Category: Book review

The Christmas story always bothered me.

It just never made sense. No, not the virgin birth. Not the angels singing to shepherds. Not the star in the sky. Not the wise men.

Continue reading “Why the Christmas Story Bothered Me”

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by David Haddon has sold millions of copies, and is now a Broadway play. The book takes us into the mind of Christopher, a high-functioning autistic fifteen-year-old in contemporary Britain. Inside that mind, behavior that seems so odd if not down-right crazy actually begins to make sense.
Continue reading “The Curious Incident”

I met David Skeel just before the New York Times article came out earlier this month about his friendship with an atheist colleague at the University of Pennsylvania.
Continue reading “Different Questions”

Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air, Into the Wild) in his typically understated yet gripping style, interweaves two stories in his book Under the Banner of Heaven: the 1984 murders of Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter by Mormon fundamentalists, and the origins and early history of Mormonism itself. It is a chilling and fascinating book that has stuck with me for several reasons. First, it opens up a lot of helpful background about Joseph Smith and the reality behind the polygamous communities popularized in the TV show Big Love.Second, it made me, as a person of faith, think seriously about the dynamics of any kind of fundamentalism.
Continue reading “Under the Banner of Heaven”

Every once in a while a kerfuffle bubbles up about whether or not the United States was founded as a Christian nation. The question can take many forms. Were the Founding Fathers personally committed Christians? Did they expect the Bible or parts of it to be the bedrock of the country? Was Christianity intended to be the unofficial established religion of the land?
Continue reading “A Christian Nation? Schaeffer Weighs In”

My favorites from my reading last year? Here they are:
Continue reading “The 2014 Andys”

The nominees are in. Here’s what I read this past year. It’s my usual mix of history, some fiction, a couple memoirs, a couple business books and, of course, some IVP books after they were published. The winners will soon be announced.
Continue reading “Nominees for the 2014 Andys”

I came to Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game late, even though I’ve been a sci-fi fan all my life. What impressed me was its emotional depth and philosophical sophistication for a book that was in the young adult genre before that category hit the big time in recent years.
Continue reading “The End of Ender’s Game “

One of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. What is less well known is that two other great men died the same day — Christian scholar and author C. S. Lewis, and novelist and pantheist Aldous Huxley.
Continue reading “Fifty Years Ago Three Great Men Died”

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan has exploded on the scene as the #1 bestseller on several lists and become a media feast. This book suggests that Jesus was just a failed revolutionary and that the apostle Paul should be credited with making him into “Christ.” This is not news on several levels.
Continue reading “News Flash! Zealot Isn’t News”