Book Write-Up: Pursuing Justice

Ken Wytsma with D.R. Jacobsen.  Pursuing Justice: The Call to Live & Die for Bigger Things.  Nashville: W Publishing Group (An Imprint of Thomas Nelson), 2013.

This book is about why social justice should be important to evangelical Christians.  Wytsma goes into the biblical passages about God’s concern for the poor and the vulnerable, the historical reasons why many conservative Christians have had an aversion to churches focusing on social justice, how rampant consumerism in the United States has warped people’s perceptions, and the importance of—-not just refraining from harming others (the silver rule)—-but of actually caring about others’ well-being (the golden rule).

My favorite parts of the book were Wytsma’s narration of his own personal religious journey, his scenarios of good Christian people in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow South who were caring yet blind to the injustices around them, and his analysis of how certain Christian approaches to charity in the Third World are misguided: they are paternalistic and they do not listen to the people receiving assistance.  Wytsma strikes a fine balance between optimism and an acknowledgement of the horrors that many continue to face.  He notes that poverty in the global South has declined, and yet he talks about problems that a two-week mission trip alone cannot solve.

My main problem with the book is that I wish that it had mentioned concrete things that people can do to help address world problems.  Occasionally, Wytsma did this, but, so often, he spoke in terms of pouring one’s life into other people and being willing to die for justice.  As laudable and as admirable as this is, I doubt that most people (even most evangelical Christians) will be willing to go that far.  What are some manageable steps that they can take to pursue justice?

Note: I received a complimentary review copy of this book through the BookLook Bloggers (http://booklookbloggers.com/) book review bloggers program.  The program does not require for my review to be positive, and my review reflects my honest reaction to the book.

Book Write-Up: My Breaking Point, God's Turning Point

Ricky Texada.  My Breaking Point, God’s Turning Point: Experience God’s Amazing Power to Restore.  Bloomington, Minnestota: Bethany House Publishers, 2014.  See here for Bethany House’s page about the book.

Ricky Texada is pastor of Covenant Church, which is located in Colleyville, Texas.  My Breaking Point, God’s Turning Point is his story about how God has guided him through crises in his life.  The most prominent crisis in the book is the death of his first wife Debra in an automobile accident.  Texada also talks about his relationship with the woman who became his second wife, Cyd, as well as other experiences.

What I most liked about the book was Texada’s thirst for God.  His devotion to God was almost monastic, for Texada spent a lot of time in solitary prayer and fasting.  Moreover, listening to praise CDs was a significant aspect of his personal devotion.  In solitude, Texada could pour his pain out to God without being judged by others, and God could heal him and provide him with assurance and security.  Texada also stresses the value of community as a place where one can be comforted and offer comfort to others, and I also appreciated Texada’s stories about people he knew (particularly Debra’s brother, who was in prison).  Still, Texada’s individual devotion to God was one reason that I enjoyed reading his book.

Another asset to the book was its stories about the supernatural.  God is at work in Texada’s story.  God gives Texada dreams, and those dreams are confirmed by others who have the same dream.  Texada comes to conclude that his wife’s death was part of God’s plan: he recalls times prior to her accident that indicated that she knew she was about to go, and he tells about a thug who reevaluated his life and committed to Christ after witnessing the accident that took Debra’s life.

There are moments of profound wisdom in the book.  For example, when Texada was upset because it seemed that the drunk driver who killed his wife would not face charges, a friend told him that God knew best how to judge each person—-and what would impact a person throughout eternity.  Overall, Texada’s advice to people struggling is prayer, community, and remembering and testifying about God’s faithfulness and goodness.

If I have one problem with the book, it is that I wish that it had addressed in more depth the question of what people should do if they do not have the sorts of supernatural experiences that he had, if God seems silent in their lives.  Still, I was edified by reading Texada’s story.

The publisher sent me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Write-Up: Biblical Portraits of Creation

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. and Dorington G. Little.  Biblical Portraits of Creation: Celebrating the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  Wooster, Ohio: Weaver Book Company, 2014.  See here for Amazon’s page about this book.

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. is an evangelical Hebrew Bible scholar.  Dorington G. Little was pastor of a church that Kaiser and Kaiser’s late wife attended when Kaiser lived in Massachusetts.  Both men contribute chapters to Biblical Portraits of Creation: Celebrating the Maker of Heaven and Earth, with Kaiser contributing the vast majority of them, and Little contributing three.  The book interacts with the topic of creation as it appears in various places throughout the Bible: Genesis 1-2, the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Isaiah, and even the New Testament.

