1 comments about John Bunyan: Author of The Pilgrim's Progress (Heroes of the Faith).

1. This easy to read book is a fine, worthy biography of John Bunyan.
   
   I simply loved it. The book not only tells the story of John Bunyan well but also it does an excellent job of sketching his time - the critical period of English civil war. This English Civil War, in my opinion, is the forerunner of American Revolution some hundred years later. Yet few people are knowledgeable about key figures like Oliver Cromwell. This easy to read book will get you started and whet your appetite to read up more on this part of Anglo-American history.
   
   My highest recommendation!

2 comments about Memories of the Branch Davidians: The Autobiography of David Koresh's Mother.

1. It is not that often that a woman freely admits to being of such loose moral character that she was having sex at 14 and giving birth to a monster later known as David Koresh. In the book we learn that David Koresh suffered from a Psychiatric Disorder known as Religious Mania from an early age. As he grew older he began impregating girls as young as 14. Perhaps he had learned this via his mother's example or perhaps it was because he was on the same Intellectual Level as them. David Koresh grew up to be a child raping, cop killing, tax evading, retarded, wife stealing con artist. Thankfully he is now fertilizing the ground instead of 10 year old girls and doing a pretty good impression of an overdone steak. I give this book 5 stars because Ms. Handle Any Man thinks that "Denial" is a river in Eypt.



2. There are plenty of books on the market with dry presentations of facts and figures about the tragedy that has come to be known simply as "Waco." This book shows the people and the lives that were touched by the tragedy. It is both informative, and heartbreaking.

3 comments about John Williamson Nevin: High-Church Calvinist (American Reformed Biographies).

1. This is Dr. Hart at his best. In his biography on J. Gresham Machen, "Defending the Faith", Hart showed great gifts in being able to take a religious historical person and "tease out" of his writings and life the significance of the man for his time. And it is in this teasing out that Hart so effectively makes the person alive for today, showing how the subject's actions and thought are important for the modern church.
   
   John Williamson Nevin, a much neglected (and maligned) character in the history of American Reformed thought here comes alive in this wonderful history of the man's life and defense of his thought. In IVP's "New Dictionary of Theology", Dr. Clair Davis' article on the Mercersburg Theology would lead one to believe the Nevin was "too sympathetic to Roman Catholicism" and that his theology was "the American version of English Anglo-Catholicism". This would cause any Reformed Christian to pause before adopting Nevin as his personal hero of the faith. But Hart's treatment (really, a defense) of Nevin is balanced and shows that while the Mercersburg theologian had a high view of the church and was an ecumenicist, he wasn't so High Church and wasn't such an ecumenicist that he watered down Protestant distinctives so as to compromises essential difference between the Reformation and Rome (such as justification by faith alone).
   
   In fact, Hart is clear in pointing out that Nevin's high view of the Lord's Supper was in much closer conformity with the early Reformers (such as John Calvin) then their American counterpoints. Even Charles Hodge himself suffered from a too "Puritanic" view of the Lord's Supper which differed significantly from Calvin's.
   
   So, far from advocating a quasi-Roman Catholic view of the Eucharist, Nevin was actually seeking to recover the old traditional Reformed view. This is, of course, a breath of fresh air for us American Protestants who have fallen under the spell of fundamentalist pietism which says that true piety in the Christian life comes not through the church and her ordinances, but apart from the church. On this pietistic view, the truly devote Christian is one who doesn't need the church to grow in grace; he can do it on his own and by himself - he and his bible.
   
   Nevin, and Hart, recover for us a churchly piety. That is to say, a piety that is centered in Christ and the means of grace which he has given to his flock through the ordinances and officers of the church. Christ gave to us as gifts the ministry for the building up of the church.
   
