The Return

Review: A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God's Design for Life Together Scot McKnight Zondervan 2014 “Everything I learned about Christian life I learned from my church.”   Most of us can agree with McKnight on this quote, but is what we learned the way the church was supposed to be?   And for that matter bringing down to the personal level, the way Christian life was supposed to be?   McKnight looks at those questions in this book.   As the title hints at his answers call for some adjustments in church as usual. McKnight has taught for a number of years and I think that is what makes this book so readable. It’s deeper thought-wise than several I’ve read lately, but not pedantic.   It has some fun asides and anecdotes mixed into the text at appropriate moments that help make the point without bludgeoning the reader.   Basically, he thinks that the days of the rugged individual Christian and the assemblies of people that resem...

Review: From Tablet to Table Leonard Sweet Navpress 2014 I had not read Sweet in quite a while.   So I requested this book for review as a change of pace.   If you have not read Sweet be prepared to work harder and think more just to decide if you agree with his views or not.   His style is easy, but it is deep.   But, such a wealth of sources!   Just his end notes are worth the rest of the book. Yes, I like Sweet, but I do get frustrated sometimes trying to stay with him along the way.   This book is no exception in my opinion.   The tablet to table works metaphor, but he meanders around it in a variety ways while looking at the malaise of the Western church and society. The subtitle goes like this---where community is found and identity is formed. That gives the reader a place to start.   He has divided his thoughts into two basic sections both revolving around the meaning and practice of table fellowship with the table appear...