“Hearing the Words of A Prophet“

A Review of
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
The Essential Box Set.

Reviewed by Chris Smith.

[ Listen to clips from this box set.]

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
The Essential Box Set.
15 Cd’s: Hachette Audio,  2010.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of, if not the finest American orator, of the twentieth century.  Following in the footsteps of Frederick Douglass and many other renowned Black orators, King spoke powerfully for the causes of freedom and justice, whether in pulpit of his home church, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama or speaking as the voice of the Civil Rights movement in Washington, D.C. and throughout the South.  And now thanks to Hachette Audio, we have a high-quality collection of twenty-three of King’s finest sermons and speeches: Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Essential Box Set.  The narrators who introduce these talks by Martin Luther King emphasize that he was, first and foremost, a preacher, and that his primary identity was located in the Church (see also the book excerpt on King below).  Even when speaking to broader audiences, he spoke the prophetic words of a preacher, connecting with his audiences on shared virtues such as freedom, equality and justice.  It has been important for me, when thinking of Dr. King, not only to see the words that he spoke on the printed page (or computer screen) but also to hear his voice speaking the words, and for many years now, I have been collecting vintage LP’s with recordings of King’s speeches and sermons.  While I certainly will not be getting rid of my vinyl recordings any time soon, I am delighted to have recordings of the same talks (and more) in a cleaner, more durable format and one that can more easily be shared with our sons and daughter as well as others.

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“The Beloved Community
of Conversion and Discipleship”

A Review of
Welcoming Justice:
God’s Movement Toward Beloved Community.
by Charles Marsh and John Perkins.

Reviewed by Thomas T. Turner II.

[ Read an excerpt of this book here ]

Welcoming Justice:
God’s Movement Toward Beloved Community.
by Charles Marsh and John Perkins.
Paperback: IVP Books,  2009.
Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ]

Watching segments of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech , I realized that the things I saw there were black and white — literally and figuratively speaking.  The film, now pushing towards fifty years, is grainy and showing too little or too much contrast, a nostalgic look back to a time that wasn’t really that long ago in the history of things.  The American people was black and white as well, and the Civil Rights movement, in its glorious triumph, pushed forth some of the most drastic social changes in the history of America in just a few years full of climactic victories.  The battles were won, yet the war wasn’t over for many in the Civil Rights movement who saw the vision of the movement as a push not for racial equality but something far greater and more whole: the beloved community of all.  Charles Marsh and John Perkins share in their book Welcoming Justice the memories and stories of the ongoing civil rights struggle and illustrate how the movement toward beloved community should be the goal of those who follow the way of Christ.

The civil rights movement, at the height of its success, divorced itself from the church.  In saying Dr. Martin Luther King’s name, we too often forget that  that he was a reverend as well.  The civil rights movement started as a Christian social justice movement, and, in a lesson just as timely today, it was co-opted by powers within the movement that cut out the spiritual foundation of social justice. Marsh writes, “without its unifying spiritual vision, the movement’s goal was no longer to identify particular social and economic ills that could be improved upon through political organizing and social reform” (25).

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“God’s Artisans of Reconciliation“

A Review of
COMING TOGETHER IN THE 21st CENTURY:
The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity.
by Curtiss DeYoung.

Reviewed by Bob Cornwall.

This review originally appeared on Bob’s blog:
http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/
It is reprinted here with the reviewer’s permission.

COMING TOGETHER IN THE 21st CENTURY:
The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity.
by Curtiss DeYoung.
Paperback: Judson Press, 2009.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

You undoubtedly know the old adage: “11:00 on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week.”  Diversity is something Christians talk a lot about, and yet we seem to find it difficult to cross the ethnic, social, gender, racial, color, economic boundaries.  Often we seem oblivious to the obstacles we place before people seeking to come into the community of faith.  One question might be why this is the case, and another concerns what might be done.  Curtiss Paul DeYoung,  a White male from the United States of America teaching at an evangelical university in Minnesota, seeks to engage these questions by offering the church a biblical theology of diversity.

Coming Together in the 21st Century first appeared in 1995, but much has occurred in the past fifteen years, and thus a newly revised edition has been released.  Since I’ve not read the original, I’m not always sure what is new and what remains of the original – though there are chapters, such as the roundtable featuring Brenda Salter McNeil, Richard Twiss, Jean Zaru, and Allan Aubrey Boesek, that has been added to this edition.

What is important to note is that this is a biblical theology of diversity that emerges from an evangelical setting.  This is seen in part with assumptions of Pauline authorship of Ephesians and the Pastorals.  That said, this is anything but a traditional reading of scripture.  And while not standing at the center of the conversation, DeYoung does broach the issue of inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered.  The very fact that he, as an evangelical, is willing to raise the issue is a good sign that the conversation about diversity is broadening, and difficult questions that we’ve tried to evade are now on the table.  The same is true of the brief, but important, conversation about disability.

