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While completing his preparation for the ministry, Jonathan Edwards wrote seventy resolutions that guided him throughout his life. About twenty years later he wrote a letter to young Deborah Hatheway, a new convert in a nearby town, advising her concerning the Christian life. These two writings, often reprinted during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, overflow with straightforward and biblically sound advice. This advice is as current today as it was in the 1700s, and it far surpasses the "how to" books now overrunning bookstores. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Edwards - spurring one another on toward love and good deeds!
The more I read about Jonathan Edwards and the more of his works I read, the more impressed I am with the dedication to the Lord that this man had - and what an amazing time at the founding of this great nation for a man of God such as Edwards to live, write and minister.This short booklet is a compilation of Edwards' famous resolutions which he penned over about a two year period as he was completing his schooling and looking forward to the work that the Lord had before him.He took a moment to pause and reflect on the kind of man that he wanted to be (we should all learn from this) and then wrote down resolutions that would help him not only live a life worthy of his calling, but also leave a legacy through his eleven children and seventy-two grandchildren! From his resolution "never to lose a moment of time," to my favorite one, "that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die," these resolutions show what dedication, resolve and intentionality Edwards' had for his spiritual journey.

The booklet edited by Nichols also includes a letter that Edwards' sent in reply to an inquiry by a young lady giving suggestions for spiritual growth.This letter was republished by the Hartford Evangelical Tract Society titled "Advice to Young Converts."In this letter, Edwards' warns this young woman to "[b]e always greatly humbled by your remaining sin," but then encourages her by writing, "Although we are exceeding sinful, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the precious of whose blood, the merit of whose righteousness, and the greatness of whose love and faithfulness infinitely overtop the highest mountains of our sins."

The booklet is a wonderful read - encouraging, challenging and insightful - to learn from probably the greatest theologian from the U.S. soil how he lived the Christian life with full devotion to the Lord and how we may as well. ... Read more

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The Classic Work by Martin Luther ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

First Time Reading 95 Theses
In this booklet, the second of Stephen Nichols' trio of booklets highlighting major Reformed figures (the other two booklets feature Jonathan Edwards and J. Gresham Machen respectively), Nichols' stated aim is to bring Luther's Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences - better known as the Ninety-Five Theses - to contemporary Christians who have heard of the theses, but never read them. This edition of the theses includes two helpful features: an introduction which sets the theses in historical context, and a minimal commentary on every facing page, while the main text appears on the right hand page. Not every thesis warrants a commentary, so Nichols has sensitively selected which theses bear specialized notes. Even then, the notes provide context or expansion only when necessary, and often in Luther's own words derived from his later work explaining the Ninety-Five Theses (suitably entitled The Explanations of the Ninety-Five Theses).

A few preconceptions of mine were dispelled by this booklet. Firstly, that Luther's main goal in 1517, as demonstrated by the document's official title, was `merely' to expose Johann Tetzel's abuse of papal indulgences (in effect a get-out-of-purgatory-free card) by generating a debate among churchmen. Secondly, Luther's reformational theology was far from being definitively worked out at this point; he was still very much a sympathetic Catholic intent on reforming the Church, not destroying it. Tellingly, the Ninety-Fifth Thesis itself portrays salvation by suffering rather than by faith. This emphasis would change in the years to come.

But the two preconceptions which were most jarringly dashed were a) Luther's consistent defense of the pope throughout the document, and b) the content of the sequence of theses derived from the questions of shrewd parishioners. Unless Luther was representing his own questions as those of his parishioners for rhetorical effect - which would have been dishonest - I would not have thought that the average working class 16th century German was thinking reformational thoughts. No wonder this spark on the tinder lit up the spiritual and ecclesiological landscape of Europe for generations to come.

Embedded in the midst of the theses is the one I consider Luther's gem, the Sixty-Second. It contains the reason why Luther was compelled to act on that October day in 1517, and why he persevered to bring true biblical teaching to the gospel-hungry masses throughout the rest of his life: "The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God." Luther staked his life on this gospel, which is why we remember him and commemorate him today - and more importantly, the God he served.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses
I studied the 95 Theses over 50 years ago. Over the last 8 years, I have been with a teaching team in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany, and the Reformation of the 16t Century is a major if not the major focus of the seminary course.
If one wants to "hear" the authentic Luther, inevitably one must read and think and discuss the Theses. There are other treatises of Luther but of seminal value, I give the 95 Theses a prime spot.
James A. Glasscock
B.D., B.D., Th.M., D.Min. Diploma in Jurisprudence and Human Rights [Strasboug]