   This book comes highly recommended for both scholarship (it is one of the few recent studies on Nevin and will prove useful - especially the bibliographic essay - to anyone studying American Protestant thought in general, and Nevin in particular) and for edification (it is an encouragement for Christians to come once again to their mother, the church, for nourishment and grace for their Christian pilgrimage). In addition, historians and ministers would do well to consider seriously Hart's provocative challenge on re-periodization set forth in the last half dozen pages or so. In fact, this reviewer can not emphasize enough the importance of reading the concluding chapter all the way through, for here we receive the "pay off" of everything that preceded it.



2. In America, the concept of the "covenant" has degenerated into what the popular mind views as a "contract", a vertical arrangement of preference and convenience.
   
   In popular reformed theology, this devolution has reduced the church to little more than a voluntary association, presbyterian style, and worship as a devotional governed by Robert's Rules of Order.
   
   For Nevin, covenant cannot be conceived apart from the God who speaks visibly through the sacraments. For Nevin,the Church is nothing less than the historical manifestation of the Body of Christ in direct union and communion with her Risen, Glorified Lord. Worship therefore is not governed by earthly rules of Puritan propriety and procedure but rather "God's Service" where God calls man into His presence and ministers to man through Word and Sacrament, Prayer and Praise.
   
   "Reformed" ecclesiology without Nevin's view of the covenant is bound to degenerate into sectarianism and, ultimately, become a humanistic enterprise in search of "new methods" to ape the life only the Risen Christ can impart: the catechetical system versus the "Anxious Bench".
   
   For his (and Schaff's) efforts, so-called "reformed theologians" have slandered him with the label "Romanist" while themselves embracing positions that would render Calvin unable to be ordained in their presbyteries due to his view of the sacraments which Nevin called the "reformed" church to return to (in his work on the "Mystical Presence").
   
   This excellent biography should be read by all those who are aghast at the shallowness of modern "reformed" worship and church life and who seek an alternative. Nevin - through this work - shows the way to a "unified field theory" of reformed ecclesiology.
   
   It is for his heirs to follow his lead! Start here!



3. Thesis of the book: John Williamson Nevin's high church Calvinism attempted to steer a middle path between the individualism of 19C Presbyterianism while avoiding the tyranny of Rome. His view of the sacraments necessitates a higher view of the church.
   
   Summary and Critical Points: DG Hart's style is straightfoward and the narrative flows smoothly. Given the thesis, he accomplished his task while suggesting that Nevin's sacramentology can provide a more robust ecclesiology for the American Church. I can criticise Hart for only taking us to the edge of the cliff, but no further. I would have liked to see more detail on how Nevin's view of the Supper affects his Calvinist soteriology. Hart also had a few irrelevant and poorly argued comments at the end of the book on why the church shouldn't transform culture. Other than that, a worthy read. Now for the review.
   
   Abstract of Hart's Bio on Nevin
   
   Nevin's life is seen as a tension between the historical claims of the Roman Catholic Church on one hand and the energy of the Protestant Reformation on the other hand. The Incarnation was central to Nevin's Christology and Ecclesiology. His was a sacramental theology that shaped all else: his view of the church, his view of history and most importantly, his view of the Lord's Supper (207). Nevin battled for the recapturing of the Church's past. For Nevin, taking the claims of the early church seriously, and seeking the unity of the church as opposed to sectarianism, raised several problems: what does one do about the Roman Catholic Church?
   
   Nevin on the Church
   According to Hart, "The Church, in other words, was the manifestation in the natural world of the resurrected Christ, literally and supernaturally the body of Christ" (75). There was an objective character to the church. Among other things, this precluded revivalism and the use of an "anxious bench." Over against the anxious bench, which constituted Nevin's first foray into polemics (see pp. 88-103), Nevin proposed catechical instruction. Teaching the catechism, unlike the altar call, saw salvation as "new life emanating from union with Christ" (97). The channel of conversion should flow through the family, not the anxious bench.
   
