Renewal

These conversations with "experts" on religion and ecology show off Benjamin Webb's own conversance with the literature of ecology and religion. You will learn alot from reading this book, and will also be prompted to your own reflections. Unfortunately, the book perpetuates what some of its thinkers see as "the problem"--hierarchies that place human systems before "earth systems." The book's organization is thinkers first, doers last. Not surprisingly, the most striking doer is a woman, a Dominican sister who is somehow compelled to cite Thomas Berry (a bore) as the intellectual source of her work. Later she admits that for the sisters, creating a community farm was more of a visceral calling to the earth, a joyful claiming of freedom from the patriarchy. Webb interviewed only three women, and only one person of color (these are clustered at the end of the book). This is still the profile of Christianity in the U.S. Please read this book if you're a pastor.

This is the question that Findley B. Edge asks in the preface to the "Gathered and Scattered Church". Hammett's response seems to be that it can, but it will need to change its focus from the gathered, institutional church to the scattered church working in the world around it. Problems which need to be addressed include: apathy, clergy-dominated ministry, secularization, ineffectivness of programs, and a spirit of intolerance.
The key to changing the church lies in equipping the laity to carry the message of Christ into their week-day world, not just through individual evangelism, but by "taking a christian stand, representing Christian concerns, and reminding Christians of their servant role". This "priestly function...must be affirmed and encouraged each time the Christian community meets together". These functions become most important in a culture where life is defined by work instead of family, community, and religious involvement. Some of Hammett's ideas for strengthening faith involve redefining membership in the church with different levels and matching privileges. I cannot agree with many of these, but they are certainly provocative and need consideration as part of examining what changes can be meaningful.
Certainly challenging the "Gathered Church" to make a solid commitment to supporting and nurturing the "Scattered Church" through bridge-building, education of laity and clergy, and theological reflection on God's work in the world can move this from a concept to reality. The last part of the book is full of ideas and questions to help examine and discern what changes to a particular congregation could be effective and how to give them a chance to occur. I cannot help but agree with words from Hammett's closing paragraph, "The church is being called to effectiveness, not activity; to fruitfulness, not faithfulness; to relevancy, not ritual; to truth, not tradition." It is about making a difference in the world for Christ.

Get real! Read a realistic book. The book Grand Avenue is as real as it could get. It is a book that contains many stories that are linked together. These stories all have many different characters and take place in many different settings. They are so real that a variety of people could relate to them. It is full of anger, lust, personality, and distruction. The anger of one child leads to destruction when she burns down a barn because she couldn't save one horse. Another girl's relationship ended when she made a bad choice. It ends with plenty of life-long lessons that will capture the reader's heart. One reason that Grand Avenue is so easy to connect to is that the time period is so close to ours. The setting takes place in many different areas. Even though they aren't described well there are so many that the reader has to be able to connect to one. By connect , I mean if it sounds recognizable the reader can experience it more. Setting may not be described well, but it is still an important and large part of the book. The main themes are anger, lust, and destruction. The theme creates a world of suspense that is drowning in dangers. The dangers are not just imaginary. These dangers are ones that people have been victims of in the real world, too. One girl is determined to save a horse that she loves dearly. She can't save it so out of anger she burns down the barn that the horse had once been kept in. Another girl knows she's in love, but by making a bad choice her relationship ends. The characters in Grand Avenue have to learn important lessons the hard way. One can avoid the pain the characters go through and still learn life-long lessons, while reading Grand Avenue. Think about your relationships and problems. Do you want some help fixing them or making them better? Let my friends from Grand Avenue help. They'll do the dirty work for you. Make your life a little easier and have fun reading Grand Avenue.

John and I got separated 5 months ago. A friend recommended this book to me, and it has helped a lot. The stories help me see I wasn't alone in my feelings, and the journal entries forced me to think about what went wrong, and right in my marriage. I'm not 100% back together yet, but this book helped me see that I do have a future -- that may even someday include another marriage. Thank you Dr. Rich and Dr. Schwartz -- your book got me through some tough weeks.

Burn out syndrome is one of the most popular syndroms nowadays, so almost everybody has experienced it. On the other hand peope workingwith people are above all others under the cumulative effects of stress, therefore we need special vigilance to burn out among nurses and physicians. This book opens that problem and it is neccessary for everyday practice in all health providing institutions.

C. Peter Wagner has written a thought provoking book which should be helpful to all churches. Wagner identifies problems (diseases) which hamper church growth and will cause the death of churches. Those pastors and church leaders who are experiencing growth problems will readily see potential problems in their local congregations. I felt that this book was well done and useful for myself as a young pastor. My only complaint and wish would be for more information on the steps to combat these 'diseases.' I did find particularly interesting, particularly since I am part of a Holiness church, the problems Wagner says Holiness churches encounter due to the "santification gap." This discussion could have been more substantial as well. However, to his credit as I have noticed with other Wagner works, he makes references which are helpful for the various topics discussed. I wish to give this work 4 & 1/2 stars!

This study edited by anthropologists Robert Hefner and Patricia Horvatich is an important contribution to the understanding of Islam's role in shaping the twentieth-century nation-states of Southeast Asia and its Muslim population's perceptions of their own identity.

