Books Reviews

Experience and Faith: The Signifigance of Luther for Understanding Todays Experiential Religion by William Hordern

First off if you enjoy reading deep yet well written and accesable tehology Bill Hordern is your man. He has an uncanny ability to take complex issues and write about them in ways that are both enjoyable to read and intellectually stimulating. The title pretty much explains what the book is about and here are a few quotes to wet your whistle.

Feubach in The Essence of Christianity argues that all theology is really anthropology. God is humanity written large, a projection of human nature onto a heavenly screen. As Barth sees it, the attempt to know God through one’s own experience is always vulnerable to this analysis. (26)

The point we are making is that to concentrate on our own experience is to give only information about how we feel. This has its interest and importance. But it cannot be claimed that it gives knowledge of a reality apart from ourselves. (35)

For Luther the experience of God was real and important. But true and abiding assurance can no more come from looking at our personal experience than it can come from looking at the good works we perform. Assurance comes only when we look outside of ourselves to the objective work that God has done and is doing. Faith, therefore, is never a feeling of assurance for such feelings come and go. Faith is the trust that is given by the Holy Spirit whereby we have confidence that God will keep the promises made in Christ. (83)

Often as Christians look to their experience, the absence and unreality of God is all that is experienced. (98)

Now you may agree or disagree with some of these quotes but what this book does is put together a very logical and concise argument about the danger of allowing experience to guide us in our Christian walk. It does not discount experience but challenges how it fits into our life of faith.

Family Ties that Bind

For anyone who is interesting in understanding the dynamics of both familial and relationships in general this book is compact and easy to read. The book covers a good variety of problems and ways of being healthy in relationship.

1) Triangles are an interesting dynamic which exist when there are three people involved. Heres an example. My wife (Jenny) and I (Gerald) get along fine and so do my mother (Lynn) and I. However Lynn does not like Jenny. What happens is that I constantly hear how Lynn feels about my wife and how Jenny feels about my mother. They do not talk to each other and so I am caught in the middle. No longer is there relationship simply between the two of them but it involves me as well, even though it has nothing to do with me. I have to stick up for each of them when the other is bad mouthing and may even try to make peace between them.