These aren't all 2011 releases, as you will see, but they are the ten best books I read this year.

(Honorable Mention: Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I'm 2/3 of the way through it, and it would easily be on this list if I finish it before the end of the year.)

10. In the Woods by Tana French
When I first finished this novel, I wanted to throw it across the room. I tweeted what a ripoff it was and several other readers agreed with me. Then I couldn't stop thinking about it. And now I'm convinced that the thing I thought the book didn't reveal was actually revealed, only hiddenly in the book. In any event, no book this year has provoked such disgust in me and at the same time kept me hanging on, searching it out, chewing on it.

9. Reclaiming Adoption edited by Dan Cruver
Short, but comprehensive and powerful. This collection of essays by Cruver, John Piper, Scotty Smith, et.al. show us the shape of God's heart for us and the outline of the Christian heart for orphans.

8. Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Not anywhere close to Lewis's best work, I nevertheless profited from his writing here as I always do. He is faithful to present with awe and insight the "anatomy of the soul" (Calvin) held in the biblical Psalms.

7. Future Men by Douglas Wilson
I don't have boys, but I really enjoyed this book on raising them. I used it off and on in our church men's group, and together we alternately fought with Wilson's ideas and nodded our heads in vigorous agreement with them. If I had boys, I'd find this book invaluable. And Wilson can flat-out write, of course.

6. The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington
The truth about the Christian life -- how the gospel works, how we work in the gospel -- put simply and succinctly. I would recommend this to every believer. It's like a hundred books on idolatry, gospel-centrality, and sanctification condensed into one readable little companion that replaces them all.

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I've read this classic twice before but wanted a refresher before the latest movie adaptation debuts next year. Fitzgerald at his coy, rhythmic, biting best. I also read his This Side of Paradise this year (for the first time) and found it dreadful -- dull and bothersome. I find it hard to believe, actually, that the same guy who wrote that navel-gazing tribute to ennui wrote this insightful indictment of (basically) idolatry. One of a few genuine American masterpieces.

4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Speaking of American masterpieces, we could talk about the serious Huckleberry Finn, but I prefer the whimsical, engrossing Tom Sawyer. I've loved this book since I was a little boy and as I re-read it this year, I found myself transported not just to the Mississippian stomping grounds of scamps and scoundrels but to the floor of my boyhood home and the couch of my grandmother's house, two places I vividly remember drinking in the adventures of Tom, Huck, Polly, Becky Thatcher, Injun Joe, Muff Potter, and the whole gang. Twain plays on the frequency my imagination is tuned to.

3. Jonathan Edwards on Revival
This is actually the publication title given to this volume containing three of Edwards' works: "A Narrative of Surprising Conversions," "The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God," and "An Account of the Revival of Religion in Northampton 1740-1742." I first read this book while going for jury duty in Houston, Texas, in about 1995. At that time I was a youth minister for a Willow Creek model church; I was interested in theology and wanted to be interested in Edwards, but I had no mental nor spiritual framework for the material in this book. Nevertheless I have held on to it for all these years. Now I'm in New England and wondering what it might take for God to grant the favor of revival to this land again. Edwards' book is stirring for the desperate.

2. The Deep Things of God by Fred Sanders
I consider it brilliance when someone says an old (but uncommon thing) in fresh ways, and this is what Sanders has done. For all those who believe in the Trinity but can't for the life of them see how it might be practical. And for those who think "making the Trinity practical" can't possibly come out to anything deeply theological. Oh, read the thing. It's fantastic. Read it in February and thought, "I won't read a better nonfiction book this year, I bet," and I was right.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
My lands, y'all. To my shame, I'd never read this before. I laughed and cried. Literally. In public.

You might enjoy reading Dear Void. This brilliant young lady can write some poetry.

This one caught my eye today:

Turn aside the burning blush
let the fire settle from thy smothered eyes.
Let grace like silent snow fall
and cool thy singed soul.
This is truth and grace abundant
that in the midst of despair
is the gentle hand, the turning sound,
the path made straight again.
Step away from the immolation
shame is not your birthright
You are a new generation
and the dawn is a gentle light.

