I picked up my latest BookSneeze book today. Why God Won’t Go Away – Is the New Atheism Running on Empty? by Alister McGrath.

This was a quick and rather enjoyable read. The author describes the New Atheist movement and summarizes some of the views and writings of the 4 men seen to be the most well-known. He also points out the main existence of the movement has been on web-sites, online forums, and blogs. The second section points out some of the weaknesses of the New Atheist arguments in the areas of religion always leads to violence, appeals to reason, and appeals to science.

This is not a book of Christian apologetics, it is a book aimed at showing why the New Atheists are inconsistent and ineffectual in their arguments against Christianity, and even have trouble showing any purpose for their existence outside of the fight against religion.

In some ways the book seems late, as it is describing a movement that began in 2006 and is already waning in many ways. And it was ironic to find myself reading it so shortly after the death of Christopher Hitchens. But I found it useful to help make clear that there is a difference between moderate atheists who are tolerant and respectful of other world views and the New Atheists who are so dogmatically anti-theist. I have seen the effect of these people but did not have knowledge of the history of the structure of this movement to understand that it really was new and not mainstream in any way.

It appears there are more books, more in depth, than this one by Alister McGrath. But this was just enough to cover the topic and give me an idea of what some of these atheists were pushing.

Disclaimer – I received a copy of this book through the BookSneeze program in exchange for a review. It did not have to be a positive review.
**********************

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Last night I sat down and read a new book through. I just didn’t want to set it down.

The Hawk and the Dove is a trilogy by Penelope Wilcock that was recommended to me a few years ago. I loved the stories and the meaning in them. This month I had an opportunity to review an early reviewer copy of The Hardest Thing to Do, a sequel and part of another planned trilogy.

I enjoyed The Hawk and the Dove so I fully expected to enjoy The Hardest Thing to Do as well. I was not disappointed. I enjoy how the story is well told, the characters are well drawn and become people we care about, and the lessons are such an integral part of the story that even the sermons are interesting and convicting.

This story takes place at St. Alcuin’s, a year after the ending of The Hawk and the Dove. The stories told and lessons learned before are still part of this story and the characters, like all of us, still have growing to do. I think it helps to have read The Hawk and the Dove first to be familiar with the setting and the history. Having read it, it’s a little hard for me to say if it could be read enjoyably if you have not read the prior book. I do know that if it has been a few years and you don’t remember all the details, this story provides enough detail that you understand what is going on without feeling you are missing something.

The dust jacket describes the book as being about forgiveness and the cautions of building trust. In fact, I think this would make a good companion to Unpacking Forgiveness by Tim Brauns as it covers many of the same points in the context of the community.

The story shows the need for compassion and the struggle we have to be compassionate with people who are difficult to love, or enemies and people who don’t even seem to see their need to be forgiven or to change.

I enjoy seeing the life in the community of the monastery, and the different ways the brothers behave and react, and the different levels of self-awareness they display. The concept of vocation, understanding the difference between a human weakness and a human sin, it’s all covered here in a gentle yet convicting and encouraging way. I love spending time at St. Alcuin’s with the brothers who live there.

Time to introduce you to a cool thing. I have referred to Tim Challies and his blog a few times already. This year he entered a venture to form a publishing company with the really neat method of a subscription service where you receive a book every month from their company, Cruciform Press.

The first book, last month, was Sexual Detox by Challies. The November book is Wresting with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disability, and the Lessons of Grace by Greg Lucas. I had read the excerpt and thought the book would be interesting, but admit that when I purchased my subscription I was really thinking about how much I will probably like the December book.

