Tag Archives: Christian living

Book Review: Divorce & Remarriage: A Redemptive Theology, by Rubel Shelly

August 24, 2015 durough Leave a comment

It’s not often I have a major shift in my theology, but it does happen. When it comes to the oh-so-controversial-and-convoluted-subject of marriage-divorce-&-remarriage, there are a number of systems that have been constructed through the centuries to explain various interpretations of what Jesus and Paul have to say about it in the New Testament. Up until a few days ago, I had already shifted my thinking a couple different times; however, no matter how seemingly logical the legal constructions fit together in my mind, nothing has set well with what I read elsewhere in Scripture as to how they fit with the heart of God.

For the past ten years, I have not been a part of a church, either in general membership or leadership, where there has not been a messy, or at least very uncomfortable, dealing with people who found themselves in the middle of trying to figure out what to do with their marriage, divorce, and potential for remarriage. I’ve often heard from those older than I that this is a growing concern in the church; however, I believe it’s simply that we become more and more aware of these difficult situations the older we get—things were always better back in the “good ol’ days,” whether that be when we were toddlers, teens, middle-aged, or what have you…or so they say. Though I’ve had discussions with many about my beliefs and interpretations of Scripture, something always kept me from speaking from some position of authority (ha!) to those I thought may be “in sin” when it came to my interpretations of Jesus and Paul on this subject. I either felt God holding me back and keeping me from speaking, or scheduled meetings simply didn’t happen for a number of reasons. I am so thankful they didn’t!

I come from a rather legalistic and “rule book” approach to Scripture, and looking for those legal systems is still a temptation, which isn’t to say that systematic theology is a bad thing! In my late college days I began to pray more, listen to God, and do my best to stay out of the way of the Spirit’s leading in my life. That has been the foundation of how I have since approached Scripture and my life. Those who know me can attest to the changes and far-off places to which that approach led! Once I began graduate work in theology, my academic endeavors were kept in check with my reliance on the Spirit, without which I could very easily jump right back into a purely “do and don’t” mentality on how to use Scripture. The deeper I leaned into God, the more these divorce and remarriage systems disturbed me, but I could not see what Jesus and Paul had to say any differently than how I’d been approaching them for decades prior.

Jumping to the present, my wife (Delana) and I recently moved to the greater Denver area where we believe God led us. We first visited back in January (2015) for an interview Delana had at a local university. We decided to spend a little of our own money to stick around for a couple more days so that we could get to know the area a little bit. One of our biggest desires was finding a church we could immediately plug into and glorify God through serving others. We had several recommendations, and had planned on visiting one in Denver proper—we only had time to visit one church on Sunday morning, so we wanted to make it count! Around 10:00 PM the Saturday before, getting ready to go to bed, I told Delana, “I think we’re supposed to go to [a particular Church of Christ].” Both of us were shocked by what I’d said because I’d not planned on going back to another denominational congregation, and she didn’t have the most pleasant experience with the CoC since learning about it and visiting a few after meeting me. We both felt a bit nervous about it, but I believe it’s where God wanted us to be. So, we followed. It was the best experience at any church we’ve ever had. We were welcomed warmly and joyfully, prayed with, immediately included, and encouraged. One of the ministers and a married couple kept in touch from that point until we moved to CO on June 29, and then we had breakfast at the minister’s house the next morning. Just awesome.

We were immediately plugged into different ministries and Bible studies, and began growing closer to several families in the church—we still haven’t even been here two months! In July I attended an information session about the church and what they expected from those who wanted to be “members.” Delana was out of town that weekend for work. At the beginning of this session one of the ministers, out of a desire to be transparent and wanting others to be the same, told us of his past marriage, his infidelity, and subsequent divorce and a host of other consequences. After fifteen years of celibacy, he remarried just a few months ago. The elders and the rest of the church fully supported him in this. I’d never seen that in a CoC, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I knew what I wanted to do with it, but not sure what I was supposed to do with it. This is where Delana and I truly believe God wants us. Our move to CO for her job and our coming to this church was purely a decision by faith, not by sight (we’re still trying to work it out financially!). When Delana returned, I gave her the bullet points of the meetings and shared with her the minister’s story. “What are we going to do?”

