When Disney produces a documentary about cheetahs and lions in the wilds of Africa, you’d expect a lot of cute “awwww” shots of cubs cuddling and playing. And we get those. But we also get the realism of hunting to eat. And the honesty of the law of the jungle, that only the strong survive.
Drawn to Freedom: Christian Faith Today in Conversation with the Heidelberg Catechism by Eberhard Busch, translated by William H. Rader Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010. 392 pages
reviewed by DEBORAH A. MCKINLEY
Christian practices are in and doctrine is out, so it seems. Confirmation classes for teenagers are moving away from doctrinal teaching to education in living Christian faith.
“Rio” is one of those animated musicals that are so cute and endearing you’ll not only want your children to see them, you’ll also enjoy them yourself.
What we all know about the Middle East situation is that there is more than one point of view. Anybody’s who been living in the United States understands our country’s traditional allegiance to Israel.
The good news is that one of the most extraordinary paleontological finds in history was discovered in 1994. Nestled near the cultivated vineyards of the French countryside, unsettled limestone formations had formed subterranean caves.
by David Kelsey Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press (2 volumes). 1496 pages.
reviewed by ERIC O. SPRINGSTED
David Kelsey, longtime beloved teacher at Yale and author of numerous widely respected books, such as “The Uses of Scripture in Recent Theology” (1975), has delivered two important volumes that lay out a Christian understanding of human being.
by Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook and Fredrica Harris Thompsett The Alban Institute, 2010. Pb., 193 pages. $18.00
reviewed by MARY HARRIS TODD
Picture this: a small Episcopal congregation of seven members goes to visit its bishop to request closure, and the bishop replies, “No! You still have a mission in your community!”
“In A Better World” (“Haevnen”) is a Danish film about two families that intersect dramatically through their children, a situation that a lot of people can relate to.
Ever wonder how the Lincoln assassination really happened? “The Conspirator” won’t answer all your questions. But you’ll feel like you know as much as anyone else involved, and even better, you’ll feel like you were there.
You don’t expect “Arthur” to work very well, because it’s a remake, and the original won two Oscars (very rare for a comedy), and who can replace Dudley Moore’s lovable insouciance or Liza Minnelli’s electric vivacity?
“Bridesmaids” is a genre so rare it is practically in a category by itself: female buddy-movie raunch comedy. Those who are aficionados of television’s “Saturday Night Live” will recognize veteran comediennes Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph.
by Miroslav Volf New York: HarperOne, March 2011. Hardcover, 336 pp., $25.99. ISBN 978-0-06-192707-2
reviewed by Douglas A. Hicks
It is hard to imagine a more timely topic than Christians’ and Muslims’ understandings of one another and of God. It is equally difficult to identify a Christian theologian better situated than Miroslav Volf to tackle the questions he raises. In brief, this book deserves all of its hype, and I recommend it heartily to every pastor, theologian, layperson, and citizen who reads the Outlook.
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 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).
