Book Review: The American Exception, Volumes 1 & 2, by Frank J. Lechner

America—an exceptional nation. This is the basis of this series of books. I have included both volumes of this book in the same review because they really do flow together. Frank J. Lechner in these 2 books looks at perspectives on the thinking that the American nation is truly exceptional.

VOLUME 1: Chapter 1 introduces the idea of the “American Exception.” While it is often easy to define America as exceptional, there are others who would scoff at this. Therefore, it is important now to study the exceptional nature of America. Chapter 2 looks at the different perspectives that people have on the American Exception. These perspectives are the American perspective, Tocqueville’s perspective, the Socialist perspective, and the Anti-American perspective. Chapter 3 looks at the American Exception regarding religion. Megachurches, evangelicalism, civil religion, and missions are all discussed. Chapter 4 deals with the American Exception and the law. Capital punishment, adversarial legalism, the Constitution, and the U.S. in international law are all topics under examination. Chapter 5 is the last chapter of volume 1 and looks at the American Exception in sports. Baseball, football, racial issues, and world sports are discussed at length in this chapter.

VOLUME 2:Chapter 1 of the second volume continues by looking at the American Exception in the realm of economics. Housing, financial market growth, opportunity and mobility, and the U.S. in world economics are all looked at here. Chapter 2 delves into the American Exception in different government programs. Healthcare, welfare, citizenship regarding race, and immigration are all looked at here. Chapter 3 looks at the American Exception in the media. Music, TV, media moguls, and the U.S. in global movies are all looked at. The final chapter of these 2 books is the American Exception in America’s power. The war on terror, military force, America’s mission, and the U.S. in the global empire are all looked at here. 

Since I reviewed 2 books for this, rather than out of 5 stars, I will rate these books out of 10. America is truly an exceptional nation, but we have much work to do to keep it that way. These books provide good perspectives on that. For these reasons, I give these books 8 stars out of 10.

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781137587169 AND http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781137587190

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Lechner, Frank J. The American Exception, Volumes 1 & 2. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2017.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Springer book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Book Review: The Ulysses Delusion

What makes a good novel good? This is the question presented by Cecilia Konchar Farr in The Ulysses Delusion. For too long there has been a consensus that has remained unchallenged. There are novels on best-seller lists and in other places that Farr questions the positioning of. Her point in writing this book then is this: “I just want us to start talking, authentically, realistically (xix).” So, let’s talk, and see what we can find an answer to our initial question.

Section 1, “The Crime,” deals with the crime that has become literary criticism. Farr attempts to right that crime. In chapter 1, Farr argues for a different take on criticizing the novels that we read. Chapter 2 delves into the class biases that inherently exist in the novels that we choose. Section 2 then takes principles and goes into case studies. These are studies on:

•  Chapter 3 – Lolita      
•  Chapter 4 – Oprah’s Book Club      
•  Chapter 5 – “Chick Lit”      
•  Chapter 6 – 50 Shades      
•  Chapter 7 – Jodi Picoult     
•  Chapter 8 – Atlas Shrugged      
•  Chapter 9 – Harry Potter      

Section 3 is composed only of Chapter 10, which presents Farr’s final goal of this book- a new way of book critiquing. Her emphasis here is clear: find out why you think a book is good. I have to agree here. Not all the books that I have reviewed are good. I have not enjoyed them all. Some of them are by good authors, yet I have not liked them. But we must each decide why we think a book is good. For this reason, I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781137553621

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Konchar Farr, Cecilia. The Ulysses Delusion: Rethinking the Standards of Literary Merit. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2016. 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Springer book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

The End of Our Rights

As Americans, we know our rights. Nothing is more precious to us in the world than the rights and freedoms that we hold dear. Those rights were fought for and hard earned. As Americans, we desire to live our lives to the fullest and use our rights to the fullest. But are we willing to sacrifice our rights for others?

You see as I have lived more of life, I have found that we as Americans sometimes get so concerned with OUR right that we fail to think of others. We think of our right to say what we want, yet we ignore the right of another to privacy. We think of our right to publish what we want on our social media, but do we truly value our relationships with others when considering what we will post? This is just not Americans though. 

This is Christians. 

We exalt our right to wear something but don’t think about the person who may be tempted to sin by just looking at us. We exalt our right to listen to whatever we want but don't think about the person who associates what we are listening to with the sinful actions of his past. We, too exalt our right to speak our minds but do not think of the reputation that we are giving to Christ by running our mouths. 

When will we learn? When will our relationships with our brothers in Christ become more important than personal right? When will the name of Christ become our priority in life, rather than a petty feud over what we're putting out on our social media? Have we become so much like the world that these things mean nothing to us?

