4. Faith Resource Reviews
(Keep scrolling down to skip this introduction and go directly to the list of current reviews)
About This Section
This section contains my reviews of the resources that are making significant contributions to healthy forms of faith. For me, "healthy forms" means that they are grounded in center-left or center-right faith values, actions and beliefs in dynamic relationship with each other. What makes those positions "centrist" is that while they are primarily located one side of the left/right faith spectrum, they also have significant secondary commitments to positions on the other side. This makes them "principled centrisms" (see page 2.2 for my understanding of what makes these different from "superficial centrisms".)
Here are just a few of the ideas that constitute the foundation of my centrist understanding of "healthy" faith:
(Since I'm on the center-left, the primary ideas listed come from the left side of the faith spectrum. For those on the center-right, the primary and secondary ideas are reversed. Together, and in dynamic relationship, they form the healthiest part of the spectrum. If an idea is secondary, its meaning is governed--and usually significantly modified--by the primary idea.
Here are just a few of the ideas that constitute the foundation of my centrist understanding of "healthy" faith:
(Since I'm on the center-left, the primary ideas listed come from the left side of the faith spectrum. For those on the center-right, the primary and secondary ideas are reversed. Together, and in dynamic relationship, they form the healthiest part of the spectrum. If an idea is secondary, its meaning is governed--and usually significantly modified--by the primary idea.
Primary
(1) this-worldly; focus: the fullness of life here and now (2) social justice (3) the character of God--compassionate love and restorative justice for all humanity (4) main theological criteria--reason and experience (5) the life and teachings of the historical Jesus as the decisive revelation of the character of God (for Christians) (6) spirituality includes social, economic, political components (7) non-exclusive with respect to other faiths (religious and non-religious) (8) the Bible--(for Christians) the foundational place where we meet God in life-transforming ways (9) the Romans were responsible for executing Jesus because he was a social, political, economic threat to their empire; he was a Jewish martyr for the cause of God's Kingdom (10) resurrection is primarily our transformed life as collaborators with God in bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth, here and now--an end in itself, not a means to an otherworldly reward |
Secondary
(1) but nothing--even death--can separate us from God's love (2) but also individual morality (3) but God also holds us accountable when we fall into the opposites--incapacitating fear and failing to resist injustice (4) but also crucial--scripture and tradition (5) but the meaning of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection in the (true) fictional stories about him are also important (6) but it's also a vital dimension of each individual life (7) which is not incompatible with a deep, passionate commitment and witness to one's own faith (8) recognizing that others have their own sacred texts and, like Christians, the divine in many "thin places" like nature, etc. (9) Jesus did not have to die so that God could forgive our sins (substitutionary atonement), an innocent victim of the Jews coercing the Romans--for religious reasons--to kill him (10) the (true) fictional story of Jesus' resurrection as an individual is a powerful "symbol" of that reality; the Christian life is not about believing in it literally in order to be rewarded with going to heaven after we die |
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Note: Something Center-Left Christians Vitally Need
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Navigation Note: Clicking a title in the list below takes you to the Quick Look webpage for that resource. There you'll find some basic information about its author and a list of its main contributions to the goals of this website.
For some resources there will also be a link on the bottom of the page to either a Highlights Review PDF or a Detailed Review PDF (both external to the website) which provide my interpretation and evaluation of its main contributions. The only links to the review PDFs are on the bottom of Quick Look webpages. (When you finish with a PDF, you'll need to click the back arrow on your browser to come back to this website.)
For some resources there will also be a link on the bottom of the page to either a Highlights Review PDF or a Detailed Review PDF (both external to the website) which provide my interpretation and evaluation of its main contributions. The only links to the review PDFs are on the bottom of Quick Look webpages. (When you finish with a PDF, you'll need to click the back arrow on your browser to come back to this website.)
Faith Resource Reviews
(For an alphabetical list by author of all the reviews on this website, see Section 8--Resource Reviews Index)
(For an alphabetical list by author of all the reviews on this website, see Section 8--Resource Reviews Index)
Borg, Marcus (2003) The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith. New York: HarperSanFrancisco. 4.1
I consider this to be one of the best postmodern, center-left interpretations of the Christian faith for the general
public by one of its major populist spokespersons.
