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Book Reviews

Bluepring 21: Presbyterians in the Post-Denominational Era

By Robert Thornton Henderson
Providence House. 2000. 160 pp. Pb. $16.95.
ISBN 1 57736 203 9

Reviewed by Richard Ray, Pittsburgh


Utopian, iconoclastic, broad-brushed and frequently irreverent about venerable PC(USA) ways, Robert Henderson's Blueprint 21 is a provocative book. If you like your theology cool, your sense of churchmanship poised, your rhetorical style silky and smooth, and your exegesis in harmony with the claims of the Enlightenment, you had better head for your aspirin bottle before you begin to turn these pages.

Book Reviews

Christian Worship: Glorifying and Enjoying God

By Ronald P. Byars
Geneva. 2000. 96 pp. Pb. $11.95.
ISBN 0-664-50136-2

Reviewed by James G. Kirk, Glen Burnie, Md.


Much to the satisfaction of those of us who serve in parishes, Geneva Press, in conjunction with the Office of Theology and Worship, has initiated a new series of books called the Foundations of Christian Faith.

Outlook Reporting

A Letter to the PC(USA) from 29 former GA Moderators

Dear Fellow Presbyterians:

Serving as General Assembly Moderator has been one of the high points of our lives. It confirmed our confidence in the thousands of faithful congregations and strengthened our appreciation for the integrity and vitality of our theological heritage, represented most profoundly in the 11 confessional statements in our Book of Confessions.

Voices

Homosexual Ordination: What Was the Question?

As the chair of the drafting committee that prepared the report adopted by the 1978 General Assembly (UPCUSA) on the issue of homosexual ordination, I was stunned by A. J. McKelway's claim that the definitive guidance it provided answered a question that was not asked, and thus "got us into this mess" (Outlook, June 18). Having reread the record, I beg to differ.

Voices

The Broad and Easy Way to Destruction

Amendment A is the latest attempt to permit the ordination of practicing. homosexuals. Having failed to reinterpret the clear and consistent words of Scripture, and having failed to overthrow the church's traditional teaching on sexual behavior and marriage, proponents of homosexual ordination now turn to polity.

Voices

The True Church – ‘Tuesday Morning’ column

When you were a kid was the "True Church" the subject for a month of church school lessons? Did you hear lots of sermons on it; was there a "True Church Sunday" with a special bulletin cover and all? Did you sit around the Sunday dinner table discussing the "True Church" with Mom and Dad and perhaps Preacher Ned? Did you have the conviction as communicant class ended that soon you would be a member of the "True Church"?

Editorials

The Will to Wage War

Commenting on the precarious state of relations between the Unionists and the IRA in Northern Ireland, commentator Andrew Sullivan of The New Republic recently stated in his weekly TRB column:

"You cannot negotiate peace with people [the Irish Republican Party] whose power is entirely dependent on the will to wage war.

Uncategorized

Robert McAfee Brown, author and educator, dies

Presbyterian News Service

Robert McAfee Brown, 81, celebrated Presbyterian writer and educator, died on Sept. 4, in a nursing home near his summer house in Heath, Mass. Brown, whose health had deteriorated in recent years, suffered a broken hip in a fall about a month ago.

Voices

True Peace and True Justice

Many of us know that true peace often comes only after some kind of conflict. In the case of the wars that have made and kept this nation free and peaceful, a freedom and peace we celebrate this week, the conflict has been terrible. It has cost people their lives or the lives of those they loved; it has scarred others for life, physically and emotionally.

Voices

A Remarkable Story

One of the most remarkable stories of the 213th General Assembly happened before commissioners arrived in Louisville. Advocates for 33 overtures, from 26 presbyteries, conferred among themselves in the weeks prior to the Assembly. I was one of them.

Voices

Partners in Mission: Top Ten List

1. We have to get past the idea that we are the answer to the problems in the world, instead of Christ being the answer.

By letting go, we free ourselves to serve. Letting go of what? Fear, ego, pride, self-interest -- our own agendas. Empty yourself of these so you can receive God's gifts. We are not Christ, but we can be his hands and feet.

Voices

The Eyes of Sheep May Safely Glaze

According to the polymathic Philip Schaff, Lutherans produce the best scholars but the Reformed community produces the best preachers. I grew up agreeing with Schaff about the latter but not the former. Our small Presbyterian Church – located at the beginning and the end of the road for ministers – nevertheless provided appropriately learned pastors for our little fellowship.

Book Reviews

A Journey into Christian Art

By Helen de Borchgrave
Fortress. 1999. 223 pp. $35. ISBN 0-8006-3240-0


Reviewed by Sam Stone, Raleigh, N.C.

 

On this journey into classical Christian art, readers will not find themselves laden with the baggage of an in-depth history of art nor a catalogue of the greatest works from around the world. Helen de Borchgrave's book rather invites the reader to join her knowledgeable, guided tour of art treasures in sites close to their origin.

Book Reviews

Praing Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song

By Brian Wren
WJKP. 2000. 422 pp. Pb. $22.95. ISBN 0-554-25670-8

Reviewed by Melva Costen, Atlanta


 

There are many who will identify immediately with the title of this book because of the familiar pairing of "prayer and song," attributed to Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.): "Whoever sings [to God in worship] prays twice." Some will be reminded of John Calvin who considered sacred song in worship an "act of prayer."

Book Reviews

Disruptive Grace

By George Hunsinger
Eerdmans. 2000. 375 pp. $39. ISBN 0-8028-4644-0

Reviewed by Robert C. Bankhead, Wilmington, N.C.

 

George Hunsinger apparently proposes an ambitious agenda for his book early in the introduction, declaring that he dreams of forging a merger between the classical theology of Karl Barth and the compassionate Christianity of Martin Luther King.

Book Reviews

Fit to be a Pastor: A Call to Physical, Mental and Spiritual Fitness

By G. Lloyd Rediger
WJKP. 2000. Pb. $14.95. ISBN ISBN 0-664-25844-1


Reviewed by Cathy C. Chisholm, Vandalia, Ill.

 

Lloyd Rediger is on a crusade. He has written his latest book, "Fit to Be a Pastor: A Call to Physical, Mental and Spiritual Fitness," as a challenge to the church to join the quest for healthy leaders. The book is a summons issued to all of us in church leadership, particularly pastors, to seek body-mind-spirit fitness and to do it now.

Book Reviews

Naked Before God: The Return of a Broken Disciple

By Bill Williams with Martha Williams
Morehouse. 1998. 328 pp. Pb. $ 14.95.
ISBN 0-8192-1878-2


Reviewed by John Sniffen, Richmond, Va.


 

Bill Williams has written a very good book for those who wonder why, if God is all-powerful, there is imperfection and suffering in this world. He had good reason to ask such questions. He was one of three children in one family who were born with cystic fibrosis. Noting that the odds of such an occurrence were one-in-four, no wonder Williams asks, "Why?"

Book Reviews

The Singer and the Song: An Autobiography of the Spirit

By Miriam Therese Winter
Orbis. 1999. 180 pp. Pb. $15. ISBN 1-57075-279-6

Reviewed by Judy Haas Acheson, Kansas City, Mo.

 

M. T. Winter, widely known as a "singing nun," is also widely appreciated as a friend of God and of all God's children. This book, as the subtitle indicates, is the story of her own faith journey from the blind belief of childhood to the mature faith of a medical missionary as Sister Miriam Therese.

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