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.

Galileo, Ecclesiocentrist

“Galileo,” by Mitch Stokes, is an eye-opening biography. Galileo, commonly assumed to be a warrior of science, is said to have stood up valiantly against the church’s hatred of such, and comes out the martyr. This is of course a sorely misrepresented picture of Galileo.

Galileo lived an era dominated by a pagan view of the cosmos, namely, the Aristotelian view. Such a view holds that the cosmos is divided into two sections: the imperfect, below-the-moon area, where moth and rust destroy and change occurs; and the perfect, that which is outside of the orbit of the moon and is immovable (other than the planets, the “wanderers”). And of course, the main characteristic of the Aristotelian model is geocentrism, the idea that the earth is the center of the universe. Galileo, however, was a proponent of the Copernican model of heliocentrism, but was not as dogmatic as many think in our day.

Stokes unveils the fact that Galileo was much more for the church than against it. Throughout his life, he clearly established that his view was simply a theory, and that he was in no way attempting to subvert the church’s authority or challenge church doctrine. In a very powerful letter near the end his life, Galileo states that “the falsity of the Copernican system must not on any account be doubted, especially by us Catholics, who have the irrefragable authority of Holy Scripture interpreted by the greatest masters of theology, whose agreement renders us certain of the stability of the earth and the mobility of the sun around it” (174). Now, this could be taken to be tongue-in-cheek, but we really have no reason to assume this the case, because it is in line with his approach to the subject throughout his life. Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the opportunity to review this great book.

"Defiant Joy," by Kevin Belmonte

Defiant Joy, by Kevin Belmonte, is an odd book. While it claims to be a biography, only about 20% is actually biographical. Now, being a great Chesterton fan, I had high hopes for this book. It started out well enough, but over the course of five chapters or so, it went from Chesterton's childhood to his adult life. At that point, the book became somewhat of a series of book reports, each chapter focusing in on a different novel or series of essays that Chesterton wrote, moving consecutively through his life.

While an interesting concept, the reader is left wondering what Chesterton himself was actually doing at these points in his life. We do manage to get glimpses every now and again: Chesterton struggling with finances here, or engaging in debate there. But by and large, we get...book reports. I would consider this book more of a loose introduction to Chesterton himself, and would classify it as more of a literary biography than a personal one. All these things taken together, and despite the desire to promote all things Chesterton, I reluctantly give this book a two out of five. However, the book did prompt me to pick up Maisie Ward's biography of Chesterton. My thanks to Thomas Nelson for this review copy.

Bread and Wine, or Concerning the Elements used in Communion

Sometimes when an argument becomes clouded by emotion, it is helpful to introduce an analogous or extreme example to help shed some light on things.

See this commercial:

http://palpular.com/video.php?videoid=4215

Now, this commercial is obviously ridiculous, but what can we take away from it? Is any food or drink acceptable to be used in the Lord's Supper? Is it dangerous to use elements not prescribed by our Lord? Soda instead of wine, chips instead of bread?

How about grape juice instead of wine?


What do you think?

"The Quotable Chesterton," by Kevin Belmonte

"Brevity is the soul of wit," wrote Shakespeare; "but it would be quite as true to say in such cases that lengthiness is the soul of satire," added G.K. Chesterton. In Chesterton we have a master of satire, and as he would later come to be known, the Prince of Paradox. This is a fine collection of Chesterton quotes, from both his fiction and non-fiction. The author has even interspersed short articles describing Chesterton's various authorial hats that he wore throughout his lifetime. These can be interesting, though they seem to be a little out of place, landing in between a slew of Chesterton quotes. As far as catholicity of the included quotes, the author has done a fine job, although I was sad to see some of my favorite quotes absent. Considering, however, the enormous task of compiling a compendium of quotes from this enormous author, Belmonte has done well with the amount of pages he has dedicated to the task. I would love to see this volume as a springboard for a more thorough and elaborate collection to be arranged in the future.

The format of the book is quite nice, as the quotes are sequenced alphabetically. This is most suitable due to the vast subject matter that Chesterton addressed, and makes for quick reference during debate, conversation, or soiree. Entertain your friends and become the life of the party as you channel Chesterton's brilliance, but be prepared to be misunderstood, as many of his thoughts require reflection and explanation. Better yet, read his books; but then again, if you've bought this collection of quotes in the first place, odds are you are already a Chesterton fan.

If you have not yet had the pleasure of reading anything by Chesterton, I would suggest starting with "Manalive" as far as his fiction goes, or "Heretics"/"Orthodoxy" for non-fiction. Also, be sure to check out the American Chesterton Society's website, chesterton.org, for tons of information about this literary and philosophical giant. My gratitude to Booksneeze for providing me with this ARC.

Slaves of the Master, Free in Christ

Now, I must admit that I am not a huge John MacArthur fan, although I do appreciate a lot of the work he has done. His most recent book, entitled “Slave,” is most assuredly among the work that I appreciate. MacArthur, simply yet methodically, explains why the Christian ought to be most comfortable with the title of “slave,” more so than anything else. This sounds ridiculous to the modern Christian, which is precisely why “Slave” is such a potent book. The term “slave,’ MacArthur explains, is one of the Bible’s oft-used metaphors to describe the follower of the Lord, and for good reason. He then proceeds to explain the historical precedent of the relationship between slave and master, and by placing us within this context, allows the reader to grow comfortable with his thesis, and understand the necessity of preserving this metaphor. What seems shocking at first becomes the Christian’s comfort, acknowledging himself as completely guided and provided for by the Master, that is Christ the Lord. One criticism I have for the book, however, would be that MacArthur tends to go on rabbit trails, although they tend to be beneficial. One such would be a somewhat irrelevant, yet fascinating, account of John Huss’s life and martyrdom. My thanks to BookSneeze for this complimentary review copy of John MacArthur’s, “Slave.”