I was honored to be one of 100 200 bloggers to be sent a review copy of the newly-released The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield, and asked by the good folks over at Thomas Nelson Publishers to post a review here at Parables.

A few scattered preliminaries before I get underway in earnest in what I anticipate to be a series, going a few chapters at a time over the next few posts. These are some initial thoughts before I dive into the book, and they may change after I read it, but I doubt it.

First, this will not be a series on the faith of Barack Obama. I know very little about the faith of Barack Obama. This is a review of a book entitled "The Faith of Barack Obama." Let those who have ears hear. [More on that issue in a terrific post by Cathleen Falsani here].

Second, although the folks at Nelson have expressly indicated that they don't expect a positive review, just a review, there are a couple of things I think I need to disclose, given this age of overcontextualized public discourse, but more importantly because of potential biases that I will try my best to avoid, though one can never tell. First, barring any gargantuan developments/revelations, I will be voting for Obama come November. And second, my book is currently being considered by Thomas Nelson for publication. Like I said, I'll try to prevent either of those facts from playing into the discussion to come, but...

Third, I am initially skeptical about a book called "The Faith of {insert public figure here}" that was not actually written by that public figure. No one knows the faith in a person's heart except that person and God, and often times, not even the former.

And finally, I've posted some thoughts recently on issues touching on Obama and the campaign, including why I'm voting for him, the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the Obama/pro-choice issue, and a diatribe about American presidential elections in general. These posts generally represent my thoughts more accurately than what I'll say in this series, for anyone who might be interested.

Having said all that, I think this should probably be a must-read for anyone who professes any level of faith in Jesus Christ and who plans on living in this country for the next 1, 4 or 8 years (again, if you have ears, then hear). That's why I'm taking the time to do this.

OK, then, enough with the preliminaries. The first installment of the review series should be up in the next day or two.

Grace and Peace,
Raffi