Reflections of the Kingdom

What We Do Not Know About God and People in the Bible by Israel Drazin My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a short and extremely interesting book that basically asks questions about scripture (specifically the Book of Genesis) and tradition to which we don’t have any specific answer (and may only speculate and/or presume). There are a few sections where the author provides some context, such as the etymology of some of the words substituted for the name God; however, the majority was simply questions without much exposition. An example from Chapter 2: “If the two trees were dangerous, why did God place then in the garden?” This continues for 22 chapters over nearly 100 pages (so the chapters are obviously very short). For the most part, I found the questions to be good and very thought provoking … and therein lies the primary appeal to this book … many religious communities force conformity to the point that questions are not tolerated; this book not on...

Spiritual Practices for Soul Care: 40 Ways to Deepen Your Faith by Barbara L Peacock My rating: 3 of 5 stars Each chapter begins with a topical title and introduction to a specific discipline or practice. Then there is a scriptural pericope (aka scripture focus) that inspired the practice and on which to meditate further. This is followed by a very brief introduction to a person (aka soul care leader) who [presumably] models this practice in everyday living (along with a specific book or other work that illustrates why that person was chosen (and potentially provide a follow-up in the case of written works). The author then provides a short poem, also inspired by the discipline or practice (which didn’t do much for me, but I generally struggle with poetry). Finally there are some recommendation on putting that particular discipline “in action” (although this was generally in the form of prompting questions … so more meditative than active). For the m...

Pauline Theology as a Way of Life: A Vision of Human Flourishing in Christ by Joshua W Jipp My rating: 5 of 5 stars St Paul, the Apostle to the Nations (Gentiles), whose epistles to the early churches account for nearly all of the New Testament outside of the Gospels has always had a major influence on the theology of Western Christianity (sometimes known as Pauline Christians). Recently there has been a lot of debate about Paul, with some theologians finding his interaction to be very restrictive and conservative while others point to areas where his is radically progressive for his time … all depending on what part of the corpus you emphasize and how you apply context to your interpretation. This book takes a more holistic approach in order to identify the primary concern of Paul … the promotion of human flourishing. Drawing on contemporary (positive psychology) and historical (Stoicism and Epicureanism), the author first works to define what Paul ...

Interpretation for Preaching and Teaching: An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics by Stanley E Porter My rating: 5 of 5 stars “The task of hermeneutics must come before homiletics.” Understanding hermeneutics, or in more specific terms, the process by which we interpret scriptural text (aka exegesis), it an important first step in “preaching and teaching" scripture in a way that is applicable to today (aka homiletics). At just under 200 pages, this book is a quick read that is easily accessible to any reader, regardless of background (in other words, you don’t need to be a theologian or biblical scholar to understand and/or benefit from it). Ultimately we get an introduction to many of the critical methods used by scholars so that the reader is better able to understand context and nuance from which contending interpretations can emerge. In fact, I find this work to be an excellent companion to another favorite of mine: Biblical Reasoning whi...