by Allister Sparks & Mpho Tutu HarperOne. 368 pages
reviewed by CAMERON BYRD
Toward the end of this book, written on the occasion of Bishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday, the authors raise this question: “What kind of person do we have here in this humble high school teacher who became a lukewarm priest and eventually grew into a turbulent peace activist and Nobel Laureate (1984) and is now entering his octogenarian years not just as a man for all seasons but for all faiths and all humanity?”
A Sense of Being Called by Richard Stoll Armstrong Wipf and Stock Publishers. 192 pages.
reviewed by MELANIE HAMMOND CLARK
I was in the ninth grade, in the last few weeks of communicants/confirmation class, and the new senior pastor of our 2,700-member congregation came to get to know us and to let us know him.
Natural Saints: How People of Faith are Working to Save God’s Earth by Mallory McDuff Oxford University Press. 240 pages.
reviewed by BENNETT
“Natural Saints” is both a memoir and a record of actions taken by Christians around the U.S. to protect the environment and provide a sustainable future.
There are many good books. The number of great books is drastically fewer, but when a reader finds one, we sense within a chapter or two that the book we hold in our hands is something special.
by Jean F. Risley WIPF and Stock Publishers. 141 pages.
The last several years have seen a bevy of books extolling the virtues and enumerating the challenges of small-church ministry, such as Jason Byassee’s “The Gifts of the Small Church” and Brandon O’Brien’s “Strategically Small Church: Intimate, Nimble, Authentic, and Effective.”
George M. Marsden writes, “The Reformation began at a university with a scholar’s insight.” Rob Hoch, assistant professor of homiletics and worship at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, is an insightful scholar who seeks to reform the relationship between church and seminary.
Bart Ehrman has once again written a sprightly, challenging and informative volume. Some of his previous books too often offer a rehash of well-known scholarly conclusions, served up in an exaggerated fashion that is often misleading.
by Jane Rogers Vann Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky. 152 pages REVIEWED BY JUDITH FULP-EICKSTAEDT
“People of faith are hungry for encounters with God in their congregations and for ways more thoroughly to absorb and be changed by those encounters. It is for these congregations that I write.”
Journey in the Wilderness: New life for Mainline Churches
by Gil Rendle
Abingdon Press. 2010. 176 pages.
REVIEWED BY Allen D. Timm
Last year a group of more than 100 young adults gathered for dinner once a month in a room over a bakery in inner-city Detroit. The Detroit Soup Project invited participants to donate $10 each and to present a project to improve Detroit. They would listen, debate and vote. After each meeting, one of them went out with $800 as a grant for a project that would improve the city of Detroit.
Sharing Possessions: What faith Demands (Second Edition)
by Luke Timothy Johnson
wm. b. eerdmans Publishing company. 198 Pages.
REVIEWED BY ANDREW FOSTER CONNORS
Luke Timothy Johnson, a first-rate New Testament scholar, begins with a plodding reflection on what it means for human beings to possess anything. Despite this beginning, this book deserves a serious reading. Johnson argues convincingly for an expansive definition of “having” that includes anything over which we claim ownership — relationships, time, principles, values and things.
Friending: Real Relationships in a Virtual World by Lynne M. Baab Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press. 185 pages. re viewed by MARY HARRIS TODD
“It’s going to damage the way people communicate! It’s going to damage relationships!” some 20th century experts worried when a new communication technology became common in private homes.
Marcus Borg is a prolific writer of books that present a progressive (some would say “liberal”) approach to biblical scholarship and Christian life in a style easily accessible to a mass audience.
What is this book about? Is it about church structure? It can be. Is it about church growth? Sure. Is it about the culture in which we live and the freedom we have in Christ? Definitely.
Edited by Nicholas Perrin and Richard B. Hays InterVarsity Press. 294 pages.
reviewed by David Renwick
N.T. (Tom) Wright, formerly bishop of Durham and presently at St. Andrews University, Scotland, is undoubtedly the most prolific New Testament scholar of recent years, and arguably the most important.
“I’ve written this book for all those, everywhere, who have heard some version of the Jesus story that has caused their pulse rate to rise, their stomach to churn, and their heart to utter those resolute words, ‘I would never be a part of that.’”
by Gregory A. Love Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books. 259 pages.
reviewed by DIETER U. HEINZL
In a time when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) continues to debate what might be causing the decline in membership in American mainline denominations, Gregory Love takes a page from Karl Barth’s playbook to remind us of the Christian’s vocation: pointing to the risen Christ who reconciled all creation (which happens to include us human beings) to God’s self through his death on the cross.
