For All It's Worth

Interpreting the Prophetic Books: An Exegetical Handbook by Gary V Smith Author and scholar Gary V. Smith has given his readers a concise, focused, and illuminating study on the prophets of the Old Testament.  With at least twelve other books on the OT, Gary is no stranger to the questions surrounding OT prophetic study including genre, theme, coherence, and theology.  With an eye towards the genres of speech in the prophetic oracles and key elements in helping people preach prophetic passages, Gary leaves no stone unturned in his book, Interpreting the Prophetic Books: An Exegetical Handbook. In his section on the Poetry of Prophecy, Gary writes, “On the other hand, if a prophet wanted to focus only on conveying the words of God, a natural, more powerful, and memorable way of expressing these ideas in the ancient Near Eastern culture was to use poetry…Poetry was richer and more imaginative than prose and its structure and repetitions allowed for a more pers...

Faraway: A Suburban Boy’s Story as a Victim of Sex Trafficking by R.K. Kline and Daniel D. Maurer We grimace at the sight of Louis CK’s recent comedic interaction with child molestation on SNL because know deep down inside that this is nothing to laugh about.  In a new book by R.K. Kline and Daniel D. Maurer tell the story of Kevin’s journey through adolescence, trying to find out his orientation as a gay teen living in St. Louis.  He met a man who he thought he could trust, but things turned out to be a nightmare.  Instead of guiding him in the right path, Ray pushed him into a life of sex trafficking, whereby he sent young Kevin to homes in St. Louis to meet with older men.  The story is a sad tale of the kind of thing that can happen right under our noses if we aren’t careful to become aware of such things. The thing that is striking in the book is how Kevin befriends Stevie and Squirrel and he sees how a friendship should work, even in the hellis...

Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression by Zack Eswine Downtrodden, long-faced, we have a penchant for the sorrowful in our culture.  Many of our congregants and even our pastors suffer from one form of depression or another.  What do we do with a culture that is so experienced in the lows and highs of depression, yet has no definitive way to deal with such a condition?  Fellow sufferer and pastor Zack Eswine immensely helps us as he looks at depression from a unique perspective; one which focuses on the life of Charles Spurgeon and how he dealt with a very debilitating form of depression. Zack gives us a glimpse in the goal of his book as he writes about Spurgeon, “The fact that such a prominent Christian pastor struggled with depression and talked so openly about it invites us to friendship with a fellow sufferer. As this pastor and preacher grappled with faith and doubt, suffering and hope, we gained a companion on the j...

A Nice Little Place on the North Side by George F. Will Social and political commentator George F. Will has written a splendid and entertaining book on the history and people surrounding Wrigley Field.  With glimpses into the lives of Philip Wrigley, Hack Wilson, and Scott Joplin, George outlines the way Wrigley Field shaped the imagination and psyche of so many luminaries.  Centering his narrative around the rise and fall of the Cubs, including many disastrous years, Will writes with an eye towards the way Wrigley shaped its many players and attendees. George gets into a time when owner Philip Wrigley wanted to advertise for the sole purpose of bringing more women to the ballpark.  From a doggerel in a Chicago Paper, “I saw a wounded baseball fan tottering down the street. Encased in bandages and tape, wounded from head to feet, And as I called the ambulance, I heard the poor guy say: “I bought a seat in Wrigley Field, but it was ladies’ day (3...

The Divine Progression of Grace by Bob Santos We hear it repeated throughout the halls of church that men and women are saved by God’s grace, not by the efforts of their own hands, and yet there is more to grace than this.  Founder of Search for Me Ministries Bob Santos has written The Divine Progression to seek to draw out how grace is not only for salvation for all of the Christian life.  His book is winsome, full of wisdom, and careful in understanding a key biblical truth, namely that God’s grace is evident in God saving us and also in God sustaining us in this world as we work for good and His glory. In seeking to understand grace for all of the Christian life, Bob focuses his efforts on grace as God’s unmerited favor, transformation grace, and empowering grace.  Each stage is part of the plan of God for believers to grow up in Christ.  Whereas God’s unmerited favor or grace is God drawing us to Himself in salvation, transformational grace is ...