John Grisham, The Innocent Man

Grisham's latest legal thriller, The Innocent Man, is a work of non-fiction. In it, Grisham brings to life the story of Ron Williamson, a troubled young baseball star who is convicted for the brutal rape and murder in Ada, Oklahoma. Grisham follows this true story of a brutal rape and murder in a small town. Progress on the investigation is slow, but finally, after a couple years, suspicion comes to rest on two men, Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz, and they are arrested for the murder. And after a closely-watched trial, are convicted, and Ron is sentenced to death. Meanwhile, the killer, whose name was in the police record from the first night, still hasn't even been interviewed by the police.

It is sometimes said that truth is stranger than fiction, and this book illustrates it. One would continually get the feeling that Grisham was stretching things too far--police wouldn't be so misguided; one person's life couldn't be so tragic--except that it is true. The crime scene investigator exhumes the victim's body a couple of years after her death to try a new match with a bloody palm print found at the scene. The first time it was compared with the victim, shortly after her death, it was ruled that it couldn't be hers. But after a couple years, the examiner decides that the smudged palm print does in fact match with the print of the exhumed body (meaning it's not the print of a suspect, which is significant since it doesn't match up with any of their suspects, including Ron or Dennis), and go on to arrest their two suspects. The miscarriage of justice continues throughout the trial phase, with hearsay and supposition leading to conviction and death sentence.

Only after many years in jail, and a very perceptive legal clerk and justice finally noticing the weakness of the case as it makes its way through the mandatory appeals process does the truth come out. And Ron, a man who has lived for years in horrible conditions on death row, is finally freed.

Grisham's book is a good one, and it can favorably stand up to comparison with is fiction. But it also raises some important questions. First, Ron wasn't able to afford the quality of defense that could counter the resources of the prosecution, especially when it came to expert witnesses and forensic evidence, so how does our legal system ensure a fair trial. Second, what do we do with people who are innocent but convicted? And, even more importantly, how do we insure that innocent people don't end up on death row (at this same time another pair from the same town ended up on death row while also innocent of their crimes)? It's some good food for thought about the death penalty itself . . . what is the price for killing innocent people? Is it too high for the state and for our society?

The Innocent Man is a great read, detailing a dramatic and often painful miscarriage of justice in a small town. It raises great issues and also helps get into the life of one troubled man in a troubled town.

Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God

What is the Bible all about? Is it a random collection of writings about people who have experienced God? Is it one story about Israel and another somehow connected story about Jesus? In this masterful work, Christopher Wright sets out to demonstrate that the Bible, from start to finish, can be read as focusing on God's mission: in both the Old and New Testaments, God is on the move.

The depth of Wright's book is too much to summarize here, beyond surveying the ground he covers and discussing a few of the high points along the way. He begins by discussing hermeneutics, that is, how we read the Bible and what we see when we do, and the argument he makes there is that instead of mining the Bible for insights about "missions," we should instead look for God's mission that permeates the pages of the Bible. It's not about searching for texts that tell us to go to the nations, but instead about being attuned to what God is doing and finding our part in it.

To flesh out this them, and to demonstrate how it is one way of showing the unity of the Bible, Wright begins with God, looking at who God revels himself to be and what God reveals himself to be doing in the world. This involves especially the fundamental notion of God's uniqueness, the foundation of biblical monotheism. The second foundational idea about God is that God wants to be known by that which he has created. God has revealed himself in many and various ways. The final investigation Wright undertakes with regard to God's identity is an extended investigation into the theme of idolatry, a major theme especially of the Old Testament, where he demonstrates that the constant prohibitions of idolatry over and over show God's desire to be known and Israel's conviction (though often forgotten) that God is the only true God.