On this day in 1963 the world lost C.S. Lewis. (Aldous Huxley also died the same day, but both deaths were overshadowed by the assassination of President John Kennedy.) Every year on this date, I've run some variation of a tribute to the greatest Christian writer of the twentieth century, but this year a little something different. A list of what Lewis has taught me over the years:

1. Wonder. My first introduction to Lewis was not the Chronicles of Narnia, actually, but as a child, Out of the Silent Planet. It was completely weird and wonderful. When I got to Narnia shortly thereafter -- I was about 8 or so, probably -- I consumed each book one after another lustily, like a compendium of Turkish delight. Lewis' space capsules and English manses and wardrobes and attic spaces grabbed ahold of me, broadcasting where my neurons were tuned, man. I was the kid who saw a treasure map on the back of a box of Cap'n Crunch cereal and was convinced it led to buried valuables in my Brownsville, Texas neighborhood. Reading the Space Trilogy (well, the first two books when I was little, the third well into high school) and Narnia was like warp speed.

2. Reason. Even Lewis's fiction is chock-full of logic. "Don't they teach that in schools any more?" the Professor says to the Pevensies when they don't believe Lucy's fantastic story. Lewis's faith was full of wonder but was, also, entirely reasonable, and in the 80's when the apologetic industry was dominated by Josh McDowell and burgeoning creation science (Lee Strobel hadn't hit the scene just yet), I was ingesting The Abolition of Man and Mere Christianity. And probably the most influential non-fiction work of his for me is his collection of essays named after "God in the Dock." The article "Myth Became Fact" is one of my all-time favorite short pieces, fiction or non, and offered a complementary weight to one of my favorite lines in Perelandra, which I quote probably way too much in all the stuff I write. (Ransom understood that myth is "gleams of celestial beauty and strength falling on a jungle of filth and imbecility.") Lewis helped me make sense of this polytheistic, pluralistic world. His classic trilemma in Mere Christianity just made sense. His own logic and reason is not airtight of course, but he approached Christianity not just as a worshiper but as a thinking worshiper, and he therefore becomes an invaluable asset for relentlessly scrutinizing young men and women who are sorting out their faith.

3. Artistry. Homeboy could flat-out write. And when he wrote, he exulted. In his own words:

"when the old poets made some virtue their theme, they were not teaching but adoring, and . . . what we take for the didactic is often the enchanted."

When I was in the first grade, my class filled out these little booklets that chronicled our favorite subjects, foods, games, etc. and one of the questions was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" My six year old hand wrote Author in that blank, and through a series of adolescent aspirations and a call to vocational ministry I have never not wanted to be a writer of books. Lewis threw gasoline on that childish ambitious fire, and he showed me over and over again what words can do. His writing was show and tell for me, displaying in so many beautiful, confident ways how literary pursuit is worship.

Below are some excerpts from Parchment and Pen's C Michael Patton: Why Do We Love C.S. Lewis and Hate Rob Bell?.

First of all, no one hates Rob Bell (or at least they should not). But, speaking for myself, I am very comfortable handing out C.S. Lewis books by the dozens while I don’t keep a stock of Bell books on hand. There is not a book that Lewis wrote that I don’t encourage people to read and grow from. Even A Grief Observed, where Lewis attempts to retain his faith in God, questioning everything, in the middle of the crucible of doubt and pain, is one of my favorite books to give to people who are hurting. But I doubt I would ever recommend one of Bell’s works to establish someone in the faith. In fact, I might only recommend them for people to see “the other side.” Let me put it this way (and I must be very careful here): While I fully embrace and endorse the ministry of C.S. Lewis, I do not endorse or embrace the ministry of Rob Bell.

