by Katharine Rhodes Henderson. Continuum, 2006. ISBN 0826418678. Hb., 247 pp., $24.95.
In an era when more women are entering seminary and fewer are rising to senior pastor positions, Katharine Rhodes Henderson's new book is both timely and important. It may help break the glass ceiling for women while also re-framing the idea of religious leadership in the 21st century.
Dr. Henderson, executive vice president of Auburn Theological Seminary (N.Y.), introduces us to non-traditional entrepreneurs who lead not "from above" but from "behind, within and beneath." These brave women of faith have a contagious fervor for doing justice in new and creative ways. Many of them who are more "spiritual" than they are "religious" teach those of us in leadership positions how to analyze conflicted situations and move, as she says, "organically and intuitively" from the center out and the ground up instead of from the top down. They teach us how to broker new partnerships and re-think conventional ways of addressing problems.
by Anne Tyler. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN: 0-307-26394-0. Hb., 277 pp., $24.95.
In Digging to America, Anne Tyler returns to the themes of longing and healing. The story begins in the Baltimore airport as two families wait for their adopted daughters to arrive from Korea. One family, the Donaldsons, is out in full force with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in attendance. The other family, the Yazdans, is an Iranian-American family composed of three people. The Yazdans are quiet and private, while Bitsy Donaldson habitually turns occasions into celebrations. As both families are leaving the airport, Bitsy invites the Yazdans to join their family party at her home. Thus begins the relationship between the two families, who have little in common besides their adopted daughters.
The Presbyterian Outlook invited pastors and leaders from across the church to share with us their hopes for summer reading. Here are their responses:
Betty Meadows, general presbyter, Mid-Kentucky Presbytery:
Christianity for the Rest of Us, by Diana Butler Bass
Scott Black Johnston, pastor, Trinity Church, Atlanta, Ga.:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling
Portions of Calvin's Institutes (the 500th anniversary of his birth is approaching fast)
A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics by William Stacy Johnson
For the past few months, I have been conducting a very unscientific survey among PWPAs (Persons With a Presbyterian Affiliation). I think I've talked with around a hundred folks. I asked: "What does it mean to be a Presbyterian today?" The most frequent response is a glazing over of the eyes, a couple of mumbles, followed by, "Gee, I wish I knew." I often have followed this up by asking, "Then why do you stay?" The most frequent response? "I don't know. (Sigh) I just don't know."
Lately, I've been asking a third question of people who seem receptive: "How would you describe being a Christian these days?" Puzzled looks and slow, rueful headshakes are very common. "You got me. I don't know how to describe that. (Pause.) Y'know, I don't think about it all that much."
Admittedly it is an unscientific sample, but thinking back over the years it rings way too true. Folks like this are not simply missing a denominational identity, they are missing a core Christian identity as well. For these folks, "faith" is a series of very blurry, abstract concepts that have nothing to do with "real life." Church is strictly an "if convenient" proposition that has to do with social contacts and "feeling good" more than anything else.
Christian book top sellers for late 2006 and early 2007 from the following publishers:
by Michael Jinkins. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2006. ISBN 0802827519. Pb., 186 pp. $15.
For almost five years we were privileged to be in a program developed by the Office of Theology and Worship entitled "Excellence from the Start." The design of the program was to put new pastors in groups of seven or eight under the leadership of experienced pastor/mentors. Groups met twice a year for theological reflection on ministry in light of assigned readings.
by Phil Noble. Montgomery: NewSouth, 2003. ISBN 158838120X. Hb., 168 pp. $24.95
Growing up in north Alabama, I vividly remember riding in the back seat of my father's Mercury and hearing him and a friend of his, an insurance salesman from Cullman, talk with some pride about the fact that Cullman, Ala., did not have any African-American residents. My father's friend said he called on one elderly woman regularly in Cullman who had a small arsenal in a bedroom in the back of her house which was ready to be used by several men in that small town to intimidate any African-American who thought to try moving into the city limits. The conversation between my father and this man was filled with the kind of racial epithets that I routinely heard in my childhood. This was 1978.
(fully revised and updated), by the Society of Biblical Literature, Harold W. Attridge, general editor. HarperCollins, 2006. ISBN 006078685X. Hb., 2272 pp. $44.95.