After establishing who God has revealed himself to be, Wright goes on in part 3, the most substantial part of the book, to look carefully at "The People of Mission." This begins with the programmatic and foundational text of God's covenant with Abraham, with special focus on God's commitment to bless Abraham and bless the world through him. This statement of God's intention really sums up what God is doing, and signals a major shift after the rather dismal happenings in Genesis 3-11. After humans have broken their relationship with God and utterly messed up God's good creation, God steps in on a mission, a mission of blessing. And the way God goes about it is through Abraham. God makes a particular choice, of Abraham and his descendants, but God is not playing favorites. Instead, God chooses the particular for the sake of the universal. Abraham is a man with a mission, he is a man whom God chooses to use to begin the reconciliation of the whole world. Wright investigates these themes, and especially the two poles of universal and particular, as he goes on to discuss election and the people of Israel as God's missional people. He then goes on to investigate God's redemption of his people, through the programmatic story of the exodus, and God's model for restoration, the Jubilee year. Wright then gives special attention to the covenants of God with his people, in Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the New Covenant, showing how they trace God's mission throughout Israel's formative statements. He then concludes his discussion of God's people with a look at the ethical implications of God's mission and election, with a discussion of the role of the law as the instrument of God's purposes and blessing in the world. Each of these topics could warrant a full discussion, and some of them will probably warrant revisiting, but, in short, Wright traverses the span of the Old Testament showing that God is up to something, and Israel is where it begins, but certainly not where it ends. Through it all, there is always at least an eye to the nations (God's eye, if not always Israel's).

In the final part of the book, Wright broadens his scope to what he calls the "arena" of God's mission. Where is this mission situated, and who is involved. He begins with the whole earth, with a sustained and insightful discussion about the care of the earth, integrating creational responsibility into missional activity. He steps into what is often a sensitive issue in many evangelical camps with a clear and balanced call to take note of God's whole creation, and to care for it as part of God's mission, all the while noting that this doesn't mean a divinization of that creation. Instead he shows how care of creation is a part of our mission, how it fits with the larger picture of what God is doing in the world, and how it embodies the mission we as God's people are supposed to have to the world. He then goes on to discuss humanity as the field of God's mission, beginning with a discussion of humanity in God's image, demonstrating that we have been made for relationship with God, and that is God's intention for all people. He concludes the chapter with an insightful look at the Wisdom literature of the Bible, investigating how it incorporates the "wisdom" of other cultures (always critically) and can demonstrate how to create an international or cross-cultural bridge in our proclamation of God's truth. He also has a very insightful and important excursus in the middle of this chapter on the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the mission of God's people in the world. It provides a clarion call to take note of opportunities to be part of what God is doing here on Earth and to note the opportunities to undertake God's work. Wright then concludes his discussion of the arenas of mission with a look at the "nations" in first the Old Testament and then in the New Testament. The Old Testament has a persistent eye on the nations, with Israel declared to be a nation of priests for God, but the fullness of God's plan for the full incorporation of the nations isn't fully made known until the New Testament, when this persistent vision of inclusion and universality is given God's means, in Jesus Christ. Finally, God's eschatological promises of the gathering of the nations, of the universality of God's blessing, are made known and are under way.

Christopher Wright's book, The Mission of God, is a spectacular work of theology. He achieves his goal of showing that God's mission is the underlying "grand narrative" of the Bible, from first chapter to last. Wright goes far beyond a "theology of mission" to demonstrate that "mission" itself is what God is all about, and it is God's mission that we need to take not of. Our "missions" are derivative and secondary, even as they are important.

Wright, as an Old Testament scholar, focuses especially on the Old Testament texts, but this is, I think, one of the greatest strengths of the book, for he demonstrates the broad sweep of who God is and what God is doing, painting a coherent and continuous picture from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. In fact, this book would be well used as an exercise in Old Testament Theology, as well as a book investigation the whole Bible, for he illumines most of the major themes of the Old Testament, creation, covenant, election, ethics and law, and fits them together into an elegant mosaic of God's purposes.

The Mission of God is technical at times, but still highly readable, and I recommend it enthusiastically. It helps bring to life the Old Testament, showing that it isn't just dusty literature with a few important prophecies, but that it is the very heart of God's revelation, brought to completion (not obscurity) in Jesus Christ. Wright does Christians a service, in showing what the Bible is all about, and I think he succeeds in showing that God is on a mission, and that this theme unifies the narrative of the Bible.

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy

In The Divine Conspiracy, philosopher Dallas Willard paints a compelling picture of the Christian Life by investigating what God is doing in the world, and how humans can experience it.

Willard begins by laying out some of the problems he sees in our world, and in Christianity, today. These include the erosion of "truth" and abosolutes in our culture, and the loss of the depth of the meaning of the gospel message. He then sets out to reconstruct a clear picture of what it means to be a Christian, and what that type of Christ-life should look like. To do this, he gives us a prolonged reflection on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' in-depth discussion of what life in his Kingdom is like. Instead of letting the Sermon be a pie-in-the-sky ideal, Willard fleshes out the deep logic behind it, and makes it something that we live. The insight of these reflections alone, and the recovery of the power of Jesus' teaching make this book worth reading. But Willard doesn't stop there.

