5 comments about Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite.

1. Three years of research brings an excellent, well needed work to the subject of the influence of evangelical Christians in American society. D. Michael Lindsay does an outstanding job. I highly recommend it.



2. Having been touted in the Wall Street Journal and published by Oxford University Press, Faith in the Halls of Power by D. Michael Lindsay has the potential for broad readership, particularly among secular readers unfamiliar with evangelicalism and gospel themes. Accordingly Lindsay's newest work deserves close scrutiny from those of us in the evangelical community.
   
   Lindsey's book charts the rise of the evangelicals into leadership posts within the halls of government, Hollywood, Wall Street and academia. He rightly assesses (though perhaps somewhat overstates) this rise to prominence in American society as he summarizes hundreds of interviews he personally undertook with many evangelical leaders.
   
   But the book has a glaring weakness: Lindsay's starting point determines his conclusion. Lindsay is in essence a sociologist with a predisposition for the social gospel commenting on the rise of evangelicalism. Is it any wonder then that his recurring critique of prominent evangelicals in their supposed rise is their seeming lack of concern for the less fortunate in society? This reveals a theological bent that Christians should be about as their primary business helping the poor in this world.
   
   What Lindsay fails to understand, or at least convey through his book, is any sort of third dimension to evangelicalism, i.e. the believer's role as an ambassador for Christ in building His Kingdom, which is not an earthly one. It is a glaring oversight of the book, a purpose for believers' lives that must have been brought to his attention by the myriads of credible believers whom he interviewed.
   
   Why is this such an important distinction? Because as the believer seeks first the Lordship of Christ in his or her own heart and the winning of souls into His kingdom, there is and will be a consequential effect on society. Jesus' statement to His followers that "You are the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13) is a present active indicative in the original Greek, not an imperatival command. As believers grow in Christ likeness, they will affect their world - guaranteed - rather than setting out to effect their world as if that were their primary purpose. In this case, trickle down does in fact trickle.
   
   Rising to power to affect American culture is not the believer's primary cause or purpose. It is and most certainly will be, however, a reflection of their lives. As a non-evangelical, Lindsay doesn't quite get that distinction, leading the secular reader to fear that cultural conquest is on the agenda here - as if that were the sneaky reason evangelicals are rising to join the American elite.
   
   Lindsay's scope of research is impressive, but his conclusions are two dimensional, unfairly and wrongly leading his secular readers to feel quite threatened by conservative Christians.



3. This extensively researched book by Lindsay exposes the many misconceptions concerning those who identify themselves as evangelicals in Christian faith. Lindsay explores the range of how faith is lived out daily in places of power and influence not considered by "middle America" evangelicals. This book is an important read for anyone trying to navigate the multiple expressions of evangelicalism in the United States. While much media attention [often stereotyping Christians] has been focused only on "middle American conservatism," Lindsay challenges us to remember that any one subgroup of evangelicalism does not serve as the sole voice of authority on matters of Christian faith in America. Lindsay helps identify that interpretation of scripture and living daily for Christ is understood across a spectrum and not soley defined by any one group, organization, individual, or segment of evangelicalism. "Faith in the Halls of Power" invites us to see evangelicalism in its broadest and diverse expressions, from Falwell to Bono.



4. Influence - funny word, interesting concept. Michael Lindsay, professor at Rice University, examines the idea of cultural influence and how evangelicals - those who would say they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - have exerted influence at the highest levels in our contemporary society. From politics to the arts, Lindsay found and interviewed literally hundreds of these evangelical men and women and explored their paths to influence. Lindsay notes that evangelical influence in the culture is undergoing resurgence - having taken a back seat to "personal evangelism" and the spiritual disciplines as the sole expression of the Christian faith in years past. Today, Christians do more than read their Bibles and pray - they vote, they paint, they teach in some of the leading universities, they run some of the largest companies...and many more are doing so as Christians than in the recent past. Of course, there was a day following the Reformation up until the time of our Founding Fathers, that it was commonplace for Christians to live and work as followers of Christ - but even recently the story of William Wilberforce once again raised the issue of Christian "ministry" and the idea of one's vocation as one's calling being the same thing.
   
   I found the book an interesting read and a great history lesson valuable for all Christians to understand. Having been raised in a Christian home that engaged the community, I remember learning as a young man that not every Christian believed it was their duty or even their responsibility to make a difference in the world in which they lived. The terms "cultural mandate" or "worldview" were not frequent or familiar to many Christians in the late `60s or early `70s...but today those terms are becoming more familiar and acceptable to the Christian community. Lindsay does a great job of exploring the progress this movement has made, not examining the movement itself, but its slow climb from obscurity and irrelevance to reasonable and relevant. As one employed in this venture at the secondary school level, I found that Lindsay's research stopped short of examining the issue to this degree and depth as he explored the college campus, but not below. I found the book to be interesting, helpful and encouraging and a worthwhile read especially for anyone seeking to make a difference in the world for the cause of Christ.



5. I have only read the first 20 pages. I wonder at this point if he will discuss the reality that people talk "religious talk" while at the same time motivated more for public attention, power and simply put, an exciting and well paying job. It would seem to me that preserving cultural values that are positive would be at the heart of seeking election to an office that might, note might, lead to change. Oh, I am a retired minister so I have a real interest.

5 comments about The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.

1. This book is a very mixed read and a rather generous 3 stars. Although many of his conclusions were true and he brings up some good points, quite frankly the delivery could have used a lot of work. I was very disappointed upon finishing this book, because it is a very interesting and relevant topic. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I couldn't.
   
   The positive is, as I said above, many of his points are good, as is his conclusion. I'm just glad that someone finally had the courage to say what he said. Evangelicals do have the unfortunate - and often deserved - reputation of weak-mindedness and lack of critical thought. Not only that, but numerous studies have shown that Christians are thinking exactly like the world, and that self-identified evangelical Christians don't know the Bible much better than non-Christians (I personally know atheists who know the Bible better than many evangelicals I know, which is really sad). There are many especially disturbing trends, such as the trends towards "circling the wagon" with respect towards scholarship and culture (rather then engaging them), lack of a comprehensively Christian worldview, and a disconnect between study of the Bible and thought and action about other areas of life. Noll rightly faults many elements such as Pentecostalism and its dislike of critical thought, some elements of fundamentalism, and dispensationalism (in particular dispensational eschatology, which tends to dominate the evangelical landscape and also tends to be heavily escapist and discouraging of long-term strategies for engaging the culture - after all, if we are living in the end-times and the Rapture is going to take place within our lifetimes, why worry about the world's institutions? As one person said, "why polish brass on a sinking ship?" If the world and its institutions are doomed to inevitably get worse and worse, why try to be salt and light in the world? As Noll points out, this type of escapism and the tenancy to rely on "newspaper eschatology" and to use Biblical eschatology as a "crystal ball" has not exactly been helpful to the church). Many of his ideas about the problems in the church are right on, but some of his ideas are totally off base. He really loses me on his comments about young earth creationism, for example, which he faults for being part of the problem (although he never tells us why we're not supposed to believe it and never bothers to examine what either the Bible or the scientific record say about the topic).
   
