Michael Schutz :: Blog » Books http://blog.michaelschutz.com Musings from a guy trying to understand the times and know what to do about it. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:24:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Who will read the Watchmen? http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/03/03/who-will-read-the-watchmen/ http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/03/03/who-will-read-the-watchmen/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:17:52 +0000 Michael http://blog.michaelschutz.com/?p=173 You might not know it, but I’ve never been one to hide my geek side. As a guy who still gets upset seeing the Elves march into Helm’s Deep and who stays up late fretting about the best way to attack a particular web site’s page.tpl.php file (do I hard-code stuff into the header or define regions that I can use with blocks?), I can safely lay claim to at least a little geek cred.

Watchmen book cover

The Watchmen book cover: piquing my curiosity since March 4, 2009.

So when I read this fascinating article about Watchmen creator Alan Moore’s hatred of the movie industry, I knew I had to venture into new geek territory – the graphic novel. I’ve never been a huge comic guy, though I read my share of Archie and Jughead back in the day. But this tripped something in me, and I ventured into the graphic novel aisle at my local B&N tonight. After thumbing through Frank Miller’s 300 (a movie I loved, by the way, and now I’m going to have to read the reason for the movie), and coming up empty on Watchmen, I finally found it in a main display in the middle of the store. Apparently the movie’s generated all kinds of interest from people who wouldn’t normally be into this kind of thing.

/me raises his hand.

I’d never even heard of the Watchmen before seeing the movie trailers (-3 geek points). But know I know where Rorschach tests got their name, and I have “one of Time Magazine’s 100 best novels” sitting in front of me. (NB, that’s not “100 best graphic novels”. It’s one of the 100 best novels. Period. Interesting.)

I’m sure I’ll see the movie, because I love movies. In fact, I probably enjoyed other comic-book adaptation movies (Spider-man, X-men) far more than many because of how little knowledge I have of the actual cominc stories. But this Watchmen thing is intriguing me, especially Alan Moore’s ranting on the movie process, so I’m going to read it first.

+5 geek points. End of post.

]]> http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/03/03/who-will-read-the-watchmen/feed/ 1 Rockin’ out with the ESV Study Bible http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/02/13/rockin-out-with-the-esv-study-bible/ http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/02/13/rockin-out-with-the-esv-study-bible/#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:46:07 +0000 Michael http://blog.michaelschutz.com/?p=166 ESV Study Bible

ESV Study Bible

If you’re looking for a good study Bible, look no further than the recently released ESV (English Standard Version) Study Bible, published by Crossway. It’s a great Bible filled with notes, references, and all kinds of material that will help deepen your understanding of God’s Word.

The icing frosting on the cake is that when you buy the paper version of this study Bible, you get access to the online tool at esvstudybible.org, which has not only the same material as the paper version, plus more, it also has space on the site for you to make your own notes as you read and study.

A most excellent tool for studying Scripture.

]]> http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/02/13/rockin-out-with-the-esv-study-bible/feed/ 1 Book Reflection: The Reason for God http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/01/30/book-reflection-the-reason-for-god/ http://blog.michaelschutz.com/2009/01/30/book-reflection-the-reason-for-god/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:11:57 +0000 Michael http://blog.michaelschutz.com/?p=145 Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York has written a simply fantastic book. He’s been a pastor for 20+ years, and this book is an exposition of the 7 most common objections to Christianity that he’s been engaged in over his time in ministry. The book is called “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”, and in it Pastor Keller addresses questions and issues such as “why does God allow suffering in the world” and “you can’t take the Bible literally”  in thoughtful and intelligent ways.

But the best part of the book is not in his answers, excellent though those are. It is the way he frames the discussion in the opening sections, imploring non-believers to honestly consider the answers to their objections, but at the same time imploring Christians to honestly consider the objections and questions. It is this tone of respect that has been sorely lacking in the perceptions of many over the past many years.

Pastor Keller’s book is the embodiment of 1 Peter 3:15-17 – it helps Christians give answers for the hope they have (v. 15) but just as important it does it with gentleness and respect (v. 16-17). Verse 15 is not enough to show Christ’s love to the world. Christians will gain an audience with non-Christians only when it is evident that respect is present no matter what.

The book is set up in two major parts. The first deals with the 7 most popular objections to Christianity that he’s faced in his ministry, and seeks to both understand and answer not just the objections themselves, but the underlying beliefs as well. He does a very good job of answering them from a Christian perspective and calling out the fallacies on both sides when they show up. The second part is aimed at not just answering objections against Christianity, but making a strong case for it. As he states it,

“It is one thing to argue that there are no sufficient reasons for disbelieving Christianity. It is another to argue that there are sufficient reasons for believing it.”

I believe he achieves both his goals, and I would heartily recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Christian faith, whether you’re a Christian or not. It’s a great book, and one that can help a lot of Christians not only live out that directive from 1 Peter, but to maybe honestly wrestle with some of these issues for the first time.

Well worth not only a read, but worth spending some significant time with a pencil and highlighter in your hand while you read. my icon - post end

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