Reviews and Analyses
Below is a small collection of book reviews and critical analyses that I have written over the years, both in seminary and outside of seminary. I invite you to read a review or two to learn more about these books. They have all impacted me in one way or another.
What the Best College Teachers Do
What makes a great teacher great? Who are the professors students remember long after graduation? This book, the conclusion of a fifteen-year study of nearly one hundred college teachers in a wide variety of fields and universities, offers valuable answers for all educators.
The short answer is--it's not what teachers do, it's what they understand. Lesson plans and lecture notes matter less than the special way teachers comprehend the subject and value human learning. Whether historians or physicists, in El Paso or St. Paul, the best teachers know their subjects inside and out--but they also know how to engage and challenge students and to provoke impassioned responses. Most of all, they believe two things fervently: that teaching matters and that students can learn.
In stories both humorous and touching, Bain describes examples of ingenuity and compassion, of students' discoveries of new ideas and the depth of their own potential. What the Best College Teachers Do is a treasure trove of insight and inspiration for first-year teachers and seasoned educators.
Home
Josh Garrels’ album Home is one of my favorite music albums of the last decade. Garrels’ piercing authenticity and crooning voice is immediately recognizable. There is a great sense of hope, intimacy, and homecoming in this Garrels’ sixth studio album. Garrels, a professing follower of Christ, closely connects his music to Scripture and the God that breathed it. His focus on man’s sinful nature and inability to save oneself is contrasted with the willingness and longing of the Father to provide a way of salvation. Over the course of the album hope encroaches and overshadows the depravity of humanity.
Creating a Class
From the introduction to the very last page of Creating a Class, Mitchell L. Stevens recognizes a socioeconomic divide in access and admission to prestigious, private, higher education institutions. Moreover, Stevens argues these conditions are socially reproduced leading to the creation and recreation of a class largely made up of educated elites. Addressing these realities among others, and acknowledging the admissions obstacles for both students and institutions, Stevens’s Creating a Class is an essential read for those interested in the modern college admissions system.
Faith of the Outsider
This book offers a probing, insightful look at the "outsider" motif running through the Bible. The biblical story about God's covenant with "insiders" -- with Israel as the chosen people -- is scandalous in today's cultural climate of inclusivity. But, as Frank Anthony Spina shows, God's exclusive election actually has an inclusive purpose.
Looking carefully at the biblical narrative, Spina highlights in bold relief seven remarkable stories that treat nonelect people positively and, even more, as strategically important participants in God's plan of salvation. The stories of Esau, Tamar, Rahab, Naaman, Jonah, Ruth, and the woman at the well come alive in new ways as Spina discusses and examines them from an outsider-insider point of view.
How College Works
Relationships bring levity and joy, comfort and consolation, belonging and acceptance to the human experience. This is certainly true for college students as well, according to Daniel F. Chambliss, professor of sociology at Hamilton College, and Christopher G. Takacs, a Hamilton College alumnus and sociology PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, in their book, How College Works. For Chambliss and Takacs, relationships in higher education are not secondary in their importance or impact. In their extensive research study regarding the college student experience, Chambliss and Takacs focus on the pivotal moments, decisions, and relationships of students’ college careers.
Feeding and Leading
Kenneth Gangel’s book, Feeding and Leading, is a far-reaching, all-inclusive manual on administration and leadership in Christian organizations and churches. Not only is this book practical in its instruction, but it is also useful in the case studies and hypothetical examples it offers. Unlike other secular management and leadership books, this work takes an in-depth look at biblical leadership and administration. Capturing the essence of leadership in the New Testament church, Gangel reiterates: “The genius of the New Testament is lay leadership, not brilliant clergy” (12). Therefore, this book focuses on the training and edification of lay people for the work of the church.
A practical handbook on administration in churches and Christian organizations from former Dallas Theological Seminary professor and education practitioner, Kenneth Gangel.
The Leadership Challenge
The Leadership Challenge is the gold-standard manual for effective leadership, grounded in research and written by the premier authorities in the field. With deep insight into the complex interpersonal dynamics of the workplace, this book positions leadership both as a skill to be learned, and as a relationship that must be nurtured to reach its full potential. This new sixth edition has been revised to address current challenges, and includes more international examples and a laser focus on business issues; you'll learn how extraordinary leaders accomplish extraordinary things, and how to develop your leadership skills and style to deliver quality results every time. Engaging stories delve into the fundamental roles that great leaders fulfill, and simple frameworks provide a primer for those who seek continuous improvement; by internalizing key insights and putting concepts into action, you'll become a more effective, more impactful leader.
