Final Thoughts - The Great Divorce

I've been meaning to read this for awhile, but had not actually got around to purchasing it myself. However on Monday night, while over for dinner at Alex and Dana's house, I noted that they had a copy and asked to borrow it. I've got a ton of stuff I want to read, so I was not expecting to get through it anytime soon but I started flipping through it yesterday and ended up reading the whole thing last night. It helps that the book is relatively short, the font is fairly large and it is C.S. Lewis with his typically engaging fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and it provides some interesting food for thought regarding heaven and hell. The basic plot follows the narrator as he and several others take a bus from a dreary town (hell) to a vibrant new landscape (heaven). The majority of the book is spent with the narrator observing the conversations between his fellow Ghosts and the Spirits who try to convince them to stay in this new land. Many of the Ghosts end up returning to the bus to go back to the town instead of continuing on.

I found the book to be convicting as I read the different reasons that the Ghosts gave up on pursuing the newfound beauty and embracing the joy that was set before them. There were those that turned back because the journey was hard and they did not believe even when the Spirits told them that help would be provided. One rejects heaven based upon his view that he merited being there and some of those who were already there did not. Another left because he would not submit ultimately to accepting one real truth. In another case, an obsessive mother is resistant because she demands that she see her son immediately and is unwilling to see that her ultimate treasure should not be her son, but God.

One thing that really stuck out from this reading of the book is the opportunity we have to prepare ourselves in this life for the next life. I understand that Lewis is using an allegory to provoke thought, so obviously, as he admits, heaven will not be exactly like he describes. However, we do know that in heaven, our ultimate joy will be in God himself. We can live our lives now in anticipation of that and seeking the joy in fellowship with God that Christ restored when he died on the cross for our sins. By God’s grace, we can seek to avoid the idols that trapped so many of these Ghosts.

Overall, I recommend this fairly quick and thought provoking read. There are definitely many more aspects that I didn’t take the time to dig into.

Caution and Encouragement for the "New Calvinists"

There is a very helpful article on Justin Taylor's blog today. It's a reaction to the growing movement of Reformed theology in the younger generation by Thomas McCall from an Arminian perspective.

This article embodies the interaction I think that both sides of the Calvinist/Arminian issue should display. I clearly fall into the Reformed camp and I was blessed by Dr. McCall's rejoicing at the way this movement displays an interest in theology and a pursuit of holiness in people my age.

Even more so, I was blessed by the challenges and cautions that he brings. Here are two that I drew out.

1. We need to know our theological tradition better as well as understand the broader traditions of the historical church. In other words, we should expand our reading and knowledge outside the Puritans and beware not to ultimately rely on and deify those famous contemporary teachers that are highly regarded in Reformed circles. Personally, I know I want to spend more time learning about the early church fathers and learning more about church history in general.

2. We need to guard against arrogance and cultivate humility. With the low accountability Internet as a main medium of communication added to the youthful tendency towards arrogance, I can appreciate his concern in this area. I know my own tendency towards pride. Even if we do believe that the tenets of Reformed theology are clearly taught in the Bible, we have to remember that we didn't come up with them, God did. And we didn't figure it out of our own accord without his help, so we can't take pride in that either. We need to receive the Scriptures with humility and we need to speak with humility.

Overall, I this post challenges me to interact with differing brothers and sisters with charity and love. It's not that we shouldn't value our doctrine strongly, but we need to evaluate our attitudes and our hearts. We should be marked by a desire to know and understand God more rather than a desire to be right. We need to realize that God still has a lot for us to learn. Abraham Piper had a blog post a while ago with a title that sums it up well, "When arguing, it's better to be convincible than invincible."

PCRT 2008 - Day Two & Wrapup

Better late than never, it's the quick wrapup from PCRT this year. The sheer volume of teaching was a little overwhelming. I'm definitely planning to review my notes and listen to the messages again to gain a greater understanding of everything that was said. However, even what little I did manage to take out of it initially, really helped to flesh out my understanding of the different aspects of Christ's work on the cross.

1. Robert Godfrey - Redeeming Blood: Preached a sermon on redemption from Psalm 49, which is a text I hadn't heard tied into the atonement. He talked about the certainty of death for the wise and the foolish, rich and poor alike and the helplessness before God which is articulated by the psalmist. He noted that the language of redemption is throughout the law that God gives to Israel. Also, provided an excellent reminder about the power of Christ's blood. Our sins are not so great that they outweigh Christ's sacrifice for us.

