Organizations Books

When I was introduced to this book in March of 2007, I was just putting the finishing touches on a communication workshop of my own, Mastering the Art of Listening. As a business coach, I long ago realized that most breakdowns in companies as well as relationships, occur in a world of dysfunctional communication. What inspired me about this book was it was if I had read Thomas' mind when creating my own workshop. I am now leading Communicate or Die workshops for businesses and my own workshop for relationships. A must read if you own a business or work for one, especially in a bigger corporation.

"I started reading "Communicate or Die" and couldn't put it down. I was reading it on the subway and kept missing my stops and having to go back."

As a public speaker, I am always looking for new and practical books to help me convey a down-to-earth message. Communicate or Die definitely meets those standards. It is truly a winner!

I have read this book a few times over the years and always been empowered to communicate more effectively when I read it again. In the last months I have been studying the book's material, like my life depended on it as the title indicates. I read for 20 minutes each day, highlight sections and writing observations into my journal. It is one of the best books on communication I have read and studied and as I take on a new and bigger challenge, my daily study is an imperative.
The book puts me into an environment where I am conscious of my speaking and how I listen to people, of effectiveness and forward motion. To share Communicate or Die's wisdom and tools with my associates and clients, I have ordered a special edition of 750 copies with our own brand on the cover. It is to be my gift to herald in a new and prosperous 2007. I consider it a small and high-leveraged investment in the leadership of my volunteers and colleagues and essential for the task that we have taken on in the world - the end of rape on earth.
Peg Thatcher, International President, Project for the End of Rape; CEO, Thatcher & Associates.

I am firmly of the belief that communication is as much art as science and that its mastery is a life-long endeavor. "Communicate or Die" presents principles and distinctions that are pivotal to producing results - and building relationship - through speaking and listening. It packs a lot of power into a short space. This book is eminently readable and thoroughly useful. I recommend it highly.

Concise and clear which is the purpose of Robert's Rules of Order. Meetings conducted in this format are much more productive with less turmoil and emotional distraction.

Perfect brief overview for anyone running meetings or participating in them. Unlike the reputation they sometimes have, Robert's rules are designed to facilitate discussion and decision-making, not to tie the group down to a set of rules. Give this a read, and you will see how cleverly and comprehensibly it sets out the entire process. Perfect for any organization, large or small. Highly recommended.

This brief is a great introduction to Robert' Rules. Easy reading. Many nuggets that I did not even find in the full edition. I recommend it to all those who are on boards and commissions and associations.

Well written summary -- this is the abbreviated version and it is very useful. Helps to have the full-up version as well, for details, but this one is a super guide.

I purchased this book for the upcoming Washington State GOP convention. I was completely out of the know at our local county convention, and this book gave me an excellent run down of what the heck happened (and how certain things happened). This book is recommended for those new to public meetings.

good book for the people who are already in to business or planning to start

Form any startup, the founding team must commit to a getting it right - for it is not easy to getting your market and product right - what you need is likely what I needed for my latest startup - Pay Parade [...] - author and entrepreneur Paul Hawken provides an insightful tale of how to farm your newly seeded company - whereas I thought of this book to help me with marketing, I ended up learning that it often takes more of a cultivated farming sensibility than any hard marketing science. Go ahead and treat yourself to a gift that keeps on giving - purchase yourself a copy of Growing Your Business.

What a spectacular little business bible for a world that has forgotten that business and people are one and the same. Read this book.

This book was my constant companion when I first started my company 12 years ago. I underlined, starred and highlighted countless passages and dog-eared the corners of numerous pages. The underlying philosophies still guide me--be in it for the long haul, create legendary service, you can never rush the rules of the field, and focus, focus, focus. This is especially true in light of the Internet where everything happens at lightning speed. But business is still about people and relationships. Nurture them. Whenever I meet someone about to start a business, I send them a copy of this book. It's the best advice I can give them: read it.

