God, man, and war

Aldous Huxley once acknowledged: “For myself, no doubt, as for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation.” Thomas Nagel also admitted, “I don’t want there to be a God.” But what about when old age comes? Some desperately pay to have their heads cryonically preserved, often realizing as they do the futility of such efforts.

Charles T. Rubin’s The Eclipse of Man: Human Extinction and the Meaning of Progress (Encounter, 2014) examines the greater hope of those with no belief in heaven: humans becoming post-human via genetic engineering, melding ourselves with computers, or contacting brainy aliens from other galaxies. Rubin’s examination of novels like Arthur Clarke’s Childhood’s End is fascinating, but he doesn’t propose the biblical alternative.

Others look at the biblical alternative but then prefer to make up their own deity. Daniel Darling’s The Original Jesus: Trading the Myths We Create for the Savior Who Is (Baker, 2015) cleverly critiques the idols many Christians create, such as Guru Jesus, Braveheart Jesus, Left-Wing Jesus, Dr. Phil Jesus, Prosperity Jesus, Post-Church Jesus, Legalist Jesus, and others. Mark Meynell’s What makes us human? (The Good Book Company, 2015) is a short book about what it means to be made in God’s image and liberated by Christ.

Over the centuries Jews as well as Christians have thought hard about how God’s sovereign engineering and man’s free will go together. Alan Mittleman’s Human Nature & Jewish Thought (Princeton, 2015) has many fascinating excursions: One of them discusses how “human beings think their plans and choices are their own, but God is working behind the scenes.” For example, Hasdai Crescas in medieval Spain understood that “we are not really free, yet the experience of will is a feeling of freedom.”

Michael Walsh’s The Devil’s Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West (Encounter, 2015) is a sharply written takedown of the soft-core Marxism that dominates American university humanities and social science programs. Bob Bevington’s Good News About Satan: A Gospel Look at Spiritual Warfare (Cruciform, 2015) biblically and calmly examines the devil’s handiwork and shows his vulnerability.

William Philpott’s War of Attrition (Overlook, 2014) never names Satan but shows evidence of his prowess: Why else would Europeans have kept killing each other from 1914 to 1918 with the understanding that the last army standing wins? (Actually, everyone lost, and Germany and Russia lost the most.) If only some Europeans who claimed to be Christian had learned from the Puritan practice of biblical meditation, which David Saxton explains in God’s Battle Plan for the Mind (Reformation Heritage, 2015).

Collin Hansen’s Blind Spots (Crossway, 2015) supports the idea of single-issue Christians but not only-issue ones who demand that others focus on our particular issue—and call those who disagree spiritually weak. Hansen succinctly shows how those who emphasize compassion first, or courage first, or evangelism first, should all get along.

Short stops

Things Not Seen by Jon Bloom (Crossway, 2015) features skillful Bible story retellings perfect for family reading. Philip Ryken’s Why Everything Matters (Christian Focus, 2015) is an excellent introduction to Ecclesiastes. Since every word of the Bible matters, and some translators want to drop out what they don’t like, church libraries should have Bruce Metzger’s classic, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (United Bible Societies, second edition, ninth printing, 2012).

Barton Swaim’s The Speechwriter (Simon & Schuster, 2015) is a tightly written and sadly amusing memoir of Swaim’s miserable experience with disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Every speechwriter should be familiar with The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase (Berkley Books, 2013): Author Mark Forsyth entertainingly explains polyptoton, merism, synaesthesia, aposiopesis, hyperbaton, and much besides. The back cover declares what is often all too true: “The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don’t need to have anything important to say—you simply need to say it well.” —M.O.