You see, while C.S. Lewis has a great deal of theological foibles, his ministry is defined by a defense of the essence of the Gospel. The essence of who Christ is and what he did are ardently defended by Lewis, saturating every page of his book. His purpose was clear: to defend the reality of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. All other things set aside, this is what you leave with every time you read Lewis. The problematic areas are peripheral, not central. One has to look hard to find the departures from traditional Protestant Christianity. They are not the subject of his works and do not form the title of his books.

However, with Rob Bell, the essence of who Christ is and what he did seem to be secondary. One has to look for them as they weed through his defense of non-traditional Christianity. Whereas Lewis’ ultimate purpose is to define and defend “mere” Christianity, Bell’s “mere” Christianity is but a footnote to a redefined Christianity. Bell’s focus is to challenge, question, change, reform, and emerge from traditions that bind us. Traditional apologetics, orthodoxy, and foundations are brought into question from beginning to end. Christ’s reality, deity, exclusivity, and the hope of the Gospel proclaimed receive an occasional footnote (if at all) with Bell.

Another way to put this is to say that in the ministry of C.S. Lewis the central truths of the Christian faith are the chorus of his song with an occasional problem in the stanza. However, with Bell, the chorus of his song is filled with challenges to tradition Christianity and if you listen really close to the stanza, you might get an occasional line of orthodoxy.

. . .

And it is not just Rob Bell that is at issue. There are dozens of popular writers, pastors, bloggers, and authors who are singing the same chorus. They give lip service to the essence of Christianity, but from their platform it is only peppered in here and there. I think that this is the core problem with what is/was known as the “emerging church.” It was not that we are against rethinking, reimagining, reforming, or any other “re”, it is that this became the central focus of the movement. Christ, the cross, sin, righteousness, and all other elements that create the essence of who we are became the subject of challenge or mere lines in the song. This is why I distinguish between, say, Brian Mclaren and Dan Kimball, who both, early on, were considered part of the “emerging church”. Dan Kimble, like C.S. Lewis, though he challenges some things here and there, is committed to the essence of the historic Christian faith. Truth, doctrine, love, and righteousness are found in everything he does. They are the chorus. Whereas with Mclaren, traditional Christian belief and practice form more of (what seems to be) an embarrassing afterthought that are proclaimed only under duress.

This is why I don’t like the comparison of C.S. Lewis with Rob Bell. There is no comparison.

The comments thread is also quite interesting.This post reminded me of some earlier conversations in this space regarding why so many of us are willing to enthusiastically accept C.S. Lewis while disdaining works by guys like Bell. I think Patton has done a good job defining the differences. I love the analogy of the chorus versus the stanzas.

For my part, I've always thought the comparison between Lewis and modern emergent writers to be silly. As soon as one of them can produce a work rivaling Mere Christianity or Perelandra, we'll talk.

First of all, yesterday was Thinkling Phil's birthday! (You may know him as Shrode.) Happy (belated) Birthday, Phil!

Also:
My new book Gospel Wakefulness is now available. (Apparently Oct. 31 was a "soft" street date.) It is now for sale via Amazon, B&N, LifeWay, etc. Cheapest price I've seen lately is at WTS Bookstore. It's also available in e-versions.

If you're so inclined to buy it, thank you and I hope you like it!

Long time blog-friend Scott Roche of Spiritual Tramp is offering to give away a copy his YA scifi novel Ginny Dare: Crimson Sands * to the winner of a competition/drawing here on Thinklings. Here's how this will work:

I am resurrecting the idea behind one of our most heavily commented posts from back in the day: Blog-free Association post. It's very simple; I am going to seed the comments thread with a single word. Feel free to comment with whatever word my word brings to your mind. Then the next person can free-associate off of your word. **

We'll do a drawing in one week to see who wins the book. The drawing will be random but weighted based on how many comments each person leaves.

* You can read the first couple of chapters of Scott's book online, here

** Yes, this is me shamelessly jonesing for a very large comments count.

What are the essential American novels?

Thinking of books not just by American authors but that capture a significant aspect of the American experience relative to the author's historical place.

