Divine Generosity, Richard J. Mouw. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883902), 2024.
Summary: A discussion from a Calvinist perspective of how widely God’s saving mercy extends.
There is a perception of Calvinism that believes that relatively few people will be saved and that the vast majority of humanity will be consigned to everlasting condemnation. In this concise, scholarly and accessible discussion, Richard J. Mouw makes a case for a broad, though not universal, extension of God’s saving mercy.
First of all, Mouw makes it clear that he is not a universalist, not even a hopeful one. Along with N.T. Wright, Mouw holds to the importance of an accountability before God of the persistently unrepentant, including those responsible for cruelties and injustices. He also points out the dehumanizing effects of persistent rejection of God, that there is a directional character of spiritual life where the persistently unrepentant reach the point where God says “thy will be done.” Personally, I’ve thought that the outer darkness is the mercy of God to those for whom being in the immediate presence of God would be unspeakable torture.
That addressed, Mouw turns to the question of how wide may we hope for God’s mercy to be, and what sources might be drawn upon in Calvinist theology. He engages the ideas of Hoeksema and Engelsma that God’s love is restricted to the elect by drawing upon both Benjamin Warfield and Geerhardus Vos who cite biblical examples for the love of God for the non-elect. He questions whether it is hate God has when he commands Jacob return to Esau, who welcomes with open arms and forgives Jacob.
The extent of mercy broadens further with the question of unbaptized infants, showing that from the Westminster Confession, chapter ten, “that all dying in infancy are included in the election of grace, and are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit.” Shedd and Warfield also note that the article on infants allows for adults who are “regenerated and sanctified immediately by God without use of means.” He notes evidence from the papers of W.G.T. Shedd, Charles Hodge and Benjamin Warfield that there would be a large number who would be saved. He cites the work of Amos Yong that many may be In Christ who have not had “epistemic access” to the preaching of Christ. Mouw goes on to consider his encounters with both devout Muslims and Mormons. While leaving judgment to God, he urges that our response not be to express doubt about their testimony. He explores the biblical examples of those who believe on behalf of others, and raises questions of how this may be done, including in the case of ancestors of believing persons in Asian cultures.
Mouw is clear in all these instances that salvation is through the Spirit’s regenerating work, and through the justifying and sanctifying work of Christ. It is not a result of good works or devotion. What he does is uphold both God’s justice and the greatness of God’s mercy without undercutting the importance of Christian proclamation. He avoids going beyond scripture, allowing God to be God and acknowledging mystery where it exist. And along the way, he retrieves some surprising writings of W.,G.T. Shedd as well as the 19th century “Princeton theologians” who support an expansive view of divine generosity as consistent with confessional faithfulness.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
By Mabel Loomis Todd; José Joaquín de Ferrer (illustration) – Total Eclipses of the Sun (Boston, 1894), p.115. Digital scan available on The Internet Archive, Public Domain.
There is tremendous excitement around the total eclipse of the sun that will be visible over much of the United States from Texas to Maine. The path of totality passes over much of Ohio. Unfortunately, Youngstown is just outside of the path and will witness a 99.5% eclipse. (This website includes a simulation of what those in Youngstown will see). Warren and Niles or Lordstown, just to the northwest will be inside that path. Those who know eclipses say it is worth driving a few miles to see totality.
This is not a regular event. The only other time Youngstown was ever under the path of a total eclipse in the city’s history was on June 16, 1806. During that eclipse, Youngstown was within the path of totality and in fact, so was all of sparsely populated northern Ohio as far south as Mansfield. (This website shows the path of totality of that eclipse).
Youngstown had only been settled for a few years. There were people whose names many of us would recognize: James Hillman, Daniel Sheehy, William Rayen, and George Tod. In a list of township elected officials for Youngstown township from 1802, twenty-three names are listed. In all of Trumbull County in 1810 there were only 8671 people (there was no separate Mahoning County). There were less than 1,000 people in Youngstown at that time (only 2769 people lived in the city in 1860). Most were living on city lots downtown with farms in other parts of the city or various small businesses in town. There were no newspapers (only one in the state). There were no cameras (the image above was a hand-drawn illustration).
