RAISING THE FOUNDATIONS OF MANY GENERATIONS

A conversational manual of Christian uplift.

In his nonfiction debut, Daniels stresses a concept of modern Christianity that centers on the pivotal nature of the present and underscores that change is happening now among millennial believers: “A time has come for this generation to rise up and shine,” Daniels writes, “destroying every evil foundation and bringing God back into our nations.” The book compensates for its relatively slender length by being heavily seeded with Scripture. Indeed, Daniels’ structure of quotation and commentary provides the backbone of his book and gives it a great deal of its strength; his Christian readers will often find his readings challenging or thought-provoking. The underlying theological outlook of this scriptural callback is correspondingly interactive: consistently, Daniels points out that belief in the Christian God is a partnership as much as it is a master-servant dynamic: “God invites us to reason with Him, no matter how bad our pasts are,” he writes. “He forgives and gives you the grace to fix your past mistakes.” Once the believer is on the road to fixing those errors, greater fulfillment—in both life and faith—is not only possible, with God’s help, but also encouraged, Daniels says. The book occasionally hits notes that are discordant with the modern world, as when it briefly discusses the role of women in society: “Women, being a strong support system (neck), try to lead without the proper faculty of sight,” he writes in one particularly unfortunate passage. “Imagine the neck telling the head where to go!” But generally, Daniels’ message of optimism shines through such impediments.

A faith handbook whose main message of hope through a close working relationship with God will appeal to a broad spectrum of believers.