Author: rtrube54

Review: Cultural Sanctification

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment
Cover image for "Cultural Sanctification" by Stephen O. Presley

Cultural Sanctification, Stephen O. Presley. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802878540) 2024.

Summary: How the early church pursued cultural engagement through holy discernment rather than fight or flight.

How ought Christians engage a post-Christian, secular culture? Some opt for a strategy of flight, a retreat into communal Christian life exemplified by Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option. But others opt to fight to recover what they believe is a lost Christian cultural hegemony, as described in James Davison Hunter’s Culture Wars. Stephen O. Presley argues for a third way, which he calls “cultural sanctification.” Instead of turning to Benedict or Constantine, he turns to the early church of the first centuries, making its way amid the Roman empire, and many competing religious options.

Presley argues first of all that Christians exhibited a distinctive identity that began with baptismal catechesis, formed through distinctive liturgy in worship. There were doctrinal distinctives to be embraced in a rule of faith. And there were moral distinctives to be practiced in everyday life. Conversion marked a turning point between two ways–one of death and one of life. Baptism dramatically marked that turn, a dying to the way of death and a rising to the way of life.

Christians had to define what it meant to be citizens within the Roman empire. God’s transcendent sovereignty and providence framed all. Specifically, this included their belief that God bestowed political power for the purpose of promoting peace and security, enacting just laws that curbed sin, and to protect free exercise of religion. Christians walked a tension between appropriately honoring and obeying Caesar while worshiping God. This included praying for rulers, paying taxes, promoting virtue, while defending religious liberty.

Christian apologists and theologians actively engaged Roman intellectual life. Theophilus of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Origen are important examples. They had to meet the likes of Celsus, who wrote On True Doctrine, an early example of the ridiculing of Christian belief. Apologists brought together Greek education and biblical training that “plundered the Egyptians,” offering an indigenized defense and proclamation of the faith. They argued for the uniqueness, antiquity, and public good of Christianity.

In addition, the early Christians faced discernment decisions concerning their participation in everyday, public life. For example, what occupations could they pursue and how did they deal with the religious rituals associated with many of them? Likewise, were there leisure and entertainment activities in which they could partake? Also, could the growing number of converts among soldiers partake in military service? In response, Presley argues that the Christians brought a response involving contingency, sanctification, and improvisation. By this, they sought not only to preserve their own purity but to have a redemptive influence through acts of love and pursuing justice.

The faithful presence of cultural sanctification did not always transform society or even result in a peaceful life. During various periods, it meant martyrdom. Rather than losing heart, most Christians persevered because of their hope in God’s coming kingdom and the resurrection. Neither did they lodge hope in the political structures and personalities of the day. As a result, Christianity subverted the established order rather than becoming captive to it.

In concluding, Presley argues that our current, post-Christian culture is not unlike that confronting the early Christians. He argues that their example of engaging the culture, while not perfect, is worth consideration. They fostered robust catechesis and formative liturgy that shape a distinctive identity with society. They engaged intellectually, as citizens, and in public life. And they sought to live holy lives in society, honoring and obeying the authorities while giving ultimate allegiance and worship to God. Thus, Presley makes what I think a persuasive case that we may learn from the early fathers as we seek an approach to culture that is neither fight, flight, or assimilation. Rather, the way of Jesus offers a distinctive path, reflecting our distinctive identity in Christ.

____________________

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

The Weekly Wrap: November 3-9

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Image for The Weekly Wrap: person wrapping a book
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Coueism or a Better Story?

“Every day in every way I’m getting better and better”

Fans of The Pink Panther will recognize this line. But it actually goes back to the French psychologist Émile Coué. He created the fad of Coueism one hundred years ago, an early version of positive thinking. He encouraged people to repeat this phrase twenty or more times a day, believing that our positive thoughts could heal whatever ails us.

In “Stories to Live By,” Alan Jacobs, writing before the election, observed that people were engaged in a form of Coueism. They were writing articles about the victory of one or the other when polling offered no basis for prediction. By their stories, they were “striving to speak a desirable outcome into being.” Some were vindicated; some were desolated. But why do we do this?

Jacobs turns to the late Joan Didion to make sense of all this. She believed we created these stories to live by to make sense out of a chaotic and baffling world. According to Jacobs, it is that or therapy, alcohol, or church.

Yet we are inveterate story lovers and story tellers. What I wonder about is whether we need better stories than the political ones we tell and find ourselves caught up in. Maybe the instinct to lose ourselves in a good book in distressing times is not an altogether bad idea.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Speaking of losing ourselves in a good book, People offered this list of “15 Cozy, Comforting, Stress-Free Books for When You Need an Escape from Reality.” Some are old favorites and others look like fun. And some are children’s books, which we adults need as well.

