Book Write-Up: Dynamics of Muslim Worlds

Evelyn A. Reisacher, ed.  Dynamics of Muslim Worlds: Regional, Theological, and Missiological Perspectives.  IVP Academic, 2017.  See here to purchase the book.

This book contains papers that were presented at the Missiology Lectures of Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of Intercultural Studies on November 3-4, 2016, along with three other chapters.

David L. Johnston’s contribution makes a point that I think summarizes the book.  On page 176, Johnston states:

“…Western Christians especially must educate themselves about the pluralistic nature of Muslim society and about Islamic law in particular.  This will provided a needed antidote to the current wave of Islamophobia that clearly contributes to the recruitment of young Muslims by terror organizations and, more importantly, dehumanizes our Muslim neighbors.”

The “pluralistic nature of Muslim society” looms large in this book, and the book does much more than make the simple observation that there are moderate Muslims.  Rather, the book highlights numerous examples and facets of Islamic diversity, including reformist movements and different trends in Quranic interpretation.  Although the book labels ideas and movements as “traditionalist” and “reformist,” it occasionally reveals where the situation is more complex than that, as when it shows that the movement that led to ISIS initially had more liberal tendencies.  The book also distinguishes between text-centered Islam and popular Islam, and it explores the question of why people join ISIS.  The book is educational in its description of Islamic diversity, and also in its analysis of Islam in different regions, including Europe, West Africa, and South Asia.

Missiology is another prominent feature of this book.  The approach of the book seems to be to help Christians to understand the perspectives and trends within Islam so that they can better love Muslims, encouraging them to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Among the missiological approaches discussed in this book are debates, service to Muslims, finding common ground (e.g., on revelatory dreams and a belief in miracles), and inductive Bible study, which encourages Muslims to read the Bible themselves and to draw their own conclusions.  The book shuns any approach that seeks to impose Western Christianity on Muslims.

In terms of critique, the book seems to suffer from the same problem that other writings about this subject face, and that is the issue of boundaries.  One paper in the book, for example, appeared to imply that Christians in reaching out to Muslims should not emphasize the technicalities of the Trinity, and should be open to Muslims believing in Jesus within the context of their Islamic faith.  Does that imply that believing in the Trinity is non-essential to being a Christian?  The book could have wrestled with this more.

The book deserves five stars on account of its vast supply of information.  It is scholarly, and it is not exactly the sort of book that spoon-feeds readers the information.  Even those who know some basics about Islam may find themselves treading water as they read about the nuances and diversity within Islam.  Still, the book is understandable and, in its own way, down-to-earth.  While it does not tell too many anecdotes as it speaks about people and movements, it depicts real people experiencing real situations.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.  My review is honest.

Church Write-Up: Home

I went to the “Word of Faith” church and the Missouri Synod Lutheran church.  Here are some notes:

A.  Eschatological hope was a theme in both services.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church was talking about how this world is not our home and cannot bring us fulfillment, and how we would be naked and “not us” without bodies, explaining why we will have new bodies at the resurrection.  The pastor at the Lutheran church was preaching about I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Paul’s exhortation that Christians not grieve the dead as if they have no hope (which is not to say that they should not grieve, but that they should have hope in their grief).  During the children’s part of the service, the youth pastor was saying that being a Christian means never having to say “good bye.”  There is an afterlife.

B.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church said that young people look at elderly people, notice their pain and disease, and wonder why the elderly people would want to live, with all the bodily problems that they have to endure.  The pastor said that such young people will feel different once they become elderly: those who reach that age want to live every extra day that they can.

C.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church asserted that sexual promiscuity is a misguided search for home, which only Jesus can fulfill.  He provided a quote by John Steinbeck in East of Eden, which said that the brothel and the church attempt to satisfy a similar need, an escape or a relief from the burdens of life.  Steinbeck may have a point.  Is sexual promiscuity necessarily a search for home, though?  I can picture it not being that: it could be based on attraction or appetite.  For some, though, it may be searching for love in the wrong places.