   In spite of the positive aspects of this book, as I said before, the delivery could have used a lot of work. Frankly a lot of the book was downright boring, which is surprising since he is discussing many topics that I find very interesting. The tone was sometimes arrogant or even mocking, and often seemed "pseudo-academic." For example, in the beginning of the book, he has a "let's-define-our-terms" section which was very clumsily written and said absolutely nothing that wasn't already obvious while leaving many of the terms that actually needed to be clarified undefined. He defines "confusing" terms that the unenlightened layman "clearly" won't understand like "America," "the life of the mind," and "anti-intellectual." Not only is this section completely unnecessary, it's actually insulting to the readers' intelligence. This section didn't even fit with the rest of the text, and it seriously interrupted the flow of his argument; quite frankly it seemed like he added this section as an afterthought to meet a word count requirement.
   
   No particular effort was made to be concise or clear, and often I would read a section and then have to stop to think hard about what, if anything, the author was trying to say. Numerous sections should have been shortened or omitted completely.
   
   Also, I found numerous logical errors in this book, which is ironic since this is supposed to be about the evangelical mind. He quotes Scripture surprisingly infrequently and opts for illegitimate appeals to authority instead in many cases. He seems to give more weight to the opinions Calvin, Luther, Edwards, and Aquinas than to Scripture itself, or at least he seems to quote them much more frequently. Often the limit of his "argument" for something is something along the line of "Luther said it so it must be right!" Certainly the people he quotes have great authority in the church but ultimately conclusions need to be based on the Bible, not on the opinion of the Reformers or other theologians.
   
   I was also surprised and disappointed by how little Noll talks about what to actually do about the problem. He discusses what the problem is and how we got here a great deal but spends very little time discussing practical solutions. When he does talk about solutions much of his advice isn't especially practical.
   
   Overall, I don't recommend this book too enthusiastically. I was disappointed with it and quite frankly thought that Noll took a long time to say very little. I wanted to like this book, but I can't say that I did; I kept hoping it would get better but it didn't, and I'm not sure at all that it was worth the time I spent reading it. The issue in question clearly needs to be addressed, but this book doesn't do a good job of doing that and could have benefited from a lot more work.



2. If there is one book that I would recommend to my evangelical friends regarding how to be a faithful Christian in a post-Christian world while at the same time using your brain in a responsible way this book would be it. Mark Noll has done the evangelical Church a great favour by writing and publishing this book. The key statement in the book comes right at the first line of the first chapter: "The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind" (p. 3). Too many professing evangelicals these days want to have a Christianity that is fundamentalistic, highly emotional, prosperity-driven, and individualistic at the expense of good academia, deep theological inquiry, and responsible biblical exegesis.
   
   Noll discusses various issues related to the "scandal of the evangelical mind" like the intellectual disasters of fundamentalism (the need to worship the Bible rather than using the Bible as a means to an end), the culture-Church synthesis (using the surrounding culture as the hermeneutical crux), the individualizing and privatizing of the faith (the problem of the me, myself, and God mentality), the dispensational reading of Scripture (or exegetical naivete and obsessive apocalypticism), the political impact on evangelical Christianity (irresponsible right-wingism), and the allergy to modern science by hardcore evangelicals (trying to put a rigid gap between responsible scientific investigation and responsible biblical reading). Noll goes over all these issues and provides an informative and theologically sound response to all of these problems.
   
   Overall, I would highly recommend this book. It appears that so many so-called Christians today are being sucked into the anti-theological, highly emotional, and individualistic "Christianity" that is inconsistent with the true message of the gospel. As Jesus told the Pharisees: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:37). It is too bad that so many Christians today only want to love God with their hearts and souls. They do not want to love God with their minds. However, Jesus commands us that we love God also with our minds. If more Christians started to love God with their minds and embraced proper theological reflection for their spiritual growth we would not have so many hokey views of the gospel that are prevalent today.



3. A good history of the church in North America, and the division between the mainline church and the the fundamental branch of the church. Noll details the criss of the evangelical mind that follows.



4. I think this is an important book for any Christian, not just evangelicals, to read. Noll shows how anti-intellectualism has undercut evangelicalism and allowed evangelicals to be ignored in the world of ideas. But not just ignored, their faith and ability to converse with the broader world is weakened by the lack of rigorous intellectual work done by those in their faith.
   My big issue with this book is the need for it to be updated. Many good things have happened in the intellectual development of evangelicalism since the publication of this book. Yet, other things like the resurgence of creationism, now THE bastion of currant anti-intellectualism, Ken Ham anyone? need to be addressed as well.
   All in all, this is an interesting and important book that really needs an update.



5. I know Mark Noll couldn't have had Sarah Palin in mind when he wrote this book, but it sure is an eerie coincidence. Talk about scandal of the evangelical mind!

5 comments about Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament.

1. When I first read this book I was a little disappointed because it seemed he hadn't really committed to writing it. The examples are all relevant, but he doesn't do as much analysis as I thought he needed and, worse, he didn't pick a lot of the examples that I thought would be even better (though probably less accessible). More importantly, he doesn't draw a lot of conclusions and may come off a bit wishy-washy.
   
   But then I looked back at some of the notes I had taken, and figured out that I read the first few pages at 3 in the morning a few weeks before I read the rest of the book. The point of this book is not really to say much of anything. Instead, the point of this book is to get conversations going. Enns is basically pointing out that many of evangelicals' dearest commitments regarding Scripture are based in a strongly modernist worldview and then begging us to try to rethink Scripture in a non-modernist way. My original criticisms were based on the view that Enns was giving a bunch of answers, but he's just trying to get conversation going.
   
   Well-written, says just enough to make his point, and offers a message that needs to be heard. Too many Christians are erroneously clinging to modernism, and we need to stop. What if the Bible doesn't fit in rationalistic boxes? What if the category of mystery finds its way back into our theological language? What if we're committed to a God and therefore a Bible that is more an abstract principle than a person, that would be at home in Platonic heaven but can't be sullied by the earthiness of real life? Let's start asking these questions.



2. This book will challenge all conservatives and evangelicals who read it. At the outset, Enns declairs that the conservative evangelical movement should not have agreed with the proposition that the Bible should look different than other books in antiquity if it is truly the Word of God. Why? Because, Enns argues, we have lost that battle. The liberal and critical scholors have indeed shown that the Bible is similar in style and structure to other antient works. They, therefore, dismiss it as uninspired, just another work of pre-scientific, myth believing, ancient man. We, the conservatives, are then left to try to explain away the mountains of evidence facing us.
   
   What is Enns answer? In Christ, the Word made flesh, we hold to an incarnational theology. That is Christ who is 100% God came down to earth as a little baby and is, as a result, 100% man. As such we see both His divinity as well as His humanity, messy though it may be at times. Jesus looked like other Jews of His era. He spoke as they did; ate the same foods they did; was tempted as they were, and probably had a similar sandal size to other Jewish men of the time. Yet He was still God. Why can't we hold that the Bible, the Word of God in written form, is also, similarly incarnated? Being both 100% divine as well as 100% human, and, thus, looking somewhat similar to the other ancient works, yet retaining its divine nature?
   
   I don't know if I can take Enns' analogy as far as he does. And, while the anaology solves certain conservative evangelical theological problems, it will undoubtedly raise many more. Still, this book should be read by all college and seminary students wishing to enter the ministry, as well as current pastors, and those wishing to engage the world around them in apologetic discourse. You may not agree with Enns fully, but you will not think the same way you did as before.



