Monday, May 15, 2006




CHECK OUT MY NEW SITE

I have moved the Christian Book Reviews site. Check out the new site at:

http://www.christianbookreviews.net

...Read full article





Wednesday, May 03, 2006




Update

Work on the new site is proceeding more slowly than planned. The new site should be ready within a week. Thanks for your patience.

In Christ,

Albert

...Read full article





Monday, April 24, 2006




Just Checking In....

There has been about two weeks since my last post of any reviews. Since the blog was restored (see previous post), I have been working on changing some things on the site. Please bear with me and I will be back soon with a new and improved site. This site may go down for a period of time over the next few days but it will be back up again soon!!

...Read full article





Thursday, April 20, 2006




BACK IN BUSINESS!!

Nine days after their "automated process" erroneously determined my blog was a cause of spam (how book reviews cause spam is anyone's guess) and constant pestering by me, Blogger support finally got around to reviewing my case and determined I was a good citizen after all. In an e-mail they wrote:

Hi there,

Thanks for writing in. We apologize for the delayed response. It seems
that your blog was mistakenly targeted by our automated spam classifying
system. However, I have checked your blog and can verify that it complies
with our Terms of Service. I was able to restore it to your account, so
you should see it the next time you log in. I also cleared it for regular
use so that this problem will not recur...

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused, and greatly
appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,
Blogger Support


So we finally have a promise in writing. All this is fine with me since I prefer to publish to my own site (a choice that has been proven wise given this recent mess) and Blogger is one of the few that allows this without a great deal of configuration. Now if they would only add categories...

Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do. First thing is to change some things on this blog. I will be resticting this blog to content related to Christian books and move other content to one or more other blogs I will be creating. The whole affair has put me far behind schedule but at least now I can begin getting back to the books. Thanks to everyone for their patience.

In Christ,

Albert

...Read full article





Friday, April 07, 2006




Book Review: Us and Them



Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession - Robert C. Fuller
Oxford University Press (November 21, 1996)
Topic: Eschatology, Protestantism
Summary: The history of American use of the Antichrist image in times of national crisis
Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦ (Essential)


Anyone familiar with Evangelical Christianity of the last forty years could probably reel off at least a half-dozen proposed candidates for the Antichrist. In Naming the Antichrist, Robert Fuller demonstrates how often crises within the nation and the American Church have precipitated the naming of religious and/or secular forces within the country as minions of the Antichrist. In so doing, he connects the theme of a satanic influence seeking to undermine the nation's status as a bastion of true Christianity forming out of the experiences of the Puritan influence in the British colonies in America and passed down as a unique element of our American heritage.

Fuller begins his exposition with an overview of the history of the concept of an antichrist. His view of the Biblical texts largely assumes secular biases and is the most unsatisfying aspect of the book. However, it has little bearing on what follows and can largely be ignored. The book begins to hit home with the assumption of many Protestant Reformers that the papacy was the Antichrist predicted in Scripture. This assumption - born in the struggles of the Reformation and its aftermath - was gradually discarded by many European Protestants over time but became etched in the collective consciousness of those who left for America.

The Elizabethen Settlement, with a compromise between Protestant and Catholic sensibilities, was totally unsatisfactory for the Puritans who wanted a church completely devoid of any remains of Roman ritualism. Cromwell's bloody revolution and the tyranny that followed soured the English on Puritan ideals and after the Restoration many of their negan a trek that would bring them to America. With them they brought their intense hatred of Catholics as the legendary "other" as they sought to build their "city on a hill." With no Catholics around to dread, the Antichrist rhetoric was put on a back burner but there was an inherent assumption that they were building the great Christian society free of popish influence. On the occasions that their hegemony was threatened, the natural inclination was to attribute a sinister motive with Rome as the likely power behind the nefarious plot.

The ineveitable assertion of British control over the colonies with its Church and "popish" Common Prayer was, of course, an obvious source of displeasure. But even events within their own communities were seen as threats. The perception of threats from without and within engendered a sense of trepidation that could and did veer out of control when a loss of their beloved "perfect Christian society" seemed imminent. The events surrounding the Salem Witch Trials demonstrates how events that could not be explained by their categories of thought could be combined with this fear to produce tragic results.

Out of this foundation came a tradition of "naming the Antichrist" as a method of closing debate, separaing "us" and "them", villifying the enemy, and protecting the societal hegemony. Whether the enemy be Catholic France (in the French and Indian War) or later the British (in America's war for independence), the struggle was painted in apocalyptic terms with the enemy an agent of the devil himself. Of course, many prominent Americans who supported these causes were Englightenment thinkers who were aghast at their allies rhetoric but were grateful for the wide support it generated. Thus the sometimes strage allies we see today with intellectual neoconservatives and Evangelical Christians is itself a tradition with a heritage.

