Series: Reviews

December 14, 2014

Christian Standard

For Anyone Concerned about Poverty

By LeRoy Lawson   Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa Dambisa Moyo New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009 Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help Robert D. Lupton New York: HarperCollins, 2011 When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009 Grace at the Garbage Dump: Making Sense of Mission in the Twenty-First Century Jesse A. Zink Eugene: Cascade Books, 2012   I”m writing this month about poverty. Maybe you are on your

December 12, 2014

Christian Standard

Creating a Framework, Unleashing Potential

Book Reviews by Becky Ahlberg A Framework for Understanding Poverty By Ruby K. Payne, PhD Highlands: aha! Process, 2013 Ruby Payne”s book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, is already considered a classic and must reading for people working with families in poverty. It is a simple book and a fast read, but it is truly an eye-opener. Its initial audience was educators trying to break through to children in poverty. It has since become an industry standard training course for employers, policy makers, and service providers of all kinds. What makes it so valuable are the practical, clear tools and

November 24, 2014

Christian Standard

Life, Love, Liberty, Language

By LeRoy Lawson Four Steps to Spiritual Freedom Thomas Ryan Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2003 Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy””Until You”re 80 and Beyond Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D. New York City: Workman Publishing, 2007 Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future Tim Elmore Atlanta: Poet Gardener, 2010 Made in America Bill Bryson New York: William Morrow Paperbacks, reprint edition, 2001 I teach a seminary course called Theological Integration. Students take it in their final semester. First comes this class, then commencement. As the name indicates, the course is designed to encourage a summing up

October 30, 2014

Christian Standard

How Much More Can I Read about War?

By LeRoy Lawson A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah New York: Macmillan, 2007 The Things They Carried Tim O”Brien New York: Mariner Books, 1990 The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe New York: Farrar, Strauss and Gireaux (Picador), 1979 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins New York: Scholastic Press, 2009 A few months ago Amazon.com published a list of “100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.” The list is designed to humble. At least it humbled me. So many books I haven”t read. I made my own “to-get-to” list from that list. It”s too long. It”ll take a

October 1, 2014

Christian Standard

A Bad Year, a True Hero, and an Invitation to Wonder

By LeRoy Lawson Diary of a Bad Year J. M. Coetzee London: Harvill Secker, 2007 The Ruby Ring: Tyndale”s Battle for an English Bible Karen Rees Crosslink Publishing, 2013 Unwrapping Wonder: Finding Hope in the Gift of Nature Carol O”Casey Greeley: Gladach Publishing, 2013 I suppose it is because “misery loves company” that books by or about other old people get my attention, but that”s not the only reason. Sometimes old people write very good books. And younger people sometimes write very good books about old people. In the case of J. M. Coetzee”s Diary of a Bad Year, we

August 28, 2014

Christian Standard

Despots, Presidents, and a Readable Grammarian

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Jung Chang New York: Anchor Books (Doubleday); originally published by Simon and Schuster, 1991 The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism Doris Kearns Goodwin New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013 For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man”s Quest for Grammatical Perfection David Marsh London: Guardian Books, 2013 Wild Swans sat around our house for too long. My wife, Joy, picked it up a couple of years ago while traveling with our daughter in Vietnam. In the face of other pressures, it sat on the back shelf until

July 31, 2014

Christian Standard

Memoir of an Atheist, Biography of a Genius, Advice for Travelers

By LeRoy Lawson   Joseph Anton: A Memoir Salman Rushdie New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2013 Jim Henson: The Biography Brian Jay Jones New York: Ballantine Books, 2013 Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot- and Cold-Climate Cultures Sarah A. Lanier Hagerstown: McDougal Publishing, 2000 When Salman Rushdie published his infamous The Satanic Verses in 1988, the Muslim world went crazy. Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran”s revolution””the one that drove the Shah from the Peacock Throne and into exile””outraged by what he perceived to be Rushdie”s attack on religion in general and Islam in particular, pronounced a fatwa

June 28, 2014

Christian Standard

Practical Advice for Productive Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson   From Midterms to Ministry: Practical Theologians on Pastoral Beginnings Allan Hugh Cole Jr., editor Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008 Leadership Handbook of Management and Administration James D. Berkley, editor Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007 Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Simon Sinek New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2009 One Size Doesn”t Fit All: Bringing Out the Best in Any Size Church Gary L. McIntosh Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1999   Everybody knows there”s a world of difference between life in the seminary and life in the church. Almost everybody complains that seminaries and Bible colleges

May 24, 2014

Christian Standard

A Statesman, a Theologian, and a Preacher

By LeRoy Lawson   A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America Stacy Schiff New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2005  Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology Eugene Peterson Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005 One Year to Better Preaching: 52 Exercises to Hone Your Skills Daniel Overdorf Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2013 Sometimes it pays to look pathetic””or eager””or greedy. I don”t know exactly what my friend saw in my face, but before I left his house that evening he gave me two books. The first was a bit of nonsense featuring