1. Tire of spending too much time looking for natural foods, Hawken starts Boston's first natural food store. In the first year, the company was grossing $300 and it was fun. "As the years rolled by, the company made money, lost it, hired hundreds of employees, bought railroad cars, opened stores and warehouses on both coasts, set up wholesale and manufacturing facilities, flirted with bankruptcy, and engendered a host of lean and hungry competitors-some of them friends and former associates."
2. The more exposure I gained to the "official" world of business, the more I began to doubt that I was in business at all. I seemed to be doing something different.
3. I believe that for a new and growing business, too much money is a greater problem than too little.
4. Being a good human being is good business.
5. There is no institute in American life that is freer to do what is wants to do than a business, and that includes creating its own jobs. The self-owned and operated business is the freest life in the world.
6. I believe most if not all, the successful business operate with values that go beyond opportunism.
7. Entrepreneurial ideas spring from a deep immersion in some occupation, hobby, or other pursuit, spurred by something missing in the world. The entrepreneur is often the first one to spot the opening, and if things work out that person will have a successful business.
8. To find the beginning, reduce your business idea to its apparent essence. Then reduce it again.
9. If a business is to grow you have to own it-the acts, habits, functions, jobs, and grunt labor.
10. A time will come when the primal fears emerge: What have I done? Isn't someone else doing it, too, and better? You will feel a strange loneliness.
11. Fear of failure may or may not be helpful but it is rationale. Every businessman, no matter how intelligent and resourceful, can and will fall prey to delusion and misjudgment.
12. As a businessperson you will encounter some of the strangest behavior you've ever seen. You will be incredulous to see people you thought you knew and trusted-good people, really become remarkable manipulators of truth and reality. Business is people. Expect the unexpected.
13. You have to gone into business to discover, change, serve, inform, transform, improve, and delight someone. You won't sell to this person otherwise. The entrepreneur asks, "Why not".
14. Business is about practice. It is not about theories or the testing of revolutionary ideas.
15. The major problem affecting business is a lack of imagination, not capital.
16. If money could solve problems, there would be no small business because the big business with plenty of money would run everything.
17. When your business encounters problems and messes stay with them. Find something valuable down in the dreck. One of the greatest errors of much business literature today is its attempt to instill certainty with checklists, must-dos, the motherhoods, ten principles, axiom galore, and other assorted truisms.
18. A good business has interesting problems, a bad business has boring ones. Good management is the art of making the problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get work and deal with them. Good problems energize.
19. From 1978 to 1986, GM grew sales from $63 billion to $102 billion but the company's share of domestic car market fell from 48 percent to 39 percent. Price increases, inflation, and acquisitions were the source of GMs growth. The point, every company dies.
20. Information is nothing more than how to make or accomplish something in the best way: more useful, longer lasting, easier to repair, lighter, stronger, and less energy consuming.
21. Global paradox, every small business has the potential advantage because big business, government, labor unions, schools, often don't deliver the goods.
22. If we are in economy that is organized increasingly around the amount of information that I in products, rather than around the amount of stuff, then the ability to create difference in manufacturing and delivery of goods and service will be the key to success.
23. Imagination and creativity are more useful than aggressiveness.
24. Big business are not more efficient, productive, or innovative than small businesses.
25. To consume means to use up, to waste, to destroy. Real income has fallen. As consumers, we can not afford to waste, so we buy products that are better and last longer. It is our demand for a better designed and operated world that is behind the tumultuous change we see in the marketplace today.
26. The American consumer is inherently dissatisfied. My business has started from my being a customer and not liking what I could buy. I suspect your business will begin that way too.
27. Good business ideas provide people with something that was right there-or not right there-all the time, but no one recognized it. When you recognize and provide it, they'll buy it.
28. Buy as directly as possible, sell directly as possible, and reduce overhead as much as possible.
29. After you have a business idea, I recommend that you subject it to the scrutiny of a business plan. A business plan broadly describes the nature of the business, the type of product being manufactured or service offered, and the advantage or benefits the product offers. A business plan is a test of the depth and thoroughness with which you have thought out your idea. The temptation is to fudge your plan toward what you believe the reader wants to read, rather than what you want to do. A well-developed business plan must be true to your own vision and purpose in order to be a useful tool.
30. Businesses lull themselves into failure, and this often reflects their inability to learn what the immediate business environment is saying.
31. Every business plan paints a rosy future, but few people going into business closely examine the possibility and the results of this hoped-for triumph.
32. When writing a business plan image that you are writing to a friend whose opinion and intelligence you admire, but who knows nothing about your current venture.
33. For a new company, a good marketing plan is simple, to the point, and easy to follow.
34. A consistent mistake companies make is not including their employees as owners.
35. Equity, whether in the form of incentive-type options, ESOPs, grants, loans, or pooled interests, should have the single purpose of creating a sense of shared conditions: we are in this together and will act accordingly.
36. If you are offered cash, loans, or advice, accept only the latter.
37. Friends are the first source of money for most small businesses.
38. SBA is the lender of last resort.
39. We keep our investors informed, not with the volume of information we produce, but with its accuracy.
40. Money goes to the least embarrassing situation.
41. Generosity, ampleness, and abundance draw money to ideas, people, and businesses.
42. A seasoned businessperson never presumes to know the truth of today. An experienced businessperson always asks questions. A green one will always have the answers.
43. Many people in business with little or no education or training nevertheless succeed-in good part because they have an intuitive sense of these numbers.
44. The more experience you have in business, the more money you can spend on a new business. Profit is the cost of doing business.
45. To grow, your business you must earn the permission of the marketplace.