   Nevin on Salvation
   Nevin anticipated the debate regarding union with Christ vs. imputation of Christ's righteousness (interestingly, Hart doesn't interact with this debate). Salvation, for Nevin, was corporate and organic and was mediated by the church. Discussion regarding Nevin's soteriology necessarily brings up his sacramentology. Standing in the Calvinian tradition, the sacrament is a sign and a seal embodying the actual presence of grace "and the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ himself" (118). When the believer partakes of the Supper, the body and blood of Christ from heaven is supernaturally communicated to him and he receives life in a new way (119). It is a "mystical union" where Christ communicates his own life and soul substantially to the believer.
   
   Nevin on History
   This constituted the crisis in Nevin's life: how to respond to Roman apologetics? To his credit he never became Roman Catholic, but he never gave a credible reason for not doing so. Nevin's argumentation regarding this point often broke down. He resorted, if Hart's representation is accurate, to simplistic generalizations and occasional special pleading in favor of Rome. He saw the Puritans [which Puritans? JBA] as simplistic "me and my bible" Christians ignoring the rich testimony of the Church while Roman Catholics had almost everything right historically, but erred on papal assertions to infallibility. No wonder he nearly went to Rome! Nevin was correct to see the church as a growing, organic body in union with Christ. This point alone, if further developed, should have persuaded him that Rome was not an option. Nevin himself was aware that Rome's position theoretically denied the possibility of improvement within the church. Since the church's teaching is by definition infallible, what's new to learn? The best Nevin did to this arena is urge apologists to incorporate more of the early and Medieval church into their apologetics.

No comments about Paul's Call: How Saul Became a Christian.

No comments about Embracing Purpose: Essays on God, the World and the Church.

3 comments about The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator's Role in Early A.A..

1. Through the years that I have been reading Dick B.'s A.A. history books, I have come to know the Akron pioneer founding crowd as friends and inspirations. I've also seen the importance that the Bible played in the whole A.A. picture--particularly the Book of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13. I was able to see the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker and the life-changing program of the Oxford Group as the major sources for Bill Wilson's Big Book and Twelve Step language despite the Oxford Group disclaimers by so many AAs. But having gotten acquainted with the Akron Christians and the New York Christian clergy who played such a heavy role in A.A., I felt I knew the beliefs of Dr. Bob, his wife Anne, Henrietta Seiberling, T. Henry and Clarace Williams, Sam Shoemaker, Frank Buchman, Carl Jung, and William James. But I saw a whirlpool of confusion about what Bill Wilson really believed. Was he a Christian? Did he ever look at a Bible before he came to Akron? Did he embrace the things that Rev.Sam Shoemaker taught him? Did he even believe in God or in the acceptance of Jesus Christ as the way to a relationship with God?
   If you read most historians and biographies, you'd be apt to chime in with the idea that Bill was an atheist or an agnostic or "spiritual but not religious" or wedded to some wierd "higher power" that came from the New Thought Movement. And evidently historian Dick B. had waited even longer than I did for an in depth look at the facts. Because the facts have been ignored or distorted. This new title--The Conversion of Bill W.--is a gem among gems. It leaves no stone unturned in the quest for Bill's real background and beliefs. It leaves the reader astonished at the news that Bill's grandfather Willie had a conversion much like that of Bill's in Towns Hospital, except that it happened years earlier and spelled salvation and freedom from drink for Willie. The door is opened to the little village of East Dorset, Vermont--to the founding membership in its East Congregational Church by the Wilsons and the sustaining membersip by Wilson's grandfather Fayette Griffith and Bill's mother. Was there Bible study? Yes. Was there church attendance? Yes. Did Bill attend Sunday school there? Yes. Did Bill himself study the Bible? Yes. Did Bill ever attend temperance and revival meetings such as those grandpa Willie had frequented? Yes. Did Bill then attend daily chapel at Burr and Burton Seminary in his years there? Yes. Were his first girl friend and later his wife the daughters of ministers? Yes. Did Bill have at least FIVE of what he called spiritual experiences in his life? Yes. Did Dr. William Silkworth tell Bill that he could be healed by Jesus Christ? Yes. Did Ebby Thacher tell Bill that he had been healed at the altar of Sam Shoemaker's Rescue Mission? Yes. Did Bill then go to the Mission and make a decision for Christ there? Yes. Did Bill soon proclaim that he had been born again? Yes. Did Bill call on the Great Physician for help at Towns Hospital? Yes. Did Bill state that after his hot flash experience there he never again doubted the existence of God? Yes. Did Bill's wife Lois and his doctor Silkworth conclude with Bill that he had been converted and had a conversion experience? Yes. And yet all these points involve the Bill Wilson whose beliefs and actions were unknown for years and which occurred before A.A. was a twinkle in Bill's eye. I like the thorough work in this book. I like the fact that it will shake many people into doing their own research and fact-finding instead of repeating undocumented statements about what A.A.'s founders were, what they believed, and what the early program was really like. This new biography is a treat you will enjoy.



