Brief Mention – January 2007

GROWTH
James Emery White. A Mind for God. Downer’s Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity, 2006. ISBN; 125 pages; $12;.
Reading, learning and reflection are central to transformation.
This is White’s assumption and his little book will inspire and advise us on how to approach transformation by developing our minds. White provides seven short chapters followed by a book list and resources.
White writes, “Our very transformation as Christians is dependent on whether our minds are engaged in an ongoing process of renewal in light of Christ. Our minds are deeply spiritual, and so developing our minds must be a spiritual discipline.”
White is president of Gordon-Cornwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass.
THEOLOGY
C. Leonard Allen. The Cruciform Church: Becoming a Cross-Shaped People in a Secular World. Rev. Edition. Abilene, Texas: ACU Press, 2006. ISBN; 252 pages; $14.99;.
This new edition brings Allen’s original seven chapters together with a new chapter, “Last(ing) Things,” and a 13-week study guide.
The new chapter renews and sharpens the book’s original claims that the church needs to more consciously and clearly develop its true identity.
Allen writes, “Without such a vision, I am convinced, the church cannot occupy its proper minority stance in a liberal culture or in any other culture.”
Allen is author of Things Unseen and Modern Age; Distant Voices. He is director of ACU Press.
CHRISTIAN LIVING
Harold S. Kushner. Overcoming Life’s Disappointments. New York: Knopf, 2006. ISBN; 174 pages; $21.95;
www.randomhouse.com
In this study of the life of Moses, Kushner finds the spiritual wisdom for dealing with heartbreak.
Kushner writes, “Moses’ triumphs were spectacular, but his frustrations and disappointments must have been searing. How did he do what he did?”
Of course Christians will find that Kushner’s ending stops short of Christ, the ultimate hope, but his study of Moses is rich with resources for all those seeking to conquer disappointment and the destructive anger that follows in its wake.
Kushner is rabbi laureate of Temple Israel, Natick, Mass., and author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People.
TEXTUAL STUDY
Michelle Brown, editor. In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000 . New York: Smithsonian Books, 2006. ISBN; 360 pages; $45; www.harpercollins.com.
This book brings together the most important ancient texts from both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles in an oversized, gorgeously illustrated edition that should be owned by libraries and congregations seeking to inform and inspire biblical literacy.
Brown assembles fragile biblical manuscripts from archives and provides a cogent discussion of each.
The volume has been developed in connection to an exhibition of the same title at the Smithsonian’s Freer & Sackler Galleries, which runs through January.
Brown is former curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library.
Jan. 1, 2007