Deus Misereatur

Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes by Jonathan K. Dodson My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s young, thoughtful, biblical and to the point. “Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes” is a 192-page softback nicely written and highly germane given our present culture of polarizing and partisanship. Johnathan K. Dodson, lead pastor of City Life Church in Austin, founder of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, and author of several books, has delivered a homerun in this discussion of the Beatitudes “breaking into the crisis of our everyday lives” (x). And by everyday lives, he especially means, our lives right now, in this environment, in this antagonistic context. Anyone from 16 to 86 will gain immensely from the material between these covers. Dodson launches into his deliberations defining the word crisis, with its ancient roots in Aristotle and in the Greek New Testament. Crisis is the Greek word for judgment, when Jesus will return to judge (krisis) t...

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann My rating: 5 of 5 stars A fascinating rehearsal of the adventures and personality of Percy Harrison Fawcett. The development of his explorer's ways, slide into the occult, and obsession with "Z" is gripping. The ending is quite the pleasant surprise, not quite were you expect it to end. Grann, who doesn't need my accolades, is an attention-grabbing writer, and draws the reader into the story for pages and chapters on end. I highly recommend the book. View all my reviews

Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel Resilience by Mark Sayers My rating: 5 of 5 stars Though the picture can be a bit bleak in places, nevertheless the analysis seems right. "Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel Resilience" is a 176-page dossier on where we are in the Western moment, and why churches keep missing the mark. As the author states, this book argues "that we cannot solely rely on the contemporary, Western church's favored strategy of cultural relevance, in which Christianity and the church is made "relevant" to secular Western culture" (12). Mark Sayers, senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne Australia, inveterate podcaster and author, pursues his evaluation, while pointing a healthy way forward. He writes in an easy fashion that makes this volume a straightforward read that can be comfortably knocked out on a Sunday afternoon, but will change what you see and perceive for a long time to come. I...