Here I stand; I can do no other.” I’ve heard those words more times than I can recall — mostly from pastors who were drawing a line in the sand and separating themselves either from a rival faction in the congregation or from their denomination of affiliation or both. However, many of those pastors ultimately sounded a different refrain: “If only I’d known what would have resulted, I never would have started this.”
WASHINGTON (RNS)
A star-studded array of political and religious leaders — from President Obama to rock legend Bono to AIDS activist Kay Warren — came together Dec. 1 for World AIDS Day to call for an entirely AIDS-free generation by 2015.
Martin Luther’s footsteps are all over Germany — where he preached, prayed and inspired people to think about God in a new way.
Travel in Germany and the phrase “in former times” becomes almost a refrain. It can mean, depending on the context, during World War II, during the Communist era that divided the country for more than 40 years, during the Nazi regime which so scarred the country, or during an even longer stretch of history leading back to medieval times.
Once upon a time, in the 1600s, Martin Luther was a best-selling author in Europe. And his rise in popularity was connected to a technological revolution of the time: Johannes Gutenberg’s development of the printing press.
A pastor whom I admire recently scoffed at technology. A not-for-profit agency director did the same, saying especially that she was determined to avoid Facebook.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmanns. 286 pages
reviewed by SARAH SCHERSCHLIGT
On a morning walk, I caught sight of a bird circling over a pond. I was awestruck to witness it plummet into the pond and emerge with a catch.
by Thomas H. Groome
New York: Harper Collins. 384 pages
reviewed by JAMES F. CUBIE
Thomas Groome is a wise practical theologian who has written a superb book on how to do educational ministry that gives both a compelling, systematic vision of the theology that should support any practical effort to educate and grow disciples, and leads its reader through a series of personal and communal questions that relate directly to how a church operates day-to-day.
Exactly how Presbyterians would rank the top news of 2011 in the denomination, and how they would characterize what happened, will depend on their perspective. Here’s an effort to recap some of the biggest developments of the year. Feel free to make your own list.
reviewed by JANICE HORTON
This book hits the spot. The “Vocational Sweet Spot” that is. Defined by Amy Sherman as “that place where our gifts and passions intersect with God’s priorities and the world’s needs,” it’s the place Christians ought to be aiming for when they consider their life’s work.
reviewed by JOELA RANAIVO
Cynthia Holder Rich provides a volume with a huge historical and informative value, tracing the Fifohazana, a spiritual revival movement in Madagascar, from its genesis in the late 19th century until now.
On New Year’s Day people often write annual resolutions and promise to make positive changes in their lives. Obviously it is impossible to be productive as individuals or a church in the months ahead without careful planning.
For mainline Protestant denominations, it is not good news.
Here I will confess, if that’s the appropriate word, I myself am a lapsed Presbyterian. It’s the diction that did it, finally, the worn-thin, shabby, church-poor words, so overused they connote to me a poverty of spirit, not the richness of it.
— E.L. Doctorow, The Waterworks
Louisville, KY.
Doing ministry in a time of “shifting sands” has become the reality of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
WASHINGTON (Ekklesia)
The number of organizations engaged in religious lobbying or religion-related advocacy in Washington, D.C., has increased fivefold in the past four decades, from fewer than 40 in 1970 to more than 200 today.
2011. Good, bad or otherwise? For Presbyterians, 2011 was either the year of the breakthrough or the year of the collapse, either the year of clarifying or the year of confusing, either the year of ending the war or declaring war. It all depends on your perspective.
HAVANA (PNS) The U.S. blockade of Cuba is a fundamentally theological issue because, in choosing isolation over reconciliation, the U.S. has chosen to serve mammon rather than God, Cuban Presbyterian theologian Reinerio Arce told Cuban and U.S. religious leaders here Dec. 1.
MATANZAS, Cuba (PNS) The liturgical dancers circle each other at a distance, then move closer together, then join in an intimate pas-de-deux.
“We Bought A Zoo” will be a crowd-pleaser. It’s charming, it’s sentimental, it’s hopeful, it has plenty of star power, and it’s based on a heartwarming true story. A little unevenness can be readily excused.
It’s easy to like “War Horse.” Characteristically of Steven Spielberg films, cute children and precocious teenagers play a large part.
I remember reading this book when it first appeared in print, during the height of the Cold War.
Motion capture is the name of the technology utilized by director Steven Spielberg.
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