Adam Shields

Short Review: This is an interesting and subtle argument. Noll suggests that American will influence world Christianity for quite awhile, not because of direct influence as much as because the US is facing globalization pressures that the rest of the world is or will also face. Christianity in the US is just further ahead on the curve. The US is the richest church and produces the most media and supports the most missionaries (but not according to GDP or population), so it will exert influence because of that. But it is the globalization pressures that are more important than the money or missionaries that come out of the US.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/new-shape-of-world-christianity/

Short Review: This is a great little book about re-discovering the joy of reading and the simple steps to read more. It is less Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book and more Alan Jacob's the Pleasures of Reading.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/137-books-in-one-year-how-to-fall-in-love-with-reading/

Short Review: Set between the last two chapters of Ender's Game, Ender in Exile feels more like a collection of shorts stories than a coherent novel. But it is a good collection of stories. This is not an action oriented Ender story but an idea oriented Ender story. And it is very heavily oriented toward Card's obsession with having children and passing on genes and creating meaning in life through family. On the whole it is a good, but not great read.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/ender-in-exile/

I love Les Miserables, but it is too long. This is an abridgment and mostly it was a good one. But it left Fontaine pretty much out of the story. Other than that it was very good.

Full review - http://bookwi.se/les-miserables-by-victor-hugo/

Short Review: The Honorable Schoolboy: A George Smiley Novel by John le Carré - the second in the informal Karla Trilogy. It could have been edited down a little bit, but I still like the realistic feel and the slow burn method of le Carre. Clear turn in the writing to be more against the excesses of the western world instead of the communism of the east. Grounded in the history of the end of the Vietnam war, although never about that. Worth reading in context of le Carre's other work, but not my favorite of the le Carre books I have read so far.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-honorable-schoolboy/

Short review: Don't get this on audiobook. Between the very difficult to understand narrator (South African Actor) and the disjointed nature of the book (it is clippings from unpublished autobiography, letters and other papers) it is basically impossible to follow. Content is probably great in paper or ebook format (I have had several people recommend it) but is unusable in audio.

Full review: http://bookwi.se/conversations-with-myself-by-nelson-mandela/

Short review: This is the first of John Le Carré's novels and the first of the George Smiley books. It is not a great novel, but if you like Smiley and have read the better known Karla trilogy then it is worth going back to this first book. I don't think I would recommend starting with this first book, but instead starting with either Tinker Tailor or the Spy Who Came in from the Cold and then coming back to this later. Again, this is a slow burn spy novel. Smiley knows something is going on, but not really what. So thing just keep happening until eventually enough occurs that he can put the pieces together. Don't think James Bond action, think Ms Marples, but as a short, somewhat dumpy international spy. I like them, but I can see that they are not for everyone.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/call-for-the-dead/

Short Book Review: This is a young adult thriller in a similar vein as Klavan's Homelander's series. Sam Hopkins is a pastor's kid that wants to stand out. He gets involved with some other teens that are criminals but gets out when they try to hurt a mentally ill girl. This has a good portrayal of what mental illness is like and the story line is a classic thriller. It is a Christian book that is not evangelistic, just with characters that are Christians.

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/crazy-dangerous/

Short Review: a readable, biblical account of the work on the spirit in Christian the life. I thought it was good and devotionally focused. Each chapter started with several scriptures that the author wanted the reader to read and become familiar with. Then the chapter discussed one way the Spirit works in the life of a Christian.

My full review is at http://bookwi.se/fresh-air-the-holy-spirit-for-an-inspired-life-by-jack-levison/

Short Review: I picked the audiobook up free and listened to it based on the assumption that the book and the movie were probably different. I was surprised that the unabridged audio was just over 3 hours. Anne Hathaway did a good job as narrator. It is worth picking up just to compare the movie and book. Mostly minor differences, but it is a decent young adult book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/wizard-of-oz/

Short Review: (Read the long review this is a technical book). Holmes focus is showing that modern trinitarian theology is fundamentally different than the Trinitarian doctrine developed by the Patristic fathers of the first several centuries of Christianity. This is historical theology and I think we need more historical theology, especially in the Evangelical church world. I think he makes his point well in most areas. Modern language has altered the idea of personhood and substance so the patristic understanding of their language is very different than the way that modern readers understand the trinitarian descriptions of the Nicene Creed and other creedal statements.

What I was not convinced of is that Augustine and the Eastern trinitarian writers were in fundamental agreement. If it is true, then Holmes is right and modern work on the trinity focusing on its social aspects if fundamentally different. If Holmes is wrong, and the East were more focused on social interaction of the trinity then his thesis breaks down and modern trinitarian theology is an expansion of eastern Patristics, not a fundamentally different theology.

This is a book well worth reading if you are looking into the historical theology of the Trinity. It is technical. I have never used my Kindle dictionary and wikipedia look up function so much as with this book. Holmes clearly is familiar with the subject and far smarter than I am.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-quest-for-the-trinity/

Short Review: an autobiographical novel of a missionary family's vacations in Italy. This is clearly a fictional version of the Schaeffer family and the start of Frank working out his demons that he later was more explicit about in his two memoirs. One of Frank Schaeffer's strengths as a writer is that he can have characters do and say horrible things without losing compassion for the character themselves. But, I think because I have read his memoirs first, there is an uncomfortable feeling reading the book. I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time.

On the whole there is less anger and more compassion in this book, especially for his mother, if anything it is the sisters that look worse in Portofino than in the memoirs.

