Reflections of the Kingdom

Discipleship for Every Stage of Life: Understanding Christian Formation in Light of Human Development by Chris A. Kiesling My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a fantastic survey of how we develop as a human being … and how that development intersects with our faith formation. Each chapter takes up a particular development stage, first introducing the current secular/psychological characteristics before illustrating how such understanding could be used to influence faith formation at that stage followed by a few very generic recommendations on how to implement that knowledge. Over all I though it was well done; although I found some chapters better done than others … and there is certainly the potential of conflict for those who come to this work with either a “progressive/secular” or “conservative/religious” perspective (especially within the chapter on adolescence and identity that seems to promote nature or nurture). In addition, I found a lot of the ...

A Short Guide to Spiritual Formation: Finding Life in Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Community by Alex Sosler My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a though provoking book, with concepts that I could agree with as well as a few where I could not and not a few that were original for me. It was well organized into four sections (truth, goodness, beauty and community aka transcendentals), that at times seemed a bit overly constrained or forced, but the language was clear and accessible to all audiences, although it obviously targets christians within the protestant tradition. Each part was further divided into three (3) chapters that covered: biblical antecedences with fairly orthodox interpretations; analysis of historical and/or philosophical influences; and a brief bio of an exemplar (saint) that lived out the ideal. The latter also includes a brief breakout of practical advice for how the read may live out that same concept). I found each of the thirds to b...

The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church by J.R. Woodward My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a very thought provoking book for me. The initial draw was an examination of the fall of high-profile [christian] leaders with an eye toward identifying the primary or root cause. It was intriguing because I felt it should be fairly obvious … pride; however, this analysis took a different approach and dove more deeply into the human mechanisms that contribute to the fall. It was not, as I had expected, a screed about personal responsibility, and yet it does not totally let our leaders off the hook. The basic premise where is that our leaders, like all people, are tempted (or influenced) by various communal forces that are generally identified as powers and principalities … so if they imitate worldly values instead of the image of Christ, they will become trapped in the cycle that eventually spirals out of control. It makes a s...

The Trojan Horse of Tithing: How Tithe Traditions Have Undermined A Pure Gospel Message by Jonathan Paul Brenneman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book : *** Performance : *** Solid Foundation; Very Repetitive This was an interesting treatment of the concept of tithing and how this idea for the foundation of doctrine within the charismatic/pentecostal wing of the Christian churches. While it appears to me that most of the scriptural interpretations are supportable, the author is mostly targeting fellow pentecostals … a community that I am not personally a part of. As such, there is a tremendous amount of virtue signaling and argumentation along with anecdotal characterization of current doctrine that didn’t really do much for me (you might say these are distracting segues or “rabbit holes’). In addition, that are several references to people/figures that are apparently well known to this community for which I have not exposure … so that does not really add m...

Mere Apologetics: How To Help Seekers And Skeptics Find Faith by Alister E. McGrath My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book : **** Performance : **** An Excellent Discussion About Christian Apologetics This was a very accessible book on what apologetics is, and more importantly how and with whom apologetics can be used (ref: Ch 2 & 4). The fact that the author identifies limitations to apologetics when used by itself was a new take for me and was a welcome addition to the discussion (ref: Ch 1 & 3) where we look at the need to combine this with evangelism. After that we get more of the traditional aspects and arguments of apologetics without much new (Ch 5 & 6), and this is the primary reason I didn’t give this a perfect score. That means this is more useful when addressing folks that are already believers, or at the very least open to belief. Finally, Chapter 7 provides four (4) methods for applying apologetics that was very helpful before it ends ...