A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper
Book Details:
- Authors: John Piper
- Category: Christian Living
- Publisher: Crossway (2010)
- Binding: Hardcover
- Page count: 160
- ISBN#: 9781433514371
Recommendation:
- Review Date: 09/03/10 by Bob Hayton
- Rating: Highly Recommended
Review:
Few books or stories in the Bible match the grandeur and evocative power of the Book of Ruth. It may be one of the best stories from a literary perspective, of all time. John Piper has skillfully unpacked the beauty of this literary masterpiece in a beautifully produced work of his own.
A Sweet and Bitter Providence traces the story of Naomi and Ruth through tragedy and despair and on to grace and joy. Before I can even talk about Piper’s writing I have to stop and point out how beautiful and attractive this book is. The sleeve is beautiful enough, with a first rate painting of Ruth from the Bridgman art gallery. Then the hardcover has the same beautiful image on the front with a detailed map of Israel on the back in soft whites and gray. The sleeve contrasts the white and gray with a bold maroon. Such a beautiful packaging will help draw the reader in to the glory of the Book of Ruth.
The book is divided into four chapters that match up with the four chapters in Ruth. Before each chapter the biblical text in the ESV is provided. This allows the book to serve as a devotional alongside the reading of the Biblical book of Ruth. Piper adds an introduction and “final appeals” on either side of the four main chapters.
As the subtitle indicates, several themes are addressed throughout Ruth which have contemporary significance. Piper highlights the sexual chastity and bold assessment of character displayed by Boaz and Ruth (with Naomi). He highlights the racial aspects of a despised and destitute Moabitess’ return to Israel with her Jewish mother-in-law. The predominant focus is on the sovereignty of God clearly seen by the characters in the story as well as the author of Ruth. God is sovereign over both the bitter providential suffering of Naomi, as well as the beautiful and gracious provision of a redeemer and an heir.
Piper doesn’t miss the author’s intentional way of setting the story in the larger framework of canonical history. The book ends by declaring Ruth to be the great-grandmother of David.
The final appeals Piper offers sound like the wise advice of a seasoned man of God. Perhaps listing them here will encourage you to pick up this little book and by it be awakened afresh to the wonder of God’s sovereignty and the glory found in the small book of Ruth.
Piper exhorts us to:
1)Study the Scriptures
2)Pursue Sexual Purity
3)Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood
4)Embrace Ethnic Diversity
5)Trust the Sovereignty of God
6)Take the Risks of Love
7)Live and Sing to the Glory of Christ
This little book will do much to infuse your soul with worship to our Lord and Savior. It will also call you to a greater trust and deeper obedience. I recommend it highly.
Author Info:
John Piper is pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His other books include Desiring God, Don’t Waste Your Life, This Momentary Marriage, and Spectacular Sins.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Crossway Books for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
Additional Resources:
- Book Excerpt: Available here
- Other Book Reviews: Available here
- Purchase Links: Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Amazon.com or direct from Crossway
- Author’s Website: Here
- PDF Copy: Download a PDF copy of this review
Recently, I received a beautiful new book published by Tyndale House — The Soul of C.S. Lewis: A Meditative Journey through Twenty-Six of His Best-Loved Writings. Wayne Martindale, Jerry Root and Linda Washington have teamed up to author this book, which provides devotional readings inspired by 26 of Lewis’ best works. Each chapter provides 10 brief excerpts from Lewis with a page long discussion of that particular thought. The pages end with a Scripture reference.
The book is arranged topically with books touching on various themes grouped together. The book looks beautiful with a gorgeous jacket cover, and ornamentation throughout. It will serve as an attractive source daily meditative readings.
I hope to have a fuller review out on this book, shortly. It looks like it would make a great Christmas gift to a Lewis-fanatic you may know. I encourage you to pick up a copy from Amazon.com or direct from Tyndale House.
Book Details:
- Authors: Philip W. Comfort and Wendell C. Hawley
- Category: Bible Commentary
- Publisher: Tyndale House (2009)
- Binding: Paperback
- Page count: 381
- ISBN#: 9781414331539
Recommendation:
- Review Date: 08/21/10 by Bob Hayton
- Rating: Highly Recommended
Review:
Teaching and preaching the New Testament text with vitality and faithfulness is a high calling. The tools for the faithful student of the New Testament are many and varied. A teacher’s needs will be different than those being taught however, and many times a commentary is designed more for the end audience than for the one teaching them. Some resources delve too deeply into biblical languages and critical analysis – much deeper than the average teacher needs. Others package up the application so nicely that there is no effort expected or required of the reader.
