Tag Archives: books

The Next Big Shift — Part 3 of The Next Christians

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I’m going to be spending some time over the next few days looking at the book The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.

The third and final section of Lyons’ book may be the most controversial. He refers to a theory espoused by Phyllis Trickle in her book The Great Emergence in which she argues that Christianity undergoes a major shift every five hundred years. In about the year 500, the Roman Empire found. Near the year 1000, the Roman Catholic church split from the Orthodox churches. Close to 1500, the Reformation took place. Following this trend, Christianity is due for a change.

Lyons feels that these Restorers that he’s been describing, these Next Christians, are going to fundamentally change the face of Christianity. The driving force behind this, he reasons, will be a return to the preeminence of the gospel. It will take a return to the full message of the gospel, with its theme of restoration. Basically, Lyons says, the gospel is that we are made in God’s image, can be reconciled from sin through Jesus, and can join with him in working for the return of creation to its fullest potential.

Only then, Lyons says, can outreach efforts be more than a sales technique. Neighbors aren’t merely prospects; they are valued creations of God to whom we are to show unconditional love. This love, partnered with grace and acceptance, will naturally lead people to seek God. Acts of restoration will raise questions to which the only answer is the gospel. Other aspects of Christianity, what Lyons calls “second things,” will come to have their proper perspective.

There is much of worth in what Lyons has to say. I’m not as ready as he to write off what’s been done over the last century, but some of that is a question of age, I’m afraid. I remembering giving a class when I was in my late 20s and having a dear friend who was twice my age say, “I’m not convicted by this.” I was a bit taken aback, for I wasn’t really seeking to convict him with my words. Sometimes as the younger generation expresses their desire for a new level of excellence, the older generations can’t but hear that as a personal criticism.

Tomorrow I’ll try and wrap up this series with an overall review of the book and some links to further resources. Meanwhile, what are your thoughts about what Lyons has to share?

[Disclaimer: Links to books in this post go to Amazon and generate a commission for me. The book under discussion was purchased, not provided for review]

B&B Friday: The Sacred Meal

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I signed up to review books for Thomas Nelson. That means I receive books from them for free in exchange for reviewing them. Looking over the books they had available, I chose The Sacred Meal by Nora Gallagher (which means I received it for free; this is my attempt at full disclosure).

I chose the book because I have been studying the Lord’s Supper over the last few years. I thought this book would be about that. It is. Well, kind of. I feel sort of like a European that gets invited to a football game in the States, only to discover that the sport isn’t the one he is familiar with. What Gallagher describes is not the Lord’s Supper I know from my Church of Christ background. This is Holy Communion. It exists in a world that is foreign to my Christian experience, with priests and altars, people eating wafers and drinking from chalices. It was an interesting insight, but a frustrating one at the same time.

As an author, I’m sensitive to not wanting to be overly critical of someone else’s work. Yet I also feel a responsibility to do my best to present an honest evaluation of what I’ve read. If I’m being too hard, so be it. Write it off to just another grumpy reviewer.

More than being about the supper, this book is about community and fellowship, a description of the author’s experiences in church. That’s not bad in itself, but it’s sad that this book is supposed to be part of a series about “Ancient Practices.” There is a cursory nod to the biblical background, but Gallagher’s interest is in modern practices, not ancient ones. Biblical history is given a cursory nod, but little more than that. Gallagher’s statement that “We have known for some time that the Gospels were written long after the death of Jesus and were compiled by men who lived long after him” reveals a person who has spent little time examining current biblical research. What “we have known for some time” was disproved decades ago, so her attempt at intellectual snobbery comes off as mere ignorance.

Still, I did gain some insights into human nature and more than a few thoughts about what participating in the Lord’s Supper can mean to Christians. In an age where personal experience often trumps research, Gallagher’s book may well find an audience.

I do have to lodge one more complaint. Are there no proofreaders at Thomas Nelson with a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish? Words like “Sanctuario” and “communidades” are painful to read. Either write them in English or in Spanish, but not a mangled version of the two.

If you’d like insight into how Holy Communion is practiced in the Anglican church, this book can shed some light. If you’d like to know more about the ancient practice of the Lord’s Supper, you’d do better to read John Mark Hicks’ Come To The Table.

