Gagging of God, The

Rating:
Summary: Title misunderstood
Review: An earlier reviewer claims that Carson should change the so-called offensive title of this book. It is intended to offend, but the reviewer who said this doesn't seem to have bothered to read the preface to know what the title really is getting at.

The title has a two-fold meaning. On one level, it is talking about how contemporary pluralistic thinking gags God. If truth is impossible to communicate, how can God speak? I'm not sure this should be offensive to a postmodernist. Their whole goal is to deconstruct religious thinking so God can't be said to speak to us anymore.

However, the truly offensive aspect of the title is the more profound meaning. Much of what Carson does in this book is to show how Christians have been gagging God by reacting to pluralism in wholly inappropriate and unbiblical ways. Someone who has digested his analysis in a self-evaluating way cannot miss that. The title is supposed to be offensive to Christians because Christians are the people who should know better. Because of that, the title is not quite a very clever pun but something in that area.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging Book with Pluralism
Review: This book is a must read for the serious student of the Bible, whatever one's theological bent is. Carson as a conservative exegete wraps all of his understanding up in heremeneutics, which is a great place for any of us to begin. Of course, most lay Christians will not understand where this is coming from, but I don't think this is the audience Carson has in mind.

Most productive from my reading were the number of instances where Carson actually engaged in dialogue with people who believed there are many paths to God outside of Christ.

Good command of many topics, including history, philosophy, etc. I find this volume useful in also returning to it as reference when dealing with pluralism in the modern church.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Very excellent book on the plague of pluralism

Rating:
Summary: One of the Better Books Dealing with Postmodernism
Review: Wow, what a piece! While the subtitle reads, "Christianity Confronts Pluralism," Carson also gives an assessment of postmodernism. Carson especially deals with how Hermeneutics (interpretation of works) has been effected by pluralistic thinking and postmodernism. Not only does Carson tackle the hermeneutical issue but he dives into the problems that have arisen in recent years in the area of epistemology. Moreover, Carson discusses popular thinkers who are proponents of pluralism in light of the exclusive claims of Christianity. Some of these current popular thinkers include John Hick, David Tracy, and Clark Pinnock. Additionally, Carson discusses law and morality in light of postmodernism and how these areas of thought/practice are effected, and what the evangelical stance via historical orthodox Christianity has to offer. As you can see, the book is very detailed (569 pages of text and 47 pages of bibliography). I believe this to be one of the better books on the market dealing with pluralism/postmodernity.