This pattern would continue throughout the 19th century. Americans attempted to construct their "perfect society" that would transform the world with evangelization, orphanages, soup kitchens, temperance movements, and other social endeavors and a postmillennial eschatology dominated. During stable periods, the antichrist rhetoric would recede but resurfaced when a threat was percieved. These could be in the form of Enlightenment philosophy, Freemasonry, or Catholic and Jewish immigrants from Europe. During the Civil War, anti-slavery forces in the North and pro-slavery forces in the South demonized each other as Satan's minions.

The loss of Protestant hegemony in the 20th century brought an end to the dream of the "perfect Christian society" and there was a retreat into a pessimistic view and a developing dispensationalist eschatology. Yet the overall pattern for "naming the Antichrist" has become such a staple of American life that it survived in new forms. Theological modernists who disagree with all that came before now seek to build their perfect society and demonize opposition in a more secularized form. Our political discourse is centered on the inference of nefarious motives by the opposition. And, of course, Evangelicals have continued the unbroken American tradition of pointing to an enemy as the son of perdition.

Throughout his analysis, Fuller resists the temptation to sit in judgment but takes the role of historical analysis seriously. He provides a framework for understanding how American Protestantism achieved its distinctive elements and how this affected the country's history. For those seeking to understand the American tendency to see itself as a land of destiny and to see all of its conflicts - both foreign and domestic - in apocalyptic terms, Naming the Antichrist is essential reading.

...Read full article





Wednesday, April 05, 2006




Books By Topic (Revised 4/5/2006)

Below is a list of all books reviewed on this site as of 3/31/2006 arranged by topic.

Anglicanism


Apostolic Christianity


Archaeolgy, Architecture, Artifacts, & Papyrology


Bibliology, Hermeneutics, & Exegesis


Catholicism


Christian Culture


Church History


Communion of Saints


Eastern Christianity


Ecclesiology


Eschatology


Ethics & Morality
No Titles Reviewed

Fiction


General Theology


Gnosticism & Dualism
No Titles Reviewed

Holy Bloodline Theory


Islam
No Titles Reviewed

Jehovah's Witnesses


Judaism
No Titles Reviewed

Liturgy & Sacraments


Mormonism


Patristic Christianity


Politics


Prayer & Devotion


Protestantism


Revisionism & Neo-Orthodoxy


Science & Natural Philosophy


Seventh Day Adventism


Soteriology


Trinitology, Paterology, Christology, & Pneumatology


...Read full article





Tuesday, April 04, 2006




Books By Title (Revised 4/4/2006)

Below is a list of all books reviewed on this site as of 3/31/2006 arranged by title.


Answer Me This!- Patrick Madrid

Answering a Fundamentalist - Albert J. Nevins

Any Friend of God's Is a Friend of Mine: A Biblical and Historical Explanation of the Catholic Doctrine of the Communion of Saints - Patrick Madrid

Apostolic Succession - Gregory Rogers

Are You Saved?: The Orthodox Christian Process of Salvation - Barbara Pappas

The Babylon Connection? - Ralph Woodrow

Baptist Successionism - James E. McGoldrick

Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith - Peter Gillquist

Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking - Darrell L. Bock

The Brother of Jesus - Herschel Shanks & Ben Witherington III

By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Authority - Mark P. Shea

A Calvinist's Honest Doubts Resolved by Reason and God's Amazing Grace - Dave Hunt

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus - Lee Strobel

Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" - Karl Keating

Christian Radio: The Growth of a Mainstream Broadcasting Force – Bob Lochte

The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism – David Gibson

Coming Home: Why Protestant Clergy are Becoming Orthodox - Peter Gillquist

Cracking Da Vinci's Code - James L. Garlow & Peter Jones

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Debating Calvinism: Five Points, Two Views - Dave Hunt & James R. White

Decoding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code - Amy Wellborn

Doxology: The Praise of God in Worship, Doctrine, and Life – Geoffrey Wainwright

The Early Church - Henry Chadwick

Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective - Daniel B. Clendenin

Essential Truths of the Christian Faith: 100 Key Doctrines in Plain Language - R. C. Sproul

Evangelical is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament - Thomas Howard

Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals are Attracted to the Liturgical Church - Robert E. Webber

Exodus: Why Americans are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity - Dave Shiflett

