Keeping the Feast: Metaphors for the Meal by Milton Brasher-Cunningham

Milton Brasher-Cunningham is a chef, a poet, a blogger, a Christian minister, and a lover of the Lord’s Supper. This book explains his multi-faceted relationship with the Communion meal, each chapter devoted to one particular aspect of the meal that we see reflected in Communion, like a family feast or a soup kitchen. Every chapter begins with a poem and concludes with a recipe, all of which sound very nice.

As you’d expect the writing style is far more poetic in nature than academic, which works perfectly with the subject matter. The impetus behind the book is to communicate a far broader perspective on Communion to a Christian’s ‘default’ understanding, and although this isn’t a deep theological study on the history of the Lord’s Supper it’s definitely a thought stirrer.

The best thing about this book for me is the way that it opens your mind without distracting from what’s really important. There are influences in here from Buddha, Hinduism and Christian Science, which might put the more conservative reader on edge, but the foundation of Communion on the Upper Room and Jesus’ sacrifice is not lost, where it very easily could have been.

I can honestly say that I won’t approach the Lord’s Table in the same way again after having read this book, so I’d be happy to recommend this to anyone.

I got this book for free from SpeakEasy in return for an honest review.

Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias (ed)

A collection of the finest and most respected apologists on the planet combined their skill and knowledge to bring this work to my bookshelf. By looking at a vast range of situations and audiences the book aims to inspire the reader to take apologetics beyond opinion to changed lives based on truth.

The key message for this book is that it’s not an apologetics book itself. I expected it to be full of convincing arguments to build my faith, but that’s not its purpose so if that’s what you’re looking for you’ll be disappointed, despite the list of authors!

In my opinion the last chapter is the best, in which Zacharias pushes home the importance of a radically changed life, the church community, and the development of apologetics into more than a debate. If I’d read this chapter first, the rest of the book would have made much more sense.

On the whole the book’s very strong. The authors are knowledgeable and give a good background about all of the topics covered. But there’s a problem in the wide range of topics – covering all Eastern and New Age religions in one short chapter doesn’t really do them justice and just leaves you asking more questions than you started with.

If you’re into apologetics I’d encourage you to read this book because it will get your priorities right, but don’t expect to receive a bunch of new arguments because it doesn’t do that.

I got this book for free from BookSneeze. I’m not required to give a positive review.

All religions lead to God

Statement of fact: all religions lead to God. The problem is, they lead to him as Judge rather than as Father.

The only thing that leads to God as Father is not so much a thing as a person, Jesus Christ. So I’m not even going to say that Christianity leads to God as Father, because really it’s not – Jesus does. He said ‘I am the way’ in John 14:6.

Now, there ought to be a differentiation made between religion and culture. Some people are born Muslim, or born Hindu, or whatever. Are they destined for God as Judge because of their birth culture? No. You can become a follower of Jesus, relate to God as Father, yet still culturally be a Muslim.

But they are destined for God as Judge. Ultimately, we all are – not because of our birth culture, but despite it. We’re sinners by nature, and we’re sinners by choice. Thankfully, Jesus redeems us from our sinful nature by faith, and in him we receive adoption into God’s family.

Encounter God as Judge and you’ll be judged a sinner. Encounter God as Father and you’ll be welcomed into his joyous house.

Jesus is awesome.