Challenging and Provocative
584686
My Sunday School class went through The Forgotten God, a chapter a week, and this book was great. This is the only Francis Chan book I've read, but it packs a powerful punch.

Chan challenges the reader instantly, calling our attention to the painful absence of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives and actions. His simple and straightforward way of writing is not "in your face," but written with conviction and personal struggle.

With life stories and Biblical backing, Chan makes it clear what the Bible is telling us about the Spirit: we have neglected Him and we need Him in our lives. This book is not classically charismatic or extreme, but it is challenging of your typical comfort levels, declaring that if you're not uncomfortable and feeling awkward from time to time, then you likely are away from the Spirit.

Overall, I found this book amazing. It's enlightening and full of hope, and I feel like I've grown in my Walk some by applying the message. If you're looking for a book to challenge your Christian faith, Francis Chan's The Forgotten God definitely is it.
3836050
In The Provocative God, Dan Lacich does a wonderful job exploring some of the more challenging biblical concepts that  guide the practice of the Christian faith. Each chapter is designed to help readers to wrestle with the realities of living out their Christian walk in a lost world. Starting and ending with an emphasis on God's grace and love for humanity, the author guides readers through a review of principles in such a way that they themselves come out ready to engage the world with grace and love: it's a "must read!"
2932611
Moving.  Stirring.  Provocative.  This book asks one of the largest questions in life and then requests major thinkers, mostly theologians, to weigh in.  I think it could be improved by asking thoughtful experts from other points of view (such as psychologists, politicians, and historians) to add to the discussion.  I can't get it out of my mind which is the mark of a good book.
1539559
I give Aimee Byrd's new book five stars. It is a book of high quality and deep reflection on a subject many evangelicals have anxiously avoided. I highly commend Byrd's boldness, courage, and sensitivity in exploring opposite-sex friendships. Full disclosure upfont: I am an egalitarian and even though Byrd is a committed complementarian (she sidesteps the egalitarian-complemetarian friendship argument in the book), I still am pumped that Byrd has brought forth her theological reflection to this topic.

As someone who has studied this issue for years as well as knowing deep ongoing significant experience, I wholeheartedly welcome this provocative book. Byrd's major argument is to look at the friendship question through the lens of spiritual siblings. I believe there are many theological entry points one could approach this subject (including the fact that Jesus calls us his friends) but spiritual siblings is a major theme throughout the New Testament. Byrd actually runs with it far deeper than what I have seen from some egalitarians.

Many egalitarians and complementarians are quite fearful of the "I" word in this subject. Intimacy. But through the sibling lens, Byrd takes us deep into what it means for men and women to revere each other, love one another, and befriend one another. Friendship, as she argues, should promote holiness. And, wait until you read her reflection on eating with one another.

I have already read some negative critiques of the book. These typically take a fearful, 20th-century Freudian position. These critics typically want to affirm the need for us to think deeper about siblingship, but then criticize Byrd for not being in tune with the deeper human element, that is sex and its ever-ready magnet to suck us all up into a dark vortex. While I agree we must be fully aware of sin and its power, we must be aware of underestimating sin's power to give us endless reasons not to love others as Christ would love them.

I love that Byrd uses "intimacy" and "healthy." We really can't have a conversation about friendships between men and women without somehow referring to how the therapeutic culture has shaped us. All over in major American cities across the land, the male-female therapeutic dyad is now a social norm. It doesn't matter which gender is the therapist, a man and woman meeting alone behind closed doors for intense conversations is a safe thing for many men and women. Former gymnast Rachael Denhollander (and committed Christian) recently said the church is one of the least safe places for abused. Yet, in many therapeutic dyads across the country female clients know safety, trust, and well-being meeting alone with male therapists (doesn't matter if the therapists are Christian or not). The safety of the therapeutic dyad--and the #ChurchToo movement--these two powerful cultural movements have significantly altered what well-being, safety, and intimate trust looks like between men and women.

