"Desire and Deceit"

The President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., has released 4 books this year. Prior to 2008, Mohler did not have one exclusive published book. Now, all of that has changed. Recently, his fourth book, "Desire and Deceit: Real Cost of the New Sexual Tolerance" is yet another important book.

Mohler is primarily interested in helping the reader understand the culture, how we have come this far, where we are going, and how the Christian is to think, stand, and respond. And that is perhaps what Mohler is best at. Like others of Mohler's books, this one is based on some of his blog posts and speeches he has written/given in the past.


Mohler begins by looking at a letter that "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy author JRR Tolkien wrote to his son about the issue of sex. The letter not only gives insight into the religious views of America's most prized fictional authors, it also shows how radically different things have changed in our culture. At the writing of this letter, this advice from father and son was good advice. Now, our culture would consider such advice bigoted, closed-minded, and from the pen of a religious nut.


I found this chapter to be one of the most interesting introductory chapters in most books I have read. As a Tolkien fan, I was drawn in by Mohler's analysis of the letter and of Tolkien himself. Mohler points out that what Tolkien tells his son is a summary of the Christian worldview on the subject. A good summary of what Tolkien tells his son comes from another letter from Tolkien to one of his best friends and fellow Christian, CS Lewis. Tolkien points out:

Christian marriage is not a prohibition of sexual intercourse, but the correct way of sexual temperance--in fact probably the best way of getting the most satisfying sexual pleasure

From there, Mohler begins to look at many other issues. Much of the book looks at the issue of homosexuality. In fact, it would seem that most of the book is dedicated to this subject. There were a couple of things that Mohler points out that I found helpful on this subject.


First, the argument for the normalcy of homosexuality has radically changed. Before, homosexuals pleaded for identity, now they argue for orientation. The difference is a matter of civil rights. If one is born gay (orientation), then homosexuality is no longer a matter of morality, but a matter of prejudice. Mohler shows how this shift in language has changed the debate and how Christians are to respond.


Another helpful insight was his discussion on what the rise of homosexuality in our culture has affected friendship. In this chapter shows how the issue of friendship has radically changed as a result of homosexuality. Two men cannot be as close as they used to be in an exclusive heterosexual society. It is interesting how it seems that the more our culture celebrates homosexuality, the more true friendship and affection in that friendship passes away. It seems we are taking the one at the cost of the other.


The chapter itself is a discussion on the controversial movie, "Brokeback Mountain," the "gay Wester" that released a few years ago. But in this chapter, Mohler returns to "The Lord of the Rings," again. He writes:

In "A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution," published in the September 2005 issue of Touchstone magazine, Esolen begins by reminding readers of a scene from J. R. R. Tolkien's great work, The Lord of the Rings. Sam Gamgee, having followed his master Frodo into Mordor, the realm of death, finds him in a small filthy cell lying half-conscious. "Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!" Sam cries. "It's Sam, I've come!" Frodo embraces his friend and Sam eventually cradles Frodo's head. As Esolen suggests, a reader or viewer of this scene is likely to jump to a rather perverse conclusion: "What, are they gay?"

Esolen suggests that this question is an "ignorant but inevitable response" to the context. He goes on to recall that Shakespeare and many other great authors spoke of non-sexual love between men in strongest terms. Similarly, when David is told of the death of his friend Jonathan, he cries: "Your love to me was finer than the love of women."

As Esolen understands, the corruption of language has contributed to this confusion. When words like love, friend, male, female, and partner are transformed in a new sexual context, what was once understood to be pure and undefiled is now subject to sniggering and disrespect.

A point well taken.


Mohler concludes looking at how we, as Christians, are to respond to the sexual issues we face everyday.


Overall, I found this book to be better than I thought it would be. I feared that it was rushed together at the last minute. I had no idea that he was writing a book on the issue of sex. I have read much of what he has written on the issue and listen to much of what he has said, and have always been impressed and in agreement with his thoughts.


