Rob Squires

A "Must Read" for All Christians in 2024!

Revisado: 08-12-24

Due to all of the on-line attention that this thoughtful and well-researched (although not infallible) exposé was receiving, I couldn't resist putting another audiobook on hold and diving in. Upon completion I could say that the book contains no surprises, since it simply confirms what has always been the case: Christians that cling to the Bible as the basis of their worldview and the sole source of moral, theological, and ultimate truth are under attack from all sides. Not only that, but slippery Satanic trickery has been used to let compromises to clear Christian beliefs slither in right under the noses of some seemingly solid congregations and denominations. On the other hand, there were indeed a few surprises in regards to the pastors and organizations that were exposed. While a few, such as the late Tim Keller, had previously received widespread attention, the exegetical double-speak and two-faced, antics of many others have largely been hidden, often with concerted effort, from public view. Oddly enough, I found the chapter on COVID-19 to be the most engaging, perhaps because that entre fiasco forced Christians to address issues that were largely unprecedented in recent times, such as overt government overreach and calculated misinformation as well as the forced cancellation of biblically-mandated worship services. Overall, any Christian interested in staying up-to-date on the perils that we face in our increasingly godless age should read this timely book.

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A Very Worthwhile Intro to Systematic Theology

Revisado: 04-07-24

John M. Frame provides an excellent overview of the Christian faith, from a Reformed perspective, in this valuable, nuanced, and thoughtful book.

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Sola Scripture Wisely Defended

Revisado: 02-11-24

James R. White artfully, articulately, and wisely defends and explains the doctrine of Sola Scripture in this very useful work.

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A detailed and well-argued look at Antisemitism

Revisado: 08-22-23

A detailed and well-argued look at Antisemitism that focuses mostly on recent issues in the ongoing Israel-Palestinian dispute.

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A Gripping and Believable Thriller!

Revisado: 05-22-23

One of the best thrillers ever...and it leaves me eager to read the next one by the amazing Jack Carr.

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Surprising and Fascinating

Revisado: 05-23-22

I have been a fan of Peter Kreeft for years, so I decided to take a chance on this without even knowing who he considered to be "The "Greatest Philosopher Who Ever Lived". His choice was very surprising, but very well explained and justified. I learned quite a bit, including some subtleties of Catholic theology. This is a book that any Catholic or open-minded Protestant should enjoy.

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A fresh and unsanitized look at the Founders.

Revisado: 03-28-22

A must-read for anyone interested in the ideological and theological foundations of America's Founding Fathers.

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A Key Book for Understanding the Terrorism

Revisado: 06-10-21

A "Must Read" for anyone interested in the conduct of the on-going Global War on Terror (GWoT), concerned about dysfunctionality between U.S. security and intelligence agencies, and wondering about the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT)—and whether such techniques work...or not.

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Comparative Religion...The Muslim View

Revisado: 03-04-21

This is a largely excellent book focused on comparing and contrasting Islam with Judaism and Christianity from the point-of-view of a Muslim. It covers everything from history, the various scriptures (i.e. Bible and Qur'an), basic beliefs, the development of doctrines, the life of Prophet Muhammad SAWS, etc. I could nit-pick it on a few points, but overall it's well-researched and spot-on...and it represents mainstream orthodox Sunni beliefs, not some watered-down version that tells Westerners what they want to hear. Since it is intended for non-Muslims, things are sometimes simplified a bit, but that is certainly fine. I listened to the audiobook version and while the narrator was largely good, he butchered and mispronounced almost all of the Arabic/Islamic vocabulary, which was rather annoying. This is the norm with books related to Islam and the Middle East, and book publishers need to make an effort to improve this. If an audiobook was published containing such horrid and inaccurate pronunciations of Spanish, French, or Italians, the publisher would be laughed (or scoffed) out of their ivory towers and would henceforth be embarrassed to ever again show their faces in polite society. Shameful indeed! The Middle East and Islam play a huge role in world events these days...duh!...so a bit more attention to detail and proper pronunciation might certainly help promote mutual understanding and cultural appreciation.

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A Bold and Broad Study of a Difficult Topic

Revisado: 02-21-20

I've admired Jonathan A.C. Brown for years due to his erudition and fair-mindedness. If nothing else, he knows how to wrestle with a moral conundrum—up, down, and sideways. This book is about much more than the issue of slavery in Islam, since it considers the entire history of human beings enslaving (with all of its various definitions) their fellow humans (and non-humans!) from ancient times to the present day. The author delves deeply into how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have wrestled with the fact that their scriptures—and thus their God, prophets, and apostles—condone, tacitly or otherwise, what is widely considered in modern times to be the most evil of practices. This book actually makes me wish that there was such a thing as double-blind book reviews where the reviewers had to read several of the top books on the broad history of slavery and then rank/review them. Indeed, it would be interesting to see how this fine work would fare if readers—both right and left, believers and atheists—didn't know that it was written by a white American convert to Islam who is a professor of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University. I'm confident that the "How dare he write about such a topic!" reviews will start showing up in due time. However, in the mean time, if you're interested in reflecting on an unsettling topic that could very well take you out of your comfort zone, then this book will very likely take you there—since it considers the moral problem of slavery from about every possible angle and demonstrates why it's not easily dismissed by those who want to be faithful advocates of scripture while maintaining at least a modicum of intellectual integrity. On a side note, regarding the audiobook version, I was very disappointed that the reader/narrator—who was otherwise good—did not know how to correctly pronounce the Arabic-based names and words in the text—which were legion in a book like this. Unfortunately, this is the norm for audiobooks about Islam and the Middle East these days, but I was hoping for something better from an author like Jonathan A.C. Brown—although I certainly understand that it's not is fault but the publisher's. In the end, I find it rather shameful that this late in the game that those of us with some knowledge of Arabic have to put up with bumbling pronunciations of Arabic words that are nothing short of horrid. We can do better than this...

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