Reviews

J. M. W. Turner, the renowned British landscape painter of the late 18th and early 19th century, renders the powerful forces of nature in dramatic fashion, evoking an array of moods from contentment to trepidation. In a similar way, Roger Olson paints a dramatic scene from the contemporary evangelical theological landscape by attempting to articulate…

Two key assumptions of political liberalism, individual rights and limited government, proceed logically from Christian premises. No political philosopher demonstrated this better than Glenn Tinder in The Political Meaning of Christianity. Each person is an “exalted individual,” one whose destiny is at the heart of the drama of creation and redemption. Respect for that status…

If, as Richard Dawkins says, Darwin’s theory of evolution allows one to be an intellectually-fulfilled atheist, Haught’s theology allows one to be a scientifically-fulfilled theist. In this second edition of God After Darwin, Haught argues that not only can evolutionary biology (EB) be reconciled with Christian theology, but that EB is a great gift to…

Written with conviction and care, Liberating Tradition: Women’s Identity and Vocation in Christian Perspective by Kristina LaCelle-Peterson, associate professor of religion at Houghton College, is a primer of feminist and Christian intersections, paths often viewed as either diametrically opposed or at least mildly in conflict. Working from the perspective that the Bible has a liberating…

Tracy Fessenden’s new book, Culture and Redemption, maps the genealogy of what has been called “the Protestant consensus” and its affect on American literature from the Puritans to the modernists. In one sense this is an old and discredited story. For the past 25 years, the multicultural left has disputed that there has ever been…

Popular sentiment may cast the American family as portrayed in the 1950s and early 1960s as a Platonic ideal. Children were precocious yet respectful of authority—enter Wally and Beaver Cleaver. Wives were the matriarchs of homes which were always in good order—enter June Cleaver. Husbands were dutiful providers who arrived home shortly after 5:00 p.m.…

Alexander Hill, president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, has recently released the second edition of Just Business: Christian Ethics for the Marketplace, eleven years after the original edition. Previously, Mr. Hill taught in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. It is clear that the book is written for a college-aged audience. The…

There is a long tradition in the West that Intellectuals are (happily) ignorant of the “Dismal Science.” Christians, in addition, feel that they are called to avoid wealth, to repair the effects of its accumulation on the lower strata of the population and to help the successful ones to use “economics” with distant care. And,…

Mario Beauregard (a neuroscientist) and Denyse O’Leary (a freelance journalist and writer on faith and science) have produced a provocatively titled book covering an equally provocative topic. First off, it must be stated that the subtitle of the book, “a neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul,” is not fulfilled by the actual content…

When James D. G. Dunn delivered his Manson Memorial Lecture in 1982, he set out to sketch an emerging paradigm in current Pauline studies. Though it was not his intent to label that paradigm or coin a phrase, nevertheless his description of “the new perspective on Paul” struck a chord and became the catchphrase for…

In recent years, things “Celtic” have undergone a renaissance in popularity. This rising tide of interest has floated the concept of the Celtic Church back into public view. With this resurgence comes the inevitable question: What were the issues that led to the Celtic Church’s eventual demise as it was absorbed into the Church universal?…

According to the Bible, the Kingdom of Heaven is not of this world: it is not centered in palaces and thrones, but in the hearts and lives of God’s people (Luke 17:21). It came to earth in the symbolism of the Jewish sanctuary (the Tabernacle and the Temple) where God’s presence dwelt. It assumed a…

Taken together, these four books provide one an opportunity to survey the broad and deep questions that are interwoven with secularization and religion in Western Europe and North America over the past few centuries. Each has a distinct purpose and framework making for a wide-ranging treatment of the many issues they raise. I read all…

How have evangelicals reached the elite ranks in Politics, Academia, Entertainment,the Arts, and Business? What are they seeking to do, and how are they doing it? What are their experiences? Lindsay’s Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite is an interesting and informative book that provides insights into how influential…

While a plethora of books about religious higher education have hit the market recently, the vast majority of this scholarship focuses on Christian institutions in America. James Arthur’s new book, however, provides a fresh angle not used in previous works. Arthur, who is Professor of Education and Director of the National Institute for Christian Education…

Peter Leithart’s Deep Comedy is an excellent example of interdisciplinary skill at work, calling upon history, theology, philosophy, and literature to paint a panoramic picture depicting a distinctly Christian worldview of history. This worldview stands in sharp contrast to other non-Christian worldviews, both ancient and (post)modern, that ultimately cave into tragic conclusions. Following the advent…

In 2005, with a two million dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment, Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland hosted their first Callings Conference. The purpose of the grant and conference was to delve deeply into the meaning and implications of vocation, particularly as defined from the point of view of faith both generically and in…

Like many of us, Victor Reppert, Professor of Philosophy at Glendale Community College in Arizona, has long been intrigued by the thought of C. S. Lewis, especially his so-called argument from reason (developed by Lewis most fully in chapter three of his book Miracles: A Preliminary Study). C. S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea, an obvious allusion…

More than once, Rorty observed that he was distrusted on both the right and the left. Conservatives thought him too relativistic, he sighed, and progressives thought him too complacent. When accompanied by his famous shrug, not only did this self-portrayal invite sympathy for his being so beleaguered, but also suggest quietly the striking possibility that…

Through the eyes of popular sentiment, Islam is a faith with a growing number of converts and a surge of conviction. In contrast, Christianity is a faith in decline. Church populations are dropping and, among remaining Church members, conviction is growing more tepid with each passing day. Efforts to identify a locale where this sentiment…