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Review: The Theology of Paul the Apostle

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Cover image of "The Theology of Paul the Apostle" by James D.G. Dunn

The Theology of Paul the Apostle

The Theology of Paul the Apostle, James D. G. Dunn. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802844231) 2006.

Summary: Using Romans as a foundation and referencing Paul’s other writings, elaborates the theology of Paul.

The late James D.G. Dunn was in the first generation or so of Pauline scholars in the “New Perspective” school, following the ground-breaking work of E.P. Sanders, although differing with him at a number of points. Since I began reviewing theological texts in 2013, I tended to review the next generation of scholars who both interacted with, and developed, or moved on from Dunn. Finally, I have had a chance to go back to Dunn in the maturity of his scholarship and read his The Theology of Paul the Apostle. This is a work that both incorporates and moves far beyond “New Perspective” issues in offering a comprehensive biblical theology of Paul.

Dunn begins with discussing whether and how a Pauline theology may be written. Unlike some who take a developmental approach, Dunn believes most of the “developoment” of Paul’s theology occurred prior to his written works. Differences reflect the contingencies of situations. Thus, Dunn approaches the task through the lens of the letter to the Romans. He believes it reflects his own mature understanding of the gospel and how Paul would order the themes of his theology. So, Romans is Dunn’s template into which he incorporates material from the most widely recognized Pauline writings. He follows much contemporary scholarship in considering Colossians, Ephesians and the Pastorals as deutero-Pauline. However he does accept 2 Thessalonians.

As it turns out, the sequence Dunn finds maps closely onto many systematic theologies: God, humankind, sin, christology, salvation, the church, and the Christian life. And it follows the unpacking of Paul’s argument in Romans. Since this is a long work, I will not go into depth on what Dunn writes but touch on some highlights that might whet your appetite for digging into this work.

Beginning with God, Paul’s God is the one God of Israel. Yet he makes room for the deity of the Son and the Spirit. One of the distinctives of his discussion is on Christ as the last Adam. Dunn goes back beyond Abraham or Moses to Adam to understand Christ’s work. Thus, Israel’s redemption is set within a larger cosmic narrative.

The chapters on law elaborate Dunn’s covenantal nomism, distinguishing it from legalistic works. For the believing Jew, obedience to the law was a response of faith to God’s covenant grace. Rather, Paul’s concern about works of the law (circumcision, cleanliness, etc.) was their use as identity markers that erected barriers between the Jews and the nations.

I was struck that unlike some “New Perspective” advocates, Dunn argues for the translation of pistis Christou as “faith in Christ” rather than “the faithfulness of Christ.” Similarly, he discusses justification as both an initial act of God righteousing the unrighteous and his ongoing justifying righteousness, enjoyed from beginning to end through faith. Then, his discussion of participation in Christ casts a profound vision for daily life in Christ.

Dunn’s theology of the Spirit is one of initial and ongoing enabling rather than second blessing. For Dunn, this is also reflective of an eschatology that understands the believer living between the times. The believer lives in the tension between flesh and Spirit, the already and not yet.

Dunn’s chapter on ministry and authority, within the section on the church, walks an interesting line between Paul’s incorporation of women in ministry, his “neither male nor female,” and social realities of the day that set limits on what women could do. Likewise, he notes Paul’s teaching on slaves. Christian slaves are free in Christ, but still slaves.

When it comes to the Christian life, the motive is “the law of Christ.” Love is the mean of liberty between the extremes of legalism and license. I thought it interesting that Paul in Romans focuses on love with the church rather than the law of Christ in contrast with worldly behavior as in Corinth. For example, the concern in Romans is to not use liberty in matters of food to cause another to stumble. By contrast, in writing to the Corinthians, the concern is sexual ethics. This reminded me of how important social context is in understanding these “occasional” letters.

This is a mere sampling. What stands out throughout is the centrality of Christ. Dunn keeps the main thing the main thing. However, he notes Paul’s focus on the death, resurrection, and saving work of Christ rather than his life and ministry. It was the crucified and risen Christ who appeared to and saved Paul.

