Faith Today - November/December 2012

line (1) the complex nature of the church and its structures, and a model for church-agency relations, ( 2) the practice of successful church-agency relations and ( 3) an action plan. Two very helpful appendices are also included: (A) a paper presented by Dr. John G. Stackhouse and (B) sample church-agency covenants.

This book is well worth investigating for both churches and agencies who seek to accomplish successful ministry in a 21st-century context of collaborative co-operation and coexistence.

–R. Wayne Hagerman

The Third Grace:
A Novel

Author: Deb Elkink Greenbrier, 2011.

306 pages. $15.50
To the dreamer, to the academic, to the ro- mantic, to the practical,
Deb Elkink’s The Third Grace
offers a story of grace for all.
Elkink’s protagonist, Ag-
laia, struggles with a past that
threatens to catch up with her.
Even fleeing the
family farm and
beginning a new
life away from
her roots cannot
hide the glim-
mers of the faith
she once knew
and the boy she
once loved. For
Aglaia a business trip to Paris
becomes the catalyst for life-
changing revelations, paving
the path toward redemption
and grace.

Elkink’s pages drip with poetic language, vivid images of both myth and reality, strong character development and challenging questions.

The pace of this novel is more relaxed, allowing the reader to take time to consider these questions of faith, and journey with Aglaia as she is gently reminded of the One who refuses to let go.

When she strayed from her faith as a young girl, she chose instead to cling to ancient stories of Greek mythology as her anchor for life, mirroring François’ (the French exchange student she worshipped as a teen-ager) religious beliefs. Elkink’s description of Greek mythology reflects hours of research. This novel is saturated with a study on Greek mythology, art and even theology. You can’t walk away without learning something new.

Yet the theme of grace and redemption is clearly the focus of Elkink’s first novel. Aglaia has strayed from her Saviour, turning instead to worldly pleasure, searching for love in all the wrong places. How often do we fall into these same patterns? Elkink’s novel reminds us of a God who pursues us. Even as Aglaia openly rejected her Heavenly Father, He would not let her go. He does the same for us.

Most definitely worth the read. –Chrissy Dennis

library to offer an easy reading answer to being “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3: 15).

You don’t have to memorize the Bible or read the 75 books listed in the bibliography to understand how to present a reasoned argument to some of the most common attacks on Christianity in contemporary Canada, but this book will whet your appetite to do so. If all that reading seems a gargantuan task, then take advantage of the fact that Coren has done it for us in this well-written, 12 point font, double-spaced book that facilitates underlining and note-taking, if you’re so inclined.

If you’ve ever been challenged to “prove that Jesus existed,” demonstrate the existence of a good God in a world where bad things happen, or

been confronted by bold statements that Christians oppose science and progress, you’ll find the answers you thought you knew but had trouble verbalizing are laid out in a way you’ll remember.

If you’ve been afraid to share your faith because “all the clever people are atheists,” or already share your faith because you’re not afraid of looking stupid, then this book will help you develop and share your arguments in an intelligent way.

I have recommended this book to evangelical and Catholic friends, all of whom found it to be a first-rate introduction to Christian apologetics, written in layman’s terms, with references that allow deeper exploration in areas of interest. The paperback edition of this book is scheduled for April 2013. –Don Hutchinson

Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity Author: michael Coren Signal/mcClelland & Stewart, 2012. 256 pages. $29.99 (hardcover) Toronto author and broadcaster Michael Coren doesn’t mince or waste words. In Heresy, his 12th book, he applies his uncompromising approach to sifting through a well-equipped