4 comments about Watchman Nee - A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age.

1. This book is on a great man of faith, Watchman Nee. The book clearly portrays his conversion, his vision, and the kind of life he lived because of his vision. A sober and honest Christian will see a genuine human being, serving God in a normal way, but with abounding grace to meet large and small problems with divine humanity, for the purpose of building the Body of Christ, and not just his own ministry.

   As the book reveals, Watchman Nee's ministry was one of crystal clear vision and specificity. Yet he was able to take correction and adjustment from God in any form, even from Watchman's own employees.

   His martyrdom in prison ended a life of subjection to the cross. Thus the result of his ministry was always something of resurrection. This book was the best story I have ever read. The tears and repentence I found in its pages have helped me a great deal in my spiritual walk.

   There are reproductions of original documents, old photos, and letters. Many interesting historical items. But the book is not so much from a historical perspective, as it is from a perspective of how brother Watchman Nee's vision developed within him, as he served the Lord to minister to the Body of Christ. Over his life time, he became more and more clear as to the deep intent of the Bible, and was always ministering with this very particular view. He did not believe in the artificial separations imposed by organized Christianity, and the Lord was able to bring in a revival of simple Christian oneness through his ministry.

   His life was not a fairy tale of artificial perfection that many Christians seem to seek, but he was a faithful person, and an example to us all of how to live and serve in simplicity, singleness to the Lord, and faithfulness, in a holy, uncommon way.

   Grace be to the diligent reader.




2. I would like to recommend this book to seeking Christians who desire to be encouraged and strengthened to pursue Christ as life! Witness Lee does an outstanding job of collecting and expounding some of the most valuable life experiences of one of God's faithful servants, Watchman Nee. This book, from cover to cover, portrays an overwhelming portrait of how God needs and uses man for His plan. From the highest to the lowest points in his life, Brother Nee remained faithful to the revelation he received from the Lord. It is inspiring to see what God can accomplish through His chosen people! Brother Nee's life is truly a pattern for those who desire to be one with the Lord's heart's desire on the earth today. Witness Lee, was captured by such a life and was led by the Lord to release the testimony of his dear co-worker. Tears will come to your eyes when you read this amazing story of God's expression through man.



3. If you have never read a Christian biography, put this at the top of your must-read list. If you are a reader of Christian biographies and have not read this biography, you are missing out on the life of one of the most useful servants of the Lord in the past century.

   It's time well-spent. I absolutely recommend it.




4. Watchman Nee was a Christian author and teacher in China who lived from 1903-1972. Although I had heard bits and pieces of his biography before, this book does a great job of painting an entire picture of the man and his life. Both he and his mother were converted through the preaching of Dora Yu in 1920, which is somewhat ironic, since his mother had prayed to God that if He gave her a son, she would give him over to the Lord. Nee immediately abandoned his career plans and began preaching the Gospel. He mentions that this was somewhat hard for him, because he had always been first in his class and knew he would have been a success in the world had he pursued a career.
   
   An early influence on him was his fellowship with missionary Margaret Barber. Nee says that Miss Barber was very strict with him, constantly reproving and rebuking him. Yet, he always returned to her discipline because he felt she had the strong presence of the Lord. Barber was a great example to Watchman Nee in paying more attention to life than to work. Nee realized that God cares for what we are more than what we do, and his work was according to this principle. He observed how Miss Barber continually stressed the matter of life, paying almost no attention to her work.
   
   Early on, as Nee studied the Bible, he began to see that baptism should be by immersion, that the Lord's table did not need a pastor as overseer, and finally that the denominations were wrong. Eventually, he came to see the ground of locality as the proper basis for each church rather than the denominational names.
   
   Not far into his ministry, Nee became ill with tuberculosis, and stayed virtually bedridden for three years. He wrote "The Spiritual Man" during this time, in spite of his youth, being advised by physicians that he would surely die of his illness. However, the Lord healed him of this disease in 1927, although not completely. He always had residual heart disease from this ailment.
   
   Prior to his illness, and not long after his conversion, Nee gave up the girl that he loved because she mocked him whenever he preached the Gospel. Nee said he reasoned with the Lord over this, promising to do this or that if he did not have to give up this girl, but ultimately he gave in and broke off the relationship, realizing he could not marry an unbeliever. Ten years later, this same girl, still unmarried, became a Christian and she and Watchman Nee ultimately did get married.
   
