Review: A History of Christian Missions

A History of Christian Missions by Stephen Neill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very complete, succint global history of Christian missions up to the 1980s. Feels dated today, because of facts it could hardly deal with, each for a different reason:
* takes an œcumenical approach, for instance to Romanist and Greek/Russian iconodulic missions;
* takes seriously liberation theory;
* ignores Reformed missionary activity in the XVI century;
* ignores the liberal destruction of mainstream European Christianity;
* predates the conservative resurgence, the Calvinistic renaissance, the global South and the revelation of the then-hidden, astonishing advance of Protestantism in China.

We still lack a more decidedly Reformed, even Evangelical, and more recent approach to the subject.

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Review: O Povo Brasileiro: A Formação e o Sentido do Brasil

O Povo Brasileiro: A Formação e o Sentido do Brasil by Darcy Ribeiro
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Interessante, até pela influência nefasta que teve em nossa esquerda, mas um fracasso. Propõe o Brasil como uma nova, e melhor, Roma. Embuste de autoengano de quem vivia em rebelião contra Deus.

O que não significa que não tenha algumas informações e análises úteis.

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Review: The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context

The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context by John H. Walton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I muſt ſay my giviŋ five ſtars does not mean I am ſure I totally agree wiþ ðe auþors. I gueß I will need to read furþer books before convinciŋ myself, even if ðe propoſal conveniently expoſes ðe weakneßes of claßical (Baptiſt & Preſbyterian) alliance þeology — not ðat ðe auþors mention it. Ðey make a convinciŋ, even if perhaps not as readable as I would want, caſe for ‘Law’ beiŋ a miſtranſlation for Torah, even if the LXX actually tranſlates νομος. Ðe implications are multitude, & ðey include a readable appendix on the Decalogue (Δεκαλογος, the Ten words).

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Review: Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 2

Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 2 by Ichigo Takano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of ðeſe nice climate Japaneſe ſtories.

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Review: Manipulation: Knowing How to Respond

Manipulation: Knowing How to Respond by Lou Priolo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very ſuccint advice on biblically dealiŋ wiþ emotional manipulation. Barely twenty pages of text.

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Review: Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology

Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology by John H. Walton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A more ðan worþy succeßor to Kline’s approach on ðe cultural context of ðe Old Testament, puts forward anoþer angle to his framework hypoþeſis, makiŋ a convinciŋ caſe for Geneſis, chapter i beiŋ intended not as a chronological account of material origins but a deſcription of teleology in Creation.

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Review: The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Second or third reading. A classic. May be difficult to overly sensitive souls who lack a developed sense of irony.

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Review: Legislativo e democracia : reflexões sobre a Câmara dos deputados

Legislativo e democracia : reflexões sobre a Câmara dos deputados by Fernando Sabóia Guimarães
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Leitura dificutosa. Talvez eu tenha sido privilegiado ao ler um equivalente estadunidense antes.

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Review: Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made

Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made by Eugene D. Genovese
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just loved it as a Christian and as a History freak.

Based on extensive exploration of oral History and other records from slaves, slaveholders and observers of slavery in the US, what began as an exploration of how slaves influenced the world of slaveholders ended up, as the title hints, as a record of the witness that preachers but specially slave converts gave of their faith and its power to change people and societies.

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Review: The Logic of Congressional Action

The Logic of Congressional Action by R. Douglas Arnold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting take in the motivations and mechanisms of legislative work, scientifically dismantling a few myths about how constituencies, either general or particularist, influence legislators’ actions.

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Review: HAIPOJI 5

HAIPOJI 5 by Takashi Kira
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great read. Why only four ſtars?

* Explicit ſex. Totally uneeded. Lack of ability of ðe auþor to imply ðe dirtineß of ðe protagoniſt’s life wiþout actually ſhowiŋ it.

* Quite confuſiŋ towards ðe end. It depicts a multiverſe where ðe protagoniſt gets mixed between þree or four univerſes, but unleß one’s familiar already wiþ ðe concept, & ſpecially in a ſerialiſed work, it can be uneceßarily taxiŋ to read.

