'Finding Neverland' is the play within the play within the play that is really about finding the magic at the heart of imagination. And, fittingly enough, it's all about believing.
Johnny Depp plays J. M. Barrie, the playwright who wrote Peter Pan. It's London, 1903. The theater is the exclusive reserve of high society: reserved people in reserved seats. Barrie has enjoyed some success, but he'd not gotten in touch with his 'inner child' enough to pen the story that would immortalize him. Until he met the Davies family.
The Mom (Kate Winslet) is alone with her four sons, and somewhat destitute since her husband died. Her overbearing mother (Julie Christie) provides material relief, but emotionally, she's a dead weight. She constantly fusses about discipline and responsibility, and seriousness. As if, should there be any playfulness left in them at all, it would soon be snuffed out for lack of a belief that it was important. Sort of like Tinkerbell.
By Douglas John Hall
Augsburg Fortress. 2003. 2243 pp. Pb. $17.
— Review by Edwin W. Stock, Raleigh, N.C.
The author is a Canadian Lutheran scholar whose book was first delivered in 2002 as 10 lectures at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. It is easy to read because it has an oral style. Yet, it is scholarly as it addresses Martin Luther's "thin tradition," a theology of the cross (theologia crucis) not well known or appreciated in Reformed Calvinistic branches, whose theology begins with the foundational pillar of the Sovereignty of God.
By James M. Gustafson
Augsburg Fortress. 2004. 128 pp. $15.
— Review by Ralph D. Bucy, Harrisonburg, Va.
From the cowardice that dares not face new truth
From the laziness that is contented with half-truth
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth
Good Lord, deliver us. (p. vii)
By Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner
WJKP. 2003. 134 pp. Pb. $14.95.
— Review by Stephen R. Montgomery, Memphis, Tenn.
It has become a cliché in book reviews to state that "this is a book that should be on every pastor’s bookshelf and every church library." In the case of Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner’s The Spirit of Adoption: At Home in God’s Family, the cliché rings true.
By William J. Weston
Geneva. 2003. 116 pp. Pb.
— Review by Louis Weeks, Richmond, Va.
How can the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) end its fixation on the issue of whether to ordain self-avowed, practicing homosexuals? How can it become a healthy denomination, focusing on evangelism, service and mission?
By Margie Little Jenkins
Integrity. 227 pp. Pb. $12.99.
ISBN 1-59145-013-6
— Review by — Judy Haas Smith, Bedford, Pa.
Margie Jenkins, a Presbyterian elder, has written an important book. It ranks somewhere between the first-aid manual and the phone book, and should well be in every home. With a master's degree in social work, she has specialized in grief counseling and therapy for nearly 30 years.
By Charles C. Brown
Trinity Press International. 2002. 333 pp. Pb. $20. ISBN 1-56338-375-6
— Review by Robert Dunham, Chapel Hill, N.C.
A decade after publishing the acclaimed hardback edition of Charles Brown's appreciative intellectual biography of Reinhold Niebuhr, Trinity Press International has made this important work more widely available in a paperback edition, updated by the author. The timing could not have been more auspicious (nor, perhaps, intentional), given the turn of world events in recent years.
By J. Bradley Wigger
Jossey-Bass. 2003. 224 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-7879-5588-4
— Review by Joyce MacKichan Walker, Princeton, N.J.
"The large conviction and concern of this book is that faith empowers family life and parenting" (p. 19). So states Brad Wigger in the first chapter of The Power of God at Home, and just so does he clearly summarize the purpose and usefulness of this book for ministry to, for and with families. Who, as a Christian parent, has not struggled with how to bring into our daily conversations and living our belief that God is the ground of who we are and why we exist; that this trust is one we want our children to witness in our homes and experience for themselves?
By Mary Cartledgehayes
Crown. 2003. 203 pp. $23. ISBN 0-609-60834-7
— Review by Mary Lib Phipps, Cary, N.C.
Grace is an exciting story of the path one woman chose at a point in her life when it was neither easy nor logical. Mary Cartledgehayes shares an honest and beautifully expressed impression of a few different, yet exhilarating, years in her life.
