Book Review: Adopted for Life

Click on this photo to buy Adopted for Life at Monergism Books.The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches by Russell Moore.

I had a reason from real life for wanting to read this book. My sister adopted three children recently, so adoption is a subject we’ve all been talking and thinking about lately. I had a copy of Adopted for Life sent to her first and then decided that I should request a copy for me to review.

Russell Moore wants Christians to be known “once again, as the people who take in orphans and make of them beloved sons and daughters,” because, for one, we are called to be like our Father, doing what he does, and our Father “is fighting for orphans, making them sons and daughters. And second, adoption is evangelistic:

What better way is there to bring the good news of Christ than to see his unwanted little brothers and sisters placed in families where they’ll be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

It’s this last point that my sister mentioned when she gave me her assessment of this book. She has, as you might imagine, read lots of books on adoption, some by Christian authors, but this book was unique in setting adoption in the context of the gospel. My sister struggled when deciding whether or not to adopt. She is not young and doesn’t have a big income, but, she says, she kept coming back to the fact that these children “might not otherwise know Jesus.” She found Moore’s book to be encouraging, like “a big pat on the back.”

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Book Review: John Calvin

Click on image to buy this book at Monergism BooksA Heart for Devotion, Doctrine & Doxology, edited by Burk Parsons.

Reading this book and reviewing it here is my way of celebrating the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth. Yes, Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, so his birthday falls one week from now. I’m not sure he’d like all the attention he’s getting, but if celebrating his 500th birthday means the publication of a few good books about this historical theologian and pastor, I’m for it.

John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine & Doxology examines Calvin’s life, ministry, and teachings in nineteen chapters, each written by a different well-known pastor, teacher, or theologian. Besides Burk Parsons’ preface and first chapter and Iain Murray’s foreward, there are chapters written by Jerry Bridges, Sinclair Ferguson, Joel Beeke, John MacArthur, Thabiti Anyabwile—authors whose books I’ve read and reviewed here previously; Phil Johnson, who contributes to the popular Pyromaniacs blog; and many more notable Reformedish Christian leaders.

The first eight chapters are primarily about Calvin the man. There is a chapter which contains a brief biographical sketch and chapters on the various mantles Calvin wore in his service to God: Reformer, churchman, preacher, counselor, and writer. Taken together, the picture we see is of a man of many gifts, all used in service to God. 

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Book Review (and a Giveaway): What He Must Be

Click on image to view this book at Monergism Books…if he want to marry my daughter by Voddie Baucham Jr.

Have you noticed the blog blitz around this new Voddie Baucham book? During these first two weeks in March there is a Find One, Build One Blog Tour, with many bloggers reviewing this book and several offering readers a chance to receive a free copy. I’m participating, too, and I’ll be giving away a free book to one of you. Read on to the end of this post to find out how to enter the draw for a copy of What He Must Be.

I will admit that I had a few reservations about participating in this blog tour. For one, I’m not all that familiar with Voddie Baucham and I’m not very adventuresome in my choices of books to read and review. I usually choose to read and review books only if I’m fairly sure before I start that I’ll be able to endorse it. And one of the few things I did know about this author is that I disagreed with a stand he took last summer on one issue. So I had no idea whether I would like this book or not before I started it, and that makes me a little nervous.

Secondly, I have an aversion to anything that seems like a Christian subcultural bandwagon and I had a little suspicion this book might be part of something like that.

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