Some Christmas Readings – Dec. 25, 2024

The Darkness Does Not Win – Kevin DeYoung at Clearly Reformed. 

The Last Silent Night and the Silver-Haired Saints – Doug Spurling.

 

“Christ’s Nativity,” poem by Henry Vaughn – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Christmas Carol – poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

We Three Kings – Warren Peel at Gentle Reformation.

 

Centerpoint Poetry and Music for Christmas, via Jeff Johnson. 

 

Seven Surprises of the First Christmas – David Mathis at Desiring God. 

 

Are the Origins of Christmas Really Pagan? – Kenneth Calvert at Hillsdale College.

 

A Leprechaun for Christmas (Short Story) – Dancing Priest.

 

Christmas Oranges (Short Story) – Cultivating Oaks Press.

 

Three Christmas Sonnets – Phillip Whidden at Society of Classical Poets.

Jupiter Harmon's Christmas Poem - essay by Michael Curtis at Society of Classical Poets.

The Shop of Ghosts - short story by G.K. Chesterton at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

When All the Earth in Darkness Sleeps – Frank LaRocca & James Matthew Wilson

 Artwork: Star of the Night, etching (circa 1651) by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669); St. Louis Art Museum.

“C.S. Lewis: Pre-Evangelism for a Post-Christian World” by Brian Williams

In his introduction to C.S. Lewis: Pre-Evangelism for a Post-Christian World, Brian Williams poses a question. What is it about the world and our imaginations that make a visitation of “joy” not only possible but even likely? Does joy imply something beyond the world we see and experience?

 

Williams also describes it another way. A child or adult can read one of the Narnia tales by C.S. Lewis, one like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, or J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and sense there’s something more than the story at hand. It may be a fine, wonderful story in and of itself, but it also points to something else, something just as real but not visible or tangible. And we know it as surely as we know our names, our addresses, our family members, and everything else associated with daily life.

 

Another question is posed: might these works of imaginations be a way to ultimately reach a post-Christian world? We’re not considering here thinly disguised stories of theology, faith, and belief, but works of imaginative minds, stories that stir our hearts and our minds, stories that point to something much larger than ourselves.

 

Williams’ book is devoted to answering these questions. Using the lens of the life and writings of C.S. Lewis, and especially the fiction works The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy, as well as the autobiographical Surprised by Joy, Williams makes a solid case for imaginative fiction as a pre-evangelism tool.

 

Brian Williams

The book has five chapters. The first is biographical, considering Lewis’s life and the influences which shaped his mind, philosophy, faith, and outlook. Williams then considers Lewis’s sacramental view of reality, and he means something different then we think of with the word “sacramental.” Quoting author Chris Armstrong, he defines sacramentalism as “a linked set of beliefs” that spiritual reality manifests itself in created reality, all creation reflects the Creator, and God is present throughout the world.

 

He then looks at Lewis’s romantic view of the human imagination; how Lewis uses The Space Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia to see how Lewis used fiction as pre-evangelism; and how the medium of imaginative fiction might work today. It’s a scholarly and phenomenally well-researched work (813 footnotes, no less).

 

Williams has served as an adjunct professor at Southeastern College in Wake Forest, N.C., teaching the history of ideas and philosophy. He’s been published in the Journal of Inklings Studies, and is the author of Putting Together the Pieces: How to Make Sense of the Old Testament. He lives with his family in Wake Forest.

 

And in C.S. Lewis: Pre-Evangelism for a Post-Christian World, he answers the questions he raises and more than makes his point. Imaginative fiction can stimulate our sense of wonder and help us understand that something more, something bigger, is beyond the reality we see.

Saturday Good Reads

In 2015, I read (and reviewed) the novel Laurus by Eugene Vodolazhin. He’s a Russian writer in the tradition of the great Russian novelists, grappling with big stories and big themes. He has a new book recently translated into English, The Aviator. At Front Porch Republic, Aaron Weinacht has an article about how Vodolazhin uses time and place in his fiction – and a concise overview of his works available in English.

A second good post at  the same publication: “The war to destroy memory and erase history is the battle to have any culture at all,” says Paul Krause at Front Porch Republic. He’s looking at the culture wars in a very different way.

I read the Get Religion blog daily. Its focus is how the media does – and doesn’t – cover stories involving religion. It’s usually about stories where the media miss the boat entirely, with the very occasional notice of reporters getting it right. For example, did you see how many obituaries for the comedian Tim Conway noted that he was a devout Catholic? I didn’t either. The point is this: ignoring religion or religious aspects to stories reflects a bias; it distorts the news and is a disservice to readers and viewers.

More Good Reads

Writing and Literature

The Dangers of Dime Novels – Nathan Ward at CrimeReads.

King Arthur: Surviving into Modern Times? – Richard Denham at English Historical Fiction Authors.

