What book to read.

[Jake]

Any thoughts on God Was in Christ by D. M. Baillie ?

 

[JennyG]

You have plenty of votes for Bunyan already (mine among them) but I would also add, NOT "god Calling" at any price, at least if it's the book I think it is.
Oops, I got a lower case g there by accident but I'm going to leave it because if any god is calling through that book I'm pretty sure it's one with a small g

 

[D. Paul]

At the risk of flying in the face of everyone's recommendation, I read "Pilgrim's Progress" this Spring and really wasn't impressed. Some of the analogies / parable encounters were clever, but I found many to be forced and awkward. I recognize that you have to read it in light of it's place in time and church history, and I am glad that I did finally read it, but it's not a book that I would recommend enthusiastically and without qualification.

......

ericfromcowtown, are these indeed your writings?

ericfromcowtown, do you recant of these writings?



This council finds you GUILTY of having an opinion not in compliance with that of our own. And thus, in good Wonderland fashion:

"No, no!" said the PB. Sentence first-verdict afterwards."
"Stuff and nonsense" said ericfromcowtown loudly. "The idea of having the sentence first!"
"Hold you tongue!" said the PB, turning purple.
"I won't" said ericfromcowtown.
"Off with his head!" the PB shouted at the top of their voice(s). Nobody moved...

 

[ericfromcowtown]

At the risk of flying in the face of everyone's recommendation, I read "Pilgrim's Progress" this Spring and really wasn't impressed. Some of the analogies / parable encounters were clever, but I found many to be forced and awkward. I recognize that you have to read it in light of it's place in time and church history, and I am glad that I did finally read it, but it's not a book that I would recommend enthusiastically and without qualification.

......

ericfromcowtown, are these indeed your writings?

ericfromcowtown, do you recant of these writings?



This council finds you GUILTY of having an opinion not in compliance with that of our own. And thus, in good Wonderland fashion:

"No, no!" said the PB. Sentence first-verdict afterwards."
"Stuff and nonsense" said ericfromcowtown loudly. "The idea of having the sentence first!"
"Hold you tongue!" said the PB, turning purple.
"I won't" said ericfromcowtown.
"Off with his head!" the PB shouted at the top of their voice(s). Nobody moved...

I know, I know, ever the non-conformist. If it is at all redeeming, I just finished Pink's The Sovereignty of God and highly recommend it.

 

[OPC'n]

I picked Rediscovering Holiness by J. I. Packer. It sounds pretty good and would like to read it myself!

 

[Montanablue]

At the risk of flying in the face of everyone's recommendation, I read "Pilgrim's Progress" this Spring and really wasn't impressed. Some of the analogies / parable encounters were clever, but I found many to be forced and awkward. I recognize that you have to read it in light of it's place in time and church history, and I am glad that I did finally read it, but it's not a book that I would recommend enthusiastically and without qualification.

You are not alone. I read this book expecting great things and was sadly unimpressed too. I thought the writing was rather atrocious. *waits to be pelted with rotten tomatoes*

Having said that, I do think it is a book that every Christian should read. There's a lot to be gained from it, if you can slog through. And since everyone else here seems to adore it, chances are you'll get it more out of it than I did!

 

[DanMcCormack]

I got ten times more from Lord of the Rings than I did from Pilgrims Progress or Narnia.



But -- like Tolkien -- I prefer history to allegory

 

[Marrow Man]

Any thoughts on God Was in Christ by D. M. Baillie ?

I have that -- it was given to me by a graduate of Southern Baptist Seminary; he attended way back in the pre-Mohler days. He also gave me books by Barth, Tillich, Brunner, et al, if that's any indication. I would NOT recommend it.

The Gospel According to Jesus was one of the first books I read as a new Christian back in 1988 (I think it was 1989 before I read it). It is very good and I would recommend that.

I know this will tar-and-feather me, but I've never been able to get into Pilgrim's Progress much.

 

[Montanablue]

I know this will tar-and-feather me, but I've never been able to get into Pilgrim's Progress much.

Ah ha! More of us come out of the woodwork! I knew there had to be others like me out there...

 

[Marrow Man]

I know this will tar-and-feather me, but I've never been able to get into Pilgrim's Progress much.

Ah ha! More of us come out of the woodwork! I knew there had to be others like me out there...

Seriously, I've picked the thing up three or four times, and the writing is very good, but it just doesn't hold my interest. But, then again, most fiction (even allegory) doesn't really interest me much.

 

[Montanablue]

I know this will tar-and-feather me, but I've never been able to get into Pilgrim's Progress much.

Ah ha! More of us come out of the woodwork! I knew there had to be others like me out there...

Seriously, I've picked the thing up three or four times, and the writing is very good, but it just doesn't hold my interest. But, then again, most fiction (even allegory) doesn't really interest me much.

Interesting, I enjoy the allegory, but don't care for the writing. No matter, I'll take any allies I can find.

 

[Marrow Man]

I was in a Bible study once (I was in seminary at the time), and the pastor's wife said something about how every Christian should read Pilgrim's Progress. I stated I had never read it (completely, that is), and you could hear audible gasps around the room. I then asked how many had read Calvin's Institutes. No one else, of course!