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.
If the early indicators pan out, Aidan will definitely get into the book acquisition racket at some point…just like his dad. (Yes!)
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.
I am loving this book despite the fact that Andy Crouch needs to get out in the Midwest more!
Following Barack Obama’s lead, Andy Crouch has egregiously insulted “the SoHo of the Midwest” in a way that will increasingly get one punched in the schnoz as Kansas City’s downtown continues to take off. Check it and try to restrain your wrath:
Here’s a quick quiz: where on a map is the Missouri River? If you know the answer, you probably either live in St. Louis or have a lifelong obsession with geography. - Culture Making, 27
Woah, slow down there Andy. I can see the Muddy Mo’ from the windows of our 9-story loft building. I cross the Missouri roughly 4-6 times a day on 2-3 different bridges. And I live in a rapidly growing urban center that’s home to a half million in the metro area, 2 million in greater Kansas City.
Dude, recall that book and fix page 27!
In case you’re wondering, one a chapter in, Culture Making is a fantastic read.
I first encountered Andy Crouch via a blurb he wrote in David Kinnaman’s UnChristian (review). Even in a page and a half, Crouch established himself as a thinker with a unique perspective and strong voice, and grabbed my attention as a top contributing author. Now I’m holding his first full-length book in my hands: Culture Making.
Here’s what esteemed author/pastor/theologian Tim Keller has to say about this volume:
“Culture Making is on of the few books taking the discussion about Christianity and cultre to a new level. It is a rare mix of the theoretical and the practical, its definitions are nuanced but not abstract, and it strikes all kinds of fine balances. I highly recommend it.”
Gotta admit I’m pumped. Andy Crouch also blogs.
