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The Kind of Old Man I Want to Be: A paradigm for 65 and beyond
Back when I had my 65th birthday I realized that the majority of the people in the world would consider me an old man. I am in the minority (i.e., in denial), so I got to thinking about what kind of old man I wanted to be when I got to be one. I did not want to just morph into an old man, so I decided to be proactive and choose the kind of old man I wanted to be and then to take steps to be that kind of person. This book presents a paradigm for contentment in old age regardless of one’s circumstances. Its basic premise is that the kind of old person you are will determine your contentment level. After surveying books available on aging, all of which have to do with doing and coping rather than being, I deal with character traits that I want to have as an old man. Then I present how I want to live out those traits by being fun to live with, being loquacious, and one who can carpe diem. This book deals with writing the rest of one’s life story, the end of one’s life story (facing death and beyond), and putting meaning to one’s life story. These are things that older people think about a lot. The findings of my research in the areas of literature, philosophy, psychology and religion pertaining to dealing with death and the meaning of life are presented in the last two chapters.
The book contains humorous quotes, antidotes and illustrations throughout the text pertaining to the topic addressed. Examples of doing what I say I do not want to do are given tongue-in-cheek for illustrative purposes.
“Easy mix of humor and an erudition lightly worn. St Augustine meets Josh Billings.”
Chris Murray (Editor)
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Antioch Publications (September 2016)
Language: English
ISBNs:
978-0-9967929-3-6 Print
978-0-9967929-4-3 Mobi
978-0-9967929-5-0 ePub
You can find this book at major booksellers including:
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Living Right in a World of Woe
Woe is inevitable when ungodliness is the law of the land. This book will help Christians live in an ungodly world that brings woe upon itself and woe upon Christians for not conforming to it. Helpful guidance is given for understanding this present world and how to overcome it by living like Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER TITLES:
Why a World of Woe?
See Right to Live Right
God’s will is Right
The World Started Right but Went Wrong
The World That is Wrong
Be Right to Live Right
Doing Right is Living Right
Living Right in a World of Woe
Living right requires seeing the world in the right way from a biblical worldview. Living right in this world of woe requires knowing God’s will as He guides us through these perilous times. The history of the world is traced from the biblical origin of the world’s culture to how philosophy and science has lead the West away from God. A description of today’s Western culture that brings on the woe is presented. Finally, the Sermon on the Mount is used as a guide for being right and doing right in the home and in society as we live right in a world of woe.
Paperback: 134 pages
Publisher: Antioch Publications (October 2015)
Language: English
ISBNs:
978-0-9967929-0-5 Print
978-0-9967929-1-2 Mobi
978-0-9967929-2-9 ePub
You can find this book at major booksellers including:
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
School of Christianity
These five volumes represent a five-year project for me. Not having name recognition myself, we are believing God for a publisher to catch the vision, see the need for this type of material to be taught in the churches today, and be willing to put their name on it. Under the direction of a publisher, a workbook will be prepared from these volumes that is to be used by participants in an all-day session or several two-hour sessions taught in local churches. A leader’s guide will be provided and anyone with the gift of teaching can teach the course. Anyone interested in more information on the subjects can purchase the books. The volumes are from 90 to 140 pages in length.
Having been in many churches in the US, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, I have observed one common characteristic of church members everywhere. People know Jesus Christ as Savior, but, unless they have been to a Bible school or seminary, they know very little about Christianity or Christendom. They have stepped into a stream that has been flowing for 2,000 years and has not always looked like it does today. Other than salvation in Christ, most do not know the other key doctrines of the faith that Christians everywhere and at all times need to believe (the Apostles’ Creed is used as an outline). They do not know the facts that support what we believe. They do not understand the complete biblical worldview and why it is the only worldview that answers the key life questions: “Where did I come from?” “Why am I here?” and “What is going to happen to me when I die?” The answers Christianity provides make sense, they are comprehensive, and they are livable. They need help to live godly in an ungodly world. These volumes give them what they need in the language and at a level directed to the average person in the pew. These are not for the scholar.
This is the Preface that is in each volume:
The rapid growth of Christianity during the last few decades has seen many people embrace the Christian faith without really knowing its full content. The initial reason to become a Christian is to accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, thus being set free from the power, pollution, and judgment of sin. The new life in Christ has its own history, purpose, and destiny that is different from the world and culture into which one is physically born. There is much Christians should know about their faith.