Philip W. Comfort and Wendell C. Hawley have given us a unique blend of particularly helpful scholarly material and pastoral insight. In Opening John’s Gospel and Epistles one finds detailed textual and interpretive notes, sprinkled throughout a warm exultation of the main points being taught in the text. The result is a manual or guide for the active teacher, rather than an application book or a detailed exegetical analysis.
The book is laid out in a helpful format, with 6-12 page introductions to the books (2 & 3 John are treated together), followed by separate discussions of each unit of text. The discussions include an exposition and notes on pretty much each verse. The section on John also includes a key words and phrases section.
The expositions set the stage and serve to provide a big picture and background for one’s study and preparation. This is the place helpful application points and themes are raised. The notes explain the text and cover critical or textual matters in some detail (but those discussions stay brief and accessible).
Given Comfort’s expertise in textual critical matters, the work abounds with detailed textual notes explaining alternate readings and the manuscript evidence behind various readings. This can be a strong point, as when the publication and canonicity of the Gospel and epistles are explained, and when the leading papyrii witnesses to John’s writings are described. It can also be distracting to those less familiar or concerned about such matters. I think Comfort aims to make the wider church more aware of such discussions, and this work will make such points more accessible for sure. Of particular note, is the decision to set off the story of the woman caught in adultery (7:53-8:11) as an appendix to the section on John. The manuscript evidence argues against the inclusion of the story in the text of John’s Gospel, and Comfort and Hawley correspondingly treat the passage as less than fully inspired.
The commentary reflects a conservative evangelical approach to Scripture. Detailed theological points of controversy are generally avoided, however, in favor of the explication of the text. In John 6, for instance, the transubstantiation debate and the unconditional election question (6:44), are only referenced obliquely. In John 3:5 the various interpretations for “born of water and of the Spirit” are offered, and the preferred choice defended briefly. That discussion was quite helpful, and the discussion stayed very irenic.
I found the claim that John’s version of the Last Supper was not a Passover meal to be somewhat confusing. The introduction and also the discussion in chapter 19 assert that John asserted the Last Supper to be prior to the Passover meal. But the discussion in chapter 13 was referenced for more information, and there the commentary explained the Last Supper likely was a Passover meal.
The combination of two separate works into one presented some problems. Opening the Gospel of John was the original title. The work on the epistles was published as a separate work later in the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series. Bringing the two works together is great, but I would have liked to see a greater attempt at standardizing the work as a whole. The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary Greek numbering system was used in the epistles of John for instance. Each Greek word is transliterated (as in the Gospel section), but it is a Strong’s number, as well as another number as well. This convention is not followed in the Gospel of John. What makes this even more confusing, is there is no mention of what the numbering system is or means in this book at all. I had to pick up a Cornerstone commentary to find that the numbers with a prefix “TG” refer to a Tyndale’s modified Strong’s Greek number, and “ZG” refers to a similar numbering system popularized by Zondervan. “TH” and “ZH” refer to the numbers for the Hebrew words in such a system. A similar matter is the absence of end notes in the epistles of John entirely, whereas every section of the book of John had several end notes. Also the NLT is emphasized in the work covering the epistles whereas the section on John (produced before the publication of the NLT Bible) ignores it.
Along these lines, I encountered a few editing errors. Following the appendix to the Gospel of John, a list of three papyrii is found with no explanation as to why it is there. At the very end of the book a list is given of all the papyrii and major manuscripts and there are a few obvious typos in that list as well. Furthermore in at least two places (pg. 335 and 351) a single Greek word is followed by a reference to a Greek and a Hebrew number (TG & ZH).
These minor quibbles aside, the notes and commentary provided in this work seem especially clear, straightforward and eminently helpful. It will be a volume that I’ll be keeping in arm’s reach, whenever I teach from John’s Gospel or his epistles. I recommend this book highly.