2. Philip Ryken - Atoning Blood: Used to self-examination questions from a puritan writer to remind us how we can often have a light view of sin. Discussed the atonement in terms of redemption, justification and propitiation. Redemption is a picture of the atonement that comes from the marketplace, the procurement of a release by the payment of a price. Justification is a picture from a legal standpoint. It's not a making righteous but a declaring righteous. Propitiation is a picture of the atonement that comes from the Old Testament temple. It refers to the turning away of God's anger towards us. The application was to call us to be willing to sacrifice in every of our Christian lives.

3. Richard Phillips - Cleansing Blood: Preached on Hebrews 9:11-14. The message focused on expiation, the cleansing or removal of our sin. He mentioned the Old Testament laws regarding cleaness and noted that the priests did not have the power to make someone clean. However, Christ does not merely declare us pure but actually makes us clean from the stains of sin. He then went on to say that since Christ has cleansed us, we must be sure to accept ourselves as cleansed. Finally, in light of those facts, he encouraged us to draw near to God with confidence and that we would remember the cleansing of Christ's blood when our guility conscience is hesitant to draw near to God.

4. Carl Trueman - Seminar: I guess I should have known from reading his book, "The Wages of Spin", but Carl Trueman is fairly brilliant and essentially gave a seminary level lecture on a section of church history regarding the challenges to the atonement after the Reformation. I took some notes, but had a hard time following. I mostly understood what he was saying but keeping up with notes and side references was another thing entirely. I fully intend to listen to the recording to get more out of it, but what I most took away from being there was a good sense of humility in how far my knowledge really extends. I don't know very much at all, others out there are much smarter and more knowledgable and I still have a lot to learn.

5. Saturday Evening and Sunday Morning - I left the conference after the seminar on Saturday so I did not get to hear either Robert Godfrey's message on Saturday night or R.C. Sproul's message on Sunday morning. I plan to listen to them as soon as Julian lets me borrow the recordings.

Other highlights...

1. Qdoba - Peter and I stopped in for lunch. The shredded beef nachos were as delicious as always.

2. Book Purchases - Despite major temptation (and thanks to the help of friends), I refrained from buying any new books over the weekend. I guess that four volume set of "The Christian's Reasonable Service" will have to wait till next time.

3. Unity - It was great to interact and worship with people who are not from the same church family as I am. It is a joy to worship together with brothers and sisters in mutual gratitude and praise of God for saving us by sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins. Also, I become more aware of how much we have to learn from each other, despite our differences on some things outside the core beliefs of the gospel.

4. Expelled - I left the conference to see this movie. We had a lot of fun and the movie was very interesting. Ben Stein makes some good points about intellectual freedom, particularly in academia. However, I was actually more affected by some of the parts of the movie that reminded me of our sinful nature as humans and also how hard we can try to surpress the truth. This stuck out at me more than the whole Intelligent Design aspect of the movie, but overall it does make you think and if you bring someone along to see it, you're sure to have plenty to talk about afterwards.

Blog Recommendation - Of First Importance

Like reading quotes? Too busy to read through treacherously long blog posts? Feel the need to add another feed to your RSS reader? Want to be reminded of the great truths of the gospel on a daily basis?

Check out Of First Importance.

I've been subscribing for a couple days now and have found it to be very encouraging. Every day one quotation dealing with the gospel is posted. It's a nice concise way to get you thinking about the cross every day.

HT: Desiring God blog

PCRT 2008 - Day One

So, the sun sets on the first day of PCRT 2008. Here are the highlights...

1. God blessed the day with excellent weather. It was a joy to spend the day in the city.

2. It was fun to hang around with Julian all day and to get to know him a bit more.

3. Got to say hi to Steve Burlew at the Banner of Truth table.

4. A delightfully refreshing lunch. :)

5. Plenty of friends are attending so I'll get to spend some more time with them for the rest of the conference.

6. (With help) refrained from buying any books (including a particular sweet set, The Christian's Reasonable Service).

As for the teaching, it was excellent.