A good leader gets things done; a great leader aspires, inspires, and achieves more. This book highlights the differences between good and great, and shows you how to bridge the chasm between getting things done and making things happen.
Gain deep insight into leadership's critical role in organizational health
Navigate the shift toward team-oriented work relationships
Motivate and inspire to break through the pervasive new cynicism
Leverage the electronic global village to deliver better results
Business is evolving at an increasingly rapid rate, and leaders must keep pace with the changes or risk stagnation. People work differently, are motivated differently, and have different expectations today—business as usual is quickly losing its effectiveness. The Leadership Challenge helps you stay current, relevant, and effective in the modern workplace.
Winnebagos on Wednesdays
In 1998, soon after assuming the presidency of Tulane University, Scott Cowen was confronted with a setback. Despite an undefeated football season and putting the best financial deal on the table, Cowen was unable to retain the school's football coach. The coach wanted something the president didn't have--a football program so popular, as the coach put it, that fans would line up their Winnebagos on Wednesdays in anticipation of Saturday games. In that moment, Cowen improbably found himself in the entertainment business―and his university was deemed wanting.
At a time when schools seem overrun by sports programs, spiraling costs, and absurd ranking systems, Winnebagos on Wednesdays argues that colleges and universities of all stripes and sizes can achieve their educational aims if they possess two things: visionary leadership and a strong mission. Cowen, named one of the nation's top university presidents by Time magazine in 2009, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the critical demands faced by many education leaders. He profiles a range of situations, from how Diana Natalicio of the University of Texas at El Paso expanded a school serving a specific demographic into an academic powerhouse to how Michael Sorrell shifted Paul Quinn College's mission to urban entrepreneurship in order to save the institution. Cowen also draws from his own hard-won experiences, including the rebuilding of Tulane and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the decision to maintain Tulane's football program. He shows how crucial choices in tough situations shape organizations, for better or ill.
A sweeping overview of the higher education landscape, Winnebagos on Wednesdays demonstrates that the courage of transformative leadership is essential for colleges and universities to remain vital.
Christian Higher Education
Christian Higher Education is a valuable reference tome filled with the thoughts, perceptions, and ideas of Christian educators, thinkers, and administrators concerning many facets of the field of Christian higher education. Theory and practice are joined together in this edited work by David S. Dockery and Christopher W. Morgan.
Christian Higher Education is a must read for Christian educators pursuing a life-long learning approach to higher education and an integration of faith and learning. A helpful tool for seasoned educators and novice administrators alike, Christian Higher Education draws on what the most effective college educators and administrators understand and do well concerning the integration of faith and learning at Christian universities.
Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies
As social media and Web 2.0 technologies continue to transform the learning trends and preferences of students, educators need to understand the applicability of these new tools in all types of learning environments. The second edition of Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies provides new and experienced instructors with practical examples of how low-cost and free technologies can be used to support student learning as well as best practices for integrating web-based tools into a course management system and managing student privacy in a Web 2.0 environment. "Showcase" spotlights throughout exemplify how the tools described in the book are already being used effectively in educational settings.
This practical, easy-to-use guide will serve the needs of educators seeking to refresh or transform their instruction. Readers will be rewarded with an ample yet manageable collection of proven emerging technologies that can be leveraged for generating content, enhancing communications with and between students, and cultivating participatory, student-centered learning activities.
Surprised by the Voice of God
In this book, Jack Deere offers his own interpretation of God’s revelation and the doctrines of Scripture, though he admits it to be markedly different than the view he previously held in the 1970s and early 1980s at Dallas Theological Seminary. It is through Deere’s view of revelation that we see his doctrine of Scripture shaped and argued for. Instead of Scripture grounding his charge, it often takes a back seat to his views on revelatory prophecy, sufficiency, and authority.
Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Voice of God, while encouraging in some of its themes and hopes for the body of Christ in the church, is seemingly a work of great controversy that leads to critical review through the lens of Scripture. God works through revelation, and Deere lobbies for its many forms. Understanding his view of revelation helps to interpret his view of Scripture. And understanding those views leads to the critical review of his use of Scripture, biblical accuracy, and the arguments he makes for his interpretations.