Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves My rating: 5 of 5 stars Reeves writes with zest, and is very engaging. He is steeped in Scripture, and his exploration of the basics of Christian living is really good. On top of that, he has the classic Puritan writers at his fingertips and brings them in frequently …
Review: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a very fine book on writing. Some really shrewd wisdom in this thing. One of my favorites is this: Choose words the average writer avoids but the average reader understands. Rarely used words are not …
Review: The Portable Dante
The Portable Dante by Dante Alighieri My rating: 4 of 5 stars Of course, glorious and wise. Well worth it. But I was struck — and perhaps unfairly — with the Christlessness of his Heaven. View all my reviews
Review: Homiletics and Pastoral Theology
Homiletics and Pastoral Theology by William Greenough Thaye Shedd My rating: 4 of 5 stars The content was really good, but the 19th century stiffness could afford to unbend a little. But still, I read it all the way through. View all my reviews
Sticking to the Basics
“Sorry to get into all the deep theology here but the Christian faith means calling everyone to believe in Jesus” (Empires of Dirt, p. 32).
Side Effects May Include Throwing Rocks at the Moon
“You can still see the modernist idol at work in the television advertisements for the newest Big Pharma drugs. You know the kind—where the fine print of ad copy was written by lawyers with a gruesome turn of mind? ‘Side effects may include writing on the living room floor, chewing on the coffee table leg, …
The Democracy of the Dead
“Conservatism is dead and deadening, only upon the hypothesis, that the universal history of man is the realm of death” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 384).
Dogs of Refinement
The Field of Battle is Not an Army
“Traditional values can’t fight sin, for the same reason that healthy tissue can’t fight cancer, but is rather the tissue that provides cancer with its scope and future” (Empires of Dirt, p. 31).
Reciprocal Stink Eye
In the fifties, if a woman breastfed her baby, she was thought to be acting like a savage, like she wanted to get photographed for National Geographic or something. Why didn’t she do the right thing for her baby and give her this scientific formula in a can? That modernistic hubris really was something—just as …