Meet the Maker of Middle Earth: The Magic in Tolkien’s Story – Devin Brown at Desiring God.

Some Writing Advice: Don’t Take Others’ Advice – Guy Gavriel Kay at Literary Hub.

Pushing Back Against Marilynne Robinson's Theology – Jessica Hooten Wilson at Church Life Journal.

Life and Culture

Back Row America – Chris Arnade at First Things Magazine.

Welcome to Manhood – David Warren at Essays in Idleness.

The liberal sciences and the lost arts of learning – Brent Orrell at the American Enterprise Institute.

What Our Attachment to Characters Tells Us about Cultural Apologetics – Zak Schmoll at Entering the Public Square.

5 Dangers of Being Deprived of an Involved Father – Eric Geiger.

Poetry

Then – Robert Rife at Rob’s LitBits.

For Argument’s Sake: The Owl and the Nightingale – Eleanor Parker at History Today.

Poems Unwritten – Daniel Leach at The Imaginative Conservative.

Death is at the Door – Aaron Brown at Collegeville Bearings.

American Stuff

Lydie Clinedinst & Moses Ezekiel: A Devoted Friendship Begun at New Market – Sarah Kay Bierle at Emerging Civil War.

The Naked Truth of Battle–  James Macgregor Burns at American Heritage.

British Stuff

Gwydir Castle: Treasure of the Conwy Valley – Annie Whitehead at English Historical Fiction Authors.

Theology

Is the “New Perspective on Paul” a Product of Our Current Cultural Moment? – Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

Grave Clothes and the Importance of Community – Eric Geiger.

News Media

If Not This Forum, Then Which? – Stephen Kneale at Building Jerusalem.

The Street Piano Man of Washington Park

Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas by Rupert Bunny (1864-1947).

“What Can We Know About God?” by R.C. Sproul

During the Middle Ages, R.C. Sproul reminds us, theology was called the “queen of the sciences. “Today,” he writes in What Can We Know About God?, “the queen has been deposed from her throne and, in many cases, driven into exile, and a supplanter now reigns. We have replaced theology with religion.”

He’s not this specific, but “religion” can be defined far more broadly that “faith traditions” or “denominations” and include any kind of belief system around which an individual organizes his or her life. 

In this short but impactful book, Sproul focuses on the heart of theology, or study of God. His observations and insights reflect his study and understanding of the Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments. 

He considers the idea of the “oneness” of God, the trinity, the two types of attributes – incommunicable and communicable (there are indeed many things about God we don’t and can’t know), the will of God, and the idea of providence. This is a God-centered understanding as opposed to a man-centered understanding; Sproul does not put man as the lens for trying to understand God. And what better source of a God-centered understanding can you find but the Bible?

R.C. Sproul

Until his death in December of 2017, Sproul led Ligonier Ministries, based in Sanford, Florida. He wrote numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity, church history, theology, Calvinism, Reformed theology, and related topics. The Crucial Questions series includes some 30 topics which are free as eBooks, and this volume is a part of the series.

Understanding God is a crucial question for faith, but it is also a very basic question. As What Can We Know About God?demonstrates, our understanding begins and ends with limitations. But that doesn’t mean there is much that can be taught, and much that can be learned.

Related:

What is Repentance? by R.C. Sproul.

Can I Have Joy in My Life? by R.C. Sproul.

What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean? By R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? by R.C. Sproul.

How Should I Think About Money? by R.C. Sproul.

Does Prayer Change Things? by R.C. Sproul.

What is the Church? by R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Be Right with God? by R.C. Sproul.

Are People Basically Good? by R.C. Sproul.

Top photograph by Marc-Olivier Jodoin via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Are People Basically Good?” by R.C. Sproul

Often unspoken and unrecognized, there is one belief that clearly divides progressives from conservatives, divides various branches of Christianity, divides believers from non-believers, and that is the fundamental nature of people. Are people basically good, or are people basically sinful? This leads to a rabbit hole (or holes) of additional questions, but perhaps it’s better to consider the fundamental question first.

That’s what R.C. Sproul does in Are People Basically Good?

Until his death in December of 2017, Sproul led Ligonier Ministries, based in Sanford, Florida. He wrote numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity, church history, theology, Calvinism, Reformed theology, and related topics. The Crucial Questions series includes some 30 topics which are free as eBooks, and this volume is a part of the series.

Sproul’s answer reflects his Christian faith, but he doesn’t slam the reader’s head with it. Instead, he uses the lens of Scripture first to consider what it means that man (and woman) “is made in the image of God.” Importantly, being made in the image doesn’t mean we are God but are subordinate to God. The phrase, he says, also separates mankind from all other living creatures. That separation doesn’t mean domination, but it does mean a position of responsibility, authority, and privilege. 

