by Bryan Knedgen | Feb 17, 2016 | Book Reviews
Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture A Book Review by Bryan Knedgen Mark Yarhouse graduated from Wheaton with a M.A. in Theology and a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology. He is currently the Hughes Endowed Chair and professors of psychology at Regent University where he heads the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity. He has written several other books on the topic of sexual identity and has recently penned Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. I decided to read this book because campuses are strongholds of Sexual Identity Politics and if we truly wish to engage them with the truth of the Gospel we must understand the views they hold and build bridges to them. The book is divided into seven chapters, and I will break them down into 3 major chunks as we discuss them. Chapters one and two deal with the definition of Gender Dysphoria (GD) and Christian perspectives on it. Chapter three to five discuss scientific study, causes, ranges, and treatment of GD. Finally, chapters six and seven handle application of the topics of the preceding chapters with a Christian response towards GD on an individual level and an institutional level. Throughout the book Yarhouse peppers in case studies, personal experience and a wide range of opinions to display what is out there while responding with acceptance and push back to the content. The author begins his discussion with a list of terms that he will consistently reference throughout the book (Gender, Sex, Primary Sex Characteristic, etc.). He defines GD as “the experience of having a psychological...
by Bryan Knedgen | Oct 14, 2015 | Book Reviews
Aliens in a Promised Land by Anthony Bradley A Book Review By Bryan Knedgen Anthony Bradley has assembled a great host of theologians, pastors and teachers to help enlighten the majority culture in ways to listen and implement avenues in which minority cultures can better participate in evangelical churches and institutions. This book has been on my radar since it was published back in 2013, however it wasn’t until our Cru Summer Staff Conference announced an emphasis on diversity that I knew it was time to read this book. The poem from Propaganda called “Pernicious Puritans,” sets off the tone of book. 10 essays follow this sobering beginning and an appendix of a Report on Racism in the Church by Lutheran Missouri Synod draw it to a close. I cannot cover all the essays but will highlight the ones that were particularly helpful. Anthony Bradley gained his Ph.D at Westminster Seminary and is now is Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at The King’s College in New York City, an ordained Presbyterian Church in America Teaching elder and is also a Research Fellow at the Acton Institute. He taught at Covenant Theological Seminary but left my first year so I was not able to take one of his classes. I currently am “friends” with him on facebook, but our relationship does not extend past that of following his posts and responding with an occasional comment. As editor of Aliens in a Promised Land, Anthony Bradley shaped and molded the contents of this book and starts us off with his own. In these pages he explains the struggle of...
by Bryan Knedgen | Jun 14, 2015 | Book Reviews
Justo L. Gonzalez graduated from United Seminary in Cuba and went on to Yale for his M.A. and Ph.D, where he was the youngest person to be awarded a theology doctorate at Yale. He has served at multiple seminaries and schools of theology, including Emory. He is now retired but continues to serve as an adjunct professor of history at Columbia Theological Seminary. Gonzalez penned The Story Of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation in the mid 80s as an accessible history of the church. I choose this book desiring to gain a greater understanding of my history as being part of the church. As an evangelical, I am tempted to often believe that there was the early church 33 AD to 500, throw away the next 1000 years as dark corruption of the church and skip to the mid-1500s and beyond. Gonzalez sheds light on the glories and marred history of the church during these 1,000 years in this volume. Writing about 1500 years of history over multiple geographical locations in just above 400 pages is a massive undertaking. Gonzalez cuts this into four major sections: The Early Church, The Imperial Church, Medieval Christianity, and The Beginnings of Colonial Christianity. Each one of these sections is divided into smaller parts focusing on events and people that shaped particular movements and thought within Christianity. At the beginning of each section, he lays out a nice timeline displaying important events and people with corresponding dates. I will highlight particular interesting parts within each section. At the end of each, he encourages the reader toward further reading with...
by Bryan Knedgen | Jun 14, 2015 | Prayer Letters
Summer Missions 2015: Cru Knows Students. Cru Knows Missions. Our summer mission trips are a place where students can grow in their relationship with God while taking steps of faith, while being guided, trained and encouraged by staff from campuses all over the U.S. Staff and students leave their local campuses during the summer for several weeks to go to places where our ministry may not be during the school year. In tourist destinations in the U.S. and abroad we partner with local churches to bring the gospel to people who may not otherwise have a chance to hear it. Our stateside students work during the day and organize events like outreaches, bible studies, and ministry training in the evenings. They share the gospel with co-workers, beach goers and neighbors as they develop life-long friendships with each other and those they meet in the community. Through outreaches, prayer nights, bible studies and leadership training workshops all students on summer mission can grow in skills they will use back on their campuses and local churches. Megan Henley, one of our Cru graduates from St. Louis pictured to the right with friends from East Asia Summer Mission, said this about her experience: “Seeing God raise up believers by using our team in East Asia, encouraged me to share more on campus back home. People readily receiving Jesus in a closed country like East Asia reminded me that there are people ready to hear the gospel and wanting to know about the hope of God on a campus in America that is hostile to the gospel. We learned to be a team on...
by Bryan Knedgen | Feb 14, 2015 | Book Reviews
Letters to a Birmingham Jail: A Response to the Words and Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Book Review By Bryan Knedgen Many people have read Letter from a Birmingham Jail, it is a classic in American literature and one of the most convicting letters to the Church in the United States. I remember the first time I read Letter from a Birmingham Jail; it was given to me by my professor, Dr. Perry, during our covenant group (think of it as a prayer/study group) in the cold, wet month of February in 2010. At the time I process the depth and beauty of Dr. King’s words under the weight of classes, a part-time job and Army Reserves service. However, if we truly want to remember and learn from our past we must reread what has been written and respond. That is what I did this past January in light of Dr. King’s birthday and black history month this February. I found the wise and convicting words of Dr. King are like the law of God, displaying our sin but also calling us to live in a truly human way. The book I am reviewing, Letters to a Birmingham Jail, is a collection of reflections by professors, pastors and community leaders on Dr. King’s Letter. Since there were so many contributors, I wanted to highlight the ones that I thought did well and those that could be improved upon. First up is John Perkins, who helped found the Christian Community Development Association and is the father of its ministry philosophy. His essay is titled “Why We Can’t Wait for Economic Justice.” In it he...
