The Return

Review: Seven Revolutions: How Christianity Changed the World and Can Change It Again Mike Aquilina and James L. Papandrea Image 2015 Decided to give this one a try, despite the title, and discovered a good read in the process.   The authors make the case for some rather dramatic societal changes during the early AD (CE, for those that prefer that) centuries; changes that prompted new ideas related to human dignity, family values, community relations, work, death and even politics that have been directly related to Christian practices and teachings.   The changes in perspectives still have influence today and most of us reading this enjoy the benefits of those changes whether we realize it or not.   Things were not always are they are now.   That should not be news, but it was something I found myself having to remember again and again when I read this book.      That’s the gist of what is discussed in this book, and the authors have...

Review: No Fear in Love: Loving Others the Way God Loves Us Andy Braner Baker Books 2015 What do love and fear have in common that they end up together in a book title?   Yes, you know the verse from 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”   But what about ridding yourselves of the fear that keeps love from acting and being complete?   That’s pretty much what this book is about. Braner looks at overcoming that fear through examples from his own life.   He never professes to be perfect though and tells his readers how that worked out for him.   And could also work for you and me. Divided into three sections Braner’s book the basic fear package that most of us haul around, then drills down more looking into world views that are different, and finally cultural factors that can cause fear.   The first section covers some...