Year: 2007

ESV Journaling Bible

Tony Reinke BR > Crossway, ESV

ESV Journaling Bible

The last time we announced a new ESV Bible it was a joke meant to be a late April fools trick (and it worked). But today’s post is no joke.

Because so many readers of the Blank Bible series simply don’t have the equipment or time to make their own, I’ve received a lot of emails about my thoughts on the ESV Journaling Bible. So I finally decided to get a copy and try it out myself (this one came safely to my home in cardboard through FedEx).

After opening the box I had three immediate thoughts: “It’s a lot smaller than I expected” … “It’s more portable than I expected” … and finally, “It’s much more durable than I expected.”

Here are more notes after further reflection (and some field-testing).

1. Size. The font size is small but (as you can see in the picture) slightly larger than the ESV Compact TruTone edition. The marginal note areas are lined for a note taker with small handwriting. The top margin can also be used for notes.

2. Paper color. Also in this comparison you can see that the Journaling Bible features an off-white paper color compared to other ESV Bibles. This may not be a big deal but it does seem to make the already small font a bit tougher to read (by decreasing the contrast of the paper/text).

3. Pen bleed. The biggest factor in determining which Bibles can or cannot be written in comes down to how likely the pages are to bleed (pencils are not my thing). We put our safety goggles on, unlocked the door to our underground TSS testing laboratory and — with my poor handwriting skills and five different pens — we put this new ESV Bible to the test.

From top-to-bottom we used the following pens: a black Pilot Vball extra fine roller, a black Pigma Micron 005, an everyday black ballpoint, a red uni-ball micro roller and one big black uni-ball Deluxe roller (an ink pouring pen I wouldn’t consider for a Bible).

The results were fairly surprising because none (not even the uni-ball Delux roller) bled through the paper. No surprise, the best pen for this Bible was the Pigma Micron 005 available at scrapbook and craft stores. The regular ballpoint pen comes in second. But the bigger point is that these pages successfully absorbed all five inks without bleeding.

Join us tomorrow when we run the Journaling Bible through several more tests: The “Flame Retardant?” test, the “Ran Over By Car” test and (my personal favorite) the “Will It Float?” test. Actually, if I were serious this sturdy Bible would probably fare better than expected.

Unlike the blank Bibles I’ve created in the past, the Journaling Bible is compact and portable. It’s a good substitute if making a Blank Bible is out of the question. If you don’t mind the small font and the paper color, it is a very durable ESV with excellent margins and paper for note taking. You can get the black Journaling Bible for about $18 and the fancy calfskin version for about $41. A small price considering it enables you to carry your Bible and your reflections in one compact volume.

—————————-

[NOTE: For our review we used the Terra Cotta/Sage edition of the Journaling Bible – ISBN: 1581348959]

Evangelicals and Mormons Together?

Tony Reinke BR > Crossway, Cross of Christ, Imputation, Justification, N.T. Wright

Evangelicals and Mormons Together?

After your heart rate returns to normal, know that this is not real. At least not yet. Gary L.W. Johnson warns in a new book, By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification (Crossway; 2007) that EMT may be just around the corner. In his chapter, Johnson responds to a 1994 book by Keith Fournier entitled A House United: Evangelicals and Catholics Together: A Winning Alliance for the 21st Century (NavPress; 1994). Fournier claims to be a both Evangelical and Roman Catholic. Johnson responded by writing,

“According to him [Fournier], an evangelical is one who knows Christ as Savior and Lord and tells others about him. If this is all it takes to be considered one of today’s evangelicals, we should prepare ourselves to be accosted by evangelical Mormons or Moonies, each clamoring to be recognized at such. And why not? They can easily subscribe to Fournier’s definition…” (By Faith Alone, p. 194).

And that’s exactly what’s beginning to happen. Johnson uses the Fournier book as a backdrop to introduce a newer book by Robert Millet a Mormon professor at BYU. His book is titled, A Different Jesus? The Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Eerdmans, 2005) and is endorsed by Richard Mouw, the president of Fuller Seminary. Mouw, a professed Calvinist, wrote the foreword and afterward. He writes, “a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ does not require that we have all our theology straight” (195). Of course he is right that our relationship with God (thankfully) does not wait until “all our theology” is straight. But Paul is also clear that getting the essential doctrines of the gospel wrong is to be a “foolishly-bewitched-fool” (Galatians 3:1-4).

