Luther, A Man of Wit and Wisdom...

Right off, author Carl R. Trueman admits he has "loved Luther almost since the moment I first grasped the gospel." Luther has been one of Trueman's "private theological companions," so he was pleased to be asked to write this volume, Luther on the Christian Life, Cross and Freedom, www.crossway.org, part of Crossway's series called Theologians on the Christian Life. Trueman, who is not a Lutheran but a church history professor at Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia, welcomed Robert Kolb of Concordia Seminary, in Saint Louis to write a Forward, and Martin E. Marty, Emeritus Professor at the University of Chicago, to write an Afterword. So let's begin...

Trueman's layout is a bit different for telling the story of Martin Luther's life. He begins with a summary of what's happening in the European world of church history in about 1508 and on, and how Luther fits in with his education, his family, his service to the church. Trueman says that as a theologian and pastor, Luther "was continually wrestling with how his theological insights connected to the lives and experiences of the people under his care." Trueman has long studied and taught on Luther and he believes there was a "personal passion" in Luther that finds "no obvious counterpart in the writings" of other significant theologians of his time.

Next, Trueman begins to describe and study some of the happenings in Luther's life, such as The Indulgence Controversy, The Diet of Worms in 1521, Wartburg in 1522 and Luther's translation of the New Testament into German, Wittenberg in 1525, his marriage to Katharine von Bora. Trueman calls us to think of Luther "as one of us." He says that "at a deeper level, we should see Luther in the way he wrestled with the deepest perennial questions of human, Christian existence." For example: "How can I find a gracious God? What and where is grace? In what does true happiness consist?"

After the section on Luther's life, there are more chapters on events that became important for Lutheranism, in many of which Luther was involved. He may be most notably remembered for his view of justification by grace through faith. He is also considered to be "the man who started the Reformation," with nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517. Luther died in 1546 in Eisleben while on pastoral business. He has left  much of his writing for us to study and enjoy. I have a very nice copy of The Table Talk of Martin Luther, that I enjoy reading and which once belonged to the late Hal Rast, one of my favorite Lutherans.

---Lois Sibley

Two, Three, and Four...

As Alister McGrath continues his series called The Heart of Christian Faith, this second volume in the series is called The Living God, and is published by wjkbooks.com.  McGrath asks, "How do we know about God?" and he says that dictionaries offer definitions of  God as a "vague supreme being," He notes that Christian faith "stretches back to the dawn of civilization," and "we hold hands with millions who have known and loved our God and passed their wisdom on to us." Christians believe in the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob (Exodus 3:16), and when we read of those "with whom we are linked by faith we are absorbing our own family history."

McGrath is Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion, and Culture at King's College, London, and a prolific author. He claims that our God is "a personal God," an "almighty God," as well as being creator of the universe. He uses images as "windows into God," such as light, rock, shepherd, father, mother, king, and friend to describe the personal relationship between God and those who believe and have faith in him. He explains the doctrine of the Trinity as mystery, yes, reminding us of the one in three: God is creator, redeemer, and sustainer. The Holy Spirit, as the third person in the Trinity, is with us daily in our minds and hearts, leading, guiding, encouraging, and often leading us to worship and thanksgiving for our Triune God who loves us.

Volume three in this series is called Jesus Christ, and McGrath focuses on "what is, in many ways, the centrepiece of the Christian faith." He explores "more thoroughly what Christians mean when they declare that they believe in Jesus Christ." Volume four is called The Spirit of Grace, and as McGrath continues his teaching on the Holy Spirit, he brings in once again C. S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers to share some of their opinions and writings.

While volumes three and four are now available, the fifth and final volume, titled The Christian Life and Hope, will be available from WestminsterJohnKnox in the Spring of 2016.

Lois Sibley,
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Life Before and After Winter

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter again. It was Winter '07 when Al Groves left us. His wife, Elizabeth, or Libbie if you know her, chose those headings for sections of the story. The book is called grief undone, A Journey with God and Cancer, published by New Growth Press, and you will need some tissues nearby as you read this heart-breaking but somehow comforting tale. It is heart-breaking because it hurts to read of  this loving, happy, busy family as they deal with incurable illness. And it is both sad and comforting to know they are leaning on God, the Father; Jesus, the Good Shepherd; and the Holy Spirit, who guides us through each new day. This book is incredibly sad. But if you read it, I am sure you will be incredibly glad you did.

It was in the winter of '06 that Al was told that there was "a spot" on his chest X-ray. They had many scares before that and he had been through many doctors' appointments, exams, tests, biopsies, and X-rays. They were unloading groceries from the car when he told Libbie. They continued with the unloading while they were both thinking of the possibilities and not wanting to scare each other.

