Reflections of the Kingdom

Chaplaincy: A Comprehensive Introduction by Mark A Jumper My rating: 4 of 5 stars While I am not an exact match for the target audience, not being an Evangelical Christian, am I close enough (in formation to be ordained as a Catholic Deacon) to potentially find the information presented to be interesting and helpful … and for the most part I was correct. The book is divided into two parts; with part one providing a basic foundation to understand the specifics cited in part two (which talks about where chaplains are typically found along with what is typically required in that specific ministry. As might be expected with multiple authors, there was a but of repetition and a bit of a bipolar feel to part one, where I assume the intent was to demonstrate the tension between being true to the principals championed by your organization ordination and the need to minister to a plurality of faiths, some of which may not be compatible with your own confessio...

Transfiguration of Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Reading by Patrick Schreiner My rating: 4 of 5 stars Recounted in all three (3) of the synoptic gospels, the Transfiguration of Christ is obviously an important part of the faith from the very beginnings of the Church that is rich in symbolism that can be difficult to unpack and appreciate today without the appropriate historical context. Schreiner does an excellent job providing that context along with commentary that explores a number of potential interpretations, some of which provided new insights and some of which seemed to be a bit of a stretch, all of which provoked some deep thoughts about how this event should fit within the faith. Overall I found this to be a valuable addition to me reference library. The chapters and sections in this work are: Introduction: A Two-Level Christology Chapter 1. The Necessity of the Transfiguration Chapter 2. The Glorious Setting Chapter 3. The Glori...

Reading the Gospels as Christian Scripture: A Literary, Canonical, and Theological Introduction by Joshua W. Jipp My rating: 4 of 5 stars In understanding and/or interpreting scripture, it is usually important to know the context in which they are written. Most of the commentaries that I have encountered spend a lot of time on the details, often debating the interpretation of the original language, marching verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book … rarely looking at the work as a whole. Reading the Gospels as Christian Scripture fills the gap here well, giving a brief over of how we got the Gospels in Part 1, before providing a general, historical context by which to read the Gospels in Part 2, before diving into each of the four (4) Gospels specifically in Part 3 … and it is this last part that is the best part (and accounts for nearly half of the total book … and is extremely well organized for each Gospel. Each Gospel will have an histor...

The Evolution of Religions: A History of Related Traditions by Lance Grande My rating: 4 of 5 stars At just over 1000 pages, this is a pretty big book that attempts to tackle a big question … how religion fits into the human condition (as humans themselves continue to evolve). Even so, there was limited space to go into much detail and any examination of pre-literate religions remain in the realm of educated speculation … presumed to have started with spiritual/animistic beliefs and rituals. As a fan of comparative studies, this was extremely helpful, since the entire purpose of a taxonomy is to enable the reader/student to compare and contrast the subject matter … and how better than to propose such an evolutionary tree than an evolutionary biologist and systematist … still there were plenty of times where the author acknowledged that this categorization didn’t work well, however, Grande’s ability to call out similarities and differences with antece...