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 PrintableVersion Rock solid: men of truthSome of the hard stufROCK SOLID: MEN OF TRUTH At his fifth attempt, the Editor of EN has finally sent me a book I can recommend 'avec plaisir'. But as writers and film-makers know, it is much harder to portray goodness than shortcomings! This book is the second of a planned trilogy of books published especially for the Men's Conventions. Rock Solid aims to get to grips with 12 great truths that together form the crux of what it means to be an 'evangelical'. Some of these are doctrinal, such as the penal substitution of Christ, justification of believers by grace alone, the reality of judgement. However, others are of a more practical nature - the centrality of Bible teaching, the priority of evangelism, the importance of the local church. An introduction by Richard Coekin deals with the question 'why doctrine is important' and shows how these 12 truths are related to each other. Then each theme is dealt with by a whole range of different authors. In general, four A4 size pages suffice to give a reasoned outline of the truth concerned, plus a short Bible study and discussion questions. There are also brief contemporary stories of how these particular truths have been used by God in the lives of different men, and an interesting feature - cameos of 'famous Christian men' who in the history of the church have contended for the particular doctrine. The book is primarily a workbook, and is written in the hope that men will use it in small groups as a means of getting a clear hold on these truths. What do I like about the book?First, it is neither simplistic and naive nor raucous and confrontational. But it is intelligent and passionate. Secondly, with just a few exceptions, the articles are accessible to the average reader, and the variety of styles is a bonus. Thirdly, the historical perspective, allied to the endeavour to show how all the doctrines are interrelated, belies the light-weight style and format. There's a lot more here in 68 pages than in many larger volumes. But I do have one quibble. Why the inconsistency with the use of a capital letter for Bible throughout this book? For instance, on page 56, in the course of the same article, it is written seven times with a capital 'B' and nine times with a small 'b'. Given the authority of the Scriptures which this book is committed to, the Bible surely merits a capital letter as much as any other book title. David Brown, © Evangelicals Now - October 2004 |
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