Porn University

Reviewed by Chris Wagner

Pornography has become so mainstream in today’s society, that many people no longer label it as a problem. Perhaps the idea that viewing pornography is an acceptable form of behavior is nowhere more prevalent than on college campuses. But does this truly reflect the status quo?

Michael Leahy set out to answer that question in his book Porn University: What College Students Are Really Saying About Sex On Campus (Northfield Publishing, 2009). While in college, Leahy found himself immersed in pornography and sexual behavior. Not until much later, after many broken relationships and hard lessons learned, did he come to grips with the powerful negative impact it played in his life. He now speaks to college students across the country in an effort to educate them about the truths of pornography and the emptiness that comes with so-called “sexual freedom.”

Leahy invites students to visit My Sex Survey to answer a few questions about their own sexual beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Thousands of students have done so, and Porn University is a result of these many responses. The book breaks down those responses and discusses ways in which the statistics manifest themselves in the lives of students and adults alike. Insights are provided about the differences in sexual attitudes between men and women. Leahy explains the patterns of sexual addiction as well as the consequences of consuming pornography and partaking in harmful sexual behaviors. He concludes that only Christ can ultimately fulfill our relational needs, and offers hope to those who are in the midst of struggle.

Porn University will open the eyes of anyone who reads it to the prevailing attitudes about sexuality on college campuses. As such, campus ministers will benefit greatly from the read as they learn how to better care for students.

Summer Reading FREE Book Winner

The winner of the FREE book for participating in the Summer Reading List giveaway is...

Jenn

Jenn, to claim your prize, please send me an email.

Thanks for all who participated. My stack of books "to read" is now much higher!

Happy reading!

Positive Parenting

Reviewed by Walt Mueller

For the most part, I don’t like Christian parenting books. I came to that conclusion several years ago after reading a stack of the most popular titles in our local Christian bookstore. The books either left me: 1) feeling beat up because of the writer’s high expectations, or 2) wondering how enacting the five, seven or 10 guaranteed steps could actually guarantee success. I’m looking for a book that’s realistic, humble, biblically based, full of grace and that takes into account that all of our kids are different.

Consequently, my list of recommended Christian parenting books is rather short. Recently, I added a new book to that list. Scott Larson’s When Teens Stray: Parenting for the Long Haul (Vine Books, 2002), grows out of the experiences of Larson and his wife as they have taken scores of kids from juvenile jails into their homes. While Larson’s experience qualifies him to write to parents whose kids have gotten into trouble, this is a book that will benefit all parents of teens. Larson begins by painting a broad stroke by laying out common myths parents hold about their kids, along with common myths parents hold about parenting. What follows is a treasure of realistic, hope-filled and practical biblically based advice that helps parents to maintain proper perspective and sanity.

While I will continue to recommend this book to all parents, others who work with kids will benefit as well. With a growing number of grandparents raising their grandchildren, When Teens Stray offers them encouragement and godly wisdom during what is a most difficult job. And, youth workers and teachers will find great insights into the dynamics that drive troubled youth.

This review also appeared in Engage: The Journal of Youth Culture from CPYU

Walt's Summer Reading List

Derek asked me to pass on a list of the three books I intend to read this coming summer. I've got a nice pile of summer reading that's growing to the point of insanity, and I'm still trying to put wraps on a book that was on last year's list! Still, Derek got me thinking and I've narrowed my list to the following three.

First, I always try to read something that will expand my theological horizons, and that's related to issues of faith and culture. G.K. Beale's Becoming What We Worship is my pick for this summer. This biblical theology of idolatry traces the replacement of the Creator with created things through the Scriptures. My desire for this book is that it might be used to expose more of my own heart, along with the collective heart of our culture. I'm sure this won't be an easy journey as Beale has a reputation for depth and rigor. . . . a reputation I remember well from my days at Gordon-Conwell seminary and his days there as a prof. The hammock won't be the place to read this one!

Second, I try to read something on culture that will prepare me for things I'll be speaking on in the fall. I've decided to pursue the whole trend towards narcissism from a Biblical perspective in preparation for some seminars that I'm putting together to address the topic at this fall's National Youth Workers Conventions. Jean Twenge seems to be floating away from and above the pack as a researcher who's looking more closely at how narcissism is woven in and through the fabric of our culture. So, my list includes her newest, The Narcissism Epidemic.

Third, there's the obligatory baseball book. Yep, I try to read at least one - if not more - every summer. I've loved the game since I was a kid and coached for almost ten years. Now that I'm no longer sitting in dugouts, watching my beloved Phillies and reading about different aspects of the game will have to do. I recently read a review of Bruce Weber's new book, As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travel in the Land of Umpires. Should be fun. . . and this one's for the hammock.

