First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament

Terry M. Wildman, lead translator and general editor (InterVarsity Press)

“A spirit-messenger from Creator appeared to them. They shook with fear and trembled as the messenger said to them, ‘Do not fear! I bring you the good story that will be told to all nations. Today in the village of Much Loved One (David) an Honored Chief has been born who will set his people free. He is the Chosen One’” (Luke 2:9-11).

These and other words from Luke were the first to be presented in 1300 draft versions to representatives of more than 30 tribes all over North America, who provided feedback on such things as readability, cultural issues and names of persons and places in what would become the First Nations Version of the New Testament.

“First Nations” is the designation mostly used in Canada for Native Americans or Indigenous peoples. The word “Translation” in the subtitle means this new version of the New Testament is not a paraphrase, but is an actual translation from Greek into English. English was used because more than 90 percent of Indigenous peoples no longer speak their tribal languages as the result of efforts to assimilate Native Americans into the United States and Canada.

The translation council is composed of 12 First Nations people representing 16 tribes who worked with OneBook and Wycliffe Associates. Many others also participated in the translation and review process.

The translation is thought-for-thought—dynamic equivalence—rather than word-for-word, to produce a style and cadence more similar to the storytelling of oral cultures, while remaining faithful to the original language of the New Testament. Names of people and places are rendered in the Native descriptive style, followed by the biblical name in parentheses—such as Much Loved One (David), Bitter Tears (Mary), Land of Promise (Judea) and Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem). These features enable Indigenous readers to connect with the translation more readily.

Another aspect of translation helpful to Indigenous readers are the names for God—such as Creator, Great Spirit, Great Mystery, Maker of Life, and One Above Us All. While some may bristle at what might be considered unbiblical names for God, the translators point out “God” itself is a cultural rendering of the original names.

Other features include clarifications of history, culture, geography and thought—all of which are made visible with italics or bold type.

The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament is scheduled to release Aug. 3. For those interested in hearing how God speaks to all people, it will be an important translation to read. For Indigenous people, it is a long-awaited gift.

Eric Black, executive director, publisher, editor
Baptist Standard

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth

By Beth Allison Barr (Brazos Press)

Beth Allison Barr grew up in a Southern Baptist church in a small Texas town. She was taught and believed complementarian theology—the idea wives are subordinate to husbands, and women are not to be in leadership over men in the church.

Like many in Southern Baptist life, 2016 and 2017 were a turning point for her. In 2016, a video surfaced in which presidential candidate Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women. His evangelical supporters—Baptists in Texas among them—explained it away. Evangelical support for Trump troubled Barr, as it did Beth Moore, because of its relation to complementarian theology.

As a medieval historian on the faculty at Baylor University, Barr came into contact with stories of Christian women leaders that contradicted what she was taught about women’s subordination being a fact of church history. Her study of history led her to question even her own church’s stance on women’s leadership in the church, culminating in 2017 with Barr’s husband being let go from his position there over the issue. Barr weaves this story—how it developed and the pain associated with it—throughout the book.

Barr builds her argument against complementarianism through a chronological examination of how readers, interpreters, translators and preachers of Scripture have understood the role of women and their relationship to men throughout Christian history.

The book reads like a shot across the bow, until the next to last chapter, at which point the whistling cannonball lands square on the deck of the complementarian ship. As Barr sees it, complementarianism is worse than a misreading of Paul, an application of worldliness in the form of patriarchy, and a denial of historical realities—as bad as those are. Complementarian arguments have developed to the point of threatening the core of Christian theology.

Barr doesn’t shrink back from taking on prominent Baptists and evangelicals, such as Owen Strachan, Russell Moore, John Piper and Wayne Grudem. Nor does she hold back criticisms of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and the English Standard Version of the Bible.

Barr’s account of the rise, development and current state of patriarchy and complementarian theology is not likely to change committed complementarians’ minds. Those looking for proofs for an egalitarian reading of Scripture will find some. The book’s greatest contribution, however, is its potential for generating conversation and debate. Whether a person is complementarian, egalitarian or something else, the position ought to be a thoroughly studied one.

Eric Black, executive director, publisher, editor
Baptist Standard

Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair

By Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson (Brazos Press)

Reparations. The title is sufficient to turn off many readers. The startling design of the dust jacket is enough to worry many more. For those who get past both, the content is as unsettling as the title and cover suggest. And the authors are fully aware how many readers will react to their work.

In Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair, Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson respond to a masterful letter written by Jourdan Anderson in 1865 to his “Old Master.” The former slave owner wanted Anderson to return, promising he would treat him well. Anderson wrote back that the proof of the promise would be in the payment for past service. “If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future,” Anderson wrote.

