James E. Brenneman

The One Story

Theology

“In his book, The One Story, author John Simpson invites readers to a ‘bottoms-up,’ story-based, upside-down, table-turning understanding of God defined by the biblical word kenosis, or self-emptying. The book may be unsettling to readers used to the status-quo, top-down, biblical, creedal, and systematic theologies of the past and present. Yet, it remains deeply resonant with the best of Christian understandings of the nonviolent, benevolent God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.”

The Priesthood of All Believers in the Twenty-First Century

Theology

“"Rob Muthiah has done a great service in clarifying and updating the biblical and post-biblical tradition of the 'priesthood of all believers' for the twenty-first-century church. He refuses to mythologize, idealize, or demonize historical understandings of the 'priesthood' even as he recommends a more egalitarian, communal, and fluid understanding for the postmodern believer. Muthiah further resists the temptation to pit the individual against the community, the lay person against the priesthood, technological efficiency against slow-growth relationships, the individual against the institution. Rather, he offers a set of churchly practices that offer a mutual and holistic vision of life in Christian community.”