Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

Christian Morality: An Interdisciplinary Framework                  for Thinking About Contemporary Moral Issues. Edited by   Geoffrey W. Sutton &   Brandon Schmidly Reviewed by   Various Reviewers Sutton, G. W. & Schmidly, B. (eds.). (2016). Christian morality: An interdisciplinary framework for thinking about contemporary moral issues . Eugene, OR: Pickwick . ********** Christian Morality is a timely and accessible resource that provides the reader with the language, the categories, the concepts that help us talk responsibly and respectfully to each other about the topics that matter most to us. The cultural and moral climate today begs for resources like this one. Heather Kelly , PsyD. ,  Professor of Psychology, Evangel University, Springfield, MO **********   As a rhetorician, I repeat often to students that “how we talk about things matters.”  What Sutton & Schmidly have provided in this text is an admonition to readers that how we THINK about things matters

THE NEXT CHRISTIANS:        THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE END OF  CHRISTIAN AMERICA By     Gabe Lyons   2010 Reviewed by    Geoffrey W. Sutton How do young Americans perceive Christians? Lyons reports the results of a study he commissioned to "understand the perceptions that sixteen-to twenty-nine-year-olds have about Christians (p. 3)" In the eleven chapters, Lyons explores these findings in the context of anecdotes and other research to suggest changes that appear to occur among Americans who self-identify as Christians. The book is a highly readable report of survey findings likely of interest to anyone following trends in American culture and religion. This book extends Lyon's previous interests reflected in unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why itMatters , which he coauthored with David Kinnaman. I would characterize Lyon's approach as Purpose Driven Research . In the first part of   the book he outlines his case for th

A Review of Marcus Borg’s  Reading the Bible Again for the First Time :  Taking the Bible Seriously but Not literally . By Geoffrey W. Sutton   My earliest memory of a conflict between the Bible and the observable world happened sometime in late childhood when I learned that the moon was not a light as it plainly said in my King James Version of Genesis 1:16. It was downhill from there. Like many of my friends, we learned a near literal interpretation of the Bible from parents with a limited education and churches where teachers shared a blend of fundamentalism and evangelicalism. Their application of select biblical laws, commandments, and rules to contemporary life seemed strangely arbitrary and unnecessarily restrictive. I should like to think Marcus Borg’s, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time , would have saved me considerable puzzlement—and likely some distress. I’ll say more later but first, a summary of Reading the Bible Again for the First Time . ****

Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind    by   Daniel C. Dennett &    Linda LaScola Reviewed by      Geoffrey W. Sutton I recently spoke with a seminary student who mentioned his interest in deconversion. Having studied Psychology of Religion for decades, I'm familiar with the topic both as a clinician and scientist. The conversation reminded me of a book I reviewed a few years ago. It turns out the review was accepted for publication but I cannot find evidence that it appeared in print so here's the review with the removal of some text that would have been for the academic publication. ******** Have you ever listened to someone disclose their deep spiritual doubts? In Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Faith Behind , Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola systematically disclose and analyze the deconversion experiences of 35 clergy and seminary interviewees who participated in their qualitative study. Encouraged by a pilot study in 2010, the authors pursued a br

UNCHRISTIAN : WHAT A NEW GENERATION REALLY THINKS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY    ...AND  WHY IT MATTERS By   David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton “Christianity has an image problem.” (p. 11). The book, UNChristian , summarizes Kinnaman and Lyon's research into the views of Christians and non-Christians about many social issues. And they find that young Christians hold some negative attitudes toward Christianity—Christians are anti-gay and judgmental, to name two. This is one of the books I read as I was writing about beliefs and values in  A House Divided . A telling statistic is the finding that only 20% of “outsiders” strongly agree with an important characteristic of Christians: “Christian churches accept and love people unconditionally, regardless of how people look or what they do.” (p. 185) Although this book was written a few years ago, the contemporary situation in the United States suggests that Christians are fierce