Finally, there's my wildcard. My friend Dick Doster wrote one of the baseball books that I read last year - Safe At Home. Dick's the editor of ByFaith Magazine and has branched out into writing novels. Safe at Home grabbed me at it told the story of baseball, the minor leagues, the civil rights movement, and breaking the color barrier. This summer, he's released a new novel that's not about baseball, but it is about the civil rights movement. I've felt a strong responsiblity to be reading about this period of our history so that I can understand things from my childhood that I was by and large oblivious to. So, I'm ordering his new novel, Crossing the Lines. It's another one that will turn up the volume on my hammock enjoyment.

Summer Reading Lists: Free Book Giveaway

It’s a good time to give away a free book, don’t you think? And, it’s a good time to make a list of books we hope to read this summer. Summer can be a great time to catch up on our reading or pick up a book that, perhaps, we wouldn’t normally read, but have some extra time to do so. Here are four books on my list so far:

The Chosen by Chaim Potok. This is one of those books that I have heard much about, but, sadly, have never read. Many colleges assigned it as a text for first year students. I’m going to figure out why!

Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement by Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh. Both of these writers have been influential on my own thinking and I’m surprised that I haven’t read this one yet. Their call if for Christians to be more intentionally rooted and committed to local communities. If you know me, you know this is close to my heart.

Original Sin: A Cultural History by Alan Jacobs. Jacobs provides a historical overview and analysis of the doctrine of “original sin.” I read the first chapter a few months ago and can’t wait to get back to it.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford. Now here’s a good story: a college professor and think-tank employee opens up a motorcycle repair shop and realizes that being a repairman forces him to think more! Crawford wonders: where have all the shop classes gone? My good friend Byron Borger of Hearts & Minds Books is raving about this book. It looks like a winner.

Now it’s your turn:

What book(s) do you hope to read this summer?

(There needs to be at least 10 comments to qualify. Winner will be chosen randomly from list of participants. Only one comment per person.)

The Narcissism Epidemic

Jean Twenge’s book Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before has been mentioned on CPYU Bookshelf before (click here to read a review). Her research has been very helpful for those trying to get a better handle on the current generation who seems to be consume with “self.” Recently, Twenge published a new book (coauthored with Keith Campbell) that looks deeper into this issue. The new book, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, reports the findings of their groundbreaking research.

This past weekend Twenge was featured on Book TV (C-SPAN2). From the show description: “The authors examine the cultural consequences of narcissism, which they say has grown exponentially in recent years. They use real-life anecdotes, like instant stardom through Youtube, to analyze narcissism in the culture at large and the possible means of combating its effects.”

You can watch her engaging, informative presentation here.

N.T. Wright vs. John Piper: The Main Event?

This post is attempting to be as neutral as possible! Here’s why: (1) Many good, thoughtful, helpful, brothers and sisters in Christ are on both sides of this discussion; and (2) the purpose of CPYU Bookshelf is to point readers in the direction of helpful resources. While we do review books and end up, sometimes, slightly offering criticism, our main goal is to keep people reading!

So, here’s the deal, a few theological/pastoral heavyweights are battling it out over the doctrine of justification. Well, battling is probably too strong of a word. Both John Piper and N.T. Wright have been very respectful of each other and each other’s position on Paul’s meaning of justification. CPYU Bookshelf is not here to choose sides, but it is here to let you know about the debate.

The Players
John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of more than 30 books and more than 25 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org.

N.T. Wright is Bishop of Durham and was formerly Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey and dean of Lichfield Cathedral. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities.Wright's full-scale works The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God are part of a projected six-volume series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God.

The Problem
In November 2007, Piper published a book entitled: The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright (Crossway). Here’s Piper’s charge: “If Wright’s framework for interpreting the New Testament text and his understanding of justification find a home in the church, not only could the doctrine of justification be distorted for generations to come, but the New Testament writers’ original intent could be silenced. So Piper is sounding a crucial warning in this book, reminding all Christians to exercise great caution regarding ‘fresh’ interpretations of the Bible and to hold fast to the biblical view of justification.”

Read an interview with Piper about the book here.

Read the entire book online here.

The Response
In April of this year, N.T. Wright responded with his book: Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision (IVP Academic). From the jacket: “Here in one place Wright now offers a comprehensive account and defense of his perspective on this crucial doctrine. He provides a sweeping overview of the central points in the debate before launching into a thorough explanation of the key texts in Paul's writings. While fully cognizant of tradition and controversy, the final authority for his conclusions is the letters of Paul themselves.”

Read an interview with N.T. Wright about the book here.

The Questions
Well readers of CPYU Bookshelf, we’re curious: Have you been following the debate? How does this affect your work with young people? Anyone want to make a case for why we should or shouldn’t pay attention to this discussion?

