Category Archives: Non-fiction

Non-fiction, Religion

Redemptive

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Take note of this new book, The Power of Words and the Wonder of God, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor. It’s an essay collection on the Christian use of words in writing, speaking, and singing. No doubt the more bloggers who understand and practice the teaching in this book, the better, more God-honoring the blogscape will be. Here’s one endorsement:

“Solomon tells us, ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits’ (Prov. 18:21). Words kill and words give life; they’re either poison or fruit. They have massive potential for both good and evil. They have the power to either build up or tear down. The contributors to this volume understand this well, and they show, in both theologically deep and practically down-to-earth ways, how the church must be marked by redemptive speech. They show how the sweetness and strength of the gospel-the sweetness of grace, the strength of truth-should flavor everything we say. John Piper asks, ‘What would the world be like-the home, the church, the school, the public square-if words were used the way Jesus used them?’ Read this book and find out.” Tullian Tchividjian, Pastor, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church; author, Unfashionable

(FTC Note: Despite this glowing post, I have not been materially compensated in any way by Crossway or the editors and writers of this wonderful book. A PDF is available for free to anyone through Desiring God Ministries. I heartily recommend the staff at the FTC read this book along with the Bible and surrender to Christ.)

Authors, Non-fiction

Live Q&A with Randy Alcorn

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Author Randy Alcorn will be online Thursday at 2:00 p.m. eastern to discuss his new book, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering & Evil. I heard him talking about the book last week on Moody’s Prime Time America, and it sounds like a good one. Is it as good as the books Ravi Zacharias has done on the same subject? I don’t know, but it sounds like a good book on its own.

Did anyone join the live Q&A with Bruce Wilkinson the other day?

Non-fiction, Religion, Reviews

“Goddess Unmasked”

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Remember what they told you in college about the Mother Goddess, and how all the ancient religions worshiped her, and how modern wiccans are actually carrying on her timeless cult? Remember those eminent theologians who complained that the Christian church had covered up the essential femininity of God?

Balderdash, says Philip G. Davis, in the new book, Goddess Unmasked, reviewed here at The American Spectator Online by the always readable Hal G. P. Colebatch.

(Colebatch, by the way, is an e-mail friend of mine. He’s co-written a book for Baen Books, and allowed me to read the beginning of an unfinished mystery he’s working on. I really look forward to reading the whole thing in print someday.)

Authors, Non-fiction

Oxford American Interview with Sam Tanenhaus

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The Oxford American interviewer sums up some of Tenenhaus’ thoughts in his new book on conservative politics: “Knee-jerk Oppositionism, in an urgent time when Americans must find common ground, whether they like it or not, to subdue overwhelming problems, is most worrisome. A wise man once said that you do not prove superior intelligence merely by finding fault with everything in the world.”

Tanenhaus is editor of The New York Times Book Review and talks about his book and his role at the Times. (via The Literary Saloon)

Authors, Non-fiction, Religion

Live Q&A with “Jabez” Author Bruce Wilkinson

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I’ve thought about avoiding any posts on this, but WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers is doing something too interesting to ignore. Bruce Wilkinson, who made a huge splash with the book The Prayer of Jabez (and only ripples with follow-up books), has a new book which appears to focus on themes similar to “Jabez.” You Were Born for This talks about everyday miracles and the idea that you and I “can be a ‘Delivery Guy’ from heaven in such universally significant arenas of life as finances, practical help, relationships, purpose and spiritual growth” if we “are willing to learn the ‘protocol of heaven.'”

Yeah, I don’t like the look of that either, but Mr. Wilkinson is going to be online tomorrow evening at 7:00 Eastern in a live Q&A to discuss themes in the book. Questions will be taken through the chat room.

Non-fiction

Re: The Founding Fathers

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James Srodes reviews Gordon Wood’s book Empire of Liberty, saying it covers an important part of early American history which is often glossed over. As is usually the case, the truth isn’t pretty. Srodes writes: “The hard truth that emerges from Mr. Wood’s narrative is that many of our most marbleized Founding heroes were frightful snobs who were inept at the mechanics of government, ignoramuses about economic realities and fatally estranged from the very people they sought to lead. None of our first three presidents comes out of the story very well.”

Fiction, Non-fiction

“Perelandra turned my life upside down”

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Jeanne Damoff writes about Lewis’ gift for telling the truth in fiction:

Lewis does a great job of portraying the woman as intelligent but entirely pure. She entertains the Un-man’s ideas because she’s never had a reason not to listen to anything being said to her. Though Ransom tries to counter all the lies, the woman has no reason to trust one of them over the other. She’s never encountered debate, never required discernment. But occasionally the Un-man pushes too far. When he invites her to “make a story” about living on the Fixed Island–to imagine herself doing the forbidden thing–she says, “If I try to make a story about living on the Fixed Island, I do not know how to make it about Maleldil. For if I make it that He has changed His command, that will not do. And if I make it that we are living there against His command, that is like making the sky all black and the water so that we cannot drink it and the air so that we cannot breathe it. But also, I do not see what is the pleasure of trying to make these things.”

She follows up this post with another called “The post I do not want to write.”

Non-fiction

Professionals Thinking Like Sheep

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“We like to think of professionals as a cut above the man on the street in terms of their fiduciary responsibility and independence of thought, but sadly it’s often the opposite. Professionals tend to be on average very influenced by social trends and fashions, especially if those fashions influence their ability to continue practicing and be a respected member of the community.”

— Jeffrey Satinover, psychiatrist and author of Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth in World magazine interview last month. Dr. Santinover has come under personal attack for arguing that homosexuality is not genetic and can be overcome. In the interview, he says research articles cited as proof of homosexuality’s permanence completely contradict that assertion. He states, “An objective scientific debate would without question be overwhelmingly won by those who say that homosexuality is primarily environmentally determined.”