"Christianity and Modern Medicine" (Mark Wesley Foreman & Lindsay C. Leonard)

TITLE: Christianity and Modern Medicine - Foundations for Bioethics
AUTHOR: Mark Wesley Foreman & Lindsay C. Leonard
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2022, (384 pages).
 

How do we make critical medical decisions that do not have easy answers between right and wrong? Do we accept answers just because everybody is doing it? In matters that do not seem to have clear-cut answers, we need biblical guidance. We also need trained scholars and practitioners to help us interpret biblical principles in our modern contexts. Authors Mark Wesley Foreman and Lindsay Leonard combine their expertise in biblical studies, bioethics, law, and practical theology to give us an updated resource for tackling the controversial issues such as abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, assisted suicide, alternative procreation techniques, genetic ethics, clinical ethics, human experimentation, etc. Calling it "Foundation for Bioethics," the authors narrow down these discussions to legal and moral implications for bioethics. The authors define bioethics as " the analysis and study of ethical conflicts and problems which arise due to the interrelationship between the practice of the medical/biological sciences and the rights and values of human beings." Bioethics essentially cover difficult and complex decision pertaining to:

• Life and Death Issues
• Clinical or health-care issues
• Medical Research
• Social Health-care policy

"Signals" (Cherilyn Orr)

TITLE: Signals: How Brain Science and the Bible Help Parents Raise Resilient Children
AUTHOR: Cherilyn Orr
PUBLISHER: Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2022, (224 pages).
 

What is the connection between brain science and child development?  Can this help us in parenting our children? If so, how much? How does stress affect children's behaviour? Based on her learning from "The Spotlight Approach" ministry, author Cherilyn Orr shares powerful insights about how brain science can help us in our parenting. Using the Red, Yellow, and Green colour method, we learn about what it takes to move from an aggressive and chaotic red to a calm green. This has benefits not only for the individual parent or child but also for the whole family. Recognizing signals from the brain is a big step up toward greater understanding. At the same time, being aware of a brain's neuroplasticity helps in reminding us about acceptance and healthy tolerance. Orr describes the different parts of the brain and their functions to give us an overview of their operations. She then goes on to describe the different colour signals used. Red Brain means there's anger and overwhelmed state of emotion which requires parents to stay calm and gentle. Yellow Brain means the child is in a state of irritability and parents should then slow down and focus on connecting with them, to make them feel valued. Green Brain signals readiness to learn. By becoming effective brain detectives, parents will then be able to adjust their parenting strategies and emotions accordingly. Following that, readers will get to dig deeper into the purposes, the processes, and the parenting strategies associated with each of these signals.

"Restless Devices" (Felicia Wu Song)

TITLE: Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age
AUTHOR: Felicia Wu Song
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021, (232 pages).

With the fast-changing technological landscape, issues pertaining to human-machine interactions continue to evolve. Since the turn of the century, people are increasingly using technological devices in all of their human interactions. Whether one is a digital native or digital immigrant, the common denominator between the different generations is the use of technology. What is increasingly common is that time spent for both adults and kids on digital devices is also rising, albeit for different reasons. Addiction, mental health, restlessness, and so on are becoming more unsettling each day. Just think about it. How many people can live without WiFi or some form of Internet access? In this book, author and professor Felicia Wu Song argues that we are all descending down a digital environment that is threatening to unravel our personhood and calls us all to start on the journey to recover our humanness through a process of re-embodiment. We do not have to surrender to every desire to upgrade our devices or to constantly check our phones for the latest news. Song proposes three paths forward:

1. Spiritual disciplines and practices
2. Recovery of our Human Embodiment
3. Living in Community

"Three Pieces of Glass" (Eric O. Jacobsen)

TITLE: Three Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens
AUTHOR: Eric O. Jacobsen
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020, (288 pages).

Relationship is the glue that bonds a society together. Driven by a desire to belong, we live in a challenging environment to navigate between our inner needs and outer cultural climate. Author Eric Jacobsen calls refers to this as "the crisis of belonging." Why a crisis? It is because of three key challenges or barriers that are keeping people from one another: Relational; Place; and Narrative. Throughout the book, readers will see how these three challenges constantly prevent people from finding their sense of belonging. Written in four parts, Jacobsen skillfully guides us through the reasons why we are increasingly lonely. Beginning with the scene from Cheers where the chorus chimes, "You want to be where everybody knows your name," he paints a picture where we all long to belong. With rising fragmentation of society, the diminishing common spaces to gather, and the loss of a common story that we can share in, it is becoming harder to build relationships.  The irony is that, while we all want to have our own private spaces in life, we hide that innate desire in us to want to connect publicly. Jacobsen looks at the problem of relationships and belonging through several different angles.

"The Perfect You" (Dr Caroline Leaf)

TITLE: The Perfect You: A Blueprint for Identity
AUTHOR: Dr Caroline Leaf
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2017, (320 pages).