After talking it over, they decided to tell their children. "It's hard to tell your kids that their father has something that might turn out to be terminal cancer," Libbie wrote later. The younger two were twelve and fourteen. The older two were one in college and one graduated, married, and at work, both in other parts of the country.

I'm not sure when Libbie decided to write this book but early on she kept detailed notes and she tells us in mostly two-or-three-page-chapters all of the difficult, heart-breaking, and beautiful moments and days. A friend helped them start a blog and Al often wrote to friends in their local neighborhood and church and around the world to tell them what was happening, how they were dealing with it, and asking for prayers. More than seven years have passed since Al went to be with the Lord in the Winter of 2007. Libbie continued her education and is now a lecturer and teaching assistant at a nearby seminary and she has several grandchildren to love and enjoy. Thanks be to God.......

---Lois Sibley,
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Remembering Mister Rogers

"War isn't nice," said Mister Rogers. ;He went on to explain his feelings about war and peace as he talked with the children in his Neighborhood of Make Believe on television. There is a new book, Peaceful Neighbor, Discovering the CounterCultural Mister Rogers, by Michael G. Long,who is associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Elizabethtown College, and author of several books on civil rights, religion, politics, and peacemaking. This book is published by WestminsterJohnKnox,

Many of our children grew up watching Mister Rogers on tv, listening to his opinions and stories, content in his Neighborhood of Make Believe, I wonder what those children who were watching remember and how it affected them as they grew up facing problems of their own day. One of those who remembers told me that her dad, as he was leaving for work, asked her to be sure to watch Mister Rogers and they would talk about it when he came back. So she did, and she remembers they sat down and talked about what Mister Rogers, with his puppets and friends, had been talking about that day.

"Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister....who believed in a God who accepts us as we are and loves us without condition, who is present to each person and all of creation, and who desires a world marked by peace and wholeness," writes Long, as he takes Fred Rogers and his Neighborhood seriously. "And why not? For more than three decades, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was a national powerhouse that reached more than 3.5 million viewers weekly." 

Author Long has been digging through Rogers' papers at the Fred Rogers Archive at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Penn; reading his speeches at the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Archive at the University of Pittsburgh; studying numerous episodes of the tv run of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968--2001), listening to many interviews Rogers gave, and talking with people he knew well. Long calls him "a powerful, storytelling peacemaker, who taught us to practice deep listening, deep thinking, and deep understanding," antidotes to violence in any form,

Long says Mister Rogers "was a radical Christian pacifist, fervently committed to the end of violence and the presence of social justice in its full glory. The time has come to pull him out of the shadows so we can celebrate him just as he was---a fierce peacemaker."

---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks

Psalms as Hymns of the Church

"The book of Psalms is not a theological textbook," writes Tremper Longman III in his author's preface for his new book  Psalms, which is volume 15 and 16 of the new version in Tyndale's Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) now available from IVPress. But rather, Longman writes: it is "the libretto of the most vibrant worship imaginable." He claims that the Psalms "not only want to inform our intellect, but to stimulate our imagination, arouse our emotions and stir us on to holy thoughts and actions." Is he right? Could 150 poetic hymns and songs, with laments firmly imbedded in their contents, do that for us? I wonder.......

Longman, who is Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, quickly tells us that "even though the laments outnumber the hymns, the predominant note is praise." O.K., that caught my attention and he goes on to explain that each one has a title, Many of the titles include the name of the author, but some titles refer to historical events or liturgy or tunes, or for teaching. The 150 are offered as 5 books, each book having its title and purpose. Longman refers to Psalms 1 and 2 as the beginning or introduction with the closing 5 of the 150 in a doxology. He thinks that stepping back and looking at the way it begins with laments but ends with the last 5 poems in praise may bring us to think that God is "turning our wailing into dancing."

Longman studies each Psalm under the headings of Context, Comment, and Meaning. Readers may follow him through their favorite, maybe Ps. 117, the shortest; or the longest, Ps. 119; or perhaps Ps. 22 with its special application to the death of Christ, often remembered during Lent. Choose a favorite and you will soon be caught up in the lure, mystery, and love of God for his people.....

Tremper does believe there is theology in the Psalms but, as poetry they "arouse the readers' emotions, stimulate their imagination, and appeal to their will. For these purposes, poetry is most effective." He reminds us that as early as the fourth century, Athanasius was saying. 'the Psalms are an epitome of the whole Scriptures,'" And "Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, noted that 'the Psalms are a compendium of all theology.'" Some of today's theologians are following in the way.

