Category Archives: The Randleman Review

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Book Review – A Deadly Business by Lis Wiehl

A Deadly Business by Lis WiehlLegal thrillers are one of my favorite genres of fiction. I love such authors as John Grisham and Randy Singer. Last summer, I was introduced to a new author in this genre, Lis Wiehl. But Wiehl takes a different spin, at least in the two books I’ve read so far.

Wiehl has introduced Mia Quinn, a prosecuting attorney who struggles with several major life issues. She balances her legal career as a prosecutor, with a second job teaching at a night school, grieves over her dead husband, and tries to raise her children on her own. Trying to do all of this under her own power is difficult to say the least, but she refuses to allow God a foothold into her life… At least not yet.

In this second novel featuring Mia Quinn, A Deadly Business, Wiehl weaves a thick plot that includes Quinn struggling with ethical considerations in one of her cases, seeking the truth behind her husband’s death, and how compassion plays out in her own personal life.

Just like A Matter Of Trust, the first Mia Quinn novel, A Deadly Business brings the reader right in to the middle of the action, as well as into the minds of the characters. As you read, you can almost feel the weight of the struggles that Quinn faces, and you begin to empathize with her as she seeks to do what is right in spite of pressures from work and home.

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Book Review – Strange Glory by Charles Marsh

Strange GlorySeveral years ago, I read Eric Metaxas’ biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I absolutely loved that book. It introduced me to the details of the life of one of my favorite authors and theologians.

So when Charles Marsh’s biography, Strange Glory: A Life Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was released, I was excited to read it, to see what else I could add to my knowledge of Bonhoeffer’s life and times.

Right off the bat, I noticed that Metaxas and Marsh examined Bonhoeffer’s life differently. Where Metaxas looked at the events and circumstances of his life, Marsh dug into the theological and philosophical aspects of Bonhoeffer’s thinking. There were several interesting insights that I gathered from this different perspective.

But that’s the only positive I took from this biography. The more I read it, the more I sensed that Marsh wrote, imposing his twenty-first century views and thoughts on a life and time from nearly a hundred years ago. Marsh is unable to see Bonhoeffer in light of his own era and culture, and he interprets Bonhoeffer’s life in light of current American culture, particularly in light of Bonhoeffer’s sexuality.

Though Marsh never come out and explicitly states that Bonhoeffer experienced same sex attraction, he implies heavily that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was romantically in love with his friend, Eberhard Bethge.

This idea is absolutely ridiculous.

Strange Glory

Strange Glory: A Life Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014)

A few years ago, I read Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas. I was very impressed with the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. When I saw this new biography, I grabbed a copy as soon as I could. It’s very different so far, from Metaxas’ work. Marsh deals more with the intellectual and theological aspects of Bonhoeffer’s life, where Metaxas spent more time devoted to life events.

I’m only about a hundred pages in so far, so that could change. It’s well worth the time to read it, especially if you are a fan of biographies. Bonhoeffer was a spiritual giant of the early twentieth century, and there is much that we can learn from him.

I will post a full review when I finish the book, but in the meantime, you can pick up a copy of Strange Glory on Amazon.

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Book Review – Critical Condition by Richard Mabry

Critical Condition Most of what I read is material that I find useful for my life, from my work in ministry to fatherhood, and every topic in between. Every once in a while, though, I like to grab a good fiction novel and enjoy some lighter reading for a change.

Last week, I picked up a new novel by Richard Mabry, called Critical Condition. I managed to digest the entire book in just a couple of evenings, and enjoyed it.

I’ve read several other books by Mabry in the past, and thoroughly enjoyed each one of them. This one just didn’t seem to be as good as the rest that I’ve read.

The premise of the story is based around Dr. Shannon Frasier. During a dinner party, a man is shot in her front yard, and dies in her arms. Add to that Dr. Frasier’s younger sister moving in after a fight with her boyfriend, and with drug trouble a possibility, Dr. Frasier is suddenly overwhelmed.

That’s when the questions and threats start coming. And they are coming from both the police and a mysterious caller. Dr. Frasier’s life becomes a nightmare, and just staying alive seems an impossibility.

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Book Review – Titus For You by Tim Chester

Titus For YouThe Pastoral Epistles, which include 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, are by far some of the most practical letters in the New Testament when it come to ministry. In these short epistles, Paul writes to two young men who are leading churches: Timothy, in Ephesus, and Titus, in Crete.

These letters are full of incredible advice and spiritual insights for growth, both as a Christian and as a leader and minister. One of my personal goals over the past year and a half has been to study and memorize both of the letters to Timothy, and Titus is next on the list for this fall.

I think these are pretty important letters for us to examine in detail.

I’ve read several other books from The Good Book Company in this series, covering Galatians, Romans 1-7, and Judges. I’ve enjoyed each one of them immensely. So, when I saw an opportunity to read this one on Titus, I was pretty excited. At first, I wasn’t sure how it would compare with the others, since all of the ones I have read were written by Timothy Keller, and this one is by Tim Chester.

My fears were ungrounded. Chester hit a home run with this look at Titus. I feel like he did a great job dividing the letter up into sections to examine in detail. The chapters he writes here follow the natural breaks in the text itself, lending itself well to easy reading, or even to fit a preaching schedule.

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Book Review – 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation

1 Enoch: A Hermeneia TranslationI’ve long had a fascination with the early chapters of Genesis, and the early earth history that they contain. Almost everything I’ve ever read centered around these chapters is centered upon the text themselves.

However, early Judaism has several traditions concerning those early centuries that are not found in the book of Genesis. Although these documents date much later than early Genesis, they point back to those times and contain some very interesting information. One such document is 1 Enoch.

This document plays an important role in early Judaism, and several scrolls containing this document were discovered at Qumran. Most of the document is dated to the last three or four centuries before Christ. Because of the distance from the time of Genesis, and the life of Enoch, their authorship is suspect enough to deny them entrance into the canon of the Old Testament.

However, the traditions and stories that they contain shed a lot of light on ancient Jewish thought on Genesis and the lives that formed the first few centuries of human history after creation.

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Book Review – 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Commentary, Volume 1

1 Enoch: A Hermeneia CommentaryI recently received a translation of 1 Enoch, along with the first volume of a new commentary from Fortress Press. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the level of scholarship evident in these volumes. I’ve never had the opportunity to use anything from Fortress Press before this, and I found this commentary to be pretty exhaustive.

As in my review of the translation itself, I discovered a lot of information in this ancient Jewish text that shed some light on how Judaism has viewed and handled some of the early history from the book of Genesis. While I disagree in some of the interpretations that the book of 1 Enoch draws, the translation and commentary seem to be spot on.

Based on the life of Enoch, from the fifth chapter of Genesis, but written during the intertestemental period, 1 Enoch gives some good insights into Jewish thought and theology. And this is only the first volume of the commentary. From what I have on hand, and when you add the second volume into the mix, this creates a very exhaustive and well-researched study tool for the ancient document of 1 Enoch.