Christ Beyond Reason by. Rev. Joel Baseley review - This short book resolves the centuries-long debate of faith and reason. Rev. Baseley does this through an analysis of Luther’s festival portions of his church postils. In chapter 1, Christ is beyond reason. Reason is good insofar as “We evaluate things that fail and things that work and discard the former while embracing the latter” (p. 2). Reason fails, however, when it attempts to justify oneself when confronted with God’s Law (while it will readily condemn someone by the same transgression), believes the Gospel to be foolish, and attempts to take the place of God concerning matters of life and death, which belong in God’s domain. Thus, for example, things like evolution, abortion, and transgenderism are irrational, for they attempt to enter God’s domain, leaving reason behind. Reason, a sense given to us by God’s Word, cannot go beyond the Word of God. Reason, when it fails, denies the power of God’s Word and attempts to invade His authority. Nonetheless, Christ redeemed reason by doing what reason fails to do. In chapter 2, which takes up the remainder of the book, faith is beyond reason. Faith and reason are always in conflict because “reason will not relinquish its control to God who is greater, by accepting what He says and does” (p. 33). Reason operates by what it sees and experiences, whereas faith operates by what God says, even when His Word opposes what reason teaches and claims. Reason always tries to seek something “more and better” than Christ, yet Christ calls reason to death. The book is an excellent, short read that I highly recommend every theological mind read to gain an understanding of Luther’s—and therefore the Lutheran—understanding of the long debated “faith and reason” subject. If you’re an avid note taker and have a journaling study Bible like me, have your Bible open as you read this, for the book contains many jewels of insight from Luther. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookstagram #bookreview #lutheranism #faith #faithandreason
Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin review - Detailing the reign of the Targaryen dynasty, ‘Fire & Blood’ does not read like a normal fiction or fantasy novel but as a historical narrative, which the new show House of the Dragon is based on. Thus, Martin’s writing style chosen for this novel is not for everyone unless (a) you love to read history or (b) you’re already a big fan of Game of Thrones (GoT) lore. Even so, I highly recommend any GoT fan give this book a shot. At first, the book might appear dry and boring, but it establishes excellent world building and there’s enough betrayal, political intrigue, marital conflicts, gossip, subterfuge, wars, and wicked kings to keep the story going at a steady pace—everything GoT is known and loved for. Its historical narration reminded me of the first couple chapters in Tolkien’s ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ that delineate the history of the Hobbits, which is difficult to get through and makes it all too easy to abandon the ambitious undertaking of the LOTR trilogy. Somehow, Martin succeeds where Tolkien has failed in presenting the history of a fantasy world as genuinely interesting and vastly entertaining. I wish all history textbooks were written as Martin wrote ‘Fire & Blood.’ Much as I love history, the same narrative style would make history much more bearable to read, for they tend to be rather vapid. If you picked up this book because the show House of the Dragon inspired you to, you’ll have to read just over 370 pages to get to the events of the first episode, and 452 pages to reach the end of the first season, which is disappointing on the show producers’ part. Why did they begin the show so late into the Targaryen dynasty? Perhaps because Viserys’ reign represents “the apex of Targaryen power in Westeros” (p. 376). Still, there’s SO much more to Targaryen history 100 years before the setting of the show. Such great potential and an equally lost opportunity. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookstagram #bookreview #fireandblood #houseofthedragon #georgerrmartin
Halo: The Flood by William C. Dietz review - Common critiques of this book are that the narrative is too close to the first game in the franchise, Halo: Combat Evolved, as if Dietz just played through the game and wrote down the game dialogue. It’s an understandable criticism, even though at times Dietz does stray from verbatim dialogue. Personally, if Dietz had completely left out game dialogue, it would’ve been an entirely different story and, therefore, even more frustrating. There’s also some extra material you don’t get from playing the game, which help fill in the blanks where the gamer doesn’t know what happened. For example, how the survivors of the crash landed Pillar of Autumn managed to regroup in an organised fashion during “The Silent Cartographer” mission in the game. Also, most importantly, how the Covenant captured Captain Keyes after crash landing the Autumn. The game simply doesn’t tell you. Sure, there is some redundancy for the gamer as they read the book, but again, without that key dialogue it would just be a different story, which no Halo fan wants. That being said, some parts of the game are unfortunately skipped and there are enough spelling errors to make it annoying. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚫️ #bookstagram #bookreview #Halo
Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund review - Planet Reach—humanity’s largest occupied planet outside Earth—was the headquarters of the UNSC (United Nations Space Command), and its infamous loss left a dark mark upon humanity’s motivation to defeat the biggest threat humanity has ever faced: the menagerie of religious alien zealots called the Covenant. I remember being extremely excited when this book came out back when the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, was changing the world of FPS gaming. Every Halo fan knew about Reach. We didn’t know much about it. All we knew was that its loss was no small thing and it was home to SPARTAN-117 Master Chief Petty Officer John and many of his fellow Spartans. So, we were thrilled to read the book where Nylund captures the origin story of John and the other Spartans’ involuntary recruitment into the SPARTAN-II programme directed by Dr. Catherine Halsey. They were originally designed to combat the rebel Insurrectionists with the UNSC, but when both sides face a common enemy, the Covenant, the founding of the SPARTAN-IIs is rather fortuitous as they face the apocalyptic threat to humanity known as the Covenant. This is one of the few books that made me emotional. As John loses essentially the only family he’s ever known, you can’t wait to get to the next book where John exacts not only humanity’s revenge, but also personal revenge on one of the Covenant’s beloved Halo ring installations. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookstagram #bookreview #Halo
Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Merciel review - I still have one more Dragon Age (DA) book to read in the series, but this is my favourite one so far. The book jumps cohesively back and forth between the present in the perspective of elven mage Valya and the past in the secret diary she discovers that belongs to Isseya, a Grey Warden and twin sister of the famous Garahel who had sacrificed himself to end the Fourth Blight. Isseya once fiercely battled with her griffon, a long extinct species. With Valya, you gain the perspective of those who are trying to avoid the Mage-Templar war during DA: Inquisition, and Isseya’s diary leads her to an absolutely MINDBLOWING secret at the end, possibly setting up some major gameplay and/or story in the upcoming new game, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookstagram #bookreview #DragonAge
Dragon Age: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes review - Open this book to jump into the aristocratic, grandiloquent world of Orlesian culture. Taking place during the events of the game, DA: Inquisition, you leave the Mage-Templar conflict behind to gain more insight into the struggles and discrimination of elves and, at least for me, leaves you despising the Empress Celene for her immense hypocrisy concerning the matter, considering her close relationship to Briala, her elven maid. Before this book, I somewhat admired Celene for her candidness, but the book gives a deeper look into her character that reveals just how contemptible she really is. Much as the prequel, ‘DA: Asunder,’ left me desiring to play DA: Inquisition again to re-experience the narrative, ‘The Masked Empire’ left me with the same desire, but only so I might allow Celene to be stabbed in the back (literally). While she does genuinely care about Orlais, she cares more about her political image than aiding the destitute elves. You also meet Gaspard here, whom we first meet in Inquisition, who is just as bent on war in the book as he is in the game. The chevalier, Michel de Chevin, has an admirable sense of honour that makes the book more bearable, although he is quite gullible, reminding me of Alistair’s naïveté in DA: Origins. ‘The Masked Empire’ doesn’t bring much depth to the entire DA universe, but rather just provides further insight into the “Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts” mission in Inquisition. You can skip reading this book onto the next one without missing much at all, but reading it does make your decision in Inquisition much easier to make if you don’t meet the requirements to find a peaceful resolution among all parties. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚫️ #bookstagram #bookreview #DragonAge #dragonageinquisition
The Lutheran Column 