3. Peter Enns book Inspiration & Incarnation is as heretical as it is superficial. The view of inspiration espoused by Enns in this book is not much different from the old neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth. Both of them speak much about Christ's human nature, myth, legend, midrash, contextualization, etc...but at the same time deny the sinless perfection of Christ's human nature, the factual events of redemptive history and also the perfection of Holy Scripture. Jesus said "Scripture cannot be broken." "Thy Word is truth." All Scripture is, like Christ, perfectly holy, spotless, undefiled, without sin and error, and separate from sinners. All Scripture is in Christ, for Christ, and to the glory of Christ. Christ is the Credenda and Agenda of Old Testament Scripture as well as New Testament Scripture. But for this very reason it cannot be broken. It is without error being God breathed. Peter Enn's views of the Bible are Liberal and heretical and destructive to the Christian church. I could think of at least ten instances (just by a casual overview without buying the accursed thing) in which he directly contradicts the explicit teaching of Scripture, as well as Jesus own words in the Gospels. He plainly does not believe in the Westminster Confession of Faith, nor for that matter in any of the Protestant Creeds and Confessions. He should have been fired long ago along with the feminists and Liberals of the Seminary. But then again, what can you expect from modern denominations these days - that are so full of spiritual ignorance, idolatry, sexual immorality and religious hypocrisy. They ought to read John Owen's book on Apostacy. Sadly denominations do not believe in Scripture or in their Confessions anymore. They have almost completely rejected the infallible word of God for the pagan idolatry of modern scholarship.
   Pastor Brett Woody



4. I purchased and read Peter Enns' book in the buildup to the well- publicised controversy at WTS. Peter Enns intends his book to be a corrective for the intellectual bankruptcy in hermeneutics that is weakening evangelicalism like a cancer. There is some good in this book, and it seeks to tackle pressing issues in Old Testament hermeneutics in a rigorous and intellectually honest manner. My problem with this book is that in so doing, Enns crosses a line.
   
   Enns' view of the inerrancy of scripture, based on my reading of this book, is far too amorphous for my comfort. This is illustrated most vividly when he discusses the creation account in Genesis. He compares the Genesis account to Gilgamesh, Atrahasis, and the Enuma Elish, and essentially says that in order to counter these creation myths, God composed a creation myth of his own, that contained counterpoints and correctives to those other myths, but was still itself a myth, and in more than merely its literary genre. Duane Garrett's Rethinking Genesis is a rigorous, challenging look at Genesis that does not cross this line, and D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallacies addresses many of the same hermeneutical fallacies that are rampant across evangelicalism today, but without undermining the doctrine of inspiration.



5. A great book which should be read by all teachable, honest and openminded consevative Christians. Makes the top 25 book list for me. (I am working on a Doctorate and have read many hundreds of books)This book is NOT for the faint of heart, nor for those who have an unwillingness to actually critic our inherited theological approach. IF honesty and a scholary approach are liberal then this book is liberal. BUT, if honesty and a scholary approach are God Honoring then this book is just that 'God Honoring'.Consider the following. God used the customs, the worldview, the culture, and the literature of the day to communicate his Word to a specific people. He used common literary forms or genres, like proverbs, poetry, narratives, hymns,etc to speak through. IF God has taken the many different kinds of literary genre and spoken through them, why could he NOT take the commonly used 'myth' and infuse it with new revelatory meaning. Should he be afraid to use this type of literature? If you read the book "Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation" first, then you will be better prepared to embrace Enns book.I am a lover of a great God, who offers a great salvation through his son, communicating this through an inspired book. Enns book will help you to sort out just what inspiration REALLY MEANS. God BLESS those with the courage to be teachable.

1 comments about Scandal of Evangelical Politics, The: Why Are Christians Missing the Chance to Really Change the World?.

1. A friend recently mentioned that she still has her dog-eared copy of Ron Sider's book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (1977) from her college days thirty years ago. Christians in general, and evangelicals in particular, owe a debt of gratitude for that book, and many of the other thirty books Sider has written across the last several decades. I deeply appreciated his book Completely Pro-Life, in which he argued that Christians ought to protest anything and everything that threatens human life (like hand guns and tobacco companies), and not just a few litmus test issues (like abortion).
   
   This book needs a different title. It's not a treatment of all the ways evangelicals have scandalized the gospel by their political engagements, even though he believes they have "floundered and failed" their way to "tragic failure" the last forty years. Rather than such a negative critique, as the title seems to imply, Sider attempts to craft a positive evangelical philosophy of politics. But this strikes me as an elusive quest. He notes that there is a rich tradition of political thinking by other Christians like Catholics, mainline Protestants, and certainly Anabaptists. It's not at all clear to me what would qualify as a uniquely "evangelical" contribution to the debate. Plus, I tend to agree with Garry Wills in What Jesus Meant that there's no such thing as a "Christian politics." In fact, this is a point that Sider seems to concede, as when he admits that the Bible doesn't give us any clear direction about many things, like democracy, free markets, or even killing and war (cf. 139-141, 192). And when the Bible does mention such issues, interpreting and applying its message is no easy task.
   
   After a few introductory chapters, Sider's book is issue-oriented, and herein lies another problem. Given the complexity of the issues, a point he repeatedly makes, he's tried to cover far too much material -- everything from the nature and purpose of the state, the sanctity of human life, marriage and family, creation care, nation-states, to whether we should expand the United Nations. Euthanasia gets one page, as does genetic engineering, while starvation and smoking receive but a half-page of consideration. Given how much Sider has tried to cover, this was unavoidable.
   
   Plausible arguments can often be made for diverse views on complex political matters, which point Sider also admits. Almost every issue he discusses provokes significant ambiguity. He believes that the Bible would condemn abortion as murder, for example, but quickly admits that this conclusion "does not settle the question of what public laws on abortion Christians should promote" (148). I repeatedly felt like genuinely Christian points of view that Sider marshaled were compelling, but problematic when one tried to imagine how they might be mainstreamed into public policies. At the end of the day, though, he's surely right that because politics is so practically important, and because Jesus is Lord over all aspects of creation, it would be foolhardy for Christians to retreat to the evangelical position of forty years ago that favored spiritual "soul-winning" at the expense of engaging secular politics.

5 comments about The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals.

1. Veith has a wonderful clarity in his writing that is extremely helpful. I really liked the brevity of this book because it makes it very easy to recommend to people who aren't such strong readers. Read it and learn something, or re-learn something.



2. Dr. Veith's ability to explain the basic tenets of Christian doctrine (Justification, Means of Grace, etc.)is pronounced in this small "gem of literature." He begins the book by opening himself up to the reader, telling them about his path through the religious arena. In the remaining chapters, he artfully explains the doctrine of Justification, the Means of Grace, the Theology of the Cross, Vocation, living in two kingdoms, and concludes with a summation of the theology espoused in the previous chapters.
   Throughout, Veith explains the uniqueness of confessional Lutheranism amidst the doctrinal confusion of our modern age. The "spirituality of the cross" and its theology is about Christ crucified for the sins of the whole world. It is incarnational and not about what we do but what God has done for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Modestly, the book shows how confessional (Biblical) Christians understand the Bible-as with Christ in the center stage-and thus live out their spirituality in a world plagued by sin and death. Secular(and most often "Christian") bookstores are infiltrated with bad theologies. I recommend this inexpensive book for anyone's theological library as a source for personal, intellectual, and theological enjoyment.



3. Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a professor of English at Concordia University (Mequon, Wisconsin) and Culture Editor at World Magazine. He is also a man who has had a rough go at finding an adequate Christian denomination. During his earlier years, he had been involved with American Evangelical church bodies, Liberal Protestant church bodies, and others...but finally became a faithful member of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Veith writes this book in part to reflect on his own spiritual journey--to record what most attracted him to Lutheranism. He writes in part to explain what makes Lutheranism unique among the various Christian denominations. He writes in part to members of other Christian denominations because he thinks they can learn a lot from the Lutheran take on various spiritual/doctrinal/practical matters.
   
   The end result, "The Spirituality of the Cross," is an excellent book that summarizes the unique theological outlook championed by confessional Lutheran Christians. This book does not deal with basic points of Christian doctrine (e.g. the Trinity, Christology), but rather deals with aspects of theology in which Lutherans neither "side" with Roman Catholics nor Eastern Orthodox nor Baptists/non-Denominationals nor liberal Episcopalians/Presbyterians/Methodists nor five-point Calvinists. These topics include:
   
   Justification (neither free will nor predestination yet still faith alone by grace alone);
   
   The Means of Grace (how God gives his gracious gift of saving faith to a person--through deceptively ordinary means);
   
   The Theology of the Cross (more about how God showers the richest blessings on his people through deceptively ordinary means; why the cross is central to a Lutheran understanding of God; why Lutherans don't buy into the idea that great faith leads to earthly wealth; why bad things happen to people)
   
   Vocation (why Lutheran pastors say, "I forgive you of all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;" why a garbage man is just as honored and esteemed as a pastor or a CEO just as honored and esteemed as a housewife; how one should go about his calling/career; the Christian ideal of mutual dependence)
   
   Living in Two Kingdoms (how a Christian is to balance the facts that he is a forgiven child of God with heavenly citizenship while living in a sinful world; why Christians can be proud of their vocation as judge, soldier, or public executioner)
   
   Worship (that a Christian is served by God in worship, not vice versa; why we use the objective, emotionless historic liturgy instead of emotional, ever-changing praise-band forms of worship).
   
   The book ends with a reprint from an article Veith wrote for Touchstone Magazine that introduces Lutheranism (60 million strong worldwide) to Catholic/Orthodox and Protestant readers.
   
   In all, Veith does an excellent job of identifying some of the idiosyncrasies of the Lutheran understanding of the Christian faith, fully explains them (both theory and anecdotes), and explains the many merits of the view. This is my third time reading this book and Veith is more insightful every time he is read. Highly recommended to Lutherans as well as Catholics, Orthodox, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc., etc., etc.



4. 
   Written by a lay person who frames the Lutheran theology and how it applies to our existence and our spirituality in an easy to understand manner.



5. I was raised in a Lutheran church & school but now work at a non-denominational church. This very good book forced me to ask questions not only about my personal beliefs, but about the state of the Lutheran church today. No doubt this book will be hailed as genius by Lutheran's everywhere as Veith does a very good job at pointing out that Lutherans have it theologically right. Even after going to hear Veith speak I found myself amused at the notion that here was another Lutheran being 'right' talking to a bunch of other Lutherans about how right they were. I actualy agree with almost everything he says. My question for him is 'ok, now what?' Cause if all we're going to do is go to a potluck afterwards and sit around patting each other on the back about how 'right' we are, are we really living out the great commission? That being said, his chapter on vocation is phenomenal. All Christians should read this book.

5 comments about Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church.

1. Steve had a problem. He knew Jesus was for real but he was beginning to find that his presuppositions about the church were not. This is the story of how he fought against the Tiber tide until he could fight no longer and gave in to that which he had persecuted for so long. ("Crossing the Tiber" or "Swimming the Tiber" is popular Catholic convert slang referring to the Tiber river in Rome with regard to joining the Roman Catholic church.) Steve is one of many Protestants who had realized their one defining principle was that they were not Catholic. Their search for the roots of their faith led them to see the internal contradictions in the Protestant worldview and the discoveries were frightening and life-altering. Steve was goaded on to the deep Tiber waters by his loving wife and it is clear that the changes have been a spiritual empowerment in their family.
   
   With extensive footnotes that do not distract from the primary text, Steve relays their story as he first wrote it down for friends and family. It is a heartfelt and appealing story that makes us want to join in the journey with them. The journey ends with their somewhat hesitant realization that Jesus was alive and well in the Catholic church they had distrusted. It was a conversion not far from that of the Apostle Paul in realizing the one whom they persecuted was calling them to His family.
   
   The brief overview of the Ray family conversion is just the beginning. Steve adds to that story an historical, scriptural, and enlightening study of Baptism and then of the Eucharist. Each of the three sections could stand alone in scope and depth of study, especially in light of the extensive footnotes and references. It is a conversion story that packs a theological wallop without skipping a beat. Emotionally and intellectually challenging and inspiring at the same time. You will not easily dismiss this incredible treatise of faith.



2. This is an excellent book, written by Protestants who, through their thorough Bible knowledge were led back home--(kicking and screaming at times!)--into the Catholic Faith. This story chronicles their gradual realization of the Fullness of Truth in the Church and her claims, as supported by Holy Scripture.
   
   Warning: Read with your Bible and pen and paper handy! You WILL want to cross reference and take notes. It also provides many excellent Scripture references for several of the major points of Catholic Apologetics.



3. One might expect a book which wanted to preach the superiority of Roman Catholicism, especially if it had scholarly pretensions, would at least want to be accurate. In this case, however, your expectations would be confounded.
   
   As early as page 15 (the first page of the main text) the author writes in a footnote:
   
   "the tradition and succession left by the apostles were the source of unity and theological orthodoxy CENTURIES before the canon of the New Testament was established."
   ("centuries" is in capital letters for emphasis - not in the original text)
   
   This is a not very subtle covert claim that the establishment of the Roman Catholic church pre-dates the establishment of the New Testament as we now have it.
   This would obviously be a major factor in establishing Roman Catholicism as "the one true church" - if it were true. Only it isn't true.
   
   In fact the canon of what became the New Testament developed quite quickly, as the various books appeared. One of the primary guiding lights of the process being a division between those texts which were perceived to be based on the experiences of the actual followers of Jesus, and later texts which couldn't possibly have been produced by eye witnesses, and which in many cases flatly contradicted what was already known about Jesus Christ's life and teaching.
   
   From this perspective, the first Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), which this author presumably believes *created* the New Testament canon, actually only confirmed the canon which had already been in existence for a couple of hundred years or more.
   
   Not a good start for someone claiming an indepth knowledge of "church history" :(
   
   But there's worse to come.
   
   In a footnote on page 23 we read "The Westminster Confession of Faith states that the pope is 'that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition ...'"
   
   So, noticing that the quote uses the word "states" (present tense), if you went into a Protestant church today and the congregation spoke the Westminster Confession of Faith they would thus insult the pope. Right?
   No. Absolutely WRONG.
   
   Firstly the Westminster Confession is a feature of the Presbytarian church - it is NOT common to ALL Christians.
   
   Moreover, the author is quoting from a book printed back in 1931.
   
   The question, then, is: What is this author's purpose in repeating this highly contentious piece of text?
   
