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Reviews

Seeking Foundations of a New Consensus

THE TWILIGHT OF THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTEN-MENT: THE 1950S AND THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL BELIEF GEORGE MARSDEN BASIC BOOKS, 2014 $26.99. 264 PAGES. A specter haunts George Marsden: the specter of modern liberalism. What did it promise? How did it fail? What comes next? To explore these questions, Marsden’s essay on American public intellectual culture since the 1950s follows some famous middlebrow and scholarly writers—creators of America’s modern “liberal consensus”—into the 1960s. This era, Marsden argues, was the eve of the…
Michael Kugler
October 30, 2014
Reviews

Bytes and Belief

SHAPING A DIGITAL WORLD: FAITH, CULTURE AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY DEREK C. SCHUURMAN IVP ACADEMIC, 2013. $18.00. 138 PAGES. Derek Schuurman asks a question very similar to one asked by many of my computer science students: “What does my faith have to do with my work as an electrical engineer?” Of course, this question is relevant not only for Christians involved in working directly with computer technology but for people in all stations of life. Along with me, many students wrestle with the…
Mark Vellinga
October 30, 2014
Reviews

Revaluing the Funeral

THE GOOD FUNERAL: DEATH, GRIEF, AND THE COMMUNITY OF CARE THOMAS G. LONG AND THOMAS LYNCH WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX PRESS, 2013 252 pp. $25.00 In the discipline of pastoral care and counseling, I believe there are three courses that students training for pastoral ministry should take. Of those three, one would be Death and Dying and the text, The Good Funeral: Death, Grief, and the Community of Care, coauthored by Thomas Long a pastoral theologian/ Presbyterian minister, and Thomas Lynch,…
Raynard Smith
October 30, 2014
Reviews

Child’s Play

PLAYING BEFORE THE LORD: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JOSEPH HAYDN CALVIN R. STAPERT EERDMANS, 2014 304 pp. $24 In the conventional wisdom about the Classical Era in Western art music, these three abide: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. And the greatest of these is Beethoven. As practices of music history and music consumption have changed, however, this narrative has been challenged. Music lovers of all levels have questioned its assumptions and values, making for a richer and more complex story.…
Suzanne Bratt
October 28, 2014
Reviews

Common Ground and a Big Table for All Citizens

EVANGELICALS ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES: SUSTAINING A RESPECTFUL POLITICAL CONVERSATION HAROLD HEIE ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2014 176 pp. $17.99 At my Christian university, political science majors make up less than 10 percent of the student body. When I talk to other students about voting, politics and faith, they tell me that they lack interest partly because of the nasty arguments. The religious right, Red Letter Christians arguing with the religious right, fighting about gay rights, refusal to take climate…
Julia K. Stronks
September 1, 2014
Reviews

Conflict and Covalent Bonds

Daniel Meeter This book is essential reading for those connected in any way to the Reformed Church in America. It fills a gap in the denomination's historiography, and its compelling analysis makes a first-rate case study of the travails of post-war American Protestantism. Lynn Japinga, who teaches religion at Hope College, has given us the story of 49 years, from the end of World War II to Wesley Granberg-Michaelson's debut as general secretary. Japinga has not intended a comprehensive history.…
Daniel Meeter
March 1, 2014
Reviews

Many Strands, Seamless Identity

Mwenda Ntarangwi After returning from a trip to Europe in 1961, a young Lamin Sanneh had a rare moment of clarity regarding his life's work, deciding that "the study of religion should determine the contribution I might make in life." Fifty years later, with the publication of Summoned from the Margin, Sanneh has not only lived up to his life's decision but has established himself internationally as one of the foremost scholars of world Christianity and interfaith understanding. Summoned from…
Mwenda Ntarangwi
March 1, 2014
Reviews

Whose Kuyper? Which Inheritance?

James K.A. Smith In certain sectors of North American Protestantism — sectors, I would say, that seem to have disproportional influence on public discussions — everyone wants to hitch their wagon to Abraham Kuyper. From Chuck Colson's How Now Shall We Live? to Mark Noll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, evangelicals have found in Father Abraham a model for robust public engagement rooted in unapologetic Christian orthodoxy. Kuyper is the exemplar of a Christian visionary and pragmatic scrapper, one who…
January 1, 2014
Reviews

Pilgrims Together

Scott Hoezee Because I recently traveled to Africa for the first time, I am keenly aware that when going to a place that is completely new, it is vital to have an experienced guide. When it comes to navigating global Christianity, I am in territory that is at least somewhat unfamiliar to me. But no worries: Wesley Granberg-Michaelson knows the terrain from Times Square to Timbuktu and can serve as a more-than-knowledgeable exploration leader. In his new book, Granberg-Michaelson spans…
January 1, 2014