Book Reviews
Book Review: Growing Women Leaders
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- Written by: Katy Smith
Ward’s book ‘Growing Women Leaders’ argues for women gifted as leaders to take their place alongside men as equal partners in the Gospel. Ward is clear that her conviction of argument is primarily founded in biblical support rather than in ideas of justice and equality.
Ward launches first into a brief summary of the theological issues hindering women’s leadership in the church. The overall thrust of this survey is that the trajectory of Scripture is one that encourages both men and women to recognise and use their gifts of leadership and to work alongside one another to lead God’s church.
There is a brief survey of issues of translation and interpretation of biblical passages before Ward advances to examples of women in leadership positions throughout church history. Ward concludes from these examples of women answering their calls from God to lead that women have been constrained by man-made rules. The flavour of these chapters then seeps into Ward’s intention to explore the nature of leadership and whether men and women lead differently, concluding with the practical issues that women face in leadership within the church.
Integrity: Leading without God watching
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- Written by: Wei-Han Kuan
Integrity: Leading without God watching. Jonathan Lamb IVP, 2007
This book is a tonic for the Christian leader's soul. Like some tonics, it may be regarded as medicine, best taken with food and inevitably swallowed reluctantly but dutifully, knowing that it is good for you. Very good for you.
So many books on Christian leadership pay lip service to the Scriptures and hurry on to pragmatic issue Save s of "how to do X or Y", hanging whole chapters on convenient pegs of scripture along the way. But not this book. Integrity is effectively a discourse on leadership based on Lamb's study of 2 Corinthians and themes arising from that epistle. It is material that has been shaped by various speaking engagements in his role as Director of Langham Preaching (a part of Langham Partnership International) including a Ridley Melbourne ministry conference in 2005. I have to confess that I attended that conference and found his presentation solid, but almost too solid and full-on for my poor first-year-out curate's brain!
Book Review: Why Men Hate Going to Church
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- Written by: Doug Petering
Book Review: Why Men Hate Going to Church
David Murrow, Nelson Books, 2005
I happened on this publication in the men's literature section of my local Christian bookstore, which many of you will know is very small compared with the women's section of the bookshelves. The title sounds a bit provocative and the contents challenge many of our notions of "Church". Nevertheless it's a valuable document if you're looking to connect with men in and around your church.
David Murrow has the advantage of a layman's perspective and he claims to have worshipped in congregations of "every stripe". His broad observations and pointers square with many of my own experiences in working among men in the church context over 25 years or more. His observations start with the obvious, i.e. churches have a male attendance averaging only 35%. In other words women outnumber men almost two to one. This is in line with the Anglican community in the Melbourne Diocese according to the 2006 National Church Life Survey.
Book Review: The Word of His Grace - Autumn
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- Written by: Adrian Lane
Book Review: The Word of His Grace: A guide to teaching and preaching from Acts
By Chris Green. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 2005, 978-84474-075-7,189pp., $A19.99, paper.
Many factors conspire against creating and sustaining an evangelistic culture in our Christian communities. In my experience, one of the key antidotes is the regular preaching and teaching of Acts. To this end, Chris Green, Vice-Principal of Oak Hill College in London has written an overview of the book specifically for the preacher, and this serves as a very helpful foundational tool.
This book is not a commentary. Green begins by outlining key principles for understanding Acts in toto, then in Section 2 breaks the book into 7 "panels", examining in more detail the themes conveyed. A particular strength in these two sections is Green's outlining of Luke's careful narrative structure, and the various narrative devices he uses, such as parallelism, escalation and contrast. Green is keen to show that Luke has not simply written a chronology, but has carefully structured his account with theological purpose. This exposes and highlights key truths and helps answer some of the recurring theological and pastoral issues raised by the book.
Annual Preaching Survey
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Annual Preaching Survey of the Year's Best Books
This is an edited version of the original article which may be access from www.preaching.com/resources/features/11569918/#
Reprinted with permission from Preaching magazine, March-April 2008. Copyright © 2008 Salem Communications. All rights reserved. For more information visit www.preaching.com. The website and magazine is an excellent resource!
Preaching is intimately related to books and study, and this goes all the way back to biblical times. Preachers and books simply go together, and the most powerful combination of preacher and book comes when just the right book is available at just the right time in order to clarify and focus the preacher's thoughts on the biblical text and the challenge of preaching.
Biblical Studies
If preachers are integrally tied to the study of books, this is especially true when it comes to books helpful in Bible study for the preparation of expository messages. Over the past several decades, something of a renaissance in evangelical biblical scholarship has occurred, and we are now in a season of publication with many of the most mature biblical scholars reaching the point of maximum scholarly production.