Deus Misereatur

Seeking Church: Emerging Witnesses to the Kingdom Darren T. Duerksen and William A. Dyrness IVP Academic www.ivp.com ISBN: 978-0-8308-5105-8; 1 October 2019; $32.00 Sometimes it’s good to be challenged and questioned. On the one hand, it uncomfortably pushes us back through the glass walls of our assumptions and presuppositions down to the place where we started building, to see if the structure really is secure. At the same time, being contested and probed can strengthen and straighten our assurances. For me that was the primary value of “Seeking Church: Emerging Witnesses to the Kingdom,” a new 224-page softback composed by Darren T. Duerksen, a one-time Mennonite Brethren missionary to India and associate professor and program director of intercultural and religious studies at Fresno Pacific University, and William A. Dyrness, previously a Presbyterian Church (USA) missionary to the Philippines and now professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. Though the...

A Genesis to Revelation Scripture Memory Guide by Ed Strauss My rating: 5 of 5 stars Simple book with a strong purpose. Ed Strauss, accomplished author, has given followers of Jesus a basic book on Bible memorization. This 224-page inexpensive softback is not printed for durability, but usability at two different levels: memorization and devotion. The first few short chapters introduce the why, way and what of Scripture memorization. Not only is remembering holy writ directed in the Bible, but individual verses must be held in their context, and so it is important to have a daily Scripture reading habit. Further, the author maps out the benefits of memorization and then lays out 9 simple tips for retaining verses. I found this exhortation very meaningful, “Seek to feel the text, remind yourself that it will change you, and think deeply about its power and meaning. This will engage your emotions” (18). Then Strauss lays out 144 verses to learn by heart, put together under speci...

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson My rating: 5 of 5 stars With thousands of reviews on this book infesting the cyber-market (it has been out since 2006), I'll simply address what I found enjoyable and informative about the book. Steven Johnson, author of eleven books, host of a PBS series, and podcaster, takes an all-too-easily-forgotten moment in epidemiological history and narrates it with intrigue and allure. The author has masterfully crafted an historical event into a highly readable novella. It's summer 1854; the place is the Soho district of London; and the main actors are Doctor John Snow and the Reverend Henry Whitehead, with the principle role played by none other than the virtuoso, Vibrio Cholerea (cholera). The tale unfolds in a city crammed with 2 million people whose sanitary and drinking-water infrastructure makes one's skin crawl, and a sickly infan...

The Ten Grandmothers: Epic of the Kiowas by Alice Marriott My rating: 5 of 5 stars Every year, for the past 6 or 7 years, I have traveled from north Oklahoma City to southwestern Oklahoma, involved in a week-long service among Native Americans in the region. Many of the folks I end up rubbing shoulders with are Comanches, Apaches, Kiowa-Apaches, Delawares, Kiowas, and others. So I was delighted to pick up a copy of this volume at the Wichita Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center bookstore on our last visit. Alice Marriott, the first woman to earn an anthropology degree from the University of Oklahoma, accomplished author on Native American and Southwestern history, and posthumous inductee into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame in 2004, published this work in 1945. It is a one-hundred-year segment - 1847 through 1944 - of living memory from one "camp" (or band) of the Kiowas, lifted out and laid before interested readers. "The Ten Grandmothers: Epic of the Kiowas" ...

Paul and the Giants of Philosophy: Reading the Apostle in Greco-Roman Context by Joseph R. Dodson My rating: 5 of 5 stars How were Paul's writings similar and dissimilar to the paragons of virtue and valor in his day? Did he absorb their categories, and imbibe in their programs, incorporating them into the letters he wrote? These are the types of questions answered in a new 200-page paperback put out by IVP Academic titled, "Paul and the Giants of Philosophy: Reading the Apostle in Greco-Roman Context." The volume is edited by Joseph R. Dodson, associate professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, and David E. Briones, associate professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia), and pulls together a cast of collaborators from different venues of academia. I was surprised at how straightforward and simple the publication was to read. High School Seniors, College Freshmen, pastors and seminarians alike would be able to delve into this volu...

Book of Common Prayer by Anglican Church in North America My rating: 5 of 5 stars It had to happen sooner or later. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been playing around with an updated version of the Book of Common Prayer for years (I have some of those trial runs in my library). Finally, they have landed on an 812 page standardized volume, the "Book of Common Prayer (2019)". I actually picked up the deluxe edition, which is an imitation leather binding, but all the inner details are the same. I will say, after using it for a month, I'm pleased (overall) with what I have found. The way it is printed makes it easy on the eyes, and many of the details between its covers are quite satisfying. If you're looking for a way to shape and form your daily devotions and prayers (morning, midday, evening, and night time) this volume is very useful. The internal matter of this Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is too big to dissect in depth and detail. I will simply...

As I spend time writing my book on sober-mindedness, I have been led along various side paths that have been good for my soul. One of those side paths came about as I reflected on sober-mindedness, Titus 2.11-12, and a prayer I have used thousands of times in morning prayer for confession of sin. This prayer is the General Confession of Sin in the Book of Common Prayer: ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou those who are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind In Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most mercifu...