The minister and I had a few things to discuss anyway, so we set a time for earlier this week. There was much prayer beforehand, and when the time came we had a loving, nonjudgmental, brotherly conversation about how he read Scripture concerning divorce and remarriage and from where we both came. After going through every passage in the New Testament and looking at context from the Old Testament, I felt a peace about his conclusion that I’d never had before. Things clicked and I felt like God had lifted a weight from my shoulders that had been hanging there for over ten years.

It’s important to understand that he held this position before things went sour in his first marriage. This isn’t a case of someone subsequently trying to find justification for selfish desires in Scripture thereafter. In fact, he’d never planned on marrying again, but had a similar “God put us together” story with his current wife that Delana and I share.

So, what does all of this have to do with a book, let alone a book review? Context! When I first asked for the minister’s perspective on divorce and remarriage, he reached over to his bookshelf, pulled out Rubel Shelly’s Divorce & Remarriage: A Redemptive Theology, and said, “This is what I believe.” Of course, we didn’t read the book right then and there (he did read a few pages in conversation), but I did borrow it and read it over the next couple of days. I’d already been convinced by our conversation to change my perspective on the subject, but I wanted see what this book had to say, since it was likely going to be added to my library and recommended to others if it had anything to do with what we discussed! And it’s wonderful: full of love and compassion, and with no lack of scholarship and “sound” reading of Scripture. It includes the meat of the text (setting up context and addresses all necessary Scripture references for the subject, peppering a number of “what would you do?” narratives in mix the to help the reader think through these things), a lengthy question & answer section (he asks himself many of the questions he’s heard in the past and answers them well), and two brief letters, one to those who have been divorced and one to church leaders.

I highly recommend this book, especially to those who find themselves in any sort of church leadership position so that we do not continue to heap more burdens on people with whom we have no right to so do. Read with an open mind and heart toward God, and get ready for a life changing moment. It can happen.

To all those I’ve oppressed in the past regarding their divorce and remarriage, I ask for your forgiveness. We are always called to reconciliation, and that is what we first desire in any relationship, especially a marriage. We do live in a fallen world, and bad things happen. Let us continue from there in love, grace, and mercy. Lord, forgive us and grant us that capacity for one another. Amen.

Book Reviews, Theology

Book Review: Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw

August 16, 2015 durough Leave a comment

In 2014, my good friend Zach bought us both a copy of Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. He had heard good things about the book and wanted my opinion as we went through it since we had been studying political theology for about a year in church. Unfortunately, we didn’t get past our first meeting with our combined busy schedules, but I’m glad to have finally come back and finished reading it myself.

I want to first point out that no one should be approaching this text from either a “liberal” or “conservative” political stance. This, unfortunately, has been the stance from which many have reviewed the text. We should first see how Jesus calls us to live, and then work out pragmatic application in our own context, regardless as to whether it may be perceived as “liberal” or “conservative.” In Jesus for President, Claiborne and Haw approach a number of controversial subjects from the initial perspective of being a citizen in the kingdom of God first. Many cannot separate their national and political affiliation from their Christian affiliation—framing it this way may seem harsh, but it’s what Jesus called us out on; we’re all in, or we’re not—and this will be the foundation of much disagreement and debate. So, I would encourage the reader to stick with them and make as much an attempt at thinking from a kingdom perspective first as able. This does not mean he or she will always agree or disagree with the authors—I certainly didn’t agree on all theological or practical points—though I do think one may be better able to appreciate their arguments, and perhaps learn and grow into being a better disciple of Christ.

It’s widely understood by my friends and family that I am a pacifist and am far more in favor of living in community than is my individualistic, privatized, American culture. I believe this is what Jesus asks of us. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that I agree with the authors on much of what is presented; however, I do not always come to the same conclusions as to how we go about demonstrating these things. Nevertheless, I do and will recommend this as a beautiful and interesting introduction to how we engage with one another and the world.

