Book Reviews

John Stott has been known for many years for his writing and preaching skills, which he has used to point people to Christ. Here is a book that grows out of his own search and questioning of why he is a Christian, and why others should consider God’s search for them. He gives some very cogent arguments for the claims of Jesus Christ and his redemptive work on behalf of sinful man. You will find the third chapter on the cross of Christ speaking with great clarity on the need of his death, and man’s need to recognize his serving as our substitute. Also the last chapter on “The Greatest of All Invitations” is very persuasive in its appeal to respond to the call of Christ.

This would be a good book to give to a person who may be inquiring about the Christian faith, or maybe wanting answers to the meaning and purpose of life. This book is not a difficult read; it can almost be read in one sitting. It is very timely-with the release of the movie The Passion people are asking questions about the purpose of Christ’s death. This would be a good book to give them.

The Christian faith did not start with our contemporary generations. God did not take a vacation when John laid down his pen at the end of Revelation. True, God’s biblical revelation ceased and therefore the Bible is not to be added to nor subtracted from. But God continues to work down through the history of the church. He enables leaders to continue to define, refine, and clarify direct and indirect teachings from the written word of the Old and New Testaments.

I try to read church history on a regular basis because I have found that if we take the time to learn about our roots, we spend less time fighting the crisis fires that spring up today. These “fires” include questions such as: Is Jesus God? What’s wrong with open theism, or liberation theology, or the development of the cults? We could even include issues like worship, the sacraments and the global missions movement as further examples. There is too much at stake for us to neglect reading what those who have gone before us have to say. That would be as wrong as to say that God is not working among us today to give us further understanding of his truth. In this book, Homes states he is attempting to show “that theology, at least, by being attentive to its own tradition, can teach by example…”

While the Bible is the inspired Word of God, theology is our attempt to understand that written word’s theology. Theology, therefore, is our attempt to express our understanding of biblical truth plus general revelation. Though there have been common threads that weave the different times in history together like a tapestry, we need to understand why and what went into the expression of that theology by the different church leaders. Holmes makes a clear case that if we are to study theology we have to have some understanding of theology’s tradition.

It sounds very good and pious to say, “I just read the Bible and don’t bother with tradition.” However, you will not understand the Bible apart from its history and tradition. Also, trying to read and study the Bible in a historical vacuum will undoubtedly lead you to some strange conclusions, e.g. the cults.

A statement in the book illustrates the author’s point in a clear way, “Calvin, although committed to the principle of sola scripture, none the less thought it important to stand within tradition of the Church. It is not just that Calvin owes much (indeed, more than is often recognised) to the immediately preceding theological tradition, although he does; the relevant point is that both the Institutes and in other places, he devotes considerable energy demonstrating the positions the Reformers are urging against the Roman Catholic Church are in fact more faithful to the Christian tradition than the Roman alternatives…”

If we could understand the issues over which Calvin and the Anabaptist differed, then we could understand more of 21^st Christendom. Holmes points out the big difference between the Anabaptist’s focus on “refounding” the church while Calvin’s emphasis was on “reforming” the church. They also held different views of the Eucharist. While tradition must never be elevated to the place of Scripture as the final rule of faith and practice, the church always “‘Reformed and being reformed’ [is] a slogan that indicates the constant desire of the Reformed Churches to seek further reformation from God.”

I could site many examples from the book of how knowing, studying, and appreciating tradition, in its proper place, is a key to the church’s understanding of itself and its role today. There is a chapter entitled “Calvin Against the Calvinists” that is worth the price of the book. Holmes develops the idea and gives examples of how the followers of Calvin “hardened and systematized his theology.” That is one of the reasons I believe it is important for us to read and study John Calvin today. He predated what we call modernism, with its enlightenment and Scottish Realism schools of thought, which attempted to make Calvinism appear to be something different than Calvin. Hence, Calvin often said and practiced that where Scripture stops, we stop. Therefore, everything may not be carried to its logical conclusion, as many of his successors attempted to do with their theology.

You will also enjoy the chapter, “Strange Voices: Edwards on the Will.” Holmes points out that we can do theology today with the attitude, “I will read those like Calvin and Edward and appreciate them in their context and time, but they do not speak to me today.” Or, we can read and learn how they developed their theology and be helped with our tasks today, not by simply restating what they said, but by using their teachings to clarify our theology.

I would say that Holmes’ basic thesis is that we need to listen to the past. When we study theology we always ask, what is the basis of authority? Holmes reminds us that four things are usually used to answer that question, and in this order: The Scriptures as our authority, tradition, reason and experience. But Holmes says that we are better off to maintain in doing theology, we need to hear the teaching of Scripture as our basis authority but “we could not hear the teaching of Scripture aright without listening to the tradition, but this does not of itself ascribe any authority to the voices of tradition, it just insists that they are necessary guides to enable us to hear the words that are authoritative in the Scriptures.” In all of this, we must be sensitive to and submissive to the Holy Spirit guiding and opening our understanding to God’s Word today.

