Corner Conversations: Engaging Dialogues About God and Life

by Randy Newman

Welcome to Turnerville—an imaginary place where people take time to think and discuss the real issues that get rushed past or ignored in our world. Written by Gold Medallion nominee Randy Newman, this captivating sequel to Questioning Evangelism allows readers to learn new evangelistic skills by eavesdropping on important conversations that grapple with hot-button issues.

Genres: Evangelism, Christian, Ebooks, Christian Living, Christianity

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2006

About the author

From Randy's website: "I want to pursue the integral (whole, unified, tied-together) nature of things. I see connections between ideas, common ground between people, and overlap where others see conflict. I see God’s fingerprints in all areas of life, not just the so-called religious ones.

I’ve had the privilege of serving in ministry on college campuses, at the Pentagon, in churches, and in various academic settings. My writing has opened doors to teach the Bible and to train people in communicating their faith in dialogical and respectful ways.

Some major influences in my life have been (in no particular order) C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, Ralph Winter, George Elden Ladd, Dallas Willard, John Stott, George Marsden, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Antonin Dvorak, Abraham Joshua Heshel, Claude Monet, and the Marx Brothers. My highest priorities are loving God, advancing His kingdom, and loving my family.

You could say that some other big deals in my life are theology, Judaism, academia, literature, music, beauty, and laughter."

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Please see the other author here: Randy Newman

Reviews

[John Brackbill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique is an overused and misused word. But I must say, at least in my reading history this is a unique book. It is set up as a conversation, for example:

CATHY: Ladies and gentlemen, mark your calendars! Janet and Cathy arrive early to work—that’s a first. We’ve got a whole thirty minutes before our shift starts. Let’s sit outside here on this bench until we have to go in.
JANET: Yeah, it’s a beautiful day.
CATHY: I’m amazed I even came back to work at all today, after yesterday’s horrors.
JANET: Why? What happened? CATHY: Oh . . . that’s right. You weren’t here yesterday. Where were you?

Newman, Randy (2011-08-19). Corner Conversations (Kindle Locations 180-195). Kregel Publications. Kindle Edition.

There are 7 different conversations that are recorded:
Conversation 1: In the Hospital Parking Lot Wrestling with Evil and Suffering
Conversation 2: At The Library Researching If the “Good Book” Is Any Better Than the Others Conversation 3: Across from Grace Community Church A Two-Way Discussion About One Way to Heaven Conversation 4: Amidst Weights and Treadmills at the Gym A Debate About the Age-Old Topic—Sex Conversation 5: Near AJ’s, Turnerville’s Upscale Gay Bar An Unusual Chat Between Two Friends Conversation 6: Relaxing over Tea at Oat Fields Skepticism Because of Hypocrisy, Hatred, and Evil in the Church
Conversation 7: In the Cemetery Pertinent Questions About Life After Death

Newman has written realistic but crafted conversations for the purpose of an unbeliever reading this book and being drawn into the conversations listed above with the point that their questions might be addressed.

Here are a few strengths of the book:
-It is very interesting and a quick read.
-It is a bit like reading a story but a story that centers on theological conversations.
-Chapters 4 and 5 were especially helpful given our culture's current rejection of biblical morality.

At points the book was more like a 4 star book, but at others it was more like a 1 or 2. Below are some quotes that I found unfortunate:
-Speaking of Jesus being the only way: "Most of the time it’s through other people, but God is capable of bringing the rest of the story any way he wants to—through visions or dreams." (p. 87)
-The following are all quotes from the final conversation that dealt with Christianity and science

"Yeah. Well, science led me away from a specific kind of faith—a very narrow view of Christianity. I’ve since found out that it’s not the only variety out there. Some scientists, in fact, see no contradiction between their science and their Christian faith." (p. 172)

"Genesis is not a science textbook. And it’s not even a history book—although I do believe that what it says really did happen. But it’s not written like history—the first chapter, at least. It’s really quite poetic." (p. 176)

"If the Bible was concerned about the age of the earth, it would have told us in ways that wouldn’t require a calculator. I just don’t think the age of the earth is all that big a deal." (p. 179)

I’ve gone to a lot of conferences for physicists, and there just isn’t much talk about how old the earth is. I have this dream about a certain crowd of people. Someday they’re going to get to heaven, and they’ll ask God how old the earth is, and he’ll scratch his head and say, “What does that matter?” And I don’t think there’ll be many serious scientists in that particular crowd, or many serious students of Genesis,either" (p. 179)

All of these quotes are from the person who is attempting to evangelize the other person. In other words, in the world of this book they represent the author's viewpoint since he crafted these conversations. Apparently for Newman young earth creationists are a different "kind of Christianity" that is ignorant and something that he does not want to identify with. I felt that in this chapter he was especially condescending. If I wrote a conversation with the Christian who was making the above statements about the creation account I would work through these points:

