Rating: 
Summary: How Now Shall We Live
Review: A modern classic of amazing scope. I often found myself cheering him on as I read. There are some thin places, but most seems to be well researched. The story telling technique added interest to what could have been a dry as well as long book, but wasn't. I only wish Mr. Colson had faced the problem of integration of world cultures and world religions more completely. We see only the Christian world view (also held by Jews and Moslems) and the so called scientific world view (only held by about 1/2 of the scientists I know). How do we deal as Christians with the globalization that puts us constantly in contact with other religious cultures?
Rating: 
Summary: Full of insight, logic
Review: How do we live in our post-modernist culture? Chuck's insight and logic are laid out very well. I won't go into a long dissertation about the book, other's have already done that... but it is written for the laity as a good starter into other worthwhile books and as such I give it 5 stars. I listened to the tapes in the car, they're great for commuters like me.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Much Book
Review: I have tried hard to like this book; it was lent to me without my asking for it. I knew I should read it, so I did. But why didn't I like it? Why was it such a big relief to get it off my desk? Everything in it is true, real, and important--the fault must be in me. Too scholarly? Couldn't be--I have an earned Ph.D. from the Univ. of California. Too pessimistic? Too many problems laid in my lap that I can't begin to solve? Too humorless? I just don't know. But I'd love to hear from someone who felt the same way and perhaps feels as "not OK" and guilty about it as I do.
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Summary: Life-Changing!
Review: When I finished the last page, I cried...because of the significance of this work and it's personal challenge to me. I will never be the same. Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcy present both a philosophical framework for Christians to think, and a practical strategy for living our lives. I enjoyed this book more than the writings of Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis and others, because it is more readable and more practical to my personal life. The authors use compelling true stories of life-change to illustrate the imact that Christians can have on society. Reading this book is a big time committment due to its length. The audio tapes are a good alternative to the book if time is a constraint.
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Summary: How Now Shall We Live?
Review: I am an educator. I plan to use some of the material in a lecture I'm presenting this August. This is a thought-provoking book. Even the notes in the back of the book are fascinating and worthwhile.
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Summary: Colson's best yet!
Review: Typically if you like Chuck Colson's stuff, you like all of his stuff. This is no exception; however, if you have found Colson a bit dry and analytical in the past don't assume that is true for this book. Having Nancy Pearcy as a co-writer has improved the readability of this book markedly over previous volumes. As far as content, this book is a winner. Colson looks at how Christians must relate Christ to a world that no longer shares a similar worldview. He structures this in a classic Reformed pattern of Creation, Fall, & Redemption. Some of the material covered in this book is expanded from Colson's previous book *Kingdoms in Conflict* but this book is far more readable, passionate, and practical. This is one of the best books I have read in three years. A must read for every Christian wanting to intelligently deal with the issues of our day.
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Summary: Made it Ma! Top of the world!
Review: At the end of the 1949 film noir classic, White Heat, James Cagney's character Cody Jarett, trapped and surrounded by cops, stands atop a huge tank of flammable liquid. "It's a stack of dynamite," a horror stricken officer mutters. Bullet-ridden Cagney insanely fires into the tank and cries heavenward, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" before plummeting into the white-hot inferno below. The dying words of this criminally demented character remind us to remain on top of our world or risk being swept up in its madness. Now Charles Colson can be added to the list of intellectual prophets (like Francis Scheffer, Os Guinness, Malcolm Muggeridge, and James Sire) who dare to remind us that there's a dangerous world of false ideas and true ideas that need to be sorted through if we are to remain on top of our world. The world of ideas requires a critical understanding to keep from tumbling into an inferno of deceit and falsehood. When James Sire developed his world view catalog, _The Universe Next Door_, he spurred a great number of Christians to consider the deeper issues behind human thought. He wrote: "I am now convinced that for a person to be fully conscious intellectually he should not only be able to detect the world views of others but be aware of his own--why it is his and why in the light of so many options he thinks it is true." Sires list of basic questions to consider in discerning one's worldview included: 1. What is the prime reality? 2. Who is man? 3. What happens to man at death? 