17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Christmas Essays from Trusted Authors, October 22, 2008
This review is from: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas (Paperback)
Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus is a collection of short essays on Christmas topics from writers that Nancy Guthrie respects--"essays that reflect a high view of Scripture; and that put the incarnation in the context of God's unfolding plan of redemption."
Included are pieces from the sermons, essays or books of both historical and contemporary Christians. I've decided that listing the contributors would be more useful than anything else in helping you decided whether these are essays you would enjoy reading, so here you are, from first to last:
* George Whitefield
* Joseph "Skip" Ryan
* Martin Luther
* John Piper
* Tim Keller
* Martyn Lloyd-Jones
* J. Ligon Duncan III
* Jonathan Edwards
* Charles Spurgeon
* Saint Augustine
* J. I. Packer
* John Calvin
* Alistair Begg
* Randy Alcorn
* John MacArthur
* Raymond C. Ortland, Jr.
* Francis Schaeffer
* J. C. Ryle
* James Montgomery Boice
* R. C. Sproul
* R. Kent Hughes
* Joni Eareckson Tada
Impressive, isn't it?
Some of the specific topics of the reflections are Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, the wisemen's gifts, the Holy Spirit (he did, you remember, have a big role in the incarnation story), Christ's humility, his poverty, and what it means that he became flesh. As you might expect from any collection with pieces from various authors, some are easier to read than others. Some you'll whip through like a summer breeze, and for a few, you'll need your thinking cap.
And as you also might expect, some readings are better than others. The selections are mostly (maybe always) excerpted from larger works, so when I used the word essay to describe them, that was not quite right. That they are parts of larger wholes shows more in some readings than others. If you are expecting tight packages with precise beginnings, middles, ends, and all strings knotted, you may be disappointed a few times as you read through this book.
As I read, I marked two essays with an X, which is my indication that didn't like it or strongly disagreed with it, and one I marked with a question mark because I am unsure whether its whole premise stands. About half of the rest I enjoyed but didn't love, and I thought nine out of the twenty-two were quite wonderful. I won't be telling you which ones are which, since I read this book over a few weeks and have a hunch I didn't judge consistently over time.
I will tell you that my favorite reading was the last one, A Christmas Longing, by Joni Eareckson Tada. Christmas, Joni says, is still a promise, even for those who live on our side of the first Advent.
"Every Christmas is still a "turning of the page" until Jesus returns. Every December 25 marks another year that draws us closer to the fulfillment."
Ah yes! We don't reflect on this often enough, do we? Christmas calls us to celebrate a glorious event of the past, but it is (and maybe more so) a call to celebrate what is to come.
All in all, Nancy Guthrie gets a blue ribbon from me for her editing choices. The shortcomings in Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus are minor, and not really shortcomings at all, but rather, the unevenness that comes in any collection of essays, particularly when the selections are taken from many authors and from different centuries. I can't think of a Christmas anthology that is better than this one.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have - for Christmas or anytime!, December 1, 2008
This review is from: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas (Paperback)
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to fully embrace the spirit of Christmas. This is a great anthology featuring insight by many highly esteemed authors and theologians. The variety of perspectives offer insight into the birth of Christ that one may have never considered. This book allowed me the chance to slow down my thoughts a bit, moving away from the commercial aspects of Christmas and really reflecting upon the significance of Christ's birth and the relevance of Christianity.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eclectic collection features gems of wisdom, December 12, 2008
This review is from: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas (Paperback)
In this collection Nancy Guthrie has brought together classic and contemporary Christian authors. She has arranged the 23 advent sermons in order according to the Christmas story. It makes a wonderful early morning companion or family dinner devotional throughout the season of preparing for Christmas. The writings chosen range from the complex to the simple, from the modern to the ancient, but all point the way to the arrival of Jesus as God's loving solution to man's dilemma. Reading one selection at a time, I am discovering authors whose work I will explore further. Well done!
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