I’ve not found any accounts from Youngstown of the event. The Columbus Dispatch includes this account from Christian Cackler, a young farmer who appears to have lived near Kent:
“The day of the great eclipse was a beautiful, warm day; we were hoeing corn the second time, with only shirts and pants on, but, after the eclipse was off, the weather was so much colder that we had to put on our vests and coats to work in,” Cackler wrote. “There were frosts every month that summer; no corn got ripe, and the next spring we had to send to the Ohio River for seed corn to plant.”
Another account from the same article describes the response of some of the Indigenous People living in Portage County:
“They left the work, got out their bows and arrows and began firing their arrows up into the heavens in the direction of the slowly darkening sun, to scare off the evil spirit.”
The other significant historical story associated with the total eclipse of 1806 also concerned Indigenous People, particularly Tecumseh, who led the Shawnee resistance, and his brother, Tenskwatawa, known as “The Prophet.” By this time, they had lost most of the Ohio lands in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The two brothers had been working to build a confederation of tribes to resist further land losses. Their most immediate adversary was Indiana governor (and later president) William Henry Harrison. Harrison circulated a letter he dated April 12, 1806, attempting to discredit the brothers with their followers, challenging them to stop the sun or moon or some other great sign in nature to prove they were sent by the Great Spirit. The Prophet responded that in 50 days, the Great Spirit would take the sun in hand and conceal it, a prophecy fulfilled on June 16 around 11 am. Whether the brothers were tipped off by settlers in the know from the almanacs of the time, or not, their standing was strengthened rather than undermined.
Those of us witnessing the eclipse might do well to write down our own accounts of what it was like. Your grandchildren and great-grandchildren may well be living during the next total eclipse in 2099. Just be sure to watch with good eclipse glasses that meet ISO 12312-2 requirements. One way to tell is that you shouldn’t be able to see anything indoors and only the sun outdoors, at a brightness comfortable to your eyes. The glasses also block rays of the sun beyond the visible spectrum that can harm or permanently damage your eyes. Allow adequate time to get to, and especially from, your viewing location. Traffic jams are expected in many locations.
We are fortunate to be able to view from our backyard. Now we just find ourselves hoping Ohio’s perpetual cloud cover will clear.
To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.”Enjoy!
Summary: A memoir exploring the importance of winters in our lives and the importance of the inward turn and care for ourselves in such seasons.
In the autumn of a recent year, in rapid succession, Katherine May’s husband faced a long recovery from a burst appendix. As he recovered, Katherine got sicker with worrisome intestinal symptoms of her own. Meanwhile, her son’s struggles with school became so severe that he refused to attend. With all this, Katherine gave her notice at her teaching job. She realized this was a time of wintering, not only as autumn turned to winter, but a winter of difficulties settled into their lives. Out of this experience, as well as a formative earlier “wintering” experience of depression at seventeen, she wrote this book, arguing it is not only our physical world that needs winter but that wintering can be formative in our lives:
“Once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season in which the world takes on a sparse beauty and even the pavements sparkle. It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishments, for putting your house in order” (p. 14).
May’s book was published February of 2020, when many of us were facing the long winter of the COVID pandemic. Her book gave words to the inchoate experience of many trying to understand what had been happening and could happen in their lives during these experiences. The book traverses seven months from September through late March. The struggles leading to this onset of “winter”, the forced rest of her condition, the re-centering of life around home, including cooking to occupy the hands as well as to eat. She realizes the tension she has lived under that may be coming out in her body. She has time for books waiting to have been read. She rediscovers sleep and even the first and second sleeps with an hour or so of wakefulness between, the longer hours of sleep in winter, mimicking the hibernation of other creatures
She also discovers the life of winter. She takes saunas as part of a cruise to Iceland. She delves into the pagan festival of Samhain, at Halloween, this liminal moment between light and darkness, living and dying. With the turn to November, Samhain gives way to Cailleach, the hag deity who freezes the ground until Brighde takes over in spring. In all this she becomes newly aware of life’s cyclical character–the dropping of leaves and the buds already present for the new year. She celebrates Saint Lucy and the lighting of candles in a Swedish church. She rises early to watch the winter solstice sun rise at Stonehenge and considers the earthward religion Christianity replaced and develops both practices religious and secular to mark a pagan counterpart to Christmastide. January takes them to Norway and the northern lights. She considers the significance of wolves in nature and literature, including Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles. She describes the powerful effect of swimming in cold water with friends, even for three minutes. And as spring emerges she draws lessons from observing the merger of two colonies of bees in a hive when the queen of one is dying. She describes the re-emergence of her lost voice and her ability to sing once more under the care of a voice teacher. She speaks of how wrong it is to tie singing to talent:
“The right to sing is an absolute, regardless o how it sounds to the outside world. We sing because we must. We sing because it fills our lungs with nourishing air, and lets our hearts sour with the notes we let out” (p. 228).
