Total Church

There was another Theological Study Group meeting last Monday at The John Owen Centre. Our book this time was Total Church by Stephen Timmis and Tim Chester. I left my reading quite late but was able to get through it in no time ready for the discussion. I am vaguely aware of Crowded House and have heard Stephen Timmis speak in the past. I feel quite negative to many things and so was glad to read the book to inform myself as to whether I should feel negative. I tried to be as positive about the book as I could and one can at least say that one understands the issues they are raising. As to their solutions I'm not at all sure that this really takes us on much further. We were pretty much of one mind around the table in not liking the proposals though having a little sympathy with the issues raised.

Total Church is rather loosely written with sweeping statements and an incredibly negative and dismissive tone. It moans about everything from ministers having a day off to the apparent middle class dominance in churches to formal theological education. It is very sad to think that two people can have ended up so apparently disenchanted with evangelical and Reformed life. They reminded me a little of Roy Clements who regularly bemoaned the situation before finally giving up on us. I don't think that will happen here as getting into bed with Mark Driscoll and Acts Chapter 29 suggests  a certain flexibility on many things, though for me it is a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. The idea that a generation of students at WEST will be fed this Anabaptist cum emergent church nonsense is most disconcerting.

I think we can all see limitations in church life as it is currently conducted but I am not at all sure that the changes proposed - part time Bible study leaders gathering little groups of part time workers in houses on housing estates to have karaoke evenings, games of football and helpful chats about the Bible is the way forward, although hopefully it will be a means of reaching some who might not be reached otherwise.

I sound pretty negative here myself and don't want to be but it is difficult to say anything very positive at all about this book and the philosophy it promotes.

We have chosen to do Augustine's Confessions next time.

Engaging new book on the Doctor

I was very pleased to see this book appear and despite being a slow reader I have already read it. As the book suggests, it is when some years have passed since their death that such great men as Lloyd-Jones undoubtedly was can begin to be assessed. My problem has always been first over what exactly Lloyd-Jones did believe and teach and then whether it was biblical. Tied in with that is the difficulty of disagreeing with such a persuasive man and a sense at times that he was not easy to disagree with. The collection of essays in this book really helped with that and with a few other things too.

There are 11 essays altogether plus an intro, all by evangelical academics. Being mostly of a younger generation and mostly non-separatists the writers (apart from the present and former LTS principals really) cannot at all be thought of as Lloyd-Jones men. Inevitably there is some variation in the quality of the essays although they are all clear and competent and I found the intro and the essays on revival, the charismatic movement and his view of history the most informative and helpful. The book is well footnoted and quite rigorous and although some may want to quibble with conclusions the subject matter looks pretty unassailable. Also very good is the one on Anglican session which for perhaps the first time mentions the many Anglicans who left their denomination in response to Lloyd-Jones's calls. Perhaps the least satisfying essay is the one on fundamentalism.

The book is pretty thorough, though I was surprised to see nothing about the beginnings of the Banner or his falling out with John Murray over the sort of unity Reformed people should aim for. The book is a must for anyone interested in the history of evangelicalism over the last 50 years.

Fuller review here.

A Book on Boys

This review was in ET this month. I could only give it two stars I'm afraid.

Slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails: Helping boys connect with God – IVP- Gary Brady

Slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails

Carolyn Edwards

192 pages, Paperback, £8.99

ISBN: 9781844745234 (Published: 15/04/2011)

As a father of five boys and someone who is very involved in work with children and young people I was not surprised to be asked to review this book and indeed warmed to the task. However, I did not find the book easy to get into because of its ethos and methodology and the fact that, though the book is otherwise well written, we are 40 pages in before the main dish is served (Part 1 being given over to introductory matters). I can only give it a mild commendation.

Mrs Edwards is very well read and clearly highly competent in her field. She is senior lecturer in Children and Family Work at the Centre for Youth Ministry, Oxford. She also loves children. Her book grows out of an investigation into the spiritual expressions and preferences of boys ages 5-11 in three settings – an Anglican Junior church, a Scripture Union club and an RE class.

The main problem with it for me was its rather sociological approach and its lack of scriptural and theological grounding. When for example, on page 98, she wonders aloud if children's laughter has something to do with what Jesus meant when he said we need to be like children to enter the kingdom one is concerned. A few pages later she is naively commending the visual approach of the eastern orthodox churches. On page 81 she commends more rugged and manly pictures of Jesus without ever raising the question of whether we should be making pictures of Jesus at all.

Having said all this, there are plenty of good things to be had from this book. If you go through it finding the paragraphs beginning with with a large stylised “?!” you will find plenty of practical suggestions regarding working with boys in the areas of relationship and conversation, play and touch, story telling, pain and loss, humour, creativity, silence and prayer, good deeds, healthy risk and multimedia technology. There are also potentially useful “Things to think about” at the end of each of the ten main chapters of the book.

Gary Brady Childs hill

New Lloyd-Jones Book

ENgaging with Lloyd-Jones. Alerted to this by that reading machine the Exiled Preacher. 

(No mention that this is the fruit of a conference some while ago)

When Christians Disagree

In the eighties IVP in the UK produced a series called When Christians Disagree. These are out of print now I guess.

1. The Role of Women (When Christians disagree) by Shirley Lees (Paperback - 15 Oct 1984)
2. Pacifism and War (When Christians Disagree) by Oliver R. Barclay (Paperback - 5 Nov 1984)
3. Creation and Evolution (When Christians disagree) by Derek C. Burke (Paperback - 21 Jan 1985)
4. Signs, Wonders and Healing (When Christians Disagree) by John Goldingay (Paperback - Jan 1989)
5. The Church and Its Unity (When Christians Disagree) by Alan F. Gibson (Paperback - 16 Oct 1992)
6. Politics and the Parties (When Christians Disagree) by Jonathan Chaplin (Paperback - May 1992)