I haven’t read a ton of books on Christian finance, but this has surely got to be one of the best.  In Money:  God or Gift, Jamie Munson clearly lays out the basic biblical principles regarding money in the Bible.  The book is a quick read (think a couple of days), balanced in its thinking, cheap to buy (only $5 on kindle), theologically focused, practical in application, and includes discussion questions for group study and further probing.  The end of the book has useful appendices for planning a budget and resources for further study.  This would be my de facto book recommendation for those struggling with finances.

4 of 5 cups of black coffee

Related Posts:

• Five Sentence Review: Think: The Life of the Mind and Love of God – John Piper
• Five Sentence Review: What is the Gospel? – Greg Gilbert
• Five Sentence Review: City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era – Michael Gerson & Peter Wehner
• Book Review: Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
• Book Review: Religion Saves + Nine Other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll

Initially promising, but ultimately unsatisfying.  That’s how I would describe Dual Citizens:  Worship and Life between the Already and the Not Yet by Jason Stellman.  Now I want to be clear that I’m not on a witch hunt for Jason Stellman’s head.  I’ve never met him, but clearly he’s a brother in Christ, and I would say that he seems like a pretty cool guy.  I randomly discovered his book while browsing Nashville’s local reformed bookstore (logos), was highly intrigued by the subject matter, and purchased it with an extreme excitement and eagerness to begin reading.  And, I’ll happily admit that the introduction to this book rocked my world – helping to construct some much needed theological framework.  But, by the end of the book I feel like Stellman kind of lost steam.

The basic concept of Dual Citizens is that there is a necessary division between the sacred and secular in the lives of Christians.  Contrary to the opinion of many – including John Frame (whom Stellman quotes and disagrees with in the intro – ballsy!) – there should be a distinction between how Christians operate when gathered for worship as a church and when scattered throughout the week as citizens of earth.  I should make clear that Stellman is not arguing for any sort of antinomianism position that allows Christians to act like “hell” during the week and act like “angels” during church service.  But, he is arguing that the main way in which Christians are countercultural is through their gathering on the sabbath to participate in the preaching of Word and the taking of sacrament (Lord’s Supper and Baptism).  He decries any sort of seeker-sensitive, “let’s be relevant” approach to church.  Church is not supposed to be relevant to culture, but obedient to the Bible.  And Stellman argues that the Biblical pattern for our gatherings are:  Word and sacrament, period.

The book is divided into two main sections.  The first seven chapters describe Christian worship, and the last seven chapters describe Christian life.  In my opinion, the first half (Christian worship) forms a more cohesive whole than the second half of the book.  I don’t agree with all of Stellman’s conclusions in this first section, but he does a better job writing this section than he does in the second section.  One of my main critiques is that, Stellman over-argues his point about the church gathering being free from cultural influences.  I’m not sure that’s a good thing or even possible.  He argues that “culture, then, is never to be the determining factor in a church’s worship” (8).  But I would argue that all churches necessarily take on cultural forms both because they are composed of people from specific cultures and because they attempt to clarify the gospel to these specific cultures.  Certainly the attempt to be “relevant” can go too far and water down the gospel, but so can the attempt to avoid this pitfall.  The opposite of the “relevant” pitfall is to be so culturally insensitive that the gospel fails to even be understood.  You can argue all day long that the church is not composed of seekers but of saints; however, any church that loves people will be filled with both saints and the seekers.  Cultural sensitivity and even acclimation will always be necessary to make the gospel clear.  Without clear cultural understanding the gospel may be mistranslated altogether.  Having argued this point, I still think that Stellman does a fair job of deconstructing a lot of seeker-sensitive nonsense that Christianity seems to be so captivated by, but I think he could have made his point in a more even-handed way.

