For All It's Worth

Purity is Possible: How to live free of the fantasy trap by Helen Thorne We are inundated with sexual images on screen, online, and in our minds.  Yet, we often think that this is just a problem for men, with the figures very high for men who engage in pornography on a regular basis.  But is this an issue for women too?  Helen Thorne in her new book, Purity is Possible tackles the issue of fantasy life, pornography, and sexuality in a profound and life giving way.  By looking at real women with real struggles, Helen does not hold back but gives her readers real wisdom for defeating temptation in the area of sexual struggle. Helen writes in the opening chapter, “We were designed to be beautiful…We were made for the kind of beauty that starts in the hearts and overflows to every part of our being” (11).  Beauty is not to be found only in individuals but also in relationships.  The full life that our society puts before us is one of instant gratification, both sexuall

My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dietrich Von Hildebrand Amidst the multitude of works by and about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, other important anti-Nazi figures get lost in the fray.  This new book, My Battle Against Hitler, by Dietrich Von Hildebrand, translated and edited by John Henry Crosby with John F. Crosby tells the story of the Catholic luminary Dietrich Von Hildebrand in the middle of the Third Reich.  The story is rich with personal detail, but mainly focuses on from the early stages, Hildebrand sought to oppose Nazi philosophy and principles through a host of lectures, writings, and speeches.  The two sections in the book are divided up into Memoirs (Part I) and Writings Against the Nazi Ideology (Part II). One gets a sense early on that even some of the Catholic priests and leaders around Hildebrand didn’t mind following Hitler, for they felt they needed authority and economic stability.  Hildebrand

Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis by Tim Townsend My brother-in-law let me know about this book that chronicles the story of Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke, who was instrumental in ministering to Goering, Wilhelm Keitel, and others as they went through the Nuremberg Trials.  He also ministered to them as they awaited their death sentences.  So far, the book is quite remarkable and is a testimony of God's grace, for no criminal, not even the worst is bereft of hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. America's Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation by Grant Wacker Wacker, Professor of Christian History at Duke Divinity School is well-acquainted with the way Billy Graham influenced the culture and set an example for Christianity throughout the 1950's up to today.  So far, the book has been an excellent presentation of Billy as preacher, motivator, and shaper of culture.  In fact, Wacker's main thesis is that Billy

A few things here about shepherds in Jesus' day that you might not know: 1. Shepherds may have had small landholdings but this income wasn't enough to support their families, their own agricultural pursuits, and the heavy burden of taxation. 2. They often hired themselves out for extra wages, i.e. self-employed 3. They were often akin to the peasant class of society, not having much in the way of  power or privilege. 4. Yet, the Jewish cult and Jerusalem temple were heavily dependent upon them, for they brought some 30,000 lambs for Passover. 5. Though they were thought highly by the Jewish people, many in the Greco-Roman world thought of them as the dregs of society. James Jeffers contends that, "“In general, Greeks and Romans looked down upon shepherds, who were thoughts of as dirty and smelly, since they spent most of their time out of doors with animals. Aristotle said that of among men, the “laziest are shepherds, who lead an idle life, and get their