Crossan, John Dominic & Reed, Jonathan L. (2001, 2nd edition 2003) Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts. New York: HarperSanFrancisco. 4.2
I think this is one of the best books on the historical Jesus; it's written by an unusual, but very fruitful,
pairing of co-authors--a renowned biblical scholar and an accomplished archeologist of the Holy Land. While very
scholarly in a number of places, my review is designed to capture it's primary points for the general public.
Stiver, Dan R. (2001) Theology after Ricoeur: New Directions in Hermeneutical Theology. Louisville, London & Leiden: Westminster John Knox Press. 4.3
For me, this is the best secondary source on the postmodern philosopher who can most adequately ground the
many different forms of healthy (center-left and center-right) theological interpretations of the Christian faith.
Haight, Roger (1999) Jesus: Symbol of God. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. 4.4
This is what I consider to be the best detailed, postmodern Christology--an interpretation of what it means for
Christians to call Jesus of Nazareth "the Christ" today--within the context of its reinterpretation of the 2,000-year
Christian tradition using the crucial concept of "symbols."
Mansfield, Stephen (2008 & 2011 Revised and Updated) The Faith of Barack Obama. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 4.5
The author shows how Obama's faith journey has led him to a non-exclusionist form of Christianity that grounds his
political commitment to social justice for all.
Borg, Marcus (2011) Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power--And How They Can Be Restored. New York: Harper One. 4.6
Borg defines for the general public many of the key words in the Christian faith from his postmodern, center-left
position, especially for those who have dropped out of traditionalist Christianity thinking there's no other kind.
Epstein, Greg M. (2009) Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. 4.7
The humanist chaplain at Harvard argues that non-religious humanism should also be honored as a legitimate faith.
Thompson, Keith (2004) "Using Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ to Explore the Heart of Your Faith--A Discussion Starter" 4.8
I used this controversial film as a way of helping various kinds of Christians better understand each other, and
it provides a window into my own theological position.
Noll, Mark A. (1994) The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company & Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press 4.9
This indictment of the poor state of evangelical thinking by one of their own best historians was revolutionary at
the time and spurred a center-right turn in evangelical Christian theology that is still growing today.
Dorrien, Gary (1998) The Remaking of Evangelical Theology. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. 4.10
This study by a liberal Christian thinker has been given the rare honor of being praised as fair by many evangelicals;
it's one sign that he is center-left in his historical work, even if he is recognized as solid-left in his own values.
Allitt, Patrick N., (2001) American Religious History (Audio or Video with Course Guidebook). Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company. 4.11
Being a native Brit gives Allitt a different and helpful angle on American history; he's especially interested in
American religion.
Crossan, John Dominic (2012) The Power of Parable: How Fiction By Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus. New York: Harper One. 4.12
Many consider Crossan the premier historical Jesus scholar of our generation. I consider this to be the best resource
for helping us grasp Jesus' use of parables as well as the ways it's misrepresented in each of the four N.T. gospels.
Marsh, Charles (2014) Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. New York: Alfred A Knopf. 4.13
This is by far the best biography of perhaps the most significant Christian theologian/pastor of the 20th century.
Marsh helps us understand the continuing importance of Bonhoeffer's development of the idea of "worldly
Christianity" for all the center-left/center-right theologies of our time.
Crossan, John Dominic (2011) The Challenge of Jesus (DVD Set and Resource Guide). Jackson, MS: The D. L. Dykes, Jr. Foundation. 4.14
This video course is an excellent summary of a good part of Crossan's lifetime of work on the historical Jesus,
especially the social/economic/political matrix without which he cannot be properly understood as well as the
essence of his teaching/actions and a definitive challenge to the conventional understanding of his death and
resurrection by most Christians today.
Brown, Delwin (2008) What Does a Progressive Christian Believe?: A Guide for the Searching, the Open, and the Curious. New York: Seabury Books. 4.15
This is the best non-scholarly book for distinguishing Progressive Christianity from both conservative and modern
liberal interpretations. It covers all the major theological topics. The epilogue--"Rightly Mixing Religion with
Politics"--with its critique of the modern liberal position is especially useful.
