Author: rtrube54

Review: The Ichthus Christogram and Other Early Christian Symbols

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "The Ichthus Christogram and Other Early Christians Symbols" by J. Daniel Hays

The Ichthus Christogram and Other Early Christian Symbols, J. Daniel Hays. Kregel Academic (ISBN: 9780825448218) 2025

Summary: A study of the Ichthus Christogram, showing site examples, and their use.

Archaeologists working in the Mediterranean world from Israel to Rome have notice an eight-spoked wheel carved into walls, floors, pavements, entrances and other locations. Some have assumed that the symbol, rendered here, was a form of gameboard.

Ichthus Christogram (Illustration by Robert C. Trube)

However, biblical scholar J. Daniel Hays argues that this is neither graffiti nor a gameboard but rather a Christian symbol. Specifically it is a rendering of ICHTHUS, an acrostic standing for the first letters of “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior” While many of us recognize the word as the Greek for fish and have seen fish symbols containing the word, this is different. The symbol is created by superimposing the letters of “ichthus” on top of each other.

Hays builds his case by discussing first the various symbols used by early Christians. He then discusses gameboards, usually rectangular affairs. The inability to conceive of a game played on an eight-spoked wheel and the locations of many of these wheels argues against the gameboard hypothesis. Rather, he argues that the proliferation of the symbol reflects the Christianization of the Greco-Roman world, post-Constantine.

This raises the question of what purpose the symbol had. A key idea is that Christian symbols were often used at abandoned sites of Greco-Roman worship and ritual, including baths, to serve a cleansing function and to proclaim the victory of Christ over demons associated in the Christian mind of the idols once present. Hays also argues that the symbol had a teaching function, affirming the high Christology behind the statement, particularly as Christological controversies arose.

Then in successive chapters, Hays takes us on a tour of sites around the Mediterranean. He begins in west Turkey, including cities like Constantinople, Laodicea, Ephesus, Samos, and Sardis. Then he tours the Balkan Peninsula with stops at Delphi, Pannonia, Philippi, and Stobi. Following that, he takes us through Israel/Palestine including Bethlehem, Hippos, Jerusalem, Magdala, and Sepphoris. Finally, we end up in Italy, visiting Ostia, Ravenna, and Rome.

In his conclusion, Hays notes that the use of the eight-spoked Christogram throughout the Roman empire is a testimony to the “incredible spread” of the church in the fourth and fifth centuries. This reflected not only their increasing freedom from persecution but the spiritual victory signified by the use of the symbol in former pagan spaces.

Hays provides a number of photographs of the sites he visits and examples of Christograms and other symbols. All in all, he offers a fascinating visual exploration of the history of the earliest Christian centuries.

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Katabasis

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Katabasis" by R. F.. Kuang

Katabasis, R. F. Kuang. Harper Voyager (ISBN: 9780063021471) 2025.

Summary: Two graduate students studying Magick follow their deceased advisor on a journey through Hell, struggling to trust each other.

Katabasis. The word refers to a descent into the underworld, a theme in mythology from the Odyssey and Aeneid to Ovid and Dante. In fact, just about every culture has its katabasis myths. And now R. F. kuang has given us one for dark academia in a post-post-modern twenty-first century.

The story, in brief, is about two doctoral students studying Magick at Cambridge, Alice Law and Peter Murdoch. Both work under Jacob Grimes, by many estimates, the greatest magician in academia. But he is not a nice man–manipulative and brutal, and many have dropped out. Murdoch and Law are determined not to, and are rivals. That is until an accident with a pentagram drawn by Alice rips his body apart and sends him to Hell.

The real disaster here is the loss of an advisor, which can mean starting over. Not only that, a recommendation from Grimes held the key to their futures, futures they had worked so hard to achieve. That is why they are willing to forfeit half of their life span to gain entrance to hell. Somehow, they hope to find Grimes and restore him to the upper world, at least long enough for those coveted degrees and recommendations. And the spell they use works to get them into Hell.

This novel is many things in one. Perhaps the dominant one is that it is an academic satire. Hell, as it appears to them is an academic campus. And it is one that reveals all the pretensions and petty rivalries of academia. For example, the first level, Pride, is not unlike a research library, with its inhabitants competing to compose theses that will allow them to move on, and perhaps across the River Lethe. But no one knows of any who have succeeded despite all the latest theories.

