Tag Archives: Review

Posted on

Top Posts For June 2014

As a youth minister, the summer was often the busiest time of the year. Even though the rest of the year seemed to be busy enough, the summer always took the prize for being busiest.

June 2014 Word Picture from Wordle.net

When I made the transition to being a senior minister, I hoped that my summers would slow down a bit, and somewhat take on a sense of normalcy. I hoped that I would settle into an established routine that would flow from week to week, and day to day.

Looking back, I wonder what possessed me to dream such dreams.

This summer has been as busy as I’ve ever experienced, and I haven’t even made it to a single week of camp!

Life has thrown a few big curve balls our way this summer. In the realm of ministry, I’ve decided to try to make my preaching even more expositorily focused. That is causing me to take more time to study while preparing my messages. I’ve been to five funerals in the past couple of months, preaching four of them myself. Camp season is in full swing, and Vacation Bible School is right around the corner.

Posted on

Book Review – Titus For You by Tim Chester

Titus For YouThe Pastoral Epistles, which include 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, are by far some of the most practical letters in the New Testament when it come to ministry. In these short epistles, Paul writes to two young men who are leading churches: Timothy, in Ephesus, and Titus, in Crete.

These letters are full of incredible advice and spiritual insights for growth, both as a Christian and as a leader and minister. One of my personal goals over the past year and a half has been to study and memorize both of the letters to Timothy, and Titus is next on the list for this fall.

I think these are pretty important letters for us to examine in detail.

I’ve read several other books from The Good Book Company in this series, covering Galatians, Romans 1-7, and Judges. I’ve enjoyed each one of them immensely. So, when I saw an opportunity to read this one on Titus, I was pretty excited. At first, I wasn’t sure how it would compare with the others, since all of the ones I have read were written by Timothy Keller, and this one is by Tim Chester.

My fears were ungrounded. Chester hit a home run with this look at Titus. I feel like he did a great job dividing the letter up into sections to examine in detail. The chapters he writes here follow the natural breaks in the text itself, lending itself well to easy reading, or even to fit a preaching schedule.

Posted on

Book Review – 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation

1 Enoch: A Hermeneia TranslationI’ve long had a fascination with the early chapters of Genesis, and the early earth history that they contain. Almost everything I’ve ever read centered around these chapters is centered upon the text themselves.

However, early Judaism has several traditions concerning those early centuries that are not found in the book of Genesis. Although these documents date much later than early Genesis, they point back to those times and contain some very interesting information. One such document is 1 Enoch.

This document plays an important role in early Judaism, and several scrolls containing this document were discovered at Qumran. Most of the document is dated to the last three or four centuries before Christ. Because of the distance from the time of Genesis, and the life of Enoch, their authorship is suspect enough to deny them entrance into the canon of the Old Testament.

However, the traditions and stories that they contain shed a lot of light on ancient Jewish thought on Genesis and the lives that formed the first few centuries of human history after creation.

Posted on

Book Review – 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Commentary, Volume 1

1 Enoch: A Hermeneia CommentaryI recently received a translation of 1 Enoch, along with the first volume of a new commentary from Fortress Press. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the level of scholarship evident in these volumes. I’ve never had the opportunity to use anything from Fortress Press before this, and I found this commentary to be pretty exhaustive.

As in my review of the translation itself, I discovered a lot of information in this ancient Jewish text that shed some light on how Judaism has viewed and handled some of the early history from the book of Genesis. While I disagree in some of the interpretations that the book of 1 Enoch draws, the translation and commentary seem to be spot on.

Based on the life of Enoch, from the fifth chapter of Genesis, but written during the intertestemental period, 1 Enoch gives some good insights into Jewish thought and theology. And this is only the first volume of the commentary. From what I have on hand, and when you add the second volume into the mix, this creates a very exhaustive and well-researched study tool for the ancient document of 1 Enoch.

