Review: "Rich Wounds"

 

Rich Wounds: the Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus by David Mathis is a devotional that will lead you into the consideration of Who Jesus is and what He has done – feeling the pain and the horror, the joy and the relief…   It can be used during Lent as a devotional to parallel the liturgical season, or anytime to be brought into that final week.

The title of the book comes from the hymn, “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” and fixes our eyes on the broken body of God through which we are saved.

There are thirty devotions in the book, and the book is divided into four sections.

In the first section, the devotions focus on “His Life.”  Titles include:  His habits. He slept, and He taught.

The second section looks at “His Death,” and the devotions as why the cross is wonderful, and why Jesus’ blood is precious, among others.

The third section is “His Triumph.”  “His Heart Beats.” “He is Exalted.” “He Sat Down.”

Finally, there is – specifically – “The Passion Week” Here Mathis walks the reader through major issues in the Passion week ending with, “The Triumph of Joy.’

Each devotion begins with a Scripture and ends with a prayer plus suggested additional Scripture reading.

Name and Scripture indices form the end of the book.

I’ve read and used good devotionals, but this is one of the best.  Mathis sticks to the text, brings the reader in through his writing, and strikes and the heart and the mind to bring the reader into the love of those rich wounds.

Highly recommended.

[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com].

Review: "Moby Dick"

 

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is one of those books you have heard of – you know something about – but perhaps you have never read it.  I knew it began, “Call me Ishmael.”  It had to do with Captain Ahab chasing the White Whale, Moby Dick, who had stolen the captain’s leg.

But what is it about?  One thing to note is that it is difficult to understand Melville without some knowledge of the Bible and Shakespeare.  Even using a text with footnotes to draw your attention to the references – they serve as an unwelcome intrusion to the flow of the novel.  Beginning with the first sentence – who was Ishmael?  Does it matter that he is one of the two divisions of all of humanity biblically?

A major theme running through the book is that bad things happen – how ought we respond to them?  Whether losing limbs to the whale or serving under the maniacal Ahab, bad things happen, and they must be faced.  But how? 

Melville gives a number of options:

The minister says that there are bad things, but God will bring something better in the end.

Ishmael says that there are bad things and there’s nothing to do about it, so push ahead stoically.

The captain who lost two limbs says that there are bad things, but you have to be thankful for all the good things in your life.

Ahab says there are bad things, and he rages against the thought and that they should happen to him.

And then there’s the elephant in the room:  who or what is Moby Dick?

[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com].

Review: "The Once and Future King"

 

The Once and Future King by T. H. White is actually the first four novels White wrote on King Arthur – the fifth being published separately as The Book of Merlin.

The first half of the Once and Future King is the best-known part of the series – in part due to Disney’s The Sword in the Stone.  The first half of the book deals with where Arthur came from, his training to be a king under the tutelage of Merlin, and the removal of the sword as the sign of his being the rightful king.

The second half of the book looks at the relationships among Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot – their three-way romance.  And it poses the question for the king of whether a king should be just or merciful.

White fleshes out the original Arthur stories and looks at what it really means to be a king – a ruler.  Serious questions are asked that current rulers (and those who elect them) should consider seriously.

[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com].