The letter to Pergamum: The making of books

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lettersPergamum was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. It competed with Ephesus and Smyrna for the “bragging rights” of Asia, the right to call themselves the most important city.

One way in which Pergamum sought to set itself apart from the other cities was with its library. Here’s an excerpt from Letters From The Lamb that describes the library of Pergamum:

Another source of pride for Pergamum was its library, with an impressive collection of over 200,000 volumes. Legend tells us that in the second century B.C., Eumenes II tried to lure away the chief librarian from the famous library in Alexandria, Egypt. In retaliation, Ptolemy VI, the Egyptian king, banned the export of papyrus to Pergamum. At that time, scrolls were typically made of papyrus. Eumenes commissioned his librarians to develop a new writing material to replace papyrus. They discovered that by stretching and refining animal skins, they could make a material known as vellum or parchment (word which traces its roots to the word Pergamum). One of the benefits of parchment was that it could be written on both sides and sewn together in a “codex,” an early form of book. Many of our biblical texts were preserved for us in this form.

(Letters From The Lamb, pp. 79-80)

The incarnate Word of God has some choice words for these lovers of books. We’ll look at those in the next few posts.

B&B Friday: Books that have impacted my life

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booksRather than review a book or a blog this week, I want to write about some of the books that impacted my life. Most of them are several decades old, but here goes…

• He Loves Forever by Tom Olbricht. OK, it wasn’t just this book; it was also the fact that I had Dr. Olbricht in class at that time. He taught me to let the Bible itself define which subjects are most important. That may sound obvious, but it was a concept that had a major effect on my understanding of the Bible.

• How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth by Douglas Stuart and Gordon Fee. Again, a book that taught me about how to interpret the Bible. The idea of discerning the different genres within Scripture had a major impact on how I read the Bible.

• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. I received this as a gift from the first couple for whom I performed a wedding ceremony. I didn’t grow up studying spiritual disciplines like fasting, meditation, etc. Foster’s book opened my eyes to these practices. The chapter on simplicity was also important in my development.

• Language Acquisition Made Practical by Thomas and Elizabeth Brewster. This book not only discussed non-traditional language learning but also introduced the concept of bonding to me. This had a major role in helping me decide to skip going to a language school before going to Argentina. I’ve never regretted that decision.

• Friendship Factor by Alan Loy McGinnis. While I’m still basically a shy person, this book came along at a time when I was learning to interact with others more effectively. It’s a book I read several times during my college years.

These are by no means all of the books that influenced my development over the years. But I think they are books that have had a place of significance in leading me to where I am today.

Feel free to share some of the books that have impacted you.

B&B Friday: Irresistible Revolution

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Irresistible RevolutionIrresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne is not a feel-good book. His goal is to make you uncomfortable. Claiborne believes in taking seriously the teachings of Jesus, something which will, in Claiborne’s words, “mess you up.”

Claiborne is part of a group called The Simple Way. The members of this community seek to live among the poor and outcast, eschewing the comforts of suburban life. They do so, not out of a sense of masochism, but out of a deep conviction that they must live out Jesus’ words. They must help the poor and feed the hungry. They must seek social justice (part of which is avoidance of all goods produced through oppressive conditions). Claiborne makes his own clothes. He has gone to jail numerous times for his beliefs.

One of his most “radical” acts was to travel to Baghdad at the time the U.S. invasion was beginning. Arguing that pacifism is not passivity, Claiborne went to show the people of Iraq that Christianity was not attacking their country, that a nation was attacking their country.

The book is a biography of sorts. It’s mainly stories. What theology is present is presented through example, not Bible study. It’s a theology of the streets.

Sometimes Claiborne’s words come off a bit “holier than thou.” Sometimes, despite his claims to the contrary, you get the sense that Claiborne revels in the cool factor of what he does. But I don’t doubt his sincerity. I may not agree with all of his convictions, but I can’t accuse him of not living according to those convictions.

Which is something that we all need to do. We may not all choose such a radical response to the gospel (and Claiborne argues that not everyone has to), but I have to think that reading this book can help us seek out the stains of hypocrisy in our own lives.

I encourage you to read Irresistible Revolution. It’ll mess you up.

(As one who dabbles in graphic design on an amateur level, I have to say that the layout of this book is amazing, particularly the chapter transitions. And, for those who might be wondering, all of the proceeds from the book are donated to ministry)