Book Reviews

Book Review: Bringing Heaven to Earth: You Don’t Have to Wait for Eternity to Live the Good News, by Josh Ross and Jonathan Storment

June 8, 2015 durough Leave a comment

Many of us have grown up in the “I’ll Fly Away” crowd, getting much of our eschatology (what we believe about end times) from our hymns rather than the Bible, which in turn influences what we believe about how we are to live here and now. If this place is going to blow up and we’re going to fly away, then nothing here really matters, right? Unfortunately, this way of thinking is still pervasive in many churches and schools. Josh Ross and Jonathan Storment grew up in this same vein, have since been convinced of a greater reality of living in the kingdom now, and have provided an easy to read book on why and how that can and should happen. This is Bringing Heaven to Earth: You Don’t Have to Wait for Eternity to Live the Good News.

“Part 1: A Reintroduction to Heaven” begins emphatic, but lighthearted, sports jokes and jabs not spared (just look past them!). Ross and Storment make a simple case for the real connection between heaven and earth and God mission of resurrection and redemption, not rapture. “Part 2: When Heaven Celebrates” gets a little heavier—if that can happen when talking about partying!—but only insomuch as the authors continue drawing the reader into the importance of the topic at hand. Once in “Part 3: Life in the Light of Heaven” the reader should have a broader grasp of what it means to live for God’s glory and the sake of others right now and give up on any ideas that may keep us waiting until we’re in “heaven” to be joyful in this life.

This can be a great primer for anyone struggling with what to do with the good news of the kingdom of God and how heaven, hell, and earth may fit therein. It may be especially helpful for those who are steeped in dispensationalism, a particular theological stream espoused by much company I’ve kept in recent years. If you’re looking for a quick and easy read to whet your appetite to go even further in living as a kingdom citizen now, this can help. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid!

*Disclaimer: I was contacted by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, and received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid, nor was I asked to write anything specific, whether positive or negative.

Book Reviews, Theology

Book Review: Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate: Crafting a Handmade Faith in a Mass-Market World, by John J. Thompson

May 30, 2015 durough Leave a comment

In Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate: Crafting a Handmade Faith in a Mass-Market World, John J. Thompson takes the reader on his journey into artisanship through bread, chocolate, coffee, beer, gardening, and music-making. Throughout, he uses handmade vs. mass-produced as a metaphor for how we are (or are not, as the case may be) being Jesus’ disciples. A resident of East Nashville (or East Nasty [shout out to my old peeps!]) and world traveller, Thompson has had the privilege of experiencing (and being spoiled by) some of the best the handmade world has to offer. I admit, though I already make my own bread, it made me want to stop eating white bread. Will I? Probably not. It also made me want to stop using sugar and cream in my coffee. Will I? Probably not. And though I don’t drink alcoholic beverages, it even made me think about what it’d be like to try a microbrew (certainly not any of the mass-produced stuff I think smells like horse pee). The point being, it’s a good read, and I learned a lot about what it takes to make and appreciate some really beautiful things. But that’s not all: it also made me consider how I relate to my creator and others in service to the King. Of course, one may always have questions and push back against the author (he admits that there is good in the mass-produced), but if one refrains from being pulled in the direction of criticism (like that the book is mass-produced by Zondervan and not by a small publishing team that had it printed or handwritten on handmade paper or parchment!) and engages with him in the point he’s trying to make, I think it can be quite helpful. (All analogies break down at some point, but I do think potential rebuts against his handmade vs. mass-produced points often fail when attempted to be made in relation to our discipleship.)

Here’s a taste:

Christians, especially evangelicals like me, often like to pulverize the gospel into small, fine, easy-to-digest particles. But if our creed can fit on a bumper sticker, we’re doing it wrong. I believe this is a by-product of our well-intentioned and laudable desire to be understandable and relevant to our peers. In the process, however, we risk turning the Bread of Life into a Twinkie. At some point, the essence of the thing we are trying to sweeten is compromised beyond usability. This processed, refined gospel feels good going down, but when the energy buzz wears off, we are left with nothing but a headache. No white-bread gospel can satisfy the deep hunger of the human heart. (68)

Boom!