This book is a must read for Christians who are not satisfied with their spiritual life and a MUST READ for those in churches considering major capital expenditures that will serve only the members. It will change the way you think about how you and your church can best serve Jesus.

For many years I have felt disenfrancised from the church, even though I have spent my entire life in it and even raised my family in it. Now that I am nearing fifty, I have found myself seeking ways to spread my faith that are real and substantive. This Present Future has given verbal affirmation to what I've felt all along, and to what I've always known to be true. But in Churchian circles, the only truth is the one they tell you, and to think outside the box is frowned upon. But now I understand why, and I understand what I must do to change and effect my world for Christ.

Thank you Reggie McNeal.
Lonnie Friesen
The Homeless Heart

Reggie McNeal writes a thought provoking book that will either excite and challenge you or anger you. Not everyone is ready for the truth that is laid out in his book. But it is the truth none the less. The American Church has lost the right to be heard and this book gives us some tough questions we need to ask ourselves in doing a self-evlaution and earning the right to share the important message of Jesus Christ and be heard by those who need to hear it. This book was a great confirmation for our church in who we are and why we don't seem to fit in with the other churches in our community. God is doing a new thing and this book has shown our church we are part of it. I am now taking our entire church leadershipo through the book. I highly recommend every Christian who is tired of "doing church" and maintaining the status qou read this book.

Fantastic book. Really makes you reflect on your ministry and the questions the book asks gives a structure for evaluating the overall focus of your church. I would highly recommened this book for someone seeking to bring about revitalization within their congregation and personal ministry.

Excellent book which speaks to the problems the modern church faces. Gives specific information and direction to deal with current issues. I have found this work tremendously useful in advocating change for the church I serve as pastor.

The Business Playbook: Leadership Lessons from the World of Sports by Brandon Steiner does a tremendous job of explaining why it is important for one to set goals, as well as telling you what steps you can take to help you in achieving your goals. The book is well written, with a good amount of actual sports stories featuring some of the biggest names in sports. One downside is that many of the athletes discussed in the book play or played on teams based in New York. I would assume that is because the Steiner's business is located in New York and therefore these are the athletes he has the most contact with. The stories that he does tell about the athletes, however, are closely related to the lessons he is trying to teach in his book. Seeing the success that these athletes have had is a great motivator for the reader to try to accomplish much the same success in business instead of on a playing field.

The book is broken down into chapters, and each chapter essentially highlights a different principle that one can use on the road to success. Within each chapter every principle is broken down even further into various sub-topics. Although some of the sub-topics may not flow together as well as they could have, this style made the book very easy to read as well as understand. None of the information in the book is too complicated for the average reader to comprehend, and all of the information is explained very well.

By associating success in business with success in sports Steiner does a tremendous job in offering a book that is fun to read as well as a book that offers real lessons in business and leadership. Everyone who is at least in part a fan of sports and works in a business field should take the time to read this motivational book. By reading this book you will be able to tie aspects of sports into your business career in ways you may have never even felt were possible.

The Business Playbook is hands down the best motivational book I have ever read! Anyone who reads this book will take at least one valuable lesson that they could use in both their business and personal life! Mr. Steiner has a true sports marketing mind, and in my opinion is the best in the business! Keep up the good work!!!!!!!

