
Let’s Make a Deal
July 3rd, 2009
Ninety-four percent of college professors think they are above average at their work. Seventy percent of High School seniors think they surpass their peers in leadership ability. And we all know about Lake Woebegone. Philosopher Gregg Ten Elshof offers plenty of evidence that we all fool ourselves about many things. So why is it that few Christian writers discuss self-deception? And when was the last time you heard a sermon about the perils of deceiving ourselves?
It didn’t used to be that way, claims Ten Elshof in his new book I Told Me So: Self-deception and the Christian Life. Prior to the 20th century, self-deception was high on every theologian’s list of “thou shalt not”s, chiefly because it leads directly to much more serious sins such as unbelief. Today, however, what is most highly prized is authenticity. Being genuine, being yourself, is valued so much that no one is willing to think of himself as a phoney. Yet we are. We deceive ourselves all the time - remember those professors who can’t all be above average? So since we must be authentic at all costs, but we know we aren’t, we have to demote self-deception from our list of top sins.
Intrigued? That’s just the beginning. After revealing various strategies we use to conceal the truth from ourselves, Ten Elshof goes on to show how self-deception is not necessarily a bad thing. But of course we must be wise, and this book is an excellent way to begin acquiring the requisite discernment. Would I kid me?

The moment I finished reading Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, I did something I rarely do: I sent the author an e-mail thanking him for the way he blessed me through his writing. I told him that possibly the one thing I didn’t like about his book was the difficulty I had reading through the water that kept inexplicably forming in my eyes.
In Me, Myself and Bob, VeggieTales creator Phil Visher has written “A True Story about Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables”. He observes that living longer allows time for more disappointments, challenging hard lessons, and the sometimes painful consequences of earlier decisions. Growing older with God’s Grace requires developing more honesty, more transparency, and more humility in dealing with the losses and setbacks that will happen over time. This is not a shallow book about children’s entertainment, but a powerful and personal story about success, business failure, and a deepening walk with God. The author’s honesty offers practical hope and solid encouragement to those who have experienced major setbacks and disappointments.
Groundbreaking! This is the first word that pops into my head to describe Ender’s Game, which is part character study, part social commentary and all thought-provoking science fiction.
These brief reviews are intended, not only to highlight new books but also to recommend ones that have been around a while that our customers may have missed. Several years ago this book had the whole staff laughing out loud.
Stepping Heavenward is a fabulous book, written in the form of an old-fashioned journal full of dialogue, correspondence, and some excerpts of classic Christian literature. The author, Elizabeth Prentiss (1818 -1878) was the daughter of an early nineteenth-century revival preacher. Published in 1869 Stepping Heavenward carries a refreshing old-time flavor, while relaying the timeless truths of dependence on God, love for your neighbor, and the paradoxical joy found through sharing in Christ’s suffering. The book follows Katherine from age 16 through various stages of life as she grows in wisdom. Here are some words from a letter Katherine receives from an older woman, mentor, and friend, who has suffered much and is about to die. She writes of any mature Christian saying, “He is not only a creature in Jesus Christ, but has the habitual and blessed consciousness that this is so.” This book aims to help us in our path heavenward, and succeeds wonderfully.
In Sod and Stubble, sometimes controversial Kansas University Professor John Ise uses the experiences of his own family as early homesteaders in Osborne County, from 1870 to the turn of the century, to let readers in on what it was like to live in such a world. Fires, picnics, draughts, parties, insect infestations, bumper crops, poverty, prosperity, births, and deaths – all were part of the everyday lives of his family and their friends.
Stunning! 300 years of Russian history in 90 minutes! An intense, beautiful, long, slow single fluid take—instead of a fast cut montage—pulls us in to experience Aleksandr Sokurov’s unique film, Russian Ark. Film as art doesn’t rise to a higher standard! Russian history is presented visually through the eye of one camera, in real time, in one take, with thousands of live actors and orchestral musicians in period costume on location in the historic Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. A visual feast unsurpassed! A technological marvel – the first feature shot in high definition, uncompressed video recorded entirely on hard drives powered by batteries. One continuous shot from beginning to end was all they had—there was no opportunity for a second take! And it worked!
