I am published!

I have had my first book review published in Journey   the Uniting Church Queensland Synod magazine.  The article appears in the November 2008 issue.

The editors deleted a sentence, I suppose to make it fit the space, so I include the review here in its entirety.

What Have They Done With Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History

By Ben Witherington III

Monarch Books

RRP $24.95

This is a book for anyone who has been confused by or is interested in all the theories of Jesus’ life and relationships.  Ben Witherington sifts through many theories, rumors, historical documents and the Bible to determine what they reveal about Jesus.  

I found this book not only easy to read but delightfully insightful and compelling.  Ben does not adopt a view that extra-Biblical material should be rejected outright but reads the documents in their historical context to extract what they contribute to our understanding of who Jesus was.  He not only discusses issues around Jesus identity but also delves into his relationships. 

Ben is clear about where each idea comes from.  He presents each idea from its own context and allows the reader to make up his own mind.  He is also clear about when he is offering his interpretation and assumptions.  

The introduction of the book has a description of American culture in relation to his reason for writing the book.  I found for the most part that his explanation sits with the Australian culture but it still leaves the reader to make his own determination which is probably a good thing.  The book however quickly sets aside our culture and looks to answer the question, “What have they done with Jesus?”  

Book Review

This is my first ever book review.  I have recently finished reading Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution - A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Alister McGrath.  While I enjoy history, I never seem to have much time to delve into church history much less any other history.  The books and articles that I read these days must apply to what I am doing.  

This book was tremendous.  It made history relevant.  It is not a dictionary of events or people of the reformation rather it tracks the ideas of the reformation through history to the present day.  

The book follows issues like images and music in worship through historical opinions.  It tackles the question of our multiplicity of Protestant denominations; how and why they occurred and traces many to their roots in the reformation.  

McGrath looks to the future and helps the reader get a sense of not only where we have been as church but also where we may go. 

If you are looking for a timeline of facts and dates, this is not it.  If you are looking for a book that reads like a novel tracing the changes, subtle and drastic, of reformation ideals like they were characters in real life, well then this is it.