A point that I like is that Longman thinks the "prominent mention of tora in Psalm 1 signals that the Psalter is to be read as tora [the 5 books of Moses]." In other words, David's tora is to be read "alongside the tora of Moses" and "this prompts the reader to expect tora in the rest of the Psalter and to be guided by it." Perhaps one could or should mentally fast-forward and think about possibilities for someday.....when Christians and Jewish believers  may be worshiping God together.

---Lois Sibley,
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Joni prays, but still in pain...

This is not a new book. Copyright date is 2010, but it is such an important book, I cannot skip by it. Many of you will remember Joni Eareckson Tada and her diving accident, which is now old news. It happened in the 1960s and she has survived to this point though still a quadriplegic---more than 40 years in a wheelchair! Joni has spoken to thousands of groups, written many books, started and continues to manage an organization that began as Joni and Friends, and now includes the International Disability Center, located in California.

Joni has strong faith in the Lord and his ability to heal and she knows the Bible stories to prove it. She prays often for herself and others who need and want healing, but so far it hasn't happened for her. In her new book, A Place of Healing, there are also two subtitles: Wrestling with the Mystery of Suffering, and Pain and God's Sovereignty. Published by David C. Cook, those subtitles will give you hints of what she is going to write. First, quadriplegics cannot wrestle, can they, and second, what does sovereignty mean anyway?  Joni knows the answers and she tells them, using Bible stories and the stories of people she knows and their struggles with pain, and especially her own struggles over the last five years when she has dealt with increasingly unbearable pain. Yes, this book is about pain, but once you start reading it you won't be able to stop until you read the last page. 

As you read through the book and learn more about the challenges and the happenings she has been going through, there is news of a new challenge and what it means for Joni and husband Ken Tada. Then, she remembers her growing up years in the Reformed Episcopal Church back east, and she picks up the BCP and finds the Psalter reading for the day. It's about kneeling, Psalm 95:6. And Joni cannot kneel. It says "Kneel before the Lord, your maker...." so she asks the reader to kneel for her. And she writes: "while you are down there, if you feel so inclined, thank Him for being so good to a paralyzed woman named Joni." It's an amazing, scary, comforting, leaning on Jesus book. Read it...

---Lois Sibley,

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How to Understand the Atonement

Donald Macleod is probably a common name, both in the U.K., and in Canada and the U.S, and maybe other countries as well. The Donald Macleod whose book I am reviewing here is the one who, from 1978--2011, was professor of systematic theology at the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh, Scotland. His new book, called Christ Crucified, Understanding the Atonement, is published by InterVarsity Press and available at ivpress.com/media. Now that he is retired from teaching, maybe Macleod will honor us with more books in future.

His book is laid out in two parts: Part 1: The way of the cross, which is not a chronology of the life of Christ, but rather Macleod reports on what the Gospel writers describe as they focus on Christ's suffering and death, under these three headings: 1) A man of sorrows; 2) From the third to the ninth hour; and 3) The divine paradox: the crucified Son. Macleod reminds us that  while the teaching of Jesus was important it was not where "his primary significance lay. It lay in his death." Macleod points out that earlier the Gospel writers showed little interest in chronological happenings in Jesus' life, but now, from the Last Supper to his burial, only 24 hours, there is a detailed account of his last few hours and we read about what was happening at the 3rd hour (morning), the 6th hour (mid-day), and the 9th hour. Macleod says "such detail is remarkable, and serves to underline the evangelists' [Gospel writers] concentration on Jesus' death." Part 1 closes with Athanasius (c. 296--373), Augustine (354--430), Anselm (c. 1033--1109) and Aquinas (1224--74) all attesting to Christ's vicarious sacrifice with his death on the cross.

Part 2 is called The word of the cross, and it is longer and consists of 11 sections, each beginning with a theological word and phrase. For example: Substitution [Christ dying for us]; Expiation, Propitiation,  Reconciliation, Satisfaction, Vicarious, Redemption, Victory. But, after all that, Macleod says "The linguistic arguments are secondary. This is not a debate about words. It is a debate about something absolutely fundamental: the Christian doctrine of God." And Macleod brings up A.A. Hodge, who in his book The Atonement said that "the words 'expiation' and 'propitiation' represent the same Greek word and as far as he is concerned [Hodge] each has the same legitimacy." Sometimes it's fun to listen in on these discussions. I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Macleod imagines thoughts and conversations as we walk through Holy Week with those who were there, as well as the opinions of theologians from Paul on down to Warfield, McGrath and many others.

---Lois Sibley
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