Carolyn B. Helsel Chalice Press, 128 pages Reviewed by Karen Branan As a pastor and professor of preaching at Austin Seminary, Carolyn B. Helsel understands deeply the anxiety many white people feel when the topic of race comes up. She’s been there herself, but she also knows it’s an issue that can no longer be avoided by white Christians in America. And so she has written a book designed to ease us into the conversation and help us stay there despite our anxiety, guilt and fear. When I began “Anxious to Talk about It,” I thought, “Uh-oh, she’s going to sugarcoat reality so that timid white people can feel good about themselves without actually facing the truth of our national situation.” Helsel quickly proved me wrong. She has written this excellent primer so readers may “reconsider where race continues to operate in our society and in our lives” so that “when the opportunity to act comes, you will know what to do.” Because Helsel has been there (and sometimes still is) and … [Read more...]
As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God
Eugene H. Peterson WaterBrook Press, 379 pages Reviewed by Karen R. Dukes Eugene Peterson is known for bringing us “The Message.” He is less well-known as the pastor who gathered and led Christ Our King Presbyterian Church outside of Baltimore for 29 years. From 1962 to 1991, he preached sermon after sermon, Sunday after Sunday. “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” gathers 49 of his sermons on texts from Genesis to Revelation preached in this one place. These sermons are not intellectual essays floating in the ether. They are grounded. They are grounded in the Bible. They are grounded in the geography of Abraham and Peter. They are grounded in Peterson’s personal geography of his native Montana and the church’s location in Maryland. They are grounded in the seven preaching companions that organize these sermons, from Moses to John of Patmos. They are grounded in Peterson’s down-to-earth explorations of the text. They are grounded in Jesus, who walked the earth as we do. Ultimately, they … [Read more...]
Weak Enough to Lead: What the Bible Tells Us about Powerful Leadership
James C. Howell Abingdon Press, 164 pages Reviewed by Jenny Cannon To write a leadership book based entirely on the concept of weakness is a bit like writing a cookbook for people who don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen. By design, good leaders aren’t usually known for their weakness. To be tapped as a leader in the first place often means that you have honed your strengths enough to be noticed and managed your weaknesses enough to relegate them to application and interview questions. But in “Weak Enough to Lead,” James C. Howell asserts that weakness itself is central to our understanding of leadership from a biblical perspective. While many business leadership models and even some current church leadership trends offer clear-cut steps for successful leadership, Howell insists that in plumbing the depths of biblical leaders we don’t find a clear set of principles, but instead the stories of human beings who could be both fallible and faithful leaders. As a counter to the … [Read more...]
Resurrecting Easter: How the West Lost and the East Kept the Original Easter Vision
John Dominic Crossan and Sarah Sexton Crossan HarperOne, 224 pages The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the heart of the Christian tradition. As Paul says, “if Christ was not raised from the dead, than we of all people are most to be pitied.” In this ambitious and creative book, the Crossans explore the ways in which that conviction has been portrayed in Christian history and, particularly, in art. The Crossans argue that the Western and Eastern streams of the tradition have treated the resurrection quite differently, and the consequences of those theological choices are a different way of perceiving the Christian life. They write, “Resurrecting Easter is a debate about ideas and images, or better, a debate about ideas presented in and by images.” What’s intriguing is the distinction they make between “direct” and “indirect” depictions of this event. The authors want to explore how each has influenced the understanding of faith and practice. Clearly influenced by the East, the … [Read more...]
Make a List: How a Simple Practice Can Change Our Lives and Open Our Hearts
Marilyn McEntyre Eerdmans, 208 pages It is ironic that someone who doesn’t make lists was asked to review a book on making lists! So it was with a skeptical eye that I began reading Marilyn McEntyre’s “Make a List .” You do not have to go to far into the book to discover that McEntyre has created a whole new paradigm shift, moving lists out of being simply to-do taskmasters and into being a tool to help us delve deeper into our lives and indeed into our very souls. From discovering layers of feeling, to naming what you want, to getting at the questions behind the questions, McEntyre offers her own lists as examples while suggesting list topics to start you on your own journey of digging deeper. The topics range from spiritual (lament, path-finding) to practical (invitations to fun and playfulness). Some of her sample list starters include: What to do with five whole minutes? Hills I don’t want to die on. What’s great about being 50 (or 70 or 30)? What needs to be … [Read more...]
Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
Hilary Mantel Picador, 640 pages and 432 pages Reviewed by Lisa Kenkeremath “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies” (parts one and two of a trilogy), chronicle the rise of Thomas Cromwell, counsel to King Henry VIII. Both novels have won the UK’s prestigious Man Booker prize. A third, “The Mirror and the Light,” is in progress. Each book ends with an execution: first of Sir Thomas More (the lawyer, renowned scholar and Lord Chancellor who refuses to swear to Henry’s sovereignty over the church in England), and second of Anne Boleyn (who has failed to produce a male heir and whom Henry seeks to discard). The events of 1527-1536 are seen through the eyes of Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith who used to beat him. Leaving home at age 15, Cromwell had early lessons in man’s inhumanity to man. In popular histories and dramas, Cromwell figures chiefly as the sinister court functionary whose specialties were forced confessions and trumped-up charges. Mantel’s story gives life and … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 142
- Next Page »
Tweet With Us
Be A Facebook Fan
Our World in Photos
Pin With Us