What Are You Reading and Why?

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

This book looks at sermons and the changing perspectives; the writer, Ray Bystrom, has taught homiletics (the theological name for sermons) at several colleges and shares both the descriptions of sermons past as well as the approach today, and as pastor had  to practise what he preached!.  He does so through an analysis of our culture and an examination of three major homileticians:  Frederick Craddock, Eugene Lowry and George Buttrick. 

In the treatment of each, he devotes a chapter that includes a theology of the person featured, a sample and an analysis of a sermon preached by the person, a description of the approach, and an evaluation of the method.  Bystrom states that most North American preaching is ‘discursive’:  built on argument and organized by points and propositions; the sermon is frequently little more than the three burdensome logical points with helpful illustrations designed to relieve the minds of those trying to follow the preacher’s logic (p 1).  ‘Preachers need to move beyond ‘three points and a poem’ (p 3).  In place of the discursive model, Bystrom encourages the inductive and the narrative approaches.  Preoccupation with the sermon as argument meant that attention was focused on content and not on form, even though the focus of the early church’s sermons was narrative, not ‘discursive’.  Once the  church moved into the Hellenistic world, a reflective shape became the construct of preaching, a discursive structure (p 10). 

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture has dominated the discussion of the relation between Christian faith and ‘secular’ culture.  The discussion has been based the awareness that theology always stands at the crossroads of decision:  either to serve Christ and His church, of to fall prey to a private religious expression, some fashionable philosophy, moral crusade of political ideology (p 7).  Niebuhr’s position is the doctrine of the two kingdoms, the belief that Christians are simultaneously saints and sinners, what Niebuhr called ‘Christ and culture in Paradox’.  The Lutheran concept of the two kingdoms speaks against the cultural accommodation of theology, the paradoxical vision provides correctives to two possible dangers:  a ‘Christianization of society’, remaking the world into the image of the church, or an ‘acculturization of the church’, remaking the church into the image of the world.

Menugo’s book speaks to three major themes.  One. The identification of alternative approaches to Christ and culture, clarifying Lutheran perspectives.  Two.  The dialogue between Christ and culture as It applies to social issues (war, evangelism).  Three.  The institutions of the church, with specific attention to worship and the educational structure of the church.  (This is particularly cogent for church colleges and seminaries.)

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

This well-balanced volume looks at the key facets of significant interaction between religion and culture.  Religion’ may refer to the religious traditions (Buddhism , Judaism).  Or it may refer to symbols and meanings, values.  ‘Culture’ is the interaction of the political dimensions, a vital public arena where social debates are encouraged and may contribute to preserving democracy and preventing mass destruction (p xviii).  Religious pluralism may be the key, the public spaces for face to face communications.  Religion and Culture is a compilation of essays (from a Lutheran perspective) dealing with three spaces where religion and culture are performed:  peace building, as it creates communities; the dome and domestic space; contemporary art.

Six essays outline religion and culture in the space of politics (key areas sketched here are science, women and peace building).  ‘Sometimes it is religion that creates or reinforces women’s suffering, and sometimes it is religion that provides the antidote and the opportunity for freedom’ (p 110).  Another six essays examine religion and culture in the space of ethics. Fascinating conceptualization here:  the religious ethics of capitalism, education, children, death.  The final seven essays describe a third space that Hecht calls aesthetic, where there is greater creative freedom:  visual art, music, film. 

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

Here is a helpful look at our worship time together, by Willimon, for many years Minister to Duke University and now bishop in the Methodist church.  From his knowledge and personal experience he stresses that the form and substance of worship if a whole, and sketches the biblical and pastoral components of the ordo:  Gathering, Confession, Praises, Scripture, Sermon, Creed, Intercession, the Lord’s Supper, Sending Forth.  A very useful adjunct to Willimon is "An Educational Gide," prepared by John Westerhoff, a resource for group study and discussion that implements Willimon’s material.

Of special interest to me were his comments about greeting, talking and silence in the time leading to the more ‘official’ worship.  Announcements should be made here in the pre-service, and be made by laypersons rather than by the pastor.

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

Gushee tells his story, of finding faith and struggling with spirituality, whose commitment to Jesus puts him at odds with American evangelicalism.  Still Christian tells of his pilgrimage from personal faith found on a Baptist church parking lot as a teenager to studies and teaching in five seminaries and several inter-church social action groups.  His story relates to a wide range of religious probing:  the Southern Baptist Convention controversy; mainline liberalism and radicalism; American conservative and progressive evangelicalism; life as an academic in both secular and Christian institutions; Christian engagements with politics; national media; fights over specific issues such as abortion, climate, torture, women’s participation in church structures and LGBT inclusion (xv). 

He became a Southern Baptist as a teenager, discovered Protestantism at liberal seminars, got a teaching gig at a conservative seminary, got involved in environmental and anti-torture activism, change his mind about gay people (xi).  The discipline of journaling helped create accuracy and perspective.

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

Ateek is (Anglican) canon of St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem and pastors its Arabaic speaking congregation.  The claim for security for the one people, the Israeli Jews, has been purchased at the expense of the just claims to the land of another people, the Palestinians.  In Ateek’s words, the Israeli Jews seek peace with security, and the Palestinians seek peace with justice.  The rival claims of these three major religions with their roots in Palestine underscores that the key to peace is the acknowledgement that this land must be shared.  How do we end violence to one people in a way that does not create new violence to another people? 

