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shelfreflectionofficial's Reviews (844)
This is one of the most fair, balanced, and helpful books I’ve read on the topic of church and politics. The last couple elections covered by the ubiquitous social media debates and passive -aggressive comments have been very discouraging and divisive as Christians. Does voting for a particular candidate with a particular twitter account or candidate who supports a particular issue really nullify the authenticity of your faith like so many people are shouting? What does the Bible say about the government and the Christian’s role in the public square? What things are deal-breakers and where is there freedom of conscience? Though it would seem a large part of his intended audience is for pastors as they direct their congregations, I still found this to be extremely relevant and worthy of reading for everyone.
Jonathan Leeman has a master of science in political theory, a master of divinity, and a PhD in political theology. He teaches theology at several seminaries, is found on The Gospel Coalition website, and is an elder at a church in D.C. So yeah, he’s fairly qualified to provide this content. No matter what your political party affiliation is, I think you’ll respect his approach and his fairness to both sides. His book is not persuasive to the Left or the Right and you wouldn’t even be able to tell which way he votes by the way he communicates. It was done intentionally; he remarks throughout the book about the dangers of attaching oneself or attaching the name of Jesus to any one candidate or party.
One of the first things Leeman addresses is the idea of politics being a battleground of gods. Every single person worships something/someone. This then determines how one views morality and justice. He points out that people may think the public square is a neutral arena where religion doesn’t play a part. But he says, “What happens when people fool themselves into believing that it’s possible to separate our politics from our religion? For starters you create the illusion of a public square that’s religiously neutral, or at least partially neutral. But what you really have is a square rigged against organized religion. Organized religions are kept out. Unnamed idols are let in.” Therefore, religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are easy to identify and legislate against, but those who claim ‘atheism’ still carry their little-g gods into their politics (things like worship of self, self-expression, sexual freedom, etc) and their religion is allowed to be imposed on others because it hides under the guise of “no god” or “neutrality.”
After establishing that politics cannot be separated from our religion (because that’s what directs our morality and worldview), Leeman goes on to talk about how our group identities can cause division: “Politics usually involves feeling defensive about the groups to which we belong, whether a family, nation, political party, economic class, ethnicity, team, gang, even workplace. Why? Because our groups give us a sense of identity.” This inevitably creates rivalries. I’ve known these concepts from my psychology classes (in-group and out-groups) but it’s easy to operate without acknowledging them and recognizing when our minds are categorizing people according to the groups they identify with. He goes on to say, “Behind all the competition… are the desires of the human heart. The nations rage because the hearts of humanity oppose the rule of the divine Father and Son.” That’s really the core of division in the world and where this book gets its title:
Psalm 2:1-4 says, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
He addresses ways Christians wrongly approach politics- 1) disengaging altogether and viewing their cynical isolation as ‘more spiritual’; 2) surrendering to the ways of the world and not fighting against certain issues within their party that the Bible is against; or 3) putting too much hope in government and communicating that worldly peace and justice is a higher priority than the Gospel. As Christians we must strike a balance between being engaged in civics and doing our part to promote justice in whatever role we are placed, yet putting governments and legislation in their rightful place in our life and worldview- under God’s control.
In order to know how we must function in the political realm we must know what the role of government is according to the Bible, what authority God has given to the government. (Wayne Grudem’s Politics According to the Bible is an excellent resource for this as well.) We see that God authorizes governments to punish the bad, promote the good, and clear a way for God’s people to do their work. The courts pronounce judgment on crimes, legislation provides incentives and allows people to flourish, law and order creates a safe stage for the church to function.
Much of his book then fleshes out all of these working parts. As Christians, we must then use wisdom to determine what political issues are what he references as “straight-line” or “jagged-line” issues—meaning can you draw a straight line from the issue to a biblical principle, or is it a more complicated issue. (i.e. abortion and racism is a straight line issue but tax laws and health care are not, and even further, strategies to eliminate abortion are not necessarily straight line issues)
I was impressed by how much Leeman really is in tune to what is happening in the political sphere—how people are treating each other. I identified with almost everything he said.
So much of the tension out there is because Christians are prescribing judgment on issues that the Bible doesn’t take a specific stance on and then shaming others and calling their faith into question. We’re allowing the media to get us fired up and passionate about good things but sourced from the wrong authority. “The president of one think tank in D.C. observed, ‘We don’t have an anger problem in American politics. We have a contempt problem in American politics.’ Contempt he defined as the ‘utter conviction of the worthlessness of another human being.’… The only true, long-term solution to our political contempt, rivalry, and rage is a born-again heart.” And it’s a real problem when born-again Christians are adopting an attitude of contempt.
I love that he comes from a church of such diversity and that his congregation is made up of people from both the Left and the Right doing God’s work together. That’s how it should be! The media and the secular political world is doing an awesome job of dividing the church along partisan lines and it’s detrimental to the Gospel mission and the unity that God calls us to.
He says, “As Christians who prize God’s wisdom above that of men and women, we should strive to stop from time to time and say “Wait, is this biblical?” and be willing to throw anything and everything off the boat if necessary. And we should do this even with the things our nation, our tribe, and our people regard as most precious. An unwillingness to try may indicate a political idol.” That’s another convicting thought— am I truly willing to say I’ll throw out anything from “my group” that goes against what the Bible teaches?
Leeman brings up some other important factors we must think about when considering how governments function and how people approach legislation. Many have to do with the language used. Words like justice, rights, privilege, etc., mean different things to different people. We need to define terms. And even then we won’t always come to an agreement on what is right and what is wrong and who gets to decide either because we all come in with different worldviews on ultimate truth and authority.
To wrap it up...
I think it appropriate to conclude this review with the following quote because at the end of the day, this is what matters the most and that it’s only possible through Jesus’ sacrifice. It brings some much needed perspective when we try to make much of the things we are called to die to:
“When you become a Christian, your identity dramatically changes, and you gain a new citizenship. Suddenly, the most important thing about you is not your gender, who your parents are, where you are from, how much money you have, what color your skin is, your nationality, your intelligence or beauty, whether you are married, or anything else that humans ordinarily use to identify one another. The most important thing about you is that you are united to Christ through the new covenant and made a citizen of his kingdom.”
Other things he covers in his book:
- The idea behind separation of church and state and how what the founding fathers set up originally during a time when God was largely revered has now come to backfire a bit: When the non-Christian affirms his belief in the separation of church and state, he means separation of government from my church, not his own. He effectively says, “You can’t impose any of your beliefs and morals on me because they come from your church.” Okay, but does that mean he cannot impose his idolatrous and non-Christian views on me? Ah, there’s the catch. He has no official church and no god with a name. And there’s no such thing as the separation of idolatry and state. Too bad for me. Lucky for him.”
- The reality of self-justification vs biblical justification: “Self-justification is an argument for why you deserve to get what you want… Self-justification is the throne on which self-rule and worship sit… all rivalry, all strife, all factions, all discrimination, all oppression, and all war in the history of human politics depend on this type of self-justifying argument.”
- The mission of the church in terms of diversity, social justice, and political influence
- He lists 12 lessons in how to engage politically; he helpfully distinguishes that we are to be ambassadors for Christ not culture warriors
- Defining biblical justice and how to do justice as a church body
And now some further quotes to whet your appetite and because this review isn’t long enough already:
“We don’t have the right to impose anything on anyone. But God does. The better question is, what commands does God impose on which people and how and when?... In short, God assigns different jurisdictions to different institutions. Our task, then, is to pay close attention to what jurisdictions God has established for governments, for parents, and for churches, and only recommend those commands that he has authorized for each.”
“Let me give you my own evaluation of the two main American parties… A biblical strength of the Republican Party is its emphasis on personal responsibility and not looking to government as a service provider. A biblical strength of the Democratic party is its interest in representing the disenfranchised and downcast. An idolatrous trajectory of the Republican Party is its tendency toward an amoral libertarianism, which can function according to the utilitarian principle of sacrificing the few for the sake of the many. Its good emphasis on individual responsibility can overlook larger structural realities and deny implicit biases. And these blind spots or idolatries—and it can be one or the other—end up leaving behind the poor, the foreigner, or the minority. This is unjust. An idolatrous trajectory of the Democratic party is toward a secular godlessness that literally boos God at its national convention while also treating government as the godlike savior for all of life’s ills. Many in the party have bought into the god of self-definition and self-expression, a religion that denounces and screens out biblical morality. The party’s platform and practices prize the “liberty” of sexuality and lifestyle decisions over the life and liberty of an unborn person.”
“One sign that you identify more with your ideological tribe than you do with Jesus is that you cannot hear what’s good when it comes from another tribe. You assume that everything that people on the other side of the aisle say must be wrong.”
“This is one of the first things I want to blow up. Church and state are distinct, God-given institutions, and they must remain separate. But every church is political all the way down and all the way through. And every government is a deeply religious battleground of gods. No one separates their politics and religion—not the Christian, not the agnostic, not the secular progressive. It’s impossible.”
“What if my conscience demands things that your conscience finds abhorrent? Whose conscience wins in court? The very idea of a free conscience begins to look like an empty Trojan horse. People can pack the soldiers of any god they want inside of it.”
“Mary Eberstadt, in her book It’s Dangerous to Believe, said that “a new body of belief” and “orthodoxy” has replaced the Judeo-Christianity of yesteryear. “Its fundamental faith is that of the sexual revolution.” The starting point of this new secular faith is that “freedom may be defined as self-will.” The second principles is that “pleasure is the greatest good.” According to this new religion, the sexual morality of biblical Christianity represents “unjust repression.” Yesterday’s sinners have become today’s saints, she observed, and yesterday’s sins have become today’s “virtues” and ‘positive expressions of freedom.’”
