Archive for the ‘ Books ’ Category
I just came across this site today. For a book nerd like me, this is the equivalanet of finding a $20 bill in the pocket of a jacket you haven’t worn in a year. I predict that I’ll be spending a lot of time on this site.
LibraryThing | Catalog your books online
My friend Glen & I often get together (though not as often as we’d like) and discuss theology. We like to explore areas of Scripture that we feel we could understand better (given the depths of the Word and knowledge of God that includes just about everything). In the past we’ve had lengthy discussions about baptism (infant v. believers) and more recently we wanted to look at the creation account found in Genesis 1. The book we selected to study debates three views: the 24 hour view, the day-age view, and the framework view. Glenn & I had managed to find time to discuss the 24 hour view, but then his wife had a baby and then my wife had a baby, and so, we haven’t had much time for theological debate/discussion lately. I decided to finish the book without him since the topic has been on my mind as of late.
Of the three views I didn’t find the framework view very convincing – its exegesis seemed stretched to me. Very briefly and, most likely, not giving the view its full justice – Genesis 1 is a poetic narrative devised to give impressions rather than a purely historic account. The authors were never able to show why we should read Genesis 1 as figurative and the rest of Genesis as literal, and I felt the house of cards collapses on itself with ease. However, I did find the arguments for the literal 24 hour view (which is how I’d always interpreted the text) and the day-age view very interesting and now I’m still thinking it over.
The 24 hour view is pretty simple to understand, God made the heavens & the earth and all the creatures upon it in six 24-hour periods, resting on the 7th day. I think this is what most people understand Genesis 1 to be saying when they read the text so I won’t go into further detail. The Day-Age view argues that the Hebrew word for day – yom – can be interpreted to mean an age or epoch of time. Both sides provided sound arguments, and each side criticized the other’s translating abilities regarding Hebrew. Since I don’t speak Hebrew, I’m at a loss as far as interpretation goes.
The argument that struck me was an exchange going back & forth regarding the use of natural evidence to validate/understand the Scriptural account of creation. The day-age group understands the Truth that is found in the Bible, and feels that such a Truth is revealed in the world we live in. The Bible tells us that we are able to comprehend God by examining the majesty of His creation. If what the Bible says is true, then we should be able to find evidence of that truth in the World. They look at current scientific data dealing with DNA, Geology, Astronomy, etc. and use that to justify & interpret the creation account in Genesis. I want to take the time to note that they are not, theistic evolutionists, they believe that God created man apart from all other animals. They do not believe in evolution, but interpret the same data through the lens of the Bible. The 24-hour proponents suggested that their debate partners were holding natural revelation in a higher position than Scripture by using the current scientific findings, trends, & theories as the method by which they interpret the Bible. They ask what will happen to their exegesis when science changes its opinion- which history has shown to be inevitable.
As I said earlier, I’m still in the process of thinking on all of this. It will be nice when an opportunity to hear Glen (or someone else’s) thoughts on the matter come forward. I was hoping to have a nice, concise, clear view to latch on (going in I was sure I’d just stick to the classical 24 hour interpretation). That didn’t happen, so it looks like more research is going to be required. If you have any books on the subject you’d recommend, I’d be glad to read them. If you’re interested in this particular book, here is a link…
I keep thinking about At the Back of the North Wind – I suppose that is a good indicator of the impression MacDonald has left on me. A particular passage has stood out as of late -
Diamond, our protagonist, has heard the commotion that one of his drunken neighbors has made and feels compelled to enter the fray to see what good he may do…
By the time he reached their stair, all was still except the voice of the crying baby, which guided him to the right door. He opened it softly, and peeped in. There, leaning back in a chair, with his arms hanging down by his sides, and his legs stretched out before him and supported on his heels, sat the drunken cabman. His wife lay in her clothes upon the bed, sobbing, and the baby was wailing in the cradle. It was very miserable altogether.
