book review | Craig T. Owens

April 2020
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The Artisan Collection Bible (book review)

March 31, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

How do “Bible” and “artisan” belong in the same title? They’re more connected than you may have previously thought, and The Artisan Collection Bible is the perfect place to explore this connection.

If you were to ask someone what occupation Jesus had while He was on earth, it would be a safe bet that most people would say He was a carpenter. Indeed, the Greek word tekton is translated as “carpenter” for both Joseph and Jesus (see Matthew 13:54-56 and Mark 6:2-3). However, the consensus among Greek scholars today is that the word tekton is more likely to mean an artisan than just merely a wood-working carpenter.

That makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, you would expect boundless creativity from the Creator. The One who fashioned our beautiful universe would certainly still be interested in expressing Himself in creative and beautiful ways.

For myself, reading the Bible sparks in me a desire to be creative with words, and images, and colors, and designs. This is exactly what The Artisan Collection Bible gives you the space to do. And I literally mean “space.”

One of the most attractive features to me about this Bible is the extra-wide margins along every single page. As you read God’s Word and the beauty of the Creator is illuminated in your heart and mind, you have readily available space to express your own creativity as worship to the Creator. Try crafting a poem, or turning the passage into a personal prayer, or drawing a picture that captures the vibrancy of God’s love letter written to you. The design of this Bible helps you to do more than just read the Word of God, it invites you to interact with the God of the Word.

The Artisan Collection Bible would make an excellent gift for your creative friend or loved one.

I am a Zondervan book reviewer and a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid. As a book reviewer I received a free copy of this book from the book publisher. I am not compensated for my review. Although I may have received the book free of charge, I am under no obligation to write a favorable review. I am free to express my honest opinion about the book’s content. If I say it’s a good book, it’s because I think it’s a good book!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: art, artisan, artist, Bible study, book review, creativity, Creator, Greek, Jesus, Mark, Matthew, poem, poetry, prayer, Scripture. Leave a Comment »

The Knowledge Of The Holy (book review)

March 3, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

One definition of a Christian mystic is someone who engages in deep, prayerful pondering of the nature of God, as He is revealed in the Scriptures, and then emerges from those intimate encounters to share with us what he or she has learned. I would put A.W. Tozer in this category, especially in his book The Knowledge Of The Holy—The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life.

Tozer himself described the Christian mystic more fully than I could in his book The Christian Book Of Mystical Verse. In that book, Tozer shared some poetic verses from some of his favorite mystical thinkers. He noted, “The hymns and poems found here are mystical in that they are God-oriented; they begin with God, embrace the worshipping soul, and return to God again.”

In The Knowledge Of The Holy, Tozer takes us on his own personal journey into the immeasurable depths of God’s greatness. Whereas many theologians tend to focus on one attribute of God at a time, Tozer has a God-given ability to help us see all of God’s attributes operating in their infinite fullness.

Even as Tozer plunges deep into the attributes of God’s self-existence, self-sufficiency, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, love, mercy, justice, grace, and sovereignty, he reminds us, “Because God is immutable He always acts like Himself, and because He is a unity He never suspends one of His attributes in order to exercise another.”

This is not a book you can ready lightly or casually, or even quickly. This is a book that invites you to read slowly and reverently each of the short chapters, and then to meditate long on the immenseness of an All-Powerful, All-Loving God who wants to reveal Himself to you.

The Knowledge Of The Holy is a soul-expanding book!

As You Wish (book review)

February 18, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

I was visiting in my wife’s 3rd-grade classroom and I was asked by her class what my favorite movie was. Without hesitating, I said, “The Princess Bride.” Not surprisingly, several of these young children knew this movie! For a movie that is over 30 years old, that would meet the definition of a “classic movie.” Cary Elwes famously portrays a pivotal character—the man in black—in this wonderful movie, so he is the perfect person to give us a behind-the-scenes tour of this film in his book As You Wish.

I chose to get the audiobook version, and I’m so glad I did. This is a delightful remembrance of how this movie came to the big screen, but hearing Cary reading these remembrances in his own voice (and sometimes hearing him impersonate some of the people he is quoting) was an added dimension that I had not expected. In addition to Cary’s voice, you will also be treated to the voices of Princess Buttercup, Count Rugen, Prince Humperdinck, Miracle Max and his wife Valerie, and Vezzini, as well as director Rob Reiner and producer Andy Scheinman.

In As You Wish, you will hear about the cast selection, the struggles of getting a studio to agree to make this movie, the lengthy training that went into the amazing sword duel between Westley and Inigo, the injuries, the ad-libs, the faux pas, and so much more!

