Christian Oliver Books

"How to Change Your Spouse" offers worthwhile, enjoyable reading for people in longterm intimate relationships. It also makes for good outside reading for therapists to give to couples in marriage counseling. Wright and Oliver alternate the authorship of chapters. Both employ a great deal of humor and easily recognizable everyday scenarios in which the reader finds his or her own experiences. Oliver's writing feels especially supportive and encouraging.

I have appreciated Wright's book on Communication in Marriage, and thought this one could be helpful to get parents thinking about parenting and talking to children.

And I have found it to be as good as it looks.

Wright stresses letting your children be themselves and not trying to change their basic personalities. But he also gives ideas about helping your child to learn how to deal with their own special personalities.

For example, if you have a child who takes a long time to think and respond, don't ask them to change, but give them extra time to think things through.

I think every parent would benefit by thinking through what he has to say.


I also recommend Tim Kimmel's Grace-based Parenting stimulating.

Oliver Crisp has done a fine job exploring the philosophical implications of Edwards' conception of sin in the manner of the Analytic school of philosophy. Topics covered include discussions of the Divine Decrees, the Fall, the Authorship of Sin, the Two Wills of God, and Inherited guilt, among others. Like most Analytic philosophy, Crips' analysis can be tough sledding at times, but those who are familiar with Plantinga, Swinburne, and Stump will feel right at home.

This book is particularly useful in that Crisp is not afraid to argue that Edwards' was wrong on a number of points, all the while admitting the cogency of his arguments in others. For people who hero-worship Edwards this might be somewhat offensive.

Crisp's critique of Edwards often involves issues in the greater debates between Calvinists and Arminians. It was interesting to see where Crisp disagrees with Edwards (and his variety of Calvinism), and where the weakness of Edwards' position is shared by the Arminians. Consequently, it makes for an important read in evaluating the Arminian (or Wesleyan) claim that Calvin's God is worse than the devil (because he is the author of sin).

The only downside is that the book is terribly overpriced, and unecessarily so, thanks to the wonders of print-on-demand technology. If I were Ashgate, I would re-issue it in softcover, which would cost about $12 USD per volume to print, and then sell it for $15-20. Otherwise the book's high price will limit its readership which defeats the point of publishing it in the first place, unless their business model is to make money off of rich theological libraries, in which case, more power to you!

This is a fantastic book for any Christian or non-Christian to learn how God looks at failure and can use it toward great personal spiritual growth. I am considering using this book to teach a church class for those who feel defeated and useless from failure. Feel like a failure? Read this book and get in touch with God's great potential for your life. God can do more with a person who has admitted his failure than a person who believes he never fails and never feels he needs God. Terrific book!

I purchased this book as "suggested reading" for an ethics class at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. The book covers a broad range of mostly contemporary subjects with a generally solid treatment. It will compliment the library of any pastor, student, or scholar.

John O. Nelson's small but informative book has been updated for 2004.

Nelson right away explains that a call to religious service is much different than picking a career in another field. Religious service can carry with it prejudice and stigma, as many in today's society grapple with spiritual issues involving the church in their lives.

The book is very small, just one hundred and twenty eight pages of text, but it is a good starting point to launch a more thorough search into the area. Nelson keeps his discussion centered on the three more popular belief systems in North America: Protestant, Catholic, and Judaism. Other religions may find something helpful here. Nelson opens with a brief description of vocations in religion, and then discusses offshoots of religious careers that many may not think of.

Not everyone is interested in becoming a member of the clergy or preaching in front of a congregation, and Nelson acknowledges that. He also notices that some church leaders do not even have a high school diploma, but do just as good a job as someone weighted with degrees. Nelson mentions other careers "behind the scenes," as it were. Chaplains for the military, prisons, or hospitals; religion teachers; missionaries; religious musical careers; church administration; all of these are briefly hit on in seperate chapters, yet the main thrust of the book deals with worship leaders.

An ordinary day in the clergy's life is described, and how much salary and benefits have changed over the years (pastors do not work just one hour a week, and preaching is not "its own reward). The appendices consist of religion yearbooks where more information can be gleaned, other sources of information, and most impressive- a list of addresses and websites for over two hundred accredited theological schools in the United States and Canada.

Again, this is not an in-depth search into your soul to see if God is speaking to your heart. Nelson even advises keeping a calling secret, in case your mind is changed later. However, this book is a great place to begin. Nelson is a well known writer and former instructor at Yale's divinity school, so he knows what he is talking about. I recommend this book as a starting point.

