JRF's #23 - I Call It Heresy! by A.W. Tozer

Although I know this book is a transcript of Tozer's sermons on I Peter, it still feels like someone walked up to him and said,  "Hey Brother Toz, tell me what you think of this random verse in I Peter and I will livestream your thoughts into this book".

What first made me buy this book was the main title, but the reason I read it was because of the subtitle, "...and Other Timely Topics from I Peter".  Our Community Group was going through I Peter and I sought to glean from Tozer's wisdom.

While Tozer produces many worthwhile thoughts and potent quotables, most of the time I didn't have any clue how they related to the passage in I Peter that he was supposedly discussing.  This disjointedness made the book a somewhat gruelling read.  I have never heard recordings of Tozer preaching but if this is characteristic of his style I would say that he would be thrilling to listen to but his audience would leave without a clear understanding of the major themes and authorial intent of the passage.  Perhaps I am being to judgemental.  It is possible that much of the problem lies with the editor.

I like Tozer.  I like First Peter.  I didn't like this book.

JRF's #22 - The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: I Peter by John MacArthur

I found myself referring to this commentary enough during our Community Group's study of I Peter that I decided to go ahead and read the whole thing so I could get credit for it.

This commentary strikes a balance between being devotional, exegetical, and expository.  If you are looking to go deep into the greek grammar or syntax, this is not the techinical commentary you want.  That said, MacArthur provides enough information on the original language to understand the key points and clear flow of Peter's letter.  MacArthur also digs deep enough to satisfactorily explain tough passages such as I Peter 3:18-22.

At times it feels like MacArthur launches into lengthy rabbit trails that only seem to be peripherally related to the passage in I Peter that he is commenting on.  These rabbit trails are of course interesting and edifying but at times were distracting from the study of the actual passage.

Overall, a great tool for studying and heeding a great book of the Bible.

JRF's #21 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Though I had never read Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pschyo-horror, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I was fairly certain that I was not in for many surprises as the basic ideas of the story have become integrated into our cultural mythology.

However, reading this short book was quite more interesting and complex than I had expected.  Three significant surprises were:

1. Narrative - The story of Dr. Jekyll's progressive destruction is told not from his perspective, but from that of a Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll's lawyer and friend.  This makes the tale much more suspenseful as the reader has to, along with Utterson, piece together the clues, and not until the end is the full horror revealed.  Not describing in detail Mr. Hyde's every wicked episode makes the final full revelation of his true nature all the more horrific, similar to the way not that not seeing the shark throughout the movie made the final appearance of JAWS all the more terrifying.  In addition, by making the focus of the story Mr. Utterson it is easier to see the effects of Dr. Jekyll's misadventures on others, rather than only the consequences he faced.

2.Not a tale of good vs. evil but submerged evil vs. uninhibited evil - I had thought this was a story of a good scientist who becomes a victim of a failed experiment and is turned into an evil monster.   Not so.  This is the story of a respectable sinner who seeks a way to rid himself of his inhibitions and the consequences of his sin.  He seeks liberty from his conscience and finds only enslavement to his depravity.  Dr. Jekyll does not equal the antithesis of Mr. Hyde.  Dr Jekyll is the respectable mask of Mr. Hyde.  In his words:

"The drug had no discriminating action; it was neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors of the prison-house of my disposition...Hence, although I had now two characters as well as two appearances, one was wholly evil, and the other was still the old Henry Jekyll, that incongruous compound of whose reformation and improvement I had already learned to despair.  The movement was thus wholly toward the worse."  (p.88)

3. Portrayl of Mr. Hyde - one last major surprise for me was the actual physical makeup of Mr. Hyde.  Usually when Dr J/Mr. H is portrayed in recent movies he basically looks like a Dickensian Incredible Hulk.  The below pictures from two fairly recent (and stupid) films makes my point:

The book however presents Mr. Hyde as much smaller in stature than Dr. Jekyll.  He is shorter, thinner, uglier, shriveled and emits a "strong feeling of deformity".  Stevenson makes it clear that in becoming Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll had become less of a man, not more.  Perhaps I'm reading too much into this but it seems like our culture has the opposite idea that in giving oneself over to evil they become stronger, sexier, more powerful...etc.

This was an effective and thrilling horror story, not because of its gross detail, but because of the potential for unrestrained depravity in all of us.

JRF's #20 Men Without Women by Ernest Hemmingway

I always have bittersweet experiences with Ernest Hemmingway's writings.  This collection of early short stories was no different.  The sweetness comes from the way that Hemmingway draws you into the life of his characters.  Often you meet them in the middle of a thought or event and yet you immediately begin to invest in them, quickly sympathizing with or being disgusted by them...or most often both.  Hemmingway's terse writing style, in particular his machine gun style dialouge which would become one of his most influential contributions to modern literature, can be seen evolving in these early works.

The bitterness sets in for me usually towards the end of the story as I realize that we (me and the characters) are either at the same place we started in, dead, or dying.  The joy for Hemmingway seems to be found in the moment, not the accomplishment of reaching any sought after destination.

