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Review of Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism1947; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003
Download a printer-friendly version in Small books by great authors can bring large rewards in short order. Such is the case with this diminutive classic on evangelical identity and vision by the late theologian, philosopher and journalist, Carl F. H. Henry. Richard Mouw, Christian philosopher and president of Fuller Theological Seminary, wrote in his preface to the new edition that this is no museum piece; it remains a bracing charge to conservative Protestants today. Dr. Henry, who was translated to glory in late 2003, was a key founder of the evangelical movement, a prolific author, and a tireless activist for Kingdom causes. Dr. Henry was at the hub of three pivotal evangelical institutions. He served as a founding faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary (before it removed biblical inerrancy from its doctrinal statement), the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Christianity Today (which has moved from the theological vision Henry laid out as its first editor). Continue reading "Review of Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism" 
Review of Richard Swinburne and John StackhouseSwinburne, The Resurrection of God Incarnate. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Stackhouse, Humble Apologetics: Defending the Faith Today. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Download a printer-friendly version in Not long ago, Christian apologists faced an uphill battle against well-entrenched philosophies of unbelief. Natural theology was deemed long dead, having been slain by the swords of Hume and Kant. Arguments for God’s existence were at best philosophical museum pieces revealing the errors of unenlightened intellectuals. Higher critics had reduced the Gospels to ragtag collections of scattered facts, idiosyncratic theologizing, and existentially gripping myths. Philosophers and apologists did well to argue for the intelligibility of religious language (considered non-sense by logical positivists), let alone its rationality or truth. Evangelical apologetics—when pursued at all—was typically practiced outside the academy and often lacked intellectual power (although this could not be said of stalwarts such as Gordon Clark, E. J. Carnell, or Carl Henry). But seismic shocks have realigned the intellectual world of unbelief in the past three decades, opening up fissures and toppling edifices. Atheist philosopher Quentin Smith recently wrote in the skeptical philosophical journal Philo that the philosophy departments of the academy have been “desecularized” since the late 1960s, largely due to the path-breaking work of Alvin Plantinga’s writings. Given the renaissance in Christian philosophy during the past few decades, atheistic philosophers can no longer assume that their naturalism is justified. Smith even allows that “The justification of most contemporary naturalist views is defeated by contemporary theist arguments.” Philosophia Christi, the journal of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, has the largest subscription base of any philosophy of religion journal and a roster of stellar contributors. Continue reading "Review of Richard Swinburne and John Stackhouse"
Review of Ray Billington, Religion Without GodNew York: Routledge, 2002
Download a printer-friendly version in The thesis of this highly polemical book is that religion is better off without God and all its traditional Western accoutrements. To that end, the author—an External Examiner of Philosophy for the European baccalaureate and the author of two previous books—(1) explores the lineaments of non-theistic religion and (2) mounts a case against all forms of theism, but particularly against Christianity. This review will prove inadequate to detail the book’s plethora of contradictions, misstatements, and otherwise objectionable elements. Billington makes many uncharitable and unduly hostile remarks against theism and Christianity, such as speaking of evangelical enthusiasm as “religious masturbation” (138). One also finds many unsupported and even farcical statements such as, “The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7) is, in fact, a magnificent description of the way of Zen” (129). However, Billington makes one insightful point worth noting. Much of the religious consciousness of the world lacks the concept of a personal God that is so taken for granted in the West. To make this case, Billington offers short treatments of nontheistic religion as found in nondualistic Hinduism, aspects of Buddhism, Taoism, and in “profane religion”—cases of mystical experiences sans God occurring outside of traditional religious piety. Continue reading "Review of Ray Billington, Religion Without God"
Review of Bruce L. Shelley, Transformed by Love: The Vernon Grounds StoryGrand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 2002
Download a printer-friendly version in It has been said that if you want to know a person, you must identity that person's “ruling passion“—that which unifies their personality and sets their course for life. Yet in our fickle age of reinvention and frequent lifestyle changes, one wonders if some folk even possess a fixed core at the heart of their being. Historian Bruce Shelley, senior professor of history at Denver Seminary, claims to have discerned the ruling passion of his longtime colleague and evangelical senior statesman, Dr. Vernon Grounds (b. 1914), a Denver resident since 1951. That passion is the moral virtue of love—not love in a vague or sentimental sense, but rather Christian love, which is rooted in the understanding of Jesus Christ as the revelation of God’s love for humanity. While Dr. Grounds’s doctoral dissertation at Drew University addressed the concept of love in the thought of Sigmund Freud, his concern for this great virtue has been far more than academic. Love has been a demonstrable way of life for Vernon Grounds, as this book amply attests. Shelley credits this transformation by love to Grounds’s conversion during his college days, which occurred only after considerable intellectual struggles. Continue reading "Review of Bruce L. Shelley, Transformed by Love: The Vernon Grounds Story"
