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.
By Charles Kimball
HarperSanFrancisco. 2002. 256 pp. Pb. $21.95.
ISBN 0-06-050653-9
— Review by Gerald A. Butler, Eureka, Ill.
Religion can nurture and lead people closer to God. It can also destroy body and soul. Charles Kimball deals with that paradox in this book, which is timely, informative and easy to read.
By M. Craig Barnes
Brazos Books. 2003. 191 pp. $17.99
— Review by John A. Dalles, Longwood, Fla.
In a society in which almost everyone is from somewhere else, and where they are likely to move on again before very long, how does one combat or respond to a profound longing for home? This is the problem M. Craig Barnes addresses in this timely book.
'The Pianist' is the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Polish pianist who was just entering his prime in the ill-fated year of 1939. The German blitzkrieg began there, in September, and Poland fell in a fortnight. Then it was the occupation, with the gradual encroachment of civil rights. Jews had to wear armbands with the star of David. Jews couldn't be seen in public parks or on public benches. Jews couldn't walk on the sidewalk. Jews had to have a work permit. Jews had to relocate, in a narrow area known as the Warsaw ghetto. And the once-proud and prosperous Szpilman family, mother and father and sisters and brothers, were crammed like beggars into a dirty hovel where even the rats cannot survive because there is no food.
In 1963, Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo De Caprio) was a normal 17-year-old high school kid. Then his world fell apart. His father, owner of a small printing business, and recent honoree of the local Rotary club, runs afoul of the IRS. Suddenly banks will no longer lend to him. The family has to sell their nice house and their late-model car, and downgrade to a lowly apartment and a rattle trap used auto.
Tim Allen does it again. He not only plays Santa Claus convincingly, but is warm and funny without being saccharine or sappy. In "Santa Clause 2" the jolly elf in the red suit appears with a cast of children and puppets and makes something magical.
The viewer doesn't have to have seen the original "Santa Clause" to catch up to the sequel.
By Renita J. Weems
Warner. 2002. 194 pp. $12.95. ISBN 0-446-53066-2
— Review by Lillian McCulloch Taylor
In Showing Mary, Vanderbilt biblical scholar Renita Weems has claimed Mary, the mother of Jesus, for Protestants — and especially for women. Weems views Mary not as a pious, passive woman, but as a strong, vibrant individual. Following the biblical text closely, Weems lays out her portrait of the mother of the divine son.
By Milton J Coalter, John M. Mulder and Lewis B. Weeks
WJKP. 2001. 137 pp. Pb. $16.95. ISBN 0-9724196-0-8
— Review by Lillian McCulloch Taylor
Pastors and church leaders will welcome the re-issue of this 1996 summary of 15 years of research concerning mainline Protestantism in America. Many will recall that the research was originally published in seven volumes under the general heading, The Presbyterian Presence, appearing between 1990 and 1992 from Westminster/John Knox Press. That research was aided by a significant grant from the Lilly Endowment.
What was needed upon conclusion of the seven-volum
By Carnegie Samuel Calian
WJKP. 2001. 137 pp. Pb. $16.95. ISBN 0664222668
— Review by C. Benton Kline, president and professor of theology emeritus, Columbia Seminary
Sam Calian, president of Pittsburgh Seminary and senior among presidents of PC(USA) seminaries, has written this book to mark his more than 20 years in that position. The book does not presume to present the ideal of a seminary, but it indicates some of the trail markers on the way to an excellent seminary. It will be of interest to any and all who are concerned about the role and influence of seminaries in the church and in the community.
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."
© Copyright 2026 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website by Web Publisher PRO