I thought this book was very intuitive. It really made think about my future goals, and how I should approach them. It is a good reading for anybody who wants to be successful in what ever they want to do. Being that I am a big sports fan I really appreciated the sport figures and events that brandon used as analogies. It should be required reading for buisness students and for anybody who wants to move forward in life. Great book!

This book does a nice job of motivating you toward your leadership aspirations, but many times I felt like I was back in Jr. High school and was listening to my teacher tell me stories of when he was growing up. With all the author's experience and interaction with such high-profile icons of this generation (and a few past), I would think he could have transferred his leadership skills in a more adult and interesting way. Overall, the book was OK.

I was lucky enough to read this book after the CEO of my company asked me to purchase it and write him up a quick synopis. It was a quick but powerful read and by the end of that same weekend my senses were ablaze with newly kindled hope and inspiration!

Brandon Steiner has a great sense of motivational ability, and unlike some who give advice with an heir of condescension, he has an amazing ability to strike a chord with the reader through highly assimilable, digestible prose and imagery. He presents a theme and then illustrates it anecdotally. In his line of business one can only imagine the stories you'd have after working so closely with such colorful clientele. At the end of each chapter there is a summary and a closing paragraph or two which ties all the subject matter together.

The book is divided into key principles: "Start with a road map; Find your niche; Wake up nervous!; Know your purpose; Go the extra mile; You never know; Get focused!; Nothing changes if nothing changes; It's not what happens, it's what you do with what happens; and finally, See success as a habit." I saw so many points therein which had immediate relevance to my life and my future goals.

I am very glad to have read "The Business Playbook" and strongly advocate to anyone who reads this to pick yourself up a copy. You'll be glad you did.

Michael G.
NY, NY

Of the 3 dozen books I've read related to organizing, this is one of my favorites. It is presented in an easy-to-read format that makes it possible to spend a few minutes and read a chapter at a time. There were many great quotes and ideas that are easy to implement. The book also included fun anecdotes. Very well done!

I recently bought both this and Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity in order to stimulate my thinking about how to take charge of my incredibly busy job as a software development manager in an e-commerce company. I manage about 8 people directly and am also the prime facilitator for another project team of about 15 people, half of which are contractors. Like most people, I also have my own work projects and initiatives, as well as huge laundry list of personal items to keep up with.

At first I was a little turned off by the 55 super-short chapters, each of which is 1-2 pages in length and has a "What? So What? Now what?" layout. The writing quality seemed only average, and I was left thinking "Is that it?" after each chapter. However, after I finished the book rather quickly and then got bogged down in Getting Things Done, I realized that this is a pretty good layout for the target audience - people who feel too busy to read a book on productivity.

Many of the observations seem obvious, but that is one of the key messages of the book: we're all making this stuff away too complicated. How many of us take ten minutes each morning to set a focus and key priority list for the day? Or do we omit that simple step, or fall into the trap of checking email "just for a few minutes" first and then get seduced into following little shiny objects all day while missing the big picture?

The "Five Decisions" chapters - Discard, Delegate, Take Immediate Action, Put in a Reference File, and File for Follow-up - are important but I think are covered better in the other book. About half of the other chapters really resonated with me, which made it worthwhile overall. However, the author lost me when he spent 10 chapters describing a paper filing system with folders for each day of the month plus various other files. I agree that people shouldn't expect software and tools to solve all their problems, but I think a PDA or list software like Remember the Milk is much better than a paper system for anyone who works in multiple locations or is "on the go". I felt like he was being a bit techno-phobic, sort of like the guys who insist that LP records are better than CDs or MP3s.

Really the best way to improve your organization habits is to browse several books and articles on the topic, note the themes that recur (like planning time, grouping tasks by project or goal, etc.) and then choose a couple of things to focus on. I'd recommend this book as one of those resources but not the best-written or only one.

Chris Crouch's "Getting Organized: Improving Focus, Organization and Productivity" is a fine read which accomplishes what all good teachers do best: Imparting with vivid good humor and simplicity the wisdoms of processes taken beyond the classroom. The target audience here, primarily workers in any workplace, calls for a most delicate balancing act: Being thoughtful and succinctly explaining the theory, practice, and results of a disciplined approach to Organization. Mr. Crouch accomplishes this masterfully with anecdotes, explanations, and his "master teacher" persona.

