Book Reviews (Page 2)

Book Reviews (Page 2)

Rediscovering The Lost Gospel

I have been studying several books on the gospel in recent weeks as I research a chapter for an upcoming book. I have to confess at the outset that whilst I have heard of Darrell Bock, I have never read any of his writings. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect as I opened it but I have to say that for its 136 pages it is real value for money. Bock felt the need to…

Tattoos on The heart: Winning Gangs with Compassion

A good friend of mine gave me this book recently because he felt like it would encourage me in terms of my own ministry here in Niddrie. This book was a New York Times best seller and charts the ministry of Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest and founder and director of ‘Homeboy Industries’.…

13 Ways the Church can Respond to the Needs of Bankrupt Britain!

I read a book this week called, ‘Bankrupt Britain: An Atlas of Social Change’ by Daniel Dorling. I, along with Ed Stetzer, have an unending fascination with statistics. I am also extremely sceptical of 95% of them at least 86.3% of the time. Some of the figures quoted are mind-boggling,…

The Rise & Fall of Housing Estates

This book is written by Lynsey Hanley and published by Granta books in 2007. This is quite a lengthy book (245 pages) given that it only contains 6 chapters. Is written by a lady who was born in a large housing estate in Birmingham, UK and latterly lived in the East End of London. She writes with a tangible sense of injustice at the way those of us who come from…

When Helping Hurts

This is an extremely provocative book and I absolutely loved it. Although written for a North American cultural mindset, it is certainly applicable across much of Europe. The byline is, ‘How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor..and yourself’. We live in a culture where the concept of a ‘missions trip’ is now almost the ‘done…

Why The Atonement matters For Church Planters (5)

Atonement’ edited by Gabriel Fluhrer (P&R Publishing 2010) This is a series of lectures about ‘blood’ according to the book’s sleeve and is a compilation of 8 essays on the topic by 7 evangelical theologians and pastors. Such is the importance of this subject for every Christian, whoever they…