Category Archives: Not quite a review

PsychoBabble by Richard Ganz

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PsychoBabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative
Richard Ganz
Product Details
  1. Paperback: 173 pages
  1. Publisher: Crossway Books
  1. Language: English
  1. Date of reading: September 10, 2012
Point: Although secular psychology has been adopted by a majority of our culture, it fails to give the hope and help that Biblical counseling does. Every believer should be able to counsel each other with the truths from God’s Word.
Path:  Richard Ganz shows through his own testimony of being a psychologist and then Biblical counselor the differences between the two. He gives a brief description of the founders and theories of psychology. Woven throughout the book are helpful examples and case studies of how the Bible is sufficient to change the lives of believers.
Agreement:  This book is easy to read and helpful in understanding the different theories of secular psychology. Ganz shows how it is often easier for people to accept psychology than the truths of God’s Word because when we look into God’s Word we are shown our sin and no longer comfortable with the way that we are living, where most often in psychology we are taught that we can shift blame to others or that the way in which we are living is acceptable. 
Ganz is right on when he talks about the importance of a Biblical local church having a great deal to do with change in people’s lives. There is loving confrontation and help and accountability among the believers. We should all be prepared to counsel others rather than thinking that we need to send people to the “professionals.”
Personal App: How often do I feel like the Bible is not enough for life’s daily struggles and I look to find something more? 
Stars: 4 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.

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Putting the truth to Work by Doriani

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Putting The Truth To Work: the Theory and Practice of Biblical Application. 
by Daniel M.  Doriani

Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2001.  

This was an insightful book to read. Doriani works through four different aspects of application. These are duty, character, goals, and discernment (98). He also spends time working through the various genres and how a preacher out to apply them.

From the beginning of the introduction I got the impression that the application of Scripture is a difficult endeavor. So often a preacher limits the application of a passage to a specific command, do this or do not do that. Frankly, this is the easiest form of application which I often find myself slipping into. There are definite commands which must be proclaimed and obeyed, but that is not the only application which I must make.

I found the book to be very helpful, yet convicting. So much of what he said was rebuking to my methods. “But lessons that forget Jesus are sub-Christian, for they never transcend the goal of living well. The foundation of application is always the knowledge of God, Creator and Redeemer.” (54) It is easy to provide sub-Christian lessons by focusing on outward behavior and not inward motive. This was the very sin which Jesus so profusely condemned in the life of the Pharisee. Outward action void of inward conviction.

Another very insightful comparison was made when the author compared a preacher to a midwife. “A preacher is like a spiritual midwife, not giving birth but offering assistance as God creates spiritual life through the word. Like the midwife, the preacher is superfluous if all goes well.” (59) This is my role as a proclaimer of God’s truth. I am not inventing it or composing it, but interpreting and applying it. I cannot receive the credit for what takes place, nor can I be blamed for it’s rejection. I must faithfully preach it.

I appreciated his critique of topical preaching on page 283 and the benefits listed for preaching through a book on page 311. I agree with these wholly. I also appreciated his reference to Tim Keller and idols on page 303, and plan to use those remarks in counseling situations. These were not the main themes of the books, but helpful tidbits along the way.

Besides the difficulty I had reading and understanding his message at times, I greatly appreciated the book. The content shows that it was well researched and developed before the writing of the book, which is nice to see.

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Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot

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Through Gates of Splendor
by Elisabeth Elliot
Product Details
  1. Paperback: 273 pages
  2. Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
  3. Date Published: 1981
Point: By faith men and women set aside all that this earth may offer them of success, happiness, ease, and safety and look to a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
Path: Elisabeth Elliot retells the story of the five families who gave up what they could never keep, in exchange for what they couldn’t lose. She details the preparation, planning, and mission of Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Jim Elliot to reach the Auca Indians in Ecuador, South America.
Sources: Based on her heavily involved role as wife, mother and fellow worker, Elliot gives the reader an inside look into the thoughts, motives, and fears of a missionary.
Agreement: This story has had a tremendous impact on the evangelical world over the past fifty years. God used the lives of these servants to encourage men and women to reevaluate their goals and lifestyles. It challenges the reader to set aside the alluring lie of ease and comfort which the world tells us we deserve, and press toward the goal.
I believe stories like these do exactly what the author of Hebrews stresses in Hebrews 12:1 – they push us to run our race, laying aside every weight and sin, and looking forward to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
Disagreement: Although it is highly challenging, this story strays close to becoming a hagiography (idealizing its subject). These men were dedicated and showed true commitment to Christ. But they were sinners as all men are.
This is understandable given the relatively recent time of writing after the event (I believe only several years according to the ending of the first edition). They wanted to caste the men in the best possible light, and there was much for which one could laud them.
With that said, I was very appreciative of Elliot’s inclusion of the doubts of Roger in chapter 12, The Savages Respond. I believe in those several pages the reader gets a real look into the doubts and fears which often plague the missionary’s life.
Personal App: What level of dedication do I display in my life day by day? 
Favorite Quote: Quoting Barbara Youderian, “I want to be free from self-pity. It is a tool of Satan to rot away a life. I am sure that this is the perfect will of God” (236).
Stars: 3.5 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.
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Decision Making & The Will of God by Garry Friesen