Review of Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About AmericaWashington, D.C.: Regnery, 2002
Download a printer-friendly version in The terrifying infernos of September 11 did not merely breach our national security and jolt America into a war unlike any other. The savage attacks also raised urgent questions of good and evil, life and death—even heaven and hell. In the dreadful wake of undreamed-of horror, Americans began to take stock of themselves, their loved ones, their faith, and their nation. Many asked, “Why do they hate us?” thereby raising further questions about the nature, value, and destiny of what Abraham Lincoln called “The American experiment.” Our new motto is “United we stand.” But, as Americans, exactly what do we stand for, and whom do we stand against? Continue reading "Review of Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About America"
Review of Charles Kimball, When Religion Becomes EvilSan Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002
Download a printer-friendly version in An old saying is that we should never discuss religion and politics among friends. This notion has always been suspect (aren’t these rather important subjects that make for bracing conversation?), but after last year’s terrorist attacks, the idea seems laughable. Now that America has been attacked by violent Islamicists, the topics are unavoidable. How should we understand religions’ connections to political and military goals? Can we tell when religions become “evil”? Religion professor Charles Kimball attempts to shed light on these questions in his wide-ranging book. Continue reading "Review of Charles Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil"
Review of Quentin Schultze, Habits of the High Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information AgeEerdmans, 2002
Download a printer-friendly version in Several years ago I administered a doctrinal oral examination at Denver Seminary. (This exam tests seminary students’ ability to explain their Christian beliefs.) This student did poorly when asked to relate biblical texts to the larger history of Scripture. He had studied by using a computer program that printed out acres of isolated Bible verses on various topics. He had collected and memorized biblical “factoids,” but he lacked a deeper sense of biblical history. I told him to read and study the Bible in book form. His use of technology lacked wisdom. This lack of wisdom in using computer technologies is widespread and it is what makes Habits of the High Tech Heart so significant.
Three Books That Influenced Me Most
Download a printer-friendly version in 1. Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There (InterVarsity Press). Originally published in 1968. 30th anniversary edition published in 1990. I first read The God Who Is There by Francis Schaeffer in the fall of 1976, my sophomore year in college—just a few months after my conversion to Christ. It is not an overstatement to say that it revolutionized my view of Christian faith and endeavor. I had spent the first few troubled months of the Christian life not knowing how to think about the great intellectual issues I had been introduced to in my first year of college. This caused considerable distress of soul. But Schaeffer, the savvy evangelist and apologist, wasn’t afraid of the great ideas. In fact, he argued that the Christian worldview is objectively true, rational, and that it offers unique hope and meaning to a post-Christian culture awash in despair and confusion. Schaeffer did not answer all my questions, and I have come to question a few of his judgments (particularly his reading of a few philosophers), but The God Who Is There helped spark a grand view of ministry that has never dimmed. We must love the lost, take culture seriously, and outthink the world for Christ! 2. Blaise Pascal, Pensées (various editions). I have been reading Pascal’s profound reflections for twenty-five years, and I don’t plan on stopping. I find myself quoting him in my writing and speaking frequently. I first picked this volume out of my mother’s collection of The Great Books in the summer of 1977. The volume consists of over 900 fragments of a book Pascal never completed, which would have been an apologetic for the Christian faith. Nevertheless, many of the fragments—some more developed and refined than others—were so brilliant that Pascal’s family published them after his death in 1662. He was only 39. Pascal, a celebrated scientist and mathematician, understood that the gospel was the only key that could unlock the meaning of the human condition. His reflections on the greatness and misery of humanity are unparalleled in their wisdom and apologetic power. We are great because made in God’s image and likeness; but we are miserable because we are fallen. We are deposed royalty in need of the Mediator, Jesus Christ. 3. Søren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing (various editions). Although I cannot agree with much of Kierkegaard’s religious philosophy (particularly his fideism), this devotional book was pivotal in my sense of divine calling. Kierkegaard aimed to reform the dry and dead Lutheran orthodoxy of his day by stimulating his readers to rediscover the Christianity of the New Testament and to stand naked as individuals before God himself. This book summons the reader to consider their lives before the “audit of eternity“ and to order all their affairs so as to “will the good in the truth,“ without excuse and without wavering and against the crowd, if need be. Through reading it, I discovered that God was calling me to engage the life of the mind as a lifelong pursuit. At the time (1977 or 1978), I did not know what shape this commitment would take, but the Lord’s will was made known to me through his remarkable and penetrating book.
