by Bart Ehrman
Harper One. 320 pages
REVIEWED BY JOSEPH DELAHAUNT
Bart Ehrman has once again written a sprightly, challenging and informative
volume. Some of his previous books too often offer a rehash of well-known
scholarly conclusions, served up in an exaggerated fashion that is often
misleading.
by Jane Rogers Vann
Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky. 152 pages
REVIEWED BY JUDITH FULP-EICKSTAEDT
“People of faith are hungry for encounters with God in their congregations and for ways more thoroughly to absorb and be changed by those encounters. It is for these congregations that I write.”
Both films center around a character whose main attribute is living in her/his own world, regardless of what everyone else values.
This is the kind of movie that invokes every viewer’s experience with racism. So this review will reflect a more personal perspective than normally expected, since emotional detachment is virtually impossible, if not downright dishonest.
Wow, what do you make of a film like this, which delivers exactly what it promises and with a straight face? Just go with it? Make fun of it? Consider it a self-parody? An unwitting farce? Hollywood camp? Or do we make this kind of adventure/sci-fi/CGI film just because we can?
by Belden C. Lane
Oxford University Press. 312 pages.
For Belden Lane, all creation is pulsating with desire and delight.
by Craig L. Goodwin (Foreword by Eugene Peterson)
Sparkhouse Press (imprint of Augsburg Fortress). 220 pages.
Looking for something fresh, restoring, creative? Presbyterian pastor Craig Goodwin’s “Year of Plenty” may be just the thing — a book for our time.
Cal (Steve Carell) is an oblivious dad who complacently goes about his home life thinking everything is fine.
The reason we must keep telling the story of the Holocaust is that there are some people alive today who have never heard of it.
Journey in the Wilderness: New life for Mainline Churches
by Gil Rendle
Abingdon Press. 2010. 176 pages.
REVIEWED BY Allen D. Timm
Last year a group of more than 100 young adults gathered for dinner once a month in a room over a bakery in inner-city Detroit. The Detroit Soup Project invited participants to donate $10 each and to present a project to improve Detroit. They would listen, debate and vote. After each meeting, one of them went out with $800 as a grant for a project that would improve the city of Detroit.
Sharing Possessions: What faith Demands (Second Edition)
by Luke Timothy Johnson
wm. b. eerdmans Publishing company. 198 Pages.
REVIEWED BY ANDREW FOSTER CONNORS
Luke Timothy Johnson, a first-rate New Testament scholar, begins with a plodding reflection on what it means for human beings to possess anything. Despite this beginning, this book deserves a serious reading. Johnson argues convincingly for an expansive definition of “having” that includes anything over which we claim ownership — relationships, time, principles, values and things.
Friending: Real Relationships in a Virtual World
by Lynne M. Baab
Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press. 185 pages.
re viewed by MARY HARRIS TODD
“It’s going to damage the way people communicate! It’s going to damage
relationships!” some 20th century experts worried when a new communication
technology became common in private homes.
Grand Entrance: Worship on Earth as in Heaven
by Edith M. Humphrey
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press. 244 pages.
reviewed by RONAL D P. BYARS
The liturgist opened the service saying, “Let us call ourselves to worship.”
This is the eighth and final installment of the famed “Harry Potter” film
series. There are no more books to provide the basis for more, unless author
J.K. Rowling decides to take pen in hand again for the next generation – an
intriguing possibility which she distinctly leaves open at the end.
OK, so it’s not very exciting. But there’s a sublime kind of satisfaction to watching this
well-made documentary about one loggerhead turtle, who remains nameless, but for ease
of storytelling, let’s give it a shot: Deborah.
You have to enter with low expectations. This is an Adam Sandler comedy,
and Kevin James is in his overweight, slightly bewildered and occasionally
overwhelmed Everyman persona. He plays Griffin, who works at the zoo,
and is one of those “gentle with animals” guys who talks to them when he
feeds them and brings them little gifts just to do something nice for them.
by Marcus J. Borg
HarperOne. 248 pages.
reviewed by TIMOTHY B. CARGAL
Marcus Borg is a prolific writer of books that present a progressive (some would say “liberal”) approach to biblical scholarship and Christian life in a style easily accessible to a mass audience.
by Landon Whitsitt
Alban Institute. 176 pages.
reviewed by Leigh B. Gillis
What is this book about? Is it about church structure? It can be. Is it about church growth? Sure. Is it about the culture in which we live and the freedom we have in Christ? Definitely.
“Cars 2” is one of those sequels that works OK, but somehow fails to live up to the charm of the original. It’s sweet and harmless, but falls somewhat short of magical.
There’s good reason that Disney singer Selena Gomez is already a star: she has a winsome kind of down-home, girl-next-door charisma.
“Buck” is a documentary about Buck Brannaman, the real “Horse
Whisperer,” endorsed by Robert Redford himself. Buck is a sixtysomething
cowboy who has been hanging around corrals and barns all his life, who
does indeed have a remarkable way with horses.
“Larry Crowne” is a movie that “Can’t Miss.” First, it’s Tom Hanks, who’s
practically incapable of making a bad movie. He’s this generation’s Jimmy
Stewart, the Everyman whom everybody roots for and has affection for, and
we love him so much that we’ll even allow him his occasional moments
where he’s less than glamorous. Somehow that only adds to his universal
appeal.
This is one of those “niche” films that will appeal to a specific target
audience (mostly younger males), but have a very limited draw with other
segments of the moviegoing market (like grandmothers).
Wow, this one will put you through the wringer. Especially if you are a parent, and tried to raise a child, and realized full well that the “product” which emerges is its own person, over which you have painfully limited influence.
First, a disclaimer: this is a comic book hero that I loved as a kid. Maybe because he’s human, he has to use his imagination, and he’s part of a greater good. Plus, that requirement of having to recharge the ring every day gives rise to all manner of good analogies. (Fill in your own similes here.)
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