Some candidates:

The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne
Moby Dick by Melville*
Huckleberry Finn by Twain
Intruder in the Dust by Faulkner
To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee
The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Blood Meridian by McCarthy
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
The Rabbit Angstrom Novels by Updike
White Noise by DeLillo
American Pastoral by Roth
The New York Trilogy by Auster
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay by Chabon

What would you add? Go.

* I confess to not having read this one but plan to soon.

From Sarah Vowell's engaging history of the Puritans, The Wordy Shipmates:

When John Cotton's grandson, Cotton Mather, wrote his Ecclesiastical History of New England in 1702, he told a story about [John] Winthrop that I would like to believe is true. In the middle of winter, Boston was low on fuel and a man came to the governor complaining that a "needy person" was stealing from his woodpile. Winthrop mustered the appropriate outrage and requested that the thief come see him, presumably for punishment. According to Mather, Winthrop tells the man,

"Friend, it is a severe winter, and I doubt you are but meanly provided for wood; wherefore I would have you supply yourself at my woodpile till this cold season be over." And Winthrop then merrily asked his friends whether he had not effectually cured this man of stealing his wood.

Justin Taylor shares fantastic words on what words can do in service of our Savior:

In an address on Christian eloquence John Piper wrote:

The attempt to craft striking and beautiful language makes it possible that the beauty of eloquence can join with the beauty of truth and increase the power of your words. When we take care to create a beautiful way of speaking or writing about something beautiful, the eloquence—the beauty of the form—reflects and honors the beauty of the subject and so honors the truth. The method and the matter become one, and the totality of both becomes a witness to the truth and beauty of the message. If the glory of Christ is always ultimately our subject, and if he created all things, and if upholds all things, then bringing the beauty of form into harmony with the beauty of truth is the fullest way to honor the Lord.

John Calvin is an exemplary model of this. His beautiful and arresting prose, saturated with biblical truth, can capture the mind and heart more than prosaic prose which clunks to the ground.

For example, consider this section of his preface to Pierre-Robert Olivétan’s 1535 translation of the Bible.

“To all those who love Christ and his gospel,” Calvin writes:

Without the gospel

everything is useless and vain;

without the gospel

we are not Christians;

without the gospel

all riches is poverty,

all wisdom, folly before God;

strength is weakness, and

all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.

But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made

children of God,

brothers of Jesus Christ,

fellow townsmen with the saints,

citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven,

heirs of God with Jesus Christ,

by whom

the poor are made rich,

the weak strong,

the fools wise,

the sinners justified,

the desolate comforted,

the doubting sure, and

slaves free.

The gospel is the Word of life.

Or consider this section from Institutes 3.16.19, where he explains that “We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.”

If we seek salvation

we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him.”

If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit,

they will be found in his anointing.

If we seek strength,

it lies in his dominion;

if purity,

in his conception;

if gentleness,

it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects that he might learn to feel our pain.

If we seek redemption,

it lies in his passion;

if acquittal,

in his condemnation;

if remission of the curse,

in his cross;

if satisfaction,

in his sacrifice;

if purification,

in his blood;

if reconciliation,

in his descent into hell;

if mortification of the flesh,

in his tomb;

in newness of life,

in his resurrection;

if immortality,

in the same;

if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom,

in his entrance into heaven;

if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings,

in his Kingdom;

if untroubled expectation of judgment,

in the power given to him to judge.

In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other.

From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Bantam Classic Edition, 1981):

Tom joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted by the showy character of their “regalia.” He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member. Now he found out a new thing — namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing. Tom soon found himself tormented with a desire to drink and swear; the desire grew to be so intense that nothing but the hope of a chance to display himself in his red sash kept him from withdrawing from the order. (138)

A page later Twain through Tom gives us an approximate illustration of how the gospel’s freedom from sin diminishes the attraction of sin.

