Ending this blog

Thanks for visiting, but the book reviews on this blog will now be incorporated to my new blog:

bobwriedt.wordpress.com

Come for the book reviews, stay for the... other stuff.

Surprised by Joy, by C.S. Lewis

Positives: I feel like a foolish child for trying to "review" any of Lewis' work. When I read what he writes, I oscillate between feelings of intellectual wonder and inferiority (okay, I'll toss confusion in as well). The reality of this book is that, if you like Lewis' style, you'll enjoy this insight into his life. Surprised by Joy is his pseudo-autobiography. I say "pseudo" for two reasons: first, his goal is to look at the role of joy in his pre-Christian life and how it eventually was a key cause in leading him to Christ. Details and stories not pertinent to joy are omitted. Secondly, the book was written at a relatively early part of his life, prior to his marriage and subsequent widowedness. The book does not tell the full story of his life, nor does it intend to.

Negatives: While I enjoyed the book, I would not ask others to put it at the top of their list. It is a pleasure read for those who enjoy Lewis and his musings. He freely references literature you've never read and a pop culture you've never been a part of.

Conclusion: Worth reading selected chapters (I would suggest chapters 1, 8, and 14), if you enjoy Lewis and/or are especially intrigued by the concept of joy. Gets 3/5 stars.

***** - Will read again; goes on the nightstand (if I had a nightstand)
**** - Worth reading in its entirety
*** - Worth reading selected chapters
** - Maybe other people would be interested in the topic... maybe
* - Wish I hadn't wasted the time

Bible gateway

Just discovered that IVP put then New Testament commentary series on biblegateway.com for free access. That's pretty cool of them. Here's the link.

Where have all the books gone?

I know it's been a few weeks, but it's not because I haven't been reading. I've been taking a Hebrew class these past few weeks, and I've chosen to spare you a review of a book on Hebrew textual criticism.

I did read a terrific commentary on Genesis, which I would certainly recommend to anyone. There is little technical verbage, has good points of application, and is decidely evangelical. You can find it on amazon here.

Picture of Bec and me

I wanted to put a pitcture on my blog, and this is the only one I have on my laptop. Well, here we go...

"Righteous" indignation (part II)

A couple days ago I mentioned how seminarians (re: me) can display pride and arrogance at those who would dare to prefer buying an audio copy of the latest Henry Cloud marriage book instead of a scholastic commentary on Ecclesiastes. Well, I don't want to stop with just the seminarians. I've seen the same pridefulness in regards to accepted expressions of emotion.

There is a basic assumption in the emerging generation that authenticity is valuable. I can't remember the last time I was in an emergent-style worship gathering and the guitar player failed to remind us that any authentic expression of worship was valid. Sit, stand, go to the bathroom, whatever. Worship must be authentic. In an effort to cultivate authenticity, worship leaders who express emotion and "seem real" are regarded as more authentic, and therefore superior.

I am not a "worship leader." I have immense respect for those who can walk and chew gum at the same time, much less sing and play a guitar. Worship leaders are often good-looking, funny, athletic, and have cool, spiritual sounding names like "Tim" or "Braden." Even so, I suspect that we expect worship leaders to exhibit the emotions we find important, rather than what they are actually feeling. I have variously heard worship leaders defined as too quiet, too loud, too talky, too touchy-feely, too happy, too sad, and not-Bob-enough (okay, that last one was a lie).

When we seek out an environment where the worship leader is an idealized version of our spiritual life, we're in for a rough ride. I wish I felt God like Josh does. That's what real penitence looks like. Looking to anyone, whether worship leader, pastor, Sunday school teacher, or janitor for our spirituality is ineffective and heretical.

So what does this have to do with pride? The reality is, we can become judgmental if the worship leader does not fit our understanding of proper spirituality. If we are the brooding type, but the worship leader is happy-clappy, we can become prideful about their lack of spiritual depth. But, I thought the value was authenticity? If that is his or her authentic spiritual expression, why do we become judgmental?

Proving myself right

Well, I figured my plan for putting up one review a week would falter, and it has. I've been working on a few books, but nothing really worth writing about yet.

On Friday I went to a "normal" Christian bookstore for the first time in a while. By normal I just mean that it doesn't cater to a seminary audience. My first reaction, as it too often is, was pride. These trinkits and books are heretical/juvenille/whatever. I took a perverse pride in noticing that the DaVinci Code section was larger than the theology section. It felt good to think I was smarter and/or more spiritually mature than the people that owned and frequented the store.

After wandering the aisles for a while, I realized a few things. First, that I was being stupid. Christian stores can sell more than books without needed to be ashamed. Secondly, most Christians do not care about the types of books I usually read. That does not make them less (or more) mature in their faith (where does Jesus say, "Blessed are the bookworms"?).

I guess my point is this: when we become immersed in a Christian sub-culture (whether that's seminary, Crusade, the Emergent movement, or the cool Christian club (my name for the Sufjan Stephens/Donald Miller... thing), it is easy to fall into pride when your pet area is neglected. In the next few days I'll mention how pride has effected me during other stages (like those mentioned above). Hopefully it'll help.