Archive for 'Tim Recommends'
A Walk to Remember?
Posted on 12. Feb, 2011 by Tim Stoner.
A Walk to Remember is a heartbreakingly romantic book. In it the protagonist, now in his late 50’s, remembers a walk that he has never been able to forget. In my fundamentalist tradition the walk we were never to forget was that one we took during the “altar call.” It would serve as the reminder of the iron-clad guarantee of our eternal security. However, Hebrews disabuses us of all notions that our confidence is in a brief stroll in the past. Instead the picture is that of a grueling race in which victory is not at all certain. There is great danger of falling short, falling away, or falling down. Thanks to a sermon by David Platt on the Rich Man and Lazarus, I am wondering whether I am in danger of doing all three.
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Generous Justice: Justified by works not faith alone
Posted on 22. Jan, 2011 by Tim Stoner.
In Generous Justice Timothy Keller does something almost impossible: he wrestles a golden calf off its marble pedestal while keeping the conservative reader from pushing the eject button. The argument he makes is that caring for the widow, orphans, immigrants and the poor is not an option, it is a duty—it is a necessary act of love. Starkly: choosing not to sacrifically serve those in need is not stinginess but “an offense against God”. And most starkly of all: refusing to “do justice” means we have not been truly saved. He does this gently, but for those with ears to hear Dr. Keller has issued a prophetic pronouncement that will rock the boat and hopefully the world.
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Unbroken: Impossibly true
Posted on 15. Jan, 2011 by Tim Stoner.
This astonishing, miraculous true story makes you believe it is possible to transcend yourself. If nothing else it tempts you to think that there is no wall too high, no limitation too restrictive, no pain too intense, and no suffering too excessive, that it need stop us from performing feats of heroic grace. It also says to us that there is always the very real possibility of a miraculous transcendence—despite the terrifying impossibility of the present moment. It is “a celebration of gargantuan fortitude” and easily, the most inspiring book I have read in a decade, at least.
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LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM: The Tour
Posted on 11. Sep, 2010 by Tim Stoner.
Coming to a campus near you is the premier screening of a ground-breaking documentary addressing the growing nonviolence movement in Israel and Palestine. Little Town of Bethlehem tells the gripping story of three men—born into sectarian violence and on opposite sides of the conflict, yet willing to risk everything to embrace a non-violent solution to the hostility tearing their homelands apart. Their three paths intersect in Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, now a town in occupied territory surrounded by a 30-foot cement wall crowned with barbed wire.
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Desiring the Kingdom: Humans are Lovers not Thinkers
Posted on 18. May, 2010 by Tim Stoner.
Desiring the Kingdom was authored by James K. A. Smith, a philosopny professor at Calvin College and is one of the 10 most influential books I have read. It shines unrelenting light upon the deficits of the traditional perspective on Christian formation-discipleship. Its thesis can be summarized simply: Christians have been wrong for over 400 years in defining humans by placing the focus on the mind–we are thinking beings that are containers for ideas. He argues that being a disciple of Jesus is not primarily a matter of getting the right ideas and doctrines and beliefs into your head; rather, it is a matter of being the kind of person who loves rightly. We are first of all lovers not thinkers. And then he gets dangerous.
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A LIFE APART (Why Jewish Fundamentalism is thriving in America)
Posted on 21. Mar, 2010 by Tim Stoner.
A Life Apart is a captivating documentary on the culture war between ultra-orthodox, Jewish Hasids and America. In it there is this wonderful story that illustrates the movement’s haunting attraction. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Baal Shem Tov, its founder, was praying. He stopped abruptly and after a while the congregation grew restless. Suddenly, an illiterate young shepherd, unable to restrain himself, pulled out a flute and played a single, heartfelt note. The congregation was scandalized but, as the sound died out, the Rebbe began praying as though nothing had happened. When asked about it he said, “I sensed the gates of heaven were closed to our prayers, but that one, pure note, sounded by the shepherd boy, pierced through the heavenly gates and only then were our prayers permitted to follow.”
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FOOD, INC.
Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by Tim Stoner.
After watching the documentary, Food, Inc., it finally connected: food and how it is produced is a moral issue. Just because it is more efficient to keep hundreds of thousands of cows in pens up to their knees in mud and feces or chickens immobilized in metal boxes their whole lives, breathing methane gas from their droppings, for maximum egg and meat production does not make it morally right. That is not “ruling” as God commanded Adam, that is heartless and cruel oppression. And, I believe, it is disrespectful and dishonors the creature and its Creator. How not to be complicit in this callous brutality is the big question.
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KNOWING: The end is coming.
Posted on 21. Jul, 2009 by Tim Stoner.
The mythic theme of the end of the world is recurring in the movies with alarming repetitiveness. It is hard-wired into us that this story we are in has a definite conclusion–that as all epics must, there comes a final conflict and a final resolution. There is a point to all the drama, the struggle and the heart-ache. The movie, Knowing, with Nicolas Cage, left me feeling that the suspicion is growing that the book we have all been reading–in which we have all been taking part–is about to reach its conclusion. But, fortunately, we have not been left without some warnings and we have not been left completely alone.
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Torino Grande
Posted on 24. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner.
Grand Torino, the car, is a metaphor for misplaced priorities, squandered opportunities–a shiny steel coffin filled with regrets. Walt’s (Eastwood’s) estranged sons wish they could connect with their father, but they can’t and they know down deep they will never be able to. But Walt loves his 1972 Gran Torino. He lavishes the love on it he withheld from his children. Not the greatest of life choices. But the message it delivers is that even at 75 you are not too old to make attempts to “redeem the years that the Locust’s have eaten,” to quote the Bible. And the confessional may not be a bad place to start.
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UP (The Pixar movie)
Posted on 19. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner.
Patty and I went to see Up and we found ourselves walking out of the theater raving about it to each other. It is, hands down, my favorite Pixar. Better even than Toy Story which set the standard but lacks the poignancy of Up. To put it bluntly, Toy Story did not make me cry. Up did–twice.
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Jesus of Nazareth (Pope Benedict XVI)
Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner.
This is the best book about Jesus I have ever read. Pope Benedict has written about Jesus brilliantly and insightfully. But, what won me over was His love for the Man he was writing about. This book taught me, corrected me, inspired me and illumined the life of Jesus for me in ways I cannot recall that any other book about Jesus has. It made me love (as well as honor) Jesus more. As a supericilious Protestant, it also humbled me.
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"Then all H---ck broke loose!"
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No Doxology No (eternal) Hell
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Hell’s response: “Let us alone!”
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Loving the world too much or too little?
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Tim Stoner: Spencer: It's the Saturday after the killing on a ...
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Spencer: Tim: I completely agree that Lewis shakes my compl...
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