Is there such a thing as a perfect person? What happened to the common phrase: "There's no perfect person?" Before we dismiss this book on the basis of the title, perhaps we could begin with the cultural use of the word 'perfect.' In our everyday conversations, sometimes we would respond to the question: "How's your day going on?" with the answer: "Perfect!" This book is neither about semantics nor cultural cliches. Instead, it is about helping us become the best version of ourselves. It is about identity and what we can do to unleash our deepest potential. Most importantly, it is about recognizing the perfection is not about us but about the Perfect God who had designed us and made us. Our key to unlocking this is understanding how we are wired. It begins with God and the blueprint provided in this book will bring us closer to seeing this beauty of God in us. Combining theology, science, philosophy, and practical checklists, Dr Caroline Leaf helps us to discern how we think, feel, and choose. Based on neuroscience, she is convinced that our minds control our brains. Based on her research and practice, she believes that individual choice plays a bigger role. She defines the "Perfect You" as "how you uniquely and specifically think, how you uniquely and specifically feel, and how you uniquely and specifically choose." It is essentially the intersection of mind, heart, and will that makes up the framework of this key thesis. She redefines success as being able to transform our community and to bring heaven to earth. Instead of searching for some potential out there, we are urged to consider developing the potential that is in us.

"How I Changed My Mind About Evolution" (Edited by Kathryn Applegate and J.B. Stump)

TITLE: How I Changed My Mind About Evolution: Evangelicals Reflect on Faith and Science (BioLogos Books on Science and Christianity )
AUTHOR: Edited by Kathryn Applegate and J.B. Stump
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2016, (200 pages).

Is creation and the theory of evolution compatible? Is faith compatible with science? Can there be a middle ground that one can settle in? In examining the two, BioLogos and Inter-Varsity Press come together to publish a collection of articles from scholars, theologians, pastors, and evangelical thinkers who all had moved from a stubborn view against evolution toward a more moderate stance. Admittedly, the title gives me the impression that it is about people shifting their beliefs from an atheistic form of evolution to the theist view of creation. This is not so. In fact, this book presents a tricky shift to the middle ground that has cost at least two professors their jobs at conservative seminaries. At the heart of this book is the belief that Christianity and science are not incompatible. In fact, they can be reconciled at many levels. In other words, being a Christian does not necessitate one to be anti-evolution. In this book, we have twenty five stories and memoirs of people who have moved to a position of reconciliation, that evolution does not contradict creation. It is not some theological treatise or evidence against or for either evolution or creation. The mission of BioLogos is to "invite the church and the world to see the harmony between science and biblical faith as we present an evolutionary understanding of God’s creation."

"The Inevitable" (Kevin Kelly)

TITLE: The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future
AUTHOR: Kevin Kelly
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Viking Books, 2016, (336 pages).

With the rising pace of technology, what is going to happen in the next 30 years? What are the ways technology are going to shape our future? What are the evidence that suggest such forces and how can we prepare for it? In a book that looks forward to the next 30 years, author and futurist Kevin Kelly has put together a compelling overview of 12 technological forces that will shape the kind of world we live and will be living in. Calling it "the inevitable," he tells us that we need to embrace the changes that are coming. We need to brace ourselves for changes that are going to be faster, paradigm shifting, and massively different from our traditional models. For example, mass copying will be coming. The traditional gates against plagiarism will crumble. Tracking, surveillance, and the erosion of privacy will continue. Instead of resisting the changes, we need to learn the underlying forces that are same. The author believes that once we understand the digital nature of change, we can deal with the change per se.

"Christ or Chaos" (Daniel A. DeWitt)

TITLE: Christ or Chaos
AUTHOR: Daniel A. DeWitt
PUBLISHER: Wheaton, IL: Crossway Publishers, 2016, (144 pages).

Is Christianity rational? Which worldview can best explain the origin of the world? Is life's best explanations in terms of cosmos or chaos? Beginning with the arguments between Thomas (Christianity) and Zach (chance and chaos), author and pastor Dan DeWitt explores the journey of faith by Thomas whose' Christian belief was challenged by the questions posed by Zach. Can Christianity stand on its own when challenged by the non-Christian worldviews? Believing that Christianity is true, DeWitt asserts CS Lewis words as follows:

"One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."

As one who reads and teaches on CS Lewis a lot, DeWitt helps readers to work through the questions surrounding the objections to faith. He ponders on the accusations of skeptics and on the reasons why some Christians left the faith. He notices with concern on Taunton's summary reasons why young believers move away from faith toward skepticism.

Review: "The Mysterious Epigenome" (Thomas E. Woodward and James P. Gillis)

TITLE: The Mysterious Epigenome: What Lies Beyond DNA
AUTHORS: Thomas E. Woodward and James P. Gills
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2012, (160 pages).

The more we study the complexities and the miraculous coordination of various information codes within the human cell's DNA, the more the evidence of an Intelligent Being behind such a wonder. At the end of a groundbreaking project called the Human Genome Project launched in 1990, the entire human DNA has been successfully mapped by 2003. Costing billions of dollars, needing thousands of scientists and researchers, this microscopic gene requires 3.1 billion letters to describe its database.  According to the authors, this mapping is just the beginning. New research shows that behind this mapping is a control system called the epigenome. This system like a 'built-in director' controls how and when the mappings are replicated. It knows mysteriously how much, how soon, what to replicate. It has some intelligence in which to shut on or off DNA processes called 'methyl tags.'

In brief, while the function of genetics is to study the codes for RNA and proteins in the DNA, the purpose of epigenetics is to study the control mechanisms of DNA expressions. What is intriguing is that while genetics acknowledge the hereditary nature of genetic link to human behaviour and health, they cannot change the genetic structure. It is the school of epigenetics that presents a real potential for some kind of genetic modifications that can be passed on to future generations. In other words, rather than trying to modify the DNA directly, why not influence the director of DNA mechanisms, namely, the mysterious epigenome?