Enjoy.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Reviews

Book Review: Intentional Fitness: Working Out Your Salvation, by Mary Graziano Scro

May 8, 2015 durough Leave a comment

I’m not opposed to unsolicited requests to review a book. In fact, I’m honored and humbled when I receive them. I want to be helpful, and I have yet to turn down a request; however, after this one, I may not be so quick to accept.

Previously self-published and now on what I believe is its second revision and first publication through a small company (the Vox Dei branch of Booktrope), Mary Graziano Scro’s little book, Intentional Fitness: Working Out Your Salvation, is being prepped for final proofreading and print. After reading the 108-page .pdf (really only about 68 small pages of material), I wrote back to the manager to make sure I did not receive a draft and that I was really being asked to write a public review of the book. After reading my initial thoughts, concerns, and questions, I was sincerely thanked for my input and asked to go ahead with the review since there will be no changes to the book. So, I now proceed.

Let me begin by saying I have no doubt that Mary loves God, does the best she can to live daily for him, and wants to encourage others to do the same. That is not in question. I just don’t think reading this book is a good way to go about it.

My first concern was that, after now working with a publishing company and apparently revising a previously self-published work, an editor was not used for anything other than grammar (fine in that regard). There are several short sections within the book, none of which really seem to fit together. The lack of coherence in structure, format, content, and voice and never really addressing Working Out Your Salvation all lead me to believe Intentional Fitness was not a final product. I am uncertain of the intended audience; Scro uses jargon (Christianese, as sometimes called) understood by those steeped in a particular way of Christian life, but the content appears to shift between addressing non-Christians and brand-new Christians (even mid-paragraph), neither of which would likely understand Scro’s perspective and jargon. (There’s even a final section that explains the author’s perspective of how to be saved by “saying this prayer” or “ask Jesus for the words” without ever explaining why a nonbeliever would even want to do that. Why would they read the book in the first place?) Wrought with contradictions and the inclusion of haphazard and often unhelpful questions and statements at the end of each chapter (many in the vein of “look up this word online or in a concordance and pray with all those verses”), it reads like a poorly planned “Sunday school” lesson.

I have suggested that, perhaps, Scro may be better able to make her points through a well-organized memoir by sharing her experience and demonstrating how certain things have helped her along her journey rather than telling her audience “how it is” without the experience, knowledge, and/or authority to write about the given subjects. I do hope this is considered and the book is replaced.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid, nor was I asked to write anything specific, whether positive or negative.

Book Reviews, Life, Theology

Book Review: Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better, by Brant Hansen

April 27, 2015 durough 1 Comment

Before reading Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better, I didn’t know anything about Brant Hansen other than what was written on the back cover of the book. Now, I not only know more about my brother in Christ, but I know more about myself, too. Unoffendable is exactly what I needed to push me into a change I’ve been mulling over for years but had so often reasoned my way out. Brant hit me in the gut right from the start, responding to his title in much the same way I did (“Yeah, right.”), and then convincing me by the sixth page of the absurdity of my being offended and “righteous anger,” as it is so often called. The next two hundred pages were yummy gravy…and mashed potatoes…and more gravy…and more potatoes. The point: it’s good—really good.

Brant shares his experience and that of others in a way that is disarming and inviting. He offends himself so you don’t have to, preemptively attacking his own arguments along the way and then addressing them to further demonstrate how we shouldn’t hold on to anger and offense when they pop up. It felt like I was hanging out with him on his porch while he shared how he has been able to let things go and live much more easily (though still growing) the life of love and forgiveness asked of us by our Lord.

Though he says he’s not a pacifist, what Brant has to say only reinforces and (I imagine) will help me better live out that position (because of Christ). I can only imagine that, if taken seriously and to its logical conclusion (which Brant likes!), he will eventually come to that table, too. (Brant: Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.)

If you’ve ever found yourself justifying anger or offense (everyone), I recommend you read this book. Seriously, I think I’m going to start buying and handing out copies!

