• Reading and Readers

  • 著者： Terence Tan
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Reading and Readers

著者： Terence Tan
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  • Every fortnight, I review a Christian book for you. Do you like free ebooks? Every month, I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month featuring titles like Jim Belcher's "Deep Church", David Jeremiah's "Count It All Joy", Russell Moore's "Tempted and Tried", Skip Heitzig's "Bloodline", Frank D. Macchia's "The Trinity, Practically Speaking" or Pete Hughes' "All Things New". Do you like hot-off-the-presses? Listen to my in-depth review of John Piper's "Providence" or a side-by-side review of Voddie Baucham's "Fault Lines" versus related books. Do you like ancient and over-looked treasures? You don't want to miss my review Jacob Abbott's 200 year old book, "The Young Christian; Or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty". Whether it's Dru Johnson's commentary on Genesis 1-11 or S. D. Smith's tale-spinning epic, the Reading and Readers Podcast has a book for you.
    Terence Tan
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  • Portrait of God by Jack Mooring

    Portrait of God by Jack Mooring
    2024/09/15
    It has been said that all of us are theologians. We all have a picture of God in our heads. But is your picture of God correct? Keep listening to find out. Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review “Portrait of God: Rediscovering the Attributes of God through the Stories of His People” by Jack Mooring. 224 pages, published by David C. Cook Publishing in August 2024. Available in Amazon Kindle for USD9.99 and in Logos for USD10.79. I received a free review copy but the publisher has no input to my review. ## Systematic Theology Through BiographyToday's book promises to explain the Attributes of God through the lives of Christians. But wait, someone says, “If you really want to know the Attributes of God, you should get a good book on Systematic Theology. The bigger the better.” So grunts the theological egghead. Nope. If the size doesn’t scare people off, the title “Systematic Theology” would. Then someone says, “Just get J.I. Packer’s ‘Knowing God’.” That’s a great book. A classic. But today's book gives us a different way to know God’s attributes and that is through stories. Bible stories have helped children know God. Much of the Bible consists of stories of God and His People. So we could say that today’s book is not inventing a new approach but rather adapts the biblical way of knowing God: through the stories of him interacting with his people. ## Art Class with a Divine SubjectIn this book, Jack Mooring wants us to paint a portrait of God. If this sounds a bit artsy-fartsy to you, maybe it’s because Mooring was an artist. More, accurately, a musician. If his name sounds familiar, it’s because he is the former band member with the Grammy Award-nominated group Leeland. Mooring is also the founding pastor of a church, Celebration of Life Church in Nashville. So he is not the typical professional theologian who writes a book on the attributes of God. He is just a passionate Christian who wants everyone to know God. And he takes hold of artistic license to separate himself from the professional theologians. We will do a portrait of God. Using the lives of God's people as the brushstrokes. ## A Brushstroke of JoyConsider this: Whose life do you think best reveals God’s joy? Think of all the great men and women who have served God through the ages. Who would best demonstrate the joy of the Lord? Mooring chooses C.S. Lewis. The chapter starts with Lewis as a young man arriving at Oxford University. But then, the Great War happened. I quote:> The war was a brief but horrific interlude in his life. He saw unbearable things. His closest friend in his company was killed. While raised in a Christian home in Ireland, he’d been brought up on the teachings of the church, but early on he had decided God couldn’t be real. His mother had died when he was only nine years old. He remembered praying that God would save her life, but his desperate request seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.>> His childhood angst at God had turned into full-blown atheism as a young man. And if his journey away from God needed any more help, his traumatic experiences in the war had seared his mind. Later, Mooring writes:> There were cracks in Lewis’s armor. For all his resistance against God, he had a weak spot for joy. Deep joy. The joy that aches in your belly when you see something truly beautiful. You reach for it but can’t grasp it. You try to recreate the same feeling the next day, only to find it missing. This haunted Lewis.>> He began to do what he always did to find answers: He read books and talked deeply with his friends. Famously, one of his friends was J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien and others encouraged Lewis in his search for answers. I quote:> Lewis raised a challenge to his friends: “What separates Christianity from any other myth? After all, there are other stories about a god ‘saving’ his people.”>> His friends responded with an idea that changed his life. “Yes, Christianity is a myth,” they said. “But it is the only true myth.”>> Suddenly, he realized that the Norse mythology he loved was never the real source of the joy he felt. It was God. Every good and beautiful myth was simply pointing to the one true “myth”. The chapter interleaves episodes of Lewis’ life with Mooring’s own comments and reflections. A YouTube video about a ten-million-dollar mountain chalet sends Mooring through a whirlwind of emotions from curiosity, awe, desire and lust, to disappointment, jealousy, embarrassment and resignation. Everybody who has watched an influencer boasting of cars, food or travel knows what Mooring felt. Mooring shows us YouTube-addicts that our desire is a reminder that God is our true desire. Just like C.S. Lewis, we are searching for the real source of joy: God. And that's how every chapter goes. He shares a story then a reflection to bridge the ...
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    31 分
  • Year 3

    Year 3
    2024/04/25

    Hi, my name is Terence and I'm your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Except I have not been reviewing any books for nearly two months now.

