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Category: Book Reviews

  • Relationships of Grace: Responding to Shauna Hyde's “Fifty Shades of Grace”

    “This book [Fifty Shades of Grace] has been written to honor all people, male and female, who have been mistreated, overlooked, and unloved,” so writes Shauna Hyde as she seeks to provide a holistic approach to the healing of relationships.

    Scripture proclaims that humans are not meant to be alone. We need one another to find wholeness. We need institutions like the church to nurture our spiritual adventures. Yet, life is messy, and relationships and institutions, like the church, are messy, too. The response, “it’s complicated” relates to virtually all of our lives and relationships. Sometimes the messiness and complication of life lead to abusive relationships, in which wounded people wound others by word and deed. While we are created in original wholeness, brokenness and sin touch every aspect of our lives, bringing pain where joy should be the primary reality. Sometimes even the church, intended to be God’s instrument of healing and wholeness, becomes an instrument of relational abuse when victims are blamed and persons are counseled to stay in abusive relationships or forgive others prematurely. The church can be an agent of spiritual abuse by shaming, creating unnecessary guilt, and using scripture as a tool of violence rather than an agent of healing.

    Shauna Hyde invites us to seek relationships of grace, in which our wounds are healed and we can give and receive healthy love. As the imperfect children of imperfect parents, living in the midst of imperfect institutions, this task is often quite difficult. Yet, Jesus came that we might have life in all its abundance, and that means relationships of abundant affection and reciprocity. Such relationships emerge when couples and communities make a commitment to empathy and equality, and promote maximal freedom, creativity, and affirmation in their approach to relationships. Very much like our discoveries and then healing of ethnic privilege, this process involves paying attention to our behavior, noticing the impact of the past on the present, positively and negatively and our willingness to attend to our emotional and spiritual lives, recognizing our limitations, and challenging our own and others’ behaviors. Because of the power of the past, such transformation is as much a gift of grace as the result of our individual or corporate effort.

    As we move toward the Lenten season, we would do well to ask God to “create in us a clean heart and renew in us a right spirit.” (Psalm 51:10) We no longer need to be conformed to unhealthy behaviors and institutional abusiveness, we can be transformed by opening to divine renewal. (Romans 12:2) With God’s grace, we can let go of the past, affirm our value as God’s children, and insist that our own and others’ dignity be respected in every relationship.

    by Bruce G. Epperly, author of over 45 books and a number of Energion Publications’ titles, including Angels, Mysteries, and Miracles,  Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God and Process Spirituality: Practicing Holy Adventure He is also the author of various Energion scripture studies including, Experiencing God in Suffering and Jonah: When God Changes as well as Angels, Mysteries and Miracles: A Progressive Vision.

  • Bob Cornwall: What Use is God?

    by Dr. Robert D. Cornwall, pastor and author, from his blog, Ponderings on a Faith Journey. Author of Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer, Unfettered Spirit: Spiritual Gifts for the New Great Awakening, Marriage in Interesting Times: A Pariticipatory Study Guide, and more!
    Bob headshot 92010What use is God if God can’t or won’t prevent evil from occurring? That’s a question people have been asking for millennia. Theologians and philosophers have done their best offer answers defending God (the term for this is theodicy), but the question keeps arising. It would be easier if Christian theology allowed for the existence of two equally powerful gods, one good and the other evil (dualism). Then evil could be blamed on the evil god, leaving the God of love untainted. Unfortunately, that solution isn’t available to Christians, for like other traditional monotheistic religions, Christians believe that God has no ultimate rival. Therefore, we must look elsewhere for answers.
    A seventeenth-century theologian suggested this is “the best possible world,” and so we should accept things as they are. This solution, however, ultimately failed to gain full support. Either God is capable of keeping evil at bay (omnipotent) and fails to do so, or God is too weak to address evil. If either is true, then why bother with God? (Read More … )
     
     
     
