Book reviewer (and avid numismatist) Tim Gossett reviews Life in Year One along with Brian McLaren’s new book A New Kind of Christianity on his progressive Christian education and ministry site Different Voice.

Here’s a snippet:

I love books that help me to gain a greater sense of perspective, and I have come to believe that a growing sense of perspective is a mark of a progressive Christian…. I have rarely felt so engaged when reading about this period. The chapter on money, for example, (a topic I’ve read a LOT about since my hobby is collecting first century coinage) was the single-best treatment of this subject I’ve come across, but every chapter expanded my sense of perspective and ability to put the biblical texts in a wider context. You’ll end each chapter very thankful you don’t live in that time and place (especially after reading his chapter on health. Yikes!) I think it would be a lot of fun to read this book with a group, especially if the leader could pull in relevant biblical texts to illuminate and illustrate the book’s text.