D.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church was talking about the Garden of Eden.  It was a sanctuary for God, but Adam and Eve were expelled from it on account of their sin.  Later, God dwelt with Israel through the Tabernacle, which was decorated with images of fruits and cherubim, perhaps echoing Eden.  While God dwelt with Israel and blessed her, access to the Tabernacle was limited and required a strict decorum, due to people’s human limitations and sinfulness.  In the eschaton, God will dwell with people more fully and directly.  A lot of Christians believe this.  It makes sense, but I wonder if it can be consistent with the Documentary Hypothesis.  Maybe it can, if P (who wrote of the Tabernacle) knew of J (who wrote Genesis 2-3).

E.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church said that, had Adam and Eve stayed in the Garden of Eden in their sinful state, they would have been on a futile search for home for all eternity, devouring the fruit from the Tree of Life.  It would have been a bottomless pit.  Still, the pastor said that Adam and Eve, after their expulsion, should have stayed right by the Garden of Eden, affirming that God was the home that they desired.

F.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church interacted with Hebrews 11:9-10: “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (KJV). The pastor was saying that Abraham did not just want land: he wanted God as his home.  At times, the pastor said something else: it’s not so much that God belongs to us, but we belong to God.

G.  The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church was talking about his personal walk with Jesus.  He testified that Jesus is not some dictator towards him.  Rather, Jesus often asks him, “What do you think you should do?”

Kathy Neary: A Call for "Housing First"

Kathy Neary: A Call for “Housing First” (in response to chronic homelessness).

Book Write-Up: The Hollywood Commandments, by DeVon Franklin

DeVon Franklin (with Tom Vandehy).  The Hollywood Commandments: A Spiritual Guide to Secular Success.  HarperOne, 2017.  See here to buy the book.

DeVon Franklin is a producer.  I think I watched an interview of him a while back, since I remember seeing an interview of a Hollywood producer who observed the seventh-day Sabbath.  That stood out to me, on account of my seventh-day Sabbatarian background.  Franklin’s wife is actress Meagan Good.  She has a lengthy IMdB, but where I remember her is from the 1997 movie Eve’s Bayou and an episode of Touched by an Angel entitled “The Pact.”

This book is about professional success: finding and pursuing one’s path to serving God through one’s profession, as one uses his or her talents.  Because of Franklin’s Hollywood background, Hollywood is the focus in this book.  Franklin candidly shares his ups and downs, his successes and mistakes.  He supports his insights with anecdotes, both personal and about others, and also with biblical stories.  His biblical support for his insights flow smoothly, without coming across as artificial.

As a person with Asperger’s, I wonder if I will achieve professional success.  Networking is difficult for me, and it is significant in terms of going anywhere professionally.  Much to my surprise, though, I actually liked this book.  What impressed me was how sensible and attainable Franklin’s suggestions are, even for me.  There are things that people can do in solitude to prepare themselves for what they believe is God’s calling, such as research and following those who have reached professional success.  People can serve others, even in small ways, and those can be learning opportunities.  They can keep on working, despite setbacks, disappointment, negative feedback, and obscurity.  And what makes a person unique can be what allows that person to make a fresh, original contribution.

And what if one reaches success?  Franklin discusses how to navigate that success humbly, for believing one’s own press is not only misguided but also can hinder one from making future contributions that are fresh and original.

Franklin talks about the importance of taking bold risks rather than playing things safe, and he offers advice about how to discern whether that is God’s will.  Franklin also provides advice about questions to ask when one is seeking to determine whether to move on to something else (i.e., another job, another career).

