Meet the Author John Voelz serves as one of two lead pastors at Westwinds Church (Jackson, MI), overseeing music and the arts. Given the topic of his first book, Follow You Follow Me: Why Social Networking is Essential to Ministry (2012), his Twitter profile offers a good introduction to who he understands himself to be: "Husband, Father, Poppie, Musician, Artist, Cartoon, Pastor at Westwinds, Writer, Painter, aggravator." Book Basics Voelz views himself as an Read More …
Books
Review of Inside the Large Congregation (#0730)
Meet the Author Susan Beaumont is an ordained American Baptist minister who has spent the last 25 years educating and empowering congregational and corporate leaders. After serving as an Area Minister in the American Baptist Churches and managing her own consulting practice, she joined the Alban Institute in 2005 as a senior consultant specializing in large congregations. She is the co-author of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in Large Read More …
Review of Going Solo (#0722)
Meet the Author Eric Klinenberg is Professor of Sociology; Public Policy; and Media, Culture, and Communications at New York University. At NYU, Klinenberg teaches courses on "the sociology of cities, culture, and media, as well graduate seminars on research methods, ethnography, and urban design." His first book, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (2003), won six scholarly and literary prizes. In the years since, he has written two additional Read More …
Review of The Jesus We Missed (#0716)
Meet the Author Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor of All Saints' Orthodox Church (Chicago, IL) and a senior editor of Touchstone magazine. Father Reardon was educated at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), St. Anselm's College (Rome), The Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), and St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary (South Canaan, PA). He is a prolific writer who has published over a thousand articles, editorials, and reviews. Additionally he has Read More …
Review of Beyond Religion (#0713)
Meet the Author His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (short for Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso), "is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet." For decades he has been among the most recognizable advocates of peace, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his continued non-violent efforts aimed at the liberation of Tibet. Additionally, His Holiness has received nearly a hundred formal awards or honors for his Read More …
Review of Revelations (#0696)
Meet the Author For the last thirty years Elaine Pagels has taught at Princeton University, where she currently serves as the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion. She has "published widely on Gnosticism and early Christianity, and continues to pursue research interests in late antiquity." Pagels' previous books include the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2004) and the National Book Award winner The Gnostic Gospels Read More …
Review of How God Became King (#0694)
Meet the Author N.T. (Nicholas Thomas) Wright has spent most of his life in academia. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford Universities before serving as Bishop of Durham in the Church of England from 2003-2010. Wright now serves as chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews. He has written many highly regarded books including Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Read More …
Review of The Best of Will Willimon (#0690)
Meet the Author Since 2004, William H. Willimon has served as a Bishop in the United Methodist Church responsible for overseeing 57,000 members and 792 pastors in North Alabama. Previously, he served for twenty years as Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University. Willimon is the author of over sixty books including two best sellers: Sinning Like a Christian: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Thank God It’s Read More …
Review of the Power of Parable (#0683)
Meet the Author John Dominic Crossan "is generally regarded as the leading historical Jesus scholar in the world." He has been a professor of religious studies at DePaul University since 1969 and currently serves that institution as professor emeritus. Over the last forty years Crossan has written over twenty-five books on the historical Jesus, earliest Christianity, and the historical Paul. Some of his best-sellers include God and Empire: Jesus Against Read More …
Review of Religion for Atheists (#0680)
Meet the Author Alain de Botton is the founder and chairman of the School of Life and creative director of Living Architecture. He is the author of numerous essays on a variety of topics as well as multiple best-selling books, including The Architecture of Happiness (2006) and How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997). (I recently blogged about his TED talk on Atheism 2.0, which focuses on the theme of his latest book: Religion for Atheists.) Book Read More …