4. What is the basis for morality? 5. And what is the meaning of human history? In his new book, Charles Colson also pares the essential questions down to four, but with a new twist: "How Now Shall We Live." 1. Where did we come from and who are we? 2. What has gone wrong with the world? 3. What can we do to fix it? 4. How now shall we live? Colson's discussion of these important questions takes us through the biblical view of linear history progressing through the Creation, the Fall, God's Redemption of mankind, and God's Restoration of His intended order for all creation. The biblical view of Creation lets us know who we are and where we came from. The discussion of origins and human nature is critical to understanding the Christian worldview and being able to contrast it with opposing worldviews. Everyone believes there are some things wrong with this world but many worldviews do not know how to answer this question. Colson pulls no punches in illustrating how sin has infected the world. An understanding of the historic human fall--the doctrine of original sin--is essential to understanding human nature and evil that is so pervasive in our world. But he does not neglect the Christian message of hope: Redemption. Having years of experience in his Breakpoint radio ministry to weave storied essays providing this message of hope, Colson with the masterful help of his Breakpoint editor, Nancy Pearcy, provides unique perspectives on the gospel message. The biographical redemption of former abortionist Bernard Nathanson compels the reader to see that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is real and true. Finally, Colson's insights into contemporary culture reveal that he is on top of our post-Modernistic world. He's nailed our turn into the new millennium right on the head in his model for "restoration." Christians need to engage their culture at every aspect in order to restore a modicum of civility to civilization, to restore beauty and historic principles of aesthetics to music and art, to restore ethical treatment of human beings in the medical professions, to restore humane treatment of the weak and dispossessed until Christ brings final restoration to His Creation. Read How Now Shall We Live to find out about the Christian worldview. Study it for it's penetrating analysis of contemporary culture. Enjoy it for its provision of hope in a fallen world. Discuss it with others so that as a group you can engage it from different perspectives and glean thoughts you may have missed on your own. But most of all, live it, and use it's biblical insights to give you a fresh start in applying the Christian worldview to all of life--in your home, at work, in your entertainment and diversions, in your relations and ministry to others. Use it to remain on top of the world.
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Summary: Presenting the Christian Worldview
Review: This book does an excellent job in serving two primary purposes. The first is in making the intellectual case for Christ. The second is presenting Biblical Christianity, not as something that involves only spiritual side, but as an entire worldview that involves every aspect of our lives. For those of us who have a difficult time making the case for Christ except in spiritual terms, this book can be a big help (beginning with such fundamentals as the case for the existence of God). And, perhaps more importantly, it helps us better understand our role as Christians in the world at large. I heartily recommend it. And a final note. As much as I admire Chuck Colson, and whereas he provided the anecdotes, I suspect that Nancy Pearcey did most of the heavy lifting in writing this book.
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Summary: Fantastic apologetic of the Christian Worldview
Review: Want to be challenged? I dare you to read this inspiring work by Colson and Pearcy. The answer to the challenge for believer and non-believer alike is to choose truth or continue to live in a lie. It's the best reading of the year for me. I would recommend it to anyone serious about growth as a human.
Rating:
Summary: Falls somewhat short of expectations
Review: I was excited to read this book when I ordered it. All the reviews said it was _hard hitting_ and a _must read_ for every Christian. I think that it has some good core ideas, but it gets very repetitious. I like the description in one of the other reviews: _Francis Schaeffer light_ The audience for this book is Christians who have not considered their faith in a holistic framework before. Our faith should encompass every aspect of our daily life, both emotional and intellectual. This book addresses that, but at a level below what one would find in Francis Schaeffer or even Ravi Zacharias. In the style of Zacharias, Colson uses dramatic titles for his section and chapter headings, and at least for me it left me desiring more. The illustrative stories throughout the book were good, but I think placed there in place of further analysis. He said in the introduction that he put them in to illustrate important concepts, but for some readers I think it means dumbing down some tough concept to make them more understandable by the general public. So overall I'd say this is a good book, but a basic one. For more in-depth analysis, try Francis Schaeffer, William Lane Craig, Ravi Zacharias, J.P. Moreland, or Michael Wilkins.
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