The aim of the book seems to be threefold.  First, it seeks to educate believers about the biblical teachings about creation and the significance of God as creator.  Second, it wants the biblical teachings to have a significant place in current Christian debates about origins.  And, third, it argues that the primeval chapters of Genesis (Genesis 1-11) were intended to be historical, to describe what happened in history.  Kaiser is maintaining this position against theistic evolutionists and Christians and scholars who dispute the historicity of Genesis 1-11, seeing it instead as poetry or myth.  While Kaiser offers a brief criticism of Young Earth Creationism (and renowned Old Earth Creationist Hugh Ross endorses the book), neither Kaiser nor Little really engage Young Earth Creationism throughout most of the book.

A lot of the book, in my opinion, states the obvious: that God is wise, and that God created things.  I cannot say that these parts of the book particularly thrilled me with any fresh insights. I suppose that readers who want to exalt God as creator could enjoy these parts as devotional reading, but they could get the same edification from just reading the Bible.  Another deficiency to the book is what it does not really engage: the scientific arguments regarding evolution, and the debates within Christianity about the age of the earth.

At the same time, the book is valuable because of its engagement with scholarly ideas.  Kaiser argues against biblical scholars who maintain that the biblical writers were relying on Mesopotamian documents or tales, that the biblical authors believed in a flat earth covered by a dome, that Genesis 1:1 depicts God using already existing raw materials rather than creating ex nihilo, and that Genesis 1 and 2 are two different creation accounts that contradict each other.  In making some of these arguments, especially in the appendix (which provides a 1969 article that Kaiser wrote), Kaiser refers to scholars who are not particularly evangelical and thus are not aiming to uphold the authority of Scripture.  Kaiser also interacts with thought-provoking questions, such as whether wisdom in Proverbs 8 is a being (such as Jesus Christ—-you may be surprised by Kaiser’s answer!), and whether the Bible contradicts itself in its assertions about whether the cosmos is stable or will be destroyed.  Kaiser’s arguments range from being unconvincing and unsatisfying to being informative, interesting, and even rather convincing.  In any case, those looking for an alternative scholarly perspective may find Kaiser’s arguments (and his references) well worth the read.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What Comes After II Corinthians?

At church this morning, the pastor was talking with his puppet, Jake, about the books of the Bible.  Jake was trying to recite the names of the books of the Bible in order.

My Dad had us kids memorize the names and order of the books of the Bible when we were growing up.  I would say that my general knowledge of what and where the books are is due to that.

Still, what amazed me was that I was really struggling this morning as I tried to recite to myself the books.  For the Old Testament, I always had difficulties on which minor prophet came after which other minor prophet, so that was no surprise to me.  But I was surprised that I did not know what book came after II Corinthians in the New Testament!

I am sure that I could find Galatians, Philippians, Ephesians, or Colossians if I had to look something up in them.  But, this morning, as I tried to recite the books of the New Testament, my mind went blank after II Corinthians!

Maybe part of the problem is that I do not read much of the New Testament nowadays.  Over the past few years, my daily and weekly quiet times have been in the Hebrew Bible.

But haven’t I had to look things up in the New Testament?  Well, yes, but, over the past years, I have rarely if ever gone to a real book to do that.  I go to my Bibleworks computer program, or I type a reference in on google or blueletterbible.

For my daily quiet time, I am almost done with the Hebrew Bible.  I am reading the minor prophets right now.  My plan after I finish Malachi is to go straight to the New Testament (rather than the deuterocanonical writings).  Maybe that will help me to reacquaint myself with the order of the New Testament books!

I Chronicles 26

Here are some thoughts about I Chronicles 26:

1.  I Chronicles 26 talks a lot about gatekeepers to the Temple, or sanctuary.  Obed-Edom’s sons are said to be mighty men of valor (v 6), strong (v 7), and able (v 8), and one of them is called a wise counsellor (v 14).  Why would one need these qualities to be a guard?  Well, for one, it took strength to open and close the Temple doors.  John Gill refers to Josephus’ statement that it took twenty men to close the doors of the Temple (Jewish Wars 6.293).  Second, my guess is that it would take wisdom and strength to be a guard: one would need to assess situations to make sure no one snuck into the Temple, and also use force to keep people out.  Why would anyone want to sneak into the Temple?  Temples had a lot of wealth within them, so perhaps a person would want to loot them.

2.  Vv 27-28 state (in the KJV): “Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the LORD.  And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated; and whosoever had dedicated any thing, it was under the hand of Shelomith, and of his brethren.”

