BOOK REVIEW: Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate

The short story:
1. This is the clearest, most concise, and irenic book on a political issue that I have ever read. (And I don’t say that about many books, feel free to peruse my other reviews).
2. All Christians should read this book. This is an issue about which we cannot remain ignorant and silent. [...]

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Book Review: Your Intercultural Marriage

When my husband and I started dating 12 years ago, I searched fastidiously for a book on intercultural marriage.  I found two excellent ones:  Intercultural Marriage by Dugan Romano and Mixed Matches by Joel Crohn.  Both were informative, and helpful, but for us, they failed to offer perspective on one important piece – our common [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: The Next Evangelicalism by Soong Chan Rah

(Disclaimer: this is kind of a book review. Plenty of other people have written nice summaries and critiques. My thoughts here are probably more accurately labeled a book response.)
When I first heard Rah speak on the predominately white Christian college campus where I teach, a black friend leaned over and whispered, “He’s not actually [...]

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Book Review: Finding the Flow: A guide for leading small groups and gatherings

So this book really doesn’t have much to do with cross-cultural relationships, but I’ve found it quite helpful on general relationships, particularly those often times awkward ones forged in small groups.  I’m not a huge fan of them, although I do love the general concept of intentionally getting to know people through regular conversation about [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa taught me about meaningful work and service

By Mary Poplin

Deep down, my absolute favorite thing to do is shop. As I write this, I’m internally scheming how to get the biggest bang for my buck on my next errand. I like things, especially pretty ones, and acquiring them makes me feel good. As I’ve come to recognize this passion of mine, [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: Zion’s Christian Soliders? The Bible, Israel and the Church

I have frequently shied away from the topic of Israel for a variety of reasons.
1) Its highly controversial among Christians, particularly in the US
2) I’m embarrassed by The Left Behind books
3) I’m not a theologian or eschatologist and the issues seem highly complex
However, as I continue to ponder the implications of the unquestioned support of [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: Just how married do you want to be? Practicing oneness in marriage

By Jim & Sarah Sumner
[Disclaimer: Given that I’m not very well versed in the egalitarian-complementarian wars, I’m not exactly sure what I think of Jim and Sarah Sumner’s new book Just how married do you want to be? While I suspect I fall more to one side than the other, I don’t have enough cold [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: The Faith of Barack Obama

After an overt audience preference for John McCain at Saddleback’s faith forum last week, I found myself skeptical that another Christian mainstay (Thomas Nelson) could treat a democrat fairly. However, like moderator Rick Warren, author Stephen Mansfield does a respectable job proving for insight into the spiritual life of the current democratic presidential nominee [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: Simple Spirituality

By Chris Heuertz
2008, Intervarsity Press

In spite of the popularity of the term “simplicity”, it seems that not much is simple these days. “Real Simple” magazine gives guidance on decorating your table for a five course meal or coordinating your living room curtains with your TV remote control. Stores sell wall plaques declaring “Simplicity” for [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: Sacred Chaos by Tricia McCary Rhodes

(In addition to cross-cultural relationships, another side interest of mine is spiritual formation. I wrote this for some other sites and thought I’d include it here.)

By Tricia McCary Rhodes, 2008. Intervarsity Press.
While I’m an enthusiastic fan of the spiritual formation movement, one of my hang-ups with it is the lack of space in my [...]

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BOOK REVIEW: Reconciliation Blues by Edward Gilbreath

I’ve given up on racial reconciliation quite a few times. The first time was shortly after I discovered it due to my inability to sleep peacefully as I grappled with my newfound understanding of ethnocentrism. The second was when my Asian American husband and I left the segregated and monocultural Midwest for the more integrated [...]

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