PT Media Picks: Books

Resisting “cool”

Blessed Are the Uncool: Living Authentically in a World of Show

by Paul Grant (InterVarsity Press, 2007; 144 pages; $13, paper; (800) 843-9487)

Today’s society has just one requirement for anyone wanting to fit in: you must be cool. In fact some churches are now calling themselves “The Cool Church.” But what exactly does “cool” mean? How do you become “cool”? If being cool is so important, why does it seem so elusive?

Paul Grant exposes cool for what it is: “the private performance of rebellion for rebellion’s sake.” Cool is self-serving, alienating and a danger to the church. Grant points out that being cool focuses attention on society’s ideals based on individualism, and pursuing constantly changing standards.

Christians, however, should be living by God’s standards, and being authentic and real instead of hiding behind a fake image of coolness. Grant explains that the church must be willing to demonstrate God’s love through developing real relationships, and sharing the faith, hope and love that “coolness” cannot offer. While cool rejects authority and praises manipulation, the church willingly submits to God’s authority and emphasizes freedom found in Jesus Christ. In this book Grant shows that the church must avoid worrying about being “cool” and instead spread the warmth of God’s love. An excellent discussion starter for youth or young adult classes, yet all ages could benefit from Grant’s insights.

—Jeff Friend, Largo, Fla.

Preaching from the heart

Preaching as Testimony

by Anna Carter Florence (Westminster John Knox Press, 2007; 158 pages; $24.95, paper)

“All we know is that one day we awoke to find ourselves living and preaching in different times.” With that opening Anna Carter Florence, an associate professor of preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary and an ordained PCUSA minister, sets out a lively, readable yet challenging examination of how preachers, including those who are ordained to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament, can reclaim their voice through the testimony of their encounters with God and God’s Word.

Florence notes that the Holy Spirit is not known for respecting human structures that attempt to limit who is or is not considered acceptable as preachers and prophets. Reclaiming the stories of three women preachers who lived and preached in the margins of American society in the 18th and 19th centuries, Florence highlights how their encounters with God empowered and compelled their witness in spite of denial, persecution and suffering. She then turns to theologians and Biblical scholars to remind readers how Scripture itself is a testimony of human encounter with God.

Finally, Florence calls upon preachers to resist fear, to struggle with and thus encounter the Word in the words, and then to speak of that encounter in faithful honesty rather than subjecting it to the boundaries of humanly created orthodoxy.

Preaching as Testimony is not just another book for a seminarian’s assigned reading list nor a quick pick-up for a burning-out congregational leader. Instead it is a transforming and encouraging testimony for all who encounter the Living Christ and find they must tell others.

—Anitra Kitts, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, Portland, Ore.

Praying for justice

Lord, Have Mercy: Praying for Justice with Conviction and Humility

by Claire E. Wolfteich (Jossey-Bass, 2006; 198 pages; $21.95, hardcover)

Among the most recent entries in Jossey-Bass’ Practices of Faith Series, this book explores the deep interconnection between the Gospel call to prayer and action. Claire E. Wolfteich explores case studies from an American congregation, from South Africa, both under apartheid and during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings; from the farm workers’ movement led by Cesar Chavez; and from the polarized secular and religious struggle over abortion.

A thoughtful book, Lord Have Mercy rejects a false division between prayer and action, but instead shows how each can and should be incorporated into the other. Although the book does not come with a study guide, social justice committees and adult education groups will find in it a strong foundation for exploring how prayer walks with action.

—Anitra Kitts, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, Portland Ore.

Histories of church music

Church Music in America

by John Ogasapian (Mercer University Press, 2007; 284 pages; $49.95, hardcover)

Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America

edited by Mark A. Noll & Edith L. Blumhofer (University of Alabama Press, 2006; 260 pages; $32.50, paper)

For a great many Christians sacred music is one of the most meaningful parts of worship. But was it always so? Did our church-going ancestors rise to their feet, hymnals in hand, to join in song as we do? If so, did they sing more or less the same compositions we sing today? According to these two books, the answer is anything but simple.

As the late John Ogasapian, professor of music history at the University of Massachusetts, makes clear in his narrative, it is a wonder we sing at all on Sunday morning, given the long and contentious nature of efforts to incorporate music in Christian services. This is especially true for Protestant denominations — the focus of both books.

High on the list of issues was who, apart from clergy, should do the singing (choirs, quartets or congregations) and what should they sing (verses from Scripture or verses "of human composure")? In churches agreeable to choirs, opinions varied as to who should participate, where they should sit, how they should arrange themselves, and what they should wear. Similar problems occurred in the pews. In Calvinist New England, for example, church fathers generally seated worshipers according to who seemed most likely to be among "the elect." This put theology at odds with musicality for singers wanting to sit together.

Although both books will be of special interest to church musicians, all readers will enjoy the anecdotes associated with particular hymns. Some of these histories can be quite unexpected. One of the most popular hymns ever written was given this title by its author: “Faith’s Review and Expectation.” We know it better by its first two words: “Amazing grace.”

—Stuart Nixon, First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va.