well done!
Of course the 95 theses haven't changed much in the last few years! But this booklet is really nice. Its very sturdy for a small booklet and has very helpful notes and a fine introduction. I highly recommend this if you want to get an idea of the context and message of Martin Luther's famous "Ninety-Five Thesis". ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Off the beaten path ...
The title explains the rationale of this guide pretty well and, for my taste, its admittedly quirky list came out about right.The five New York Times writers picked movies that I remember fondly and would like to see again, some that I had missed, and a few that I hadn't heard of at all -- a nice mix.Only a few on the list were what I'd call duds.Each film title is followed by a three or four paragraph plot description, plus the film's date, running time, MPAA rating, and a list of the director and lead actors.Except for the longer plot description, that's less information than you'll find in the Leonard Maltin or Videohound guides, so clearly this book's usefulness lies in the selection of recommended films.That, of course, is a matter of taste and preference:the connoisseur who wants an extensive list of Theo Angelopoulos' films will likely be as disappointed as someone looking for Michael Bay masterpieces.There's only so much you can do with a 500-film list aimed at a wide readership.As one reviewer correctly pointed out, this book does not include the most obscure art house features.Neither does it include Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.

Most readers, I think, will find the film descriptions free of spoilers but detailed enough to make decision-making easy -- an advantage this book has over the larger guides with much briefer descriptions.Unfortunately, the book lacks an index.Films are listed alphabetically by title but there's no direct way to look up the works of favorite actors or directors.

This, then, will be a great guide for some and less useful for others.Scorsese's AGE OF INNOCENCE and Almodovar's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER are recommended, as are (flipping through at random) BLUE VELVET, BOB ROBERTS, LES DESTINEES, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS, GODS AND MONSTERS, THE GOOD GIRL, A HISTORY OF BRITAIN, HOFFA, MIAMI BLUES, A MIDNIGHT CLEAR, THE PAPER, PEEPING TOM, RUN LOLA RUN, RUSHMORE, 13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING, THIRTEEN DAYS, WAKING LIFE, and WALKABOUT.The Adrian Lyne LOLITA is here but the Stanley Kubrick version is not.If you thought BAD SANTA was vulgar, vile, loathsome, and misogynistic (which it was), this might not be your book.If you thought it was the funniest Santa Claus movie ever (which it also was), this book could be the perfect companion to your Must See list.

The best DVDs you've already seen...
Peter Nichols (ed.), The Best DVDs You've Never Seen, Just Missed, or Almost Forgotten (New York Times, 2005)

This is a book whose stated aim is to bring to light obscure titles now available in America on DVD. A. O. Scott says in the preface that this is a guide to those movies "you may not have even known you were missing."

Then you get to the actual movies. It's a weird, weird universe where even the casual film buff has somehow forgotten About a Boy, Adaptation, Almost Famous, American Beauty, American Psycho, Angels in America, or Atlantic City. Many of them were nominated for Oscars, most of them won. (The two exceptions in that list were a TV miniseries that swept a number of Emmys and one of the most controversial mainstream films of the past twenty years.) And that's just the As. You'll see a lot of Oscar nominees in this book. None of them, I think, is all too terribly obscure. And yet while Scott also alleges that the book tends towards the "art film", which in America often translates to "flicks that aren't in English", this compilation glosses over the most celebrated foreign directors-- Kieslowski, Almodovar, Inarritu, Kusturica, etc.-- and manages to completely ignore a number of only slightly more obscure directors celebrated pretty much everywhere on the planet except America (for example, not a single Theo Angelopoulos movie makes an appearance).

Not bad if you consider that the title should have been The Best DVDs You've Just Never Gotten Around to Seeing After Hearing a Whole Lot of Hype About the Movies They Contain. ***

Great Gift Book
Tired of wandering the aisles of the video store, only to succumb to yet another film made for teenage boys?Then pick up this new guide, which boasts 500 wide-ranging reviews of everything from art films, small-scale indies and foreign-language films, to coming-of-age comedies and thrillers that "flourish on the far side of respectability."

The one-page reviews, all organized alphabetically, are sure to enthuse even the staunchest cinephile - but especially fans of "The New York Times."You won't agree with everything, to be sure.But there's definitely something for everyone here.A great gift book for a cinephile.

Not the best of its kind
I had high hopes for this guide, as I generally respect the reviews of A.O. Scott and the New York Times movie review crew.However, this book disappoints in several ways:

1) The movies are heavily skewed towards those released in the last 10 years.The more recent a movie, the less likely I am to have "almost forgotten" it.Sure, Metropolis is in here, but very few other movies until the 1990s.What I'm looking for in a book of this title is more older movies that I am more likely to never have heard fo.

2) Some of the recommended movies are pretty questionable, in my book.I understand there is bound to be difference of opinion, but I doubt that flicks like "Drumline", and "Freddy got Fingered", rank amoung the best movies I've never seen. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 164 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Signed essays ranging from 500 to 2,500 words, written by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries include subject-specific bibliographies and textual cross-references to related essays. ... Read more