But Frank is a talented writer and the story is a decent one. But I need another six months or so before I try to read another one.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/portofino/

Short Review: This is the best bio of Lewis I have read and one that is well worth reading. It is a popular biography and McGrath says he is going to do a more academic biography later, which I look forward to. This one is highly readable and hits all of the right notes. McGrath had access to newly released letters and that seems to have made a big difference. There are some new details that have come out as a result of this biography and some may take issue with them, but McGrath seems to have documented them fairly well. I do wish there was more about Lewis' spiritual development. Other than the Inklings he does not seem to have had a Christian community around him, or at least it was not well discussed. I also wanted more about his interaction with his stepsons before and after their mother's death. And connected with the spiritual development I wish there had been more discussed about this theology.

In spite of the areas that were lacking this is still a 5 star biography.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/cs-lewis-a-life/

Book Review: Abba, Give Me A Word: The Path of Spiritual Direction by L Roger Owens - a short book about what spiritual direction looks like in practice. A lot of protestant Christians are unacquainted with spiritual direction. It is something that I think is missing in our tools for spiritual growth. It is sort of mentoring/counseling/friendship/accountability done on an intentional and regular basis for the purpose of growing spiritually.

Roger Owens isn't writing a book on how to be a spiritual director, but on how to receive spiritual direction. I picked it up during the Paraclete kindle book sale a couple weeks ago so it was only $3 on kindle and it was definitely worth that. Now to actually find a spiritual director.

The full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/abba-give-me-a-word/

Short Review: Not only a good summary of the suboridination debates, but an excellent example of how to evaluate theology and deal with intractable theological disagreements. I have not read anything by Erickson since undergrad systematic Theology, but this was well worth reading.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/tampering-with-the-trinity/

Short Review: Recommended for those looking for spiritual insight into pregnancy (and expectant Dads). This isn't a heavy book, I read it in an afternoon. But it was a good one. Jobe is honest about the ups and downs of pregnancy and childbirth and is seeking out ways that her experience as a mother can speak to her faith and how her Christian faith and reading of scripture can teach her about pregnancy. Well worth reading.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/creating-with-god/

Book Review: Catholic Spiritual Practices: A Treasury of Old and New - this is a book of very short introductions to Catholic practices (types of prayer, bible reading, etc.). The problem is that it has too many practices and too short of introductions. So people that really are interested in the practice need to find more detail and those that are not interested probably won't pick up the book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/catholic-spiritual-practices-a-treasury-of-old-and-new/

Book Review: Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to our Faith by Matthew Lee Anderson - This is the second time I have read this book. I am still as impresses as the first reading. Anderson ask a lot of interesting questions about how our bodies affect the our faith. Tattoos, homosexuality, worship, heaven and more all have implications to our theology when we take our bodies into account.

However, if you are thinking about the audiobook, I would skip it and go for the print or kindle editions. The narrator just seems like a poor match for the content.


Click through for the longer review on my blog http://bookwi.se/earthen-vessels/

Short review: This is a book that is in the uncomfortable middle of being too technical and academic for the casual reader and not focused and specific enough for the academic. I like that each of the five perspectives were asked to work through a specific portion of scripture, which is helpful. Overall it is not a bad book, just not clear who the intended audience really is.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/biblical-hermeneutics/

Short Review: This is an update to CS Lewis' classic Screwtape Letters. Intended to be a captured propaganda/training manual for young demons instead of letters from an older demon to a younger. Screwtape Letters was the first Lewis book I remember reading on my own (probably around 12) and I have read it at least a couple times since (but not recently.) But this didn't feel quite as good. It is less subtle for one thing. Also while I think that Farley has a lot of the right ideas, I think his solutions are sometimes over the top. For instance, I agree that sometimes people's repeated confessions of the same sin only serve to focus the person on the sin and they never live in freedom from the sin. But that does not mean that confession is bad, it just means that there are bad ways to do confession.

I would give this a 3.5 if I could. There are some good ideas here, but it lacks some of Lewis' literary subtlety and sometimes goes a but too far trying to remind us that we are saved by Grace and not by our own works (which I theologically affirm.)

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/operation-screwtape/

Short review: Old Man's War by John Scalzi - this book has many similar elements to Heinlein's Starship Troopers, but about half way through the similarities end the Scalzi is on his own. A well developed science fiction book that is not just about lasers and war, but also ethics, maturity, what it means to be alive.

Click through for a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/old-mans-war/

Short review: This is a quick book (only about 30 pages). It is about why you should find a mentor, how to find the mentor and how to get started in building the relationship. I have tried and failed early in my adult life to find a good mentoring relationship and I think this book would have helped me set appropriate expectations and define what I was really looking for.

I have a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/how-to-find-and-thrive-with-a-mentor-by-tyler-braun/

Short review: This is an ok book on prayer. Nothing special, nothing heretical. First section looks at the prayers of Jesus and the Apostles. The second section is more about the theory and practice of prayer in history. Lots of better books on prayer. My full review lists a number of aspects of prayer and what I think is the best book on that aspect of prayer.

Full review at http://bookwi.se/be-still-and-know-a-study-in-the-life-of-prayer-by-michael-ramsey/

Short review: I have been reading books on spiritual direction over the past several months trying to see what I am really looking for when I look for a spiritual director. This book looks at four different types of spiritual direction (Spiritual friendship, Formal Spiritual direction, Small group spiritual direction and spiritual direction in marriage). In all three Benner suggests there are three goals (1) becoming a great lover, (2) becoming whole and holy, and (3) becoming our true self-in-Christ. I spent nearly a month slowly reading through this, not because it is difficult but because I am still unsure about what I am really looking for. But this was a helpful book to get some more perspective on spiritual direction.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/sacred-companions/

Book Review - Plastic Donuts: Giving that Delights the Heart of the Father by Jeff Anderson - this a short, easy to read, engaging book on the nature and purpose of giving in the Christian life. It would make a very good book for small group discussion. The central metaphor is from the author's 18 month old giving him a plastic donut. And the delight that both he and she felt at that small gift.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/plastic-donuts/