I encourage everyone who is thinking about these issues, especially Christians, to pick up this book and give it a read. It will certainly stimulate your intellectual thinking, but at the same time, the issues at stake are too important to overlook. Mohler has an amazing ability to breakdown, critique, and expose the faulty arguments proposed by those shaping culture. He has a gift to arm Christians with Biblical answers for ungodly times. I recommend this book, and hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

"Sarah"

After the news of John McCain picking Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate, the country has been roaring over this selection. As one would expect, publishers, in light of her popularity with voters and with America in general, were quick to release anything and everything on the politician.

One such publication is "Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down" by Kaylene Johnson. The book is, well, short. And it should be. It was released just weeks after the suprised announcement of the McCain campaign. It is well researched, but quick and easy. There are a number of pictures, a lot of quotations from interviews and news articles, and written in a way that is easy to read, easy to follow, and straight to the point.

And for good reason: I doubt that the author was prepared to write an indepth book on the vp candidate as if she, or anyone, knew that she was going to be chosen. According to the "in" crowd, Palin was not on the shortlist. I doubt that people were getting ready with the research done to release books and the rest on her. She was a surprise to say the least, and it is obvious that this is a book that was put together fairly quickly. However, it's content is good, it's research is thorough, and overall, the book is good.

I am a fan of Palin for a number reasons. I will not elaborate here. One thing that was clear about Palin's approach to politics after reading this book was that she couldn't care less what others think about her, including her party. She would much rather loose an election end her career than to act like the typical politician in our day. She seems to really want to reform government wherever she is.

Furthermore, it is clear that to Palin, her family is more important than her job. And I have great respect for that. The author mentions the story when Palin had Vice-President Dick Cheney on the phone, then someone else called on a different phone, and then one of her kids came in asking her a question, immediately the mother of five put everyone on hold and focused on her child. Now that is what I wish more politicians were more about.

Overall, this is a good book. It is short and gives a great overview of her entire life up to her annoucing that she was running with John McCain in this year's Presidential election. However, I look forward to another book that is more thorough, a little deeper, and has had more time to prepare. But in the meantime, I recommend this book.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians

Rob Bell and Don Golden are offering a new hermeneutic that has led to a new theology and this new theology is not orthodox. What the authors present is nothing more than a postmodern social gospel. The basic argument is that God wants to save the oppressed from empires.

Rooted in their theology is the hermeutic that Exodus is the "first book" of the Bible. By this, the authors mean that it is in Exodus that we find the real workings of God that is found throughout all of Scripture. Half of the book is their exegesis of the various meanings, symbols, characters, and storylines in both the Old and New Testament. The authors sees the Exodus story as the catalyse of God’s mission for man. God needs a body. God despises empires. Therefore, God sends liberators.

In Exodus, God sent Moses. In the New Testament, God has sent Jesus. Jesus has come to liberate the oppressed, and to provide God with a body: the Church. The Church’s primary responsibility is not to reach others with the gospel, but to bring about peace, protect and defend the oppressed, and to provide for the poor.

The authors, by the end, have completely deconstructed the entire Bible to the point that the original intend of God’s Words are lost. To them, God, and therefore His body, the Church, are not to be interested in redeeming people for the afterlife, but rather to save those in the here and now. In short, they offer a social gospel at the cost of the true gospel. What the authors present is nothing more than postmodern heresy. Herein lies a major result of chasing after the culture: we deconstruct Scripture to the point that heresy sees Biblical. And that is exactly what the authors do here.

"They Like Jesus, But Not the Church"

Dan Kimball has noticed something in our culture: people like Jesus a lot, but do not like what Christians have done with Him. Therefore, Kimball argues, we must rethink who Jesus is and was and reevaluate how we are to treat Him, our doctrine, and our Church structure. As is typical among the Emerging Church, Kimball wants the Church to change it’s approach to evangelism, ecclesialogy, theology, and cultural engagement.

What Kimball offers is not propositions, but suggestions, discussion, and stories. Throughout the book, Kimball gives the readers direct quotes from those who love Jesus, but hate the Church. They hate the Church because it is homophobic, too political, and the like. On a certain level, Kimball offers good advice. Shame on the Church for putting more emphasis on politics than on the gospel and being viewed as hating others, but at the same time we must not overlook cultural engagement just to get people to like us. Kimball does not call for us to ignore Scripture, but at the same time his postmodern assumptions leads him to overlook the hard parts of Scripture in an attempt to get the Church to be more attractive.