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A Brief Review of

The Enemy: A Book About Peace.
Davide Cali.
Illustrated by Serge Bloch.
Hardcover: Schwartz and Wade, 2009.
Buy now:  [ Amazon ]

Review by Libby Bowling (Age 11).

[ There is an excellent preview of this book on Google Books! ]

The Enemy written by Davide Cali and illustrated by Serge Bloch is a book that I found particularly good. It is about two soldiers who are enemies, and they both think the other person is a horrible creature that has no mercy. Each is focused on killing the other, while really, they both want to go home to their families — the families that they are trying to protect by killing the enemy. They think that the enemy will kill their family along with their pets if they allow themselves to die in the war.

The book is written as if it were a journal; it is easy to understand, and is a good book for children and adults alike.

The pictures in this book are also very simple and have little color, but are great just the same. They look as if they have been penciled onto the page, and almost the only color in them are the army uniforms that are roughly colored in green. However, the pictures go well with the words in the book because they look as if they appear as if they are also part of the journal.

The soldiers’ lives in this book were horrible. They were both hungry and tired and desperate; they are completely lost in their efforts to blast each other to smithereens, but those efforts lead them to do something that they never considered.   The end of this book has a surprising twist through which the enemies become friends.  The book reminds its readers of the pointlessness of going to war and fighting people who are just like you.

Excerpt from the book:

Ring Out Freedom!:
The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and
the Making of the Civil Rights Movement.
Fredrik Sunnemark.
Paperback: Indiana Univ. Press, 2003.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

Ring Out Freedom (Excerpt)

In our continuing effort to fund the publication and free distribution of The Englewood Review, we are going to be collaborating more intentionally with Christian Book Distributors. Primarily, we will be offering you the opportunity to buy bargain books from CBD that we think of are interest. Buying books this way is a win / win / win proposition. You get great books for a great price, CBD gets the sale and we get an excellent referral fee from CBD. These books make great Christmas gifts!

This week’s bargain books (Click to learn more/purchase):

	Karl Barth and Evangelical Theology: Convergences and Divergences $3.99 (Save 88%) Edited by Sung Wook Chung / Baker Featuring contributions by Alister McGrath, Kevin Vanhoozer, Gabriel Fackre, Henri Blocher, and other leading Christian scholars, Dr. Chung’s balanced appraisal of Barth’s theology explores the parallels and differences seen in the theories of this leading 20th-century church scholar and the historic beliefs of the evangelical faith. 352 pages, softcover from Baker.
	Why Church Matters: Worship, Ministry, and Mission in Practice $2.99 (Save 85%!!) By Jonathan R. Wilson / Baker What exactly is it we’re called to do when we meet as God’s people? Wilson offers compelling insights on “gathered worship” as work, witness, and warfare. He examines practices of baptism, communion, and foot-washing; and shows how glorifying God together grounds us in truth and the language of faith. Invaluable reflections for leaders and laypeople. 240 pages, softcover from Brazos.
	Earth Habitat: Eco-injustice and the Church’s Response $0.99 (Save 95%!!!) By Edited by Dieter Hessel & Larry Rasmussen / Augsburg Fortress What “earth-honoring” elements does Christianity have to contribute to the common good? How can we respond creatively and constructively on a local level to global issues? Editors Hessel and Rasmussen, James Cone, Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, Ernest Conradi, Steven Rockefeller, and others address the relationship between the church and our endangered environment. 250 pages, softcover from Fortress.

A Brief Review of

A Just Forgiveness:
Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice.
By Everett L. Worthington, Jr.
Paperback: IVP Books, 2009.
Buy now:  [ ChristianBooks.com ]

Reviewed by Shaun C. Brown.

Everett Worthington, Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, has spent the last two decades studying forgiveness scientifically and clinically.  Worthington has written numerous articles and books, such as Forgiving and Reconciling and The Power of Forgiving, on the subject.  Worthington’s newest work, A Just Forgiveness, continues his research.  Worthington is currently a lay Presbyterian, but says that he has attended churches of numerous denominations.  His theological perspective, as seen in the pages of A Just Forgiveness, has Reformed and Augustinian tendencies.

Worthington deals with forgiveness in concrete situations, such as in stories of patients he has counseled, victims of the Holocaust and Rwanda genocide, and his own struggle to forgive his mother’s murderer.  Throughout A Just Forgiveness, Worthington calls upon Christians to humbly submit to God with a self-sacrificial attitude in the midst of hurt.  His primary argument throughout the book is that Christians can forgive others without being doormats and that forgiveness and justice can and must be held together.  Micah 6:8 serves as the book’s theme passage.

