The latest pick up from theooze reader review program is a small hardcover by Tony Campolo called: Stories That Feed Your Soul: Inspiring Lessons from Unexpected Places and Unlikely People.
This is a book to give to grandma. I know that's not much of a review but it basically outlines the makeup of this hardcover. Grandma will appreciate the Fall leaves on the cover and the quick stories Campolo provides in each section. Continue reading
The book isn't even out yet, just a quick little snippet from HarperOne about,
....Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.
As quick as lightning the new conservatives lead by John Piper et al, slammed Bell, essentially condemning him to Hell (I didn't know neo-Reformers had final judgement capabilities), and lambasting the book.
But they've missed two critical elements that any sane person would realise. Continue reading
I think it's a bit ironic that theooze.com sends these cool books, many of the 'Emergent' flavour, to a bunch of bloggers for review. It's ironic because half of the books I've taken in thus far would do much better and receive a far larger readership if they were blogs instead of books. At some point some of these authors will realise this and stop attacking old paradigm in their books while simultaneously using old paradigm medium (and perhaps the prestige of a published book?) as a primary means to share ideas.
Colors of God was an interesting book for two reasons: format and content. The format was a 'conversation' between three people. I found this confusing at best and it certainly shaped the quality of the book (for better or worse I can't really say). The other was content: the exploration of an emerging Emergent church from a classic Canadian evangelical context. Given this is a Canadian blog I can say the materials about Canadian church plants are scarce so it's a treat to read about one.
I like books, and sometimes I review them when they're sent to me, in this case from theooze.com. I wanted to do two in one in this review simply because I do'nt have that much to say.
First off, Laughing with Sarah by Gene Jennings, certainly a far cry from the usual theooze offerings. This one seemed to be from a regular pastor from a regular multi-site church in a regular suburb somewhere in the US. The book starts in the forward with, "this is a book of sermons." Uh oh, you've lost me. Continue reading
Slow start, great finish.
There's a reason why I almost put down 'Jesus Manifesto' by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, the first 1/3 was kind of dull. Not because the information was boring, but it was kind of redundant, and 'obvious'. Mind you, I think that's the point, to me a conversation for three chapters on the centrality of Jesus to the Christian faith isn't necessary.
I can understand why it was crucial to include because their target market need to hear the obvious message because the foundation of Jesus has been lost in American churches.
With that being said, the final 1/3 of the book got me thinking about some important questions. For me personally, it forced me to explore some ideas in a way only an NT Wright publication could.... That's a tall order indeed and part of the reason I would recommend this book to the right person. Continue reading