[This post was originally published on Roy Ingle’s website in 2009. So these books have been around for quite a while. But some of them are still especially notable, namely Four Views on Eternal Security, The Soul Winner, Is God to Blame, and Church History In Plain Language.]
Here are a few book reviews from several books that I have read lately. These reviews are in no particular order.
1. Set Apart by R. Kent Hughes. This has been a great read. Hughes, while a Calvinist, offers a candid look at the modern evangelical church and his insights are frightening. The Church has become so worldly, so full of compromise and it has not been the holy Bride of Christ that God has called the Church to be (Ephesians 5:25-27). God has called His people to holiness both in the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:2) and under the New (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Set Apart, however, is not a horrid look at the Church. At the beginning you get the feel that this is what Hughes is going to do but then he begins to take the reader through the New Testament examining what God has called the Church to be. Hughes begins to show what it truly means to be set apart and what God has set us apart for. Hughes begins with our initial being set apart through salvation in Christ. From there he show the reader what we are set apart for and that is to glorify God in holiness and Hughes sets forth what that holiness practically means.
An excellent read indeed that I will probably have more to write about later on with some posts on holiness.
2. One Second After by William Forstchen. What were to happen if terrorists suddenly activated Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) bomb. An EMP is essentially the after affects of an atomic bomb without all the fire and destruction. An EMP would eliminate cars, computers, etc., anything that runs on electricity. One EMP over the United States would bring our nation to a halt. Entire cities would come to a standstill. Life as we know it would be transformed from modern 21st century living back to the 18th century in an instant.
This is the fictional story of a man living in the North Carolina mountains (retired military intelligence) when the United States is attacked by an EMP. The story begins quite quickly with the USA being attacked and how that changes even the mountains of North Carolina. As food begins to run out, people begin to travel the landscape in search of any food, gasoline for old cars without computers, and America becomes a nation of chaos. Our dependence on technology is so that it brings our nation to the brink of civil war within as the covetous nature of human beings along with the need to survive at any cost breeds murder, theft, etc.
Overall this is a good read. The fear is that this could happen. An EMP is a real possibility and this story details what could happen.
3. Hunting Eichmann by Neal Bascomb. When the Russians entered the city of Berlin in April of 1945, the Nazi’s defeat fully set in. For several years the Nazi officials had been in denial that they were losing the War but now they saw that at last their thousand year Reich was crashing down around them. Now the Nazi’s begin to do what they could to protect themselves. They desperately sought to destroy documents that named their names to war crimes and killings. They changed their names, their ranks, and begin to hide.
Most of them were caught and tried. Many of them were killed by Jewish revenges and assassins. Some were killed by angry mobs. Some were tried and hung. Some, however, escaped.
Adolf Eichmann was one who got away. Eichmann had been the man behind the Final Solution of the Jewish Problem. Eichmann had ordered and helped to kill over 6 million people with most of them Jews. The Haganah (the future Mossad) began to hunt down wanted Nazis and soon Eichmann became the main target. The Mossad wanted Eichmann brought to justice. With the 1948 creation of modern Israel, the Mossad begin to search the planet (literally) to find Eichmann.
Eichmann was hiding in Argentina, a nation that supported and hid former Nazis. Argentina wanted to attract former Nazi leadership to Argentina in hopes of bettering their own economy and technology. Argentina made it clear to the United Nations that they did not intend on allowing any other nations into their nation to arrest Nazi leaders, especially Israel (whom they felt was an illegal nation). How could the Mossad go into Argentina and find Eichmann, arrest him, and bring him on trial in Israel? All without Argentina finding out until it was too late?
This is that story and what a story it is. It traces the World War II affairs of Eichmann, his mass killings, and his hiding after the war ended to the desperate Jewish agents who sought Eichmann. These Jews wanted Eichmann not just because of justice, but to them it was personal. They had personally lost members of their families to Eichmann and his Nazi regime. They wanted him to stand trial and the world see this horrible man. This is their story as well. This is great historical reading with a touch of spying. It reads like a 007 movie with one turn after another. I won’t finish the story. I will let you read it yourself.
4. Four Views on Eternal Security edited by J. Matthew Pinson. This book covers the four main views concerning eternal security, however, with one twist. This book is the first book that I am aware of that has the Reformed Arminian view. The other views represented in the book are: the Classical Calvinism View by Michael Horton, the Moderate Calvinism View by Norman Geisler, the Reformed Arminian View by Stephen Ashby, and the Wesleyan Arminian View by J. Steven Harper.
The book, as the title suggests, debates eternal security. I enjoyed the lively debates. All four writers held their ground for their positions. Ironically, I would not have called Geisler’s view the Moderate Calvinism View but would have said the Moderate Arminian View (or perhaps a two point Calvinist). Geisler only supports total depravity. How is that moderate? He agrees with Arminians over depravity (with free will still intact) and rejects unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and he only holds to eternal security. If I get my counts right that is a two point Calvinist.
The Arminian views were tactful but not as convincing as I would have liked. Both Ashby and Harper do a good job of representing both Arminius and Wesley on the historical issues. Yet I would like to have seen more exegesis of the debated passages. I felt that Ashby, at times, was too soft on sin being a danger to the believer all the while trying to promote the idea of the possibility of apostasy.