Kwon and Gregory issue a direct and stiff call to the Christian church in the United States—in all its manifestations—to engage in reparations individually, collectively and specifically to African Americans, noting reparations also are due Native Americans, Asian Americans and others. The authors make a powerful case for the church to take up the work of reparations, pointing to the stories of Zacchaeus and the good Samaritan as examples to the church.

Kwon and Gregory’s convictions are as follows: (1) racism is best understood as a cultural force; (2) racism serves the interests of white supremacy; (3) white supremacy is guilty of theft, robbing nonwhite people of truth, power and wealth; (4) the Christian church in America is implicated in white supremacy’s theft; (5) enacting the Christian church’s “historic ethic of culpability and restitution” is necessary, (6) as is the church’s teaching on restoration; and (7) the Christian church must enact restitution for all three thefts—truth, power and wealth. Each conviction is developed in a separate chapter. One of the hardest hitting chapters takes the church—including Southern Baptists—to task for its complicity in white supremacy.

Their case is clear and easy to follow, though it’s strongest appeal is to those persuaded by logical arguments. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those the authors wish to convince are not likely to be won over by this book alone. As noted at the beginning of this review, sentiment against the idea of reparations is so strong that a case for it requires an approach that will connect emotionally perhaps more than intellectually. To that point, Reparations is intended to be an introduction to the subject.

Reparations should be read as part of a reading plan that includes memoirs, novels and historical accounts of slavery, Black codes, Jim Crow, lynching, segregation, disparities in housing and health care, and other facets of American life and history affected by racism.

Eric Black, executive director, publisher, editor
Baptist Standard

Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News

By Jeffrey Bilbro (IVP Academic)

Jeffrey Bilbro attempts to explain in his forthcoming book Reading the Times how Christians can read the news Christianly.

His central argument in Part One is that modern media distracts or overwhelms to the point of numbing one’s ability to think. Regular consumers of such media give themselves over to making much ado about nothing, and not enough ado about what really matters. They allow themselves to get worked up about trivia or events far away about which they can do nothing.

To combat modern media’s effect, Bilbro suggests: (1) a holy indifference to outcomes that, while not being uninvolved, entrusts the results to God; (2) quieting oneself enough to attend to one’s own role in the news. In so doing, a person can become a maker of news instead of a consumer and can attend to the important matters nearby.

Bilbro begins Part Two with a dive into the distinction between two views of time—the ancient cyclical view and the more modern linear view. The former is less concerned with history and therefore has little use for news. The linear view requires news to stay abreast of how history is progressing.

A third view of time is encapsulated in the Christian story of eternity breaking into chronological time. Bilbro points to the prophets and the incarnate Christ as examples of those who weave eternity to chronological time, giving the events of earthly time meaning through their connection to a “divine drama.” Christians can practice this weaving by following Karl Barth’s counsel to read with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, the Bible interpreting the news. Also, the church year and daily liturgies can frame earthly events.

Part Three is perhaps the most interesting for those in the news media with the ability to affect its change. Bilbro cites research disproving the conventional thinking that fact-checking and diversifying one’s news feed will lead to being better informed. He argues these are tweaks that don’t get to the root problem.

News media has a community-forming tendency—community being more pseudo than actual—Bilbro argues. He offers two possible means for overcoming pseudo-community: (1) go for a walk in the neighborhood on a regular basis, and (2) subscribe to and participate in small news organizations close to home or to one’s interests.

Reading the Times likely is too heady for the average reader and therefore misses the majority of those who could benefit from his conclusions. After the first two parts, Bilbro’s final suggestions might leave the reader retorting, “That’s it?” On one hand, they are not sufficient in themselves to undo the effects of tribalism, polarization and social isolation—or to repair the news. On the other hand, their simplicity reinforces his opening point.

Eric Black, executive director, publisher, editor
Baptist Standard

The Problem of the Old Testament: Hermeneutical, Schematic, and Theological Approaches

By Duane A. Garrett (IVP Academic)

We have a problem with the Old Testament. Many people honor parts of it, while avoiding most of it like the 10 plagues in Exodus.

Duane Garrett, professor of Old Testament at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, maintains people approach the Old Testament with a sense of mystique and incomplete hermeneutical methods. Garrett sees problems with the main theological perspectives on the Old Testament—such as seeing differences in how God works in different points of history—maintaining God still has a future plan for national Israel (dispensationalism) or arguing God has worked in the same manner across all time, resulting in the church replacing Israel (covenantalism).

