Book Reviews

[1] Kudos to the JLE and July authors who responded to The Shock Doctrine. [2] When I first arrived at Bread for the World in 1978, the commonly held wisdom was that the cause of hunger was poverty. Simply stated, “If people had money or other resources (e.g. arable land) they would feed themselves.” As […]

[1] It seems to me that Michael Root is off base in three claims that undergird his “Communion and Difference.” 1. His claim for “normative ethical teaching” in the church of the Augsburg Confession. 2. His claim that a “consensus of the wider church” exists about homosexuality–a clear “no”–and that this consensus is itself “normative” […]

[1] Christians need some criteria, some body of thought on war, in order to make sense of and to judge their own country’s policies. Two positions on war — the war realist position and the classic pacifist position — have serious deficiencies. The war realist position makes war an intrinsic part of a nation’s culture. […]

[1] In this book, Gary M. Simpson, Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, offers a thorough and instructive introduction to a vital aspect of our public life together as Christians. War, Peace, and God presents a timely reminder that the just-war tradition handed down to us by our forefathers bears striking dissimilarities to the […]

[1] Like other books in the Lutheran Voices series, Gary Simpson’s War, Peace, and God: Rethinking the Just War Tradition appears intended for use in classroom and congregation. It aims to stimulate broader discussion on the morality of war. To that end the book certainly succeeds, and I would like to contribute to the discussion […]

[1] Gary Simpson, a professor of systematic theology at Luther seminary, has titled his new book WAR, PEACE and GOD: Rethinking the Just-War Tradition. He says that he uses the word tradition, rather than theory, because “a tradition is a historically extended, socially embodied argument about the common goods that comprise and sustain a community […]

Langerak, Edward, Civil Disagreement: Personal Integrity in Pluralistic Society. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2014, 170 pages, paperback, $29.95.

[1] Douglas John Hall, noted for his Theology of the Cross, has written an autobiography detailing the evolution of his theological framework from his childhood in Canada to present day. It is a short work for someone wanting a quick understanding of how current-day mainstream liberal theologians developed their theology and their worldview. [2] The […]

[1] Douglas John Hall describes Bound and Free as his attempt “at the end of this long apprenticeship to say something publicly about what I have found this vocation [theology] to entail” (page xi). Within that purpose statement stand the two words and concepts that become the most interesting reflection point of this work: theology […]

[1] I was intrigued to receive Douglas John Hall’s theological autobiography because his is a name I have long been aware of, but about whose life and theology I knew virtually nothing – except from a couple of small things he wrote ages ago. I was conscious that he was a Canadian but other than […]