May faced the onslaught of winter. Her encouragement is not to evade winter but learn from it. Take time to query our unhappiness. Slow down to take care of oneself with sleep and food and fresh air. Learn from winter in the world about us. Discover the richness in winter.
There is much of beauty in this book. I also found it a striking reflection of a turn from Christian faith while retaining its language of retreat and rest. The author recognizes what Christian spiritual directors have long known of how the liminal space of spiritual winters refine and renew, a knowledge I find many Christians trying to evade. I cannot commend the turn to pagan gods and rituals but the recognition of seasons and the importance of the practices that remind us of the story in which we live is worth reflection. For those who come across this book post-pandemic, it may offer language to reflect upon that winter in our lives. Winter comes to all of us, for many of us multiple times. Will we be spiritual “snowbirds” who flee it or will we lean into its lessons, bundle up, and grow resilient?
Summary: A mother with a Down’s Syndrome child discovers in the Beatitudes a relationship with God based on God’s love rather than our accomplishments.
A message on Lazarus spoke personally to Micha Boyett. The speaker asked why for someone so greatly loved by Jesus, we never hear Lazarus speak. The speaker wondered if Lazarus couldn’t speak–and if that was why he was so greatly loved by Jesus. We do not know for sure, but this deeply touched Boyett as the mother of a Down’s Syndrome child with autism and not able to do more than vocalize a few sounds. Living in fast-paced San Francisco where people are valued for productivity and achievement, it opened her eyes to a Jesus with a very different set of values for things not valued by society. Values that assured her of hope for her son.
In Blessed Are the Rest of Us, Micha Boyett explores the meaning of each statement in the Beatitudes, interweaving this with the story of Ace, her son. She begins with discussing the translation of makarioi, usually appearing as “blessed” in our Bibles but can also mean “happy,” “favored,” or even “flourishing.” What is stunning is that the people of whom Jesus speaks as makarioi or the “weak, the weary, and the worn out.”
For the weak, they are the caretakers of the dream of God. Imagine a parent with a Down’s Syndrome child seeing her struggling work with her child in that light. She writes of the grief of the news of the child she was carrying, the grief even her children felt at Ace’s agonizingly slow progress and the hope of a divine banquet and the foretastes in the joys of their family. She writes of meekness as the release of power and the strange wonder that only in the setting aside of our striving are we free to receive what we cannot earn because it has always been ours from the Beloved.
Boyett writes of the Beatitudes not only re-orienting what we value; they speak of the value intrinsic as the Beloved of God when we feel valueless. It moves us to forgive and seek justice, and show mercy. And it moves us to serve peace. Boyett in the chapter on peacemaking describes what, to her was a failure in such efforts, motivated out of concern she, her pastor and elder board had that the LGBTQ+ part of their church community experience greater peace. It all blew up two weeks before Boyett’s due date, This all culminated in a hard evening with their closest friends, part of the same church, who didn’t share her and the elders convictions. They say hard things, including the poor way this was implemented where it seemed a small group decided made decisions for a whole church. And then they show up when Boyett has to go on full bed rest. Boyett writes movingly of a hard, painful process of pursuing peace both with each other and for LGBTQ+ people in their congregation, and a friendship sustained by nothing other than the peace of Christ.
