The Return

Review: Awakening Faith: Daily Devotions from the Early Church James Stuart Bell with Patrick J. Kelly Zondervan 2013 Who knew?   I certainly didn’t.   What a rich legacy those of the early church have left for us!   And it’s been all but lost to the majority of the believers in modern times.   Lots of reasons for that loss, but this isn’t the place for listing them. What it is the place for is to appreciate what Bell and Kelly, along with all those that make this sort of work happen, have done for us.   The introduction explains a little about the Church Fathers and what some of their concerns were, how they understood their life and times, and some of the encouragement they offered.   A short biographical sketch of each of them is included at the end of the book.   I found that very helpful in placing them in their respective time frame.   Polycarp was very early and Maximus the Confessor about 500 years later. One of them eve...

Review: The 40 Most Influential Christians Who Shaped What We Believe Today Daryl Aaron Bethany House Publishers 2013 Read the title of this book again.   The niche that this author has found isn’t the top 40 Christians, but the 40 he believes have had the most impact on current Christian belief---from a conservative position.   As he states early on those included in this book are not a definitive list but the ones he chose, some of which do not reflect his particular views (13).   This is a selling point for this book, I think, in that he is willing to engage a more diverse range of opinion than I originally expected to find.    This book covers an immense timeline from first century AD to the mid-20 th century, from Clement of Rome to Carl F.H. Henry.   Each of his choices receives a treatment that covers Context, Contribution, and Conclusion.   The chapters are short but contain enough information to serve as a good starting poi...