Book Reviews - 4/12/2010

Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul, G. Jeffrey MacDonald, 2010, Basic Books, New York, ISBN 9780465009329, 240 pages, $24.95, hardcover.

I am always wary of books that arrive on my desk from secular publishing houses. More often than not, the titles they want us to review are “Christian” in name only, using the religious angle as a veneer for social and political issues. Such books are, at best, useless and, at worst, deliberately destabilizing to the faith. Every once in a while, however, something worthwhile slips through.

Thieves in the Temple is the most recent such gem. With measured candor, MacDonald (a freelance journalist and United Church of Christ clergyman) addresses the decline of moral and spiritual authority in today’s American Church, tracing it to the Church’s embrace of the wider culture’s creeds of consumerism, individualism, victimhood, and passivity.

MacDonald examines and deconstructs the consumer culture of the Church and exposes it for the pile of dry bones it is. He reminds pastors of their responsibility, not to be “relevant” or accommodating, but to be challenging to churchgoers. Christian leaders, he says, should be leading, not entertaining or offering therapy. Appealing to Christ’s thoroughly counter-cultural ministry, he urges readers not to conform to the world (or even to be only superficially “different”), but to be sacrificial, disciplined, and committed to a higher road where self is denied more often than indulged. MacDonald openly wonders what will become of the Church in this country when the consumerist juggernaut finally grinds to a halt leaving a bankrupt shell of belief in its wake.

The book is not without some significant flaws. MacDonald’s reasoning at times seems to indicate that he doesn’t fully understand who Jesus is (i.e., we know Him to be far more than simply a radical teacher). Other times, his wording and choice of examples exposes a politically liberal undercurrent to his views, and he over-generalizes the very diverse array of church traditions within evangelical Protestantism. He tends to describe developing and maintaining a moral fiber in society as the primary function of the Church rather than as side effects of its fundamentally spiritual reality, and his solutions to the problems he describes depend more on human effort than divine intervention.

Still, Thieves hits close enough to the mark that, as I was reading, the Lord moved me to put it aside and repent of the myriad ways I exalt my own comfort over His glory each day. I suppose in that sense, the strongest critique I could offer of this book is that it had to come from the mainstream. It is to our shame that Christian publishers (who, unfortunately, can be near the heart of the problems MacDonald engages) have not found a book like this worth printing.

Justin Lonas

Target: All/Pastors
Type: Church culture
Take: Recommended (with cautions)

The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation, Michael Reeves, 2010, B & H Publishing, Nashville, Tenn., ISBN 9781433669316, 207 pages, $14.99, softcover.

“I did nothing. The Word did everything” – Martin Luther.

The Unquenchable Flame is undoubtedly a book for every Christian’s library. Although he is not necessarily breaking new ground, Michael Reeves has written a captivating primer on the history surrounding the Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century. Its appeal lies in the storytelling—it reads like an engaging storybook, yet is not demeaning to seasoned historians. In fact, its presentation makes the reader who is familiar with some of the Reformers want to revisit Church history in even more detail.

Reeves’ approach takes us into the minds of Luther and other important figures of the time and follows them through their various theological transformations while reporting on their followers and also the fierce opposition from power-hungry church hierarchies. He doesn’t leave the discussion on purely historical plane, however, delving into the crucial theological issues at the core of the Reformation. He points out that the whole movement centered on the doctrine of justification by faith alone—the Reformers challenged a Roman Catholic Church which (and does still officially) held up man’s need for good works to complete God’s work of salvation in the face of Scripture’s teaching that Christ’s sacrifice alone makes us worthy.

These men who Reeves details were not your typical Christians; they were radicals (despite the fact that many of them would probably not claim such a label, saying rather that they were simply being true to God’s Word), and this book clearly shows how their lives irrevocably changed the course of the Church and history as a whole.

The book is beautifully accessible, especially to those who have little or no knowledge of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin or the Reformation. This would make an excellent resource for high school students or anyone who is seeking to better understand the foundation of Reformation theology. The Unquenchable Flame captures the heart of these Reformers whose passion was for teaching God’s Truth. This, they believed, would lead to God revealing to His people the unbiblical attitudes and practices found amongst them. Through this history, Reeves teaches a powerful lesson on how God can change hearts and action in obedience will follow and makes a good effort to pass the torch of God’s truth to the next generation.

Rachel Lonas

Target: All
Type: Church History
Take: Highly Recommended