You won't get rich from simply reading a "How to Get Rich" book and you won't get organized and productive from just reading any book - you have to take action and implement the ideas.

I have used the principles and ideas outlined in "Getting Organized" for several years and found them to be extremely valuable.

Becoming more organized and productive is not a matter of what type of filing system or PDA you use, it involves making a habit of organized and productive behavior.

This book provides concrete tools for forming those habits. Simply outstanding!

This is a very good book to help you get organized. I originally had a three star and changed it to a four star. So many of this book's best elements are also found in David Allen's Getting Things Done. I read Allen's book last year and it knocked my socks off. When I read this, I wasn't as impressed as I would have if I read Crouch's before Allen's (they're both obviously drawing some of the best tidbits from some of the same material that preceded them). They have many, many of the same very helpful tips. The advantage of Crouch's is that is has short digestible chapters. However, an overall approach does not clearly emerge, just a bunch of big and small organizing ideas. An advantage of Allen's is that you get a clear, overarching approach into which all those good tips suggested in these books fit. Allen's chapters are longer, and though very readable, can get a little bogged down compared to Crouch. If I had only one book to buy, I'd get Allen's. However, I'm glad I read Crouch's because it has given me a refresher.

Getting organized is a major issue for many of us (I work two jobs, both of which require me to maintain an office). While one book may do it for some, I strongly believe that major habit changes will more likely come if you really plunge into an area like this. That means reading Crouch's book, Allen's book, and even Julie Morganstern's Organizing from the Inside Out. While Allen and Crouch focus on the office and home office (mail, home files, etc.), Morgenstern also covers garage, basement, closets, etc. I'm serious, to change the way you look at things, you need to read several books and make yourself an "expert." Otherwise, it will be a book you read that you're not likely to act on.

I read them in the order of 1) Allen, 2) Morgenstern and 3) Crouch. If any readers will choose to read all three of these, I'd recommend Crouch first, then Allen, then Morgenstern. Crouch will lure you in with his short little chapters (once you get past his too many introductory-type chapters before you get into the good stuff). Then, reinforce what you learn by reading a lot of overlapping stuff in Allen's book, but Allen will give you an outline or framework that ties it all together. Then, move on from the office to your closets and garage with Morgenstern. Of the three, Allen was the best for me, but I needed the others to sustain my momentum. Good luck!

I first read "The Lesson of the Chopsticks" and must say that I was not disappointed reading "How to Keep Life's Small Problems from Becoming Big Ones"! Ms.Greenlee's unique view of life's everyday challenges is one we all can identify with on some level.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a boost to handle procrastination and prioritizing. Ms. Greenlee's uncovers a profound truth using vivid illustrations and metaphors to convey her point and shift us out of our "comfort zone". And, it's a LOT CHEAPER THAN THERAPY!

Finally, a most enjoyable and interesting book filled with practical and useful guidance that can be helpful for every age and every level. Each lesson is deeply meaningful, yet stated so simply. A true Gem!!!

Who knew that paying attention to inanimate objects could be so powerful? In "Paperclips", Ms. Greenlee has humorously and quite consciously given us a roadmap to sorting through the habits we all develop when faced with discomfort. Reading it again and again gives the reader a fresh way of envisioning life's way of offering opportunities to grow.

The idea of the book is good, if you don't take care of the little things when they first appear, they end up snowballing and becoming big things. However, I thought the book would include more to read and digest rather than just drawings of paperclips. OK I get the message now offer some insight on motivation. The message didn't need 109 pages of paperclips to get the message across. One cartoon would have done. It took me all of 5 minutes to "read". Sorry, wanted more for the money.

This charmingly simple book spoke volumes to me about the dangers of a disorganized life, and brought to mind several practical applications. If I don't hang up my clothes every night, my bedroom is soon an unworkable mess. If I don't take care of my mail (and other paperwork) diligently and often, it soon becomes overwhelming, and I can't find that piece of paper I really need. If I don't spot-clean the kitchen and baths (almost) every day, things get disgusting quite quickly, and germs can grow. And the list could go on. It's so refreshing to see a simple, highly useful truth presented in such an engaging way, and I look forward to the next "lesson." Way to go, Gina!

