Books read in January 2008 (7)

1. The Marked Bible by Charles L. Taylor

I think this is a piece of Seventh Day Adventist fiction written as history. It is an attempt to tech the distinctive SDA doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ entailng a Jewish type observance of the seventh day Sabbath. The arguments in favour are well set out. My clinging point against this departure from Christian orthodoxy is not. The New Testament teaches that Christians are to observe 9 out of the 10 Commandments. Nowhere do the epistles bind us to observe the Sabbath. Sabbatarianism, Christian or SDA varieties are mistaken. We do not have to observe special days. We keep a Sabbath of rest and worship according to Christian tradition, not according to law.

2. In Pursuit of His Glory: My 25 Years at Westminster Chapel by R.T. Kendall

Kendall writes an interesting memoir of his 25 years at Westminster Chapel. I heard him give his original lecture at The Westminster Conference when RT came to the notice of Reformed Christians as one who departed from the doctrine of particular redemption. I also saw that RT had the blessing of Lloyd Jones. However from this book it would appear that those who had followed The Doctor at that conference did not continue in their admiration of RT when he went down a very charismatic route.

There is no doubt that RT is a very gifted expositor. He is also in the Lloyd Jones mould of the one man minister, not the team player with a session of elders where there is parity.Like the Doctor, one senses he ran his church like a consultant physician more than as a leader with a plurality of fellow elders My personal experience of him in a pastoral situation was that he did not even recognise the decisions of elders in other churches.

This book gives fascinating insight into RT's relationship with the Doctor. One learns new information about LLoyd Jones. RT is very open and honest about his struggles at the Chapel. He comes across as an impassioned evangelist who brought about positive change. In matters charismatic he comes across as a somewhat gullible enthusiast. After all the prophecies he quotes about revival beginning, why does he not see the reality of their falsity? Like his predecessor, RT's his disappointment is that revival never came to the Chapel. But at least The Doctor did fill the building. perhaps RT is right to say it was for his own humility that he never managed this.

He has many good insights. he is right that Americans often fail to regognise or bridge the cultural divide when they come to England. However I find him superficial on his view that believers in particular redemption will lack assurance for they will base it on sanctification. I also find it hard to understand how a man who regards the law as no longer binding can be such an enthusiast for tithing. RT is refreshingly open and self critical. He has a proensity for name dropping. His editors should have spotted the he preached on psalms of Ascent not Assent as printed.

3, Dynamic Diversity: Bridging Class, Age, Race and Gender in the Church by Bruce Milne

This s an excellent book on how church should be the new humanity, one diverse people from different races, genders, classes and ages. This will be the greatest witness to our fractured world, a new community
with diversity and uity. The author is critical of ethnically homogenous churches but in some circumstances might not these be effective tools for evangelism among some minorities? I think what he proposes is the ideal with comprehensive diversity
In the meantime some more homogenous groups may be the best way forward. As the author is a Baptist he doe not see that a Presbyterian structure could facilitate this. I was a little disappointed his section on worship does not focus on the heavenly paradigm nor does it deal with the Regulative Principle, the shackles on many reformed congregations. The book is also in want of an index.

4. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

It seems one has to go to authors from the developing world to get good novels these days, Afghanistan or Nigeria. Yes it is still Nigeria despite this book by an Igbo author being a great apology for Biafra. Other Amazon reviewers do not seem to pick up as to how one sided this perspective is. Northerners resented the Igbos for their intelligent commercial acumen. When they staged the first military coup, retaliation was sure to come. The one thing I found incredible in this book was the assertion that some expatriates encouraged the killing of Igbos in the North. I had friends in the North who witnessed the murders, They were horrified and traumatised by the butchery and never recounted any expatriate approval let alone encouragement of genocide.

This is a powerful well told story. The life of well to do Nigerians and expatriates in the newly independent Nigeria is well related. But were Nigerian sixties women as free with sexual favours as the twins i this novel?

The horror of the civil war is graphically portrayed and makes for uncomfortable reading. I found the reversion to earlier years part way through to be a confusing weakness in the story.

This is well told from an igbo perspective. Biafran soldiers are portrayed as brutal rapists. Not only their enemies were wicked. But not all Nigerians on the federal side were vandals.Gowon is an upright Christian and his magnanimous words in victory ae recorded. There is no explanation of why the British government backed federal Nigeria against much of public opinion. I believe the British were indeed indirectly responsible for this tragedy whem they kept missionaries and therefore education out of the Muslim North for so many years. They left a new country where educated southerners felt educationally superior to Muslim Northerners who believe the y have a divine right to rule.

5. Contending for the Faith: E. J. Poole-Connor - A Prophet Amidst the Sweeping Changes in English Evangelicalism by David Guy Fountain

This is a short biography of a forgotten evangelical leader who founded the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches. I was surprised to find he was not a believer in particular redemption but the author is more concerned with his stance on biblical innerancy, his stand against liberal theology, neorthodoxy, Romanism and the ecumenical movement. His inclusion of a postscript by Peter Masters concludes that second degree separation is necessary among Christians and that the recently formed Affinity which does not hold this is therefore doomed to fail. He gives all charismatics the thumbd down too.This is a gloomy prognosis indeed from the far right of evangelicalism.

But this book is valuable for taking us from the 1859 revival through to modern times. The subject of this work died in 1962 but he has heard and met the great Spurgeon himself. Like CHS he was a Baptist who stood solidly against liberal theology. They were right but the overall tone of the book seems to me a rather cold orthodoxy. It is not quite the "right but revolting" so aptly the "1066 and All That" verdict on the Roundheads, but it has that tendency. A bi too strong on Independency for this Presbyterian.

5. 50 Greatest Thrillers ed. Ian Rankin

A good introduction to thrilers going back to the 19th century. But why is my favotir author not there? gerald Seymour should not be left out. he is consistentl topical and top class.

6. Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan by Giles Milton

Milton writes well and makes little known history come alive. In this case it is the European exploration of the Far East for trade with the first Englishman, William Adams, in Japan during the early 17th century. Japan was a mixture of an advanced civilisation combined with cruel brutality They were held back by their inability to build ocean going ships.. When Adams arrived, his European earlier arrivals, Portuguese Jesuits, wanted him crucified lest his Protestant heresy infect the country. Adams proved a suvivor becoming a trusted advisor of the Japanese leader. He was able to aid the British traders of the East India Company who came later. H has them spared from the terrible persecution of the Catholics which cane as Japan reacted against foreign influence. British traders were also in conflict with the Dutch. Most traders were sexually immoral, often given to drink and self interest. Adams stood out as the one man to be really accepted by Japan. This is a great account of brave mariners and a strange country.

7. The Clergy and the Clearances: The Church and the Highland Crisis by David Paton

This is a well written account of the part played by the Presbyterian clergy of first, the Church of Scotland and then The Free Church in the brutal clearances of the crofters from the Highlands.Paton writes with real understanding of the theology of the church. and with real sympathy. He shows that he clergy realised improvements were needed due to over population. But they taught such a theology of respect for authority that there was by and large no concerted opposition to the brutal evictions. Adverse providences were seen as God;s judgment to be accepted with patience. The clergy were no in league with the Establishment but proved to be unwitting allies of the oppressive landlords, They raised more protest when after the Disruption they were denied land for churches and manses. This is a study to inform as to how the Clearances were allowed to happen and destroy Highland crofting culture. It also tells about the history of the Disruption, the part of Gaelic in the culture and the spirituality of Highland religion.