Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

The American St Nick      The Men Who Restored Christmas A great Christmas story combines warmth, kindness, generosity, traditions, and a memorable event—especially one that brings hope against the backdrop of an evil empire. A true story describing how a few soldiers from the 28th Infantry Division restored Christmas for the children of   Wiltz, Luxembourg   ranks with the best. In late 1944, the allies had the German soldiers on the run. By December, some men were sent to Wiltz, Luxembourg for a much needed break. The townsfolk were grateful for the liberation from five years of Nazi rule including the ban on their Christmas tradition. This year they planned to restore the celebration of  Saint Nicolas  (Klees’chen) on 6 December but they were at a loss for gifts and treats. Jewish Corporal Harry Stutz  meets with the local priest, Father Wolffe, and other town leaders to see what could be done. He then plans a party with help from fellow soldie...

  Handbook of the Psychology       of Religion and Spirituality      2nd Ed. By    Raymond F. Paloutzian     & Crystal L. Parks, Eds. Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton As I write this review, world leaders, both secular and religious, have attempted to separate the heinous actions of murderous groups identifying with religion from the majority of people who practice their religion in peaceful ways. As the editors observe, the importance of religion and  spirituality hardly needs justification. The editors and authors of the thirty-three chapters clearly focus their attention on a psychological perspective without ignoring the contribution of sociologists and anthropologists. They accomplish this by focusing on two meta-themes, which the editors propose will take scholars beyond the endless attempts at formulating definitions of the terms religion and spirituality.  The first meta-theme views the study of relig...

European  Pentecostalism      By    William K. Kay Reviewed by    Various European Pentecostalism is a 398-page book, which is the seventh volume in a series of 12 titled “ Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies .” The series is published by Brill. The book is not exclusively a behavioural science text but part three included sociological perspectives. ******** A review by Michael Wilkinson finds the book useful for sociology of religion researchers. “Finally, the sociological and statistical coverage, while general, will be of value to sociologists of religion, especially those conducting current research on the movement. This material provides an excellent framework and background for current issues of migration, globalization, religious diversity, and cultural change.” (p . 130). ******** In Paul Schmidgall’s review, he refers to data describing the scope of Pentecostalism in the Introduction by Anne Dyer with data from 2001. His comments ...

  Spotlight Director   Tom McCarthy Writers   Tom McCarthy   Josh Singer US Release 6 November 2015 My wife and I saw the award-winning film,  Spotlight . We both came away shocked and disturbed. The actors did a superb job at evoking a strong emotional response to the outrageous behavior of church and community leaders who covered-up child sexual abuse in Boston. The damage to human lives is horrendous. For me, the timing of the film is ironic. Two days before seeing the film, I reviewed proofs on my book  A House Divided:  Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures . The book represents two years of work examining sexuality in the church from the perspective of moral psychology. I aim to promote open discussions of healthy Christian sexuality. But I also wrote about sexual abuse because it would be irresponsible to ignore it. As  Spotlight  illustrates, sex abuse happens in the church and a lot of people get seriously hurt. Spotlight is th...

  UNBROKEN A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience,   and Redemption By    Laura Hillenbrand Reviewed by    Geoffrey W. Sutton Unbroken is the true story of Olympian Louis Zamperini who survived the crash of his plane in the Pacific Ocean and endured severe abuse at the club wielding hands of his captors. Hillenbrand provides key elements of Louis biography. He was in trouble with the law as a youth but became a track star in High School. Eventually, he was chosen to be on the 1936 US Olympic Team, which competed in Berlin. A few years later, Louie enlisted in the military. Zamperini became an airman. On a mission in 1943, his plane crashed in the Pacific. He and two other men floated on a raft for 47 days punctuated by severe thirst and starvation, sharks aboard the raft, Japanese machine-gun fire, and even a typhoon.  They were captured by Japanese and sent to a POW camp where they were severely tormented until he was near death by the time...

  I read a number of books reporting research with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians as a part of my own investigations and when writing Counseling and Psychotherapy with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians (2021). This book list with links to reviews or book summaries is the product of that research. I am using the concept, studies , to refer to scientific investigations that report quantitative or qualitative data. Some references refer to theorizing by scholars.  I do not include religious studies or theological sources because that is not my area of expertise, although I did read several of these works in preparing the aforementioned counselling book. Key Topics: Anthropology, Counselling, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Sociology, Integrating Christianity and Counseling or Psychotherapy   Counseling and Psychotherapy with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians by Geoffrey W. Sutton. A summary of research studies about beliefs, pract...