Reviews for Being the Church in the Midst of Empire

The average rating for Being the Church in the Midst of Empire based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-16 00:00:00 James Andrews Few of the arguments in this book were particularly bold or original, and I was a bit put off by the New Agey feel of it. It does, however, illustrate that there are good reasons to think spirituality can play a positive role in coping with and recovering from illness. The strongest chapters were probably Hufford and Bucklin's "The Spirit of Spiritual Healing in the United States," and Ironson, et. al.'s chapter on "Spirituality, Spiritual Experiences, and Spiritual Transformations in the Face of HIV." The former argues that belief in divine healing can be rationally warranted by people's personal experiences. It is boldly argued and surprisingly well-researched. The latter shows that spiritual experiences are surprisingly common and constructive among people with HIV, despite the religious stigma attached to the disease. The authors show that spirituality can play an important role in helping patients cope and survive. The anthropological chapters are also worth reading-- especially the one on "Radical Empathy". The neuroscience and theology chapters, however, are fairly unremarkable.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-04-05 00:00:00 Scott Mcmurrain I am rather biased about this book because I read it during a cross-roads in my life and it influenced me in a way that has only brought joy and fulfillment. Nee does an incredible job of exploring the scope of what Christ spiritually accomplished in His death, resurrection, and ascension. Having been raised Christian, I knew all the stories and could repeat what Jesus did for us, but most of that was conditioning and I had no personal identification with any of it. Through this book I was able to throw out a bunch of junk and actually have an encounter with the Living God. I don't credit that experience to this book, but this book definitely set it up. It is theologically sound, very accessible, and practical. The attitudes it encourages WORK and have made my life look and feel much more like the normal Christian life.