Along the way, Boyett writes both of the love and wonder she has for Ace, love that makes her a fierce advocate for him and others with disabilities, and how much harder it is for many persons of color. Whether you agree or not with all of Boyett’s ideas in this book, this is a profoundly prolife book in which Ace’s value, and that of others on the margins, is grounded in the counter-cultural values of the Beatitudes and a God who loves in our weakness, poverty, failures, and suffering. Ace is all of us–we just don’t know it–and through Boyett’s work, we can learn what it means to be among the makarioi.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
An Excellent Mystery, (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #11), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, 2014 (first published in 1985).
Summary: A dying monk, a refugee from Maud’s wars, arrives at Shrewsbury Abbey with a mute brother as helper and a former aide of the monk discovers that the monk’s former betrothed is missing.
Maud’s efforts to secure the throne have taken a turn for the worst. The Bishop of Winchester won’t support her, lays siege to the town, and herself becomes besieged, escaping at great loss. but in the process both the Abbey at Hyde-Mead and the convent at Wherwell are razed, the latter with both troops and sisters dying in the chapel where they had taken sanctuary.
In August, two brothers from Hyde-Mead arrive at the Abbey at Shrewsbury. The elder, Humilis, is at death’s door. He has been tended on the road by Fidelis, who has indeed been faithful in doing what could be done. When Cadfael treats him, he recognizes an old Crusader, Godfrid Marescot, who formerly had lived on a nearby estate. He’d suffered a terrible wound, rendering him unable to father children, and slowly draining him of life. Fidelis supports his efforts, and in the process Cadfael learns that Fidelis is mute.
Before he was wounded, Marescot was betrothed to Julian of Cruce. When he realized he could not truly be a husband to her, he entered the Benedictines. He sent a trusted aide, Nicholas Harnage, to break the engagement. Now, Harnage, on leave from the Queen’s army, visits his old leader. His mission is a matter of the heart. When he carried the news of the broken engagement, Julian attracted his own attention. Now he asks Humilis for his blessing to pursue her hand, which Humilis grants. Harnage’s hopes are quickly dashed. Arriving at Julian’s brothers estate, he learns he is three years too late. Shortly after he’d brought the news from Marescot, Julian entered the convent–at Wherwell. Knowing what had recently occurred, he is worried–had she escaped or died.
He sets off for Wherwell, stopping briefly at Shrewsbury. What he finds alarms him yet more. He tracks down the prioress, and learns she never arrived, they had no knowledge of her. The focus turns to the four men who escorted her, and particularly the one men, who travelled alone with her the last portion of the journey, Adam Heriet. He is found and claims he had been ordered by his lady to let her complete the last part of the journey alone. When the wife of a jeweler in Winchester is questioned about a ring that had belonged to Julian, she describes Heriet as the seller. Taken into custody, as her longtime guardian, he stoutly denies any wrongdoing but offers no explanation.
Will Julian’s whereabouts, alive or dead be discovered before the life of Humilis, rapidly ebbing away, is discovered?
A sideplot, concerning Brother Urien, who expresses his attraction to two young brothers, Rhun and Fidelis, is handled with grace, even though Urien has acted gracelessly.
And Cadfael? Besides attentive care for Humilis and his last wishes, he plays the soul of discretion in averting what could have been a great scandal for the Abbey. But to say more, would be to say too much! All in all, an excellent mystery, indeed.
Summary: Two clinicians, one a neuroscientist and the other a mental heath practitioner, explore how the findings in their two fields may combine to raise mentally healthy, loving, responsible, and resilient children.
Parenting is both a joyful and daunting task. No manuals come with our children. And the urgency seems to never have been greater, with needs for mental health counseling due to anxiety, depression, and behavioral issues rising, as are teen and young adult suicide rates.
This book combines two approaches that together seem to hold a great deal of promise. One approach is the advances in brain science, particularly as imaging helps us look at what is happening in the brain and how things like food, environmental factors, media, and repeated blows to the head affect cognitive processes and brain health. There are things that both harm and help, including parental actions at various points of brain development, particularly since the pre-frontal cortex starts developing before birth and doesn’t finish until about age 25.