   Is he really unaware that the Presbytarian Church in America revised the Westminster Confession over twenty years ago (1983), at which time they REMOVED the reference to the pope?
   
   If he doesn't know, it doesn't say much for his research.
   And if he does know, why does he present the information in a way that seems to imply that this version of the Confession were the *current* version?
   
   Next, in a footnote on page 24 the author claims that Martin Luther added the word "alone" to Romans 3:28 - to make it read "by faith alone" - and that:
   
   "This has become part of the Protestant tradition, an example of how Protestants have added to the word of God 'Protestant traditions' that conflict with other truths that the Bible teaches ..."
   
   And just in case we missed the point, the author comes back to it only a couple of pages later:
   
   "As a Fundamentalist I was quick to accuse the Catholic [sic] Church of teaching what I perceived as a 'gospel of works' and not the true gospel of 'faith alone'."
   (page 26)
   
   Reading those comments one might surely be forgiven for assuming that if you picked up a "protestant" Bible today you would find that Romans 3:28 does indeed include the word "alone". But you wouldn't.
   
   In the NIV translation (copyright 1978) the passage reads:
   
   "... a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."
   
   And the same passage in the 17th century KJV reads:
   
   "... a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
   
   Where, then, is this alleged rewriting of the passage, following from Luther's first German translation of The Old and New Testaments in 1534; this alleged adding to God's word in conflict with the truths of The Bible?
   
   NOT in translations of The Bible today! In fact NOT in a translation of The Bible over 300 years old!
   
   So why did this author feel it necessary to make this claim in such a misleading way?
   
   If he had been a life long Roman Catholic we might suppose that he was simply ignorant of the facts. But he wasn't. He was raised a Baptist and was at one time a Bible Studies teacher in an evangelical church (according to the back cover blurb). How, with that background, could he be unaware that Luther's editing did not survive?
   
   And what does this say about the rest of the author's much vaunted "studies"?
   
   BTW, I've made three references to the footnotes in this book - simply because, for some totally incomprehensible reason, a very large portion of the text is quite needlessly shunted off to the bottom of the corresponding page. For example:
   
   Main text:
   
   "I want to challenge reality, ask questions, and find answers; I want to know and understand."
   
   This sentence ends with a reference to a footnote:
   
   "I remember lying in the grass as a young boy, looking up at the clouds with my dad. I asked Dad if there was a 'real' reality, or if this was all just a dream or creation of our imagination."
   
   So, what was the point of shunting this folksy little tale off to the bottom of the page, thus breaking the reader's concentration?
   
   If it was worth including at all, why not include it in the main text, where it would have fitted comfortably?
   And if it wasn't important enough to appear in the main text, why include it at all?
   
   This book is yet more evidence that Amazon should allow a zero rating.



4. I thought I was part of a vast wave of Of "Born-Again" souls when I became a Christian. I thought the Catholic Church was old, stale, lackluster and for old mindless minions of Rome.
   
   The Holy Spirit took the scales off my eyes and I joined in the exodus of souls returning home to Christs Catholic Church, His visible body on earth. This book aided me in overcoming the lies I had been told about Catholics whilst I was a Protestant. It aided me in knowing the difficulties with family and friends and pursecution I would suffer for the truth in Christs words and my desire to obey His word - not mine or my preachers word or wahtever we believed in that day or that church. As a Protestant, my beliefs just drifted in the wind. They went wherever the wind blew them.
   
   God and His Word never change. That makes it old fashined. Mordern reinvention of His word is manmade. I chose to come home to Rome because it stays loyal to God and His Word without changing it or morphing it. Heaven is not a democracy.
   
   I used to pick churches based on location or size or the stage show or a dynamic preacher. Now I pick a Church because it is the one the Christ founded , preserved and continues to protect. A Church that gave us the Bible and preserves and protects His Word in its origional unchanged meaning.
   
   If your open to the truth, read this book.



5. "Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historic Church" by Stephen K. Ray is a fascinating and infuriating read. It is fascinating because it is the testimony of an "evangelical protestant" and their conversion to the Roman Catholic Church, but it is equally infuriating because much of the content is confusing or misleading.
   
   The book is divided into three sections. The first is called "Crossing the Tiber", which recounts the journey of Stephen and his wife to the Roman Catholic Church. The last two are related to sacramentology: "Baptism in the Scriptures and in the Ancient Church" and "The Eucharist in the Scriptures and in the Ancient Church." Minimal review is needed of the later two sections because they are pretty straightforward and I would say worth the price of the book. They consist of a collection of a Scripture verses and quotes from the Early Church Father that seek to demonstrate the sacramental nature of the baptism and the Eucharist/Lord's Supper. This is essential reading to Protestants because they are oft confused on the sacraments, including the Catholic position, and in their historical understanding of these issues, including seeing the Scriptures through the lens of a Roman Catholic and why and how they arrive at their views. I am very sympathetic to his understanding of the sacraments, although maybe needing nuancing, but these two sections are a great one-stop treatment of the sacraments both Biblically and historically. As any good Augustinian would say, tolle lege.
   
   The first section, despite being intriguing & fascinating, is infuriating, because, although he regularly claims that Protestants have represented "bogeymen" of Roman Catholicism, I think he is guilty of a something quite similar of Protestants. First, too much of the book is in the footnotes. Other reviewers say "read the footnotes" and with them I agree, but the footnotes aren't really footnotes. In most instances, they seem part and parcel of his argument and should be in the body of the book. Second, it needs to be pointed out that Mr. Ray comes from a particular brand of "Protestantism"/"Evangelicalism" known as fundamentalism. He acknowledges that he was a fundamentalist and states that it "believes in the sole sufficiency of the Bible, the imminent rapture, eternal security, blood atonement, the invisible unity of the Church, denominationalism and so on." Yet, on the same page, he treats Lutheranism, which do not hold to the above doctrines (at least in the same `spirit' or understanding as fundamentalists), and Reformed (at least those that hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith) as fundamentalists. Yet, in most instances, if you talk to those of these camps that actually know their beliefs, then they would distance themselves from fundamentalism, which as he appropriately points out is a response a response to modernism. He also provides in a footnote the fact that the WCF holds/held to idea that the Pope is the anti-christ, yet, except for a very small minority, this has been reformed in most bodies that use the WCF. On the next page, discussing Luther's "new ideas", he says, "Christ completed the work of atonement, and the Judge of the universe makes a legal declaration that those who simply believe and `accept Christ as their personal Lord & Savior' will be eternally justified." Yet, this might be his experience in fundamentalism, but this is not Luther or Lutheranism, especially if one considers the Book of Concord. This is the sort of "bogeyman" he laments Protestants use in their attacks on Rome & that he was a part of, but it is unfortunate that he continues in this vain. These sorts of errors could be multiplied, but that is flavor of what one encounters in the book, but won't be satisfactory to those that know history, including the "historical protestant church". If, as a Christian, my options were fundamentalism, including solo Scriptura (opposed to sola Scriptura), then I would by on a raft over the Tiber or breaking out the compass to Constantinople.
   
   Yet, despite this type of complaint, I am sympathetic to elements within his story and find myself on a similar trajectory, although, because I find that the Reformed Church, which sought to reform the Church and not restore the church (he seems to suggest that protestants are more akin to restorationist theology rather than reformers and, unfortunately, many branches are), solves most of his complaints I don't see a need to cross the Tiber myself or find my way to Constantinople.
   
