Brief Mention – June 2006
Featured this month:Colossians and Philemon – Coming of Age: Exploring the Identity and Spirituality of Younger MenPray With Purpose: Live With Passion: How Praising God A to Z Will Transform Your LifeTorn Asunder: The Civil War and the 1906 Division of the Disciples
BIBLICAL STUDY
Marianne Meye Thompson. Colossians and Philemon, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2005. ISBN 0-8028-2715-2; 297 pages; $20.00; (800) 253-7521 or www.eerdmans.com.
These two books often have been discounted as clearly expressing Pauline theology. But Thompson demonstrates how both epistles convey Paul’s understanding of salvation in terms of God’s creative and reconciling activities and not merely in terms of justification by faith. The creation-redemption story ties Colossians’ Christology together, while Philemon provides greater insight into Paul’s ecclesiology as family and what it means for Christians to embody the new humanity in Christ.
Thompson is professor of New Testament interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
SPIRITUALITY
David Anderson, Paul Hill and Roland Martinson. Coming of Age: Exploring the Identity and Spirituality of Younger Men, Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Fortress, 2006. ISBN 0-8066-5224-1; 214 pages; $15.99; (800) 328-4648 or www.augsburgfortress.org.
Recognizing that many churches are losing the fight for young men, the authors show church leaders how they can engage them in ways that will connect with their spirituality. The 11 chapters deal with such pressing issues as authenticity, friendships, relations with fathers, nature and sports, stress and a balanced life, service, vocation, and spiritual hunger.
Anderson is director of home and congregational renewal at the Youth and Family Institute in Bloomington, Minn.
PRAYER
Debbie Williams. Pray With Purpose: Live With Passion: How Praising God A to Z Will Transform Your Life, West Monroe, La.: Howard Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-58229-482-8; 290 pages; $14.99; (800) 858-4109 or www.howardpublishing.com.
This is an interactive guide to help readers, especially women, deepen their prayer life. Using the acronym PRAY for Praise, Repent, Ask and Yield, she encourages readers to study God’s attributes, from A to Z, to lead them toward a more powerful experience of awe and submission to God. The book gets up close and personal with God’s intimate care for us.
Williams, a survivor of ovarian cancer, is founder and president of Hill Country Ministries in Kerrville, Texas, and is a speaker and seminar leader at events across the nation.
CHURCH HISTORY
Ben Brewster. Torn Asunder: The Civil War and the 1906 Division of the Disciples, Joplin, Mo.: College Press Publishing, 2006. 135 pages; $9.99; (800) 289-3300 or www.collegepress.com.
This short book takes an overview of the issues and interpretative questions that led to the division between Churches of Christ and other traditions within the American Restoration Movement. Brewster argues that it was not the use of instrumental music in worship that propelled the separation but the Civil War, the question of slavery and the writings of David Lipscomb. The book does not intend to disparage figures in the movement but to show that they were men, though flawed, who sought to follow God.
Brewster is pulpit minister of the Airline Drive Church of Christ in Bossier City, La.
June 1, 2006
BIBLICAL STUDY
Marianne Meye Thompson. Colossians and Philemon, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2005. ISBN 0-8028-2715-2; 297 pages; $20.00; (800) 253-7521 or www.eerdmans.com.
These two books often have been discounted as clearly expressing Pauline theology. But Thompson demonstrates how both epistles convey Paul’s understanding of salvation in terms of God’s creative and reconciling activities and not merely in terms of justification by faith. The creation-redemption story ties Colossians’ Christology together, while Philemon provides greater insight into Paul’s ecclesiology as family and what it means for Christians to embody the new humanity in Christ.
Thompson is professor of New Testament interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
SPIRITUALITY
David Anderson, Paul Hill and Roland Martinson. Coming of Age: Exploring the Identity and Spirituality of Younger Men, Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Fortress, 2006. ISBN 0-8066-5224-1; 214 pages; $15.99; (800) 328-4648 or www.augsburgfortress.org.
Recognizing that many churches are losing the fight for young men, the authors show church leaders how they can engage them in ways that will connect with their spirituality. The 11 chapters deal with such pressing issues as authenticity, friendships, relations with fathers, nature and sports, stress and a balanced life, service, vocation, and spiritual hunger.
Anderson is director of home and congregational renewal at the Youth and Family Institute in Bloomington, Minn.
PRAYER
Debbie Williams. Pray With Purpose: Live With Passion: How Praising God A to Z Will Transform Your Life, West Monroe, La.: Howard Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-58229-482-8; 290 pages; $14.99; (800) 858-4109 or www.howardpublishing.com.
This is an interactive guide to help readers, especially women, deepen their prayer life. Using the acronym PRAY for Praise, Repent, Ask and Yield, she encourages readers to study God’s attributes, from A to Z, to lead them toward a more powerful experience of awe and submission to God. The book gets up close and personal with God’s intimate care for us.
Williams, a survivor of ovarian cancer, is founder and president of Hill Country Ministries in Kerrville, Texas, and is a speaker and seminar leader at events across the nation.
CHURCH HISTORY
Ben Brewster. Torn Asunder: The Civil War and the 1906 Division of the Disciples, Joplin, Mo.: College Press Publishing, 2006. 135 pages; $9.99; (800) 289-3300 or www.collegepress.com.
This short book takes an overview of the issues and interpretative questions that led to the division between Churches of Christ and other traditions within the American Restoration Movement. Brewster argues that it was not the use of instrumental music in worship that propelled the separation but the Civil War, the question of slavery and the writings of David Lipscomb. The book does not intend to disparage figures in the movement but to show that they were men, though flawed, who sought to follow God.
Brewster is pulpit minister of the Airline Drive Church of Christ in Bossier City, La.
June 1, 2006
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