Important Books About Television
Download a printer-friendly version in I have found the following books to be significant assessments of the nature and effects of television and electronic media in general. (These books are not primarily about the Internet. That would require another bibliography). Reading about television (which we do not read, but watch) is one judicious way to gain a perspective on it not available otherwise. Abstaining from television for long periods of time is another preferred method for gaining insights about its effect on one’s soul and the soul of a culture. Continue reading "Important Books About Television"
Leaving Behind Left Behind or Second Thoughts on the End of the World
Download a printer-friendly version in In the July 1 issue of Time, the cover story, “The Bible and the Apocalypse,” focused on America’s rising curiosity about the end of the world. Much attention was given the Left Behind series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. These blockbuster best-sellers, their spin-offs, and copycats offer fictional accounts of what the Book of Revelation teaches about events preceding the Second Coming of Christ. Over 40 million copies of the series are now in print, and the audience is not limited to conservative Christians. Recent world events, particularly the terrorist attacks on America, have spurred widespread interest in what this all means from a theological perspective. Continue reading "Leaving Behind Left Behind or Second Thoughts on the End of the World"
Review of Armand Nicholi, The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of LifeFree Press, 2002
Download a printer-friendly version in In a society fraught with ideological conflict, it is rare to find a genuinely
Review of Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian BeliefNew York: Oxford University Press, 2000
Download a printer-friendly version in A strong case can be made that no other Christian philosopher has done more to defend the rationality of Christianity in the twentieth century than Alvin Plantinga. For over thirty-five years, he has written voluminously in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy religion. Plantinga was one of the first Christian philosophers to employ analytical philosophy instead of allowing it to be turned against Christian faith (as happened at the onset of the movement). Many Christian philosophers followed his wise lead. He has published in the most eminent academic journals, given the presidential address of the American Philosophical Association, and delivered the prestigious Gifford lectures in Scotland. He co-founded the Society of Christian Philosophers in the early 1980s, an organization contributing significantly to the resurgence of Christians in philosophy in the past two decades or so, and which publishes the respected journal Faith and Philosophy. Continue reading "Review of Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief"
Comparing Two Giants of Apologetics: Review of Scott R. Burson and Jerry L. Walls, C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer: Lessons for a New Century from the Most Influential Apologists of Our TimeDowners Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998
Download a printer-friendly version in Last year, many evangelical Christians celebrated the birth centenary of C. S. Lewis, the most influential Christian apologist of our times. Last year also marked the 30th anniversary of the book The God Who is There by Francis A. Schaeffer. Schaeffer’s book of apologetics and social criticism sparked many evangelicals to leave their cultural ghettos, to reject their anti-intellectualism and to leave their theological oblivion behind them to communicate the cogency of the Christian worldview to a needy world. InterVarsity Press recently released a new edition that includes laudatory comments from evangelical luminaries such Charles Colson, Os Guinness, J. I. Packer and Bishop John W. Howe of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida. Lewis and Schaeffer had much in common as well as many points of divergence, both in their manner of life and their perspectives; and we have much to learn from both, as the book C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer aptly documents.
America's Ecological Millennium: Review of Al Gore, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human SpiritBoston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992
Download a printer-friendly version in Albert Gore’s ambitious four-hundred-page opus aspires to be no less than an ecological tour de force. This expansive and earnest volume combines scientific analysis, political policy, autobiography, intellectual history, and even a theology of the environment—all presented with the fervor of a conscience-bound activist striving to awaken a sleeping populace to the approaching ecological apocalypse of global warming, ozone depletion, soil erosion, and a host of other environmental ills unrecognized by those who oppose his views (many of whom are now in the White House). Because of its encyclopedic aims, Earth in the Balance is difficult to review adequately. Instead of delving extensively into controversies over the veracity of Gore’s ecological vision, I will focus on the relationship of several roles he attempts to fulfill simultaneously: the politician, the environmentalist, and the self-confessed Baptist.
Review of Steven Cowan, Five Views of Apologetics
Read this review of Five Views of Apologetics (edited by Steven Cowan) in the Denver Journal archives.
Review of Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Read this review of The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, in the Christian Research Journal archives.
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Review of Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism Review of Richard Swinburne and John Stackhouse Review of Ray Billington, Religion Without God Review of Bruce L. Shelley, Transformed by Love: The Vernon Grounds Story Review of Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About America Review of Charles Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil Review of Quentin Schultze, Habits of the High Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age Three Books That Influenced Me Most Important Books About Television Leaving Behind Left Behind or Second Thoughts on the End of the World Review of Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief Review of Steven Cowan, Five Views of Apologetics Review of Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth Favorite Articles
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