This book takes a commitment to read if you are an ordinary Bible student like I am.  It is longer than most other books I have read (368 pages in the old edition I have), and thicker in subject matter.  You certainly cannot try to watch a football game and read it between plays.  This one takes all of your attention, but reading one chapter at a time every day—20 to 30 minutes—easily got me through the book in a month without shorting out the synapses in my brain.  If you truly want a serious study, you can do this.
            In Life in the Son, a former Southern Baptist minister virtually talks himself out of Calvinism simply by studying in detail every passage in the New Testament that has anything to do with the various tenets of that system.  In this one he tackles, "Perseverance of the Saints" or, more colloquially known among those I grew up with, once saved always saved.  It is chockfull of scriptures.  When you finish, you will not only understand many scriptures like never before, you will understand what Calvinists (the preponderance of mainstream Protestant religion—your neighbors, probably) really believe and why.  Then you will see how they twist the plainest statements to make them bolster their beliefs.  In the Appendices you will discover from direct quotes of the man's writings how even Calvin disagreed with himself.
            You must also read the Introductions.  One comes from a Baptist preacher friend of the author's who is not really sure he agrees with him, but gives perhaps the fairest assessment of the book one could hope for, and scolds anyone who would automatically put it down before reading and considering.  If I understand the following Introductions (different ones for each edition), this friend was eventually persuaded that Mr. Shank was absolutely correct, simply because he did what he asked others to do—read the scriptures, read the book, and refused to be biased by former beliefs.
            One major caveat:  Mr. Shank knows his Greek grammar.  Again and again he will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about any Greek word and how it is used.  As they say, it was all Greek to me.  So what to do?  Just what you would do with a commentary that does the same thing.  Read past what you don't understand or necessarily need to know, and get the gist of the thing and why it matters.  It's not that difficult to navigate if you really want to.
            As I said, it's a commitment.  I wish you could read my old edition because it has my husband's notes from forty years ago scribbled in the margins and they are enlightening as well.  This book came out in the 1960s.  If you have an older relative or friend who preaches or did preach back then, he may very well have a copy.  Maybe he will have also scribbled in the margins and will let you borrow that copy for a month.
            My edition of Life in the Son was published by Westcott Publishers.  Some newer editions are from Baker Books.  You can find it on Christianbook.com, Thriftbooks, AbeBooks, Barnes and Noble, and of course, Amazon.   
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

I first heard of Tony Campolo in 1985 when watching a video of a sales inspiration speech he gave. He told the story found in this book of a "preach off" where his Pastor beat his best with a sermon of this title.  I thought the sermon idea deserved more than use as a cheer for salesmen and developed it. When our preacher was at a meeting, I preached it in 25 minutes. He heard about the rave reviews, listened to the tape and went 45+ minutes. He said the reviews were not as good. I replied, "You told them too much, you need to rely on what you know that they know."

For years I searched for the book. Then Google came along and I learned that the original sermon was by S.M. Lockridge and is less than 4 minutes. With the help of captions, I listened to his version but have not yet "heard" Campolo's. If it is printed in any of his books, I have not found it yet.

If you want the sermon, you need to go to the youtube. It is not in this book. However, Campolo uses the theme as the basis for a number of excellent lessons teaching that Jesus answers our needs. His chapter defining the difference between romance and love is worth the time to read all 120 pages. But, the rest is hardly just filler. He will make you think, inspire you, maybe even change you into someone more zealous for good works and more focused on Jesus and eternity.