“Your vote for candidate [A] always depends on not just a moral assessment, but a sociological assessment about what social forces are in motion in an electorate; a historical assessment that treats one interpretation of the past as correct and presumes to know which past events will shape the near future; a political assessment about the strength of various political actors; an institutional assessment about how various legislative bodies and courts and other non-state actors are pitted against one another; even a statistical assessment about the likelihood of events turning one way or another… Does your ability to conduct these assessments and render a judgment yield a conclusion that’s as plain and clear as preaching the Bible?”
“One clear indication that you are simply seeking to score points is that you paint the other side in the worst light imaginable. You point out their worst-case-scenario stories… Instead, represent your opponents in the best possible light. In time, you will earn credibility and respect, and you might learn something as you work to represent them fairly.”
“Governments cannot change the heart… it cannot make people want genuinely righteous things.”
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
Jonathan Leeman has a master of science in political theory, a master of divinity, and a PhD in political theology. He teaches theology at several seminaries, is found on The Gospel Coalition website, and is an elder at a church in D.C. So yeah, he’s fairly qualified to provide this content. No matter what your political party affiliation is, I think you’ll respect his approach and his fairness to both sides. His book is not persuasive to the Left or the Right and you wouldn’t even be able to tell which way he votes by the way he communicates. It was done intentionally; he remarks throughout the book about the dangers of attaching oneself or attaching the name of Jesus to any one candidate or party.
One of the first things Leeman addresses is the idea of politics being a battleground of gods. Every single person worships something/someone. This then determines how one views morality and justice. He points out that people may think the public square is a neutral arena where religion doesn’t play a part. But he says, “What happens when people fool themselves into believing that it’s possible to separate our politics from our religion? For starters you create the illusion of a public square that’s religiously neutral, or at least partially neutral. But what you really have is a square rigged against organized religion. Organized religions are kept out. Unnamed idols are let in.” Therefore, religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are easy to identify and legislate against, but those who claim ‘atheism’ still carry their little-g gods into their politics (things like worship of self, self-expression, sexual freedom, etc) and their religion is allowed to be imposed on others because it hides under the guise of “no god” or “neutrality.”
After establishing that politics cannot be separated from our religion (because that’s what directs our morality and worldview), Leeman goes on to talk about how our group identities can cause division: “Politics usually involves feeling defensive about the groups to which we belong, whether a family, nation, political party, economic class, ethnicity, team, gang, even workplace. Why? Because our groups give us a sense of identity.” This inevitably creates rivalries. I’ve known these concepts from my psychology classes (in-group and out-groups) but it’s easy to operate without acknowledging them and recognizing when our minds are categorizing people according to the groups they identify with. He goes on to say, “Behind all the competition… are the desires of the human heart. The nations rage because the hearts of humanity oppose the rule of the divine Father and Son.” That’s really the core of division in the world and where this book gets its title:
Psalm 2:1-4 says, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
He addresses ways Christians wrongly approach politics- 1) disengaging altogether and viewing their cynical isolation as ‘more spiritual’; 2) surrendering to the ways of the world and not fighting against certain issues within their party that the Bible is against; or 3) putting too much hope in government and communicating that worldly peace and justice is a higher priority than the Gospel. As Christians we must strike a balance between being engaged in civics and doing our part to promote justice in whatever role we are placed, yet putting governments and legislation in their rightful place in our life and worldview- under God’s control.
In order to know how we must function in the political realm we must know what the role of government is according to the Bible, what authority God has given to the government. (Wayne Grudem’s Politics According to the Bible is an excellent resource for this as well.) We see that God authorizes governments to punish the bad, promote the good, and clear a way for God’s people to do their work. The courts pronounce judgment on crimes, legislation provides incentives and allows people to flourish, law and order creates a safe stage for the church to function.
Much of his book then fleshes out all of these working parts. As Christians, we must then use wisdom to determine what political issues are what he references as “straight-line” or “jagged-line” issues—meaning can you draw a straight line from the issue to a biblical principle, or is it a more complicated issue. (i.e. abortion and racism is a straight line issue but tax laws and health care are not, and even further, strategies to eliminate abortion are not necessarily straight line issues)
I was impressed by how much Leeman really is in tune to what is happening in the political sphere—how people are treating each other. I identified with almost everything he said.
So much of the tension out there is because Christians are prescribing judgment on issues that the Bible doesn’t take a specific stance on and then shaming others and calling their faith into question. We’re allowing the media to get us fired up and passionate about good things but sourced from the wrong authority. “The president of one think tank in D.C. observed, ‘We don’t have an anger problem in American politics. We have a contempt problem in American politics.’ Contempt he defined as the ‘utter conviction of the worthlessness of another human being.’… The only true, long-term solution to our political contempt, rivalry, and rage is a born-again heart.” And it’s a real problem when born-again Christians are adopting an attitude of contempt.
I love that he comes from a church of such diversity and that his congregation is made up of people from both the Left and the Right doing God’s work together. That’s how it should be! The media and the secular political world is doing an awesome job of dividing the church along partisan lines and it’s detrimental to the Gospel mission and the unity that God calls us to.
He says, “As Christians who prize God’s wisdom above that of men and women, we should strive to stop from time to time and say “Wait, is this biblical?” and be willing to throw anything and everything off the boat if necessary. And we should do this even with the things our nation, our tribe, and our people regard as most precious. An unwillingness to try may indicate a political idol.” That’s another convicting thought— am I truly willing to say I’ll throw out anything from “my group” that goes against what the Bible teaches?
Leeman brings up some other important factors we must think about when considering how governments function and how people approach legislation. Many have to do with the language used. Words like justice, rights, privilege, etc., mean different things to different people. We need to define terms. And even then we won’t always come to an agreement on what is right and what is wrong and who gets to decide either because we all come in with different worldviews on ultimate truth and authority.
To wrap it up...
I think it appropriate to conclude this review with the following quote because at the end of the day, this is what matters the most and that it’s only possible through Jesus’ sacrifice. It brings some much needed perspective when we try to make much of the things we are called to die to:
“When you become a Christian, your identity dramatically changes, and you gain a new citizenship. Suddenly, the most important thing about you is not your gender, who your parents are, where you are from, how much money you have, what color your skin is, your nationality, your intelligence or beauty, whether you are married, or anything else that humans ordinarily use to identify one another. The most important thing about you is that you are united to Christ through the new covenant and made a citizen of his kingdom.”
Other things he covers in his book:
- The idea behind separation of church and state and how what the founding fathers set up originally during a time when God was largely revered has now come to backfire a bit: When the non-Christian affirms his belief in the separation of church and state, he means separation of government from my church, not his own. He effectively says, “You can’t impose any of your beliefs and morals on me because they come from your church.” Okay, but does that mean he cannot impose his idolatrous and non-Christian views on me? Ah, there’s the catch. He has no official church and no god with a name. And there’s no such thing as the separation of idolatry and state. Too bad for me. Lucky for him.”
- The reality of self-justification vs biblical justification: “Self-justification is an argument for why you deserve to get what you want… Self-justification is the throne on which self-rule and worship sit… all rivalry, all strife, all factions, all discrimination, all oppression, and all war in the history of human politics depend on this type of self-justifying argument.”
- The mission of the church in terms of diversity, social justice, and political influence
- He lists 12 lessons in how to engage politically; he helpfully distinguishes that we are to be ambassadors for Christ not culture warriors
- Defining biblical justice and how to do justice as a church body
And now some further quotes to whet your appetite and because this review isn’t long enough already:
“We don’t have the right to impose anything on anyone. But God does. The better question is, what commands does God impose on which people and how and when?... In short, God assigns different jurisdictions to different institutions. Our task, then, is to pay close attention to what jurisdictions God has established for governments, for parents, and for churches, and only recommend those commands that he has authorized for each.”
“Let me give you my own evaluation of the two main American parties… A biblical strength of the Republican Party is its emphasis on personal responsibility and not looking to government as a service provider. A biblical strength of the Democratic party is its interest in representing the disenfranchised and downcast. An idolatrous trajectory of the Republican Party is its tendency toward an amoral libertarianism, which can function according to the utilitarian principle of sacrificing the few for the sake of the many. Its good emphasis on individual responsibility can overlook larger structural realities and deny implicit biases. And these blind spots or idolatries—and it can be one or the other—end up leaving behind the poor, the foreigner, or the minority. This is unjust. An idolatrous trajectory of the Democratic party is toward a secular godlessness that literally boos God at its national convention while also treating government as the godlike savior for all of life’s ills. Many in the party have bought into the god of self-definition and self-expression, a religion that denounces and screens out biblical morality. The party’s platform and practices prize the “liberty” of sexuality and lifestyle decisions over the life and liberty of an unborn person.”
“One sign that you identify more with your ideological tribe than you do with Jesus is that you cannot hear what’s good when it comes from another tribe. You assume that everything that people on the other side of the aisle say must be wrong.”
“This is one of the first things I want to blow up. Church and state are distinct, God-given institutions, and they must remain separate. But every church is political all the way down and all the way through. And every government is a deeply religious battleground of gods. No one separates their politics and religion—not the Christian, not the agnostic, not the secular progressive. It’s impossible.”