I’ve loved the books of Oliver Sacks. Maybe it is because in some pictures, he and I could be doppelgangers (at least I like to think). This week, a collection of his letters and the New York Times review, “The Early Loves of Oliver Sacks: Medicine, Muscles and Motorbikes,” captures so much of why this man fascinates us.

The prolific Alan Jacobs also writes about a new book on the poet W.H. Auden, who left England in 1939 for America, becoming an American citizen. In “Auden’s Island” he considers the book’s focus on Auden before that departure, and his prophetic vision of England, the island nation in the twilight of empire.

Then there are those who stayed in England through the war. “We Shall Fight in the Buttery” reviews Oxford’s War 1939–1945. Specifically, it explores the war effort of Oxford academics and how “Oxford’s supposedly daft boffins [including J. R. R. Tolkien] helped win the war.”

Finally, “IYKYK: When Novels Speak a Language Only Part of the Internet Gets,” chronicles a niche of writing where “If You Know You Know” or you end up searching the internet to make sense of the work. I wonder about a genre built on such nich-y and fleeting references. But maybe fifteen minutes of fame is enough.

Quote of the Week

Colson Whitehead was born November 7, 1969. He made this perceptive observation:

“What isn’t said is as important as what is said.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I have an email awaiting a response from a writer asking me to review a book taking a position with which I know I disagree. I don’t mind and even like reading books I don’t agree with. I think I am generally fair about accurately representing the writer’s point of view. In this case, I think I’m interested enough to read the book. But I think it’s only fair to tell the author I disagree and let him decide whether to have the book sent to me.

I’m trying a new feature on my Facebook page, doing 90 second “reels” once a week where I read a piece of poetry. Eighty-eight percent of readers do not read poetry. Maybe I can help just a bit. The big challenge? Learning to read poems aloud. I’ve listened to some good ones–most of whom have some delightful accent, something I lack.

I’m reveling in the latest Louise Penny mystery–I have to pace myself or I would just gobble it up. In The Grey Wolf, Gamache tries to stop a monstrous evil but doesn’t know who is behind it nor who he can trust. And amid all this, there is still room for the sharing of good food and the antics of Ruth Zardo.

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for November 3-9, 2024!

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

Review: Hide My Eyes

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Hide My Eyes" by Margery Allingham

Hide My Eyes (Albert Campion Number 16), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087384) 2023 (first published in 1958).

Summary: Campion closes in on a serial killer unknowingly supported by a widow with an odd museum and a young niece visiting.

There is a serial killer at work in London. In one of the supposed murders, of a moneylender gone missing, the only clues are a witness who saw an old fashioned bus near the scene with an older couple visible as passengers, and a bloody glove. As Campion is consulting with his friend Charlie Luke, events are unfolding in a quiet suburb that will culminate in an edge-of-your seat ending.

A widow, Aunt Polly has invited a niece to come and visit. The invited niece, is married, so she sends her younger sister Annabelle, who is excited to visit the big city. She contacts an old friend in the city, Richard, to go with her to the house–someone to keep tabs. A neighborhood policeman directs them. Attached to Aunt Polly’s house is a museum of oddities, collected by her husband Freddie. While waiting for Aunt Polly, she looks around and spots an exhibit from which two figures are missing. She also activates a switch for a noisy mechanism. A suave gentleman, Gerry, helps shut it off. He is almost like a favorite son to Polly. In fact, Annabelle’s visit is Polly’s attempt to find Gerry a wife, but Annabelle is too young.

Gerry leaves while Richard is waiting. Whether from jealousy or suspicion he follows Gerry to a barbershop, calling off work and pawning a watch to have some ready cash. Gerry, noticing the absence of a watch, befriends Richard and insists he accompany him for the rest of the day to various bars and restaurants. When Gerry leaves to make a phone call and doesn’t return, and a waiter tips him off to a time discrepancy, Richard begins to suspect he’s being used for an alibi.

He’s right. Matt Phillipson is Polly’s attorney and has caught Gerry committing check fraud with a check Polly gave him. So Phillipson set up a meeting with Gerry to recover the funds. But Gerry, disguised as worker, kills him and lifts his wallet. When he looks at the contents, he finds letters from Aunt Polly. They reveal she knows of his criminal activity. And when she learns of Phillipson’s death, she will know who killed him. In shock, he leaves the wallet behind at a restaurant.

Meanwhile, Richard tracks down Gerry’s hideout at Rolf’s Dump and finds the missing wax figures, the two old people on the bus that the witness saw. While he is at the hideout, Luke and Campion are at the other end of the junkyard, where they find the old bus and further evidence. Then they find Richard at Gerry’s hideaway.

First Richard, then Campion realize that Gerry will return to Polly’s house, where Annabelle is staying. The question is, will they be able to prevent additional murders or become additional victims?

Gerry is a truly evil character–a cold-blooded and over-confident killer willing even to kill the woman, Polly, who has helped him and loved him as a son. Meanwhile, Polly has taken a “hide my eyes” approach to his crimes, which could be a fatal oversight. Personally, I thought this one of Allingham’s best.

