Scot McKnight. A Community Called Atonement. Abingdon, 2007. 177 pp.
Scot McKnight has just published a book called A Community Called Atonement. McKnight is a first rate biblical scholar at North Park University and the man behind the curtain at the always engaging Jesus Creed blog. Using his exceptional writing skills, McKnight takes what can be a very tedious idea and brings it alive.
McKnight does a wonderful job of rescuing the debate from a narrow abstract battle to make this or that model prevail and relocates the discussion in the larger picture of God’s mission in the world. Atonement is not an end in itself. Atonement is a means toward accomplishing a mission; the mission of restoring of that which has been lost. McKnight locates the central themes of this restoration in the concepts of justice (mishpat), righteousness (tesedeq) and shalom. (128)
Reviewed by Michael Kruse.
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Craig A. Evans. Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels. IVP, 2006. 290 pp.
This book is offered as an exposé of sorts, revealing how certain scholars—among them, James M. Robinson, Robert Funk, Bart Ehrman, Karen King, Morton Smith, Elaine Pagels, John Dominic Crossan, and collectively the Jesus Seminar—“distort the gospels” and thus mislead the public to historical conclusions at odds with traditional Christian claims. Evans also takes aim at various popular authors, such as Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) and Michael Baigent (The Jesus Papers), for creating what he calls “hokum history” (204). Finally, it is an apologia for the New Testament Gospels: “this book is written to defend the original witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When put to the test, the original documents hold up quite well. Despite their having been maligned, even ridiculed, and pushed to the background, it is time to give them a fresh hearing” (17).
Reviewed by Stephen J. Patterson.
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Mark Batterson. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars. Multnomah, 2006. 182 pp.
What do you get when you combine fear, opportunity, history, distractions and doubt? A typical Christian who ignores a chance to do something significant for the kingdom of God due to insecurity and lack of genuine faith in God.
Mark Batterson has been released from the grip of fear and doubt by the experiences God has granted him. This young pastor writes about his insights in this simple but helpful book that harps on one theme: we have been called to take risks in our effort to transform the world for Christ. The author, who is one of the emerging voices in the post-Boomer church scene in America, provides numerous succinct thoughts about the real meaning of life and how to make the most of it.
Reviewed by George Barna.
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Iain H. Murray. The Life of John Murray. Banner of Truth, 2007. 240 pp.
John Murray’s commentary on the book of Romans has long been considered the answer book for biblical expositors when they come to study the grand epistle. So when I see a biography come along that introduces me to the man behind the works like his Romans commentary and Redemption, Accomplished and Applied, I am helplessly drawn in.
The Life of John Murray is what we have come to expect from Ian Murray (no relation to John). It is a well-written enjoyable chronicle of the life of a significant evangelical player. Ian Murray is able to give us many details without drowning us in peripherals.
John Murray grew up in Scotland and served his country in the military during the first World War, even loosing an eye from a shrapnel blast. In journeying through Murray’s life it becomes clear that his family and country are tattooed on his innermost affections. Throughout his four decades in America he made over twenty trips over the Atlantic to see his family.
Reviewed by Erik Raymond.
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Colin E. Gunton. The Barth Lectures. T&T Clark (London), 2007. 285 pp.
It is a book that you listen to rather than read, as you eavesdrop on Professor Gunton taking his class on a guided tour of Barth’s theology from its intellectual background and nineteenth century influences; through its development in the commentaries on Romans, the correspondence with Harnack, and the book on Anselm; and then on into the mature thought of the Church Dogmatics, where the focus is on theological epistemology, the doctrine of God, and the Christology-and-soteriology (the hyphens make a substantive point).
The lectures, of course, were well prepared, replete with handouts and diagrams, but what you hear is not only Gunton’s take on Barth but also his taking on Barth even as he speaks. That is, we not only get theology, we actually get theologising—Barth “is a great man to learn to think theologically with”—as Gunton probes on his feet, sometimes with touching tentativeness.
Reviewed by Kim Fabricius.
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John W. Wright. Telling God’s Story: Narrative Preaching for Christian Formation. IVP, 2007. 166 pp.
The title is easily misread. The book does not deal with preaching through the narrative sections of the Word of God. The pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in Mid City proposes a style of pastoral preaching and care designed to confront the church with “God’s Story” and the church’s need to become a part of that story. He believes there is much wrong with contemporary Christianity and desires to reform it by changing some of the presuppositions pastors address when preaching. He is on target with much of his evaluation, and there is much of interest and profit for the preacher who is preaching for biblical transformation. One wonders about some of his historical evaluations of preaching (especially of Puritan preaching), but those minor things add interest to the book, even for those who might disagree with his evaluation.
Reviewed by Robert Talley.
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Brian J. Walsh & Sylvia C. Keesmaat. Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. IVP, 2004. 256 pp.
Occasionally, a book comes along that ignites the fires of my imagination and fuels my passion for being part of the counter-culture we call the Church. Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat’s Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire is one such book.
Colossians Remixed goes where regular commentaries rarely go. The authors rewrite Colossians as if Paul were writing to postmodern, postChristian, 21st century Americans living under the rule of the American Empire. They go about this task by showing how deeply subversive Colossians was of the Roman Empire, and they seek to translate the subversive nature of the tract into today’s world.
Reviewed by Trevin Wax.
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J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, Daniel B. Wallace, Reinventing Jesus: How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture. Kregel, 2006. 352 pp.
This book is a very good introduction to the topics of Contemporary Issues, Apologetics, and Textual Criticism for the dedicated layman or the serious-minded Bible study leader. I was surprised by the popular level approach to these topics brought by some of the top-shelf names in Christian scholarship. When life-long church members can say things such as “No one can really know what happened two thousand years ago,” the pastor must know that their knowledge is lacking and wonder what is the object of their faith. Their theological training from Sunday School classes has not prepared them for current challenges to the faith, and to their own faith. For pastors with members that are interested in the subject of how we know what we know about the faith, this would make a good gift to show your appreciation for their commitment to the task of teaching the Word. This book, though good for a lay introduction, does not suffice for the seminary student.
Continue reading ‘Reinventing Jesus | J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, & Daniel Wallace’
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Anthony L. Chute. A Piety Above the Common Standard: Jesse Mercer and the Defense of Evangelistic Calvinism. Mercer University Press, 2004. 238 pp.
The concerns of the day could be summarized as follows: disputes over Calvinism, with anti-Calvinists pursuing a divisively vocal course; earnest desire for “a revival that will last all winter;” intense debates about world missions and new methods being used to reach the lost; conflicting opinions on the question of whether persons baptized by others need to be re-baptized; debates over whether theological education breeds pride and liberalism; and divided opinions on the possibility of cooperation with those who disagree.
Reviewed by Dr. Jim Hamilton.
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Stuart Bell. Sane Spirituality: Lessons from Corinth for the 21st Century. Sovereign World, 2004. 128 pp.
This book started life as a series of sermons. It is an encouragement to me that publishers seem to be reviving the sermon-book which at one point looked to me like it was fading from use. Bell’s book is definitely aimed at the popular market, but any reader would have much to learn from what he has to say. If you are interested in how a charismatic interprets and applies 1 Corinthians then this is a good place to start.
He has a simple definition of charismatics which he has borrowed from David Pawson—“those who recognise that the gift of the Spirit is to be received and the gifts of the Spirit are to be exercised. . . .
Reviewed by Adrian Warnock.
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