More Book Briefs

Monica Duffy Toft, Daniel Philpott, Timothy Samuel Shah, God’s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics (Norton 2011). This a timely and well-reasoned book. Writing in the Samuel Huntington stream of foreign policy thought, the authors make a persuasive case that religion does currently and will continue to play a critical role in global politics. They make a case for the positive role religion can play and are strong advocates for religious freedom. Even if the book proves to be too unfamiliar or too scholarly for some, you will find the concluding chapter “Ten Rules for Surviving God’s Century” provides an accessible summary and charts a commonsense way forward.

R.C. Sproul, Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism (Reformation Trust 2012). Here’s my blurb: “This is a terrific book, one I have been hoping to find for a long time. Sproul firmly and rightly defends the faith of the Reformation, but without resorting to rancor or caricature. He takes great pains to be fair to Rome, considering the nuances of the Catholic Catechism and the significance of Vatican II. This will be the first book I recommend when either Protestants or Catholics ask me what is the difference between the two.”

Doug Coleman, A Theological Analysis of the Insider Movement Paradigm from Four Perspectives: Theology of Religions, Revelation, Soteriology and Ecclesiology (WCIU Press 2011). Yes, this is a dissertation. And yes the book is entirely unattractive and looks intimidating. But it is eminently worth your time. This is the best full length scholarly assessment of the Insider Movement I’m aware of. Coleman is fair, respectful, and even-handed in interacting with Kevin Higgins, Rebecca Lewis and other IMP proponents. He also puts forward a cohesive and careful critique of IMP on theological and exegetical grounds. I hope Coleman will publish this dissertation, in a slightly more accessible version, with a major Christian publisher. It is a very good work and very important.