Author Info:
Philip W. Comfort (D.Litt. Et Phil., University of South Africa) is a professor of New Testament at Coastal Carolina University and Senior Editor of Bibles and Bible Reference at Tyndale House Publishers. He has published several books on Bible translation and textual criticism.
Wendell C. Hawley (LL.D., California Graduate School of Theology; D.D., Western Baptist Seminary) has preached and taught from the Gospel and epistles of John for over forty years. He is currently on the pastoral staff of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Tyndale House Publishers for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
Additional Resources:
- Book Excerpt: Available here
- Other Book Reviews: Available here
- Purchase Links: Amazon.com and Tyndale House
- PDF Copy: Download a PDF copy of this review
Global Awakening: How 20th-Century Revivals Triggered a Christian Revolution by Mark Shaw
Book Details:
- Author: Mark Shaw
- Category: Missions
- Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press (2010)
- Binding: Paperback
- Page count: 221
- ISBN#: 9780830838776
Recommendation:
- Review Date: 08/11/10 by Bob Hayton
- Rating: Recommended
Review:
In many ways, America is a world unto itself. Until some tragedy strikes beyond our borders, we are content to fret about our internal problems and concerns. But more and more the world out yonder is coming in to us. Globalization is forever changing our way of life. And the wide world is ever shrinking.
Almost every social arena is affected by this trend, and the Church is no exception. American Christianity has long prided itself as the beacon of world-wide missions. Yet we still are tempted to think the Church outside our shores stands in need of our American ingenuity. Mark Shaw in Global Awakening: How 20th-Century Revivals Triggered a Christian Revolution reveals how ignorant such a perspective truly is. Missionaries are now flocking to our own shores, and the story of the 20th Century is the world-wide surge of the Evangelical Church.
Some of us may have missed the newsflash. Mark Shaw explains:
When one looks beyond Atlantic shores the most significant change in the world in the last several generations is the broader revival of religion sweeping the southern hemisphere…. To miss the rise and significance of the new World Christianity would be like a concerned Christian in sixteenth-century northern Europe missing Luther and the Reformation. Something that affects the renewal of Christianity worldwide is afoot and no one should miss the party. (pg. 10-11)
From many quarters I had heard of this global renewal of Christianity. Mark Shaw’s book offered the chance for me to sample its various manifestations. Shaw uses eight case studies to illustrate his views of the nature and rise of global revivals. He argues that there are natural and supernatural factors at play. And he utilizes missiological and sociological studies to analyze these movements. Global Christianity, he finds, is less an exported Americanism than an indigenous inculturation of Christianity.
For the average Joe like you and I, his study still offers an accessible look into the variety and vivacity of worldwide Christianity. And to a large degree many of the movements he surveys from Korea and China, to India, Africa and on to South America, are the fruit of earlier mission endeavors.
The author shares what we all can learn from these historical revivals “as we look toward the future of the church”:
The current global awakening needs to shake us from our cultural isolation and obsessions as North American Christians…. What the current global awakening teaches me, however, is that the real emerging church is a wildly global and culturally pluralistic one which moves us toward the vision of 1 Corinthians 12, a body of Christ with many parts each recognizing their global interdependence. The message of global revivals is that God is internationalizing his people and we stand at an Ephesians moment (to use Andrew Walls’s expression) in which the cultural, geographic and political barriers are breaking down in light of the gospel. The current global revivals are not ends in themselves. Their ultimate significance will be seen in multicultural missional churches that seek to change their world in the power of the Spirit and in partnership with the mission of God. (from an Author Q & A provided by IVP)
This book isn’t for everyone. It’s a bit technical and doesn’t develop the stories as much as an average reader might like. Furthermore, Shaw is not as critical of new Pentecostal movements as some might like him to be. Nevertheless it offers a helpful survey of the growth of Worldwide Christianity and serves to enforce the notion that the proper term for such global developments is “revival”. Shaw helps us see that God uses both natural factors and human movements as catalysts in His work of growing His Church.
Ultimately, Global Awakening spurs us American Christians to see beyond ourselves and look for the hand of God in other places around the world. To serve this end I recommend the book for a wide audience.