The other approach, developed by the Love and Logic Institute teaches parenting with both love and logic. In an early chapter on parenting styles the authors outline how they act in a “love and logic home”:
I will treat you with respect so that you know how to treat me.
Feel free to do anything you want, as long as it does not cause a problem for anyone else.
If you cause a problem, I will ask you to solve it. Please let me know if you need any ideas for doing so.
If you can’t solve the problem or choose not to, I will do something.
What I will do will depend on the unique person and the unique situation.
If you ever believe that something I have done is unfair, please let me know by whispering to me, “I’m not sure that’s fair.”
We can schedule a time to talk. What you say may or may not change what I decide to do.
Instead of parents who are helicopter parents, drill sergeants, or uninvolved, they discuss a model of of parents as consultants. These parents cultivate deeply affectionate relationships with each child that communicate empowering messages about what their kids can do and let them do it, allowing affordable mistakes, that if possible, the children solve without parents rescuing or micromanaging.
The first part of the book includes chapters on goal setting, ways to build mental fortitude, loving discipline including the development of self-discipline (one power tip here was that when children misbehave, let them know it is draining your energy and that they will need to do something that will replenish that lost energy–as doing a parent’s chores or forgoing an activity requiring parental time). They help us recognize Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) and how they undermine our mental hygiene and how to counter them. There are a couple long chapters on raising strong and capable kids and helping them develop and maintain healthy bodies. They also include chapters on differing parental styles, helping an underachieving child, dealing with technology, and when things just aren’t working and where to get help.
The second part of the book explores specific parenting challenges from potty training to dating, including helpful sections on bullying and peer pressure. They address healthy parenting during divorce and navigating the role of a step parent. They conclude with two lists: 130 things you can do to help your kids grow up to be mentally strong and twenty things parents of mentally strong kids never do.
One of the things I liked about the book is that I felt treated with the respect and affirmation they suggest we cultivate in our homes. One had the sense that we will all make mistakes at this and that even so, there is hope. We can change and our children can grow more resilient, capable of making their own decisions and solving their own problems. I loved this idea of allowing kids to make affordable mistakes early, being allowed to resolve them as well as understanding the consequences their mistakes have for others, including the parent.
This is one of those books, if purchased during parenting years, that is likely to become worn and dog-eared from being referred to so often. There is so much good, practical information that no one could absorb in just one reading. And as one on the other end of parenting, I recognize both some of the things we got right and some of the things we can agree with our adult son that we just got wrong. It’s never too late for that kind of self- and mutual-understanding–another way we may continue to grow in resilience rather than grow inflexibly older.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Such a diverse selection here! A classic Ellis Peters mystery started the month and a new science fiction novel that has received early critical recognition. A narrative of the 2016 Fort McMurray fire, asking if this heralds more intense “fire weather” and the internal weathering resulting from racial injustice. Modern classics from Joan Didion and Howard Thurman. Fresh approaches to scripture on women, evil, and, peace. Mysteries from Margery Allingham and yet another brilliant Giles Blunt. A history of Haiti and an exploration of God’s providential history at the very beginnings of creation. An Irish collection of essays and prayers and a Lenten devotional centered on the women who traveled with Jesus. A fine refection on servanthood. A few other treasures as well–nineteen in all.
