I just finished reading Folllowing Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship by N.T. Wright.  The 2nd half of the book was much stronger than the 1st half.  The chapter on the renewed mind was by far the best chapter in the book.  His comparison of Naaman the leper and Gehazi, Elisha’s servant was outstanding!  I’ve never heard anything like that before.  I think that chapter alone was worth the price of admission.  However, I think some of the other chapters were a little lacking.  The 1st half of the book he gives some overviews of certain books of the Bible, which was good.  It just wasn’t anything new.  On the other hand, I think he raised some interesting discussions on the subject of heaven which I really liked.  I only wish he would have explored it further.  The chapter on hell raised some interesting questions, but he never really answered them!  I like his way of looking at a subject or passage of Scripture and it’s obvious that he is a brilliant thinker, but he raises several qestionds and doesn’t land the plane.  I think it’s partly because much of the book was taken from sermons and lectures he gave.  Many times, when you’re speaking your goal is to raise questions and get your audience thinking without giving them the answers.  I just felt that in the book he had all the time in the world to explore the answers and he didn’t.  It’s a good book and I would even recommend it to some, but I probably would have enjoyed the book more had I known that he wasn’t going to land the plane on certain topics.  I would give it 2 out of 5 stars, but the chapter on the renewed mind was so good, that earns it another star.  So I officially give it 3 out of 5.  If you’ve read it, I’d love to know what you thought…