Keith Ward
 

This book is part of brother Mott's Thinking through the Bible Series, several of which I plan to read and review in the future.  I chose this one first because Keith and I had a deep study of 1 John last year and I wondered how we would match up with it. 
            Brother Mott keeps everything in context.  His context at times includes the gospel of John—that author has a tendency to use terms in exactly the same way whether in his Gospel or his Epistles.  For example, after a thorough reading of practically every place he uses the terms "light" and "walk", "walking in the light" becomes much easier to understand, and the surrounding verses add to that understanding instead of obscuring it.  Mott keeps terms like these in front of us constantly as we move from chapter to chapter, reminding us what they mean as we go.  In fact, after this sort of study I really wish those chapter divisions were gone altogether!
            Brother Mott truly understands the concept of expositional study.  He rarely, if ever, leaves the texts that John has written and his easy divisions make it simple to follow along in your Bible, reading a bit at a time there and then in his study guide.   Sometimes it made me want to go back and reread a section of scripture to see the full effect of what he had pointed out.  Any Bible study book that keeps putting you back into the text rather than have you hanging onto the guide has its priorities in order.
            For every problematic verse you thought these epistles contained, you will find a logical and plausible explanation.  You will also find a few verses we have misused in our misplaced zeal.  I look forward to more study with the books in this series.
            The copy I have of this book was printed by Sunesis Publishing.  DeWard Publishing Co is also printing several in the series.
 
Dene Ward

It is almost surprising that this somewhat liberal theologian could write this excellent study on Habakkuk.  Perhaps, as he reveals in its pages, life has a way of making you face realities you might have otherwise reasoned away.  However it happened, this little book is worth your time, and it won't actually be much time at all.  I read it in three sittings, and could have done so in one if I had had a little over an hour to do so.
            Habakkuk, as you might know, is the prophet who dared to ask God why and then tell Him that his answer didn't make much sense to him.  And far from striking the prophet with leprosy or lightning either one, God answered him.  The author includes his own translation of the text, going so far as to tell us the words for which we really have no translation.  In the middle one of Habakkuk's three sections, he offers an interpretation that is intriguing but seems totally relevant.  And in the end, he tells us what that sentence found four times in the Bible means, The just shall live by faith. 
            And finally he answers those eternal questions about suffering with joy, those things we wonder in the black of night as we lie there unable to sleep for the constant roiling of our minds from the trials we endure.  If you have ever suffered—and who has not?—this book may be what you need.
            The Triumph of Faith in Habakkuk is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers.  It is available new on Amazon and used through SecondSale, Thiftbooks, and AbeBooks.
 
Dene Ward

How was the text of the Bible passed through all these centuries?
            How do we know it is accurate?
            Who chose the books of the Bible?
            What about "the lost books?"
            Which version of the Bible is the best?
            These questions are commonly asked, not just by skeptics but also by believers who don't know how to respond to their unbelieving friends and neighbors, and all of them are answered in this book.
            Dr. Lightfoot skillfully answers highly technical questions in a way that even laymen can easily understand and remember.  When it becomes necessary to use technical terms, he defines them so anyone can comprehend their meaning.  He also includes interesting tidbits of history that make this book readable.  Each chapter, few more than 10 pages long, ends with questions making this useful for a class or simply an aid to memory for the individual.  Grabbing a notebook and answering them will make you better able to quickly find answers for anyone else who asks.
            It is beneficial to us all that the author is a believer himself.  You can trust not only his facts and explanations but also his motivations in writing this book.  He wants you to understand where the Bible comes from and have confidence that it is the Word of God indeed.  If you have not read any other book I have recommended, please get this one and do so.  You will not be sorry.
            How We Got the Bible is published by BakerBooks.
 
Dene Ward

I have never been so disappointed in a book.  The author comes well-recommended by readers of his earlier work, Twelve Ordinary Men, a book of essays about each apostle.  So when I picked this one up, I expected more of the same.  I did not get it.

Since I have made a lifelong study of the women of the Bible, I first used it sporadically, reading the women I was studying in particular when they intersected those in this book.  As luck would have it, that meant I only read the essays on Mary and Hannah, two of the four I subsequently deemed acceptable when I finally sat down to read it all.  By "acceptable" I mean more right than wrong.  The other two were Anna and Mary Magdalene.  In fact, Mary M almost got an even higher rating because of the excellent job Mr. MacArthur does in debunking many of the wrong beliefs about her.  On the other hand, his view of her possession by seven demons left me shaking my head and saying, "Huh?" 

