Book Reviews

Most Recent Reviews in All Categories

Here are the five most recent reviews I’ve written. scroll down and click the topic to expand the list to every review I have written and/or illustrated. Enjoy!

Epistemology/Hermeneutics

  • Homebrewed Guide to Jesus Notes Chapters 5-7
    Visual notes from Homebrewed Guide to Jesus by Tripp Fuller. Chapters 5-7.
  • Homebrewed Guide to Jesus chapters 2-4
    Homebrewed Guide to Jesus chapters 2-4
  • Visualizing an Open and Relational Theology
    These images visualize an Open and Relational Theology as described by Tripp Fuller and John Cobb.
  • Faith Formation in a Secular Age by Andy Root | #visualnotes
    Andy Root is a professor at Luther Seminary and a thought leader in youth ministry, young adults, family, church, and culture. I had the privilege to hear Andy present the big concepts in his book Faith Formation in a Secular Age at Luther this week. I was on campus all week co-teaching a group of Doctor ...
  • Book | In Search of Self edited by van Huyssteen and Wiebe
    Van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel and Erik P. Wiebe. In Search of Self: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Personhood. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2011. The following two paragraphs provide a good flavor for this collection of essays that explore the human self in an interdisciplinary conversation. “While neuroscientists like Daniel Siegel, Louis Cozolino, and John Cacioppo have argued ...
  • Book | Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics by Jean Grondin
    Grondin, Jean. Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1994. Author – Jean Grondin The following illustration represents the history that Grondin sets forth in this book. It provides a nice frame for understanding how hermeneutics shifted in the mid-twentieth century from positivism to a more communicative, constructivist perspective. This was not an overnight switch, ...
  • Putting Willard on the Raft | A Reflection on Gary Black’s book The Theology of Dallas Willard
    Black, Gary. The Theology of Dallas Willard: Discovering Protoevangelical Faith. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2013. The Author – Dr. Gary Black, Jr. This essay is both a reflection on Gary Black’s book The Theology of Dallas Willard, and a huge note of gratitude to Gary for shedding light on a much needed subject. This book has not ...
  • Book | A Secular Age by Charles Taylor
    The Author – Charles Taylor A key concept that comes from the book is that of the buffered self. Taylor argues that modern, western civilization has disenchanted the cosmos and moved away from a porous self—in which the person can be influenced and interpenetrated by forces and spirits of the cosmos—to the buffered self which lives ...
  • Book | Beyond Foundationalism by Stanley Grenz and John Franke
    Book | Beyond Foundationalism by Stanley Grenz and John Franke
  • Book | Converging on Culture
    Brown, Delwin, Sheila Greeve Davaney, Kathryn Tanner, and American Academy of Religion. Converging on Culture: Theologians in Dialogue with Cultural Analysis and Criticism The American Academy of Religion Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion Series. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.  The Editors Delwin Brown Dean emeritus of Pacific School of Religion (PSR), as a ...

