book review
I am in the happy position of having a 19 year old son recommending a Tim Keller book to me. I’m blessed and I know it (ah yes, that reminds me of a song – but we won’t go there). On Joseph’s recommendation, I ordered and read Keller’s The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. It is a…
READ MOREThe New Zealand cricket team is at an all-time low, so I thought I’d try to turn myself into a big rugby fan – and stopped by Bob Howitt’s Graham Henry: Final Word (Harper Collins, 2012) for a read. It is not a classic and I managed to race through it on a return flight to Dunedin…
READ MOREOn a series of recent flights, I enjoyed the opportunity to engage with DA Carson’s latest book, The Intolerance of Tolerance. His central premise is that the word ‘tolerance’ has become slippery and changed its meaning over time. There is an old tolerance (which is good) and a new tolerance (which is bad). Carson circles around this distinction,…
READ MOREWith a British Olympics around the corner, I suspect David McClasland’s Pure Gold (Lion, 2012) has been republished with the possibility of a fresh readership in mind. If so, I succumbed – and am so glad I did. It caught my eye at Auckland Airport – and it filled that eye with more than few tears.…
READ MOREPatrick Johnstone’s The Future of the Global Church is one for the ages. I’ll leave you to check out the website. Make sure you click here for the full Table of Contents and some sample pages from the book to get a quick sense of what the book covers. Here are my reasons for loving this book:…
READ MOREThe value of Alister Chapman’s new book on John Stott lies with the fact that he does not appear to be a fan. A different voice has joined the conversation. And one senses that this conversation on Stott’s legacy is about to get thicker and deeper – and more intriguing (not the least because the…
READ MOREIt is one of the books of the decade for me (NB: pages 273-275 provide an excellent summary of the argument): James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World (Oxford University Press, 2010). In trying to distill its influence, three affirmations come to mind. 1. Our understanding of culture and change can be so wrong Using words like ‘flawed’…
READ MOREOf all the Timothy Keller books which I have read, Generous Justice may well be his finest and most important. Keller’s very last sentence captures his purpose with the book: ‘A life poured out in doing justice for the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true gospel faith.’ (189). There is something ever…
READ MOREI owe a lot to John Graham. So when I went to Whitcoulls intent on finding the Steve Jobs’ biography for some light Christmas reading, I was easily distracted by Bill Francis’ Sir John Graham: Sportsman, Master, Mentor – and devoured it in a couple of days. It was 1977. In their wisdom, my parents…
READ MOREAbout Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.