Tales of the Kingdom by David and Karen Mains

Tales of the Kingdom by David & Karen Mains is an allegorical story about characters who live in a magical world with bad guys and good guys.  I have vague memories of hearing this book as a child, and I  I recall thinking it was rather interesting, though I didn't remember a lot about it.

As a story it is an interesting tale of girls and boys who find refuge in the forest with the exiled King.  Different lessons are learned by various unique characters, who all find a place in the Kingdom. There are creepy bad guys, like the Enchanter and the Burners and Naysayers.  The book tells stories   about individual people in the various chapters, switching back and forth between some, and introducing new characters in others.  They ultimately fit together very well as an overall story. There is the girl named Dirty, who loved being dirty and lived with the pigs, but comes to realize her horrible situation and wants to be clean.  There is the boy named Scarboy (later Hero) who has a hard time coming to grips with his usefulness while thinking that the scar on his face is an impediment.  There is a princess named Amanda, one of whose skills is spitting with great accuracy. Kind of a strange thing…. There are even stranger characters as well.  Perhaps the weirdest of all is the Ranger  Commander who is also the "Caretaker" who makes flowers and things grow. Think of a hippy who is not opposed to war. 

I need to offer a bit of critique of this book. First, some of the things that happened make me a bit uncomfortable.  For instance, in one place, while the girl Amanda's burn wounds are being cared for (think dragon), the boy, almost a man, Hero is watching. I didn't feel comfortable with that as it mentioned that her clothes had been taken off to care for the wounds.  I don't think that it was meant to be erotic at all but just the concept itself was not decent.

And another thing, If it weren’t meant to be a Christian allegory, I would probably have liked the book more overall, but it is supposed to be Christian allegory.  There are some odd symbolisms that I don't quite understand but My main problem is the portrayal of the King (who seems to represent Christ).  At times he seems serious, but then at others he seems like some sort of happy-go-lucky guy.  Let me quote an example, The King is talking to one of the main children of this story, and he says, "'Can you do this?' He sprang onto his hands and balanced his feet in the air as he moved across the grass.  Hero hadn't spent all afternoon on the practice field for nothing.  He lifted his hands above his head, then went down to the ground with his feet in the air.  He walked around awkwardly until he faced the peasant.  They looked at each other upside down."  That is not the way Jesus is portrayed in the New Testament.  Also, toward the end, a girl who had been rebellious is now coming back but is afraid of how the king will receive her.  "The King folded the weeping child into his arms.  "Don't leave me, Amanda,' he whispered, 'We've all been so lonely without you.'  That is not accurate either, God is not lonely for humans, and not lonely in general (The Father, Son and Holy Spirit do not need company). He does not need us, and does not lack anything that we can give Him (otherwise, He wouldn't be God).  The loneliest moment, and probably the only lonely moment Jesus has ever had was, not when His disciples forsook Him, but when the Father did so.

But if you just look on it as a story, not an allegory, then it's okay and just an adventure (though it's kind of hard to do that when the king says as a battle cry, speaking of his father, "To the Emperor of All! To the One Who Always Is!". But one could change that while reading it out loud.

The pictures are interesting, I would have enjoyed studying them as a kid, though some are pretty weird.  My little brother loved the picture of Amanda and the Dragon, because he really likes dragons and this one is illustrated well.  He kept asking if he could look at the book, just to examine the dragon picture some more. 

  It would work well as a bedtime story, if you can get your kids to only listen to one or two stories. It is adventurous and well written.  If a little odd. 

Many thanks to the folks at BookCrash for working with the publisher to provide me with a complimentary review copy of this book! (My review did not have to be favorable)

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars ***

This book may be purchased at Amazon.com and at kingdomtales.com

The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: Newly Discovered Commentaries - J.B. Lightfoot

This is quite an eclectic collection of works by J. B. Lightfoot.  It includes two (both to some degree incomplete)commentaries , one on 2 Corinthians and the other on 1 Peter,  and five lectures/sermons/essays by Lightfoot as appendices.  You get quite a bit of content in this volume.