It’s also an adventure. Throughout the narrative, Alice and Peter are pursued by bony creatures energized by the Kripkes, extremely clever magicians who never made it in the academic world but were wildly successful in popular culture. Then there are others, like the Weaver Girl, who tests their loyalty to each other through posing them a Prisoner’s Dilemma challenge.

That challenge raises another aspect of the book. Kuang’s characters survive not merely by their wits and magical training. Throughout, they draw upon logic, philosophy, as well as a crash course in the mythology of the underworld. If you like intellectual puzzles, you will enjoy this.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma, exposes another element–their trust in one another. Alice discovers in some of Peter’s papers that it looks like he is prepared to sacrifice Alice to retrieve Grimes. And there is a long history to their rivalry, including a compromising moment between Alice and Grimes, witnessed by Murdoch. Everything seemed to come easy for him while Alice would grind away.

Finally, while many of Hell’s inhabitants seem oblivious to their sins, the journey lays bare those of Alice. She comes face to face with the overweening ambition behind her relentless pursuit of her degree–an ambition revealed in a willingness to harm others for her own ends.

Kuang portrays a Hell without a God or paradise, only a King Yama, on which their hope of return hinges. But the irony is that in the end, survival will depend on grace of a sort.

So what did I think? Having worked in college ministry with grad students and professors, Kuang’s satire of their pretensions as well as the portrayals of the delights of the life of the mind seemed spot on. As in the Poppy Wars trilogy, Kuang is a world builder. She has added to the mythology of the geography of Hell. Most of all, she explores flawed, fallen human nature, and our blindness to our flaws. And we watch her lead character grope toward the realization that in the end, the greatest virtue is love. But we wonder if she will learn in time.

Review: Hangman’s Holiday

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image "Hangman's Holiday" by Dorothy L. Sayers

Hangman’s Holiday (Lord Peter Wimsey, 9), Dorothy L. Sayers. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781453262535) 2012 (first published in 1933).

Summary: Mysteries in short story form featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and wine merchant Montague Egg plus two other tales.

Sometimes there is something uniquely satisfying about reading a mystery in one sitting. If this is you, Hangman’s Holiday is just the thing. In this collection, Dorothy L. Sayers includes four stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, another six with the peripatetic wine merchant, Montague Egg, and two other stories.

The Lord Peter stories open the collection with a man troubled by a doppelganger and a condition in which all his organs are in reverse position. The next story takes place in Basque Spain in which Wimsey becomes involved in saving a woman thought to be bewitched. The third story occurs at a masquerade ball where quests dress as one of the face cards in a deck of playing cards. One of the guests is found strangled and Wimsey finds the killer by noticing a trick of the light. The last story involves a missing string of pearls and their similarity to the berries of mistletoe.

Montague Egg is a traveling wine purveyor. The first mystery is on its face an account of a customer poisoned by one of his wines. He solves the mystery and identifies the killer by a count of empties and a change of manners. In the second, Egg happens to be at a shabby pub when news comes of a murder in the vicinity. Egg’s familiarity with the practices of a profession come in handy in identifying the murderer among them. The in the third story, one of Egg’s sales calls turns into a murder investigation when he finds his prospective customer dead with his head bashed in. Clocks and automotive garages figure in this one.

“One Too Many” turns on Egg’s knowledge of train tickets, helping catch an absconding banker. Then Egg helps track down who killed an Oxford Master. In this case the man who cried ‘Wolf” too many times was the real murderer. Finally, Egg helps an impoverished child sell her pet only to have it return. When he tracks down the new owner, he discovers murder.

The first of the other stories concerns a man who believes a serial killer is trying to kill him. The last story focuses on a character who kills his blackmailer, only to discover he has a new one.

My favorites were Wimsey in Basque country and Egg solving the case of the poisoned wine. It’s been several years since I’ve read any Sayers and these stories reminded me how much I enjoyed her. And I loved the character of Montague Egg!