I teach adult education at our parish and this set of books is a "must have" for my research. I never walk away saying I could not find what I needed. Any Christian who wants to understand the Church from the beginning needs this set. You cannot walk away from these books and still hold to erroneous notions like "the Eucharist was a 12th century invention", or "Jesus did not become God until after the Resurrection", or "it doesn't matter which Church you go to." All of the doctrine and sacraments of the Catholic Church are found in the historical Church from the beginning, and Jurgens has compiled a marvelous compendium of the teachings, from the words of the Early Fathers themselves, to confirm this. This had to be a labor of love for Jurgens because it is done with such care and scholarship. He clearly had the intended audience in mind by the way he cross-referenced and indexed everything. The ease with which one can use this set is a marvel. No Christian, and certainly no Catholic, home should be without it. If you are trying to decide on which books you should have in your library, do not hesitate over this set. Just get it. You will not be dissapointed. And if you are a seminarian, or thinking of becoming a priest or professed religious, you need this set.

This is the best--the very best--of all the collections of the sayings of the early fathers. The choices are superb. The explanations of the translations are direct and clear and the short biographies that introduce each author include every drop of information you need.

Want to look up 1 Clement? Jurgens includes a biography with all the facts listed, plus speculative information: "Whether or not he was Peter's convert, as the Pseudo-Clementines would have it..." p 8). And in the footnotes: "This is the first time the word 'layman' was used in Christian literature" p 13).

The depth of the information, the perfect choices are remarkable. You might be able to live without these three volumes, but studying the early fathers without them would be much, much more difficult.

Without exception the best collection of early church teachers. In addition to the writings of the early church is a thorough general index but more than that an invaluable doctrinal index to find the seeds of virtually every doctrine imaginable. Do not presume to understand early church history without this reference. All three volumes are ideal but, at the very least, get volume 1. Do not learn church history by other sources, return to the original documents and rediscover the church that Jesus Christ founded. You will be richly rewarded in what you find.

Beautiful insight on how the earliest Christian's received Christ's message.

The writings of the early church fathers leave no doubt that they are linked directly to the 12 apostles and that their beliefs in dogma which go back 1500 -2000 years ago are consistent with the teachings of the catholic church to-day.The catechism of the catholic church which sets forth what catholics are required to believe to-day is consistent with the teachings of the early fathers.Is would be impossible for this consistency to last 2000 year if the catholic church were not the church founded by Jesus Christ.This volume of books proves this beyond any doubt.Excellent reading for any Christian!

If your business is import or export this is a MUST HAVE. If you run a small business it also can be helpful.

This book takes a very realistic approach from someone who has lived the ins and outs of importing. The book is easy to read, offers orignal perspectives, and is a must read for anyone who is considering a distribution business!

This book should be essential reading for anyone thinking of starting an import company. That's because it doesn't just discuss the mechanics- the import brokers and customs requirements etc., - but how to make sure that the business can be successful and profitable.

I'm still a half-wit. I mean it provided plenty of big words and concepts that I never heard of before. I was expecting a book that you opened up and was just money. Do they have that book? I would so buy that. Well, I mean unless it cost more to buy the book than was printed inside of it.

Any way, it was kinda interesting.

The better books dealing with startup/product introduction outline the various possibilities and options--they leave you with many questions. John Spiers tells you exactly what to do and what not to do. Very rare. Very valuable.

I am impressed by the writings of Robert Louis Wilken in this history book. He tells us that the purpose of his book is "to depict the pattern of Christian thinking as it took shape in the formative centuries of the Church's history."
His purpose leads me to believe that he understands that the Bible is the central factor that appeals to all the religious writers from the very beginning to the present time. I cannot help but to be aware that the central theme for anyone will be to understand what God has helped man to write in this great book, The Bible. Readers should come to an awareness in the introduction of this book that we need to understand the history, rituals, and the text to have the proper knowledge of Christian history in order to convey facts and thoughts to all concerned people.

This book explores Christian beliefs and practices, shown in its major Latin and Greek writers, through the first seven centuries of the church's history.