This series of volumes is not apologetic but didactic, not defending the faith but teaching the faith, not trying to convince the reader that Christianity is true, but expounding the truths of it. It is true because:
Christianity has a true history.
Christianity has true beliefs.
Christianity has facts to support its beliefs.
Christianity has beliefs that are reasonable and consistent with reality.
Christianity has beliefs that can be lived out in today’s world.
It is the purpose of these volumes to present the basic content of the Christian faith in language and terms that can be easily comprehended by the average church member. In doing that, only the essential facts and beliefs of true Christianity will be presented, and not secondary issues that tend to divide. These essential facts and beliefs must define Christianity in all countries and cultures of the world and in all centuries.
These volumes are divided by subjects in keeping with the purpose of the series.
Volume I – History (This is where we came from.)
Volume II – Orthodoxy (This is what we believe.)
Volume III – Apologetics (This is why we believe it.)
Volume IV – Philosophy (This is why it makes sense to us.)
Volume V – Orthopraxy (This is how we live it.)
Parson Jack Russell and …
When we lived in Aberdeen, Scotland our neighbors across the hall had a Jack Russell Terrier (JRT). Since we had a shared back yard I was able to observe the dog when he was let out. I observed that he was smart, full of energy, tenacious, and always investigating things. The thought occurred to me that a JRT would make a good detective.
The Jack Russell Terrier takes its name from the Reverend John Russell who bred one of the finest strains of terriers for working fox in Devonshire, England in the mid-to-late 1800’s. Being a fan of Agatha Christie and other crime writers of that period I thought perhaps that type of story set in modern Devonshire with the Parson getting the credit for solving the mysteries but the JRT doing the detective work might be fun to write. Then my mind took off with titles and storylines:
Parson Jack Russell and:
The Story of Canine and Able
Flea for Your Life
Paws to Think
The Dog-Eared Page
The Flea-Brained Idea
Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Raining Cats and Dogs
The Soles of Men
Many Paws
The Cat Burglar
A Bone of Contention
Paws in the Action
A Tail of Two Cities
Going to the Dogs
Melon Collie Caper
Etc., Etc., Etc.
You get the idea. This will happen when I don’t have anything else to do.
Jesus Christ: The Fulfillment of Philosophy (working title)
“Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom” 1 Corinthians 1:24-25 NIV
The thesis of this work is that philosophy took a turn after the time of Jesus Christ. The early Greek philosophers dealt with profound philosophical and metaphysical questions concerning reality and existence, the nature of ultimate reality, the good, and the essence of Logos. After Jesus Christ, philosophy turned into a second level academic discipline dealing with philosophy of history, education, language, mind, religion, and many other areas besides philosophy. My research will attempt to determine what caused the turn from philosophizing about metaphysics to examining peer disciplines in academia. Could Christ, the wisdom of God and the Logos, coming to earth have caused the turn? The arché (ἀρχή), the apeiron (τὸ ἄπειρον) of Anaximander, and the logos (λόγος) of Heraclitus will be examined as possible pointers to Christ.
Jesus Christ came into the Greco-Roman world in which Western philosophy had its genesis. I will trace the roots of Greek philosophy from Greek mythology, which gave rise to the Greek religion and the cosmogony that the pre-Socratic philosophers questioned. The Greek philosophers came close to discovering the uncaused Cause of all things. Was it chance or divine guidance?
NOTE: From May 2021 to April 2023, work stopped on this project due to a health issue and our moving from Córdoba to Santander, and then more health issues for me. Four chapters have been completed which is anticipated to be about one-half of the book. Other than Jesus Christ, I consider Aristotle to be the most complete philosopher that ever lived. Chapter 5 begins with him.
Contact Me
It is as easy as sending an email to:
jack@jacksbooks.org
Who is Jack?
Hello! My name is Jack Chalk. I was born in North Carolina, USA and grew up in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. After graduating from Samford University, I worked as a Certified Public Accountant for 25 years before God called my wife, Ann, and me to full-time Christian missions, having now served with Globe International Ministries for over 25 years. We have served as church planters, pastors, educators, and evangelists in Mexico, Sierra Leone, Scotland, Córdoba, Spain and now Santander. God has given us a wealth of experiences from dealing with voodoo and juju, to living in a war zone, to entertaining a murderer on the run, that we like to share as testimonies to God’s grace and care.
Besides the accounting degree and two postgraduate degrees from seminaries in the USA, I hold a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of South Africa.