For All the Saints: Remembering the Christian Departed - N. T. Wright

For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy - Alexander Schmemann

God’s Politics: A New Vision for Faith and Politics in America – Jim Wallis

Holy Places of Christendom - Stewart Perowne

Ideas Have Consequences - Richard M. Weaver

The Late Great Planet Earth - Hal Lindsey & C. C. Carlson

The Liturgy Explained - Thomas Howard

Making Sense Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did - Mark P. Shea

Mary: A Catholic-Evangelical Debate - Dwight Longenecker & David Gustafson

The Mass of the Early Christians - Mike Aquilina

The Meal Jesus Gave Us - N. T. Wright

National Sunday Law: A Shocking Glimpse Behind the Scenes - A. Jan Marcussen

Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Natural Science and Cosmology - R. C. Sproul

Once a Catholic - Tony Coffey

One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church - Richard Abanes

The Open Door: Entering the Sanctuary of Icons and Prayer - Frederica Mathewes-Green

The Orthodox Church - Kallistos Ware (Timothy Ware)

Pope Fiction: Answers to Myths and Misconceptions About the Papacy - Patrick Madrid

The Quest for the True Cross - Carston Peter Thiede & Matthew D'ancona

Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind - David B. Currie

Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation - Barbara R. Rossing

The Rapture Trap: A Catholic Response to "End Times" Fever - Paul Thigpen

Recovering Mother Kirk: The Case for Liturgy in the Reformed Tradition - D. G. Hart

Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants - D. H. Williams

Right Behind: A Parody of Last Days Goofiness - Nathan D. Wilson

Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism - Scott & Kimberly Hahn

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind - Mark A. Noll

Scripture Alone?: 21 Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura - Joel Peters

A Second Look at the Second Coming: Sorting Through the Speculations - T. L. Frazier

Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic - Patrick Madrid (Editor)

Surprised by Truth 2: 15 Men and Women Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic - Patrick Madrid (Editor)

Surprised by Truth 3: 10 More Converts Explain the Biblical and Historical Reason for Becoming Catholic - Patrick Madrid (Editor)

The Teachings of the Church Fathers - John R. Willis, Editor

This is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence - Mark P. Shea

Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine - Bart D. Ehrman

The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code: A Challenging Response to the Bestselling Novel - Richard Abanes

Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses: Why They Read the Bible the Way They Do - Robert M. Bowman

The Vindication of Tradition: The 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities - Jaroslav Pelikan

Who Was Jesus? - N. T. Wright

Why Catholics Can't Sing: The Culture of Catholicism and the Triumph of Bad Taste - Thomas Day

Why Is That in Tradition? - Patrick Madrid

Will Catholics Be Left Behind: A Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers - Carl E. Olsen

Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up?: A New Look at Today's Evengelical Church in the Light of Early Christianity - David W. Bercot

A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days - Dave Hunt

...Read full article




Books By Author (Revised 4/4/2006)

Below is a list of all books reviewed on this site as of 3/31/2006 arranged by author.

Richard Abanes


Mike Aquilina


David W. Bercot


Darrell L. Bock


Robert M. Bowman


Dan Brown


C. C. Carlson


Henry Chadwick


Daneiel B. Clendenin


Tony Coffey


David Currie


Matthew d'Ancona


Thomas Day


Bart D. Ehrman


T. L. Frazier


James L. Garlow


David Gibson


Peter Gillquist


David Gustafson


Kimberly Hahn


Scott Hahn


D. G. Hart


Thomas Howard


Dave Hunt


Peter Jones


Karl Keating


Hal Lindsey


Bob Lochte


Dwight Longenecker


Patrick Madrid


A. Jan Marcussen


Frederica Mathewes Green


James E. McGoldrick


Albert J. Nevins


Mark A. Noll


Carl E. Olsen



Barbara Pappas


Jaroslav Pelikan


Stewart Perowne


Joel Peters


Gregory Rogers


Barbara R. Rossing


Alexander Schmemann


Herschel Shanks


Mark P. Shea


David Shiflett


R. C. Sproul


Lee Strobel


Paul Thigpen

  • The Rapture Trap: A Catholic Response to "End Times" Fever



Carsten Peter Theide


Geoffrey Wainwright


Jim Wallis


Kallistos Ware


Richard M. Weaver


Robert E. Webber


Amy Wellborn


James R. White


D. H. Williams


John R. Willis


Nathan D. Wilson


Ben Witherington III


Ralph Woodrow


N. T. Wright


...Read full article