SOCIOLOGY THAT IS INTERESTING AND EXCITING AND IMPORTANT AND PERSONAL

A Review of

Vern S. Poythress Redeeming Sociology (Crossway Books, 2011)

                              $25.00     352 pp     ISBN-10: 1433521296   ISBN-13: 978-1433521294

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

     A story proceeds from the author through his book to the reader. Few people know that this is analogous to the theological doctrine which states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son to us. Poythress, in the book under review here, notes this parallel and informs us of the extensive discussion of it in a very important book, which few seem to know about today, Dorothy L. Sayers's The Mind of the Maker, whose principles are essential for understanding the meaning of Trinitarianism and of the artistic process and of sociology.

     Co-inherence is another important concept which is little known today. There have been many people who have heard from Francis Schaeffer of "the equal ultimacy of the unity and the diversity" but they do not "get it" because you cannot "get it" without understanding co-inherence. This sociology book by Poythress provides ample discussions which are helpful in perceiving what co-inherence means.

     The book is also helpful (as are his two Inerrancy books published in 2012) in driving home the all-important point of the personal context of reality and of knowledge.

     Having noted these great and exciting and ultra-important and interesting principles, I now need to balance things out here by introducing another matter you may not have heard of, namely that sociologists have been ridiculed for being "Apostles of The Obvious", so that it is not surprising that lots of what Poythress says here is indeed obvious and bland stuff. My suggestion is to quickly skim over this rather banal material lest you get bored and quit reading and thereby miss out on the real gems in this book!

The Personal Nature of the Truth in The Four Gospels

And What Remains To Be Done in Studying The Gospels

October 18, 2012

A review of

Vern Poythress Inerrancy and the Gospels (Crossway, 2012)

                          $17.99   240 pp     ISBN-10: 1433528606   ISBN-13: 978-1433528606

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

     In my review of the book by Poythress published earlier this year -- Inerrancy and Worldwview -- I noted his (rightful) stress upon the personal nature of truth due to its being truth about a person, God, and His creation. This all important principle is also stressed and wisely applied in his current book in reference to the Four Gospels. As would be expected, he regards his main task as demonstrating the "harmony" of the Gospels and as refuting those critics who use the differences among the Gospel accounts as a basis for launching an attack upon Scripture's inerrancy. As the plaudits on and in the book note, he has succeeded in this task and done so better than anyone else, for which he deserves a "well done".

     However, there is another, and much more difficult as well as much more important task remaining to be done, and I hereby challenge Poythress to employ his skills and knowledge in accomplishing this one. This is the task of determining precisely what is the theme of each of the Four Gospels. Which facet of Christ is emphasized in each of them? So far, the best attempt to answer this which I am aware of is Arthur W. Pink's Why Four Gospels?. And I believe that Pink's interpretation of Rev 4:21 is correct, which is interesting, because in his account the four pictures are in the same sequence as the Four Gospels -- the Lion means Christ as King, the topic of Matthew; the Ox means Christ as Servant, the depiction in Mark; the Man is Christ as Second Adam, which is Luke's emphasis; and the Eagle symbolizes Christ as God, John's theme. Also, Pink notes how the Gospel writers are appropriate for these respective portrayals (which follows the literary principle that a writer should write what he knows). Matthew, as a public official (tax collector), is appropriate to write about Christ as King (a public official); Mark, not an apostle but the servant of an apostle is appropriate to write about Christ as Servant; Luke as a Gentile was appropriate for his task, and John, the deepest of the apostles, was appropriate to write about Christ's Deity. Irenaeus was the first one to realize that there were four (and ONLY four) Gospels, and that these together functioned to produce what he called "the Four-Formed Gospel". The relationship of unity and diversity here also is an important part of this suggested study.

WHO IS SANDY?? KEVEN NEWSOME'S SEQUEL SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY

A review of

Keven Newsome Prophetess (Splashdown Books, 2012)

329 pp $13.98 ISBN: 978-0-9876531-6-1

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz

      This story, the second in Keven Newsome's series about a contemporary young woman prophet, is "grittier" and more complex than the first one, Winter (published in 2011), but is more difficult to read, because it is not as well polished, and the flow of the story is continually being interrupted by a series of interpolated flashbacks to Winter's pre-christian past. It would be preferable either to regard this flashback material as "backstory" to be withheld from the reader altogether or else to replace it with a very brief synopsis. There is, however, in this material a great gem that should be preserved and introduced at an appropriate point into the story, namely the indication that Winter was then within a hedge of protection God had provided to preserve her for her eventual destiny as a child of God and prophet. There is a strong parallel between that and the main thrust of the story -- insuring the safety of Sandy so that she can be preserved for her vocation. In re the other matter, perhaps grittiness and being well-polished are not compatible -- ha ha! And, as most of you know, I am somewhat of a maverick, so that I will not be dogmatic in re the backstory remarks.

      Before reading what I am about to say about the front cover, you need to take the book and orient it so that bright sunlight can shine upon Sandy's dress and bring to light the flower petals on it, which appear to be symbolizing a starburst, which is complementary to the burst of light behind her. Divine appointment in fantasy and mythology is often indicated by a starburst symbol, such as the Starburst Crown worn by the planetary ruler called the Coronal in Robert Silverberg's "Lord Valentine's Castle". AND, the villain who is seeking to assassinate her is named "Skotos", which is the Greek word for darkness. In my review of the first book I noted the symbolism in re Tishbe & Elijah, which I believe was paramount there. Here the light versus darkness motif is prominent.