The Commentaries in this book are unfinished/incomplete, but you still get a good deal to work with. There is an editor's introduction at the beginning of the book that presents an interesting look at the production of this book and the discovery of the 'lost' writings of Lightfoot, as well as bit of info on Lightfoot's life, scholarship and some of his method of writing commentaries.  I particularly liked to see it pointed out that Lightfoot was a stickler for context, James D. G. Dunn is quoted in the book as saying, "time and again Lightfoot 'clearly demonstrates the importance of reading a historical text within its historical context, that the meaning of a text does not arise out of the text alone, but out of the text read in context and that the original context and intention of the author is a determinative and controlling factor in what may be read or heard from a text…'"

Next in the book comes the 2 Corinthians section, starting with a sort of historical look/critique of Paul's life and the dating of his letters.   2 Corinthians is then broken down into sections, mostly as chapters, but at times the chapters are divided.  At the beginning of some of the sections is a paraphrase of the texts to be dealt with, (apparently composed by Lightfoot himself), next comes a section dealing with textual issues for various verses in the passage and lastly commentary on the text itself(which also includes some textual criticism).  The commentary on 2 Corinthians basically ends at chapter 11 (though even that chapter only has a few notes on some textual issues for that chapter.

Then comes 1 Peter, which, though divided by chapter, it does not have textual critical commentary separate from the regular interpretative commentary, rather it is interspersed throughout the commentary. 

There is a good deal of useful commentary on 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter in this book, despite their  unfinished form.  Some verses have more notes than others, and some verses don't have any commentary at all, but I still think that the many notes that are here would be of use.  It is very scholarly, there is much quotation of the Greek and a good deal of analyzing of various texts, and specific words within verses.  I find it rather amusing that Lightfoot has no hesitation in pointing out errors in translation in the English version of the Bible (frankly stating "E.V. is wrong…or graciously conceding that, "E.V. not unaccountably wrong") , and he also critiques the views of other commentators on certain passages, again, often with no qualms about stating their wrongness very bluntly.

I've found that he has some very interesting  thoughts/insights on some of the passages, for instance part of his comments on 2 Corinthians 3: vs. 18 (Paul speaking of how we Christians contemplate the Lord's glory with unveiled faces and are transformed) read thus, "This transformation is what is called elsewhere ' putting on Christ' (Rom 13:14( what is spoken of in Gal 4:19 as Christ being formed in us (here he quotes the Greek)… But this transformation is not sudden, the change is gradual.  We advance from one grade of glory to a higher one.  The glory on Moses; face faded away each time as he left the presence of the Lord and had to be renewed again; but with us it is different.  We are constantly in His sight, and so instead of the reflected brightness which is coming and going, it is ever becoming more and more bright, i.e. more and more like the image from which it is reflected - Christ himself." 

After the 2 Peter section come the Appendixes, Appendix A being, "The Mission of Titus to the Corinthians", Appendix B "St. Paul's Preparation for the  Ministry", Appendix C, "The Letter Killeth, But the Spirit Giveth Life", Appendix D, "Lessons From the Cradle of Christianity",   Appendix E, "The Christian Ministry" and Appendix F., "J. B. Lightfoot as Biblical Commentator".  Many of these essays are very interesting, though I found the section on the Mission of Titus to the Corinthians rather boring, but that's simply because that topic does not interest me at the moment.    I especially liked sections of the "lessons of History from the Cradle of Christianity", particularly Lightfoot's Critique of Philo.  One  flaw in particular that was noted about Philo was his tendency impose allegory upon the Scriptures and even history, "The facts to him were meaningless except so far as he could extract from them a series of allegories, indeed sometimes even denying the facts themselves…"  That statement seems to fit well in describing some of today's popular methods of preaching. 

Overall, I think that this is a good and useful collection of works to own, the editors did a good job of putting it together

Many thanks to the folks at Intervarsity Press for sending me a free review copy of this book (my review did not have to be favorable)

Here are a couple of websites where you may purchase this volume:  Amazon.com and Christianbook.com

The Knight's Map - R. C. Sproul

The Knight's Map by R. C. Sproul is an allegory for children and is very much like the Pilgrim's Progress.  Its focus is on the tale of a Knight without loyalties to any king who receives a mysterious letter, and also a map, from a King (whose existence is doubted by people), the King invites the Knight to follow the map to find a Treasure that will not fade away.  The Knight encounters many obstacles along the way, mainly these obstacles take the form  of the Knight being misled by other people like Mr. Skeptic and Mr. Liberal who try to draw the Knight's attention away from trying to read the map correctly (and even discouraging any attempt to read it at all). 

