Book Review | Preaching and Teaching From the Old Testament | Walter Kaiser Jr.

I bought this on Kindle many years back and finally got to reading it in preparation for a workshop with my GG on reading the Old Testament. I’ve told myself that I should be less critical, so I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5. It is excellent as an introduction, but I wouldn’t recommend it for those already familiar with the subject, or for those looking for specific principles or methods....

August 22, 2021 · 2 min · Benedict

Book Notes | The Associated Press Guide to News Writing

A good handbook on news writing, but with guidelines, personal tips and examples that go beyond its scope. This sentence probably sums up Rene Cappon’s philosophy: By and large, though, the most effective journalistic tone in the ’90s would seem to be the plain and unadorned. (p.58) I learned that being concise and clear is extremely important for all forms of communication. This short book is full of examples and Cappon’s wit....

August 8, 2021 · 4 min · Benedict

Book Review | A New Testament Biblical Theology | G. K. Beale

Introduction Most evangelical biblical theologies rightly focus on narrative. In my circle, the most popular approach is Graeme Goldsworthy’s focus on the Kingdom of God, which gained a wide audience thanks to Vaughan Roberts' God’s Big Picture. Others have cropped up, including James Hamilton’s God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology, Tom Schreiner’s The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. The topic has fascinated me, and a few weeks ago, I finished G....

July 17, 2021 · 4 min · Benedict

Book Review | Relationships | Lane & Tripp

Introduction I picked up Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp (ISBN: 9780977080762) as I prepared for a church Growth Group study session. Lane and Tripp are well respected in evangelical circles and I had read their How People Change book a few years ago. However, over the years, I haven’t spent much time reading “Christian Living” books. The main reason being that I have a lot of books I’d like to read and not enough time....

June 2, 2021 · 5 min · Benedict

Book Review | The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen Covey

Introduction My “productivity” journey really began sometime in 2019 shortly after the Malaysian government declared a nationwide lockdown, called a Movement Control Order (MCO), in March. I went home and struggled (like many) to juggle manage my time and energy well. Since then, I’ve read books and articles, listened to podcasts, watched videos, talked to others to try to build systems and processes to be a good steward of my time....

May 25, 2021 · 5 min · Benedict

Book Review | The Magna Carta of Humanity | Os Guinness

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…”...

May 15, 2021 · 8 min · Benedict

Book Review | Christ and Culture Revisited | Don Carson

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....

June 20, 2020 · 4 min · Benedict