What Are You Reading? Part V

Garrett-Evangelical's incoming class has been asked to read How to Think Theologically and Cutting for Stone. Our current students have been invited to also read these two texts but we're sure they are also doing reading for summer classes and, hopefully, taking a well deserved break from academic texts and diving into a good fiction book. So, we're left asking, "What are Garrett-Evangelical's faculty and staff reading during these summer months?"


Part V of the "What Are You Reading?" series features Dr. Jack L. Seymour, Professor of Religious Education and Director of PhD Program at Garrett-Evangelical.

Dori Grinenko Baker, ed.  Greenhouses of Hope: Congregations Growing Young Leaders Who Will Change the World.  Alban Institute, 2010.
What can we learn from congregations that call youth into ministry?  What practices of youth ministry and congregational life transform the vocations of youth?  Dori Grinenko Baker, Garrett-Evangelical and Northwestern University trained theologian and Christian education, has assembled a fine group of scholars who report the work of faithful congregations.  The churches range from a mainline suburban church to an afro-centric urban church to an interfaith congregation.  In each, the authors, several of whom have been affiliated with Garrett-Evangelical, define the characteristics of “calling congregations” – congregations that make a difference in the Christian formation and faithful practice of youth.  Read and enrich your ministry.

James E. Zull.  From Brain to Mind: Using Neuroscience to Guide Change in Education.  Stylus Publishing, 2011.
A popular summary of current research on brain science and its implications for education.  A distinguish neuro-biologist from Case Western Reserve University clarifies how education, broadly conceived, is a form of interpretation where persons seek to organize meanings, define identities, respond to the environment, and develop practices of ongoing learning and social interaction.  The author not only describes biologically the processes of learning, but also clarifies the joy of learning – thus helping us define practices that enhance learning.   Implications for both theology and religious education are clear. 

Religious Education. www.religiouseducation.net, the journal of the Religious Education Association.
This journal is a primary international and interfaith forum for educators and religious leaders who care about education – about the forming of faith communities, the enhancing of religious learning, and the empowering of religious communities to impact public living.  I serve as editor of this journal.  Therefore, I regularly read essays submitted for possible publication.  I send them out for peer review and subsequently contact authors about acceptance or denial as well as how articles can be refined publication.  The journal is an example of how Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities seek to learn from and contribute to each other. 

Christopher H. Evans.  Liberalism without Illusions: Renewing an American Christian Tradition.  Baylor University Press, 2010.
Garrett-Evangelical and Northwestern University church history graduate, Christopher Evans, rehearses the impact of the Protestant liberal tradition on congregations in the United States during the last century.  He defines the costs of ignoring the wisdom of this narrative.  Moreover, he seeks to help us recover the resources of the liberal tradition for the mission of the church and the church’s public leadership.

Helene Slessarev-Jamir.  Prophetic Activism: Progressive Religious Justice Movements in Contemporary American.  New York University Press, 2011
An ethnographic study of congregations involved in action for justice.  Dr. Slessarev-Jamir examines the theology of justice that empowers particular Christian congregations and the ways they reach across interfaith lines in mutual action for justice.  Five cases studies focus the book: community organizing, worker justice, immigration rights, peace with justice, and global justice.  A powerful model of congregational leadership is provided. 

David Brooks. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement. Random House, 2011.
A fascinating popular study of how social interaction and the building of human community motivate human behavior.  Political commentator, David Brooks, has deftly organized brain science, research on learning, and studies of human resilience to show building and enhancing community are at the heart of human learning and living.  Implications for congregational leadership to help persons thrive are apparent.  

William F. Storrar, Peter J. Casarella, Paul Louis Metzger, Kumi Naidoo, eds. A World for All? Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011
A complex but important study originating from an international conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Will Storrar, one of the leading practical theologians today, drew this amazing group of people together to reflect on how the church and Trinitarian theology can impact “global civil society.”  Storrar and his colleagues draw us to crucial questions of resources from the Christian faith tradition to fund efforts at justice and mutuality across national and cultural barriers.  Using case studies, the book refocuses the mission of the church as a contributing partner in dialogue about the future shape of human community.