A Passionate Review

I'd like to take this time to do a plug for one of my favorite websites - paperbackswap.com. Now, before you go running, hear me out - it could end up saving you hundreds of dollars on books! As you may have already guessed from the name, Paperback Swap is a book swapping site - specifically one that allows you to get rid of your old, unwanted books while finding books you really want, paying only shipping to do so! It's essentially a massive used bookstore where you use "credits" from trading in old books to get other books.

Getting started in easy. Simply upload all the books you no longer by typing in the titles or ISBN numbers. This puts the books on your "virtual bookshelf", where other users (tens of thousands of them) can browse and order them. If another user requests a book off your shelf, the site notifies you and asks if you want to make the transaction. Then you simply ship the book to that person (usually about $2.00 in shipping) and you receive a "credit" once the book arrives at the requesters residence. With this credit you can peruse and order from Paperback Swap's extensive user catalogue of over 2,000,000 books! Once you find a book you would like, you then request it from that user and they will ship it to you for free! You can also create "wish lists" of books that aren't currently in circulation. This notifies you when a user does upload that particular title, and allows you to get in line for it. My wish list is currently maxed out with 200 titles. =)

The books are always in good condition because paperbackswap.com has a policy that no books with water damage, torn covers, bad bindings, or writing/highlighting on the pages can be traded. If a book does come with one of these problems, you get to keep the book, and you get your credit refunded.

I've been using it for about six months so far and couldn't be happier. So far I've received 34 books in the mail, literally saving me hundreds of dollars:

+ A.W. Pink - The Sovereignty of God
+ A.W. Pink – Eternal Security
+ Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
+ Charles Williams - All Hallows Eve
+ D.A. Carson - The King James Version Debate (A Plea For Realism)
+ David Maine - Fallen
+ David Maine - The preservationist
+ Dr. Taylor - Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret
+ Ernest C. Reisinger – Today's Evangelism – It's Message…
+ Evelyn Waugh – Brideshead Revisited
+ Floyd Schneider - Evangelism for the Fainthearted
+ Francis Schaeffer – The Great Evangelical Disaster
+ G.K. Chesterton - Father Brown Stories
+ George MacDonald - Phantastes
+ H.A. Ironside - Unless You Repent
+ J.C. Ryle - Assurance: How to Know You're Saved
+ J.I. Packer - Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
+ J.I. Packer - Knowing God
+ J.I. Packer – Growing in Christ
+ J.I. Packer – God's Plans for You
+ J.M. Boice - Christ's Call to Discipleship
+ James Hastings - The Christian Doctrine of Faith
+ John MacArthur - The Gospel According to Jesus
+ John MacArthur - Why One Way?
+ John MacArthur – Safe in the Arms of God
+ John Steinbeck - East of Eden
+ Jon Krakauer – Into The Wild
+ Joshua Harris – I kissed Dating Goodbye
+ L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables
+ Martin Lloyd-Jones - The Cross
+ Patrick Johnstone – Operation World
+ Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life
+ Thomas Watson - A Body of Divinity
+ William Gurnall - The Christian in Complete Armour

Don't let the name fool you either - you can trade and receive hardcover and audio books as well, not just paperbacks. My good friend Riley actually just received Millard Erickson's Systematic Theology - a hardcover book weighing in at about 5lbs and 1000 pages. Check the site out - explore it a bit. I'm sure it will answer any other questions you may have. Then get a swappin!

~Graeme

Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Probably Should Be)
Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Moody Publishers, 2008. 256 pp. $10.49 (paperback)

Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck in their book Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) approach an ever increasing topic of conversation, the Emerging Church. Today many young Christians across America are tired of the very “modern” churches that have become “seeker” friendly. As a response to, or a rebellion against these “modern” churches the Emerging Church movement has arisen.

Mark Driscoll, an advocate for the emerging church, distinguishes between two different groups within the movement, or as some call it; conversation. The Emerging group seeks to reach a post-modern culture in its own context. The Emergent side also seeks to reach a post-modern world they, however, go too far in their attempts to reach the culture.

This is the issue which Deyoung and Kluck are addressing. The issue is not the emerging church, the issue is the liberties that the emergent side is taking. Deyoung and Kluck do not make the distinction of “emerging” and “emergent” in their book, they use both terms interchangeably. They are however addressing the issues they have with the Emergents who’ve gone too far in their “conversation”.

Emergents, like post-modernism, have come to question everything. Basic orthodox beliefs which are clearly taught in Scripture, have been declared “uncertain”. Why We’re Not Emergent clearly addresses some major issues that are opening the door to unorthodoxy. Such truths as the knowability of God, the Bible as the inspired inerrant word of God, eternal judgment, and the atonement have been questioned and sort of redefined, if I can even use the word defined.

I highly recommend this book to both those who don’t typically read theology books and to those who do. This book keeps you interested and clearly states that the Emergent Church is addressing some issues that need to be looked at. The authors’ concern is, however, that some of these answers are steering in the wrong direction.
Read it! Enjoy it! Don’t forget to read your Bible!