    Have I quit the podcast? No. I am still looking forward to the 100th episode of Reading and Readers. I have a special book in mind for that one. So if I do end this podcast, and I don't have any intention of doing so, I would definitely do it after the 100th episode.

    Why the delay? I used to do a book review every two weeks. That was a crazy pace. I could sustain that pace until my responsibilities elsewhere -- in the office, church and home -- increased. I found myself having to read more books but not books I would later review.

    So I have decided to take the podcast slow. Instead of a sprint, or a jog, it will be stroll or a walk. I will still be downloading the monthly free books from Logos. I will still be on the look out for good books.

    If I see a must-read book, I will read it. If it is a must-share book, then I will review and share my thoughts with everyone.

    This was not how I expected to celebrate the Reading and Reader's third year. However, I am hopeful that once things settle down, I will get back to reading and reviewing Christian books for you. Thank you for your support. Until next time, bye!

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    5 分
  • Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer

    Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer
    2024/02/25
    Today's book could be the most important book of the year. Hopefully not the decade. Because I would really hate to talk about Critical Theory again. If everybody in the world read today's book, we would never have to talk about it ever again. Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today I review “Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology - Implications for the Church and Society” by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer. 582 pages. Published by Harvest House Publishers in October 2023. Available in Amazon Kindle for USD21.99 and in Logos for USD16.49. But I got it in Logos for the low low price of USD6.99 because every month I eagerly wait for Logos' free and deeply discounted books. Eagerly AwaitedThis book came up. And there is no other book that I have more eagerly waited for than a Neil Shenvi book on Critical Theory. I first knew of Shenvi from Voddie Baucham’s “Fault Lines”, a book on Critical Race Theory that I reviewed in Episode 9. From Voddie Baucham's book, I found myself in Neil Shenvi’s website and was floored by the thorough analysis of the many many Critical Theory books he reads. I knew then that if Shenvi ever decided to compile his knowledge into a book, I must read it. As good as anyone's articles, interviews and seminars are, the best way to make a case is through a well-written book. But there is another author to today's book. Pat Sawyer. Sawyer was in the banking industry for 17 years before he took a PhD in educational and cultural studies. He wrote a dissertation on social justice. It seems that the fusion of these two men, Shenvi and Sawyer, has released an incredible amount of energy. Their combined powers of observation, subject expertise, analytical skills and commitment to the Christian faith has made them, I would say, very dangerous men. Just as the emperor who wears no clothes can no longer walk around naked after a child tells the truth, so the reader can no longer be complacent or be outraged under false premises after Shenvi and Sawyer tell the truth on Critical Theory. Critical Dilemma is divided into three parts.Part 1: Understanding Part 2: Critiquing Part 3: EngagingUnderstanding Critical TheoryThe book begins with an honest painful look at Slavery and Jim Crow. This disarms the Social Justice Warrior. Here is outrage over slavery and Jim Crow. This disarms the Christian Culture Warrior. Shenvi, why are you opening old wounds? Sawyer, why are you taking the enemies talking points? By starting with these "Shadows of the Past", the authors establish their credentials as unflinching truth tellers. When people are ignorant of history, they are vulnerable. When good people hear of the victims, they want to right those wrongs. Why is Critical Theory so effective in channeling this righteous anger through the government, schools, churches and families? That question is answered in Part 1.Later, the authors challenge the reader to say they do not go far enough. Our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Social Justice Warriors. But not in the way you may think, I will explain more later.Know Them In Their Most Plausible and Persuasive FormThe authors take Critical Theory seriously. They don't caricature it. No strawman here. Not trying to score points with the groupies. They went through the Critical Theory literature to know what it says and have made a sincere attempt to present it to us.How do we know it's sincere? They quote extensively the main proponents of Critical Theory.They state up front that some of these guys would deny being members of Critical Theory. Shenvi and Sawyer refuse to get into a fight over labels. The key is to discuss ideas. And they show through those extensive quotes that if it walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, at the very least, it's in the bird family.They explain all this without imputing motives. They have a chapter titled, "Positive Insights" that lists positive aspects of Critical Theory. We need to properly understand the appeal of Critical Theory in order to make a proper critique over it.Why do they make such a great effort? John Mills puts it well. He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. That is not the way to do justice to the arguments, or bring them into real contact with his own mind. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive ...
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    28 分

あらすじ・解説

Every fortnight, I review a Christian book for you. Do you like free ebooks? Every month, I review Faithlife's Free Book of the Month featuring titles like Jim Belcher's "Deep Church", David Jeremiah's "Count It All Joy", Russell Moore's "Tempted and Tried", Skip Heitzig's "Bloodline", Frank D. Macchia's "The Trinity, Practically Speaking" or Pete Hughes' "All Things New". Do you like hot-off-the-presses? Listen to my in-depth review of John Piper's "Providence" or a side-by-side review of Voddie Baucham's "Fault Lines" versus related books. Do you like ancient and over-looked treasures? You don't want to miss my review Jacob Abbott's 200 year old book, "The Young Christian; Or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty". Whether it's Dru Johnson's commentary on Genesis 1-11 or S. D. Smith's tale-spinning epic, the Reading and Readers Podcast has a book for you.
Terence Tan
スピリチュアリティ 聖職・福音主義 文学史・文学批評 アート
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