Review: When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God–And Joy
When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God–And Joy by John Piper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Christians pursue joy in God and find delight and pleasure at His right hand. Sometimes we are miserable. There are different reasons for that. There are things we can do about it and things we cannot do. Some are more prone or experience it more than others. There are no easy answers.
I think John Piper feels the weight of all those things in authoring this book. He sorts some of the complexity and gives practical help. He doesn’t pretend to offer a panacean. He helpfully points out that when darkness is very dark, the least dim light at least dispels some and points to some hope.
We find encouragement in this book, not platitudes or well-wishes. For encouragement to be hope-filled, it must have a solid ground. It has to be rooted in truthful reality. That is the kind of encouragement you find in this brief book. I recommend it as a helpful read.
Review: A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking
A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking by Douglas Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Self-defense books are always tricky. When you know neither the cast of characters nor the conflict, it is like catching only the middle part of a movie. You might see some good visual effects and hear a few good lines, but what it all meaneth you wot not. To cut straight to the soup, such books do not stand on their own very well.
If you are not familiar with Doug Wilson, Credenda Agenda, or any number of dust clouds surrounding the former and latter, then some parts of this book will be more helpful than others. Some parts will seem like listening to one-half of a conversation. Now on to the generally beneficial.
The OED online defines satire thusly:
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Wilson cuts satire roughly into two pieces: Horatian and Juvenalian. Both are ways of exposing folly or evil. Horatian is the kinder, gentler approach that uses subtlety, nuance, irony, and humor. It’s generally light-hearted and more winsome. juvenalian is more abrasive and heavier on sarcasm and ridicule. The humor has more of an edge and tends to be more polarizing.
His main point is to show that Jesus and the biblical writers did employ various forms of satire and, through application, that it is a legitimate mode for Christian speech today. His basic point is sound. How far the satire can be taken and remain legitimate is a different question. Let’s consider one example. Paul used the Greek word skubalon in Philippians 3:8. It is translated dung in the AV. The word means refuse and can refer to animal excrement. Wilson equates Paul’s statement here to a modern profane slang term. The word is strong and not genteel, but the case to make it equivalent to street profanity today is not compelling and such use not justified.
Yes, I’m going to pick at things here and there throughout the book, but I still believe the main point is solid. I’m going to question just how far things can be pushed out from that main point though. Aside from that, I see two areas where the book’s usefulness could be improved greatly for a more general audience. The first area is about who should use satire and the second is on whom satire should be used.
Let’s take the first first. Who should use satire? Wilson rightly points out that satire is a useful weapon or tool for Christians to use. More development here could be helpful. For instance, satire is a tool that requires some maturity and wisdom to use rightly. Let me illustrate. A hammer is a very simple tool to understand and to use. It has a handle to be held and it has a head to pound stuff with. Very simple. In fact, a three-year-old can grasp the concept, sometimes without a demonstration. However, when proposed tot lays hold, he will commence to hammering everything within reach: tables, floors, walls, or the doors of your car. He will be so proud of himself for using the tool and helping Dad out all at the same time. Point taken? Without maturity and wisdom, satire can be a blunt instrument that does a lot of damage.
The second area also needs elaboration. On whom should satire be used? I have heard Wilson make some such distinctions, but not in this book. It is important to discern who you are dealing with. Are you dealing with a traditionalist, a legalist? Then fire away. Are you dealing with an apostle of evil? Then get to it, man. Are you dealing with a refugee, whom has been spat out after being chewed up by evil? Then deal more carefully. Are you dealing with a weaker conscience brother? Proceed delicately.
Again, the book’s general usefulness could be helped greatly with more spadework in these areas. I don’t know that it is for everyone, but this book does address a topic that is often untouched.
Review: Sex and Violence in the Bible: A Survey of Explicit Content in the Holy Book
Sex and Violence in the Bible: A Survey of Explicit Content in the Holy Book by Joseph W. Smith III
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can’t say I enjoyed reading this book. The book deals with difficult subject matter and it is a concentrated dose. There are certainly some queasy stomach moments and probably worse if you tend toward the weaker stomach side of things.
