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Review
These two books are part of the Foundation of Christian Faith Series, (12 volumes), written for laypersons. The series stands in the tradition of the earlier Layman’s Theological Library, published by The Westminster Press. Various authors explore and address the major themes and doctrines of the Christian faith, such as the Bible, Creation, Suffering, the Holy Spirit, and the Church in relation to our contemporary situation. Other titles already published are Christian Worship, and The Trinity.
The description on the back cover states that this series will enable readers to learn about contemporary theology. This is a somewhat ambiguous phrase, since ‘contemporary’ depends on one’s starting point. To avoid confusion, I like to point out that the above titles do not represent contemporary theology as liberal theology, as I understand the term. The authors do not argue for a totally new approach to Christianity as Bishop Spong or Marcus Borg do. Having said this, I would recommend these publications. They are concise, clear and easy to read. The authors take current sociological and cultural issues into account, which is refreshing. Although discussion questions are not included, these books could be helpful to any small group of people, who are concerned about the relevance of the Christian message to our contemporary situation.
Reading these books alone or in a group would be another way of becoming involved with the theme of Spirituality, the Flames Initiative for this year.
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