Sarah Bowling is the daughter of the Rev. Wallace and Marilyn Hickey. She joins her mother as a co-host and Bible teacher on their worldwide daily television program, “Today with Marilyn and Sarah”. She was educated at Oral Roberts University, the University of Missouri, and Denver Seminary. Sarah founded an international nonprofit organization to provide resources for children in need called Saving Moses. She and her husband, Pastor Reece Bowling, also co-pastor Orchard Road Community Center and live near Denver Colorado with their three children.

This book was written to provide a practical guide to navigate the Christian life. She provided some really good contemporary metaphors in this book that our modern-day culture can relate to. Bowling wrote a lot about her relationship with the Holy Spirit and she spends a great deal of the book discussing her own experiences and how the Holy Spirit has taught her how to live everyday by his leading. She also talks about things that could hinder the Spirit’s work in our lives. She stressed that the Holy Spirit is relevant and necessary for all Christians to navigate the Christian life. Bowling offers reassurance of the Holy Spirit’s desire to be part of our every circumstance. I really enjoyed the prayers and discussion questions that were at the end of each chapters, they helped me to focus on the theme presented in the chapter. She gives some biblical examples that were fresh. I particularly appreciated her take on Thomas and how his doubt disappeared when he encountered the supernatural, risen Christ. She shared that it is encountering the supernatural Holy Spirit that will erase our doubts also.

I did have a conflict on page nineteen where Bowling wrote that the Holy Spirit helps us to be our best self. I believe the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit forms Christ in us and it is that transformation that needs to take place, not just an improvement of self (Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:13). The Holy Spirit is truly our heavenly helper, but his help is to eradicate the works of the flesh and to produce the character qualities of Jesus in our lives.

I could really sense her teaching gift coming through in the second half of the book, which I gleaned much from. She has a wonderful way of using the Bible to teach spiritual truth. Overall, I think this is a good book that could be uses in a small group study for those who have a knowledge of the Holy Spirit already.

Reviewed by Robert Bushman

Publisher’s page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/in-step-with-the-spirit/385470

According to the back cover, King is Deputy Director of the Sider Centre at Eastern University. She is just another Christian leader to add her voice in a growing choir supporting the animal liberation movement started by Dr. Andrew Linzey in 1976. This book is her attempt to help convince Evangelicals (i.e. those that believe the Bible and that Jesus is Lord and Savior who died and rose again to save us from our sins) to care about animals suffering and death as well as to provide advice for how to live out that care in practical terms.

The book is organized into three sections. Part 1, Looking at the Word through the Animal Lens, seeks to convince Evangelicals that our understanding of dominion and use of animals stems from a misreading of Scripture. Drawing heavily from the theologies of Andrew Linzey and Jürgen Moltmann (and others), King argues that humans should see our roles towards animals as servants and fellow creatures serving God. She asserts that God commanded a vegan diet (based on Genesis 2) and that our misunderstanding of dominion has led us to the mistaken belief that we can use violence against our fellow creatures, the animals.

In Part 2, Intersection and Bridges (The Oppression Connection), she turns to discuss more philosophical issues such as animal suffering (does it matter?), being human, hierarchy as a heresy, creation care, pro-life as including animals, and more. The goal of this section is simple. First, she wants to exploit our tendency to have compassion by emphasizing the myriad number of ways we cause animals to suffer. Second, she seeks to break down the notion that our status as humans gives us the right to harm and eat animals. Third, she argues for humans to be consistently non-violent both with each other and towards animals, our other neighbor.

With Parts 1 and 2 in hand, King turns to tell readers how to live out their new-found compassion in concrete terms. Part 3, Now What? The Basics of Treating Animals Well, provides a series of actions to help readers adopt a vegan diet and cruelty free lifestyle. King provides advice on how to start (begin with baby steps) and how to communicate with your non-vegan friends. She is both encouraging and gives specific, and frequently, absolutist directives on how followers should behave to achieve cruelty-free status.

This book is different from other food morality books I have read and/or reviewed in that King comes to the subject not as an intellectual but as a social change warrior. She actually worked for the shock-lobby group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, otherwise known as PETA. I have no doubt that she is a true believer in the food morality movement. I can respect her for at least trying to integrate her faith in Christ with her ideology. Too many Christians live schizophrenic lives. I do not believe that she does and I think that says something positive about her character.