If the mainline evangelical community backs away from a clear public defense of the gospel and fails to uphold the doctrine of a sinner being made right with God through justification (the legally imputed righteousness of Christ) alone, it’s not a stretch to think Evangelicals and Mormons will eventually come together, too. Al Mohler closes the book with these words: “We can only hope and pray that contributions like this important volume can help to awaken evangelicalism to its doctrinal peril. Otherwise, nothing genuinely evangelical will remain of evangelicalism” (208).

Beneath the Greek references and complex debates this book is a great reminder of the gospel’s simplicity and that makes it a great reminder how, apart from God’s sovereign grace, we walk around in the rut of this world, blindfolded to gospel of life. Oh, how we all need God’s illuminating grace to break into our spiritual blindness and raise our dead hearts! Thank you Jesus!

Check it out for yourself. By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification is a collection of articles by writers like David Wells and Al Mohler on the topic of justification. They discuss current controversies over the gospel and deal with E.P. Sanders, James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright (just like the Crossway release earlier this year, Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness by Brian Vickers).

Title: By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Jusitification
Authors: Gary L.W. Johnson and Guy P. Waters, editors
Reading level: 3.5/5.0 > moderately difficult
Boards: paper
Pages: 214
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: no
Binding: glue
Paper: normal
Topical index: yes
Scriptural index: yes
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2007
Price USD: $17.99/$12.99 from Monergism
ISBNs: 9781581348408, 1581348401

New John Owen title?

Tony Reinke Funny business, John Owen

As Tominthebox has documented, John Owen’s works are on the verge of a popular swing. I’m certain Owen will be gaining millions of new readers with the new “Message” edition. In light of this amazing shift in contemporary publishing, I’m proposing a new Owen title that (no doubt) would be another blockbuster! A collection of quotes by Owen (modified into much shorter sentences) on the topic of sin within the pop-language of the day. Any takers?

johnowen.jpg

New ESV bible seeks to reach the lost

Tony Reinke ESV, Funny business

Our friends at Crossway and Good News have been pumping out a ton of different editions of the ESV (literally). So many, in fact, that I no longer notice when another new edition is released. That was until today. I just can’t seem to figure out this latest version. It features the complete New Testament and Psalm 23. It comes prepackaged in a large crate to protect it in cargo parachute drops. And what an odd logo on the front?!? Even the ISBN appears strange (4815162342). But maybe the strangest of all is that I found it in my backyard with a small parachute resting gently on top of it and a strobe light pulsing away. Anyway, I suppose this new edition serves some purpose in spreading the gospel to a lost people group.

HT: Mr. Eko

esvlost.jpg

Review: Breathing Grace by Harry Kraus, M.D.

Tony Reinke BR > Crossway, C.J. Mahaney, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Gospel, Grace, spurgeon

tsscertified.jpgBook review
Breathing Grace by Harry Kraus, M.D.

It’s a nice surprise to find contemporary books that clearly define the true gospel and insist I look again at the cross for spiritual refreshment. None have done it better than C.J. Mahaney’s Living the Cross Centered Life (my review was posted at takeupandread.com today). This weekend I discovered a new release from Crossway with a similar purpose.

Harry Kraus is a surgeon (currently a missionary surgeon in Africa) who has authored eight novels. His latest is a non-fiction book titled Breathing Grace. Kraus uses the metaphors from his medical background to illustrate the centrality of the cross and our need for daily grace. “Just as every cell (one hundred trillion in one human body!) requires a constant supply of oxygen, so every spiritual, emotional, and social aspect of our lives need a constant saturation with the gospel of grace” (22). Hence the title Breathing Grace.

Kraus presents the gospel clearly and accurately, using medical terms and exciting surgical situations. The medical stories are intense and, at points, a bit technical (“An arterial blush clouded the area lateral to the internal carotid artery, an indication of bleeding, a serious injury that was partially contained, a situation that needed stat attention before the artery free-ruptured, ensuring exsanguination and death”).

He argues that after conversion, believers continue discovering deeper levels of God’s holiness and their own sinfulness but often without a similar growth in the gospel. “When our understanding of the adequacy of the gospel doesn’t keep pace with our appreciation for God’s holiness or our own need, gospel debt results” (38). This “gospel debt” is then filled in with “false gospels” like trying to downplay our own sinfulness or making ourselves look better than we are. In other words, when we take our eyes off the gracious gospel in the Christian life we open ourselves to pride, man-pleasing and a host of other spiritually deadening diseases. The solution to these “false gospels” is a fresh return to the gospel. This excellent book points our focus back towards the love of God, to daily feed upon His life-giving grace.

Early on Kraus provides this concise purpose:

“This book is all about moving our concept of the gospel from grace notes to the major chord of our lives, something that undergirds the melody every day, every hour. This book is about moving our understanding of grace from one of God’s minor attributes to the central feature of his posture toward his children, the quality that governs his every action towards us on the road of redemption” (15).

This book contains references to the teaching of John Piper, many biblical references from the ESV and a study guide for personal reflection or group discussion. If you are looking for an excellent (and at times exciting) tour through God’s graciousness I would recommend Breathing Grace. Your spiritual life will be resuscitated by a renewed sense of God’s unconditional favor and — at the very least — you’ll more fully appreciate the dangers of acute arterial occlusions.

Title: Breathing Grace
Author: Harry Kraus, M.D.
Reading level: 2.0/5.0 > easy
Boards: hardcover (baby blue with silver embossing)
Pages: 170
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: yes
Binding: glue
Paper: normal
Topical index: no
Scriptural index: yes
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2007
Price USD: $19.99 from Crossway (available as an audiobook)
ISBN: 9781581348583, 1581348584

Communion with God by Kelly Kapic

Tony Reinke Communion with God, J.I. Packer, John Owen, Puritans

Book announcement:
Communion with God: The Divine and the Human in the Theology of John Owen
Kelly Kapic

“I remember a time when a stereotype of the English Puritans as crude religious bigots held sway, and academic analysis and appreciation of their thought was virtually nonexistent. Accurate understanding of the magisterial Reformers was similarly at a discount, and the English translation of Calvin’s Institutes was out of print. But pendulums swing, and today the study of Reformation theology and of Lutheran and Calvinist scholasticism and of early European pietism and of the many-sided Puritan legacy has become a sizable cottage industry in academia’s larger world. Lecture courses, doctoral theses, journal articles, and printed books on the Puritans now abound, and the flow increases. Reissues of Puritan material constantly appear, and it is clear that more and more
Christians are coming to value this heritage. Some of us find that a very hopeful sign.

A cultural development in the West that has triggered some of this renewed interest in Puritan Christianity is our latter-day focus on experience, our longing for good experiences, and our awareness that experiences spawned by our sophisticated hedonism are mostly unsatisfying, not to say bad. Out of this has blossomed a fixation on personal spirituality, meaning a quest for self-discovery and self-transcendence, and this has led some to a fresh exploration of Christian spirituality―the theological, pastoral, communal, ethical, ascetic, doxological reality of communion with God in and through Jesus Christ in faith and hope and love. As a result, there is dawning a new appreciation of the supreme excellence in this field of Puritans such as John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, Jonathan Edwards, and John Owen.

Long regarded as Puritanism’s theological Everest, Owen was forgotten in the twentieth century until about twenty years ago. As Dr. Kapic’s bibliography shows, there have been some voyages around him, and some soundings of his thought on specifics, in recent years. None of these, however, come as close to Owen’s heart as Dr. Kapic himself does. For understanding, enjoying, and communicating communion with God was what Owen understood his life and ministry to be all about. His writings reveal him as not only an evangelical confessor and controversialist in the Reformed mainstream, but also as a Calvinist catechist, weaving in applicatory pastoral rhetoric at every point. Dr. Kapic coins the word anthroposensitive to characterize this aspect of his expository
method. It fits.

This is a landmark book in modern Puritan study, and it is a joy to commend it.”

– J.I. Packer, Forward to Kelly M. Kapic, Communion with God: The Divine and the Human in the Theology of John Owen (©2007 Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group).