by Christopher Morse
New York: T & T Clark 2010. 145 pages.
reviewed by CURRIE BURRIS
Most of us carry around in our minds either an image of heaven shaped by popular culture, pictures, images, stories or movies, or an image shaped by the modern scientific world view in which heaven is nowhere to be found. We either imagine a heaven filled with clouds, harp-playing angels and golden mansions somewhere up in the sky, or we find the notion of that kind of heaven wholly at odds with the real world.
by Martin Thielen
Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 156 pages.
reviewed by JEFF KREHBIEL
I remember speaking with a young man from a fundamentalist background who was trying to understand my faith as a liberal mainline Christian.
by Joseph D. Small
Louisville: Witherspoon Press. 157 pages.
reviewed by MARTHA MOORE-KEISH
For years, Joe Small has provided Presbyterian and Reformed Christians wise interpretation of the Reformed tradition for an ecumenically diverse and increasingly post-denominational world. His most recent volume is a significant reworking of God and Ourselves: A Brief Exercise in Reformed Theology (1996).
by Eugene Peterson
HarperCollins, New York. 336 pages.
When asked what he liked most about being a pastor, Eugene Peterson responded, “the mess.”
Reviews by Roy W. Howard
Outside Looking In:
Adventures of an Observer
Viking Penguin. 195 pages.
It’s easy to like the Flaherty family. Mike (Paul Giamatti) gets up and jogs in the morning, and comes home to a loving wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan) and two cute little girls, and the older one is starting to imitate the slang-slip words of her parents, but she’s still adorable enough for that to be amusing instead of alarming.
The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader
by Mark Pierson
Sparkhouse Press, November 2010. 240 pages.
reviewed by DEBRA AVERY
Don’t read this book if you are looking for the next big thing in worship that guarantees growth in attendance, or if you are looking for liturgies and songs to plug into your standard order of worship.
Unsqueezed: Springing Free
from Skinny Jeans, Nose Jobs, Highlights, and Stilettos
by Margot Starbuck
InterVarsity Press. 2010. 229 pages
reviewed by Leslie Klingensmith
Pull up a comfy chair, brew a pot of tea and sit down with your most candid and hilarious girlfriend to kibbitz about the ways that we women buy into the cultural stereotypes of beauty.
The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor
by Mark Labberton
InterVarsity Press, November 2010. 236 pages.
reviewed by NEIL CRAIGAN
In The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, Mark Labberton challenges readers to consider what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ in the world today. The subtitle says all that needs to be said: “Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus.”
In Defense of Civility: How Religion can Unite America on Seven Moral Issues that Divide Us
by James Calvin Davis
Westminster John Knox Press, September 2010, 216 pages
reviewed by SHARON CORE
One has only to look to the last election to realize that civility has taken a back seat in our political process.
The Gifts of the Small Church by Jason Byassee
Abingdon, 2010.
reviewed by Mary Harris Todd
Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture; An Agrarian Reading of the Bible by Ellen F. Davis
Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pb., 252 pp. $23.99.
reviewed by Steve Willis
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
Random House. 2010. 473 pages.
reviewed by Roy W. Howard
My father was a Japanese POW for 42 months, having been captured when he was 19 years old in the Philippine Islands while serving with the Army Air Corps.
Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: A Christlike Response to Homosexuality
by William P. Campbell
Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2010. 240 pp.
reviewed by Andrew Nagal
Perhaps the greatest contribution of Bill Campbell’s new book is not what he says, but how he says it.
by Piet Naudé
Eerdmans, 2010, 255 pages
reviewed by Sheldon Sorge
This book is an indispensable resource for anyone wishing to learn about the history, theology, and significance of the Belhar Confession from a South African perspective.
by Scott C. Sabin, edited by Kathy Ide
Judson Press ISBN 13: 978-8170-1572-5 $18.00
reviewed by Alison Bennett
Tending to Eden is a personal memoir and witness to Scott Sabin’s experiences in different countries and the lessons he has learned as he comes to understand the theological foundations for environmental health and ecological stewardship.
by Martin E. Marty
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids. August 2010. 212 pages
reviewed by John C. Bush
The recent election has revealed deep rifts in the fabric of the nation.
by Mary Albert Darling and Tony Campolo
Jossey-Bass, June 2010, 240 pages
reviewed by Robert A. Harris
Connect like Jesus? I'd love to connect half as well as Tony Campolo!
Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott. The third in the series of novels that began with Rosie and continued with Crooked Little Heart, I think this is Anne Lamott's most well-written and fully realized novel. She has a perfect ear for the moral and psychological nuances of a teenager coming to adulthood.
by Andrew Pessin Oxford, England: Oneworld Publications, 2009.
reviewed by Stephanie Sorge Wing
Edited by Joseph Small, Geneva Press, 2010
reviewed by Andy Walton
South of Broad: by Pat Conroy Nan A. Talese Books, 2009. 528 pages
reviewed by Leslie A. Klingensmith
This is Pat Conroy’s first new novel since the mid-1990s, and it is phenomenal.
Lit: A Memoir
by Mary Karr Harper. San Francisco. November 2009. 400 pages
reviewed by J. Stephen Rhodes
"Age seventeen, stringy-haired and halter-topped, weighing in the high double digits and unhindered by a high school diploma, I showed up at the Pacific Ocean, ready to seek my fortune with a truck full of extremely stoned surfers.” So begins poet Mary Karr’s tale of her recovery from alcohol addiction and her conversion to faith.
Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years- by Philip Jenkins
HarperOne, 2010. vii+317 pp. ISBN 978-0-06-176894-1
reviewed by Rebecca Harden Weaver
In A Brief Statement of Faith (Book of Confessions 10.2) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), we make an astonishing claim: “We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God.”
A Just Forgiveness: Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice- by Everett L. Worthington Jr.
Downer's Grove, Ill., IVP Books
reviewed by Dan McCoig
Worthington’s title is worth noting: A Just Forgiveness: Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice.
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