News

Books Uncommon and Offbeat

Evangelical Disenchantment, Jesus and Philosophy, and Rapture for the Geeks.

Evangelical Disenchantment: Nine Portraits of Faith and Doubt David Hempton

Hempton, a distinguished historian best known for his studies of Methodism, includes some figures often treated in the literature of evangelical deconversion (for example, the novelist George Eliot and the memoirist Edmund Gosse, whose Father and Son was a famous book in its day) and others you might be surprised to encounter in this company (for example, Vincent Van Gogh and James Baldwin). How much can be inferred from these case studies about the protean movement that includes Jonathan Edwards and Sarah Palin is a matter for debate. And every engaged reader will be tempted to imagine an alternative portrait gallery. But few, I think, will regret the time spent with Hempton’s rather melancholy book.

Jesus and Philosophy: New Essays Edited by Paul Moser

Dallas Willard once wrote a provocative essay titled “Jesus the Logician.” Here you will find ten wide-ranging essays on Jesus and philosophy, framed by Paul Moser’s excellent introductory overview. Don’t miss Nicholas Wolterstorff on “Jesus and Forgiveness,” which begins with a simple but probing question: Where did we get the ideas of forgiveness and reconciliation, so widespread in our culture? And for a strong challenge to Christian orthodoxy — not persuasive for this reader, but subtly argued and worth engaging — see James Crenshaw’s “Sipping from the Cup of Wisdom.”

Rapture for the Geeks: When AI Outsmarts IQ Richard Dooling

The territory that Richard Dooling explores in this painfully funny, compulsively readable little book has been thoroughly plowed over. (See Tom Wolfe’s brilliant essay “Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died.”) But we can be thankful that Dooling was not daunted by his predecessors. Here he employs his skills as a top satirical novelist to expound a subject wherein truth is stranger than fiction — and one that, given the role of computer-driven trading in the current financial crisis, has taken on a new urgency.

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Other Bookmarks and reviews are in our books section.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

Jesus Is Not a Brand

Review

'The Blue Parakeet' Faces Inconvenient Verses

PhotographyWatch

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Memphis's Other Graceland

Pivoting Toward the Faraway Neighbor

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

What Is a Spiritual Director?

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Spiritual Formation Agenda

News

Managing Your Money

News

A Surefire Investment

Groans Too Deep for Words

Faith-based Super Bowl Parties

The Evolution of Darwin

There Goes the Neighborhood

News

The Greatest Social Need

Review

Jacaranda

News

Evolve or Die

News

Popcorn in the Pews

Bush's Envoy's Advice: 'Raise Cain'

News

Building a Peace Beyond Understanding

Review

Everyday Lord

News

Better Than a Bailout

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Battle Fatigue

Editorial

Don't Let Them Die Alone

How to Help Orphans

Our Priorities for 2009

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Go Figure

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Black Flight

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Second Thoughts

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Emergent's Divergence

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Microfinance, Now More Micro

News

News Briefs: January 01, 2009

News

Quotation Marks

News

Passages

News

Up for Debate

View issue

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