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A Severe Mercy
This is a book review I find myself not wanting to write. It’s not because I disliked the book or found it harmful or flat out “wrong.” No, it’s because I found the book to not be what I expected. It’s also a college-level book, perhaps an advanced college-level sociology book and this is what made it difficult. I had a difficult time grasping concepts (counter to this was one reviewer’s comments on Amazon.com that said this book was “easy to read”). I don’t know why this was the case, other than I’ve never cared for sociology courses, teachers and textbooks. And this read more like a textbook to me.
Now that that’s out of the way, I think there are some who would find this book helpful. Those in Christian leadership, especially for those in “missional” churches, mission organizations and, of course, college students will probably find Christina Contours helpful. Huffman does a fine job stating, at the outset, what this book is meant to do: to call all to a biblical worldview through Christianity. To say this is a large task might be to understate it just a bit.
From there, the book is divided into two parts. Part One seeks to give the reader an understanding of what “worldview” is and what a biblical worldview is all about. Part Two gets more practical and helps the reader to know how to develop a Christian worldview. There are also sections devoted to helping one with this worldview to take on personal responsibility and carry it out. Huffman also provides some very good appendices for clarification.
I wish I had more to say about this book; I just don’t. I am obviously, either not the intended target audience or I am the intended audience, but just didn’t “get it.” Many others will, no doubt.
I can neither recommend this book or not recommend it. You’ll simply have to determine that on your own. You can download a pdf of the Table of Contents here.
Christian Contours may be purchased from Kregel Publications.
About the Book––What does it mean to think and live Christianly in a world of competing worldviews? Christian Contours answers this question by inviting readers to consider the understanding of reality proposed by the Bible. Though it is easy to divide life into separate compartments (religious and secular, theological and practical), faith invites us to view all of life in the light of that Biblical understanding. Presenting a clear, compelling case for unity in essential Christian tenets, the authors of Christian Contours guide the reader through developing, internalizing, and articulating a biblical worldview. This robust worldview enables the Christian to be a critically-thinking participant in culture and to be a faithful disciple of Christ with both heart and mind.
About the Author––Editor Douglas S. Huffman is professor and chair of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Northwestern College in Minnesota. He is the coeditor of God Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents God. You can read more about him here.
