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BOOK REVIEW VANISHING GRACE Philip Yancey It’s been nearly two decades since the publication of Philip Yancey’s “What’s So Amazing About Grace,” a life-altering book that is already a Christian classic. What the book taught me was that grace, like love and forgiveness, is not just...

Book Review WOUNDED BY GOD’S PEOPLE Anne Graham Lotz (Zondervan, 176pp, $20h) Back in the 80s, early in her speaking career, Bible teacher and popular speaker Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and wife Ruth, was snubbed by a partisan group of male pastors who turned...

Book Review BAD BOYS OF THE BIBLE: EXPLORING MEN OF QUESTIONABLE VIRTUE Barbara J. Essex (Pilgrim Press, 122pp, $16p) Reading Barbara Essex has been thought-provoking, probably because she has the uncanny talent to affect how I study the Bible and how I view myself. If, as Sunday school...

THE FAITH INSTINCT How Religion Evolved & Why it Endures Nicholas Wade (Penguin Press, 320pp, $17p/$26h) I am sure the intellectuals of the world are befuddled. Why do so many humans, in fact the majority of us, believe in a Supreme Being, since there is so little empirical proof (the...

Book Review WHEN BAD CHRISTIANS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE Dave Burchett (WaterBrook Press, 256pp, $15p) I sometimes wish I had a dollar, even a quarter, for every person who has told me how they have been wounded by a Christian or church (and so have become spiritual whiners or quitters). It...

SIMPLY C.S. LEWIS: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE Thomas C. Peters (Crossword, 270pp, $15p) Thomas C. Peters (Battling for the Modern Mind, The Christian Imagination) has provided a valuable resource in his book “Simply C.S. Lewis: A Beginner’s Guide to His Life and Works.” It is a guide for rookie...

Book Review THE INSANITY OF GOD: A TRUE STORY OF FAITH RESURRECTED Nik Ripken (B&H Publishing, 384pp, $15p) Having served among persecuted Christians for years, some mercilessly slaughtered by religious fanatics, missionary Nik Ripken (pseudonym) one day walked through the war-torn...

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT BREAKING THE IDOL OF CERTAINTY Gregory Boyd (Baker Books, 272pp, $17p) The great American theologian, Paul Tillich, taught that doubt is not the enemy of, but rather an element of faith. In recent months heavyweight Christian authors like Alister McGrath, Philip...

GOD IN SLOW MOTION Mike Nappa (Thomas Nelson, 240pp, $16p) Mike Nappa’s point in “God in Slow Motion: Reflections on Jesus and the 10 Unexpected Lessons You Can See in His Life” is that, in our hectic, fast-paced, on-the-go world, we are so harried that we are, in fact, way ahead of God...

HIS MIRACLES DEVOTIONAL FOR EVERY DAY OF THEYEAR Integrity Publishing (Integrity, 386pp, $15h) Yesterday I read the daily selection from “His Miracles: Devotions for Every Day of the Year.” It’s a devotional built around the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ miracles. Yesterday’s inclusion focused...

JESUS FEMINIST Sarah Bessey (Howard Publishing, 256pp, $15p) Sarah Bessey is not your typical, cookie-cutter Christian. She admits it: “I am one of those happy-clappy Jesus followers with stars in her eyes; an uneasy pacifist, a Kingdom of God-focused woman, postmodern, liberal to the...

OUT OF A FAR COUNTRY Christopher Yuan & Angela Yuan (Waterbrook, 240pp, $16p) When gay children come out of the closet, can they come home? What if it’s a squeaky-clean Christian home? Your home? My home? And what if your child does not change his/her sexual orientation on-demand? And what...

IS GOD A MORAL MONSTER? MAKING SENSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD Paul Copan (Baker, 252pp, $16p) Reading the Old Testament (OT) through New Testament eyes can be problematic. On the surface some see two gods: an OT demigod and the NT God of Jesus. This idea is not new; ancient Marcionites...

FOUR VIEWS ON THE HISTORICAL ADAM Matthew Barrett & Ardel Caneday, gen. eds. (Zondervan, 288pp, $20p) It looks like evangelical Christianity’s largest publisher, Zondervan Books, thinks that the way for believers to come together is by openly and civilly discussing our beliefs—even those...

Phil. 4.13 is quoted a lot in this forum, but what is it really telling us? If I can do all things in Christ just by believing, why can’t I sprout wings and fly, or l lift a the Washington Monument, or live underwater, or sing like Bocelli, or look like Elvis? Apparently, “all things” must...

CRAZY BUSY A (MERCIFULLY) SHORT BOOK ABOUT (REALLY) BIG PROBLEMS Kevin DeYoung (Crossway, 124pp, $12p) Isn’t it strange that no matter how busy I am I’m never too busy to tell you how busy I am. It's like the immigrant lady in Kevin DeYoung’s book, “Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book...

You take your car to the garage, and you think the service charge is too high. But you notice that your bill does not include the $7 oil filter. Do you mention the oil filter or figure you and the garage are even? WWJD?

During his re-election campaign, a local politician whose work you have always admired admits to an extra-marital affair he had during his term in office. Would you vote for him? WWJD?

Here’s one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations that really happened. You are employed by your company to hire workers. A well-educated, well-qualified person applies for the job but your pastor’s son is also seeking the job but is far less qualified. Who do...

SEEKING ALLAH, FINDING JESUS A DEVOUT MUSLIM ENCOUNTERS CHRISTIANITY Nabeel Qureshi (Zondervan, 287pp, $17p) We are told that ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds hatred, and hatred breeds violence. It’s like a chain reaction. After 9/11,“the worst attack in history on American soil,” I...