Allen Raynor Weblog:
Recommended Reading Winter/Spring 2019 (Pt. 1)
(June 10, 2019)
I have been
privileged to read some great books over the past Winter and Spring and want to
share with you some of the best titles from among that group. Hope you are able to find, at least a few of
these helpful for your ongoing study!
Evangelism,
like the “Old Gray Mare” of song lore, ain’t what she used to be many long
years ago! I really enjoyed reading Evangelism After Pluralism: The Ethics of
Christian Witness by Bryan Stone.
This is not a “how to” book, but a book that explores what is ethical
and right in a very complicated world.
Stone deals extensively with issues such as evangelism and competing
world views, the difference between “empire” building and biblical evangelism,
and the right and wrong of linking evangelism to church growth. He devotes significant space to the
difficulty of the position of military chaplain in these days and offers
suggestions as to how one can carry out their duties and still honor
Christ. He also examines evangelism from
the standpoint of beauty rather than simply a means to an end as Americans have
typically come to see it. The most
interesting chapter in the book to me was a chapter called “The Pluralism of
Consumer Culture” which explores how American Christians tend to mesh together
their faith, and the evangelistic aspects of it with patriotism. In an epilogue Stone deals with “The
Meaninglessness of Apologetics” which is an interesting discussion about the
place of apologetics in our modern era.
An overall helpful book. Another
great book I read on the subject of the Gospel, and how we present it to a
changing world, that stood out was Ken Ham’s book Gospel Reset: Salvation Made Relevant. The basic premise of this book is that
evangelistic efforts assume the Acts 2 model where we simply just share our
faith with people; however this model assumes they have enough of a foundation
to hear it and receive it. Ham proposes
what he calls the Acts 17 model which helps to establish the foundation they
need. This model is based on Paul’s
encounter with the philosophers at Mars Hill where he took them back to the
beginning as their starting place. Ham
believes that our present culture is without a biblical foundation and if we
are going to build one, we have to be willing to go back to the beginning in
Genesis.
There are
many books on tithing and/or stewardship.
I have read many of them but I recently read a book that helped me put
it all into a new perspective. I would
argue that this book actually laid out for me the actual “New Testament”
perspective more than any book I have read on the subject. The book is God and Money: How We Discovered True Riches at Harvard Business School
by John Cortines and Gregory Baumer.
These young men, only in their twenties, are wise beyond their
years. Both are exceptionally bright
graduates of Harvard Business School and they could not help but notice many
principles they learned concerning economics are highly applicable to Christian
Stewardship; not only that, but are more in line with New Testament principles
than the vast majority of books that address the subject. The American mentality seems to be spend on
yourself, save for yourself, financially plan and strategize for yourself, and
even give money away essentially for yourself and your own satisfaction. This book challenges that thinking by
presenting a strong case for how Christians should view money and wealth in
Kingdom perspective. The first part of the book presents foundational
principles for stewardship and management of wealth. The second part of the book lays out a
framework for how people can become investors in the Kingdom of God rather than
in themselves. The third portion of the
book gives many practical way a person can demonstrate true stewardship in
their communities. The book gives many
real-life examples of those who have put the principles outlined in the book
into practice.
Books
related to hermeneutics are needed for most Christians. In fact, no one ever really gets to the place
where these type books are not helpful.
I really enjoyed The Story of
Scripture: How We God Our Bible and Why We Can Trust It by Robert L.
Plummer. It is short, straightforward,
and easy to understand. It can serve as
a great reference for the average layman.
I also enjoyed a book called Authorized:
The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible by Mark Ward. He raises and answers many questions related
to this standard, and trusted translation of the Scripture. Ward helps one consider, in what I believe to
be a fair way, the strengths and weaknesses of the King James Version of
Scripture. Another great book in this
area I benefited from was How to Choose a
Translation for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible
Versions by Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss.
It is a great tool to help the reader wade through much of the confusion
concerning the multitude of Bible translations available today and know what
strengths and weaknesses to look for in each.
I enjoyed
reading through Fatal Flaws: What
Evolutionists Don’t Want You To Know by Hank Hanegraaff. It is a quick and easy read but touches on
many of the major issues where modern scientists/evolutionary theory and
Scripture conflict. It is a great beginners
guide toward exploring these issues.
One of my
very favorite recent reads was a book called The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions by
David Berlinski. The author describes
himself as a “Secular Jew.” He holds a
Ph.D. from Princeton University and has written books on mathematics and
Newtonian Physics, as well as served as a professor at various
institutions. He is a fellow at the
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and frequent writer for scientific
journals. Berlinski makes no claims to
even being a Christian, but does two important things in this book. First, he decimates contemporary Darwinists
and their writings by exposing their fallacies, bias’s, unscientific
conclusions, preconceived notions, arrogance, and pretentious attitudes. Second, he shows how faith in the God of the
Bible is quite reasonable in light of what we do know about life and the universe. His perspective is both unique and
interesting.
Many
Christians trust the Bible without being ready to defend the Bible in a highly
skeptical age. In recent decades there
have been a flood of books published to defend the Christian faith to skeptics
and strengthen the beliefs of the saints.
When we understand the reasons for our faith and why we can trust the
things we believe we tend to be much more motivated to serve, witness, disciple
others, and walk day by day with God.
Peter J. Williams’ book Can We
Trust the Gospels? is a great tool to strengthen your faith in the 4
Gospels in particular. I was expecting a
review of what I already knew and believed, but Williams gave several new
arguments, evidence, and information I had never really thought about in
chapters such as “Undesigned Coincidences” and “Who Would Make All This Up?” He takes you inside a thought process that I
had never quite reached before, which led me to a greater and deeper
understanding of these foundational documents of the Christian faith.
Certainly
one of the most intriguing books I have read recently was a book by author Timothy
Dailey called The Paranormal Conspiracy:
The Truth about Ghosts, Aliens, and Mysterious Beings. I must confess that at a few points, the
hairs stood up on the back of my neck while reading this book! There are many unexplained things but it is
important to understand that many things are simply in people’s mind; however
if we do not grasp the fact that demons are hard at work in this world we will
not get much of what is going on. This
book gives a number of historical case studies with bizarre endings. Dailey does very thorough research and is an
excellent writer. This book will keep
you riveted.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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