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Books

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Disclaimer

‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

Mastering Ministry

BOOK REVIEWS: MASTERING MINISTRY series, copublished by Leadership, Christianity Today, Inc., and Multomah Press. This is the best series of handbooks for the beginning and experienced pastor I know. They are simply written, so that busy clergy may ‘read while running’. They are unencumbered with footnotes or bibliographies, although key books for further reading are […]

Some Books For Pastors (And Others)

A Fundamental Practical Theology (Don Browning, Fortress Press, 1991, hc. 324 pp. $48.50). This book, says the author, is written for anyone who has ever asked, In what way do religious communities make sense? Recent theology is moving inexorably from theoretical to practical concerns. The best philosophy or wisdom has always been practical. Browning moves […]

The Once And Future Church

(From a pastor-friend): An overview of some of Mead’s ideas in “The Once and Future Church” Analysis of ‘The Once and Future Church’ – Loren Mead Reinventing the Congregation for a new mission frontier Mead’s Thesis: ‘The congregation is at a critical point of change’ This is a confused time – we struggle for vision. […]

Morris West

Book Review: Morris West, View from the Ridge: The Testimony of a Pilgrim, HarperCollins, 1966. Morris West is a (righteously) angry, deeply spiritual, and very clever man. The Sydney-born (and now Sydney-retired) writer’s twenty-six novels have sold 60 million worldwide (not to mention his screenplays, radio dramas, Broadway productions et. al.) He’s fluent in half […]

Tony Campolo

Tony Campolo is probably the most influential Christian communicator to Baby Boomers and young people in the English language. He writes a book a year, travels widely, is a professor of sociology, and has Italian-American parents. He’s also very funny. For example: ‘I become dangerous on elevators (‘lifts’ in Oz). Society has trained us to […]

Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be

A Review of Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be Introduction: For those who haven’t heard the news yet, we are living in a post-modern world, at least according to Walter Truett Anderson, author of Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be. In this delightfully provocative book, Anderson discusses what post-modernism is, why it is […]

Book Reviews (July 1997)

Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 10:34:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Dear Friend, Below please find the e-mail edition of the August 1997 issue of Congregational Leadership Resources. Please distribute this to your co-workers via e-mail or photocopy. Feel free to export the text into your word processor to make a print copy. If you will work […]

Spirituality And Justice

Book review/essay Donal Dorr’s Spirituality and Justice (Orbis, 1984) is a challenging book. I took these notes while reading it. ‘Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8) ie. be politically, morally and religiously converted. Religious conversion is not only pardon for past sin, but knowing we are loved and accepted even […]

Cyberchurch, By Rev. David Bell

Now here’s an interesting bunch of facts/opinions from what may be Australia’s first book about computers and the church: * Guy Davenport’s ‘The Geography of the Imagination’ is must-read… * Usury is probably the greatest evil in the world… * The Melbourne Methodist Ladies’ College – back in 1990 – may have been the first […]

30 Years A Watchtower Slave: Confessions Of A Converted Jehovah’s Witness, By W

30 YEARS A WATCHTOWER SLAVE: Confessions of a Converted Jehovah’s Witness, by W.J.Schnell, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1971/1994.   On holidays I read books I would otherwise probably ignore. This one was interesting and scary…   Most of us have been door-knocked by earnest people trying to sell us books and tracts, and […]