Five Great Theology Reads for Christmas

It, has been too long friends. Rusty Pettus has asked me to post five of my favorite theology reads for his blog.  Here is a short list that relates theology to different topics.  They all have influenced my thinking and unlike many theology books, for the most part, they are readable.

1.  Faith Once for All - Jack Cottrell (Systematic Theology)

This is the granddaddy of all Restoration movement systematic theologies, in my opinion.  If you do not own this book as a member of the churches of Christ, YOU SHOULD!  It does a great job of explaining our theology. I hate saying that, but it really gets the Bible’s teaching on most doctrines right.  This is the hardest to read on this list, but by far, the most important to own.

 

2.  Great Is Our God – Ron Highfield (Theology Proper)

If I were to ask you to name five professors at Pepperdine in Malibu, CA, could you?  I must admit that I cannot; but after reading about this book on Scot McKnight’s blog, I bought it and loved it.  It is on theology proper – God himself.  This is a book that unfolds the greatness that is our God, and it’s strength lies in balancing out all the characteristics that make our God great.

 

3.  Theology of the Book of Revelation – Richard Bauckham (Book of Scripture)

If you want to understand the book of Revelation in about 160 pages and have your mind blown in the process, look no further.  The price tag on this little book is a high for its size; however, it could be priced twice as high and still be worth it.  Some consider the book of Revelation one of the most difficult books of the Bible.  Bauckham’s insights, though, show you the ultimate plan of God for all time and humanity.

 

3. The Mission of God People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission - Christopher J. H. Wright (Mission)

The last name Wright holds a special place in my heart theologically.  Between N.T Wright and Christopher Wright, you will not go wrong with amazing reads and some of the best theological thought being offered today.  This is Christopher Wright’s smaller book on mission as he sees it unfold throughout the Bible.  It is pure biblical theology and it shows you that God has always had a plan for this world when it comes to its salvation.  It is a smaller and less technical version of his great The Mission of God (which is an even better read); The Mission of God’s People does a great job summing up its thought.

 

5. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places – Eugene Peterson (Spiritual Theology)

Spiritual Theology is an absolute quagmire when it comes to reads.  Spiritual tradition and denominational doctrines play a huge role in how one approaches the subject.  This book by Eugene Peterson kicks off his amazing five volume series on Spiritual Theology and is one of my most favorite books.  I have read it multiple times and just get overwhelmed each time.  Peterson is too wordy in most places, but his thoughts on you and God together in this world will open up new ways to explore your relationship with Him.

Enjoy these reads and have a very Merry Christmas! 

Book Review: Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, by Rowan Williams

Rowan Williams is the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury – the spiritual leader of the world’s 100 million Anglicans.  He is considerded by many to be the most influential and brillant theologian in our day.  This is the second book by Williams that I have read, the first being Where God Happens.  Archbishop Williams writes in Tokens of Trust an introduction to the major beliefs of the Christian faith. 

I need to be honest in saying that this was one of the hardest, easiest reads for me.  It is written in a style and with language that any can read and understand but the thoughts are deep and profound.  The chapters in the book are sermons that Williams preached at Canterbury Cathedral during the week before Easter, 2005.  His topics centered around the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds, and he tries to answer some of the weightiest questions many have about the Christian faith.  Topics such as who to trust, God’s love, Christ’s nature and resurrection, the Trinity, and Heaven and Hell are all covered in 159 pages. 

A great strength of the book was how he ably answers all these questions in a conversational, simple to understand way.  The hard part was in understanding his way of thinking.  Archbishop Williams truly has a gift for using language, and what he says often leaves you thinking and wanting to go back and reread what was just said.  It is a great read but not easy to understand from time to time.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book include:

“God cannot be for us an object at the mercy of our scrutiny, becasue God is always active, never just there over against us like objects in the world” (p.19).

“Christian teaching isn’t just static; it’s always trying to learn from the last set of mistakes” (p.72).

“Our holiness isn’t a matter of achievement but of relatedness to Christ” (p.126).

This is just a taste but it is a book filled with great lines and deep thoughts about God.  I do want to caution about one thing before I end this review.  If you are not accustomed to reading materials outside the brotherhood you may find some of what he says vastly different from anything that you have ever heard.  This is what made the book difficult for me.  It was written from an unfamiliar perspective.  Now that does not mean it is a bad book.  As a matter of fact, this adds to its value in my opinion.  We all need to be challenged at times to think outside our boxes.  The second we think we have it figured out is the second God drops a mental bomb on us.  Tokens of Trust is a great read to get an introduction to the Christian faith from a perspective that you will not be familiar with, but it is filled with theological bombs with which you will be grateful that you now know.

