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Back in 2007, I wrote a pretty glowing review of Alan Hirsch’s The Forgotten Ways. I felt at the time, and still do, that Hirsch’s book represents the best impulses of the nebulous “emerging church” movement (innovation, cultural savvy, love for the gospel) while avoiding its usual pitfalls (criticism for criticism’s sake, navel gazing, doctrinal ambiguity).

Recently, Hirsch compiled some of the positive reviews his book attracted, and what do you know, my piece made the cut. Nothing like some book-blurb-love to give a blogger a shot in the arm. Here’s what I said:

“In The Forgotten Ways, . . . Alan Hirsch emerges as a pace-setter. . . . He melds statistics, graphics and case studies with a creative, inspiring voice. . . . Hirsch’s writing is both imaginative and convincing. He builds his thesis with history, case studies and scripture, and one comes away from his book with a fresh look at century-old truths. . . . The Forgotten Ways acts as a dictionary and best-practices manual for emerging church in general. . . . Hirsch represents an erudite, theologically-deliberate side of emerging church thought. . . . I found Hirsch’s writing immeasurably useful and timely. . . . Hirsch goes beyond vague hints about church and culture to concrete dynamics, backing his points with the New Testament. . . . Hirsch’s work stands out as visionary, creative, and still applicable. Within the canon of emerging church literature, he is a unique voice, willing to enter postmodern culture while also critiquing it, willing to critique the church while also expressing a Christ-like love for it. The Forgotten Ways is a book I will revisit many times to refresh my memory. . . .Highly recommended.”

I stand by that! If you haven’t yet, grab The Forgotten Ways. For those interested in Jesus, church, culture, and theology, it’s well worth your time.

I’m not a careful follower of Scot McKnight and his widely-read blog, Jesus Creed, so when my friend Rob told me I should read McKnight’s latest book, The Blue Parakeet, I didn’t know what to expect. For many people, McKnight has proved to be a helpful “middle voice,” arbitrating between some of the extreme positions of folks in the Emergent camp and those on the other side who tend toward immovable rigidity in their approach to church traditions. (If that last sentence makes no sense to you, don’t feel bad. You’re not missing much.)

This book turned out to be an extension of McKnight’s “middle” approach to church practice and theology, where “middle” or a “third way” is shorthand for a biblically-grounded position that takes changing cultures and geography into account. In The Blue Parakeet, McKnight advocates an approach to reading and living the Bible that is, in my opinion, not so much startling or ground-breaking as it is healthy and needed. Here’s what I liked about the book:

» McKnight explains clearly that while the Bible is authoritative for our lives, we need to exercise discernment in how we apply it and not be lazy or stupid. For example, questions like this—”How come we don’t obey the Old Testament commands about blood sacrifices, but do obey the one prohibiting adultery?”—can and should be answered. There are essential questions we should ask about the text as we read the Bible with a view to wise application.

» Maybe you’ve heard the Bible’s “big picture” explained in terms of a simple trajectory: Creation – Fall – Redemption. Scot McKnight argues that a more biblically accurate view would include Covenant Community (after Fall, before and after Redemption). And I agree. A huge chunk of the Bible is spent outlining the failed and occasionally successful attempts of God’s people to do life together, and this component of biblical living is dramatically absent in most of the American church today.

A couple of nitpicks:

» The Blue Parakeet is written for a wider audience than McKnight’s typical theologian crowd, and it is pretty readable–but McKnight has some work to do before he figures out this “readable” thing. At times he comes across as stretching…albeit in a kind of humorous, professorial way.

» McKnight’s “test case” for applying his “third way” of reading scripture is one of today’s hot topics, Women in Ministry. I applaud his attempt to jump into the fray, but was disappointed with the way he handled the Bible texts involved. There are certain passages that almost always come up in this discussion, and McKnight handled some of them, but not very thoroughly–and some not at all. I guess I was expecting more than the cursory treatment he gave the topic.

All in all, The Blue Parakeet is a smart, accessible book that takes aim at some unhealthy ways of reading the Bible. McKnight affirms the authority of God’s word while encouraging people to read with a view to intelligent application, life change, and, ultimately, knowing the One about whom the Bible is written. Recommended.

I’m reading John Piper’s new book, Spectacular Sins, which is proving to be a fast read that packs a ton of weight. This is vintage Piper–serious, pointed and profound. For reasons I unpack at the old blog, BitterSweetLif, here’s an excerpt I love:

We are pushing our way through a blood-spattered life that makes us feel connected to the world and disconnected at the same time. We are here but not here. Love binds us to the tragic earth, and love binds us to the Treasure of heaven. Christians are strange. Our emotions are inexplicable in ordinary terms.

Piper gets it.

One exciting aspect of church planting is taking a big picture vision and adding detail and color so that it begins to take shape for other people. Case in point: Now you can download a Prospectus for Crossroads Church (working title).

This file, which reads somewhat like an adventure story, gives background on our purpose, our plan, our passion, and our partners. (How do you like that alliteration?) The file is a little large (11 MB) since we couldn’t resist adding pictures, but no one uses dial-up anymore, right?

If you want to know more about what we’re doing, grab this PDF, scan it, and shoot us your thoughts or questions. We’re talking with as many potential partners in person as we can–if something on the “partners” page grabs you, be sure and let us know.

Some of my sponsors are coming after me because of delayed book reviews. Not really, but this one should have appeared 2 or 3 weeks ago. Fortunately, I’m not totally to blame.

I started talking about The Cure after I finished it, and my brother Johnny asked to borrow it. He was so impressed with what he read that he passed it on to my dad, who held onto it long enough to mine it for quotable quotations and incorporate it in several sermons (I’m just guessing here).

Long story short, this book was so valuable that I couldn’t hold on to it long enough to review it.

What Harry Kraus sets out to do is diagnose the significant spiritual problems that are beating the pulp out of the North American church, and then offer a profoundly simple solution. The subtitle of The Cure is The Divine Rx for the Body of Christ – Life-Changing Love.

What makes this book come alive is the fact that Kraus uses decades of work as a physician to describe how the “body of Christ” should be animated by a single controlling impulse, Love. He deals with topics like “spiritual anorexia” and OCD—but his prescriptions go beyond mere exhortation. Writing on a topic like “love” and adding to the piles of volumes already written is a difficult accomplishment, but Kraus pulls it off.

I highly recommend The Cure, both to counselors and to anyone wanting to streamline and revive their spiritual life. This is a liberating and clarifying book.