He also critiques the standard methods for reading the biblical text, such as allegory—seeing more meaning in the text than is on the surface—and plain-text reading. In tracing the history of these approaches, Garrett also alerts the reader to contemporary problematic methods in interpretation. He strives to utilize themes and plain reading of the text in its approach.

In his new approach, Garrett takes a view between these positions, seeing a uniqueness for national Israel, with the church and Israel still functioning as one people of God. In his approach, Garrett sees the covenants and God’s election of Israel as foundational for the general overview and definition of the Old Testament.

He concludes with a few case studies in the prophets to apply his new method while also demonstrating the New Testament writers’ faithful use of the Old. In his examples, Garrett’s overarching principle becomes clear: Jesus fulfills the Old Testament and, as a result, the Old Testament can edify Christians.

Garrett often presents theological views and methods of textual interpretation without considering their full breadth. Because of this, his critiques of the views remain unfounded, though he raises valid concerns.

The Problem of the Old Testament offers an approachable way to engage three quarters of our Bible—the Old Testament. Garrett explains complicated content in simple-to-understand language. While communicating in an accessible way, he still conducts a thorough approach covering many facets of the issues discussed. Because of this, a wide range of readers can understand this book.

B. Jason Epps

Heartland, Texas 

Evangelism and Politics: A Christian Perspective on the Church and the State

By John C. Barrett (Wipf & Stock)

John Barrett, assistant professor of political science at LeTourneau University and former adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University, provides a short treatise on the relationship between Christians and government.

He begins with principles, the first being God’s sovereignty. Barrett sets God’s rule and reign as the ground of all Christian engagement in politics. Remaining principles include human depravity, distinguishing human government from God’s kingdom, the role of the church, and justice. Barrett’s elaboration of these principles and his grounding them in Scripture are reminiscent of the Baptist Faith and Message.

An intriguing argument Barrett makes is that a Christian’s obedience to God’s commands puts that person at risk and at a disadvantage in the political realm, because such obedience entails selfless and sacrificial love. Later, in Part Three, Barrett describes how a Christian in authority ought to govern in such love, though more might be said about how Christians seek and achieve authority—or power—in the first place.

In Part Two, on Christian obligations to the state, Barrett asserts “citizens are called to tolerate injustice from governments and other citizens.” This raises an interesting question. Christians in the United States have a long history of not tolerating injustice from government and other citizens. With respect to American democracy, Barrett asserts its foundational philosophy, derived from John Locke, finds no parallel in the Bible. Given Barrett’s principles and stated obligations, how should Christians in a democracy work for justice while also respecting those in authority? An answer to this question is outlined in the final part, where Barrett describes a Christian citizen.

Evangelism and Politics could serve as the outline for a longer study of Christian engagement in politics, such as in a Sunday school class or academic course.

Eric Black, executive director, publisher, editor
Baptist Standard 

Trouble at the Toy Store 

By Art Rainer (B&H Kids)

Talking to children about managing money can be challenging, but parents, teachers and church leaders agree on its importance in achieving healthy financial habits. Art Rainer created the Secret Slide Money Club books for children in early grades to address the issue. The final title in the series, Trouble at the Toy Store, builds on lessons from The Great Lemonade Stand Standoff and The Mad Cash Dash. 

As the story unfolds, Brody, Sophia and Jake await the final challenge to join Secret Slide Money Club as agents who rescue people from greedy Albatross. If they fail, they become Albies who smell like “dirty, wet socks.” The friends lose at dodgeball for the first time ever when they stop and sniff stench. Then Marcus shows them a stinky Albie ad for expensive video games.

Agent G.B. pings the three to enter the Secret Slide Money Club by pushing GIVE-SAVE-LIVE buttons in order. He shows a screen of children in Terry’s Toy Store. Agent G.B. explains Proverbs 21:20, “The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.” He challenges them to stop Albatross with an oven mitt and the charge, “Make a spending plan. … No impulse buying.”

As they enter the toy shop, paper airplane ads fly everywhere, and anyone struck becomes an Albie. Jake and Sophia take hits. Alone but armed with dodge balls and the oven mitt, Brody manages to thwart Albatross and save the day. All three become secret agents and get chocolate-dipped ice cream bars.

The fast-paced text paints funny word pictures of airplanes gliding, dodge balls flying, and oven mitts colliding. Children will also love the inexpensive ice cream reward and remember the personal challenge to be wise, not foolish. The series is a great way to introduce or reinforce Bible-focused stewardship.

