Book Review: Faith Formation in a Secular Age
In early 2015, I remember picking up a then recent copy of Youthworker Journal with the headline article reading, “Why Theology Isn’t Enough for Youth Ministry.”[1] The author’s name was familiar: Andrew Root, who had also published youth ministry titles such as The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry and The Relational Pastor.[2] While I had strong reservations about the author’s thesis in the article, I have grown to appreciate...
Forum Contributors Share Their Favorite Books
Each year Forum contributors read, review, or survey hundreds of books. We try to share the best of our reading with Forum readers in the form of quarterly book recommendations. However, as 2017 draws to a close, each of us look back over the year and consider what book rises to the top of our lists—the ones that stimulated our thinking, challenged our thinking, or in some cases, brought great delight. Below each contributor shares...
Recommended Books (Fall 2017)
“Words are the progeny of the soul,” states Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-215).[1] As our bodies produce children for posterity, so do our souls. Just as we all wish to produce good children to build up the coming generation, Clement argues we should be careful to leave only the best words to those who come after us. In this way of thinking, “wisdom is a communicative and philanthropic thing.”[2] For this reason, Clement cautions us...
Book Review: Remodeling Youth Ministry
by Ben Campbell “For too long, YFM (Youth and Family Ministry) has suffered from pragmatic solutions to eternal problems,” concludes Talbot.[1] For the past forty years, the goal of youth ministry has been to gain students through entertainment. The time has come for a reformation and a remodeling of youth ministry. In Remodeling Youth Ministry, Christopher Talbot does an exceptional job of communicating the need to return to a...
Book Review: Old Testament Exegesis
Douglas Stuart, Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009). Within the Christian academic community, there are many resources for the aspiring Bible student. A cursory glance at the resource section of a Christian bookstore will show myriad concordances, Bible handbooks, commentaries, Bible translations, and more. Even with these resources, bridging Bible reading and...
Book Review: Sexuality, Gender, and the Church
“We’re living and ministering in an era of swift and unprecedented change, especially regarding the definition of sexuality, gender, and marriage,” writes J. Matthew Pinson in Sexuality, Gender, and the Church.[1] Though these issues are not unique to our day, many changes concerning sexuality and gender have arisen in recent years that have forced the church to reaffirm and strengthen its historical positions. While numerous books...
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