Review: Downsizing

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Downsizing" by Michelle Van Loon

Downsizing, Michelle Van Loon. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884626) 2025.

Summary: A memoir of a fifty-year evangelical journey and the unhelpful ideas and practices to be downsized to embrace an authentic faith.

Downsizing. Many at my stage of life are engaged in the practice of deaccumulating the stuff we’ve acquired over the decades. Some of it we no longer need. Some of it we wonder why we ever acquired. It may be the reality that a smaller living space cannot accommodate all our goods. Or we are aware that we are moving toward the final deaccumulation when all our earthly goods are dispersed.

Michelle Van Loon offers the metaphor of downsizing for what she sees is needed in evangelicalism today. In one sense, evangelicalism is downsizing as people head for the exits. For many of the disillusioned, this has meant a process of faith deconstruction, a re-evaluation of beliefs and practices. Some emerge from this with a re-framed faith. Others walk away altogether. Instead, Van Loon proposes the metaphor of downsizing as a kind of spiritual rummage sale, allowing an uncluttered, authentic faith to emerge. Indeed, citing spiritual writer Phyllis Tickle, she proposes that the church has gone through such a rummage sale every five hundred years, the last being the Reformation and counter-Reformation. We’re due.

Van Loon approaches this through the lens of a spiritual journey memoir over her fifty years as a Christ-follower. She came to faith out of a Jewish background during the waning days of the Jesus Movement. She introduces her journey as one where she:

“…immersed myself in fundamentalist faith, worshiped in Messianic Jewish gatherings, experienced the revivalism of second- and third-wave charismatic congregations, gathere in a living room for home church, experienced the rise of one of America’s most influential nondenominational megachurches, became part of the rising Anglican movement, and had pit stops along the way at other kinds of churches of all kinds, from a cult-like sect to a neo-Reformed outpost to a throwback mainline church that owned not one but two harpsichords in addition to its giant pipe organ” (pp. 3-4)

Her experience make her a well-qualified participant observer of the last fifty years of evangelicalism, both at its best and worst. Her first couple chapters offer a brief history of evangelicalism, including the number of parachurch ministries that arose after World War Two. Each of the following chapters trace her journey through different movements. She offers a brief historical backdrop for each, setting them in context, describes her experiences, and the “downsizing” she engaged in as she moved on–the unhelpful practices and beliefs she left behind and the valuable truths and practices she carried.

Several things stood out to me in her narrative. One is the recurring danger of abusing leadership positions and spiritual authority. Examples include the Shepherding movements, Bill Gothard’s “Umbrella of Authority,” or the Mars Hill Church of Mark Driscoll. She also recounts the chaotic revivalism characteristic of some third wave charismatic churches, emphasizing experience over discipleship. Van Loon traces the rise of Dominionism, spiritual warfare theology, and the New Apostolic Reformation, and how they have wedded themselves to conservative political movements. She observes how “[T]he hunger for dominion is at the heart of so much bad practice in the church and has overflowed in the ways in which many self-identifying evangelicals express themselves in American culture” (pp. 139-140).

For Van Loon, downsizing expresses the downward journey of following Jesus, the journey to the cross. She invites us to purify ourselves of the blemishes of evangelicalism’s harmful beliefs to become Christ’s spotless bride. The issue is not the core beliefs of evangelicalism but the craving for power and control. This could be our kids’ purity or our nation’s institutions or other members of our congregations.

Van Loon is slightly younger than I am but we share common roots in the Jesus Movement. I remember the heady passion for Christ and hopes that our generation would change the world. We did, but not in the way of our youthful hopes. I did not experience some of the movements in which she participated. But a reflective look at this fifty plus year journey is a chastening experience and moves me to lament. We failed to reckon with the lures of money, sex, and especially power. Too often, we fixed our eyes on idols rather than our risen Lord. We cannot merely “downsize” these things. We must destroy idols or they will keep cropping up, as Van Loon’s account illustrates.