The critical issue for every liberation theology is not simply how to throw off oppression and empower the formerly victimized, but how to do it in a way that does not create new violence to another people.  ‘Only justice rooted in compassion can save us from repeating the cycle of violence (p xiii).  Ateek writes carefully about the historical pressure in Palestine and the various movements in the struggle (Zionists, Christian and Jewish; right wing eschatologies).  Ateek writes well about the role of the bible, and our concept of G-d.  A biblical hermeneutic that seeks to identify the authentic word of G-d, and this hermeneutic for Christians Is Jesus Christ.  Applying this hermeneutic to the Old Testament passages is for the Christian the need to see as inadequate the human understanding of G-d.  (The wholesale destruction and killing of Jericho’s inhabitants, the death by bear of small boys, the massacre of the Amalekites.  Ateek identifies three central biblical themes:  justice (Naboth), prophets (who tell the truth even when it is unpopular), refugees’ hope in G-d (Psalm 42,43).

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

So it’s a book about Canadian small churches.  But the sociological and cultural focus of small churches is not particularly different depending on which side of latitude and longitude we probe.  Adamson’s treatment of small churches examines the United Church of Canada, Canadian Catholic churches the Anglican Church of Canada (Episcopalian), Lutheran churches I Canada, Presbyterian and Baptist churches in Canada.  (a few comparative figures for congregational size provides size comparisons for Canadian and American congregations.  P 28, p 224f18) 

Adamson concentrates on examination of what small congregations can offer, rather than on statistical data.  much of this represents the application of pastoral care, e.g., aspects of small congregations (250 or fewer members) is the care and support of each other, grounding each other in the faith and traditions of the church, mutual ministry, ministry to the surrounding community, a lean, simple and efficient organization, formation of clergy, a sense of stability and strength.  Small congregations may also have weaknesses:  temptation to be exclusive, to monopolize power, to be reserved, to neglect simplicity, to ignore certain crises.  ‘The primary difference is that big churches offer programs in which to participate whereas small churches offer a place in which to belong (p 42). 

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

The intersection of scientific discovery and religious belief have consistently resulted in comment, controversy and sometimes violent dispute.  On Faith and Science offers perspective on the always complex relationship between science and religion, exploring cosmology, geology, evolution, gender and the environment.  Larson and Ruse avoid rancor and polemic as they identify the key issues under debate by the adherents of science and the advocates of faith.  They write compellingly of the interaction of science and religion that focused on conflict as the paradigm for the relationship of science and religion.

Another major perspective is that of complementarity, illustrated by Muslims and Christians, with a major emphasis on natural law, cause-and-effect relationships in nature:  the complementary perspective, religion fostering science, although  the writers’ summary of students at UCLA identified a conflict model.  They also point out the ways in which evangelical and fundamentalist churches have participated in this struggle ‘the conflict model still survives among historians and philosophers of science (p 13)’.  ‘The world works according to unbroken law and … G-d stays out of it’ (p 45).

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Ellingsen says the theological community must articulate the significance of traditional Christian doctrines for daily life with more power and force.  Doctrine and Word reflects this concern for doctrinal relevance.  The first section of each chapter describes the doctrine (14 doctrines are treated), its historical roots, and how it has been dealt with by varying Christian traditions (the ecumenical perspective).  The second section of each chapter summarizes its significance for daily life, with a sermon on a biblical text; the sermons illustrate how Christian doctrine can help make sense out of everyday experience (p viii), i.e., What is the nature of Christian identity?  What purpose in life do Christians have as a result of this faith?

        Ellingsen focuses on the nature of Christian identity, articulating the meaning and relevance for life of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith.  Christian faith begins with the assumption that G-d is known in Jesus, Christians are people of the book, the church as community, the practise of sacraments, and the role of ecumenism (different concerns addressed sometimes by apparently contradictory doctrinal formations)(p 173).

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Smith writes from the perspective that preaching is an interpretation of our present world and an invitation to a profoundly different world.  Preaching is a form of weeping in a universe filled with human suffering and oppression; it is a form of oppression where the preacher can call on communities into painful and honest confession, and it is a form of resistance, moving people to actively resist the attitudes and structures of oppression, of ‘isms’.  Smith sees three worlds that converge in the act of preaching; the world of the text, the world of the preacher and community where proclamation occur, and the larger social context in which we live out our faith.  Preaching is a theological act (mediating biblical perspectives) as well as an act of naming.  Smith’s three descriptions of preaching are those of weeping, confession and resistance (the Christian response to the real world).

        Smith identifies six areas of redemptive activity (handicappism, ageism, sexism, heterosexism, racism and classism).  Each of the chapters names a type of violence; describes her experience that moved her to passionate feeling; identifying the realities of our social and political life; adding a sermon on the particular issue (eg women standing at the cross, ‘Standing at a Distance’, Good Friday, Luke 23:44-49).  Smith’s close fellowship ecumenically, especially with Latin American struggles, adds powerful perspective to her presentations; it is a book that will bring preaching into a new partnership with the congregation.