Leitourgia

The advancements of technology and social media are changing what it means to be human, yet religious studies rarely tend to intersect with technological and neurological sciences. In Pastoral and Spiritual Care in a Digital Age: The Future is Now   (Lexington Books, 2018), Kirk A. Bingaman ventures into how technology informs spiritual care. Himself a professor of pastoral care, Bingaman claims that humans are becoming techno sapiens.  Rather than retreating from technology, Bingaman sees the unavoidable development of technology as part of God's ongoing work of "doing a new thing." Consequently, he sees positive means for artificial intelligence that can be embraced in pastoral care. For Bingaman, pastoral and spiritual care in a digital age requires preserving humanity through contemplative spiritual practices, preventing technology from overtaking human identity. Bingaman's book is important for many reasons. First, he asserts that technological change is unav...

The expansive, global influence of Christian song is carefully probed in Exploring Christian Song  (Lexington Books, 2017), a collection of essays that fills the growing body of literature on the spirituality of music-making across the world. Edited by respected church music scholars M. Jennifer Bloxam and Andrew Shenton, these essays arose out of the meeting of the nascent Society for Christian Scholarship in Music. The essays are both ecumenical and global, trekking Christian thought across a panoply of theological and cultural traditions. The end goal of mining the riches of Christian musical practices is to "reflect the worldwide diversity of Christian traditions" (xii). Respected liturgical historian Karen Westerfield Tucker begins by examining the Phos Hilaron , the oldest extant Christian hymn outside of Scripture. Westerfield Tucker explores how songs create unity among groups in particular contexts. The historical survey begins ca. 1500 with Catholic compositiona...

American Covenant  (Princeton University Press, 2017) is Philip Gorski's attempt to trace the dynamics of civil religion in America. The United States has a deep religious mythology woven into its history. Over the past few hundred years, there has been a tension between what Gorski sees as religious nationalism and radical secularism. On the one hand, some desire to turn America into God's instrument for administering divine justice. On the other hand, some see America as a place free from public spiritual influence. The long-standing conflict between these two, Gorski asserts, threatens the original vision of the country's founders, who sought to bring both religious ethics and republican politics together. Gorski embarks on a journey through the history of American religion, from the ethical vision of the Puritans to the republican vision of the American Revolution and Civil War to the complicated religious back-and-forth from World War II to the present. Through it ...

Longtime churchgoers joke that the answer to every Sunday school question is always a resounding "Jesus!" But how is Jesus the answer to all matters of faith? Telford Work, in his new book Jesus—The End and the Beginning  (Baker Academic, 2019), agrees but laments that evangelicalism is unable to explain how  Jesus becomes the final answer to all things. This book, adapted from a series of lectures given by the author, probes the metaphor of Jesus as "alpha and omega" and how that informs, simply put, everything. Work explores Jesus as the end and the beginning of God, the cosmos, humanity, Israel, the nations, and a life. His scope is comprehensive and top-down—from God himself, to the universe he made, to the people he made, to the nation he chose, to the lives he made—showing how the Christ-shaped nature permeates all domains of existence. Part theological and part philosophical, this book is difficult to classify. It defies a simple systematic theology or ...

Bryan Chapell's celebrated preaching book Christ-Centered Preaching  (Baker Academic, 2018), now in its third edition, continues to prove itself as an indispensable resource for beginning and seasoned preachers alike. Chapell sets forth a vision of expository preaching, sermons that are sourced from scriptural themes rather than personal topics. He then describes the process of developing expository sermons, including explanation, structuring, illustrations, applications, introductions, conclusions, and transitions. In his final chapters, Chapell turns to his contribution to the field of homiletics: redemptive sermons. For Chapell, "Christ-centered preaching" does not necessarily mean mystically finding Christ in every passage but showing how each passage points to Christ's saving work. The "Fallen Condition Focus," as the author coins, is redeemed by the Gospel. It is this redemptive-historical view, also seen in the separate but often overlapping river...