My other critique of this book is that while the first seven chapters were captivating (if overstated), the last seven were kind of boring.  Having read Stellman’s arguments for “worship,” I had a lot of questions about his conception of “life,” but he didn’t really answer many of my questions.  This is why I say that the book kind of lost steam.  The last seven chapters were more of a shotgun approach with bits and pieces of the puzzle being put together, but clearly with some frustrating gaps in clarity.  Two of the chapters:  9) Egypt’s Unworthiness:  Joseph, Moses, and Vanity of Time and 11) Worldliness:  Puritans, Pagans, and the Proper Place of Pleasure were on point, but the other chapters seemed to deal with secondary or even tertiary issues rather than the main subject matter at hand.  Maybe Stellman is just lacking a conclusion or an introduction to the second half of the book, but I can’t shake the taste of confusion that the book left on my tongue.  I would have appreciated more information about how Christians should participate in the culture.  How should they work, enjoy and create art, raise families, and participate in politics?  I’m not looking for answers from the Religious Right, I’m looking for answers from the Bible, but Stellman doesn’t really help me any in this endeavor.  He does briefly touch on some of these issues, but never for long, and never in a complete way.  Personally, I could have done without a few of the chapters that he did write (even though they were fine in and of themselves) and done with a few of the chapters he didn’t write on cultural engagement.  And to reiterate again, I think Stellman would benefit from a conclusion to pull all the pieces together.

So…for a first book this is pretty decent (I mean I’ve never written a book!), but I think it could use some additional clarity in the second half, and a more nuanced approach overall.  Also, I couldn’t help but feel that Stellman occasionally mischaracterized some of those whom he critiqued (which is why I would appreciate a more nuanced approach).  (And hopefully it won’t be said that I lacked a nuanced approach while writing this review, which is brief at best, but I’ll gladly accept any dialogue about my comments if anyone disagrees.)  At the end of the day, I think it would be a blast to sit down with Stellman at a coffee shop and talk theology, and maybe some day I’ll run into him and we’ll do just that.  Probably not, but maybe.  Anyway, I hope he writes another book because the nugget of understanding that he provided for me in the introduction about cult and culture was worth the whole book.

I’ll end by saying that if you are interested in the subject matter of dual citizenship, I don’t think you can go wrong with Living at the Crossroads by Bartholomew and Goheen.  In my opinion it’s a clearer and more well-rounded approach to this same subject.  At least read it first, and then read this book second.

Related Posts:

• Two Great Quotes that are Currently Rocking My World…
• Book Review – Living at the Crossroads by Bartholomew & Goheen
• Book Review: The Escondido Theology by John Frame
• Book Review: A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George M. Marsden
• The Kingdom of Christ by Russell D. Moore

A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George M. Marsden is exactly what it sounds like:  a short biography on the life of Jonathan Edwards.  I was initially attracted to this book because of its cover.  What I mean is that the cover looked, well, “cool” for lack of a better term.  It had a modern, minimalistic style, which led me to believe that it was most likely a newer book.  Not that an older biography on Edwards would have been a bad thing, but I’m typically intrigued by new books.  And it so happens that this was in fact a new book, just as the cover had subtly suggested, so I bought it.  Side note:  I actually went into my local Christian bookstore (which shall for the time being remain nameless) to look for a biography on Charles Spurgeon.  And while I found biographies about Chuck Norris, Sarah Palin, and even Ladainian Tomlinson – none of whom happen to be Baptist (the denomination of the aforementioned bookstore) – I failed to find even one biography about the great Baptist preacher.  Sad, I know.  But Edwards – whom was also not a Baptist (but honestly who cares) – was a worthwhile substitute for the time being.

In 2003, Marsden wrote what I believe is THE definitive biography on Jonathan Edwards, entitled Jonathan Edwards:  A Life.  In A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards he took the information from that longer treatment, shortened it, added some new research, and wrote in a style that reads more like a short novel.  As far as I can tell (since I am no Edwards expert), this is a wonderful introduction into the life of a man whom was at the helm of the First Great Awakening and who probably is America’s greatest theologian.