2. One of the most intimidating hurdles for a Christian to overcome in A.A. is the repeated, uninformed, incomplete presentation of Bill as some kind of atheist or agnostic who finally turned to a "higher power" that could be the A.A. Group. I am not one who studies Bill Wilson's later years after A.A. was founded, nor who relishes accounts of his shortcomings in marriage, LSD, spiritualism, and all the rest. For me the important question is this: Did the Creator really have a role in early A.A.? And over the years I have been reading Dick B.'s books and research results, I have become enlightened and warmed in my heart about how important the Creator and His son Jesus Christ were in early AAs. Though most don't know much about Dr. Bob, they seem to have the impression that he believed in God, was a Christian, studied the Bible, and strongly relied on prayer. That describes him properly. But the only way to find out the truth about Bill Wilson is not to look at his shortcomings, but to look at his early years and his growing conviction that the Great Physician, Jesus Christ had cured him of his alcohol problems. Probably not one in five hundred of today's A.A. people, or others, has any idea that Bill: (a) Learned of his grandfather Willie's conversion to Christ and was cured of alcoholism. (b) Grandfather Fayette Griffith urged Bill to read the Bible, enrolled him in Sunday school at the church next door, attended church with Bill. (c)That Bill himself studied the Bible, went to revivals and temperance meetings. (d) That Bill's grandparents on both sides were much involved in the little East Congregational Church between their houses. (e) That Bill's parents lived in a parsonage for a time, that they sang Christian songs together, that they talked of Grandpa Willie's conversion and cure quite often. (f) That Bill went on to Burr & Burton Academy in Vermont, attended daily chapel, and became president of the YMCA there. (g) That years later, Ebby Thacher related to Bill Ebby's own conversion to Christ at Calvary Rescue Mission. (h) That Bill went to the Mission, knelt at the altar, and handed his life over to Christ--as Lois herself phrased it. (h) That Dr. Silkworth had previously told Bill at Towns Hospital that the Great Physician (Jesus Christ) could cure him. (i) That Bill finally decided after his altar conversion to call on the Great Physician for help. (j) That Bill did call on the Great Physician and had his "hot flash" conversion experience--described in much the same language that his grandfather Willie had described his own mountain top convesion and cure. (k) That Bill wrote that he had been born again. (l) That Bill confirmed for himself the validity of conversion cures by studying the William James book the day of Bill's own conversion experience. (m) That Dr. Silkworth had confirmed to Bill that Bill had had a genuine conversion experience. (n) That Bill then went about trying to convert drunks--with no success. (o) That Bill's message was The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease (See Big Book, p. 191). (p) That Bill and Bob began leading people to Christ right after A.A. began? Does all this surprise you as much as it has me? Well, it's factual. Dick's new book relates it and documents it. And it's a testimony to an accurate story of Bill's convictions as he went to Akron, Ohio, and founded A.A. with Dr. Bob in the summer of 1935. What a great book. What a great history. What a great testimony. And what a great piece of research and writing for those who want to know the facts. Go for it.