One might hesitate taking on such a long work (737 pages of text). What I found was that Dunn writes with clarity and economy. He just covers so much and sees so deeply into Paul. Working through this book was three weeks of rich theological reflection, “dialogue” as Dunn puts it, with the Apostle Paul. I, for one, am glad I did.

Review: All Creation Waits — Deluxe Edition

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Cover image of "All Creation Waits -- Deluxe Edition" by Gayle Boss, illustrated by Sharon Spitz

All Creation Waits

All Creation Waits—Deluxe Edition, Gayle Boss, illustrated by Sharon Spitz. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9798893480764) 2026.

Summary: Twenty-five Advent reflections on how woodland animals adapt to winter’s coming, how they wait with us for life anew.

When Gayle Boss’s children were growing up, she created Advent calendars with an animal behind each door. They reflected on how each of the animals prepared themselves for the repose of the dark days of winter, and awaited the lengthening days that signalled spring. In 2016, she turned these reflections into the first edition of All Creation Waits. It became a bestseller and has found its way around the world. Now, Paraclete Press has released a deluxe collector’s edition in honor of the book’s tenth anniversary. And I was fortunate enough to receive a copy! [Paraclete Press also sells the original edition, a gift edition, and a children’s edition.]

The book is a feast to hold and behold, coming with a foil embossed slipcase, gilded page edges, and a ribbon marker. Each day’s reflections on the woodland animals is paired with several exquisite illustrations by Sharon Spitz. I found myself at times just sitting and taking in all the detail of the animals in their natural settings. There are twenty-five reflections for the month of December concluding with Christmas Day. Twenty-four of these are of woodland animals with the reflection on Christmas Day on Jesus, oborn among the animals, laid in one of their mangers.

As she did with her children, she begins with the painted turtle. We learn it swims to the bottom of a pond where its body temperature drops to just above freezing, it stops breathing and its heart slows almost to stopping. All she does is wait. Oxygen depletion leads to the buildup of lactic acid, neutralized by calcium from her bones and shell. It is stillness that saves her to emerge with spring.

Over the days we learn of black bears and honey bees, eastern fox squirrels, wood frogs, and fireflies, loons, bats, and lake trout, and many more. We learn about their habitats and how they prepare for winter. Some, like bears, eat like crazy, and then burn it off during hibernation. Others, like squirrels hide stores of food all around (including the flower pots by my front door!). At least now I understand why.

Perhaps the most fascinating to me was the porcupine, who doesn’t seek a warm den or cave but continues to live in the cold treetops, who survives on tree bark, and smells of old sawdust! I also came to appreciate the cardinals I see in winter, and how they live on the knife-edge of life and death, building enough of a fat reserve in the fall to stay warm but still light enough to perch and fly to re-fuel on whatever seeds he can find, always risking being seen by the predator hawk.

In addition, each reflection opens with a quote from a famous writer. I love George Washington Carver’s succinct observation: “If yoy love it enough, anything will talk to you.” Usually, we consider Pelagius one of the theological “bad guys.” But there is a marvelous quote from him of the indwelling of God’s Spirit in each of the creatures, preceding the reading on the opossum. There is also a section, “More Animal Wonderment” with even more information about each of the animals

Above all, the reader discovers that we are not the only ones who wait as the days shorten toward Christmas. All creation joins us. Through Gayle Boss’s keen observations of the creatures around her western Michigan home, we not only experience virtual “nature walks.” She also leads us day by day in journeys of wonder as we approach Christmas Day. Buy a copy for yourself and one for a friend you love!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Age of Cures

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Cover image of "The Age of Cures" by Barry Werth

The Age of Cures

The Age of Cures, Barry Werth. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668067833) 2026.

Summary: The birth of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry through a critical government decision resulting in a raft of miracle drugs.

The subtitle of this book caught my attention: How American Scientists Saved your Life. I realized as I read this that it was true. I never had polio and saw the fear of it recede into the distant past. On several occasions, I’ve had bouts with cellulitis of varying severity. Each time, antibiotics cleared the infection. And as I’ve read up on it, without those antibiotics, I could have died. Nearly all of these were developed within my lifetime. This book chronicles the birth of American pharmaceutical research labs and manufacturing that made those drugs possible.