Joel Beeke presented several great messages and certainly did not disappoint. In particular, I appreciated the message on persevering in joyful humility and prayer. He made several good points in noting that we pray far less than we should and that we should be seeking to grow in our prayer. Also, he made an excellent point regarding keeping ourselves humble. While noting that we need to labor under the conviction that we are servants, he noted that we need to remember Christ's love for the church. He said that we can be too open in our criticisms of the church and that it can come out of a prideful heart. Not that we should refrain from criticism of the church, but that we should not be unable to criticize the church with dry eyes. In other words, we should be crying out to God that our church would reflect the character of Christ. Not out of a hard heart but out of a heart that desires to see souls conformed to the image of the Son.

Also, I was convicted regarding the lack of seriousness and priority I give to prayer. I desire to see prayer as something that is ingrained in my life. My action item for now is to seek to carve out more specific time around my morning devotionals so I am not so apt to finish my reading, do a quick prayer and get ready from work. I want to draw something out of Scripture and bring that to God in prayer.

It was cool to see R.C. Sproul preach. He has a good way of explaining things and yet, due most likely to fatigue, I haven't really processed his message too well yet. Hopefully tomorrow I can read over my notes and discuss it will some others who were there to get a firmer grasp on some of the ideas he presented in explaining why the cross was necessary.

Better Blogging

Justin Taylor has a helpful guest post from Abraham Piper, who writes on the 22 Words and Desiring God blogs. Abraham goes through a list of points to help Christian bloggers improve their blogging.

I particularly appreciated his encouragement to strive to write well and make ideas clearly understood and well-thought out. Also, he gives an important reminder that the point of a blog should not be to constantly be contentious and that we should be confident in what we believe while still being willing to discuss and truly consider new information in the pursuit of a better understanding.

There are some great gems here for those who are interested in blogging.

HT: Justin Taylor

PCRT... Yeah, I'm Excited

Coming up on this weekend is the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology. This is my first time attending and I'll also be attending the pre-conference on Friday during the day. Here are some of the reasons I am excited (in no particular order)...

1. R.C. Sproul - Yep.

2. The City - I love walking around downtown Philly and it will be good to spend time there again. Plus, it's fun to ride the train into town.

3. 10th Pres. - 10th is awesome. I'm looking forward to great music.

4. Friends - Seems like a lot of familiar faces will be there (if you are coming, let me know in the comments so I can try and find you to say hi at some point). Julian and I are having breakfast on Friday, which should be fun. I'm sure there will be plenty of great opportunities for that never fail combination of food and fellowship. Plus I'll get to see some of my friends from 10th that I don't get to see as often.

5. The Atonement - This is the theme of the conference. I'm always eager to understand and gain a greater appreciation of Christ's work on the cross.

6. Joel Beeke - He doing most of the speaking at the pre-conference. I'm interested to hear from him since I appreciated his book, "Meet the Puritans".

7. Carl Trueman - He's teaching one of the seminars and is a professor of church history at Westminster. I've heard an interview with him on 9Marks, read some posts he's made and read his book "The Wages of Spin". I'm intrigued to hear more from him.

8. Differences & Unity - I'm always excited to join together to learn about and worship God with other Christians. It particularly affects me to join with others who have differences in some areas of thinking but are united in the foundational truths of the gospel.

9. Philip Ryken - I've interacted with some of Ryken's work and heard him preach once or twice but I am not too familiar with him. I'm excited to hear from this man who is doing the bulk of the teaching for all my friends at 10th Pres.

10. Books - While both my budget and my knowing friends are eyeing this reason warily, I am excited at the opportunity to pick up a new book or two (or three...) If you see me at the conference with more than 5 new books, please take my wallet.

11. Steve Burlew - Ok, this one isn't certain because I didn't ask him specifically if he would be there. However, Steve is the guy when it comes to Banner of Truth books in the US. And since he is often travelling around and attending conferences (particularly since this one isn't too far away from home), I wouldn't be surprised to see him there. And lest you think I am merely excited about the books he'll be bringing, the truth of the matter is that Steve is a godly man and a joy to talk to. I would definitely be excited to chat with him even if he wasn't dragging volumes and volumes of Christ exalting literature in tow. (If you want to find out more about Steve or Banner of Truth, check out Steve's blog Trophies of His Grace.)

12. The Day Off - Friday is the first full day I've taken off work this year. I'm looking forward to it.

13. Blogging - Blogging a conference seems like some obscure rite of passage for a Christian blogger. I don't necessarily intend to be your source for all things PCRT, but I will probably be posting some thoughts on what God teaches me during the conference. I've often found it helpful and encouraging when others post about conferences they've attended that I have not. But don't expect any live blogging, I've got a funny feeling that 10th Pres. doesn't have WiFi. Maybe I can post over lunch.