Then life took a weird turn on us and I’m sitting in Raleigh alternating between work and couch time examining the mysteries of Dave’s mind (it would be so much easier if Dave were on the couch talking to us). Every day I have more appreciation of how God has been preparing me for this. In August one of the speakers at the First Presbyterial meeting, Karen Kimmons, talked about the need to lean on Christ when events and troubles threaten to overwhelm us. She pointed us to 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

“…For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

I appreciated how she explained that the popular verse 1 Cor 10:13 about God not tempting us beyond our ability is not talking about times of suffering. That’s when she took us to 2 Cor 1:8-9 and her story of experiencing such great suffering and learning to rely on God through it.

Then there was the book we used for the Beach Retreat the weekend before all of this happened. So many of those 10 chapters were useful. Of course,forgiveness and judging the actions of others, but the most useful has certainly been the chapter about how Romans 8:28 is used to blame God for everything, making it even harder to understand how bad things happen if God is in control. My notes include this:

it isn’t that the consequences of a sin since repented of, or an attack, or something bad will turn out to be a good thing. It’s that God’s will can’t be thwarted, even by this mess. Ultimately He prevails. He doesn’t cause it. He doesn’t use it. He overcomes it. Much better to have never sinned or been attacked.

As we have lived through the aftermath of Dave’s great sin in leaving his wife and family, we have turned to God and asked for strength and faith to believe that He will prevail and overcome this in the lives of Alison and the children, and to bring Dave back to a relationship with God, even if not back to his family.

So, back to Cruciform Press. I received the email that my November book was being mailed and then when Anthony drove into town for Thanksgiving Day, he just happened to bring it in case I wanted to take a look at it. Last night and this morning I read through it, praising God for His amazing timing and for being so Awesome!

The author of the story is a policeman with a severely disabled son, and he discusses the struggles, fears, and joys he has experienced over the past 17 years with his son. Page 14 touches on the same issue as above. People like to say “God will never place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot carry it.” His rejoinder to that is “My experience is that God will place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot possibly carry it alone….All the while He will walk beside you waiting for you to come to the point where you must depend on Him.”

Then on p87 “True desperation is always the most fertile ground for God’s grace to produce an abundant harvest of hope. And each time God has shown us His greatest glory, He has always first revealed our greatest despair.”

The story, the lessons learned, and the beautiful grace that Greg Lucas reveals through these pages are a gift. The reminders of the glory that is revealed and the grace that is given us during our sufferings has been timely balm for my heart. Lucas shares how his son’s handicaps have brought him into a much closer relationship with God, a daily dependence on His sufficiency. I laughed and mourned and rejoiced while reading this book. Just as I have done the past 3 weeks here in Raleigh. Life, especially in the midst of suffering, is like that. God is good, and God is ever present.

I received this advanced readers copy through the Early Reader program of Library Thing.

I was interested in the book because my aunt has pointed out that we are descendants of the MacDonald’s and the most notable thing she mentioned was the murder of the MacDonalds by the Campbells after partaking of their hospitality. This Massacre of Glencoe sounded interesting, and when I saw a novel written around it, I thought it would be a wonderful way to learn more about the time and the event. Historical fiction can be very good.

I am not one to speak of the historical accuracy of the book. But the author seemed to capture the shifting of the allegiances of the time, and the ways of survival.

The protagonist, an independent young woman, hounded and chased as a witch, is very well spoken. She is imprisoned for some reason after the massacre. An Irishman who is searching for evidence to drive out William the Orange and bring back the Stuart dynasty, comes to her asking for details of the massacre. He has heard that it was done by soldiers, at William’s orders. She promises to tell him what he asks, but in return she wants to tell him her story. She is going to die soon, burned as a witch in punishment for helping the MacDonalds escape.

What follows is a well-written story of life as a woman labeled as a witch, even before choices for a normal life can be made. The quick judgments we make about people and how the labels we assign don’t tell us all we could know about a person. I liked Corrag, and I liked how Charles Leslie changed as he heard her story and got to see her as a person. I also like Jane Leslie, his wife. And I learned a bit about how the Glorious Revolution of William the Orange affected those as far away as the Scottish Highlands. And how being six days late to make an oath can be grounds for murder.