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Book Review: Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just, by Timothy Keller

 

I have already admitted that I have a Mt. Rushmore of theologians and writers that I cannot get enough of.  I will be the first one that scoops up whatever they write.  Timothy Keller, preacher at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church, is one of those writers.

Tim Keller wrote the widely acclaimed book, The Reason for God a few years ago.  This is not a review for that book, but let me say that it IS the best apologetic work that I have ever read.  It is one of those books that I would hand to someone who was doubting or was sceptical about the Christian religion.  If you do not own this book, do not waste any time and go get it, now.  I had to have that tangent, sorry.

Generous Justice takles an issue that has become incredibly important to many younger Christians, biblical justice.  For many of us in the United States, our views of justice center around popular TV crime dramas or books by writers such as John Grisham.  Many of these tackle thorny legal issues or stories where justice, in a legal sense, is served or perverted.  Justice is also an area that sparks intense moral debates such as how should criminals/prisoners be treated, whether to use or abandon the death penalty, and how much punishment is fair for particular crimes.  For us, the main word used alongside justice is punishment.  But this is not all the Bible calls justice, or being just.  Keller’s book shows us this in a convincing and practical way.

The core of biblical justice is recognizing the individual worth of each person.  No matter what person looks like or where they come from, everyone has value and is considered important in the eyes of God.  The group that God himself focuses on when it comes to making sure they are treated “justly” is the poor and marginalized.  From the beginning of the Bible to its end, you cannot help but notice that God has commanded us to care for the poor.  It is this idea of caring for the poor and marginalized that Tim Keller has written about in Generous Justice. 

Keller begins with a description of what biblical justice look like.  He says that justice is “giving people their rights” or “giving people what they are due, whether punishment or protection or care” (pg.3-4).  This comes from the Hebrew word mishpat, which is found more than 200 times in the Old Testament.  Doing justly is one of the key components to living a godly life (Micah 6:8).  If we think back to biblical times, we see that there were many who would have been left without any means to take care of themselves.  It was these people who were to be cared for by those with the abilities and goods.  You find this all throughout the Bible, whether it be the gifts given to support the Levites, widows, and orphans in the Old Testament or the early church giving out of their means to support one another and those in their communities (Acts 2:45).  Think about what James say about true religion in James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.”  The Bible commands us to be just and it shows us how to carry it out.

No one does more to show us true justice than Jesus Christ.  And here is where Generous Justice and Keller hit a great homerun.  Keller states that all justice is derived from God himself, and no one does a better job of living justice to the fullest than God’s Son, Jesus.  Jesus shows us all the facets of justice, in the forms of right relationships, how to treat the poor, and being generous.  Passages such as Matthew 11:4-5, where Jesus shows John’s disciples his ministry, and Luke 14:12-13, where Jesus tells us who to celebrate with, show that Jesus is incredibly concerned for those that are without, whatever that without may be.  Keller confronts us with these thoughts, and many more, that show how we as Christians are not living up to our end of the blessings God has given to us.

Generous Justice goes from the biblical facts to answer the questions of why and how to do biblical justice.  There is too much to try to say here, but it gives us practical strategies for reaching out to those that are marginalized in our communities and around the world.  In our global context today, justice is not just something that needs to be confined to our particular area, though there is more than enough to do there.  We also have a responsiblity to share what we have with others around the world that are much, much worse off than most in the U.S.  Keller’s book gives us many truths to wrestle with when it comes to all these areas. 

So, I recommend Generous Justice if you are interested in reading a sensible yet challenging book on biblical justice.  It is a topic that is being discussed in the greater religious world, and I believe we need to join the conversation.

Natural Disasters and the Plan of God

Here is a post that I recently did for my friend Scott Bond Jr, who is the youth minister at the Martin Church of Christ.   

OnApril 27, 2011, a series of violent storms traveled across theSoutheast United Statesbringing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars worth of damage.  Many that we know have been affected and this lesson cannot begin to answer the host of questions that center around the word, “Why”?  Why did God allow this to happen?  Why, if God is so loving and so powerful, did He not do something to stop them?  These are just a few of the questions that are on the hearts and minds of thousands of people today.  I cannot begin to understand what is being felt, but I want to hopefully offer some words from God on a way to think about these tragic events.