His approach to how the local church should operate is telling. Instead of a propositional sermon, our postmodern culture wants discussion. The problem with replacing the sermon with discussion, no sound doctrine will be espoused. It leaves mans depravity satisfied. Furthermore, our services should have more visuals with more entertainment than the traditional organ and hymn singing. Finally, postmoderns want stories, not absolutes. This is a theme throughout all of the Emerging Church and it creates the same problems as discussion instead of preaching does.

Kimball’s goal is commendable, how can we reach our culture better? He sees the perception of the Church to be viewed in a negative light and wants to change it. However, his solutions are not Biblical and will inevitably lead to heretical liberalism. So, in this book, we see the same old problem with the Emerging Church, trying to satisfy the culture leads to redefining the Church and Scripture even though we may not intend to.

"Two Hundred Years of Theology"

Berkhof traces the past two hundred years of theology through the lens of modernity. The purpose of the book is to show that as modernity proceeds to impact the culture, so theology and theologians have adapted to these changed. Berkhof shows were such a philosophy leads. Is it possible to adapt theology to meet the demands and expectations of the culture? By the end, Birkof answers an emphatic no.

His survey of theology within the past two hundred years, beginning with Kant, that chases cultural demands leads primarily to liberalism. The majority of Berkhof’s survey consist of tracing the thought of primarily Protestant Liberalism. There were a couple of words and themes that continued to appear throughout this survey. A theology that seeks to reflect the trends of culture, according to Birkof’s historical and theological sketch, emphasize experience and ethics.

I see this trend in the Emerging Church. Their adoption of postmodern philosophy has led them to dumb down, if not reject, the Biblical gospel of Christ and emphasize both experience and ethics. Their emphasis on the Kingdom of God being here and now reveals this perhaps most clearly. Like the liberals in this survey, the Emerging Church puts heavy emphasis on the Kingdom being about this life and not necessarily about the life to come. Therefore, one is encouraged to experience Christianity, not to just affirm it. Furthermore, they are told to be socially geared, rather than spiritually focused.

The Emerging Church is quickly falling into the same traps as the liberals mentioned in Berkof’s book. Though they have good intentions, the Emerging Church is quickly becoming yet another fad chasing the wind, rather than holding firm to the gospel of Christ as laid out in Scripture.

"Unchristian"

Christianity has an image problem. That is the basic point of Kinnaman’s book, "Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity...And Why It Matters". After three years of study and data collecting, the former Barna research center employee has taken the data collected and reveals that "unchristians" and "outsiders" have a negative view of Christians in America. Kinnaman hopes to present the data that he has collected and show Christians how they are viewed by our society and at the same time show how our negative image can be changed.

At the end of each chapter, the authors have leading and lesser known Evangelical leaders give their suggestions on how Christians in the West can change how they are viewed. Some of the main negatives of modern Christianity includes Christians are antihomosexual, hypocritical, put to much emphasis on politics, and others.

Some of the authors and leaders that contribute to this book include Emergents like Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Dan Kimball, and others. The book ends with these individuals giving what they think the Church will look like in 30 years. McLaren’s response is most interesting. He hopes to see Christians fully enveloped in postmodern society that is compassionate and focused on social issues such as the environment, justice, and poverty. McLaren describes a Christianity without a cross, without a Christ, and without the gospel. He seems more interested in a social gospel than the orthodox gospel. Though he would disagree with these assessment, it is clear, however, that his hope for the Church in 30 years will not be regarding theological integrity, but social righteousness.

The other Emergents in this book seem to offer the same hope. If these Emergents have their way, in thirty years, Rauschenbush’s dream might finally be realized, but in the end the gospel will be trampled on by Christians seeking relevance at the cost of redemption.