I was especially sad to see scriptural errors in the book.  When he correctly states that Isaac was born when Ishmael was 14, then says that he was weaned at 2 or 3, so Ishmael was 14 at that time, I had another head-shaking moment.  In fact, I had quite a few in the whole Sarah essay, which eventually garnered a "NO" next to it in the table of contents.

The larger problem I have with this book is the theology he tries to cram in where it does not belong.  Women who pick up a book like this, especially with the subtitle "How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You," are not looking for a treatise on original sin or the direct operation of the Holy Spirit.  They want something practical, something they can use every day as they face their own particular trials or their own individual searches for meaning in their discipleship.  They do not need lessons on Calvinism, which is what the essays on Eve and Lydia are all about.  As someone who is not a Calvinist, they left me out in the cold.

Let me say this however:  the Introduction on God and the Bible's view of women is outstanding.  If it weren't for all the Calvinism, it would be worth the price of the book alone.  So, if you find it in a bookstore, stand there and read it.  Take notes if you have pen and paper.  It is that good.  But when I have only 4 "yeses" next to essays, along with four "nos," only two "Oks" and one "maybe", I am not sure you should be wasting either time or money on it.

Twelve Extraordinary Women is publilshed by Nelson Books, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishing.
 
Dene Ward

Much has been written about the reason for four Gospels.  The explanation I have seen most often is that they each wrote to different audiences and had different purposes.  Ric Keaster agrees but takes it a step further.  He also believes it may be God's attempt to reach all personality types by choosing four different personalities to write the same story.
            First, the author spends close to half of this small book (only 91 pages) showing us that throughout history, in several different centuries and in several different societies, those with the insight and education to do so have always divided humanity into four basic types.  Imagine that—always and only four!  They may call them by different names and identify them by different characteristics, but they always come up with four.  (We are completely ignoring the bogus outliers.  See previous reviews.)
            Finally he chooses one set of labels, Analytical, Structural, Conceptual, and Social, and proceeds to classify the four gospel writers.  He uses their choices of sermons, miracles, and parables, and even word counts to prove his point.  It is all interesting and makes you want to sit down right then and read through all four to find these points yourself.  Then it makes you wonder, which one am I?  In fact, if you find one gospel "speaking" to you more than another, you may have just found your personality type in this book.
            As I said, it is a short and easy read, and one that should provoke a lot of thought afterward.
            In Our Own Language is published by DeWard Publishing Co.
 
Dene Ward

After teaching an overview of the prophets in my Ladies' Bible Class, I really wanted to do a deeper study of Jeremiah.  But Jeremiah is a daunting book.  Perhaps not as daunting as Zechariah or Revelation, but close.  It does not help that the book is not chronological.  That means that even if you know your Bible history fairly well, you find yourself a bit confused in this book of figures, parables, sermons, and disordered historical events.
            So when I came across this little (just over 200 pages) book by this brother of excellent scholarly reputation, I was anxious to give it a try.  It has certainly delivered.  However, that does not mean this is an easy study.  What the author has done is make a study of Jeremiah as easy as it possibly can be. 
            Brother Mott divides Jeremiah into sections that are easily manageable by someone with limited time, sometimes one chapter more or less, sometimes two.  Each section in turn is divided into smaller sections.  My system went as follows.  I read the introduction to the entire section in the book.  Then I read the first small section in Jeremiah, usually four or five verses.  After that, I read brother Mott's comments on those few verses, plus any other verses he may have referred to.  I kept going in that manner through the section, then at the end, read the larger section one more time through.  The questions I had were largely answered and my confusion about the time-frame straightened out.
            But I am not finished with this book.  Now I want to go through the whole process again, this time with a spiral notebook, making notes as I go so I will have a handy reference of my own in the future.  After that I might even want to teach the women a whole class on Jeremiah.  That's how good this handy guide is.
            Thinking Through Jeremiah is published by DeWard Publishing.

