Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu HarperOne, 224 pages “How can I help?” With these words, Rachel Held Evans introduced herself to Jeff Chu. A well-loved blogger and writer, RHE (as she was known to her many followers) used her platform to lift up long-silenced voices such as Chu’s, who experienced pain and rejection as a gay person in the church. How bittersweet that Chu is now the helper. When Evans died unexpectedly in 2019, in addition to leaving behind a young family and stunned friends, she left the unfinished works that Chu has woven into “Wholehearted Faith.” Evans draws a line from her childhood – portraying herself as a painfully earnest spiritual perfectionist, determined to win the “Best Christian Attitude” award – to her adult self, where she realizes that vulnerability, authenticity and a tender heart eclipse a desire for prizes. She attributes her belief not only the Held women who came before her but also biblical women like Mary, who says an emphatic “yes!” … [Read more...]
Paul, Theologian of God’s Apocalypse
Martinus C. deBoer Cascade Books, 274 pages The gospel according to Paul is “apocalyptic” — not because it relies on apocalyptic symbols, images and literary tropes but because it is God’s revelation (apocalypsis) in Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection have changed the world. This event has put the old order of sin and death on notice and ushered in a new age of life and the Spirit. Paul’s apocalyptic eschatology is not focused on a scenario of events to occur at Christ’s parousia or “Second Coming”; the apocalyptic event is experienced now in the life of those in whom faith (a word Paul uses almost as a verb) has been activated, and it will be seen in the life of the world to come. In “Paul, Theologian of God’s Apocalypse,” New Testament professor and scholar Martinus deBoer argues that the gospel Paul articulates is not so much about a forensic forgiveness of sins as it is about God’s drastic and dramatic reordering of the cosmos and God’s redemptive invasion of the … [Read more...]
Old Man Dreaming, A Theological Essay on Vision
John L. Williams Wipf and Stock, 164 pages It’s almost as if this little jewel of a book has been hibernating during the season of Trump’s presidency and the devastating pandemic — lying in wait — to emerge at just the right moment for the well-being of a battered church. “Old Man Dreaming” was given to me by a friend of the author who knew how relevant it is for churches beginning to reopen, and as congregations courageously come to grips with a heritage of White supremacy. Evacuating and understanding the past is painful and confusing, and many congregations are barely equipped to manage it. Imagining and planning to re-open after COVID-19 closures, not only in worship but in education and mission, can be confounding, especially with the threat of the Delta variant which requires re-thinking congregational life again — just when we thought we were “back to normal.” This short treatise is the perfect accompaniment for church governing bodies, for leaders and Sunday School … [Read more...]
Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor
Michael Battle Westminster John Knox, 390 pages Desmond Tutu will turn 90 years old this year, so it’s only fitting that a spiritual biography of him is now before us. As a biographer, The Michael Battle is uniquely qualified to take on such a work, having known Archbishop Tutu for nearly 30 years. This book is so much more than “a spiritual biography.” It is also a memoir of Tutu and Battle’s decades-long relationship as mentor and mentee, a book on mature spiritual exercises with Archbishop Tutu’s life as a lens, and a defense of Christian mysticism as a this-world concern. Battle lived with Archbishop Tutu in the early 1990s and was ordained a priest by Tutu in 1993. As Tutu approaches such an important milestone, we have in this book a deep reflection of his life, written by his mentee, who has gone on to have his own distinguished career as a scholar, teacher of spirituality and prayer and accomplished preacher. If the book has a weakness, it is that Battle spends too … [Read more...]
The Word Made Flesh: A Theology of the Incarnation
Ian A. McFarland Westminster John Knox, 260 pages Those who take the time to dig into Ian McFarland’s work will gradually realize how deeply his theology of the “Word Made Flesh” is not only about Jesus, but also about our humanity woven into the life of the triune God. McFarland’s central argument is straightforward: “To know God rightly, one must look at Christ’s humanity only.” McFarland argues that Jesus’ divinity and humanity as “two natures in one hypostasis” is the most adequate account of Christian convictions about Jesus. The book unfolds in three parts: The Great Divide: radical discontinuity between Creator and creature The Bridge: hypostatic union is the bridge across the divide, in which the person of Jesus is fully divine, while the flesh is fully human The Crossing: Jesus’ resurrection enables new redeemed existence rooted in God’s own life, eventually catching up all creation in glory. Each section sustains conversation with ancient and recent … [Read more...]
Love Makes Room: And Other Things I Learned When My Daughter Came Out
Staci Frenes Broadleaf Books, 240 pages When her 16-year-old daughter came out, Christian music artist Staci Frenes found her faith faltering. For Frenes, being gay was unacceptable within a “Jesus-loving, church-going, Bible-believing family.” Wasn’t it? In “Love Makes Room,” she reexamines all she had been taught in evangelical circles about the LGBTQ community, and reaches the conclusion that her daughter’s sexual orientation is neither a choice nor a sin. Frenes draws us into her personal story, as her daughter gracefully gives her permission to recreate the scene when she reveals that she is brokenhearted over a romantic relationship with a girl. Frenes and her husband are devastated as they fear the spiritual implications of their daughter’s revelation. After a sleepless night of pacing prayer, her husband gives up trying to fully understand and vows to simply love their daughter without reservation and without trying to change her. In 2015, her blog post “What I Learned … [Read more...]
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