New & Notable - Spring 2007

Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission, by Dean Flemming (InterVarsity, 2005), 344 pp. The author, a Nazarene missionary and New Testament scholar, sees contextualization in the NT as missional, ecclesial, and transformational. The book makes a fine companion to William Webb’s Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis (2001), with which however it does not enter into dialogue.

Cross and Covenant: Interpreting the Atonement for 21st  Century Mission, by R. Larry Shelton (Paternoster, 2006), 268 pp. This thorough biblical and historical study is a timely contribution to discussions about atonement. The relational covenantal model Shelton advocates has great missional and renewal relevance.

Historical Dictionary of the Salvation Army, edited by John G. Merritt (Scarecrow, 2006), 798 pp. An important new source, with articles on James Caughey, Phoebe Palmer, and others who influenced the Army as well as key Salvationist figures, ministries, and organization.

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative, by Christopher J. H. Wright (InterVarsity, 2006), 581 pp. Old Testament scholar and missiologist Wright here comprehensively draws together his insights from a missional reading of the Bible, giving us the best current biblical theology of mission.

Restoring Methodism: 10 Decisions for United Methodist Churches in America (Provident Publishing, 2006; 163 pp.) and Kingdom People: The Spiritual Transformation from Casual to Complete Christian (Issachar Resources, 2004), both by James B. Scott and Molly Davis Scott. These new resources, drawing on Scripture, John Wesley, and early Methodism and engaging the contemporary church, are already helping bring renewal in a number of congregations. They include emphases on recovering discipline, expanding universal ministry in the church, and practical reliance on the Holy Spirit. The small-group workbook that accompanies Kingdom People is patterned after the Wesleyan class meeting.

Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action, by J. Matthew Sleeth, M.D. (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2006), 216 pp. Awakened by his experience as a doctor seeing the human effects of environmental degradation, Sleeth has developed practical ways to care for creation—and the biblical grounding for such stewardship. The book includes an energy audit and ways to practice stewardship “one appliance at a time.”

Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World, by Bob Roberts, Jr. (Zondervan, 2006), 187 pp. A fairly comprehensive vision for “transformational” congregations by a Southern Baptist pastor whose vision of the kingdom of God was awakened in large measure by reading E. Stanley Jones.

The Word Made Flesh: Towards an Incarnational Missiology, by Ross Langmead (University Press of America, 2004), 353 pp. Everyone loves “incarnational ministry,” but what does it really mean? Langmead explores the new interest in incarnation as a missiological theme through examining Anabaptist, radical evangelical, liberationist, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and other perspectives.

-Howard A. Snyder