1. The Genesis account is written in historical narrative
-There are poetical versions of the creation week elsewhere (Psalm 104:1-9)
-Genesis itself has true examples of Hebrew poetry (e.g. Genesis 49:1-27)
-Hebrew sequential narrative has distinctive characteristics that
are present in the creation
account (e.g. wow consecutive).
2. The Genesis account of creation refers to 6 literal 24 hour days:
-"Day" (yom) always means a literal day when a number modifies it.
-The phrase 'evening and morning' refers tot he normal dark/light cycle of a 24 hour day (cf.
Daniel 8:13).
-Another unit of time is linked to the word 'day' in the creation account (years-1:14)
-Observing Sabbath is rooted in a seven day creation week (see Exodus 20:9-11; 31:16-17)
3. The Genesis account of creation identifies completed creation as very good
-Creation is called good 7 times (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31)
-Death is the result of the curse not included in the original creation (3:15-17; Rom 5:12, 8:18-
22)
-Death will be removed when the curse is reversed (see Rev. 21:1-5; Isa. 11:6; 65:25)
4. The Genesis account of creation as 6 literal days is implied in the rest of Scripture
-Jesus implied a young earth chronology of creation (Mark 10:6, 13:10; Luke 11:49)
-Apostles implied a young earth chronology of creation (Rom. 1:18-25; Heb. 9:25-26)

I recommend this book as a good read for Christians to listen in on evangelistic conversations on hot button topics in our culture today as long as the above concerns are taken into consideration. However, the purpose of this book is for unbelievers to read. I am not comfortable using the book in that way because of the condescending and narrow chronological snobbery that the final chapter gives when it comes to Christianity and science. There are other books out there that would be more useful for that purpose.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a friend of mine in college ( I babysat for his boys who are now themselves in college - yikes!), this book is a series of dialogues in a fictional town, Turnerville. The dialogues progress as the author imagines they should - between friends (long time or developing ones), who go back and forth respectfully, and who aren't afraid to disagree. The topics cover all the generally taboo topics or politically charged ones from heaven and hell, suffering and death, homosexuality and sex, hypocrisy and sin. While some of the conversations seem a little trite, overall, this is a quick and easy read - not for answers necessarily but to learn how the conversation might go.

[Joel M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful & Simple

This book is a easy read with great, applicable suggestions on how to share the Gospel with those around you.

[david pigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A review

This is an excellent book. It covers a number of subjects in an easy to read and understand style.
It can be read by those new to faith or seasoned believers or anyone in between.
This book should be read by anyone who has said “There must be more to life than this” and those who are wondering what it is. I recommend it.

[Juan Callejas Aquino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting format

While the book’s format was certainly engaging, it is difficult to craft genuine conversations in one’s head. Things end with a neat bow at the end of each chapter, which certainly isn’t the case in real life, but the scenarios placed are very interesting and helpful.

[Josiah DeGraaf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically a set of example conversations concerning various questions regarding the truth of Christianity. I was surprised to find that all the characters involved in the conversation felt realistic and not just a proponent of their beliefs. At times, the conversations felt like they were just part of a theologically-minded short story--especially Conversation 6. This all made the book a rather enjoyable one to read. In terms of the actual arguments presented in the conversations, Newman did a good job of giving realistic examples of how you could bring up certain arguments, but I didn't glean all that much from the actual arguments themselves. They were decent for the most part, but I'd already heard most of them, and Newman at times missed stronger arguments that he could be making.

Given that, the usefulness of this book depends on what you're looking for in it. It isn't going to have the best and most robust answers to the issues presented in this book. But it does do a fairly good job of showing how these kinds of conversations can happen in a normal environment. It isn't profound. But it is kind of practical. And on that element, this book succeeds, even if I didn't get as much out of this book as I may have hoped.

Rating: 3-3.5 Stars (Fairly Good).

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice little book of sample dialogs between fictional everyday people discussing actual life issues which carry philosophical and theological significance. Since my worldview matches that of the author I found it very enjoyable and worthwhile to assist in my own conversations, even though the dialogs seemed a bit robotic at times. I've heard the author speak now on two separate occasions and have been impressed at his ability to own and clarify his beliefs tolerantly (in the classical sense) and respectfully alongside others - a skill which I find many Christians today are not practiced in. This book may help with that. A fast read too - took me two days!

[Brian Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a sequel to Randy Newman's Questioning Evangelism. It's a number of hypothetical/fictional conversations between a Christian and a non-Christian on issues such as evil, death, homosexuality, and other topics. It's valuable for showing how one might explain and defend Christianity in everyday conversations.

[Steven Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! It's presented in a conversational style with thoughts each section to explain how to effectively start, and carry on conversations with those around us, no matter what religious beliefs they have.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly simple, engaging, and insightful. A fun, quick read and good complement to Newman's Questioning Evangelism.

[Daniel Bates · Rating 2 out of 5]

the conversations are so contrived, I'd be much more interested in actual conversations.

[Ben Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read and helpful to see examples of dialogues played out.