Perhaps the separating of an apostate, politically captive evangelicalism from smaller bands of believers seeking to follow Jesus in witness and service, pursuing his kingdom, is all a part of God’s downsizing. Van Loon calls us to a downsizing that is not an abandoning of faith but am embrace of single-hearted pursuit of Jesus, shedding all that encumbers. I hope I might live out my days in that kind of downsizing.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Weekly Wrap: September 7-13

/ rtrube54 / 3 Comments
woman in white crew neck t shirt in a bookstore wrapping books
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

The Weekly Wrap: September 7-13

Reading and Attention

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”

These words of Mary Oliver are watchwords for my life. Arlo Guthrie, in the song “Prologue” touched on this same idea when he asked:

“Who’ll be awake when the master returns
Who will be lost in their dreams“

Attention, or attentiveness has increasingly impressed me as one of the most important qualities we need to possess, besides love, to live well. Whether paying attention to what one’s spouse, or another is saying to us, giving proper attention to the details that make for excellence in our work, or staying awake for the master’s return–attentiveness matters.

Reading both requires attention and can make us attentive. Exploring the inner world of a character trains us in empathy, a particular form of attentiveness. Sometimes, a character shines a light on our own moral failures, or inspires us to moral excellence. Then there are those books that open our eyes to a larger vision of the fabric of life and the grand story of which we are a part.

Finally, I think of the books that waken me to the rising temperature of the water in which I swim. Two examples for me are Shoshana’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny (of course, if I had read Hannah Arendt earlier, these books would have been superfluous!).

To be lost in dreams may be pleasant while being awake may mean facing a nightmare. But I’d rather be fully alive and trust that I’ll be given the wherewithal to meet whatever life serves up. And books will be among my companions on that journey

Five Articles Worth Reading

“Inarguably, the platform is the emerging locus of the literary world, and may swallow it completely in the next five years.” Ross Barkan makes this contention about Substack (on Substack) in “The Love Affairs of Prestige.” He argues that Substack newsletter reviews of books often get more attention than print reviews in literary magazines. I subscribe to a number of Substack writers and have posted some here. And it has me thinking about making some kind of move in this direction.

Speaking of Substack, Anne Trubek picks up the thread of discussion on the low rates of reading in “How to Read More.” She offers a number of practical tips including the fact that you can download 10 percent of an e-book for free on Amazon. That’s usually enough to tell you if it’s worth plunking down good money.

Sarah Chihaya review Susan Choi’s new Flashlight in “Illuminations.” Many of you will remember her from her 2019 Trust Exercise. Flashlight has been longlisted for a National Book Award in Fiction for 2025.

Pan by Michael Clune explores in fiction the very real experience of extreme anxiety that comes in the form of panic attacks. Scott Stossel review the book in “Panic Attacks and the Meaning of Life.”

Finally, on the 50th anniversary of Salem’s Lot, Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King, and a horror novelist as well, explains what made the novel so terrifying, and what it was like being Stephen King’s son in the wake of that book. The New York Times article, “So You Think Stephen King Has Scared You? Try Being His Son,” is paywall-free.

Quote of the Week

Novelist D.H. Lawrence, born September 11, 1885, wrote:

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”

That’s a personal aspiration I embrace!

Miscellaneous Musings

When I worked in campus ministry, I loved times of open questions from students. It seems the very best of what our universities and our democracy is about, so I was grieved to learn of the murder of Charlie Kirk in the midst of such a dialogue. I grieve for his wife and children. Words, not weapons. Ballots, not bullets. I know its complicated and I have friends whose lives were threatened because of Kirk who find it more difficult to grieve. Amid my grief, and all our complicated feelings, I am more deeply convinced of the importance of free speech and a free press, including book publishing without censorship or reprisals for anyone. It is the speech of freedom.

It is book award season and my newsfeed has been flooded with longlists, shortlists, and award announcements. I’m curious how widely many of these books are read. Here are the longlists announced so far for the National Book Awards. I’d love to know how many readers have heard of and how many they’ve read.

I don’t need a book club to get me to read. But I’m part of an online group that discusses religious books each Thursday. Currently, we are reading The Message of Psalms by Walter Brueggemann. It’s rich, and our discussions are “iron sharpening iron.” I’m grateful for this group that lasted through the pandemic and beyond.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Michelle Van Loon, Downsizing

Tuesday: Dorothy L. Sayers, Hangman’s Holiday

Wednesday: R.F. Kuang, Katabasis

Thursday: J. Daniel Hays, The Ichthus Christogram and Other Early Christian Symbols

Friday: Jeff Crosby, World of Wonders

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for September 7-13.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page

Review: Safe Church

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Safe Church" by Dr. Andrew J. Bauman

Safe Church, Dr. Andrew J. Bauman. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540903976) 2025.