As people of the Word, Christians have a great legacy and we must have much respect for the past. This book reminds us of that importance. Knowing, reading, and carefully studying the masters who have gone before us are necessary if we are to understand our situation today. There is no doubt that theology “is an irreducibly communal task.” Both pastors and teachers would benefit from this book.

Some of us remember reading and using Olan Hendrix’s classic Management For The Christian Worker. He has had over fifty years of ministry experience with church and para-church organizations. He has learned over those years of ministry that one of the key ingredients to accomplishing a mission is to have effective leaders in place. You need leaders doing the things that make them effective, and not doing those things that can distract from their leadership. For an organization, including the church, to be effective, the leaders need to have a plan with measurable goals and divisions of labor within the body.

At our 2003 conference on Christian schools, co-sponsored by Christian Schools International, Christian Education and Publications invited Olan Hendrix to be a keynote speaker on this topic. Governance was at the top of the list for many schools surveyed on their school’s greatest challenge. The Three Dimensions of Leadership contains much helpful information that can be transferable to the local church.

In our seminars on strategic planning, CEP has emphasized that planning is not unspiritual and certainly not unbiblical. God himself is the master planner and history is the unfolding of the consummation of his master plan. Nor does planning excuse the leadership from the responsibility of much prayer and homework. As Hendrix reminds, planning, done biblically, does not mean depending less on the Lord but rather knowing what he expects of us in serving his purpose in the church.

Hendrix writes, “Leadership without management is fluff. Management without leadership is mechanical.” That statement sets the stage for discussing the what, why, and how of leadership. Hendrix also relates leadership to management because the two, while inseparable, are different.

I am so glad that our Westminster Confession of Faith speaks to the sufficiency of Scripture. We can, by God’s common grace, glean some helpful and practical advice on leadership and management from the area of general revelation. Although the Scripture is not a management textbook, it is a book that reflects the outstanding traits of good leaders while warning us of characteristics that cause much ill through the history of God’s people. Not all problems in organizations (particularly churches) are spiritual in nature. Some result from simply not doing commonsense things in planning, budgeting, organizing and training the people.

The church and most Christian schools are governed by volunteers, which require a different approach from paid staff. There are some practical points we need to remember when working with those volunteers. This book includes several. Hendrix continues to learn better ways to accomplish a mission. I appreciate that about him. In this book he reflects his appreciation for the work of John Craver. He has learned from Craver how to take the concepts of governance and apply it to Christian schools, other Christian ministries, and churches. Following the Craver governance model, Hendrix reminds us of the need for the board to be clear regarding its own work, to resist the temptation to micro-manage, and how to relate to the organization’s staff in a way that enables them to evaluate the results or ends of the organization’s mission.

I have and am presently serving on several boards where applying some of Hendrix’s principles and concepts have proven to be most helpful in keeping the ministry and mission clearly in focus. Asking and answering the question, “how are we doing regarding our mission” is a key to effective leadership and management. Elders, deacons, Christian school boards, and other ministries will find much to glean from these154 pages. This would be a good study guide on what we call strategic faith planning.

We find ourselves caught in the peril of the pendulum often times. We easily move from one extreme to another. A conversation with a staff member this morning reminded me of that. He was asked to recommend resources to help a congregation move from a more traditional worship style to a willingness to use more contemporary expressions of worship.

Quentin Schultze is a name familiar to us for his expertise in communication and technology. We have also appreciated his commitment to the church and his obvious desire to be a churchman. His book could meet some real needs with people who are struggling with questions such as: Is it possible to use technology in worship in a manner that actually enables us to worship God in an acceptable manner? If so, should we do so?

Schultze is probably one of the most balanced writers I have read on this subject. He certainly defends the usage of technology in worship while cautioning about the overuse or abuse of technology, which merely degrades worship. Worship has to be biblical to be acceptable but that does not mean that we have to worship just as we have always done. But there may be justifiable reasons to do things differently in order to help today’s worshipers experience God’s presence in fresh and understandable ways.

Schultze says, “Using presentational technologies wisely in worship requires sound judgment about thorny issues that predate current equipment and contemporary worship styles.” He further writes, “As caretakers of worship we need to be involved in planning a wide range of aesthetic, musical, technical, and leadership talents-all under the authority of the pastor and other spiritual leaders. Giving worship over to one or another expert-whether a technician or a theologian or even a specialist in liturgy-will not serve the congregation well.” As he says that, he cautions a church to move forward with new technologies slowly. Taking things more slowly gives a congregation a chance to reflect on the new practices and to adjust to the changes. Wise counsel!