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Decision Making & The Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View
by Garry Friesen 
Product Details
  1. Hardcover: 430 pages
  1. Publisher: Multnomah Press
  2. Date Published: 1980
  1. Owner: Liberty library
  2. Date of reading: 1st – 5/12
Point: Practically speaking, discerning God’s will is making wise decisions.
Path: The author begins with an accurate fictional account of the traditional view of discerning God’s Will. He then critiques this traditional view through a study of the biblical evidence and logical inconsistencies. The third part deals with what the author calls, “The Way of Wisdom.” He then concludes the work with the practical applications of this wisdom view.
Sources: Scriptural foundation, accurate understanding of opposing views, literature current at the time of writing.
Agreement: I found that this book was extremely helpful in clarifying some of the errors commonly associated with the traditional areas. The grey areas, which in some way had to be assumed for their view, were revealed and biblically critiqued.
The book is full of helpful charts and outlines. I would buy it just for those.
Disagreement: His understanding of the regulative and normative principles was shallow, but it was not necessary to his argument.
Personal App: Instead of asking how I can know God’s will, I should be asking how I can be wise. True wisdom comes from above through the Scriptures. If I want to be wise I must seek to fully understand and appreciate his revealed Moral will.
Favorite Quote: “The way one acknowledges God in all his ways [Prov 3:5-6] is by believing and obeying the Law of God rather than trusting and following man’s finite, worldly philosophy for success and happiness.” (99)
Stars: 5 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.
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Church History: An Essential Guide by Justo L. González

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Church History: An Essential Guide
by Justo L. González
Product Details
  1. Paperback: 95 pages
  2. Publisher: Abingdon Press
  3. Date Published:1996
Point: Christianity has led a long and varied past. Understanding the big picture of this past will help us to appreciate and critique our present.
Path: González gives the big picture through summaries and generalizations. The book begins with an overview which is used as the outline for the rest of the book.
He has divided the book into nine chapters: 1) Ancient Church 2) Christian Empire 3) Early Middle Ages 4) High Point of the Middle Ages 5) Late Middle Ages 6) Conquest and Reformation 7) 17th-18th Centuries 8) 19th Century 9) 20th Century and the End of Modernity.
Sources: An accomplished church historian, González bases his work on the studies and works he has written over the years.
He also includes a list of recommended reading after each chapter, very helpful if you are just beginning to get into church history.
Agreement: I appreciate this little book for what it attempts to do – give a broad overview. I believe there is benefit in seeing the big picture before, during, and after an in-depth study. For this reason I plan on reading this book again, even though I have read other books by González and am currently in Church History in Plain Language, 3rd Edition. I would also pass this book along to someone interested in church history but didn’t know where to start.
You should not buy this book if you are looking for a definitive work on church history (even the possibility that something like this exists is ridiculous). Don’t buy this if you hate generalizations.
One thing that I noticed was the amount of formatting and spelling errors in my kindle copy. I would expect Abingdon to do a better job. It was annoying, but did not force me to quit reading.
Personal App: The Church has baggage. Don’t accept everything that has been historically believed. Study it out and compare it with Scripture.
3.5 out of 5

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Typos: The Typological Interpretation of the Old Testament in the New by L. Goppelt

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Typos: The Typological Interpretation of the Old Testament in the New
by L. Goppelt