Memberships:
Evangelical Theological Society
Evangelical Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Association
Society of Christian Philosophers
I am shown above at our favorite getaway place in Salobreña, a little pueblo on the Mediterranean coast south of Granada. It is eight hours from Santander and is missionary-affordable in the off-season as it is not a big tourist town. We enjoy going there to rest and read other peoples’ books.
This is us on top of the Rock of Gibraltar on my 70th birthday.
You can read my blog at http://www.JackChalk.blog
Making Disciples in Africa
Subtitle: Engaging Syncretism in the African Church Through Philosophical Analysis of Worldviews
The title comes from our Lord’s Great Commission given in Mathew 28: 18–20. The imperative in the commission is to ‘make disciples of all nations.’ The way that imperative is to be accomplished is by going, baptizing and teaching. Based upon my years of teaching at The Evangelical College of Theology, Sierra Leone, it became evident that unless the African Christian holds a biblical worldview the teachings of Christ and Christianity will not be accepted at the heart level. They may try to change their behaviour to act like a Christian, but unless their worldview changes, what they are supposed to believe will not make sense to them and in a crisis they will abandon what they are taught.
This book presents an analysis of the belief systems of the worldviews behind the religions of Christianity and African Traditional Religion. The book’s purpose is to aid the Christian church in Africa, where Christianity is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, help its converts from African Traditional Religion to hold a biblical worldview in the areas where the biblical and traditional African worldviews conflict. The two worldviews are analyzed and compared using answers to sixteen basic philosophical questions of a worldview and the religious dimensions of how a worldview is lived out in culture. When an African converts from African Traditional Religion to Christianity he encounters a conflict of beliefs in certain philosophical elements of his worldview. Upon the conviction that beliefs determine practice, unless the African convert to Christianity changes his beliefs he will not change his practice, and syncretism will be the result. After analyzing the two worldviews, the areas of conflict in beliefs are presented along with recommendations for bringing the African Christian’s worldview beliefs into conformity with the Christian worldview. This book is directed toward discipleship of the converted in Africa rather than evangelism of the unconverted, in order to help the African church grow deeper as it grows wider.
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Langham Global Library (imprint of Langham Publishing) (14 Sept. 2013)
Language: English
ISBNs:
978-1-907713-71-2 Print
978-1-907713-70-5 Mobi
978-1-907713-69-9 ePub
“In this insightful book, Chalk identifies one of the key problems facing the burgeoning church in Africa, namely that the African worldview, rather than the biblical worldview, dominates the life and practice of the African Christian. This book provides a timely intervention in an area of African Christianity where few have ventured to go.”
Dr Reuben van Rensburg, Principal, South African Theological Seminary
Pretoria, RSA
“Chalk has correctly put a finger on what the evangelical church in Africa considers to be a critical challenge to its mission- the duality of African Christians; divided loyalties between Christian and traditional beliefs. This is a significant work in exploring the de-syncretization of the church for Africa’s emancipation and eternal salvation.”
Aiah Foday-Khabenje, General Secretary/CEO, Association of Evangelicals in Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
“This work turned out to be one of the richest gems of guidance that God used to help structure the vision for a Christian higher education institute formulated to transform Africa through the breadth of Biblical worldview education across theology, the humanities and the sciences.”
Kenneth D. Turnbull, Ph.D., Executive Director, African Christian University
Lusaka, Zambia
“In his book, Making Disciples in Africa, Dr. Chalk lays out an analysis of the African worldview that is a must read for all non-African Christians who plan on working anywhere on the continent.”
Jim Dearman, Assemblies of God World Missions
Highly recommended to anyone ministering in Africa or to African people. A good overview of the African Traditional Religion (ATR) and the African World View. My observations after two years in Uganda ring true to a lot of what is written here, and I hope to implement some of his suggestions to help produce true believers following a Biblical World View.
D.R. – Review on http://www.Logos.com
I am pleased to say that this book is in the libraries of Oxford, Cambridge and other major universities in the UK and Australia. It is also in the libraries of seminaries across the US and Anglophone Africa. The South African government’s Human Sciences Resource Council has reviewed and credited the book for use in the Department of Religious Studies in all state universities in South Africa, thus promoting its use in other southern African countries. All royalties received from this book will go to the ministry of Langham Partnership International.
You can find this book at:
Langham Global Library
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Logos
jacksbooks.org 