Month: January 2019

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Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile | Book Review

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The centennial of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s birth passed in 2018 with surprisingly little fanfare. Perhaps this reflects contemporary culture’s obsession with the present and forgetfulness regarding the past. Perhaps it reflects elite ambivalence about the author, whose critique of Soviet crimes was accepted but whose critique of Western moral relativism was rejected. Whatever the reason Solzhenitsyn’s centennial was largely passed over, I decided on December 11, 2018—his one hundredth birthday—to reacquaint myself with the man and his writings in 2019. My first stop was the revised and updated edition of Joseph Pearce’s Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile. The first edition was … Continue reading Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile | Book Review

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In This World of Wonders | Book Review

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Memoirs by philosophers typically don’t garner wide readership, but Nicholas Wolterstorff’s In This World of Wonders should. It records vignettes from the life of a leading Christian philosopher who has made scholarly contributions to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, and ethics, among others. His Lament for a Son, written after the death of his son in a climbing accident, has helped many Christians journey through grief and is a spiritual classic. I became aware of Wolterstorff in college when, as a philosophy student, I was introduced to the “Reformed epistemology” that he, Alvin Plantinga, and William P. Alston pioneered. Wolterstorff … Continue reading In This World of Wonders | Book Review

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Help! I’m in Charge | Influence Podcast

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  “If you want to make a difference,” writes Rod Loy, “if you want to fulfill God’s calling for your life, if you want to be a leader, you have to be willing to pay the price. This is the difference between changing the world and living your life without impact.” In Episode 165 of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Rod Loy about this and other leadership insights from his new book, Help! I’m in Charge. Rod Loy is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and executive presbyter for the General Council of … Continue reading Help! I’m in Charge | Influence Podcast

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Can We Trust the Gospels? | Book Review

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“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence,” argues the atheist Richard Dawkins. “Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” Like many of Dawkins’ quips, this one is catchy but inaccurate. Christians do not define faith that way. As Peter J. Williams notes in the Introduction to Can We Trust the Gospels?: “Coming from the Latin word fides, the word faithused to mean something closer to our word trust. Trust, of course, can be based on evidence.” Williams goes on to draw several lines … Continue reading Can We Trust the Gospels? | Book Review

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The Color of Compromise | Book Review

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Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise is a difficult book to read. The difficulty does not result from a complex argument or dense prose, for the book’s argument is simply and straightforwardly made. Rather, the book is difficult to read because of its subject matter, namely, white Christian complicity with racism throughout American history. “Historically speaking,” Tisby writes, “when faced with the choice between racism and equality, the American church has tended to practice a complicit Christianity rather than a courageous Christianity. They chose comfort over constructive conflict and in so doing created and maintained a status quo of injustice.” Tisby … Continue reading The Color of Compromise | Book Review

Book Reviews, Influence Magazine1 Comment

In Search of the Beloved Community | Influence Magazine

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Reflecting on race relations in the early days of the Azusa Street Revival (1906–1909), Frank Bartleman famously wrote, “The ‘color line’ was washed away in the blood.”That unity was short lived, however. Deep-seated feelings of white supremacy and Jim Crow segregation quickly redrew the line, resulting in decades of division and disparity between black and white Pentecostals that persist to this day, though to a lesser degree. The same thing might be said about American Christians and American citizens more broadly. Though progress undeniably has been made, racial divisions and disparities stubbornly persist. This fact should be an affront to … Continue reading In Search of the Beloved Community | Influence Magazine

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Is Your Church Disability Friendly? | Influence Podcast

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The Americans with Disability Act defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.” How many Americans suffer from a disability? Estimates range from 13 percentof the U.S. populace to 20 percent. That’s between 40 and 60 million persons. My guest on Episode 165 of the Influence Podcast is Charlie Chivers, founder and CEO of Special Touch Ministry, a non-profit faith-based organization, committed to serving people with intellectual or physical disabilities, their families and caregivers. Special Touch is interdenominational in scope, but Charlie is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and … Continue reading Is Your Church Disability Friendly? | Influence Podcast

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The Couple That Prays Together… | Influence Podcast

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“What your marriage will become is determined by how you pray,” write Joel and Nina Schmidgall in their new book, Praying Circles Around Your Marriage. “Prayers for your marriage will allow you to claim God-given promises, fulfill God-given dreams for your family, and seize a God-ordained legacy for generations.” In Episode 164 of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to the Schmidgalls about their book, which offers great advice about prayer, marriage, and family life. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Joel and Nina Schmidgall are on staff at National Community Churchin Washington, DC. Joel … Continue reading The Couple That Prays Together… | Influence Podcast

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The Marleyborne Drop | Book Review

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Mick Herron’s Joe Country comes out on June 11, 2019, and features the usual suspects from Slough House, where MI5 sends the incompetent agents it can’t fire outright but would like to resign. I eagerly anticipate its publication, as Herron is easily one of the best suspense writers currently in operation—and funny to boot. The events of The Marleyborne Drop, a Slough House novella, take place between London Rules and Joe Country. Solomon Dortmund, a pensioned Cold War asset, thinks he has witnessed a drop—an exchange of intelligence between an asset and her foreign handler—and informs his own semi-retired handler, John Bachelor. … Continue reading The Marleyborne Drop | Book Review

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Blood for Blood | Book Review

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Ziba MacKenzie is a criminal profiler who consults with Scotland Yard. On her way to dinner one night, the train she’s riding collides with a derailed tanker car, killing more than a dozen and wounding several hundred. Though injured herself, Ziba comforts a dying woman who with her last breath whispers an enigmatic confession: “He did it.” Who did it? What did he do? And why? are the questions Ziba asks herself. But these questions get pushed to the side as Scotland Yard requests her services to help them catch the London Lacerator, a serial killer who’s started murdering again … Continue reading Blood for Blood | Book Review