Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog

I don’t easily find books for spiritual reading. So I’m always glad when someone recommends a book that he or she has found helpful.

One such book I’ve just finished is a collection of sermons by the late James S. Stewart, formerly the Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at Edinburgh University (the post now held by a friend of mine, Larry Hurtado). The publishing arm of Regent College recently released a reprint of this fine anthology, Walking with God, edited by Gordon Grant.

Stewart has been lauded by many fine preachers, including such disparate pulpiteers as Lloyd John Ogilvie (former chaplain to the U.S. Senate), Gardner Taylor (dean of African-American preachers), and William Willimon (former chaplain to Duke University and now a Methodist bishop). His sermons are couched in the elegant language of a bygone generation, replete with aphorisms from his wide reading in classical and British literature (I would say “English literature,” but he was a Scot, and quoted Robbie Burns as often as Shakespeare, it seems). His messages are always directed to both piety and practice, and I have found many a passage to be provocative–whether to compunction or to comfort.

Herewith a bouquet of quotations plucked from these pages:

“We think of ourselves–ourselves who get so worried, so hectic with life’s load of care; who carry our fever with us, and wince at pin-pricks, and get flurried and fussy and nervous, and can’t relax; who feel that everything is getting on top of us, and life is too much for us, and quite lose our interior peace. There is no real remedy for that condition but this–a closer walk with God” (16-17).

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This is a blog about religion, spirituality, theology, and such like. Well, you need to hear about the cult I joined a few years ago and that I advocate–in good proselytizer fashion–to anyone who will listen to me.

It’s the cult built around, yes, a sacred text: Getting Things Done (Penguin, 2002), authored by the (unlikely-looking) guru David Allen. Yep, there’s a book title and author’s name guaranteed to disappear from your memory as soon as you read them! Nonetheless, Allen’s book has changed my life–given me clearer, more focused concentration, made me more attentive to my loved ones, eased my mind of anxiety, and increased my productivity. You can understand, therefore, my enthusiasm! You should join up, and join now!!!

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I won’t recommend books often on this blog, but I want to recommend this one: Cancer: A Medical and Spiritual Guide for Patients and Their Families. Written by an oncologist, Dr. William Fintel, and a theologian and pastor, Dr. Gerald McDermott, the book offers a wealth of information and wisdom about traversing this awful terrain.

I recommend it second-hand, as it were. My late father, Dr. John Stackhouse, was a cancer surgeon and also a church elder and Bible teacher. My mother, Dr. Yvonne Stackhouse, has been a literature teacher and historian and–quite to the point–is a cancer survivor. Their joint testimony has been that this is the single best book of the many they have read on cancer.

The book has been through several editions with several publishers. Baker has it now, but they have done little to promote it. So I’ll do what little I can here. If you or someone you know is walking through the valley of the shadow of cancer, get them this book. And spread the word. When you’re dealing with cancer, you need all the help you can get.