Book reviews for Summer 2023
Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church
Michael J. Kruger (Zondervan, 2022) 164 pp.
Kruger, president and professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, has written an incisive diagnosis of spiritual abuse. He is troubled about the rising number of abusive leadership cases he has seen even in theologically solid churches. He notes that the vast majority of Christian leaders and pastors are wonderful people who are kind and gentle shepherds. But some pastors are abusive. The problem is not just abuse but the context that allows it to continue unchallenged. His goal is to help churches and Christian ministries identify and stop abusive leaders. His chapter “Flipping the Script” on the retaliatory tactics of abusive leaders details the cruel and devious ways they operate. The chapter on the devastating effects of abuse on those who suffer was sobering to read. He ends with a strong biblical prescription on how to create a culture that resists spiritual abuse: prevention, accountability, and protection. His final word to Christian leaders challenges us to search our own hearts so that we do not become bully leaders ourselves. The answer to abusive leadership is the cross of Christ. We follow a shepherd who gave his life for others. This is a book to ponder and to share with others, especially those who have worked alongside or under abusive leaders.
Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★
Workers for Your Joy: The Call of Christ on Christian Leaders
David Mathis (Crossway, 2022) 341 pp.
Mathis, a pastor in Minnesota and teacher and editor at desiringGod.org, writes a wonderful book about how the local church is to be led. After reading Kruger’s book on bad leaders, it was a delight to study what Christ calls leaders in the church to be and do. In 15 chapters, Mathis looks at the qualities of leaders Paul gives in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. He divides the study into three parts: the man before God (devotional life), the man before those who know him best (private life), and the man before the watching church and world (public life). The church needs leaders who are humbled, whole, and honorable. Full of practical wisdom and insightful application, the book has study questions for each chapter and is a great book to use for training leaders.
Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★
American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan, 1859–73
Hamish Ion (UBC Press, 2009) 410 pp.
Ion, Emeritus professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada, has published four volumes on Protestant missionaries in Japan (two on the Canadian Missionary Movement and another on the British). Like the other volumes, this superb work on American missionaries and oyatoi (foreign employees) “stresses the role played by American Protestants as both Christian missionaries and informal agents of their own culture and civilization” (p. ix). As Ion notes, the importance of these early years cannot be overestimated.
At that time (1860s and early 70s) the government was still publicly displaying edicts reminding the population about the ban on Christianity. Ion shows that the Meiji government was pressured by foreign governments to remove these edits, and they finally did in March 1873. He states, “The ban on Christianity had been in place for so long that there was little need for publicly displayed edicts to remind the general population of this well-known fact. The only concession that the Meiji government had given the Western powers was the cosmetic one of taking down the notice boards . . . . It was not until the Meiji Constitution of 1889 that religious tolerance was granted and the prohibition of Christianity lifted” (p. 124). The chapter on the Yokohama Band details the beginnings of the first Protestant church in Japan. Of the eleven members of the new church formed in March 1872, two were spies who reported to the government.
Valuable appendices have lists of the early missionary societies, the early missionaries, early Japanese converts, and the number of churches and Japanese Christians. For those who want a deeper understanding of Japanese church history, this carefully researched book is indispensable.