Learning in Adulthood

  • A Visual Book Review of The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
    I read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. I had seen it in the bookstore, and heard it mentioned a few places, most notably by Tripp Fuller on the Homebrewed Christianity podcast. So, I thought I should read it. I’m so glad I did. This is one of those books that has caused me to go ...
  • A Sketch of an article by Kieran Scott “Alternating Currents: Sacramental and Prophetic Imagining and Church Education”
    Kieran Scott‘s article “Alternating Currents: Sacramental and Prophetic Imagining and Church Education” in Religious Education, offers a hopeful framework for the local church to educate people in the emerging post-modern context. He argues that we must embrace two seemingly contradictory imaginations and hold them in constant tension, like alternating currents. On the one side is the ...
  • Book | The Practice of Communicative Theology by Scharer and Hilberath
    Scharer, Matthias Hilberath Bernd Jochen. The Practice Of Communicative Theology: Introduction To A New Theological Culture. New York: Crossroad Pub. CO. 2008. The Authors — Matthias Scharer and Bernd Jochen Hilberath My Reflections Sharer and Hilberath are two German, Roman Catholic theologians who have adopted Ruth Cohn’s Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) model as the means of doing theology. This ...
  • Book | The Evolving Self by Robert Kegan
    Kegan, Robert. The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. The Author – Robert Kegan My Thoughts I read the Prologue to this book today. I have already read In Over Our Heads and Immunity to Change, so I am familiar with Kegan’s theory. Mary Hess suggested that I read this book, and include ...
  • Book | Stages of Faith by James Fowler
    Fowler, James W. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981. The Author James Fowler Charles Howard Candler Professor of Theology and Human Development at Emory University. Stages of Faith Infancy and Undifferentiated Faith Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith Stage ...
  • Book | Exploring Spirituality and Culture in Adult and Higher Education by Elizabeth Tisdell
    Exploring Spirituality and Culture in Adult and Higher Education by Elizabeth Tisdell My Notes… Assumptions about Spirituality: spirituality and religion are not the same, but for many people they are interrelated spirituality is an awareness and honoring of wholeness and the interconnectedness of all things through the mystery of what many refer to as the Life-force, God, higher power, ...
  • Book | Learning as Transformation by Jack Mezirow and Associates
    Mezirow, Jack. Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. 1st ed. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. The Author – Jack Mezirow a pdf of learning as Transformation by Jack Mezirow my notes “Transformative learning refers to the process by which we transform our taken-for-granted frames of reference (meaning perspectives, ...
  • Book | In Over Our Heads by Robert Kegan
    Kegan, Robert. In over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994. The Author – Robert Kegan Kegan is a professor of Adult Learning at Harvard, specializing in cognitive developmental psychology. He has dedicated his career to studying what he has come to call “the evolving self.” Prior to his quest, which began ...

Missional Church

  • Elizabeth Johnson and The Strength of Her Witness | Notes from the Ministerium
    This book is a collection of essays written by female theologians from around the world. Each essay speaks into Christology and demonstrates how women played a critical role in Jesus’ ministry.
  • Book | The Mission Table: Renewing Congregation & Community by Stephen P. Bouman
    Bouman, Stephen P. 2013. The Mission Table: Renewing Congregation and Community. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress).   Author Stephen P. Bouman is the Executive Director of Congregational and Synodical Mission in the ELCA Churchwide Office. My Thoughts This book provides a clear, accessible plan for how to transform the local congregation into a missional community. Bouman draws from his own vast ...
  • Book Review | The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age by Dwight Zscheile
    Zscheile, Dwight. 2014. The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age. New York: Morehouse. Author: Dwight Zscheile Assistant Professor at Luther Seminary; Episcopal Priest. PhD – Luther Seminary M.Div – Yale Table of Contents Introduction Agility and Innovation Faith and Spirituality in and Insecure Age Forming and Restoring Community in a Nomadic World Failing Well, or What the Church Can Learn from Silicon Valley Disciplines ...
  • Book | The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin
    Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans; WCC Publications 1989. The Author – Lesslie Newbigin Key Quotes “If the gospel is to challenge the public life of our society, if Christians are to occupy the “high ground” which they vacated in the noontime of “modernity,” it will not be by forming a ...
  • Book | Foolishness to the Greeks by Lesslie Newbigin
    Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1986. Author – Lesslie Newbigin My Reflection (this reflection was originally written in January, 2012 for the course Vocation of the Theologian) God reignited my call to ministry in 1994. ((meaning the full-time pastor/teacher role as opposed to the universal ...
  • Book | Christianity After Religion by Diana Butler Bass
    Bass, Diana Butler. Christianity after Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening. 1st ed. New York: HarperOne, 2012. I heard Diana Butler Bass speak at the Festival of Homiletics a couple years ago, and she was fantastic. These are the notes I took from that presentation. It changed the way ...
  • Book | Missional Map-Making by Alan Roxburgh
    Roxburgh, Alan J. Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition. 1st ed. Leadership Network. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. The Author Alan Roxburgh Quotes “My thesis is a very simple one: I do not believe that epistemology is a bloodless abstraction; the way we know has powerful implications for the way we live. I argue that every ...
  • Book | Testing the Spirits edited by Patrick Keifert
    Keifert, Patrick R. Testing the Spirits: How Theology Informs the Study of Congregations. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2009. The Authors Ronald W. Duty Pat Taylor Ellison David Fredrickson Donald Juel Patrick Keifert Lois Malcolm Gary Simpson Three Shifts (from Van Gelder’s Foreword) The return of the congregation to theological education. The role of the Bible in the life of congregations. The role of congregations living ...
  • Book | Critical Social Theory by Gary Simpson
    Simpson, Gary M. Critical Social Theory: Prophetic Reason, Civil Society, and Christian Imagination Guides to Theological Inquiry. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. The Author Gary Simpson is a professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN and an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). From the Foreword by Paul Lakeland “Gary Simpson initiates ...
  • Book | The Witness of God by John G. Flett

