Reflections of the Kingdom

The Gospel of Barnabas by Joseph B. Lumpkin My rating: 3 of 5 stars Book : *** Performance : *** An Anachronistic Islamic Riff on the Gospel The Gospel of Barnabas is a late middle-age attempt by Islamic apologists to retell the Gospel Story of Jesus in a way that denies that he is the Son of God, and therefore is not divine (no God) ... with several anachronistic elements (such as references to Muhammad who doesn't make the scene for several centuries after) and attacks St Paul (who arguably defines much of what is the traditional Christian faith today). If you are familiar with the Christian Gospel stories, it can be interesting to explore the differences and what that might be trying to say ... however, you are on your own for that as there is no discussion on the work outside of the introduction ... and the translation seems to preserve some of what is awkward language that could use some explanation for better understanding. As it stands, ...

Republican Jesus: How the Right Has Rewritten the Gospels by Tony Keddie My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book : **** Performance : *** About Like You’d Expect There is an obvious “conservative vs progressive” divide within American Society that is playing out in the American Christian Church … and while I though that I generally identified as part of the conservative side, I find it difficult to understand how I ended up outside of both camps these days as they sling “proof text” at each other to illustrate why they are right and their opponents are wrong. Perhaps the greatest surprise is my perception of just how far the “right” has moved so far away from what I generally see as Christ’s message. I had hopes that this book would provides some answers to that puzzle … and it does a reasonably good job, although there are definitely some Biblical interpretations that seem to be stretched a bit too far, I didn’t see anything that is not actually supported in s...

Children’s Ministry and the Spiritual Child: Practical, Formation-Focused Ministry by Robin Turner My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book as a collection of thirteen (13) essays on different aspects of Children’s ministry within the Christian Church. Each chapter has a different author, making the quality of the whole inconsistent while maintaining a very broad over all theme. These essays are organized into four (4) sections that cover a specific sub theme, starting with an introduction of what spirituality looks like for a child and ending with three (3) essays dealing with childhood trauma (ACE), including the impacts and underlying aggravating factions of the abuse of children by clergy and other trusted adults in positions of authority within the Church. Between these are essays on how children are (or can be) interpreted within the faithful community, modeled by the family, along with one essay that deals with race issues that can impact efforts to ...

Paul and Time: Life in the Temporality of Christ by L. Ann Jervis My rating: 4 of 5 stars This work opens with a lengthy introduction that gives us a foundation with which to start thinking about time. This is important, because most of us don’t really think too deeply about time … it is simply something that passes in which events happen whereby those events become fixed or permanent. We approach eternity much like to approach infinity in mathematics, by adding more to the dimension we call time (in either direction). Classical though where eternity is outside of temporality and is unchanging and unmoving (Plato). Next up is a survey and comparison of current (and perhaps competing) viewpoints that government interpretation through an historical/salvific or an apocalyptic lens. I found the idea that the apocalyptic interpretation sees the eternal God “invading” history (time) to be an interesting perspective. Chapter three (3) introduces the idea th...