Category: Books

Categories
Books Ecclesiology New Testament Richard Hays

Working bibliography of biblical studies books on ecclesiology

I have prepared a working bibliography of biblical studies books on ecclesiology.  Below I have also reviewed Longenecker's compiliation which is quite good.  Elsewhere, I have reviewed Barrett's book. 

Update: See also the input from different people on Chris Tilling's post asking for suggestions on this topic. 

Working bibliography of biblical studies books on ecclesiology

Book review: Community Formation: In the Early Church and in the Church Today edited by Richard Longenecker

Richard N. Longenecker, ed. Community Formation: In the Early Church and in the Church Today (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002). 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book on biblical and historical backgrounds of church leadership structures, November 22, 2008

By
Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

The subject of this book is church leadership structures. It addresses the question: "What are bishops, elders and deacons?"
There
are 11 chapters plus a fantastic introduction to the history of the
debate by editor Richard Longenecker. "Most of the chapters in this
volume were originally presented at the Bingham Colloquium, held June
26-27, 2000, at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada"
(xvii). I will highlight the chapters I happened to find particularly
helpful. I found the first two chapters by Richard Ascough on
Greco-Roman associations, and Alan Segal on the Jewish institutions, to
be excellent concise descriptions of the context from which the church
emerged. Then there are chapters by well known New Testament scholars
Craig A. Evans, Richard Longenecker, and I. Howard Marshall on the
church in the Gospels, Paul, and the Pastoral Epistles respectively.
Frances Young traces the development of the forms of church leadership
in the whole New Testament and into the Greek fathers–arguing that
probably elders meant "senior citizens" and not a church office.
Finally, there is a brilliant essay by theologian John Webster on how
church leadership should be considered; an interesting essay by David
Hester about the development of Presbyterian polity and whether it is
still valuable today; and then finally a summary by Miroslav Volf of
his book After Our Likeness. If I were teaching ecclesiology in a
seminary, I would require all of these essays. They are concise and
well-written by outstanding scholars.
Because of my own interests, I did not delve into the chapters by Peter Richardson, Scott Bartchy, and Alan Hayes.

Categories
Books Will Willimon

Review of Pastor: Theology and Practice by Will Willimon

Here is my Amazon.com review of:

Willimon is a hero to me.  I would love to do the writing, teaching and leading that he has done in his life.  I appreciated his wise reflections in this book. 

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, insightful but verbose, November 13, 2008

By
Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Reading this book is like having a very long conversation with one of the premier pastor of pastors in the United States. Will Willimon has a Ph.D. in theology, was the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University for many years, and is now a Bishop in the United Methodist Church. He has written many books and has written regularly for both Christian Century and Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal. He is worth listening to.

Seminary students might want to read the book cover to cover to get 336 pages of reflection and insight into pastoral ministry. They will invariably gain a greater grasp of the types of dilemmas pastors face and some ways of reflecting on those issues. Others will want to have this book on their shelf–to consult when the issue of ordination, pastoral care, and preaching comes up; they can then turn to the relevant chapter and enrich the discussion. While reflecting on contemporary issues in the church, Willimon does significant exegetical work in the New Testament as well as drawing upon Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Wesley.

As both Christopher S. Royer and S. A. Garno note in their reviews: the book is comprehensive in its reflections but is a bit difficult to read because it is so verbose and convoluted. Still, there are insights on every page–each person who reads it will grow in their understanding of pastoring.

Your Tags: pastoring, pastoral theology, ordained ministry, clergy, pastor, church leadership


Related resources: 

Will Willimon’s Blog:

A Peculiar Prophet–A Dialogue with Bishop Will Willimon of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church

Bishop Willimon’s Podcast iTunes link–will only work if you have iTunes (which is free program that works on PC’s and Macs) installed on your computer

Categories
Books

Review of With God in the Crucible by Peter Storey

Here is my Amazon.com review of

Peter Storey, With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Discipleship (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005). 

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful sermons that concisely tell the story of the fall of apartheid in South Africa, November 13, 2008

By
Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

I was moved to tears and deeply challenged by this tale of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa–illustrated by the concise sermons of Peter Storey. In 1990, apartheid began being dismantled. In 1994, the first democratic elections were held. Storey was involved before, during and after these events. Storey was the pastor of Central Methodist Mission Methodist in Johannesburg from 1976 to 1989; Methodist Bishop of the Johannesburg/Soweto area from 1984 to 1997; and Professor of the Practice of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School from 1999 to 2006. Storey himself is a white South African but served alongside black leaders like Desmond Tutu who wrote the foreword.

It took me about 4 hours to read the 175 pages. There are 23 sermons here which may sound like a lot but they are only 2-5 pages each. Each sermon is prefaced by a description of the dramatic events that occasioned the sermon. The sermons launch from a relevant Scriptural text and are illustrated with poignant stories and powerful quotations.

Retired United Methodist Bishop Ken Carder required this book for first year MDiv students in his Introduction to Christian Ministry course at Duke Divinity School and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Note:

I do not think of Amazon.com reviews as significant academic
reviews of the book.  People who view this review at Amazon.com will
already be browsing the book.  My review is intended to give the person
a better idea of what is in the book, thus helping them decide if they
want to buy it.  No one had reviewed Storey’s book so I thought I would
give people a better idea of what it was all about. 

Related resources:

See my other post about Storey at:
Education in the Local Church: Taylor, Willimon, Storey, Niebuhr, and Groome

An online article by him is:
Peter Storey, Rules of Engagement: Faithful Congregations in a Dangerous World. Inaugural Lecture for Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Chair of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke University Divinity School, 1999.  Storey taught at Duke Divinity School from 1999 to 2006.

See the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence website for more Duke Divinity School resources on pastoring. 

We read the following books in Bishop Ken Carder’s Introduction to Christian Ministry course at Duke Divinity School, where I am the preceptor (teaching assistant). 

Books for Ken Carder’s Intro to Christian Ministry