by Roger E. Olson and Adam C. English ★★★★ For anyone wanting a quick overview of Christian theology through the last two millennia, this condensation of Roger Olson’s The Story of Christian Theology hits all the high points. Beginning with the early second century, you’ll meet church fathers and apologists…
Category: Book Reviews
Dubious Disciple book reviews
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Book review: Atoms & Eden
by Steve Paulson ★★★★★ If you really want to start an argument, ask a room full of physicists this question: Are the laws of physics fine-tuned to support life? This question and others are debated in Steve Paulson’s collection of interviews. In the great “religion vs. science” debate, this is…
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Book review: Life In Abundance
by John R. Donahue, Editor ★★★★★ I introduced Raymond Brown a couple books back as one of the most important theologians of the 20th century. A few years after his sudden death in 1998, St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore hosted a conference titled “Life in Abundance,” to follow Brown’s…
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Book review: Jesus and Buddha, the Parallel Sayings
by Marcus Borg ★★★★ Three thousand miles from where Jesus was born, another miraculous birth occurred: the Buddha. As the Buddha walked on water, passed through walls, and raised the dead, so did Jesus in his day. As the Buddha fed 500 with a few small cakes, so did Jesus…
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Book review: The Gospel and Epistles of John
by Raymond E. Brown ★★★ This book is now 23 years old, but it is one that every Bible scholar must read. Raymond Brown is considered by many to be the premier Johannine scholar of the 20th century, and is widely acknowledged by both the Church and by academia. Brown began writing about…
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Book review: I Sold My Soul on eBay
by Hemant Mehta ★★★★★ Mehta is “the eBay atheist,” the nonbeliever who auctioned off the opportunity for the winning bidder to send him to church. Since then, Mehta has visited a variety of churches, from the cozy to the mega churches, and written about his experiences. If you’re looking for…
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Book review: Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts
by Dr. Richard Booker ★★★★ It’s impossible to recognize all the nuances of the New Testament writings without understanding the Jewish feasts. Consider especially the Gospel of John: It goes from one Biblical feast to the next with barely a let-up. This is one of John’s primary literary devices, where…
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Book review: Thinking Is Authorized!
by Nash Khatri ★★★★ With a mysterious Bang! 13.7 billion years ago, an incredible universe of time and space tumbled forth. Science and religion both are fascinated by this existence, as we humans peer ever deeper into the mysteries of the universe. But Nash’s book is different: it wonders what else is out there….
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Book review: The Existential Jesus
by John Carroll ★★★★★ Ex-is-ten-tial –adjective: of or relating to existence, especially human existence. This is Jesus, the way you’ve never read about him before. John Carroll draws primarily on the Gospel of Mark, a Gospel which rather quickly fell into disuse among early Christians as they favored the more majestic stories…
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Book review: David and Solomon
by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman ★★★★ A Finkelstein book will be controversial; let’s establish that up front. And because there exists very little archaeological evidence outside the Bible story of Judah’s first kings, speculation will be a natural result of any such study. We know absolutely nothing from history about…