In the past, I would post only book reviews pertinent to worship, music in the local church, or general Christian leadership and discipleship. Recently, I've been studying many more general topics as well, such as history, economics and scientific thought, some of which end up as reviews here as well.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 12:50PM 
Francis of Assisi and His World is a historical biographical book on St. Francis, the founding father of the Franciscan order in the Catholic church. The book covers Francis’ entire lifespan and touches on the continuation of the Order after his death. His life reminds us of Antony, Augustine, Gregory the Great, St. Benedict of Nursia and other heroes of the faith- all having the common strand of being rich in worldly position and goods, but abandoning hope in those to serve and follow God with great passion and impact. To sum up his life would be difficult, but I found five themes in Francis life that are especially resonant in this biography: moments of revelation, moments of contrition, self-disciple, submission to authority and intense personal joy.
What moves me powerfully about Francis is his passion for following the Lord’s direction without hesitation or concern for “balance”. Like Francis, I believe many people (including myself) want to respond without hesitation to God’s voice. But unlike Francis we often convince ourselves (or allow others to convince us) that we must concern ourselves with our future. What Francis did in his life, was completely abandon the thought of taking his life in his own hands. This inspires me. Here was one example in Francis life:
In the midst of his preparations, Francis had a dream. He found himself in his father’s house, which had been transformed into a palace filled with arms. Instead of bales of cloths, he saw saddles, shields and lances. In one room, a beautiful bride waited for her bridegroom. Francis heard a voice saying that all this was for Francis and his knights. When Francis woke, he was ecstatic...[1]
Another thing that impacted me about the biography was Francis’ discipline. Francis ability to master asceticism was not derived from a supernatural gift of sustenance. He had to work at bringing his actions into subjugation of his will. Many of the things Francis did, seemed to come as much from a clear understanding of personal work ethic as it did from a “gift”. And this was a primary thread throughout his Rule, which stipulated such strong adherence that its following could only produce like people. He says:
A little while later, Francis was riding his horse near Assisi (apparently this took place before the rift with his father) when he saw ahead of him a leper standing in the road. He determined immediately to do something sweeping, something dramatic to change his attitude. He dismounted, walked up to the man and personally gave him a coin. But this still was not enough to a man of Francis resolve. So he bent over, drew his lips near the mans decaying hand and kissed it. The man replied by giving Francis a kiss of peace; Francis did not recoil. Then Francis remounted his horse and went on his way.[2]
While it is hard to dislike Francis and his relentless pursuit of God, Francis deep devotion to poverty may have been inordinately self-effacing. Some of his practices and beliefs not only likely led to his early suffering and death, but also brought unnecessary burden on those who followed him with fervor.
Product Link: Francis of Assisi and His World
Review by Kim Gentes
[1]Mark Galli, “Franics and His World”, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), Pg 25
[2]Ibid., Pg 49
assisi, christian, francis, francis of assisi, history, leadership, mark galli, ministry, saint francis, saints, st francis, tradition in Book Review Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 12:35PM 
Pastoral Care is an ancient volume written by Pope Gregory the Great in 591AD. It was written to instruct pastors on the details of their office, warnings to those entering its service and extensive instructions on how to administer spiritual care to parishioners. The primary content of the book is a systematic listing of methodologies for how to evaluate and speak to Christians under the pastoral care of the reader. The methodologies, called admonishments, contain two basic components in each. First, each admonishment contains a paradoxical evaluation of two kinds of people. These are categorizations of the types of people a pastor will encounter. While they are fairly simplistic in name, it is their simplicity that makes them especially effective as diagnostic tools. Each admonishment begins with a listing of the two paradoxical types of people that will be dealt with. A pastor can use those types to help him find (within Gregory’s extensive treatise) and diagnose the kind of person he is trying to help. Second, each admonishment also contains a specific and detailed account of how to treat each person described therein. Especially clear is the assumption that Gregory feels his coverage of the subject as a whole should be sufficient for almost any situation, and he approaches it is an analogous manner to a physician, employing the metaphor extensively, and acting as a instructor to spiritual physicians.
