Book Reviews — February, Part 2

March 5, 2008

Yesterday I posted two reviews of my February reading, and here are the final two:

Heaven, by Randy Alcorn – I started this book a couple of years ago but only read about a third of it, and I had a renewed interest in reading this book. I would say that I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. What I liked most about it is that it gave me a greater, more awe-inspiring view of the cosmic scope of the redemption that Jesus purchased on the Cross.

The most important section of the book for me personally was the section, ‘Grasping Redemption’s Far Reach’. I think many people in the church view Christ’s redemptive work only in terms of human souls. While this of course is very precious, it is not all that Jesus came to redeem. He did not only come to redeem people, but all of creation that was marred by the Fall. As I read the chapters on this subject, it gave me a greater sense of admiration for all that Christ really accomplished on the Cross. This alone is worth the time to read the book!

The downside of this book (in my opinion) is that a great deal of it is speculative. There are so many points in the book where Alcorn says, ‘Is it possible that…’ or, ‘It may be that…’ or ‘We have no reason to think that such and such will not be in heaven…’ At one point in the margin I wrote, ‘Can Alcorn say anything definitively?’ This is not so much a criticism of Alcorn’s theology, because the Bible doesn’t tell us everything we would like to know about heaven. But I think maybe he was trying to do a bit too much with this book. At nearly 500 pages, I think Alcorn might have written a better book in 250-300 pages where he didn’t have to speculate so much. But I know his intention was to help people use their ‘biblically-informed imagination’, which I do agree is a good thing.

Overall a good book, though a bit longer than it probably needed to be.

The Call, by Os Guiness – Another Joe recommendation. I had mixed thoughts about this book. As I wrote yesterday, I still have about a third of this book to read, but what I did read left something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of great content in this book. Guiness writes with great insight into the culture and what it means to be in the world, but not of it. He helps the reader discover the ways in which God has uniquely equipped us to serve Him and others with our gifts, and the major threats to fulfilling that call.

What I had a tough time with was the lack of consistent flow with this book. Each chapter stands alone, which I had a hard time with. For the first hundred pages I was making myself crazy trying to figure out how each chapter fit with the last; it seemed like a completely random assortment of scattered thoughts about the nature of God’s call on human lives. As a result, I read a lot of good stuff, but had a hard time staying focused on the main point(s) Guiness was trying to make. It all seemed a bit abstract and disconnected.

Then after a hundred pages I noticed something I hadn’t seen in the Table of Contents: ‘Note: These chapters have been written as a series of individual meditations, to be read one day at a time.’ Now I understood why I was finding no continuity! I guess stylistically I just don’t care too much for that format. I’d rather read a book that builds a consistent argument that I can follow a little easier. Again, since I haven’t read the whole book I want to suspend judgment on it. I hope to read the rest of it this month, and if I want to make any amendments to this review I will do so then.

Posted by Larry | Filed Under Book Reviews, Seeking Him 

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