R.C. Sproul

But what every human being must come to understand, Sproul writes, is the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. And sin, he says, goes to the very core of our being. We are made in the image of God, but we are broken from the beginning. And only one thing can heal that brokenness. 

It’s not a popular belief system today, and the culture at large certainly rejects it. But that doesn’t make it untrue (even if it does make it inconvenient). 

Are People Basically Good? is a compact summary of the doctrine of total depravity, a doctrine shared by all of the major Christian faith traditions.

Related:

What is Repentance? by R.C. Sproul.

Can I Have Joy in My Life? by R.C. Sproul.

What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean? By R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? by R.C. Sproul.

How Should I Think About Money? by R.C. Sproul.

Does Prayer Change Things? by R.C. Sproul.

What is the Church? by R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Be Right with God? by R.C. Sproul.

Top photograph by GoaShape via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“How Can I Be Right with God?” by R.C. Sproul

It doesn’t get more R.C. Sproul-ish than How Can I Be Right with God?

Until his death in December of 2017, Sproul led Ligonier Ministries, based in Sanford, Florida. He wrote numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity, church history, theology, Calvinism, Reformed theology, and related topics. The Crucial Questions series includes some 30 topics which are free as eBooks, and this volume is a part of the series.

It’s the classic teaching of the Reformed faith.

Sproul starts in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Reformation Wall(or what’s officially known as the Monument to the Reformation). It’s a huge monument, with four figures depicted at the center – John Calvin, John Knox, William Farel, and Theodore Beza. With Martin Luther, these four articulated justification by faith alone, the main doctrine of the Reformers and the major difference with Catholic teaching. 

He describes the three major crises in Luther’s life that led to his understanding of the biblical teaching of justification; how Luther and the reformers “understood the biblical teaching of justification in terms of forensicjustification;” the great exchange, or how mankind’s sin was imputed to Christ; how the reformers understood the means of salvation; and what happened at the Council of Trent when the Roman Catholic Church defended its doctrines, and how much turned for the reformers on a single word, sola, as in sola fide– justification by faith alone. 

R.C. Sproul

Sproul continues with the three major aspects of saving faith: notitia, the content of faith, or what you believe; assensus, agreement or intellectual assent; and fiducia, which has to do with trust. He covers the remission of sins and then concludes with a discussion of peace with God.

It’s a short work, easy to read in an hour or less. But How Can I Be Right with God?is bedrock Reformed teaching, and it succinctly describes the basics of the Reformed faith. 

Related:

What is Repentance? by R.C. Sproul.

Can I Have Joy in My Life? by R.C. Sproul.

What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean? By R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? by R.C. Sproul.

How Should I Think About Money? by R.C. Sproul.

Does Prayer Change Things? by R.C. Sproul.

What is the Church? by R.C. Sproul.

Top photograph by Joshua Earle via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray

It is sometimes startling to read a book about the Christian faith aimed at a general audience that is free of late twentieth and early twenty-first century angst or psychological dilemmas or a popular theology book that doesn’t veer into the Christian self-help genre. What did Christians read, or used to read, when they were seeking to understand difficult Scripture passages, learn about Christian living, or answer basic questions about their faith.

One author they read was Andrew Murray (1828-1917).

Murray, the son of a Dutch Reformed minister and missionary, was born in South Africa, educated in Scotland, became a missionary and pastor himself in South Africa, and authored more than 240 books on faith, theology, and Christian living. He lived during the century of Darwin, Marx, and Freud, the triumvirate of thinkers who many believe permanently closed the book on the Christian faith. And yet he remained steadfast in his belief and wrote book after book to encourage others in the faith.

Absolute Surrender: The Blessing of Forsaking All and Following Christ is one of those more than 240 books. It is aimed at Christians who are seeking to deepen their faith and are asking the question, what does it mean to forsake all, or what he calls “absolute surrender.”

What he describes is a process. He starts by explaining what it means to be filled with Holy Spirit and how it changes the believer. He describes the roles of conviction and confession. He discusses the example of Peter in the New Testament. He explains the blessings which result from absolute surrender, and how it is to be lived out. He shows the results of surrender. He notes that Christians can continue in the process only through the active involvement of God. And he asks the question, what does it mean to be a branch to the vine?

Andrew Murray

The account is simple. It’s straightforward. It’s free of a lot of the stuff we add to Christian faith today. It is written from a perspective of assurance – doubt and questions are normal and it is through both that one’s faith deepens – in the context of reliance on God to provide the answers.

To read a work like this, written in the 19^th century, is something of a relief. Some very fundamental things have not changed, as much as we like to believe we’re smarter, wiser, and more intelligent than people used to be. Look at our technology! And we have the internet!

The basic questions remain the same. The human heart remains the same. And the God we worship remains the same.

Related:

My review of Humility by Andrew Murray.

Top photograph by Daniel Burka via Unsplash. Used with permission.