“What if my conscience demands things that your conscience finds abhorrent? Whose conscience wins in court? The very idea of a free conscience begins to look like an empty Trojan horse. People can pack the soldiers of any god they want inside of it.”
“Mary Eberstadt, in her book It’s Dangerous to Believe, said that “a new body of belief” and “orthodoxy” has replaced the Judeo-Christianity of yesteryear. “Its fundamental faith is that of the sexual revolution.” The starting point of this new secular faith is that “freedom may be defined as self-will.” The second principles is that “pleasure is the greatest good.” According to this new religion, the sexual morality of biblical Christianity represents “unjust repression.” Yesterday’s sinners have become today’s saints, she observed, and yesterday’s sins have become today’s “virtues” and ‘positive expressions of freedom.’”
“Your vote for candidate [A] always depends on not just a moral assessment, but a sociological assessment about what social forces are in motion in an electorate; a historical assessment that treats one interpretation of the past as correct and presumes to know which past events will shape the near future; a political assessment about the strength of various political actors; an institutional assessment about how various legislative bodies and courts and other non-state actors are pitted against one another; even a statistical assessment about the likelihood of events turning one way or another… Does your ability to conduct these assessments and render a judgment yield a conclusion that’s as plain and clear as preaching the Bible?”
“One clear indication that you are simply seeking to score points is that you paint the other side in the worst light imaginable. You point out their worst-case-scenario stories… Instead, represent your opponents in the best possible light. In time, you will earn credibility and respect, and you might learn something as you work to represent them fairly.”
“Governments cannot change the heart… it cannot make people want genuinely righteous things.”
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
I was recommended this series in 2013 and finally read it 3 years later and am so glad I did! What a creative idea! I’m writing this review way after I read this particular book but was not writing reviews at that time and decided, having just finished book 5, I needed to give a proper recommendation.
Firstly, it will be best to read each book in the series one right after the other for the full effect. If you let too much time pass between the books it will take reorienting to get back into the peculiar world and remember who’s who and how everything works.
The storyline is very adventurous, action-packed, creative, and entertaining. The addition of the vintage photographs is a unique element. YA/adult books don’t typically get illustrations so it’s fun to have a visual aid, knowing they are real photos that Riggs has incorporated into the story.
It is a peculiar book so it won’t be for everyone, but I think you should give it a good try- read at least the first two books before deciding whether to stick with it or not. I really didn’t think I was going to like them, that’s why it took me so long to start it. I thought it would be a weird juvenile book without much substance but I was pleasantly surprised and think you will be too!
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
Firstly, it will be best to read each book in the series one right after the other for the full effect. If you let too much time pass between the books it will take reorienting to get back into the peculiar world and remember who’s who and how everything works.
The storyline is very adventurous, action-packed, creative, and entertaining. The addition of the vintage photographs is a unique element. YA/adult books don’t typically get illustrations so it’s fun to have a visual aid, knowing they are real photos that Riggs has incorporated into the story.
It is a peculiar book so it won’t be for everyone, but I think you should give it a good try- read at least the first two books before deciding whether to stick with it or not. I really didn’t think I was going to like them, that’s why it took me so long to start it. I thought it would be a weird juvenile book without much substance but I was pleasantly surprised and think you will be too!
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
A story of courage, espionage, love, and loss. The quality of this book, to me, is not dependent on which details were fabricated and which combination of scenarios is most plausible. Pino Lella is a real person and this story is, at least in part, his, and even if only half of it is true, it is still worthy of being known. What I liked about this story, was first that it is a true story, but second that it takes place in northern Italy. Somehow I am still finding WWII books with something I haven't read about before. I love hearing stories of how people risked their lives to help save others. The added element of Mussolini was interesting too. We mostly just hear about Hitler. Some of the details used in describing Pino's climbing ventures and driving excursions were at times hard to follow but glossing over them a bit did not take away from the story. If I actually knew the metric system, it would have been easier to picture everything- thanks America.
I thought the story was very captivating and heart-wrenching. Being told completely from Pino's point of view forces you to find things out as he finds them out. You don't get to know what's going on with Anna or his family or Father Re- their thoughts or actions- unless Pino is seeing them or hearing them. It generates a bit of mystery and supports the authenticity of the story. And the strict chronological narrative helps us grasp the fluctuations of Pino's emotions, the ups and downs from event to event. The writing voice creates a bit of romanticism that almost feels a little out of place BUT you don't really care because you want to see something beautiful come out of something so horrific. Pino was a musician, an artist. I think that shows through in his memories. He witnessed atrocities to be sure, but it's all kind of filtered through a two-fold emotional lens- lovesickness and sorrow. He is clinging on to the hope of love, the one thing that makes him feel alive when everything else is dying, and yet he is struggling with his confrontations with humanity's depravity. How are people capable of committing such acts? It really forces you to evaluate your worldview- what is real? what is the purpose? to what end? Beneath a Scarlet Sky rightly exposes the depravity of mankind. WWII showcases the evils we are capable of, but we are not without hope. We see we are in need of saving. We see that we cannot save ourselves. We don't have to muster up enough courage or goodness or justice within ourselves. We just need Jesus. I don't know if Pino found Him, but as a reader, his story naturally leads us to search for something more- a way to understand what we do with the evils we encounter, the unthinkable personal affronts. A way to overcome. And by the grace of God, we can.
Thank you, Pino, for finally sharing your story.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
I thought the story was very captivating and heart-wrenching. Being told completely from Pino's point of view forces you to find things out as he finds them out. You don't get to know what's going on with Anna or his family or Father Re- their thoughts or actions- unless Pino is seeing them or hearing them. It generates a bit of mystery and supports the authenticity of the story. And the strict chronological narrative helps us grasp the fluctuations of Pino's emotions, the ups and downs from event to event. The writing voice creates a bit of romanticism that almost feels a little out of place BUT you don't really care because you want to see something beautiful come out of something so horrific. Pino was a musician, an artist. I think that shows through in his memories. He witnessed atrocities to be sure, but it's all kind of filtered through a two-fold emotional lens- lovesickness and sorrow. He is clinging on to the hope of love, the one thing that makes him feel alive when everything else is dying, and yet he is struggling with his confrontations with humanity's depravity. How are people capable of committing such acts? It really forces you to evaluate your worldview- what is real? what is the purpose? to what end? Beneath a Scarlet Sky rightly exposes the depravity of mankind. WWII showcases the evils we are capable of, but we are not without hope. We see we are in need of saving. We see that we cannot save ourselves. We don't have to muster up enough courage or goodness or justice within ourselves. We just need Jesus. I don't know if Pino found Him, but as a reader, his story naturally leads us to search for something more- a way to understand what we do with the evils we encounter, the unthinkable personal affronts. A way to overcome. And by the grace of God, we can.
Thank you, Pino, for finally sharing your story.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
I was immediately drawn into this book after just reading the introduction. Leeman wastes no time getting right to the heart of the matter and lays out the path he will take for the rest of this phenomenal book.
He begins with, "People today are enamored with authenticity, which means being something, not saying something." (think about that for a minute)
He goes on to differentiate the roles God has assigned to words and actions: "Words create; actions are the creation. You see the same division of labor in Genesis 1 between words and physical matter. Words created; the physical universe was the creation...True spiritual life is produced in the heart only when the Father speaks with creation power through the Son and by the Spirit… Our invisible God is known only through His Word."
And this: "Actions speak louder than words, we say. And talk is cheap. Yes, but Christianity begins not with what we do, but with the announcement of what God has done. Furthermore, it’s only words that can challenge our self-rule. Melodies or visual images can inspire us, encourage us, or cause us to grieve. But only words can command us to surrender control of our lives and yield them to Christ." (again, just sit on these words!)
Words first. Actions follow.
Words are powerful. Or rather, God's Word is powerful. And absolutely necessary. Leeman talks about how we are in the "age of the ear" meaning we can't see God. After Adam and Even sinned He withdrew from the sight of the people, only let Moses see his back, and though Jesus came in the flesh, Scripture gives no account of his physical description. Scripture forbids idols or graven images of God. It's not what we see that God apparently wants us to pay attention to. But words. What we hear Him say.
You want to build God's Church? Read His Words. Out loud. Sing them. Pray them. Teach them. Share them. This book was previously printed under the title "Reverberation"- God's Word spoken from the pulpit and echoing, reverberating, through the lives of all who hear. I love that! Words that transform and change hearts. All aspects of a church should be centered on the Word- the premise of this book. Programs, small groups, ministries, missions, etc aren't bad, but if they are hindering or overshadowing the preaching, teaching, and reverberating of God's pure Word then we're doing it wrong.
I've grown up in the church and yet all of this kinda floored me. I've always had a high regard for the Bible and wouldn't have disagreed with any of this before. I know we need God's Word to hear from him and know the gospel, but Leeman does an outstanding job of bringing these principles to life. Of challenging how the church functions. Of questioning the church's faith in the Word- its veracity and its power. His analogies are spot on and every single point he makes is dictated by Scripture. It is straightforward and profound.
I'm currently part of a small church plant in my community and the truths Leeman teaches in this book are absolutely paramount for us to uphold as we seek to transform our community for Christ. Everything we structure moving forward and seek to implement needs to be centered on the Word or we are not actually calling people to the right gospel. Leeman points out that we shouldn't unite people under a specific style of music, age group, community, ethnicity, or ministry. Do we have faith enough in God's Word to grow His church or do we feel like we need to "help" it bring people to Him by appealing to emotions, visual allure, or cultural relevance? Do we treat the Bible as sufficient in growing a church? It's a convicting thought.