We have a perfect example of this in Jesus Christ. He gave up His rights to come here to earth. What were His rights? How about Heaven's throne, the holiness of God, the praise and adoration of the angels. And what did He give that up for? He left Heaven's throne for a Roman cross. He left the holiness of God to have that same God turn His back. He left the praise and adoration of the angels for the mockery of men.

I write this today from my heart. I am calling for believers everywhere to have the mind of Christ in this (Philippians 2). Sacrifice your right for your relationship with Christ to grow stronger. Sacrifice what you feel you deserve to exalt His name. Give of yourself to help your Christian brothers grow. 


PHOTO CREDITS: https://captainjamesdavis.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/usconstitution.jpg

Book Review: 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith, by Gregg R. Allison

What do I believe? This question is something that any Christian should ask himself. And in this book, Gregg Allison endeavors to help the Christian find that. His method is this: 1) understand the doctrine, 2) enact the doctrine, and 3) teach the doctrine. This is an effective method to not only know what we believe and why we believe it but also to be able to share those beliefs with others.

While he uses good methods, and many of the teachings are Biblically true, one of the problems of Allison's book is the inherent Calvinism in his teachings. While this does not affect every doctrine and teaching, it certainly affects teaching on salvation. While this is an ideal book to teach some other doctrines, believers are better off going elsewhere to specifically look for teachings on the doctrines that are affected by Calvinism, like salvation. For these reasons, I give this book 3 stars out of 5.

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

https://www.amazon.com/Core-Truths-Christian-Faith-Understanding/dp/0801019125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518117986&sr=8-1&keywords=50+core+truths+of+the+christian+faith

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Allison, Gregg R. 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2018.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Baker Book Bloggers book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Book Review: Nullifying God, by Dr. H. Robert Wilson, Ph.D.

We live in a world where evolution is widely accepted as scientific fact. Yet what viable evidence has been produced to confirm this? In all reality, evolution has remained a hypothesis, with little to no evidence to send it on to the status of a scientific theory, let alone a scientific fact. So what is the end game of evolution?

Dr. H. Robert Wilson, Ph.D., wrote Nullifying God as a response to evolution's claims. As a former evolutionist himself, he knows what they teach and believe. Now, after converting to Christianity, he knows why they believe what they do. In summary, evolution teaches what it does merely to mitigate Christianity and to nullify the God of the Bible. Why do they do this?

There is only one reason why these actions make sense for evolutionists-- power. Dr. Wilson writes, "Is evolution in effect pushing us to become independent of God? The answer is unequivocally 'yes.' (128)" This mentality keeps evolution in power and eliminates any responsibility that we have to God, along with conviction.

This book, while title Nullifying God did an excellent job at nullifying evolution. It presents good evidence for any layman to refute the claims of evolutionists, along with some arguments to defend our faith. Dr. Wilson's book is an excellent study in understanding what those who are against us believe so that we are prepared always to give an answer of the hope that lies within us. For these reasons, I award 5 stars out of 5 to this book.

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

https://www.amazon.com/Nullifying-God-Evolutions-Scientists-Challenge/dp/1620202123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518117494&sr=8-1&keywords=nullifying+god

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Wilson, H. Robert, Ph.D. Nullifying God: Evolution's End Game, A Scientist's Challenge. Greenville, SC: Ambassador International, 2017.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Ambassador International book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Book Review: Adolescents, Rapid Social Change, and the Law, Editied by Roger Levesque

Modern society is a raging fire. It’s constantly changing, often making life difficult to gauge for people of all ages. But this especially applies to adolescents—our pre-teens, teenagers, and college aged kids. I am one of them. This book is dedicated to helping families, guardians, friends, and mentors of young people help those same young people navigate through social changes.

Chapter 1 introduces the concepts that will be featured in the different sections of this book, each unique. What is labeled as part 2 of the book deals with the media, and the dangers that lie therein. The issues here are:

• Ch. 2—Protecting Youths from Themselves
• Ch. 3—Protecting Youths from the Sexualized Media
• Ch. 4—Protecting Youths from Online Predators
• Ch. 5—Protecting Youths from Sexting

Part 3 of the book looks at the education system and protecting the students in our schools. This book talks about:

• Ch. 6—Protecting Youths from Racial Discrimination in Public Schools
• Ch. 7—Protecting Financially Disadvantaged Youths
• Ch. 8—Protecting the Sexual Identity of Youths (LGBT) in Private Schools

Part 4 of this book moves to the family unit. The problems discussed here are:

• Ch. 9—Protecting the Income of Financially Successful Youths
• Ch. 10—Protecting Youths’ Relationships with Deployed Parents
• Ch. 11—Protecting Youths from Trafficking

This book could have been so much better in one very specific way: it needs to acknowledge that there is a God in Heaven. When God is recognized as the authority, it makes many of the principles in this book much easier to implement into society (other than the chapter on LGBT movement). Personally, I agree that protection is needed for youths in all areas but that of the LGBT movement. We are created in the image of God for a heterosexual relationship between 1 man and 1 woman for 1 life. But the absence of God in this book takes away the most essential element of protecting youths. Many of the principles present are good and can be implemented under God. But only then can youths truly be protected. For these reasons, I give this book 2 stars out of 5. 

