Adam Hamilton envisions having a conversation with readers around questions they might ask of what the Bible is and what it teaches. He recognises that the Bible may be disturbing and  perplexing. It is not his aim to provide answers; he seeks rather to summarise ideas and encourage readers to think. He does this well, in clear language.

The book is divided into two broad  sections.  The first deals with the nature of scripture, beginning with biblical geography and a timeline before moving on to who wrote the books of the Old  Testament (Hebrew scriptures), when and why. Hamilton speaks of how the canon (accepted books) of the Old Testament was formed and discusses the place of the Deuterocanonical books that, for Protestants, are included in the Apocrypha. He moves on to discuss the formation of the New Testament, differences between the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John and  authorship of the letters attributed to Paul.

Having presented this in a very readable style, Hamilton addresses questions such as: is the Bible inspired? How does God speak through scripture? and is the Bible inerrant and infallible? He  sees inspiration as the Spirit’s influence on ideas and holds that sometimes biblical writers failed to understand God’s mind and character. If Jesus is himself the Word of God then, in Hamilton’s  view, the actual text of the Bible cannot be infallible in any absolute sense. Hamilton suggests that Jesus’ emphasis on love for God and neighbour is like a kitchen colander through which all the  teaching of the Bible should be strained. Continue Reading

The easiest way to tell what anyone believes, what they value, is to look at how they behave and how they spend their time and money. It becomes uncomfortable when, through either our own realisation or  by someone else pointing it out, our external behaviours don’t match up with what we say we value.

Undivided by Graham Hooper is a book about what we do with these contradictions in our lives, both individually and corporately. These reflections are offered from one who has worked to connect his  ‘sacred’ faith with his life and ‘secular’ work as an engineer. This is important as sometimes the gulf between church on Sunday and work on Monday can be absurd, yet it is an absurdity that isn’t too hard to  be comfortable with. Continue Reading

While 1 John is normally classed among the epistles or letters of the Christian scriptures, it lacks an epistolary beginning or salutation and the usual closing format. Searching for an alternative description some scholars have referred to 1 John as a tract or pastoral document. But however defined it is obvious that the author is writing to a Christian community and is writing out of pastoral concern, even if we cannot be certain who the intended recipients were or exactly what moral or theological difficulties they may have been experiencing.

Coombes explores the idea of 1 John as a relecture (or rereading) of the Gospel of John. He identifies linguistic and thematic similarities and differences and discusses the possibility that, in 1 John, ideas from John’s Gospel are being reread, developed, interpreted, reoriented and reappropriated for a specific pastoral purpose and historical situation.

Examining the literary structure of 1 John, Coombes comments on the rhetorical features used by the writer for amplification and emphasis including contrasts between good and evil, light and darkness, loving and hating. He also notes that while 1 John doesn’t quote directly from the Gospel of John, there are repeated allusions to gospel themes and links formed by key words. A number of tables are included that allow readers to follow this through for themselves. These are set out in a way that assists ease of comparison between 1 John and the Gospel of John. There is also a helpful index of gospel texts cited.Continue Reading

Challenged to write a character study of women in the Bible, Carol Cook wondered if she would find enough women mentioned to provide the basis for such a study – but she found at  least 418 women named and wanted to know more. As she read, she realised that many of these women had faced the same struggles she herself had faced. This inspired her to let the  characters tell their own stories. The challenge was to let each woman find her own voice.

In this book, eight so-called “scandalous” women tell their own stories. They are not so much scandalous in terms of wilfully flouting moral and social convention, but rather because of  the circumstances in which their lives were enmeshed. Imagination brings each woman alive so that we hear her speaking in her own right. We are called to lay aside judgement and preconception and listen. As we listen, we may discern the life-changing grace of God at work lifting us out of situations in which we too may have felt entrapped. Continue Reading

In this book, Jenks, a biblical scholar and Academic Dean at St Francis Theological College in Brisbane, seeks out the actual person, Jesus, who lived and died around 2000 years ago  (Jesus then) and to reflect on ways that this Jesus is relevant to our lives and practice today (Jesus now).

Drawing from a plethora of source material, Jenks takes the reader on an adventure as he places Jesus into his Jewish Palestinian world of the 1st century. He offers some really  refreshing perspectives of Jesus: small town Jesus, out of place in what later became the centre of Christianity – the city; expendable Jesus: one of many who were victims of the  systemic violence embodied in the Roman Empire. Continue Reading

Written by a pastoral theologian and a psychiatrist, both ordained, this book brings pastoral sensitivity and psychological awareness to factors that can ‘kill ministry’. It is addressed  particularly to ordained ministers; however, it would be useful for anyone in leadership in a congregation, and especially those who are leading congregations without placed ordained  ministers. It explores how congregations often avoid facing difficult aspects of their history or hard decisions about their futures and how leaders might respond.

In this book, “Elephant stands for an obvious truth or issue that is ignored or unnamed, yet is allowed to occupy a large amount of space in the hearts and minds of those who tiptoe  around it.”

The authors point out that finding the elephants is not always as easy as may be imagined – like seeking the cleverly hidden Wally in the Where’s Wally books. Continue Reading