Leeman is not writing to condemn. He has grace for all churches. He does not single out mega-churches as an abomination, as lots of Christians tend to do. "May God fill all our churches!" he says. The concern is with any church's lack of faith in the Word and if they, whether intentional or not, present something else as primal other than God's Word. I found his book to be challenging yet inspiring. It doesn't tear down, but builds up and encourages, lovingly pointing out blind spots- exposing and covering them with Scripture.
I thought it was interesting when he suggested that a lot of churches adapt certain music styles, dress, ministries, or other visual components because they feel like they need to change people's minds about what church looks like or is about. But he strips that down when he counters, "[Churches] are not up against the need to change people’s minds about God like a political campaign… or a marketing campaign...What humans need is not a change of mind about God, but a change of nature. They need to be born again, given spiritual sight, set free. Style can’t do that. Law and good deeds can’t do that. Music and liturgy cannot do that, at least apart from the words of the gospel. We need something not with natural power but divine power. (2 Cor 10:3-4)" I often find myself falling into this trap. This way of thinking that, again, assumes the Bible as insufficient to reach people. That we need to dress it up with cool lights, hip music, charismatic leadership. As if that will help people recognize the sin nature we are all struggling against. How foolish!
I could go on and on about all the things he covers but then you won't read the book! A quick overview: It's divided into three parts and then subpoints-
- The Word (acts, invites/divides, frees, gathers)
- The Sermon (exposes (expositional preaching), announces, confronts)
- The Church (sings, prays, disciples (including church membership), scatters/invites)
This book will make you ask the right questions about the operations of a church- from the sermon's theology, the music's lyrics, the length and content of the prayers, and our own willingness to sit and listen to God's Word to name a few.
What does the way your church operates tell you about the things it values?
"No other medium of communication works quite like [His Word]. Present me with the picture of a pretty face, or a sound of a sweet melody, and my mind and heart can become engaged, yes, but apart from words, there is no challenge to my self-sovereignty. Only words—and especially words from a king—can call me to surrender my will."
It feels weird to express a strong recommendation for you to read this book that is all about centering your church and life on the Bible. So first- go read your Bible. But this is a good supplemental book that teaches us the same things we will find in the Bible- that God's Word is supreme and powerful. That "God’s Word working through God's Spirit" is the one thing absolutely NEEDED to create and grow a church, to transform people's hearts.
The Word first. Actions follow.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
He begins with, "People today are enamored with authenticity, which means being something, not saying something." (think about that for a minute)
He goes on to differentiate the roles God has assigned to words and actions: "Words create; actions are the creation. You see the same division of labor in Genesis 1 between words and physical matter. Words created; the physical universe was the creation...True spiritual life is produced in the heart only when the Father speaks with creation power through the Son and by the Spirit… Our invisible God is known only through His Word."
And this: "Actions speak louder than words, we say. And talk is cheap. Yes, but Christianity begins not with what we do, but with the announcement of what God has done. Furthermore, it’s only words that can challenge our self-rule. Melodies or visual images can inspire us, encourage us, or cause us to grieve. But only words can command us to surrender control of our lives and yield them to Christ." (again, just sit on these words!)
Words first. Actions follow.
Words are powerful. Or rather, God's Word is powerful. And absolutely necessary. Leeman talks about how we are in the "age of the ear" meaning we can't see God. After Adam and Even sinned He withdrew from the sight of the people, only let Moses see his back, and though Jesus came in the flesh, Scripture gives no account of his physical description. Scripture forbids idols or graven images of God. It's not what we see that God apparently wants us to pay attention to. But words. What we hear Him say.
You want to build God's Church? Read His Words. Out loud. Sing them. Pray them. Teach them. Share them. This book was previously printed under the title "Reverberation"- God's Word spoken from the pulpit and echoing, reverberating, through the lives of all who hear. I love that! Words that transform and change hearts. All aspects of a church should be centered on the Word- the premise of this book. Programs, small groups, ministries, missions, etc aren't bad, but if they are hindering or overshadowing the preaching, teaching, and reverberating of God's pure Word then we're doing it wrong.
I've grown up in the church and yet all of this kinda floored me. I've always had a high regard for the Bible and wouldn't have disagreed with any of this before. I know we need God's Word to hear from him and know the gospel, but Leeman does an outstanding job of bringing these principles to life. Of challenging how the church functions. Of questioning the church's faith in the Word- its veracity and its power. His analogies are spot on and every single point he makes is dictated by Scripture. It is straightforward and profound.
I'm currently part of a small church plant in my community and the truths Leeman teaches in this book are absolutely paramount for us to uphold as we seek to transform our community for Christ. Everything we structure moving forward and seek to implement needs to be centered on the Word or we are not actually calling people to the right gospel. Leeman points out that we shouldn't unite people under a specific style of music, age group, community, ethnicity, or ministry. Do we have faith enough in God's Word to grow His church or do we feel like we need to "help" it bring people to Him by appealing to emotions, visual allure, or cultural relevance? Do we treat the Bible as sufficient in growing a church? It's a convicting thought.
Leeman is not writing to condemn. He has grace for all churches. He does not single out mega-churches as an abomination, as lots of Christians tend to do. "May God fill all our churches!" he says. The concern is with any church's lack of faith in the Word and if they, whether intentional or not, present something else as primal other than God's Word. I found his book to be challenging yet inspiring. It doesn't tear down, but builds up and encourages, lovingly pointing out blind spots- exposing and covering them with Scripture.
I thought it was interesting when he suggested that a lot of churches adapt certain music styles, dress, ministries, or other visual components because they feel like they need to change people's minds about what church looks like or is about. But he strips that down when he counters, "[Churches] are not up against the need to change people’s minds about God like a political campaign… or a marketing campaign...What humans need is not a change of mind about God, but a change of nature. They need to be born again, given spiritual sight, set free. Style can’t do that. Law and good deeds can’t do that. Music and liturgy cannot do that, at least apart from the words of the gospel. We need something not with natural power but divine power. (2 Cor 10:3-4)" I often find myself falling into this trap. This way of thinking that, again, assumes the Bible as insufficient to reach people. That we need to dress it up with cool lights, hip music, charismatic leadership. As if that will help people recognize the sin nature we are all struggling against. How foolish!
I could go on and on about all the things he covers but then you won't read the book! A quick overview: It's divided into three parts and then subpoints-
- The Word (acts, invites/divides, frees, gathers)
- The Sermon (exposes (expositional preaching), announces, confronts)
- The Church (sings, prays, disciples (including church membership), scatters/invites)
This book will make you ask the right questions about the operations of a church- from the sermon's theology, the music's lyrics, the length and content of the prayers, and our own willingness to sit and listen to God's Word to name a few.
What does the way your church operates tell you about the things it values?
"No other medium of communication works quite like [His Word]. Present me with the picture of a pretty face, or a sound of a sweet melody, and my mind and heart can become engaged, yes, but apart from words, there is no challenge to my self-sovereignty. Only words—and especially words from a king—can call me to surrender my will."
It feels weird to express a strong recommendation for you to read this book that is all about centering your church and life on the Bible. So first- go read your Bible. But this is a good supplemental book that teaches us the same things we will find in the Bible- that God's Word is supreme and powerful. That "God’s Word working through God's Spirit" is the one thing absolutely NEEDED to create and grow a church, to transform people's hearts.
The Word first. Actions follow.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
I'll bump it to 4.5 stars. When the story began by describing the world's first man as Dwayne and the first woman as Gladys, and that the first sentence spoken 'Well, here we are' was repeated and handed down until the world became known as 'Aerwiar'- I knew I was going to like this book. Add to that the Nameless Evil (named Gnag), the Fangs of Dang, and a meep (which is about the size of a full-grown chorkney, an animal that stands about as high as a flabbit) and you've got yourself a good storyteller.
It's a little cheeky. But I like that. It was clever and entertaining. Peterson did an excellent job with writing this story, complete with helpful footnotes and appendices for those of us unfamiliar with Aerwiar (I have to chuckle to myself every time I say this word in my head...) The plot was intriguing and created a surprising amount of suspense. The story moved at a quick pace and leaves you on a well-done cliffhanger. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! I could also see myself reading this again with my children once they're older, although they might not pick up on all the humor.
This book... there's just. There's just so much chuckling.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
It's a little cheeky. But I like that. It was clever and entertaining. Peterson did an excellent job with writing this story, complete with helpful footnotes and appendices for those of us unfamiliar with Aerwiar (I have to chuckle to myself every time I say this word in my head...) The plot was intriguing and created a surprising amount of suspense. The story moved at a quick pace and leaves you on a well-done cliffhanger. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! I could also see myself reading this again with my children once they're older, although they might not pick up on all the humor.
This book... there's just. There's just so much chuckling.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
Oofta. A very popular book, but this was a distressing read for me. It probably didn’t help that I had recently watched an equally distressing episode of Bull with a similarly difficult custody case with the added element of race. Custody cases are usually complex and hardly ever win/win situations, especially in adoptions, so my distress isn’t necessarily from what the author chose the outcome of the case to be, that I believe it to be “wrong.” I did have an opinion but I could see both sides. My distress in this book was more with how the author portrayed the situation or particular characters. Thus, 3 stars- you might love it, you might not; matter of personal preference.
It is obvious the author is not afraid of controversy, covering topics like adoption, child custody, race, abortion, surrogacy, parenting, and socioeconomic differences all in one story. So this review will probably be all over the place in representation of my thoughts and feelings!
