Reviews

The renowned American essayist Joseph Epstein once made the following assertion: Reading is experience. A biography of any literary person ought to deal at length and in detail with what he/she read and when, for in some sense, we are what we read. At the same time, we read what we are. We use books…

Thomas Molnar’s review of Albert Camus and Christianity by Jean Onimus (University of Alabama Press, 1970) was CSR’s first book review. The final review of its first 50 years was T. M. Moore’s look at The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). In the intervening decades, CSR has…

Timothy Tennent’s new book For the Body delivers on its subtitle: recovering a theology of gender, sexuality, and the human body. The recovery reaches back to traditional Christian teachings, applying a conservative ethic grounded in a high view of Scripture to today’s church and society. Tennent is the president of Asbury Theological Seminary, as well…

Reviewed by James R. Vanderwoerd, Applied Social Sciences, Redeemer University “If you build it, they will leave” (xvi). What could be more ominous, obvious, and even humorous than this pithy observation at the end of Joshua Muravchik’s preface? Muravchik grew up as a card-carrying socialist who was thoroughly imbued with the doctrines of socialism from…

Reviewed by John A. Bernbaum, former President of the Russian-American Christian University (RACU) in Moscow, Russia; currently CEO of BEAM (Business and Education as Mission), Inc. Rod Dreher is a courageous Christian author. He is willing to address controversial issues, which most Christians carefully avoid, and his criticism of the “moralistic therapeutic deism” that characterizes…

Reviewed by Dave Klanderman, Mathematics and Statistics, Calvin University “For such as time as this.” This phrase serves as part of a final justification offered by Mordecai in his plea to Esther to use her role as Queen to help to save the Hebrews from Haman’s plot to destroy them (Esther 4:12-14ff). In a similar…

Reviewed by Jeremy Scott Case, Mathematics, Taylor University The study of worldviews has been a mainstay of Christian educational institutions, and a worldview cast as quantification deserves attention in today’s age of data-driven decision making, quantitative science, technology, and statistical rhetoric. Steven J. Osterlind’s book The Error of Truth argues our epistemology has moved toward quantitative thinking.…

Reviewed by Tim Muehlhoff, Professor of Communication, Biola University C. Christopher Smith, senior pastor of Englewood Christian Church (Indianapolis, IN), describes early attempts to bring diverse people in his church together to talk as a “hot mess.” Yelling and sarcasm were default modes as members gathered Sunday nights to discuss potentially volatile issues. Out of…

Reviewed by Nicole Saint-Victor, Director of Multicultural Engagement, Trinity Christian College To the brown body, fear is gifted like a birthright, poured generationally onward, originating from the stench of the transatlantic. The non-white body composes reformulated versions of “I’ll Fly Away,” joining Albert E. Brumley’s (1929) stuttered tribal emblems we long to reach the by…

Reviewed by Adam Perez, Liturgical Studies, Duke Divinity SchoolAdam Perez is currently writing his Th.D. dissertation in Liturgical Studies at Duke University, and Monique Ingalls recently joined his dissertation committee. However, the current review was commissioned and drafted before that professional relationship was established. To the outsider, North American evangelical Christianity can seem rather opaque.…

Reviewed by David Brodnax Sr., History, Trinity Christian College Alex Gorman of Raleigh, North Carolina, owned both the Spirit of the Age newspaper and the enslaved persons who produced it, and any of them caught reading the text that they helped create were beaten. Among his subscribers may have been Amanda and Betsy Cooley, two sisters in…

Reviewed by Andrew Mullen, Education, Westmont College “Oh, give it a few years and it’s bound to go secular like Harvard and all the rest.” The words of my somewhat fatalistic father-in-law on the occasion of his first visit to the college where I now teach regularly echo in my mind. His words potentially serve…

Reviewed by Matthew Hill, History, Liberty University Each of us in our own way inherit traditions that are often little understood. Churches are stocked with American flags, and songs such as Katherine Lee Bates’s “America the Beautiful” and Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” are often sung on the Fourth of July, but few understand how…

Reviewed by Michael Lessard-Clouston, Applied Linguistics & TESOL, Biola University Mary Shepard Wong (Azusa Pacific University) has co-edited two volumes on Christians in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), one on pedagogy and ethical dilemmas and the other presenting empirical studies on Christian faith and English language teaching (ELT).Mary Shepard Wong and Suresh…

Reviewed by Timothy Larsen, Biblical and Theological Studies, Wheaton College To quote Tammy Wynette, “Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman.” It is especially difficult if the man to whom you are giving all your loving is a megachurch pastor, and even more so if you are pursuing a high-profile evangelical ministry without the help…

Reviewed by Rick Ostrander, Ostrander Academic Consulting It is no secret that Christian liberal arts colleges in the United States face significant challenges. Shrinking pools of high school graduates in some regions have led to stagnant or declining enrollments at many private institutions, creating significant financial pressures. Moreover, career-oriented parents often question the value of…

Reviewed by Peter J. Snyder, Business, Calvin University The Prosperity Paradox is an important new book that takes a somewhat different look at the issue of poverty. Using the lens of innovation, Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon range across, to greater and lesser extents, economics, public policy, history, sociology, and development to reframe…