Book Review Assignment Instructions
Overview
As you compose your Book Review, you will use the Review system. The Review system is a way of responding to readings, lectures, and life experiences that requires the learner to interact with new ideas on several levels.
Instructions
The Book Review must be 1,300–1,800 words and follow current Turabian format. In addition to the assigned textbook, the assignment must also contain at least 1 scholarly reference and 1 biblical reference.
Use the following format to prepare your review:
Abstract: Summarize what you have read. Condense the book into 400–600 words. Prove you comprehend the readings by writing a no-nonsense summary. The abstract is not a commentary or listing of topics, but rather an objective summary from your viewpoint. This section must include at least 2 footnotes to the textbook being reviewed.
Concrete Response: In 250–300 words, relate a personal life experience that this book triggered in your memory. Relate your story in first person, describing the action and quoting the exact words you remember hearing or saying. This is a do-it-yourself parable/case study/confession in the teaching style of Jesus. You will remember almost nothing you have read unless you make this critical, personal connection. What “video memory” began to roll as you read the book? This is your chance to tell your story and make new ideas your own.
Reflection: This is the critical thinking part of the review. In 250–300 words, describe what questions occur to you in response to what you have read. Keep a notepad handy as you read. Outsmart the author by asking better questions than he or she raised in the book. Explain how the author could have made the book better or more appealing to those in your field of service. One way to begin this section is by stating what bothered you most about the book. This is not a place to provide an endorsement or affirmation of the book.
Action: So what are you going to do about it? In 400–600 words, provide 2 action steps that describe what changes you are going to make in your life, ministry, and/or work as a result of your reading. Action steps must be measurable and reveal a commitment to a specific time, specific people, and the identified changes.
You will complete this assignment on the following text:
White, James E. The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012. ISBN: 9780801013874.