     
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  • David Alan Black: A New School Year and a Favorite Book

    from David Alan Black‘s blogsite, jesusparadigm.com.
    Book Cover EnglishI’m really looking forward to a fun and exciting fall semester, not least because I’m teaching NT Intro again for the first time in several years. The course covers Acts – Revelation, which means that, if I time things just right, the semester will end before I have to discuss the Apocalypse (wink, wink)! Let me tell you how we’re beginning the class. Day One consists of students reading the book of Acts and then also reading my Seven Marks of a New Testament Church – which, I would remind you, is nothing but an exegesis of Acts 2:37-47, eleven of the most action-packed verses in the entire New Testament. Students will then produce a “reaction paper” to what they have read and I’ll ask for a few volunteers to share with the rest of us what they learned. Thus, from the very first day of class, we’ll be asking ourselves the question: “What does an obedient church look like?” Christian discipleship means placing ourselves under orders. It’s not merely a psychological experiment in self-improvement (along with watching our weight and catching up on our Honey-Do lists). As disciples, we are not on our own. The goal is not self-actualization but obedience to the instructions of the church’s Head and only Boss. (Read more … )

  • David Moffett-Moore: Book Review of "The Making of an Ordinary Saint" by Nathan Foster

    Book Review by Dr. David Moffett-Moore
    The Making of an Ordinary Saint: My Journey from Frustration to Joy with the Spiritual Disciplines. Nathan Foster. Baker Books. Grand Rapids. 2014.

    Nathan Foster is the adult son of Richard Foster, author of the classic Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. This book is his reflection and response to his father, as well as to his father’s well known tome. Celebration was written in 1978, has sold over two million copies in English and been translated into twenty-five other languages. Along with others, it motivated Richard Foster to form “Renovare,” an international and ecumenical community promoting personal spiritual renewal. I expect everyone reading this review has also read Celebration or at least heard of it.
    I grew up as a preacher’s kid, with all the subliminal strings attached to that relationship. Imagine growing up as the child of one of the most influential spiritual writers of the late twentieth century. Poor Nathan barely stood a chance. I remember seeing a matched set of tee shirts, one saying “Saint: Someone married to a Martyr” and the other “Martyr: Someone married to a Saint.” Somewhere in this dynamic tension, Nathan had to find his own way.
    The book is very much a contemporary exploration of the classic spiritual disciplines, each taken in Nathan’s own way. There is ample personal sharing; it is always “on the way,” not “in the way.” Nathan’s personal sharing of his reaction to each discipline, whether as a rebellious youth, wandering young adult, or a more settled disciple, makes the discipline more personal and more relevant. Without being obvious, he has updated his father’s efforts.
    Nathan includes the same twelve disciplines his father identified, but sets them in his own order, making his own path among them. In Nathan’s order, they are: submission, fasting, study, solitude, meditation, confession, simplicity, service, prayer, guidance, worship and celebration. Though the two books take different paths through the disciplines, they both end with celebration! In this telling, Nathan offers an explanation of the discipline, his experience of that discipline, and then identifies a saint who is an example of each discipline. I enjoyed the honesty and humility exhibited by his willingness to share from his own journey, his own frustrations and struggles, his own path to his own peace. Nathan’s sharing is not as a spiritual exhibitionist, but rather invitational, inviting the reader to share in the journey.
    The church I serve has several “Christ Care” groups, members who meet twice a month for devotion, sharing, mutual support and study. Two of those groups are currently using this book as their study book. Every two weeks they read a chapter and share their responses, questions and reflections on the text. The concept of “spiritual disciplines” and “spiritual formation” as formally structured is new for them and both groups are thoroughly enjoying this introduction.
    Nathan has an earlier book, Wisdom Chaser: finding my Father at 14,000 Feet,” in which he shares his experience of getting re-acquainted with his father as an adult himself, by climbing the “Fourteens” in the Colorado Rockies, mountaintops at least 14,000 feet high (Intervarsity Press, 2010). This book is equally well written in Nathan’s very personal, reflective, conversational style. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and, as a father of two adult sons myself, was touched by its shared intimacy.
    I encourage anyone who has read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline to read Nathan Foster’s contemporary update of his father’s work. Anyone who has not read Celebration and is interested in or curious about spiritual formation or spiritual disciplines would enjoy reading Nathan’s offering and benefit by it. I found it informing and enjoyable.

