Brief notes on two books I’ve read recently:
Rediscovering the Church Fathers:
Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church
Michael A. G. Haykin (Crossway)
My Rating: ****
Michael Haykin celebrates evangelicalism’s renewed appreciation for the church fathers and encourages us to drink deeply from the wisdom of those who have gone before us. Haykin’s treatment of the fathers is a good mix of biographical information and theological reflection. He quotes extensively from some of the most important church fathers, disagreeing charitably at times but always with an eye toward understanding them within their context. Rediscovering the Church Fathers succeeds in increasing evangelical awareness of our need to appreciate the pearls of the ancient church.
What Is It Like? What Will We Do? . . . And 11 Other Things You’ve Wondered About
Paul Enns (Moody)
My Rating: ***
Brokenhearted after suddenly losing his beloved wife of many years, pastor Paul Enns began an extensive study of the Scriptures that describe the life of heaven. In this book, Enns shares the comfort he found in studying the truth about heaven. Heaven Revealed
is strongest when Enns describes the glories of God’s presence and the embodied nature of our life on the new earth. It is less effective when Enns delves into the specifics of a dispensational theology that sometimes leans toward escapism.
These reviews were first published in Christianity Today, June 2011.
