Hobo Theology

Biblical Resources for the Christian Journey.

Book Reviews

How to Read a Book Better

By 1 Comment

Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren have done us a tremendous favor in supplying us with several excellent rules for reading.

They are as follows:

  1. Classify the book according to the kind and subject matter.
  2. State what the whole book is about with the upmost brevity.
  3. Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
  4. Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve.
  5. Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.
  6. Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.
  7. Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
  8. Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and of the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.
  9. Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book. (Do not say you agree, disagree, or suspend judgment, until you can say “I understand.”)
  10. Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously.
  11. Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you make.
  12. Show wherein the author is uniformed.
  13. Show wherein the author is misinformed.
  14. Show wherein the author is illogical.
  15. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.

Bonus: The four questions you should ask of any book.

  1. What is the book about as a whole?
  2. What is being said in detail, and how?
  3. Is the book true, in whole or part?
  4. What of it?

All of these rules and questions are wonderfully illuminated in their classic work How to Read a Book. Check it out.

Saving Eutychus

By 2 Comments

SAVING EUTYCHUS
How to preach God’s word and keep people awake
By Gary Millar and Phil Campbell

Eutychus never knew that night would forever change his life. He never knew how close to death he sat. But he soon found out.

What happened? Well, he fell asleep listening to Paul teach. Normally, we don’t consider following asleep in a sermon to be the end of the world, but in this case, for Eutychus, it was.

You see as Paul spoke late into the night, Eutychus dozed off…perched in an open window! When at last his head nodded down, so too his whole body slid out and fell down from the window. He lay dead on the ground below. Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. Paul restores him by the power of Christ and the gospel marches on, further validated by this miraculous event.

In their book Saving Eutychus: How to preach God’s word and keep people awake, Gary Millar and Phil Campbell use this incident and powerful imagery to remind us of the significance and difficulty of preaching. Faithful preaching has the power to arrest hearts and change lives, and yet, even the best of preachers (e.g. Paul) must deal with the everyday dynamics of sermon length, interest, timing, etc.

Preaching is a craft where you never “arrive.” One must constantly battle to improve, be clear, and connect. So any bit of advice or words of wisdom are always welcome. In Saving Eutychus, Millar and Campbell offer a collection of tried and true thoughts on preaching. Their slim volume comes as a welcome addition to any preacher’s library.

Saving Eutychus calls us to preach faithfully (content) and to preach well (delivery) and offers insight on how to do both. Millar and Campbell write as accomplished practitioners and yet also as everyday blokes. In fact, it is this down-to-earth mix of wit and wisdom that gives the book wings and what I enjoyed most about it.

Saving Eutychus is not a manual on preaching. Rather, it reads like letters from the front lines from average joes who know the battle firsthand. Millar and Campbell write with a conversational tone and never act like they have it all figured out. Instead, they share stories and lessons from their own ministries, both the successes and failures. I found myself humored, encouraged, and challenged throughout its pages.

Regardless of whether you’re just starting out as a teacher/preacher or if you’ve been at it for years, you will find this book to be a very helpful resource. I gladly commend it to you.

Happy learning!
Proverbs 3:13

Book Review – John Newton

By 2 Comments

JOHN NEWTON
(Bitesize Biographies)
By John Crotts

I thoroughly enjoyed this slim volume. John Crotts does a fine job. He crisply captures the life and times of John Newton.

As part of the “Bitesize Biographies” series, John Newton does not attempt to be an exhaustive or academic treatment of its subject, but I found this refreshing for several reasons.

  1. Summary over Sources. I appreciate a simple summary. Often, writers inflate biographies with original source material. Letters, papers, autobiography…It’s all very fascinating. But sometimes the details obscure the story. So it was a welcome change of pace to simply read the story of John Newton as…well…a story.
  2. Encouragement over Enigma. Another trend within the biography genres is to pick apart and speculate on every motive and thought in every odd letter found by the biographer. In their attempts to be novel, biographers muddy the waters. Again, Crotts brief retelling was refreshingly straightforward and optimistic.
  3. Spirituality over Scholastics. I appreciated how Crotts understood and explained Newton as a Christian. For believers, we see the story behind the story, God’s sovereign hand. Talking about a Christian through a dry, strictly historical lens sometimes feels myopic. But Crotts factors in the faith perspective in a way that aids the narrative.

I gladly recommend John Newton by John Crotts, and I look forward to reading future installments in this series.

Crotts, J. (2013). John Newton (Bitesize Biographies). Evangelical Press.

Happy learning!
Proverbs 3:13

Deep & Wide

By Leave a Comment

DEEP & WIDE
Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend
By Andy Stanley

I enjoyed Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley. Of course, Stanley makes you squirm. That’s kind of his thing. He drops a controversial statement with a twinkle in his eye, but the rhetorical right hooks keep you intellectually engaged and reading.

In Deep & Wide, Stanley addresses some important topics in ministry like environment, excellence, tolerance, and change. In all of this, he urges church leaders to expect guests. That is probably my greatest takeaway: expect guests. Think like an outsider. As you walk in your church, how would an outsider feel? As you drop off your kids at the nursery, would an outsider feel comfortable with the process? As you listen to the sermon, would it be intelligible to a newbie?

Now, I know some of my reformed brothers will balk at Stanley. I know. I get it. You may not agree with everything Stanley believes and practices. Agreed. But you need to read this book.

As a “church kid,” I found many of his punches to be helpful correctives. Will you agree with all his critiques and recommendations? No way! But the whole exercise of wrestling with what you like and don’t like about Stanley’s assertions will stretch you and benefit your church.

The Conviction to Lead

By Leave a Comment

THE CONVICTION TO LEAD
25 Principles for Leadership That Matters
By Albert Mohler

Al Mohler’s The Conviction to Lead wasn’t what I was hoping for. I had high hopes because I knew of his fabled revolution at Southern Seminary. Many people in Southern Baptists circles consider the theological and institutional overhaul Mohler sparked to be legendary. I looked forward to hearing his firsthand anecdotes and insights from this epic history. But Mohler hardly ever references or elaborates on this time period in his life. Consequently, the book feels flat, even platitudinous at times.

For a leadership book, The Conviction to Lead covers the typical bases. It provides a broad and brief survey of most leadership topics.

If you’ve never read a leadership book, it may prove to be a helpful start. In fact, as an introduction to leadership, I would recommend it.

But if you are familiar with the topics of leadership, this book will mostly be a review. And with each chapter consisting of no more than 3-5 pages, you will find only a cursory treatment of any of these topics.

So my verdict? Read it for an introduction or review of leadership. Don’t read it if you’re looking for juicy tidbits from Mohler’s story or if you’re looking for an intermediate or advanced treatment of leadership.

Mohler, A. (2012). The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters. Bethany House Publishers.

Happy learning!
Proverbs 3:13

Church Planting Is For Wimps

By 2 Comments

CHURCH PLANTING IS FOR WIMPS
How God Uses Messed-up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things
By Mike McKinley

Church Planting is For Wimps by Mike McKinley will captivate you. It consists only of about a hundred pages, but McKinley packs it with punches. I couldn’t put it down and ended up finishing it in one sitting.

Church Planting… takes the form of a personal narrative shaped around Mike’s experience revitalizing a church in Virginia. His lively writing keeps you moving, and his sense of humor keeps you chuckling.

And yet, Mike also discloses many heartfelt moments and thoughtful insights from his sometimes difficult journey into church revitalization.

If you serve in a local church, his account will inspire and challenge you. Give it a look!