One of the basic insights that undergird Willard's discussion is that if Jesus was who he said he was, and who we say we believe he is, then he was and is brilliant. We should listen closely to what he says, and learn to follow it. This insight takes him through a careful reading of the Sermon on the Mount, and also leads him into an investigation of Christian discipleship. More than just being a Christian who "grows," discipleship is acknowledging Jesus as brilliant, and then resolving to really become his students. We seek to learn from Jesus about the true nature of reality and of our own existence, and then resolve to actually obey, to actually live as if these things were true. Disciples delve into the deep reality of God, and constantly strive to keep him before their minds. This results in a true knowledge of God that effects our entire lives. And it brings us deeper into the eternal life that we have been given, kingdom-life. And all throughout the book, Willard stresses that "eternal life" isn't merely a life that never ends, "fire insurance" against future judgment, but is instead true, abundant life in God's kingdom that starts here and now.

He concludes the book by discussing the "Restoration of All Things," the final coming of the kingdom in its fullness. Truly appreciating the end means acknowledging the present in its truest reality and purpose. And Willard helps us to see that as we understand God's plans and intentions, we appreciate him more and understand our own lives more fully within God's plan.

The Divine Conspiracy is one of the best books I've ever read, and one I highly recommend. When I finished reading it, I just put my bookmark back in the front and started over. There are so many deep and profound insights into what it means to live a life devoted to God. Eternal life is here already, and Willard has helped me to see and appreciate it, and helped me to pull so many threads of Christian thought together into a coherent and compelling vision of life in God, kingdom-life, a life as a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ.

C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

In this second (or fourth) book in the Chronicles of Narnia, the four kids (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) fid themselves tumbling back into Narnia. One second they are sitting on the platform of a train station waiting to go back to school, the next second they find themselves in the woods of Narnia.

As they explore, they discover the ruins of Cair Paravel, their castle from the previous visit to Narnia: this visit is unknown years later in Narnia, even though they're only a bit older by Earthly standards. After reclaiming their armor and gifts from Aslan from the buried treasure chamber of the castle, they set out. Soon after leaving, they come across a Dwarf who is being left for dead by some soldiers in the water. So they rescue him and hear his story, the story of Prince Caspian.

Prince Caspian is a Telamarine (the race of humans now inhabiting Narnia), the son of the dead king. His uncle is currently ruling the kingdom. He has been learning about the "old" Narnians from his nurse, and then from his tutor, Doctor Cornelius. Then one day, he needs to flee: his uncle has had a son, and is no longer content to let his nephew reign, even if he is the proper heir. So Caspian flees west from Telmar. And while he was riding, he hit a tree and was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, he found himself in the care of a badger and two dwarfs: he had stumbled onto old Narnia. Word sprea that the rightful king had come, but the celebration is muted when Doctor Cornelius shows up to tell everyone that King Miraz, Caspians wicked uncle, has gotten wind of Caspian's destination and that old Narnia is awakened, and he is setting out with his armies to destroy it. So as the Telamarines approached, he sounded Queen Susan's horn, which promised to bring help. And he dispatched messengers to the old centers of the kingdom to look for whatever help might come. And that is why the dwarf, Trumpkin, was in the neighborhood of Cair Paravel.

After relating these events to the kids/kings and queens, they all set out toward Aslan's How, to see what could be done about the battle. At one point, Lucy thought she had seen Aslan leading down one path, but the group chose another, which proved to be the wrong way. But once back on the right track, Aslan becomes visible to all of them, as they head off toward battle. When they arrive at the battle, they find chaos and dissention among the Narnian camps, in the face of an overwhelming force of Telamarines. Kings Peter and Edmund, along with Trumpkin, go into the camp, and meet up with Prince Caspian, while Aslan and the girls head off in other pursuits. And after careful discussion of the possibilities, it is decided that Peter will challenge Miraz to combat. During the duel, the Telamarines cry foul and charge the Narnian lines, but Aslan shows up, and awakens the Dryads and Nyads (the tree people), and they, along with the rest of the Narnians, overcome the Telamarine foes.

