the Bible said in its original context. Windows into … Continue reading Review of ‘Windows into the Bible’ by Marc Turnage

Apologetics, Book Reviews11 Comments

Review of ‘The Myth of the Non-Christian’

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Luke Cawley, The Myth of the Non-Christian: Engaging Atheists, Nominal Christians, and the Spiritual But Not Religious (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2016). Have you ever purchased a baseball cap labeled, “One Size Fits All”? I have. Inevitably, it’s too big for my son’s head but too small for mine. One size doesn’t fit all. One size doesn’t fit all in outreach to non-Christians either. Unfortunately, our evangelistic programs and apologetics arguments often act as if they do. Based on long experience in campus ministry, Luke Cawley recognizes the need for what he calls “contextual apologetics”: the “art of formulating … Continue reading Review of ‘The Myth of the Non-Christian’

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Review of ‘Man, Myth, Messiah: Answering History’s Greatest Question’ by Rice Broocks

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Rice Broocks, Man, Myth, Messiah: Answering History’s Greatest Question (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016). “Who do you say I am?” According to Rice Broocks, this question—which Jesus Christ asked His disciples (Matthew 16:15)—is “history’s greatest question” (emphasis in original). It can be answered in one of three ways. Jesus is man, myth, or Messiah. “The goal of this book,” Broocks writes, “is to build confidence in the reader that Jesus Christ was not only a real person but that He was the promised Messiah (Savior) and the Son of God.” To achieve this goal, Broocks must do more than cite … Continue reading Review of ‘Man, Myth, Messiah: Answering History’s Greatest Question’ by Rice Broocks