Anywho, it is now with great excitement that I give you not one, not two, but THREE reviews! What's more is, these are three most excellent books. I give them each 5 stars. That's a total of 15 stars in one post, a veritable constellation!
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
This was the first book I had read by Greene, who was unknown to me previously but is apparently a fairly revered Modern novelist. This particular book was given a spot on TIME's list of 100 best English-language novels, 1923 - present.
If you decide to read this, it will help to do a little research about the context before beginning. I must ashamedly confess ignorance about 20th-century Mexican history, which is unfortunate, considering we're talking about a time not even 50 years before my birth, and a place just a few hundred miles southwest of my hometown in south Louisiana.
The Power and the Glory follows the adventures of a Mexican priest, at a time when the Mexican state has essentially "excommunicated" the Church. His story reads somewhat like the stations of the Passion, even though he has in many ways fallen from grace. He has become a drunkard and has fathered a child in an apparent one night stand. In spite of himself, he is an incredibly admirable figure, who courageously continues to fulfill his priestly duties, in spite of the persecution from the state and of his own inward struggles, and the torturous guilt that confronts him at every point. In the midst of such dire circumstances and seeming hopelessness, the priest's story is one of great beauty and powerful redemption.
Is God to Blame? Moving Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Evil by Gregory A. Boyd
The "Problem of Evil" is a theological conundrum which is surely as old as religious thought itself. It's a huge problem for Christianity, which asserts that God is both all-powerful and all-good. Anyone who does any serious thinking about God has to deal with this dilemma, and I believe that we would all do well to read this book, as Boyd tackles the issue in a way that is both logically satisfying and spiritually reassuring. As for how accurate his theology is, you can be the judge of that, but I say that it makes more sense than anything else I've read on the topic. Even the venerable C. S. Lewis, who gave his take on the issue in his book The Problem of Pain, doesn't handle it with the kind of thoroughness that Boyd does.
Even if you don't end up fully agreeing with Boyd, reading this book will help you to confront many common assumptions and (mis)perceptions that believers often have about God and the nature of his sovereignty. This is a must-read.
Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith by Daniel Harrell
Many people who know me know by now that I count myself among the somewhat-small-but-seemingly-growing number of evangelical Christians who believe wholesale in the science of evolutionary theory. Over the past several years I've done lots of reading of Christians who have come to terms with the idea, without feeling the need to abandon any of the central tenets of Christian faith.
I can unreservedly say that Daniel Harrell's book is the best I've read on the topic. Major kudos to Harrell for writing a book that compels the mind just as much as the heart. His gut-wrenching honesty spills out on to the page, as he gets down to, not simply the issue of how much evidence there is or isn't, but to the real heart issues that make many Christians uneasy with the whole idea.
And for those who already accept evolution, Harrell's book is an inspirational treatise in regard to the question of, "If evolution is indeed true, what kind of picture of God does it leave us with?" If you are a Christian who believes in evolution, or are at least willing to consider its merits, PLEASE read this. You will be greatly rewarded with a work that, aside from challenging your mind, is also quite simply a fantastic literary accomplishment. You won't want to put it down.