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“A Winter’s Day”
Paul Laurence Dunbar

Across the hills and down the narrow ways,
And up the valley where the free winds sweep,
The earth is folded in an ermined sleep
That mocks the melting mirth of myriad Mays.
Departed her disheartening duns and grays,
And all her crusty black is covered deep.
Dark streams are locked in Winter’s donjon-keep,
And made to shine with keen, unwonted rays.
O icy mantle, and deceitful snow!
What world-old liars in your hearts ye are!
Are there not still the darkened seam and scar
Beneath the brightness that you fain would show?
Come from the cover with thy blot and blur,
O reeking Earth, thou whited sepulchre!

Interview with Michelle Brown
Author of CULTURE OF PUNISHMENT.

http://failuremag.com/index.php/feature/article/the_culture_of_punishment/

In the new book “The Culture of Punishment” (NYU Press), criminologist Michelle Brown—an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ohio University—considers the intersection between culture and punishment, where “much of the popular knowledge about punishment is constructed.” Brown takes readers to the places where punishment is most likely to be accessed, including film, television, and the unfailingly popular prison tour, providing unique insights into how and why America has become the most punitive nation on earth.

Failure interviewed Brown to learn more about the consequences of mass incarceration, the challenges of getting Americans to reflect on the country’s approach to punishment, and to find out how her students react when given the opportunity to visit a death chamber.

F: What prompted you to write “The Culture of Punishment”?

MB:The idea developed across time, but once I began pursuing a degree in criminology it became clear that punishment was overlooked—not just theoretically but culturally. During the past ten years, I’ve spent a lot of time in prisons doing work with both prisoners and staff, and I became fascinated with the engagements between the people with whom I was interacting and what I was seeing in popular culture.

…

Read the full interview:
http://failuremag.com/index.php/feature/article/the_culture_of_punishment/

The Culture of Punishment:
Prison, Society, and Spectacle.
Michelle Brown.
Paperback: NYU Press, 2009.
Buy now:  [ Amazon ]

Hands down, my favorite book title of this year is the new volume from the folks at The Other Journal: ‘God is Dead’ and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself: Theological Engagements with the New Atheism, edited by Andrew David, Chris Keller, and Jon Stanley.

In addition to having a great title, you get an added bonus: it’s also a fabulous book!  Rather than playing the apologetic game on the new atheists’ rules, this volume brings together a creative mix of genres (essays, interviews, art and poetry) in a constructive vision that is only obliquely a ‘response’ to the new atheism.  And it includes some of the most significant voices in contemporary thought, including Charles Taylor, Stanley Fish, John Milbank, Merold Westphal, Luci Shaw, Stanley Hauerwas, and many others.

So I thought I’d pose a few questions to a couple of the editors, Chris Keller and Jon Stanley.  I hope you’ll enjoy listening in on the conversation.
—

JKAS: This book grows out of articles that originally appeared in The Other Journal.  Could you tell us a little bit about the journal?  How’d it get started?  What defines it?

Read the full interview:
http://ow.ly/14t8m

‘God is Dead’ and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself.
David, Keller and Stanley, eds.
Paperback: Wipf and Stock, 2010.
Buy now: [ Wipf and Stock ] Use code ‘GID10′ for 40% discount!

A Brief Review of

Dom Helder Camara:
Essential Writings.
Edited by Francis McDonagh.
Paperback: Orbis Books, 2009.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

Reviewed by Chris Smith.

Equal parts prophet, priest and poet, Dom Helder Camara was one of the twentieth century’s most striking voices in the cry against the excesses of Western culture.  Unfortunately, today as the crises brought on by our excessive lifestyles in the West only continue to escalate, the life and work of this Brazilian priest is not known well enough.  Thankfully, however, Orbis Books — who has long been the primary publisher of Camara’s works in English translation — has released a wonderful introduction, one of the newest volumes in their “Modern Spiritual Masters” Series.  Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings was edited by Francis McDonagh, who also wrote a useful introduction to the book, which offers a brief biography and begins to frame a context in which Camara can be understood.  After McDonagh’s introduction, the remainder of the book consists of excerpts from Camara’s works, organized thematically.  The four dimensions of Camara’s writings into which the excerpts here are organized are “A Church of Service and Poverty, “From Paternalism to Liberation,” “Walking with God” and “The Unity of Creation.”  Even those readers who are familiar with the social justice dimensions of Camara’s prose works, might be not be familiar with Camara’s poetic works, many of which embrace themes of unity and peace with creation.  McDonagh provides an excellent introduction to these poetic works in the fourth and final chapter of the book.  Consider this excerpt, for instance, from the poem “Brother Birds”:

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