   From 1942 until 1948, Nee's ministry lay dormant after he came under attack from some because he had gone into business in the pharmaceutical industry in order to help out a relative. This six years away from the ministry was quite a trial for Nee. His teaching resumed in 1948 with several trainings that he gave. His final training and meeting with the author, Witness Lee, occurred in Hong Kong in 1950. Nee instructed Witness Lee to not return with him to mainland China, so that the work of the Lord's recovery could be furthered throughout the world. Nee, however, did return to China, now under the control of the Communists, to minister to the believers there until his arrest in 1952. He never saw freedom again, and during his twenty year imprisonment was only allowed to be visited by his wife, who died several months before Watchman Nee.
   
   The two things that impressed me the most while reading this book were:
   1. How Watchman Nee was so willing to be completely dependent upon the Lord and was always so diligent at keeping a clear conscience before Him. All of his many writings are really just a result of this.
   2. Separate from Watchman Nee, the vast majority of those converted in China took their conversion experience as a life changing one. There did not seem to be that many tales of back-sliding as is so common in the U.S.
   
   This is a truly inspiring and complete work, with commentary by Witness Lee and the testimony of Nee himself filling in any gaps. There are also testimonies of several of Nee's coworkers on their experiences with him. Nee was one who was faithful to the Lord from the time of his conversion at age 17, and this is a very complete look at his entire life. I highly recommend it.

1 comments about Saint Augustine's Memory (Augustine, Confessiones. Bk. 2.).

1. Remembering is a process that never rests. Memory is where Augustine finds himself and others and God. The power of memory is vast. We commit things to memory. We equate memory with mind.
   
   Memory holds the four categories of mind--desire, joy, fear, sorrow. In Book Ten of the CONFESSIONS Augustine moves from the past to the present. The chapter is Augustine's project of self-assessment. Augustine marks the combinative powers of memory. There is a relationship between memory and personal identity. Augustine reaches no sure answer to the problem of forgetting. Augustine sees his major failure as a desire for praise.
   
   Garry Wills has taken a significant portion of the CONFESSIONS and provided new translations and literate commentary.

No comments about Detour.

1 comments about A Light Will Rise in Darkness: Growing Up Black and Catholic in New Orleans (American Catholic Experience).

1. Jo Anne Tardy paints an intimate portrait of her childhood in New Orleans. Her descriptions make the reader feel as though they were with her as she worked for the nuns. A very informative and interesting read.

No comments about THOUGHTS OF A BLIND BEGGAR: Reflections from a Journey to God.

No comments about Buddhadasa: Theravada Buddhism and Modernist Reform in Thailand.

4 comments about Clark H. Pinnock: Journey Toward Renewal: An Intellectual Biography.

1. Barry Callen has put evangelical scholars in his debt with this intellectual biography on Clark Pinnock's theological development. Pinnock's own journey is a sort of "microcosm" of evangelicalism itself, which makes these insights encouraging and instructive. (In this sense, the book reminds me a little of George Marsden's "Reforming Fundamentalism"--a history of Fuller Seminary which, as an institution, also provided a glimpse into the struggles and growth of evangelicalism as a whole.) Though *almost* bordering on the hagiographic at times, Callen does an excellent job of distilling the key themes of Pinnock's theology and allowing us to glimpse how Pinnock's mind has changed. By focusing on the process and development, Callen sketches Pinnock as a model of genuine evangelical engagement who is not afraid to engage broader currents, and not afraid to change his mind. Both Pinnock's work and Callen's account of it are exemplary in this regard.