14. God's Faithfulness - Last and most importantly, I'm excited because God is faithful and he will meet those attending this conference and use it to grow us in our faith and help us in following him.

My prayer is that God would prepare my heart to receive this teaching even in the midst of a busy week and bless the opportunities I'll have to engage in fellowship with other believers.

God's Faithfulness and My Fear

Last night my community group went out to share the gospel as part of the Proclaim course that we are currently going through. As the GO (Gospel Outreach) Facilitator for the group, my primary responsibility was to aid in the planning and execution of this night of outreach. As I was preparing for the meeting, there was a fear in my heart of going out to share the gospel. Even though I serve in several outreach oriented areas in the church, it does not mean that I am skilled at evangelism. I still get nervous and anxious every time.

By God's grace, the best part about being the GO Facilitator is that I can't easily squirm out of going out to share the gospel with my community group. But the amazing part is, no matter how I feel about everything, once we go out God is always faithful to meet us.

As we walked around the Media, PA last night, I was skeptical that we would even find anyone to talk to. However, as we approached a trolley stop, there was a woman waiting on a bench. I asked her if she would mind taking a spiritual survey that we had. She agreed and expressed that she had grown up in the Catholic church but wasn't attending currently. When asked why she thought God should let her into heaven, she said because she was a good person. I led in to the How Good Are You booklet and she expressed that she thought that God's laws listed in the booklet could lead people to fear. I asked if she meant fear of judgment if God was real. She said yes and I explained that God's acceptance of us is based upon what Christ has done and not our own good works. We talked for a little while more and things went in circles and off track a bit, but the gospel was proclaimed.

After talking to her, I walked away with a fresh realization of what it is to engage non-Christians with the gospel. My heart was affected by the confusion that was expressed as she was explaining what she believed. More than that, I realized that the only difference between her and I was that God had moved my heart and opened my eyes to the truth. I came away amazed at the grace of God which I do not deserve.

I Love My Church

On Sunday in lieu of a message, the pastors spent time discussing the upcoming transition to a new senior pastor at our church. I'm so very appreciative of the care they often take to explain everything and labor to inform the rest of the church how and why certain decisions are being made. It reveals a leadership that is truly concerned with the care of the people in the church and not just their own authority. I'm grateful for pastors whose primary aim is the preaching of the gospel and who have the humility to put God's work and God's people before their own advancement. When asked afterwards what I thought about the whole thing, I believe my words were, "I love this church".

Over the past couple of weeks, God has really put an increased joy in my heart on Sunday mornings, particularly as I look around during worship. I'm so encouraged as I see so many friends around me and I rejoice at the grace of God in their lives. I truly don't deserve to be in a church with so many awesome people and God has definitely used this to help me recognize how much a gift the local church is. There is no telling where I could end up in the future, but for now I am so delighted to be able to join together in the worship and the work of the gospel with these brothers and sisters in Christ. When I am sitting there on a Sunday morning, it truly feels like home.

Obviously things will never be perfect on this earth, but the church provides a unique context where we can be cared for and gain a picture of what it means to be part of the family of God. The church is also a place where we can be taught and hear the gospel preached every week. It's not easy sometimes and there is a lot of work to be done, but God provides grace for these opportunities to serve and often places us with brothers and sisters we are able to join with in this joyful labor.

I love my church. How about you?

Reading A Book For All It's Worth

There is a great post today over at The Blazing Center. After identifying himself as a fellow "book freak", Stephen Altrogge goes on to share some advice from CJ Mahaney regarding how we approach reading. CJ basically advocates getting to know a small list of great books extremely well over trying to read massive amounts of books and not getting as much out of it. Stephen's post has some good tips on what this might look like.

I know my tendency can be to get so excited about getting new books and reading the next book on my list that I may fail to get as much out of the book I am reading as is possible. Anyone who knows me can attest to the eagerness I have to talk about books and how I get excited when I hear about a cool new (or old) book coming out. I need to remember that the primary goal is not to read the most books or accumulate the most knowledge but to be conformed to the image of Christ and to grow in godliness.

