"Fyodor Dostoevsky," by Peter Leithart

Peter Leithart, in his latest installment in the Christian Encounters Series, “Fyodor Dostoevsky,” brings us another compelling and fascinating biographical sketch of an important Christian writer. The first praise that I have for this small volume is its presentation: Leithart on Dostoevsky on Dostoevsky. The book presents the biographee as his own biographer, an intriguing and entertaining approach to telling a life story. The setting is Dostoevsky’s study, Fyodor himself is an aged man, and is recounting his life to an old friend.

Dostoevsky’s life was one of literary and political battles. Almost perishing on multiple occasions due to his flirting with anarchism earlier in life, he later came to the position of what might be called Russian Purism. Leithart doesn’t get too in-depth here, but he emphasizes Dostoevsky’s holistic approach to culture: anti-Western, very Russian and very Christian. A true and honest Russian identity is what Dostoevsky was after, one that did not need the help of European nations to find its own unique offerings to the world.

Although he spent his early life chasing youthful lusts and squandering his money gambling, Dostoevsky matured into a man dedicated to his wife Anna and loyal to his family, despite their constant money-grabbing. I recommend this biography, and my thanks to Thomas Nelson for the complimentary review copy.

Fascinating Biography of George Carver

God gives his children all sorts of miraculous gifts and talents, some more unusual than others. In George Washington Carver's case, God gave him the gift of botanical insight. John Perry brings us "George Washington Carver," a small but well-written biography publicised under the recent Christian Encounters series.

Carver began his life as a slave and eventually, through his patience, desire to learn and love of nature, found himself in Iowa State University as one of the favorite students of his professors. Later joining Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Carver further developed his unique skill of cultivating different uses for various vegetation and plant life. Relatively unknown outside of Alabama till later in his life, Carver eventually found over 250 uses the peanut, and hundreds of uses for other vegetables including the sweet potato and pecan.

John Perry does well to elucidate the life of Carver, showing us his struggles, his failures, and his victories. Throughout his life, Carver struggled with a desire to be accepted and praised by others, but all the while overcome with a greater desire to please the Lord with his gifts and excite others to see what God had made.

Many thanks to Thomas Nelson for this complimentary review copy of this excellent biography.

Marvelous little Knox Bio

“The Life of John Knox,” written by an unknown author (I couldn’t find his name anywhere in the publication) is a fantastic little volume. In this work there are several scenes in Knox’s life that are unavailable in other biographies, most notably his encounters with Mary, Queen of Scots.

Myself being on a bit of a Knox bent lately, when I heard about Attic Books’ republication of a long forgotten work, I was interested right away. Of course the book can be somewhat difficult to read at times, but not nearly enough to have no idea what the author is trying to convey. At times, the specificity is quite helpful, and the thoughtfulness of his writings is much appreciated.

The book does hammer away at the Roman Catholicism of Knox’s day (and for good reason), so do not be shocked at some of the author’s bold statements in this regard; intertwined with this are the leaders of that day, political and otherwise, who were generally evil people in search of power and affluence. This power and affluence could in many ways be granted by the corrupt Roman church, which in many ways helped to give rise to the Reformation.

Knox’s encounters with Mary, Queen of Scots are marvelously portrayed in the book. Also, her character is unveiled as a duplicitous and unworthy Queen, oftentimes herself lying and going back on her word to the detriment of the people under her leadership. If you are interested in a small Knox biography, this perhaps may not be the first to read (for that I would recommend Wilson’s “For Kirk and Covenant”), but it is great for looking into those points of Knox’s life that you are left hanging in the other biographies. Highly recommended.

I would like to thank New Leaf Publishers and Attic Books for the complimentary review copy of this wonderful book.

"The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards," by Dr. Steven Lawson

"The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards," a biography by Dr. Steven Lawson, is an interesting yet somewhat frustrating read. On the one hand, Lawson lists many of Edwards' resolutions and explains their beauty and discipline, citing much of Edwards' own diary for how he wrestled with them throughout his life. On the other hand, the biography comes off as hagiographic, painting Edwards in a slightly less-than-believable light. The humanity of Edwards, for the most part, seems to shine through the quotes present, and not much at all through Lawson's commentary on them.

The book, for the most part, is organized around Edwards’ famous resolutions, those pithy charges of self-accountability. Brilliant insights and penetrating declarations line the resolutions, and you cannot help but feel the gravity of Edwards’ desire for personal holiness. The resolutions, coupled with Edwards’ diary entries speak much of his personal life, struggles, and victories.

Perhaps this book is better categorized as a commentary than a biography. But it is a decent commentary, with its share of insights. Yet, desiring to meet with Edwards himself as I read, I felt more like I was at his funeral, where only nice things are said, and we don't get the full, sympathetic picture.

I'd like to thank Reformation Trust Publishing for this complimentary review copy of "The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards," and look forward to forthcoming volumes in the series.

Knox, Great Man of Weakness

Douglas Bond brings us the latest in Reformation Trust’s “Long Line of Godly Men” series; a biography of John Knox entitled The Mighty Weakness of John Knox. Bond uses the first quarter of the book to set out a brief outline of Knox’s life, making mention of important events and dates, while using the remainder of the book to explain notable events in finer detail, and Knox’s theology in general.

While the book is quite short and merely meant as an introduction to Knox and his influence on the church and Scotland, Bond does quite well in his short treatment. While I would have liked more of a traditional biography, I believe this particular series does not intend to contain strictly biographical sketches. Bond mentions most of the key events in Knox’s life: his time as a bodyguard, his encounters with Mary Queen of Scots, his denunciations of Bloody Mary, and some of his travels to Geneva and Frankfurt. But each of these events is mentioned with such brevity that we really do not get much of an impression of the man. We get more of a blur.

Bond spends most of his time on Knox’s theological views and influence in the church, and that is where the strong point of this book lies. Numerous quotes are offered from Knox himself that really help the reader to understand Knox and his desperation in trying to recover the integrity and majesty of Christ’s Kirk in not only Scotland, but around the world. I would like to thank Reformation Trust Publishing for this complimentary reading copy.

"J.R.R. Tolkien," by Mark Horne

“J.R.R. Tolkien”, by Mark Horne, is a new biography of Tolkien that acts more as an introduction to Tolkien rather than a full biography. Although coming in at 130 pages, this short work is quite a nice overview of Tolkien’s life. This book genuinely makes one want to read not only Tolkien’s work, but also fuller biographies of his life.

Horne’s emphasis throughout his biography was Tolkien’s desire to create stories that would not only stand the test of time, but would inspire and radiate beauty to his readers. Tolkien, very much a perfectionist, held himself very strictly to this standard, and was extremely hesitant to release any of his writings. Were it not for some of his students, his wife, or friends like C.S. Lewis, we might not have The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. These people did not simply supply encouragement, but also pushed Tolkien to share his work with the public.

While Horne shows us Tolkien as academic and Tolkien as fantasy-writer, he also shows us the adventurous years of his youth, such as Tolkien hijacking a bus and driving it through Oxford.

Despite its brevity, this biography does what all good biographies should do: give the reader a desire to delve into the person’s work. I’d like to thank Thomas Nelson for this complimentary book to review.