Caste is a brilliant, extraordinary piece of writing that will likely become a required reference for discussions about racism going forward.
KEEP READINGA Church Called Tov, co-written by Scot McKnight and his daughter Laura Barringer, addresses the importance of creating and sustaining a good (Hebrew tov) church culture.
KEEP READINGShe moves beyond pity or self-centeredness and arrives at a place of understanding. She has excellent advice for those "shipwrecked on the Isle of Singleness," and uses positive possibilities to draw us back to the God who loves us.
KEEP READINGIn Breaking the Marriage Idol, Kutter Calloway describes how the modern church has become distracted by pagan norms for sexual expression and marriage, and why this contributes to our idealization of marriage and the marginalization of unmarried persons. Arguing that the church has bought in to the Hollywood notion that marriage is the antidote to sexual promiscuity, Callaway calls the church to provide new stories to refute this superficial formula. He offers vision for how the church can become a place where love for the other is the pinnacle, and both unmarried and married persons lead and follow side by side, representing the best expression of God's intent for his people.
KEEP READINGThroughout the book, Widder asserts that today's church is broken when it comes to singleness. But she holds both singles and the church responsible for not treating each other with respect and dignity.
KEEP READINGJessica Johnson, an anthropologist with no religious affiliation, finds the ethos and orientation at Mars Hill as incarnating “biblical porn” (hence the title of her book).
KEEP READINGDrawing from his own experience of pornography addiction, Reynolds calls men, in his book A New Man, to reject any conception of masculinity that sees porn use as a natural—or, even worse, an essential—part of being a man.
KEEP READINGIn a faith centered on love and inclusion, are single people and their God-given gifts truly being welcomed in our churches? According to theologian Christina Hitchcock, definitely not. Instead, she argues, American evangelical churches suffer from a fear of single people.
KEEP READINGMy advice: Buy this book. Read it slowly. Chew on its words. Digest its content. Let its truths tutor your mind, penetrate your soul, and motivate you toward embracing, modeling, and conveying a more humble, Christlike expression of power.
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