By Katie Geneva Cannon
Continuum. 2002. 184 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8264-1441-9
— Review by Lonnie J. Oliver, College Park, Ga.
Teaching Preaching is a creative, fresh approach to teaching and learning preaching form a perspective that integrates the Word of God with everyday challenges and opportunities. The book's style helps the reader to affirm the African experience in America through sound theology and with a clear methodology.
By John T. Galloway Jr.
WJKP. 2003. 168 pp. Pb. $16.95. ISBN 0-664-22584-5
— Review by John D. Dalles, Longwood, Fla.
Want a long conversation with a venerable pastor reflecting on 37 years of ministry, innovative mission and congregational renewal? It's here in John Galloway's Ministry Loves Company. This is theoretical and practical advice on how congregations work and how pastors can help them work better without losing their religion.
By Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson
Eerdmans. 2003. 317 pp. Pb. $25. ISBN 0802805116
— Review by James L. Mechem, Santa Fe, N.M.
There are a lot of people who know something about Bonhoeffer; many know a lot about him; two men who know a great deal about him, Kelley and Nelson, have produced an excellent study of the relation between Bonhoeffer's life, and the theological and ethical dimensions of his thought.
'The Life Of David Gale' is a polemic against the death penalty. It raises, and then answers, the question of 'What if someone executed by the state is actually innocent?' But the viewer finds out all the information only in bits and pieces, that is, at the same rate as the main character, Bitsy (Kate Winslett). She's a big-time magazine reporter who gets chosen for the exclusive rights to interview former philosophy professor David Gale, during his last three days on Death Row.
We, the viewers, get to witness her initial skepticism about the innocence of someone who was accused of rape and murder, and then convicted by three courts. She agrees to do the interview because they have appealed to her pride, as someone suitably high-profile who has proven that she will maintain confidentiality of sources (by going to jail). So she listens to the Gale (played by Kevin Spacey) unfold his story, and it's not pretty.
By John W. de Gruchy
Fortress. 2002. 255 pp. Pb. $29.95. ISBN 0800636007
— Review by Aurelia T. Fule, Santa Fe, N.M.
John W. de Gruchy, professor of Christian studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is known and esteemed by many Western readers because of his earlier works. In Reconciliation he writes:
The relatively peaceful ending of apartheid and the transition to democratic rule in South Africa did . . . take the world by surprise. It also set in motion . . . the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established to seek the truth about the past in order to facilitate national reconciliation (p. 10).Soaring Where Christ Has Led: Innovative Worship Ideas for the 21st Century
By Richard Avery and Donald Marsh
CSS. 2002. 180 pp. Pb. $29.95.ISBN 0-7880-1906-6
— Review by Mary Ann Lundy, Santa Fe, N.M.
Many of us cannot remember a time when we did not know and sing what came to be a noun, "Avery-and-Marsh." "Let's do an 'Avery-and-Marsh,'" we'd say, or "I'll look in Avery-and-Marsh and see what there is for Easter." Going to national meetings and conferences meant that we could see them "do their thing" in the flesh, which meant arousing passive, stone-faced Presbyterians to move and clap and dance and, yes, sing with gust.Bend It Like Beckham
'Bend It Like Beckham' is this year's 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.' It's about a girl growing up in a very ethnic family, and how she struggles to honor her roots and yet find some independence. She's not perfect, but she's likable because she's so passionate. And she tries so hard. And while she cannot bend the world to her point of view, she can at least decide what to embrace and what to refrain from embracing (Ecclesiastes 3), and in the process discover something of who she is.
There are several refreshing elements to this film for the American moviegoer. First, it does not adhere to some of the silly Hollywood rules about what is glamorous. The lead character, 'Jess' Bhamra (Parminder K. Nagra), is neither tall nor skinny nor blonde nor blue-eyed; though her friend, Jules Paxton (Keira Knightly), is all those things. What the two girls have in common is a gift for soccer. Jess has just been playing 'football' with (guy) friends in the public park near her house. Jules is playing on a women's team. When she spots Jess' skill, she invites Jess to be on the women's team, as well. The coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), is skeptical until he sees Jess play. And then he is ecstatic. And so is she, because she didn't realize how good she was until now.Gods and Generals
Actually, it seems more like 'God and Generals' because there is a whole lot of Scripture quoting, praying, conversing about the mysterious will of the Almighty in a reverential tone and, on deathbeds, the literal assurance of Heaven. It's not often a Hollywood movie is so very religious. But it is also very violent.
