Book Reviews

The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier
by: Tony Jones

This is an essential book for those trying to genuinely understand Emergent Village as a conversation/group, emerging church and emergent as a movement (aka The Great Emergence). Tony provides readers with a chronological history of Emergent Village, theological background and insight, shares stories of people in the conversation and gives incredible and (in my opinion) accurate insight into the culture that has birthed this important movement. Most importantly, Tony shares how, as Jim Wallis put it, “the influence of Jesus of Nazareth is moving among a new generation hungry for something real and desperate to move beyond simplistic polarities inherited from the past.”

If you are already in the Emergent conversation, you will find this book a helpful resource when you try to explain what’s going in on your and your friend’s lives and you will likely gain insight into the history of Emergent Village and emerging Christianity. If you aren’t part of EV and even if you’re a critic, if you approach this book with a bit of humility and trust, you might just learn something.

Rapture Ready! : Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture
by: Daniel Radosh

Reading this book was an interesting experience. So much of what Radosh experienced was familiar to me which made me feel quite uncomfortable at times. Like similar books, Rapture Ready is an expose of the Christian (specifically Evangelical) pop sub culture that consistently asked the question “what makes THIS Christian?”. But unlike other books of its kind, Rapture Ready is not angry or particularly judgmental. It’s written like a journalist would write such a book - with curious expectation. It was humorous, interesting and sometimes shocking - - even for a seasoned evangelical pentecostal like myself.

I think every Christian benefits from listening humbly at the perceptions of our own sub culture - but if you don’t read it for that value, read it for the pure entertainment it provides.

I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus
by: Don Everts and Doug Schaupp

I first read Everts a few years ago - he’s a name you hear a lot in Intervarsity. I like his perspective of the Christian life and what it truly means to be a Christ follower. However, at this point in my life I’m finding his writing to be a bit “old hat” for me. I Once Was Lost is a book written about postmoderns - it’s always odd reading books about myself written by people who are trying to provide insight … makes me feel like a specimen. But this book is clearly written to those who don’t understand us and want to. It’s primarily written as a guide to evangelizing college age people. I got through the first few chapters and skimmed the rest.

If you are a young person or see yourself as postmodern, this book might be helpful to your evangelical friends/family. It might also be helpful as a guide to delicately articulate some misunderstandings about “postmoderns”. But beyond that, for most of you, my readers, it won’t be a particularly valuable read…although, I still enjoy Everts style.

Salvation on the Small Screen? : 24 hours of Christian Television
by: Nadia Bolz-Weber

My last post was sort of a LOOONG review of this book and the thoughts it generated. Here is the short version pulled from that post.

Nadia watched 24 hours of TBN and then wrote a book about her
experience.  It’s a great read, I highly recommend it for anyone (not just Christians either). Nadia is funny (it helps to know her a little and be able to hear her “delivery”), clever, honest and humble (or at least honest about when she’s not being humble hehe).  In each section, she spends a short time talking about what she watched and peppers it with her own sarcastic, cynical and vulnerable commentary as well as that of the friends who were present watching with her. It was fascinating reading this book from my perspective as someone who grew up with TBN (I know many of those guys personally) through the lens of a liberal Lutheran pastor.

The best part of the book are the revelations Nadia gets along the way. She is unashamed of her cynicism and apprehension but she is quick to admit when she learns something about herself and her own faith experience. She has little summations at the end and keeps a running tab of how much you’d spend if you bought everything offered during the programming. It’s a very entertaining read if nothing else…but I think you’ll find it’s much more than that.

REVIEWS COMING SOON

Emerging Church : A Model for Change & a Map for Renewal
by Bruce Sanguine

The Becoming of G-d : What the Trinitarian nature of God has to do with Church and a deep Spirituality for the Twenty First Century
by: Ian Mobsby

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