To often in our Christian culture we hear the word ‘sex’ and close our ears. For many, there is an unspoken doctrine: sex=sin. Yes, there will be the occasional, “God created sex” point made in a sermon, but the general attitude towards sex is one of evasion. I’ve heard stories of newly wed couples being uncomfortable because they felt like they were doing something wrong when they consummated their marriage. There’s even a news report of a German couple who wanted to have kids but couldn’t figure out how because they were so sheltered.

This cultural backdrop is one reason for the need of this book, Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. God did create sex, but more than that, His intentions for it were good. John Piper reminds us of this in the first two chapters. Piper’s main points are that “sexuality is designed by God as a way to know God in Christ more fully,” and that “knowing God in Christ more full is designed as a way of guarding and guiding our sexuality.” (26)

Ben Patterson finishes Part One of the book laying the theological foundations of the Christian worldview concerning sexuality. Following Part One are two chapters on sex and sin. The first deals with issues pertaining to those who have sinned sexually or have been sinned against. The next chapter, by Al Mohler, explains the problems with homosexuality and how we should respond to it in our culture. Part Three contains a chapter for single men and a chapter for married men, and likewise Part Four contains a chapter for single women and a chapter for married women. Finally there are two chapters in Part Five that look at the doctrines of sex and marriage in historical perspective. The first is about Martin Luther and his relationship with Katherine von Bora, and the second details the Puritan’s understanding of sex and marriage.

By far the chapter I had the most fun reading was the one on Martin and Katherine. Justin Taylor does a great job of telling their fascinating story with humor and substance. That said, it’s hard for me to say there were only a couple of chapters I really liked. The truth is, the entire book was a great read. David Powlison’s chapter on sexual sin is the only I could say anything negative about. He offered some great points but he repeated himself numerous times and the chapter seemed to drag on (it could have easily been edited shorter)

Being that I’m single, I was a bit hesitant about reading this book at first. Is this topic really one a single male should study? Yes! I’m exceedingly grateful I took the time to read this book and would recommend it to everyone, regardless of where they are in life; be it single, married, divorced, 83, or whatever. This book takes some great steps forward towards curing the Evangelical evasion of sex and recognizing the role of sexuality in the life of the Christian and specifically in our relationship with Christ. Undoubtedly this will be one of the best books of the year.

This book was given to me through Mind & Media by Baker Books as part of a book review program. If you have a blog, click here to find out how you can get free books to review.

Most Christians live in a tension between desiring to live in complete surrender to Christ and yet still sinning along the way. This is at least true for myself, and I suspect for every other person reading this. We know how we are supposed to act in Christ, we have experienced some transformation by the Holy Spirit, but we still fail more often then we’d like. Gregory Boyd and Al Larson believe this is because we are all trapped in the Matrix.

While the book is chalk-full of references to the Matrix movies, the matrix we are stuck behind, according to Boyd and Larson, is a system of lies instituted by Satan through the secular world.  God wants us to be free from this network of lies and to become free we must replace our false “neurochips” with true “neurochips” (Biblical promises).

In nine chapters the authors work through how they view the functions of the brain, particularly in thought and memory, as well offer a number of stories of how they used their methods to bring people out of pornography addiction, a phobia of insects, and depression.

There is some good foundational theology mixed in throughout the book. For instance, there is a responsibility on our behalf to work towards our sanctification (80). And yes, Satan’s lies have deceived us on many occasions (19). However, I found more troubling foundational theology than good Biblical theology. Throughout the book there is a notion that we can become practically perfect this side of heaven. They imply that Jesus dies so that we could have a completely abundant life on earth (39). “Whatever it is that presently holds you in bondage, it doesn’t have to be there. You can experience real life—free life—in Jesus Christ!” (76)

I could go on about other instances of bad theology, however, it is the methods used by the authors that are the most important part of the book. We all know we have issues; this is why someone would read a book like this. Many are looking for the quick-fix method to help them. But it is the method Boyd and Larson offer that is the overwhelming problem (likely based on their other theological problems).

According to Boyd and Larson, the way we solve our problems is to re-present our memories and alter them in our mind’s eye. We speak and listen to our soul and recreate our thoughts and memories based on what we want to change. Sometimes this comes across as plain silliness. “Say, ‘Soul, listen up. Because of what Jesus did for me, I am…’” (44) They do encourage asking the Holy Spirit for help… (To a patient named Doreen) “Are you ready to be free? You and the Holy Spirit will create the movie The Story of Doreen’s Healing.” (171)

Aside from the exercises they offer being silly, they are completely unbiblical. Jesus didn’t lead his disciples through imagination trances. Paul didn’t instruct the new members of his churches to recreate their memories. Rather, the manner by which lives are changed according to the Bible is the Word of God. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, not our imagination, to discern and transform us (1 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12-13).

Escaping the Matrix is an escape from the transforming power of the Word of God. In its place we find the latest pop-psychology with a dangerous dash of New Age mysticism. I can find no reason to recommend this book to anyone for any purpose.

We live in an increasingly post-Christian culture. In times prior we could “preach the word” using words like sin and repentance and people would at least know what we’re talking about. The times today are such that the language American Christianity has spoken is no longer the language of American culture. In this book, Dan Kimball offers a mindset for how Christians can adapt and reach the changing culture with an unchanging message.

Dan begins by setting the stage contrasting the “seeker-sensitive” model and the “post-seeker-sensitive” model (the emerging church mindset). Churches that are seeker-sensitive, for instance, are more focused on getting people in the church doors than meeting them where they are. People in the postmodern culture understand things differently, and the seeker sensitive mindset simply will not reach most of the postmodern/emerging generation.