Perhaps, just perhaps, spiritual siblings may find well-being, safety, and intimate trust. We need to rethink male-female intimacy and Byrd's book helps us do that. I have my quibbles with her complementarian convictions but I give this book five stars for her beautiful reflections on friendship.
1482072
I read this book a few years ago, but it seems more topical today than ever. What I like about this book the most is the challenge to the conventional wisdom regarding the Great Depression, The New Deal, and the multitude of facets which may be viewed in a little more critical manner with the passage of time. I have seen some reviews here of the negative type, which assail the author as some type of ideologue. Regardless, facts and statistics should allow one to read this and reappraise their concepts they have acquired over the years.
I found much of the information, to be frank, startling. So, if one chooses to ignore this book, I think one might be missing a little gem which, at the very least, should make one recognize the social engineering of the 30s.
I won't be verbose. It's provocative, and I think that was the author's intent. Analytical thought, not indoctrination.
999972
Excellent -- interesting, with unexpected twists, and challenging.
128561
I found this book to be interesting, challenging and easy to read.  Part of the time it reads like a good novel, but each page is packed with jewels of information and ideas.  The ideas in this book are being discussed by professionals in long-term care and the book presents a challenge to the traditional theories of aging and reframes the human aging process as part of a larger process of human development.

In terms of human development, our cultural biases against older adults (elders) is pointed out and how our society wants to keep people locked into adulthood has been exposed.

Elderhood was an important part of human culture in pre-industrial societ and Dr. Thomas advocates for the role of elder to be rediscovered and brought back into theories of human development.

I especially liked Dr. Thomas's use of the five ages of the lifecycle and his discussion on DOING and BEING.  This was reminiscent in my mind of material I covered when taking pastoral counseling courses and how important it is to get people to feel comfortable just being human and being loved, cared for, and honored.  Our society does have a focus on DOING and Dr. Thomas does and excellent job of placing this cultural critique and mode of living under the microscope.  Rather than utilizing psychological terms, Thomas explains the importance of BEING in simple to understand and utilize terms.

The chapter that discussed the assault on childhood reminded me of Strauss and Howe's second book the 13th Generation, which pointed out the sociological trends that have impacted the lives of persons born from 1964 to 1980.  This generation was robbed of its childhood and is the first post Baby Boom generation.  Although Dr. Thomas gives no indication of having read Strauss and Howe, this chapter covers many of the same themes and makes many similar social critiques.

I was expecting more hard data and solid statistics in this book since Dr. Thomas indicated in the preface that it was written as a response to Dr. Robert Butler's Why Survive.  Unlike Dr. Butler's book, this book does not contain the same depth and breadth of statistics and policy analysis.

The new model for long-term care presented by Dr. Thomas is worthy of further study and this book does make a contribution to the field of gerontology in that the Green House model is innovative and worthy of putting into practice.  I look forward to reading the journal articles that grow from this work.

In terms of who would benefit from this book and its contribution to the field of gerontology, I believe that it should be read by professional in the field solely for the manner in which it exposes the insidious nature of ageism in our society.  Long-term care professionals will benefit from reading this book as would policy makers, politicians, and those seeking to improve the lives of human beings at every stage of human development.  I recommend this book.  I would enjoy hearing what others think about this book.

On a personal level, it has helped me identify some of my own biases and in that it has pointed me to areas where I need to work and grow on my human growth and transformation.  A good book should do that.
679660
In my humble opinion, it is a very challenging book, starting from the elaborate language through the peculiar use of pronouns (I will not reveal the rule so as not to spoil the fun) and finishing with a complex setting built up from myriads of different worlds and their successes or failures at attempts to maintain unity. The reader will encounter a huge number of scenes depicting or at leat suggesting sexual intercourses hetero, hemo and (for the lack of better words) interespecies. Yes, sex is very important in the novel. Yet it is neither vile nor cheap, and the narrator manages to stir things up and finish the scene with a blackout just before the reader would be forced to proceed through physiological details.
It is challenges the ideas of gender (yet it does it in a very surprising and intelligent way), it makes you realise how carnal pleasure is important and vital to you (and how beautiful experience it may bring once you accept who you are), it depicts a universe made up of six thousand worlds!
It is a beautiful piece of art. I draw pleasure not only from ingenuine ideas about the way the world could be but also (or even mostly|) from the fabulous language Mr Delany emplyed to depict his wonderful yet unsettling world.
922763
Curtis Chang's Engaging Unbelief: A Captivating Strategy from Augustine and Aquinas seeks to answer the challenges of postmodernism by applying the methodology of two giants in church history.