Caspian is crowned King by Aslan, and many other creaures are knighted and restored to their rightful places in Narnia. The Telamarines are told by Aslan that they all may either submit to King Caspian's rule, or they may return from whence they came (an island on Earth from which they had stumbled through a now-closed door between worlds). Many left, led by Peter and the kids, who returned through the door to England. And for Peter and Susan, it was especially difficult because Aslan told them it would be their last visit to Narnia. But for Edmund and Lucy, there is still hope of return.

Prince Caspian is another great chapter in teh Narnia saga. Lewis's Christian imagination weaves stories of redemption, faith, and hope so well with these interesting and likable characters. It's no wonder these are classics.

C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy is the fifth book in the Narnia Chronicles (the third book by the newer, chronological reckoning, coming after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). It takes place while Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are reigning as kings and queens over Narnia. In a land to the south of Narnia, Calormen, a young boy, Shasta, finds himself about to be sold into slavery to a Calormene warrior by his "father," and makes a break for safety on the warrior's horse. But as he prepares to escape, he discovers that the horse, Bree, can talk. Bree is a Narnian talking horse, who was captured many years ago, and has been blending in until a time when he coud make his escape. And this is that time. So the two of them set off North through Calormen in the directin of Archenland and Narnia. While they make their way through the countryside, they are chased by lions, and in their flight meet up with another horse, Hwin, and another rider, Aravis. Aravis, like Shasta, is trying to get away from Calormen, and Hwin, like Bree, is a talking horse from Narnia. So they decide to travel together, and continue to make their way North. But they must first go through the Calormene city of Tashbaan, before they can escae the land. While they try to make their way through, they get separated, when Shasta is mistaken for one of a party of Narnians that happens to be in the city, and is brought with them to the palace where they are visiting. It turns out that Shasta looks just like Prince Corin, who had been traveling with King Edmund and Queen Susan to Tashbaan.

The Narnians were in Tashbaan because the Calormene Prince, Rabadash, was courting Susan for marriage. But the Narnians quickly realized that he wasn't the sort that Susan would wish to marry. So they planned a secret escape by boat at night. But after making their plans, Corin, the boy for whom Shasta had been mistaken, returns, so Shasta takes off. Meanwhile, Aravis has also encountered some trouble, as she is recognized on the street by one of her friends. So she hides in her curtained litter and goes back with her to the palace, along with the horses. She sends the horses, with a groom, out to the tombs outside of town, the arranged meeting place for the group, and schemes to go out herself through a gate in the palace gardens and cross the river. But as she sneaks down to escape, she sees the king coming, and hides behind a couch in one of the rooms. While there, she overhears that Prince Rabadash has discovered that the Narnians have made an escape, and that he plans to make a surpirse attack on Archenland, and then move on to attack Narnia. She then escapes, and carries this news to Shasta when they all meet back up at the tombs. They immediately set out across the desert toward Archenland. It is a tough trek, but they make it to a canyon that Shasta heard about from the Narnians. And following that canyon, they made it to the river, and the edge of Archenland. They could see Rabadash and his armies making their way across the desert, and searching for a ford of the river. So they hurried toward Anvard, the capitol of Archenland. But while they made their way through the mountains, they found a lion at their heels, and they rushed forward, taking refuge in the home of a magician. He urged Shasta to take the news to Anvard, so Shasta set out. He encountered the king, and passed along the news of the impending attack. They all set out for Anvard, to sound the alarm, but Shasta got separated in the fog, and found himself alone on the road. While wandering in the fog, he met Aslan, who told him that he had been the lion they had seen the two times before, guiding and hurrying them along so they could save Archenland. He also told Shasta that he had guided the boat to the shore when he was a kid, saving his life and puttin his life on its present course.

Shasta met up with some talking creatures from Narnia, as he found himself across the pass from Archenland in Narnia after his walk in the fog, and told them of the impending attack. They quickly got word to Queen Lucy, and Narnia gathered forces to help Archenland. Shasta met up with them as they headed back toward Anvard, and joined with them. When they arrived in Anvard, they stopped Rabadash's attack, and defeated his warriors. Shasta was met with a warm recetion by King Lune of Archenland, who told him that he was his long lost son, Cor. Corin was in fact his twin brother. And Cor was the elder, and thus the heir to the throne. They invited Aravis to come live in the palace as well, and some day she would marry Cor. The two horses made their way back to Narnia, to live happily as talking horses again.