Summary: Identifies the forms of abuse and sexism toward women in the church and practices of churches where women are safe.

Imagine with me a congregation where half or more of the members were treated as second class citizens. And imagine that for many, the poor treatment even exposed them to forms of physical and emotional abuse. It doesn’t sound like an inviting place. Yet sadly, this is no imaginary place. This is the reality for women in many congregations. Andrew J. Bauman knows. He grew up in such a congregation and even led in congregations where this was the case.

And then he began listening. He listened to scripture, observing the transformative ways both Jesus and Paul related to women. He listened to research that documented the trauma women were experiencing. And he listened to numerous women, both in his counseling practice and in a series of in-depth interviews. It transformed him from a man complicit in sexism and abuse of women to an advocate for their equality and safety in the church.

He begins by defining sexism and abuse. Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on sex. He identifies several different forms of sexism: hostile, benevolent, ambivalent, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized. The latter is especially grievous because it involves women embracing toxic messages about themselves. Then there is abuse, the improper treatment of women. This includes emotional, sexual, financial, physical, and spiritual abuse. The latter form is especially grievous in churches because God, scripture, and spiritual authority is used to control, exploit, and physically or emotionally harm women.

But why make such a big deal of this? Because it IS a big deal. In the survey of over 2800 women Bauman conducted, 82 percent stated sexism played a role in their church. Twenty percent reported being victims of sexual misconduct with another 14.6 percent responding “it’s complicated.” Over 60 percent agreed that their opportunities for ministry had been limited solely on the basis of their gender.

In subsequent chapters, Bauman considers the historic experience of women, the model of Jesus, and the biblical passages used to limit or even exploit women. Then he considers problematic theology. Firstly, there is complementarian theology and its teaching on headship, authority, and submission. He also addresses modesty and purity teaching. While Bauman’s book is not the reference work on these questions, he provides brief, well-stated answers from a biblical egalitarian perspective.

Then he moves on to the experience of trauma and abuse. He draws on his in-depth interviews with women and shows the failures of churches, who often retraumatize victims rather than create a safe space for healing. He advocates for the importance of women and people of color in leadership to ensure that women’s voices and people of color are heard.

One of the most powerful chapters in the book addresses men. He argues that men, not women, need to do the work. They need to honor, not devour women. Men need to stop denying their failures. Also, they need to quit being bystanders and speak up against sexism. most of all, they must listen to women and take their stories seriously. He also takes on the harmful and pervasive impact of pornography. Men need to say these things to men and I appreciated Bauman’s forthrightness.

Finally, Bauman concludes with a vision of church as a place for the healing of all and spells out the practices of safe churches: abuse prevention training, criminal background check, training in policies and reporting procedures, open dialogue sessions, and leadership diversity.

Some may ask if this is one more instance of “mansplaining.” Instead, Bauman spent a lot of time shutting up and listening to women. He then uses his voice, especially with other men, to join in what women have been ably saying.

Sexism and abuse are one of the reasons women are leaving the church. They also are reasons why God is withholding his blessing. You cannot harm part of the body without harming the whole. Thwarting the gifts of half the church hamstrings the whole. It is time and past time for church leaders to listen to men like Bauman.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Review: The Cost of Ambition

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
Cover image of "The Cost of Ambition" by Miroslav Volf

The Cost of Ambition, Miroslav Volf. Brazos Press (ISBN: 9781587434815) 2025.

Summary: Ambition diminishes us while a life of excellence with proper humility ennobles us and enriches our relationships.

It probably starts early. We start comparing ourselves to others. How athletic, or how smart, or how attractive, or thin. Then as we get older we measure superiority by our net worth, how many people are “under” us, by the powerful we have access to. We’re often taught that ambition is a good thing. Theologian Miroslav Volf argues that such striving demeans both us and the good after which we competitively strive. It is meaningless–how important will our follower counts be on our deathbeds? Not only that, our ambitions usually focus on only one aspect of our humanness, and that of others. Our efforts to be superior to others ignore both their uniqueness and our own.