He handed in his resignation at once . . . The funeral was a fine thing. The Cadets paraded in a style calculated to kill the late member with envy. Tom was a free boy again, however — there was something in that. He could drink and swear, now — but found to his surprise that he did not want to. The simple fact that he could took the desire away, and the charm of it. (139)

Cross-posted at Justin Taylor's blog, where I'm a guest blogger this week.

This is Emma. She is awesome.

Emma goes to our church and we are very proud of her, because she was recently selected to join a Samaritan's Purse/Operation Christmas Child "SPY" team on a mission trip to Uganda this summer.

In Uganda, Emma's team will conduct six Operation Christmas Child shoebox distributions throughout the country. They will also work with the Samaritan's Purse project office on two projects:

Livestock Programs
After families are given an animal, they are required to reimburse Samaritan’s Purse with the animal’s offspring, allowing us to distribute animals to new beneficiaries. All families receive basic training in improved livestock production.

Household Water Program
Poor access to safe drinking water and a limited knowledge of hygiene and sanitation can negatively impact health. Bio-sand filters, shallow well protection, and rainwater harvesting used in conjunction with education and training has improved the quality of life in many villages in the Kamwenge district.



Emma needs to raise around $4,000 for this trip. Our church is paying the bulk of this expense, but due to some recent medical expenses, Emma's family is in need of help raising the remainder of the money needed. So she's fundraising. And this is where me and you come in. I want to help her raise money by giving you the opportunity to help her receive money. :-)

If you'd like to contribute to Emma's trip to Uganda, you can make a donation of any size via PayPal using our church's email address: MSCChurch AT gmail DOT com
Please indicate in the note portion "For Emma."

And if you give $25 or more to Emma via PayPal by next Monday (the 30th), you will automatically be entered to win an Abide Leader Kit ($70 value). I'm gonna give 2 kits away, so your odds of winning are good. Winners will be randomly selected and will be contacted on the 30th or shortly thereafter by email. (Note: If you've already given via PayPal, you are already entered for the drawing.)

The Abide Leader Kit includes:
- copy of the book Abide
- Enhanced CD (Includes: Leader Guide with step-by-step guide to leading discussion, including insightful questions that will help encourage authentic community; Articles from Biblical Illustrator to help you dig deeper; 5 songs off the Abide Playlist; and more.)
- DVD (Includes: Video sessions and promo segment)
---

If you'd prefer to snail mail a check, you'll miss out on the drawing, but can do it anyway to:
Middletown Springs Community Church
PO Box 1187
Middletown Springs, VT 05757
(please write in the Memo field "For Emma")

All contributions to Middletown Springs Community Church are tax deductible.

This may interest nobody, but I get asked often enough -- more and more these days -- how I landed a book deal, so I figured a short bullet-point chronology might be worth sharing. I was halfway inspired by this post from Jeffrey Overstreet, also.

This is the story.
Read the rest of this entry . . .

One of my favorite Easter reflections is this poetic masterpiece from my favorite contemporary novelist, the late great New Englander John Updike. His "Seven Stanzas At Easter" is wondrous and makes a crucial point, powerfully:

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

The mockery of metaphor will be employed in many "churches" Sunday, many of them in my neck of the woods. True to Updike's first stanza, these churches are all dying ("falling").

My death will not be symbolic. It will be real. Therefore a symbolic resurrection is no hope for me. I look forward to those rekindled amino acids.

The two eldest Bennet sisters in Austen's Pride and Prejudice are best friends but night and day. Elizabeth is cynical, contemplative. Jane is ever-optimistic, perhaps even naive. She can think of nothing bad to say about anyone. If anyone ever wrongs her, she instinctively forgives (if she can even see the wrong to begin with). In one scene, Jane and Elizabeth are celebrating Jane's engagement to be married. This exchange grabbed me:

"I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed!" cried Jane. "Oh! Lizzy, why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed above them all! If I could but see you as happy! If there were but such another man for you!"

[Elizabeth replied:]"If you were to give me forty such men, I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness."

-- Austen, Pride and Prejudice (New York: Readers' League, n.d.), p.330.