In these days of hitormiss Hollywood sequels, one picks up a "revised and updated" work in fear and trembling. The new edition may fail to rise to the level of the original. Something of the essential character of the original may be removed or replaced in an effort to make the new edition somehow "better."
Such fears are unfounded here.
I was a seminary student when the first edition of The HarperCollins Study Bible came out in 1993, and have found it to be an indispensable tool both in the classroom and in the church. As a student, I realized that it reflected well the insights and interpretive methods of the biblical scholars whose works were among my seminary readings (much as the Oxford Annotated RSV did for previous generations). As a pastor, I have found it to be a useful way to bring the fruit of current biblical scholarship into Bible studies without having to lug around numerous volumes of commentary. The pages of my original edition are underlined, dogeared, torn, worn, and crumpled; alas, one section has even fallen out. I hope my copy of this new edition will be similarly worn in a few years--except for loose section!
Link to Movie Review article, Mar 12, 2007
Advance Work:
1) Ask one member of the group to research the life of William Wilberforce, and how the movie emphasized certain parts (his opposition to slavery) and omitted others (his views on 'The 'Trouble in The Colonies,' the American Revolution). He served 45 years in Parliament. What American politicians have enjoyed such a breadth of service in Congress, and what legacy did they leave?
by Edith M. Humphrey. Eerdmans, 2006. ISBN 0-8028-3147-8. Pb., 295 pp. $21.
This is an exciting book. It links the doctrine of the Trinity with the spirituality of ordinary Christians. Humphrey, who teaches New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, organized her book around three triads: love, light and life. In keeping with the Trinitarian motif, each triad has three sections.
The heart of Humphrey's work is her understanding of the Triune God and how this God relates to believers. For her, the Trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit living in a perfect community of love and sharing. The Triune God is not self-contained but stands outside the divine self. This is the meaning of ecstasy. The purpose of this ecstasy or standing outside of the divine self is to have an intimate relationship with men and women. This is the "holy tryst" that Humphrey defines as "a holy meeting in which God, through his very own love, brings humanity (spirit, soul, body) to himself" (p. 17). This occurs especially through the action of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, for Humphrey, Christian spirituality is "the study of what happens when the Holy Spirit meets the human spirit" (p. 17).
by William G. McAtee. Martha Gilliss, editor. Louisville: Witherspoon Press, 2006. ISBN 1571530657. Pb, 434 pp. $24.95.
Dreams Where Have You Gone? is several things: a survey of Presbyterian history, a chronicle of the Union Presbytery Movement, an oral history of that movement, a memoir of a Presbyterian pastor, and a probing assessment of where the Presbyterian reunion of 1983 came from with questions about where we are going. It is a wonderful book that can be read at several levels and will provide wisdom and insight for all its readers.
Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) had it all: he was a star athlete, young, handsome, and charming. He's driving a convertible at night along a country road, and wants to show his date, and his best friend in the back (with his date), how amazing it is to drive with the lights out and watch the luminescent fireflies. They are at once enchanted, thrilled, and frightened. As he speeds up to heighten the sense of danger, the others start "freaking out," begging him to turn on the headlights, and as he does, they all see the combine inexplicably parked on the road, just before they hit it head-on.
by Fleming Rutledge. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005. ISBN 0-8028-2786-1. Pb. 81 pp. $12.00.
One of the great traditions of the Christian Church is to take time, during Holy Week, to reflect upon the words Jesus spoke from the Cross. Sometimes this happens in a three- hour service on Good Friday, in which the combination of the crucifixion accounts in the four Gospels are read and interpreted in turn. Out of this tradition, Fleming Rutledge has created a series of mediations that are helpful for personal reading, reflection, and devotional use at any time of the year.
by N. T. Wright. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity, 2006. ISBN 0-8308-3398-6. Hb., 176 pp. $18.
Every pastor and every politician should read N.T. Wright's newest book, Evil and the Justice of God. It serves as both a concise explanation of what the Christian faith has to say about evil and also as a way of understanding all of the terrible things happening in the world around us.
Wright starts by discussing the problem of evil, which is not only a philosophical riddle but a terrible reality in our world today. Wright says that most of us in the West have accepted the Enlightenment myth of progress. Thus we tend to ignore evil in the world for as long as we can, and when it slaps us in the face, we respond to its existence in immature and inappropriate ways.
