There are generally two types of authors I dread discovering: Those that have written too few other books for me to devour, and those who have written too many. The first just leaves me wishing for more. The second drives me nuts trying to figure out what to read next. Miroslav Volf seems to have found a nice balance as I'm thoroughly enjoying "Free of Charge" and trying to pencil in the next unscheduled reading time I'll have for his other works.

The writing is actually somewhat unique, actually. Volf is a Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. With that in mind, you'd be excused for thinking his books might be a bit wonkish. And there are stretches in this one that would certainly frighten off your casual charismatic reader perhaps. But the style Volf hits is actually a unique blend of weighty theological discourse intermingled with a very approachable writing style. If that point remains unclear, try this: the book's foreward is written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is publicized right over a blurb of praise by John Ortberg.

There's a few outtakes from the book that I loved for a variety of reasons that I want to roll out a little at a time. This one may be among the more lighthearted:

Page 69: Eternal Gifts

God doesn't have to give to the world at all, I argued earlier. God is free to create or not. But once God has created the world, God will always be a giver who seeks the good of the recipient. Why? Because God isn't a giver the way I'm a biker. I bike when I need exercise, when I'm not torpid and the weather isn't bad. God fives continually and unfailingly, because God is essentially a giver just as God is love. Luther offered a very vivid "definition" of God: God is "nothing but burning love and a glowing oven full of love". That's the character of God's being, not just as some of God's actions. So God is a giver more the way ducks are quackers than in the way I'm a biker.