The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.

Christmas Books 2016

People often buy me books at Christmas. It's not easy to be sure what I haven't got or what I'd really like but my wife and sons did well this year (four sons and their spouses went for books, the youngest bought me a zebra tie).
So my wife bought me Sinclair Ferguson's beautifully presented Banner book Child in the manger; My oldest son and his wife perhaps scored best with Blitzed a newly translated pharmacological investigation of Hitler and the Third Reich; the next pair did well too with the massive Silk Roads a new history of the world; number three and his fiancee went for The A-Z of Pointless spot on again and a different sort of book; my fourth son went for the daunting 712 More things to draw - I say daunting as I haven't completed my copy of 642 Things to draw yet.
I must admit that I did supplement this with one or two Christmas books of my own, including P D James' The mistletoe murder and Llewelyn Powys's Christmas Lore and Legend a little book of seasonal essays.
I've read most of Blitzed and I've completed the four short stories in The Mistletoe murder and dipped into The A-Z of Pointless and drawn three or four things in the drawing book. Great fun.

No comments: