A nuanced examination of conflicting Christian interpretations of God’s nature.
A scholar reevaluates Christian debates about the Trinity and nature of God.
Just as the Earth can project shadows upward on the sky when the sun’s rays strike a large geographical body such as a mountain, so can a person risk “projecting his own conceptions and theories upward onto God instead of receiving the image of God through revelation from above,” Hopgood cautions. This risk can lead to “misconceptions of God’s nature” that limit definitions of the Trinity through “anthropocentric reasoning.” Hopgood, a professor at Andersonville Theological Seminary, argues that “a Christian must never imagine that he knows God in his entirety” and pays particular attention to the dichotomous positions of 18th-century theologians Charles Chauncy and John Gill. As a liberal Protestant, Chauncy espoused a universalist theology that would serve as the basis of the Unitarian movement, while Gill, his contemporary, reflected conservative “hyper-Calvinist leanings.” Too often, the book argues, theologians from the 1700s through today have attacked both men with ad hominem critiques that dismiss them as zealots rather than honestly appraising their arguments. In his analyses of both Chauncy and Gill, Hopgood suggests that despite their opposite conclusions, the two men interpreted Scripture through a newly emergent rationalist lens characteristic of the Enlightenment era. This lens, he contends, reflects a humanistic approach to Christianity that continues to influence doctrine. “Modern evangelicals,” for instance, are still “man-centered, focusing on those who are to be saved instead of who Christ is.” At around 150 pages, this book isn’t particularly long, but its seven chapters are fairly dense and esoteric in their writing style. Backed by ample footnotes that engage with both ancient and contemporary Christian writers, as well as a healthy bibliography, this well-researched book will have its highest appeal for theologians and other scholars. For lay readers interested in exploring niche corners of Protestant theology, it includes a helpful glossary and appendix. Either group, however, may disagree with Hopgood’s conclusions or with his use of the gender-exclusive term man to refer to humanity.
A nuanced examination of conflicting Christian interpretations of God’s nature.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72527-533-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Wipf and Stock
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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