Tag Archives: review

Book Review: The Derision of Heaven

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derision coverI was provided with a review copy (ebook) of the book The Derision of Heaven by Michael Whitworth. I was not asked to provide a positive review, merely an objective one.

Whitworth’s book is a study of the biblical book of Daniel, falling somewhere between scholarly commentary and popular devotional. With 425 endnotes, the documentation is there to support a scholarly study, yet Whitworth has tried to make the book accessible to the average reader.

Each of the ten chapters is divided into sections of textual study followed by a final section of “talking points.” The talking points focus on practical application, though there is plenty of application throughout the book.

Each of the first nine chapters covers one chapter of Daniel, then the last three chapters are studied as one section. Whitworth admits being more comfortable with the narrative sections of the book than he is with the visionary sections, and that shows in the writing. Still, he does a good job of taking both the familiar (stories like the lions’ den and the fiery furnace) and the unfamiliar (the prophetic sections) and presenting them in a way that everyone can read them profitably.

Overall, it’s an excellent work, one to be commended to the casual Bible reader and the serious student alike. The flaws I noticed were minor. There were a couple of places were I felt the editor could have done a better job; an unclear antecedent in the Q&A section makes it sound like the book of Daniel was written during Hitler’s lifetime.

The other distracting factor for me was the author’s habit of inserting humorous comments at random times. (Ironically, that’s something I’m often guilty of)

As I said, those are minor flaws. I highly recommend The Derision of Heaven to anyone interested in learning more about the book of Daniel.

The following information is being presented as a service to my readers. I receive no compensation for this:

The author is offering some giveaways today, Tuesday, September 3, to anyone who purchases the book. You can visit his blog for details. Here’s the information that was sent to me:

My book “The Derision of Heaven: A Guide to Daniel” is nearing its OFFICIAL release date of September 3rd. I want to personally thank you for getting the word out about it. On Sept. 3, I will be encouraging folks to buy the book from Amazon.com or a Christian bookstore. If they email me their receipt, I’ll enter them into a contest to win an iPad Mini 16GB WiFi. The more books purchased, the more chances you will receive to win. But these purchases have to come on Sept. 3. There is a very strong chance this book could make the Amazon Bestseller list. If that happens, it would be exposed to a much larger audience than I could ever give it. That is important because I believe in this book’s message; more than a guide to Daniel, it is an urgent message for Christians engaged in a bitter culture war. The church needs to be studying Daniel RIGHT NOW!

That’s why I need your help. Tell your friends about the book and encourage them to purchase a copy on Sept. 3. Also, I hope you will consider buying copies on Sept. 3 (it’s never too late to begin your Christmas shopping!). Share the news via social media. Talk to members of your congregation about purchasing this book. Along with the iPad Mini, I’ll be giving away other prizes, such as an ESV Study Bible and 20 SIGNED copies of my next book, “Living & Longing for the Lord.” You will get an extra chance at these prizes every time you share the news on social media.

All the details will be on my blog on Sept. 3. Bookmark start2finishblog.com and set a reminder to check it out on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

 

Review: No Room At The Inn

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I received this product as part of the Tyndale blogger book review program. Tyndale provided me with a complimentary copy, but I’m under no further obligation to them.

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Tyndale made this DVD and CD set available the week before Christmas. I went ahead and signed up to receive it, even though I knew that it wouldn’t arrive in time for me to do a pre-Christmas review. I realized my mistake later… even I wasn’t that interested in reviewing a Christmas product after the fact. So now, here I am, almost six months later, finally watching, listening and reading No Room At The Inn.

This product is largely a promotional product for the Hungry Planet Bible Project. The idea is to play off of the Christmas story, connecting the image of a “homeless” Mary and Joseph and the homeless today. There’s a 30-minute documentary about homelessness, focusing on the women and children who make up a large percentage of the homeless. There’s an audio CD with these same homeless people reading Luke chapters 1 and 2, as well as author Hayley Dimarco reading the same story. And there are some materials in PDF format on the DVD.

I don’t want to sound hard-hearted, but I don’t see the value in this product. I do understand that the idea is that part of the proceeds will go to projects that work with the homeless, but I think there are better ways to get the money directly to them. The material on this DVD/CD set could be placed on a website with a link for giving. (I was disappointed to see that the Hungry Planet website seems to be dormant) This doesn’t seem like an effective way of fundraising, nor an effective way of educating.

The Hungry Planet Bible Project is involved in a worthwhile effort. I just don’t think this project was the best use of that organization’s time nor resources. I hope that many will be moved to help the homeless. I’m not convinced this product will do it.