   Finally, even though the book is directed at Protestants, Mr. Ray's decision to join Rome opposed to Constantinople is extremely dissatisfying. He gives a lengthy quote from Thomas Howard and prefaces it with "when we first read the postscript to Evangelical is Not Enough, we considered it something of a weak sidestep, an attempt to avoid the issues in a tough decision...now, having struggled with the same decisions, Janet and I acknowledge and accept the wisdom of his words." Yet, in the quote, Mr. Howard admits that "on this point [Rome or Constantinople] I must dodge behind a manifestly flimsy shield". Just as Mr. Ray claims that "sola Scriptura" doesn't work, since you have two groups (perhaps more) claiming "and tradition", then an individual is still left deciding what Church to go with. This indeed is a manifestly flimsy shield.
   This is a good work for Protestants to read, especially fundamentalists, because it will bring greater clarity to the issues at hand and let them know that many within Rome, even those that took the Road to Rome, do indeed love Jesus Christ, trusting in him alone for salvation & that many of the complaints are in fact bogeyman. A Protestant that does not know his history will be greatly challenged, even those that do will be as well, but hopefully this book will help Christians understand each other a little better, so when we confess that we believe in "one holy catholic and apostolic church" that we better understand what we mean and this book will help that.

5 comments about Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.

1. If you have ever wondered what really drives Christian Nationalist, Right Wing Conservative, political-social prowess, READ THIS BOOK! The Christian Right is a real threat to the foundations of American civil liberties and human rights in general. I found Kingdom Coming to be well researched and eloquently written. The facts laid out in the book constantly build upon one another weaving a movie-like diabolical plot masterminded by the conservative religious leaders and their political allies. Read this book, get all the facts and decide for yourself. Either way, open your eyes to what really underlies the tie betweeb religion and politics in America.



2. In this excellent, fascinating, and frightening book, Michelle Goldberg brings up the well-known fact that abstinence-only sex education programs for teenagers don't work. But an abstinence-only educator emphatically insisted that it doesn't matter that these programs don't work. What matters, she said, is that these programs tell "the TRUTH" that sex outside of marriage is "a SIN." Apparently, most abstinence-only programs are less concerned with preventing pregnancy and disease than with pushing a religious ideology.
   
   I can't tell you how many times I raised my eyebrows over what I read in this book, nor how many times I had to put the book down in order to digest what I'd just read. Some of what Goldberg writes seems incomprehensible, yet she thoroughly documents all of it.
   
   The Reverend Moon's tremendous clout with the D.C. establishment and the religious right came as quite a surprise to me. I always dismissed him as a crackpot, but no more.
   
   Goldberg's book is about a parallel reality that is alive, well, and growing in the U.S. today--thanks to generous subsidies from the Bush administration and an unquestioning, incurious press. Goldberg is to be commended for providing much-needed insight into this subculture, which is making alarming progress towards the mainstream. This book is also a whole lot scarier than anything by Steven King--because it's true. With all due respect to King, even he couldn't make this stuff up.



3. The organized push from Evangelicals to dissolve the separation between church and state is currently one of the most potent threats to individual rights in the United States. With 'Kingdom Coming', Michelle Goldberg presents a detailed intellectual history of Christian Nationalism as well as documents how Evangelicals have permeated American culture.
   
   This book is rich in intellectual history. In the first chapter, Goldberg explains Dominionism, which holds that Christians have the god-given right and duty to be sovereign over one's country, if not the entire world. This idea derives from Christian Reconstructionism, which argues that American law should be replaced by Biblical law.
   
   You will learn about many important figures in the intellectual origins of Christian Nationalism. This includes the following thinkers and writers:
   * R. J. Rushdoony, the profoundly influential prolific writer who wrote that homosexuals, blasphemers and unchaste women should be sentenced to death as well as insisted that Jesus Christ would not return until Christians establish a thousand-year reign on Earth. Rushdoony is the father of Christian Reconstructionism.
   * Francis Schaeffer, whose 'Christian Manifesto' argued that history is a contest between two antipodal forces: the Christian worldview and a materialist (secular) worldview, that the U.S. was founded on a Christian Consensus and that any public official who "commands what is contrary to God's Law [abrogates his authority]." Unfortunately, Goldberg only speaks of Schaeffer for a little over two pages.
   * David Barton, a Christian revisionist historian who writes extensively on how the separation between church and state is a myth and that the founding fathers intended for basic biblical principles to permeate public life.
   * Marvin Olasky, a prolific writer who is considered the founder of Compassionate Conservatism. One of Olasky's major works, 'The Tragedy of American Compassion', argues that there was a golden age of social services provided by churches until the secular government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt made social welfare the government's responsibility. President George W. Bush cites Olasky as his leading influence for funding faith-based initiatives.
   
   This book also thoroughly documents how Evangelicals are changing American culture. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
   * Many widely-read revisionist history books such as Barton's 'Original Intent'.
   * Textbooks designed to bring Christian science and morality into classrooms such as the intelligent design championing text 'Of Pandas and People'.
   * Television shows that promote Christian ideology such as Pat Robertson's '700 Club'.
   * Rock concerts and campus clubs intended to convert and recruit the younger generation.
   * Highly influential political activists such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Ralph Reed and their respective non-profit political organizations.
   * Active Christian think-tanks such as Answers in Genesis, Discovery Institute and the Family Research Council.
   * Media moguls such as the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
   * Many recent/current legislators with openly pro-Evangelical agendas such as Sam Brownback, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Rick Santorum, Jesse Helms and former House Majority Leader Tom Delay.
   
   After the first, each chapter is organized around a specific political campaigns that the Religious Right has embraced: against gays, for intelligent design, for faith-based initiatives, for abstinence-only education and against "activist" judges. The ongoing war on abortion rights is also thoroughly treated.
   
   My only complaint is that, like a waitress who seasons your food without asking, the author rudely inserts her socialist views throughout the book. She even explicitly celebrates FDR's New Deal for "[bringing] socialism to America." As if everyone who is anti-religion is also pro-socialism! Irritating as this is, it does not ruin an otherwise informative book.



4. Christian fundamentalism has been a national problem at least since the Scopes Monkey trial; it is more or less a development of the past quarter-century, however, that such fundamentalism has gained political clout. Michelle Goldberg, a secular liberal Jewish feminist (one wonders if her being a lesbian would significantly increase the right-wing paranoia these labels provoke) has assembled a terrifying factbook of the history, agenda, and methods of the religious right, all with considerable humanity, felicitous writing, and minimal elitism.
   
   All of her subjects, from Focus on the Family to the wretchedly misnamed Discovery Institute (the main thinktank behind "intelligent design") are easy to oppose. Goldberg's feat is to show how such groups, so naturally objectionable to secularists and the mainstream religious, have ascended to heights previously unthinkable within the Republican party. Her analysis is well-documented and journalistically sound (though plenty of outside sources are used, she also spent much time with primary material, including conference calls with important religious right figures).
   
   I must admit to find it a depressing read. I am, however, cautiously optimistic that the type of lunacy described in the book is at a high water mark; this was written before the 2006 congressional elections, and John McCain (to say nothing of Obama or Hillary) doesn't have near the influence in religious right circles as Bush does. Still, as Goldberg points out, some of their most important advances were made during the Clinton years.
   
