But I'm feelin' the creative urges and plan on putting more out here.
In the meantime, here is a book review I sent out to my church family a few weeks ago.
Book Reviews
Yes, you
read correctly. Book reviewS, plural. I've read (listened to, as
well) a number of books that I thought would interest you all, but I've
neglected writing reviews. I won't overwhelm you with all of them at once, but
the two I will present here are by the same author, on basically the same
topic, presented in the same format.
They are Things Not Seen: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of TrustingGod's Promises and Not By Sight: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Walking byFaith, both by Jon Bloom,
co-founder and president of DesiringGod.org. Both books have 30+ short chapters
presenting reenactments of various persons from Biblical history displaying
trust and faith, or learning how to do so.
The pattern of each book
is the same. Bloom presents a biblical passage, reenacts the narrative, and then
explains how this person demonstrated trust or faith. In these portrayals,
Bloom is faithful to the biblical story but fills in some of the blanks with
church history, and artistic license, where appropriate.
Some of those presented
were the more popular, better-known person like Abraham and Paul. But he also
takes on lesser know characters, as well. In a chapter on disappointment, Bloom
presents Joseph Barsabbas, the disciple NOT chosen to replace Judas.
According to Church tradition, Joseph Barsabbas became Bishop
of Eleutheropolis, where he died a martyr (NOTE: I listened to the audio
versions so I had to source this from Wikipedia. There was no way I could
remember Eleuth...whatever). In Bloom's story, the time is set
during JB's tenure as Bishop, where he is counseling a young charge
on how to deal with disappointment, as he had had to do when Matthias was
chosen over him. In another chapter he takes on the after-story of the Woman at
the Well, who in Eastern church tradition was a woman named Photine.
There were a few reasons
why I enjoyed these books. First, using biblical instead of more contemporary
examples, we're reminded these men and women of old were real people, feeling
and experiencing some of the same things we encounter. At a time when people
are saying the Word is not relative to today, this type of handling shows
otherwise.
Next, observing the
manner is which the author handles and presents the Word gives us ideas on how
we can do the same in our own reading. He asks questions of the text
(hmmm...I've heard that somewhere before) like "whatever happened to
Joseph Barsabbas?" and starts digging in to church history -
or Wikipedia. He added color commentary, without straying from
Biblical truth, by imagining what the various characters felt or thought;
for example,after a day of fishing the disciples probably felt tired, sweaty,
stinky, and maybe even grouchy. Reading the Word in this manner is more than
just taking in information; it brings Scripture to life and allows the Spirit
to transform us by renewing our minds!
As I mentioned before, I
listened to the audio version of this book (free on the Hoopla app through the
Erie County Library. If you need more info about Hoopla, let me know). Jon
Bloom narrated his own book and did a good job of it. For non-fiction books, I
usually enjoy it hen the author reads their own work. They best know the
inflection and emphasis they intended. Though there are a lot of chapters, they
are short and self-contained, so you can read them over time. I also thought
these would be great for kids, maybe as young as five. There's nothing that
would harm or scare a younger child if they happened to be in the room, but
they probably wouldn't get much from them.