Yet we must ask if there is something to these strivings. Volf proposes that instead of superiority, we strive for excellence. Instead of being perceived as superior by others, we can simply strive to be superior, whether it is noticed or not. Excellence answers to our deepest passions as well as the world’s need.

Volf develops his exploration of ambition through the writing of Kierkegaard, Milton, and the Apostle Paul. Kierkegaard celebrate human difference and the glory of our mere humanity. Then he explores Milton’s Satan, his striving of superiority over God, his resentment of the Son, and how he offered the same temptation to Eve. In contrast to Satan, God’s glory consists not in his superiority over his creatures but his seeking of their good.

Then Volf devotes two chapters to the Apostle Paul. Firstly, he notes Paul’s injunction to “outdo one another in showing honor” that reflects the new mind we have in Christ. Secondly, he considers Paul’s question: “What do you have that you did not receive?” He observes how Christ lowered himself to raise us all to glory. For what can we strive that we do not already possess in Christ?

Finally, Volf considers both the central figure of God’s story, and the beginnings of that story. He considers Jesus who did not come to “lord it over” others but to serve. Then he turns back to Israel, and her progenitor, Abraham. Neither was called because of their superiority, but simply because God intended to do good to them and through them. Lastly, Volf summarizes his argument with twenty-four theses that crystallize his critique of ambition and the ennobling character of humble excellence.

It seems that this is a book we might read during through the different seasons of life. In youth, it serves as a warning to alert one of the siren call of ambition. At mid-life, when despite our best efforts, we realize we may have been climbing the wrong ladder, it points the way to Christ’s downward path. Later in life, it reminds us of the intrinsic joy of generativity, of using all one has to bless others. And in the last years, we are reminded that it was all of grace.

Sadly, this is not the journey of some, who conclude their lives in disillusionment and bitterness. There are those who never stop grasping for superiority, with growing resentment for the younger ones who are overtaking one. That is the cost of ambition. Volf helps us ask whether the cost is worth it. And he shows us a better way.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The God of Monkey Science

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "The God of Monkey Science" by Janet Ray Kellogg.

The God of Monkey Science, Janet Kellogg Ray. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883193) 2023.

Summary: An evangelical Christian science educator explores anti-science beliefs and being true to both faith and science.

“There she goes again… Janet and her monkey god science” (p. 3)

Janet Kellogg Ray is a science educator. The quote is an edited response from a person who disagreed with her concerning an article about public health and explains the title of this book. This is, sadly, the way evangelicals have dismissed science-based argument, even from other evangelicals. It is an example of the growing anti-science bias of many who identify as evangelical.

It also represents the leading edge of an anti-science playbook, which Kellogg identifies:

  1. The scientific evidence is sketchy, misrepresented, or simply wrong.
  2. Science threatens faith and morality.
  3. Acceptance of science comes at a cost to personal freedoms or personal beliefs.

Kellogg Ray writes as an insider, a member of an evangelical church in which many members would disagree with her views. She’s loves Jesus. And she is also a scientist who would affirm what many in her congregation would deny. God made life in the world through evolutionary processes. God works for good to save lives through vaccine research and public health measures. And God has given insight to climate scientists of how we may care for a rapidly warming world. She also explores why many evangelicals don’t believe and often actively resist these ideas.

It goes back to evolution and a fight that began with the Scopes trial and continues through a number of well-funded organizations that use the playbook identified above, first used by William Jennings Bryan. She shows how the same arguments have been used in the resistance to public health measures and vaccines during the COVID pandemic and in resistance to scientists seeking to warn the public about human induced climate change.

Along the way she explores how the anti-science groups capitalize on “research” that is flawed in methodology and not reproducible, yet presented as credible by figures in lab coats like America’s Frontline Doctors. Not only that, many are dismissive of the work, done consciously to God’s glory, by researchers like Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, the lead NIH researcher behind development of the COVID vaccine, Dr. Francis Collins, who headed the NIH and sequenced the human genome, or Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, an environmental scientist and spouse of an evangelical pastor. Instead of celebrating how these and many other Christians have brought faith and science together, they attack them.