   Though an unabashed secularist, Goldberg refreshingly does not withhold support for sensible religious leaders. Most prominent among them is Jim Wallis, the evangelical progressive who has become something of a go-to man for churches that are tired of their right wing captivity.
   
   Topical and urgent, it will also stand as a fine history of a peculiarly American political movement. Read it, wake up, and turn your faith, whether in humanity or the divine, into action.



5. Another great book documenting the malignant and rapidly-spreading tumor that threatens to destroy not only our great SECULAR nation but the entire modern ( read ADVANCED ) world and all the painstaking progress we humans have made over the past 500 years. Make no mistake: these so-called Christian nutjobs want to turn back the clock to a romanticized vision they have of something called "Biblical Times", when everyone - especially women and slaves - knew their place, and all was right with the world. Of course these modern-day religious freaks are enjoying the fruits of the Enlightenment and scientific progress by living much longer and healthier lives; they fly in airplanes and go to medical doctors, neither of which existed in the good old days. Many of these people live in the deep south, where the heat and humidity are legendary but, thanks to SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS they are comfortable in their air conditioned cars and houses and HUGE Mega-churches - again, none of that in Biblical times. I say let these people live ouit their visions and dreams: send them back to where they think they came from, the roaring-hot Middle East, with no technologies invented after the year 1. See how much they like that, and then they can get back to the rest of us with an update - presumably written on parchment. But - wait! Most people there and then were illiterate. They'll have to make it an Oral Tradition for a few generations before somebody - the world's first used car dealer? - figures out "writing" and "paper". But then that would be "progress", and progress ( and of course Progressives ) is Bad, very Bad.
   This book is a great clarion call for all rational and reasonable and patriotic citizens to wake up and turn back the tide of these idiots, before it's too late.

5 comments about Cracking the Communication Code: The Secret to Speaking Your Mate's Language.

1. This book is just as amazing as Eggerich's first book Love & Respect. I really enjoyed this book because it went a lot more into depth about communicating with your spouse. The point that really got me thinking is that we are not loving and respecting our spouse because we just feel like it but we are actually loving and respecting our spouse because we love God and are choosing to obey what he commands in Ephesians. When we love or respect our spouse we are choosing to obey God and we are choosing to serve Him in our marriage through the good times and difficult times too. Unconditional respect is a very difficult decision for a wife who has always been taught that people should earn our respect. I know that if I choose each day to unconditionally respect my spouse I will remain on the reward cycle because his need for respect will be met and he will want to fulfil my need for love.
   I recommend every single and married person to read Love and Respect and follow that reading with this book, Cracking the Communication Code.



2. "The key to motivating another person is meeting that person's deepest need - love for her and respect for him!" ~ pg. 134
   
   Whether you are in a fairly good marriage or in one that is falling apart, "Cracking the Communication Code" has a lot to offer. Dr. Emerson Eggerichs backs up his points with plenty of scripture references and gives advice based on wisdom gained from experience. He places an emphasis on listening, decoding, forgiveness, unconditional love and being thankful for your spouse. The main sections of the book include:
   
   A Summary of the "Love & Respect" book authored by Dr. Emerson
   Three Vital Truths for Better Communication
   The Crazy Cycle: A Relentless Enemy of Marital Communication
   The Energizing Cycle: To Better Communicate, Meet Your Spouse's Need
   The Rewarded Cycle: The Unconditional Dimension of Communication
   
   Dr. Emerson explains how couples get into cycles and shows how you can escape destructive patterns by showing respect and love. If you are fighting all the time then you are spending most of your time in the "Crazy Cycle." Couples who are giving love and respect are in the "Energizing Cycle." For those fighting to save their marriage through unconditional love, the "Rewarded Cycle" shows the way to conflict resolution and reconciliation.
   
   This book is filled with inspiring stories of couples who have used these teachings to their advantage. At the end of the book there is a special section for couples who want to improve their relationship by speaking to each other as Jesus would. Imagining Jesus standing next to your partner can be a way to monitor your speech.
   
   Most of the advice is for couples who want to learn to speak each other's language and who want to avoid fights. I did not feel that this book would be as useful in a very abusive relationship where someone is in danger. This is mostly for couples who are willing to work at their marriages together, although there is plenty of advice for anyone seeking to save their marriage on their own.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review



3. This is an expansion of his book Love & Respect, so I recommend listening to/reading that one first, but if you don't he gives a recap. It seems redundant, but the principles are something we all need ingrained into us. My husband and I are a perfect match - we matched on [...] , but our relationship went to a new level while I was listening to these CDs. Eggerichs' principles are straight out of scripture so they work! He sets aside the myths and roles that society has created about men and women and gets back to how God created us to be and to interact. He amazingly does so without offending who we are as women but uplifting us.



4. It was a bit repetitive of his first book, so if you've read Love and Respect, it's a great review too.



5. The book has valid ideas & they work; only it is so wordy that it takes a long time to get to the point.

5 comments about Fundamentalism and American Culture (New Edition).

1. I used this book to get insight in background of R.A. Torrey, and it helped wonderfully. Espescially for me as a European theologian, it helped to get insight in history and society of the States, especially concerning the relation between pre-millenianism and cultural atmosphere and impact on theology, especially on the question of the personhood of the Holy Spirit!
   
   For European theology it gives an insight in the background of the more and more popular evangelical and pentecostal churches and their theology, that has its roots there, where this book is al about!
   
   Stefan R Timmerman



2. I have read the 1980 edition of this book.
   
   How to use the word miracle in one's vocabulary, but not accept the signs and wonders of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Birth, the ressurection, any event recorded in the Old Testament that goes against the laws of Nature. To accept the premise that God on rare occasions does something beyound the laws of Nature or the existence of God entirely, A modernist may use may use the word miracle to describe the unexpexted or an event happening despite the mathematical odds- but not an act by a supernatural being overruling the laws of Nature.
   
   To not believe in such a Being, means to deny the facts described in the bible. These scholars do not accept the Lord God as described in the Bible. This type of Theologian albeit University instructor or Pastor of a church was quite prominant in Europe before 1870, but not in the United States until later. This book is a debate among those who accept the bible as true as it is and those who deny the word of God as valid.
   
   The date of the book is not arbitrary. Since the author cites the end of the Civil war and Darwins theory of evolution as major cataylist to bringing the debate to the forefront in the United States. This includes the University, the pulpit and in the American Culture. This book is a narrative about social change in American society, theological thought, and the major players in Christian Revivals and Theology. Not just the scholars in the Universities. The book touches on changes in the Universities(1980 edition), but its main focus is on society. Is the Bible sufficient to show how God interacts with the created.
   
   I found the reading interesting and easy to understand.
   
   .



3. George Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards was so well written that I decided to read more of his stuff. This book on fundamentalism is a classic. Many scholars of Christian fundamentalism paint with too broad a brush, often lumping evangelicals into the fundy camp. Marsden avoids this mistake. He also acknowledges what many do not, that the fundamentalism of the post WWI era took on a much harsher and more separatistic tone.
   
   Marsden does a nice of discussing some of the towering figures of the movement: D.L Moody, R.A Torrey, Arno Gaebelein, J, Gresham Machen, Jonathan Blanchard and Charles Blanchard (the President of Wheaton College). He shows how early fundamentalists like R.A Torrey and W.H Griffith Thomas thought that evangelical zeal should be coupled with social concern. Marsden also highlights the fundamentalist disdain over the more liberal Social Gospel, which jettisoned evangelism completely.
   