Hopefully this blog will continue to be a help to me as I strive to more deeply understand what I am reading and to apply it. Also, when you see me, please ask me about what I am reading. I'd love to talk about it and to hear about what you are reading and how God is using that to create change in your own life.

HT: The Blazing Center

Weekly Review? More Like Weak-ly Review

Astute readers may recall that I had a post awhile ago about starting a weekly review. This would be a time each week to evaluate how the previous week went and prepare myself for the upcoming week, particularly from a spiritual perspective.

How is it going you say? Well... actually... now that you mention it... it's not going.

Yes, that's right. Despite deciding to pursue this idea almost two months ago, I have yet to actually do it yet in any kind of formal fashion. I do have a list of some questions I've brainstormed and have thought about different areas of my life that I want to examine. I also know that the best time for this review is probably either Sunday morning or Sunday night. In the morning I've usually got time before I go to church, but the evening is also typically somewhat free and has the advantage of allowing me to review the message from that day at church.

So if I have a picture of it in my mind, why haven't I done it? Well, being busy, lazy and having it slip my mind all seem like probable reasons. I'm not feeling condemned because I know it's not sin to not review your week, but I want to do it because I feel it could be very helpful in my life. I think I just have to start doing it and let habit be my friend. Also, I probably have to come to grips that I am not going to be able to distill the perfect methodology for a weekly review before actually starting to do one. That will come with time (and most likely change every so often).

I'm going to give it another go this week. If you see me this weekend, please call me out on it. This could include asking me about my plans to do a weekly review, giving suggestions on what kinds of questions might be helpful to ask myself, making fun of my inaction or threatening me with physical violence if I do not go through with it. Thanks!

Thankful and Willing to Listen

This morning during my quiet time, one of the passages I was reading was Ecclesiates 5. Two thoughts...

First, v.18 (Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.) I know that I can think of my work and my possessions as gifts of God, but I do not often consider that the "power to enjoy them" is also a gift of God. This is a healthy reminder to rejoice and thank God for not only what he has given me but also the joy and contentment I have in his those thing. Also, the fact that I can enjoy what he has given me in ways that honor and glorify him instead of valuing the gifts over the Giver, is a reason to praise God. Though contentment can be a struggle, I should be thankful for this gift and pray earnestly for it. What a relief is it that contentment and joy in our circumstances is not something we have to muster up in and of ourselves! It's another reminder, like Wolfgang's message last week, to be thankful in all things.

Second, v.1-2 (Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.) I'll be the first to admit that there are parts of this passage I don't quite get (and the next verse, v.3, is confusing). However, I am challenged about how I approach church and other times of teaching. It is very easy for Sundays to become a routine and normal thing, a time of great joy of course, but routine in some ways if I am not careful. I want to be mindful of preparing myself to receive teaching and not just showing up. I want to be humble and teachable before the preached word. I don't want to be so caught up in my note taking that I miss points but I don't want to fail to review the message later on and to apply it to my life. I want the gospel to always appear amazing and to effect my heart, no matter how many times I hear it. I don't want my pride, preferences and knowledge to cause me to nitpick preaching while neglecting to apply the truth of God to my soul. I want to have an open heart that is ready to "draw near to listen" to what God may teach me, even if it isn't what I expected or is tough for me to hear.

These things are temptations and struggles that can appear from time to time. So, with a singles meeting (THRIVE) tonight, great preaching at church and PCRT and New Attitude coming down the road, I pray that God would make me one who values his word more and one who is eager not just to speak or argue, but to listen to and seek to understand and apply what he is saying.

Blog Recommendation: The Blazing Center

I digest a handful of blogs daily thanks to my handy feedreader (Bloglines.com). Not too long ago, I added The Blazing Center to my subscriptions. This blog features posting by Stephen and Mark Altrogge from Sovereign Grace Church of Indiana, PA. The mainstay of their posting is made up of pointing out something about God and then drawing application and questions from those thoughts.

It seems like every day they have a great post that is immediately applicable and points me back to God in a most helpful way. Actually, I've recently felt that I should cut back on a few other blog subscriptions just so I can take the time to fully read and digest their posts.

For instance, today Stephen had a great post on the goodness of God. It encouraged me as I thought about the work I have for my grad class by reminding me of God's Word in Psalm 31:19 (Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!). Our God is truly one who has "stored up" goodness for us.

Check out The Blazing Center if you get a chance.