Benson Hines Interview: The State of College Ministry in America, Part 2

Read Part 1 of the Benson Hines Interview here.

CPYU: What do you think are some of the implications for your research on how youth workers can prepare students for college?

BH: First, it continues to be very clear that this transition - between high school and college - is NOT going well (as a general rule). That seems to be widely experienced, but it also seems to be widely recognized by college ministers. Even within churches (where there theoretically isn't a "break" between organizations as students move from high school to college), students aren't making that transition well.

One thing I think college ministers feel is that they have very little chance - if any - to help that transition happen well if students aren't already prepared to seek out their ministry. Obviously, college ministries need to provide a welcoming, helpful, and relevant place for new college students to "land." But plenty of those kinds of ministries exist, and many Christian students still aren't connecting to them. Meanwhile, at other campuses, very few ministries might exist at all. If students aren't intentional and skilled in seeking the Lord and finding community, then within a few weeks they might already be affected negatively.

Whether there are many great college ministries, few great college ministries, or no college ministries at their campuses, students have to be prepared to take responsibility for taking God personally and also finding the connections, community, and discipleship they need. So I would encourage youth workers to do everything they can to teach students what they need AND what God requires in these areas, and to give practical training in how to do these things.

College ministers can help provide wisdom for that process, just as the relay runner receiving the baton has suggestions for the handoff. Both sides of the transition need to help each other figure this out. As I say in the book, this important area is definitely worthy of an "all hands on deck" approach, because the situation seems pretty crummy right now.

CPYU: What are you hopes for the book? Have you gotten much feedback?

BH: The number one audience I had in mind for this book actually wasn't college ministers, which may be surprising. The first audience I had in mind was those outside college ministry who might need to better understand its value AND how it can be approached best. As I continue to see a growing desire to impact college students, I wanted to provide an "opening inquiry" about how we might do that with wisdom.

My biggest hope - for the trip, for this book, for the research I've continued to do - is to help develop the work of college ministry. And the biggest way to jump-start developing our work, I believe, will be to raise the value of college ministry in the minds of pastors, parents, and other Christian leaders.

However, I have hoped all along that this book would also be useful and encouraging for college ministers, and so far it seems to be! While the book has only been "public" for about 2 weeks, I have already gotten really positive reactions. A seminary professor plans to use Reaching the Campus Tribes as a text for his college ministry course, college ministers hope to train their student leaders with it, one girl said she hoped to use it in ministry fundraising, and many ministers have felt this book captures ideas they've been discovering for themselves... I've been floored by this response, and I'm so excited if the book actually does impact ministers and the "tribes" they work within.

CPYU: What’s next for you?

BH: That remains to be seen! I know my call is to help develop the field of college ministry, so I continue to watch - not only to see what's needed overall, but also to see what part God would have me play NEXT.

Right now, I continue to explore college ministry as I have opportunity, and I've had a few opportunities to speak to various groups. Presently, I'm actually on a new, 6-week trip to speak a couple of times and - in between - research college ministry in the Northeast. Hooray!

Since this is, after all, a book blog, I will also say that I hope to write more about what I learned and experienced on the big road trip. Certainly, I want to share the specific wisdom I gained from college ministers all over the country. Hopefully I can write a book detailing those things for my fellow college ministers, and I continue to share everything I can on my daily blog.

But I would also love to write something about the adventures of taking a yearlong road trip in hopes of changing the world! Obviously, an experience like this can provide plenty of writing fodder - like visiting 172 church services, seeing Christianity lived out all over the country... and little things like watching The Office in Scranton or accidentally ending up in Canada.

But we'll see what God wants to do. I'm honestly not naturally an "adventurer," but that's where God has me right now. Ultimately, I want to be helpful to our field, and I'm open to whatever I need to do to accomplish that!

Click here to download the book Reaching the Campus Tribes

Follow Benson's Exploring Campus Ministry Blog

Other Bookshelf Author Interviews:
Tim Clydesdale, The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens After High School
David Lovelace, Scattershot
William Mattison, Introducing Moral Theology
J. Mark Bertrand, Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World
Amy Black, Beyond Left and Right: Helping Christians Make Sense of American Politics
Matthew Bonzo, Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life
David Wells, The Courage to be Protestant
Kary Oberbrunner, The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture
David Naugle, Reordered Love, Reordered Lives
Mary Poplin, Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service
Mindy Meier, Sex and Dating
David Dark, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything

Steve Brown Etc.

From the Steve Brown Etc. website:

“Love him or hate him, Steve Brown always draws a crowd. Over the past 22 years, as founder and president of Key Life Network, Steve's unique blend of orthodoxy and controversy, humor and profundity, and a refusal to play religious games, has attracted some interesting folks. Steve Brown Etc. is a place where you can hang out with Steve ‘and the rest’ and experience radical freedom, infectious joy and maybe even a bit of surprising faithfulness.”