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319415338

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Levesque, Roger, Ed. Adolescents, Rapid Social Change, and the Law: The Transforming Nature of Protection. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2016.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Springer book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Book Review: 100 Days with Jesus, by Diann Cotton

Gorgeous book, Great material

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I feature (when I get around to it) a study entitled "A Portrait of Christ." In this study, I look at the attributes of Christ in every book of the Bible. This book, 100 Days with Jesus, goes a step further and looks at 100 different attributes of Jesus Christ.

I personally found this book to be very enjoyable and doctrinally correct. The beautiful and compact design of the book makes it a perfect coffee table devotional book. Every Christian desiring to know more about their Savior should read a book like this at least once in their lifetime. 4.5 stars out of 5.

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

https://www.amazon.com/100-Days-Jesus-Glimpse-Person/dp/1462740979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518018114&sr=8-1&keywords=100+days+with+Jesus+cotton

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Cotton, Diann. 100 Days with Jesus: A Daily Glimpse into the Person of Christ. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2017.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the BH Bloggers book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Book Review: Progress in the Pulpit, by Drs. Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix

Progressing with the power of the first volume.

After receiving the first book by Vines and Shaddix, Power in the Pulpit, I was so blessed. When I found this second volume that they released, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. I was not at all disappointed!!

Vines and Shaddix wrote this volume specifically for the seasoned preacher/pastor. They wanted to be able to help people who have been in ministry for an extended period of time continue to improve. Every detail of this book was carefully crafted. This is an amazing volume and an essential for any preacher's library. 5 STARS OUT OF 5!

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

https://www.amazon.com/Progress-Pulpit-Grow-Your-Preaching/dp/080241530X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517945908&sr=8-2&keywords=progress+in+the+pulpit

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Vines, Dr. Jerry and Dr. Jim Shaddix. Progress in the Pulpit: How to Grow in Your Preaching. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2017.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the MP Newsroom book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Book Review: A Philosophy of Israel Education, by Barry Chazan

When education is mentioned, Israel’s past is often brought up. Many great doctors and religious figures have received their training in Israel. This short book is a written analysis of the relational approach that the Israeli people take to education in their country. 

Chapter 1 gives the philosophy that Israel has toward education. From the tasks that they perform to the education of the homeland to the identity that is taught to their students, everything falls in line with this uniquely Jewish perspective. Chapter 2 talks of the new rise of education in Israel. The people who are involved seek to make Israel’s education system relevant as it once was. Chapter 3 gives the culture of Israel’s education system. The educator himself and the rituals involved are all very unique.

As with some of my more recent reviews, this was merely a review of the subject, with little to no subjective material present. This was a nice history of what Israel education was and what it can be. For these reasons, I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319307787

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Chazan, Barry. A Philosophy of Israel Education: A Relational Approach. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2016.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Springer book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Book Review: How Harry Cast His Spell, by John Granger

A Useful Tool to Solve "The Harry Potter Dilemma"

One of the most discussed and criticized books/book series in the realm of Christianity is the Harry Potter series. Many reject the series due to the witchcraft present, while others accept the series because of its redeeming qualities. John Granger (no relation to Hermione), in what is now the third edition of his book analyzing the Harry Potter series, does not make judgments for the reader. Rather, he presents the facts that he has found on both fronts and allows the reader to make the call for himself.

This book is split into two halves. The first half is an analysis of the series as a whole. Granger in this section looks at things in series like magic, prejudice, identity, even down to the names that Rowling uses. In the second half, Granger looks at each book specifically, with a chapter each on The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, and three chapters on the final book, The Deathly Hallows. Each of these chapters presents a special analysis of a particular aspect of the book in question that can help the reader understand the story better.

One choice that I will have to make as a future pastor/youth pastor is how I will deal with what I will refer to for a long time as "The Harry Potter Dilemma." No matter where I go there will be people on both sides of the argument. I will have to be respectful of all. I have not landed on one side of the argument or the other yet. But this book will help me make a good, strong, reasoned decision. For these reasons, I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5.

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Harry-Cast-His-Spell/dp/1414321880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517944934&sr=8-1&keywords=how+harry+cast+his+spell

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:

Granger, John: How Harry Cast His Spell: The Meaning Behind the Mania for J.K. Rowling's Bestselling Books. Carol Stream, IL: SaltRiver, 2008.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Tyndale Rewards program. It is my policy to give an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

TYNDALE REWARDS PROGRAM:

https://myreaderrewardsclub.com/