Review: Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience
Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience by Christopher Ash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Serious sermons and books on the conscience seemed to have disappeared with the Puritans. Perhaps the Puritans were a touch morbidly introspective and pietistic, but our reaction has swung the pendulum to the other end of the arc. We neglect or altogether ignore the conscience today. Our books on spiritual disciplines and practical sanctification scarcely mention it. Perhaps our books on practical sanctification are a bit thin too.
Christopher Ash has done us a good service in picking up this topic and writing on it today. Throughout he strikes a good balance of biblical and practical aspects of the conscience. The first part of the book is tough. Several times he recommends going ahead to the seventh chapter if you find yourself despairing. Hang in there and see it through and you will be helped. He does a good job in the first part of showing how the conscience is both unreliable and indispensable. This is a seeming contradiction but it is actually a paradox.
Chapters 5 to 7 are the real meat of this book and more than worth the price to acquire it and the time to read it. He brings us wonderfully to our hope in Christ and helps us see how to have and maintain a clear conscience. He also touches on how to recalibrate our conscience according to the word of God in the final part of the book.
Overall I think this a helpful book. It doesn’t address every problem, nor solve every problem it addresses. It does speak into what has been a void in Christian study for some time. It is very readable and relevant. I took issue with some things here and there but not enough to detract from its usefulness nor to dissuade me from recommending it.
Review: An Experiment in Criticism
An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very interesting read. What is a good book? Why should we read it? How should we read it? Lewis gives some good answers. He stated his aim: “If all went ideally well we should end by defining good literature as that which permits, invites, or even compels good reading; and bad, as that which does the same for bad reading.” He asserts a good book is art, to be received and there is greater benefit than the experience or the event.
He wrote, “This, so far as I can see, is the specific value or good of literature considered as Logos; it admits us to experiences other than our own.” And, “But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself.”
As he touched on good reasons to read, I thought about how arrogant or perilously indifferent the man is who doesn’t read. He must assume, through either arrogance or indifference, that his own experience, perspective, and personal knowledge store are either all there is to be had or else all he shall ever need. In this sense, I suppose the adage is true that the man who doesn’t read has no advantage over the one who cannot read.
This book is a criticism of criticism. Don’t pay much attention to the lists of books you should read to be thought well-read or literary. Begin to read and it will lead you to other works and your discernment will be refined. Think about books from Lewis’ perspective that a good book is “that which permits, invites, or even compels good reading.” A good book leaves you better in some way than before you read it.
Review: Reading for Preaching: The Preacher in Conversation with Storytellers, Biographers, Poets, and Journalists
Reading for Preaching: The Preacher in Conversation with Storytellers, Biographers, Poets, and Journalists by Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Two stars means, “I didn’t like it.” Three stars means, “I liked it.” This is one of those occasions where I’m stuck somewhere between. I didn’t like the concept of preaching presented in this book–a twenty-four minute sermon, full of literary illustrations and allusions, delivered by a man or a woman. I also didn’t like the fact most of the examples came from fiction works.
I liked the main premise of the book: preachers who read widely will most likely become better preachers. I liked the many benefits of reading explained in this book. I liked the author’s attempts to eschew the utilitarian reading-for-illustrations mindset. He wrote such things as, “Illustrations can be tricky, as we shall see, and reading expressly for them is probably not such a good idea.” And, “But reading just for illustrations feels a little too much like work. It also feels as if I am missing the point of reading, just as if I read the Bible only to see what it has to say about the colors green and red. I want to be reading stories and articles for nobler reasons while an incident or insight or saying rises up from the page and begs to slip into one of my sermons.”
Good points are scattered throughout this book. You may also have your interest piqued and directed to some new books for you. New reading ideas are always welcome. I don’t recommend reading for illustrations, though occasionally a quote or reference might be useful. I prefer reading good works the way Tolkien envisioned it, to add duff to the forest floor of your mind.
Reading is beneficial for preachers and non-preachers as well. A reading mind is an expanding mind and a non-reading one is a shrinking mind. If you choose to read this book, read it carefully with discernment.
Review: Behind the Ranges: The Life Changing Story of J.O. Fraser
Behind the Ranges: The Life Changing Story of J.O. Fraser by Geraldine Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Fraser was a pioneer missionary among the Lisu people at the China-Burma border in the early twentieth century. The author did a good job of relating various aspects of missionary life. The narrative was a little slow at times but that reflects some of the mundane and unromantic realities of plodding mission work.
Such books can be profitable for all to read but pastors in particular should read them.
Review: Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith
Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith by Larry Osborne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reading this book is uncomfortable. No one will get through it unaffected. Like me, you will have been guilty of some of the things he addresses and will have been a victim of the others. You read the title and subtitle and you immediately think of someone, or many someones, who need this book. But when you start reading it, you start feeling the cuts to your own heart.
Osborne is right. No one thinks they are a Pharisee, or even close, and many of us end up there accidentally. I have personally found that people think a legalist is everyone who is stricter than them and a liberal is everyone who is looser. Put that way, you see the problem right away. That thinking makes me the standard by which others stand or fall. I’m not the standard and you’re not either. The Scripture is the standard. Jesus is the standard. Osborne addresses this as well as many other crucial topics.
The author rightly points out that some tend toward one thing and the verses that support that bent, while others tend toward another thing and the verses that support their bent. This gets to the heart of his argument. The Bible has both sets of verses and they all must be interpreted together in a way that leaves them all being true. For instance, God’s wrath, justice, and judgment are true and essential attributes. The Bible has plenty of verses about them. However, God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness are just as true and just as essential. The Bible also has plenty of verses about those. When we emphasize one or more to the detriment of the others, we have actually distorted the truth and can end up with heresy if we are not careful.
Every Christian should read this book, but especially leaders from pastors to parents. We don’t want to be Pharisees and we don’t want to train up Pharisees either. Professing to be a Christian means that your identity, your existence, is founded on God’s grace. It is shocking when profound-grace receivers are so graceless in their judgments and dealings with others. Think about the difference between Simon and the prostitute in Luke 7. Who do you think extended more grace to their neighbors?