The Pilgrim of Hate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #10), Ellis Peter. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, 2014 (Originally published in 1984). The Feast of the translation of St. Winifred is the occasion of new found love, a fugitive fleeing from murder, thievery, and a miracle, all of which engage Cadfael’s attention. Review
Leadership or Servanthood?, Hwa Yung. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2021. Contends that, contrary to our focus on developing or training leaders, Jesus was concerned with the formation of servants. Review
Fire Weather, John Vaillant. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. An account of the Fort McMurray fire of 2016, when a forest fire consumed a town and became a harbinger of things to come in a hotter, drier world. Review
On the (Divine) Origin of Our Species. Darrel R. Falk. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023. Accepting the evidence for our evolutionary origins, considers God’s providential activity through his hovering Spirit and how that shaped our evolution. Review
Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion. New York: Open Road Media, 2017 (Originally published in 1968). A collection of essays, most originally published as Saturday Evening Post articles describing Didion’s first years back in California, during the height of the hippie movement. Review
The Minor Prophets: A Theological Introduction, Craig G. Bartholomew & Heath A. Thomas. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. Combines introductory discussions of the last twelve books of the Old Testament with an exploration of the theological themes of each book as well as the theological significance of the whole corpus. Review
Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love, Pádraig Ó Tuama. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2024. A book of essays and prayers, including 31 days of readings and prayers, focused on being in communion with God as we seek to live lovingly and justly in our own places. Review
The Delicate Storm(John Cardinal and Lise DeLorme #2), Giles Blunt. London: HarperCollins, 2004. A gruesome murder in the woods is soon followed by another, leading to an international investigation, a terrorist plot from the ’70’s, and a shrewd murderer on the loose, climaxed by an epic ice storm. Review
Strange Religion, Nijay K. Gupta. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2024. Roman society thought Christians weird for both their beliefs and practices, and yet oddly compelling. Review
Flowers for the Judge, Margery Allingham. Avarang Books, 2023 (Originally published in 1936). Campion is called in when a member of a publishing family disappears, only for him to be found dead in the firm’s vault, with all the evidence pointing toward younger cousin Mike as the murderer. Review
Eve Isn’t Evil, Julie Faith Parker. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. Feminist readings of biblical texts involving women, mostly from the Hebrew Bible. with one chapter on the New Testament. Review
The Bible is not Enough, Scot McKnight. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023. In reaction to the embrace by American Christians of “humane” approaches to war and Christian nationalism, calls for an imaginative and improvisational approach to living out the Bible’s vision of a peaceful world. Review
C. S. Lewis in America, Mark A. Noll with Karen J. Johnson, Kirk D. Farney, and Amy E. Black. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. An analysis of how C. S. Lewis’s works were received in the United States, considering Catholic, secular, and Protestant/evangelical critics evaluating his work between 1935 and 1947. Review
Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman (Foreword by Vincent Harding. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996 (Originally published 1949, link is to 2022 edition). Explores the significance of Jesus for the disenfranchised, the discriminated against, and those marginalized by various forms of injustice and equity. Review
Haiti: The Aftershocks of History, Laurent Dubois. New York: Picador, 2013. A history of Haiti, from colonial rule under France up to the earthquake of 2010. Review
Women Who Followed Jesus, Dandi Daley Mackall. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2024. 40 reflections through the eyes of women who followed Jesus to the cross and witnessed the resurrection. Review
Demystifying Evil, Ingrid Faro (Foreword by Heather Davediuk Gingrich). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. A biblical study of the evil and God’s work in the world illustrated by the author’s own wrestling with evil. Review.
The Limits of My World, Gregory Coles. Loveland, CO: Walking Carnival Books, 2023. A small group of people from two races encounter, and in the process, discover the challenge of communicating across two languages and a larger reality beyond their known universe. Review
Book of the Month. I found Nijay Gupta’s study of what set Christians apart in Roman society to be fascinating. They weren’t trying to be different but their beliefs and practices not only were weird but also compelling.
Quote of the Month: I loved this expression of God moving toward us as we move toward God in Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Being There.
Turning to the light the light turns to us. Moving toward the source the source moves toward us. Holding on to hope hope holds on to us.
What I’m Reading. I just finished a couple books I’ll be reviewing soon, An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters and Raising Mentally Strong Kids–chock full of helpful ideas. My appreciation of Richard Mouw is only growing in reading Divine Generosity, a Calvinist study of the scope of God’s saving work–far greater than you might think. Micha Boyett’s Blessed Are the Rest of Us is a very personal exploration of the Beatitudes by the mother of a child with Down’s Syndrome diagnosed later with autism. Wintering is an exploration of rest and retreat from a non-religious but spiritual writer. Peter Leithart’s Creator explores our theology of God through the lens of the first chapters of Genesis with an engagement with Greek philosophy. In Agatha Christie’s Passenger to Frankfurt Sir Stafford Nye has an unusual encounter with a mysterious woman in the Frankfurt airport that won’t be the last. Finally, Tomorrow a friend and I begin working our way through Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age–a huge and important book. So many good things to read.
