This is an excellent book, written by two college professors, but it doesn't have the feel of one written by scholars. While their research and scholarship are evident, the book is neither difficult to read nor dry.
One of the most thought-provoking truths presented is “faith” has been given a label by mainstream society that compares it to wishful thinking. As the authors point out, faith is anything but blind. It has a bedrock foundation in the truth that God is trustworthy and capable of doing anything God wills.
As the authors point out, even Christians can hear of blind faith often enough that we begin to speak of just “taking things on faith.” And that is fine as long as we remain cognizant of just how wonderful a thing that is.
When we take things on faith, we do not lean on something we don't understand but stand firmly on the ways that God has shown himself to be worthy of faith throughout history. We have faith in God because he is trustworthy. We have faith in God because nothing is outside his power. And perhaps, most of all, we have faith in God because he has proven over and over again the depths of his love for us.
The first half of the book is spent on addressing challenges to faith, and the second half is about putting faith to practice in our lives.
This is no light treatment, but a balanced look at “God-confidence,” as the authors replace the slandered word “faith.” It made me examine facets of faith I had not studied before.
One of the hardest parts of the book for me was the example of God acting in people's lives. I'll confess that after reading a couple of the stories, I wanted to put them off as hard to believe and perhaps even embellished. I was forced to ask myself why couldn't God act in these miraculous ways? If I said God could do anything, why did I have such a hard time believing God chose to reveal himself in this way?
I was challenged by this book, and I like where God is leading me through it.
George Henson