Not everyone will appreciate Steve Brown’s style, but many will appreciate the outstanding guests that he has show after show. Each week Steve Brown interviews great authors of books worth knowing about. Here’s a sample:

William Paul Young, The Shack
Os Guinness, The Case for Civility
Karen Spears Zacharias, Where’s Your Jesus Now?
Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet
Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly

Give it a shot. It’s worth a listen!

Benson Hines Interview: The State of College Ministry in America, Part 1

Benson Hines may be a little crazy, but he’s a good crazy. Not only did he take a year to travel the country, exploring the state of college ministry in the United States, but he wrote a very helpful book about it and has offered it for FREE!

Click here to download his book Reaching the Campus Tribes: An Opening Inquiry.

The book is very helpful for all people in ministry, but particularly those working with high school students and college students will gain a much needed perspective on why the "college years" are so important. What follows is part 1 of a two part interview with author and college minister Benson Hines (BH):

CPYU: Tell us about your campus ministry tour. What motivated you to take a year to travel the country to research what was going on in college ministry?

BH: I had been involved in ministering to college students for about 8 years before the trip, and I had noticed a few things about the "national scene" of college ministry. First, the importance and value of college ministry seemed to be very under-appreciated. Second, it seemed that this might be starting to change - that parents, pastors, and others were noticing the great need for helping people in the years following high school. Third, it seemed that few people - if any - had a solid grasp on what was taking place nationally "on the ground" in Evangelical college ministry.

As I worked through what I could do to help impact the field of college ministry, I ultimately (through LOTS of prayer and counsel and thought) settled on taking this trip. I wanted to help develop college ministry as a ministry field, and I felt this trip connected with all three areas I just mentioned: It could draw attention to this vital ministry area, it could help stoke the fire God already seemed to be starting, and it could provide a solid sampling of the broad spectrum of Evangelical college ministry in the United States.

CPYU: We love stories! Tell us two stories. First, what’s a good story from your trip that illustrates something positive that you learned about college ministry in the USA? Second, what’s a story that points to something not-so-good about the state of college ministry?

BH: I definitely learned time and time again that there are lots of good things going on that may be unfamiliar to a majority of college ministers. While that sounds like a bad thing, it encourages me, because it means there is a whole lot out there - we just have to find it! Providentially, God provided many occasions for me to learn about those "secret heroes" all year.

One of those times happened when I randomly met a huge number of Coalition for Christian Outreach people at the Ivy Jungle conference. (I know those guys are well-known up here, but, sadly, they're not familiar in some other places.) The first time I had heard of CCO was only a week or two before while at Gordon College; lo and behold, I found myself sitting by Charity, a CCO staff member, in our conference "early bird" session.

Within a day or two, I found myself eating with a large number of their staff at the local restaurant, learning all about the amazing work of CCO among college students! Because of that great connection, I had the chance to connect with staff later during my trip, and I'm hoping to see many more during the trip I'm presently taking.

So that's one thing positive I learned: that God is moving in all kinds of ways, even if right now we're not all aware of what's going on outside of our own circles or regions.

As for the other kind of story...

I remember one time sitting with the college minister of a really large, popular church. He told me about their plans and their progress during their first several months, and it was a great conversation.

One of the things he brought up was that he was hoping to begin conversing with the head of the Atheist student organization on campus. It was a great idea for building bridges between the two groups.

Interestingly, though, I had found out earlier that another college ministry - an older, smaller, campus-based one - was already connected to that same Atheist group and its leaders. They had apparently done some activities together, and it seemed like an exciting, profitable, growing connection.

When I mentioned that ministry's inroads to this new minister, it was clear he had no idea that was already taking place - and was actually a little surprised. In other words, he had been planning a ministry that might duplicate or even damage some relationships that were already being established, but he had no idea.

There are plenty of reasons that the new guy might have been unfamiliar with that situation, and I don't know the whole story. But that exchange illustrated for me one of the problems presently plaguing the field of college ministry. Because we often aren't very attentive to connecting with each other, collaborating, or learning, college ministry is still regularly practiced "every man for himself." This is true both locally and nationally.

While there are fun things about being in a ministry field that remains primarily "grassroots" and pioneering, a lot will be gained by developing our field. That doesn't mean we won't still have overlapping ministry work, disagreements, or "messiness." But when college ministers see ourselves as part of a true "profession" or "corporate calling" or "ministry field" - whatever you want to call it - we will better coordinate, collaborate, and ultimately impact students for Christ.

Learn more about Benson Hines here.

Learn more about the "amazing" college minsitry organization The Coaltion for Christian Outrearch here.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!