The book starts with the Richardson’s house burning down and the family suspecting the youngest, ‘troublesome,’ seemingly missing child, Izzy, was responsible. So I thought the story would be centered around that event and finding Izzy, etc. But that didn’t come back up until the very very end. And really the story was more about the Richardson’s tenant, Mia, and Mrs. Richardson, than Izzy, though her and the other characters have their moments.
There is a lot of focus on Mia and I felt the author painted her as the ‘hero’ of the story, almost saint-like. She was the stereotypical free-spirit artist who was not ‘bound’ by social boxes of expectation but lived a nomadic lifestyle, doing whatever it took to be able to focus on and create her super profound and brilliant art that ‘unelightened’ people just didn’t understand. I’m an art major, and maybe I just chose the wrong field and don’t have the true artist spirit, but I find this character tired and annoying. She is depicted as if she is the only person willing to think for herself or push against the status quo. That she is on a whole new level of enlightenment and all the other characters would do well to be more like her and glean from her infinite wisdom. That any choice she makes or has made was right and pure. And that’s just bogus. Of course she’s not the opposite of all of that, but she sure isn’t the blueprint for all that is good.
And because of the author’s depiction of Mia and because she clearly chose a side to her friend’s custody battle (even instigating it), it leads one to believe the author was writing from a biased opinion.
In contrast to Mia, the adopting mother was portrayed as a rich, white, ignorant, and basically subconscious racist woman who was only adopting out of selfishness and the desire for a ‘perfect’ home in her ‘perfect’ neighborhood. I found this off-putting. Of all the people the author could have chosen to represent this mother, she chose this on purpose, and I believe, to make a statement, one of which rubs me the wrong way. While she did touch on the mother’s anguish of experiencing many miscarriages and the struggle to get pregnant unsuccessfully and the previous adoptions that fell through, the dialogue the author chose to use during the trial at the end was far from compassionate and understanding. I realize there are really people out there like this, but I found it in bad taste that she would choose to write this story the way she did.
Here’s the gist: The McCullough’s have tried for years and years to have a baby, naturally and through adoption. And nothing has worked. Finally they are almost finished adopting an American-Chinese baby when Mia realizes it’s the baby her friend, Bebe, left at a fire station a year ago because she did not have the means to care for her and lets her know. Well now Bebe has a waitressing job and decides she wants her daughter back. She believes the McCullough’s have no right to adopt her baby. The author even writes Izzy to constantly call the McCullough’s and her lawyer dad who is representing them- ‘baby-stealers.’ Like I said, no easy answer by any means, but this is a far cry from baby-stealing. And what’s played up is the idea of race and culture. The trial dialogue that is presented when Mrs. McCullough is on the stand is basically- ‘What do you plan to do to teach the baby about her birth culture?... Wait, you’re saying that you don’t speak any dialect of Chinese, you have no Asian dolls, no books about Asian characters, and you think just feeding her Chinese food and buying her a panda stuffed animal and take her on a rich person’s tour of China will be enough?? You are an unfit mother!!!’ Everything else they can provide for her and the fact that they’ve already had her for months and love her and have cared for her after she was malnourished and left on the steps is thrown out the window. I totally understand that there is value in knowing your birth culture but if that is what gives you worth and identity as a person, then there are a lot of people out there that will never live fulfilled lives. Can a custody case really come down to who can teach the baby the most about her birth culture, let alone in that very moment? Obviously the birth mother is still her biological mother who loves the baby as well, so it’s not an open and shut case about who should mother the child, I was just disappointed with the way the author chose to write about it and the characters.
Add to that the way the author ended the book and it’s hard not to see a particular narrative the author was trying to persuade readers to believe.
Another comment on the writing of the book- I didn’t like the voice of the narrator, constantly giving background info on a character that the character whose POV you were reading from would have no knowledge of like ‘[insert three chapters describing Mia’s past] of course Mrs. Richardson would only find out part of this’ or talking about irrelevant future information like ‘Mia wouldn’t know this yet but two years from now she would look back and think...’ That voice mixed with a variety of POVs throughout the book was a little obnoxious.
Probably an excessively long review but I cannot be more concise with my feelings at the moment.
The controversial topics and situations will challenge your thinking, depending on your worldview, and will cause a variety of feelings. And honestly I don’t mind being challenged to to think about why I have the opinions I do, I think that’s healthy and important, but I felt this author did a little too much hand-holding and persuasion in her writing and character portrayal for me to feel good about any of it right now. Knowing how popular this book is, I was a little surprised by what I read, but I guess, as always, you will have to decide for yourself whether it’s a ride worth taking.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
It is obvious the author is not afraid of controversy, covering topics like adoption, child custody, race, abortion, surrogacy, parenting, and socioeconomic differences all in one story. So this review will probably be all over the place in representation of my thoughts and feelings!
The book starts with the Richardson’s house burning down and the family suspecting the youngest, ‘troublesome,’ seemingly missing child, Izzy, was responsible. So I thought the story would be centered around that event and finding Izzy, etc. But that didn’t come back up until the very very end. And really the story was more about the Richardson’s tenant, Mia, and Mrs. Richardson, than Izzy, though her and the other characters have their moments.
There is a lot of focus on Mia and I felt the author painted her as the ‘hero’ of the story, almost saint-like. She was the stereotypical free-spirit artist who was not ‘bound’ by social boxes of expectation but lived a nomadic lifestyle, doing whatever it took to be able to focus on and create her super profound and brilliant art that ‘unelightened’ people just didn’t understand. I’m an art major, and maybe I just chose the wrong field and don’t have the true artist spirit, but I find this character tired and annoying. She is depicted as if she is the only person willing to think for herself or push against the status quo. That she is on a whole new level of enlightenment and all the other characters would do well to be more like her and glean from her infinite wisdom. That any choice she makes or has made was right and pure. And that’s just bogus. Of course she’s not the opposite of all of that, but she sure isn’t the blueprint for all that is good.
And because of the author’s depiction of Mia and because she clearly chose a side to her friend’s custody battle (even instigating it), it leads one to believe the author was writing from a biased opinion.
In contrast to Mia, the adopting mother was portrayed as a rich, white, ignorant, and basically subconscious racist woman who was only adopting out of selfishness and the desire for a ‘perfect’ home in her ‘perfect’ neighborhood. I found this off-putting. Of all the people the author could have chosen to represent this mother, she chose this on purpose, and I believe, to make a statement, one of which rubs me the wrong way. While she did touch on the mother’s anguish of experiencing many miscarriages and the struggle to get pregnant unsuccessfully and the previous adoptions that fell through, the dialogue the author chose to use during the trial at the end was far from compassionate and understanding. I realize there are really people out there like this, but I found it in bad taste that she would choose to write this story the way she did.
Here’s the gist: The McCullough’s have tried for years and years to have a baby, naturally and through adoption. And nothing has worked. Finally they are almost finished adopting an American-Chinese baby when Mia realizes it’s the baby her friend, Bebe, left at a fire station a year ago because she did not have the means to care for her and lets her know. Well now Bebe has a waitressing job and decides she wants her daughter back. She believes the McCullough’s have no right to adopt her baby. The author even writes Izzy to constantly call the McCullough’s and her lawyer dad who is representing them- ‘baby-stealers.’ Like I said, no easy answer by any means, but this is a far cry from baby-stealing. And what’s played up is the idea of race and culture. The trial dialogue that is presented when Mrs. McCullough is on the stand is basically- ‘What do you plan to do to teach the baby about her birth culture?... Wait, you’re saying that you don’t speak any dialect of Chinese, you have no Asian dolls, no books about Asian characters, and you think just feeding her Chinese food and buying her a panda stuffed animal and take her on a rich person’s tour of China will be enough?? You are an unfit mother!!!’ Everything else they can provide for her and the fact that they’ve already had her for months and love her and have cared for her after she was malnourished and left on the steps is thrown out the window. I totally understand that there is value in knowing your birth culture but if that is what gives you worth and identity as a person, then there are a lot of people out there that will never live fulfilled lives. Can a custody case really come down to who can teach the baby the most about her birth culture, let alone in that very moment? Obviously the birth mother is still her biological mother who loves the baby as well, so it’s not an open and shut case about who should mother the child, I was just disappointed with the way the author chose to write about it and the characters.
Add to that the way the author ended the book and it’s hard not to see a particular narrative the author was trying to persuade readers to believe.
Another comment on the writing of the book- I didn’t like the voice of the narrator, constantly giving background info on a character that the character whose POV you were reading from would have no knowledge of like ‘[insert three chapters describing Mia’s past] of course Mrs. Richardson would only find out part of this’ or talking about irrelevant future information like ‘Mia wouldn’t know this yet but two years from now she would look back and think...’ That voice mixed with a variety of POVs throughout the book was a little obnoxious.
Probably an excessively long review but I cannot be more concise with my feelings at the moment.
The controversial topics and situations will challenge your thinking, depending on your worldview, and will cause a variety of feelings. And honestly I don’t mind being challenged to to think about why I have the opinions I do, I think that’s healthy and important, but I felt this author did a little too much hand-holding and persuasion in her writing and character portrayal for me to feel good about any of it right now. Knowing how popular this book is, I was a little surprised by what I read, but I guess, as always, you will have to decide for yourself whether it’s a ride worth taking.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
This book will make you believe that you are actually an aspiring actor. I don’t have any plans to do any acting professionally (or rather- professionally acting...I *might* act professional every once in awhile). Yet I would read Jenna (can I just call her Pam?) saying, “Be a joiner. Be in an improv group or a theater company. Create a consistent body of work. Be involved with other creative people.” And I would think, “Yes! I will do the things! And do the work! And meet the people!” And then suddenly I would panic: “50 improv auditions?? I can’t do that!!” (I mean...I would probably rock half of them, but 50% humiliation rate is still a bit high for my liking). And then I would have to put the book down, take a deep breath, and tell myself- “You are a stay at home mom. You are not moving to LA (or NYC) and you do not want to act professionally. Or live on pretend pizza.”