Organizational Theory

  • Book | Leadership and the New Science by Margaret Wheatley
    Wheatley, Margaret J. Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2006. The Author Margaret Wheatley earned a Ed.D. From Harvard’s program in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy with a focus on organizational behavior and change. Her masters in from New York University in systems thinking. She began ...

Preaching

  • Telling the Truth by Frederick Buechner
    It has been a long time since a book felt like a cool drink of water on a hot day, or sitting down on a comfortable chair after a long and weary walk, or sharing a good meal with safe people after days of hostile deliberations. Frederick Buechner’s book Telling the Truth was that for ...

Religious Education

  • The End of Theological Education by Ted Smith | A Visual Book Review
    Ted Smith plays with the phrase “The End of Theological Education.” Is theological education ending? Or, what is the purpose of theological education. Allow me to visually walk you through this book.
  • Book | Stages of Faith by James Fowler
    Fowler, James W. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981. The Author James Fowler Charles Howard Candler Professor of Theology and Human Development at Emory University. Stages of Faith Infancy and Undifferentiated Faith Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith Stage ...
  • Book | Christian Conversion by Walter Conn
    Conn, Walter E. Christian Conversion: A Developmental Interpretation of Autonomy and Surrender. New York: Paulist Press, 1986.   The Author Walter E. Conn is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. He is also the editor of Horizons, journal of the College Theology Society. My Thoughts Walter Conn explores the idea Christian conversion through the filter of developmental ...
  • Book | Sharing Faith by Thomas Groome
    Groome, Thomas H. Sharing Faith: A Comprehensive Approach to Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry: The Way of Shared Praxis. 1st ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. The Author Areas of Interest: His primary areas of interest and research are the history, theory and practice of religious education, pastoral ministry and practical theology. About: Dr. Thomas H. Groome was born in County ...

Spirituality

  • What is Spirituality? | Visual Notes of Philip Sheldrake’s Book
    Visual notes from Spirituality: A Brief History by Philip Sheldrake. “What is Spirituality”
  • Dallas Willard on the Bible and the Word of God
    Chapter Six of Dallas Willard’s book Hearing God is titled “The Word of God & the Rule of God.” It is a fabulous exploration of how the word of God is the source of and intertwined with reality itself. He says, “The very phrase ‘still small voice’ might seem to suggest ...
  • Embodied Theology
    Embodied Theology
  • Book | The Social God and the Relational Self by Stanley Grenz
    Grenz, Stanley J. The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Author – Stanley Grenz Grenz traces the historical backdrop of the concept of self in the West in order to warrant his proposal of the ecclesial self as the best response ...
  • Book | In Search of Self edited by van Huyssteen and Wiebe
    Van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel and Erik P. Wiebe. In Search of Self: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Personhood. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2011. The following two paragraphs provide a good flavor for this collection of essays that explore the human self in an interdisciplinary conversation. “While neuroscientists like Daniel Siegel, Louis Cozolino, and John Cacioppo have argued ...
  • Book | Minding the Spirit edited by Elizabeth Dreyer and Mark Burrows
    Dreyer, Elizabeth and Mark S. Burrows, editors. Minding the Spirit: The Study of Christian Spirituality. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. The following Prezi is a visual way to interact with the notes that come below it. I created this Prezi during an independent study with Dr. Mary Hess in the Fall of 2012. My Notes Preface A.Definition: ...
  • Article | Near-Death Experiences and Spirituality by Greyson
    Greyson, Bruce. “Near-Death Experiences and Spirituality.” Zygon 41, no. 2 (2006): 393-414. NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES AND SPIRITUALITY by Greyson – flattened my annotated copy Annotation Summary for: NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES AND SPIRITUALITY by Greyson   Page 1, Underline (Custom Color: #4c4ccc):   Content: “Some individuals when they come close to death report Abstract. having experiences that they interpret as spiritual or religious. These ...
  • Book | Christianity After Religion by Diana Butler Bass
    Bass, Diana Butler. Christianity after Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening. 1st ed. New York: HarperOne, 2012. I heard Diana Butler Bass speak at the Festival of Homiletics a couple years ago, and she was fantastic. These are the notes I took from that presentation. It changed the way ...
  • Article | Spiritual Formation Agenda by Richard Foster
    Foster, Richard J. “Spiritual formation agenda: Richard Foster shares his three priorities for the next 30 years.” Christianity Today 53, no. 1 (January 1, 2009): 28-33. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed March 20, 2014) A member of the Research team asked me to read this article. We are five years into it, now, but I think Foster has ...
  • Putting Willard on the Raft | A Reflection on Gary Black’s book The Theology of Dallas Willard
    Black, Gary. The Theology of Dallas Willard: Discovering Protoevangelical Faith. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2013. The Author – Dr. Gary Black, Jr. This essay is both a reflection on Gary Black’s book The Theology of Dallas Willard, and a huge note of gratitude to Gary for shedding light on a much needed subject. This book has not ...

