Life got busy last week, so I skipped a blog post. But we are back this week with a best seller that was made into a prestigious Hollywood film.
Unbroken is the biography of Louie Zamperini, a world-class athlete turned WWII hero turned...well many other things.
Laura Hildenbrand authored this work, following her award-winning Seabiscuit. It's subtitle touts the his life as a tale of resilience and redmeption - words that often get thrown around flippantly in our day and age. Zamperini's life defines those terms however.
When his bomber crashed in the Pacific, he survived not only the crash but 47 days floating in the ocean. He was found and captured by the Japanese Navy who shipped him off to a POW camp. His experiences as a POW are harrowing and the movie spends most of it's time on these years.
The story is so astounding that it almost seems too incredible. But Hildenbrand's research and sourcing back up these astonishing events.
What the movie couldn't do justice to was the post-war life Zamperini led. The book transparently describes how Louie struggled to adapt to normal civilian life when he came home. Eventually his wife convinced him to attend a Billy Graham crusade, where he gave his life to Christ. Zamperini devoted himself from that time forward to serving others, living until the ripe old age of 97.
After the book had come out in the early 2010's, I first heard of him and this book when my employer, Grace College brought him in to speak. I waited to read Unbroken for a couple years and ended up reading most of it on a plane ride to the Philippines. It made the 16+ hour flight go quicker given Hildenbrand's engrossing style and Louie's incredible story. This is a book that teaches us so much about perseverance, redemption, and even forgiveness.
Don't be intimidated by the book's size, it is story well-worth the time to invest in.
Last week, I shared a favorite book of mine that had connections back to my college and seminary days. This week isn't just one I read back in college, it was written by one of my professors.
Plowshares and Pruning Hooks helped me understand biblical prophecy and apocalyptic literature in a much deeper way. Like Walter Bruggemann before him, Sandy carefully asks some relevant questions about the way we read prophecy in Scripture:
- What was the purpose of prophecy?
- How literally should we take these passages?
- Are we using a consistent hermeneutic?
- What does past fulfillment teach us about promises we're still waiting to be fulfilled?
I've gotten the sense that this book received criticism from some theological circles, but I know it has been widely affirmed in many others.
Personally, I always found Dr. Sandy to be a humble, engaging, and encouraging teacher. He was more apt to ask us questions than feed us answers. Even if you differed with him, he was willing to listen and engage you. That is no doubt why I appreciate this book like I do, I know the heart behind it.
In the end, I highly recommend this somewhat obscure book for anyone interested in being better equipped to handle prophecy and apocalyptic parts of the Bible.
This week's featured book was one I caught the second time around.
By that I mean that I didn't read it the first time I had the chance. It was one of my Bible or theology classes in undergrad and I remember Dr. Soto encouraging us to read it and do a short response paper for extra credit. I must have felt that I didn't have the extra time to put in the extra effort and I'd learn later how much I missed out.
A few years later, as an intern at my home church, our senior pastor had our elders and staff read it for discussion purposes. I'm pretty sure I read it through at a much quicker pace than our discussions because I quickly discovered what a beautiful piece of literature it was and what a profound look into David's life it was.
A Tale of Three Kings was written by Gene Edwards in 1980. While it is centered on King David, it traces his life in relation to two other kings - Saul and Absalom.
The central theme is that God desires his people to embrace humility and brokenness. But even that summary barely does the book justice. It's format is one like a play with short scenes reflective of the biblical text. Edwards does interpretively "fill in the blanks" with some details and conversations but never strays from the spirit of the text.
In the first part of the book, Edwards observes David's responses to Saul - submitting to God and refusing to manipulate things to get what is rightfully his. And he keenly demonstrates that those are the same responses David has towards Absalom, who does rebel against the King and seeks to manipulate to get what he believes is his.
The applications that are made both subtly and overtly are what gives this book it's power. Edwards connects the dots to our present day by showing how the leadership issues in play in the stories of Saul, David, and Absalom are vital questions pastors and spiritual leaders must answer in our day.
How will we react when the leaders above us seem to be unqualified or misguided?
How will we respond when our authority is challenged?
How will we leave if we are forced out of or called away from a leadership position?
This book made a significant impression on me and I enjoy re-reading it every couple years. The truth of it's insights have been validated again and again the more I've been in ministry. Interestingly enough, I got to observe the very same pastor embody these principles a year or two later after reading the book.
I've come to believe that David wasn't "a man after God's own heart" because of his courage or passion. I believe he earned that title because of his brokenness and repentance. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's a big piece of the puzzle.
