Christianity Today‘s book review released today gives five stars to the book, Orphanology, by Tony Merida and Rick Morton.  This book is one of a trio of books released in the last year that explore the Gospel-roots of adoption and orphan care.  The two other excellent volumes include Daniel Bennett’s Passion for the Fatherless and Dan Cruver’s Reclaiming Adoption.  Although carrying similar themes, each book approaches the issue from unique angles and emphases, making them great complements of each other.

Taken together, the fact that three such potent books have been published side-by-side reveals the remarkable vitality of the growing movement.  Even more important, each will play a vital role in ensuring that adoption and orphan care not become “just another fad movement,” but rather a robust response to God’s first-love of us, a response that that will continue and grow for decades to come.  This is the one wellspring capable of sustaining any movement for the long-haul:  the Gospel itself.

As the review of Orphanology describes, “Christians do not approach orphan care as mere humanitarians but as people adopted by God through the work of Jesus Christ. Orphanology provides the burgeoning orphan care movement with a gospel-centered theological foundation as well as a comprehensive plan for getting involved at many levels, including adoption, orphanage restoration, foster care, and transitional assistance….”  See the CT review here.