Review: River of the Gods

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
Cover image of "River of the Gods" by Candace Millard

River of the Gods, Candice Millard. Doubleday. (ISBN: 9780385543101) 2022.

Summary: The story of the explorers who sought the Nile’s source, the clash between them, and their unsung African guide.

OK. I will admit that I am a fan of Candice Millard’s writing. I was hooked reading Destiny of the Republic, and with River of the Gods I have read all of her subsequent books. She has a capacity to help us encounter the personalities of historical figures while rendering a fascinating historical narrative. (I also have a friend, who as a history student, worked at the James A. Garfield National Historic site. She spoke glowingly of her interactions with Millard when she was researching Destiny of the Republic, on the assassination of James A. Garfield.)

With that tribute, what can be said of River of the Gods? Millard’s subject is the expeditions of two explorers and their African guide in search of the source of the Nile. Richard Burton conceived the idea. He was already a seasoned soldier and adventurer who spoke twenty-nine languages. Among his adventures, he managed to enter incognito into the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam. He made a fateful choice of an assistant, John Hanning Speke was also an accomplished soldier, an aristocrat, and ambitious.

Having secured Royal Geographic Society support (though not enough) and the support of the head of the mission on Zanzibar, they set off in 1856 with their company. Their differences quickly emerged and it became apparent that Speke thought he should lead. The tale is one of porters who abandoned them, struggles to secure adequate supplies, and debilitating tropical illnesses that laid up both men, and left Burton paralyzed below the waist for a time. But they made it to Lake Tanganyika and learned of a river at its northern end, which seemed a good candidate for the Nile. They could not reach it however (later explorations confirmed that the river flowed into, not out of, the lake).

It was time to turn back. When they reached Kazeh, Speke argued for making a brief side exploration to Nyanza, which he suspected to be the true source of the Nile. He was able to reach the Lake and gather reports of a river flowing from its north end. He was convinced the lake was the Nile’s source. When the explorers returned, they published rival and differing accounts of the journey, with Speke writing critically of Burton.

Despite his great accomplishments, Burton was overshadowed by Speke, sowing enmity. Speke, at the zenith of his fame, secured permission for a second mission in 1860, assisted by James Augustus Grant. Grant was content to be second in command. They found the outflow from Nyanza, which they renamed Lake Victoria in honor of the Queen. They were not able to follow the river the whole way, but rendezvoused with John Petherick, who had been delayed. Speke, in his anger, found other help and denounced Petherick, hampering his subsequent career.

But Speke and his expedition made it to the mouth of the Nile and back to England, to great acclaim. At the same time, Burton continued to argue for Lake Tanganyika. Finally, they agreed to a debate. But when Speke encountered Burton the day before, he fled the scene and went hunting at the family estate, dying when his gun discharged when he was attempting to climb over a crumbling wall.

Millard also recounts a third man on both expeditions, Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a former slave. Bombay turned out to be a tireless guide and a rarity–an honest man with the supplies. He managed the other helpers on the expedition, cared for Speke and Burton when they were sick, and negotiated with the various tribal leaders enroute. It’s very likely the expeditions would have failed without him. He as much as any deserved credit for the “discoveries.” Subsequently, he guided Henry Morton Stanley in his search for missionary David Livingstone and another explorer, Vernon Lovett Cameron on an east to west crossing of Africa. Stanley would later confirm that Speke had indeed found the Nile’s source.

Isabel Arundell’s love affair with and marriage to Burton makes for an interesting side story. It was love at first sight for her and she dreamed of joining in his adventures. They later met and fell in love, but her family would not approve the marriage. She was an aristocrat, Burton relatively poor. She was religious; he was an atheist. Finally they married. And she got to join him on diplomatic postings while seeking all his life to save his soul. A fascinating side story!

But the story’s center is the great ambitions and tragic conflict between Burton and Speke that overshadowed their accomplishments and ended in Speke’s death. Marginalized in life, Burton’s accomplishments, not only as an explorer, but as an anthropologist, scholar, translator, and poet came to light only after his death. Speke, despite his overweening ambition, was properly credited with the discovery of the Nile’s source. In 2009, the Royal Geographic Society finally recognized Bombay’s crucial role in the expeditions. Candace Millard, in River of the Gods, further adds luster to the careers of these three great men.

_________________

Reviews of Candice Millard’s other books:

Destiny of the Republic

The River of Doubt

Hero of the Empire

Review: J. Gresham Machen

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "J. Gresham Machen" by Ned B. Stonehouse

J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, Ned B. Stonehouse. Banner of Truth Trust (ISBN: 9781848718746) 2019 (First published in 1954).

Summary: A biographical memoir chronicling Machen’s evangelical faith and scholarship, first at Princeton and then at Westminster.

