Monday, December 30, 2002
Socrates Meets Jesus
Back when I reviewed Three Philosophies of Life, I said I would have to read more of Peter Kreeft's work. Well, I finally got around to that. (Not my fault that the library doesn't carry much of his stuff.) I had read Plato's account of the trial of Socrates in Philosophy and Contemporary Issues and immediately recalled this title. When I was up at Harvest Logos looking for an Ezekiel bible study, I peeked to see if this was on the shelf and when I found it I succumbed to temptation and impulsively bought it. Anyway, this is written in play format and has Socrates, the father of Western philosophy, appearing at "Have It University" in Boston. He finds himself enrolled in courses in the divinity school there and spends the rest of the book questioning and challenging his fellow students and a couple of his teachers. All in all, it came across as a thinly veiled course in apologetics. A fairly one sided course, at that. Socrates opponents are all caught off guard and in the end, Socrates "meets Jesus" and becomes convinced of Christianity's truthfulness. I would imagine that the real apostate and heterodox Christians would be a bit harder to confound. Be that as it may, I'm keeping the book. The drama may be weak, but Kreeft is a wonderful writer and has this real poetic way of describing God's relationship with his people. I really was moved by Socrates' wonder at the reality of God taking on human form, which in turn colored my own thoughts as I worshiped this Christmas. So why I have to be honest about the book's flaws, I do recommend that you check it out despite them.
Labels: CheckItOut, PeterKreeft
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
HTML 4 for Dummies
This here's the HTML reference book I picked up at the Friends of the Library sale. I'd much rather have Elizabeth Castro's HTML 4 for the World Wide Web but I didn't see a copy of that one for 75¢. This one's all right, I guess. I'm not real crazy about the "for Dummies" series. I've read a few and wasn't impressed by their style. (Of course, now that I think about it, all the other "Dummies" books I read were about PCs.) This one fits right in. Anyway, compared to Castro's book, this is less a tutorial than an introduction to HTML. Rather than showing you how to craft a web page they give you a list of commands and expect you to go to town with them. Well, they also include a CD-ROM that supposedly contains many examples. My copy, however, is a used book from the Seattle Public Library, and the CD no longer works on my Mac. Oh, well, at least I got my 75¢ worth. It is a useful reference book and will do unless I find something better. I would rate it as waiting room material.
Labels: WaitingRoomMaterial
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Daniel: The NIV Application Commentary
by Tremper Longman III
This was the commentary I bought to assist in my preparation to lead the Thursday morning Bible class in studying the book of Daniel. Harvest Logos had a few references from which to choose, and even though it was a hardcover and cost more, I went with this one. It's part of the NIV Application Commentary series, which attempts to show the meaning the Bible has for contemporary American life. The format focuses first on the original meaning of the text, or how it would be understood by its original audience. Then it focuses on bridging the ancient and modern contexts, eventually wrapping up with the contemporary significance of the chapter. In the case of Daniel, it seemed somewhat easy. The main message is simple: God is in control. That was shown both in the stories of the first half and the cryptic prophecies of the second. Anyway, there's more to be gleaned from the book from that main point, and Longman does it quite well, in my opinion. He holds a theologically conservative view of the work, but also mentions the other prevailing arguments. And he's even honest enough to admit when the other side has a good case for their view. In a sense, it's everything I would want from a commentary: background information for understanding and insight as to how I might adapt it to my life. This one's staying on my shelf.
Labels: OnMyShelf, TremperLongman
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Pilgrim's Progress
Pilgrim's Progress is a classic allegory of the Christian's journey through this life. It tells the tale of a man, subtly named "Christian", and his attempt to escape his city, named "Destruction", and make his way to the Celestial City. As a Christian myself, I found it to be a great story. It got a bit pietistic at times, but Bunyan was a Puritan, so such a flavor should be expected. I'm still debating whether to buy myself a copy or not, but I can definitely tell you to check it out.
Labels: CheckItOut
Friday, December 06, 2002
Daniel: Encouragement for Faith
When I started planning for this Fall's session of the Thursday morning Bible class, I polled the class for what they wanted to study. The consensus was for something from the Old Testament and the one definite preference voiced asked to study either Ezekiel or Daniel. Well, I'll spare you my feelings of ambivalence over apocalyptic books, but I will tell you that I ran to get a study put out by my own denomination. I wanted to get the party line regarding the interpretations of the various prophecies and cryptic references before I started wading through the various theories that have been proposed over the centuries. Anyway, this Bible study booklet is very conservative and down to earth. Actually, I was quite disappointed at first, as I went through the narrative tales that make up the first half of Daniel. I found the study to be very lacking. (Especially since I was reading Longman's Daniel (above) at the same time.) It made up for it in chapter seven, when the Bible starts recounting visions and prophecies. Deterding brought in enough historical data to let me understand what was being predicted and helped me to pull some meaning from it all. Given it's theological stance, I'll have to give it a biased check it out.
Labels: CheckItOut, PaulDeterding
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