April 18, 2014

Christian Standard

Good Friday, Sexual Identity, and the Fruit of the Spirit

By LeRoy Lawson   City of Wrong: A Friday in Jerusalem M. Kamel Hussein (translated by Kenneth Cragg) Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1995 (first published in 1954) The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex Is Too Important to Define Who We Are Jenell Williams Paris Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2011 Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community Philip D. Kenneson Downers Grove: IVP Books, 1999 Picture yourself in Jerusalem on Good Friday. Even better, imaginatively hover around and in and through the actors, big and small, in this most consequential drama. This is what Kamel Hussein does

April 3, 2014

Christian Standard

New Ways to Research, Serve, Lead, and Counsel

By LeRoy Lawson The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World”s Greatest Encyclopedia Andrew Lih New York: Hyperion, 2009 Unfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning Richard Stearns Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013 Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness Jimmy Collins Decatur: Looking Glass Books, 2013 Neo-Coherence Therapy: A Bridge to the Soul Bruce R. Parmenter Eugene: Resource Publications, 2013 You understand””I went to college. I wrote research papers. I had to convince my professors I had consulted the best sources, written by the most highly qualified authors with letters behind their names, and that letters were granted by

March 3, 2014

Christian Standard

Seeking Discipline and Considering the Captives

By LeRoy Lawson   Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor Jana Riess Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2011 Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives Thomas French New York: Hyperion, 2010 The title gives it away: Jana Riess”s Flunking Sainthood isn”t going to be your most serious read this year. It may be, though, the most fun. Actually, Riess is serious about the exercise of spiritual disciplines. Her tone is lighthearted, even flippant at times, but her soul thirsts, yea even longs, for the living God. So she goes to work. Her

February 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Improving Your Literacy

By James Riley Estep Jr.   Improving Your Cultural Literacy Thomas de Zengotita”s Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It (2006) assesses the impact of living in a media-immersed society by exploring the influence technology has on the relationships in American culture. Sherry Turkle”s Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011) explores how technology challenges the desire for community. Likewise, Jake Halpern”s Fame-Junkies: America”s Favorite Addiction (2008) assesses the American obsession with achieving fame, cultural recognition, and its influence on society in general. These books apprise

January 24, 2014

Christian Standard

Power, Forgiveness, and Suffering

By LeRoy Lawson My Beloved World Sonia Sotomayor New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013 Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994, 1995 What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith Thomas Long Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2011 What books do you take along for vacation? Last summer Joy and I had a rare treat. Marshall Hayden invited us to be a part of a group he led for a cruise on the Mediterranean. (You can adjust!) In exchange for a few lectures, our sailing was

January 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Fighting Against “˜the Death of Hope”

By Neal Windham Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire William T. Cavanaugh Wm. B. Eerdman”s Publishing Company, 2008 The United States has one of the lowest savings rates of any wealthy country, and we are the most indebted society in history. What really characterizes consumer culture is not attachment to things but detachment. People do not hoard money; they spend it. So warns William Cavanaugh in his book, Being Consumed (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008). Cavanaugh published these words at the beginning of the Great Recession, just as millions of baby boomers were readying to settle into their 401(k) lives. Having

December 28, 2013

Christian Standard

Studies in Pride, Lessons in Humility

By LeRoy Lawson X Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, and Roger Fischer New York: Penguin Books, 1999 You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You”re Deluding Yourself David McRaney New York: Gotham, 2012 The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power Robert A. Caro New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012   “Pride goeth before a fall.” “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” “Just who do you think you are, anyway?” “Blessed are the meek,

November 29, 2013

Christian Standard

Questions, Answers, Death, and Life

By LeRoy Lawson Honest Questions, Honest Answers: How to Engage in Compelling Conversations about Your Christian Faith David Faust Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 2012 Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds Sanjay Gupta New York: Wellness Center, 2009 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand New York: Random House, 2010 David Faust is known: pastor, preacher, author, columnist, editor, professor, university president, and national Christian leader. We don”t have a more prominent leader in the Christian churches/churches of Christ. His reputation is reason enough to read Honest Questions, Honest Answers. It”s

November 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Books I Enjoyed about Subjects I Don”t

By LeRoy Lawson   Fermat”s Last Theorem Simon Singh London: Fourth Estate, 2002 Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory Edward J. Larson New York: The Modern Library, 2006  Massive: The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science Ian Sample New York: Basic Books, 2010   Confession is good for the soul, the saying goes””and it is. Whether it is good for the column is quite another matter. Today”s books are held together by a common theme: things I don”t know. I am way, way out of my field here. But just as when driving you get lost

September 26, 2013

Christian Standard

Five “˜Must-Read” Books for Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Richard J. Foster New York: HarperOne, originally published in 1978 In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership Henri J. M. Nouwen New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989 Communicating for a Change Andy Stanley and Lane Jones Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006 Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend Andy Stanley Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012 Simple Church: Returning to God”s Process for Making Disciples Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006   Recently Milligan College and Christian Standard asked

August 23, 2013

Christian Standard

Your Church Is Like a Family

By LeRoy Lawson Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue Edwin H. Friedman New York: The Guilford Press, 1985 A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix Edwin H. Friedman New York: Seabury Books, 2007 Friedman”s Fables Edwin H. Friedman New York: The Guilford Press, 1990 Where was Edwin Friedman”s Generation to Generation when I needed it? It”s out of print now, published in 1985, but fortunately still available in used books at Amazon.com. I would have missed this one if it hadn”t been for a highly regarded minister friend who said, “This is

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