Review: Following the Call

April 21, 2022April 20, 2022 / rtrube54 / 1 Comment

Following the Call, Edited by Charles E. Moore. Walden, NY: Plough Publishing House, 2021.

Summary: A collection of 52 weeks of readings working through the Sermon on the Mount, meant to be discussed and lived out in community.

Back in 2016, I reviewed a collection of 52 readings from the same editor and publishing house, titled Called to Community. This book, similar in format, builds on that earlier collection.

Charles E. Moore has edited a collection of readings organized into 52 weeks of readings with contributions from a wide range of Christians throughout history, from Augustine to Tim Keller, from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, Jr. The readings follow the Sermon on the Mount, section by section, portraying how a wide range of believers have understood and sought to live under this challenging message of Jesus.

A reading at the end of this collection of readings articulates the intent in creating this set of readings. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:

“This word, whose claim we recognize, this word, which issues from his saying ‘I have known thee,‘ this word which sets us at once to work and obedience, is the rock on which to build our house. The only proper response to this word which Jesus brings with him from eternity is simply to do it. Jesus has spoken: his is the word, ours the obedience. Only in the doing of it does the word of Jesus retain its honor, might, and power among us. Now the storm can rage over the house, but it cannot shatter that union with him, which his word has created” (p. 332).

The assumption throughout is that this is a kingdom manifesto, describing the way Jesus’s followers will actually live, rather than some unrealistic ideal. Furthermore, and this is emphasized in the subtitle, the Sermon on the Mount is meant to be lived together and the book is written to be discussed together. Each weeks readings, from one to four writers and covering five to eight pages, are meant to be read, along with the pertinent portion of the Sermon, in a small group. A study guide at the conclusion of the text offer several probing questions and additional scripture passages to aid discussion. The aim is that a group would help one another take steps to live out the Sermon week by week.

The readings are offered in four sections with an introductory article to each section by Moore. They are:

Kingdom Character (Matthew 5:1-16). A highlight in this section was the short reading from Oscar Romero on persecution. He observes: “It is very easy to be servants of the word without disturbing the world in any way” (p. 71).

Kingdom Commands (Matthew 5:17-48) Jen Wilkin writes on law and the place of obedience and offers this example: “We don’t train our children to obey us so that they can gain our favor. They already have our favor. We, being evil, train and equip them to obey because it is good and right and safe. And how much more does our heavenly Father love us?” (p. 87).

Kingdom Devotion (Matthew 6:1-18) William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas offer these convicting words: “Those who are being formed by praying, ‘Our Father who art in heaven, holy be your name’ are not permitted to about the holiness of God by attempting to put a leash on God, then dragging God into our crusades and cruelties” (p. 195).

Kingdom Priorities (Matthew 6:19-7:28) Dallas Willard challenged my own understanding of the teaching about pearls before pigs: “Pigs cannot digest pearls, cannot nourish themselves upon them….The reason these animals will finally ‘turn and rend you’ when you one day step up to them with another load of Bibles or pearls, is that you at least are edible” (p. 287).

This is but a tiny sampling of the rich fare offered in these readings. You may wonder if you will find enough to discuss in the few pages and short passage for each week. I suspect once you get going, if there is good trust and spiritual openness among you, that you will find there isn’t enough time.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Multicultural Reading Groups

September 22, 2016September 22, 2016 / rtrube54 / Leave a comment

I am in the midst of a multicultural reading experience. Our book group, The Dead Theologians Society is reading Shusako Endo’s Silence. We’ve had four new participants join us this fall: a student from Japan, another from China, a third from Ghana, and a woman from Venezuela, who joined in for the first time today.

The Japanese student has been a special gift in explaining some of the cultural references of this novel, set in Japan. But today, the Chinese student gave us an interesting take on a hymn a Japanese martyr was singing, and the similarities to a Buddhist outlook. We just were reading it in Christian terms but it made us wonder how much Buddhist beliefs had been mixed with these. Our Ghanaian student has added interesting observations and questions about relationships in the book that others of us have missed.

Our group meets in a university context, which often is a global crossroads. Yet I’m struck with how rarely, even when we have the opportunity do we enjoy this wonderful mix of perspectives, to see a work with different eyes. I’m also appreciative of how helpful this is with a work that originates in a different culture. A bunch of white people reading a book from another culture will still miss many cultural nuances.

I think this is equally important in discussions of books from Western sources. We don’t see our own cultural blind spots very well, the things we assume because that’s just the way it’s always been. I’ve found this in Bible reading groups as well. The truth is, the Bible originated in a Middle Eastern context, and sometimes people from Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe, or even Asian cultures may understand this better, or certainly differently than I.

One important challenge in such groups is making sure we welcome and encourage the contributions of everyone. Those from other cultures may defer to the Westerners or “dominant culture” folk in the group. Asking for the ideas of someone who has not spoken yet can be helpful, both in creating space for those from other cultural backgrounds and reminding the more gregarious to listen.

A group like this won’t just happen. It probably means thinking about who you’d like to invite to the table beyond your own cultural group, and being intentional about that, and inviting them to invite their friends as well. It means listening to their book recommendations in deciding on new readings. And it means being open to having your thinking changed.

I’m still on a learning curve here. I’d love to hear what others who have tried this have learned works well!

So What is a Dead Theologians Society?

September 6, 2013 / rtrube54 / 1 Comment

Yesterday I mentioned our Dead Theologians Society reading group. What’s that all about? Very simply we are a group who reads the works of “theologians” whose works have outlived them. The name was inspired by The Dead Poets Society which dates us. We’ve been meeting for about 15 years. We were not the first, however. I actually shameless stole the idea from a then-Florida colleague, Robbie Castleman who started the first such group. Recently, the Emerging Scholars Network posted news about our group and some of our history, along with our reading list from the past 15 years.

Our group consists of Ohio State faculty, staff, and graduate students and some community friends. We meet Wednesday mornings at 7:45 am at a Panera Restaurant adjacent to campus. We select a book or two for each semester with readings no more than 30 or so pages a week. Generally our selection process begins with member looking on their shelves for those books they’ve always meant to read. Sometimes one book will lead to another. Sometimes a new member suggests something totally out of the blue we haven’t considered before. Usually it doesn’t take much more than a brief reminder of the section comment and an open ended question to get the discussion going.

What is the attraction? For me, one has been tackling challenging but worthy texts in community. When we read C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces we found this particularly so as we wrestled with his various allusions and the dangers of inordinate love. For many of us, it has connected us with the rich resources of a two thousand year theological conversation that gives us a wealth of resources upon which to draw as we engage the intellectual marketplace of the university.

I’d love to hear about book groups you’ve been a part of, how they’ve worked and how they’ve shaped you.