Book Reviews - 3/8/10

Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing up in Christ, Eugene H. Peterson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mich., 2010, ISBN 9780802829559, 302 pages, $24.00, hardcover.

The Church takes a lot of beatings in popular Christianity today. Tell-all memoirs from the hottest new writers detailing the quirks and sins of “church people” and the psychological harm they’ve caused fly off the shelves. It has become fashionable to debate the value of the Church to the cause of Christ, and words like “community” and “gathering” have become the acceptable way to describe the assembly of believers. Too many of the rebuttals written by traditionalists seem more concerned with tradition than with the Church.

In Practice Resurrection, Peterson explores the Church as it is, the Body of Christ born of the Holy Spirit, not as it has been or as we would like it to be. He is mindful that the Church is imperfect (by way of its composition of sinners saved by grace), but seeks to build it up rather than deconstructing it. He writes, “Sooner or later, though, if we are serious about growing up in Christ, we have to deal with the church. I say sooner.”

Peterson’s book (the fifth in a series of works on spiritual theology) is, in essence, an informal commentary on the book of Ephesians. He points out that almost all New Testament letters to churches were written because of something—doctrinal error, rampant sinfulness, pointless squabbles, etc.—but Ephesians appears to be motivated by Christ’s love for His people. He applies Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesians to the life of today’s Church as a model, urging believers to “walk worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” (Eph. 4:1).

The title, Practice Resurrection, comes from Paul’s grounding of his entire description of the Body in the fact of Christ’s resurrection. Peterson describes the Church as something of an outpost for life in a country of death, and pinpoints our growth into spiritual maturity as the outworking of the raised Christ in our lives. As he works his way through Ephesians, he describes the forms and actions of the Church not just theologically, but through the very concrete realities of human relationships and his decades of pastoral ministry.

Peterson’s book is a breath of fresh air to those who love Christ’s Church, “warts and all,” and desire to see her cleansed “by the washing of water with the Word.” He doesn’t excuse her faults, but lovingly exhorts individuals to live out the reality of the resurrection together as the dynamic Body the Lord ordained.

Justin Lonas

Type: Ecclesiology/Commentary
Target: All
Take: Recommended

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Scripture by Heart: Devotional Practices for Memorizing God’s Word, Joshua Choonmin Kang, 2010, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill., ISBN 9780830835362, 150 pages, $15, softcover.

Kang, a pastor and speaker in California, has written over 30 books in his native Korean language, but this is only his second in English. Scripture by Heart attempts to reignite the fire for memorization in today’s Church. Kang identifies four reasons to practice memorizing Scripture: 1) to know God, 2) to imitate Christ, 3) to worship God, and 4) to fulfill God’s mission. The book is laid out as a 30-day devotional designed to draw the reader into reflective meditation on God’s Word and incorporating memorized Scripture into prayer and worship.

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