J. Gresham Machen was arguably one of the most significant thinkers in twentieth century evangelicalism. He was an exacting scholar and staunch defender of an evangelical understanding of the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterian Church. Following in the steps of the Hodges and Warfield, he sought to defend the stance of Princeton as in its orthodox adherence to a Reformed and Evangelical faith and worked against measures that liberalized the seminary. Ultimately, his ministerial credentials were revoked and he led a group of scholars to form Westminster Theological Seminary, and subsequently, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Ned B. Stonehouse was a student under Machen and one of the founding faculty, along with Machen, of Westminster. This “biographical memoir” has the character of an appreciative, though thorough, account of Machen’s life. He extensively cites Machen’s writing, including his extensive correspondence, especially with his mother. From this 600 page biography, I simply want to note some aspects of Machen’s life that were striking.

A godly family. His parents were devout yet created a culturally rich rather than stultifying environment. When Machen struggled both with intellectual doubts and uncertainties about calling, his father was unstinting in his personal and financial support, expressing confidence in his son’s judgement. Equally, his mother stood by him throughout his life, prayed constantly, and eagerly engaged even Machen’s scholarly works.

A faith tested in the wilderness. Following his studies at Princeton, he received a fellowship to study at the theological centers in Germany. While he reveled in the scholarship, he also wrestled with his faith in the face of the liberal scholarship he encountered from impressive theologians. Because of this, he delayed ordination and an appointment at Princeton, working as a lecturer while he pressed into the questions his time in Europe had raised, eventually coming back to a full embrace of the faith as expressed in the Westminster Confession. I believe it was this that made him so effective, first as a teacher, and then as an advocate as that liberal faith hit the American church.

A wise mentor. In William Armstrong, a Princeton professor under whom Machen studied and who recruited him. he was blessed with a mentor who patiently walked with Machen through his theological and vocational struggles. Armstrong remained supportive and encouraging while never dismissing Machen’s qualms. Likewise, he found ways for Machen to teach without needing to pursue ordination until he was ready.

A balance of grace and truth. Machen is known for being unafraid to challenge institutions that wavered theologically. Yet he was a man of great personal compassion. Stonehouse offers the example of his care for a converted alcoholic, at great personal cost, as well as his liberal generosity in care for others.

A careful scholar. His magnum opus was his work The Virgin Birth of Christ. Along with Christianity and Liberalism, a great work of public scholarship, both works remain in print to this day. Likewise, his New Testament Greek for Beginners served as a standard seminary text for many years. Most of his works are still in print.

A courageous advocate. Machen opposed Princeton’s board reorganization, which would (and did) weaken the theological stance of the seminary. Likewise, he challenged the theological drift within Presbyterian missions. It was this that led to revoking his ordination.

Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J. Gresham Machen leaves me wondering about our contemporary situation. The American church seems more fragmented than ever and theological orthodoxy less of a concern than ever. A reading of this work at very least ought serve as a reminder of what it means to be faithful in life and doctrine.

____________________

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

Review: The Man Within

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image for "The Man Within" by Graham Greene

The Man Within, Graham Greene. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504054003), 2018 (First published in 1929).

Summary: Francis Andrews flight from smugglers he betrayed endangers a girl with whom he takes refuge.

This is Graham Greene’s first published novel. The main character is Francis Andrews, son of an abusive smuggler. When his father died, Carlyon, his second, took him under his wing in the smuggling business. But he never fits in, no more than he did with his father. Consequently, he writes a letter to customs officers, tipping them off to the smugglers’ whereabouts.. When the customs officers show up, Andrews escapes during the fight that ensues, leaving a customs officer dead.

A group of the men are taken into custody and face murder charges. But Carlyon escapes and is hunting Andrews, his former friend. During a foggy night, Andrews flees across the downs, knowing that if Carlyon finds him, Carlyon will kill him. Desperate, he seeks shelter in a cottage whose only inhabitant is a young woman, Elizabeth. Actually, when he arrives, he finds himself face to face with a corpse, a man who had been Elizabeth’s guardian after her own father died.

Elizabeth shelters him, passing him off as her brother to a nosy cleaning woman. When Andrews tries to leave, he nearly encounters Carlyon on the road and retreats to the cottage. Elizabeth hides him and Carlyon leaves. A bond forms between them. She doesn’t want to be alone. But she also senses the turmoil Andrews struggles with in what seems a cowardly betrayal. She urges him to go to the assizes where the men will be tried, to give his testimony. He does, although he makes a hash of it. Not only is his testimony compromised by the cleaning woman, who identifies him as staying with Elizabeth, who she calls “a loose woman.” He sleeps with another woman, who was a kind of bribe for his testimony. The smugglers are acquitted and Andrews is the object of opprobrium.

