|
Renaissance People: From Lives That Shaped the Modern Age |
In Christian intellectual circles, cartoonish notions of "modernity" abound, given credence by people who should know better and disseminated to pastors, youth leaders, and assorted pundits. Not the least of the charms of Renaissance People, a gorgeously produced volume, is its resistance to being squeezed into such half-baked homilies, wherein "modernity" is all of a piece and the root of (most) evil. The book profiles 94 individuals, covering an enormous range. A sovereign remedy for postemergent headache and distress.
Enlightened Evangelicalism: The Life and Thought of John Erskine |
As with modernity, so with "the Enlightenment project": much handwringing. Meanwhile, as if in a parallel universe, scholars are exploring the relationships (multiple, contested) between evangelicalism and the Enlightenment (or Enlightenments). A case in point is Jonathan Yeager's Enlightened Evangelicalism, which begins with a quotation from Sir Walter Scott. Focusing on John Erskine (1721-1803), a prominent Scottish evangelical preacher and theologian, Yeager tells a story with wide resonance.
The Making of the English Gardener: Plants, Books and Inspiration, 1560-1660 |
If, in winter's icy grip, you like to think ahead about the garden, Margaret Willes will be a boon companion, and you will delight in this "book about people, their gardens, their plants, and the books they used to find about botany, horticulture, and design." Every garden, however modest, looks back to the bliss of the first garden and bears the promise of paradise.
Copyright © 2012 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Renaissance People, Enlightened Evangelicalism, and The Making of the English Gardener are available from Amazon.com and other retailers.
John Wilson is editor of Books & Culture, a Christianity Today sister publication.
Find other "Bookmarks" and reviews in ourbookssection.
Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
More from this Issue
Read These Next
- TrendingAmerican Christians Should Stand with Israel under AttackWhile we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
- From the MagazineWhat Kind of Man Is This?We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.españolFrançais
- Editor's PickWhere Worship Doesn’t TranslateHow groups like Hillsong learned to let go of the literal in favor of creative collaboration.españolPortuguês