Monday, December 20, 2010

Fasting - Scot McKnight

Scot McKnight is a fantastic author.  I greatly respect him, and so I was thrilled at the chance to review his book for The Ancient Practices Series on Fasting.  McKnight does not disappoint.  This is certainly one of the best books on fasting I have ever read.  He suggests that, "Fasting is the natural, inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life" (xviii).  There are simply times when we are confronted with situations (our own sin, sin of a nation, death, etc.) That we need to bring our bodies into line with our prayers, emotions, and spirit.  Fasting is a whole body act.  McKnight shows that fasting is not an A to B resulting in C activity.  If we fast we are not guaranteed that our prayers will be more effective or that we will meet God in a special way, but rather that as we respond to A with B we may discover C in ways we didn't expect.  McKnight also calls for Christians to rediscover the practice of regular fasting as well as fasting before baptism, communion, and other important days in the church calendar.  This is a great book.  A must read.


I received this book free from the Thomas Nelson Publishers "Booksneeze" book review program.  I was under no obligation to provide a positive review.  
 

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

The Gospel According to Jesus

I first heard of Chris Seay through his book "The Gospel According to Lost." That was a great book with interesting insights into how faith and pop culture meet.  So I was excited to read his new book "The Gospel According to Jesus."  Seay's primary question for us is, "Is it possible that we have ignored Jesus - our wild, messianic King - and chosen to re-create Jesus in the image of the Pharisees themselves?  Seay got the Barna Research Group to do some studies on how Christians define "Righteousness" the result was that MOST people do not actually know what it means.  But here's the problem.  Seay does a poor job of explaining what it does mean.  As a whole I felt like the book falls flat.  With a title like "The Gospel According to Jesus," you would expect it to rock your socks off, but it doesn't even come close.  That said, it is not a bad book.  There are a few very interesting comments and lines.  So if you have extra time, a few extra bucks, and you like Chris Seay it is worth getting.  Just keep your expectations low.   

I received this book free from the Thomas Nelson Publishers "Booksneeze" book review program.  I was under no obligation to provide a positive review.