Robert Williamson Jr. Fortress Press, 179 pages Reviewed by Teri Peterson As a parish minister, I am always on the lookout for materials that will help me teach and preach. It is rare to find a book that is intellectually rigorous while also resonating with our contemporary context, and even more rare to find one that combines those qualities with accessibility. “The Forgotten Books of the Bible” does this beautifully. In this one slim volume, we have been gifted an insightful commentary on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations and Ecclesiastes. The structure of the book makes it easy to navigate, as each chapter is roughly two parts. The first half is commentary on the book under consideration. In many ways it reads like a traditional commentary, giving historical context, quoting verses, exploring the Hebrew and offering a bit of text-critical analysis. Yet sprinkled throughout are witty turns of phrase and little gems that will make this easy to read even for those … [Read more...]
After the Longest Night (album & songbook)
Steve Thorngate Reviewed by Luke Hyder After the Longest Night (album & songbook) by Steve Thorngate Advent can be a season of awkward juxtapositions. We begin a new church year just as the calendar year is coming to a close. We celebrate the coming of the Light of the World just as the nights have become their darkest. We worship in longing and hopeful preparation for One who has already come, and yet who is still to come. Finding balance between the conflicting themes of Advent can be a difficult task, especially when planning worship services and choosing songs for our congregations to sing. Steve Thorngate, in his newly released project of songs for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, “After the Longest Night,” has struck that balance beautifully, giving the church a collection of songs, hymns and canticles that can be sung throughout this season and across many types of churches. The album and accompanying digital songbook provide an attractive and accessible mix of original … [Read more...]
Mentoring: Biblical, Theological and Practical Perspectives
Dean K. Thompson and D. Cameron Murchison, editors Eerdmans Publishing, 240 pages Reviewed by Heath K. Rada Run, don’t walk, to purchase your copy of this new book. Outstanding theological leaders Dean Thompson and Cam Murchison have assembled material from some of the most respected and competent mentors known to religious leaders today. This book has the potential to be a classic in its field, and fills a major void in studies of faithful mentoring. The various mentoring perspectives throughout this book will appeal to many mainline Protestant groups, their pastors and laity, evangelical pastors and laity, Roman Catholic clergy and laity, seminarians and their professors, youth and young adult advocates. But it also has significant information and foundational data related to African-American and Hispanic/Latino/a groups, advocates of women’s equality concerns, as well as a range of readers concerned about social and cultural criticism, ethics, theology, biblical studies, … [Read more...]
J. Herbert Nelson
“They are asking questions and we are failing to give them answers that correlate with their current realities. We are still talking about the good old days.” – J. Herbert Nelson, PC(USA) stated clerk, at the 2018 Mid Council Leader Gathering on why many children and grandchildren of people in the church have rejected the faith … [Read more...]
Days and Times: Poems from the Liturgy of Living
Paul K. Hooker Resource Publications, 88 pages Reviewed by Dana Hughes Of all the poets alive or dead, Paul Hooker is by far and away my favorite. I’ve known the author for many years as a gifted preacher and teacher who reads Scripture in every ancient tongue and speaks its truth in today’s vernacular. That skill alone would seem enough for one person, but not so for Hooker. As it turns out, he’s also a poet — but not the sort of poet who dribbles thoughts across a page in order to exorcise some inky demon. Hooker is a poet with a fire in his bones who pulls threads from the ancient texts and weaves them through the warp and weft of faith and doubt, experience and observation, certainty and supposition. The results are at once lovely and arresting, inviting the reader to grasp the whole and then zoom in for a closer view of the individual fibers in all their astonishing complexity. Hooker’s style is eclectic; on one page he plays with traditional poetic formulae just because … [Read more...]
Our God Loves Justice: An Introduction to Helmut Gollwitzer
W. Travis McMaken Fortress Press, 240 pages Reviewed by Kenneth E. Kovacs Thirty years ago, one of the assigned texts for Theology 101 at Princeton Seminary was “An Introduction to Protestant Theology” by Helmut Gollwitzer. It was the only text I read by him and I never learned anything more about him. It’s only now that I realize we were reading one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century. W. Travis McMaken aims to revitalize Gollwitzer’s legacy. McMaken believes that Gollwitzer’s challenging theological voice still has much to say to the church in North America, especially to white Christians in the United States who need to relinquish their privilege for the sake of the gospel. Gollwitzer (1908-1993) began his theological studies in 1928. He earned his doctorate under Karl Barth, becoming one of Barth’s most significant students. Gollwitzer was a prophetic pastor-preacher in the Confessing Church resistance movement. He served as assistant pastor … [Read more...]
Tweet With Us
Be A Facebook Fan
Our World in Photos
Pin With Us