Elton Trueblood: Believer, Teacher and Friend, James R. Newby, Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1990, 203 pages, $16.95, hardcover.
As spiritual leader, scholar, and Christian apologist, Elton Trueblood holds an important place in American religion. No one is better qualified to write about this renowned Christian than his long-time friend and colleague at Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. With access to Trueblood and his voluminous works private and published Newby has given us a thoroughly researched biography. The fire and spirit of Trueblood's Christocentric faith come through in every chapter.
Though a lifelong Quaker, Trueblood has never been a sectarian Quaker. He always applies the basic spiritual teachings of Friends to the larger Christian community. Newby states, "He realizes that a religious movement serves little purpose if its main attention is focused inward on what is good for the sect rather than outward on what is good for the world."
A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson, eds., Harper (Collins), San Francisco, 1990, 578 pages, $29.95, hardcover.
Using personal recollections from those who are the "living history" of this man, the editors set Bonhoeffer's writings in the context in which they were created and through which they have affected subsequent generations of Christians.
Sex in the Forbidden Zone: How Men in Power Therapists, Doctors, Clergy, Teachers, and Others Betray Women's Trust, Peter Rutter, M. D., J. P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles, 1989, 140 pages, $17.95, hardcover.
Though Rutter's book was published more than a year ago, the acclaim it is receiving continues to grow. Rutter explores male and female psychology in professional relationships where men hold the power. The results are astounding. This is a book every pastor needs to read.
Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000-586B.C.E., AmihaiMazar, Doubkday, New York, 1990, 572 pages, $30, hardcover.
Israeli archeologist Mazar introduces the achievements of archeological research in Israel and Jordan and discusses its implications for our knowledge of the world of the Old Testament. This second volume of the Anchor Bible Reference Library presents a comprehensive over view of each archeological period.
Painted Black, Carl A. Raschke, Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1990, 276 pages, $16.95, hardcover.
With the rise of the occult, especially among teenagers, pastors should be aware of this book by a leading Christian authority on the subject. Ten years ago few people believed that Satanism existed. But now, according to Raschke, it is terrorizing some communities.
The author raises questions concerning the social roots and causes of this movement, its connection with drugs, child abuse, pornography, heavy metal music, and the rise of neo-Nazism. Raschke believes that today's young satanists are not motivated so much by the desire to do evil as they are by a sense of hopelessness about their own lives. He describes four forms of satanism experimental, occult/cult, self-styled and traditional. Only through under standing how prevalent and devastating this terrorist subculture is, says Raschke, can we hope to stop its rise. "Denying evil strengthens it."
