Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

  SEX & CULTURE Morality and Religion [Most, but not all, religious works focus on the Christian Faith] Book Review List I write about psychology and religion. In the process, I read a variety of books along with academic publications. Following is a selection of books I have read.   A House Divided :   Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures by Geoffrey W. Sutton Read Review s BUY on AMAZON BUY on GOOGLE Christian Morality:   An Interdisciplinary Framework for Thinking about Contemporary Moral Issues  by Geoffrey W. Sutton and Brandon Schmidly, editors   Topics: Abortion, Same-Sex Relations, Sex Education, Women & Equality BUY ON AMAZON ***** Authentic Human Sexuality by Judith & Jack Balswick (links to 3rd edition) Read Review BUY on AMAZON ********** The Bible Now by Friedman & Dolansky (2011)   Topics include:  Same-sex relations, abortion, women's status, capital punishment Read Revi...

  Authentic Human Sexuality             An Integrated Christian Approach   By    Judith K. Balswick    Jack O. Balswick Reviewed by    Geoffrey W. Sutton The Balswicks provide a primer on human sexuality for evangelical readers. They draw on scientific research and integrate those findings with a Christian worldview. In contrast to authentic sexuality in the context of relationships, they illustrate inauthentic sexuality in terms of harassment, pornography, and rape. I read their book in the context of writing A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures (2016). The book is divided into four parts. The first part reviews human sexuality. They opine that “all human beings struggle with their sexual nature and come short of the sexual wholeness that God intended (p. 14).” They advocate readers approach the subject with “humility and compassion.” They present authentic sexuality as t...

  Forgive for Good A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness      By   Fred Luskin Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton   In Forgive for Good , Luskin invites us to forgive for our own benefit. His well-written book reads like a story—indeed, he has many stories to tell as he reveals each of the three-part scientific-how-to drama. In part one, we learn about grievances. We create grievances when we review the times we have been mistreated. Luskin calls this replaying of hurts “renting space in our minds.” We tend to focus on blame rather than recovery. And we focus a lot on the pain we have experienced.   Another problem we may have is creating rules or expectations that are unenforceable yet, despite our lack of power to force someone to abide by these rules, we can become obsessed with punishing the offender for breaking the rules. Luskin isn’t denying our right to feel angry or pain. He wants to help us avoid hurting ourselves. ...

  The Art of  Forgiving When You Need To Forgive        And Don’t Know How By Lewis B. Smedes Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton   The Art of Forgiving is a modern classic work on forgiveness by Lewis B. Smedes, who has been cited by scientists like Robert Enright and Ev Worthington. Smedes reminds us that we are forgiving people for what they have done and not for who they are. He also opines that forgiving someone does not include reunion or restoration. He locates forgiveness within one person, the forgiver. He’s using the word reunion like contemporary writers use the term, reconciliation.            Forgiving has no strings attached.            Reunion has several strings attached. I appreciate his comments on restoration, which is a subject my colleagues and I have studied (e.g., Sutton & Thomas, 2005; Thomas et al., 2008)...

  Forgiveness is a Choice A Step-by-Step Process for    Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope By   Robert D. Enright Reviewed by    Geoffrey W. Sutton In Forgiveness is a Choice , psychologist Robert D. Enright provides “a self-help book for people who have been deeply hurt by another and are caught in a vortex of anger, depression, and resentment.” Enright begins by explaining what forgiveness is, what forgiveness is not, and what happens if we do not forgive. His explanations include examples to help understand how people come to terms with offenses and what it means to forgive an offender. For his definition of forgiveness, Enright quotes British philosopher, Joanna North. When unjustly hurt by another, we forgive when we overcome the resentment toward the offender, not by denying our right to resentment, but instead by trying to offer the wrongdoer compassion, benevolence, and love; as we give these, we as forgivers realize that the offender does not...

 Why I Am Not A         Christian By   Bertrand Russell Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton   I am still surprised by the memory of a professor at a highly conservative college who included Russell’s book, Why I am not a Christian as assigned reading in a Philosophy of Christianity class. I don’t recall what the professor said about the collection of essays so many years ago. However, it is a classic work and deserves at least a look by those like me interested in the psychology of religion and related fields like philosophy. The lead essay answers the author’s question in the title. It was presented as a lecture at the Battersea Town Hall (London, England) in 1927. His logical thinking is evident early on as he attempts to define the concept, Christian . He considers a few options and concludes first, that a Christian must believe in God and immortality, and second, a Christian must at least think of Christ as the “best and wis...

  A House Divided Sexuality, Morality, and   Christian Cultures By Geoffrey W. Sutton Reviewed by   Various Reviewers Several authors read A House Divided and provided reviews. This post quotes from some of the reviews and provides links to those published in journals. *************** "As we march ominously toward the November 2020 elections, this book, A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures, becomes increasingly relevant. It really is about how we might be more intellectually humble—but it deals specifically with religious humility as it touches on and intertwines with political humility. Churches split. Denominations break apart. Families disintegrate. Christians have divided into (at least) two camps that at times seem hostile to each other. People do not seem to be listening to each other anymore. A generation of young people are leaving the church or never seriously considering it. A House Divided asks, What, if anything, can be done to me...