The Church Transforming: What’s New for the Reformed Project? Michael Jinkins (with foreword by Susan Garrett). Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky. 136 pages
Michael Jinkins has gathered together a superb collection of public lectures and published essays into this collection that deserves wide reading by leaders of the Presbyterian Church (of all stripes.) He has done a service to the theological tradition that he loves and to which he is joined in mind as well as spirit. According to the introduction by Susan Garrett, Jinkins’ colleague at Louisville Seminary, the Reformed Identity is “up for grabs.” This book is intended to map out a way forward for the “ongoing project” of Reformed faith. The map is sorely needed in a time of much confusion, theological fuzziness and resignation about the demise of the tradition that flows from Calvin. Jinkins insists that the “project” is not about saving the church as much as it is about focusing our attention — mind and heart — upon “Jesus of Nazareth in whom God is revealed and through whom God redeems creation.” It is the distinctive contribution of our tradition to bring critical intelligence and imagination to the task of discerning God’s presence in the world. These essays constitute a stirring rationale for the Reformed Project, which provides a valuable voice of clarity.
— ROY W. HOWARD
Outlook book editor