Kellogg Ray shows how opponents not only attack science but arouse fears that constitutional and religious freedoms will be taken away. (The irony is that many leverage social media and freely give away vast amounts of personal information while using technology that is the fruit of sophisticated scientific research!)

So, how then ought people of faith live in the modern scientific world? First of all, she calls for mutually respectful listening and conversation instead of a climate of suspicion and fear. She proposes that we speak to facts with faith. Instead of denying evolution, why not admit what science tells us but explore how Christ offers our lives meaning? How does Christianity call us beyond a “me-first” survivalism? She challenges us to step back and see the damage of science denialism in those leaving evangelical churches and others dismissive of Christianity altogether. Above all, she reminds us that if all truth is God’s truth, we need never fear the findings of science.

This was a hard book to read. It brought to mind the many fine Christians I know working in scientific research who bear wounds from the “friendly fire” of fellow believers. I’m reminded of how troubling I’ve found Christian misrepresentation, and sometimes, outright lies. It is not that others never lie, but this is never warranted by followers of the one who is Truth. I’ve watched students walk away from faith, not because of the science, but because of how their churches have dismissed their questions. It reminded me of online conversations with Christians during COVID where a reading of Constitutional rights took pre-eminence over the love of neighbor.

I have questions about how fruitful Kellogg Ray’s recommendations will be. But her concluding chapter reminds us that our call is to faith and faithfulness. But that may very well mean being the minority even in our own Christian communities. It could also mean finding common ground with non-believing but spiritually seeking people. In reading the gospels, I’m encouraged that this is where we find Jesus.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Speakeasy for review.

Review: Year of Wonder

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment
Cover image of "Year of Wonder" by Clemency Burton-Hill

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Harper (ISBN: 9780062856203) 2018.

Summary: A guide to classical music introducing readers to one selection each day with a short introduction to the composer and work.

Maybe you’ve heard a few classical music pieces like Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons or Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and thought to yourself, “I’d like to explore more classical music but have no idea where to begin.” Year of Wonder is written for you, although it offers wonders for listeners of many years as well. The book is a day by day guide focusing on one piece and one composer each day. Most of the music selections run 3-10 minutes. The introductions are a page or so.

Clemency Burton-Hill, the author of the book, is best known for her writing and programs on the BBC. She has been host of Radio 3’s Breakfast program, a host for the BBC Proms and also Creative Director, Music and Arts, at WQXR-FM in New York, perhaps the leading classical music station in the United States. She is also a musician, having performed all over the world, including playing under Daniel Barenboim. In 2020, she survived a near life-ending brain hemorrhage while in New York City.

What makes this such a marvelous book is really several things. Firstly, she writes chatty yet informative and well-researched introductions to each piece. Writing about Johann Sebastian Bach on January 1, she gives us a description of him I’ve never come across before:

“Bach was the daddy: without him there would be no jazz, funk, or hip-hop; no techno, no house, no grime. He basically wrote the blueprint for everything that was to come. His stuff is wise and witty and capacious enough to contain more than just multitudes: it contains all of everything.”

Makes you want to listen to Bach, doesn’t it?

Secondly, her love of the music comes through. She comes back to Bach on February 14 writing that his Concerto for two violins in D Minor, BWV 1043 is her “desert island disc” and that her love for it knows no bounds. Equally, she can express fury when a woman composer like Fanny Mendelsohn fails to get the recognition she deserves for her music. Burton-Hill defies the stereotype of the snobby-stuffy classical music host.

Thirdly, she doesn’t just stick with the familiar heavy hitters. She introduces us to over 240 composers. Over 40 are women. A number are people of color. They span nearly 1000 years from Hildegard of Bingen in the twelfth century to Alissa Firsova, a millennial born in 1986. She includes gay and transgender composers, and those, including Beethoven, with disabilities.

I also appreciated her candor as she introduced religious music (which is a lot of classical music!) in both acknowledging her own agnosticism yet deeply respecting the efforts of composers to express the transcendent. (I personally hope her experience will be something like that of C.S. Lewis, recounted in Surprised by Joy, who was moved by Wagnerian opera (!), among other things, to seek the transcendent.)

