The Open Table – Book Reviews
Jesus was known –some would say notoriously so—for His “open table” eating style. In the Gospels, Jesus loved to share life at the table with others and never refused an offer to eat with someone. Most of Jesus’ great discussions with His disciples and others happened around the table. In honor of that model, The Open Table is a forum where all are welcome to join in the conversation about the books suggested and more. It’s a place where book reviews will be served up, but also where other thoughts, observations, and life happenings can be discussed and ideas savored. Your participation is encouraged. All contributions will be valued and nourished. Good manners are expected of course at The Table. Welcome to The Open Table. I hope we can meet here often. Great times are ahead! –thyrkas
Geography of Grace
Geography of Grace:Doing Theology from BelowKris Rocke and Joel Van DykePrepare to be astonished and challenged when you read Geography of Grace: Doing Theology from Below (Street Psalms Press, 2012) by Kris Rocke and Joel Van Dyke. Keep your box of tissues close by,...
Reading for The Common Good
Reading for The Common Goodby C. Christopher SmithThe Christian church has been pictured in many forms: as a kingdom, a wedding feast, a sheepfold. But it is not a common occurrence to have the church represented as a community of readers. Tapping into the ancient...
Lab Girl
Lab Girlby Hope JahrenIt is difficult to know how to categorize the extraordinary book Lab Girl (Alfred A. Knopf, 2016) by Hope Jahren. It is perhaps best to call it a memoir because it certainly reveals facets of the life of author and scientist, Hope Jahren, from...
The Nightingale
The Nightingaleby Kristin Hannaha NovelIf sales of books about World War II are any indication, the war remains a subject of interest to a great many people even though it officially ended more than seventy years ago. The popularity of the book The Nightingale by...
The Givenness of Things
The Givenness of Things: Essaysby Marilynne RobinsonMarilynne Robinson is a widely known and lauded author. She has won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2005), an Orange Prize for Fiction (2009), the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2004, 2014), and The...
Two Vintage Novels for Summer Reading
Two Vintage Novels for Summer ReadingBob Trube recently had an outstanding column at his blog, BobOnBooks.com. His entry was called Bookstore Browsing for Beginners. Bob listed seven excellent suggestions designated for beginning book browsers, but I think they are...
Renaissance
Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Timesby Os GuinnessReading Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times (2014, InterVarsity Press), by author and social critic Os Guinness, is like eating a chili pepper-laced chocolate bar. There...
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff:The Curious Lives of Human Cadaversby Mary Roach “Treat the living as though they were dying, and the dead as though they were alive.” Russian philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948)Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (W. W. Norton...
Giving Blood
Giving BloodA Fresh Paradigm for Preachingby Leonard Sweet"There’s no blood on the pulpit this morning.” This is what Mabel Boggs Sweet, mother of Leonard Sweet -- the author of Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching (Zondervan,2014)-- would say if she were...
Silence and Beauty
Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Sufferingby Makoto FujimuraThe role of a gifted artist with an educator's skill and a unique understanding of a difficult subject is the mantle that Makoto Fujimura has assumed in writing the book Silence and Beauty: Hidden...