C.S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet

By Alister McGrath

Tyndale House, 2013

Hardcover, 350 pages, $25.65    

WITHOUT A DOUBT, C.S. Lewis is one of the most interesting, perplexing and polarizing figures in recent Christian history. For some he is a giant of the faith who asked questions few were willing to ask and who answered those questions in compelling ways. For others he is no Christian at all, a fake, a fraud who revoked his faith at the end of his life. Few men are seen in such contradictory ways. What is undeniable

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Cold-Case Christianity

REVIEWED BY4Tim Challies

By J. Warner Wallace

David C. Cook Pub., Dec. 2012

Paperback, 224 pages, $17.99

THE FRENCH have a phrase I love: Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose: The more things change, the more they stay the same. While time marches on, and while the Christian faith marches on, the objections to it remain very much the same. Likewise, there are only so many arguments for the existence of God and the accuracy of the Bible. But even while the arguments remain much the same, it can be helpful to present them in fresh ways.

In the late 1990s Lee Strobel exploded onto the scene with The Case for Christ. His unique angle

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The Book of the Elders: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

REVIEWED By Stephen Sharman

Translated by John Wortley

Cistercian Publications, Jan. 2012

Hardcover, 386 pages, $50

E-book format, $26

 

THE EARLY FOURTH century meets the 21^st when a famous anthology of spiritual wisdom is translated from Greek into modern English by a Canadian scholar and made available worldwide in e-book format.

Dr Wortley is a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada, a professor emeritus of the University of Manitoba, a specialist in Byzantine History and a researcher of monastic literature. In this volume

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Directed by Peter Jackson

Based on the book The Hobbit

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Reviewed by Peter T. Chattaway

EVER SINCE Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy made nearly three billion dollars worldwide – and earned seventeen Oscars between the three films, to boot – it has been a given that someone, somewhere would make a prequel based on the book that introduced the world to Hobbits in the first place.

But there were certain obvious questions hanging over the inevitable follow-up.

First, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was essentially a children’s story, and lighter in tone than the more adult-oriented trilogy that followed it; it was also easily the shortest book of the lot. Would audiences used to the epic intensity of Jackson’s first trilogy accept a more kid-friendly story with smaller stakes? Or would the new film push the story in a more mature direction,

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The Book of Common Prayer: Past, Present and Future A 350th Anniversary Celebration

Edited by Prudence Dailey

Continuum, Nov. 2011

Softcover, 216 pages, $21.95

AS THE SUBTITLE suggests, this volume offers a celebration of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer by women and men who use it, love it, and desire to share its treasures with others. While some discussion of earlier antecedents (1549, 1552, 1559) and later developments is included, the focus remains on the 1662 gold standard.

Much like The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey, this volume collects essays by a wide variety of authors – priests, laypeople, college principals, bishops – not all of whom are scholars. Following an introduction by His Royal Highness Prince Charles,

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