Reviews

Each generation has the obligation to interpret the past for itself with the best tools that it has available, even if choosing to accept most of the views which it has inherited. Similarly, each scholar has the obligation to seek to find what the optimum blending is of his or her most important personal values…

Besides lecturing at the University of Bordeaux, Jacques Ellul opened his own home for seekers of many backgrounds to explore their questions about Scripture, faith, power, and the relation of the kingdom of God to the social and political order. Among those at Ellul’s dining room table was Willem Vanderburg, who, being blind, sought Ellul’s…

This is a good time for the history of missions. What once was a field dominated by devotional accounts of brave pioneer missionaries has now been enriched by academic historians who often have no stake in the missionary agenda itself. Instead, scholars interested in the histories of race and gender have realized that there were no more…

New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham has been working toward a full treatment of Bible and ecology for some years, with articles appearing in a variety of peer-reviewed publications in the areas of biblical studies and theology. It is therefore noteworthy that he has chosen to make that fuller argument for the first time in a…

Writing in the January 2010 issue of Diversity, Ferdinando Boero declared that, “...the study of biological diversity is a mission from God.”Ferdinando Boero, “The Study of Species in the Era of Biodiversity: a Tale of Stupidity,” Diversity 2 (2010): 115-126. I must admit that on first reading, this declaration and Boero’s use of quotes from…

Efforts toward the integration of Christian theology and academic disciplines are not easy undertakings and can look quite disparate across the disciplines. What can be easily lost in these pursuits are the unique callings that drive integration efforts and the individuals that engage in them. Glendon Moriarty’s book provides a unique reflection on the “integration…

This book is an expanded version of the 2000 Psychology and Christianity: Four Views, edited by Stanton Jones and Eric Johnson. In this new version Stanton Jones has moved from coeditor to author of the integration position chapter, with Eric Johnson assuming the post as sole editor. From the new book title it is obvious…

Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May, in their book Listening to Children on the Spiritual Journey: Guidance for Those Who Teach and Nurture, have presented a very helpful analysis of children’s spiritual experiences based on several studies by the authors over a number of years. The purpose of the book is “to better understand the spirituality…

Few readers of Through a Glass Darkly: Suffering, the Sacred, and the Sublime in Literature and Theory will read it from start to finish; instead, most are likely to begin by seeking out sections that align with their teaching and research interests. Certainly, such an approach seems appropriate for a collection of loosely linked conference…

In 1992, a group of Christians at Harvard University started The Veritas Forum, hoping to promote discussion of the “big questions” that they felt were being ignored in the secular academy. The Forum has clearly been a success, staging high-profile events at universities throughout the United States and the world. A Place for Truth contains…

“We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden” is a theme coming out of the 1960s era that was encapsulated by the popular Crosby, Stills, and Nash song titled “Woodstock.”Joni Mitchell, Woodstock, 1969, MCA Records International, Lain Matthews, MCA 6073-015. The implication is something has gone wrong, and we need to find a way…

Many children grow up wondering what they will become in life. Nonna Harrison invites her readers into her own reflections on these early childhood questions. Frequently she was not satisfied with the types of answers she received regarding her probing quest to understand life’s nature and purpose and how an individual can become a better…

A significant disadvantage attending the hyper-specialized, professionalized nature of so much academic production today is the absence of synthesis. Scholars in diverse fields often treat similar issues (concerning things like identity, society, and the nature of truth)—but from different vantage points and with different vocabularies. They seldom see that they are duplicating each other’s efforts,…

For the past year and a half I have served on the building committee of our Midwestern Lutheran church. Together with our architect we planned and then built a new sanctuary and fellowship hall in a remarkably short period of time. Little from my experience as an architectural historian prepared me for the conversations we…

In God of Liberty, Thomas Kidd presents a thoughtful and well-argued discussion of the role of religion in eighteenth-century America. Beginning with the Great Awakening and continuing through the Election of 1800, Kidd capably discusses ideas about faith and God and how they influenced the changes in America produced by the American Revolu-tion. In doing…

There are many ways for someone to tell her or his life’s story, and at least as many ways of hearing the story that is told. Stanley Hauerwas’s recounting of his life, like the man himself, is intriguing, in no small part because he recognizes the disagreements in meaning and method, together with the potential…

Michael Sherr’s book, On Becoming a Christian Educator in Social Work, begins with Sherr’s personal story, including his conversion from Conservative Judaism to evangelical Christianity and his reasons for writing the book. Sherr relates that the seeds for this project were planted while he and some colleagues were facilitating a workshop on faith-learning integration in…

Writing in the January 2010 issue of Diversity,Ferdinando Boero, “The Study of Species in the Era of Biodiversity: a Tale of Stupidity,” Diversity 2 (2010): 115-126. Ferdinando Boero declared that, “...the study of biological diversity is a mission from God.” I must admit that on first reading, this declaration and Boero’s use of quotes from…

God, grant me the serenityTo accept the things I cannot change;Courage to change the things I can;And wisdom to know the difference. This modified version of Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer” may be the most recognizable prayer in America, with the possible exceptions of the Lord’s Prayer taught by Jesus (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4), the ubiquitous…