One topic which Gregory deals with that I was particularly impressed by was his understanding of giving. He states it this way:
For when we administer necessities to the needy, we give them what is their own, not what is ours; we pay a debt of justice, rather than do a work of mercy..[1]
His discourse on giving is one of the most extraordinary I have seen. Though not without objectionable points, he perfectly applies a surgical knife to misguided thought about giving when he states:
"[one] gives of his bread to an indigent sinner, not because he is a sinner, but because he is a man. In doing so one actually nourishes a righteous beggar, not a sinner, for he loves in him not his sin but his nature." [2]
Though the work is vastly important and helpful to the pastoral office, it is not without its questionable suggestions:
The married must be admonished to bear in mind that they are united in wedlock for the purpose of procreation, and when they abandon themselves to immoderate intercourse, they transfer the occasion of procreation to the service of pleasure. Let them realise that though they do not then pass beyond the bounds of wedlock, yet in wedlock they exceed its rights. Wherefore, it is necessary that they should efface by frequent prayer what they befoul in the fair form of intercourse by the admixture of pleasure.[3]
Sadly, Gregory’s pre-medieval understanding of the marriage bed will only serve as a template to plunge the church and its leadership into 1300 years of further angst and castigation against sexual fulfillment through marriage in specific, and anything sexual in general.
Product Link : Ancient Christian Writers - The Works Of The Fathers In Translation - St Gregory The Great: Pastoral Care
Review by Kim Gentes
[1]Johannes Quasten, “St Gregory The Great: Pastoral Care” in Ancient Christian Writers - The Works Of The Fathers In Translation, translated Henry Davis, SJ (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1950), Pg 159
[2]Ibid., Pg 155
[3]Ibid., Pg 188
christian, counseling, gregory, gregory the great, history, leadership, ministry, pastor, pastoral care, theology in Book Review Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 12:15PM 
Care of Souls was an excellent book that introduces a history of pastoral care. In it Thomas Oden reviews the current state of modern pastoral caregiving (as of 1984). In his first section of the book, he broadly covers what he sees as some deficiencies in current practices, especially related to the concentration on psychological therapies being incorporated into the pastoral sphere of practice. Oden adds warnings about the ineffectiveness of these therapies (both in application by experts in that field, but also in the specific realm of church pastoral care). Warnings about the secular incorporation of care therapies being introduced into the pastoral field are coupled with a short explanation of lack of influence from the classical literature of the Christian tradition on the same pastoral leaders. Oden presents his concern that the psychotherapies are replacing the historically proven methods of the classical pastoral care writings and wisdom. This was a surprising (and impactive) concept that I took from the book- the idea that psychological methods were replacing pastoral care among pastors. Oden states it this way:
What curious fate has befallen the classical tradition of pastoral care in the last five decades? It has been steadily accommodated to a series of psychotherapies.[1]
In the second main section of the book Oden gives a brief biography of Gregory the Great, the pope who lived in the 6th and early 7th centuries. This overview was helpful in understanding the context and time of Gregory’s life and his impact on the broader church and western world.
The final section of the book is specifically dedicated to a sketch of the main findings taken from Gregory’s most well known writing, “Pastoral Care”. He covers a myriad of topics, all sourced in Gregory’s treatise. Of particular importance to Oden was Gregory’s keen mind, analytical abilities, and dialectic model of teaching pastors how they might evaluate, diagnose and administer pastoral care. Oden, queuing from Gregory, fixates most of this section on the paradoxical personality and behavioural traits taken on by major styles of people. It is almost uncanny, the level of perceptive understanding that Gregory reveals almost 1400 years before modern psychology would draw some similar conclusions about personalities, behaviours and understanding of the inner self.
One point that was significant to me in this section was the idea that the key to proper pastoral critique is to draw analogies and arch-types, allowing the person to see themselves in such symbolisms allowing the to make personal discovery of their own faults based on their own conscience. Oden say it succinctly here:
The pastor proceeds by analogy so that the person being challenged will come up with a self-judgment based on the person's own conscience... Enabling one's conscience to become transparent to oneself constitutes a more significant pastoral service than harangue or castigation.[2]
Oden reviews many other concepts of Gregory’s extensive and insightful pre-modern study of the human soul and emotions, and his practical help for pastors who are working to care for them. It is an excellent book with little questionable or objectionable materials.
Product Link: Care of the Souls in the Classic Tradition (Theology and pastoral care series)
Review by Kim Gentes
[1]Thomas C. Oden, Care of Souls in the Classic Tradition (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984), Pg 28
[2]Ibid., Pg 90
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 10:56PM 
At the heart of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code is a distrust of organized religion rooted in the historical legacy of violence and pain propagated by the church. Brown uses this truth to validate the fabrication of fictional theories that condemn Christianity as a vast conspiracy developed by centuries of plots and schemes from leaders within the religious organization. At the core of Brown’s novel is brilliant retelling of the heresy of Gnosticism. Quite simply, the DaVinci Code seeks to convince the reader that Jesus is not God and that the Christian church has tried to propagate the Deity of Christ as a myth to hold its power over the people for centuries. Brown’s compendium put forth in DaVinci Code is done so with the hopes to abolish violence and persecution in the name of God. Though a worthy intent in its abolition of violence, its modus operandi actually abolishes God Himself by making Christ a man and God an optional fiction.