3. Bill Wilson was never friends or at home with any organized religion. He was a devout Spiritualist up until his end days. This is well documented. The 12 Steps were said to be written by automatic writing and scribed by spirit. This book is for those bible thumping wanna make Bill W. into what he was not - a Jesus loving Christian. Though he danced with a few zealots and Catholicism, in the end he returned to Spiritualism and there he stayed.

2 comments about HUNTING FOR HOPE CL.

1. In Scott Russell Sanders' new book, the search is for hope...for his grown children, and for us all. Sanders feels that crying need among our young and gives back his own discoveries in his mid-fifties. In particular his relationship with his college age son are poignant and real. The book seems an antidote of sorts for the lost relationships found in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild book of Chris McMannes. This is Henry David Thoreau writing here...with a wife and childen...facing the life we all know. He reaches and finds some lasting truths that connect us all.



2. Here is a father who takes his son's world seriously. We can learn by his tales the power of passing wisdom along kindly and eloquently, while at the same time listening with attentiveness to the concerns of the future. Because the author is willing to learn from a younger generation, we as readers may learn along with him. He also has lessons of his own, and these are presented respectfully. This book is honest, funny, entertaining, and inspiring without being heavy-handed; a wonderful dose of urgent optimism and a communication between present and future, father and son, writer and reader.

1 comments about Into All the World: Four Stories of Pioneer Missionaries (Heroes of the Faith (Barbour Paperback)).

1. This little volume contains four stories of people in diverse locations and from varying denominational backgrounds who worked to promote the Christian faith among other peoples. These are the very brief biographies of Christian missionaries. If you are looking for a deep study of one or all of those featured here, you should look elsewhere. If, however, you are either looking for a simple introduction to mission history or want to use it in homeschooling teens, then buy this book. Hey, it's cheap and you can pass it on when you're done with it.

2 comments about The Motley Crew: Monastic Lives.

1. In this delightful book we see the infinite variety of the colorful characters out of monastic history - The Motley Crew. "We are not saints," Brother Benet declares. Story after story shows the mysterious mix of saint-and-sinner in the life of every monastic, indeed of every human being. Far from being just a humorous, enjoyable, and accurate romp through monastic history, this book is a compassionate and paradoxically hopeful rendering of human imperfections and virtues in age after age.
   
   The Motley Crew is divided into 38 short spicy chapters each averaging three pages in length. Each chapter portrays the lives of monastics and the times in which they lived. The chapters gallop chronologically through history, yet often we are transported in a flash back to the present as Benet splices in current tales from his vast repertoire of monastic adventures. Throughout the book the author also weaves in guidelines from the Rule of St. Benedict, so that we get a good look at the monastic ideal. Refreshingly, Br. Benet is not at all hesitant to poke a little fun at everyone and everything - himself and his fellow monks included. Yet out of this quagmire of human foibles, Benet gently leads us to the humor, compassion, hope, and light cast by fifteen centuries of Benedictine monastics who are heroic in their quiet unassuming day-to-day lives. As Benet notes, "Ours is a joyful and somewhat messy history, not unlike the history of all people striving to draw closer to God."
   
   The colorful stories are of very human saints and include details that you'll never find in glossed-over legends and hagiographies. Portrayed are every imaginable human weakness along with all the virtues. We meet gluttons, drunkards, gossips, adulterers, and murderers amidst those of deep faith, hope, and love. We see abuses of authority ranging from hair-pulling and name-calling to sexual indiscretions. We see monks playing tennis in the village when they should be in church, monks "seeking too much solace in a nearby tavern owned by the monastery," and we see altogether too much monastic wealth and comfort at different times in history. Benet readily admits that at times "things really werern't up to snuff."
   
