Tag: suffering

Assemblies of God, Book ReviewsLeave a comment

This Gospel | Book Review

georgepwood

The first time I heard veteran missionary Dick Brogden preach was in August 2014 at the Centennial Celebration of the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri. Karl Adams once quipped that Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans dropped a “bombshell on the playground of the theologians.” After hearing Brogden’s sermon, I commented on social media that he had just dropped a bombshell on the playground of comfortable Pentecostals. That sermon — “Abide, Apostle, Abandon” — is included in This Gospel (pages 85–94). “We’ve probably all heard about what has happened in Iraq,” Brogden began. “Children butchered, women raped, men forced to … Continue reading This Gospel | Book Review

Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Review of ‘What Does the Bible Say About Suffering?’ by Brian Han Gregg

georgepwood

Brian Han Gregg, What Does the Bible Say About Suffering? (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016). “Suffering is one of the great universals of human life,” Brian Han Gregg writes in What Does the Bible Say About Suffering? For the Christian, the experience of suffering poses a difficult theological question: “Why has my God, who is both wholly good and completely powerful, allowed this to unfold?” To answer that question, Gregg turns to the Bible and outlines its response. Or perhaps I should say responses (plural), for Gregg argues that “there is no single way forward,” as far as the … Continue reading Review of ‘What Does the Bible Say About Suffering?’ by Brian Han Gregg

Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Review of ‘Between Pain and Grace’ by Gerald W. Peterman and Andrew J. Schmutzer

georgepwood

Gerald W. Peterman and Andrew J. Schmutzer, Between Pain and Grace: A Biblical Theology of Suffering (Chicago: Moody, 2016). American Christians don’t know how to suffer well. On the one hand, we think the life of faith should be victorious and joyful, so suffering seems like a defeat and a downer. On the other hand, because suffering seems like a defeat and a downer, it must be caused by insufficient faith or obedience on our part. Neither hand is biblical, of course. Instead, both reflect the chirpy optimism and can-do individualism of modern culture. “If it’s going to be,” we … Continue reading Review of ‘Between Pain and Grace’ by Gerald W. Peterman and Andrew J. Schmutzer

Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Review of ‘Strong and Weak’ by Andy Crouch

georgepwood

This review first appeared at InfluenceMagazine.com. Andy Crouch, Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2016). “Two questions haunt every human life and every human community,” writes Andy Crouch. “The first: What are we meant to be? The second: Why are we so far from what we’re meant to be?” (emphasis in original). Strong and Weak offers an answer to that question which focuses on “the paradox of flourishing,” the necessity of pursuing “greater authority and greater vulnerability at the same time” (emphasis in original). Crouch defines authority as “the … Continue reading Review of ‘Strong and Weak’ by Andy Crouch

Revelation, The Daily Word1 Comment

Suffering: The Second Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:8-11)

georgepwood

The first mark of the church is love. The second is suffering. Please do not misunderstand me. Christians are not masochists. We do not fetishize suffering or go looking for martyrdom. But if two thousand years of Christian history are a reliable guide, martyrdom may come looking for us. I freely concede that persecution and martyrdom are far from the minds of most American Christians. For all the religiously conservative complaints about secular humanist domination of the media, the fact is that Americans have near-total freedom to practice, publicize, and proselytize for their respective faiths—or non-faiths, as the case may … Continue reading Suffering: The Second Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:8-11)

Revelation, The Daily WordLeave a comment

The Christian Life (Revelation 1:9–11)

georgepwood

Revelation 1:9–11 introduces a new section of the Apocalypse, a vision of Jesus Christ in glory, dictating letters to John for the seven churches. The vision extends from 1:9 to 3:22. Before we look at Jesus, however, let us look at John, noting these things especially: Self-description: “your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” Location: “the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” Situation: “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” Commission: “Write what you see in a book and send … Continue reading The Christian Life (Revelation 1:9–11)