Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Two of my favorite authors in one book? I knew this was going to be good before I even cracked the book open, and Joseph Loconte’s superb behind-the-scenes biographies in A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, And A Great War didn’t disappoint me at all!
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien’s lives are intertwined on so many levels. Tolkien was instrumental in leading Lewis to Christianity, and without Lewis’ encouragement, the world may never have been enraptured with The Lord Of The Rings books. Both men were incredibly creative in numerous genres of literature, and both were highly sought essayists and speakers.
And, as Joseph Loconte recounts, both of them had their creativity forged in the cruel furnace of Word War I—or “The Great War” as it was known then.
Loconte tells of the horrors of this war, the disillusionment that so many felt—both on the front lines of trench warfare and at home on the supply lines—and, how these experiences became the driving force for the creation of Narnia and Middle Earth. Loconte shares the personal correspondences and private journal entries for both of these authors as they went through this horrific war, and then he shows us how those experiences became the settings, good and evil characters, and epic quests that millions of readers have enjoyed for so many years.
If you’ve never read the Chronicles of Narnia or the space trilogy from C.S. Lewis or the Middle Earth stories from J.R.R. Tolkien, this book will be an excellent primer. If you have read these engrossing stories, reading Loconte’s book will give you new insights that will help you appreciate these timeless works even more.
As a postscript from me, I am so thankful to my son Harrison for putting this book in my hands!
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Proverbs: Amplified And Applied (book review)
January 10, 2023 — Craig T. OwensListen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Full disclosure: Dick Brogden is my cousin, so I may be just slightly biased on this book. But I don’t think my bias in any way contradicts my statement about the volume of Scripture contained in this powerfully insightful devotional work.
Dick has taken the Book of Proverbs and gone deep on every single verse. Each note is a treasure trove of insights, cross-references to other biblical concepts, and action steps that can immediately become a prayer request or a daily goal.
Let me give you an example. Provers 2:7 says, “He holds success in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.” Dick’s amplification and application for this verse says—
“Wisdom is a supply and a defense. Wisdom gained now provides in the present and protects in the future. God in His benevolence stockpiles wisdom for us. He gives neither Spirit nor wisdom by measure. He delights to flood, saturate, fill, overwhelm, and lavish the spirit of wisdom, counsel, discernment, and understanding upon us. When we walk in the light, in integrity, it is as if we have a library card that allows us free checkout of heaven’s daily living manuals. Our integrity is what gives us access to all the stored-up wisdom of God. Integrity also shields us from the attacks of folly. The grandest folly comes wrapped in deceptive intelligence. The devil is able (cunning angel of light that he is) to make foolish things seem wise. We are able to see through his disguises and be shielded from his traps when we have a legacy of continually checking out, reading, and applying God’s insight. It is the familiarity with the feel of the true that helps us recognize the false.”
I’m reading through the Book of Proverbs very slowly this year, allowing Dick’s commentary to help me let these principles sink in deep. For those who love the wisdom of Proverbs, I would greatly encourage you to get a copy of Dick’s book for yourself.
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