Reflections of the Kingdom

More than a Sermon: The Purpose and Practice of Christian Preaching by Douglas D. Webster My rating: 3 of 5 stars Having just completed a homiletics course, I was very interested in another book on preaching; however, from the beginning, it was very clear that as a catholic clergy, I was not the target audience here. To begin with, catholic homilies are generally tied to the readings for the day, so I really don’t have much flexibility in picking the scripture text that I want to use … it is given to me. Additionally, the order of service (aka liturgical rubrics) and also fairly strict as well … so I was down to mostly looking for tips and ideas on how to preach better. For the most part, I didn’t get that much as most of what I did get was very generic or straight appeals to emotion/motivation … the you must have a solid relationship with God/Jesus and live a spiritual and moral life … which comes across more like a “just do it” speech … in other wo...

The Nicene Creed: A Scriptural, Historical, and Theological Commentary by Jared Ortiz My rating: 5 of 5 stars Most of Christianity is considered to be a creedal religion, that is, governed by a specific statement of faith that members of a particular church must assent to (from the Latin credo meaning ‘I believe’). While not emphasized much, the Protestant tradition in which I grew up held to the 7th century Apostle’s Creed. Once I was confirmed into the Catholic faith, I became more aware of the Nicene Creed as well (Catholics pretty much recent one creed or another at the drop of a hat) … and I learned a lot about how these creeds came to be (predominately in response to various heresies that the early Church was struggling with), so I was extremely interest in this book to see if it confirmed what I already knew and if it presented anything new [to learn]. I am happy to report it delivered in spades. The book is organized into six (6) chapters, ea...

Natural Theology: Five Views by John McDowell My rating: 4 of 5 stars This books aims to capture five (5) current, and competing, viewpoints of natural theology, each championed by a different author. Almost immediately it becomes obvious that even defining what natural theology is always becomes part of the debate and it can seem like each proponent is spending at least some effort talking at cross purposes. In simple terms, it is basically the study of the creator by the study of the creations. The five views stake out positions that run from a maximal view that focuses on “proving” the existence of God and presuming an ultimate good through extension of man’s goodness to a complete rejection of any applicability for natural theology at all (quite a surprise actually). Each chapter begins with a basic premise statement describing the specific viewpoint, followed by a response by each of the other contributors critiquing that statements and ending w...

Engaging the New Testament: A Short Introduction for Students and Ministers by Miguel G Echevarría My rating: 4 of 5 stars As the tagline says … this is a “short” Introduction to the New Testament … although if there is anything new here for ministers, that would be a surprise. The first three (3) chapters provide some groundwork to how the books of the New Testament were selected (very briefly) and how the order of the books work in relation to each other to provide a better understanding of the whole … with the introduction focused on how this is a different type of commentary (it is not really much of a commentary at all in my mind) to chapter 2 (after the lengthy intro) providing the canonical context and connection to “essential elements from the Old Testament until chapter 3 opens a brief discussion on the interpretive approach that highlights the concept of the New Testament being the Old Testament fulled. It is a completely orthodox approach ...