Catching Up

Okay, so I've neglected my blog for awhile; I know. In fact, I suspected it would happen when I started it, which is why I declared that I would make no commitments as to my posting frequency. However, 5 months may be pushing the slackness just a little bit.

Fortunately, I haven't forsaken my reading goal like I've forsaken my blogging. In fact, In fact, I've finished the following books in the past five months:

1. Miller's Church History - Andrew Miller. This book is just what it's title suggests, a history of church movements from the Acts 2 church to his present day. It covered a lot of details, particularly concerning the vagaries of the Catholic Church. A marathon read that took me several months to complete, it rang in 1,080 pages of mostly dry but informative reading.

2. Man in the Shadows - Efraim Halevy. Halevy was a former head of Mossad, and his insights into the development of the present Middle East crisis are worth pondering. Instrumental as he was in covert diplomacy and intelligence, he has a view of that regions problems that is unique and interesting.

3. The Greater Cause - Steve Pixler. The message of this book is that marriage is the greater cause as compared to anything that would oppose or destroy marriage. It looks at the hot-button verses in Matthew 19 concerning the legality of divorce 'for any cause' and turns the whole question on its head with the proposition that something greater is embedded in the marriage covenant. This is a short, simple, and powerful defense of marriage.

4. Cheaper by the Dozen - Frank Gilbreth. This book is an American classic, hilarious, at times poignant, and well worth the read. It is a collection of true tales from a family of - you guessed it - twelve children, along with their adventurous and idiosyncratic father.

5. 1967 - Tom Segev. I've always wanted to read more about this important year in Middle East history, and this book was a reasonable starting point. A lot of time is spent setting the background to the Six Day War; the background was a little dry at times, but once the tale turns to the six days of conflict, it picks up pace very quickly. By no means a carte blanche defense of Israel, it is a more or less balanced look at the conflict and its precedent and consequent events.

6. The Case for Christ - Lee Stroebel. Having heard about this book for years, and having it highly recommended by my father-in-law, whose reading I would love to emulate, I finally picked it up, and I'm glad I did. Strobel clearly is presenting the case for the historical authenticity of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, and he does so in fine form. He presnts skeptic arguments that I hadn't heard of along with prominent ones that I have, casts them to experts on New Testament history, and records their responses; the result is a great defense of the Christian faith. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone, whether you are a believer or not.

More than all of these, I'm also on target to complete my Bible Reading this year. I set a reading schedule that would get me through the Bible in 39 weeks, but it'll probably take me 3-4 weeks longer because of a couple of larger reading assignments; however, that contingency was built into my plan so i could have plenty of breathing room.

For all of you reader(s) out there, I'll try to stay more current and provide more fodder for the blogosphere if I can.