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  • Review of Covenant

    By Rosemary K. Otzman
    Independent Editor
    Daniel Martin, former advertising manager for the Independent, is back from Florida for two book signings in Belleville for his newly released novel “Covenant”.
    This is his first book and it was released March 19 by Energion Publications in Gonzalez, FL. Many of the scenes in the book are set in Belleville and nearby locations, including the Wayne County Jail and Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.
    On Sunday, April 1, Martin will speak during the worship service at Great Lakes Assembly, 105 N. Liberty Street, Belleville, and then sign books after the service. April 1 is his 50th birthday and he will speak what this his Jubilee means to him.
    Church begins at 1 p.m. and everyone is invited. The book signing follows at 3 p.m.
    At 7 p.m., Thursday, April 5, Martin will be featured at a book signing at the Belleville Charhouse restaurant, 524 Main Street.
    Those who can’t make it to the book signings can order the novel at http://energionpubs.com/books/covenant/ and scroll down to Energion Direct. Price is $17.99.
    “Covenant” is the story of a man named Samuel who skids into alcoholism, his return to the faith, and then an automobile accident on Bemis Road, where he hits and injures his guardian angel, who then is healed and disappears.
    Samuel is pursued by Van Buren Township police and other agencies down I-94 after an elderly neighbor to the Bemis Road accident tells police she saw him hit a person and then flee the accident.
    Martin, who left his job at the Independent to pursue God’s work, has plenty of time to preach in his novel, but it’s in brief, enjoyable bites.
    The angels in his novel are playful, the dark forces powerful and ugly, and the people trying to survive and lead Christian lives are human and likeable – except for a snarling wife-beater.
    God, Himself, listens to prayers and looks through portals in Heaven to see what’s happening and then sends his messengers to wield his power to enforce his promise to his children – his covenant. But, the angels cannot interfere with free will.
    Unforgettable characters in the novel include the irrepressible Large Marge, a pushy television reporter, and a Belleville congregation that keeps the prayers and good works coming. Then, there’s the defense attorney who struggles with narcolepsy and falls asleep during trial.
    The story leads up to a courtroom climax where the guardian angel testifies (and refuses to do tricks or miracles, but disappears a lot) while the world of skeptics and believers watches on television.
    It’s a fun book, with lots of twists and turns and, of course, The Message.
    It’s easy to imagine “Covenant” as a family movie – with lots of angels in the air riding motorcycles and then later sliding down George Washington’s nose at Mount Rushmore before appearing to comfort a little girl in a red hat.
    The Message? The most important thing to do in your life is to form a relationship with God the Father and His Son, which brings with it the help of the heavenly host. It’s a promise.

