StephenBarkley.com

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment © 2009 Simon & Schuster 236 pages Have you ever wondered what would happen if you always told the truth (“Does this dress make me look fat”)? What if you outsourced your entire life—including arguments with your wife—to a call centre in India? Well, wonder no [...]

Hannah’s Prayer and Its Answer: An Exposition for Bible Study ©2002 Eerdmans 113 pages They say you should be careful what you wish for, because it might come true. That aphorism pales in comparison to this one: be careful what you pray for! The first seven chapters of 1 Samuel tell the story of Hannah’s [...]

On the Rich Young Ruler: Shouldn’t Jesus have given a clear answer to the man’s obvious desire to know how to go to heaven when he dies? Is that why he walks away—because Jesus blew a perfectly good “evangelistic” opportunity? —Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person [...]

Consumer Detox: Less Stuff, More Life © 2010 Zondervan 265 pages Consumer Detox is a breath of fresh air (pun intended: Powley is also the founder of the Breathe) network. Powley has managed to write a non-legalistic (indeed, liberating) manifesto about freedom from consumerism. Zondervan’s done a fine job marketing it, too. They’ve managed to [...]

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived © 2011 HarperOne 224 pages Rob Bell sure knows how to create a stir! Like Jesus turning over the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, Bell has turned over some hot-button doctrinal issues held by the evangelical (and [...]

The grace of Yahweh is a divine quality of persistent love, a sort of fidelity that extends loyalty through thick and thin and will never let man go, in spite of the limitations, the weaknesses, and even the crimes of human finitude. —Samuel Terrien, The Psalms: Strophic Structure and Theological Commentary, on Psalm 51:2-4.

Throughout the last few months of 2010, I felt the need to speak about Christian Character, or (as it’s traditionally been called) Virtue. Thus this series entitled, Heart-Work. What does it mean to grow up as believers? If we are saved by faith alone, why bother renovating our character? How does my life now relate [...]

Shadowheart: Volume Four of Shadowmarch © 2010 Daw 730 pages The end is near here. Once again, I received the fourth book of a Tad Williams trilogy with excitement. In one way this review is pointless. If you’ve read the first three volumes, you’ll read this one. If not, start at the beginning. Even so, [...]

All saints the higher that they are in glory the more meek they be and the nearer to me. —Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3.63.

Ash Wednesday is here again. As a pentecostal minister with an abnormal affection for liturgy, I was determined not to miss the season of Lent this time around. The problem is, what could I do that would be meaningful? Rachel Held Evans posted 40 great ideas that started my mind whirling. I almost jumped into [...]