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Showing posts from September, 2018

Review: Hymns to the Living God

Religious Affections Ministries, 2017 "Why another hymnal?" ask the editors of Hymns to the Living God,  a new hymnal published by Religious Affections Ministries. Is another hymnal necessary or relevant, given the large numbers of print hymnals published and the advent of digital resources? According to the hymnal editors, there is no greater time of need for a hymnal to return to one of its most basic functions: a compact library of the church's canon in a given time. Hymns to the Living God  does not seek to be the new, flashy hymnal with the latest songs. Instead, it is a thoughtful compilation of the church's greatest songs through its heritage. The editors have deemed these 294 hymns to be the best of congregational singing and span across the centuries and continents. With a total of 350 items, this hymnal is thin and, to some, too light. But Religious Affections intentionally chose this smaller number due to the number of songs a congregation is able to ...

Review: Recapturing the Wonder

IVP, 2017. 180 pp. Summary We live in a world that has lost its wonder. Or so argues Mike Cosper in his celebrated book Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World   (IVP Press, 2017). This book has a two-fold purpose: 1) to identify the deficiencies and symptoms of a disenchanted spirituality, and 2) to provide remedies for re-enchanting our worlds. In essence, this book packs a double punch, serving as a spiritual disciplines handbook and a devotional text. He addresses disciplines such as prayer, Scripture meditation, solitude, secrecy, and fasting. By reaching to the Church's historic practices, Cosper maintains, we can restore an enchanted spiritual life. My ordinary life felt strangely irreligious. Evaluation Cosper's book is a fantastic text for Christians who feel skeptical toward acts of wonder in the world. His writing is candid, free, and humorous—yet perceptive and insightful. He draws on an array of relevant examples of our dis...