Elizabeth is also in jeopardy. Carlyon is on the loose as are the other men. They know she hid Andrews. And this exposes the central thread of the whole story. Andrews struggles with seeing himself as a coward, a legacy of his father’s abuse. He saw betraying the smugglers as a way to strike back, yet betrayal feels the ultimate cowardly act. Now, will he save his own skin, confirming what “the man within” has been saying? Or will he attempt to save Elizabeth? She acted in courage in her love for him. Will he? And what risks and consequences could this mean for them both.

In a sense, Greene offers us two people dealing with a person within, the voices of the dead they are seeking to live free of. Each is bereft when they meet the other, alone in the world. Each faces the question of “is love worth the risk?” In this first published work, Greene gives us characters we come to care for and explores large questions such as the line between cowardice and courage and the risks of love.

Review: Beyond the Wager

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment
Cover image of "Beyond the Wager" by Douglas Groothuis

Beyond the Wager: The Christian Brilliance of Blaise Pascal, Douglas Groothuis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001783) 2024.

Summary: Argues that Pascal’s brilliance extends beyond his famous “wager” to his scientific, philosophic, and Christian insights.

Justly or unjustly, Blaise Pascal is often most known for his “Wager.” He argues that faith in God is in one’s best interest. If indeed God exists and rewards belief in him, this is of infinite gain while unbelief entails infinite loss. By contrast if one believes and God does not exist, the losses are relatively minimal. In Beyond the Wager, Douglas Groothuis not only defends the Wager but argues for the brilliance of Pascal, particularly as a Christian thinker, as revealed in Pensees.

Groothuis, a noted Christian apologist, has been reading Pensees since 1977. This work is a revision and expansion on an earlier work, On Pascal, published in 2003. Specifically, he adds chapters on miracles and prophecy pertaining to Christ, the excellence of Christ, “Christianity, Muhammad, and the Jews,” and on Pascals critique of politics. In addition, he includes a delightful imagined dialogue between Pascal and Descartes.

In introducing his subject, Groothuis proposes that Pascal is both well-known and unknown. He made contributions in math and science (as well as inventing the first prototype of mass transit, the omnibus). What is less understood is his brilliance as a Christian thinker. Pascal, without jettisoning reason, recognized that belief “involved submitting the core of one’s being to a supernatural being who calls one into a transformational encounter and ongoing engagement” in response to the heart’s perception of God. This is what is behind his statement that “the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” He understands Pascal as one who lived between the Medieval Age and the Enlightenment, both a devout Catholic and yet reformer in sympathy with the Jansenists. And he was both a philosopher who endorsed much of the Cartesian world, yet never separated science from God.

After a brief biography of Pascal, who died at 39, he explores how Pascal developed our understanding of both the nature and limits of science. Then he turns to the theological controversy he engaged on behalf of the Jansenists against the Jesuits. The Jesuits argued that divine choice and human freedom were incompatible and emphasized human choice. Pascal, anticipating the Protestant Reformers, argued for compatibilism, that external determination and personal choice were compatible.

Following this discussion, Groothuis turns to the Pensees, which will occupy the remainder of the book. Noting its fragmentary and incomplete nature, Groothuis calls attention to Pascal’s basic plan for the work. Pascal divided it in two parts: the wretchedness of man without God and the happiness of man with God. He defends it as an apologetic and delineates Pascal’s three orders of being: the body, the mind, and the heart. Each are essential to knowledge of God.

Subsequently, Groothuis deals first with Pascal’s arguments for God, including his sense of the limits of natural theology. Instead he shows how our human condition as “magnificent wretches” points us not only toward God but toward our need. He explores Pascal’s ideas in the light of skepticism about the hiddenness of God and how this relates to our fallenness. Groothuis show how Pascal argues from the human condition to our need for divine revelation and redemption. He then discusses Pascal’s treatment of miracles and prophecy to attest to the uniqueness of Christ as the Savior who atoned through the cross, addressing the human condition. All of this culminates in a chapter on the excellence of Christ, captured in Pascal’s description of Christ’s “offices” in 106 words. Groothuis discusses what this means for our spiritual life, our experience of suffering and for a thinking body of Christ.

Given the contemporary challenge of Islam, Groothuis shows how Pascal argued for the superiority of Christ and the Bible. Interestingly, he outlines Pascal’s argument for Christianity from Judaism and against Islam, that Jesus, not Muhammad, is the prophet foreseen by Moses. Then, Groothuis comes to the Wager, expositing Pascal’s framing of the Wager, showing how one must wager and addressing objections to the Wager. This is followed by a chapter summarizing Pascal’s critiques of culture and politics. Pascal had a penetrating view of the pomps and pretenses of politics and culture. He argues that Christ offers the only sane point in an insane world.

Groothuis concludes by commending Pascal as a guide. He is a mentor who exemplifies ardent love for Christ. Pascal’s grasp of the human condition helps us understand both ourselves and others. His literary gifts across multiple disciplines may motivate writers to excellence. As an innovative scientist, he models a philosophy of science reflecting a biblical worldview. His biting wit as he considers culture and politics challenges us to forsake worldly embraces of pomp and power for godliness. And Pensees is a goldmine of insight for apologists.