Chang demonstrates the rhetorical effectiveness of Augustine's City of God (400's A.D.) and Thomas Aquinas' Summa contra Gentiles (1260 A.D.) by showing how each theologian confronts the epochal threat of his generation. Chang outlines their apologetic strategy as follows:
 1. Enter the challenger's story.
 2. Retell the challenge's story.
 3. Capture the story in the wider story of Christianity by exposing the challenging story's "tragic flaw" or inadequacy.

Though Augustine and Aquinas faced different threats (Augustine's was a culture turning hostile to Christianity and Aquinas' was the rapid expansion of Islam), Chang argues that both utilized this method of apologetics. Of course, Chang does not leave us with history alone; he then shows how Christians can confront the arrival of postmodernism the same way.

Chang's book is not an easy read. Even as a student who loves church history, I found some of the historical details unnecessary. It would have been more helpful for Chang to intersperse advice for our current challenges within the biographical chapters, instead of simply bookending those chapters with the practical.

Still, there is much to be commended in Chang's work. He correctly identifies many of the problems of postmodernism, one of the features missing from many in the Emerging Church discussion.

Though he occasionally falls too far into the culture he is trying to reach (Is filmmaking really the key to reaching postmoderns? Is inerrancy a doctrine that can only arise in a modernist context, etc.?), Chang manages to strike a good balance between condemning everything about postmodernism and baptizing postmodernist thought in Christian lingo.

I would love to see a rewrite of this book because the world has changed substantially since it was published in 2000. Our collision with radical Islam on September 11 makes Aquinas' confrontation with Islam all the more compelling. And as our world continues to slip into a post-Christian state (with evangelicals waking up to the fact that there are two kingdoms that should not be confused) we would be wise to take another look at Augustine's testimony.
4573468
This was a deep, thought-provoking book, that has challenged me to a deeper relationship with Christ. While this book provides challenging Christian concepts, David May has a unique ability to share these concepts in a relatable manner, by using his life experiences and Biblical knowledge to teach Christianity.
4055945
I recently listened to the audio-version of Waking Up. And, as an established author in the genre of personal and spiritual growth who has, like Sam Harris, spent considerable time on personal exploration, I appreciate the clarity of expression he brings to this challenging topic -- the meaning of, and means to, waking up -- the implication being that much of the time we are asleep to the world (and reality) as it is, and fail to notice our transcendent identity with Consciousness itself.

Despite the fact that, after an excellent opening chapter overview, some of the material in the book was adapted from what he had previously written in his blog posts, and includes some uneven hopping from one loosely-related topic to the next -- from neuroscience studies, to gurus, to psychedelics -- replete with random pot-shots at fallible icons, I give Waking Up five stars because it is simply one of the most current and cogent discussions of "spirituality without religion" today.

Other teachers in times past and present, including myself, have tackled this topic. But Harris's solid and relevant credentials in philosophy (degree from Stanford) and in neuroscience (Ph. D.) do, and should, lend credibility and, I think Harris would be the first to affirm, making sense trumps academic degrees. And, agree or disagree, Harris' writing does make sense.

I've read his blogs and several of his other books. He strikes me as a lightning rod and promethean figure who demonstrates intellectual (as well as physical) integrity and courage for speaking out on provocative and controversial topics involving belief, identity, religion / atheism, gun control, and free will, to name a few.

Mr. Harris and I do not see eye-to-eye on everything, but hey, if we agree on everything, only one of us is necessary. Despite any differences, I have great respect for the challenges he has taken on, the topics he has chosen to write about, and the clarity he brings to those who can read or listen with an open mind.