"Liberal Protestantism"

The Emerging Church has not appeared out of a vacuum. The Emerging Church is the result of centuries of persons thinking the same way. Such persons, many of which are considered to be Protestant Liberals, have laid the foundation by which the Emerging Church stands. Reardon traces the history of Protestant Liberalism and provides sections of some of the work of such men in his book, "Liberal Protestantism."

Not all Emergents are liberal. In fact, their adoption of postmodernism implies that such labels are worthless. They are, if anything, mission and postmodern, but such labels are unhelpful. They would consider themselves as Christian.

But one of the things that some of the men in Reardn’s book that parallels with the Emerging Church is their emphasis on the Kingdom of God. Traditionally, the Kingdom of God language in the Gospels has been viewed as both a present reality and an eschatological one. Since Schliermacher and others, there has been a heavy emphasis on the Kingdom being more about the here and now. Therefore, movements like the social gospel have risen.

Likewise, the Emerging Church wants to emphasize the Kingdom as being about the here and now. Though they recognize that the Kingdom is both now and eschatological, they argue that Christians have neglected the present Kingdom. Therefore, they emphasize social justice, poverty, ecology, and the like. Reardon’s book offers an insight into where this unbalanced emphasis leads to. Though unbalance on both sides is dangerous: heavy emphasis on the eschatological leads to social and personal laziness while emphasis on the here and now leads to cheap grace. The Emerging Church, is seems, is beginning to fall for the cheap grace mentality.

Church On The Other Side

McLaren takes his understanding of postmodernism and now applies it to the local church and to ministry in the book, "Church on the Other Side." Again, McLaren emphasizes conversation and community with narrative and mystery rather than absolutes and heavy doctrine.

The book is divided into several strategies that McLaren offers for the church that wants to catch up with society. It is embedded in the book that McLaren wants the Church to be ahead of times, not behind, or even in the present. As a result, McLaren wants us to adopt many of the assumptions and approaches of postmodern theology and thought and apply it to our churches.

Postmodernism has deeply impacted his theology of the Church. McLaren argues that instead of treating theology as a matter of "technical training," one should rather be on a quest for beauty. The emphasis on conversation and community appear again. Rather than say, "I have the definitive answer," rather say that we are in this together and can learn from each other.

Postmodernism is so important, McLaren urges his readers to adopt it in their church. He concludes his book by spending three chapters on understanding, apply, and engaging our postmodern culture through the Church. He points out many of the trends of postmodernism: it is skeptical of certainty and absolutes, emphasizes experience, and the listening and telling of our and others stories.

What is interesting about this book is McLaren fails to go to the Scripture to see how the apostles, ordained by Christ, built and did Church. One would think that the book of Acts would be central to his theology of the Church and yet McLaren seems almost ignorant of it. If anything, McLaren offers an experiment, not Biblical foundations that work. And again, no cross and no gospel.

Adventures in Missing the Point

Together, Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo, both major leaders in the Emerging Church movement, set out an emergent theology that does not "miss the point." in their book, "Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel." The two authors take on various issues in theology including worship, sin, salvation and other issues such as culture and postmodernism. The book is heavily emergent. However, unless one understands the philosophical assumptions behind the words, one could be fooled that the two men make orthodox arguments.

Perhaps the most shocking treatment is their discussion on homosexuality. Campolo, writing on this subject, differentiates between those who have an orientation toward homosexuality and those who prefer homosexuality. The difference is that those who are oriented do not have a choice in the matter. It is, therefore, wrong to force such persons to become heterosexuality. He tries to offer scientific proof of this stance, but fails to prove his point, in fact, he admits it. While Campolo says that homosexuality is a sin, he somehow rationalizes it away and he does so by looking at the main texts in Scripture and tries to right them off as Christians misunderstanding them.

Overall, the book is at times promising, but always on razor edge. Their adoption of postmodern thinking and the hope of cultural approval has led them to compromise clear Biblical truth. So while claiming to believe that the Bible is true, interpret it, at times, as if it is also murky.

