By Diogenes Allen
Church. 2002. 134 pp. Pb. $13.95.
ISBN 0-89869-352-7
— reviewed by Ed White, Washington, D.C.
This book recounts Diogenes Allen’s search for the providence of God. He begins by describing the shock of witnessing the overwhelming poverty in India in 1955: “I was not prepared for the horror of seeing people dying in the street” (p. 3).
By Walter Brueggemann, William C. Placher and Brian K. Blount
WJKP. 2002. 80 pp. Pb. $9.95. ISBN 0-664-22485-7
— review by David W. A. Taylor, Cary, N.C.
This little book of 80 pages is an immensely useful resource for interpreting the Scripture within the cultural context of our time. These three biblical scholars of unimpeachable reputation take the Bible with utmost seriousness, yet not as fundamentalists. They insist that we must struggle with Scripture if its word is to be “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.”
Philip L. Culbertson, ed.
Fortress. 2002. 282 pp. Pb. $22. ISBN 0-8006-3447-0
— review by J. David Wiseman, Cary, N.C.
A story is told of several Americans traveling in Africa, who had hired a native guide to lead them up a mountain. As they climbed, the guide stopped for rest more frequently than the hikers desired. Growing impatient, one hiker finally posed the question, "Why are we stopping so often?" The wise guide responded, "We need to give our souls time to catch up with our bodies."
By Albert N. Wells
Rainbow. 2002. 264 pp. Pb. $14.95.ISBN 1-56825-082-7
— reviewed by Albert C. Winn, Winston-Salem, N.C.
The year 2002 does not appear to be a good time for publishing a book on the pursuit of peace. But Al Wells has done it, despite the widespread approval of national policies of war and retaliation which has followed the horrendous breach of peace on Sept. 11, 2001. On the cover of this book, the subtitle "It’s the Thing to Do" is altered by an insertion that makes it read, "It’s still the Thing to Do."
By Walter Brueggemann
Eerdmans. 2002. 150 pp. Pb. $15.ISBN 0-8028-3930-4
— reviewed by James K. Mead, Orange City, Iowa
Every preacher and teacher — and everyone who listens to sermons and lessons — cares about the theme Walter Brueggemann addresses in Ichabod Toward Home, based on his 2001 Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary. Using the Ark Narrative in 1 Samuel 4-6 to explore what the church does when it stands before a biblical text, Brueggemann contends that the story of the ark’s capture, exile and return offers an alternative vision of the church’s proclamation and life in the world.
By Andrew Purves.
WJKP. 2001. 160 pp. Pb. $16.95.ISBN 0-664-22241-2
— reviewed by Richard Ray, Bristol, Va.
Turning this little book by Andrew Purves over, weighing it from hand to hand, I realized that I could not easily write an impersonal response to it. I knew its author too well. During the past few years in which we were colleagues at Pittsburgh Seminary we often discussed its basic themes.
By Michael L. Lindvall.
Geneva. 2001. 135 pp. Pb. $11.95. ISBN 0-664-50142-7
— reviewed by Bill Klein, Lexington, Va.
Anyone familiar with Michael Lindvall’s book, The Good News from North Haven (reprint expected Summer 2002), will welcome his most recent effort. The Christian Life is another in the expected 12-volume Foundations of Christian Faith series being commissioned by the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and published by Geneva Press.
By Philip Jenkins
Oxford. 2002. 270 pp. Pb. $28.00. ISBN 0-19-514616-6
— reviewed by Ben Lacy Rose, Richmond, Va.
The thesis of this book is that, contrary to much that is being written and heard today, Christianity is alive and well in the world, and will continue in good health into the foreseeable future. The "God is dead" movement is dead, but God is still very much alive.
I read books for many purposes. To amuse and to entertain me (I am an avid fan of the detective story). To inform me (I try to keep up with recent biblical scholarship) but, also, to enrich my spirit. As I seek a closer sense of God's intimate presence, I have been helped from several very different sources.
