Book Reviews

Posted: 9/15/06

Book Reviews

A Touch of Jesus: Stories and Studies of Women in the Life of Jesus by Janet F. Burton (Pleasant Word)

Many authors believe historical fiction to be the most difficult of stories to pen. The writer must mesh character, plot and setting with historically accurate research involving names, clothing, vocabulary, events and physical location. In A Touch of Jesus, Texas pastor’s wife Janet Burton not only tackles historical fiction, she adds a theological dimension by imagining and filling in the blanks in the stories of biblical women touched by Jesus.

From Mary’s cousin Elisabeth, to sisters Mary and Martha and the mothers of the little children blessed by Jesus, to the widow who gave her mites, Burton paints word pictures of significant incidents in their lives.

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But she doesn’t leave the reader there. She offers a behind-the-scenes Bible study surrounding the incident and includes insights gained from her research. Then she adds touch points showing how Christians can reach others in similar circumstances with the touch of Jesus.

If you read a chapter a day, A Touch of Jesus provides 17 meaningful daily devotionals. Also perfect as the basis for a Bible study series, Burton’s book offers a wealth of sermon illustrations, vignettes adaptable for dramatization, devotional thoughts for public presentation and springboards for further study into women important in the life of Jesus.

Kathy Robinson Hillman,

past president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas

Waco

God is in the Hard Stuff by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz (Barbour Publishing)

In their newest release, Bickel and Jantz tackle some of the really difficult issues of life just about all of us have to grapple with at one time or another.

So much of life these days seems to be lived in the midst of the “hard stuff,” and a search for answers to the hard questions: Why do the innocent suffer? Why doesn’t prayer always seem to work? Why do good marriages go bad? What do you do when your kids turn away from you? How do you cope with cancer? How do you deal with death?

This powerful little book doesn’t attempt to give comprehensive or quick-fix, easy answers, but it does offer an excellent “primer” to point in the right direction in a search for answers. With a two- to three-page treatments of about 40 “hard stuff” issues, Bickel and Jantz provide some remarkably profound words of wisdom that help us see that God is, in fact, right there in the midst of all of the “hard stuff” of life.

I highly recommend this book for its devotional value. Pastors will appreciate it as an excellent sermon-starter idea book. It also would make a great little gift book, especially for someone you know who is struggling with some “hard stuff” in their life right now.

Jim Lemons, pastor

River Oaks Baptist Church

Fort Worth

Perfecting Ourselves to Death: The Pursuit of Excellence and the Perils of Perfectionism by Richard Winter (Intervarsity Press)

Perfecting Ourselves to Death is an overview of concepts Richard Winter refers to as “healthy perfectionism versus unhealthy perfectionism.”

Much of the book reads like a literature review in a doctoral dissertation, providing highlights from various researchers on the subject of perfectionism.

The most substantive and interesting part of this book comes toward the end, when he discusses identity and purpose as they relate to perfectionism. Within this context, he provides a succinct look at the influences of modernism and postmodernism in our society. He follows this with a biblical perspective on these ideas.

Winter wraps up this work with an excellent chapter discussing a healthy pursuit of excellence and perfection from the Christian perspective of grace. He definitely saves the best for last.

Margaret Hunt Rice, executive assistant to the president

University of Houston-Victoria