In teaching theology, one of my abiding concerns is not just that students gain a clearer understanding of the grammar of the Christian faith, but that they meet the manifold figures along the way who have shaped their thinking unbeknownst to them.
The Inscrutable Other: A Review of Talking to Strangers
It feels like American society is at a crisis point. Whether it’s social polarization or concerns over discrimination, a root problem identified by voices across the political spectrum is our difficulty with “the other.”
The Future Through the Eyes of the Past: A Review of From Gutenberg to Google
Do you ever wonder how the internet will have redefined societal norms 50 years from now? If so, you’re not alone.
Prodigal Theology for an Anxious Age: A Review of On the Road with Saint Augustine
In On The Road with Saint Augustine, James K.A. Smith, through the works of Augustine, illustrates how that parable is the story of all of us. Every child of God, believer and nonbeliever, is longing to come home, tohave the Father throw his arms around us and kiss us.
Read it and Weep: A Review of The Fool and the Heretic
The Fool and the Heretic is the product of these discussions. It is essentially a print version of the public events that The Colossian Forum has arranged over the past several years. I was curious and motivated to see what these two have written, hoping to see an example of a path to bring the two sides of the creation-evolution disagreement together.
Vision for Repairing Fractures: A Review of Resisting Throwaway Culture
Charles Camosy writes his book in light of our current cultural experience. Camosy’s focus is neither political nor partisan. His aim is to articulate a moral vision for America that is grounded in the value of life as an inherent good from God.
Only a Stubborn Past Can Survive: A Review of The Nickel Boys
In Jonathan Lear’s book, he puts front and center the paradox of how a culture carries on when everything which has sustained it has crumbled away, or—in the case of the Crow people—been taken from it.
The Significance of Story: A Review of On Reading Well
Prior explains in her introduction that though “spoilers abound,” the book is designed for those who have yet to read the books she writes about, as well as for those who have already read them. I found this to be true. In reading Prior’s book, I was given a fresh view on books I’d already read, and was encouraged even more to read those I hadn’t, despite the abounding spoilers.
Digging into Durable Books
In his excellent essay about why people ought to read old books, C.S. Lewis recommends that all readers should read them as much as they do contemporary ones.1 He writes, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too …
A Tool for Translation: A Review of The Path Between Us
In her book, Suzanne Stabile shows how knowledge of the Enneagram can help us learn to better understand how others see.
Kill Contempt with Kindness: A Review of Love Your Enemies
Arthur C. Brooks doesn’t just stick a toe into the current divisive political climate, he dives in headfirst with his book, Love Your Enemies.
Faith Lived Out in Love for Community: A Review of In Search of Common Good
Jake Meador’s book, In Search of Common Good, is the latest in a parade of books wrestling with the new conditions for faith in contemporary culture.
Seeing Family in the Light of the Cross: A Review of The Storm-Tossed Family
We may be tempted to despair when we see high divorce rates, children born to unmarried parents or single parents, abuse and neglect, and people delaying marriage. Moore says this is the reality of living in a broken and sin-filled world, but that we should not fear.
Making Nothing of Evil, and Everything of God: A Review of That All Shall Be Saved, Part 2
Hart’s argument is forceful, analytically clear, and compelling, in that it begins where theology should properly begin: with God. I offer this commendation of Hart’s work not as a commendation of his conclusions, for four reasons which remain unanswered, and to my mind, must be accounted for. The second part of this review discusses these concerns.
Making Nothing of Evil, and Everything of God: A Review of That All Shall Be Saved, Part 1
The framing of the book is important, because it shifts the question away from moral agency, the analytical justice of God’s behavior, and biblical hermeneutics of the afterlife, and toward one singular question: the nature of God as the creator of all that is.
Widening the Dialogue of Classic Christianity: A Review of A Pastoral Rule for Today
The authors of A Pastoral Rule for Today seek to liberate pastors from competing and confusing demands in order to point them “toward authentic freedom in Christ.”
Defending the Marital Sphere: A Review of Church, State, and Family
In his book, eminent ethicist and legal historian John Witte Jr. argues that we should walk a different path, pushing for holistic reformation and recovery of a fully-orbed societal promotion of the marital family.
Conscious Consumption: A Review of 101 Ways to go Zero Waste
Empowering individuals to do something about their garbage habit is the goal of 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste by Kathryn Kellogg.
Christian Justice: A Review of Becoming a Just Church
Adam Gustine’s vision of the church—of a people—is hospitable in posture and worship, working towards a shared vision of shalom in their community.
Rhetoric in the Worship and Witness of the Church: A Review of Seasoned Speech
James E. Beitler III offers a fascinating exploration of the place rhetoric plays in Christian life and witness in his book, Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church.
Empathy is Unreasonable: A Review of Against Empathy
In these fractured and partisan days, we could fix the world if we all had a bit more empathy, right?
Technology Unleashed: A Review of Transhumanism and the Image of God
Jacob Shatzer, an assistant professor and associate dean in the School of Theology and Missions at Union University, addresses the way technology forms us, especially in regards to Christian discipleship
The Logic of Limitations: A Review of The Common Rule
The power of Justin Whitmel Earley’s book lies not in its novelty or rigor but in its simplicity and accessibility.
Deconstructing Purity Culture: A Review of Pure
Linda Kay Klein grew up in the throes of purity culture, and in her book she tells of her own journey to understanding sexual purity through the evangelical lens of a teen in the 90’s.
The Christ-Haunted Midwest: A Review of Interior States
Meghan O’Gieblyn writes in collection of essays not as a journalist documenting the remnants of Christian culture, but as one who is a translator of a foreign land for wide-eyed secular observers.