Tucker Joseph Hillman, age 10, with his grandmother

Kathy Robinson Hillman, past president

Baptist General Convention of Texas

Waco

Liberty for All: Defending Everyone’s Religious Freedom in a Pluralistic Age

By Andrew T. Walker (Brazos Press)

Religious liberty for all people is more than simply a constitutional right or even a universal human right. Christian ethicist Andrew Walker asserts religious freedom has its basis in the kingdom of God, the image of God and the mission of God. In Liberty for All, Walker presents a comprehensive biblical and theological foundation for religious liberty—not just for those who chose to follow Jesus Christ, but also for those who reject the claims of Christianity. If Christ alone is king, all earthly allegiances to a nation or ruler are secondary. If humankind is made in God’s image, humans should be able to respond freely to God’s invitation—positively or negatively. And if God’s redemptive mission depends upon faithful followers sharing the gospel, the freedom of proclamation and the freedom of response are imperative.

Walker presents an indisputably important thesis—religious liberty is grounded in eschatology, anthropology and missiology. Those three words provide a clue revealing the weakness of Liberty for All. When the main points of a book are three five-syllable words, the author has predetermined the audience. Walker’s scholarship is impeccable, but he clearly is an academic writing for other academics. The topic of religious liberty—and an insightful examination of its foundations—needs to be addressed in a way accessible to the broadest possible audience, especially given such an inclusive title.

On occasion, Walker makes his points not only cogently, but also compellingly—in winsome ways that engage readers, as well as enlighten them. Those sparkling sections make the more ponderous passages even more frustrating. They let readers know the author is capable of more than simply piling scholarly source upon source upon source.

Liberty for All addresses an unquestionably vital subject. No doubt, this book will show up on reading lists for graduate-level classes and will provide the basis for lively seminary discussions. Those are worthwhile contributions and should not be minimized. Walker’s ideas may end up helping to shape how some young ministerial students think about religious liberty. His framework for understanding the foundations of religious freedom may influence how young ministers teach and preach about the subject. It’s just a shame such a timely topic has to trickle down to the average person in the pew at some far-flung distant date.

Ken Camp, managing editor

Baptist Standard 

The Mourning Wave: A Novel of the Great Storm

By Gregory Funderburk (köehlerbooks)

The Mourning Wave begins just as the 1900 Galveston hurricane makes landfall. With this brisk start, the story moves forward at a breathtaking pace through each day from September 8 to 14.

Three boys—Will, Frank and Albert—survived the storm’s destruction of St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, becoming the central characters among a host of Galveston residents. Will is serious, Albert mystical, and Frank an amiable link between them. Though children in the opening moments, they are quickly thrust into adulthood by the devastating hurricane. Will becomes the main character, his own name signifying what it took—a matter of will—to press through the days after the storm. The recurring character Grace, continuously out of reach and feared lost, promises hope and joy if found.

The Mourning Wave rehearses the psychology and behaviors of shock and trauma. It is an honest and compassionate description of human frailty and shared humanity in the face of overwhelming disaster, plumbing the depth of grief and sorrow following on the heels of catastrophe. Tender attention is given to the varying struggles and attempts to honor and memorialize those lost. At one point, Will realizes “it was good and merciful that pain did not congregate as people did.” It was individual, while comfort “worked on a different calculus” and “could be gathered” and multiplied (97).

Greg Funderburk has written not just a great work of historical fiction, but a narrative in the vein of classic literature.

Eric Black, editor/publisher/executive director

Baptist Standard 

Another Gospel? A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity

By Alisa Childers (Tyndale)

Another Gospel? A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity challenges the teaching of progressive Christianity through argument of sound biblical doctrines held by the church for two millennia.

Alisa Childers, a former member of the Christian music group ZOEgirl, tells of how she found her faith rocked by doubt when she attended a seminary-style course taught by her pastor. Raised in a Christian home, Chiders never had reason to doubt her faith—at least, not until her progressive Christian pastor, who revealed himself a “hopeful agnostic,” challenged her beliefs.

During the first four weeks of an invitation-only small group, Childers’ pastor challenged nearly every fundamental Christian doctrine as the group read the writings of such progressive Christian authors as Rob Bell, Richard Rohr and Brian McLaren. Describing her faith at that time as weak and untested, Childers struggled to defend beliefs she held since childhood, leading to a deconstruction of her faith.

Determined to reconstruct her Christian faith upon a solid foundation, Childers attended seminary courses in Christian apologetics, searched the Scriptures, and consumed the writings of many Christian apologists and early church fathers. Now a rising leader in Christian apologetics, she tells of her journey from doubt to deconstruction to reconstruction in an easy-to-read and winsome manner. Each chapter includes stories of encounters with progressive Christian thought, clear defense of biblical doctrines, and explanations of the fallacies of progressive Christian theology.