The story centers around Harvard-trained research chemist Max Tishler. He led teams synthesizing key vitamins: B2, C, and B12. He also developed fermentation processes for making penicillin, streptomycin, and actinomycin in large quantities. Tishler also was part of the effort to synthesize cortisone, a breakthrough anti-inflammatory, overseeing the team led by A.N. Richards. He served as president of Merck labs, part of Merck, one of the early leading pharmaceutical companies profiled. George Merck, its head was quoted as saying “Medicine is for people, not for profits.”

Behind the explosion of pharmaceutical research was Vannevar Bush. While discovered in 1928, penicillin was difficult to manufacture on a large scale. With the approach of World War 2 came the realization that widely available penicillin could save many American soldiers from dying of infected wounds. Bush recognized that rather than building government labs to do this, funds could be used to support research efforts of universities and commercial enterprises. The success of that decision created today’s pharmaceutical industry–and provided ample quantities of penicillin in time for the D-Day invasion.

But penicillin couldn’t cure everything. Gram negative bacteria did not respond to it. One of the worst of these was tuberculosis, killing 300 of every 100,000 people. Another Merck scientist, Selman Waksman pioneered the methods of screening soil samples to identify possible drug compounds. Werth describes the process he used to isolate streptomycin, the first drug effective against tuberculosis and also the bubonic plague!

The demand for these medications exploded during the 1950s. Part of the book traces the growing competition among drug companies and the tension between cost and profit they faced. This was highlighted in the Kefauver hearings in 1959, where cortisone was found to have a 7,000 percent markup. This led to efforts to begin to regulate costs, safety, and efficacy of these drugs.

Polio, which I mentioned earlier, was the scourge that afflicted Franklin Roosevelt, who promoted the March of Dimes and research funding along the lines of Bush’s model. In this case, an obscure University of Pittsburgh researcher, Jonas Salk developed the vaccine. But there were real issues in safely manufacturing the vaccine. One batch, which included live rather than dead polio virus, infected a number with polio, as well as those close to them. It was traced to a manufacturer with poor safety protocols subsequently addressed. I received the Salk vaccine with no ill effects, just a few years after it became available.

Side effects did come along with the miracles. Werth tells the story of the psychological effects of cortisone on one patient, who required institutionalization for a time. Some of the problem was determining dosing. Fortunately, doctors found a substitute drug to treat his medical condition without the side effects.

Werth offers a well-researched and highly readable account of this period, from the 1930’s to the 1960’s when there were so many great advances. He also traces the roots of the growth of Big Pharma, with its associated shortcomings. Most of all, he chronicles the scientific research enterprise to which we owe our lives. I can’t help but wonder if part of the reason for the present attacks on that enterprise has to do with the relatively charmed existence we have lived in this “age of cures.” We don’t realize how we are just one illness out of the past, or even cut, away from death. Furthermore, in defunding that research, we risk robbing ourselves and our children of more life-saving treatments.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Review: Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress

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Cover image of "Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress" by Heidi Ann Russell

Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress

Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress, Heidi Ann Russell. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9798400801358) 2026.

Summary: Theology and neuropsychology on the healing of traumatic stress in Christian community.

In recent years, neuroscience has increasingly understood our physiological responses to trauma and stress and how our brains rewire through these experiences. Meanwhile, theological anthropology has explored the relation of freedom. sin, and grace. In this book, Heidi Ann Russell seeks to bring these into conversation with a view to helping Christian communities practice trauma-informed ministry.

Russell unpacks this in three parts. The first part considers us as created co-creators. She explores how we are created both to survive and thrive. Trauma is a survival response but may become maladaptive. Instead of healthy connection, we withdraw or engage in unhealthy connection. For example, people pleasing and perfectionism are unhealthy responses. From here, using polyvagal theory, she shows how, in trauma, our autonomic system responds in a variety of ways, while our neocortex goes offline. However, this same system also fosters connection in contexts of safety. We become co-creators, contributing to one another’s flourishing. Finally, Russell looks at how our abilities to connect form in childhood. We learn both to “serve and return.” Our caregivers are co-creators by their relationship with us.