2. More appropriately titled, 'Journey toward Newness/Novelty'. The main strength of the book is to show how subtly, gradually and unwittingly a journey away from evangelical core beliefs can be for anyone, no matter the intellectual horsepower or academic credentials or sincerity. Compare/contrast prior Pinnock quotes (1985 - How I Use the Bible in Doing Theology) with his current position (still evolving, progressing, 'renewing', 'maturing'): "theological novelty does not blend well with a high view of Scripture" "adherence to the Bible means acquiescence to all its teachings and a refusal to allow any rival to stand above it, whether tradition, reason, culture, science, opinion" "the theologian has no right to pick and choose between biblical doctrines" "reductionism has no rightful role in theology, nor is there a right to place in opposition one part of the Bible against another. I simply presuppose its falsity on the grounds of my confidence in scripture, the inspiration of which carries an assumption of its unity and coherence" "each text must be read and understood in the canonical context which resists an atomistic approach" "we must not conform theology to our situation" "use of process thought cannot be explained in terms of biblical reflection but must be explained in terms of the influence of secular modernity" "What divine revelation does not disclose cannot be incorporated into theology as truth. Only what is taught in Scripture is binding on the conscience" "the wise theologian accepts the tensions which are present in the Bible and learns to resist the temptation from reason to tamper with them. I cannot tamper with the data as regards sovereignty and human freedom just because it would be easier if one were at liberty to do so" "Reason is a God-given faculty which is of great usefulness in theology; however, it must be kept in its ministerial role and not allowed to rise to a magisterial role"

   "tradition (the living faith of the dead, as opposed to traditionalism, the dead faith of the living) provides contexts in which Scriptural knowledge is pursued" "Tradition in its servant role alerts theologians to heresy" Prooftexting is suspect because "when the Bible is cited in support of some proposal, it must be apt, intelligent and discerning. I do not want to be sued by Scripture for exegetical malpractice" In other words, citing texts must be done in a way that is

   illuminant, Spirit-friendly, plenarily representative and canonically/contextually balanced. "be wary of twisting Scripture to serve one's own interests and preferred views" "theology must not attempt to advance beyond the limits of the Bible" - do not go beyond what is written! "We cannot go beyond the evidence", especially if it is where no man has gone before, or where even angels fear to tread. "We cannot invent new data or eliminate any. We may even have to accept antinomies which offend the rational impulse"(apparent contradiction; paradox; antilogy) "Scripture may not always satisfy human curiosity which presses for answers in areas where sufficient evidence is not provided" That is, we have all we need to know, not all we need to want to know. The wise theologian must be careful to find even what he may not be apt to seek, rather than seek only what he is prone to find. "tradition serves to confront heretical teachers who advance their novelties in the name of some lost-sight-of exegetical insights" "A high doctrine of Scripture and theological novelty do not go well together" "we are not free to pick and choose between biblical doctrines or to perform theological reduction that marks the shift toward humanity in religious liberalism" "The biblical writers do not seem to feel that (divine sovereignty and human agency) are mutually exclusive, but instead they place the two ideas in juxtaposition at every turn and seem indifferent to our intellectual dilemmas" "Reason is a faculty of great usefulness to theology. Occasionally, it rises up to challenge Scripture and when it does, we ought to put it in its place as supportive,ministerial, non-legislative" "When confronting heresies, novelties, 'lost-sight-of exegetical insights', the creeds of the church, though not infallible, provide temporary respite by alerting to the time-honored convictions and conventions of multitudes of believers before our time and make one pause before accepting innovations" Even the most well-intentioned are "quite prepared for and adept at twisting Scripture to serve their own ends; no one is immune from doing the same thing"

   Truer words were never spoken! This biography highlights the importance of guarding against any violation of the above principles of using Scripture in theology. Caveat Emptor!




3. Barry Callen has shown in this exciting book that if one is truly open to the moving of the Holy Spirit, then change can take place. He shows how Clark Pinnock, who was totally sold out for the Reform doctrine, began to question these beliefs and search out the Scriptures. It is a story spanning over 30 years of Pinnock's life, and it is truly well done. Many have seen Pinnock as a deserter of the faith, but Callen shows how Pinnock's faith has only been strengthen by this truly spiritual journey. There will always be those who question and critisize anything that is different than what they themselves believe. But for those who want a truly inspiring book that shows how the rewards of the journey far outweigh the risk of leaving the harbor, then I recommend this book.