Sam Harris doesn't pull his punches. His strong (and generally well-founded) opinions tend to provoke counter-opinions, which make for delightful controversy and teachable moments. He sometimes ends up having to later elucidate points open to misinterpretation, and many peopl, it seems, misinterpret or actively distort what he has said or written. He has a way of stepping on the toes of True Believers and offending the sensibilities of romantic liberals.  Yet the man's ideas, and the way he expresses them, make Waking Up worth the reading.
3977482
Thought-provoking and provocative.  Profound skeptic that I am, I actually found myself wondering if this was a true account of something that actually happened to someone. Highly recommended.
4098380
Walter Brueggemann is not capable of writing a boring sentence. His words are well crafted, sharp and provocative, even if different readers will take issues with him on different points. Here is a scholar whose mind has been baptised with decades of deep study and reflection of the biblical materials; it is hard to pull apart the exegetical basis of his proposals, which are often subversive to contemporary habits of thoughts.

This collection of talks he gave on different occasions to the contemporary audience, brings the ancient texts of Scriptures to bear on the modern church, primarily in the American socio-political context but in many ways relevant to other modern societies as well. He basically circles around the theme of God's alternative society vs Pharaoh's/Philistine's/Caesar's empire. Hence it is God's life-giving command of the Sabbath against the quota-system of the urban world, God's invitation to rest in his abundant grace vs the harried and hurried quest for acquisition, consumptions and accomplishments that bolster the idolatrous self. Here, he unmasks the illusions of human greed and proposes instead a life centered around God and neighbour and that liberates the self for shalom - for art, beauty and play.

Being very much a part of the Pharaohic world myself, I have to take the leisurely pace to digest this book and hear the message it is intended to convey. Thankfully, Brueggemann is as much a poet as he is a careful scholar;his words have a way of stretching your imagination, evoking an alternative world and holding out hope for a world starving for a fresh script with which to order its existence. Most of us know that business as usual simply will not do. I thank God for Brueggemann who helps us to listen to the ancient texts again that are capable of speaking afresh to every generation in such a powerful and liberating way.
173342
This is challenging music played skillfully by this duo of Pailthorpe and Milford, oboe and piano respectfully.  Pailthorpe is American who won coveted Gillet Competition in 1989 and subsequently moved to London marrying flutist Daniel Pailthorpe.

Here joined with pianist Julian Milford they bring forth this musical offering of musical reaction composed between the two world wars.  Music of Britten, Finzi, Ravel, Dutilleux and Goosens is remorse and heavy, with great twinges of anger and frustration, yet capturing the creative energy of this period in the world's history.

There is difficult passages in this, both tempo and color, pushing the capabilities of the oboe especially, but handled dramatically welll by this worldclass performer.  Equally challenged but brilliantly and sensitively handled by Milford.

There are pastoral interludes, followed by war prep and its resultant devestation.  Tied together by the title taken from the Dylan Thomas quote: Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.

In Christ, Amen.

This is provocative and moving collection.  Don't look for upbeat music here.  Reflective and contemplative it is. Good for the soul, especially in our time of wars and building world tension.  Beautifully performed and recorded.
1778758
The two previous reviews make several good points which I won't revisit here. Russell Reno has taken a tact in this book which is the antithesis of the via moderna- modern way. Mr. Russell, using the panorama of redemptive history, challenges the modern views of exegesis which are bound by the propensity for both the unique and technique. His basic premise is that the typology of Church history is a people and savior who are perpetually struggling amidst the ruins. As our saviour was called to a prophetic ministry in the ruins of his day, so too, we are called. Mr. Reno also hearkens back to the practices of the Church Fathers- exegesis and bible study - as sources from which the "wheat" of the Church may be nourished. Summarily, this book is not a mere recapitulation of the writing which already exists on this topic, but approaches this topic from a fresh and novel perspective. Tolle Lege.
2935463
A very provocative book for those on a spiritual journey, or seeking the answers to life's mystery's.
4027313
In this intriguing, bold and winsome book, Whigham wrestles with numerous doubts and questions about Christianity and explores a wide range of alternative worldviews. While deeply personal and engaging, it is more than just a spiritual memoir. The book is intellectually robust. It contains in depth discussion and analysis of philosophical concepts, historical events and scientific thought that shape and inform both his questions and conclusions. I also appreciate that he is gracious and respectful towards those with whom he disagrees.