Thompson, Keith (2015) Experiencing God in the Bible: Bible Basics for Progressive Christians, a 2015 Lenten Class at First United Methodist Church, Boulder, CO. 4.16
(This resource was created by the author of this website for a 2015 Lenten class in a local congregation.) It is the
first step toward developing a slightly longer online class designed to fill the void in the information available to
progressive Christians about the nature of the Bible from a postmodern progressive perspective, as distinct from
both modern conservative and liberal views. It encourages laity (as individuals and congregations) both to witness
publicly and take action for the common good.
Wink, Walter (1973, 2nd edition 2010) The Bible in Human Transformation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 4.17
This is one of the first books by a progressive Christian to challenge the modern liberal method of historical
criticism. By pointing out its weakness as well as strengths, it was a major contributor to the creation of a new
postmodern perspective on the nature of the Bible.
Crossan, John Dominic (2015) How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling With Divine Violence From Genesis Through Revelation. New York: Harper One. 4.18
Crossan felt compelled to expand his lifetime study of parables, the historical Jesus and Paul, and Christian origins
to include an examination of the nature and meaning of the Christian Bible as a whole. The result is a new,
groundbreaking progressive understanding of the Bible. It gives progressive Christians--who are usually at a loss
for anything very specific and positive to say about how they see the Bible--a compelling viewpoint to share. It
cannot be overestimated how important this is for our nation, which is super-saturated with the unhealthy
conservative view that the whole Bible is "God's Word."
I consider this to be one of the best postmodern, center-left interpretations of the Christian faith for the general
public by one of its major populist spokespersons.
Crossan, John Dominic & Reed, Jonathan L. (2001, 2nd edition 2003) Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts. New York: HarperSanFrancisco. 4.2
I think this is one of the best books on the historical Jesus; it's written by an unusual, but very fruitful,
pairing of co-authors--a renowned biblical scholar and an accomplished archeologist of the Holy Land. While very
scholarly in a number of places, my review is designed to capture it's primary points for the general public.
Stiver, Dan R. (2001) Theology after Ricoeur: New Directions in Hermeneutical Theology. Louisville, London & Leiden: Westminster John Knox Press. 4.3
For me, this is the best secondary source on the postmodern philosopher who can most adequately ground the
many different forms of healthy (center-left and center-right) theological interpretations of the Christian faith.
Haight, Roger (1999) Jesus: Symbol of God. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. 4.4
This is what I consider to be the best detailed, postmodern Christology--an interpretation of what it means for
Christians to call Jesus of Nazareth "the Christ" today--within the context of its reinterpretation of the 2,000-year
Christian tradition using the crucial concept of "symbols."
Mansfield, Stephen (2008 & 2011 Revised and Updated) The Faith of Barack Obama. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 4.5
The author shows how Obama's faith journey has led him to a non-exclusionist form of Christianity that grounds his
political commitment to social justice for all.
Borg, Marcus (2011) Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power--And How They Can Be Restored. New York: Harper One. 4.6
Borg defines for the general public many of the key words in the Christian faith from his postmodern, center-left
position, especially for those who have dropped out of traditionalist Christianity thinking there's no other kind.
Epstein, Greg M. (2009) Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. 4.7
The humanist chaplain at Harvard argues that non-religious humanism should also be honored as a legitimate faith.
Thompson, Keith (2004) "Using Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ to Explore the Heart of Your Faith--A Discussion Starter" 4.8
I used this controversial film as a way of helping various kinds of Christians better understand each other, and
it provides a window into my own theological position.
Noll, Mark A. (1994) The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company & Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press 4.9
This indictment of the poor state of evangelical thinking by one of their own best historians was revolutionary at
the time and spurred a center-right turn in evangelical Christian theology that is still growing today.
Dorrien, Gary (1998) The Remaking of Evangelical Theology. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. 4.10
This study by a liberal Christian thinker has been given the rare honor of being praised as fair by many evangelicals;
it's one sign that he is center-left in his historical work, even if he is recognized as solid-left in his own values.