Each of the twelve chapters is devoted to a particular theme, such as worship or social ethics, but the discussion is wide ranging, and themes tend to flow into one another. "Spirit" is a good word in the title since the material isn't treated in a systematic way. At the end, the reader has less an analysis and more an aroma of early Christianity.

The book isn't a critical appraisal--it's a loving appropriation. And it's clear Wilken loves his subject matter deeply. This is a beautiful book, written with depth and style.

It is hard to believe that this book is by the same man who wrote "The Christians as the Romans Saw Them". What a difference 19 years makes.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. I must have highlighted the whole book since I found almost every sentence edifying.

I had become accustomed to reading the Church Fathers from an apologetic or polemical standpoint. This book made me realize how I had overlooked the faith and piety of the Early Fathers. Prof. Wilken shows among other things how they sought to ground their all their arguments Biblically, and how little Christian doctrine actually owes to pagan thought, other than perhaps a few philosophical terms.

If you really want to understand how Christian doctrine was shaped by faith and inspiration, and not by cerebral distillations, you simply MUST read this book.

In a previous volume called The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (1984), Robert Louis Wilkin, professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia, explored the broad and deep antipathy that developed in the first five centuries toward the Christian movement, at least as that was expressed by the cultured elites. He presented the views of the pagan critics with both sympathy and understanding, devoting one chapter each to the views of Pliny the Younger, the physician Galen, Celsus, the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry, and the Roman emperor Julian. In a short epilogue, Wilkin acknowledged that Christians responded to their critics: "There was a genuine dialogue, not simply an outpouring of abuse. The credit goes as much to the Christians as to the pagans." In this present volume Wilkin explores the emergence of what eventually became a distinctly Christian view of God, the world, the self, and human history.

Although his task requires him to consider the history of theology as it developed in the early church, and its relationship with thinkers of Judaism, Greece and Rome, Wilkin warns us not to be be overly preoccupied with intellectual ideas. The Gospel, after all, does not intend to make us smart, but to transform our hearts, minds, and our very lives. Early Christianity appealed to history, reason, ritual, experience, and most of all to the Scriptures, all with the goal of authentic faith expressing itself in true love. What we seek is not barren knowledge but the very face of God (see Psalm 105:4). In his panoramic survey Wilkin describes how we know God in worship, the sacraments and the Scriptures; the struggles to define the Trinity, the nature of Christ, and creation; the relationship of faith to reason and the church to broader society; poetry and icons; and then the nature of Christian virtue and the spiritual life. From start to finish the book is a feast of the early Christian fathers, with special emphasis on Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor. These forbears are, as he says in the last sentence of the book, "still our teachers today."

This book left me feeling very torn. On the one hand, it was really a great read. On the other hand, it seemed that there was an underlying agenda that the author refused to admit (or realize). At times, it seemed a little like Bart Ehrman's book--only half the story gets told to bend the conclusion. Of course, Wilken admits that he is not telling the whole story, but he leads the reader to believe that he is being fair. Allow me a few examples. Wilken admits that Augustine is the giant of early Christian thought, and quotes him in every chapter, and on almost every subject. However, when he begins to talk about free-will, there is no talk of Augustine, and Wilken says that all the early fathers believed in free-will. While Augustine may have been in the minority, the average reader (to whom the book is written, as purported by Wilken) would have no other idea. Also, Wilken talks about the monothelite controversy. Usually, he deals with all the bishops and emporers on both sides of a debate. However, in this discussion, he fails to mention Honorius, prelate of Rome. This would be unknown to the average reader, but seems (to me) that it would be important enough to mention. There are a few other, mostly minor, examples of things like this. It all seems to be an apologetic for Roman Catholicism. While that's fine to write an apologetic for your church, telling half the story is deceitful.

That being said, the book is a good read. It flows well, and is enjoyable. Technical terms (usually Greek or Latin words) are explained and used in useful ways. The book contains a good amount of information, yet is presented in an understandable way and is made easy to remember. It isn't just another book on early church history--it traces other things like poetry, etc. Another underlying theme is that knowledge of God is not true knowledge until it is experienced. It seems simple enough, but Wilken explains it quite well. And to this end, I agree with another reviewer, that there is a devotional, not just academic, use for this book.

The negative side of this review shouldn't deter anyone from reading it. This book is a great read, but it needs to be read with discernment (of course, everything does).