By Rosmary Radford Reuther and Herman J. Reuther
Fortress. 2002. (2nd ed.) 320 pp. Pb. $18.00. ISBN 0-8006-3479-9
—reviewed by Daniel Durway, Raleigh, N.C.
Most Americans know what is going on in the Middle East, but few Americans know why it is going on. Indeed, according to Rosemary Radford Ruether and Herman J. Ruether, theologian and political scientist, respectively, "Much of the world does not know the actual history" (p. iv).
By John Leith, Charles E. Raynal,ed.
Geneva. 2001. 363 pp. Pb. $29.95. ISBN 0-664-50151-6
— reviewed by Richard A. Ray, Bristol, Tenn.
In 1949, John Leith included these words in a sermon on race relations preached in Nashville:
"It is hard to be a Christian. But after all, it is about time that we should get into our thinking that this business of being Christian is and always will be an arduous and dangerous business. It is not made for cowards and for the weak."
By Joan M. Martin.
WJKP. 2000. 190 pp. Pb. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-2580-0
— reviewed by Portia Turner Williamson, Durham, N.C.
What a well-crafted volume, significantly advancing the discussion concerning slavery in America! Joan Martin is a theological ethicist who employs womanist methodology to discover the meaning of work in this context.
"Discovery" is a technique that renders the internal as external. By means of this method, she examines the social, theological and political aspects of blackwomen’s antebellum work.
By Edwin S. Gaustad.
Eerdmans. 1996. 246 pp. Pb. $18.00 ISBN 0-8028-0156-0
—reviewed by Herbert Meza Jacksonville, Fla.
No one, with the possible exception of James Madison, had a greater influence on the founding of the United States than Thomas Jefferson. Unlike many of the founding fathers, Jefferson’s name has not faded. The Declaration of Independence stands as an enduring witness to Jefferson’s religious, moral and political views.
By Mac N. and Anne Shaw Turnage
WJKP. 2001. 136 pp. Pb. $12.95. ISBN 0-664-22567-5
— reviewed by William V. Arnold, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Since their own confrontation with cancer in 1973, Mac and Anne Turnage have focused considerable creative faith and energy, to our benefit, on the care of people affected by cancer. Since their first book, More Than You Dare to Ask: The First Year of Living With Cancer, in 1976, they have led countless support groups, formed and led organizations of cancer survivors to provide support and encouragement, and, in the process, modeled pastoral care at its finest.
By Richard Lischer.
Doubleday. 2001. 243 pp. Pb. $$23.95. ISBN 0-385-50217-6
— reviewed by Agnes Norfleet, Decatur, Ga.
Richard Lischer is a Lutheran pastor who teaches preaching at Duke Divinity School. Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey Through a Country Church is a wonderfully engaging memoir of his first experience as a parish pastor. It reads like a novel with character development, plot, intrigue, pathos, humor, conflict and sometimes even resolution. And yet it is more than a good story.
By Frederick Buechner.
Harper San Francisco. 2001. 160 pp. $22.00 ISBN 0-06-251752-X
—reviewed by Blue Calhoun Wood, Watkinsville, Ga.
A month after the August 2001 publication of this anticipated new work of Frederick Buechner reverberated with particular poignancy. Its title, from Shakespeare's King Lear, expresses the necessary response to "the weight of this sad time."
By Wesley A. Kort
Oxford. 2001. 208 pp. $25. ISBN 0-19-514342-6
— reviewed by Daniel L. Durway, Raleigh, N.C.
If you last read something written by C.S. Lewis during your student days, or if you have never read anything at all by him, you may want to pick up C.S. Lewis Then and Now by Wesley A. Kort, professor of religion and member of the graduate faculty at Duke University.
By Thomas G. Long
Alban. 2001. 115 pp. Pb. $16. ISBN 1-56699-240-0
— reviewed by Art Ross of Raleigh, N.C.
