Pastors are public intellectuals. We don’t think of ourselves that way, but we should. After all, we stand before congregations and use words to apply Scripture to the various situations our audience members face. That is why Paul exhorted Timothy, … Continue reading Reading Quadrilaterally: What You Should Read in the Coming Year
I once cold-called a young woman named Tiffany for a date. My call went straight to voice mail, so I left a message that began with these words, “Hi! My name is George P. Wood … .” After a few … Continue reading A Good and True Story | Book Review
Personal evangelism doesn’t require you to use a method that feels forced and unnatural. In his new book, Contagious Faith, Mark Mittelberg writes, “There are a variety of natural approaches we can take to reach the people around us — … Continue reading Five Styles of Personal Evangelism | Influence Podcast
Many Christians feel ambivalence about evangelism. On the one hand, Jesus’ good news has captured their hearts, so they want to share it. On the other hand, they are unsure how to do so. This uncertainty often arises because they … Continue reading Contagious Faith | Book Review
Faithful Theology is the first book in Crossway’s Short Studies in Systematic Theology series. The purpose of each book is to “(1) introduce the doctrine [under examination], (2) set it in context, (3) develop it from Scripture, (4) draw the … Continue reading Faithful Theology: An Introduction | Book Review
In an increasingly post-Christian America, apologetics — the defense of the Christian faith — is a necessary component of evangelism and discipleship. Christians need to “be prepared to give an answer [Greek, apología] to everyone who asks you to give … Continue reading Telling a Better Story | Book Review
C. S. Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress: The Wade Annotated Edition, ed. David C. Downing (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014). Hardcover First published in 1933, The Pilgrim’s Regress by C. S. Lewis is “an allegorical apology for Christianity, reason, and romanticism” (in the words of the subtitle). It was Lewis’s first Christian book, written over the course of two weeks (August 15–29, 1932) while Lewis stayed in Belfast with his lifelong friend, Arthur Greeves. Lewis had converted—or perhaps, reconverted—to Christianity in either 1929 or 1930 (the date is disputed by Lewis scholars) after a long intellectual sojourn through various intellectual points … Continue reading Review of ‘The Pilgrim’s Regress: The Wade Annotated Edition’ by C. S. Lewis
Alan G. Padgett and Steve Wilkens, Christianity and Western Thought, Vol. 3: Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009). $35.00, 388 pages. Tertullian, the North African church father, famously asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Athens was a cipher for rational philosophy; Jerusalem for revealed theology. Tertullian’s answer to this question was apparently, “Nothing.” In the two millennia of its existence, however, the mainstream of the Christian church has answered, “Quite a lot.” Over the past twenty years, InterVarsity Press has published a three-volume survey of the interactions between reason and faith, … Continue reading Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 3: Journey to Postmodernity in the 20th Century
GeorgePWood.com 