First, God is in control of everything, but he is NOT directly involved in all things.  The Bible makes it clear that God is the one in charge of the whole cosmos.  Psalm 103:19 states, “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.”  There is a word that sums up his complete control: sovereignty.  Our God is sovereign because he is the creator of all things and controls them through his Lordship (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1-2; 89:11).  There are two areas over which God reigns, but he does not necessarily cause all the things that happen in those areas. The two areas He allows to be a part of his creation is the free will of man and natural law.  The free will of man is a vital component of man because it allows us a choice in all matters.  Free will may be used for sinful and evil behaviors, but these come from the heart of fallen man, not God (Matthew 15:19; Romans 5:12-21).  The second area that needs to be considered is natural law.

Natural Law has been put in place by God to help govern the day-to-day activities of the world.  Think about how God created the heavens and the earth.  He placed within this creation certain functions that provide life and well-being for all his creatures.  This earth has patterns of day and night and seasons that govern all of life.  Throw in there gravity that keeps us connected to the ground, earth that produces crops, and wind and rain that allow life to survive and you have an unbelievable planet.  God has set in motion all these factors that we take advantage of every day.  No wonder Paul can say that creation itself helps point us to God (Romans1:20)!  With all this in mind here is something that you need to realize, sin has affected the natural order of things.  This leads us to point number two.

Second, SIN is the reason that the natural order is sometimes violent and destructive.  Just as sin changed man from an innocent creature to one who knows good and evil and will eventually die (Genesis 3:16-19), sin also changed the earth.  We do not know fully how the earth operated before the Fall, but something changed within creation itself.  “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” is part of the judgment from God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17b-18a).  This, to me, is the reason why we have natural disasters today.  Sin has corrupted the earth, and the earth will be judged along with man.  At the end of the day, we may not have immediate answers from God as to why these things happen, but we do have a solution that is promised to everyone who suffers from these occurrences.  This leads to our third and final point. 

Third, God is going to make everything right at Jesus’ second coming.  This is the solution that God gives to the evil and suffering that exists on the earth.  Whether from natural disasters or our own sinful actions, God has a plan in motion which will fix these problems.  Let us start with the first recorded natural disaster and then work our way through Revelation to see what it says about this issue.

Genesis8:20-22 and 9:8-17 both tell of the covenant God made with Noah after the flood.  The flood was a pronouncement of judgment not only on mankind, but on all of creation as well.  It was not man alone who felt the wrath of God in the flood, but the entire creation.  If you notice the wording, you will see that it contains a covenant that covers both man and the earth.  This covenant promises that man and creation would not be judged by another cosmic natural disaster, but we see that natural disasters have been present on the earth since the flood.  These thoughts lead to a passage in the New Testament that sheds more light on the present issue.

Romans 8:18-23 stands as one of the most overlooked passages in the Bible.  This text tells us that “creation was subjected to futility, not willingly…. That creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (8:20, 21).  Just as man is fallen and will eventually die because of sin, sin has also corrupted the natural world to the point where it too suffers.  Natural disasters fall under the corruption of the world and bring great suffering to many, but these things will be reversed by Jesus.  Here in middle of the great text of Romans 8, Paul tells us that the sufferings of this present time will not compare to the glory all things share in the end (v.18).  All the brokenness and death that is the result of sin will be reversed at the second coming of Christ.  This is talked about in Revelation 21 and 22.

Revelation 21 and 22 is the picture of heaven itself.  This text tells us that heaven is not some place in the clouds where we will be playing harps, but this vision shows that heaven is a very real place.  One could say that it is the fully restored vision of God dwelling with man with a passage like Revelation 21:5, where Jesus says, “Behold, I am making all things new.”  This is the promise that is for all of God’s creation, the primary beneficiaries being man.  Jesus has also shown us in his resurrection that all the earth, not just mankind, is affected for its good through him (1 Corinthians15:37-49).  Jesus stands as the solution to everything that is wrong with the world, even natural disasters!  This is God’s solution to all the suffering caused by natural disasters. 

You see, we may not have a full picture of what heaven will be like, but these passages point towards a place where everything that is wrong in the world will be made right in the end.  Natural disasters, though they are part of nature now, will not be present in the end.  The Bible from Genesis to Revelation shows that God is not only addressing all the issues of man, but of the entire cosmos as well.  God may not give you an immediate answer to the great question “Why?” but he does provide a solution for all the wrongs that exist in our world.