More Ready Than You Realize

Making postmodernism his starting point, Brian McLaren now looks at the issue of evangelism in light of this fundamental shift in culture in his book, "More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism As Dance In the Postmodern Matrix". During the modern period, evangelism involved calling one a sinning, expecting to walk an isle, and be baptized. That has all changed, McLaren argues. Evangelism, now, is more like a dance: no one wins, no one loses. Evangelism is a conversation, not an argument.

The book follows such a conversation between himself and a seeker whom he has renamed Alice. Alice is interested in Christianity but finds it distasteful. McLaren, rather than call her out on her sin, the hope found in Christ and the cross, etc. offers a conversation full of more questions and mystery.

Again, we return to a repeating theme in McLaren’s work: no cross and no gospel. In the book, McLaren presents a golden opportunity to share the gospel with a church member and fails miserably. The man asks McLaren explicitly, "why did Jesus have to die?" McLaren admits that he was trained to give the theological answer: substitutionary and penal substitution. He responded to the man, "give me two weeks to answer that question." And, as he thought about it, he came to the conclusion that even Jesus did not know why He had to die. Again, a golden opportunity to share the gospel lost out of fear of offending a postmodern with the hard truths of the gospel.

One must wonder, if this is McLaren’s model for evangelism, is anyone in his congregation saved? Is McLaren traveling the world preaching a false gospel to a people wanting their ears tickled. McLaren does not offer gospel evangelism, but postmodern evangelism that is nothing more than a dance into the gates of hell itself.

A Search For What Makes Sense

Brian McLaren sets out to help possible seekers to find their faith in his book, "A Search For What Makes Sense: Finding Faith." The problem is, he does not exactly point them to Christianity. The book is full of reference to Scripture and Jesus, but there is very little evangelistic appeal.

First, having fully adopted the postmodern model, McLaren can only encourage conversation, not apologetic arguments. Since the search for faith is not always about facts, he offers mystery and conversation.

Secondly, the philosophical and apologetical points made in the book do not point the reader to the cross. McLaren makes a brief, but precise argument on why atheism and agnosticism fails. He shows the philosophical errors of such worldviews. However, he fails to point the reader to the credibility of the Christian faith. No wonder. His adoption of the postmodern model prevents him from virtually forcing Christianity onto the reader. Out of fear of hurting the readers feelings, McLaren shies away from hard truth.

Thirdly, there is no cross and no gospel. There is a lot of references to Christianity, Jesus, and the other Christians (primarily found in community) but no cross and certainly no gospel. One could walk away and find Christianity appealing and think that if they adopt all that McLaren offers, they will be a Christian just by adopting the title. There is no mention of remissions of sin, faith in the God-man, or repentance of a sinful life. There is no calling for turning from slaves of sin to slaves of Christ. Rather, a shallow "gospel" (if you want to call it that) for those entering the conversation about faith.

"Christ and Culture"

Richard Niebuhr’s monumental work lays out the various approaches to Christ and culture. How are Christians to interact with the culture? There are a number of possibilities that have been played out throughout history.

First, there is the radical approach that involves complete isolation from the culture. Niebuhr traces this trend throughout history with the monks and others and gives the reader the arguments these persons and movements gave for their approach to the Christ-culture debate. He then moves on and discusses both the benefits and the problems with this argument.

From there, he points out the other extreme. The acommodators, as he calls them, argue that Christians must be very much involved in culture. Like the previous chapter, he traces the historical record of this worldview. He looks at specific persons and movements that approach culture in this way. The Emerging Church, I believe is guilty of this approach. They too, like those that Niebuhr mentions, are accommodating themselves to the culture. The author shows both the benefits and the problems with this approach.

Then there is a middle ground. This is perhaps the most practiced approach. Many throughout history have come to this conclusion and the author traces that historical record. It too has benefits and problems with it. Though these are the big three, there are other approaches, and Niebuhr deals with them.

Niebuhr’s conclusion to the pivotal question of how Christians are to approach the culture? There is no Christian answer. Niebuhr concludes that though there are many approaches, not a one of them can be said to be the Christian answered handed down to us by God.