Douglas Groothuis makes a strong case for renewed attention to the life and writing of Blaise Pascal as a Christian thinker. He brings a framework to our reading of the fragmented and unfinished Pensees, helping us to recognize the intellectual as well as devotional brilliance of this work. He defends Pascal against his detractors, including the arguments against Pascal’s Wager. But beyond all this, his discussion of the thought of Pascal shows the far-reaching character of his brilliance. Now to find my copy of Pensees….

____________________

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

The Weekly Wrap: October 27-November 2

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
Image for The Weekly Wrap: person wrapping a book
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Would You Like a Side of AI With That?

It seems wherever I turn online, AI (artificial intelligence) is offering to help me. On the screen where I am writing this blog (and it is ME), there are several WordPress options to improve my blog with AI. Likewise, Microsoft’s Copilot resides on my toolbar, ready to help me at any time. Google’s AI summarizes the gist of my search results for me. Facebook now offers AI summaries of comment threads.

I’m not a Luddite by any means, and I can see some beneficial uses of this technology. But I am not a fan and I’ve not availed myself. Besides the deleterious effects I’ve seen in the academic world that has eroded both student reading and writing, I wonder what an increased reliance on AI does to our thinking and creative processes.

Part of the thinking process that I think important is the work of synthesizing and evaluating information. Yes, AI can do this efficiently and I can defer to this, but I’m troubled that I might reach different conclusions on my own. That said, I’ll admit to using AI after the fact to ensure that I’m not totally out to lunch.

I also take joy in writing. That doesn’t mean it is always easy. But the process of turning thoughts into words is deeply satisfying. It is also clarifying. Sometimes, I know more clearly what I think of something when I write. At the same time, it reminds me of my writerly responsibility. I can’t blame it on the AI!

I’m curious to know what others think. There are various ways technology can extend or enhance human work. I wonder if there are ways to use AI where it enables me to do what is not possible for me alone and yet bears the stamp of my thought and creativity. So I am cautiously open. But for now, I think I will pass on that side of AI.

Five Articles Worth Reading

In a world where so much about us is online, Lowry Pressly argues for the importance of privacy. I appreciate this extended review of Pressly’s book, The Right to Oblivion in the Atlantic article, “The Virtue of Being Forgotten.”

I consider librarians among the unsung heroes in our culture. But our heroes are burning out with the growing challenges they are facing, described in this New York Times article, “Librarians Face a Crisis of Violence and Abuse.”

I have had several adult friends diagnosed with one of the various forms of neurodivergence: ADHD, autism, dyslexia among them. “10 Books About Neurodivergence for Newly Diagnosed Adults” offers resources for those diagnosed and those who care for or work with them.

In “Nick Hornby: The Older You Get, the Less Time You Have for Bad Books,” Hornby writes, “Reading a bad novel when you are approaching pensionable age is like taking the time left available to you and setting it on fire.” I keenly understand what he is saying as a septuagenarian!

Finally, I went through a phase of reading John le Carré’s George Smiley spy novels. He was one of the few writers in this genre I really liked. I’m usually not keen on attempts by another writer to revive a series. But this Guardian review, “Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway review – this continuation of le Carré is a treat” suggests that I might give this one a try. Harkaway is le Carré’s son.

Quote of the Week

James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson, was born October 29, 1740. He made an observation many of us who love wordplay will appreciate:

“A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I asked, “What do you wish authors of books would stop doing?” on my Facebook page. It turns out that there are a lot of pet peeves. Gratuitous anything, including political views, were among the widely shared. Here’s a link to the comment thread.

I just finished Douglas Groothuis’ Beyond the Wager. I’ll be reviewing it on Monday but reading it reminded me of reading Pensees with a group of friends twenty years ago. Pascal seemed to be distinctive in his ability to bring head and heart together as he reasoned about theological and philosophic realities. Time to re-read him.

Earlier this year, I read Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Song of the Cell and loved the beauty of his medical writing. At Half Price Books to sell some books, I found an earlier book, The Gene, in the discount shelves for the princely sum of $3. Hope it is worth it. Actually, with the books I sold, it didn’t cost anything, so I think that hope is warranted!

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for October 27-November 2, 2024!

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

The Month in Reviews: October 2024

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Looking Up" by Courtney Ellis

Introduction

This month, my reviews were dropping like autumn leaves–twenty-two in all. Among them were a new and a classic work of literary fiction, books by Colm Toibin and Willa Cather respectively. I reviewed two collections of poetry, one an anthology of Catholic poetry and the other, a chapbook of nature poetry from well-known poets. Then there are always those mystery series I’m working through–two Brother Cadfael’s, a Campion, and a Cork O’Connor–all quite engaging!