      There is more I could say, but I believe this is enough. Let me conclude by encouraging you to buy this book, which is an appropriate one to read as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Light of the World.

PRESUPPOSITIONS   IN   RE   THE  SCHOOL  MURDERS

     Van Til's insistence on the importance of presuppositions is borne out in the various conclusions being drawn about what to do to prevent another school murder atrocity.

     Using the same data one group insists that the answer is super-stict gun control laws, while another group says that the answer is to arm the teachers. 

     Think about that for a while!!

     btw, perhaps I should apologize for the miniscule number of posts I have writing for my blog.  I have been so busy with so much computer stuff to do that I rarely have time.  I will try to do better and post at least once a day, if possible. 

     In re the Connecticut tragedy, in today's American Vision post they raised the question of the effect on Adam Lansky of his parents' divorce.  That is something to be pondered, and it is noteworthy that in all the TV news reports and analyses I did not hear anyone mention that.

Sincerely,

Forrest 

REVIEW  OF  LATEST  R J  LARSON  NOVEL

REALISM AND HUMOR CONTINUE TO FLOURISH IN INFINITE SERIES

A Review of

R J Larson Judge (Bethany House, 2012)

354 pp $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7842-0972-7

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz

The world created by R J Larson for her Books Of The Infinite Series is similar to the ancient world in which the Old Testament events transpired, which is useful in helping us to imagine what it was like to be a prophet back then. It is true, as someone recently pointed out, that in some cases this makes it easy for the reader to figure out what is going to happen. But this also provides an opportunity for the author to give the reader some idea of what the particulars of these experiences might feel like. One good example of this in "Judge" is what happened to Kien Lantech when he balked at God's command to him to deliver a warning of impending destruction to ToronSea: he had a Jonah-like experience when he was swallowed by a whale-like sea creature. Yes, you can guess that this will happen but the author helps you to imagine what details of what it must have been like for Jonah!

Meanwhile Ela of Parne is caught in a Jeremiah-like scenario as she experiences the wrath of her fellow-citizens when she delivers to them The Infinite's prophecy of the impending judgement which will fall upon them because of their many apostasies. Here again, you can guess what will happen to her as a result -- and it DOES happen! -- but the story also helps you to imagine what it must have been like for Ela and for Jeremiah to go through such a trauma.

The particulars are not only realistically depicted for these strongly developed characters but the conversations involved are also realistic and often laced with humor, a good example being the bantering depicted on pages 113-115 between Kien and the Chief Guardsman of Adar-iyr. And there is humor in the frustration of Kien in this episode taking him away from his training to be a judge, which is what the book's title refers to. And, as if this were not enough, there are those characters in the story who regard him as a lord or a king! Kien gets ever more frustrated: "I am a judge, not a prophet or a king of a lord!!", he proclaims!

Finally there is humor in the "Destroyers", which are dragon-like creatures which make a great contribution to the story and are fun to read about. As such the book is also suitable for reading as 2012 -- The Year Of The Dragon -- draws to a close. And it will make a good gift in this season to be jolly, and to focus people's attention on the things of God.

Information is available at http://www.rjlarsonbooks.com/.

The Finale of The Drama in Dale Cramer's Amish-In-Mexico Story "Though Mountains Fall"

MY  REVIEW  OF  DALE  CRAMER'S  LATEST  BOOK

Dale Cramer is one of my favorite authors.  Here is my review of the conclusion of his Amish-In-Mexico trilogy:

SOUTHSIDE BOOK REVIEWS

Reviews Of Books Recently Written By Southside Authors

Compiled by: Forrest W. Schultz 770-583-3258 schultz_forrest@yahoo.com

December 14, 2012

The Finale of The Drama in Dale Cramer's Amish-In-Mexico Story

A review of

Dale Cramer Though Mountains Fall, Book 3 of The Daughers of Caleb Bender (Bethany House, 2013)

                      352 pp     $14.99     ISBN-10: 0764208403   ISBN-13: 978-0764208409

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

     Since Dale Cramer is known for the realism of his novels, it is not surprising that his Amish stories are dramatic: throughout their long history the Amish have been plagued with both internal strife as well as hostility from without. Amish fiction is quite popular now but Cramer's is unique in that the setting of his novels is not America, but Mexico. In Cramer's story the external hostility is different because it comes from the Mexican bandits and the federales and the Hacienda.

     Unlike most of today's novels about the Amish, Cramer's is a work of historical fiction: Caleb Bender and his family were real people and they really did found an Amish colony in Mexico. But, since little information about this colony has been preserved, most of what is found in Cramer's story is fictional.

     In this concluding book of his trilogy the development both of the particular internal strife and the particular external hostilities in the story comes to a climactic head followed by a resolution which, I guess, is about as much as we can hope for on this side of glory. The story throughout is moving, thought-provoking, well-paced and a very good read.

     The book is scheduled to be released in January 2013.

     Information on the author is available on his website http://www.dalecramer.com/.