Mere Creation by William A. Dembski

A scholarly conference of good thinkers nailing down intelligent design. Johnson is crystal clear, Behe is seminal. William Lane Craig is brilliant. I like Berlinski best: a fusion of prose and mathematics. Some articles were obscure and less interesting, some too advanced, but overall very sound and I think convincing.

Life is a Jungle by Ron Snell

An engaging story of missionary life from a child and young man's point of view. Amazing adjustments, hardships almost welcomed and endured with humor, pluck, and faith. Slightly melodramatic but fun!

Heretics by G. K. Chesterton

An amazing series of portraits of intellectuals of his day - Shaw, Kipling, and H. G. Wells, who he admired and knew. Brilliant analysis and timeless ideas brought to life in the crucible of actual life and thought in his place and time.

Recommended for the library of a home. Full of enduring quotes. A feast for the soul, mind, and heart. Of course, some of the names and events were unknown to me and thus unappreciated.

The Story of my Boyhood and Youth & A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf by John Muir

Raised in an extremely strict Scottish Calvinistic home, Muir became a naturalist and something of a pantheist. In Scotland he memorized the entire New Testament and "most" of the Old Testament. He was a genius inventor, making clocks of wood. He walked from Louisville to the Florida gulf coast, sometimes in danger from robbers and crocodiles, sleeping outdoors, swimming rivers, eschewing roads and bridges. An amazing account of an amazing, tough, brilliant man.

D. James Kennedy: The Man and his Ministry by Herbert Lee Williams

Somewhat of a "puff piece" about a really remarkable man who would be better served by a more modest understated approach. His evangelism explosion is really quite remarkable for a Calvinist, his renewing America is somewhat reminiscent of Calvin.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith (1939-1981) by Iain H. Murray

The rest of a remarkable life (for earlier volume, see 5/4/07 post). He preached through Romans and Ephesians, taking hundreds of sermons. He was involved in much turmoil about ecumenism and broke with Packer. He believed in personal fellowship but no organizational fellowship with liberals. He believed in evangelism, but not in decisionism. He had no elders; he stopped baptizing infants and dedicated them instead. He baptized believers but didn't immerse.

He died of colon cancer. He retired and wrote for several years after his first cancer surgery. He respected Billy Graham but disagreed on invitations. He studied Puritans and had a Puritan conference. He had a great ministry, which still continues. He spoke at Wheaton College.

Nearer, My God by William F. Buckley, Jr.

This is the story of the spiritual life of a prominent American. Born to privilege and educated in various places, he was always an outsider as a Catholic. Very devout and very knowledgeable. Open to protestants in a way; he is friends with Colson and others. Though Buckley is fiercely loyal to Catholicism, his wife, it seems, remains a protestant. The parts about his life are very interesting. Large, sometimes tedious, sections about a forum he participates in of those who converted to Catholicism. A book full of faith in God and devotion to Christ.