Reviews

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…

Reviewed by Kent W. Seibert, Economics and Business, Gordon College What has theology to do with economics? No one doubts the importance of theology or economics, but the pair make for uncomfortable bedfellows. In an important collection of essays stemming from meetings of scholars from the Tyndale Fellowship Ethics and Social Theology Study Group and…

Reviewed by Stephen L. Woodworth, Bible and Religion, Montreat College In recent years public interest in the person and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has grown exponentially. Due in part to the popularity of Eric Metaxas’s accessible work Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Nashville, TN: Thomas-Nelson Publishers, 2011). countless individuals…

Reviewed by Steven D. Mason, Old Testament Studies, LeTourneau University There may be no more important component to the future credibility of Christian higher education than the ability of scholars and educators to offer an authentic account of modern science alongside a true commitment to scripture and traditional Christian theology. While the enterprise we call…

Reviewed by Joshua R. Sweeden, Theology, George Fox Evangelical Seminary Christian Scharen’s Fieldwork in Theology is a recent addition to Baker Academic’s The Church and Postmodern Culture series. It joins the series, which is largely dominated by perspectives from Radical Orthodoxy and MacIntyrean thought, by offering a clarion call for theological ethnography in ecclesiology. Scharen’s…

Reviewed by Steven Bouma-Prediger, Religion, Hope College This new book from Michael Northcott is another gem. Author of numerous important works on environmental theology and ethics, such as The Environment and Christian Ethics and A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming,Michael Northcott, The Environment and Christian Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); and Michael…

Reviewed by Walton Padelford, Business and Economics, Union University Michael Cafferky has produced a book on the highly relevant topic of business ethics which seeks to incorporate scriptural teaching and scriptural themes in the discussion of ethical decision-making in business. In doing this, he answers his own rhetorical question, “Should the problem of biblical illiteracy…

Reviewed by Brad A. Lau, Student Life, George Fox University There are few topics more timely and timeless than the intersection of Christian faith and contemporary cultural understandings of human sexuality. In this carefully researched and thoughtful work, Jonathan Grant details the societal challenges that exist while suggesting a practical and convincing Christian vision for…

Reviewed by Kevin John Frank Pinkham, English, Nyack College James Gunn’s introduction to Harry Harrison’s short story “The Streets of Ashkelon” includes the claim: Science fiction cannot be written from an attitude of religious belief. Science fiction questions everything. It accepts nothing on faith. ... Science fiction’s religion is skepticism about faith, although there is…

Reviewed by David M. Johnstone, Student Life, George Fox University Soong-Chan Rah ranks among the top American scholars who perceptively understand the contemporary Western church, speak prophetically into it, offer hope, and do not hesitate to probe the theological implications of scripture. I count his Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times as…

Reviewed by William B. Evans, Erskine College and Theological Seminary This volume emerged from a moderated eCircle sponsored by The Colossian Forum and involving 26 regular contributors along with other commenters. Author Harold Heie and many of his interlocutors are convinced that Evangelicalism today is conflicted and combative and that a balance of commitment and…

Pope John Paul II delivered a series of “audiences” now known as Theology of the Body over the course of 129 Wednesdays from 1979 to 1984. These presentations focused on our physical (particularly sexual) nature as God’s gift of love that provides opportunity for us to experience and give love in return. The Pope was…

This fine little book provides a fascinating collection of autobiographical sketches by a diverse group of well-known biblical scholars. These insightful sketches describe the formative influences on the authors’ lives, developments in their theological and academic thinking, and (especially) how their personal faith has been affected by critical biblical scholarship. The latter is an issue…

In Free to Serve, Stephen Monsma and Stanley Carlson-Thies argue that protecting and promoting the religious freedom of faith-based organizations is essential to the bulwark of democracy. The constitutional protection of religious freedom for faith-based organizations, however, is under attack, with division and disunity among religious communities and in their relation to the secular world.…

Communication Professor Peter Horsfield pens a trenchant, alternative history of Christianity by focusing on the media employed by church leaders across the centuries. The title, From Jesus to the Internet, summarizes the range of his study, while the subtitle, A History of Christianity and Media, describes the substance. Horsfield connects key turning points in ecclesial…

With a “crisis” of purpose haunting higher education, American institutions explore the goals of their existence as their emerging adult occupants do the same with their purposes in the world. Today, the uncertainties of students rise as their commitments drop in relation to key components of adulthood (such as choice of major, marriage). Responding to…