There is Spiritual truth here!

Had we 40 shiny idols to buoy our affections, still these affections could not be mustered to enduring happiness. Had we 40 ways in to religious devotion to God, if none of those 40 were Christlikeness through gospel power, we "never could be so happy."

"Have this mind among yourselves," Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5, speaking of Christ's attitude. Weymouth renders the verse, "Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus."

There is good news. Romans 8:29 tells us that Christians are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. We will have his disposition.

The felicity of Christ is conferred to his Bride. Through the power of his Spirit we receive the mind of Christ and the Spirit's fruit, which may be another way to say Christ's disposition. Even the persecuted church has cause for great joy, for unbounded happiness of soul. Because they know Christ in his suffering, they know Christ in the joy set before him.

Until we have his disposition, his goodness, we can never have his happiness.

1. Do something else, if you can.

It's hard work. If you want to get published, the odds are that you won't. Even if you get published, if you want to make a living at it, the odds are that you won't. The market is glutted. Everyone says they're writing a book or has a book in them. Unless you really do, don't bother. But if you really have the fire, you'll ignore all that.

2. Read fiction/literature. Get a feel for the poetry of language.

We don't need more regurgitated information. We have the Internet for that. If you want to write, write big or go home. And the best way to learn how to do that is to read. Even if you plan to write non-fiction, read fiction. Good fiction. Poetry too. You can stomach poetry, can't you? If you can't, you may not be a writer. You can probably put some words together that say things, and you may be really smart, but you're probably not a writer. But if you are a writer, read the sorts of works where it's not just what is being said, but how it's being said. Good fiction is typically the best for this because the number of real writers writing non-fiction is dwindling.

If you're reading this blog, it's likely you want to write from a Christian perspective. My friend Ray Ortlund has some good words:

It is so hard not to be dull. C.S. Lewis wrote that "when the old poets made some virtue their theme, they were not teaching but adoring, and . . . what we take for the didactic is often the enchanted." As I write, I am not merely teaching. I am adoring. Please do not take the enchanted as merely the didactic.

Figure out how to exult in your writing. This will involve feeling what sentences can do, holding up the diamond of language at different angles to see how the light plays from this perspective and that. If you don't know how to exult in your writing maybe write flow-charts or restaurant menus or something. We don't need any more Christian books that approach the gospel like a manual for a toaster oven.

3. Seek feedback from people who will be honest.

Other writers, if they're not jealous nitwits, might actually be inclined to over-praise your work, hoping you'll return the favor when it's their turn in the hot seat. But non-writers close to you may struggle with honesty for fear of hurting your feelings. Seek feedback from people who a) would know good writing if they read it, and b) won't lie.

First, you will need a thick skin. (I know this is difficult, because writing something good is akin -- in our minds -- to crafting a Ming vase. Then, handing it to some Philistine for critique is like saying, "Here, use this for a bedpan.") Secondly, hand your work to some Philistine for critique. Find an honest Philistine, preferably one who reads a lot. Aunt Martha is probably not the ideal choice, unless Aunt Martha is an editor or (real) writer herself. Leave Aunt Martha to like your Facebook statuses and find a real peer who is honest instead. You want to get better, not have smoke blown up your Ming vase. (Pronounce that last word "vahz.")

4. Do the work.

Talking about writing, reading about writing, thinking about writing, planning to write is all writing. Don't listen to people who say it's not, even if you find me saying that somewhere in the archives. So do all that stuff. It's part of the process. But writers write. At some point you have to stop processing and start producing. The process becomes writing when it directly results in pages. Don't slack. Read your guts full and then write your guts out. Open up a vein and bleed. Or take up knitting.

Forgive my tone. I'm hungry for a literary renaissance among followers of Jesus. Are you it? If so, I love you. Godspeed.

---

Previously: Tips for Aspiring Writers (Lotta hubris there, because it was written a few years ago, before I had a book deal, but I stand by it still. Those are the steps I worked through myself.)