Point: Appreciating the New Testament’s use of typology will reveal how the NT author’s understood redemptive history. Typology is more than merely making a few comparisons, or illustrating a point. The Old Testament finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. “There is no typology that by-passes Christ; he is the antitype of the entire OT” (116).
Path: Goppelt presents “a comprehensive and profound view of redemptive history” (198). He believes that this is not merely a justification of the NT use of the OT, but its very point of view. Through a study of the inter-testamental writings (which Goppelt believes to be ca. 150 B.C. to A.D. 100), part one addresses Palestinian Judaism. He moves from Palestinian Judaism to Hellenistic Judaism, and evaluates Philo and his predecessors. Part two studies typology in the New Testament. Goppelt reviews the typological understanding of Jesus Christ, the Church, and Paul. Hebrews is addresses by itself with its complexity of New Testament hermeneutics. The author works through the Gospel of John, and then summarizes the nature of OT typology in the NT. Part three ends the book with a look at apocalypticism and typology in Paul.
The author’s conclusion is that Palestinian Judaism, in the path of the Pharisees, followed the literal meaning of Scripture (41). Although often associated with NT hermeneutics, Philo failed to properly appreciate Scripture. Goppelt believes that the proper understanding of Scripture can only be found through the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. “The final and decisive factor in the interpretation of biblical history and of Scripture in general appears to be the interpreter’s relationship with God…” (58).
Typology is lens through which the New Testament authors viewed Jesus Christ and his work. It was not merely trying to explain an Old Testament event, institution, or individual. It compared Jesus and his work with parallels in the Old Testament “in order to discover what can be learned from this about the new and then, perhaps, what can be learned also about the old” (201).
The extensive work of the author is impressive. Many of the parallels made between the New Testament and the Old could go unnoticed. Goppelt has done a great service for Bible students by presenting a comprehensive and compelling argument for typology.
Questions: After reading this book, however, one is left with several questions. First, does he allow for the saturation of Scripture in the New Testament’s writers’ minds? It seems as though nearly every echo of OT thought constitutes a typological reference.
Second, is typology a human perception or a divine alignment? Goppelt states “The full meaning that the NT finds for Jesus Christ in his typological relationship to the OT can be appreciated only when we consider how Christ was viewed by his church, the ones for whom his ministry, as well as his suffering, death, and resurrection, were intended” (106). It appears that typology is in the eye of the beholder, rather than in the plan of God.
Third, in his view of Israel and the Church, is he allowing enough room for Romans 9-11? He sees Israel as being completely replaced by the Church, however he never really deals with the issues which Paul raises. An entire section is dedicated to the Church as the Spiritual Israel. But, is that allowing the New Testament authors to speak?
Personal App: Typology is not a hermeneutical method, but a spiritual approach to Scripture (223, 237). When reading the New Testament, the student must appreciate the typological hermeneutic of the writers.
This is a valuable work and deserves to be read.


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Preaching Christ from the OT by Greidanus

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Preaching Christ From The Old Testament: a Contemporary Hermeneutical Method. 
by Sidney Greidanus.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.  

Preaching Christ From The Old Testament: a Contemporary Hermeneutical Method is seeking to reorientate preaching. The author attempts to present a legitimate option for preaching Christ not only in the Gospels and Epistles, but from the Old Testament. This can be done, contrary to the attempts of many, without loosing the author’s original intent in the writings.

The author presents his definition of preaching Christ in the Old Testament as “preaching sermons which authentically integrate the message of the text with the climax of God’s revelation in the person, work, and/or teaching of Jesus Christ as revealed in the New Testament” (10). Preaching Christ is more than merely closing in prayer and attaching Christ’s name, or completely allegorizing a text as some of the early church fathers attempted to do.

One of the better parts of the book involved the discussion on why it is necessary to study the Old Testament. In response to the question, “Why should we preach the Old Testament if it is pre-Christian?” the author argues that the Old Testament is the beginning of the river. “The headwaters of a river are not `non-river’ or `pre-river’; they are an essential part of the river as it flows downstream” (45). Without the Old Testament, the New Testament loses its power and potency. Christ lived in an Old Testament world. The whole of Moses and the prophets pointed to Christ. The Old Testament is crucial in New Testament understanding.

One area where I have been particularly challenged in this area is in the fact that the Old Testament with all of its wars, hatred, kings, killings, joy, heartache, festivals, and violations, reflects life as it really is. Life is not easy. This world is not safe. The Old Testament presents a God who has stepped into a dirty world and chosen to reveal himself to sinful, failing, spiteful men. This is exactly the reason why we cannot avoid the Old Testament or attempt to explain it all away as myth. It is even more important that we do not limit its story to flannel graph Sunday Schools or cartoon vegetable tales. We need to hear about Judah and Tamar, David and Absolom, Samson and the Philistines, Saul and Jonathan. We need the stories unabridged and unallegorized because they speak of a world quite similar to our own.

The author was also sure to enforce the idea that “preaching Christ” does not lead to the ignoring of other doctrines, rather “It should be clear by now that our concern is not to preach Christ to the exclusion of the `whole counsel of God’ but rather to view the whole counsel of God, with all its teachings, laws, prophecies, and visions, in the light of Jesus Christ” (227-28). To preach Christ means that the whole counsel of God is preached because Christ touches each part.

Probably the most challenging quote of the whole book came from Chapell who stated, “Every preacher should ask at the end of each sermon: When my listeners walk out the doors of this sanctuary to perform God’s will, with whom do they walk?… If the sermon has led all persons within sight of the Savior and they now walk into their world with his aid firmly in their grasp, then hope and victory brighten the horizon. Whether people depart alone or in the Savior’s hand will mark the difference between futility and faith, legalism and true obedience, do-goodism and real godliness” (276ff). Preachers must not present the hearers with the idea that the Old Testament is full of good illustrations and bad illustrations of people who obeyed their parents, or didn’t steal, or took their vitamins. Rather, he must seek to present the message of God each time in such a way as to show the heart of the matter and the power behind the behavior – Christ.

