Saturday, October 24, 2009

The book I want to read next!

I'm only 30 pages into Simon Winchester's "The Man Who Loved China" but I just found a book that I really, really, really want to read. Dallas Willard's lectures are so very good that I was interested even before I read the blurb for his new book.

This book deals with the disastrous effects of divorcing the teachings of Jesus Christ and his people from the domain of human knowledge. ....

From the Preface:
I should alert the reader to the fact that this is not a devotional book, and that it will require considerable mental effort to understand. This lies in the nature of the problems to be dealt with. I have tried to ease the pain as much as possible. One effect of the displacement of faith from knowledge, which we are dealing with in this book, is that many people now believe you do not need to think deeply and carefully to follow Christ. C. S. Lewis has a very penetrating comment to make about this matter:

"God has room for people with very little sense, but He wants every one to use what sense they have. The proper motto is not 'Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever,' but 'Be good, sweet maid, and don't forget that this involves being as clever as you can.' God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all…. One reason why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself." (From "Mere Christianity")

So when I finish "The Man Who Loved China"...

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