Book Review: The Language of God

Francis Collins - head of the Human Genome Project - is among the world's most respected scientists, and does a remarkably honest job in expressing some of the central tenets of his Christian faith within a sphere that is somewhat ambivalent towards theistic belief. Collins basic premise: that "truth cannot disprove truth", or to use another term, "Total Truth" means that ultimately all truths point to God. In fact I would go on to add that the Truth is "All things being True at the same time" - or what I would term as the "eternally existential" truth.

Collins - like many Christians out there - is greatly influenced by the ideas and works of CS Lewis, which can be seen his opening chapter in which he briefly sketches his journey of faith to Christ. Nevertheless, the use of the moral argument for the existence of God - in my opinion - is somewhat difficult to substantiate, at least on an evidential plane, and while it is useful tool in expressing the "reasonableness of our faith", a presuppositional approach is necessary - if we are going to challenge today (post)modern culture.

Personally I do have several reservations on accepting the theistic evolution beliefs that Collins espouses; nevertheless, it is an area that I am not overly worried or dogmatic about - and perhaps time will change my beliefs or strengthen my existing ones. In any case, The Language of God is a book that I would highly recommend to folks whose faith is somewhat challenged by "science". As Collins sums it, "Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced, God is most certainly not threatened by science; He made it all possible".

Book Review: The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

Written by an author who describes the work as "an epistle from a wounded lover", the Scandal of the Evangelical Mind is a must read for all Christians who yearn to understand the backdrop of the cultural crisis directed at the heart of the Church. In the book, Mark A. Noll provides an extended and thoughtful critic of the modern day church, and how the church has abdicated its role as an institution in articulating God's revealed truth - in its totality and authenticity - to a world desperate for answers.

As Noll puts it:

"The much more important matter is what it means to think like a Christian about the nature and workings of the physical world, he character of human social structures like governemtn and the economy, the meaning of the past, the nature of artistic creation, and the circumstances attending our perception of the world outsde ourselves. Failure to exercise the mind for Christ in these areas has become acute in the 20th century. That failure is the scandal of the evangelical mind"

The book is by no means the easiest of reads, and one has to have a basic level of understanding contemporary and modern society to see the trajectory of the arguments put forth in this work. However, as Os Guinness puts it in his review, "Noll's cri de coeur is powerful and superb. Those of us who are evangelicals should finish it on our knees. The character of evangelicalism is at stake in our response".

Douglas Groothius Blog

Came across Douglas Groothuis's - author of the book Truth Decay- profile on Amazon and he does an excellent job in his book reviews.

That's all for now... still trying to get my Macbook all set up and going... this will be my last post on the ancient Acer laptop.

Adieu