Overall this is a good introduction to the eternal security debate. It is not convincing from an Arminian standpoint but it does a good job of showing the reader what the debates focuses on and why.
5. The Soul Winner by Charles Spurgeon. This is classic reading from Spurgeon and one of his most read books. The book remains popular even among Baptist fundamentalists. This week I visited an independent Baptist church (for my job) and saw they were selling a few books. One of the books they were promoting was this book by Spurgeon even though they reject Spurgeon’s Calvinism.
Yet I too reject Calvinism but I too loved this book. If you want a heart for the lost and a passion for God to use you to glorify His Son through the spreading of the gospel, then read this book. Spurgeon’s main text is Proverbs 11:30. The ESV says “and whoever captures souls is wise” but Spurgeon is using the King James version which simply says, “he who wins souls is wise.” Spurgeon then shows his readers how important evangelism is. He covers the entire life of the soul winner from his prayer life to his personal life. He shows that the duty of the soul winner and the duty of the Christian is to exalt Christ in every area of our lives to be the most effective soul winners that we can be (Matthew 5:13-16; John 13:34-35; 1 Peter 2:11-12).
After reading The Soul Winner you will have a burden for the lost that comes from God (Romans 10:1-4). You will cry, “Give me souls lest I die” (1 Samuel 1:10-11). You will pray as Jesus taught us to pray, for laborers to work the fields (Matthew 9:38). You will say with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)
How I would love to have the name that many gave to Spurgeon himself, “The soul winner” and yet Spurgeon truly went after souls. He didn’t go after decisions for Christ or just to get someone to say a “sinner’s prayer” but he sought the heart of God for the lost. May I be the same.
6. Is God To Blame? by Gregory Boyd. Boyd is, of course, an Open Theist. He makes known this fact from the beginning of this book. And his thesis is simple really: Is God to blame for pain and suffering? Boyd believes that the typical Christian answer of pain and suffering is that we should just trust God since He is sovereign and allowed this pain and suffering to occur for His own purposes. But Boyd thinks that answer has many problems. First, Boyd seeks to show from Scripture that the concept of “a blueprint God” is simply not biblical. He wants his readers to discover that God’s nature is love and He is not a God who wants to bring pain and suffering to anyone’s life. Secondly, he wants the critics of God to understand that God is not to blame for pain and suffering but rather Satan, and often humanity itself often, is the blame.
The book is essentially an open view of pain and suffering. Boyd’s main attacks come toward Calvinists whom he feels have ignored the question for long enough. He believes that the Calvinist concept of divine determinism is wrong not just from Scripture but from a misunderstanding of God’s nature. The majority of the book is spent setting up Boyd’s arguments for Open Theism and that a truly free world brings pain and suffering to itself but God is able (and longing) to bring peace, grace, and love to our chaos.
Overall this is a deep book. Boyd is a great thinker and by far the best spokesmen for the open view of God. While I don’t fully agree with Boyd, I do think that he makes a strong case against the cliches we so often hear when tragedy occurs, and that is Romans 8:28. Some will read Boyd (and I know some who have been around him and it is this way in person as well) and become convinced of Boyd’s position. But I would add caution and search out the full matter before you settle on this book. Boyd is convincing, there is no doubt, but bear in mind that our guide must be Scripture and not just Boyd’s opinion on the matters at hand. Yet I do recommend the book. [Editor’s note: Roger Olson has said that Open Theism itself does not come up much in the book and that Boyd’s argument in the book does not rely on Open Theism.]
7. Church History In Plain Language by Bruce Shelley. I personally think that this is the best book I have ever read on Church history. Why? Because Shelley is committed to Scripture first and foremost. He truly believes that while Church history can show us some good and some bad things, overall we must turn to the Bible for answers and not the Church Fathers or even famous theologians.
The book, as the title hints at, is about the history of the Church from Jesus’ promises of His Church in the gospels (Matthew 16:18-19) to the powerful Church in the book of Acts. Shelley traces the flow of the Church from Jerusalem to its spread to every part of the world. Shelley does a good job of tracing how important world evangelism and discipleship is to the Lord and to the growth of the Church.
Shelley also gives us good pictures into various aspects of the Church. For instance, he tackles the main issues that have occurred in the Church down through the centuries from early debates over the New Testament Canon, the various doctrines of the faith including Christ Himself, the Holy Spirit, and how heresy has often come into the Church. Shelley shows how God would raise up a theologian or a teacher of the Word to bring the Church back to its focus: world evangelism. Shelley touches on every century since the book of Acts and shows both the good and bad done in the name of the Lord.
One of the best features of this book is that while you know that Shelley embraces Scripture alone as his authority, he leaves the reader to decide the Arminian/Calvinist debate. Many of the books I have read on Church history take a theological position on them through the writings on Church history. However, Shelley does not. While no doubt evangelical, he doesn’t allow his opinions to show in his writings but does what good historians do, gives you the historical facts as they are.
This truly is a good book, and while a bit long (500 pages), it is a book that reads rather quickly.
[Link to original post and comments at Roy Ingle’s website.]
