books

Introduction The last “political theological” book I read was D. A. Carson’s Christ and culture revisited. I summarised that work as leaning towards a biblical-theology treatment of the study as a critique and corrective to Reinhold Niebuhr’s models of how Christ and culture relate to each other. Os Guinness' is more cultural or social critic than biblical scholar, and it shows. He bases many of his arguments on Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, writing in the introduction that “the vision of freedom outlined here owes everythign to the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and the wise and brilliant understanding of Rabbi Sacks…”...

This post was originally written and published on 28 April 2021. William B. Eerdmans Publishing, a respected Christian publisher, recently released their Spring/Summer 2021 academic catalogue. The highlight is probably the launch of a new commentary Commentaries for Christian Formation (CCF) series, with N. T. Wright’s Galatians being the inaugural volume. Apparently, this is the first major biblical commentary that Wright has written, and on Galatians too! We shouldn’t be surprised if there are swift responses (detractors?...

I finished this book a few weeks back and tried a new note-taking approach. I would write a one-sentence summary after each chapter, then type a mixture of quotes and notes. Overall, I think this helped with comprehension and retention. Next up: create my own Zettelkasten. Meanwhile, here’s my review of the book in a new format based on Mental Pivot’s book notes. Summary G. E. Ladd’s The Gospel of the Kingdom is a short treatment on the New Testament’s (NT) “Kingdom of God” (KoG) theme....

Carson’s great strength in this book is avoiding the temptation of offering a ‘totalising’ model of how Christians (whether as individuals or as a ‘church’) ought to relate to the wider culture. As the title suggests, he begins this book by engaging with Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Christ and Culture,’ especially in considering the five models that Niebuhr identifies. I haven’t read Niebuhr’s work, but I found Carson’s treatment of Niebuhr’s work refreshingly even-handed....

Those close to me might grow tired of hearing me sing the praises of a Professor R. W. L. Moberly. He is little known in the Christian circles I grew up in – Reformed, Evangelical, Protestantism – but since I attended his lectures on the Old Testament at Durham University, my thoughts about the Bible and theology have been greatly influenced by his approach(es) to the Christian Scriptures. I recently finished reading his latest book, The Bible in a Disenchanted Age, in under a week and have been blown away by how relevant this book is in the current cultural climate as well as in my personal Christian journey....