'Gods and Generals' is the adaptation of Jeff Shaara's Civil War historical novel about the early part of the war, when the Confederates were consistently victorious. Lee and Jackson looked invincible, while the Union suffered with a series of hesitant commanders who were either intimidated, afraid to make a mistake, paralyzed into inactivity, or all three.
The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children
By Katherine Paterson
Dutton. 2001. 266 pp. $24.99.
— Review by Freda Gardner, Princeton, N.J.
The subtitle could be: What Makes Katherine Tick? What are the thoughts, experiences, loves, concerns that make this author so prolific, so admired around the world; so ready to speak to and with children and to care about them with a passion that marks the decades of her life? Who are the people that called forth that passion and keep it burning today? And what of God, who continues to call Katherine Paterson to many ministries, to the use of the gifts that are hers?
Head of State and The Good Thief
Both movies rely heavily on the star power of the leading male, but make sure to feature a young, attractive woman. Both expect the viewers to accept an unlikely plot line long enough to be charmed by the skill and ingenuity of the main character. Both develop the main character as someone not ordinarily thought to be important, but who enjoys tremendous success, and we root for them both because they represent the 'anti-hero,' the one who plays against type.
In 'Head Of State,' Chris Rock plays a lowly town alderman, Mays Gilliam, who is caught on the national news doing a dramatic rescue, just because he happened to be nearby at the time. This catches the attention of the Democratic Party's kingmakers, who have a problem. Their presidential candidate and his running mate have died in a plane crash. They need to find a sacrificial lamb quickly, because the opposition is the well-known Republican who has been the vice president for eight years. Nobody wants to run against him. And so they choose Gilliam, the unknown, the 'man of the people,' and try to garner some goodwill for the next election.Jesus of Nazareth
By Dorothee Soëlle and Luise Schottroff
WJKP. 2002. 160 pp. Pb. $14.95.
— Review by Gary Collins, Newport Beach, Calif.
Jesus of Nazareth by German theologians Dorothee Soëlle and Luise Schottroff provides a fine introduction to the feminist/liberationist view of Jesus, as well as fresh insights for those who have already had that introduction. Twenty-four gritty poems — nine from Soëlle — are spread through the text to inject into the scholarly narrative the authors' deep concern for the Earth's overlooked and exploited ones.
The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need
By Peter Gomes
Harper. 2002. 388 pp. Pb. $23.95.
— Review by Lewis F. Galloway, Columbia, S.C.
The Good Life by Peter Gomes is a fresh presentation of the challenge to live a good life by practicing virtue. His book will give rise to much discussion about the crisis of purpose in North American higher education, the meaning of virtue and the nature of the good life.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Chuck Barris' life has been so bizarre that when they made a movie of it, you still can't tell what's real, what's fantasy, what's fiction, and what's such a whopper of a tale that it could very well be the truth.
Abraham: A Journey into the Heart of Three Faiths
By Bruce Feiler
William Morrow. 2002. 224 pp. $23.95.
— Review by James H. Gailey, Brevard, N.C.
Bruce Feiler's Abraham is not an attempt to solve the political problems of the Near East. Instead it is the personal journey of a sensitive Jew seeking understanding of the spiritual ancestor of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Feiler has literally walked over significant sites in the Holy Land, and he realized that no physical traces of Abraham could be found.Body and Soul: Rethinking Sexuality as Justice-Love
Marvin M. Ellison and Sylvia Thorson-Smith, eds.
Pilgrim. 2003. 393 pp. Pb. $21.
— Review by Isabel Rogers, Richmond, Va.
"Despite decades of debate, conflict over human sexuality continues to persist unabated in the church." So begins the last chapter in a book that has grown out of that long debate, Body and Soul: Rethinking Sexuality as Justice/Love.
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