"Beyond Foundationalism"

Stanley Grenz and John Franke, in their book, "Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context," basic argue is that since we are living in a postmodern context, theology inevitably changes. They argue that the task of theology must go beyond the foundationalism laid a the enlightenment and continued in the modern era must end. But this raises various questions, what role does culture play in one’s theology, how is one to understand culture in a theological context, and what does Scripture have to say about it. The authors seek to be orthodox while at the same time explain how one can do ministry in a postmodern society.

One of the interesting thing throughout the book is the postmodern emphasis on several things, which we see in the Emerging Church. First, there is an emphasis on conversation. Being that postmoderns, including the Emerging Church, fear all absolutes, there is heavy emphasis on conversation. Secondly, there is also heavy emphasis on community. Perhaps the theme that plays out throughout the book is theology’s role in community and the authors suggests that this is were theology needs to move.

One of the more important chapters in the book relates to Christianity and the culture. The authors begin by laying out a brief historical survey of how Christians have approached this issue. From there, they look at how conservatives and liberals have approach this issue and offer their suggestion. Though there is no reference to the Emerging Church, it does set itself in the context of the Emerging Church. Emergents have wedded themselves to postmodernism, and this book shows the dangers of this shift and how we can be effective in such a context without betraying orthodox theology.

"Why We're Not Emergent"

The Emerging Church is a growing trend in Western Evangelicalism and preys mainly on a younger generation. The their book, "Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be," authors Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck provide both a critique and a warning of the dangers of the movement. Each chapter is full of references to various Emergent leaders, especially Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Dan Kimball, and others.

The critique of the Emerging Church comes from major issues of Christian theology. One such subject is how the Emergents treat the Bible. They all love Scripture, but their approach is not orthodox. They love narrative and fear absolutes. Therefore, their interpretations of Scripture are skewed. They seek basic principles, rather than absolute doctrines. Their sermons are full of stories that inspired, rather than direct commandments from the Bible.

Perhaps the most insightful parts of the book come from their critique of specific books and authors in the movement. One such critique regards Rob Bell. Bell has written several best sellers and his form of Church government and theology are a bit off base. They review and critique his writings, namely, "Velvet Elvis," and shows were the implications of his arguments and writings veer off of clear Biblical truths.

The authors seek to do one thing: warn their readers of the dangers of this movement while at the same time draw them back to Biblical orthodoxy. The Emerging Church fails to be orthodox in virtually all areas of Christian theology. Therefore, though their goal in the movement might be commendable, the resulting product is not Biblical. As a result, we must strive to be relevant, but not at the cost of Biblical truth.

For those wanting an introduction on the Emerging Church, I highly recommend this book. So would men like Dr. Mohler, Dr. MacArthur, and others. It was at their conference, the Together For the Gospel Conference, that I received this book at their recommendation.

"The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives"

In his book, "The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives," author Leonard Sweet has gathered five leading voices in the Emerging Church movement and has asked them how the Church is to relate to the culture? Each of the writers provide their own answer and solution to the "problem," that the church faces: irrelevance. Some argue that we must hold more firm to the ancient truths as seen in catechisms and confessions of faith. Others argue that we must be willing to change the method, but not the message. While others prefer to always be relevant and ahead of the culture.

Each view underlies one basic understanding of the Emerging Church: we are living and ministering in a postmodern age, we better catch up. Most Emergents come out of a "modern" church full of propositions and theological doctrines. The Emerging Church, then, offers narratives and general truths to live by. They seek to be relevant to the current culture and this book makes that very clear.

Brian McLaren, perhaps the most known Emergent in America, argues that the Church must be willing to change their method, but not their message. The problem, however, quickly becomes apparent: he has begun to water down the message. He refers to the gospel, not as propositional truth or a state of beliefs and convictions, but to a story. A story? Whatever he means precisely about this and how it affects one’s standing before God is uncertain. He seems to question penal substitution as something invented by Christians within the past few centuries.

Erwin McManus, on the other hand, emphasizes relevance. We must hold firm to the past, be present in the now, and preparing for the future. This all sounds nice, but his theology too is a bit water-down. Like McLaren, he seeks to win over the culture,but in the process abandons the faith. He questions why we have gone from a theology of missions to a more systematic theology. Again, fear of absolutes.

