Thompson is a master scholar, elucidating the concept and experience of God in the Gospel of St John. She posits that God the Father is the main subject of the gospel, and taht only in relation to the Father is Jesus properly understood as the one who is "with God" and "is God". An interesting analysis of the Paraclete reveals that the Spirit is not some sort of replacement for the risen Christ, but one of the Father's "two hands".

This is really a needed work. She is right in stressing the fact that approaching God by means other than the Father can distort John's purpose. For he uses Jesus as the person who revales the face of the Father to us. There is a tendancy in exegesis to hold orthodox positions (i.e., that Jesus is actually God equal to the Father) for the wrong reasons, thus leaving orthodoxy open to criticisms that really are unfounded. Thompson's book is a needed corrective in this regard. Enjoy this great book!

Thompson's other great books, The Promise of the Father and The Incarnate Word are really worth looking into. For another defense of Christ's full divinity, see Jesus As God by Harris (although he may need THompson's corrective in a few places, but those are places for you to find!).

This is an excelent resource for those individuals who are interested in Participatory research. It is a virtual "how to book" The authors have carefully assembled a workbook that helps teach many of the skills needed to learn through participation. Whether you are a researcher, facilitator, or someone who just works on the grass roots level; you will appreciate the variety of topics and activities that are discussed.

Chapter headings include: -Adult Learning -You, The Trainer and Facilitator -Group Dynamics and Team Building -Principles of Participatory Learning and Action -Training in Participatory Methods in the Workshop -The challenges of Training in the Field -Organizing workshops for Training, (Orientation and Exposure) -Plus: 101 games and Exercises for Trainers

I recomend this book to anyone interested in participation, participatory research, Planning (especially advocasy), people who work with unempowered peoples, those who want to empower people, anyone interested in methods of learning.

On a personal note: I am a planning student at the University of Tennessee and I have found that books like these (workbooks) serve as a valuable tool when trying to implement or exercise participatory learning reasearch. I have been facilitating for about a year now and although there is no suppliment for practice and experience, books such as these, help.