Whether you have seen this movie or not, As You Wish is an excellent primer before watching this movie (again)!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, movie. 1 Comment »

The Secrets Our Body Clocks Reveal (book review)

February 4, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

Do you know when is your best time to work on a mentally-challenging project? Or perform an athletic event? Or even take a nap? Our body clocks function predictably, but the issue is knowing what rhythm your particular body is following. In The Secrets Our Body Clocks Reveal, Susan Perry and Jim Dawson help us discover how to tap into our optimal performances.

The ups-and-downs, alert-and-tired, focus-and-distracted cycles of our body are largely predictable. Our bodies operate fairly consistently on a “clock” that can be learned. Once you know your rhythms, you can adjust your daily activities to operate at your very best. This book gives you amazing insight into the research of chronobiologists, and lots of charts to help you track your body’s clock, and even highly practical tips for how to re-adjust your clock if things have gotten askew.

You will learn about how to keep things in sync, as well as how to get things back in sync after an illness or traveling to a new timezone. You will discover the best time of day to do certain activities, how to plan your sleep schedule, how to anticipate and regulate your mood changes, your “health thermometer,” and even how your diet can work with your body clock.

This is a highly practical book! If you want to get back in sync or raise your performance levels, I recommend you check out The Secrets Our Body Clocks Reveal.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, diet, eat healthy, emotional health, health, healthy, mental health, performance, physical health, sex, sleep. 2 Comments »

When The Darkness Will Not Lift (book review)

January 21, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

Depression and a “dark night of the soul” can happen to anyone. It falls over us sometimes because of physical issues, sometimes spiritual issues, and sometimes mental or emotional issues. Whatever its root cause, When The Darkness Will Not Lift by John Piper gives hope for those battling joy-suppressing melancholy.

Depression, as with most ailments that humans face, doesn’t have a simple starting point. Most likely, depression is the result of a combination of many things—environmental, physical health, emotional crisis, spiritual attack, among other things. Sadly, many Christians attempt to address this multifaceted problem with a singular solution. Darkness doesn’t lift simply because someone has enough faith to make it so!

“It is utterly crucial that in our darkness we affirm the wise, strong hand of God to hold us, even when we have no strength to hold Him.” —John Piper

Pastor John weaves together Scripture, practical insights, and historical examples to help us see depression in its entirety. This comprehensive look will help you better understand both your own battle with darkness as well as helping you be a better friend to others who are also struggling with depression.

Pastor John looks at the physical, emotional, and spiritual causes of depression, and then helps us battle for joy when the darkness will not lift. This is a short book, but one that you should return to frequently to help yourself and others in times of depression.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, depression, emotional health, John Piper, melancholy, mental health, physical health. 1 Comment »

Cultivation Of Christian Character (book review)

January 7, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve always enjoyed reading J. Oswald Sanders. Let me rephrase that: I enjoy the new insights on God’s Word that Sanders’ books have given me, but the confrontation of the Holy Spirit that comes while reading these books can be quite painful at times. Cultivation Of Christian Character is no exception!

In his opening words, Sanders explains the purpose of “this little volume” (as he calls it)—

“The genuine disciple of Christ earnestly desires a closer walk with God and a greater conformity to Christ. If these are absent, there is reason to doubt the genuineness of the discipleship. But many true lovers of the Lord are beset with a sense of inadequacy and failure in living the Christian life as it ought to be lived. They are very conscious with Paul that they have not already attained, neither are already perfect, but they yearn to know Christ better and to serve Him more worthily.”

There you have it in a nutshell: If you yearn to be more Christlike, and yet at the same time struggle with how far you still have to go to see the fruits of Christlikeness in your life, this is the book for you.

The chapters are short enough to read in just a few minutes. But the thought processes and the heart-searching that these short chapters will stimulate will undoubtedly take a long time to assimilate into your daily life. At least, this is the case for me.

None of J. Oswald Sanders’ books are long books, but all of his books live long inside of me. Dive into Cultivation of Christian Character with an attitude of ready submission to the Holy Spirit, and then watch the amazing fruitfulness and Christlikeness that will begin to blossom from your life.

I am a Moody Publishers book reviewer.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, Christlike, confrontation, discipleship, Holy Spirit, J. Oswald Sanders. 1 Comment »

Book Reviews From 2019

December 17, 2019 — Craig T. Owens

I love reading, and I love sharing my love of good books with others! Here is a list of the books I read and reviewed in 2019. Click on a title to be taken to that review.