Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Robert Johnstone: James


Of course any publisher that decides to call itself 'Banner of Truth' asks for a custard pie to be applied somewhere. I do not think Christian-based groups are at their strongest when making the grand claims.

However, if I stop making reverse-sanctimonious comments on the publisher's name, I have to admit that the BoT supplied me with free books when I was much younger, and those, among others of their titles, have nourished my soul.

This is a lovely book. All it does is unbolt the Epistle of James, lay it all out on the garage floor, and then pick up each piece and tell you what it does. The author preached these sermons long before he became a university professor, when he was based at the little fishing port of Abroath, nearly 150 years ago.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

John Polkinghorne: Belief in God in an Age of Science





No doubt the most illuminating book I have ever read on the subject, John Polkinghorne steers a reasonable and rational course between the extremists (Dawkins and the creationists) whose noise usually drowns out all else. He is a physicist and a theologian, and a winner I think of the Templeton Prize for progress in religion, the Nobel Prize in God.