Through Book Sneeze, Thomas Nelson gave me a copy of Beyond Opinion to review. With Ravi Zacharias as general editor, this apologetics book is a compilation from members of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), claiming to be "intended to encourage and challenge the nonexpert to feel comfortable talking about the gospel without feeling the burden of needing a high level of philosophical training" (page xix). I found the book disappointing.

The writing style varied from chapter to chapter, but despite being intended for "the nonexpert," it was frequently stuffy and academic with sentences such as "So in conclusion, it is significant to note that the councils of the church that met to confirm the canon and counteract the increasing number of fourth century forgeries and heresies were a representative group of the geographical breadth of the church" (page 12) and "We can also legitimately surmise that in the coming together of the apparent determinism of classical macrophysics and the uncertainty at the quantum level, even inanimate nature reflects the complementarity in the being of God" (page 243).

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I received a complimentary copy of Tullian Tchividjian’s book Surprised by Grace from Crossway. This short (less than 200 pages) book uses the "surprising" story of Jonah to display the awe-inspiring gospel with clarity. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Tchividjian demonstrates that Jonah isn’t just for children as he walks through the story, focusing on how God sovereignly pursues sinners to show them grace. He picks up on themes within the narrative, such as idolatry and the repeated use of "great". He pointed out frequently overlooked details and their significance.

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