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A Handbook of Contemporary Theology: Tracing trends & discerning directions in today’s theological landscape © 1992 BridgePoint: Victor Books 394 pages Have you ever had a religious discussion with someone that made you feel uneasy? Perhaps the logic of their position seemed to make sense, but you could sense something was fundamentally different from what [...]

Here’s the fourth of six posts from Peterson’s Practice Resurrection on revivalism and grieving the Spirit: In some places in the church there is considerable complaint about the absence of the Spirit. These critics are confident that they know what the presence of the Spirit should look like and are loud in protesting his alleged [...]

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb © 2009 W. W. Norton & Company 224 pages I couldn’t resist ordering this once I read the cover: The first book of the bible graphically depicted! NOTHING LEFT OUT! I taught through Genesis a few years ago, and realized just what “nothing left out” would mean! [...]

Here’s the third of six posts from Peterson’s Practice Resurrection on morality: The Christian life does not start with moral behavior. We don’t become good in order to get God. But having been brought into the operations of God, moral behavior provides forms for maturing in a resurrection life. Moral acts are forms in the [...]

The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession (P.S.) © 2005 Harper Perennial 298 pages I’m afraid my journey with Coelho is over. I was intrigued by The Alchemist, even though it smacked of neo-gnosticism. Veronica Decides to Die had such a twisted premise, I could overlook the philosophy. The Devil and Miss Prym, again, was such [...]

Israel’s Sacred Songs: a Study of Dominant Themes © 1966 The Seabury Press 242 pages This book introduces readers the ways that Israel used cultural idioms from the surrounding nations to describe her God. Since we have a well preserved set of ancient documents from Israel (the Hebrew Scriptures), and little from the surrounding nations, [...]

Saint Francis (Christian Encounters Series) © 2010 Thomas Nelson 233 In Saint Francis, West successfully made life and times of a thirteenth-century saint come alive. I chose to review this book because I didn’t know much about Francis other than a few folktales and the hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King”. It turns [...]

Here’s the second of six posts from Peterson’s Practice Resurrection on posture and prayer: The physical act of bowing “my knees before the Father” (Eph. 3:14) is an act of reverence. It is also an act of voluntary defenselessness. While on my knees I cannot run away. I cannot assert myself. I place myself in [...]

Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ © 2010 Eerdmans 290 pages Practice Resurrection is Peterson’s meditations on what the church is, according to Ephesians. As you would expect from him, the church is not some nebulous concept but a very practical household—among other metaphors. If you’re stuck with the idea of church [...]

The Curse of the Viking Grave © 1966 (reprint:  1980) McClelland and Stewart 243 pages It’s an old story. An author produces a singular work of genius that receives rave reviews and awards, only to follow it up with a weaker sequel. The Curse of the Viking Grave is not a horrible book. It’s just [...]