To examine the DaVinci Code we must look at its honest statements and articulate them, or we will miss how cleverly Brown conceals his fiction within historical (and painful) truth. Since Brown uses 450 pages to weave his yarn, a thorough response would require at least a quarter of that to flesh out fully. Without that luxury, we will focus on narrowly showing his two positive contributions in the book and a few prime errors, keeping this to a very short review. Let’s begin with what DaVinci Code contributes positively in its pages.
Brown’s disdain of the legacy of violence done in the name of Christianity is not without sympathy, either by myself or thoughtful leaders in Christianity over the years. For this, many would agree with DaVinci Code’s attention to the blight of sin that the Christian church is guilty of in its centuries of existence. In various times and through various leaders, Christianity has been at the center of a number of deaths and tortures, inquisitions and crusades, all of which should be considered a travesty of the Christian church. Evidence does not need to be cited for this, as the inquisitions, crusades and deaths of “heretics” (pre and post reformation- John Calvin did this too) are evidence enough of Christian dogma and organizational structure and power gone horribly wrong. DaVinci Code returns to this touchstone a number of times to repeatedly anchor its story to the terrible and vulnerable wound that is the tragedy of Church history. By doing so, Brown reinforces an emotional receptivity to his layering fiction, which rarely returns to historical or biblical fact.
Further, the Da Vinci Code also points out a mixture of Christian artifact and symbology with pagan and other non-Christian cultural influence. Many of the traditions (Christmas, etc), symbols and some (Platonic) thought were borrowed from pagan foundations. This is true in part, and Brown should not be dismissed when he brings up this point. Brown stretches this truth beyond reality however, and begins to make up his own facts about the Holy Grail, Mary Magdalene and other major characters in the Christ story. That said, Brown is correct that traditions and symbols in Christian history have been mixed with pagan roots. In fact, at times, this was purposeful- such as the intentional assignment of Christmas to replace a current pagan holiday at the same time. This was Christianity expanding throughout the world quickly, and amalgamating somewhat with other cultures in its wake. Brown clearly takes the tact that because this happened in some cases, that it was diabolical and part of his vast conspiracy. But, in fact, this was a rather random and spurious effort, a simple method in which Christianity tried to reach into current culture to find a point of entry and connection. I don’t disagree this happened, but I do disagree that it was an effort at a cover up or conspiracy to hide some greater truth.
After you recognize that both the sin of Church sanctioned violence (and persecution) and the mixture of pagan and Christian influence do appear in some Christian tradition, you have encapsulated nearly all of the redeemable qualities of Brown’s book. From there, the DaVinci Code leaves a trail of fiction that layers brilliantly into the final lie of Gnosticism.
The prime error presented in Da Vinci Code is done so on page 233, where fictional historian Teabing says about the Council of Nicaea,
“My dear...until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet...a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless, A mortal.”[1]
And he climaxes his glaringly clear premise with “It was all about power”, after giving a mini-treatise stating that the deity of Christ ensured that the Christian church was the singular vessel of salvation to all mankind.
What the DaVinci Code attempts to do is re-introduce the centuries old heresy of Gnosticism. But historical reality tells us that Brown is far too late for this now. Claiming that the Council of Nicea was the first time in which Christ was considered God simply is not historically correct. The divinity of Christ was clearly believed by Christians for literally hundreds of years before the Council. In fact, a strong point of it is made by a opponent of Christianity, Celsus, in his paper “The True Doctrine: A Discourse against the Christians” which was written in approx. 175AD, fully 150 years before Constantine called together the Council of Nicea.
...Celsus made it absolutely clear that Christians of his time believed in and worshiped Jesus Christ- a man- as God.[2]
In this document Celsus (who was fighting in opposition to Christianity) clearly articulates the Christian belief in Jesus as God, and also in a monotheistic view of God- two seemingly in-congruent facts that led to later clarification in the formalization of the doctrine of the Trinity.
More importantly, early Christians would have been shocked to have heard stories that they believed that Jesus was anything less than God come in the flesh, since the vast amount of first century persecution came about from the Jews, whose chief complaint about Jesus was that He and his followers claimed he was God. This is clear in John’s gospel in chapter ten, where he records the Jews speaking with Jesus:
but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."[3]
The central reason Jesus was killed, according to the Jews who killed him, was his claim to divinity. Ironically, this claim is what ultimately made his resurrection possible. Jesus could certainly die due to his humanity, but would not stay dead, due to his divinity. People then, as now (in Dan Brown’s case), could not bring together the dichotomous thoughts of God and man in one person. Though clearly expressed in Christ and the disciples teachings (visa vi the New Testament), they would require later explanation from many great leaders up to, and including the Council of Nicea, which was the last major discussion of this point, and that only in the face of arguments from the dissenting Arius.