4. Clark Pinnock is probably the most controversial evangelical theologian of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in 1937 in Canada and raised in a mainline protestant denomination, he converted to evangelicalism of the Reformed Baptist variety. In his early works (1967-1971) he defended biblical inerrancy against attempts to limit the Bible's truthfulness to spiritual matters. By the mid-1970s (if not earlier) Pinnock's views started evolving. He embraced Arminianism and the Charismatic movement. In 1984 he published THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLE, in which he rejected the strict view of inerrancy he had previously advocated. By 1992 he was advocating annihilationism (the belief that the impenitent will be destroyed rather than condemned to eternal punishment). Not content with these changes he turned his attention to the doctrine of God, contributing an important essay to the 1994 collection THE OPENNESS OF GOD. There Pinnock advocated "open theism." Open theism (also called free-will theism) rejects the classical conception of God in favor of something roughly between process theism and classical theism. Although Pinnock has always considered himself an evangelical, some haven't hesitated in calling the "later Pinnock" a heretic. In 2002 some members of the Evangelical Theological Society sought to expel him. After Pinnock "clarified" his views on inerrancy, the ETS voted to retain him.
   
   Prof. Barry Callen - who appears to agree with Pinnock's theology in its essentials - has written a solid intellectual biography of Pinnock. While the work is not exactly critical, it does a good job of explaining where Pinnock fits in the theological spectrum and how his views have evolved over time.
   
   The book contains some excerpts from Pinnock's works with reflections by Pinnock written especially for the book. It also has a bibliography of books and articles by and about Pinnock.

5 comments about The Sun at Midnight: A Memoir of the Dark Night.

1. As another reviewer said, the introduction, on the stages the soul must go through on the way to union with God, is excellent, one of the clearest expositions on the Dark Night of the Soul I've ever read. The Dark Night is not just depression, and it is not something that can be avoided or an unfortunate turn of events. It is the proximate cause of fuller awakening, the process through which the already-spiritualized ego now comes apart, to allow something better to take its place.

   But the story that follows does not qualify as a true Dark Night, though it was certainly painful and humiliating. The evidence that it is not the death of Harvey's ego is the self-absorbed story of his love for Eryk Hanut. Yes, it is amazing to fall in love. And yes, sex with someone you love deeply is awesome. But graphic descriptions of homosexual love are not to everyone's taste (nor would equally graphic descriptions of heeterosexual love seem called for). And the idea that your love and marriage is a Tantric revelation that is part of God's plan to save the planet is, well, it is ego-inflation, not ego-death.

   The level of detail here is amazing--every twitch, every conversation, every up and down of the roller-coaster ride of a new love affair, every anxiety attack, every act of vomiting, every kiss--it seems like both spiritual and sexual exhibitionism.

   If it's true that those who say don't know and those who know don't say, then this book says far too much.

   I like Harvey, and I am reading his other books, and there is a certain fascination in this close observation of himself. But I don't think it is a sign of healthy transcendance of the ego-self. (Leaving Mother Meera, though, probably was a wise step. And his warnings about the danger of gurus and the possibility that spiritual powers possessed by humans may be driven by evil is also worth thinking about.)




2. When the foundations of your life crumble; when you've tried everything that's practical, and it doesn't work; and when you know what it is to enter the darkness of desolation and loss, then you can read and read this book, over and over again, and you can find a kind of comfort in it. For me, it is useful that Andrew Harvey is so emotional, because my own spiritual training has been in the direction of denying emotions. There is a lot of wisdom in the book and, because I love words and the English language, the literary style is a great pleasure; and I enjoyed the romance of the love story between himself and Eryk Hanut. For these and many other reasons, Sun at Midnight was an almost-daily source of solace for a couple of months last year.



3. In his earlier work, Hidden Journey, Andrew Harvey literally wrote the book on Indian guru Mother Meera as he described how this woman he came to believe was an incarnation of the Divine Mother assisted him in coming into a more awakened state. Not much later, his view of Meera (for whom he had become the official spokesperson) began to change when she informed him that his homosexual lifestyle was spiritually wrong and insisted he renounce both homosexuality and his newfound lover.
   
   Harvey's account of his split from Meera and the resulting dark night of the soul is intensely personal, and some readers may find the graphic depiction of tantric gay sex in one chapter a little too personal. But the story is compelling as a raw chronicle of one man's courageous struggle to reclaim his spirituality from someone who was clearly abusing it and instead forge his own direct connection to the divine.
   
   The one problem I had with Harvey's account, however, is that while he outlines the process of projection that caused him to originally see Meera as an incarnation of the Divine Mother, I wasn't left with the impression that he understood that his new, negative perceptions of who Meera really is might also be subject to the same process of distortion.