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Truth Decay by Douglas Groothuis

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Truth Decay: Defending Christianity against the Challenges of Postmodernism
by Douglas Groothuis
“A venerable old Russian proverb claims that ‘one word of truth outweighs the world.’” (Kindle Location 101).
Point: Postmodernism has corrupted any foundation upon which man may stand. This must be evaluated, critiqued, and challenged in a thoughtful and biblical manner.
Path:  Groothuis leads the reader through the barren landscape of modernism to postmodernism. He stops along the way to explain a biblical view of truth and how postmodernism has undermined it. He writes on ethics, race, gender, and beauty. He concludes with a short appendix on the medium of television.
Sources: Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, etc. He challenges men such as Rorty and others.
Agreement: Groothuis offers a helpful overview of the postmodern mindset and the predicament that thinkers find themselves in today. He references a wide group of authors and intellectuals, and helps to categorize their ideologies.
Disagreement: I would have liked to see more interaction with the afore mentioned authors. He quotes others, but does not spend much time wrestling with their ideas. This leads to a second frustration, that of the plethora of quoted material. One gets a sense of what Groothuis thinks, but must read between the “quoted” lines.
Personal App: There is a proper way to evaluate, critique, and challenge the postmodern worldview – it is through the base of Scripture.
Favorite Quote: “If there is no beauty beyond the eye of the beholder, art becomes merely a tool for social influence, political power and personal expression; the category of obscenity is as obsolete as the ideal of beauty.” (Kindle Locations 200-201).
Stars: 3.5 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.

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"On Killing" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

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On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
Product Details
  1. Paperback: 377 pages
  2. Publisher: Back Bay Books
Point: Killing in war is not easy. It is gruesome, awful, and haunting – no matter what the media says. We have turned it into something it is not. Violence in media to real killing is often like porn to marriage.
Path: Grossman divides his work into eight sections. He begins by explaining the internal nature of resistance to killing in most individuals. He moves on in section two to the killing and combat trauma. Section three deals with the varying layers of guilt due to physical proximity. Section four brings the previous sections together to consider them. Section five answers questions concerned with killing and atrocities. Section six addresses the stages of response in killing. Section seven reveals victims of the Vietnam War. And section eight points the finger at media and how we are training our children how to kill.
Sources: Statistics, scholarly works, and testimonies line this work. The most difficult part for me was dealing with the personal testimonies. It was tragic.
Agreement: This book helped me to see the awfulness of killing. Taking a life is horrific. At times it must be done, but it is never easy. They are a soul. An individual. They have a family.
Disagreement: The psychology was heavy. The language was par for the topic.
Personal App: It gives me a new view of God telling David that he was a man of blood.
Favorite Quote: “The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for they must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” MacArthur
I gave this a 3 of 5 stars only because I felt as though that is a neutral rating. I cannot rate this. It was valuable, but faulty. It made me reconsider my own value of human life in war. But it was awful to read. It hurt

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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
Product Details
  1. Hardcover: 473 pages
  1. Publisher: Random House
  2. Date Published: 2010
  1. Owner: My Library
  2. Date of reading: 1st – 7/24/12
Point: A man is more than skin, flesh and bones. The skin may be torn. The flesh may disappear. The bones may be broken. But within, beneath all that can be seen with the eyes, a man may thrive. Or he may die within. 
Path: Hillenbrand chronicles the life of Louis Zamperini, an Italian boy from Torrence, California. From his rebellious youth to incredible rise to fame as a runner, Louis was destined to fight to the finish. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1941. His training, activity, bombings and dangerous encounters reveal the hard life of WWII. Stranded at sea after a crash, caught by Japenese, shuttled from one POW camp to another, Zamperini had a will to survive. But it was after the war that some of the toughest battles had to be fought.
Sources: Hillenbrand does an excellent job at weaving extensive detail into a gripping account. I can only imagine the incredible amount of data which she worked through.
Agreement: This was a captivating story. It is rare that a book is able to grip me as this one did. The story is absolutely incredible. The story teller is gifted. 
I also appreciated the fact that the story didn’t end at the signing of the peace treaty. Louis battle within was one which many individuals faced, and continue to face. The redemption he found in Christ is what gives this story a conclusion.
Difficulties: Much of this story was difficult for me. Imagining the realities of war, feeling the pain of the those entrapped, experiencing the loss of another soldier all were difficult.
Personal App: I believe one reason why this story caught me as it did was because of my grandfather’s time at Guadalcanal, Philippines. Reading of men who may have crossed paths with my grandfather as captives and victims caused me to pause and thank God for these men.

Stars: 4.5 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.

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