So yeah, it’s less of a memoir style of book and more of like... a survival guide... for aspiring actors. Hm. They should have put that on the cover...
Maybe you ARE an aspiring actor. And you read subtitles and you already realized that this book was for you- fantastic- I can already tell you’re gonna be successful before you even cracked its pages. And now you have even more valuable information to help you get proper headshots, sign a manager and/or an agent, learn how to audition, and prepare for rejection. What luck!
Or maybe you are like me and you were like- “Hey, Pam is on this book. I will read it.” And then you do. And you get stressed out trying to figure out how you’re going to make a career out of acting. Then you finish the book and realize, Oh yeah. I’m just an innocent bystander checking out what Pam (apparently known as Jenna) is doing and what a relief that this isn’t my aspiring life.
Either way, it’s a win. You either get trade secrets or a surprising realization that maybe things are harder for those easy-to-judge actors than you realize. But seriously, we hardly ever get to hear about the no’s and failed attempts and years of trying and waiting. Just gives a new perspective on what actors typically go through to get where they are and what they often still have to go through once they’ve “made it.” Oh and you will find out Pam’s real name. And that she’s friends with Kirk (who also has a real name). And you will learn a tidge bit about Pam’s (I mean Jenna’s) real life and career journey.
No matter your career path, it’s an interesting read. With pictures! [Oh— critique: give us pictures in color next time please!]
To all you actors out there: Respect!
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
So yeah, it’s less of a memoir style of book and more of like... a survival guide... for aspiring actors. Hm. They should have put that on the cover...
Maybe you ARE an aspiring actor. And you read subtitles and you already realized that this book was for you- fantastic- I can already tell you’re gonna be successful before you even cracked its pages. And now you have even more valuable information to help you get proper headshots, sign a manager and/or an agent, learn how to audition, and prepare for rejection. What luck!
Or maybe you are like me and you were like- “Hey, Pam is on this book. I will read it.” And then you do. And you get stressed out trying to figure out how you’re going to make a career out of acting. Then you finish the book and realize, Oh yeah. I’m just an innocent bystander checking out what Pam (apparently known as Jenna) is doing and what a relief that this isn’t my aspiring life.
Either way, it’s a win. You either get trade secrets or a surprising realization that maybe things are harder for those easy-to-judge actors than you realize. But seriously, we hardly ever get to hear about the no’s and failed attempts and years of trying and waiting. Just gives a new perspective on what actors typically go through to get where they are and what they often still have to go through once they’ve “made it.” Oh and you will find out Pam’s real name. And that she’s friends with Kirk (who also has a real name). And you will learn a tidge bit about Pam’s (I mean Jenna’s) real life and career journey.
No matter your career path, it’s an interesting read. With pictures! [Oh— critique: give us pictures in color next time please!]
To all you actors out there: Respect!
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
"The ministry we have outlined is relatively rare. There are many seeker-driven churches that help many people find Christ. There are many churches seeking to engage the culture through political activism. There is a fast-growing charismatic movement with emphasis on glorious, passionate, corporate worship. There are many congregations with strong concern for doctrinal rigor and purity and who work very hard to keep themselves separate from the world. There are many churches with a radical commitment to the poor and marginalized. We do not, however, see enough individual churches that embody the full, integrative gospel balance we have outlined here... we see no broad movement yet of this gospel-centered ministry."
Edited by D.A. Carson and Timothy Keller and each chapter written by a different contributor, The Gospel-Centered Church is a fleshing out of the Foundation Statements created for/by The Gospel Coalition (a fellowship of churches and Christians from many different denominations). They begin the book by giving some background to The Gospel Coalition and their purpose. The board of leaders recognized the shift in the American church in relation to culture- some churches reengineering their 'gospel' message to fit in better with the culture, others defiantly building higher walls apart from culture. TGC desires to build up the church and encourage her to engage and connect with the current culture without compromising the explicit truths of Scripture or changing the gospel message to be 'less offensive.'
Therefore, this book is firstly, a resource for church leaders to help shape their ministries to be gospel-centered, and secondly, an explanation for laypeople about some of the primary doctrines of the gospel and how it relates to our culture. Some of the topics include: truth and Scripture, creation, sin/fall, redemption, justification, Holy Spirit, God's kingdom, the sacraments, and final restoration. They mentioned that a lot of churches have adopted TGC's doctrinal statements as their own.
Having grown up in the evangelical church, there wasn't a lot of new material for me or information that I disagreed with. If you're well-versed in theology, this probably won't be earth-shattering and could even be a little tedious reading, but if you've never really learned the 'why' behind a lot of the church doctrines, this would be highly beneficial for you. Each chapter is full of Scripture and will plainly guide you through each topic- the gospel and church doctrine are not just traditions we blindly follow for no reason. They are also transparent about aspects of each topic that even the writers may disagree on and explain the different views (i.e. baptism or the transmission of Adam's original sin to all other humans), always noting the major things they still hold in common.
A couple areas I wish would have been a little different were the parts regarding sin and human depravity. The origin of sin/evil is one of the hardest things to interpret or understand and I wish they would have spent more time discussing that complicated and controversial doctrine. Human depravity is also an oft-argued aspect of the gospel and I found that chapter a little too academic for me. I think for a lot of people it would become a chapter people skip because it takes a lot of focus to grasp what they're talking about. I found myself getting to the end of the page and realizing I was reading without really comprehending and had to reread a lot of passages.
Something I really appreciate about TGC is that they don't backdown when facing the loud voices of postmodernism that question morality and authority. We can't be weak when it comes to truth, even if it's unpopular. We have to let God and Scripture be our authority, not the culture or our feelings.
As they noted: "Love divorced from truth is not love, and truth divorced from love is not truth."
I think this book would be a valuable book to own, if even to just use it as a resource. Since each chapter is separate, you could easily read whatever topic you're curious about in whatever order or in several different sittings. The appendix are the printed Gospel Coalition's Foundation Documents for reference as well.
There is a ton of content in this book so to provide quotes on each topic would become too much for this review, but here are some quotes to give you a taste of what you'll read:
"Here’s our position as Christians: we live in a Christ-rejecting world with all its sin and death, but we belong to a Christ-exalting family with all its life and joy. We experience both the pain of this fallen world and the hope of all who are in Christ at the same time."
"God is much more concerned to make our eternal state secure than to make our temporal existence easy."
"God does not overlook the anger we unleash, the abuse we inflict, the suffering we disregard, the injustice we ignore. A holy God cannot simply hide his eyes or cover his ears to such sin. Its victims scream for justice, and Gods compassion provides what his righteousness requires through Jesus’ sacrifice. Since the Son of God had no sin, his willingness to suffer on a cross and accept the penalty we deserve is far beyond any recompense that humanity could provide. Christ’s righteousness so overbalanced our unrighteousness that his sacrifice is sufficient to compensate for the sin of the entire world and of all ages (Rom 5:15-19; Heb 9:26-28; 1 Pt 3:18; Titus 2:11-14)"
"God is not like the government, responding to unforeseen circumstances and making adjustments for unintended consequences...But God is sovereign. He fulfills his own plan in his own time by his own power, and no one can stop him. God knows exactly what he is doing at every point in history in every nation of the world and through every event in your life. This should be a great comfort to you... You can have confidence in knowing that the events of your life are not spinning out of control or settles by random chance but that they are in the hands of God, who plans for you in love. Christians find joy in knowing that Gods plan will lead to the greatest possible display of his glory and the greatest possible joy for his people."
"If there were some other way to receive eternal life, God would be guilty of the most massive violation of justice in the history of the cosmos... If there were some other way for people to be saved from their sinful plight, if God had a Plan B that worked equally well as “the Jesus way,” then one would have to conclude that the death of Jesus Christ was not really necessary for the salvation of sinners."
"...humans have refused to honor God as king, which explains the rising earthly kingdoms filled with evil opposition to God."
"Christians refuse to believe that there are only two options in engaging our culture: either to assimilate or to separate, to capitulate or to evade, or to over-contextualize or to under-adapt. Jeremiah 29 encourages Gods people not to accommodate the foreign culture but to move in and get involved in the life of the city economically and culturally. The prophet is asking the people to be spiritually bicultural. They are being called neither to worship the city nor to hate the culture, but to love the city."
"Kingdom- driven alternative communities will have a healthy balance between 'theologically substantial preaching, dynamic evangelism and apologetics, and church growth' and planting of churches that will 'emphasize repentance, personal renewal, and holiness of life' and winsome 'engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government.' "
"The local church and its love represent the only sure antidote to a post modern world mired in sin and despair. People today are trying to put 1 foot in front of the other and sustain a meaningful existence but Are consistently sinking into the quicksand of uncertainty and confusion. Looking for friendships, they absorb the wounds of the soul. Craving companionship, they become mired in loneliness. Seeking assurance, they are riddled by self-doubt. Yearning for security, they are wracked by anxiety. People are weary, marooned in darkness with little real contentment, and yet they trudge onward seeking solace in anything that might distract them from their empty lives- a screen, a beer, a dalliance... It is to see what society lacks, a love without which souls wither and die, a love that all people (whether they know it or not) passionately crave. It is the love found exclusively in the local church."