Turning to non-fiction, I reviewed biographies of Civil War general James Longstreet and the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland. While we are on the topic of Cleveland, I thoroughly enjoyed Luke Epplin’s account of the 1948 World Champion Indians. And I read a strange account of a talking mongoose that haunted a family on the Isle of Man.

As always, there were some books of serious theology, including a monograph on the priest-king of Psalm 110, a finer grained study of the divine imperial cult the Apostle Paul encountered, a biographical study of John the Baptist, and a history of the Churches of Christ in America. Then there were devotional works including a collection of prayers compiled by Evelyn Underhill, a wonderful introduction to prayer practices, and a delightful book of Advent and Christmastide readings and resources for families of all ages. Finally, I rounded out the month with a fine book weaving bird watching and the grieving of a grandfather’s death, and a thought-provoking book on our beliefs and practices around death and burial.

The Reviews

The Potter’s Field (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael No. 17) Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B07B6B2CSP), 2014 (First published in 1989). The Potter’s Field, a gift to the abbey, turns out to be a mystery rather than gift when a plow turns up a woman’s body with long black hair. Review

Long Island (Eilis Lacey No. 2), Colm Tóibín. Scribner (ISBN: 9781476785110) 2024 Eilis Lacey returns to her home in Ireland when she learns the wife of a customer of her husband is carrying his child. Review

Contemporary Catholic Poetry: An Anthology, Edited by April Lindner and Ryan Wilson. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640606463), 2024. An anthology of works in diverse styles, aesthetics, and forms from 23 Catholic poets born since 1950. Review

Paul and Imperial Divine Honors, D. Clint Burnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802879851) 2024. Studies inscriptional evidence in three cities offering a nuanced treatment of the Roman imperial cult. Review

The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without, John Oakes. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781668017418) 2024. The history, science, philosophy, and promise of doing without, set against the author’s own experience of a seven-day fast. Review

Invisible Giants, Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. Indiana University Press (ISBN: 9780253341631) 2003. The story of two brothers from Cleveland who built a rail and real estate empire centered on Cleveland’s Terminal Tower. Review

Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, Elizabeth R. Varon. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982148270) 2023. From Lee’s “old war horse” to the Radical Republican who defied the “Lost Cause” and fought to vindicate his war record. Review

Christmaker, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884008) 2024. A life of John the Baptist making the case that he was a far more important figure than just the opening act for Jesus. Review

Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope Through Grief, Courtney Ellis (Foreword by Kay Warren). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007167) 2024. A birder’s guide to hope through grief consists of reflections on various birds as the author grieves a grandfather’s death. Review

Copper River (Cork O’Connor Number 6), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157817) 2009. Cork hides at a cousin’s from hit men who have wounded him only to be drawn into a search for killers preying on runaways. Review

The Beckoning Lady, (Albert Campion Number 15), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ASIN: B08CRRLLC2) 2020 (First published in 1955). While friends prepare for a midsummer party, Campion tries to unravel two murders in Pontisbright. Review

Creating a Life with God (20th Anniversary Revised edition), Daniel Wolpert. Upper Room Books (ISBN: 9780835820394) 2023. Prayer practices for relationship with God, in silence and solitude, with mind and body, alone and in community. Review

The Joy of Advent, Rebecca & Stephen Grabill, Illustrated by Claire Therese Gray. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609556), 2024. Daily readings, reflections, activities guiding families to create meaningful Advent and Christmastide traditions. Review

The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology (New Studies in Biblical Theology), Matthew Emadi. Apollos/IVP Academic (9781514007396) 2022 (Apollos [UK] website). A study of the theme of the priest king of Psalm 110, tracing this idea from Genesis through the New Testament. Review

Our Team, Luke Epplin. Flatiron Books (ISBN: 9781250313799) 2021. The story of four men who propelled the 1948 Cleveland Indians to a World Series Championship and how they changed baseball. Review

The Song of the Lark (Prairie Trilogy), Willa Cather. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504035361), 2016 (First published in 1915).  A young woman from a frontier town discovers her passion for music, eventually taking her to the world’s opera stages. Review

Lay Me in God’s Good Earth, Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007600) 2024. A Christian approach to death, care for body of the deceased, and burial, making the case for natural burial. Review

Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book, Evelyn Underhill, edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr, foreword by Eugene Peterson. SPCK (ISBN: 9780281078738) 2018. Prayers compiled in two books by Evelyn Underhill for retreats she conducted, edited into a compact edition. Review

Reviving the Ancient Faith, Third Edition, Richard T. Hughes and James L. Gorman. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802877291) 2024. A history of Churches of Christ in America, from sect, to denomination, to recent fragmentation and decline. Review

The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, Number 18), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B00LUZNZ60) 2014 (First published in 1991). A peaceful embassy with Brother Mark to two bishops results in both becoming hostages to Danes at war with Wales. Review

Gef!: The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose, Christopher Josiffe. Strange Attractor Press (ISBN: 9781907222481) 2017. The strange tale of an extra-special talking mongoose that inhabited a home on the Isle of Man in the 1930’s. Review

Poems on Nature (Signature Select Classics), various authors. Sterling Publishing Co. (ISBN: 781454944768) 2022. A chapbook of several dozen poems by the world’s greatest poets on the natural world, the air, the sea, and the land. Review

Book of the Month

Courtney Ellis’s Looking Up deftly weaves reflections on various bird with the process of grieving a beloved grandfather’s death. It is not only a profound exploration of the seasons of grief but guaranteed to make you look up and “consider the birds of the air.”