Book Review – The Drama of Doctrine by Kevin Vanhoozer

I must admit that I am truly blessed with what the Lord puts before me when it comes to books to read.  From time to time,  I get a hold of a book that is too much for me to handle.  Whether it is an apologetics book written from a scientific point of view or a theological work written from a philosophical perspective, sometimes you do not have enough background knowledge to fully comprehend a work.  This is what has happened with me and the book, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology by Kevin Vanhoozer.   Vanhoozer is now a professor of theological awesomeness at Wheaton Graduate School in Illinois, and all his expertise in philosophy, theology, and hermeneutics comes out in this work.

The Drama of Doctrine is a book that I received as a Christmas present five years ago.  I heard that it was making waves after its release in the hermeneutics/theological area of biblical studies, and I had to have it.  Three attempted reads and five years later I finally sat down with this book after I had read Thiselton’s Hermeneutics: An Introduction over this past Christmas, and I think I get it, finally.

This is a work that takes one deep into the realm of philosophical hermeneutics and attacks the postmodern notion that doctrine has no relevance or meaning outside its practice within the church.  Many of today’s thinkers and writers believe that having “right” doctrine is a thing of the past.  It is all about what you do with the text, how one lives it out that is of value, the only value.  Vanhoozer agrees to a degree.  The backdrop of the book is comparing theology’s faith seeking understanding with how one lives this out in the world.  But he paints a picture that instead of right practices giving meaning to the Bible, it should be the Bible that directs our living out the gospel message.  It is all about how one plays the right role using the right script as a basis.

If you have not picked up on the notion of what I am getting at from the title of the book, Vanhoozer places theology, doctrine, and Christian living in the realm of drama, or theatre.  He believes that the Bible is the script, the world is the stage, and we are the actors who convey the message of the script, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The church serves as the cast and the dramaturge, the one who adapts the script to the play as it is found in a particular setting.  We today need right biblical doctrine to live out the performance of the gospel before a world in desparate need of the message that Jesus has given to us.  In other words, God is the writer of the script and the theologian is the director who directs the cast, the church, to a right performance of that script.

Along the way of telling us all the ins and outs of how all of this works together, Vanhoozer also drops wonderful theological gems related to his view of understanding doctrine’s place in theological thinking and living.  There is just too much to state about this book, but suffice it to say that it is one of the most insightful books on theology and hermeneutics that I have ever read.  As a matter of fact, if you are wanting to study the nature of doctrine and how vital and important it is to our Christian faith, then look no further than The Drama of Doctrine. 

I heartily recommend it and I am sure that if you take the time to read and digest this book, then you too will feel like a theological beast upon completion.  It is a much needed read, especially in a time when many are leaving right doctrine by the wayside in Christianity.

Rob Bell – “Why Is This Controversial?” – Part 2

Last week I began a two part post on the response Rob Bell gave to the question “Why is this book/idea behind the book so controversial?”  Bell gave multiple reasons why, and I want to explore two more in this final post on his presentation.

After Bell had laid out some of the paradoxical thoughts within Jesus’s own teaching he added another reason why he holds to the beliefs that he does.  Bell states that he believes the words “all things” in the Bible means exactly that.  Passages such as Colossians 1:20 carry a “universalist” theme.  There Paul writes, “and through him (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”  Bell sees a statement like this and says that ”all things” must mean ALL things.  And because of that, we should see it that way while looking at the various passages about hell.  It has to be something other than an eternal dwelling place because ALL THINGS will be reconciled to himself.  More about this will be addressed at the end of this post.

The third and final point was that since Christianity is so different and various now, why can’t this be included as part of it’s make-up.  In others words, we have so many denominations and groups with differing beliefs, this belief can be counted as one of the many.  One look at John 17 answers this statement.  Jesus never intended for there to be multiple and various systems of belief in the church he founded.  Though we may not all agree on all things, we must not carelessly think that very few things matter while the rest is up for grabs.

So,  with these final two things said, what can we make out of his answer that Christ will reconcile “all things” to himself?  Let me say that this is not a common view in most commentaries.  Also, the verses following Colossians 1:20 contradict Bell’s view that “all things” has to mean ”all things.”  If you will indulge me, let me quote what Paul goes on to say in verse 21 to 23 of Colossians 1.