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
Edited by D.A. Carson and Timothy Keller and each chapter written by a different contributor, The Gospel-Centered Church is a fleshing out of the Foundation Statements created for/by The Gospel Coalition (a fellowship of churches and Christians from many different denominations). They begin the book by giving some background to The Gospel Coalition and their purpose. The board of leaders recognized the shift in the American church in relation to culture- some churches reengineering their 'gospel' message to fit in better with the culture, others defiantly building higher walls apart from culture. TGC desires to build up the church and encourage her to engage and connect with the current culture without compromising the explicit truths of Scripture or changing the gospel message to be 'less offensive.'
Therefore, this book is firstly, a resource for church leaders to help shape their ministries to be gospel-centered, and secondly, an explanation for laypeople about some of the primary doctrines of the gospel and how it relates to our culture. Some of the topics include: truth and Scripture, creation, sin/fall, redemption, justification, Holy Spirit, God's kingdom, the sacraments, and final restoration. They mentioned that a lot of churches have adopted TGC's doctrinal statements as their own.
Having grown up in the evangelical church, there wasn't a lot of new material for me or information that I disagreed with. If you're well-versed in theology, this probably won't be earth-shattering and could even be a little tedious reading, but if you've never really learned the 'why' behind a lot of the church doctrines, this would be highly beneficial for you. Each chapter is full of Scripture and will plainly guide you through each topic- the gospel and church doctrine are not just traditions we blindly follow for no reason. They are also transparent about aspects of each topic that even the writers may disagree on and explain the different views (i.e. baptism or the transmission of Adam's original sin to all other humans), always noting the major things they still hold in common.
A couple areas I wish would have been a little different were the parts regarding sin and human depravity. The origin of sin/evil is one of the hardest things to interpret or understand and I wish they would have spent more time discussing that complicated and controversial doctrine. Human depravity is also an oft-argued aspect of the gospel and I found that chapter a little too academic for me. I think for a lot of people it would become a chapter people skip because it takes a lot of focus to grasp what they're talking about. I found myself getting to the end of the page and realizing I was reading without really comprehending and had to reread a lot of passages.
Something I really appreciate about TGC is that they don't backdown when facing the loud voices of postmodernism that question morality and authority. We can't be weak when it comes to truth, even if it's unpopular. We have to let God and Scripture be our authority, not the culture or our feelings.
As they noted: "Love divorced from truth is not love, and truth divorced from love is not truth."
I think this book would be a valuable book to own, if even to just use it as a resource. Since each chapter is separate, you could easily read whatever topic you're curious about in whatever order or in several different sittings. The appendix are the printed Gospel Coalition's Foundation Documents for reference as well.
There is a ton of content in this book so to provide quotes on each topic would become too much for this review, but here are some quotes to give you a taste of what you'll read:
"Here’s our position as Christians: we live in a Christ-rejecting world with all its sin and death, but we belong to a Christ-exalting family with all its life and joy. We experience both the pain of this fallen world and the hope of all who are in Christ at the same time."
"God is much more concerned to make our eternal state secure than to make our temporal existence easy."
"God does not overlook the anger we unleash, the abuse we inflict, the suffering we disregard, the injustice we ignore. A holy God cannot simply hide his eyes or cover his ears to such sin. Its victims scream for justice, and Gods compassion provides what his righteousness requires through Jesus’ sacrifice. Since the Son of God had no sin, his willingness to suffer on a cross and accept the penalty we deserve is far beyond any recompense that humanity could provide. Christ’s righteousness so overbalanced our unrighteousness that his sacrifice is sufficient to compensate for the sin of the entire world and of all ages (Rom 5:15-19; Heb 9:26-28; 1 Pt 3:18; Titus 2:11-14)"
"God is not like the government, responding to unforeseen circumstances and making adjustments for unintended consequences...But God is sovereign. He fulfills his own plan in his own time by his own power, and no one can stop him. God knows exactly what he is doing at every point in history in every nation of the world and through every event in your life. This should be a great comfort to you... You can have confidence in knowing that the events of your life are not spinning out of control or settles by random chance but that they are in the hands of God, who plans for you in love. Christians find joy in knowing that Gods plan will lead to the greatest possible display of his glory and the greatest possible joy for his people."
"If there were some other way to receive eternal life, God would be guilty of the most massive violation of justice in the history of the cosmos... If there were some other way for people to be saved from their sinful plight, if God had a Plan B that worked equally well as “the Jesus way,” then one would have to conclude that the death of Jesus Christ was not really necessary for the salvation of sinners."
"...humans have refused to honor God as king, which explains the rising earthly kingdoms filled with evil opposition to God."
"Christians refuse to believe that there are only two options in engaging our culture: either to assimilate or to separate, to capitulate or to evade, or to over-contextualize or to under-adapt. Jeremiah 29 encourages Gods people not to accommodate the foreign culture but to move in and get involved in the life of the city economically and culturally. The prophet is asking the people to be spiritually bicultural. They are being called neither to worship the city nor to hate the culture, but to love the city."
"Kingdom- driven alternative communities will have a healthy balance between 'theologically substantial preaching, dynamic evangelism and apologetics, and church growth' and planting of churches that will 'emphasize repentance, personal renewal, and holiness of life' and winsome 'engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government.' "
"The local church and its love represent the only sure antidote to a post modern world mired in sin and despair. People today are trying to put 1 foot in front of the other and sustain a meaningful existence but Are consistently sinking into the quicksand of uncertainty and confusion. Looking for friendships, they absorb the wounds of the soul. Craving companionship, they become mired in loneliness. Seeking assurance, they are riddled by self-doubt. Yearning for security, they are wracked by anxiety. People are weary, marooned in darkness with little real contentment, and yet they trudge onward seeking solace in anything that might distract them from their empty lives- a screen, a beer, a dalliance... It is to see what society lacks, a love without which souls wither and die, a love that all people (whether they know it or not) passionately crave. It is the love found exclusively in the local church."
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
Honestly, the racial tensions between whites and minorities is a topic I tend to avoid thinking or talking about because it feels too overwhelming and there is no clear solution. It always leaves me feeling guilty, helpless, frustrated, and torn. But after hearing a sermon about racial reconciliation, I felt challenged to stop avoiding thinking about it. So I read a book recommended to me called “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America” by Michael O. Emerson. (Reviewed here ) Although I approached it with an open mind and willingness to recognize my own faults, it felt like just condemnation and blame rather than an honest quest for reconciliation, and I came away unsatisfied and still lost. Then this book, Bloodlines, was recommended to me. While both books offer important perspectives and information, this one differed from the sociologically crafted Emerson book in that it was gospel focused. This book is so necessary.
John Piper is transparent about why he wrote this book. He is open about his own racism as a kid growing up in the 50s and 60s in South Carolina. He says, “I am not writing this book as a successful multiethnic leader. I am not successful. I am not an expert in diversity. If you came looking for the pragmatic silver bullet for the multiethnic congregation, I may as well bid you farewell. I don’t have it. I write because of truth I see in the Scriptures, convictions I have in my mind, and longings I feel in my heart.” Part passion for the cross and diverse, biblical unity, part bearing witness to the freedom he experienced from racism, and part responsibility to shepherd God’s church, Piper lays out in his book the ways the gospel is essential to racial reconciliation and seeing the church look more like the diverse church reflected in Scripture.
Piper is careful to cite influencers on both sides of the issue and helpfully defines the buzzwords that mean different things for different people.
I will admit, upon reading this book I was still naïvely looking for a pat answer to the problem or a step-by-step process to racial reconciliation that would fix the world’s problems and obviously I didn’t get it. But I did not come away from Bloodlines disappointed. Where Emerson’s book condemned and criticized Christians for evangelism, minimizing it as a “just make friends with people from other races” solution, Piper reminds us that the gospel is not an ideology to be brought in and “make its contribution” -- it is a “supernatural power.”
He says, “The gospel was meant to explode with saving power in the lives of politicians and social activists, not help them decorate their social agenda. Jesus did not come into the world to endorse anybody’s platform… The impact of the gospel in race relations is unpredictable. It has potentials that no one can conceive. And, to our shame, there have been many contradictions between what the gospel is and what professing Christians have done… But the answer to those inconsistencies is not to domesticate the gospel into another ideological mule to help pull the wagon of social progress.”
Exploding with power! I love that! Piper articulated what I came away from Emerson’s book needing. Emerson downplays what is at the core of Christianity, not hiding his bias. But the gospel is not an idea. It’s the supernatural power of the Creator God who is not bound by human thinking or social structures- good or bad. Who can say what the power of the gospel can do in this world? It’s not naïve and it’s nothing to be flippant about. And that’s the hope of Piper’s book. We may not know how to begin structuring a society to remove racialization, though that doesn’t mean we stop trying, but that’s not our ultimate end game. As Christians, our endgame is eternity with our Savior. His power changes lives and if we do nothing else but introduce people to that power, is that not enough?