   We observe the sad and cyclical decline of monasteries: abbeys in ruins turned to cow pastures, refectories used for bowling alleys, a holy-water fountain used for a kitchen sink, tombstones from the monks' cemetery used for a sidewalk. We hear of the current shrinkage and even closure of European and North American monasteries.
   
   The startling thing about this book is that there is so much hope amidst the dross, with its subtly joyful, optimistic, and compassionate rendition of history in spite of tragedies, disasters, and the gamut of human weaknesses. One meets cycle after cycle of decline and resurrection, despair and triumph - where "triumph" is often a simple quiet continuance of the everyday life of Benedictine ideals.
   
   Br. Benet ponders over the future of monasticism as numbers of monks steadily decline. He finds hope for the future: "Benedictines are like weeds. We keep cropping up, even in the most surprusing places" - and notes the current rise of monasticism in Third World countries. He points out that following on the heels of every epoch of monastic decline we see solid reform movements with return to the simplicity, moderation, and discipline of the guiding Rule of St. Benedict.
   
   As Br. Benet notes: "[Saint] Benedict's vision was one of hope and light, even though he lived in a time of darkness and despair." The same can be said of Brother Benet, as evidenced by this book. Bless Benet for the hope and light that he brings to our world with The Motley Crew. His book is a tribute to the generations of monastics who sought God, found God, and passed on the torch of monasticism which continues to burn brightly today in spite of dwindling numbers. This book is a must-read for Benedictine oblates, and for anyone interested in monastic life and/or studies in human nature.



2. I was drawn to this book by reading other works of this author.
   Also, Kathleen Norris. I was sure it would be about a group of people, but truly enjoy the arrangement of the groups and single subjects.
   The chapters allowed for an easy read and were useful as part of a daily devotional program.
   I liked the author's style of wording sentences and his humor.
   Bro Benet likes his subjects and he was very at ease with the material.
   I was unfamiliar with many of the subjects, but I always found them interesting and oh so very human.
   I would recommend this for anyone who is interested in religion and church history.

5 comments about Leading High Impact Teams: The Coach Approach to Peak Performance.

1. This is fantastic reading with invaluable insight for executive managers committed to generating results on their teams. Amidst the mirad of advice out there--this should be required reading for team members and executives leading teams. Top 10 High Impact Team Practices, team phase development and weathering storms are among the most practical "how to" examples in the book. There are sectors of information---"distinctions" and "inquiries" that are perfect to use in team meetings as catalysts for problem solving/solution creation. Brilliantly done, wonderfully concise and easily implementable.



2. This book really delivers. Many books of this type offer general guidelines without easy-to-use, practical examples and tools. This book bridges the gap between concept and practice. The examples are inspiring AND illustrative. I have been building and leading teams for over 25 years, and there resounding truths from the trenches in the pages of this book, but there is more--this book brings new applications of sound ideas, and innovative ways to see, hear, and empower any team you'd like to turn into a high-impact team. Worth every penny and every minute; I return to its very well-organized pages again and again for ideas and inspiration.



3. This is much more than an academic look at team-building. The authors have created a template that managers and team leaders in any organization would find practical and useful.



4. This book that discusses characteristics of high impact teams, and what you can do to build a high impact team. Rachael and Cynder show how you can turn a team into a high impact team with specific examples and explanations. The book is fabulous in discussing the benefits of coaching and how you yourself can help coach your team to improve themselves. The book neatly ties together many themes of teams, coaching, and leadership, and points you to many helpful tools that can help build a high impact team. This is a book that you will continually want to reread and reference.



5. I have not read this book yet. But I want to save everyone the surprise I received when I opened the package. This book appears to be out of print. It seems that as a result Amazon does not show the book's list price. I had heard good things about this book and thinking that the used price "must" be less then the list price I ordered a used one at $75. I received a copy of the book directly from the author herself. Much to my surprise and dismay the list price on the inside cover was $22.