This is another great story from Lewis. He builds great characters and an interesting story line. And again, he does it with some great depth. In The Horse and His Boy, he explores the theme of God's guidance, by looking at how Aslan guides the story, from helping the boat Shasta was afloat on to shore, to scaring Shasta and Bree into meeting up with Hwin and Aravis, to scaring and urging them on to hurry toward Archenland, to meeting up with Shasta and saving him from a treacherous fall as he walked over the pass in the dark. In various and unlikely ways, Aslan had been guiding the story the whole way. He never made up anyone's mind for them, nor did he overcome their wills to do it, but he still guided and directed events to their best outcome, though even in unexpected and sometimes painful ways. It is a great exploration of God's sovereignty and guidance.

Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot is a tragicomedy about human existence. In the play, two tramps wait by a tree for a Mister Godot. While there, they go through a series of comedic episodes involving boots that are too tight, carrots, and other unimportant objects. While they are waiting, another pair of characters, Lucky and Pozzo, come along. Lucky is essentially a human animal, walking on all fours, whom Pozzo has on a leash and makes carry all of his things. Pozzo is an almost unfeeling taskmaster who takes pride and pleasure in torturing and abusing his slave. The two tramps don't quite know what to make of this pair, as they come along and provide some "entertainment," as Pozzo makes lucky dance, and then "think" for them. The scenes bring an unmistakeable sense of nonsense and futility. The day ends as Lucky and Pozzo head off, and no Mister Godot appears.

Day two starts rather like the first, with the two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting under the same tree. They're not sure they were there the day before, but Vladimir at least has a sense that yesterday was much the same. The only change he notices is a few leaves on the tree. As they wait, the repeat many of the same comedic routines as they day before. Then Lucky and Pozzo happen by again. Though this time Pozzo claims to be blind. Again, no one is quite sure if they've met before, though Vladimir is rather certain that they had come by the day before. After more confused exchanges, Posso and Lucky finally head off stage again. And the two tramps are left to contemplate their future. They know they are waiting for Godot, but aren't quite sure why. Then a boy arrives to inform them that Mr. Godot would not be coming, but would surely come tomorrow. Despairing of the news, the two contemplate hanging them selves from the tree, but realize they don't have any rope that would work. So the play closes with them resolving to return to the tree tomorrow, and to bring along some good rope.

Beckett's play is really a fascinating and poignant statement of the seeming futitilly of life. The characters are set in an almost featureless world, and they are seemingly with out purpose, waiting, but they're not sure quite what they are waiting for. Pozzo and Lucky demonstrate exploitation and victimization, a sad state of affairs. And Vladimir and Estragon don't come across much better, lost and senseless, aimlessly making their way through life. Their conclusion is that life is really just the moment between birth and death, and paint a picture of a woman squatting over a grave to give birth. It is a picture of hopelessness and purposeless ness.

The play seems to leave a bit of room for hope, that this Mister Godot (God?) would come and put the pieces together for them. But we are far from certain, when the curtain falls, whether Godot will arrive or whether they will hang themselves, or whether the next days will continue like the last.

Beckett has captured well the tragic and comedic elements of modern life, with the searching after purpose, the waiting without a clear sense of what for, the futility of seeing life as merely a flash in the pan before death.

J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind

J. P. Moreland, professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, has written an absolute must-read in his book, Love Your God with All Your Mind Moreland's basic argument is a simple but profound one: modern evangelicalism in the West has become largely anti-intellectual, and has lost much of its cultural power. The church needs to revive Christian intellectualism in order to engage the world and fulfill its vocation.

Moreland starts out by making the argument that since the Enlightenment and the Awakenings, evangelicalism has become largely anti-intellectual. In response to intellectual and cultural assaults from without (philosophical critiques, higher-critical critiques on the Bible, evolution), the church largely withdrew from the arena of ideas. Instead of engaging at an intellectual level, Christians grew suspicious of the whole idea of science or philosophy, and withdrew from the conversation. This has had a number of implications for the church: the misunderstanding of how faith and reason are related, the separation of secular and sacred, a weakening of missions, a largely irrelevant gospel of felt needs, and a lack of blodness in confronting hostile or wrong ideas.