ESV Study Bible

A few days ago the new website launched for the upcoming ESV Study Bible. I've been following this project with interest for awhile, but this is the first real look at what Crossway has come up with. It definitely looks like a high quality product and they certainly have put together a great team to help produce the notes and other information. I have been using the ESV Reformation Study Bible in my quiet times (it was the only option as far as ESV study bibles go) and it has served me well. However, I've been looking forward to getting my hands on one of these new ESV Study Bibles since I heard last year that Justin Taylor and Crossway were working on it.

Crossway just can't let my book budget have a break. They keep printing too many awesome books and resources.

Update: On the ESV site they have links to a bunch of blog posts about the upcoming ESV study bible, if you are interested in getting more information and impressions. Plus, little ol' me got quoted in the roundup, which is very cool (though in the interest of full disclosure, I'm pretty sure they did a blanket search for ESV study bible. But the quote they pulled out is true and if it encourages someone to get excited and equipped to study the Bible, that's awesome).

A Heart Humbled By Reading

There is a struggle I've often dealt with in reading and studying. The sinful tendency in my heart is to become prideful because of books I've read or knowledge accumulated through reading (even though there are so many others who have read more and know more than I do). It becomes very easy in conversation to toss out a names of authors and books or to use some obscure theology term in a way that seems far more concerned with directing attention to myself instead of encouraging others in their faith. It's also easy not to correct how other people view my reading and knowledge. If I seem excited about reading and talking about books, buy good books and try to read a lot of books that still doesn't mean I am actually smarter, more motivated or more godly, but that tends to be something I rarely point out to people.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is merciful to bring conviction and encourage growth of humility because of my reading. As I read books by men who love and know God in far greater degrees than myself, my spirit is humbled. While I work through Grudem's Systematic Theology, I am humbled by a God whose vastness and greatness defies the power of my intellect and understanding. I can clearly recall a prideful reaction several years ago when I heard others describing the difficulty of reading The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs. In my head I thought that I would be able to easily understand it and it could not possibly be so hard. I have recently started reading it as part of the Puritan Challenge and have realized that I clearly overestimated my own abilities and underestimated the focus and concentration it would take to read the book. My struggle to understand and work through a tough book to gain a better view of God is another area where my pride is brought low as I realize that in and of myself these things are difficult or impossible to comprehend. Not to mention how I am often humbled by how easily I forget what I have read and how difficult it can be to apply these things to my daily life.

Whatever knowledge and understanding (and it's not as much as I sometimes want think it is) God has given me is a gift. I am called to be a steward of these things just as I am called to wisely use my finances. In both cases, the gifts of God should be used to glorify, enjoy and serve him and not to glorify myself. When God humbles me in my learning and my weakness is revealed, it helps me to depend on him more. Ultimately, he is the one who will reveal himself to me through his word. I pray that God would help me to be humble in my reading, guide me to use what he is showing me to edify others and help me to apply his word to my own life and know him more.

Final Thoughts - Realms of Gold

I recently finished the book Realms of Gold by Leland Ryken. My interest in the title came out of recent desires to expand my reading from being centered solely on theology and practical application to recreation in exploring some of the classics of literature. Not necessarily to diminish my current reading time and topics, but to replace some areas of recreation (like watching videos or playing video games) with what I deemed might be a more profitable and ultimately more enjoyable use of my time.

In each chapter of Realms of Gold, Leland Ryken examines some of the benefits of different aspects of literature from a Christian perspective. To add to the weight of his arguments and to incite a taste for the classics, he picks a specific literary work as his example in each chapter. In the chapter on literature as recreation, he chooses Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Other works used as examples include Macbeth, The Stranger, Paradise Lost and The Scarlet Letter.

Ryken does a brilliant job of both identifying the redemptive purposes of reading classic literature as well as inspiring a hunger to read the classics by his examples and his own passion that comes through in his writing. So far, I have yet to read another piece that does such a thorough job of addressing the Christian perspective towards literature. While pointing out what can be gained from the classics, he addresses common Christian concerns about literature and also provides guidance in areas where we should take caution.

I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in diving into some of the classics of literature with purpose and passion. I'm currently trying to fit in The Idiot by Dostoevsky, but my reading schedule is getting a bit tight because of my grad class getting into swing. Also, I'd love to dig into the complete works of Shakespeare that I acquired not too long ago. I started reading Hamlet again but haven't gotten very far yet. Another case of too many things at one time.