This month we have the privilege of publishing two separate reviews of John Dickson and Simon Smart’s Vital Signs. The first is from news reader Leigh Hatcher and the second is from Moore College student Stephen Bell.

I've been saying for a few years that I consider John Dickson to be one of the most important voices for the Christian faith in today's culture.

John and Simon Smart have joined to launch what promises to be an exciting an important series, Bible Alive: Bridging Scripture and Daily Life. Their first offering in the series is Vital Signs, the wisdom of James for a life of faith.

They set themselves a challenging task explaining the book of James, who as they admit, "shoots from the hip.'

Dickson and Smart are determined to honour the biblical text, no matter where it takes us, or what it demands of us. I love this about Vital Signs and value their thought provoking critique " "Our modern tendency to dissect and probe the words of Scripture, can if we are not careful, cause us to miss its real force.'  They've certainly captured the force, the penetrating human insights, the raw challenges and the grace of our Lord's brother's book.

In particular, Vital Signs doesn't shirk away from James' passion for the poor and downtrodden and his deep and abiding concern for justice. The way Dickson and Smart illuminate the text, they gently skewer the comfortable contemporary Christianity which has lost James' fire in the belly for love and good works:

"Christians must value godliness over cleverness, compassion over knowledge, generosity over financial nous and justice over intellectual achievement. That's what it means to be wise".

Vital Signs is rich in such powerful and provocative insights " think on this:

"" advancing in our knowledge of God's word is not the goal of the Christian life; it is simply the means by which God strengthens us for the life of faith. Church services, Bible study groups and personal reading of the Scriptures are all important, but they are not central acts of godliness. They are God's provision for a life of obedience. Doing is impossible without hearing, but hearing without doing is "worthless'."

It thrills me to read a book that cuts through our Christian comfort zones, suppositions and assumed frameworks, by doing the hard slog of faithful biblical exegesis. 

Dickson and Smart have also clearly worked hard to make this accessible and understandable for a wide cross section of readers. A couple of things I really liked " each chapter begins with a range of thought provoking quotes, often from the Bible, but also from a range of notables " from Bono to Bob Marley, Mark Twain to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Also, each chapter ends with a real life story, illustrating or illuminating the issues raised in the biblical text. We all love stories " it's how Jesus himself taught, and Vital Signs has captured this brilliantly in a kind of living theology.

If you're like me, you often struggle to find good daily devotional or Bible study material that wrestles faithfully with the text, and goes beyond the superficial or predictable. Vital Signs does both " it's a real find. I'm buying copies for friends and family and I don't often do that!

Leigh Hatcher

Does your Christian faith need a jump-start? Vital Signs from John Dickson and Simon Smart may be just the jolt that you need.

Vital Signs is not a commentary, but rather a series of reflections on James' letter to assist the reader in thinking about, meditating upon and applying the words of Scripture. It is written in a relaxed, conversational style and has specific applications for those of us living in Australian society.

One particular distinctive is the variety of ways in which Dickson and Smart help us think about the letter. Each short section has quotes, testimonies, real-life examples, suggested prayers, questions and hypothetical situations for consideration.

Christians who might be struggling for direction in their private Bible reading will find Vital Signs to be great value. There are studies to last you four weeks and you are eased into the hard work of hearing and responding to God's word. While the truths that God teaches us through the book of James are hard, Dickson and Smart have done us a great service in making them easy to understand.

This approach works particularly well with James' letter. James has much to say to our Western world about wisdom, riches, suffering and the way we speak to one another, and Vital Signs helps us to explore and act in response to God's word. It steers us away from trite and bland applications which are all too common in devotional material and cuts to the bone, exposing areas of our Christian life that lack vitality.

One particular section that penetrated to my heart was the section on James 2:14-19. Dickson and Smart give some statistics about the average Australian spending patterns, comparing luxury and entertainment spending to our charitable giving. A follow-up question asked us to think about the way we spent our own money over the past week and whether we felt that our spending patterns were pleasing to the Lord.

Prepare to be challenged and changed by the word of God as Vital Signs helps you delve deeply into the letter of James.

Stephen Bell