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.
Remember Bazooka Bobble Gum, with a comic inside the wrapper for each piece? How about Tootsie Pops, with that chocolate center? There were those Red Hots, those big red balls that grew hotter as you sucked them. We loved licorice twists, Milky Ways, Hershey bars, Tootsie Rolls…and maybe Necco wafers. And remember Milk Duds! Of course at this time of the year, there were jelly beans, chocolate eggs, and bunnies. No wonder I had so many cavities as a kid!
Some of these candies are still around fifty years later. And some enterprises are bringing them back–probably for the boomers who loved them as a kid. The picture above was taken at the counter of a local family restaurant.
Many of us bought at least some of our candy at local mom and pop stores, often tucked into our neighborhoods. My wife and her friends would stop at Curry’s Pharmacy. We’d go to Mrs. Borey’s on Oakwood, just up the hill from Washington. Many of us walked past, and some like me, detoured. I can’t recall that Mrs. Borey sold anything other than candy, and maybe popsicles and ice cream bars, It was literally a store front in a residential home, where I presume someone lived. I recall hearing that the apartments next to Washington School had a store on the first floor at one time.
Further up Oakwood, across from Borts Field was Zitello’s. It was on my way home from West Junior High, so I would sometimes stop for chips, or maybe a Slim Jim. But they really did business during baseball games in the summer. Between innings, we’d run across the street and get a pop and your favorite snack.
If I was hanging out with friends during the summer, we’d often run down to “Pop’s” on Mahoning Avenue near Lakeview for our bubblegum and Red Hots or a candy bar. “Pop’s” was actually a grocery, so sometimes, particularly before Sparkle opened up the street, we’d be there to pick up some bread or something else mom needed–and get a snack on the side with the change.
This was a part of a culture of local businesses within walking distance for many of us. This is something I don’t know much about beyond my own part of the West side, and perhaps part of our vanishing local history. I’d love to hear if there were penny candy stores you used to go to at which you got your candy “fix” as a kid? Where were these stores and what happened to them?
To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.”Enjoy!
Summary: A small group of people from two races encounter, and in the process, discover the challenge of communicating across two languages and a larger reality beyond their known universe.
Tei and Kanan are Fledglings hoping to be selected as Finals. Only ten from each class are selected, the rest being archived. Kanan is a runner who can complete a circuit of the Universe they inhabit in 17 minutes. Tei delves deeply into the archives. Both expect Kanan to be selected. Instead, neither are. Then something strange happens. They announce a special Final is to be selected, an Interpreter to learn the language of beings that exist in the world above, called Natchers. Tei, of all people, is selected, for his deep delvings into the archives, from which he will learn the language. Tei and Kanan have made a promise to find each other, but Kanan will be archived. Except she uses her speed to elude capture, finding herself in a meat locker among remains without the protective shell-like skin that has already been partially stripped off her.
Suddenly she finds herself in the world above with the “Natchers” except they don’t call themselves. They speak of themselves as humans, what Kanan’s race calls itself. The people she finds herself among call Kanan’s race the Cyborgs because of the shell-like covering called “skin” worn over what the “Natchers” call skin. She discovers why communication between the two peoples is so impossible–almost everything in one language means something else, sometimes just its opposite. “Sorry,” meant genuinely is considered a word of contempt.
Both Tei and Kanan, unaware of each other, learn that the two races depend on each other. Mahlah, a swimmer, leads a raid to obtain medicine desperately needed from the Cyborgs for an ill child, using re-skinned Kanan to gain access. Eventually Mahlah is captured by the Cyborgs and is “allowed” escape with Tei. Meanwhile, Tei has learned how a single group became two races, and that the Nothing beyond, is not nothing but a larger reality and end of a story they no longer comprehend. The contact Tei and Kanan have with the Natchers, and what they learn implicate them as traitors in the eyes of both races and yet point to truth both races desperately need to understand. As Coles writes, “Truth must be a fragile thing if it only survives in one language.”