4. Andrew Harvey is truly a gifted writer, and the passion with which he lives comes through in this book. This is an open, honest and blatant excavation of his deepest fears, needs, desires and motivations. The journey is incredible. He sheds light on the influence of ego in the spiritual journey and the importance of looking honestly at our motives, actions and beliefs. It's an incredible look into the manipulation and dubious nature of the "guru system" and a light to be shed on all spiritual teachers. A must read!



5. Foe a full panorama of A. Harvey's experience one must read the first 'Mother Meera " book to see how passionate and star struck ( and possibly demonically possessed ) a searcher can get. I read the Sun at Midnight book years back and count it among my many valuable learning experiences in discernment.. I will never again question getting the creepie crawlies when I see an Indian mystic swathed in brightly colored silk on a platform strewn with flowers ,surrounded by devotees addressing this entity as "Oh sacred one."The section in this book detailing the excorcism by proxy is enough for me..

5 comments about The Year I Got Everything I Wanted: A Spiritual Crisis.

1. Cameron Conant writes with great skill, depth and reflection. The Year I Got Everything I Wanted follows a year full of promises (new city/job/girlfriend) on the other side of his painful divorce. Conant's honesty and transparency stand out amidst endless stacks of "how-to" and "step-by-step" books, while the narrative challenges our perspectives on God, success, love and the church. All who struggle with pain, expectations, disappointment and faith will enjoy, finding themselves in Conant's story--and the greater narrative of life.



2. If there's one happy side-effect of being someone who has spent time in the darkest places of the spirit, it's that you can detect beauty in the smallest of things, and in the unlikeliest of places. Cameron Conant has the uncanny ability to do that - he can capture a moment in time, savor it, and hold it up to the light for us in a way that shows us beauty where we might not have known it would be. I think that's my favorite aspect of Conant's writing style. It makes me wonder how much more there is to my own life that I am not seeing, and it reminds me to be mindful of the simple, seemingly mundane things in daily life that are in fact not mundane at all.
   
   In this book, Conant bares his soul to the reader and shares thoughts and experiences that many of us would hesitate to tell our friends, let alone the world at large. It is this openness that gives us a glimpse of some very deep but universal struggles that we all share, but often fail to confront directly - the grasping at something outside ourselves to find satisfaction, and ultimately the failure to find it anywhere but in the Source within ourselves. And although this book is classified as Christian literature, I believe that it would be an enjoyable and easy read for anyone who is the least bit spiritually-minded, regardless of religion. It speaks truths that reach beyond those boundaries.



3. I am nearing the end of "The Year I Got Everything I wanted" as I type this review. I have to admit that I stumbled across Conant's earlier book, "With or Without You" by accident but it was a wonderful read.
   
   I went through an un-wanted divorce a year and a half ago and can relate to much of what Cameron writes about. The sometimes overwhelming feelings of rejection, loss, confusion, heartache, loneliness, sadness, depression, etc. are not new to me. I often wonder if I will fully get past these things. My divorce experience was interesting because the one place I expected my failing marriage to get better only allowed it to become worse-----a small town Southern Baptist Church. The church became an outlet for gossip, deception and non-biblical teaching. It also allowed my ex-wife to find companionship with other women who were going through marital problems and divorces. Instead of encouraging my wife to stay in the marriage these women only gave advice which eventually allowed her to walk away from the marriage. Misery loves company apparently rears its ugly head once again in the local church.
   
   I'm thankful for my church friends that cared enough about me and God to tell me to never give up on the marriage. My experience has allowed me to see the blatant contradictions found in church life today in the area of marriage and divorce as well as many, many other social, political, spiritual, and theological beliefs and practices. This has inspired me to write my own book dealing with the overall theme of contradicitons the church does not want to deal with.
   
   I'm grateful for men like Cameron Conant. In a world of fiction we need more realistic writers who are not afraid to expose themselves and write about life as it is. What makes Conant's books worthwhile is the fact that you can identify with him. We all experience life with pain and loss. As I type this I have returned home from my residence in Tennessee to my birthplace in Pensacola, FL to visit my dad who just underwent emergency surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. Again life has thrown me a curve ball and I'm trying to figure out how I want to swing at this one!
   