Childers argues that progressive Christianity threatens the integrity of the church as many pastors, teachers and members seek to reconcile new cultural norms to Christianity. Many—though not all—adherents to progressive Christian theology reject such Christian doctrines as the inspiration, inerrancy and authority of Scripture; the Virgin birth; and the deity of Jesus. Most progressive Christians stand united in their rejection of a biblical sexual ethic.

Published in 2020 as Childers’ first book, Another Gospel? provides a solid resource for church leaders and anyone else seeking clarity amongst doubts raised by progressive Christian authors, pastors, and teachers.

Joel Berry, student

Dallas Theological Seminary 

Let it Be Said We’ve Borne It Well: Following God in the Time of COVID-19

By Gregory Funderburk (Smyth & Helwys)

Are you overwhelmed, numbed or undone by the pandemic—among everything else—and need encouragement? Are you a fan of good stories? Are you a pastor in need of powerful sermon illustrations? You might not know it from the title, but Let it Be Said We’ve Borne It Well carries the weight of all three.

Greg Funderburk meets the reader on the page. That’s really the sense. He doesn’t write at the reader so much as communicate, “I see where you are,” or even, “This is where we are.” And then he ties together a story and a biblical truth like a spoonful of sugar hiding needed medicine.

The medicine comes in three forms—self-awareness, self-care and self-giving—with 20 doses, or chapters, each. But don’t worry; the chapters aren’t horse pills. Funderburk has the gift of getting to the point quickly without being abrupt. He also has the uncanny ability to touch the exact nerve, not enough to hurt, but enough for the reader to know he knows.

Movies, music and other cultural references, as well as great works of literature and Funderburk’s own experiences, serve as regular portals to spiritual truths. His tone and approach—calm and taking one thing at a time—are described perfectly in lines he quotes from the movie Apollo 13. He seems to take things in stride—the good days and bad. At least, he does upon reflection.

Funderburk’s writing acknowledges the depth and complexity of suffering through a pandemic. He offers a steadying, reassuring hand in tethering the sense of fear and uncertainty to the sureness of God. The prayers concluding each chapter convey this well.

There’s a vulnerability and self-acceptance in his writing. He is self-aware and draws the attentive reader to his or her own self-awareness.

The only complaint is that the book was not published in March 2020, but then, it couldn’t be written until later, anyway. It’s still very good medicine, encouraging and giving the reader confidence in God’s grace.

Greg Funderburk is the minister for pastoral care at South Main Baptist Church in Houston, and also has attorney and author to his credit.

Eric Black, executive director, publisher & editor
Baptist Standard

A Burning in My Bones:

The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson, Translator of the Message

By Winn Collier (WaterBrook)

For pastors and laypeople alike, Eugene Peterson was for decades something of a ministry oracle, a voice in the wilderness of consumer Christianity calling to God’s people with a message that faith could be something deeper, simpler and quieter than evangelicalism’s rat race. Through dozens of books and his most famous work, The Message translation of the Bible, Peterson sought to convey a Christianity that was rooted, applicable and meaningful. Winn Collier’s authorized biography of Peterson, A Burning in My Bones, seeks to tell the story of the storyteller, distilling Peterson down to what made him an essential companion in ministry for so many.

For those who have read Peterson’s memoir The Pastor, much of Collier’s account of Peterson’s early years growing up in Montana to a loving, spiritual mother and a hardworking-but-distant father is familiar territory, as are some of the stories of his time as a pastor. But this biography provides new insight into Peterson the writer and professor, not to mention Peterson the celebrity (he was friends with Bono!). In Collier’s telling, Peterson found fame both bewildering and somewhat amusing, yet something that did little to change the former pastor’s outlook on faith and ministry.

For a man whose work happened in relative obscurity for decades, the most painful section of the book comes at the end, when a Peterson in the twilight of his life gave an interview affirming same-sex relationships only to retract his statement a day later amidst of a storm of outrage from evangelical fans. The episode is chronicled dutifully by Collier and offers what must for now stand as the definitive story of what Peterson really thought.

For those looking for a flashy biography, A Burning in My Bones will fail to meet expectations—Collier writes with respect and admiration for his subject and never descends into sensationalism. But for those who simply want to know Eugene Peterson the man better, this book will help you understand what drove this pastor, writer and mentor to many.

Daniel Camp, pastor

South Garland Baptist Church

Garland