We feel for Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg). In his younger years, he led a life of crime, but somehow he has been able to get out of “the life” and go straight, without anybody coming after him, either the law or his former cohorts. His successors in the international smuggling business have apparently felt no need to eliminate him as a potential informant.
Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples
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.
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.
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
by Amy L. Sherman
InterVarsity Press Books, 272 pages
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.
“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.
At the turn of the 20th century, there were a couple of brilliant minds developing what would become the established science of psychotherapy: Carl Jung in Switzerland and Sigmund Freud in Austria.
OK, it’s both weird and non-linear. To the point of impressionistic, what with its long introduction/foreshadowing with the classical music and the things falling out of the sky and freeze-frame images, collaged as if on a cinematic canvas.
This series is really enjoyable to watch. Robert Downey, Jr. makes a credible and athletic Mr. Holmes, a master of disguise and observer of nearly everything.
Yes, it’s a re-make. The original Swedish film was such a sensation that the English translation of the book caught on, then the two sequels, and now we make an English-language version of the Swedish film, still utilizing the cold remoteness of winter in Scandinavia, even occasionally showing newspaper clippings in Swedish, but everybody speaks English, whether or not with a Swedish accent.
“New Year’s Eve” is one of those ensemble movies that tell the story of the same time period in the lives of many different characters, some of whom will overlap in the end.
Normally, I automatically recoil when I hear cuss words come from the mouths of children in films, especially when only used for shock value, or a cheap laugh at the incongruity (of course, the more it’s used, the less incongruous it is).
One of the reasons for the high popularity of Stephanie Meyer’s storytelling is that she manages to establish and maintain many tensions at once. And that’s a big reason the movies based on the books work so well too.
by Benjamin T. Conner Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Paperback. 129 pages
reviewed by JEFF KREHBIEL
Two of the most important movements in the mainline church in recent decades have been the focus on Christian practices represented by the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in the Faith (represented by Practicing Our Faith, 1997), led by Dorothy Bass and Craig Dykstra, and the emergence of “missional” theology out of the Gospel and Our Culture Network, led by Darrell Guder and George Hunsberger (represented by The Missional Church, 1998).
