The Wheaton Theology Conference commemorates the Reformation’s 500th anniversary with these collected essays, which explore “the centrality of the Bible to the emergence and diffusion of the Reformation” in sections titled “Access and Readership,” “Transmission and Worship,” “Protestant-Catholic Dialogue,” and “The People’s Book Yesterday and Today.” These essays examine lesser-known aspects of biblical production throughout Europe, such as Bruce Gordon’s analysis of the proliferation and importance of Protestant-produced Latin Bibles, and D. Densil Morgan’s recounting how the creation of the Welsh Bible helped “secure the acceptance of Protestant vision” in a formerly Catholic stronghold. Unpacking complexities behind simplified Reformation tenets, G. Sujin Pak reveals how Luther’s call for the “Priesthood of all Believers” resulted in “a remarkable outpouring of treatises written by women,” Randall Zachman considers various Reformers’ distinct rationales for individuals learning to read scripture, and Paul C. H. Lim advocates that contemporary Protestants become more attuned to historical understandings of doctrines like “Sola Scriptura.” The essays brim with intriguing insights, such as Read Mercer Schuchardt’s assertion that the printing press not only produced Reformation products (indulgences and Bibles) but also made ineffective the practice of “censorship by burning at the stake.” Students of the Reformation will welcome this scholarly, diverse collection. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/03/2017 | Details & Permalink

In his usual straightforward, pastoral, and clear style, best-selling author MacArthur (The Gospel According to Jesus) plunges deeply into Paul’s letters to make a very simple point: there is only one true gospel that Jesus preached, and Paul did not depart from Jesus’s teaching in any way. MacArthur recounts Paul’s biography—dogmatic Jewish teacher, persecutor of early Christians, convert to Christianity, staunch evangelist for the Christian faith—and then carefully lays out the gospel according to Paul. As he deftly illustrates, Paul’s gospel preaches the key elements of Jesus’s message: all are guilty of sin and seek to find a way out of that condition; the only path out of sin is through accepting by faith alone that Christ alone offers salvation for sins and reconciliation with God; the grace of atonement—reconciliation of God through Christ—emboldens us to live in hope and love. MacArthur’s distinct and perceptive book offers an accessible exposition of sometimes challenging theological concepts. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/03/2017 | Details & Permalink

Feltmate’s enticing title promises much, but delivers most of it in a humorless and dreary manner. Feltmate, a sociology professor at Auburn University at Montgomery, wisely focuses on three popular television programs that not only overflow with religious references but also often humorously subvert accepted ideas about religious beliefs and practices. Engaging in close readings of over 200 episodes of these shows, Feltmate explores the ways that they satirically question sacred texts, cults, Jesus, sacred sites, and various world religions. Such readings are the highlight in a book otherwise weighed by the heavy dullness of jargon: “Satirists take appropriate incongruities that arise from a conflict between the moral boundaries established by the different legitimations that support institutionalized religious plausibility structures and reinforce their own plausibility structures by denigrating their opponents.” Feltmate’s sometimes intriguing book loses its sense of humor in tiresome and repetitious language that obscures the real value of these television programs. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/03/2017 | Details & Permalink

Religion scholar Erzen (Straight to Jesus) delivers another excellent, gripping ethnography, this time interviewing prisoners across the United States who are pursuing a university education while incarcerated. Weaving in historical exposition about prison systems, theories of punishment and rehabilitation, and the role of faith-based ministries, Erzen (who also teaches in a prison) paints a balanced portrait of the largely evangelical ministries that offer prisoners an education, exploring how these ministries transform and liberate certain individuals while using their monopoly of state prison systems to evangelize. Erzen’s research is impressive, wide-ranging, and thorough, and she is at her best when introducing readers to the women and men she interviewed: she provides in-depth portraits of their histories, explores their religious conversions, and shares the ways that getting a university education has changed their lives. Erzen is a talented writer whose prose is accessible and easy to digest, and she never dodges the complexities and rigor of her subject. This is an enlightening and unflinching examination of the tragedies of mass incarceration and the complicated role that faith-based ministries play in prisoner rehabilitation and the beliefs around it. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/03/2017 | Details & Permalink