Author Info:
Mark Shaw is the director of the world Christianity program at Africa International University in Nairobi, Kenya. He has studied world Christianity at the University of Edinburgh (M.Th.) and the history of Christianity at Westminster Theological Seminary (Th.D.). Mark is the author of a number of books, including 10 Great Ideas from Church History (InterVarsity Press) and The Kingdom of God in Africa: A Short History of African Christianity (Baker). He and his wife, Lois, currently reside in Kenya where they have lived and worked for twenty-five years.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by IVP Academic for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
Additional Resources:
- Book Excerpt: Available here
- Other Book Reviews: Available here
- Purchase Links: Amazon.com and IVP
- PDF Copy: Download a PDF copy of this review
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
Publication Date: July 2009
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758612680
ISBN-13: 978-0758612687
List Price: $16.99
Rating: 4 Stars!
Purchase Options: Direct from Publisher, Amazon
Review:
The Real Story of the Exodus is the third and final book in Dr. Paul L. Maier’s Old Testament trilogy for children. Previous works in this trilogy are The Real Story of the Creation (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2007) and The Real Story of the Flood (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2008). This new book follows the layout found in earlier books from this series, which is a prologue, twelve two-page chapters, and an epilogue. The prologue briefly recounts the story of the Hebrew people from Adam through Jacob, explaining how they came to be enslaved in Egypt. Each of the two-page chapters has a relevant picture on one page and a scripture passage along with a portion of the Exodus story on the opposite page. The first ten chapters recount the events that take place throughout the book of Exodus. Chapter eleven touches on Numbers 13, where the spies are sent in to Canaan. Chapter twelve brings the story to a close referencing Deuteronomy 34:10 and the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua as well as the events surrounding the death of Moses. Finally the epilogue offers some additional insight, explaining that the Exodus story is the central event in the history of God’s people in the Old Testament, relating the salvation message inherent in the Exodus story and its parallels to Jesus’ death on Mount Calvary.
I would highly recommend this book for parents wanting to introduce their children to the Biblical story of the exodus. Parents and children alike will be engaged by Dr. Maier’s writing and captivated by Gerad Taylor’s beautiful illustrations. While the reading level for this book is ages four to eight, it should be an enjoyable read for children as old as eleven or twelve. I very much wanted to give this book a five start rating, but am only going to give it four stars due to an error on the map found in the epilogue and on the back cover of the book. The error is that the Dead Sea is inadvertently labeled as the Red Sea. I was very surprised that this mistake wasn’t caught during the editing process and I hope it will be corrected in future printings of this book.
Author / Illustrator information:
Paul L. Maier is a professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University and a much-published author of both scholarly and popular works. His areas of research include manuscript and text analysis, archaeology, and the comparison of secular and sacred sources from the first century A.D. Dr. Maier also serves as the second vice-president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
Gerad Taylor, born in Auckland, New Zealand, has worked for over twenty years as a freelance illustrator for the design, publishing, and advertising industries. His clients include Coca-Cola, Heinle Publishing, Hinkler Publishing, Lion Nathan, and many others throughout the world. Gerad lives with his wife, Anne, and children Madeline, Charlotte, and Max in Greytown, New Zealand.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by the kind folks at Concordia Publishing House for review.
Related resources:
- The Very First Christmas (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1998)
- The Very First Easter (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999)
- The Very First Christians (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2001)
- Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2004)
- The Real Story of the Creation (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2007)
- The Real Story of the Flood (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2008)
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CF4K
Publication Date: May 10, 2010
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1845505522
ISBN-13: 978-1845505523
List Price: $4.99
Rating: 5 Stars!
Purchase Options: Direct from Publisher, Amazon, Westminster
In the midst of our busy lives, it can sometimes seem convenient to relegate the teaching of scripture, prayer, and worship to the professionals at church. While that may be the easy way out, as parents we must be mindful of God’s word, which exhorts us to minister to and teach their own children (see Deut. 4:9; 11:9). Expanding on this theme, Our Home is like a Little Church introduces preschool age children to the doctrine of the home as a little church. In addition, it serves as a gentle reminder to parents that the spiritual disciplines present in the church on Sunday should also be present in their little church throughout the rest of the week.