Book Reviews, Theology

Book Review: Divided: When the Head and Heart Don’t Agree, by Bill Delvaux

March 26, 2015 durough Leave a comment

When I requested a review copy of Bill Delvaux’s Divided: When the Head and Heart Don’t Agree I thought to myself, “How does one successfully solve the long debated ‘head vs. heart’ dilemma in under two hundred pages?” I went in with an assumption about what Delvaux was attempting to accomplish, but by the time I got to the final two chapters I realized why the reader was being taken on this journey that never seems to land anywhere. What’s the point, you ask? I don’t know about other reviewers and how they’ll approach this one, but answering that would be akin to spoiling a good movie. This book will catch you off guard—in a good way—if you’re willing to stick with the journey.

Divided is presented in three sections:

“Viewing the Divide: How it Began and What It Destroys” — If you don’t connect and relate at the start of this section, just keep reading. Eventually one of the many anecdotes will strike a chord and you’ll find yourself acknowledging your own divide.
“Tackling the Divide: Three Terrains to Navigate” — This is where the reader is forced to consider more holistically one’s own story and listening to others in order to better understand the person. Great stuff. Yes, but how does this tackle the divide? It doesn’t matter; just keep reading.
“Closing the Divide: What the Journey Feels Like” — So this is where it’s wrapped up in a nice package, right? Notice the subtitle is not “How to Fix It.” Once you get this far, you’re too invested to turn back, you’re not sure why you’re reading but know you need to keep going, and then *wham!* it hits you. “What the Journey Feels Like” is an appropriate description, and it’s only after journeying with Delvaux to the end will you realize the necessity of the journey.

If, like Paul, you struggle with doing the things you know not to do and not doing the things you know to do; if you put on a façade to hide the real you that you think others will hate; if you act and react out of an unknown position that lies in the darkest parts of you that you’re afraid to explore or may not even know exists, then Divided may be what helps you work through it. Don’t expect to be fixed along the way, but expect to be called out and called to action in taking steps toward your own journey through your own divide.

There were some points at which I disagreed with Delvaux’s handling of Scripture (particularly his use of Job), but these aren’t serious enough to affect the larger purpose of the book.

Recommended.

Book Reviews, Theology

Book Review: Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides, by Scott Sauls

March 6, 2015 durough Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve struggled with how to review a book, but here I sit typing and deleting my introductory sentence over and over. I’ve never heard of Scott Sauls, but I respect him and what he’s attempting to do with this new book, Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides. The thesis is great, the introduction is wonderful (this should be made freely available on a blog somewhere [Edit: An hour after posting this, Scott sent me this link: http://scottsauls.com/2015/02/04/611/.]), and then the rest of the book struggles with handling differing perspectives—how to work around the lines. Sauls is a Presbyterian minister, so I don’t expect him to write from another perspective; however, in a book trying to look at Jesus outside the lines of “My Christian Tribe” and “Christianity” (the two “parts” of the book), Sauls draws some pretty significant lines, some of which stem from particularly important Presbyterian conclusions. That’s fine, and I look to the “Introduction” and remember that he’s probably okay with my disagreeing with him on several of his lines, or at least the reasoning behind them.

So, here we have a book that doesn’t really wrestle with the both/and (or neither!) in a way that would be appropriate for its introductory claims, but there’s also a lot of really helpful material. There are some in-your-face moments that make me want to blow up Twitter (they’re too long, but I want to anyway!), and then there are moments when I want to throw the book at the wall for not delivering what I wanted from it (that’s my problem). It would be much easier to review and critique individual chapters on their own merit outside of the larger context, which I would probably do in a more favorable light, but as a whole the book just isn’t what it claims to be—it doesn’t take the reader on the “journey outside the lines” (xxvii) it promises. With that, I leave it up to the reader to decide whether or not he or she wants to go on a journey with Sauls.

Aside: If the author, editor, and publisher happen to read this, I would recommend publishing a book on the same thesis but with a collection of essays from differing perspectives and authors to help round it out.