* It is highly unſatiſfyiŋ ðat ðe protagoniſt’s wife turns irretrievably againſt him for no apparent reaſon, even if he ſeems a genuinely faiþful & nice huſband — juſt not a hero, but growiŋ even in his fourties & fifties.

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Review: 3月のライオン 14 [3-gatsu no Lion 14]

3月のライオン 14 [3-gatsu no Lion 14] by Chica Umino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A lyrical, quite ſane ſlice of life ſtory wiþ ſurpriſiŋ depþ. Not diet-friendly.

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Review: Haruka 17, Volume 19

Haruka 17, Volume 19 by Sayaka Yamazaki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very intereſtiŋ in-depþ view of the Japaneſe popular entertainement induſtry. The ending was ruſhed & roſy.

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Review: Solomon Among the Postmoderns

Solomon Among the Postmoderns by Peter J. Leithart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Takes a while to ſtart, wiþ a long & ſympaþetic expoſition of what is (& is not) poſtmoderniſm), & only comes to its own in ðe laſt few pages, when it fully brings Solomon’s wiſdom to bear witneß unto poſtmoderns; yet more ðan worþ its while.

On a ſecond readiŋ, for tranſlation, looſes a bit of it ſtrengþ due to me haviŋ already read Carſon’s duo ‘Chriſt & culture reviſited’ & ‘Ðe intolerance of tolerance’, which ſeriouſly deflates Poſtmoderniſm.

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Review: Mysticisme d’hier & d’aujourd’hui

Mysticisme d’hier & d’aujourd’hui by Jean-Marc Berthoud
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Toujours un plaiſir lire Jean-Marc Berþoud, ici en tant que partenaire d’écrite avec ſon épouſe Rose-Marie. Le ſujet n’eſt pas facile ni agréable, pourtant c’eſt indiſpenſable pour l’église d’hui.

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Review: L'ordre du discours. Leçon inaugurale au Collège de France prononcée le 2 décembre 1970

L'ordre du discours. Leçon inaugurale au Collège de France prononcée le 2 décembre 1970 by Michel Foucault
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Je devra relire — trop obſcure pour moi, & je n’ai pas eu le loiſir toutes les références.

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Review: The Intolerance of Tolerance

The Intolerance of Tolerance by D.A. Carson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ðere is ſomeþiŋ about Carſon’s writiŋ ſtyle ðat irks me — perhaps he is a little itſy bitſy too didactical, wiþ quite a few references to former or furðer parts of the ſame books, perhaps a lack of confidence in his articulation of ideas ðat makes he explain a bit too much.

But ðere is no complainiŋ about his ideas nor about his competence to defend ðem. His command of French enables him to ſee what oðer anglophone writers do not — for inſtance, he handly deflates KA Smiþ and oðers’ infatuation wiþ Postmoderniſm, even makiŋ criticiſm of it ſuch as ðe Wilſons’ ſeem like kickiŋ dead dogs, as we ſay in Brazil.

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Review: Análise de discurso: princípios e procedimentos

Análise de discurso: princípios e procedimentos by Eni Puccinelli Orlandi
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Intoleravelmente pretensioso e obscuro. Incompreensível para os não-iniciados, faz lembrar o tuíte da Norma Venâncio Braga: ‘linguagem mansa e cheia de bons sentimentos, quando não empolada, para simular amor e sabedoria’. Pressupõe religiosamente a verdade do marxismo, como qualquer bom marxista de galinheiro.

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Review: I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible

I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible by Michael S. Heiser
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reread after three years. Will have to reread it again, unless I delve deeper in the information it provides elsewhere, as it is so out of our common frame of reference. Essential, I would say, to keep us honest about Biblical exegesis.

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Review: Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ by Thomas R. Schreiner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great reſource for Baptists in general and Reformed ones in particular. Several chapters by different auþors, each focusiŋ on a particular aſpect of ðe ordinance: hiſtorical, Biblical, practical, polemical (as in relation to ðe alleged hereſy of baptiſmal regeneration by ðe Stone-Campbellites & ðe clearly heterodox infant ſprinkliŋ)… I particularly appreciated contributions hiſtorical & Biblical, as I found Mark Dever’s practical take much too conſtrained by current & mediæval practices as againſt neoteſtamentary teſtimony.

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