Posted on

Book Review: Be The Dad She Needs You To Be by Dr. Kevin Leman

Be The Dad She Needs You To BeOne of the most important relationships a daughter will ever have is the relationship with her father. This relationship is critical, and as a result, many dads fall short in this area. It’s not for a lack of willingness as much as it is a lack of understanding. Many dads simply don’t understand their daughters, and they don’t know how to build that connection.

Dr. Kevin Leman inspires dads to be the dads that their daughters need them to be in his newest book, Be The Dad She Needs You To Be. As a father to three daughters, I can relate to the struggles many dads face trying to relate to their daughters. Leman addresses most of those fears in this book, and leaves dads with the knowledge that they can make an impact in their daughters’ lives. And that it’s not as hard as it seems.

Covering almost every topic under the sun, including discipline, encouragement, the “talk,” being present, and more, Be The Dad She Needs You To Be is a pretty comprehensive manual for dads to keep handy. Each topic is approached in a manner that is easy to read and understand, but leaves dads with the ideas, tools and resources to make strides in that area.

Leman gives great pointers on how to be a great dad to your daughters. But he also includes some incredible insights in how to partner with you wife to be the most effective dad that you can be. So moms can read this as well, and gain a lot of practical advice on how to make a lasting mark in their daughters lives.

Posted on

Book Review – The Israeli Solution by Caroline B. Glick

Affiliate Link: The Israeli SolutionI’m not one to read books that are politically based examinations on current events. That’s not my thing. But recently, I’ve been reading a lot concerning the nation of Israel. From Israel’s role in prophecy to even a Messianic Jewish examination of Christ, Israel has been frequently on my reading list as of late.

The Israeli Solution, however, is different.

This book takes a deeper look at the nation of Israel and the Middle Eastern conflict, in which Israel plays a prominent role.

The author, Caroline B. Glick, takes a deep look at what may be the solution for peace in the Middle East. The major source of conflict seems to revolve around the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians.

Most of the solutions offered over the past couple of decades involve a two state plan, establishing an official state for Palestine. The track record for this shows that it really won’t work. It hasn’t, and it shows no signs of working in the near future.

This is mostly due to the fact that Palestine is committed to the destruction of Israel, along with much of the Muslim world.

Posted on

Book Review – The Return Of The Kosher Pig by Rabbi Itzhak Shapira

The Return Of The Kosher PigYou’ve heard the phrase, “Never judge a book by its cover.” But that is exactly what we do. We see a cover that we find intriguing, and we pick it up. In this case, it wasn’t so much the cover as it was the title, The Return Of The Kosher Pig.

While I’m not sure what I expected to find, this book surprised me. What I discovered was a Jew, a rabbi, who has diligently searched the Hebrew Scriptures, the additional commentaries by centuries of Jewish scholars,and even the New Testament, and concluded that he found the Messiah. And he is Yeshua (Jesus).

First of all, allow me to briefly explain the title. The pig represents everything that is unclean to a Jew. It is unkosher. It is threatening to the Jewish mindset. In the eyes of orthodox Judaism, those who have accepted Jesus as the Messiah, both Christians and Messianic Jews, represent the ultimate uncleanness. The fact that God would take the form of a man is found to be ridiculous and scandalous. Since Jesus claimed that very identity, Judaism has labeled him as the unkosher pig, deviating from the truth of the Scriptures.

I have to admit, following all of this was very difficult for me. And I’d only made it as far as the introduction! It became very clear to me, very quickly, that Jewish though and Western thought are radically different. Western thought tends to be linear in fashion, straight and precise, based on a Greek and Latin foundation. Jewish thought, however tends more to be circular, or organic, in nature, and Hebrew reasoning is as different from Western thought as day and night. That’s a foreign way of thinking for me, and I had to take this very slow in order to understand many of the concepts that are presented in The Return Of The Kosher Pig. And I’m sure I missed much more than I captured, simply because this is so unfamiliar to me.