Also, on the humorous tip: That's Not Really How it Works (So You Want to Write a Novel)

Sign up for a free conference, get a free book!

The next 20 registrants for the Gospel Wakefulness Conference (next weekend in Conroe, TX) get a bonus (in addition to the joy of attending the conference ;-).

The first 10 will get a free copy of my book Your Jesus is Too Safe.
The next 10 will get a free copy of Abide: Practicing Kingdom Rhythms in a Consumer Culture.

All 20 will also receive a coupon code to preorder my forthcoming book Gospel Wakefulness at a 35% discount.

Include your email address when you register so we can let you know.

Register here.

Must attend the conference to claim your book so don't register simply to get a book with no plans to attend. :-)

By "train wreck" I do not refer to the recent rhetorical explosions in some sections of the blogosphere over Bell's upcoming book Love Wins, but to the book itself. And of course I should say "alleged train wreck," because someone will inevitably point out that We Cannot Trust Anybody who criticizes Bell's work, so second-hand appraisals are (theoretically) rubbish. Still, I'm a gullible sort, so when somebody generally trustworthy has read the book and shows me examples of its train-wreckness, I am duped into believing them. Kinda like when I see video of a train wreck on the news I think to myself "Man, what an awful train wreck," and not "I don't believe it because I wasn't in it."

If this is all news to you, a little lowdown before a couple of helpful link-snippets:
Rob Bell's newest book Love Wins proposes to reeducate the masses on God's eternal plan for all of mankind. Turns out that what we've heard from the traditional church for ages about hell isn't may not be true-ish. In Bell's customary way, he provokes, questions, nudges, acts coy, and does that I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin' kind of thing. Allegedly. The response before the book has officially released involved much hand-wringing about Bell's hinting at universalism/inclusivism. Bell's defenders kinda-sorta said, "How dare you accuse Bell of heresy without reading the book! And what's wrong with a little heresy anyway?!" The hand-wringing was met by bet-hedging.

Well, the problem is that smart people have now read the book. And it turns out that when smart people see an arrow flying through the air they can in a somewhat reliable way estimate where it will land.

Tim Challies and Aaron Armstrong offer a strong review, which you should read. They quote Bell:

What Jesus does is declare that he, and he alone, is saving everybody . . .

And then he leaves the door way, way open. Creating all sorts of possibilities. He is as narrow as himself and as wide as the universe. People come to Jesus in all sorts of ways . . . Sometimes people use his name; other times they don’t . . . Some people have so much baggage with regard to the name “Jesus” that when they encounter the mystery present in all of creation—grace, peace, love, acceptance, healing, forgiveness—the last thing they are inclined to name it is “Jesus" . . . What we see Jesus doing again and again—in the midst of constant reminders about the seriousness of following him living like him, and trusting him—is widening the scope and expanse of his saving work.

Challies and Armstrong write: "That is what we know as universalism. And it is cause for mourning."

Challies and Armstrong, as well as others now getting their hands on the book, demonstrate Bell's lackadaisical use of Scripture and his flippant manner with doctrines hard-won for centuries.
Carl Trueman demonstrates Bell's outright deception:

On page 108 of his book (to be precise, an advance reader copy), Bell makes the following statement:

And then there are others who can live with two destinations, two realities after death, but insist that there must be some kind of "second chance" for those who don't believe in Jesus in this lifetime. In a letter Martin Luther, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, wrote to Hans von Rechenberg in 1522 he considered the possibility that people could turn to God after death, asking: "Who would doubt God's ability to do that?"

Again, a good question.

And so space is created in this "who would doubt God's ability to do that?" perspective for all kinds of people--fifteen-year-old atheists, people from other religions, and people who rejected Jesus because the only Jesus they ever saw was an oppressive figure who did anything but show God's love.

