January 2008

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Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity
Lamin Sanneh

Lamin Sanneh is one of the foremost interpreters of world Christianity and particularly of its recent history in Africa. His thesis about the translatability of the faith, his nuanced revisionist account of the missionary enterprise, and his account of the encounter between Islam and Christianity have influenced a generation of scholars. All of those themes are further developed in his new book, which concludes with a challenge to the Western church: "Realignments of global scope," Sanneh says, compel "a fundamental stocktaking of Christianity's frontier awakening, and an imperative of partnership with it."

The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts
Edited by Daniel J. Treier, Mark Husbands, and Roger Lundin

"Beauty is back." You didn't know it had ever left the room? Read this superb collection of essays, occasioned by the 2006 Wheaton College Theo logy Conference, to understand what the "return of beauty" means. At the same time, you'll get a broader introduction to the now-thriving conversation on theology and the arts. As the editors observe, a genuinely Christian "aesthetic vision offers much for our alienated Western culture."

Kennedy's Brain: A Novel
Henning Mankell

The many-sided Henning Mankell, who shuttles between his native Sweden and Maputo, Mozambique, is best known for a series of detective novels. But he works in many genres. This stand-alone novel features a winsome protagonist, archaeologist Louise Cantor, who is drawn by the death of her son into a puzzle that takes her to Africa and an odd AIDS hospice. Mankell's sorrow for Africa's poor and his anger at Western selfishness seem to take him off the rails, but readers who don't accept his conspiratorial spin must nevertheless acknowledge the moral challenge he poses.

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