The Lion, the Mouse and the Dawn Treader

Ever wanted a spiritual take on C.S. Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, then The Lion, the Mouse and the Dawn Treader is for you!  In this book Carl McColman takes an deeper look at the spiritual implications found in each chapter of the Dawn Treader.  Thankfully McColman does a great job summing up the plot line as I have not read Lewis' book in a few years.  I thought this book was very well written and easy to understand.  I also felt that there was a cliff notes kind of feel to this book in that each chapter was summed up and then the spiritual lessons were expounded upon.  This format helped to further the message of the book especially since there were a few spiritual lessons that I was unfamiliar with, namely those with a mystic point of view.  All in all I learned quite a bit from this short book and would easily recommend it to those wanting a deeper look at The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Thanks to the Speak Easy network for a copy of this book to review.  

Looking for an audacious faith?

In "Sun Stand Still" Pastor Steven Furtick challenges us to develop an audacious faith.  I was a little skeptical at first as to where this might lead, but upon reading his book I wholeheartedly agree.  Furtick is taking the basis of his book from the story of Joshua.  Joshua had the pleasure of leading the people of God after Moses had died, a task that I'm sure not too many envied.  But Joshua was the leader that was able to lead the people of God into the promised land after wandering in the desert for forty years.  During one of the many battles that he lead the army into, he had the audacity to pray that God would make the sun to stand still in the sky, and God granted this request which allowed Joshua and his army to gain victory.  It is this simple prayer that Joshua prays that Furtick uses to awaken his reader to the promises that God wants to unleash on His people.  This does not refer or in any way mimic the slick packaging of the prosperity gospel, but instead Furtick is concerned with how the people of God can make a difference in the world around them.

I think the strength of this book is found in the ease and clarity of the writing and the stories that Furtick shares of those in his church that have prayed Sun Stand Still prayers in their lives and how God answered them.  I really appreciated his emphasis at the end of the book on how the journey is just as important as the destination and that getting to the destination is always a process.  It is easy to read a book like this and then get caught up in the success stories and lose sight of the process and journey that it took to get there.  There are many resources on the website for the book that will help with small group discussions and other messages from the author.

On a personal note, one of my best friends from college attends Elevation church in Charlotte and has nothing but positive things to say about his church and the work they are doing in the Charlotte area.  If the basis of the ministry of Elevation church is founded in the frame of mind that this book portrays I can totally see why this is the case.  I believe there are even greater things in store for this pastor, his church and those who will join in the movement of God with an audacious faith.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

The Jesus Inquest

 My latest read from the BookSneeze bloggers program was "The Jesus Inquest" by Charles Foster.  Foster is a barrister (lawyer) in England and he presents two sides to the resurrection through the eyes and arguments of two fictitious barristers (X and Y).  The format of the book is that X presents evidence opposing the truth of the resurrection and Y rebuts the evidence.  This format helps to keep the main arguments on topic and not going off in the many different rabbit trails that this subject matter could lead one down.  I thought this book was very well written and easy to understand.  It exposed many new theories about the resurrection, mainly against, that I had not previously been exposed.  Some of these theories were really far fetched and some of them made logical sense, but they were contrary to what is found in scripture.  It was also interesting to read an apocryphal New Testament writing, the gospel of Peter, and to learn the similarities and differences from the writing found in the canon.

All in all I thought this was a great book and would have no problem recommending it to people.  It was an easy read and not very long.