In a recent post, I argued that one of the tell-tale signs of whether or not a viewpoint does not correspond with reality is whether or not it results in death; one’s own death, or the death of another, or many others. Supposedly, humans these days are smarter than any humans that have ever existed. …
Some friends of mine released a children’s book called The Villain: The Noble Adventures of Georges & Jean-Luc. I haven’t had a chance to look at it personally, but here is a review you can check out: The Villain: The Noble Adventures of Georges and Jean-Luc By Katherine Thompson Illustrated by Gary R Thompson Purchase …
The Walk to Walden Hill begins with tragedy: the orphaning of the protagonist, Josh Billows. His mother dead, his father jailed, Josh ends up in foster care. As just a young child he is forced to grapple with issues that are known to shipwreck adults, even if he doesn’t understand the real issues that are in play.
Posted to The ChristianPost.com Religious leaders are well aware of the vulnerability of the child brain, and the importance of getting the indoctrination in early. The Jesuit boast, ‘Give me the child for his first seven years, and I’ll give you the man,’ is no less accurate (or sinister) for being hackneyed. The above quote …
I received in the mail today two books to review… reminding me I’ve got a review or two yet to write! Argh!
To whet your appetite, let me say that both of these books appear to be solid and their respective websites look worthy of your investigation.
The first book is Rational Conclusions by James D. Agresti. This appears to be a thorough and cumulative apologetic for Christianity drawn from multiple disciplines. His website is www.justfacts.com. Find the book on Amazon, here.
The next book, by Dr. Edgar Andrews, is called Who Made God: Searching for a Theory of Everything. Pick it up on Amazon. I always like it when scientists step it up against other ‘scientists.’
——————————–
I was feeling a bit like a heel for not having gotten to the other reviews of books that have been sent my way that I ran down and grabbed them so I could at least get some links their way. It’s the least I can do, I reckon
Story Craft, John R. Erickson Book Review by Debbie Thompson, ACM Volunteer If you have 8-10 year old children you may already know John Erickson. He is the author of the popular Hank, the Cowdog stories. Hank is such a delightful doggy character that almost any child or animal loving adult will shake their head …
Observations on Writing Christian Fiction culled from comments on the novels submitted to the ACM novel contest. First and foremost, our culture needs good stories, well crafted and edited, which affirm and extend thinking about Christian ideas and teaching. Sometimes these stories have to be communicated in an explicit way but that approach often limits …
Book Review by Mary Ann Kreitzer It’s a parent’s worst nightmare — hearing the words, “You have a very sick child.” For a dad, it’s particularly difficult because his job, besides providing materially for his family, is to protect his loved ones from harm. But when illness strikes a child, a dad often stands helpless …
Apparently, Disney is set to film Voyage of the Dawn Treader after having previously indicated the movie was off. In a previous post, I discussed my feelings about this. Essentially, I was unhappy with the embellishments in the movie and believe that the drop in revenue was associated with Lewis fans showing their displeasure. I reviewed Prince Caspian. The title was: A Review of Prince Caspian- One Disappointed Christian.
From my readings in the blogosphere, it looks like we may be in for more with the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This is unfortunate, as this is one of my favorite of all of them.
For a homespun story of great historical value, I submit Mrs. Bettina’s It Happened in Italy. Given current trends in America, Europe, and the world at large, I greatly fear that a hundred year’s hence there will be need for books documenting humanity’s bravery in the face of unadulterated murderous evil. I suspect that here too the story will be the same: the most educated people on the planet created and carried out their calamities… and the ‘uneducated’ simple folks tried to stop them.
It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust by Elizabeth Bettina. Buy on Amazon
Having only read excerpts of Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals, I was pleased to have the opportunity to sit down and read it for myself in its entirety. Knowing how influential Alinksy was for the young Obama (and many others who now occupy seats of power) I am more worried than I was before now that I’ve actually read this book. Go to the library and pick up the book. You need to read it.
The subtitle of the book is “A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals.” It is not an inappropriate subtitle. Alinsky is all about pragmatism and realism. Alinsky is dismissive of ethical questions related to the question “Does the end justify the means?” He says:
The practical revolutionary will understand Goethe’s “conscience is the virtue of observers and not of agents of action”; in action, one does not always enjoy the luxury of a decision that is consistent both with one’s individual conscience and the good of mankind. The choice must always be for the latter. Action is for mass salvation and not for the individual’s personal salvation. He who sacrifices mass good for his personal conscience has a peculiar conception of “personal salvation”; he doesn’t care enough for people to be “corrupted” for them. (pg 25, chapter titled: Of Means and Ends)
My first exposure to Dan Barker was his so called ‘Easter Challenge.’ I had already emerged from my own crisis of faith and had already determined some principles for sorting out alleged Biblical contradictions. The more I read Barker’s writings, the less impressed I was. I put the Challenge to good use, though, having my New Testament courses take up the ‘challenge’ for their spring project.
It never crossed my mind to try to actually correspond with Barker. I assumed the whole thing was just some sort of cheap shot. Having read Kingsley’s book I see that was a mistake. He documents how Barker and other hyper-skeptics really thought they had something here and took the alleged silence of Christians as telling.
I am glad, therefore, to see that Pastor Stephen Kingsley has taken up the ‘challenge.’ According to Kingsley, he has contacted Barker with the ‘answer’ but Barker has demurred and hasn’t yet responded.
Has Kingsley done it? Has Kingsley really and definitively reconciled and harmonized the Easter accounts?
I have three books sent to me due for reading and reviewing. It is going to be a week or possibly longer to get to one or all of them so I wanted to throw up a little blurb to each in the meantime.
Finally, Athanatos Publishing Group (an extension of the ministry of this site) released yesterday a book related to the Holocaust: Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible: A Scriptural Analysis of Anti-Semitism, National Socialism, and the Churches. My review of this book is available here.
Thanks go out to my friend Dannyboy whom I have known through forum debate for I think 15 years now. Danny also graciously hosted me on a trip to England where he and I tipped back a pint (or two) at the Oxford inns where the Inklings (Lewis, Tolkien, etc) would meet. Here are some pics from that affair. WIthout further ado here is his review:
“Spero” – Book II of the Birthpangs series by AR Horvath.
‘Spero’ (Hope) is one of those Latin words that you sort of know, even if you were lucky enough to attend a school which didn’t obstinately prioritise fluency in dead languages. It is incorporated in quite a few modern English words, most obviously ‘desperate’, or ‘de – sperate’, meaning literally ‘without hope’. Fortunately, although the times that AR Horvath is writing about may indeed be desperate, the quality of the writing itself is far from it.
Recent Comments