I Finally Finished Reading "The Gagging of God"!

My experience and familiarity with the social sciences (6 years) and theology (9 years) is still meager, and I doubt I was ever in the top 3 of any of my undergraduate or graduate classes. Still, I'd venture the opinion that Don Carson is a top-notch scholar, and (praise God!) a consistent advocate of evangelical Christianity.

Reading The Gagging of God has been eye-opening for me on many levels. I never really explored the works of postmodern scholars, and the book helped me understand them better. I was also instructed by Carson's example of thorough, bold, yet charitable critique of authors with whom he strongly disagreed. It almost made me wish I hadn't left the academe. (Almost, but not quite. I love being able to study God's word so much and minister to God's people!) Finally, I loved how Carson maintained a pastoral and scriptural perspective throughout the book. It's clear that his primary concern was not to contribute to Christian scholarship (as massive as his contribution was) but to be faithful to the Lord and build up the body of Christ.

Because the book is so long (600 pages!), and deals with such complex issues, I wouldn't recommend the book for most readers. But I do hope that more and more Filipino Christian leaders, especially pastors and theologians, pay more attention to The Gagging of God and other books like it.

Definitely a 5-star book. I hope Christian scholarship will continue to grow simultaneously in loving engagement of the world AND bold and thoroughly biblical confrontation of it.

"This is one of the finest big-picture books I’ve ever read. Life-changing. Worldview shaping." - Andy Nasseli, Bethlehem Baptist Church

"The Gagging of God is an important work that should be read by serious Christian leaders. I won't pretend to have understood everything that Carson wrote, but I understand more than I understood before, and that is a good thing, if you understand what I mean." - Contributor to the Southern View Chapel website