This is a very sweet CD that my 4 year old enjoys quite a lot. I like it because it has a very positive message, and because it carries precious memories of my own childhood. I don't know that everybody would like it. If you are the type who wants the newest sound or the coolest dialog, this definitely is not for you. If you are a parent who is looking for a memorable story line, scripture influence, and doesn't mind some cheesy music from the late 70s, early 80s, give it a try!

To be sure, the editors of this book were sure to include the vast variety of Wesley's poetry, as well as hymns, though the two are not often distinguished. From didactic poetry on preaching and theology, to elegies, to the piano-forte, and even into politics, Wesley strides with great confidence in his own insights. For the Christian believer, it will not be difficult to find something akin to the edifying hymns that are so well-known. But even for the secular reader, a close reading of Wesley's poetry (albeit ancient) will provide a literary treasure. To be most treasured are the pieces, or "Fragments," found as unfinished works in letters and other manuscript sources, giving the reader insight into a most prolific writer's modus operandi, a treat for reader and aspiring writer alike.

This book is most helpful in helping the people helper understand the true and healthy role anger has as a boundary emotion. It is helpful in getting people to understand how anger is used in abuse and manipulation of women and children.This book is helpful in gaining undestanding that men and women process anger differently - and how they do it.

However, when Norman Wright gets right down to the issue of domestic violence and prevention, he does not take the bull by the horns - telling the women and children to leave. He seems to hold out hope that abusers will go for help, which does not often happen, as I have heard and my area statistics bear out.

This book does help open closed eyes to the facts that anger out of control is abuse. His answers fall short of a complete answer but are better than some in the Christian counseling industry.
It is an introduction to anger and how it can be manifested in positive ways or in abuse. And the goals of this book are to prevent anger outbursts from disrupting relationships and harming lives and becoming a family legacy. It is , more than anything, a book of prevention worth reading and putting into practice.

This was my first time reading a book by Andrew Greeley and I must confess, I had to force myself to finish reading it. I kept waiting for the focus to change back to the case, which didn't happen until the last few chapters.

It started off with an explosive case that looks like a promising read, only to be bored by his main character who in his quest to be perfect is extremely arrogant and consistently brags about his conquests with a certain redhead. At times,I found the stereotypes offensive and didn't really find humor in what I assume was supposed to be light comedy at times.

I wouldn't waste my time with this book if I knew then what I know now, however, because of the beginning and ending chapters of this book, there is potential for a good writer and I would be willing to give Andrew Greeley another shot. Maybe it was just this book that was so bad?

I listened to the abridged tape version of this book and after reading the other reviews, I'm glad that I did. However, the tapes did contain an interesting interview with Fr. Greeley in which he indicated that part of the reason for writing the novel was to reach more people. He had previously written about clergy abuse in sociological papers.
As a piece of fiction, I found this novel to be rather mediocre. Having spent five years in the Catrolic seminary, I found it quite interesting that Greeley's main character goes off to college with the intention of entering the seminary after graduation. However, when his childhood sweetheart appears on the scene he resumes his sexual activity with her. There is a lot of that in the novel-Greeley knows what sells books! But wait! Our young priest to be then dumps his girlfriend and by graduation time he is a repentant sinner and he enters the seminary (after fighting-off the apathy of the local church officials).
I found Greeley's portrayal of Fr. Hoffmann's treatment when he speaks out about the clergy abuse to be heavy-handed. Come on; how many accusers of priestly pedophiles found themselves exiled to psychiatrict institutions?
This book shows that Father Greeley has many axes to grind with the Catholic Church and he uses this book as a forum to take some cheap shots without really making any positive contributions to healing the wounds.