While I appreciate and recommend this book, I especially liked two chapters: “Corporate Worship and Technology” and “Avoiding Quick-Fix Techniques.” Jesus was a master technician when it came to knowing how to communicate and teach his message. He used a wide variety of techniques and methodologies. The Bible, our regulative guide in worship, gives us a certain amount of leeway and creativity to use in worship. That should not frighten us with all the possibilities, nor should it give us unlimited freedom.

Schultze concludes: “Although we sometimes overestimate the value of new technologies in worship, we had better not underestimate their potential as well.” No matter where you or your church may come down on the use of technology, I believe it would be a valuable exercise to read and discuss Schultze’s book with local leadership.

In the last copy of Equip for Ministry, we reviewed George Barna’s powerful book, Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions. In that book he explained how important it was to teach children from the very beginning about a Christian worldview. He explained that the topic is being by-passed in the training and discipleship process. He further explained that parents, Sunday school teachers, and other adult leaders who should be teaching this to the children do not understand it for themselves. Hence, the church’s challenge is to help its adults know how to develop a self-conscious world and life view and then pass it on to the children of covenant families.

The question is asked, how do we do that? While earlier books have some very useful and concrete examples, additional help is needed. We talk about a Christian world and life view and some of us try to teach that but we can only reach so many. This takes the complicated topic of Christian philosophy and presents it in a sound practical way.

Lacking a biblical world and life view, we find ourselves doing things that are not good. As a matter of fact, even defining right and wrong are dependent on a solidly biblical worldview. Most people are conditioned to build their lives and lifestyles around the idea of whatever means the most to them. They build their worldview around what results in the best experience and makes them the happiest. Instead of knowing how to apply their hearts unto wisdom, they suffer devastating results.

In Think Like Jesus, Barna stresses the necessity of having a self-conscious worldview. He also demonstrates how our daily lives are influenced by our worldview. Part two of the book reveals seven key questions, which are ingredients to developing a biblical worldview. Barna develops each one in its own chapter. Questions include-does God really exist? What is the character and nature of God? How and why was the world created? What is truth?

The last part of the book examines how the church can help with development of a biblical worldview. Barna describes how to work with and apply the biblical worldview on a daily basis and the last chapter focuses on transformation. Discipleship (which includes a world and life view) must lead to transformation, or it has not accomplished its purpose. Not only must we be able to answer questions about the Bible or catechism, etc., we must know how to apply those truths to our lives and how to teach our children to do the same. Not until real transformation of life takes place, can we believe that discipleship is being done.

You will benefit from reading this and you will also find value in using this as a text for adult study group for youth workers using it with their young people. What Barna deals with in this book is the bottom line of what kingdom discipleship is really all about.

Here is a book that I have wanted to bring to your attention. It deals with one of my favorite topics, epistemology. The first chapter in my forthcoming book on Kingdom Disciples, also examines how we know what we know and believe and why. I include Longing to Know as one of the five books for further reading and understanding of this foundational topic. Esther Lightcap Meek is an excellent thinker who expresses herself clearly in her writings. She has been an effective teacher at Covenant Theological Seminary on the topic of this book.

You may or may not be familiar with the philosopher Michael Polanyi. He started out as a scientist but moved to philosophy when he realized that the objective knowledge sought after by the scientist is not possible. Even “objective truth” can only be known subjectively; hence, scientists bold claim of complete objectivity does not really exist. While Meek does not write exhaustively on this topic of knowing, she does state her case quite clearly that knowledge is personal knowledge. She writes about knowing her car mechanic and likening that to knowing God. Throughout the book, Meek underscores her motif that “knowing about our knowing undergirds our hope.”

This is a timely book because, as we have pointed out to our readers, the postmodernists’ reaction to modernism is over the claim that we can know things objectively and with certainty. We can know objective truth, but once we say, “we know, ” we admit that our knowing involves personal knowledge. We relate to that as a Christian because we know that truth and knowledge, revealed to us by God, must be personally known and embraced in order to transform us into kingdom disciples.

Meek says upfront that she wants this book to be read like a personal meditation not a textbook. She has succeeded in writing a textbook that reads like a meditation. I followed her suggestion on how to read this book and found it to be a good procedure.

Longing to Know will not only personally benefit you in understanding the process of knowing, but will also be a help if you have opportunity to talk with people who are shaped more by the world’s ideas and opinions than biblical truth.

One paragraph gives a good flavor for the tenor of the entire book: “A realistic sense of ourselves of our capacities as knowers, restores hope. Greater significance, responsibility, and even freedom are to be felt as we accurately sense and extend our fit with the world. We have learned that there is a human, bodily rooted, future-oriented, truth-loving way of knowing. We’ve learned to recognize how it feels from the inside. We’ve learned to appreciate our strategic situatedness that opens the world to us. We’ve learned to access the real by cultivating our rootedness in it.”

I believe the author is successful in driving home her point that our focus is not to have certainty, in the sense of Enlightenment philosophy, but to have confidence in knowing God based on his knowledge which he shares with us. I look forward to further books by this author.