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The Gospel According to Lost © 2009 Thomas Nelson 195 pages The Gospel according to lost is what happens when a pastor enjoys a television series. This book is not a book of theories and speculation about Lost. (With one season to go, that would be a foolish endeavour!) It’s a reflection on the religious [...]

What irony: we invoke the death of our lord even as we celebrate his birth. “Merry Christmas” is a celebration of the incarnation, while the Mass signifies his death. Such is the mystery of faith. Wangerin says it well in Preparing for Jesus: Meditations on the Coming of Christ, Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom: “Your [...]

Under the Dome: A Novel © 2009 Scribner (Simon & Schuster) 1074 pages Stephen King’s at his best when he lets the page-count roll freely and the cast of characters climb. That’s why I decided to give this book a try. It’s the first new King book I’ve read since Volume VII of The Dark [...]

Today’s quote is from Bailey’s meditation on the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer in Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. (The Karl G. Kuhen quote within the quote is from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.) God is holy love, and he faces unholy nature. Yet, in his holiness, God is able to reach [...]

Now that we’ve considered what “Gospel” means for Paul, Dunn moves on to some essentials of Christology: Jesus Christ the human, crucified, resurrected, and ultimately pre-existent. This chapter focuses on how Paul understood the relevance of Jesus’ incarnate life. . . .

The Year of the Flood: A Novel © 2009 McClelland & Stewart 434 pages In Oryx and Crake, Atwood painted a future where advances in genetic engineering created a plague that eradicated most of humanity. I loved the novel for its realism—many of the engineered creatures Atwood envisioned had already been created. It was a [...]

My church celebrates the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of every month. Last Sunday we celebrated communion during the season of Advent. Birth and death in one act. I know this is the third quote I’ve posted from von Balthasar’s Love Alone Is Credible, but it’s simply that good. This quote clarifies the relationship [...]

The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life – The Ancient Practices Series © 2009 Thomas Nelson 217 pages The Liturgical Year is a collection of devotional thoughts centered around the annual liturgy followed by the church throughout millennia. It is an attempt to draw believers back to the year that begins at [...]

The Jesus Way contains a powerful commentary on the encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Peterson used the two different styles of worship to comment on modern worship: Authentic worship means being present to the living God who penetrates the whole of human life.

To Walk and Not Faint: A Month of Meditations on Isaiah 40 © 1980, 1997 (Second Edition) Eerdmans 189 pages I’ve been disappointed by devotional literature more times than I can recall. The whole lot of it seems too mushy and theologically ungrounded. Then I found Marva Dawn. The concept underlying this book is simple: [...]