Let Justice Roll Down

I highly recommend that you read Let Justice Roll Down by John Perkins, as it not only epitomizes redemption, reconciliation and strength, but it embodies the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Perkins, the founder of Voice of Calvary ministries, grew up in New Hebron, Mississippi as a son of a sharecropping family; constantly privy to the system of racism and prejudice. Through his various trials and tribulations—ranging from his brother’s death, to enduring a brutal beating at the hands of white law enforcement officers, Perkins was able to understand that only the power of Christ’s crucifixion on the cross and the glory of his resurrection could heal the deep racial wounds in both black and white people of America. This book takes you on an incredible journey of this man’s faith, while also teaching us important lessons of evangelism and the kind of social action that should come from accepting Christ as our Savior.  - Katherine Bogue, CPC intern

The Power and The Glory

By Graham Greene

A review is coming, but while you wait, here is the wikipedia description:

The Power and the Glory (1940) is a novel by British author Graham Greene. The title is anallusion to the doxology often added to the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, (and) the power, and the glory, now and forever (or forever and ever), amen." This novel has also been published in the US under the name The Labyrinthine Ways. In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to that time.^[1]

The novel tells the story of a Roman Catholic priest in the state of Tabasco in Mexico during the 1930s, a time when the Mexican government, still effectively controlled by Plutarco Elías Calles, strove to suppress the Catholic Church. Revolutionary leaders during the early 20th century tried to destroy the feudalism that had governed social relations in Mexico for four centuries, with a resulting concentration of land and power among the elites and the church. Calles was just one in a line of anti-clerical leaders who sought to undo this feudal system.

In Catholic eyes, Mexico formed part of what Pope Pius XI called the Terrible Triangle, along with the other socialist and Communist states of the Soviet Union and Spain. The persecution was especially severe in the province of Tabasco, where the anti-clerical governor Tomás Garrido Canabal^{[2][3][4][5][6]} had founded and actively encouraged paramilitary groups (called the “Red-Shirts”), often called "fascist"^[7] but who considered themselves to be Marxist^[8][9][10], and succeeded in closing all the churches in the state; forcing the priests to marry and give up theirsoutanes.

Throughout the book, Greene refers to the border as being to the north, and the sea as being to the south, when in fact the Bay of Campeche is situated north of Tabasco and its border with Chiapas to the south. However, most of the descriptions of travel (usually arduous) and places (usually desolate) are accurate and based on Greene's 1938 journey to Tabasco, which he chronicled in The Lawless Roads.^[11] Many years later, Greene said that it was in Tabasco that he first started to become a Christian, where the fidelity of the peasants "assumed such proportions that I couldn't help being profoundly moved." ^[12]

The Challenge of Easter by N.T. Wright

This little book on the resurrection is one of the most convincing, faith affirming treatments of Christianity (let alone the resurrection) you will ever read.  It is an excellent book to put in the hands of friends who are curious about the Christian message but have trouble believing.  Yet, it is not merely a book of apologetics.  It is also a helpful introduction for Christians to a biblical understanding of the resurrection, the foundation of our faith.

Bishop Wright is both a biblical scholar and an historian. It is the historical work that really stands out here.  He succinctly reconstructs how the first-century Jew and Gentile world would have understood the resurrection, unpacking all of the assumptions and expectations about death and the supernatural.  Then he shows the impact Jesus’ resurrection had on the first Christians and why it generated such a powerful movement.

The genius of his argument is how it explains the development of early Christianity.  Wright explains how Christ’s resurrection is both in line with Jewish expectation and yet so radically different from it that no one would have constructed it on their own.  What Jesus’ resurrection blew away the previous categories while still following in their intended trajectories. In fact, the reader is left saying the best explanation for both the continuity of symbolism and discontinuity of expectation is that the events must have unfolded just as the New Testament writers had said.

For those who don’t have the stomach for Wright’s other book on the resurrection, the 700 page highly academic The Resurrection of the Son of God, this book provides a wonderful popularized alternative. 

-Kevin Nelson

The White Tiger

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga:  The white tiger of this novel is Balram Halwai, a poor Indian villager whose great ambition leads him to the zenith of Indian business culture, the world of the Bangalore entrepreneur. On the occasion of the president of China’s impending trip to Bangalore, Balram writes a letter to him describing his transformation and his experience as driver and servant to a wealthy Indian family, which he thinks exemplifies the contradictions and complications of Indian society.

A really interesting story that looks at justice/injustice, right/wrong, selfishness, etc. 
-Katie Levesque

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart

“How many of you believe that the Bible contains the very words of God?” This is the opening question in Bart Erhman’s New Testament class at the University of North Carolina. A vast majority of students boldly raise their hands, but Erhman is not taking a survey. They keep their hand raised until his second question: “Since most of you think this is God’s word to you, how many of you have read the whole thing?” As the hands fall, the seed of doubt is firmly planted. The two questions are his attempt to rattle the cages of naïve undergraduates who thoughtlessly cling to an evangelical faith. Do they really believe? Is this book really special?

Left on the shelf, the word of God does seem ordinary, if not out of date. But for those who have opened it, for those who have drunk deeply from it, they know with the writer to the Hebrews that the “word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Or, with Apostle John, they have discovered that these are the very words that can produce life. The word of God is a powder keg; when read or heard its explosive force changes lives and transforms society.

The weakness of our faith does not nullify the power and effectiveness of God’s word, yet Erhman’s question is an important one. Why do we neglect God’s word?

For many of us, the Bible is difficult to understand. Meaning can seem locked away. We can get lost in strange imagery or unfamiliar historical events. It is much longer than other books we read, yet we aren’t always sure where to begin or how much to read at a time. To compound the problem, skeptics and contrarians carelessly assert that the Bible contains errors or contradictions.

This fall CPC wants to unlock and unleash the word in your life. One vital resource is Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart’s helpful book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. No other book better equips the reader to come to the Bible and find clarity and meaning.

This book begins by tackling the challenging interpretation and application questions we all have. The bulk of the book, however, orients the reader to each genre found in the scripture. As those who have struggled to read Revelation or follow Jesus’ parables have found that you cannot approach every book in the same way. Knowing the genres is essential for rightly grasping the biblical author’s intention, and Fee and Stuart do a masterful job succinctly guiding the reader through each genre.

As we begin a Wednesday Study Center class on interpreting the Bible, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth will be a welcome companion.

Why We Love The Church

by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

As we gear up for a new year of activities at CPC, we encourage you to consider why the church is worth loving and serving. We will find a time to discuss this book publicly.

"The New Testament is clear -- to love Christ is to love the church.  Kevin and Ted provide a powerful word of correction, offering compelling arguments and a vision of church life that is not only convincing, but inspirational."  -R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Hudson Taylor

This month we are featuring two books which are biographies of Hudson Taylor.  One is an autobiography detailing some of the events that led to the formation of the China Inland Mission.  The other is a children’s book from the A Guessing Book series.  Guessing Books were favorites of mine growing up for my parents to read aloud as the book pauses the story periodically to let kids guess what happens next.  I hope you all enjoy the inspiring tale of God's mighty works through a willing servant!