Duane Alexander Miller Botero (248 books)

Duane Alexander Miller Botero is now friends with Alin Suciu

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Islam
by Fazlur Rahman

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The Challenge of Islam to the Church and Its Mission
by Patrick Sookhdeo

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Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Iranian Christian
by Nasser LOTFI

read in April, 2013

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This book was published in 1980 and is one of the earlier auto-biographies of an ex-Muslim Christian. The first half of the book is his conversion story and is fairly conventional as far as such narratives go, though it lacks the common elements of m...more

Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Miracle of Miracles: A Muslim Woman's Conversion to Christ and Flight from the Perils of Islam
by Mina Nevisa

read in April, 2013

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Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 2 of 5 stars

Messianic Judaism: A Modern Movement with an Ancient Past
by David H. Stern

read in April, 2013

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Stern has presented us with a vigorous and readable defense of Messianic Jewish thought. His differentiation between Israeli and American branches are appreciated. His sensitivity to the historical progression of Hebrew Christianity (with was instrum...more Stern has presented us with a vigorous and readable defense of Messianic Jewish thought. His differentiation between Israeli and American branches are appreciated. His sensitivity to the historical progression of Hebrew Christianity (with was instrumental to the foundation the Diocese of Jerusalem, of which I am a member) is also laudable.

The book has a number of typos and misspellings, which is odd since it is itself an edited and expanded version of an earlier book.

The main drawback of this book is his handling of biblical material. He spends a good amount of time countering replacement theology, which claims that the Church replaced ethnic Israel after the advent of Messiah as the covenant people of God. In this, he fails to deal with the more nuanced and (I think) compelling scholarship which proposes a fulfillment theology. He also rejects the interpretation that Jesus having fulfilled the Torah means it is no longer in effect. But that is to ignore another interpretation, which understands Jesus' words as meaning that his ministry and his privileging of the prerogatives of the Kingdom of God over the Law of God (ie, healing on Shabbat) is what fulfills the Torah, in that the most profound reality of Torah is only brought out and completed and made full within the ethical and eschatological contours of the Kingdom life which Jesus taught. Such an interpretation would then see the Torah in the light of the Kingdom kerygma coming to fruition and pointing beyond itself--and beyond ethnic Israel to a reality open to ethnic Israel but larger than it. Whatever ethnic Israel was and is, it was and is only insofar as that earlier Israel inheres with the one, true Israel--Yeshua/Jesus. Matthew understood this well when he radically reappropriated Hosea's historical recollection, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."

Nor does he given an account of why he feels justified in connecting the secular State of Israel, proclaimed in 1948, with the Davidic Kingdom of Judah. He proposes that non-Jews should have rights 'in the Land' but not 'to the Land'. But what if they owned the land for centuries and have the legal documents to prove it? The ethical issues related to occupation are very demanding, and the author barely touches on them. Nor does he specify what exactly the borders of 'the Land' are. These are pressing issues since Yeshua/Jesus had a great deal to say about justice and nothing to say about Jews politically controlling Palestine.

The author's appeal to Arab Christians and Messianic Jews to listen to each other and learn from each other is laudable and appreciated. But his simultaneous zeal for Messianic Jews making Aliya (migration to Israel) is a bit difficult to square with that. What if, upon listening to Arab brothers and sisters, they come to realize that they don't believe the Land really belongs to Jews, and the 'right of return' is unethical?

There is a battle going on right now for the hearts and minds of American and European evangelicals, without whom the continued existence of the State of Israel would be considerably more difficult. This book is a credible attempt to win them over, while also speaking to Messianc Jews about their own issues and problems and suggest constructive way froward for them, while also trying to convince non-Messianic Jews that Messianic Jews really are Jews. Regarding the first goal, I do not think most of his arguments succeed. Regarding the latter two, as someone who is a mere Messianic Gentile, it is not for me to say.