When the text is consulted, the context in which this statement occurs is absolutely vital to understanding what exactly Luther is saying at this point. I quote here the Fortress edition, which seems to be an accurate rendering of the German. I have highlighted the phrase Bell is citing, while also reproducing the important wider context:

If God were to save anyone without faith, he would be acting contrary to his own words and would give himself the lie; yes, he would deny himself. And that is impossible for, as St. Paul declares, God cannot deny himself [II Tim. 2:13]. It is as impossible for God to save without faith as it is impossible for divine truth to lie. That is clear, obvious, and easily understood, no matter how reluctant the old wineskin is to hold this wine--yes, is unable to hold and contain it.

It would be quite a different question whether God can impart faith to some in the hour of death or after death so that these people could be saved through faith. Who would doubt God's ability to do that? No one, however, can prove that he does do this. For all that we read is that he has already raised people from the dead and thus granted them faith. But whether he gives faith or not, it is impossible for anyone to be saved without faith. Otherwise every sermon, the gospel, and faith would be vain, false, and deceptive, since the entire gospel makes faith necessary. (Works, 43, ed. and trans. G. Wienke and H. T. Lehmann [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1968], 53-54; WA 10.ii, 324.25-325.11)

In this letter, Luther is answering the question, raised by von Rechenberg, as to whether any can be saved without faith. Luther's answer is a clear 'no.' In fact, the letter is specifically aimed at refuting any notion that anyone can be saved by anything other than faith as Luther defines it.

So Luther's letter is a clear denial of the idea that God will save faithless people after they die, but Bell quotes one or two lines to argue that Luther believes the opposite. At best this is sloppy; at worst, it is deceptive. I believe the worst.

There's much more emerging (no pun intended) as more people read Love Wins. Don't be tempted by the smug "I told you so"'s likely to come from some of the stronger critiques to dismiss the obvious problems with Bell's thinking and methodology. This is important stuff.

My kids gave me a pocket watch for Christmas. Color me old-fashioned, but I've wanted one for years now. There's something almost pleasurable about checking the time on an analog timepiece, taking in the entire hour in one glance -- the exact opposite of the cold precision of a digital clock. I'll probably carry it in my pocket forever.

Speaking of forever, I also got a Kindle for Christmas. When I first heard about e-readers, I thought, No thanks. Years ago I owned a PDA, and I tried to use it as a reader. I successfully read the yet-to-be-published debut Jared C. Wilson novel, Otherworld, on the PDA, but, despite that, I found doing extensive reading on backlit devices to be too cumbersome.

The Kindle is completely different. After getting used to it for a couple of days, I revised my e-reader position: I'll own one forever now. Till death do us part.



The Kindle's biggest asset is what your average e-reader dilettante would consider to be a liability: the lack of a backlit screen. Without getting into all the geek stuff about electronic ink technology (stuff I don't understand anyway), I can simply say that the Kindle doesn't have a backlit screen because books don't have backlit screens, and the Kindle is not supposed to be an iPad, it's supposed to be a book reader. I spend enough of my life looking at backlit screens, so it's refreshing to pick up the Kindle and feel like I'm reading a book. The machine doesn't get hot. Your eyes don't get strained. A full battery charge lasts for weeks. And it's easy to "get lost" in the material that you're reading, because you're not thinking about the e-reader, you're thinking about the book you're reading.

I'm sure Amazon will one day succumb to the critics' cacophony and come out with a backlit Kindle one day (in the same way that Barnes & Noble recently released a backlit, full-color Nook), but it won't be the same. In my mind now, an e-reader needs to reflect light, not emit it.

I highly recommend one.

Not all these books released in 2010, but these are the best books I read in the previous year. They are in no particular order, but the bolded title was the best of the best.

Counted Righteous in Christ by John Piper

World War Z by Max Brooks

Vermont: A History by Charles T. Morissey

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

Too Far to Go by John Updike

For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper ed. by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor

Commentary on Galatians by Martin Luther

Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer

The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes

What Did You Expect? by Paul Tripp

[Bill lifts a frosty glass of diet coke]

The Professor!

[Swigs]

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien. Thanks for the tales.

[Inspired by the Tolkien Society, H/T Phil]