In spite of the wide range of topics there is a remarkable consistency in the authors' approaches. One indication for this is the frequency with which the same source material is referenced. This is not a sign of prejudice, but rather of an understanding of certain important "megatrends." For example, the authors of six of the book's ten chapters have consulted Eickelman's "Mass Higher Education and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary Arab Societies"; signaling their shared awareness of the impact of educational changes on the innovative engagement with religiosity.

According to Hefner's introduction, the dominant discourse in Southeast Asia is "a remarkable combination of pluralism, intellectual dynamism, and openness to dialogue." Southeast Asian Islam's specific social and historical horizon enables us to deepen our understanding of the Muslim world's diversity. In a brief digression Hefner then takes scholars to task for their distorted views of Southeast Asian Islam. Following the authority of Clifford Geertz, most Asianists have dismissed local Islam as just a thin layer of veneer, while many Islamologists consider Southeast Asia as the geographical and intellectual periphery of the Muslim world.

Hefner points also to country-specific patterns, like Indonesian Islam's "long history of pluralism and extra-governmental independence"; Malaysia's limitations on civil autonomy; and the Philippines' search for a balance between Muslim dominance in the south and the danger of its marginalization within the nation-state.

The first essay -- Thomas McKenna's study of Muslim or "Moro" identity in the Cotabato area -- forms a welcome correction of the often ill-understood position of Filipino Muslims. Hefner's second contribution "Islamization and Democratization in Indonesia" is one of the volume's most impressive essays. This grand scheme is explained on the basis of a genealogy of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI). Not only is this fascinating phenomenon an astonishing departure from Suharto's earlier New Order policies, but its importance is further enhanced by the fact that virtually all key Muslim leaders played a part in its development, whether they effectively joined the organization or not. Although French journalist Andrée Feillard's examination of the tensions between nation-state and traditionalist Islam provides an illustrative account of the role of the world's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), in Indonesian politics, some of her conclusions depend too much on inferences that are difficult to substantiate.

John Bowen opens the book's second section with a study of the challenges posed by modernity to local perceptions of self. His approach is reminiscent of James Siegel's seminal study "The Rope of God." Where Siegel surveyed both traditional Acehnese Muslim literature and twentieth-century periodicals, Bowen has studied Muslim rhetoric in neighboring Gayo on the basis of an entirely new genre of poetry called "saèr." Anthropologists like Siegel and Bowen must be congratulated for their willingness to depart from their discipline's established methodologies.

With her study of the Ahmadiyya Movement on the Philippine Island of Simunul, co-editor Patricia Horvatich has inarguably made the most extraordinary contribution. By choosing such an arcane topic the author has also been able to underscore the "drawing-in" effect of modernization. No place is immune to its impact. At the same time it is important to realize that such intrusions are not necessarily all negative: in spite of the potential menaceto the inhabitants of such remote places, being considered "worthy" of outside attention also can give rise to a new sense of self.

The last essay examining reform and reformism is dedicated to the problematic relation between the student-dominated Dakwah or Revivalist movement(s) and the government in Malaysia. This is placed against the background of the centrality of "Muslimness" to the notion of "Malayness." To illustrate the development of these tensions, author Shamsul A.B. has opted for a historical treatment: identifying an "awakening period" in which humanities students dominated the movement; a "forward movement period" during which the science students took over; a "mainstreaming period" characterized by growing state influence; and the current "Dakwah and Industrialized Malaysia period", in which - according to the author's prediction -- the movement will continue to penetrate still highly traditionalist rural Malaysia, while its ideological outlook will become increasingly pluralist.

The two essays on "Ordinary Muslims" serve to illustrate the resilience of traditionalist Islam, or better ordinary Muslims' perceptions of what it means to be Muslim. Michael Peletz warns against the assumption that all Malay(sian) Muslims are squarely behind the Dakwah movement, on the contrary: "many, perhaps most, are clearly hostile both to various elements of the movement and state agents and others who endorse it." On the other hand resistance is curtailed by four variables: the state policy against any "counterhegemonic" discourse; a more hidden form of censorship; the moral and existential constraints posed by the centrality of "being Muslim" to Malay cultural identity; and the "Panopticon" of social control. Martin Rössler's study of Muslim identities in a rural community of South Sulawesi tries to make a case for finding some middle ground between local particularity and an "Islam of all times and all places."

In her Afterword South Asia historian Barbara Metcalf shares some final thoughts, in which she endeavors to draw some parallels with the study of history, religion and nationhood in her own area of specialization.

Islam in an Era of Nation-States is a balanced account based on both micro- and macro-level studies. The reader comes away with the impression that the modernization project in Southeast Asia has produced - like probably everywhere else - the good, the bad, and the ugly. On the one hand, it has provided Southeast Asians with a toolbox for critical engagement with their own heritage. At the same time many may have failed to realize the immanent danger of throwing out the child with the bathwater. On the other hand, it has led some reformists to develop a tunnel-vision worldview that sometimes borders on self-hate.

What a great book. Really makes you think about your congregation experience whether you are clergy or a layperson. I am ready to roll up my sleaves and start implementing some of these great ideas in our congregation.

Wanted just a little more information, but overall it's an ok book

Bandy's book offers readers a step-by-step process by which they can engage in making change in the local congregation. It offers limited exercies for use but does have some examples that can be easily followed by local leaders. I recommend the book as a tool to use for giving direction to the local leaders wanting to understand change and ways to engage in changing the local congregation.