Gregory Coles has done both some incredible worldmaking and explored how languages shape societies, and how truth is perceived. And as he puts it toward the conclusion of the work:
“The walls of the human world–the boundaries of their worlds–kept them from seeing the one sight that might have opened their eyes” (p. 322).
This is Gregory Coles first work of science fiction. It is the Foreword INDIES Award Finalist for science fiction in 2023, Kirkus Reviews Starred Pick, and a PW Booklife Editor’s Pick. I thoroughly enjoyed the twisty plot, the development of Tei, the descriptions of the Universe they inhabit, and the rich exploration of how language works. I hope I will see more from this writer.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Demystifying Evil, Ingrid Faro (Foreword by Heather Davediuk Gingrich). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023.
Summary: A biblical study of the evil and God’s work in the world illustrated by the author’s own wrestling with evil.
Ingrid Faro tells us at the outset: “The purpose of this book is to demystify evil by taking it out of its dark corners, finding out where it comes from, asking why, and exploring how it operates to disrupt and disable our lives.” Faro does this both through extensive discussion of relevant scripture, but also through personal narratives in each chapter related to the chapter material.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the book is how bluntly, and at points, terrifyingly honest she is in these narratives, justifying the trigger warnings at the beginning of this book. The most memorable example is her description of the evil spirit that inhabited her late husband from his time in Vietnam. “Sergeant Rock” offered him protection as he learned to be a trained assassin, sometimes participating in horrific realities. After his conversion, he recognized Sergeant Rock as a demon, and gained a measure of freedom although the demon sought, and sometimes gained control telling Ingrid Faro, “You’re not welcome here! Get out!” to which she replied, “No! You’re not welcome here! You get out now!” and it did.
The book is organized in five parts. The first, on “wrestling with evil” distinguishes evil, suffering, and pain and discusses the ambiguity of evil–the different things evil can mean to different people. She then focuses on a biblical definition of evil as “the corruption of good, with an emphasis on God’s creational goodness.” Part two begins with natural causes, noting the action-consequence character of reality–“You reap what you sow” This last idea has in it the concept of seed–so much in life emerges from seed–plants, animals, and humans. But also words that produce actions and bear consequences, for good in God’s creation, and ill, when evil enters in at the fall. She turns to nature, whose processes may be both good and evil in their impact on humans but may also be shaped for good and harm by human beings.
Part three considers human causes of evil. Faro begins with human need and desire, made for good by God but capable of working for ill to us and others when inordinately pursued. Then she focuses on self-sufficiency as the root of both our pride and insecurity. She addresses our human responsibility and authority as beings in God’s image. Our call is to reflect God’s character and guard his garden, his temple. When asked why God allows so much evil, her reply is, why do humans in God’s image allow so much evil? She then looks at our role to restore the world under the redemptive work of God in Christ.
Part four challenges the illusions people have about the personal spiritual forces for good and evil in the world–Satan, demons, angels, and other spiritual beings. Another reality little considered is what she calls the divine council and the rules of engagement and the cosmic involvement in human systems. Perhaps Neil Gaiman in American Gods wasn’t entirely out to lunch!
Finally, Part five develops God’s response to evil. Faro begins with the power of mercy and grace and how this triumphs over evil and its judgment ultimately in the cross. She builds on this to explore forgiveness, including sharing a tremendous forgiveness story. Finally, Faro discusses the idea of the beauty that comes from ashes when the followers of Jesus follow the one who absorbed the consequences of the evil we have done and the evil done to us, freeing us to live as his royal family, one that repays evil with good and so heals the fabric of the world.
For all the sobering material and stories about evil, Faro shows us the power of God that overcomes through grace and mercy and the agency we have as God’s redeemed creatures, in resisting evil and evil forces as we guard God’s garden. We are not hapless victims. Even aside from her stories, this is no mere intellectual treatise on evil but actually a field manual for spiritual warfare. Faro shows us how to live both as those liberated from evil and empowered to resist it with gospel authority. What our enemy would shroud in darkness is brought to light. What our enemy would obscure of the works of God are uncovered. This is a book that will teach us to “fear no evil.”
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
