Meet the Author Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones professor of evangelism atDrew University and visiting distinguished professor of Evangelism at George Fox University, was voted one of the 50 Most Influential Christians in America, and continues to write and speak prophetically about the church. An ordained United Methodist pastor, Sweet has authored over 20 books and 600 articles, and is perhaps best known for his forward thinking ideas about the church. For Read More …
Books
Review of the Underground Church (#0659)
Meet the Author Since 1985, Robin R. Meyers has served as the Senior Minister of the 750 member Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, which has been recognized as the fastest growing United Church of Christ congregation in the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference. In addition, he serves as a tenured professor of rhetoric in the Department of Philosophy at Oklahoma City University. Meyers has written five books in the last decade, including The Read More …
Book Reviews – Helpful or ? (#0654)
I have now posted well over 125 book reviews on this site. This diverse list focuses on books published in recent years that have been helpful to me on my journey of faith. Many of the books I have reviewed are "religious," but others have no overtly religious or spiritual content. I find that the discipline of writing the reviews to fit my normal format (meet the author, book basics, and so what) forces me to capture the basics of who wrote, what they said, and why it matters. Read More …
Review of Christianity After Religion (#0653)
Meet the Author Diana Butler Bass is "an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture." Currently she serves as a Chabraja Fellow with the SeaburyNEXT project at Seabury Western Theological Seminary. Additionally, she has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. In the early years of this century she was the Project Read More …
Review of Gathering Those Driven Away (#0638)
Meet the Author Wendy Farley is professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University with "teaching and research interests (that) include women theologians, religious dialogue, classical texts, contemporary ethical issues, and contemplative practices." She is the author of four books including Gathering Those Driven Away: A Theology of Incarnation (2011) and The Wounding and Healing of Desire: Weaving Heaven and Earth (2005). Book Basics Gathering Those Driven Away is a Read More …
Review of Religion in Human Evolution (#0631)
Meet the Author Robert Bellah is "a sociologist and a sermonizer, a believer in God and in reason . . His books and essays over five decades have provoked the ire of the Christian right (for economic views some find heretical)." Bellah taught sociology at Harvard University for a decade, then for three decades at the University of California - Berkeley, where he has served as Elliott Professor of Sociology, Emeritus since retiring. Bellah's recent books Read More …
Review of Cathedral of the World (#0624)
Meet the Author Forrest Church (1948-2009) wrote or edited more than two dozen books and served for three decades as the minister of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City, which grew to be among the largest congregations affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association. Church received the FDR Four Freedoms Award from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Foundation (2008) and the Art Buchwald Spirit Award from the National Hospice Foundation (2009). Read More …
Review of Religion Gone Astray (#0611)
Meet the Authors Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon, and Imam Jamal Rahman have been working together on interfaith matters since shortly after September 11, 2001. A few years ago the trio together wrote their first book: Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi & a Sheikh (2009). In response to the many common questions they receive at their speaking engagements, they have now written a second Read More …
Review of The Triumph of Christianity (#0608)
Meet the Author Since 2004, Rodney Stark has been a University Professor in Social Sciences and the Co-Director of the Institute of Studies of Religion at Baylor University. Stark is an American sociologist of religion who previously taught for over thirty years at the University of Washington. He has published 30 books and more than 140 scholarly articles, mostly on religion. One of his recent books, What Americans Really Believe (2008), has been reviewed on this blog (click Read More …
Review of Divinity of Doubt (#0595)
Meet the Author Vincent Bugliosi started his legal career in the L.A. County District Attorney's office, where he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including receiving 21 of 21 murder convictions. In that capacity he is best known for the Charles Manson case. That experience enabled him to write Helter Skelter (1974), which remains the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Since then, Bugliosi has continued Read More …