The second part is titled “redeemed co-redeemers.” The theological focus is on sin and freedom. Russell begins with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the impact of both personal and systemic sin on children and families. She also traces the impact of generational trauma and the growing evidence of epigenetics. She reflects on the biblical discussions of original and inherited sin as she considers intergenerational impacts of trauma. Throughout this treatment, she explores ways Christian communities may mediate God’s redemptive activity, and the positive effect of nurturing supportive environments. Through this we become co-redeemers.

The third part explores the theme of being “sustained co-sustainers.” The focus here is on grace and healing. For example, she shows how our neurobiology facilitates conversion. Our neuroplasticity aids in healing as we mediate God’s grace to one another. Just as stress is a bodily experience, grace may be embodied through a variety of practices. Finally, as communities practice trauma-informed care, while not substituting for therapy, they become instrumental in healing. Not only do we co-sustain each other. We also become instruments in healing the world.

I particularly appreciate how the book combines insight from psychology with pastoral care. For example, co-regulation, by one person acting calmly, helps another calm down through nervous system sychronization. Likewise, Russell offers hope, that through grace, there is healing for trauma. In all this, the body of Christ may have a huge impact. Trauma occurs in relationships but so does healing.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Great Black Swamp

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Cover image of "The Great Black Swamp" by Patrick Wensick

The Great Black Swamp

The Great Black Swamp, Patrick Wensick. Belt Publishing (ISBN: 9781540270108) 2025.

Summary: The swamp lands of northwest Ohio, their drainage and agricultural development, and toxic algae blooms.

I spent four years of my life driving back and forth across what was once known as the Great Black Swamp in northwest Ohio. It is probably the flattest place on earth. One of the towns in the heart of it, Bowling Green, reflects that flatness while ironically actually having a man-made hill that may be the highest point of the area! During growing season, as far as the eye can see, are fields of corn and soybeans growing in some of the richest soil (at least at one time) in the country. Usually, all that separated you from those fields when you drove on county roads were drainage ditches. In fact, those ditches are a major actor in the story Patrick Wensick tells. They served to drain nearly impenetrable swamp land that was subsequently cleared for those farms.

The occasion for Wensink’s book was the 2014 toxic algae bloom in western Lake Erie that rendered the city of Toledo’s water supply undrinkable for three days. A glass of the water could make you very sick or kill you. He describes the no-nonsense way of coping with this environmental disaster on the part of the people that typifies northwest Ohio culture. Those he interviewed didn’t think of it as that big of a deal.

So, he sets out to understand what led to the disaster. As it turns out, those swamps acted as a huge filtration system that kept Lake Erie clean. They also kept people out for a long time. The region was mosquito and malaria-ridden. The mortality rate of early settlers was high. Not only that, without adequate drainage, the first road through the region was a quagmire.

Then, a former ditchdigger with machine shop experience invented a machine that changed everything. James B. Hill invented and prototyped the first automated ditch digging machine in 1893. The Buckeye Traction Ditcher changed the face of northwest Ohio. Clearing the trees fed a lumber industry around which a number of small towns sprang up, including the author’s home town of Deshler. (Wensick even devotes a chapter to the town’s history including a girl’s poster saying “bring us together” that Richard Nixon and campaign aides saw on a whistlestop in the town and used to turn around his 1968 presidential campaign.)

He traces the agricultural history, including the high-yield production technology that defined the region. But it was also that technology, including fertilizers with nitrogen and phosphorus that led to Lake Erie’s algal blooms. During heavy rains, runoff went into those drainage ditches, all part of the Maumee River watershed, flowing into Lake Erie in Toledo. And the disappearance of all those swamps meant the loss of a filtration system.