Suburban Studies

  • Article | Filling the Governance Gap by Allan Wallis
    Read Filling the Governance Gap by Allan Wallis, my annotated copy of this article. Wallis, Allan D. “Filling the Governance Gap.” National Civic Review 87, no. 1 (1998). Notes The dominant vision for regional growth Ownership of a detached single-family house; Automobile ownership; Low-rise workplaces; Small communities with strong local governments; Environment free from signs of poverty. Downs says the dominant vision succeeds admirably in ...
  • Book | Metropolitics by Myron Orfield
    Orfield, Myron. Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability. Cambridge, MA: Brookings Institution Press; Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1997. Author – Myron Orfield Myron Orfield identifies six distinct types of suburban communities: at-risk segregated, at-risk older, at-risk low density, bedroom-developing, affluent job centers, and very affluent job centers. These six types represent one of the greatest challenges of suburbia: the socio-economic stratification ...
  • Book | Crabgrass Frontier by Kenneth Jackson
    Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. The Author Kenneth Jackson Professor of History and the Social Sciences at Columbia University My Thoughts Jackson’s work—Crabgrass Frontier—is the most ubiquitous citation in my experience of studying suburbia. He published this history of the Suburbs in 1985. It was on the front ...
  • Book | Building Suburbia by Dolores Hayden
    Hayden, Dolores. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003. The Author Dolores Hayden She is a professor at Yale University and past president of the Urban History Association. The triple dream: house, yard, and neighborhood. The following paragraph summarizes the intent of this book: “Arguing for the metropolitan context of suburban landscapes, this ...
  • Book | Beorgeois Utopias by Robert Fishman
    Fishman, Robert. Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia. New York: Basic Books, 1987. The Author Robert Fishman Fishman is a professor of architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan. Annotated Reviews The following are reviews that I have marked up: Review of bourgeois – Haine Review of Bourgeois Utopias – Howland “Seen in historical perspective, suburbia now appears as ...
  • Book | Souls of the City by Etan Diamond
    Diamond, Etan. Souls of the City: Religion and the Search for Community in Postwar America Polis Center Series on Religion and Urban Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. The Author Etan Diamond Etan Diamond is a senior research associate. An urban and religious historian, he studies changes in the Indianapolis religious and urban landscapes since World War II. Summary Diamond ...
  • Book | The Suburban Church by Arthur H. DeKruyter
    DeKruyter, Arthur H., and Quentin J. Schultze. The Suburban Church: Practical Advice for Authentic Ministry. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. The Author Arther DeKruyter Founding pastor of Christ Church in Oak Brook, IL.   Summary DeKruyter offers a case study of how he started with the calling from five couples in the suburban Oak Brook Village, to ...
  • Book | Death by Suburb by David Goetz
    The Author David Goetz is president of CZ Marketing, a creative strategy agency that repositions organizations for new growth. Dave is also the founder of www.RealityRN.com, a social media community for new nurses. Dave is the author of Death by Suburb (HarperCollins) and is working on a follow-up book tentatively titled, Jesus at Midlife, a spirituality ...
  • Book | How Cities Work by Alex Marshall
    Marshall, Alex. How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken. 1st ed. Constructs Series. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. The Author A journalist and writer for a quarter century, Alex Marshall is the author of The Surprising Design of Market Economies (University of Texas 2012), as well as How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and ...
  • Book | Suburban Nation by Andres Duany
    Duany, Andres, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. 10th anniversary ed. New York: North Point Press, 2010. The Author Andrés Duany (born September 7, 1949) is an American architect and urban planner. Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. ...