Much of the book was common sense, yet it was worth reading.  Franklin comes across as a friendly coach, and his advice was realistic, practical, constructive, motivating, and reasonable.  His anecdotes about how Hollywood works were interesting, for it does not always work as one might think.  In terms of critique, what Franklin says about Hollywood being a place of integrity (though Franklin occasionally acknowledges examples of the opposite) is somewhat challenged by the scandals of sexual harassment and misconduct that have been uncovered in Hollywood.  Franklin is likely correct that people in Hollywood want to work with those they can trust, people with integrity, and yet he should have acknowledged more the bad side of Hollywood.

An interesting observation, and I am noting it because it is interesting, not to be critical: my understanding is that Franklin is a Seventh-Day Adventist, yet he helped make the movie Heaven Is For Real.  Seventh-Day Adventists do not believe in the immortality of the soul but rather maintain that the dead are unconscious until the resurrection.  In Heaven Is For Real, however, a child goes to heaven and sees his dead grandfather.  Perhaps this issue would have been too academic, technical, or distracting for Franklin to address in this book, but it does raise the question of where the line should be when one makes movies that conflict with one’s beliefs (assuming Franklin accepts soul sleep).

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through BookLook Bloggers.  My review is honest.

Church Write-Up: Prophetic Authority and the Compassionate Epistle to the Hebrews

For church last Sunday, I went to the church I call the “Word of Faith” church, and also the Missouri-Synod Lutheran church.

The pastor at the “Word of Faith” church was continuing his series on the Elijah-Elisha stories.  He focused on II Kings 6, specifically the story of the floating ax-head, and the story of God’s invisible army of fiery chariots.  In the story of the floating ax-head, some prophets are cutting down trees, and a borrowed ax-head falls into the river.  Elisha causes the ax-head to float to the surface, and it is retrieved.  The pastor treated this story as an allegory: when people act outside of their gifts, as the prophets did when they decided to work in construction, they may lose their gift, as the ax-head was lost.  The pastor affirmed that encouragement can bring that gift back, lifting up the person and the gift.

II Kings 6:8-23 is about how the Aramean army surrounded Israel, and Elisha revealed to his frightened servant something that the servant could not initially see: a host of fiery chariots and charioteers sent by God.  The pastor stated that Elisha, as God’s prophet, has control of this army, and the pastor referred to the statement in II Kings 13:4 that Elisha himself was God’s chariot, as well as the possible implication in II Kings 2:12 that Elijah, too, was this.  The pastor said that this is true of believers, who prophesy (Acts 2:17-21; cp. Joel 2:28-32) and have the authority to bind and to loose (Matthew 16:19; 18:18).  The pastor seemed to take this into a health-and-wealth (or, more accurately, financial provision) direction, saying that believers have authority over disease and that God provides for their needs.  The pastor emphasized, however, that earthly prosperity does not bring fulfillment, for, ultimately, our fulfillment comes at our resurrection in the eschaton.  Still, we can have a foretaste of that in the here-and-now.

The pastor at the Missouri-Synod Lutheran church focused on Hebrews 12:1-3.  He discussed the importance of encouraging others so that they keep on keeping on, and laying aside the inhibiting burdens of guilt and grief.  The pastor stated that Jesus was more than a moral example, for a moral example would not help us, if we are unable to follow that example.  The start, the end, and everything in-between in the Christian life is based on and flows from Christ.  The pastor also seemed to imply that the author of Hebrews had more sensitivity towards human weakness and the need for God’s grace than the apostle Paul.  Whereas the apostle Paul talks about beating his body into submission (I Corinthians 9:27), the pastor noted, we do not see anything like that in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

