Reviews

Yudha Thianto’s The Way to Heaven examines Malay translations of catechisms and Malay sermons composed by Dutch ministers preaching in the Indonesian Archipelago in the seventeenth century. A tremendous variety of languages were spoken in this vast region (the two loci of Thianto’s focus, Dutch colonial centers of Jakarta in Java and Ambon in the…

Since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, critics have charged that the principle of sola Scriptura has brought about “anarchy” in the life of the church. Scholars across the theological spectrum have taken on the Reformation, noting what they see as the empirical reality of “pervasive interpretative pluralism” (Christian Smith) or “unintended consequences” (Brad Gregory).…

Theology in the Public Sphere is written by one of the leading public theologians, Sebastian Kim, editor of the International Journal of Public Theology. Kim’s aims in this volume are threefold. First, in the context of the postmodern world, Kim attests that the role of the church is not to keep passive, but to be…

In the 1980s, I attended the Simon Greenleaf School of Law and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I knew that the professors under whom I sat at these two institutions— including John Woodbridge, Wayne Grudem, D. A. Carson, Gleason Archer, Harold O. J. Brown, Harold Lindsell, and Carl F. H. Henry—composed a remarkable list of evangelical…

In The Big Question, Alister McGrath does not set out to present an apologetic for God or science so much as to provide a personal account of how he has come to view the world from the perspectives of both science and religion and how this approach has given him a fuller, richer picture of…

In Global Gospel: An Introduction to Christianity on Five Continents, Douglas Jacobsen provides a valuable overview of the global Christian Church. With the ongoing expansion of Christianity since the first century, it has become increasingly difficult to navigate the “immense diversity across contemporary Christianity” (xv). Jacobsen takes on this challenge, providing a well-researched and comprehensive…

With publication of Laudato Si’ in 2015, Pope Francis drew new attention to the role of Christian faith in the environmental debate: “The harmony between the Creator, humanity and creation as a whole,” the encyclical reads, “was disrupted by our presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations” (48).…

This is a magnificent book about a magnificent site. First, because the book is itself a work of art: it is filled with stunning color photographs of the Grand Canyon, as well as many close-up shots of specific geological sites and fossils. It also contains a large number of maps and charts, all beautifully arranged…

The intersection of science and faith can lead to tension among Christian believers and confusion between the faithful and their secular colleagues. In A Little Book for New Scientists, Josh Reeves and Steve Donaldson provide a useful map of this intersection without rehashing old arguments or taking polarizing positions on potentially controversial topics. Instead, this…

For Robin Lane Fox, the timelessness of Augustine’s Confessions demands a reading that attends to the particular time and place that gave rise to this classic work. Accordingly, Lane Fox introduces Augustine: Conversions to Confessions as a “‘biography’ of the Confessions” (7), not as a biography of Augustine. Although such an approach cannot ignore Augustine’s…

Reviewed by Carol Sue Humphrey, History, Oklahoma Baptist University In The First American Evangelical, Rick Kennedy presents an excellent brief biography of Cotton Mather. He discusses Mather’s life, ideas, and impact on colonial America, emphasizing the role that Mather played in laying the groundwork for the Great Awakening in the eighteenth century. The book is…

Reviewed by Glenn E. Sanders, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Oklahoma Baptist University Gary Burge’s short book ably traces the contours of the traditional American professor’s career, from initial appointment to retirement. Drawing on insights from adult developmental psychology, he describes “the ... stages that follow the professorial career and provide practical advice on how to…

Reviewed by Markus Rathey, Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University The title of Michael Marissen’s new book, Bach & God, seems to be redundant. No other composer in music history has been defined as much by the religious import of his music as the “fifth evangelist,” Johann Sebastian Bach. And yet, readers familiar with Marissen’s…

Reviewed by Jack R. Baker, English, Spring Arbor University Chris R. Armstrong’s book welcomes us into the wisdom of the ancients by articulating their value to a modern audience that may be suspicious of, misinformed about, or apathetic toward what those who have gone before us have to teach us. As Armstrong notes in his…

Reviewed by Jonathan A. Anderson, Art, Biola University Gregory Wolfe has been a leading voice in the “faith and the arts” discourse for many years. He is the publisher and founding editor of Image journal, a literary quarterly devoted to exploring the nexus of “Art, Faith, Mystery,” as announced in the journal’s subtitle. Wolfe’s newest…

Reviewed by Philip D. Byers, Graduate Student in History, University of Notre Dame Through sheer happenstance, I had the good fortune to begin reading Alison Collis Greene’s book No Depression in Heaven only days after concluding Marilynne Robinson’s recent novel, Lila (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014). While Robinson’s eponymous protagonist lives in the 1950s, much…

Reviewed by Adam Green, Philosophy, Azusa Pacific University Richard Lints has written a book about the imago dei, what it is for God to have created humans in God’s image. His contention, though, is that to understand the imago dei, one must see it as part of a theme that runs across Scripture that includes…

Reviewed by David F. Wells, Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary This book is a small theology—a “mere evangelical theology”—that sets out the core, foundational convictions of evangelical faith. Hence it is also a “first theology.” The authors have gone back to foundational principles because the definition of evangelicalism is disputed today and the term itself…

Reviewed by Paul E. Michelson, History, Huntington University This important and timely new book was written with the purpose of describing and evaluating the evolution of recent Christian historiography, that is, “history done by self- consciously Christian historians (often in self-consciously Christian ways)” (165). Jay D. Green, professor of history at Covenant College and president-elect…

From the very public transition of Caitlyn Jenner to Emmy Award-winning shows like Transparent and Oscar-nominated films like The Danish Girl, issues related to transgender have taken center stage in public discourse. For many Christians and Christian institutions, transgender issues pose a dilemma. This dilemma can be illustrated by the breadth of denominational responses to…