Never heard of Clemency Burton-Hill? Meet her in this book trailer as she introduces the book:

The daily selections are available on playlists on most music streaming platforms. Unfortunately, in my Kindle version, this information was at the end of the book. (I found the playlists both on Apple Music and Spotify by searching “Year of Wonder.” On both platforms each month is its own playlist. I also discovered that there are playlists for Another Year of Wonder, a sequel to this work, published in 2021.

Reading this was a journey of delight. There were pieces I’ve sung, pieces I’ve loved, and those that were new discoveries. Because I was reviewing the book, I took much less than a year to go through it and I didn’t listen to everything on the playlists. Perhaps in January I’ll return to spend a year of wonder with this book.

Review: New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis" by John Walton

New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis (The Lost World Series) John H. Walton with J. Harvey Walton. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514004913) 2025

Summary: Reviews his work, adds new insights and clarifications, and answers frequently asked questions.

Fifteen years ago, John H. Walton made a significant contribution to discussions of the early chapters of Genesis and the origins debate. In The Lost World of Genesis One and succeeding works he contended that God accommodates Israel’s language and culture and that the Bible was written for ancient Israel. To understand its meaning for us, we must understand its meaning for them. While he was hardly the first to make such an assertion, he offered a clarity for thoughtful readers through books organized around clear theses that he carefully elaborated.

As a result of the notice he received, he had many opportunities to engage questions, both from those who would challenge his views and from those seeking elaboration of them. In addition, he continued to study ancient near east culture, refining his understanding of the thought and cultural world of ancient Israel. In recent years, that research has been aided by his son, J. Harvey Walton, a contributor to this work.

In this work, the Waltons revisit the previous “Lost World” books in light of both recent scholarship and public engagement. This is reflected in the organization of each of the chapters. Firstly, they summarize previous material. Secondly, they elaborate new explorations since the earlier works, offering new insights and clarifications. Finally, the Waltons answer frequently asked questions.

The book opens with a lengthy discussion of methodology, focusing around his idea of “cultural rivers.” He answers questions about why ancient near east culture is so important and the assumption that Israelites thought in similar ways to their neighbors. He explores questions about cosmology and the historicity of the early chapters of Genesis.

Succeeding chapters follow the same organization, discussing:

  • Genesis 1: What kind of creation account (functional ontology)
  • Genesis 1: The seventh day and its significance (temple and rest)
  • Genesis 2: The garden and the trees (sacred space and priestly roles)
  • Genesis 2: Adam and Eve (archetypes, dust and rib)
  • Genesis 3: The serpent and fall
  • Genesis 3: The pronouncement and aftermath
  • Genesis and Science

Perhaps the most significant change in Walton’s thinking is his shift from the idea of functional ontology to creation as God bringing order. He traces this idea through ancient near east literature and how this ordering is effective in the six days of creation. He contrasts this to material accounts with the difference between building a house and making a home.

This idea of order frames his thinking in successive chapters. The seventh day rest reflects the completion of ordering, God’s sovereignty over chaos. Instead of seeing the garden as a sacred space where God dwells in a human realm, he shifts to seeing the garden as a divine realm ordered by God in which humans dwell as wardens, allowing Walton to see Adam and Eve as archetypes of us all. The Fall then is about seeking wisdom apart from God for their ordering task in the world. It is not a story of how sin came into the world but how humans seek order apart from God. The curse, thus, is the consequence or removing themselves from God’s ordered realm.

I’ve summarized a much lengthier discussion over a number of chapters. But most noteworthy through it all is the shift to the idea of order, which reflects the scholarship of J. Harvey Walton. Particularly, one sees this reflected in the excurses he contributes, which elaborate these ideas. My question as I wrestled with this is whether this represented a refinement or a scholarly rabbit trail. Some of the shifts from orthodox theology in terms of understanding of the Fall are the most noteworthy. While I have doubts about the direction the Waltons are moving, I also appreciate the scholarly engagement, the willingness to change one’s mind in the light of evidence, and the irenic spirit of this book.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.