*This book was provided by Tyndale House Publishers for review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I offered or provided any compensation.

Book Reviews, Theology

Book Review: Simply Open: A Guide to Experiencing God in the Everyday, by Greg Paul

March 2, 2015 durough 1 Comment

Greg Paul’s Simply Open: A Guide to Experiencing God in the Everyday begins with a seven-part prayer (open my: eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, mind, and heart), each of includes four things: releasing, receiving, becoming, and doing. Paul takes a chapter for each of these seven, beginning with a short introduction and then elaborating upon each of the four subsections. But this is not a book about prayer. The reader is viscerally drawn into Paul’s stories of wisdom and experience in becoming more open to God, ending each section with a reminder as to why we pray these things. The goal is to simply be open to God, and so also to others and ourselves as they should lead us to further and better glorify God.

We often fit our lives into closed systems we think provide predictable results if we simply follow the right steps, but this keeps us just that: closed, and often frustrated. We are too loud to hear what God is telling us, looking in the wrong places to see what is being shown to us, asking the wrong questions to understand the answer, always trying to do it our way, perhaps the way we’ve been told things work. Being open to God shoves all that aside and brings us into a posture of humility. We will continue to seek and question, among many other things, but the way in which we do them and our attitude toward a given response will be distinctly different—healthier…holier. Paul helps us make this change.

I could narrow down a particular group of people who should read this book—those who find themselves always needing an answer, struggle with humility, or hold tightly to their own plans—but I won’t. This is for everyone. I could say, “This is the best book I’ve ever read on prayer,” except that it isn’t a book about prayer. I could say many things, but what I really want to say is read it! I’ll be coming back to this one.

Book Reviews, Theology

Book Review: The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission, by Christopher J. H. Wright

February 3, 2015 durough Leave a comment

For those who’ve read the latter, Christopher J. H. Wright’s The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission should not be thought of as a sequel to his larger and quite dense work, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (my review here); rather, it might be seen as an elaborated point of that work written to be more accessible for a book series (Biblical Theology for Life), the writing of which Wright was asked to be a part. Do not, however, let that lessen your interest! Though there is certainly overlap—even quoting of MoG—this is incredibly insightful and convicting, even for those of us who have been preaching and teaching the same things for years. Since I deal mostly with students in these kinds of recommendations, my order of recommendation would be to read first MoGP and then MoG, with a few exceptions. For the more advanced, MoG would naturally provide a greater foundation for MoGP—and, yes, I’d still recommend reading both.

In Wright’s own words:
“If the basic argument of my earlier book, The Mission of God, was that we need to read the whole Bible in all its parts comprehensively to discern and describe God’s great mission of cosmic redemption, then the argument of this book, The Mission of God’s People, is that we likewise need to read the whole Bible comprehensively to discern and describe what the implications are for us, the people whom God has loved, chosen, called, redeemed, shaped and sent into the world in the name of Christ” (267).

Keep in mind that this is not a how-to book, but one of A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission. If in search for a “what to do when my mission program fails and no one is being converted,” then one should probably read this book for a number of reasons, though it certainly won’t provide the specific answer anticipated. Wright looks to answer, by way of several avenues within a truly holistic picture of mission, “Who are we and what are we here for?” A detailed outline is provided at the beginning of the book, making it easy for one to locate sections for specific material and lesson planning, though I still recommend reading it through in its entirety.

As I have read others’ reviews of this book, one concern that is sorely misguided and needs correcting is that Wright does not deal with our mission as expressed in the New Testament, specifically Jesus’ “Great Commission.” Not only does he address this tree (perhaps these readers/reviewers didn’t make it all the way through the book), but he does so by looking at the forest of the Bible in its entirety to better understand what that means. The reader certainly benefits from Wright’s scholarship in Hebrew and the Old Testament as he makes the narrative come alive and become practical and applicable for us all by understanding our story—the story. The mission of God’s people is the same from the beginning ‘til now. It would help to better understand our past in order to better understand and appreciate this great truth of Scripture!

Here’s yet another book added to my “must read” list!