Dene Ward

George Matheson was a blind Presbyterian minister in Scotland, born in 1842.  Perhaps that accounts for the egregious errors in this book—he couldn't read the Bible due to his blindness and so his speculations took him far afield from the written facts.  Probably not, but I am trying to give him some sort of excuse for what he has written.
            In this book you will read that Eve was just wandering around the Garden like all the other creatures, with Adam having no idea who she was and why she was there until, as recorded in Genesis 2 (the author says), he fell asleep and had a dream in which God took his rib and made a woman.  When he woke up, he suddenly understood that Eve was his equal and his companion and began to treat her that way.
            You will read that Abraham was afraid to ask Sarah to go with him when God called because they would have to leave all their family and all their belongings and he didn't think she would do that.  Finally, he did ask, and the two of them left Ur, alone and penniless, and their journey to Canaan was their honeymoon!
            You will find out that Rebekah already had a proposal of marriage from a Hittite (which the author has living in Haran instead of Canaan) and she had to choose between a wealthy Hittite and a decidedly unambitious Isaac.  Then you will read how she loved Isaac like a mother when they first met—despite the fact (the scriptures tell us) that he was old enough to be her father!
            You will find out that Jacob was a hot-blooded young man when he first saw Rachel (though you can easily figure out that he was 77 at the time), and that Rachel was the blameless sister—despite stealing her father's idols, among other glaring faults.
            You will learn that Deborah sullied her white robes by praising Jael for her actions against Sisera—this in her inspired song, by the way.  And just what would he have had Jael do, completely alone in her encampment?  Meet the enemy army captain in a "fair fight?"
            You will also discover that Mary's job in raising Jesus was to keep him grounded in his humanity because otherwise, he might have starved to death. He couldn't be bothered to do such mundane things as eat and drink in his human body because of his important spiritual mission without her constant reminders.
            The best essay in this book is the one about Mary Magdalene, which the author includes as an appendix.  But it is only two and a half pages, so he didn't have time to speculate and embroider as he did in the others, which run roughly 20-25 pages each. 
            This author is best known for writing hymn lyrics, particularly those to "O Love that Will Not Let Me Go."  I have to tell you this.  After reading this book, I will go look at those lyrics carefully before I ever sing that hymn again.  There is no telling what odd notions I might have missed.
            This particular edition of Portraits of Bible Women was published by Kregel Publications.
 
Dene Ward

Did you read The DaVinci Code, or watch the movie starring Tom Hanks?  If so, you owe it to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to read this book!  The sub-title says it all:  Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy, and that is exactly what the author does in what we will call a playful, rather than sarcastic, tone.  He quotes Dan Brown's book at the top of his introduction:  "The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great."  In that vein, he sets out to introduce us to all the witnesses in this so-called conspiracy, even going so far as to call them conspirators and co-conspirators, and systematically tears down not only Dan Brown's statement, but several well-known modern scholars' conspiracy theories as well.  By the time you get to the last chapter you are absolutely sure that this conspiracy theory is just like most others—a bunch of hooie.
            Here is the best thing about this book:  Professor Hill, evidently at the behest of his wife, has set out to write an "accessible" book, that is, one that the layman can read without too much difficulty.  You do not have to be a scholar to understand it.  If you can follow all the characters in one of those thousand page fictional sagas so many read, or pick up the clues in a complex murder mystery, you can follow this list of characters, moving from one to another in a logical way, each chapter building upon the previous ones.  You do need a brain in your head, but it does not have to be a particularly astounding one.
            And when you can finally answer the question in the title of this book, it will build your faith in that much more important Book.
            Who Chose the Gospels? is published by Oxford University Press.
 
Dene Ward