I walk away from a Hemmingway book with a similar feeling as walking away from a Wes Anderson movie (although Hemmingway was immeasurably more manly than a Wes Anderson movie).  And I will most likely continue to read Hemmingway for similar reasons as viewing Wes Anderson's films - for their Ecclesiastes-ish sense of irony that is so ridiculously tragic as to be humorous, the joy of great dialogue, and their delight in the mundane and absurd details.  I will also lament their bleak, Christ-less, outlook on life.

JRF's #19 - Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is one of my favorite living authors.  Whether he is writing an article about the fatal last ride of surfing legend Mark Foo or a book on the nefarious origins of the Mormon Church, I always enjoy the way Krakauer can turn non-fiction into a journey of discovery.   I may not always agree with his final destination, but how he gets there is always captivating.

In Where Men Win Glory Krakauer explores the extraordinary life and tragic death by friendly fire of football player turned Army Ranger turned political pawn Pat Tilman.

The first half of this book was by far my favorite.  Krakauer simultaneously introduces us to Pat Tilman while deftly weaving his story together with the modern history of the land where he would eventually meet his death, Afghanistan.  Watching Tilman grow from child to young man to NFL star, fall in love with, remain faithful to during college and the NFL and marry his highschool sweetheart, and overcome personal and professional odds through sheer force of character gave me a deep sense of appreciation for this man.  It also reminded me of the power of personal integrity, even in unbelievers.

Learning about the modern history of Afghanistan was also enlightening.  In short...what a mess!  A mess in which the United States has been involved in long before 9/11.

The book hits a speed bump in the mid-section.  Here I felt that at times Krakauer weakened his case of a government coverup (which the facts clearly point to without any embelishing needed) by trying too hard to paint all military senior officers and government leaders as corrupt.  Particularly unhelpful was his chapter in which he discusses the questionable results of the 2000 election, in which Bush came out victorious.  Krakuer ended this seemingly out of place section by writing, "...thus did Bush become the forty-third president of the United States, a turn of events that would have no small impact on the life of Pat Tilman."  He goes on to imply that the Bush administration knew about an imminent threat from Al-Qaeda but turned a blind eye to warning signs...something Krakaer apparently believes Al Gore wouldn't have done.  This section sounds particularly foolish in light of the fact that Krakauer had previously so skillfully shown that the conflict with Al-Qaeda was a storm that had been brewing since at least the 80's and was inevitable.  In addition, while most of the narrative about Tilman's life comes from primary sources such as his family, his journals, and interviews, the sections on the Bush administration rely almost exclusively on books written about the Bush administration by other, often biased authors.  Of course things would have been different in Pat Tilman's life (and many others) if Bush had not been president, but to conjecture what those differences would have been is futile.

Portions of this book were truly heartbreaking: the vivid account of Tilman's heroic death by fratricide, Pat's brother Kevin's - who was only yards away at the time of Pat's death - discovery that his big brother had just been killed, the pain that Tilman's loved ones experienced by losing such a dynamic part of their family, the betrayal they felt once the truth of a coverup became known, and the lack of integrity and accountability by some in Tilman's chain of command.

But by far the most heartbreaking aspect of Tilman's story from a Biblical perspective is his determined atheism and self-worship.  He put his faith in no one but himself, and did some truly amazing and admirable things.  However no matter how strong of a person he was, his strength could never overcome his greatest enemy -the slave master of sin.  And thus he passed from this world an enemy of the enemy of sin - the One, True, Holy God.  His lack of fear was admirable, but his lack of the Fear of the Lord was tragic:

"I've never feared death per se, or really given a **** what happens 'after'.  I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.   My concerns have to do with the 'now' and becoming the man I envision....I think I understand that religious faith which makes the holy brave and strong; my strength is just somewhere else - it's in myself....I do not fear what awaits me, though I'm equally confident that nothing awaits."

Where Men Win Glory is truly a classic account of a tragedy.  A tragedy from every perspective.

JRF's #18 - Pastor Dad by Mark Driscoll

What does our culture need today?  Here's one answer:

"More than bigger governments, bigger schools, more free school lunches, more child therapists, more child medications, more daycares, more prisons, and more birth control, we need more godly men who raise their sons to be godly men who raise their sons to be godly men who raise their sons to be godly men (Ps. 78:5-8)."

In this short little book, Mark Driscoll uses select passages mostly from the book of Proverbs to call men to pursue the noble ministry of fatherhood.   As I am days away from meeting my first child, I hungrily ate up the practical wisdom distilled here.   Driscoll helped reinforce my conviction that fatherhood is a great honor, joy, and responsibility that has ramifications that go beyond my family and into eternity.

Here are a few nuggets:

"Lazy fathers are disobedient to God but want to have children who are obedient to them."

"Before any father disciplines his children, he is commanded to delight in them" (re:Prov 3:11-12)

"When God shares his name with us, it is a sacred matter that we must take very seriously"

"Any man who allows his daughter to sin and be sinned against in the name of loving her knows little of God's love."

You can download this ebook free here