Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

My introduction to atheism occurred at a Christian college where I was required to read Bertrand Russell's classic work, Why I am not a Christian. " Thoughtful atheists offer people who identify as religious or spiritual  an opportunity to examine their beliefs, practices, and experiences. And I hope, thoughtful religious and spiritual leaders offer meaningful challenges for thoughtful atheists. I have reviewed some of the major books in this list. Some reviews are based on academic essays published in psychology journals. ********** Breaking the Spell by Daniel Dennett         Book REVIEW   BUY on AMAZON UK AMAZON   BUY on  GOOGLE Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Faith Behind by Daniel C. Dennett & Linda LaScola     Book REVIEW   BUY on AMAZON UK  AMAZON   BUY on GOOGLE The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris      

  BOOKS on SEX & RELIGION [Most, but not all, focus on the Christian Faith] Book Review List I read several books along with research articles when I wrote A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures . Following is a list of book summaries and reviews and availability of the books.   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    BUY ON AMAZON *****     Authentic Human Sexuality by Judith & Jack Balswick (links to 3rd edition) Read Review BUY on AMAZON BUY on GOOGLE     God and Sex : What the Bible Really Says   by Michael Coogan    Read Review   BUY on AMAZON BUY on GOOGLE The Great Sex Rescue by Gregoire, Lindenbach, & Sawatsky       Book Review     AMAZON     GOOGLE   Sex God

  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 that which is ‘real, genuine, believable, and trustworthy.” Part one contin

  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.   Part two is the story of forgive

  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). Smedes wisely advises us to avoid the confusion of forgiving with restoration. That is, we may deal with our own hurt and let that p

  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 necessarily have a right to