So many of us have read good books on marriage and on discipling, but I wonder, how many of us have read a good book on what it means to be a friend? Not many, is my guess. It surprises me that few books on friendship are read or, perhaps, that so few books on …
Imagine being a fly on the wall the moment God spoke creation into existence (impossible since God spoke creation out of nothing, but you get the point). With a word, God hung stars in the sky and set time in motion. There are too many galaxies to count; the Milky Way alone is home to …
Superman. Snow White. Harry Potter. Luke Skywalker. Princess Leia. Peter Pan. Why do so many inspiring stories have orphans as main characters? These stories tap into the innate feeling that this world is not our home. As C. S. Lewis wrote, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the …
You can learn a lot about a church from its website. Not long ago I researched a church in another state, and I could tell it cares about community. From the small groups offered to the pictures of smiling people drinking coffee together, this congregation clearly works hard to make connections. After watching a few …
Puritan pastor Thomas Brooks gave thanks for the prayer life of his wife, Martha. Even when poor health demanded she be in bed, Martha instead collapsed into a corner of her home to pray. One biographer concluded the success of Brooks’s ministry was due to the faithfulness of his wife. I know many pastors, including myself, …
In Damned Nation: Hell in America from the Revolution to Reconstruction, Kathryn Gin Lum argues the doctrine of hell made Christianity a useful but dangerous religion in 19th-century America. Lum, assistant professor in the religious studies department at Stanford University, counters the prevailing academic thesis that as cultures modernize, they come to view hell as an obsolete relic. Lum’s desire …
BOOK REVIEW: Damned Nation: Hell in America from the Revolution to Reconstruction Read More »