Book reviews 1/25
As always, I’ve been watching too many movies to finish books in a reasonable amount of time. Gotta slow down on that addiction one of these days.
The Shack (William P. Young)
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Borrowed this one from my Mom several months ago and finally finished it. If, like me, you are not fond of children being killed in movies or books, you might consider skipping straight to chapter 5 of the book to get past the murder (no, that’s not a spoiler, just a helpful hint). The rest of the book contains tons of dialog on the Trinity, how God could possibly allow suffering in the world, etc. It is very well done, but there are certainly parts where I found myself thinking, “Dude, that ain’t right.” Anyway, if you keep an open mind, I think this book has something good to say to everyone. Just don’t sit down to read it expecting it to provide you with the complete truth. I understand there’s another book for that.
The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants (Dave Armstrong)
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I must admit that I went to read this book thinking it couldn’t possibly give me much to think about. Boy, was I wrong. Here’s the basic idea of the book: Protestants believe Catholics (at least much of their liturgy) are non-Biblical, Catholics believe (a) that doesn’t matter because Tradition can be as important and (b) actually, they are being Biblical. Ok, maybe that is a bit too short of a summary, but it’s good enough for me. What Dave sets out to do is to meet Protestants on their own turf, i.e., argue for much of Catholic Tradition using the same source the Protestants use to argue against the Catholics, namely the Bible. This book has many good arguments in the beginning, but they become less concrete near the end, which was a good way for Dave to order the book. This has much food for thought, and I would suggest it to any Protestant, or perhaps any Catholic looking to shore up their own understanding. Over the past year, I have slowly been realizing that the Catholic church is nowhere near as crazy as I was led to believe while growing up. No, my Catholic friends, I am not converting yet, but this book is another step on the way to at least understanding you are not as in the wrong as I originally thought. I also continue to realize I can’t take anything I was taught as a child for granted. Guess I’ll continue to work at reading more and praying more.
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January 26th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Thought I would share an excerpt that seems to be a good summary of Dave’s argument throughout his book (found on page 102). It happens to be in a chapter on Baptism, but ignore that part, and notice the crux of the argument.
“These kinds of discussions in theology and apologetics are fun and enjoyable (while at the same time serious) precisely because in some areas the biblical evidence is not airtight and involves speculation. As the Christian Church reflected through the centuries, the overwhelming consensus, even among the great majority of Protestants, came to be that infant baptism was God’s will, and strongly implied in Holy Scripture.
“It means something when such consensus has been reached, and we cannot so easily dismiss it. God may communicate his truth to me personally, but he has also done so to millions of other Christians throughout nearly two thousand years. That being the case, views that have garnered ‘majority support’ need at least to be considered repectfully and carefully.
“This is not to imply that the majority is always right, but rather simply to note that Christian tradition is important, allowing for what G. K. Chesterton called ‘the democracy of the dead.’”