“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” 

From the entire context of the passage, this reconciliation is for those “in the faith” who continue in it.  Bell’s point of “all things” must not be blindly assumed because obviously Paul had in mind that it was only those who had come to faith and were continuing in it that would be saved.  N.T. Wright in his commentary on Colossians in the Tyndale series adds, “the process of reconciliation between God and man, however, does not simply happen by some automatic process.  Paul clearly believed that it was possible for human beings to reject  God’s offer of salvation, and that at the last judgment some, having done so, would thereby be themselves rejected (Rom. 1:18-2:16; 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:5-10).”  He goes on to add, “‘reconcilation,’ the re-establishing of a mutual relationship, cannot occur ‘automatically’ in the world of human relations from which the metaphor is drawn.  In theological terms,reconciliation occurs ‘when someone is in Christ’ (2 Cor. 5:17), which elsewhere (Rom. 3:21-31; 6:1-11; Gal. 3:26-29) is correlated clearly with faith and baptism” (pg. 77).  As an arguement, though it sounds great, it does not hold water when harmonized with other passages in Paul’s writings.

All of these things that I have been posting about are not meant to be a total bash of Rob Bell and his work.  I hope I have pointed out the times that I did agree with him and his lesson, on the whole, was one of the most beautiful I have ever heard on the subject of God’s love.  He is a gifted communicator and I know has done a lot of good for many my age who have struggled with their Christian faith.  But, the ideas and reasons that he expressed during the questions and answers over the book leave me shaking my head as to why he wrote what he did about the subject of hell. 

I would never use hell solely as a motivator to come to faith, but we cannot get very far in any of the gospels without being confronted with it’s reality.  This reality Jesus himself preached about more than anyone else in Scripture.  I hope that these thoughts have been a blessing, and I look forward to writing about other theological topics in the future.

Book Review – The Moral Quest, by Stanley Grenz

This is a brief book review on an ethics book that I recently finished.  Stanley Grenz has been one of my favorite theologians for a few years now.  Ever since I was introduced to his systematic theology work, Theology for the Community of God, he is a writer that I heartily endorse.  Grenz passed away in 2005, but you would do well to find and buy his work.  Especially Theology for the Community of God, it is absolutely incredible and so much easier to read than most systematic theology books.

This blog post is not for his theological work, but for his ethical work, The Moral Quest.  I found this book to be quite helpful in building a foudational Christian ethic.  Since I hold to the belief that our theology shapes our ethics, I find myself to be in full agreement with the conclusions and basis of The Moral Quest.  As a matter of fact, if you want a good explaination why that it the case, consult chapter 7.  It builds a theological ethic around central biblical teachings about God.  The book does not begin in chapter 7 though.

He opens in chapter 1 with a brief introduction into the study of ethics.  Mainly he discusses the main terminology and thoughts that guide ethical discussion.  This was meant to be a textbook of sorts, so while many may be tempted to skip this first chapter (it is the most difficult to read) I would recommend spending some time getting familiar with the language most ethicists use.  The next 5 chapters deal with various ethical agendas that have been formulated over the centuries.  He starts with the ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, moves to Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther, before finishing with modern ethicists and their various systems.  While this may not interest you, it is interesting to note how these thinkers and their beliefs have shaped and are currently shaping so much talk in realms of social justice and present day ethics.  Many of the ideas we hear from “controversial” speakers and teachers are ideas that were first formulated by ethicists and theologians mentioned here.  Grenz gives great summaries into these systems of belief and practice.

Grenz really shines in the book when he is explaining his ethical agenda through his understanding of the Trinity, relationships, and love.  All three are intertwined and they shape a proper view of God in Grenz’s opinion.  The picture he paints is one that is easy to understand and beautifully wholistic in its approach.  Understanding the Trinity through a relationship of love guides our relationship with God, each other, and the earth.  This forms the backbone of his ethical thought, and I find it to be a great system to base our ethical practices.  Let me throw out a word of warning.  If you are interested in reading about all the various ethical debates with arguements both for and against them, this is not your work.  Grenz bases his ethical system on theology, and leaves us as readers to apply both to whatever situation we find ourselves.

All in all, I give this book high regards though it is reading that is not for everyone (though it should be).  If you are more interested in a theological study of ethics, I highly recommend this book because it is biblical and wholistic to the plan and purposes of God and how we are to live them out in this world.   It will also be very informative if you wish to read up on all the theological developments up to its publcation date, 1998.  If this is reading that does not suit you, then grab his Theology for the Community of God.  Frankly, everyone just needs that book on their reference shelf.