"Atheism Remix"

I love short books. When I say "short," I'm not talking about a 20 page book. What I mean is a book that is 100-150 pages long. For the most part, books of this length get right to the point, don't mess around, and don't contain added fluff.

Atheism Remix is just such a book (108 pages). In this book, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, analyzes the new brand of atheism that is creeping more and more into mainstream American life. Mohler's purpose is to both discuss the dangers of the New Atheism, and to call Christians to continue to proclaim the truth of biblical theism.

Mohler suggests that atheism is on the rise in American culture. This is due in no small part to the writings of four men: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. These four men, who Mohler says could be called "The Four Horsemen of the New Atheist Apocalypse," have all written and spoken about the benefits of a naturalistic/materialistic worldview. They see religion as untenable and even dangerous.

Mohler helped me better understand the New Atheism by listing and discussing eight of its characteristics:

1. The New Atheism is marked by an unprecedented new boldness.
2. There is a clear and specific rejection of the Christian God of the Bible.
3. The New Atheists explicitly reject Jesus Christ.
4. The New Atheism is specifically grounded in scientific argument.
5. The New Atheism is new in its refusal to tolerate moderate and liberal forms of belief.
6. The New Atheism attacks toleration.
7. The New Atheists have begun to question the right of parents to inculcate belief in their own children.
8. The New Atheists argue that religion itself must be eliminated in order to preserve human freedom.

I find numbers 3, 7, and 8 particularly frightening.

What are Christians to do in the face of the New Atheism? Mohler writes, "Then, as now, the task is to articulate, communicate, and defend the Christian faith with intellectual integrity and evangelistic urgency. We should not assume that this task will be easy, and we must also refuse to withdraw from public debate and private conversation in light of this challenge."

I highly recommend this book. I appreciate Dr. Mohler's work in opening my eyes to this new strain of an old unbelief.

"The Truth War"

I highly recommend almost every book I read. This book, however, does not fall into that category.

John MacArthur, in The Truth War, certainly has much good to say. As is typical with MacArthur, he doesn't pull any punches. MacArthur stresses the importance of biblical truth being objective as opposed to subjective. Biblical truth is determined by God, not by human feelings.

MacArthur rightly criticizes the postmodern view of truth, which suggests that truth is ultimately unknowable. Postmoderns, instead of seeking truth, stress a warped humility that suggests that truth is beyond us. What this leads to is relativism and subjectivism.

In talking about postmodernism's seeping into churches, MacArthur speaks out against the false teachings of Brian McLaren. McLaren has written several books from a theologically postmodern view. His most well-known work is entitled A Generous Orthodoxy. MacArthur correctly criticizes McLaren for his refusal to stand up for the truth of the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

MacArthur also describes emerging churches, which are generally churches that adhere to postmodern thought.

Most of what MacArthuer writes needs to be said. For that, I appreciate this book.

The problem with The Truth War is that it seems somewhat repetitive and redundant. I could have read the first two chapters and that would have been enough. The remainder of the book seems to rehash what has already been said, while adding a few more details.

If you have studied postmodernism before, then don't bother with this book. If you have not looked into the problems with postmodern thought, then I recommend that you check this book out of your local library and read the first two chapters. That will be enough.

The Best Book I've Read in a Long Time

Hyperbole is all too common is the blog world. I am probably guilty of it myself from time to time. However, that is not the case in this post.

The Great Exchange is the best book I've read in a long time. In this text, Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington do a masterful job of looking at all of the biblical passages from Acts through Revelation that deal directly with the atonement of Christ.

The authors repeatedly emphasize the absolute necessity on the part of man for someone to take our place. We as sinful people have no righteousness to present to God. We stand guilty and condemned. Bridges and Bevington show time after time how Jesus Christ stepped in and exchanged His righteousness for the guilt of all the redeemed. He bore that guilt on the cross, and paid for our sins so we wouldn't have to.

They say this of II Corinthians 5:21, which happens to be my favorite bible verse, "It would not be an understatement to view this verse, properly understood, as the single key verse of the entire bible."

This book is well-written, gospel-saturated, and fully biblical. I highly recommend it. It is not a text that you will want to read quickly because of the deep truths the authors discuss. The writing style is not difficult; rather, the atonement is such a rich doctrine that it should not be sped through by the reader.

Since the book chapters correspond to the books of Acts through Revelation, the book itself breaks down into 10-15 relatively short reads. Understandably, the chapters on the books of Romans and Hebrews are longer than the rest. The Hebrews chapter is one of the best chapters in any book I have ever read.

In case you aren't convinced, this is what Alistair Begg says about The Great Exchange, "The next time I am asked for my top-ten reading list, this will be included! Clear and comprehensive, it leaves the reader in no doubt that this 'great exchange' is not only the heart of biblical theology but also the pivotal event of human history."

Who was that author anyway?

If you are anything like me, you probably have at least one book that you are currently reading, several others sitting on a bookshelf waiting to be read, and many more you would like to either buy or check out from a local library.

However, sometimes I cannot remember either the title of a book I want to read or the author's name of the book. Well, I can't help with the book part, but I hope the following site helps with the author issue. I recently stumbled across this Christian Authors Database. This site lists many of the most well-known Christian authors along with their most popular books. The site is wide-ranging and does not focus on any one denomination or theological school of thought.

In particular, I enjoyed looking up specific authors who I had heard of but have never read. This exhaustive listing will help me (and I hope you) remember the names of the great Christian authors we need to be reading.

Piper likes Lewis, too

On this blog, we recently looked at what people's favorite books are. While we had a wide range of answers, two authors in particular stood out. I suppose it was no surprise that the two were C. S. Lewis and John Piper. If we were tallying votes, Lewis would have been first, Piper second, and no one else within shouting distance.

This week I am reading Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life." I'm not sure why I have not yet read this book, but now that we are stateside and I have a bit more time to read, it seemed appropriate. I had not been reading this book for long when I discovered that Lewis is one of Piper's favorite authors. In fact, Lewis had a profound impact on Piper when he was young in the 1960's.

The following are some direct Piper quotes from "Don't Waste Your Life":

"Someone introduced me to Lewis my freshman year with the book 'Mere Christianity.' For the next five or six years I was almost never without a Lewis book near at hand. I think that without his influence I would not have lived my life with as much joy or usefulness as I have."

"He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he showed me that newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice."

"He demonstrated for me and convinced me that rigorous, precise, penetrating logic is not opposed to deep, soul-stirring feeling and vivid, lively-even playful-imagination. He was a 'romantic rationalist.'"

Lewis and Piper stand alone

Thank you to all who have participated in this little project. I have chosen to not type a list of everyone's 3 best books since they are simple to find under the "comments" on the previous post.

At this point, no one book stands out as a huge favorite. However, two authors have been mentioned on several occasions. It seems that C. S. Lewis and John Piper are liked by many different people. These two men wrote at different times, in different countries, and from different denominations, but they clearly both speak to many people through their writings. Why do you think this is the case? I would be interested to hear. Also, for those of you who like them both, what commonalities, if any, do you see between the two?

On a somewhat related topic, this morning my daughter, Caroline, informed me that I had not listed my three favorite books. In listing these, I'm really not trying to jump on the Lewis/Piper bandwagon, but I just cannot help it. Just so you know, I had decided on these before anyone else left a comment.

1) "Let the Nations Be Glad!" by John Piper
2) "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis (all 7 books in one volume)
3) "To the Golden Shore" by Courtney Anderson (a biography of Adoniram Judson)