Mosaic Bible review

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Tyndale sent me a review copy of the Holy Bible: Mosaic. The Kitchen will be an official stop on the blog tour tomorrow. Kevin O’Brien will be doing a Q&A session about the Mosaic Bible at that time, so I thought I’d go ahead and do a review today.

The Mosaic Bible combines a copy of the New Living Translation Bible with a “mosaic” of Christian writings and art covering every century of Christian history and representing believers from every continent. The extra materials are built around the Christian year, with suggested Scripture, Christian writings and Christian artwork for each week.

The Bible itself is printed in a format with reference text in a center column and extra space in the margins for note-taking. There are notes for further study of words in the original language, cross references, alternate readings… basic study aids in a non-intrusive format.

There is a lot of confusion about the NLT itself; I originally thought it was merely a new version of the Living Bible rather than an actual translation of the Bible. I’ve learned better.

That’s a brief description. Now here are my thoughts:

  1. I kind of wanted to dislike this Bible, partly because they say that most reviews on the Internet are overly positive. I was disappointed in that I liked the Mosaic Bible. I plan to start using it when the readings begin in December.
  2. I was intrigued by the Christian artwork. I’m pretty hopeless when it comes to fine art, be it paintings, opera, ballet or whatever. The variety of art presented really caught my imagination, however, possibly because of my love of cultural studies. It wasn’t your traditional Bible art.
  3. I come from a fellowship that has resisted any sort of “Christian calendar.” I look forward to working through these readings that follow ancient traditions as to what to study at a given time of the year.
  4. I join those who wish that Mosaic were available as a standalone book. I understand the reasoning of including the Bible, but, as I wrote earlier this week, I wonder if purchasing another Bible is good stewardship for the average Christian.
  5. I think the choice of the NLT was an appropriate one for this Bible. They needed a highly readable Bible to go along with the other readings they included. For this project, the NLT fit the bill.
  6. I asked myself honestly if I would purchase this for myself. I wouldn’t. I might buy it in an electronic format, but I wouldn’t spend the money on yet another Bible.
  7. I also thought about whether I would purchase this for someone else. Under the right circumstances, I might.
  8. I would heartily recommend buying the Advent section that Tyndale is selling separately. Buy it. Work through it. Decide for yourself if it’s worth it to you to buy the complete Bible. Tyndale even lets you examine the Advent section online, although I can tell you from experience that it’s not the same.

Here’s another way to try the Mosaic Bible. Tyndale not only gave me a Mosaic Bible, they are also letting me give one away to one of my readers. Just leave a comment tomorrow saying that you’d like to be entered in the drawing, and you’ll have a chance to win a copy of the Mosaic. Then you can write a review…

As I mentioned before, I’ve been participating in the Tyndale Blog Network, reviewing products that I receive from Tyndale. This time I’m a part of one of their virtual book tours, the Mosaic Bible blog tour. Tomorrow, October 16, The Kitchen will be hosting the tour, with Kevin O’Brien doing a Q&A session about the book.

In addition, Tyndale will be giving away a copy of The Mosaic Bible to one of the readers of this blog. On Friday, leave a comment indicating that you would like to be in the drawing for the giveaway.

Today’s stop on the blog tour: My Book Addiction and More

B&B Friday: The BibleStick

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I was contacted by a group called Faith Comes By Hearing, wanting me to evaluate a product they have called BibleStick. It’s basically an MP3 player that comes preloaded with an audio New Testament. Along with the BibleStick, the box I received contained a CD with an audio New Testament. The CD had a Flash program that linked to the files so as to help you listen to the entire New Testament in 40 days.

I found the MP3 player a bit difficult to use. Younger eyes would probably have an easier time, but I couldn’t distinguish the markings on the buttons on the player. The instructions that came with it had no drawing to help me figure out what was what, so I had to use trial and error. For some reason, the player was set to 1 Corinthians, and I gave up trying to find a quick way to get back to Matthew.

Still, the BibleStick makes for an interesting distribution tool. They say that they have given out over 15,000 to U.S. military personnel. As I’ve written in the past, I believe in the power of hearing the Word of God (more than reading), so I like this approach.

I especially like the Faith Comes By Hearing website. They have over 400 different audio Bibles available for free download. The recording I listened to was well done; I think most people would enjoy listening to these downloads. I hope that many people become better acquainted with God’s Word through this ministry.

As part of the Tyndale Blog Network, I will be reviewing the Mosaic Bible here in the next few weeks. They’re even allowing me to give away a free copy; I’ll give some information about that later. For now, check out the Mosaic Bible here: http://bit.ly/8xF3P