5 Minute Theologian: Maximum Truth in Minimum Time

The 5 Minute Theologian is an excellent overview of Christian theology. The author presents 100 short essays on various aspects of the Christian faith including the following: God, The Bible, man, sin, Christ, salvation, The Holy Spirit, and The Church. It is an excellent format that is thorough enough to cover the subjects well, but not super deep like would be written for a scholarly theologian. All Christians need to know and understand the above areas, but may not be ready for high powered theological texts. This book combines the best of both worlds; it is simple, but not simplistic. I highly recommend it.

Rick Cornish, 5 Minute Theologian: Maximum Truth in Minimum Time (Colorado Springs: NavPress), 2004, Pp. 324. I liked the author as soon as I came across his motive for writing this book. On the sixth page of the introduction, Cornish writes, "My first reason for writing 5 Minute Theologian originated from my role as a dad reading to my sons...to develop their spiritual growth and prepare them for life as thinking Christians" (p. 20). Here's a dad who takes seriously his responsibility and privilege to raise his sons in the "training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Here's a father who could echo Solomon's advice, "Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching" (Proverbs 4:1-2). Although our culture has lost its way with respect to parenting, according to Tedd Tripp, here is one Christian man who values his children as gifts from God (Psalm 127:3) and who understands his responsibility to direct and teach them (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). As a parent, you just have to like someone with those values. With that motive in mind, you would naturally expect a loving approach. The tone and style of the book are simple, clear, accurate, memorable and purposeful. The format of this book, exactly 100 three-page essays devoted to a theological theme, is ideal for use with a spouse, teenagers, or for private reading. You really can read through each chapter in five minutes or less. Cornish bemoans the fact that theology is "sadly neglected in our day." This book addresses this need by offering "capsule explanations of essential Christian beliefs." Theology's job is to spell out the faith so as to: a) guard us from error; b) defend itself against attacks; and c) explain the gospel to those interested. I recommend this book for teenagers and above. Although all terms are clearly explained, the author does use some big words like immanence, transcendence, hypostatic, kenosis, imputation, propitiation, etc., which might bog down younger readers. This would be an ideal reference for a college freshman. Once this book is read, I recommend J.I. Packer's Concise Theology or R.C. Sproul's Essential Truths of the Christian Faith which are more meaty treatments of the same theological concepts.

Cornish gives the reader a brief overview of all the major topics of Christian theology in clear and concise language and with appropriate Scriptures cited. Most of the topics covered are basic to all Christian denominations and so what he says isn't likely to be objectionable. There are a few hot topics -- such as predestination, baptism, and the end times. On the first he takes a mild Calvinist stance, on the second a moderate but evangelical view, and on the third a pretty neutral view. But nothing he says is likely to be offensive to anyone. All in all, I think this is a great book for giving people a broad introduction to the queen of sciences. With 100 extremely short chapters, in three months one could gain a good overview of Christian theology.