To comment on the first sermon, there may be something to what the pastor said about the prophetic authority of Elijah and Elisha, the authority of Jesus on earth, and the authority of the apostles and disciples.  The logical question when it comes to believers, of course, is “Where is it?”  Christians can pray for people to be healed, yet they still may die (as occurred recently to someone for whom I prayed for at least two years).  Christians hope for protection, yet a person still enters a church in Texas and shoots them.  Yet, I read the synoptic Gospels and I observe that Jesus frequently talks about the importance of faith: for healing, for walking on water, for casting out demons, for moving mountains.  I wonder what the significance is of Jesus’ teaching on faith in the synoptic Gospels.  Conventional Christian treatments of this subject have not satisfied me, for they often focus on explaining why Jesus’ statements cannot be taken as absolutes, rather than on the purpose and meaning behind Jesus’ statements on faith.  (I acknowledge, though, that there is much remaining for me to read on the subject.)  Some hyper-dispensationalists have another solution, though: that those particular words of Jesus, and a number of Jesus’ teachings, related to the time of Jesus on earth and not the church age.  In the church age, Christians can get sick and not receive healing (II Timothy 4:28), and they have to work for a living (I Thessalonians 4:11) rather than leaving all or selling everything to give it to the poor (i.e., Luke 12:33).

Regarding the second sermon, the pastor has a point when he says that the author of Hebrews is sympathetic towards human weakness (see Hebrews 4:15-16).  But I recall a scholar telling me over a decade ago that Martin Luther had a problem with the Epistle to the Hebrews, for it appeared to imply that Christians could lose their salvation (i.e., Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26).

Book Write-Up: Irenaeus of Lyon, by Simonetta Carr

Simonetta Carr.  Irenaeus of Lyon.  Christian Biographies for Young Readers.  Reformation Heritage Books, 2017.  See here to purchase the book.

Irenaeus was a Christian leader and thinker in the second century C.E.  This book is a biography of him for children ages 7-12.  Matt Abraxas contributed illustrations, and the book also contains maps and photographs.  Many of the photographs are of representations of the people discussed in this book, and the book provides the disclaimer that the people may not have actually looked like that.

Simonetta Carr explores the controversies in which Irenaeus participated and what was at stake.  Such controversies include the debate over which day to observe Easter, Passover or Easter Sunday, which is known as the Quartodeciman controversy, as well as Irenaeus’ polemics against Gnosticism.  Carr’s treatment of the latter is especially impressive, as she lucidly lays out Gnostic beliefs and Irenaeus’ specific arguments against them.  Carr also tells stories about the Roman treatment of Christians, explaining the rationales behind the Romans’ tolerance and intolerance.  Moreover, Carr paints a picture of what life was like in Irenaeus’ time, on such topics as education (i.e., who was educated, how they were educated, and what they were taught) and seafaring.

Carr occasionally sifts through historical sources, evaluating what is historical and non-historical.  Some may claim that she does not do this enough.  At least in this book, she seems to accept uncritically the traditional story of Polycarp’s martyrdom, which scholar Candida Moss argues is anachronistic.  Carr also accepts uncritically Irenaeus’ claim that his teachings can be traced back to the apostles, when Gnostic Christians made the same claim.  And, on page 38, Carr, as she relays Irenaeus’ argument, asks, “More importantly, why would Jesus teach something to the apostles and then reveal a different secret knowledge to others?”  That is an excellent question, but perhaps Gnostic Christians can be pardoned for concluding that Jesus had such a modus operandi, as Jesus in the synoptic Gospels often shares with his disciples information that he does not share with the general public.

Another question that came to my mind in reading this book is whether Carr’s Protestant perspective influences her portrayal of Irenaeus.  Carr emphasizes the centrality of Scripture in the second century Christian church and Irenaeus’ polemics, whereas a Catholic might stress instead the centrality and authority of the church.  Ecclesiology still looms large in Carr’s book, however, as she discusses the apostolic heritage of Irenaeus’ beliefs, Irenaeus’ argument from the widespread Christian acceptance of the Rule of Faith, and Irenaeus’ endorsement of the bishops.

The book would have been better had it gone more deeply into Irenaeus’ view of recapitulation, his belief that Christ succeeded where Adam failed and renewed humanity through the incarnation.  This topic occurred to me as I read Irenaeus’ summary of the Christian Rule of Faith, which Carr includes near the end of the book.  In reading the Rule, I noticed the absence of doctrines that are central to conservative Christianity today, such as penal substitution (which is not to suggest that ancient Christians did not hold to such a doctrine).  More discussion of Irenaeus’ view of salvation may have enhanced the book.  The book also should have been more specific in its citation of primary sources, using endnotes so as not to distract young readers.