   I encourage you to read both "With or Without You" and "The Year I Got Everything I Wanted". These books are for anyone who has struggled through a broken marriage, divorce, and the pursuit of happiness that makes most of us continually seek true love and acceptance. I often ask myself, "Why do I bother trying to find anyone to love me?" After asking the question I realize-----we do believe in fairy tales. It is that fairy tale belief that there is someone out there for all of us that allows us to pick up look past the pain and try it all over again.
   
   For now it is just me and God. Perhaps we will fair better when we realize that on most days that is quite enough. But, I am gently reminded of the phrase, "God looked down and saw that it was not good for man to be alone" I say amen to that!



4. Just like his first book, Cameron draws you into his story with tales of love and life that are familiar to all. In his first book, he tells how he got married and divorced all before he turned 27. Now, a year later, he has turned over a new leaf, scored a fantastic job, fallen in love, and is leaving the predictable Midwest for the promise of a dream in Nashville. I laughed out loud as he described small town living, but his love affair with the girl of his dreams and an interesting roundtable of friends keeps you turning the pages!



5. Everything Conant writes is so relatable as you follow his journey through all the seasons in his year. Conant truly has a gift for words and storytelling and this is definitely one of the best books I've ever read!! :-)

3 comments about The Iron Road: A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma.

1. In 1988 though her democratic political party won the national elections in a romp, the military refused to let go of power and instead placed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, killed many of her supporters, and drove others into exile. When British citizen James Mawdsley learned about the incarceration of the Burmese Nobel Laureate, he became outraged. Mawdsley became a one-man band staging protests and distributing antigovernment paraphernalia and is finally arrested and sentenced for seventeen years for various crimes that will shock western sensitivities to learn the felonis he committed.

   Mr. Mawdsley tells his story on why he chose an activist path to shake up more then just the Burmese government, but to wake up the western democracies. Most readers will have dual feelings about the author, as his fanatic behavior seems suicidal yet courageous making him a fascinating character. The autobiography is taut and well written, gripping the audience from start to finish and deserves a large readership as the lesson learned is don't sit passively by whining, take action even small steps matter.

   Harriet Klausner




2. I first heard of James Mawdsley when he was interviewed on the program Worldview on NPR.Even though I had only read one book in the last year and a half previous to hearing the NPR interview, the experiences he recounted and the ways in which he handled them touched me so much I wrote down the name of his book and put in my first order to Amazon.com. I bought this book bracing myself for a hard, serious read (I had never voulunarily ventured into the realm of non-fiction before.) This book captured my attention from the first paragraph and proved to be the furthest thing from a "hard read" - I couldn't put it down! It was: touching, enlightening, sad, inspirational, but most of all unexpectedly FUNNY at times (thanks to James's often self-depricating sense of humor and his evolving "what matters most" outlook on life.) I can not recommend this book enough! It has turned me into a lover of non-fiction and more importantly it has made me aware of human rights abuses that are going on in Burma right now!



3. James Mawdsley is a brave man. He has single-handedly taken on the Big Brotheresque regime of Burma with a considerable degree of success, involving the governments of various Western countries and organizations such as the Vatican and the UN. Having camped with disenfranchised minorities on the Burmese border, Mawdsley decides to go into Burma where he briefly distributes pro-democracy pamphlets and plays freedom songs before being arrested. The fact that he is western prevents him from being immediately beaten down, executed, or horribly tortured. He is roughed up, and subjected to some torture, but the regime never comes close to breaking him, and in fact only strengthens his will. Each time he was released, Mawdsley regained his health and went back into Burma, despite the fact that he had been tortured on the previous trip. Receiving help from a network of people beforehand, he ultimately went in alone so he wouldn't endanger anyone else. James' remarkable story is a diary of months in prison, his longing for food, the small tricks he learned to pass the time, and the solidarity that was felt between the other prisoners and even the guards. When he commented to a guard that he was under a seventeen year sentence, the guard shrugged and replied to Mawdsley, "I am here for thirty years." Though sometimes drifting into preaching, the book is focused and contains some excellent quotations from those who have similarly experienced totalitarianism, such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. "The Iron Road" is an eye-opening glimpse of the power of one determined individual to change the world.