Russell Carrick, the reviewer from August 17, 2004 was dead on in his warning about this book. On a recent cruise I found this paperback in my cabin. Probably the previous occupant left it behind and it was overlooked by the cleaning staff for some reason or other; however, whoever left it had good reason and I should have tossed it into the waste basket.
The prologue and first chapter start off with powerful imagery and sets the reader up for what he/she expects to be an exciting, provocative novel on clerical sex abuse and corruption. Instead, what you must plod through until the last couple of chapters are the dull reflections and ponderings of the protagonist who is one pompous bore. The other characters are flat stereotypes which Father Greeley uses to voice his negative opinions on Catholic traditionalists. It is true that Greeley uses the characters' ethnicity to define their personalities: We have fiesty Irish redheaded girls and stoic calculating Germans who all love to consume large amounts of beer and sausage. And yes, nobody here is exaggerating about the constant references from Father Hoffman about his Volga German background. Almost every page has mention of the "Russian Germans," "Germans," "the Deutsche," "the Volk," on and on he goes.
Another thing which was quite disorienting was the dialogue and setting. Besides being flat and cliched, the reader needs to keep reminding him-or-herself that most of this book takes place in the 1980's through to the present day. The attitudes, conversations and mindset of the people in this book seems like they are living in the early 20th century. I'm not to familiar with the Midwest German community but is it common for 4th and 5th generation German-Americans from Illinois to speak in clipped, short sentences, beginning with the word "ja?" Greeley has the German-Americans speaking like they're buggy-riding Amish! The romance between Hoffman and his soulmate, which we suffer throughout most of the book, sounds nothing like two teenagers who lived anywhere in the United States of the 80's. Rather, they sound like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in some old movie from the 30's or 40's.
Father Hoffman's later persecution at the hands of Church authority was ludicrous. He finds a fellow priest in the act of raping a boy, the pedophile later comes to his room waving a knife and threatening him and the boy. When Hoffman goes to the authorities they chastise him instead. Later on they accuse Hoffman of homosexuality and commit him to an asylum to "cure him of his homosexual tendencies." This was too far fetched and silly to believe of even the most corrupted of the Church's hierarchy.
Was this all some sort of inside joke of Father Greeley's?!
A disappointment, but at least it didn't cost me any money. Well off to the used bookstore it goes. Hope they take it.

This book is typical of the over the top writing that characterizes most of Greeley's recent work. Father Hoffman, the male protagonist, is heroic (he maims three basketball players to save the honor of the woman he thinks he kind of maybe loves and brings truth to the Catholic church as well) and wears his emotions on his sleeve (like most Greeley protagonists, he luxuriates in his feelings and never leaves a thought unspoken). The main female character is a saint who mistakenly belives that she is horribly flawed until Father Hoffman shows her that she is worthy of God's love. The villains, consisting of the Archbishop and his henchmen, are mundane and wither before Father Hoffman's sterling integrity. If these characters sound familiar it is because they appear throughout Greeley's work. This is both good and bad. For me, reading this book was like putting on an old of shoes--comfortable and familiar. However, there is little which is ground breaking here.

The story begins in the present and immediately goes into flashback mode. The backstory which explains the characters takes up 90% of the book. While it makes for an interesting character study, it takes forever to resolve the conflict set up in the opening chapters.

The setting for this character study is the current Catholic sexual abuse scandal. Father Hoffman witnesses a fellow priest sodomizing a young boy. In return for his honesty in reporting this crime, he is committed to a psychiatric hospital to be cured of his own alleged homosexuality. When all of this comes out in a trial, he is villified by both the church hierarchy and the victim's father. However, he prevails against long odds and justice is done.

Father Greeley uses this book to offer his opinions about the Catholic sex abuse scandal. In his world, neither the celibate priesthood nor ordination of homosexuals is to blame and the Catholic church has no more abusers than any similar institution. Instead, the primary fault is with a church hierarchy which covers up any hint of a scandal and releases predator priests on new, unsuspecting parishes. There is nothing here that has not been widely reported in the newspapers, but there is some value in hearing it from an insider.

I have always enjoyed the style and much of the content of Greeley's books, and this is no exception. However, at this stage in my short life I have found it tiresome to hear his repeated talk about "stupid bishops" and the lack of pastoral care in the RCC. Is it true that some leaders lack the skills to lead? Yes, of course. But it just gets old when every book of Greeley's has to beat the same drum. I should know by now that every book of his has backhanded comments about the errors, or supposed errors, of the RCC, but what can I say? I am a glutton for punishment. (It is the former Lutheran in me.) In his defense, and it is a work of fiction, he does show that it is a minority of priests who commit these crimes and that it is statistically just as prevalent in any other profession that puts adults with children unsupervised.

OK, that said, the plot is half about rapist priests/scandal/litigation/cover-ups, etc. He does a great job bringing this to life. The other part of the book is a flashback to childhood and young adulthood, mostly concerning his growing romantic attachment to a female friend and the complications that brings as he struggles with his possible and actual vocation. Not bad, but not too interesting to me either.

What I found totally disgusting, and full of hypocrisy, was the last chapter of the book where he puts the full blame of the mess the Church is in NOT on the molesting and rapacious priests, but on those who covered it up! He says the priests are unable to control their urges, and thus are to be pitied. This is sick, to say the least. It is the other priests and bishops and cardinals who turn a blind eye that are to be blamed, in his view. Of course they are indeed guilty. But to let the offenders off? That alone earns the book a one star.