D A Miller
Nazareth Seminary
Nazareth, Israel(less)

Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 4 of 5 stars

A Muslim Who Became a Christian
by John Avetaranian

read in April, 2013

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Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 1 of 5 stars

Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways
by Olivier Roy

read in March, 2013

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This was an enjoyable, if mostly baffling book. Roy has a massive reputation and I felt at times like he was depending more on that and random anecdotes than on solid research to make his point.

His point seems to be that there is a relationship betwe...more This was an enjoyable, if mostly baffling book. Roy has a massive reputation and I felt at times like he was depending more on that and random anecdotes than on solid research to make his point.

His point seems to be that there is a relationship between non-critical reading of a text and religious fundamentalism, which is what he calls 'holy ignorance'. The problem with this is that his brand of critical, contextual scholarship is not the norm, from which fundamentalists depart. Rather, it is the exception which liberals depart to. Nor is it clear to me that the non-religious are any more informed than the holy ignoramuses. I have met a lot of secular folks who look down on conservative religious folks, but in their own way are just as fundamentalistic and non-reflexive as are religious fundamentalists. Witness the lack of ability of most people on the left to even grasp that one might have a valid reason to not support same-sex marriage. Also, he does not adequately address the fact that sometimes a critical reading of a (con)text can actually lead to the same conclusions that one blessed with holy ignorance comes to.

Of more interest are his ideas regarding the relation between secularism and fundamentalism. Cult begets culture, culture begets secularization, secularization forces religion into a corner and sometimes that corner becomes fundamentalism. Again, that is my own synopsis of his thought. This has some interesting ramifications, and it may well be more or less accurate. My concern though is that his way of speaking of fundamentalism is so overly-broad and imprecise that it his theory becomes impossible to test.

In sum, there is enough ignorance to go around, and there is nothing particularly holy about it. I belong to the Episcopal Church, which is every bit as narrow-minded and fundamentalist as the snake-handlers in Alabama, it just happens to be a fundamentalism of the left, and one that is only distantly informed by echoes of personal theism from yester-decade.

Roy is very famous. I am not. His grocery list has been cited in scholar.google more times than all my works combined. And departing from the overwhelming tendency for brown-nosing which is a foundation of Western academia, I'm going to recommend you not read this book.(less)

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Duane Alexander Miller Botero is now friends with Alin Suciu
May 12, 2013 01:34pm · like
Duane Alexander Miller Botero is currently reading Islam by Fazlur Rahman	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 30, 2013 06:42am
Duane Alexander Miller Botero is currently reading The Challenge of Islam to the Church and Its Mission by Patrick Sookhdeo	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 30, 2013 06:41am
Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 3 of 5 stars Iranian Christian by Nasser LOTFI read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book was published in 1980 and is one of the earlier auto-biographies of an ex-Muslim Christian. The first half of the book is his conversion story and is fairly conventional as far as such narratives go, though it lacks the common elements of m...more
Apr 30, 2013 06:39am · see review
Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 3 of 5 stars Miracle of Miracles: A Muslim Woman's Conversion to Christ and Flight from the Perils of Islam by Mina Nevisa read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 30, 2013 06:27am
Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 2 of 5 stars Messianic Judaism: A Modern Movement with an Ancient Past by David H. Stern read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Stern has presented us with a vigorous and readable defense of Messianic Jewish thought. His differentiation between Israeli and American branches are appreciated. His sensitivity to the historical progression of Hebrew Christianity (with was instrum...more
Apr 10, 2013 11:56pm · see review
Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 4 of 5 stars A Muslim Who Became a Christian by John Avetaranian read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 08, 2013 10:38pm
Duane Alexander Miller Botero voted on a poll EReader users: do you highlight? He voted for: Yes, I like to highlight
Mar 30, 2013 11:03pm · like · take the poll
Duane Alexander Miller Botero rated a book 1 of 5 stars Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways by Olivier Roy read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was an enjoyable, if mostly baffling book. Roy has a massive reputation and I felt at times like he was depending more on that and random anecdotes than on solid research to make his point. His point seems to be that there is a relationship betwe...more
Mar 29, 2013 10:41am · see review

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