  • Book Review: The Questioning God

    Reviewed by Robert Danielson, Ph.D.
    Faculty Associate and Affiliate Faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary
    Wilmore, Kentucky
    Ant Greenham presents an intriguing analysis of the world’s monotheistic religions and their view of God, through the lens of how God is perceived to relate to the questions of human beings. Using broad strokes, he paints a generalized picture of this situation. In essence, he argues that Islam suppresses the questioning of God through its focus on submission to the will of Allah. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Greenham presents the Jewish faith as being so open to questioning God that this questioning has undermined an ultimate certainty in God. This leaves the Christian faith, which Greenham examines in both its Roman Catholic and Evangelical forms. While Vatican II opened the Roman Catholic Church to a more positive view of questioning, it has left certain theological positions too sacrosanct to be questioned. Evangelicals, in the meantime, have become too closed to the questioning of authority (both political and religious) and Greenham outlines some of the potential dangers inherent in this lack of questioning.
    The author presents some very solid scriptural arguments for his position and he outlines a strong biblical view of questioning from the example of Christ’s words to his followers in the gospels. He recognizes several times that he does not have the space to do a thorough analysis of each religion’s position and Greenham also validates that individuals vary within each religion presented. Beyond these obvious concerns, I found myself left with several additional questions.
    First, the author presents this spectrum of current positions regarding questioning as the norm for these religious traditions. He would be better served to bring out the temporal and cyclical nature of questioning. Judaism was forced into a greater openness to questioning as a result of the Holocaust and its horrors, which replaced a much closed rabbinic tradition. Christianity as well was forced into a more open position with regard to questioning by the Enlightenment. Even then the Church fought Copernicus and other scientists through the Inquisition and the Counter Reformation for their questioning of the theology of their day. The Islamic world was the seat of scientific knowledge and openness during the Dark Ages, when the Christian Church demanded blind obedience to the faith. Greenham mentions a number of these factors, but does not really tie them into a theory which would be more cyclical. While Islam may be going through a current phase that is closed to questioning, this does not mean this period is permanent or unable to be changed given historical events. Evangelical Christianity may be going through a similar cycle of closing itself to questioning stemming back to the Scopes trials and a distancing of Evangelical Christianity from scientific inquiry. All religions may go through such cyclical transformations.
    Second, Greenham does not really tie in the role of mystery and faith in religious traditions. While questioning is indeed one important aspect of how people interact with God in religion, all of these traditions also call for some ideas to be accepted as matters of faith. The mystery of the Trinity, faith in the divinity of Jesus, acceptance of the faithful transmission of the Qur’an to Muhammad, or the acceptance of the Jewish nation as a specially chosen people of God, are all matters which a believer must chose to accept by faith. No amount of questioning can prove or disprove these fundamental concepts. Religion, in its basic difference from science, is found in its concepts accepted without question by faith.
    Third, in terms of mission and evangelism from an evangelical perspective, the author does not really deal with the role of the Holy Spirit. In terms of previenient grace (from a Wesleyan point of view), the Holy Spirit is active in all parts of the world, all cultures, and all religions, before Christianity even appears. It is the Holy Spirit who compels people to begin to question what they believe and why. It is the Holy Spirit that is the reason for individual variations in how people move to conversion and personal transformation. In the same way, it is the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that moves us to self-critique our own ideas and values as Christians. The dynamic power of questioning would be nothing without this theological groundwork from a Christian perspective.
    From my reading of Greenham’s book, The Questioning God, I feel he understands these issues and concepts, but lacked time and opportunity to elaborate on them. Nevertheless, I feel they are important, even vital additions to this conversation. Greenham has provided a fascinating foundation for a beginning discussion on how people should deal with questions about God, both from inside and outside the Church. His biblical principles for Christians are sound and need to be heard in the Evangelical Church today. While his perspective of questioning in the Muslim and Jewish communities provides a good starting place for a discussion on evangelism, it is not the end of the discussion. Much more remains to be said and analyzed in terms of history and the theology of world religions, but it is a refreshing place to begin to develop new and more fundamental questions to ask about what we believe.

  • Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed – Review by Bob Cornwall

    [The following review is by Bob Cornwall, author of Energion titles Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer and Ephesians: A Participatory Study Guide. The book reviewed is by Bruce Epperly, author of Philippians: A Participatory Study Guide.]

    PROCESS THEOLOGY:  A Guide for the Perplexed. New York:  T&T Clark, 2011.  Ix +177 pages.
                Christianity is one of the more complex faith traditions, with its embrace of doctrines such as the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, so even on a good day enquirers can be left perplexed.  Process Theology, which takes much of its inspiration from the philosophical musings of a British mathematician/physicist, can leave even those acquainted with and comfortable with basic Christian doctrines perplexed and confused.  Thus, a primer that would translate and explain for the uninitiated the intricacies of this theological system is most welcome.  This is especially true at a time when many Christians are looking for a system that makes sense of the world of the 21st century, especially concerning the relationship of faith and science.  Although many people continue to embrace premodern religious beliefs, many others find these beliefs, especially relating to a divine being that supernaturally sweeps in and adjusts things from outside the universe to be incompatible with reality as they know it.  Of course, it’s not only science that poses challenges; it’s the problem of evil as well.  Process Theology, with its sense of openness to the future and its rejection of an all powerful divinity seems to offer a more compelling vision – if only we understood the vocabulary!
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