Allitt, Patrick N., (2001) American Religious History (Audio or Video with Course Guidebook). Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company. 4.11
Being a native Brit gives Allitt a different and helpful angle on American history; he's especially interested in
American religion.
Crossan, John Dominic (2012) The Power of Parable: How Fiction By Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus. New York: Harper One. 4.12
Many consider Crossan the premier historical Jesus scholar of our generation. I consider this to be the best resource
for helping us grasp Jesus' use of parables as well as the ways it's misrepresented in each of the four N.T. gospels.
Marsh, Charles (2014) Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. New York: Alfred A Knopf. 4.13
This is by far the best biography of perhaps the most significant Christian theologian/pastor of the 20th century.
Marsh helps us understand the continuing importance of Bonhoeffer's development of the idea of "worldly
Christianity" for all the center-left/center-right theologies of our time.
Crossan, John Dominic (2011) The Challenge of Jesus (DVD Set and Resource Guide). Jackson, MS: The D. L. Dykes, Jr. Foundation. 4.14
This video course is an excellent summary of a good part of Crossan's lifetime of work on the historical Jesus,
especially the social/economic/political matrix without which he cannot be properly understood as well as the
essence of his teaching/actions and a definitive challenge to the conventional understanding of his death and
resurrection by most Christians today.
Brown, Delwin (2008) What Does a Progressive Christian Believe?: A Guide for the Searching, the Open, and the Curious. New York: Seabury Books. 4.15
This is the best non-scholarly book for distinguishing Progressive Christianity from both conservative and modern
liberal interpretations. It covers all the major theological topics. The epilogue--"Rightly Mixing Religion with
Politics"--with its critique of the modern liberal position is especially useful.
Thompson, Keith (2015) Experiencing God in the Bible: Bible Basics for Progressive Christians, a 2015 Lenten Class at First United Methodist Church, Boulder, CO. 4.16
(This resource was created by the author of this website for a 2015 Lenten class in a local congregation.) It is the
first step toward developing a slightly longer online class designed to fill the void in the information available to
progressive Christians about the nature of the Bible from a postmodern progressive perspective, as distinct from
both modern conservative and liberal views. It encourages laity (as individuals and congregations) both to witness
publicly and take action for the common good.
Wink, Walter (1973, 2nd edition 2010) The Bible in Human Transformation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 4.17
This is one of the first books by a progressive Christian to challenge the modern liberal method of historical
criticism. By pointing out its weakness as well as strengths, it was a major contributor to the creation of a new
postmodern perspective on the nature of the Bible.
Crossan, John Dominic (2015) How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling With Divine Violence From Genesis Through Revelation. New York: Harper One. 4.18
Crossan felt compelled to expand his lifetime study of parables, the historical Jesus and Paul, and Christian origins
to include an examination of the nature and meaning of the Christian Bible as a whole. The result is a new,
groundbreaking progressive understanding of the Bible. It gives progressive Christians--who are usually at a loss
for anything very specific and positive to say about how they see the Bible--a compelling viewpoint to share. It
cannot be overestimated how important this is for our nation, which is super-saturated with the unhealthy
conservative view that the whole Bible is "God's Word."
(Click on the titles of any of the reviews above to go to it.)
Some Upcoming Reviews in This Section
Maddox, Randy L. (1994) Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology. Nashville, Tennessee: Kingswood Books.
Putnam, Robert D. and Campbell, David E. (2010) American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. New York, London, Toronto & Sydney: Simon & Schuster.
Schneiders, Sandra M. (1991) The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture. San Francisco: Harper.
Taylor, Charles (2007) A Secular Age. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Yavuz, M. Hakan and Esposito, John L., editors (2003) Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gulen Movement. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press
Roberts, Tyler (2009) Skeptics and Believers: Religious Debate in the Western Intellectual Tradition (Audio or Video with Course Guidebook; also Lecture Transcript books). Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company.
Bowman, Matthew (2012) The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith. New York: Random House.