Book reviews

I took a class for 8 weeks from the BBC grad school entitled Methods of Biblical Change.  The class was a mix of theology and counseling/people helping.  Throughout the eight weeks, we discussed sanctification and the process of becoming like Christ for the believer.  Then, it was extended into ways to help others change their lives in lasting ways, instead of temporary behavioral changes.  We read four books as well as at least 1000 pgs of "collateral" reading-- meaning reading from books relevant to the topic.  In total, I read most of nine books (I read parts of a couple of them).  It was a lot of reading in a short amount of time, but I learned so much.  I wanted to briefly highlight each book


This book is a clear and excellent explanation of sanctification as Paul describes it in Ephesians 4:22-24, James 1:23-25, and Galatians 5:22-23.  Having heard the word sanctification a lot throughout my growing up, this book (along with our discussions) really solidified the biblical description of HOW this works.  Highly recommend!

I was looking forward to reading this book, but ended up being quite disappointed.  Not only was he hard to read and track his points, but I found some of his ideas different from my fundamental beliefs.  There were ideas he brought up that I didn't believe to be biblical.  The author is a philosopher and not a theologian.  He hasn't had any formal theological training either.  While he does bring up good points about following Jesus' example and living out your salvation here on earth, I don't agree with the overall themes of the book (The Kingdom of God is happening here and now).   I would only suggest reading this if you are grounded in your beliefs and the Bible.

Excellent, excellent book and perhaps the clearest and most thorough book on the Holy Spirit I've heard or read.  This book changed me.  He discusses the ten functions of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers (and some of unbelievers).  He emphasizes the Spirit's personhood and desire for the believer to be in constant communication with Him.  We often forget anything good in our lives and activity by God on this earth is because of the work of the Spirit.  He alone is the agent of change.  Evangelical views on the Spirit are skewed and thus most Christians ignore Him.  This book shows how we should be doing anything but that! Highly recommend for anyone!

Having read another book by this author, I was expecting this to be good.  I was not disappointed.  Authentic Faith is a great book on living out your sanctification.  He explains that spiritual disciplines such as Bible reading, prayer, fasting, meditation, etc are disciplines we do to grow in Christ, but there are disciplines that God brings into our lives to grow us as well.  A few examples he mentions are: suffering, waiting, mourning, social mercy, persecution, forgiveness, contentment, and sacrifice.  Hard times are the times when we grow the most and the book was convicting and powerful showing this.  I highly recommend this one, as well, and I hope to read it again.