Having said that, I do think it is an important book. Smith covers subjects in the Bible that are not often taught, or not taught well. He does so with serious mindedness and not sophmoric humor. He takes his cue of how to deal with these subjects from the way the Bible deals with them. The Bible is honest and plain in treating these delicate issues. The Biblical writers never sensationalized the material, nor did they go into gratuitous detail.
Smith points out that only about 3-4% of the Bible’s verses make explicit references, so there is no preoccupation with these things like we see in the culture around us today. When the Bible touches on these delicate matters, it is often with euphemism or figure of speech that is restrained and delicate, not vulgar.
We are most acquainted with two extremes in dealing with these issues from the Bible. One extreme is a Victorian sensibility that either ignores them altogether or tries to spiritualize them into something other than what they are. The result of that is that the Scripture is neglected or it is actually corrupted to mean something other than the Holy Spirit’s intent. The other extreme is to obsess over these passages and deal with them in graphically vulgar terms and slang phrases. This is prevalent among many internet celebrity preachers in their sermons, books, and blogs. These subjects seem to occupy a much higher place than 3-4% of their content and their language far exceeds the restraint of the text of Scripture.
If you are committed to faithful, biblical exposition, and you should be, then you are going to encounter these passages as you go verse-by-verse through books of the Bible. Smith’s book will be a helpful reference for these passages. He mostly deals plainly with what is actually written and doesn’t indulge in a lot of speculation. His notes will also help point you to further study as needed.
I recommend this book for every serious student of God’s Word. Sometimes, the delicacy of the biblical expression is not immediately clear and it requires thought and study to get the meaning. This book will be a helpful reference. I read it through, but you may not want to do that. You may want to only refer to chapters that deal with specific subjects you’re studying, or use the index to reference particular verses.
Remember: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Review: Unfolding Mystery
Unfolding Mystery by Edmund P Clowney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Edmund Clowney walks us through the Old Testament pointing us to Christ in this excellent book. Consider Jesus’s words about the content of the Old Testament scriptures:
Luke 24:27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.Luke 24:44
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Despite the fact that Jesus taught the Old Testament was about Him, and the fact that the Apostles taught the same, many persist in reading, teaching, and preaching the Old Testament with scarce reference to Christ. We turn to Mount Sinai and teach ten laws for success. We turn to David and Goliath and teach people how to face their own personal giants. We turn to Eli and Samuel and teach people to be better parents. In other words, many use the Old Testament for Sunday School morality lessons akin to Aesop’s fables.
Clowney does an excellent job of bringing out Christ in the Old Testament without resorting to fanciful speculation. This book will help to begin reshaping our thinking about the Old Testament, the witness to Christ, and the Divine unity of the entire Bible. I highly recommend it.
Review: Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God’s Everything
Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God’s Everything by Anonymous
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
We all crave some sort of attention. We like to be known and thought well of. We want our ideas, contributions, and efforts to be acknowledged. In fact, most personal offenses are little more than a wounding of our pride. We are upset when we are not treated in the way we feel we deserve.
We like to be noticed and often are little better than a young girl with a pretty new dress moving about just so she is within eyesight and hoping to get noticed and complimented. We think we are more discrete and subtle, but are we really?
“Embracing Obscurity” addresses these many ugly traits of the human heart. The author exhorts us to stop pursuing praise and notoriety. At times, the book is really uncomfortable to read, but it is a much needed word to us today.
Social media has given us a pleasure button available 24 hours a day. We can post self-pictures and feign deprecation and people will begin telling us how good we look instantly. We can retweet compliments and promote ourselves relentlessly and receive likes and congratulations. We can post our travel itineraries or other success indicators to be envied and admired by our “friends.”
True Christ-like humility is not attractive to us, if we are being honest. We are generally proud of what little humility we do have. We are not content to suffer, sacrifice, and serve when no one is watching or knows what we have done.
This book is not all we need on this subject. It left me craving a theologically heavier treatment and the use of liberal mistranslations of the Bible were more than annoying. Nevertheless, it is certainly worth reading.