Is this saying that Samuel and Saul dedicated spoils to the Temple?  How could they, when there was not a Temple in their time?  Well, there was a sanctuary, a tabernacle.  Perhaps they dedicated the spoils to that.

John Gill says that Samuel and Saul were aware that God would eventually have a place for his name.  Is Gill suggesting that Samuel and Saul knew that God would eventually have a Temple, and thus they were dedicating spoils to it in advance?  Could Deuteronomy 12:8-11 be relevant here: Israel first gets rest from her enemies, then a sanctuary where God will cause his name to dwell?  Samuel, Saul, and David did not live in a time when Israel had rest from her enemies, for they fought wars.  Solomon, however, did preside over that time of rest, and he was the one who built the Temple.  According to the Chronicler, did Samuel and Saul conclude from Deuteronomy 12:8-11 that God would eventually have a Temple?

Book Write-Up: The Roman Way, by Edith Hamilton

Edith Hamilton.  The Roman Way.  New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1932, 1960.

Edith Hamilton wrote about the Greeks, the Romans, the Hebrew Bible, and Christianity during her retirement.  I recently read her first book, The Greek Way, and I promised in my write-up about that book that I would write about another book that she wrote, The Roman Way.  Here is my write-up of that!

Edith Hamilton covers a number of significant figures in ancient Roman history: Plautus, Terence, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Catullus, Horace, Virgil, Livy, Seneca, and Juvenal.  She contrasts the Romans with the Greeks.  The Greeks, according to her depiction, were fun-loving, philosophical and curious about the world, hateful of death, and loving of beauty.  The Romans, by contrast, enjoyed bloody sports, glorified death, were not particularly philosophical or curious (unless philosophy served to bolster a particular worldview), and were highly practical.  Whereas the Greeks were not explicitly moralistic in their works, preferring to show rather than tell (as one anti-war Greek simply presented the horrors of war, without saying it was wrong), the Roman writers were didactic and preachy.  You would think that Hamilton regards the Greeks as fun and interesting, whereas the Romans were dry, but that is not entirely true.  Not only does Hamilton respect the Romans’ practicality (which contributed to the development of Roman law), but she also argues that they were more romantic than the Greeks.

Hamilton honestly interacts with the works of the figures whom she discusses.  In discussing Juvenal, she acknowledges that he has a valid point in criticizing the rampant immorality in Rome, but she also contends that his misogyny clouds his judgment.  I particularly enjoyed Hamilton’s discussion of Stoicism.  According to Hamilton, the Stoics believed that God dwelt in every person and that all men were equal.  They were critical of the bloody games and of slavery.  They also focused on this life rather than an afterlife, and they encouraged people to cope with whatever lot befell them.  I was initially skeptical of Hamilton’s depiction of the Stoics as democratic (if that is the right word), for I have read about some of the authoritarian (even brutal) acts of Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic.  Whatever his flaws were, however, some have depicted him as rather progressive, and some have puzzled over his tolerance of slavery, notwithstanding his Stoic beliefs (see here and here).  Maybe Hamilton is simplistic in her characterization of Stoicism, but it may still have truth in it.

On Victoria Osteen's Remarks

A lot of Christians are upset by Victoria Osteen’s claim that we worship God so that we can be happy.  See here.  Victoria Osteen is the wife of megachurch pastor Joel Osteen.  She recently said that God wants us to worship him, not to benefit him, since he does not need our worship, but rather so that we can be happy.  God, as one who is loving, desires our happiness.

Personally, I’m surprised by all of the outrage, for, over the years, I have heard similar statements to that made by Victoria Osteen within evangelicalism and Christianity.  C.S. Lewis made such a point in Reflections on the Psalms: that God does not want praise because of any insecurity on his part, but rather because praise is his gift to us—-we benefit from it.   I have heard evangelicals make similar points, as they refer to evangelical outlets that they have heard and read.

What’s more, God in Psalm 51 says that he does not even need our sacrifices, for God already owns all the animals!  Worship is for our benefit, not God’s.

I would say that Victoria Osteen’s comments are a bit one-sided, but not wrong.  God has an agenda of hallowing his name and renewing creation, and I believe that we should honor and join God in what God is doing.  That’s what the Lord’s Prayer is about.  But God is loving and desires our personal happiness, and that, in my opinion, highlights—-not so much ourselves—-but God’s love, the love that we should imitate by desiring other people’s happiness.  As Rick Warren said in Purpose-Driven Life, it’s not all about you.  But I still think that you and your happiness and well-being are important to God.