The last third of the book, which goes into some of the trouble that Edwards faced as a pastor in the latter parts of his life, was especially encouraging to me.  Edwards faced hardship at the end of his pastorate at Northampton, suffering at the hands of his people.  Pastoring is simply not easy, and Edwards knew this firsthand.  It’s nice to know that one of the greatest men in the history of Christendom dealt with crazy church people too.  The other facet of this book that I really appreciate is the comparison that Marsden makes between Edwards and his contemporary, Benjamin Franklin.  Both men had similar Puritanical upbringings, but each responded in very different ways to the changing American climate.  Franklin embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment and lived long enough to see the American Revolution.  Edwards on the other hand, held fast to his reformed upbringing, fighting to critique unbiblical Enlightenment ideas, and died before the American Revolution began.  In the twenty-first century, where it’s very en vogue to critique modern Enlightenment-influenced church forms, Edwards is a sure guide to lead us back to the Bible.  He can do this not because he saw beyond modernism to postmodernistic ideas, but rather because he is in many ways pre-modern and wisely ignored many of modernism’s pitfalls altogether.  As Marsden says in the end of his book, “Maybe the best way to sum up Edwards’s character is to say that he had God-centered integrity.  Having integrity suggests not only honesty, firmness of principle, and soundness of will, but also that the various elements of one’s life and thought are integrated…I can simply testify to the remarkable consistency of his life and thought” (141).

Related Posts:

• Five Sentence Review: The Shepherd Leader by Timothy Witmer
• Deep Church by Jim Belcher – Quick Thoughts
• Book Review: The Escondido Theology by John Frame
• Five Sentence Review: Think: The Life of the Mind and Love of God – John Piper
• Book Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay is essentially a how-to manual for creating a missional / incarnational church.  Halter (who is the main voice of the book), both autobiographically and instructionally, defines and describes what a people who are on mission for God (missio dei) should look like.  I imagine that many people will balk at this book because of its high focus on being missional and its low focus on typical church forms (such as the church services and preaching).  And frankly there are parts of Halter and Smay’s suggestions that I disagree with and think are a tad short-sided; however, this is still one of the best missional how-to books that I’ve ever read.  Something clicked in my mind during the reading of this book, and I feel like I suddenly sort of “get it” now.

A good percentage, not a small sliver, of my life should be spent in my neighborhood and at my local haunts, engaging people, forming friendships with them, and serving them.  The chance to share Christ with them will grow naturally, integratedly out of these friendships.  Evangelism isn’t this thing I go do, missional is the way I live.  I know these sorts of statements can sound scary to those in the traditional church world because it might be assumed that this sort of approach is taken out of fear of sharing your faith.  And further, that the missional approach I’m describing here will lead to no conversion fruit because all the focus will be put on friendships and none will be put on evangelism.  But this is not what Halter and Smay are suggesting.  What they are advocating is a truly integrated lifestyle where people hear about faith, see it demonstrated repeatedly, and then naturally ask questions and feel God tugging at their hearts and come to faith in Christ.  This is actually more work than evangelism, not less.  It’s hospitality and evangelism.  It’s more integrated and not compartmentalized.

Like I said, there are parts of the book that are a little over-the-top for me, but I still think that this is a great book.  Read with discernment, but plan on being challenged, and hopefully inspired.  Our church planting team will definitely be reading through this book and applying much of what it advocates.

Related Posts:

• Super Brief Review: And: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
• Book Review – Church Planter by Darrin Patrick
• Book Review: Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
• Book Review: Everyday Church by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis
• Book Review: A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George M. Marsden

I’m currently reading The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. I’m not 100% on board with everything they say, but it’s a very helpful book and God is using it to open my eyes to some things. This is a chart they created to describe 3 main worldviews and their solution to spreading the Gospel in the midst of all three. Your thoughts?

Related Posts:

• Super Brief Review: And: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
• Book Review – Living at the Crossroads by Bartholomew & Goheen
• Book Review: A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren
• Obama our first Postmodern President
• Book Review: Total Church by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis