Book Review - John (Reformed Expository Commentary) (19/9)

Note: This review is based only on the first chapter of each volume.

Richard Phillips has finally published an expository preaching commentary on John. After reading his book, Jesus the Evangelist, I was looking forward to see how he will expound on the whole gospel of John, and now it has come.

As with every commentaries within the Reformed Expository Commentary Series, this is no exception. Phillips handles the text carefully, each verse is explained and expounded, and he does not skim over the text, unlike many preachers today who are pretty fond of doing this. He patiently explains difficult and hard verses unhurriedly, allowing the readers to join in the conversation, and think along with him.

Richards shows the readers how he does his exegesis by explaining his how he derives his point from the verse. It is truly expository preaching, with at least one or two applications for each sermon. I anticipate that this commentary would certainly be of help for preachers who wishes to preach through the whole of the gospel of John, and also for readers who wishes to have a devotional reading of the bible passage in a systematic way.

Rating: 4 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested, you can get get yours here, and here (free international shipping).

Book Review - Hidden in the Gospel (7/9)

Gospel, it’s something no one can have enough of. But many a times Christians lived as if we do not need the gospel, or we’ve somehow outgrown our need for it. It’s often heard that the non-christians need to gospel, but when was the last time you heard a sermon on how much we as christians still need the gospel?

In this book, William Farley writes especially for christians, to remind us of our deep and desperate need for the gospel each and everyday. This book is really a mini-systematic theology on soteriology, but a lot less intimidating and a lot more winsome.

Farley first concentrates on the importance of the need for christians to be preaching the gospel to themselves each and everyday. We often need to be reminded of the marvellous gospel of what God has done for us, through Christ Jesus. Failing to do that, we will be swayed away by our situations, our thoughts or our feelings. We moved from being God-centered, to me-centered. Salvation becomes how am I performing, rather than what Christ has performed.

Farley then moves systematically, from election to incarnation, death, resurrection and accession of Christ. Then ends off with Christ’s return and the new heavens and earth. This is really a good book especially for those who are reformed, too many a times, in the pursuit of correct doctrine, we at a loss of their applicational purposes. Farley remedies it by showing the readers how each and every doctrine is comforting for christians. There is even example prayers at the end of each and every chapter to help the reader be able to visualise what all these doctrine mean for us.

This would be a great introduction to the christian faith, for those who are young and old. However, I would recommend going through the book together if the reader is younger, as the person might see the influx of these doctrines as overpowering. For the young, it introduces some very good doctrine, in an easy to understand manner. For the old, it will help us be thrilled with the gospel again. It has been a good reminder, and I anticipate myself reading this every 1 or 2 years. I certainly need this reminder always.

I felt that it would be even better if there was a specific chapter on sanctification, and/or on mortification of sin/repentance. It’s not that these are not talked about in the book, but maybe a specific chapter on these 2 topics would make this great book even better. Certainly recommended for Christians young and old, be prepared to be thrilled and grateful for what God has done for terrible sinners like us, because of His great love, mercy and grace for us. Soli Deo Gloria!

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested, you can get it here, and here (free international shipping), Kindle.

Book Review - An Invitation to Academic Studies (Faithful Learning Series) (29/8)

If you’re in college or university you might be wondering how to integrate what you learn with your faith. This is especially true for me as I read psychology in my university days. So should be budding students handle their faith and studies?

Jay Green hopes to be able to encourage this generation of students to be able to understand their studies well and at the same time be able to hold on or even grow in their to the faith. First he examines and evaluates the 3 common models of how Christians in the past have tried to handle these two dichotomy. The first paradigm is avoidance, avoiding to study in higher education; the second is to be defensive, to equip students to the be able to handle the ‘attacks’ they will receive in higher education; lastly, to see the two as dualistic, to see them as wholly separate realms. Green then briefly show the strength and weakness of each of them and proposes his fourth way.

Green suggests that by being a christian, we can not only learn legitimately from our disciplines, we can also renew or even transform them, to show how man ought to think God’s thoughts after him in every field. Green then moves on to exhort budding students to be able to thorough soak up the individual disciplines that they are in so as to learn the trade of their crafts. I feel that this is an important point that ought to be raised, far too often christians are not as rigorous as their non-christian counterpart in trying to learn within their discipline. Green is right to point this out. Lastly, Green highlights the importance of Christian students to be living within a christian community so we will sharpen ourselves not only with the tools of the trade, but also stay faithful to the biblical framework given to us by God.

What I think is lacking within this book is an example to show how the transformation paradigm affects one particular discipline. It does sounds like a very good idea, but how does it really look like practically? Other than the one small issue, this book is really a good book for any christians that are currently in a college or would in going into one soon.

As with every faithful learning series, I look forward to other booklets on the various disciplines that will be published in the near future.

Rating: 3.75 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested you can get it here, and here (free international shipping).

Book Review - Philosophy (Faithful Learning Series) (1/8)

Whenever you see this word philosophy you often get a very polarising response, some are thrilled with it, some run away in horror and the rest are just ambivalent towards it. So how does one approach this topic?

James Spiegel attempt to show why christians need to understand and study philosophy in this short introduction on this topic. Spiegel begins with the age-old question of what Athens has to do with Jerusalem, and attempts to convince his readers that rigorous philosophical study is critical for a christian so that he will not held captive to hollow and deceptive philosophy (Col 2:8).

Spiegel then goes through a quick history of how the christian faith has suffered abuses and attacks from non-christian philosophers through rationalism and positivism, and how the notion of God has been attacked vigorously by them. Christianity appears to have no answers with regards to these 2 areas until….. Alvin Plantinga comes into the scene and begins to challenge their claims.

The challenges that Plantinga raises are then explored and explained and shown how these claims are not unreasonable or irrational, in fact, it was shown how it would be irrational and unreasonable for the claim of God’s existence to be argued on the same plane as other topics.

Following which Spiegel brings up several arguments that supports the existence of God and also encourages future christians whoa re students of philosophy to do the hard work of studying philosophy with a christian worldview in mind, so that we can able to give a defence for the reason of our hope (1 Peter 3:15).

Lastly, be prepared to work through this deceptively small booklet. This will not be a walk through the park but you will be rewarded for your hard work, especially recommended for those who are interested or are studying philosophy.

Rating: 4/5

If you're interested, you can get it here, and here (free international shipping).

The Kindle version is only $0.99

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review - Sociology (Faithful Learning Series) (29/7)

Have you ever notice when someone is acting out of the social norm? Maybe it’s a tourist, an immigrant or even yourself! But have you every wondered what made you felt that way? One helpful area to explore would be the topic of sociology.  And Matthew Vos has done a great job in this book which seeks to help students who are studying sociology to look into this topic from a christian perspective.

Some may be intimidated by this topic, or even scoff at this. But Vos has managed to be able to raise up several strengths that sociology can provide for the church, likewise Vos has shown the limitations of sociology alone.

Vos also does a good and quick introductions to the who’s who in sociology and also brief introduction to some of the concepts that are commonly found in every introduction to sociology 101 courses. Lastly, the book also directs the believer to well-know christian sociologists which will help provide a source of relief for the christian who sometimes feels so beaten down by the secular scholars.

This is a great book as a primer for those who wants to find out more about this topic, or before you start your undergraduate studies on this particular topic, I can only hope I had read this book before I had studied sociology module, it would be so helpful for me.

Rating: 4/5

If you're interested, you can get it here, and here (free international shipping)

The kindle version is only $0.99!

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review - The Pagan Heart of Today's Culture (25/7)

What do you think atheism, postmodernism and gnosticism have in common? On the surface they might seem to be poles apart but Peter Jones thinks otherwise, and attempts to shows it in this booklet.

First Jones goes through each of the terms, stating the definition, explanation and a brief history into each of them. Then Jones introduces the term ‘perennial philosophy’ which binds all of them together. Briefly it is a system of Oneism, where everything shares the same nature and are essentially one, as compared to Twoism, where the creator-creature distinction is apparent and distinct.

Jones then argues how atheism, postmodernism and gnosticism all belong to the Oneism sphere, and then responded with the christian Twoism claims and how these 2 systems will always be at odds with each other.  Finally Jones ends why showing that although these 3 worldview (postmodern, gnosticism and atheism) looks really different, they are not really ‘new’ in the sense that they are really bring us back to the garden of Eden, where these two are clashing against each other yet again.

Those who would really gain from this booklet are those who are willing to put in the hard work to think. interspersed within the booklet are numerous discussion questions that encourage the readers to digest each small section and think about what they have read. Do not aim to look to the booklet for answers, it’s not meant to do that, it will guide you in the right direction through.

One weakness for this booklet is that I found the arguments not very convincing, however, the grouping of the three worldview under Oneism certainly is something very new and ought to be further explored to strengthen the claims. Recommended for those who would like to explore within this area, and likes/hopes to think deeply over what he has read.

Rating: 3.25/5

Update: If you're interested, you can get it here, and here (free international shipping)

Not sure where you can get it other than on the  If not, you can still get them at the publisher's website. If you're aware of any, do let me know!

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review - John Frame's Selected Shorter Writings (21/6)

If you have been in the reformed circles long enough, you would have surely came across the name John Frame. Frame has often been praised for his lucidness, but frankly when I first tried to read his books (AGG, SBL), I went away rather confused. So it was with trepidation and a deeper desire to be better able to appreciate this theologian that I took up the task of reading this book. And boy was I glad I that made this decision.

The book starts with an essay on (tri)Perspectivalism, a great introduction to the distinctiveness of the way John Frame approaches theology. This essay is the best short introduction to the famed tri-perspectivalism and it is apt that the book begins with this particular essay.

The first two sections spend the majority of the time dealing with the theological topics that are the forte of Frame. In it, Frame raises many basic yet important and thoughtful questions that spurs the readers to become better exegetes (see his essay on what the bible does not say, in particular) and to think more deeply and thoughtfully over theology.

Following which, the next section discusses about apologetics — another area of his forte. It is however regrettably a little too short! (only 3 essays on it). One would have wish that the second volume would hopefully have more articles on this topic. Following which, some essays on the topic of ethics and worship. These chapters, I feel were a mix bag, some were really good, (see his Family, Church and State: A Triperspectival Approach), some were just his responses to reviews, which probably helps you understand his DCL better.

Lastly, it ends off with some personal essays about the author himself, letting the readers take a sneak peek into the life of the author and a list of 100 books that have most influenced him.

Overall, I found that the chapters were not evenly spread, some were long, some were really, really short, which seems odd even for a book titled “Shorter writings”, one would have wished that John Frame could have expanded some of the shorter ones to make this volume “fuller”. Even so, the short articles were often insightful and perceptive, many a times after reading a few paragraphs, one is made to pause and ponder over what was written. And I think, one of the greatest gains from reading this book is that one would surely begin to think more “perspectivally” after reading it.

This book is surely recommended to the younger or newer audience who hopes to dip into John Frame but fear his larger and more challenging works. May this be the first stepping stone towards reading more of Frame for yourself.

Rating 4.25/5

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Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review - B. B. Warfield: Essays on His Life and Thoughts (5/6)

B. B. Warfield has been recommended by many to be an important giant in the christian circle. But having read none of his actual works, I took up this book eagerly as an opportunity to help me to dive into Warfield works.

The book starts out by introducing the family of Warfield, especially the maternal side and on his grandfather, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge. This is an interesting read and frankly unexpected. But this sets the book into context, Warfield’s heroic defence against the attacks from the liberals was not something that just came up. His rich history has made him into who he was. Furthermore, one might not have expected that for someone who’s now called the “Lion of Princeton” to have joined Princeton against his parents and relative’s decision.

Following which, the apologetics of Warfield was considered. This was to answer some critiques that was made against Warfield, to be a rationalist apologist. Paul Helseth shows well that Warfield use of reason is never above his fundamental belief in the scripture.

The next 2 chapters, are rather alike, which is a mystery. Both chapters highlights just about the same points as each other, and both explains that Warfield’s doctrine of Scripture, specifically Inspiration and Inerrancy is not what many might have assumed. Both chapters seek to show readers just that, by using a close reading of Warfield, allowing us to have a clearer and more accurate picture of what Warfied himself believed and defended against.

The next chapter talked about Warfield’s effort against slavery. Warfield’s upbringing had taught him to be familiar with the treatment that the slaves has had. His own grandfather had once mis-treated a slave, and who was in turn severely punished by his mother. Warfield had tried rather unsuccessfully, to abolish the rule that forbids the black to occupy key position in church. More importantly, it was clearly shown that these were not driven solely due to his family history, but more fundamental based on Warfield’s understanding of God’s Word. This remains to be an important point that would be repeated several times within the book.

Lastly, the last 2 chapters showed the differences and similarities between Warfield and his protegé, Machen; and also the controversy Warfield had with Charles Briggs.

This book is not for the faint-hearted. This book is loaded with footnotes and will require focus to slowly read through the various essays on Warfield. What I found was that it seemed to be rather lopsided in it’s presentation. Warfield’s doctrine of Scripture is often alluded, however if I do not remember wrongly, Christology was the topic Warfield wrote on the most. It is striking that not much is spoken about in this book.

Given the content of this book, I would have to recommend others to newer books like “Warfield on the Christian Life” for an easier introduction on Warfield. But, for those who intent to do a serious study on Warfield, this alongside with “The Theology of B. B. Warfield” would be a good resource for the motivated scholar.

Rating: 3.25/5

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Book Review - Fools Rush in Where Monkey Fear to Tread (7/5)

I have to say this is a hard book to review, not because it is not well written nor was it was a bad book, but the topics discussed was so well spread it's hard to find a phrase to describe it other than the one that Trueman has provided: "Taking Aim at Everyone".

This is really what the book is meant to do, take aim at everyone. Trueman writes in a wholesome manner, being able to be sensitive to the culture that we're in and also critical of what is happening, don't get me wrong, Trueman is not some cynical critic, but one that really does brings out pointers that we really ought to think about.     What's included in this book:

1. What's wrong with (Mark) Driscoll?


2. Why aren't evangelical more humorous (and why they should be)


3. Why we can't take criticism (and what's wrong with it)


4. And many more....

You have to read to find out, it will be well worth your time and money. Read not to be more informative, but rather read to be able to think more carefully about what is happening about Christendom and how our brothers in the past can help guide us on to the future.

Rating: 4.5/5

If you're interested you can get it here and here (free international shipping), Kindle.