The Simple Pastor

I read this book over Christmas and I’m not entirely sure why it’s taken me so long to review it but it has, hopefully it’s worth the wait. The Good God has garnered rich reviews from all over the place and so in coming late to the party I wonder what I can add. So [...]

Like most readers one of the first things I read is the back cover and endorsements and this book has a cracker of an endorsement from Simon Ponsonby. However after reading the book I was left with the distinct feeling of having been short-changed; in other words I was disappointed. You’d be wrong however to [...]

Every now and then I need a break from theological works and a good murder mystery usually does the trick. This is the fifth in the Shardlake stories and having enjoyed the previous four I was looking forward to this one. There are lots to enjoy; I like the main character Matthew Shardlake, the humpback [...]

John Dickson is a minister in Australia and a senior research fellow in ancient history at Macquarie University in Sydney. He describes himself as a ‘soft complementarian’ and in this short e-book, Hearing Her Voice: A Case for Women Giving Sermons (Fresh Perspectives on Women in Ministry) he makes the case for opening the pulpit to [...]

This year has seen my hit a new low for reading and reviewing books (previous low was 20 in 2008 and down from a high of 35 last year). I think a lot of energy has gone into learning a language instead of into books and blogging, plus I’ve found this stage of parenting more [...]

Rosaria Butterfield was, at one time in her life, an English professor at Syracuse University who specialised in gender studies and queer theory. She was also a lesbian and in a committed relationship. Now, married to a pastor in a small reformed denomination that only sings Psalms she homeschools her adopted children. This book records [...]

Do you find it difficult to find time to spend with people from church or your non-Christian friends? If the answer is yes, then Tim Chester has the answer. Eat with them. If you immediately think that’s impossible, it’s likely you have confused ‘entertaining’ with ‘eating’. Why wait until the kids are in bed? Why [...]

Prior to reading this biography of William Tyndale I knew very little about him and now he enters the ranks as one of my heroes of the faith. It is an odd twist of history that Tyndale is so relatively unknown given his immense contribution to the English language and the reformation in England. As [...]

Over the past few years I’ve read an increasing number of books from the ‘missional’ tribe of the church. The latest is Multiplying Missional Leaders by Mike Breen. The raising up of leaders is a constant issue for most church leaders that I’ve ever met (myself included) and so most are always willing to read and engage [...]

Fritz Kling is a well-travelled man working with many mission agencies around the world. He’s also a thoughtful observer of what he’s found. In The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global currents that will propel the future church Kling articulates those observations. Kling introduces two characters to illustrate how the world has changed and how that [...]

OK, let’s get the disclosure out of the way – I know the author and am fairly well disposed towards most things he writes. I also own all his books and yet strangely this is the first that I’ve actually read! In a post-Christian society it’s so important to discuss with those who don’t follow Christ [...]

Thy Kingdom Come by Christopher Catherwood  is an interesting but uneven look at the state of the Evangelical Christianity. It’s interesting because of the global perspective it offers and its rich appreciation of evangelical history. It’s uneven because of some the subject matters (a chapter dedicated to eschatology for example) and for this reader the [...]