Touching on the topics of prayer, Bible reading, and worship, Our Home is like a Little Church contrasts church and home side by side, showing how these spiritual disciplines can and should be present in both our churches and our homes (i.e. little church). The artwork looks like it could have been drawn by a child and is perfect for engaging the intended preschool audience. I especially enjoyed the rhyming throughout the text, which gave it a good rhythm and made it a lot of fun to read. This book was a fast favorite amongst my youngest children and we have enjoyed it many times. I highly recommend this book and give it an overall rating of 5 stars.
Author / Illustrator information:
Bobby Gilles, Lindsey Blair, and Tessa Janes are members at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Sojourn’s mission is to bring glory to God through lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. They believe that the gospel-focused, missional local church is God’s chosen instrument for doing the work of his kingdom on Earth.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by the kind folks at Christian Focus Publications for review.
Related Resources:
- Preview (PDF)
- Book Trailer:
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication Date: March 23, 2010
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310318319
ISBN-13: 978-0310318316
List Price: $12.99
Rating: 5 Stars!
Purchase Options: Direct from publisher, Amazon
The average person has a certain level of familiarity with the process of learning a foreign language through studies that may have occurred during either their high school, college or graduate school years. The basic drill of learning the alphabet, vocabulary, parsing verbs, etc. should still feel somewhat familiar. If you were on any kind of a ministry of theology track and your experience is anything like mine, you may have found that learning New Testament Greek was one thing, but Biblical Hebrew took things to a whole new level of difficulty. That added level of challenge is precisely why a book like English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew will be a great help in getting your studies off on the right foot.
This companion volume to Lamerson’s English Grammar to Ace New Testament Greek (Zondervan, 2004) will introduce you to the English grammar concepts that are necessary for the study of Biblical Hebrew. While it would seem logical that graduate level or seminary students should not have a need for a refresher in English grammar, that just does not match up with what Dr. Van Pelt has seen in his Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek classes over the years. In fact, he has noticed a growing trend amongst his students where their struggle with concepts of English grammar directly impedes their ability to learn Biblical languages. That is precisely why he has written this book.
It’s hard to imagine there might be more than one way to read such a small book, but Dr. Van Pelt suggests three possible ways to approach reading this
text:
- Read the book in order, completing the exercises before beginning your work in a Hebrew grammar.
- Work through nominal material in chapters 1-7 and then work through the nominal material in a Hebrew grammar, finally completing the verbal material in chapters 8-14 in preparation for studying the Hebrew verbal system.
- Each chapter contains references to specific chapters in Basics of Biblical Hebrew (Zondervan, 2001, 2007), allowing you to work through this book in conjunction with Basics of Biblical Hebrew, topic by topic.
Van Pelt also offers some excellent study suggestions that will aid your learning of Biblical Hebrew and many other languages and topics:
- Find a study group!
- Study regularly!
- Study early!
- Exercise!
- Sleep!
I must admit that I especially found numbers 3, 4, and 5 difficult during my college years.
With only 112 pages, this book is a quick read. On average I was able to complete each chapter and the related exercises in under thirty minutes. Van Pelt’s writing style is engaging and filled with humor, making the text readable and interesting. I especially liked the exercises at the end of each chapter. These will especially be good for new students as the exercises will get them comfortable with the types of exercises they will perform as they work through most Hebrew grammars. Another important thing to note as you are working through each chapter, there is a helpful glossary of terms at back of book. This will be invaluable, especially if words like abjad, dipthong and gerund just don’t ring a bell.
This book is designed with a very wide audience in mind. It will be useful as introductory material for first year Hebrew students. Second semester or
returning Second year Hebrew students who didn’t do any Hebrew over the summer or who are struggling with some of the basic grammatical concepts will benefit from this text. Also, Pastors, laymen and others who are well past their college and seminary days, but want to begin rekindling their Hebrew skills will
find it useful too. I highly recommend this book and give it an overall rating of 5 stars.
Author information:
Miles V. Van Pelt (Ph.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Alan Belcher Associate Professor of Old Testament and academic dean at Reformed
Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS. He is the coauthor of the bestselling Basics of Biblical Hebrew (Zondervan, 2001, 2007), as well as a
number of other resources on Biblical Hebrew. Miles and his wife, Laurie, have four children.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by the kind folks at Zondervan Academic for review.
Related / Other materials:
The Vocabulary Guide to Biblical Hebrew, Zondervan, 2003.
