theology – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Confessing Our Faith: The Book of Confessions for Church Leaders

By Scott J. Pearson | November 12, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The Presbyterian Church resides in the Reformed Protestant tradition of theology and faith. Contrary to the belief of some churches that split from it, this tradition is a living, broad tradition that continues to reform itself. That is, it recognizes that it continues to develop historically as new challenges confront the church – and humanity. It also is an open faith that does not claim a monopoly on the truth. Its historic creeds are published…

How to Be a Patriotic Christian: Love of Country as Love of Neighbor

By Scott J. Pearson | January 28, 2023January 28, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

What does it mean to be simultaneously a devout Christian and an American citizen? Are such dual allegiances even possible? In this book, Mouw – a scholarly, religious expert on the Christian’s place in the (American) public square – offers a case that these domains can be compatible with each other… for the most part. He does so in a way that sides neither with the left nor the right, but instead welcomes warm-hearted debate…

Religion-Philosophy Science

Questions of Truth: Fifty-one Responses to Questions about God, Science & Belief

By Scott J. Pearson | December 31, 2022December 31, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

John Polkinghorne is a Cambridge physicist who decided, mid-career, to become an Anglican priest. Like a good scientist working out a theory, he worked out how his orthodox Christian beliefs were essentially compatible with modern physics. He has won international acclaim and awards for his insights about religion and science. Especially central to his contributions is the idea that both disciplines require a certain amount of belief and faith. This book, compiled with his collaborator…

Humanities Religion-Philosophy Society

Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole & Just

By Scott J. Pearson | June 25, 2022June 25, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The year 2022 resides in an era where there is renewed interest in the African American experience. That experience, of course, is incredibly rich and deep and historically spans Slavery, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights Movement. Atcho, a Christian pastor, brings out that spiritual depth by highlighting ten pieces of literature that illuminate the African American experience and the African American perspective on theology. This book in unabashedly in the Christian tradition.…

Religion-Philosophy

The Faith of a Physicist: Reflections of a Bottom-Up Thinker

By Scott J. Pearson | April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

John Polkinghorne is a respected professor of physics at Cambridge University who became an Anglican priest. The President Emeritus of Queen’s College, he is well-known for his understanding of common terrain between science and religion. This book contains the text of the 1993-94 Gifford Lectures and describes his theological belief system. This belief system roughly aligns with Christian orthodoxy. This text explains how he studiously came to these beliefs as he explains why he eschewed…

Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence

By Scott J. Pearson | June 12, 2021June 12, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Theological memoirs (or memoirs in theology) have been “a thing” since St. Augustine of Hippo wrote his autobiographical and masterful Confessions in the fourth century. Butler Bass adds her voice to the mix with her story. In so doing, she hopes to encourage us to rediscover the Christian God and the Christian faith. While acknowledging the limitations of any experience-based, somewhat arbitrary categories, she organizes her work according to six personality traits of Jesus. None…