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Books

• 06.09.08
  Books, Books, Books…
  Books, Personal (0)

  Finished a few books in the past week or so: Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, by Kevin Vanhoozer, ed. This is a great book on how to make theological sense of culture. Vanhoozer writes the introductory essay that outlines his method for such interpretation, and is worth buying the book. As you might expect (for those familiar with Vanhoozer), he orients his method within speech-act theory and the locution, illocution, and perlocution of a text or trend. It is a nuanced and balanced way to think about culture, much better than approaches ...
  
  
• 05.18.08
  Now Reading: The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics by Stanley Hauerwas
  Books, Theology (0)

  I also started another book this week: The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer In Christian Ethics. I've had the book for a while and have wanted to read something by Hauerwas, who intrigues me even though I've never read anything of his. I got introduced to him via quotes I read on blogs and these videos of his lectures. I know lots of people say to only read one book at a time, but I've found it helpful to read at least two books at once. It's interesting to me to see the connections between books that you read. ...
  
  
• 05.18.08
  Now Reading: Awakening Youth Discipleship: Christian Resistance in a Consumer Culture by Brian J. Mahan, Michael Warren, and David F. White
  Books, Youth Ministry (3)

  I started reading a new book Friday that I'm really excited about. I read Practicing Discernment With Youth: A Transformative Youth Ministry Approach by David F. White last year and really enjoyed about 2/3 of the book. I liked where White was coming from in the book, but thought that he didn't exactly take his thoughts to anywhere, if I remember correctly. He did an excellent job sizing up where youth ministry and teenagers are at currently, but his proposed solutions and ideas seemed lacking. What looks like to be his latest publication, along with two other authors, ...
  
  
• 05.17.08
  Book Review: All the Ideas Living in My Head: One Guy’s Musings About Truth by Don Everts
  Book Reviews, Books (0)

  [This review is also published at Youth Ministry Exchange.] As someone who has been in ministry on college campuses since 1994 through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Don Everts is no stranger to ideas. College campuses are breeding grounds for dialogue, debate, idea sharing, and general philosophizing. It wasn’t until having an email conversation about the nature of the authority of scripture that Everts really began thinking about his thinking. All the Ideas Living in My Head: One Guy's Musings About Truth is a tour through Everts’ mind and how he approaches thinking about thinking. Though the book is subtitled as ...
  
  
• 05.07.08
  Brian McLaren has Another Book Out?
  Books, emerging church (0)

  I must have really been living under a rock for the past few months. I didn't even know he was working on a book, and I read on another blog that he just released another book. The man is a machine. I wonder what controversy he'll stir up this time.
  
  
• 04.17.08
  Now Reading: Everyday Theology by Kevin Vanhoozer (ed.)
  Books, Theology (1)

  As I said yesterday, I hoped to pick up a good book in the evening, and I did. I've been looking forward to reading Everyday Theology since it first came out. I've been a fan of Vanhoozer ever since I was introduced to him in Dr. Castleman's class. I expect this to be a somewhat "practical" book that will be especially helpful for doing youth ministry theologically. I'll give more insight about this particular book as I read more of it. My expectations are already high, so I hope it doesn't let me down. ...
  
  
• 11.15.07
  Revisiting “Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry”
  Best Youth Ministry Books, Book Reviews, Books, Christianity, Neo-Youth Ministry, Theology, Youth Ministry (0)

  Yesterday, I posted on Andrew Root's brand-new book, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry. I spoke with pretty high regard for the book, saying, While reading the book, I came to the realization that, to my knowledge, there is no youth ministry book that is as theologically deep and rich as Root’s. Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster’s book The Godbearing Life is the only work close to Root’s in nature, but even it does not probe the depths of a particular theological subject like Root’s. In my estimation, Root’s book will be noted as being the first in a line ...
  
  
• 08.24.07
  Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry, Chapter 2
  Best Youth Ministry Books, Book Reviews, Books, Christianity, Youth Ministry (2)

  Chapter two in PMYM is titled, "A missional agenda", which is highly necessary given the current reality of living in a post-Christian world. Essentially, Tony argues for a kind of youth ministry that is missional at its core: As we youth workers begin to see ourselves as misisonaries, we can reconfigure our job descriptions so they look more like mission pastors and less like program directors. The chapter gives a brief overview of Christendom beginning with 313 AD - when Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity the official religion of the Western world. This resulted in ...
  
  
• 08.23.07
  Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry, Chapter 1
  Best Youth Ministry Books, Book Reviews, Books, Christianity, Youth Ministry (1)

  The first chapter in Postmodern Youth Ministry (PMYM) provides the a brief introduction to postmodernism. Tony surveys the development of modernism through the philosopher Rene Descartes and the subsequent philosophical shift the occurred with Frederick Nietzche, which led to what we now call postmodernism. Rather than hurting the church, Nietzche's declaration that "God is dead" gave the church a valuable tool: deconstruction. Tony gives the following "credos" of postmodenism: Objectivity is out, subjectivity is in. Question everything. There is no Truth with a capital "T". Tell stories. Never make lists! He also offers the following values of the modern/postmodern era: Rational::Experiential Scientific::Spiritual Unanimity::Pluralistic Exclusive::Relative Egocentric::Altruistic Individualistic::Communal Functional::Creative Industrial::Environmental Local::Global Compartmentalized/Dichotomized::Holistic Relevant::Authentic Tony cautions readers that ...
  
  
• 08.22.07
  Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry
  Best Youth Ministry Books, Book Reviews, Books, Christianity, Youth Ministry (3)

  Postmodern Youth Ministry by Tony Jones is the book I would recommend to youth ministers if they could just read one youth ministry book. I first read the book in my Foundations and Practices of Youth Ministry class at John Brown University. After the preface to the book there is a page titled, "The Day My World Changed" where Tony tells of a conversation he had with a woman. He was trying to "witness" to her (my words, not his) and brought up the C.S. Lewis tri-lemma: Jesus must be either Lord, liar, or lunatic. ...
  
  

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