Armchair Book Review: Unveiling Mercy

 Chad Bird's devotional balances everything about as well as any devotional out there.

When I first met Steve Byrnes from 1517 Publishing, he kept telling me how I have to read this Chad Bird guy. I must admit I had never heard of Bird before. I later found I had come across a quote of his but he wasn't a name that I had particularly taken note of. Reading his devotional Unveiling Mercy: 365 Daily Devotions Based On Insights from the Old Testament Hebrew has totally changed that. I now stop to catch videos of his when I see them pass through my Facebook feed, listen to his "40 Minutes in the Old Testament" podcast, and hope at some point to get his book The Christ Key. To put it simply, Bird's book was the right kind of everything.

I believe language is important, but no one demonstrates this as well as Bird. In just about every devotion I read, I found the word study he offered enlightening. Yet the book is not heavy or anything. It is perfectly accessible to anyone all the while I always found it insightful and not too shallow. It deepens your biblical knowledge. I first used it for my church's weekly prayer pauses where we would read from a devotional, and eventually switched over to it for my own personal daily devotions as I enjoyed it so much.

The book is very well drawn out. Each devotion is ascetically pleasing to the eyes, easy to delineate between date, title of the devotion, Hebrew word, biblical text, and devotion itself. No page looked cluttered or busy. No devotion felt too long or drawn out. Along with showing the word in the Hebrew letters at the top, in the devotion itself he would transliterate it in italics so it was always clear one was encountering a Hebrew word. The devotion would often give background on the word such as its roots or where else it was used in scripture or its wider meaning. In each way one felt they had a better grasp on the devotional text at hand. 

But the most important piece, what makes this such a good devotional and so highly recommended, was that every devotion ultimately moves towards Christ. Bird's Old Testament commentary is the most Christocentric devotional I've ever read. I love that about the book. It helps us truly understand Jesus as the heart of the Scripture, fights against the modern marcionistic tendency to divorce Jesus from the God of the Old Testament, and sheds new lights on both the devotional text at hand and Christ himself. This feature alone, even if it didn't have the wonderful word studies would make this devotional as evangelical (in the true sense of the word) as any and worth my recommendation. 

Each devotion ends with a very brief prayer, sometimes from the scriptures themselves. The devotions would sometimes from one day to another be one texts rather close to one another, really enriching therefore some biblical texts as a whole.

I honestly have no critique of this book. I can't speak highly enough about it. People who want a Jesus-focused, enlightening, accessible daily devotional will likely do no better than this book. It earns my highest grade.

Armchair Book Review: Augsburg Confession: A Guide For the Perplexed

A great little resource to accompany those who could use a little help understanding arguably the most important document in Lutheran history, though I wish it included that document.

My newest read from 1517 Publishing is Mark Mattes little booklet The Augsburg Confession: A Guide for the Perplexed.

I'm big for the Augsburg Confession, as my first line might hint at. I think there is no other document that is more definitive or important towards understanding and articulating Lutheranism and the faith it professes. Mattes himself says "in terms of public statement of faith, the most important document for Lutherans is the Augsburg Confession...adhered to by all Lutheran churches throughout the world." But sadly most Lutherans are not actually familiar with the AC. Former hymnals like The Lutheran Hymnary used to even include it in each hymnal, but now the only confessional documents most Lutherans encounter are the ecumenical creeds and the Small Catechism. On top of it, having taught courses on the confessions for our synod, I can say that the style in the AC is just a bit more difficult for some folks. That is where this little booklet comes in.

Mattes tiny booklet (17 pages, easily read in one brief sitting) provides a simple introduction and summary of the articles of the Augsburg Confession. He offers both a brief historical introduction to the document itself and then offers in his own words a good summary of each article of faith (and at times how it differed from those other church traditions of the Reformation). As such, this little book is easily accessible and helpful for laity in particular in accessing one of their confessional documents. It's small enough, concise enough, and helpful enough that it could also probably serve as a resource in a church narthex to have available for visitors interested more in Lutheranism.

To help give a sense of the size, here it is held up against a church hymnal. Am I the only one who reads a title like that and right away assumes it would be a copy of the Augsburg Confession?

My biggest issue with the book is that it does not include the text of the Augsburg Confession itself. I won't lie about my disappointment over this, since when I first got it the cover made me think that the bulk of the document was the AC itself surrounded by helpful notes, background, etc from Mattes. I actually said when I got it, "This is great, its even smaller in size than my copy of the AC, it'll be perfect to take with me." And when I paged through that impression continued since the layout at first glance appeared to be just that (until I read more closely). Because the AC is not something one might have access to readily (although you can access a translation here for free) and Mattes' notes would best be read side-by-side with one, that makes for my greatest disappointment with the work.

Here one can see the inside layout.

This document could be an aid to new students of theology, but especially to your typical Lutheran who would like to become more knowledgeable about Lutheran doctrine. For those who do not struggle with the AC as it is and are familiar with its historical background it will likely not offer much. Although I will say Mattes' ability to summarize some of the longer articles (especially in the second part of the AC) into a more succinct paragraph could have its benefits even for those quite familiar with it).

As a major fan of the AC and one who wants more people to be able to read our confessional documents I praise Mattes' work. I am even considering using it the next time I teach confessions in my Synod School of Theology. It's lack of including the AC when at first glace I expected that to be it's main content definitely takes it down a bit in my rating, since it loses some of its usefulness for me as a resource in my ministry that I thought it would have (it honestly would probably have been inserted into my Bible that I take with me in ministry). Those who think they could benefit from what is included, most definitely should get this booklet.