The DaVinci Code also follows the path of the Gnostics in his clear articulation of the “Priory of Scion” and the Knights Templar. While using actual historical organizations, his rendering of them is on Hollywood scale creating fictitious constructs by giving fresh life to the age old claims of gnosticism which revolve around “secret knowledge” that supposedly can enable the “true believer” to finally ascend beyond the confines of material, earthly understanding and have understanding and communion with the divine. The secret society in Brown’s book also holds amazing knowledge (in the form of dozens of cryptic secrets, again supposedly kept hidden by conspiring church leaders) that will “unlock” truth to all people, including knowledge of Mary Magdalene as Jesus secret wife, Jesus as only a man, a secret lineage of Jesus children, and even the ability to commune with God through the sexual act at the point of climax (a time at which the “gnosis” becomes clear).
Each of these points are clearly references back to ancient gnosticism, though reclaimed in Brown’s fiction writing as “hidden facts” that humanity has been kept from. On page 244 characters Teabing and Sophie discuss the character of Mary Magdalene:
“Unfortunately for the early editors, one of particularly troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels. Mary Magdalene... More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ.... It’s a matter of historical record.”[4]
Since the gospels clearly detail Mary Magdalene and her role in the time of Jesus, and the veracity of the gospel records are as historically verified as any documents of that age, this claim is blatantly untrue. No such fact about Mary Magdalene being Jesus wife is ever brought up in the New Testament, in the early church documents or even by those who were heretical challengers then or later in history (of whom it would have advantaged them to believe). For example, Arius and others would have well been eager to agree with such information to prove that Jesus was not God, yet this is never mentioned by any of the Gnostic heretics.
Another incredulous discussion in the book is Teabing again railing against fact when he talks about the canonization of the Scriptures and how the gospels were chosen:
“The fundamental irony of Christianity! The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great...”
“He was a lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to protest.”[5]
While Constantine was not baptized until nearly dead, he certainly did hold to many Christian practices during his life. His conversion to Christianity, according to the historian Eusebius, dramatically altered his life and moved him to all but make Christianity the new religion of the empire. Not arguing that he was without mixed motives in his reign, Constantine did preside over the Council of Nicea, which was the final meeting in which the books of the Bible were canonized. However, the books had largely been determined by three hundred years of use and scrutiny in which the gospel list, and the New Testament candidates were all but sure. Only a few books (not the gospels) were still regarded as being in some conjecture: the John’s book of “Revelation of Jesus Christ”, the book of James (both of which were determined to be added in), a book called the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Clement and others (which did not make it in). The influence of Constantine on the finalized list of canonized books at the council is debatable, but his influence on the options considered by the council is clear- he did not predetermine those, they were brought to the council in a relatively unchanged state since nearly 150AD. No other major gospel records (complete stories of Jesus life) were even considered by the time of the Council of Nicea. Constantine did not choose the books of the gospels as the DaVinci code story claims.
In short, the Da Vinci Code is a clever fiction that revives the heresy of Gnosticism on two major fronts. It reclaims that Jesus was not the one and only God come in the flesh and that true ascension to God is only possible via secret information. Brown’s book is a sad testament in a way, for while an exhaustive and deep research of the feminine deity in history, iconic symbology and gnostic writings were put into play to help him populate the details that fill his story, he plays fast and loose with proper application of those details by ignoring the context and meaning of many and thus attempting to rewrite history in this fictional yarn. The normal purpose of using history at all is to build clarity to a truthful overarching story. In Brown’s case, he abuses the power of history and historical fact by purposefully misinterpreting them to create a new narrative that is in every way the category in which his book is found: fiction.
Product Link on Amazon: Da Vinci Code
Review by Kim Gentes
[1]Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York, NY:Random House Inc, 2003), Pg 233
[2]Roger E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), Pg 34
[3]John the Apostle, Gospel of John, Holy Bible/NIV , John 10:32-33
[4]Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York, NY:Random House Inc, 2003), Pg 244
[5]Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York, NY:Random House Inc, 2003), Pg 231 & 232
code, critique, da vinci, dan brown, davinci, deity of christ, gnosticism, heresy, marriage to mary, report, review in Book Review Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 3:32PM 
The Real Controversy about "The Shack"
. Little did I know it was the current "buzz book" in the church in the last year. I am not a fast reader, so it took me a couple weeks to get through it. It was a delight.
book, christian, christianity, paul young, review, shack, the shack, trinity, william young in Allegory, Book Review, Grief, Loss 