Because, suddenly, we live in a world at war, the title of the book is unfortunate; but so too is the spirit of the debate over worship in the life of many churches. The opening words of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Common Worship, "Worship is at the very heart of the church’s life. All that the church is and does is rooted in its worship" are true.
By Ronald C. White Jr.
Simon and Schuster. 2002. 256 pp. $24. ISBN 0743212983
— reviewed by John M. Mulder of Louisville,Ky.
Just in time for Lincoln’s birthday comes Ronald White’s exposition of and meditation on what he rightly describes as Abraham Lincoln’s greatest speech — the Second Inaugural Address. Brief and lucidly written, White’s exposition includes not only the historical context in which Lincoln delivered the speech (with colorful anecdotes) but also an excellent literary and theological exposition of the text of the address itself.
By Roberta C. Bondi
Abingdon. 2000. 292 pp. $25. ISBN 0-687-02405-6
— reviewed by Judy Haas Acheson of Kansas City, Mo.
In this age of terrorism, is it not so that each of us have become more pensive and introspective individuals? Isn’t there a certain melancholy to this contemplative mood that seems like a form of prayer? Is it not also true that in these reveries our minds focus first on ourselves and then widen into remembering our family stories and histories in an attempt to see how we fit into these tense current historic events?
By Leander Keck.
Fortress. 2001. 207 pp. Pb. $ 21. ISBN 0-8006-3170-6
— Reviewed by Gordon W. G. Raynal, pastor, Inman, S.C., church
Leander Keck, emeritus professor of biblical theology at Yale Divinity School and past president of the Society of Biblical Literature, has joined the ranks of scholars writing about the relationship between understanding Jesus as a figure of history and a figure of theological affirmation. In Who Is Jesus? Keck takes the reader on a tour of the history of this scholarship since the Enlightenment, when interest in the Jesus of history began to flourish.
By Samuel K. Roberts
Pilgrim. 2001. 307 pp. Pb. $26. ISBN 0-8298-1424-8
—reviewed by A. Elaine Crawford, Atlanta, Ga.
Sam Roberts' book builds a strong case for the development of a unique African-American ethical consciousness. While he focuses on the African-American community, Roberts understands various cultures as singular, but none, including African-American culture, as exclusively normative. He argues that African-American ethical consciousness has been shaped through the particular historical and cultural experience of African Americans in America.
By Anne M. Clifford
Orbis. 2001. 287 pp. Pb. $21. ISBN 1-57075-238-9
— reviewed by by Isabel Rogers, Richmond, Va.
The goal of Christian theology, says Anne M. Clifford, "is to bring faith to understanding for a Christian community" (p. 179). That is what she aims to do in this book -- to help the Christian community understand its faith, especially in light of the experience of women.
By Lewis S. Mudge
WCC Publications and University Press of America, Inc. 2000.312 pp. Pb. $27.50 ISBN 2-8254-1332-1
— reviewed by Louis Weeks, president, Union-PSCE, Richmond.
This collection of articles and essays by Lewis Mudge -- which have previously appeared in a variety of publications during the past 30 years -- offers a good summary of his thought. He believes that the whole church needs to think fresh thoughts about its identity as the body of Christ. More, it must develop its identity in the world. Ecclesial life for Mudge is a reality, and social theory can illumine its existence.
By Christine Eaton Blair
Geneva. 2001. 138 pp. Pb. $12.95.ISBN ISBN 0-664-50148-6
— reviewed by Margaret Parks Cowan Maryville, Tenn.
Christine Eaton Blair has produced a lively and practical guide for teaching Bible study to adults. She acknowledges the problem of biblical illiteracy and the difficulty of motivating adults to participate in Bible study. While she presents different approaches to the text and theological implications of those approaches, the strength of her book lies in its discussion of insights from adult learning theory and practical strategies for teaching that flow from these insights.
© Copyright 2025 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website by Web Publisher PRO
