I am always looking for books that challenge the way I read Scripture and follow Jesus. “The Powers” Trilogy by Walter Wink has certainly done both.

I previously read and reviewed the first two books in the Trilogy:

• Naming the Powers
• Unmasking the Powers

The third book in the series is Engaging the Powers. Of the three books, it may be the most practical, though the other two lay the biblical and theological groundwork for the ideas in this book. Unless you read the first two, the ideas of this book may sound outlandish, unsupported, and even extreme.

For example, in previous studies, Wink showed from cultural background studies of key texts in Scripture that certain Greek words might be translated in ways that better reflect the spiritual worldview of the authors, rather than our modern scientific worldview. Take the following words for example:

Reading the Gospels and the letters of Paul and Peter with these sorts of translations in mind provide a much different picture to their message than what is traditionally taught.

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In light of my recent series on the the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, someone wondered if I had read The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith.

I had not heard of the book, and so obtained a copy. What a fantastic book! Either Christian Smith has been reading my notes, or I have been reading his. This book will go onto my Burning Books list.

The Problem of Biblicism

In Part 1, Smith spends four chapters talking about the problems of “biblicism.” Biblicism consists of the constellation of beliefs and practices surrounding the way most Christians in the United States view and use the Bible. Among other concepts, biblicism contains the ideas of the Bible as the inspired Word of God, the inerrancy of Scripture, the ability of anyone to read and understand Scripture, the inductive method of Bible study to find the universal truth within Scripture, and above all, the idea that the Bible contains all the truth we need for Christian belief and practice.

Christian Smith shows convincingly that the goals and claims of biblicism have not worked, and so it is an impossible way of viewing and reading Scripture. It has great ideas and goals, but it just doesn’t work.

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Lots of us read books for enjoyment during our waking hours, for entertainment and educational purposes.

I am currently reading a book which provides me with some entertainment (or is it education?) during my sleeping hours as well.

The book is An Experiment with Time by JW Dunne. If you end up buying this book, be warned: It was written over 100 years ago, and much of it is cumbersome, tiring, technical reading. But if you can get past some of that, the ideas are rather surprising, and as I said, provide you with something to think about while you sleep.

The basic idea behind the book is that all of us have dreams about the future. Yes, you too.

If you follow a few suggestions that Dunne makes in recording and reviewing your dreams, you will realize that you regularly dream about future events.

I am not done with the book yet, and I am not doing a very good job following the suggestions of Dunne in recording my dreams. But I have noticed one thing: I find myself thinking about the book in my dreams, and even taking steps inside my dreams that the book suggests. I don’t think that has ever happened to me with any book before. It is very strange.

I’m only about 1/3 of the way through the book, and so far, I haven’t had any dreams about the future (that I’m aware of), but then, I’m not really following Dunne’s suggestions either. Part of this is because I just don’t see the point. His dreams about future events are about things he reads in the newspaper, or events he later hears about at a family gathering. As far as I can tell (so far), he didn’t have dreams about anything useful. You know, things that would save lives, or keep him from making a bad decision.

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A while back I had the opportunity to visit a House of Refuge in Denver, CO, and read Down We Go, the new book by Kathy Escobar. Recently, I was able to interview her about the church she is part of, The Refuge, and also her book.

Jeremy: In your book, Down we Go, you describe your transition from a megachurch to being a co-pastor at The Refuge. If that megachurch called you up tomorrow and apologized for how they handled the whole situation, and invited you back on staff with no strings attached to do in their church what you are currently doing with The Refuge, and told you that you could even keep serving at The Refuge as it currently is, would you go? Why or why not?

Kathy: That made me smile!

The truth is that in the past five years I have radically shifted in so many ways that there’s no possible way I could exist in that kind of system anymore. I can almost guarantee that within one week I’d get fired again! For me, there’s no turning back.

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