Book Reviews

PrintM. Craig Barns offers this fictionalized depiction of a pastor nearing retirement looking back over his years of ministry. Barnes, is currently the president of Princeton Theological Seminary and a professor of pastoral ministry. Coupling his 37 years of pastoral experience with stories from an untold number of pastors he has ministered with and taught, gives him plenty of material to compile a realistic look at the life of a pastor. The storyline is of a 68-year-old pastor who has served at the same church for 28 years and plans to retire in 12 months. The book is comprised of weekly entries in his diary. Subjects covered are the typical encounters, experiences and ponderings that pastors face in church ministry: difficult members, sermon preparation, troubled souls, heartaches, joys, disappointments, unrealistic expectations, faulty ambitions, the privilege of preaching and yet, the challenge of trying to present the twins of beauty and…(Read More)

PrintAlisa Childers was well grounded in orthodox Christian beliefs when she began attending a class at her local church led by a progressive pastor. “Progressive” is the contemporary word for “emergent” as in the Emergent Movement led by Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Rachel Held Evans, Tony Jones and others, earlier …(Read More)

PrintPaul Tripp uses the metaphor of a house, desperately in need of repair, and about to collapse, to describe our sinful, fallen world.  Christians are dwelling in this broken-down house; how is it that we should live?  The author states his thesis clearly: So, that’s what this book is about.  …(Read More)

PrintScott Allen is president of the Disciple Nations Alliance which exists “to equip the church to rise to her full potential as God’s principal agent in restoring, healing and blessing broken nations” (p. 250).  Allen’s goal is to demonstrate that social justice, or what he terms “ideological social justice,” (pp. …(Read More)

PrintNineteenth Century English pastor Charles Spurgeon is well-known to Christians today, especially those of the Reformed persuasion, who see him as a champion for Calvinism.  Others point to his passion for “soul-winning,” still others love his sermons and highly quotable comments.  Murray endeavors to move beyond what is commonly known …(Read More)

PrintJoel Beeke’s thesis is that the time is “right for us to biblically expose and condemn worldliness, and to promote the alternatives of genuine piety and holiness” (p. 9). As the author addresses his subject he turns repeatedly to the Reformers and Puritans for quotes and examples. Beeke is pastor …(Read More)

PrintGod’s Forever Family tells the story of the rise, development and influence of the Jesus People (or Freaks, as they were called at the time).  The actual movement was short lived, being birthed directly after the 1967 “Summer of Love” in Haight-Ashbury.  As the hippies flocked to San Francisco to …(Read More)

PrintCulture Shift is comprised of twenty short essays addressing various cultural issues from a biblical perspective. Subjects include secularism (pp. 7-21), the morality of torture (pp. 33-63), public education (pp. 65-94), abortion (pp. 103-120), suffering and pain (pp. 121-136), atomic weaponry (pp. 145-154), and civil rights (pp. 156-160). Books dealing …(Read More)

PrintWhite Fragility is one of the most popular books spreading the worldview of Critical Race Theory and reshaping Western thought concerning racism. DiAngelo’s thesis is that white supremacy, as well as racism, is a social constructs baked into the American culture. Very little can be done to improve the socialization …(Read More)

PrintRod Dreher, author of the popular The Benedict Option (see my review here:  https://tottministries.org/?s=The+Benedict+Option) has written Live Not By Lies as a warning about the soft totalitarianism he sees rapidly overtaking America.  The means of resisting the propaganda is, according to the author, to challenge its philosophy with truth.  Or, …(Read More)

PrintGospel Conversations, How to Care Like Christ by Robert W. Kellemen (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015) 397 pp., paper, $18.99 Gospel Conversations is a long, intense and thorough manual for biblical counseling.  The big idea communicated throughout the book is that “we learn to become competent biblical counselors by giving and …(Read More)