The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert
By: Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
The Pastor’s Monthly Book Selection – August, 2016
As a tenured professor, teaching English Literature and Women’s Studies, the author was also a committed lesbian and activist. So immersed in her lifestyle and worldview that she gave little credibility to the claims of Scripture, even considering Christianity to be dangerous. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert chronicles the journey of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield from a skeptic and critic to a committed believer in Jesus Christ, pastor’s wife, and Christian mother. Throughout this small book I was reminded of God’s gracious love for lost sinners, the heinousness of my own transgressions, the power of Christ to change a person, and the need to honestly but lovingly bring the gospel to bear in the lives of people that have been deceived by sin and are in need of the liberty found in Christ.
I highly recommend this journey to faith for those struggling with sin or simply wishing to be reminded of the mighty grace of God through Jesus Christ.
After quoting from Charles Colson’s memoir, Born Again in a sermon and shortly thereafter hearing a colleague quote from the same book, I thought it might be a good idea to recommend this for reading.
What to read on summer vacation? … George Marsden is considered to be possibly the foremost living authority on Jonathan Edwards. His recent work, A Short Life Of Jonathan Edwards, is a nice introduction to the life and times of this important figure from colonial America. By weaving the life of Edwards together with insights about contemporary figures, such as Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield, the author presents a fascinating picture of the religious, social, and political landscape that lead up to the American Revolution and laid the groundwork for an evangelical tradition that continues to this day. In 145 pages Marsden offers a quick and enjoyable read about the man that many believe was the greatest theologian in American history. I highly recommend this as a book that may inspire as well as challenge the reader’s presuppositions about Christianity in America.
Originally released under the title Deceived By God?: A Journey Through Suffering, author and theologian John Feinberg updated and re-released this account of the struggle faced by him and his wife upon her diagnosis of Huntington Chorea. Although Feinberg wrestles with the hard questions that arise when tragedy strikes, he also relates the continuing faithfulness of God in all circumstances. The author includes observations of ministry that are useful for people who wish to encourage and walk with those facing troubling ordeals. I recommend this book for people trying to make sense of God’s will as well as those seeking greater insight on how to minister to the hurting.
Many people have heard of John Calvin, claim to adhere to his theology, and either malign him or embrace him as a reformer and theologian. Yet, many of those same people have never read Calvin. The reason for that is understandable. He was one of the most prolific writers of the Protestant Reformation. Simply knowing where to begin can be a daunting task. In Heart Aflame, Presbyterian & Reformed Publishers have compiled a delightful array of meditations from Calvin’s commentary on the Psalms and placed it in a format for daily devotional reading. Working his way through the Psalms, Calvin gives insight into the wonder of God and the outworking of our relation with Him. I highly recommend this devotional by a man that believed the Psalms to be “An anatomy of all parts of the soul.”
Is the Bible really sufficient to direct me in this 21st Century? Can the Bible actually be the authoritative voice in my life? In light of all that we know in this age, is the Bible truly necessary?
A Faith Worth Sharing was the last book written by John (Jack) Miller before he went home to be with the Lord. It is an encouraging and challenging set of accounts focusing on Jack’s own development as a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The author takes us through his own personal journey as he learned what it meant to share the good news of his Savior by stepping into the lives of others and finding the need for God’s grace in his own struggles. Although Jack Miller became a pastor and seminary professor, he found that he had lost sight of the joy of knowing Christ and had become more of a joyless pharisee than a joyful child of God. This short volume relates how the gospel not only restored a man who had become prideful, critical and disillusioned, but it reveals how all Christians can experience a spiritual refreshment by embracing the marvelous grace of God. I highly recommend this book as an encouragement in our spiritual journey.
Written by Baylor University Professor Rodney Stark this short easy to read work confronts a number of misconceptions about the history of the Crusades. Some of the familiar arguments that have been given against the Crusades since the time of the enlightenment, and which still haunt Christianity today, are reviewed in light of the actual situations of the day as revealed through letters and documents of various participants. Professor Stark demonstrates that these conflicts were not simply unprovoked wars of expansion, religious zealotry, or fortune hunting by European barbarians. Neither were the Muslim opponents sophisticated and enlightened cultures that were more advanced and civilized than the West. The Crusades were, in fact, the result of a series of political and military provocations that had been growing since the advent of Islam.
Around the Holiday season families often look for ways to keep Christ in the forefront of their Christmas celebrations. Throughout the years our family has used Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration for that purpose. Compiled by R.C. Sproul there are Sunday devotions written by Sproul, James Montgomery Boice, James Dobson, and Charles Swindoll as well as activities, hymns, Christmas carols, prayers, and daily Scripture readings that guide the family through the four weeks of advent. The Scripture references progress through the OT prophecies about the coming Messiah into the Gospel accounts where those prophecies are fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. This is a helpful resource that reminds us of the reason for the season.
While ordering a number of books sometime ago I was mistakenly sent a copy of Morton Smith’s Harmony of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. The bookstore’s error turned out to be my gain. Once I began perusing the work I eagerly paid the extra cost and kept it for myself.