Piper describes nine destructive forces at the root of racial strife—Satan, guilt, hopelessness, feelings of inferiority and self-doubt, greed, hate, fear, and apathy—and then details how the gospel overcomes every single one of them. Really Satan lurks behind all the other forces, but Piper says, “What hope does a message of personal responsibility or structural intervention have against [the Devil’s] supernatural power? None… The Devil is stronger than all humans, all armies, all politics, and all human morality put together. We have no charge against him except by one means, the power of Jesus Christ operating through us because he dwells within us.” He asks us to imagine a world where people resist the devil, are free from guilt, dead to pride, fervent and humbled before God, filled with hope, courage, and a desire to serve others, and resting in God’s promise to make all things right. How can racism survive that?
This book won’t let us sit back and blame—on either side of the issue—but is meant to challenge us to pursue racial reconciliation and diversity in our lives and our churches every day, not giving up when it’s hard and overwhelming, or when we are misunderstood, but to constantly strive for it because God’s elect is the poster-child for diversity.
“We were not made to make much of blackness. We were not made to make much of whiteness. We were not made to make much of self or humanity in general. We were made to make much of God. And when God pursues this, he pursues what is best for us—what will satisfy us forever. And therefore God’s self-exaltation is the essence of his love. He loves us not ultimately by making much of us but by freeing us from the bondage of self to enjoy making much of him forever.”
I still don’t know how racial reconciliation fits into every aspect of my life (i.e. politics, social justice, my mostly white church), and I don’t necessarily feel confident about my ability to bring about change, but I am no longer directionless and hopeless because it’s not about me and my ability—it’s about the truth and the ultimate power of God and His gospel. And if that’s not a good enough solution, then I don’t know what is.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
John Piper is transparent about why he wrote this book. He is open about his own racism as a kid growing up in the 50s and 60s in South Carolina. He says, “I am not writing this book as a successful multiethnic leader. I am not successful. I am not an expert in diversity. If you came looking for the pragmatic silver bullet for the multiethnic congregation, I may as well bid you farewell. I don’t have it. I write because of truth I see in the Scriptures, convictions I have in my mind, and longings I feel in my heart.” Part passion for the cross and diverse, biblical unity, part bearing witness to the freedom he experienced from racism, and part responsibility to shepherd God’s church, Piper lays out in his book the ways the gospel is essential to racial reconciliation and seeing the church look more like the diverse church reflected in Scripture.
Piper is careful to cite influencers on both sides of the issue and helpfully defines the buzzwords that mean different things for different people.
I will admit, upon reading this book I was still naïvely looking for a pat answer to the problem or a step-by-step process to racial reconciliation that would fix the world’s problems and obviously I didn’t get it. But I did not come away from Bloodlines disappointed. Where Emerson’s book condemned and criticized Christians for evangelism, minimizing it as a “just make friends with people from other races” solution, Piper reminds us that the gospel is not an ideology to be brought in and “make its contribution” -- it is a “supernatural power.”
He says, “The gospel was meant to explode with saving power in the lives of politicians and social activists, not help them decorate their social agenda. Jesus did not come into the world to endorse anybody’s platform… The impact of the gospel in race relations is unpredictable. It has potentials that no one can conceive. And, to our shame, there have been many contradictions between what the gospel is and what professing Christians have done… But the answer to those inconsistencies is not to domesticate the gospel into another ideological mule to help pull the wagon of social progress.”
Exploding with power! I love that! Piper articulated what I came away from Emerson’s book needing. Emerson downplays what is at the core of Christianity, not hiding his bias. But the gospel is not an idea. It’s the supernatural power of the Creator God who is not bound by human thinking or social structures- good or bad. Who can say what the power of the gospel can do in this world? It’s not naïve and it’s nothing to be flippant about. And that’s the hope of Piper’s book. We may not know how to begin structuring a society to remove racialization, though that doesn’t mean we stop trying, but that’s not our ultimate end game. As Christians, our endgame is eternity with our Savior. His power changes lives and if we do nothing else but introduce people to that power, is that not enough?
Piper describes nine destructive forces at the root of racial strife—Satan, guilt, hopelessness, feelings of inferiority and self-doubt, greed, hate, fear, and apathy—and then details how the gospel overcomes every single one of them. Really Satan lurks behind all the other forces, but Piper says, “What hope does a message of personal responsibility or structural intervention have against [the Devil’s] supernatural power? None… The Devil is stronger than all humans, all armies, all politics, and all human morality put together. We have no charge against him except by one means, the power of Jesus Christ operating through us because he dwells within us.” He asks us to imagine a world where people resist the devil, are free from guilt, dead to pride, fervent and humbled before God, filled with hope, courage, and a desire to serve others, and resting in God’s promise to make all things right. How can racism survive that?
This book won’t let us sit back and blame—on either side of the issue—but is meant to challenge us to pursue racial reconciliation and diversity in our lives and our churches every day, not giving up when it’s hard and overwhelming, or when we are misunderstood, but to constantly strive for it because God’s elect is the poster-child for diversity.
“We were not made to make much of blackness. We were not made to make much of whiteness. We were not made to make much of self or humanity in general. We were made to make much of God. And when God pursues this, he pursues what is best for us—what will satisfy us forever. And therefore God’s self-exaltation is the essence of his love. He loves us not ultimately by making much of us but by freeing us from the bondage of self to enjoy making much of him forever.”
I still don’t know how racial reconciliation fits into every aspect of my life (i.e. politics, social justice, my mostly white church), and I don’t necessarily feel confident about my ability to bring about change, but I am no longer directionless and hopeless because it’s not about me and my ability—it’s about the truth and the ultimate power of God and His gospel. And if that’s not a good enough solution, then I don’t know what is.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
Very interesting read! The premise of the book is to consider that success has far more to do with where we came from than who we are, our innate talents and personality. Of course, we all operate from a different definition of 'success.' Gladwell sets out to explain how the 'outliers' or those who are truly and remarkably successful came to be there. His explanation is not something you could (or would want to) replicate, but was nevertheless interesting to ponder. It is clear that there are levels of privilege in our world and that people in certain places with certain backgrounds have more or better opportunities or resources which in turn enable them to have more success than others who are no less smart.
I think one important takeaway from this book is to consider what ways we can make 'outliers' more common. How can we provide opportunities and resources to those who don't have access? How can we encourage and help parents to create a home environment that leads to successful futures for their children? After reading this book, it has reiterated to me the important role I play for my daughters in setting an example for a good work ethic and perseverance, teaching social skills like communication and how to interact with people in authority, being willing to find ways for them to learn and helping them achieve what they set out to do.
Of course, the book outlines several helpful steps to prosperity, but I don't necessarily agree with the entirety of Gladwell's recipe for success. As stated before, success is defined differently for everyone, and to me, success in life is also about the relationships you make with other people. To sacrifice meaningful relationships and time spent with loved ones or serving others in order to obtain what the world deems a successful life is not worth it to me.
I also have to mention a key factor missing in Gladwell's research. In his descriptions of these success stories he so often uses words like 'just so happened to be' 'as luck would have it' or 'coincidentally'. That true success takes a bit of luck. I suppose to the secular mind, that is exactly what's happening. But as a follower of Christ, I believe in the sovereignty of God over all things. And at some point we have to stop seeking success for ourselves and recognize that God's plan will prevail: regardless of our IQ, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, culture, address, birthdate, etc. Furthermore, it's cool to think that we can all write our 'outlier story' and see how God puts us exactly where he wants us to be to teach us the things he wants us to learn and to bless us with the things he wants to bless us with. We should step back and see how God has worked in our lives and our parents' lives to get us to where we are today. Then maybe we can see where he might have us go next.
To me, this book reminds us that there is more to every situation than meets the eye and to truly understand someone's story, we must see where they have come from and what has influenced their worldview- how their innate talents and personality has interacted with their environment. It is a book that should remind us that we are not 'doomed' and trapped in our circumstances. It should spur us to create opportunities for others. And it should bring us to our knees in front of Him who directs our steps.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!
I think one important takeaway from this book is to consider what ways we can make 'outliers' more common. How can we provide opportunities and resources to those who don't have access? How can we encourage and help parents to create a home environment that leads to successful futures for their children? After reading this book, it has reiterated to me the important role I play for my daughters in setting an example for a good work ethic and perseverance, teaching social skills like communication and how to interact with people in authority, being willing to find ways for them to learn and helping them achieve what they set out to do.
Of course, the book outlines several helpful steps to prosperity, but I don't necessarily agree with the entirety of Gladwell's recipe for success. As stated before, success is defined differently for everyone, and to me, success in life is also about the relationships you make with other people. To sacrifice meaningful relationships and time spent with loved ones or serving others in order to obtain what the world deems a successful life is not worth it to me.
I also have to mention a key factor missing in Gladwell's research. In his descriptions of these success stories he so often uses words like 'just so happened to be' 'as luck would have it' or 'coincidentally'. That true success takes a bit of luck. I suppose to the secular mind, that is exactly what's happening. But as a follower of Christ, I believe in the sovereignty of God over all things. And at some point we have to stop seeking success for ourselves and recognize that God's plan will prevail: regardless of our IQ, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, culture, address, birthdate, etc. Furthermore, it's cool to think that we can all write our 'outlier story' and see how God puts us exactly where he wants us to be to teach us the things he wants us to learn and to bless us with the things he wants to bless us with. We should step back and see how God has worked in our lives and our parents' lives to get us to where we are today. Then maybe we can see where he might have us go next.
To me, this book reminds us that there is more to every situation than meets the eye and to truly understand someone's story, we must see where they have come from and what has influenced their worldview- how their innate talents and personality has interacted with their environment. It is a book that should remind us that we are not 'doomed' and trapped in our circumstances. It should spur us to create opportunities for others. And it should bring us to our knees in front of Him who directs our steps.
See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!