The book has many nicely drawn (or rather, painted) pictures that I am sure would have captured my interest as a child. The story is well-written and would hold the interest of adults as well as children.  There is a question and answer section at the back that could be helpful to parents in prompting their children to think about what the story represents, though I think that the actual story has enough explanation in and of itself through the dialogue of the Grandpa (who is telling the story) and his grandkids at the beginning and ending of the book.

I think that my biggest problem with this book is that I wish it were longer.  It just seemed too short, even for a kids book, but perhaps that is because I am judging with an adult's brain.  I think that that is a sign of a good book, when it leaves you wanting more.  Perhaps someday Mr. Sproul will come up with an adult's version, one that delves into even more detail about those who want to distract us from the Bible/map that God provides us with.  I find allegories like that in this book fascinating.  But even if he doesn't come up with an edition for older people, this book is good in its own right, simple and straightforward picture of a person seeking God and God's provision of understanding and guidance along the way to discovering Him. 

Thanks to the folks at Reformation Trust Publishing for the free review copy of this book(My review did not have to be a favorable one). 

Among other sites, a couple of the places where one may purchase this book is at Amazon.com and at the Ligonier store

Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor

Little Pilgrim's Progress is a rewritten, illustrated version of Pilgrim's Progress and Christiana for kids.  In this version, Christian is a "Little Pilgrim" who is close friends with a little girl named Christiana who has several little siblings. Christian goes out on his pilgrimage first, and meets with various characters similar to the original Pilgrim's Progress, though some of them have been changed to be boys instead of men.  Christiana goes on her pilgrimage later on in the book with her siblings, where they also encounter Christian's father who has become a Christian and is also journeying to the Celestial City.   

There are two things that I had trouble with regarding this book and this is that first of all Christian's mother, who had gone to the Celestial City before him, is focused upon too much, she is portrayed as if she is watching, and possibly even helping him on his pilgrimage.  Speaking of Christian's mother, one character tells him, "you will find her again, little Christian…And do you know that she often very near to you?  You cannot see her, but she can see you." It took away some of the focus that should belong to God alone as Helper and Protector. We don't want children looking to their dead relatives for help, they should rely upon God!  And then when Christian arrives in the Celestial city and meets his mother he seems more focused upon her than upon the King: "'Does the King live there?' whispered Christian to his mother, for his hand was still clasped in hers.  'Yes,' she replied, 'and when you have knelt before Him and seen His glory, you will be perfectly happy forever.'  'I am happy now,' said little Christian, 'because I have found you, and you love me.'   'Ah yes,' she answered, 'but the love the King is far greater than mine.'" That just seemed very odd…instead of assuming that Christian had learned to love the King above everyone else (especially now that he is in 'Heaven', he loves his mother seemingly above everybody else and has a desire to be with her more than with the King.  It almost makes it seem as though Christian became a 'Christian' only because he wanted to be with his mother! This would be something to talk to children about if they read this book or you read it to them. 

Secondly, I thought that many of the theological dialogues were too dumbed down, and too much was cut out that could have been rendered into language understandable by children, such as the various  Scripture quotations that are cited in the original Pilgrim's Progress.   I could have understood  why the book was written the way it was if the book were for very little children but the back cover says that it is for 8-12 year olds.  Also, I found it odd that though many of the dialogues were very watered down many of the difficult names were left unchanged, such as Diffidence, By-Ends, and Discretion.  Why weren't those simplified as well?   

 But overall I liked the book. Aside from moments like what I mentioned above, most of Christian's focus does seem to be on seeing the King. I did very much like the change of the Monster Apollyon's name to a monster called 'Self'.  Which results in some interesting dialogue, like Christian saying to Self after Self tries to woo him, "The King loves me better than you do, and I would rather live with Him."  And of course Self gets angry with Christian and declares that Christian is his own servant, not the King's, and Self and Christian end up in a big fight with each other. 

All in all it is an interesting read that kept my attention throughout, even when Christiana began her journey and travelled through many of the same places Christian did.  There are many interesting concepts to discuss with children and as I said above, it would be good to talk to children about the flaws of the book as well.

 

Many thanks to Moody Publishers for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review (My review did not have to be favorable).

You may purchase this book from Christian Book Distributors and other bookstores.