   We also get to see the fundamentalists like Billy Sunday and William Jennings Bryan, who were concerned about people coming to know Christ, but not quite as concerned about people coming to know more about the doctrinal content of Christianity. This was a major concern of the evangelical Princeton theologians (BB Warfield, Charles Hodge, and J. Gresham Machen).
   
   There is also a newer chapter in this edition that traces the development of fundamentalism from 1980 to the present day. In this chaoter, Marsden also takes himself to task for not discussing how the relaxed mores of the "Roaring Twenties" alarmed the fundamentalist community, nor did her mention the role of women in the fundamentalist movement of 1871-1925.
   
   But these criticisms duly noted, I still like the book very much and commend it to those interested in religious movements.
   
   Rev. Marc Axelrod



4. Good reading. It presents a good review of the culture and the strengths and weaknesses that religion can play in forming it.



5. Fundamentalism is the movement arising among Christians in the early 20th century who fervently defended the fundamental doctrines of Christianity while opposing modernist liberalism. In his Fundamentalism and American Culture, George M. Marsden investigates the historical context and ideological roots of what came to be American fundamentalist Christianity, recognizing complex influences from nineteenth-century traditions like revivalism, holiness, and patriotism. Marsden says, "Fundamentalists were evangelical Christians, close to the traditions of the dominant American revivalist establishment of the nineteenth century, who in the twentieth century militantly opposed both modernism in theology and the cultural changes that modernism endorsed" (4). His interpretation of the phenomenon of fundamentalism treads a middle ground between those who reduce it to a purely social reaction to the emerging trend of modernist thought, and someone like Ernest Sandeen who views fundamentalism as essentially theological (201). Some evaluations from observers of the height of the fundamentalist frenzy saw it as hollow and brief; the Christian Century said in 1926, "it is henceforth to be a disappearing quanitity in American religious life, while our churches go on to larger issues..." (192). Marsden does not relegate fundamentalism to the position of a short-lived radical sect, but sees it as a significant movement with deep roots and continued relevance to today's American evangelicalism. As a result, he devotes about half of his book to in depth account of late 19th and early 20th century currents of Christian thought.
   
   Marsden focuses on three major themes. First, he highlights a tension within fundamentalism--the tendency at times to preserve the perceived identity of American culture (viewing America as Israel), and at other times to take on the identity of a separatist minority sect (viewing America as Babylon). Second, he studies the prominent movements of Christian thought in American evangelicalism before the emergence of fundamentalism. He sees deep roots in America's revivalism, pietism, the popularity of holiness, and middle-class Victorian values. Third, Marsden observes a wavering stance among fundamentalists regarding science and the intellect. On one hand, the scientific "common sense" type of principles of 17th century philosopher Francis Bacon allowed the average person clearly to see the plain facts of God evident in Scripture. On the other hand, this same scientific approach allowed proponents of Darwinian evolution to discard the unrealistic, supernatural, miraculous accounts found in the Bible. Naturalism and evolution were powerful enemies of Christians who wanted to maintain the fundamental supernatural tenets of the faith. Increasingly over the years, anti-evolution became a more unifying passion than even adherence to Christian orthodoxy. Marsden comments, "Many people with little or no interest in fundamentalism's doctrinal concerns were drawn into the campaign to keep Darwinism out of America's schools... The more clearly [fundamentalists] realized that there was a mass audience for the message of the social danger of evolution, the more central this social message became" (170).
   
   After chronologically recounting the origins of fundamentalism, its peak in 1920-1925, as well as the subsequent gradual growth of fundamentalist ideology through denominations and universities, Marsden shares his interpretation of the movement. Fundamentalism was initially a religious assertion against the threat of modernism, but the event of World War I gave fundamentalism crucial characteristics. War-related crisis provided an occasion for paranoia and militant defense of religious views. Marsden compares evangelicals experience of encroaching modernism to the "traumatic cultural upheaval" of cross-cultural immigration (204).
   
   I find quite helpful Marsden's reluctance to paint the fundamentalist movement as either purely theological or purely social. By resisting extremes, Marsden's eyes are open to the great and sometimes even contradictory complex issues informing fundamentalism. He says it is "a mistake to reduce religious behavior to its social dimensions" and admirably acknoweledges the power of spiritual forces and deep-seated convictions (203). I wish he had made some value judgments, even if tentative and qualified, and used a biblical standard to grant the reader practical ideas for how to move forth with knowledge of historical fundamentalism. What traps and misconceptions did fundamentalists fall into that contemporary evangelical may be vigilant to avoid? For what elements of fundamentalism can we be grateful and which can we even strive to emulate? This desire of mine, though, is just because I'm more interested in ideas than events. I prefer philosophy to history. People who love history may have more fun reading this than I did. Marsden's objectivity seems appropriate to a scholarly book in the genre of history.

5 comments about Nine Things You Simply Must Do: To Succeed in Love and Life.

1. Cloud does a good job on how to have a successful life. First, you must find what you would like to do as a career. Second, deal with problems by fixing it or eliminating it. Third, create a well thought out plan step by step all the way to reaching successs. Also think about options and see if they will hurt you or help you in the future. Fourth, be proactive, be a person of action. Fifth, be dilligent and industrious by doing something and make progress, no matter how small the progress is. Sixth, Be sure to fix what you hate in a positive way. Seventh, do not seek justice for yourself, seek rather to give mercy and forgive. Eighth, study and grow in humility. Ninth, realize that you cannot please everyone.



2. This is a MUST read for 2007. It is very good, and very practical and really makes you think. It's is beautifully written. Hands down, amazon is by far the cheapest.



3. Anyone who is living in this world and wants more out of life should read this book. It is amazing at the simple things successful people do that seem so small and that you don't even notice that are really huge oaks in their lives and make them so successful over long periods of time and through their life. This book can help you in every area of your life and especially if you are finding life difficult, a living death, a hard road to walk... this book will give you great insight on how to live LIFE to it's fullest in practical way and get results that you didn't think were possible. I could go on and on about it, but I promise you, get it, read it, and you will never look back.



4. From the cover, it appears that the book is marketed at the success oriented crowd. Dr. Cloud is identified as a psychologist and co-author of the best selling 'Boundaries'. We have to go to the back flap to detect the biblical orientation via a citation of his previously published 'God Will Make A Way'.
   There are wonderful biblical quotes that illustrate points made along the way and the context freshens our perceptions of biblical wisdom.
   The brief, but very helpful concluding chapter might be read first. Here, we get a little from the author on how he came to make a success of 'Success'. He very frankly offers 12 steps toward applying the 9 things, and the first is 'Do Not Go It Alone'. It seems Dr. Cloud came up in a community of like minded folk who could support each other's ambitions.
   In the absence of such support, 'you are not going to go far'.
   With chapter 12 in mind, you might very profitably read the book from front to back and keep it handy for future encouragement.



5. I have read several Cloud books, and although sometimes he can be a little too secular for my tastes, I always walk away feeling a little wiser and more confident. Very easy to read-I found myself looking forward to getting back to it, and plan on reading it again soon. I am already putting some of the [very practical] advice to work. The material could be useful for everyone-from a high school student to a CEO- not just for the business class types. This is LIFE advice-not career advice.