After outlining the cultural shifts that have taken place and dealing with some of the theological issues that arise, Dan moves on to the larger part of the book, “Reconstructing Vintage Christianity in the Emerging Church.” This second part deals with the more practical aspects of what it looks like for Christian churches to reach out to the current culture around them.

Dan Kimball is an excellent writer. He’s clear, straightforward, and writes as though he’s thought extensively about these issues ahead of time (that’s becoming harder to find these days). There were many things I loved about this book. Dan repeatedly places the emphasis of church on Jesus. “Absolutely everything we do when we design worship gatherings for the emerging church should have Jesus at the center as we lift up His name.” (121)

There were a few times when a concern about something would start to grow in the back of my mind and then almost immediately Dan would speak to that concern, as though he saw it coming. E.g.- After speaking about multisensory worship I became worried about how it was too focused on feelings and emotions. Then Dan said, “The danger, of course, is focusing so much on experience that we teach people to respond only by feelings and emotions… I believe the more the emerging church uses multisensory worship and teach, the stronger and deeper our use of Scripture needs to be.” (131)

Of course, there were a handful of things I didn’t care for. One is Dan’s emphasis on lectio devina, silence, and listening prayer- all of which I believe to be dangerous practices not supported by Scripture. However, those issues aren’t specific to emerging churches since many other people practice them as well. Another issue I had was the occasional false dichotomies between the “Modern Church” and the “Emerging Church.” For instance, Kimball states that the modern church said,  “evangelism uses reason and proofs for apologetics,” while the emerging church says “evangelism uses the church being the church as the primary apologetic.” (201) Francis Schaeffer said our “final apologetic” as Christians is love, and I think Schaeffer especially would fit both views of evangelism. Most apologists I know are more of the Schaeffer type than the “reason and proofs” only type, so I don’t believe this dichotomy is accurate.

Overall, this is a great book. With the exception of only a few points I would recommend it to just about anyone wanting to make a difference for Christ in the postmodern culture. Dan Kimball has some good ideas for how to do church differently and reach the culture without capitulating to it and becoming the culture.

What do DJs, tourists, and postmodern philosophers have to do with church? Apparently quite a bit. This recent book by Steve Taylor, a pastor in New Zealand, is subtitled “Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change.” Mr. Taylor draws from Karl Barth’s comment about the task of preaching being to sit with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. “I sit on the fault lines of a cultural shift. In my right hand, I hold a video remote. In my left hand, I hold the gospel of Jesus… Ours is the task of communicating the gospel in an age of change.” (19)

The book is in some sense a blueprint for how the church, or Christian communities, can apply the gospel to the changing culture. Each chapter is a postcard from an emerging church somewhere in the world. Each postcard highlights some activity that reflects the goals of emerging churches. Throughout the book there are also comments by different people in the margins that expand, footnote, or softly critique what Mr. Taylor writes.

Postcard 1 sets the stage for the rest of the book. In it, Mr. Taylor draws out the differences between Frank Zeffarelli’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo and Juliet. Each sought to translate Shakespeare’s text into contemporary culture. The implication is that the gospel has not changed, but the culture has, and in order to communicate it effectively we need to re-translate it.

Mr. Taylor offers different perspectives on how this can be done. One is to view the church as continually being reborn. “If God is about birthing—and rebirthing—and we are to be about the things of God, then we, too, are called to acts that bring new life into the world.” (50) “The belief in God’s constant re-creation drives much of the emerging church. It is less a reaction against old forms and ideas and more a response to God’s call for us to join in with the continuous birthing of his kingdom.” (56)

Another approach offered is tourist spirituality. “Tourism can serve as a redemptive framework for postmodern mission, in which people are ‘tourists’ on spiritual journeys and the church operates as ‘tour guide,’ stimulating forward movement and nourishing the quest.” (83)

Perhaps the most interesting and telling perspective is that of cultural sampling, applying the activities of DJs to the role of the church. For Mr. Taylor this means playing television commercials, popular music, showing art, reading poetry, reading scripture, and much more.

My thoughts were generally mixed about this book. I think Steve Taylor makes some good points about communicating the gospel in a global culture that is almost entirely different than it was 10 years ago.

His analysis of where the modern church is lacking is accurate in several areas. One that I appreciated was that of the place of art in a worship service. For some reason, we tend to consider the reading of scripture, liturgies, and songs as the only legitimate forms of worship in service. However, if God gave us abilities for creativity, it seems those would be appropriate for the worship from Christ’s Bride as well. Mr. Taylor also has some good theological points that should not be missed, e.g. “Spiritual seekers can fall into the trap of picking and choosing a feel-good theology that doesn’t have anything to do with the truth of living life with God.” (82)

Contrary to what many critics of the emerging churches have argued, the Bible plays a role in Mr. Taylor’s view of church. In many of his theological points he seeks to root his claims in the words of scripture. There are, however, a few problems with how scripture is used. One is its role in service, in which a few services that he describes leave the Bible mitigated to either being one voice among many voices (154) or having no role at all (55). Another problem is the way Mr. Taylor exegetes scripture. The most prominent example is his use of 1 Peter 3:1-7, which he uses to argue that Peter was “sampling from culture and from the way of Jesus.” (141) Mr. Taylor assumes, without argument, that some of Peter’s imperatives for how husbands and wives relate are items from the culture, and this enables him to dismiss several elements of what Peter says because “our world is not Peter’s world” (143).

In contrast to Brian McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy, this was a far more interesting read and a far more accurate description of what's going on in emerging churches. For anyone looking to find out what emerging church is all about, this is the book to read. It exemplifies the changes in methods for presenting the gospel that are happening, however, it never clearly presents the gospel. Mr. Taylor tells us we must remain orthodox and true to God, but what that means is wrapped up in metaphors of birthing and incarnation that are unclear at points. This is not a defense of emerging churches. However, it's mostly accurate as a description of the emerging church.