Basics of Biblical Hebrew: Grammar, 2nd Edition, Zondervan, 2007.
Basics of Biblical Hebrew: Workbook, 2nd Edition, Zondervan, 2007.
Graded Reader of Biblical Hebrew, Zondervan, 2006.
Charts of Biblical Hebrew, Zondervan, 2007.
Book Details:
- Author: Carine MacKenzie
- Category: Children’s Books
- Publisher: Christian Focus (2001)
- Binding: Paperback
- Page count: 64
- ISBN#: 9781857925708
Recommendation:
- Review Date: 08/02/10 by Bob Hayton
- Rating: Highly Recommended
Review:
For hundreds of years, the training of Christian young people involved the learning of a catechism. A catechism was a set of instructions on Christian doctrine. Essentially, it was a list of questions and answers used to instill the fundamentals of the faith in the hearts of children. Many of the Reformed confessions, such as the Westminster Confession, included catechisms. Martin Luther considered his short catechism to be one of his two most important books. Even the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, wrote a catechism for young children.
Being an American and a Baptist, the very notion of a catechism seems incredibly foreign to me. But as I’ve studied church history and learned of the important role catechisms have played since the Reformation, I’ve actually been on the lookout for a simple catechism to employ with my own children. Since I’ve never used a catechism before, I was looking for something easy to use and also quite simple – as my daughters who I’d be teaching, are between the ages of 4 and 7.
Carine MacKenzie’s My First Book of Questions and Answers is what I found and so far, my children are eating it up. MacKenzie’s book is based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It consists of 114 questions broken up into 26 topics. The questions are direct and the answers are short and to the point. A Scripture reference is supplied for each answer.
The following topics are covered by the questions and answers. Who God is. Creation and sin. What the consequences of sin is. Salvation. Jesus as Prophet, Priest and King. The Ten Commandments – what they are and what they mean for us. Keeping God’s Laws. The Way to be Saved. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Prayer and Bible Reading. Death, Hell and Heaven.
The book is pocket sized with large font and catchy graphics. It’s a bright, cheery book that young readers will like to read. My 7 year old has been reading some of the questions and answers we haven’t yet covered.
I’ve found the catechism format works well as a tool for parents wanting to teach their children. You can easily use the questions to probe how well they understand the answers given in the book. You will be able to have a pulse on what questions your children have when it comes to the gospel. And on another level, my kids think the questions and answers are a lot of fun. It’s a game to them, and they are excited about some small incentives my wife and I have planned for them as they learn these questions.
I should add a word about the theology behind this book. The baptism and Lord’s Supper section is generic enough to be accepted by Presbyterians and Baptists alike. There is a Reformed bent to the questions throughout, which I appreciate. However, any of the questions and answers could easily be edited by a conscientious parent.
My First Book of Questions and Answers is an ideal “first book” for parents seeking to use a catechism (like myself). You will find it to be a great little tool for instilling biblical teaching into the hearts and minds of your young children. Even though this book is quite small, if used by prayerful parents, it promises to have an eternal impact. May God bless the use of this book in the lives of many Christian parents and their children!
This book is part of a line up that Carine MacKenzie has of 7 “My First” books. The other titles are My First Book of Bible Prayers, My First Book of Christian Values, My First Book of Memory Verses, My First Book of Bible Promises, My First Book about Jesus, and My First Book about the Church. Westminster Bookstore has a deal on the entire set of 7 “My First” books. I encourage you to check them out.
Author Info:
Carine Mackenzie’s talent for retelling Bible stories has meant that children from all over the world have been given the opportunity to discover Jesus Christ for themselves. The first title written in the kitchen with the assistance of a basin of water has inspired the production of many other books. Carine now has over 50 different titles in print and sales of over 3 million books. She stays in Inverness, Scotland.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Christian Focus Publications for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
Additional Resources:
- Book Excerpt: Available here
- Other Book Reviews: Available here
- Purchase Links: Amazon.com, Westminster Bookstore and Christian Focus Publications
- PDF Copy: Download a PDF copy of this review
Westminster Bookstore has The Essential Jonathan Edwards Collection (5 paperback books from Moody Publishing), at half off. Click here for more info on the collection. Read some sample pages, or order the book. Be sure to take advantage of this great offer, but hurry, the sale ends August 4th!
