Recommended Book

If you are looking for a good book to read, then I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to you. I finished reading this book back in January and I am very thankful for the content that it contains. The author is J. P. Moreland, who is a professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and has written many fine volumes. This has become my favorite of his works.

I find that books fall into two categories. First, there are books that are well written, thought out, contain logical argumentation, and are all around engaging. These books are typically written by members of academia, but are often times inaccessible to the general population, mostly because the language can be confusing, they don't contain a lot of story, and can seem "dry."

Secondly, there are books published at the "popular" level that touch the emotion, inspire with story, but are often times poorly reasoned, exhibit little research, and argue against strawmen. The authors writing these books are generally not scholars in any field. Every once in a while a scholar/writer will be able to take his expertise and communicate effectively to a wider audience, like C. S. Lewis and Dallas Willard. Kingdom Triangle has that feel. It is not easy or light reading, but it is also not too technical.

Moreland believes that if the Church is going to find its way forward in our current cultural context, we must recover the Christian mind, renovate the soul, and restore the Spirit's power. What excites me so much about this book is that these three themes have been so prominent in my own thinking and learning over the last 8 years. Three seemingly divergent themes coming together in one fine book.

To recover the Christian mind means that we must see that throughout the history of the Church the Christian tradition has been a knowledge tradition. The relationship between knowledge and faith has become lost or grown fuzzy in the minds of many Christians.

To renovate the Soul is to experience authentic spiritual transformation. Moreland's discussion of the empty self is insightful (and is great sermon material) and his Tennis Righteousness illustration of spiritual discipline is very helpful.

To restore the Spirit's power is to begin to experience the supernatural power of God; to experience the "power" of the Kingdom of God. Moreland is among the growing numbers of evangelicals who identify with "third wave" charismatics, who stress miraculous healing and words of knowledge instead of tongues and other sensational phenomenon. He critiques both the cessationist (those who say the charismatic gifts have ceased) and the overtly sensational charismatic in an attempt to find a middle road between the two. Moreland even tells his own story of instantaneous healing he received by God through the prayers of church leaders.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you, my family and friends. You can also check out Moreland's website to read more of his stuff including his recent paper, which was read at the November 2007 Evangelical Theological Society Meeting. It was quite the "hit" this last year.