Books I Read in April 2010

Stuff Christian Like by Jonathan Acuff - I received this free book earlier this month in an audio format from Christianaudio's website. Jonathan Acuff does an excellent job reading his collection of more than 120 ideas from his Stuff Christians Like site. I was not very familiar with his blogs prior to listening to this audiobook, but I am a fan of his now. A good mix of satire and seriousness about American Christian culture is told in 4.5 hours. It's the type of book where I would really enjoy sharing favorite portions with a group of friends. I can't say that about too many books. I think people need to laugh more, and this book is a great start.

Ephesians: The NIV Application Commentary by Klyne Snodgrass - I purchased this book a few years ago for a hermeneutics course I took at Colorado Christian University. Although a couple of the consulting editors of the NIV Application Commentary Series have some different understandings of Scripture than I do, I had absolutely no problems with Professor Snodgrass' exegesis. The book starts off with an introduction to the NIV Application Commentary Series, a general editor's preface, an author's preface, a general introduction to the Book of Ephesians and an annotated bibliography before providing 330 pages of rich text and commentary on what is one of the most influential documents ever written. A Scripture index and a subject index are provided in the back of the book. Every passage of Ephesians has the original meaning examined, the original context and the contemporary context bridged and the significance of the passage discussed in a way that engages life today. Snodgrass's book is 14 years old, but the contemporary significance is not outdated by any means. Meaning that is found in literal versions such as the ESV or NASB that is lost in the NIV is properly addressed. This book was a great help in writing a paper focused on Ephesians 2:1-10 and will continue to assist me in my studies of Paul's letter to the Ephesians.