Andy Rowell

Author: Andy Rowell

  • Recommended: Martin Marty’s biography of Martin Luther

    I thought Martin Marty's 2004 (reprint 2008) biography of Martin Luther was delightful.  I found it readable, quick-paced, thoughtful and brief.  I would recommend it for those who have seen the 2004 movie Luther and want an introduction to the Reformation through a biography.  Marty is a Lutheran religious scholar who will turn 83 in February 2011.  He taught at University of Chicago Divinity School for many years and wrote regularly for The Christian Century from 1956 to 2010.

     

     

  • Stanley Hauerwas on “The Church as Mission”

    Stanley Hauerwas has recently published his most sophisticated treatment of mission and evangelism.

    Stanley Hauerwas, "Beyond the Boundaries: The Church as Mission" in Walk Humbly with the Lord: Church and Mission Engaging Plurality (ed. Viggo Mortensen and Andreas Østerlund Nielsen; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 53-69.

    Read it at Google Books. 

    Hauerwas is one of my main advisors in my doctoral work here at Duke and I approach the topic similar to the way he does here.  He draws heavily on John Howard Yoder, responds to Nathan Kerr, and cites Karl Barth, Lesslie Newbigin, and Bryan Stone approvingly. 

    (Note also the reference to former Duke students Derek Woodard-Lehmann (now at Princeton) and Dan Barber).

    This is not easy reading.  It is part of a broader conversation in theology, political theology, and ethics.

  • Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

    This article sparked a storm of discussion about parenting and discipline.  Worth thinking about. 

    JANUARY 8, 2011
    Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior: Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids? And what happens when they fight back?

    By AMY CHUA

    Wall Street Journal

    A great response:

    By DAVID BROOKS
    Published: January 17, 2011
    “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” may denounce soft American-style parenting, but its author shelters her children from the truly arduous experiences necessary to achieve.
    New York Times

     

    See more about this at:

    Hear the Tiger Mother Roar

    Amy Chua’s new book will make her readers gasp—with horror and with envy.

    By Ann Hulbert

    Posted Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011

    Slate

     See also

    Is Extreme Parenting Effective?

    Does strict control of a child’s life lead to greater success or can it be counterproductive?

    New York Times

    There are six very short responses to Chua’s article by parenting and China “experts.”  None buy Chua’s approach but many grant the opposite coddling approach is also problematic.