Perhaps the overall theme in response to the main question would be: relevance now, theology later.

"Atheism Remix"

I have deep respect for Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is known for many things: institutional reform, cultural engagement, brilliance, academic achievement, wit, etc. But until recently, he was not known for his writing of books. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Mohler has contributed to books, but has never written one. This year, however, things have changed.

Dr. Mohler has now released his second book of the year, "Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists," and as the title suggests, it is his take on the New Atheist. I have read several books on the subject and written reviews of many of them. I have looked at the arguments proposed by Richard Dawkins, Samuel Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and others.

Mohler now takes his hit on the New Atheist. Out of all that I have read on them, this is by far the shortest. I read the entire book in one setting and was grateful that I did. To begin, Mohler's work is based, and very similar, to a series of lectures he did at Dallas Seminary and I will try to link to them at the end of this review. I have listened to those lectures a number of times, and so this book was a quick read.

Mohler's approach is very different than others. He begins with a look at the history of atheism, how we have gotten to the New Atheist, what they bring to the table, what their arguments are, who they are, and why they are so dangerous. Mohler lets the reader know everything they need to know about this movement from the beginning. He takes the reader on a historical trek around the West to show that these "4 Horsemen" did not appear out of nowhere. Perhaps the most helpful was the time he spent on Friedrich Nietzsche, ardent atheist and hater of Christianity. Nietzsche is critical to understanding atheism, and the New Atheist fall in line with Nietzschian philosophy.

From there, Mohler looks at what makes the New Atheism new. His numbered list are helpful and easy to follow. Anyone reading (or listening/watching) this argument quickly realizes that what argument Dawkins and crew are making are significant and dangerous.

Afterward, Mohler shifts to evangelical engagement with the atheist. He primarily looks at two men: Alister McGrath and Alvin Plantiga. Mohler presents their main argument against the atheist, namely Dawkins, and why his (and their) arguments are faulty and self-refuting. Mohler lays out their argument in a way that is clear, precise, and devastating to the atheist. Following that, he offers his short critique of the New Atheist (though it could have been longer). Mohler calls Christians to return to Christian theism as the starting and ending point of the debate. Though this is helpful, I am afraid that it misses the point. I would have to side more with McGrath and Plantiga who meet the atheist where they are and then take them to the logic of Christian theism.

Finally, Mohler takes us to the future of atheism. How else have Christians engaged this new threat on our faith? Mohler points out that the liberal response is failing miserably and must be avoided at all cost. Mohler agrees with the atheist, liberal Christianity isn't helping anything. Rather than resort to finding middle ground in this debate, Mohler reveals that we have one of two options:

The definition of "Christian" is also crucial importance here. Harris defines a Christian as one who believes "that the Bible is the Word of God, that Jesus is the Son of God, and that only those who place their faith in Jesus will find salvation after death." Once again, he is much clearer here than many Christians are about what Christians are to believe. the New Atheist are certainly right about one very important thing - it's atheism or biblical theism. There is nothing in between.

And with that, he closes his book.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. Mohler, though not making many arguments, does succeed in presenting the issues at stake and providing a Christian response. Unlike other books engaging the new atheism, Mohler fails to engage them directly. But then again, that isn't his point.

Mohler is writing to Christians who may be oblivious to this new movement, or at best, uncertain of the debate. Mohler seeks to lay out the issues in a clear way and show how Christians are to respond. Thus why it is a short book. If Mohler wanted to defend the existence of God (though he does some through the pen of McGrath and Plantiga) he could have. But that is not the books purpose.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to enter the debate. However, I would not recommend it to anyone that knows nothing about cultural engagement, naturalism, Darwinism, philosophy, and secular theory and practice. Of all that I have read on this movement, Mohler offers the most precise and easy to read book. I highly recommend it as I would recommend anything Mohler writes, says, recommends, or does.

Here is the lecuture series that the book is based on:

"The New Atheism and the Endgame of Secularism"

"The New Atheism and The Assault on Theism"

"The New Atheism and The Defense of Theism"

"The New Atheism and the Future of Christianity"