Now the way most people do when they see anything very miserable is to turn away from the sight, and try to forget it. But Diamond began as usual to try to destroy the misery. The little boy was as much one of God’s messengers as if he had been an angel with a flaming sword, going out to fight the devil. The devil he had to fight just then was Misery. And the way he fought him was the very best. Like a wise soldier, he attacked him first in his weakest point– that was the baby; for Misery can never get such hold of a baby as of a grown person. Diamond was knowing in babies, and he knew he could do something to make the baby happy; for although he had only known one baby as yet, and although not one baby is the same as another, yet they are so very much alike in some things, and he knew that one baby so thoroughly, that he had good reason to believe he could do something for any other. I have known people who would have begun to fight the devil in a very different and very stupid way. They would have begun by scolding the idiotic cabman; the next they would make his wife angry by saying it must be her fault as well as his, and by leaving ill-bred though well-meant shabby little books for them to read, which they were sure to hate the sight of; while all the time they would not have put out a finger to touch the wailing baby.
I feel that I fall into the “stupid” way of doing things far too often. I have a tendency to want to stop and rationalize things. Often times my first instinct is to talk about why some evil or trouble exists, rather than setting about to destroy its presence. Mind you, never in cases as extreme as ignoring a crying baby in favor of giving a speech, but I sometimes miss the mark all the same…
…Let me have the wisdom to know when to speak with loving actions and when to offer exhortations and rebukes. In either case may it be done for the utmost glory of the Most High God.
By Their Books We Shall Know Them
Albert Mohler’s has an article on his blog that should ring true to any book lover.
About a year before Caleb was born I started a list of books I’d like to read my kids before bed. These are books for when they grow a bit older and are able to follow a story that’s broken into various chapters. Caleb is still probably a couple of years away from that level.
So far the list contains…
All these books are wonderful stories that will entertain, but also teach the reader (often subtly) truths about the life God has for us. Every so often I’ll read a book that I think might be good enough to make ‘the list’. That the list has been static for a while is a good indicator that most of what I read would bore Caleb & Owen to death. I had time to do a bunch of reading while on vacation and came upon another book that makes the list: At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
The book follows a poor young boy, named Diamond, who lives in the Dickensian period of English life. He is befriended by the mystical North Wind, who teaches him much of life and death. Diamond exhibits a meek and humble spirit along with a earnest spirit that embodies Christ’s words in Matthew 18:3 – “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I won’t spoil the book or the ending for you since I believe you should read it for yourself. Let me just say regarding this book that it wasn’t until I’d finished reading it that I realized how wonderful it truly was.
I can’t give enough thanks to garbunzl, who took care of some database problems to get the “what I’m reading” plugin to work. So now I can catalog what I’ve been reading while at the same time assuming that you want to know about it. If there’s a book you feel I should read or that you think I would like, let me know about it. I’ll put it in the queue. It only took me 3 years to finally read Crime & Punishment after crosby recommended it to me. Thanks again for that, by the way!
Ever the megalomaniac, I shall continue on. I sure do like books with long titles lately, eh?
I’m on a roll now. Two book reviews back to back!
This most recent one I read in order to better prepare for the Sunday School classes I was teaching in Pastor Fisher’s absence. More on that another time. Onto the book!
Francis Schaeffer was an American theologian, Presbyterian Pastor, & philosopher. His basic views were presuppositional–that you start with God and his revelation to us (the Bible), and go from there.
Taking this view, Schaeffer begins a trek through history examining the three categories of art, religion, and philosophy during each period he comes to.
A couple of weeks ago I read The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, The First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks.
I came across another book by Zacks a couple of years back called The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd. I had just seen Pirates of the Carribean with my Mom and felt in the mood for more pirate stories. I liked the book, and enjoyed Zack’s narrative. On a recent trip to the library I found his latest book and decided to give it a read.
William Eaton, a disgraced diplomat is given authorization by Thomas Jefferson to begin the first Covert-Ops mission in United States History. His charge is to overthrow the Bashaw of Tripoli (the first nation ever to declar war on the U.S.). Eaton is to meet with the Bashaw’s brother Hamet Karamanli and his allies and begin a coupe to remove the Bashaw, who was under the ire of the U.S. Government for his non-stop piracy along the Barbary Coast, culminating in the capture & enslavement of 300 U.S. sailors.
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