This is the fascinating story of the life of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), the late-eighteenth century member of the British Parliament whose life work was finally succeeding in getting a provision passed that banned the slave trade in Great Britain. (OK, so historically, it just moved to other places during the next century, like the Indies and the Americas, but it was still a heroic struggle.)
Outlook: How has your faith helped you in your whole journey?
JD: My faith has been central to me. From the very beginning, in Sudan, I was baptized when I was two years, or one year. And later, in the camp, when we formed into 93 groups, of about a thousand each, every group had a covenant box, like the people of Israel on their journey. And the box was in the middle of the gathering, and we would pray together every day, from 6 in the evening until 9 in the evening, singing songs to the Almighty in our native language, though in the camp they taught us English. Then, on Sundays, we would all gather together, outdoors, with just the fence around us, and worship the Lord. We are the Gentiles, not the Jews, and we believe that Jesus Christ is for all people.
Theodore J. Wardlaw reviews Barbara Brown Taylor's "Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith."
After reviewing scores of films in 2006, these are my selections for the best in their categories. We will see which films and performances win honors at the 2007 Academy Awards on February 25.
Both are about people dealing with grief and emotional displacement. Both are about how easy it is to say, 'You need to move on with your life,' and how difficult that is to do. In both, the hardship comes in unexpected places, and so does the relief. In both, the redemptive part is how people love one another.
'Breach' is a chilling tale, based on actual events, of an FBI agent convicted of selling secrets to the Soviets.
No, it wasn't during the Cold War era. This was 1991, when our country's relationship with the former Soviet Union was supposed to be glasnost. But we've had a spy network since before we were officially a nation---George Washington relied heavily on his 'intelligence community' during the field maneuverings of the Revolutionary War---and we still routinely spy on other countries with whom we are theoretically at peace. Most of us just don't know the extent of our network of 'operatives.' And we never will. But some of us have attained some access, and some of us have abused the privilege.
c. 2007 Religion News Service
Of all the actors, athletes and hip-hop performers venerated by urban teenagers in Southern California, most improbable of all, perhaps, was a 13-year-old girl by the name of Anne Frank.
So goes the inspiring story behind "Freedom Writers," a recent movie starring Hilary Swank. The film's Jan. 5 release was timed to precede the nation's commemoration of another figure in the ongoing fight against racial prejudice: Martin Luther King Jr.
Both are about people struggling to survive in a hostile environment. Both are about people who start out very awkwardly, but slowly learn to care for each other. Both are about experiencing racial discrimination, both overtly and covertly. Both are about learning to succeed in small but important ways, like relying on hard work, and refusing to be beaten down, and withstanding the criticism and rejection of others. Both are about taking pride in one's own story, one's own struggle, one's own life. Both are about gaining respect by maintaining dignity, integrity, and self-reliance. Oh, and getting by with a little help from your friends.
'Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby': This bumpy-ride lowbrow comedy about a race car driver (Will Ferrell) contains a startlingly frank and lengthy discussion at the dinner table about prayer. Is it OK to pray to 'baby Jesus'? Or must we address a 'full-grown Jesus with a beard'?
by Harry S. Stout. New York: Viking, 2006. ISBN 0670034703. Hb., xxii + 552 pp. $29.95.
Wars take on their own mythologies and none more so than the American Civil War. It stands at a center of American consciousness and identity. More than 100,000 titles have been written on the conflict, in its various facets. Now Yale historian Harry S. Stout has given us a "moral history" of the Civil War, providing a unique--and disturbing--view of the years when this nation tore itself apart.
by N.T. Wright. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. ISBN 10:0-06-050715-2. Hb., 240 pp. $22.95
N.T. Wright admits, "Being a Christian in today's world is, of course, anything but simple. But there is a time for trying to say, as simply as possible, what it's all about, and this seems to me that sort of time."
Now is that sort of time, it seems to me. Some who claim that Christianity "makes sense" pare it down until the mystery is peeled away and we are left with a God whose edges are sharply drawn and whose greatest attribute is clarity. N.T. Wright is not to be confused with these voices that reduce Christianity to simplicity.
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