Crossway Releases Tchividjian's "Surprised by Grace"

I just received printed copies from Crossway of Tullian Tchividjian's book "Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels," which I had the privilege of co-authoring with Tullian.

Tullian is as relentless in proclaiming and explaining the gospel as God is in pursuing rebels, and it brought significant fulfillment for me to work on this project with him.

My part was to start with transcripts of Tullian's sermons on the book of Jonah, then to craft and arrange that content into book chapters. I also researched and added support from various biblical commentaries on Jonah -- plus a great deal of illustrative themes and narrative and transitions, much of it based on the way the Jonah story has been perceived and retold down through the centuries in the visual arts (especially sculpture and painting) and in literature. I wove in explorations of works by folks ranging from Raphael to Salvador Dali, and from Herman Melville to Robert Frost, and many other artists and writers. (By the way, Crossway has included color reproductions in the book of many of the works of art mentioned in the text.)
I also included perspectives on Jonah from men of God such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Spurgeon.

I set up the flow and structure of the book to try to retell the story of Jonah--as much as possible--as if we were reading or hearing it for the very first time.

What a rewarding project this was! My thanks to Tullian and to Crossway for allowing me to be a part.

"99 Ways..." Receives Mention by Justin Taylor

In a blog note this week, Justin Taylor mentioned my book "99 Ways to Entertain Your Family for Free!" Fun to see that....

Check it out:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/05/06/99-ways-to-entertain-your-family-for-free/

Recent Reading

Very strongly recommended: J. I. Packer's A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life. To Packer, the Puritans are "a breed of giants," like the California redwoods, and through what he shows in this book, I have to agree.

Also reading now: Greg Gilbert's helpfully clarifying What Is the Gospel? (from 9Marks) -- along with examining & learning the "Two Ways to Live" gospel presentation from Matthias Media --- http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/

Just finished --- two very well written battle histories by Walter Lord: (1) The Dawn's Early Light on the critical events in August 1814 (the British burning of Washington D.C. and their subsequent unsuccessful attack on Baltimore; and (2) Midway: The Incredible Victory, which vividly recreates this destiny-altering battle, the heroism of the men involved, and the utter unlikelihood of this victory that was providentially granted to the Americans....

Thank you, President Lincoln

Today, February 12, is Abraham Lincoln's 201st birthday--and I'm freshly grateful for what this man meant for the cause of freedom and democracy not only in the United States, but for the whole world.

I'm also reminded again that President Lincoln was not only a great liberator and leader, but also a profoundly excellent communicator.

Jacques Barzun, in "Lincoln the Writer," captures well Lincoln's greatness in this respect. He speaks of "Lincoln the artist, the maker of a style that is unique in English prose and doubly astonishing in the history of American literature, for nothing led up to it." Barzun praises Lincoln's "singular determination to express his thoughts in the best way.... As a writer he toiled above all to find the true order for his thoughts--order first, and then a lightninglike brevity." Barzun is also impressed that as an artist, Lincoln "undertook to frame his ideas invariably in one idiom, that of daily life"--and that "one superior gift he possessed from the start and developed to a supreme degree" was "the gift of rhythm."

Barzun observes that "Lincoln acquired his power over words in the only two ways known to man--by reading and by writing. His reading was small in range and much of a kind: the Bible, Bunyan, Byron, Burns, Defoe, Shakespeare, and a then-current edition of Aesop's Fables. These are books from which a genius would extract the lesson of terseness and strength."

After citing again "the four main qualities of Lincoln's literary art--precision, vernacular ease, rhythmical virtuosity, and elegance," Barzun concludes this way: "Lincoln's use of his style for the intimate genre and for the sublime was his alone; but his workaday style is the American style par excellence."

I'm grateful to God for giving this nation and the world the talents and voice and wisdom and leadership of Abraham Lincoln.

("Lincoln the Writer" is a chapter in Barzun's book Writing, Editing, and Publishing [University of Chicago Press, 1971, 1986]. It was earlier published as an article entitled "Lincoln the Literary Genius" in the Saturday Evening Post magazine, in honor of Lincoln's 150th birthday in 1959.)

John Piper on C S Lewis

"What was it about the work of C. S. Lewis that has helped me so much? The answer lies in the way that the experience of Joy and the defense of Truth come together in Lewis’s life and writings. The way Lewis deals with these two things—Joy and Truth—is so radically different from Liberal theology and emergent postmodern slipperiness that he is simply in another world—a world where I am totally at home, and where I find both my heart and my mind awakened and made more alive and perceptive and responsive and earnest and hopeful and amazed and passionate for the glory of God every time I turn to C. S. Lewis. It’s this combination of experiencing the stab of God-shaped joy and defending objective, absolute Truth, because of the absolute Reality of God, that sets Lewis apart as unparalleled in the modern world. To my knowledge, there is simply no one else who puts these two things together the way Lewis does."


http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByConference/46/4503_Lessons_from_an_Inconsolable_Soul/

A Friend's Commission

He sails the sea, his vessel
set and tuned by his hands
to catch the Spirit,
catch the wind
that bends and bears him
farther out, farther on
than he has ever known.
For this he asked;
for this the wind
has come and blown
and shown him his task:
to scale this sea, then beyond,
strike home.

(written for a close brother, a number of years ago, in a time of spiritual stirring)

Recently Read and Recommended

Great reads, these:



When Sinners Say "I Do": Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage -- by Dave Harvey --

I think this is the best book on marriage I've ever read. Dave's a fine writer, often humorous, and always honest and transparent. His book helps us center marriage on Christ and the cross in a thorough, daily way.



China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power -- by Rob Gifford --

Fascinating, highly informative, and extremely well written. For six years, Gifford (a Christian) was the head correspondent for NPR in China, and he's been a lifelong fan of China. This book looks especially at the changes now taking hold in the common people of China, who will ultimately determine her destiny.

Tolkien: Author of the Century -- by T. A. Shippey --

A must read if you're a Tolkien fan. Shippey will help you appreciate more than ever Tolkien's talents and labor, and especially all that went into the creation of The Lord of the Rings.