Wensink tells that story through onsite interviews with everyone from Toledoans hanging out at Tony Packo’s to the conservation manager for the Black Swamp Conservancy. The latter is an effort to restore swamp habitats throughout the region. At this point, the effort is small. It does not make an appreciable difference in Lake Erie. But places like Bell Woods serve as learning labs for understanding swamp ecosystems. Wensick comes ill-prepared for the mucky and buggy landscape. He also frames much of the narrative with The Story of the Great Black Swamp, a VHS recording of a public television production narrated by Glen Colerider. He found the tape in the library at Bowling Green State university, where he did much of his research.

The account is highly readable, more memoir than dry history. However, as memoir, he also makes the choice to weave in the deterioration of his marriage during his research. The subtitle actually parallels toxic algae and toxic relationships. I wonder about the choice to include this, which I felt distracted from the interesting story he tells about northwest Ohio. Much as this might foster a connection with the author, I just didn’t think it added to his fascinating account.

After describing cuts to environmental efforts at the beginning of the current administration, he concludes with one more visit to the largest remnant of the Black Swamp. Better prepared, he visits Forrest Woods Nature Preserve outside of Defiance, Ohio. He helps dig trenches for a salamander fence, to help monitor the health of the population. A water-covered depression called “The Bowl” is the closest approximation to what the Swamp was like. Implicitly, he ends on a hopeful note, describing the slow, methodical work being done to restore habitats.

All in all, it’s a fascinating narrative combining history and science reporting with eyewitness accounts. It brought new understanding to me, having lived in and traveled this country. But more than this, it helps us understand a problem far more widespread than just the Lake Erie watershed. These blooms occur throughout the world, coinciding in many cases with the drainage of wetlands and swamplands. It gestures toward a way forward, if we act on our understanding of these ecosystems.

Review: The Things We Never Say

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Cover image of "The Things We Never Say" by Elizabeth Strout

The Things We Never Say

The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout. Random House (ISBN: 9798217154746) 2026.

Summary: Outwardly, Artie Dam is a beloved teacher; yet his life is fraught with the secrets kept by him and others.

He’s won “teacher of the year” awards. Students love and colleagues respect fifty-seven year old Artie Dam of the white socks and dumpy black tennis shoes. He teaches history. But more than that, he teaches students what special and unique persons they are. He lives on the New England coast and the beautiful old family home of his wife Evie. The son of a handyman/apartment supervisor whose mother struggled with insanity, his marriage to Evie meant marrying up into a wealthy family. However life seems good with outings with close friends and sailing in the bay.

And yet Artie is deeply troubled. It is the run-up to the 2024 election and its troubling prospects. Then there are all the unresolved feelings about his son, Rob’s, accident in which the girl he was with died. Since that time, Rob has become more distant, although successful in his work. The accident separates him, he senses, from Evie, who deals with her grief by becoming a therapist. A family friend he often confided in moves away after her husband’s death and he misses her. He expresses these things only to himself in his thoughts. He even obsesses about ending his life through suicide.

Then a boating accident where he nearly drowned brings him to understand he does not want to die. Not only that, his son, who seems to have suspected that he might have tried ending his life, draws closer. And he begins meeting Ken Moynihan, and starts sharing some of the secrets and questions that trouble him. It lifts him.

Then he learns of a secret involving his wife and closest friends. Not only that, it is a secret they knew. So, what should Artie do? Does he participate in the secret, acting as if he doesn’t know? Or does he reveal that he knows, risking his marriage?

It tears Artie apart. He even takes up petty shop-lifting. Meanwhile, he continues to care deeply for his students, particularly a troubled young woman and young man, whose lives he changes. But can he live with the loneliness of the unspoken, the secret lives and lies of which he is a part?

Strout explores the deep pain of human existence. Although we may seem embedded in close relationships, there are the secret hopes, the hidden transgressions “we never say.” We long to know and make ourselves known to others. Yet, we fear that such revelations may shatter rather than strengthen relationships. And so we live in the proximate companionships, respecting the boundaries of what we cannot say. Yet we long for one who knows all our secrets and never flinches, and never stops loving.