This is the state of the christian mind into which Moreland comes. And his book is basicaly an argument for and proposal toward the deepening and reawakening of the Christian mind. He starts by making a case that Scripture basically mandates the development of the Christian mind. As his title indicates, we love God with our whole beings, and that especially includes the mind. For God is a God with reason (omniscient, wise, etc.), and God created reason. Truth is highly valued in Christianity, for we believe in a God of Truth. So study should be a natural result.
He closes the first part of the book by arguing that transforming the mind (as Romans 12:2 says) is absolutely fundamental to spiritual transformation. For our understanding of God and the world is directly related to our relationship with God and our attitudes toward God, ourselves, and the world around us. He further argues that the mind is an integraded and fundamental part of the soul, and thus its transformation is necessary to any deepening of the soul-life.

In the second part of the book (chs 4 and 5), Moreland starts to point the way forward toward the transformation of the Christian mind. He first begins by describing what he terms the "empty self," a set of values, thoughts, and behaviors that typifies much of the modern American mind. This empty self is inordinately individualistic, infantile (seeking to avoid boredom with amusement), narcissistic, passive, sensate, without interior life, and hurried and busy. This type of self is common in Western society, and in the church as well. So much of what he asserts as the solution to the problem of the Christian mind could be said to be a solution to precisely this problem of empty selves. He then goes on to begin outlining a solution, involving developing skills, abilities, habits, and attitudes that build the mind and push out the emptiness. This includes things as simple as knowing and using proper grammar and as life-long as developing and excercising philosophical powers of reasoning.

Part three of the book is a developing picture of what this new Christian mind can look like. He focuses on the theme of apologetics, asserting that rational defense for the faith is essential to Christian witness. He also demonstrates how the Christian mind should be intimately tied to our vocations. This includes painting a picture of how our faith and knowledge of God can and should permeate all areas of our lives, not just he "sacred" space on Sunday morning.

The final part of Moreland's book is a straight-forward proposal for how church could look different if it truly tried to foster the Christian intellectual life. This includes things as simple as uplifting and comissioning our Christian university and graduate students and professors, and things as straight-forward as broadening and deepening the church library. He also proposes the need for the church to be an education center. Sunday school is one possible point where this could occur, but churches can be creative in how they offer courses, and serious in their content (including readings, discussions, papers, etc.). The sermon is also another important piece. Sermons should be applicable, but they should also be educational, challenging the congregation to think and learn more as the basis for this new attitude or action. And occasionally, sermons should shoot for the upper third of the audience, instead of weekly dumbing down the message so that everyone can follow all of the points. Sermons could also be accompanied by weekly studies, questions to ponder, detailed outlines or additional reading, and bibliographies for further study. Last, he advocates a change in the way the church thinks about "senior pastors." Moreland asserts that this role has become a detriment to the church, as many people see the pastor as the "minister" (that is, the one doing ministry) in the congregation. Instead, he proposes that no one person should preach more than half of the Sundays in a year, and that a group of elders should be the functional and spiritual leaders of the congregation, jointly going before God and leading the congregation. This models to the church an attitude of discipleship, openness to God, and enabling of others to praticipate in ministry.

Moreland has presented a strong, integrated, and absolutely necessary call for a reinvigoration of the evangelical mind. As a rather intellectual person myself, I continually found myself agreeing with him, but I also found strong encouragement to grow much further in a number of areas. Apologetics will especially be an area of study I renew with fresh vigor. All churches and believers need to take the message of this book seriously. Because if we don't foster the evangelical mind, we are giving over "reality" to those who don't believe in God, instead of claiming all truth as God's truth.

Thomas Oden, Systematic Theology, vol. 3

Thomas Oden, a professor of Theology, as written a great three-volume systematic theology. It is very consciously an orthodox and historical look at the broad consensus of the Christian faith. Oden's strength is that he draws extensively on the Church fathers and major theologians from the past, as well as the biblical material, to cite the important developments and aspects of theology. He divides the doctrines up in a useful way that helps to illumine the important facets and discussions. This book is a great textbook that provides important background and helps to teach the basics in a thorough yet straightforward way.
I've not yet read all three volumes cover to cover, though I've been through a good bit of this third volume and his discussion on salvation. He starts off with a great discussion of repentance and its character and importance in salvation, and then moves to a thorough discussion of justification by grace through faith, outining the major developments of the doctrine. He espouses a carefully-reasoned Arminian-leaning position, and defends it very well both biblically and historically. His work is in no way a polemic against Calvinism, but it does show the importance of many aspects of Arminianism to the historic faith.
I have enjoyed delving into Oden's exploration and exposition of the faith, and look forward to going deeper and further into this work. I highly recommend it, and have found it usefull for teaching as well as reading and edification.