Would children ages 7-12 appreciate this book, or would it be too deep for them?  I think that many Christian children would appreciate it.  Carr builds on basic Christian doctrines, such as the idea that God created the world, and she clearly explained a Gnostic objection to that doctrine, namely, that the world has imperfections.  The Quartodeciman controversy may not interest most Christian children (though it interested me when I was a child, since I grew up in a Christian church that observed the Jewish Passover).  Still, they can be edified and instructed by the church’s tolerance of differing perspectives, out of love for fellow believers (not that the church has always done this).

Critiques notwithstanding, this book deserves five stars.  It is educational and, at times, nuanced.  Christian children reading this book will receive a solid foundation to study patristics.  Also, the physical appearance of the book is beautiful, such that it would make a good decoration.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through Cross Focused Reviews.  My review is honest.

Book Write-Up: Where We Belong, by Lynn Austin

Lynn Austin.  Where We Belong.  Bethany House, 2017.  See here to buy the book.

Where We Belong is set in the nineteenth century.  Two sisters, Rebecca and Flora Hawes, live with their wealthy father in Chicago.  They are based on Agnes and Margaret Smith, twin sisters who discovered a manuscript of the Gospels (dating to 500 C.E.) at the traditional Mount Sinai.  Accompanying Rebecca and Flora are Soren Petersen, who is a servant, and Kate, who came to be with them after trying to steal from them.  The book alternates between their adventures at Mount Sinai and their personal backgrounds.

The adventures at Sinai got rather tedious, but the personal backgrounds were compelling.  Rebecca is an intelligent, scholarly, and deeply-spiritual person, afraid that she will be pressured to marry a man who does not share her passions and is only interested in money.  Flora is a beautiful yet modest lady with a heart for helping the poor.  A love triangle (sort of) develops among Rebecca, Flora, and Edmund, a bumbling, likeable scholar from Cambridge with a solid Christian faith.  Petersen lost his mother when he was a boy and ended up in an orphanage with his little brother, Gunnar, whom he tries to protect.  After a tragic incident, Petersen steers off onto the wrong path, until he is shown grace.  And Kate has an attitude and has experienced downsides of life.  Another character, who does not get his own section but is still a significant figure in the story, is Timothy, a scholar from the University of Chicago with curiosity and a romantic interest in Rebecca.  Timothy is a content agnostic and skeptic, and Rebecca, a devout Christian, struggles over whether she should marry him.

A key subject in this book is Christian apologetics: should Christians attempt to persuade non-Christians of the truth of Christianity through appeals to reason and evidence, or is living a righteous life and encouraging people to listen to God’s voice sufficient?  The book leans towards the latter, while implying that Christianity can stand on its own two feet in terms of the former.  Timothy was not exactly the strongest opponent in his debates with Rebecca, but he had a good retort about Noah’s Ark, after Rebecca had made a snarky comment about Darwinian evolution.  Rebecca seemed to suggest that archaeological finds confirming the historicity of aspects of the Bible supports the religious and spiritual outlook of the Bible; to her credit, though, Lynn Austin referred to archaeological confirmation of Homer’s tales.  The book leaned heavily on the stability of the New Testament text: that the New Testament has been largely unchanged over the centuries.  Even if that is true, does that demonstrate the truth of Christianity?  Austin raises other considerations, as well, but the prominence of manuscripts in the book stood out.

As always, Lynn Austin is an effective storyteller.  Some things were rather rushed (e.g., Timothy could have been better developed), and the end got a little preachy, as Petersen and Kate essentially delivered to Timothy a sermon.  The book was insightful, though, about how God creates people with talents and passions, and ways that people can cope, in a godly manner, with the disappointments of life.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.  My review is honest.