Reviews

Reviewed by Mark W. Cannister, Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries, Gordon College Based in part on her 2007 research study “Testimony and Formation,” Amanda Drury set out to develop a greater understanding of testimony as a faith practice that contributes to the spiritual formation of adolescents. Her research included a collection of interviews with adolescents,…

Reviewed by Matthew Hill, History, Liberty University For too long, the religious dimension of the American presidency has been neglected. Outside the never-ending debate on the religious convictions of the Founding Fathers, four of whom became president, far too little research has been devoted to this subject. The religious dimensions of the Civil War have…

Reviewed by J. P. Gerber, Psychology, Gordon College This book is the first volume from the recently formed Society for the Exploration of Psychoanalytic Therapies and Theology. It seeks to refresh writing on psychoanalytic therapy by engaging a wide range of scholars and practitioners from diverse corners of the psychoanalytic landscape. It also attempts to…

Reviewed by David Vander Laan, Philosophy, Westmont College Who’s Afraid of Relativism? has two aims. The first is expressed in an epigraph by Augustine: “If those, however, who are called philosophers happen to have said anything that is true, and agreeable to our faith...not only should we not be afraid of them, but we should…

Reviewed by Micah J. Watson, Political Science, Calvin College Timothy P. Jackson is an intellectual revolutionary disguised as a distinguished professor of Christian ethics at Emory University. Political Agape is the third in a trilogy of books aimed at changing the way we think about a host of first-order subjects.The other two books are Love…

Reviewed by Zachary Purvis, Divinity, University of Edinburgh In Kelly Joan Whitmer’s telling, the story of the Halle Orphanage is the story of the formation of a new “scientific community,” populated by kings, theologians, and cosmopolitan inventors determined to furnish new instruments with the ability to decode the mysteries of magnetism. Hers is a fascinating…

Reviewed by João Chaves, Religion, Baylor University and Baptist University of the Américas The accented Jesús presented by Miguel De La Torre is at odds with what De La Torre calls the Euroamerican Jesus. Jesús is not on board with versions of the white, middle-class, American dream that are usually dependent on capitalist commitments either…

Reviewed by James Halverson, History, Judson University In the preface to Medieval Christianity, Kevin Madigan apologizes for adding another book to the “groaning shelves” of medievalists and historians of Christianity. He is correct about the groaning. Many trees have fallen in the service of studying Christianity between 600 and 1500 in the four and a…

Reviewed by Matthew W. Manry, Biblical Studies, Belhaven University C. Stephen Evans is University Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor University. He has written books on various topics in philosophy of religion and in Christian apologetics. In his latest book, Why Christian Faith Still Makes Sense, Evans lays out a well-reasoned defense of the…

Reviewed by Chan Woong Shin, Social Sciences, Indiana Wesleyan University Ani Sarkissian’s new book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on religion and politics in general and religious freedom and repression in particular. As Sarkissian argues, existing works have mostly focused on either the place of religion in democratic regimes or more severe…

Reviewed by Dale Goldsmith, Retired as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Oklahoma Panhandle State University Usually I see ethical issues such as abortion and war “discussed” on a crowded street by shouting, even pushing, placard-bearing advocates of “yes” or “no” with little accompanying detailed argument. The Ethics of Death offers a much quieter, sometimes casual—even…

Reviewed by Darren Patrick Guerra, Political Science, Biola University Can evangelicals model and sustain respectful political conversation? Harold Heie, Senior Fellow at the Center for Faith and Inquiry at Gordon College thinks they can, and he is committed not just to writing about it but to demonstrating it as well. This book grew out of…

Reviewed by Marion H. Larson, English, Bethel University Joy Davidman is best known today as the wife of C. S. Lewis, her untimely death poignantly portrayed in the play and subsequent film Shadowlands. Many also know of her through the touching reflections on death and the problem of pain that Lewis penned in A Grief…

Reviewed by P. C. Kemeny, Biblical and Religious Studies, Grove City College Christian Smith, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame, is a prolific scholar. His works span a wide range of topics, including liberation theology…

Reviewed by Garrett Trott, Librarian, Corban University Abraham Kuyper’s understanding of life was flavored by the sovereignty of God. A statement he made at the inaugural convocation of the Free University summarizes it well: “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which Christ, who alone is sovereign,…

Reviewed by Andrew F. Bush, Missiology and Anthropology, Eastern University Can the global Christian community, divided by its thousands of denominations and regional trends while also challenged by the increased vigor of other religions, be a source of healing to a world wracked by war, poverty, disease, and injustice? This daunting question is the basis…

Reviewed by James R. Skillen, Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies, Calvin College Over the last 20 years, evangelical Christians in the United States have become increasingly active in national debates over environmental protection. From action to protect the federal Endangered Species Act from revision in the mid-1990s to the statement “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call…

Reviewed by Roger Ward, Philosophy, Georgetown College At first glance this text seems eclectic. Fiddes places critical post-modern philosophy in conversation with Christian doctrine and uses both as a basis for a constructive theology that incorporates the wisdom literature in Ancient Israel. According to Fiddes, our contemporary setting, which he describes as the late-modern context,…

Reviewed by Tracy J. Trothen, Religion, Queen’s University In this very effective and much-needed book, religious studies scholar Rebecca Alpert convincingly argues that religion must be part of the interdisciplinary sports conversation. Through a case study exploration of what she calls “the interconnections” between sports and religion, Alpert aims to introduce students to the growing…

Reviewed by Ryan McIlhenny, History, Providence Christian College Within the last few decades Christian intellectuals have spent many a conference paper and journal article articulating the relationship between their faith and their professional work as scholars. While I enjoy the occasional rehearsal, I find myself, as a historian, more often bored with the question almost…