Trinity

  • Book | The Social God and the Relational Self by Stanley Grenz
    Grenz, Stanley J. The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Author – Stanley Grenz Grenz traces the historical backdrop of the concept of self in the West in order to warrant his proposal of the ecclesial self as the best response ...
  • Book | The Practice of Communicative Theology by Scharer and Hilberath
    Scharer, Matthias Hilberath Bernd Jochen. The Practice Of Communicative Theology: Introduction To A New Theological Culture. New York: Crossroad Pub. CO. 2008. The Authors — Matthias Scharer and Bernd Jochen Hilberath My Reflections Sharer and Hilberath are two German, Roman Catholic theologians who have adopted Ruth Cohn’s Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) model as the means of doing theology. This ...
  • Book | The Entangled Trinity by Ernest Simmons
    Book | The Entangled Trinity by Ernest Simmons
  • Article | A Trinitarian Perspective on Christian Spirituality by Mark McIntosh
    Mark McIntosh’s work is important to my research. He has done an incredible job of connecting Trinitarian theology to spirituality. This is obviously important to my research question in which I ask how an increased awareness of social Trinity might impact spiritual formation. Holder, Arthur, ed. The Blackwell Companion to Christian Spirituality Blackwell Companions to Religion. ...
  • Book | The Trinity and an Entangled World edited by John Polkinghorne
    Polkinghorne, J. C. The Trinity and an Entangled World: Relationality in Physical Science and Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. 2010. Editor – John Polkinghorne This book is a collection of essays that deals directly with one of the core theological frames of my research: relational ontology. One of the essays is an article ...
  • Article | Augustine in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology by Michel Barnes
    My research relies heavily on the Social Trinity and draws upon theologians like Lacugna, Moltmann, Zizioulas, among others. It is important to note that not everyone agrees with their theological constructs. Michel Barnes is a key voice that has pointed out a fundamental flaw in the recent Trinitarian conversation. The flaw centers on a misunderstanding ...
  • Book | God the Spirit by Michael Welker
    Welker, Michael. God the Spirit. 1st English-language ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994. The Author – Michael Welker Welker is the Director of the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology at the University of Heidelberg. This book has had a significant impact on my research. The key ideas that I glean from Welker are that the Spirit is ...
  • Book | The Quest for the Trinity by Stephen R. Holmes
    Holmes, Stephen R. The Quest for the Trinity. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2012. The Author – Stephen R. Holmes My Thoughts This book is a helpful and refreshing counterbalance to my growing bibliography concerning the 20th century Trinitarian conversation in the West. Stephen Holmes is a brilliant scholar from the UK who speaks to this topic from the ...
  • Edmund Hill’s Translation of Augustine’s De Trinitate
    I am very pleased to have found Edmund Hill’s Translation of Augustine’s De Trinitate. Previously I had been reading Phillip Schaff’s late 19th century translation and found it difficult to digest. Hill brings a brightness to the text that I find much more comprehensible, and actually enjoyable to read. Special thanks to Fred Sanders for ...
  • Book | Beyond Foundationalism by Stanley Grenz and John Franke
    Book | Beyond Foundationalism by Stanley Grenz and John Franke

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