Category Archives: Non-fiction

Authors, Non-fiction

An Interview with Hunter Baker

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To the Source, a weekly email on cultural issues, has interviewed Hunter Baker about his new book, The End of Secularism. Hunter says:

I think Christians should kindly refuse the invitation to take their religious activity and speech private. They should maintain the validity of the faith for their approach to community life and politics. They should point out that secularism provides little guidance for dealing with big political questions and that the values have to come from somewhere. Too often, secularists selectively crib Christian values without acknowledging the source. We didn’t just get here by accident. We don’t appreciate things like liberty, equality, and democracy by sheer accident. Christianity has been a major civilizational force.

Music, Non-fiction

Serious Biography on Louis Armstrong

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Terry Teachout has a copy in hand of his new biography on Louis Armstrong. He writes that his book is a bit different than other biographies on jazz musicians or popular figures. “I’ve sought to write a narrative biography of Louis Armstrong that is comparable in seriousness, scope, and literary quality to a ‘definitive’ high-culture biography of a great novelist–or a great classical composer,” he says. Bravo, sir.

Authors, Non-fiction

Cool Notice

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I’ve been occupied away from the blog lately, so I have not yet linked to this cool post by world famous author Hunter Baker on the reception of his book by ubercool and famous author Andrew Klavan. Klavan said, “I’m startled to report I glanced at it while laying it aside, then picked it up again, then read it through. This is a very well written, concise and learned primer on the secularization of the public square.” I love it.

What’s your next book going to be, Dr. Baker?

Non-fiction, Reviews

Vampires, Burial, and Death by Paul Barber

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I made some comments about vampires in this space a while back, and a friend lent me a copy of Paul Barber’s Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality so I could have the real skinny.

I know much more now. I’m not sure I’m happier for it.

And—especially for the sake of those of you with weak stomachs—I’ll pass the gist of it on to you, so you won’t have to read this often entertaining, but generally depressing and unappetizing, book. Continue reading Vampires, Burial, and Death by Paul Barber →

Non-fiction, Religion

A Life of Prayer

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Sean Michael Lucus reviews and recommends Paul Miller’s book A Praying Life, released this year.

Tim Challies also reviews the book, noting a caution about quotations from Thomas Merton. In the comments, Paul Miller responds to that concern and critics the mystics on prayer.

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.)