Quote of the Month

Robyn Wrigley-Carr’s, Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book work to edit the two prayer books, compiled by hand by Evelyn Underhill for the retreats she gave, is a marvelous gift. Here is one of the prayers I loved from this book:

O blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who bid your disciples stand with their loins gird and their lamps burning, be with us at this hour. Here we dedicate ourselves to you anew. Help us to run the race that is set before us with redoubled vigour and fresh vision. Teach us how to trim our lamps that they may not burn dim. Guide us to the constant recollection that the candle of the Lord is the Spirit of humanity. And by Your risen power, make us a power for you in this place, for Your own name’s sake. (Number 131)

What I’m Reading

I’m nearly finished with Ned B. Stonehouse’s biographical memoir, J. Gresham Machen. Machen taught New Testament at Princeton until a reorganization of the board communicated doctrinal drift, leading Machen and several others to found Westminster Theological Seminary. Douglas Groothuis’s Beyond the Wager is a wonderful commendation of Pascal as a theologian and apologist, far beyond his famous “wager.”

Then, in fiction, I’m reading Graham Greene’s The Man Within, his first published work. Another writer I enjoy is Candace Millard, whose River of the Gods chronicles Richard Burton and his company’s search for the source of the Nile. Finally, in my quest to grow as a reader of poetry, I am finding Abram Van Engen’s Word Made Fresh most helpful. He gives us permission to find and read poetry we enjoy and then leads us into even greater enjoyment of those works.

I was also excited to receive today Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf. I’ve mentioned a number of times how the Gamache stories got me through the pandemic. I read all eighteen and after a two year break, I’m looking forward to number nineteen and the chance to catch up with old friends in the village of Three Pines.

The Month in Reviews is my monthly review summary going back to 2014! It’s a great way to browse what I’ve reviewed. The search box on this blog also works well if you are looking for a review of a particular book.

Review: Poems on Nature

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Poems on Nature" by various poets.

Poems on Nature (Signature Select Classics), various authors. Sterling Publishing Co. (ISBN: 781454944768) 2022.

Summary: A chapbook of several dozen poems by the world’s greatest poets on the natural world, the air, the sea, and the land.

A book I’m reading on poetry right now advises that the best way to get into reading poetry is to read and notice what particularly arrests our attention and gives us pleasure.. So I decided to follow this advice with this delightful chapbook that a local bookstore threw in as an “extra” with my other purchases. Poems on Nature collects several dozen poems from some of the “greats” in poetry. These include Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Christina Rosetti, William Blake, Sara Teasdale, and many others.

The poems are organized around “Air,” “Sea,” and “Land.” I’ll mention one or two in each section that I particularly enjoyed. You’ll probably like different ones, and that is just fine!

Under “Air,” I delighted in revisiting Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Sympathy” with its famous line “I know why the caged bird sings…” I had not encountered John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Robin,” in which he recounts the words of an old Welshwoman explaining how the robin got its red breast. In addition, there are poems from Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Yeats, and others.

“The Sea” poems evoked for me something of the sea’s mysterious character. Christina Rosetti in “By the Sea” asks “Why does the sea moan evermore?” By contrast, Thomas Campion celebrates the empire of Neptune in “A Hymn in Praise of Neptune.” Then Alfred, Lord Tennyson evokes our fears of sea creatures of the deeps in “The Kraken.” I’ve always found thought-provoking the image of the ebbing of “The Sea of Faith” in “Dover Beach.”

Finally, the section on “Land begins with Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees.” We all know the opening lines “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.” But do you remember her self-deprecating concluding lines: “Poems are made by fools like me, / But only God can make a tree”? Then Vachel Lindsay speaks for every homeowner in “The Dandelion” that is “rich and haughty.” It scorns the lawn-mower, even when its “yellow heads are cut away.” “By noon you raise a sea of stars / More golden than before.”

Sara Teasdale concludes the collection with “There will come soft rains (War Time).” She describes the coming of spring in a time of war. She concludes with a haunting pair of couplets:

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we are gone.

This should give give us all pause amid our hubristic pretensions.

Poems on Nature is ideal for gifts. The first page even has “to” and “from” lines for inscriptions. The chapbook format makes for easy carrying, more portable than an e-book. It is a great introduction to several dozen great poets without the bulky anthology. I really must thank my local bookseller!