Author: rtrube54

Review: The Spiritual Art of Business

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The Spiritual Art of Business, Barry L. Rowan. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023.

Summary: An exploration of how God can work both in us and in our world through our work.

There is a popular perception that business is a soulless or soul-sucking enterprise. We hear of high-pressure business leaders demanding workers live at their place of work. We read stories of driven leaders who promise advancement in exchange for utter devotion, using people up and tossing them aside, without regard to the personal consequences. Must business be this way?

Barry L. Rowan has spent a life in business. He’s both succeeded and failing in turnaround efforts with companies, often within the C-suite, working in the communications and technology industry. His journey of connecting his daily work with the divine began with a personal turnaround story. At the age of 29 on a Colorado mountain, he faced a crisis of meaning. Why was he working so hard? His questioning led him from seeking meaning in his work to larger questions of his purpose in life, the existence of God, and if this was so, was he willing to utterly surrender his life to God? After six months of searching, of evaluating evidence he says, “I chose to believe that God exists, as the lawyers would say, on the preponderance of the evidence and would give up everything I have to follow Jesus” (p.2).

This book is a story not only of how Christ transformed his life but transformed his view of work. Instead of seeking meaning in work, he understood his calling as bringing meaning to work. He goes on to describe a four part cycle to what he calls “the spiritual art of business” and this book of 40 short chapters is organized around those four parts:

  1. Surrender. We begin by surrendering our all to Jesus.
  2. Transformation. Our lives are transformed as we go from living for ourselves to living according to God’s dynamic design.
  3. New Creation. We are realigned with God’s purposes and we then live, work, and relate differently as new creations.
  4. Into the World. God then sends us into the world and transforms the world through us.

The forty chapters that follow in these four part are short, pithy reflections beginning with a scripture text, a key idea, and a couple pages of elaboration with some explanation laced with examples and personal stories, concluded with a few reflection questions. I can see these chapters being read and pondered over morning coffee before heading out the door to work.

There is a lot more to this than an inspiring thought. Rowan makes us think, perhaps going through a process similar to his. One early chapter for example is titled “Our Essence Is Our Emptiness.” For scripture, he quotes Philippians 2:5-7 on how Christ made himself nothing as a servant and Galatians 2:20: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” His key idea is “God empties us of ourselves and fills us with himself.” He explores the idea that only when we are emptied of the idea of filling our lives that we can experience union with God and find our fullness in God. He then describes a sustainable energy business that failed when oil prices tanked and described himself as D-E-A-D to Dreams, Expectations, Ambitions, and Desires. It brought him to a realization that even very good things could not fill him. Gritty stuff. The loss of money to investors and lost jobs Not “trust God and he will make all your dreams come true.”

Rowan’s book was released this fall. Not around Lent. But I think this would make a great set of readings for the forty days of Lent. Rowan re-traces our path to the cross as we surrender all, the transformation of resurrection, the new creations we are becoming as we are aligned with Jesus, and our sending into the world as God uses our work to change both us and the world. I could see this being used by workplace groups, perhaps over a brownbag lunch. The short readings lend themselves to being read onsite with a few questions, material that could be covered in 30-45 minutes.

Toward the end of the book, Rowan writes about the why of business, speaking of value creation, that business is the one place in society that creates economic value that others distribute; that businesses can create environments where employees grow into full expressions of themselves, in the place where the most of their waking hours are invested; that businesses serve customers, contributing to their flourishing; and being valued corporate citizens, enriching their communities. It strikes me that all of this is a manifestation of the goodness and providence of God in the world. Rowan shows the way we become God’s instruments for the good work he would do in the world.

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

Wintering

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A wintry night around Christmas of 2022 shot from my front step. © Robert C. Trube

Wintering. I came across this word for the first time today in a book I’m reading, The Spacious Path. The author quoted another work that I think I want to read, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. In an interview with Krista Tippett, she described the book like this:

I wanted to make it really clear that, although a lot of Wintering is about my love of winter and my affection for the cold and even the dark, that wintering is a metaphor for those phases in our life when we feel frozen out or unable to make the next step, and that that can come at any time, in any season, in any weather, that it has nothing to do with the physical cold. So it was very useful from a narrative point of view to be able to start with what indeed happened, which was, on an unseasonably sunny day in September, just before my 40th birthday, when my husband fell very suddenly ill.

May describes the significance of wintering both in terms of the rhythm of the meteorological seasons and also the seasons of life. Many creatures hibernate, storing up food. Readers often store up books and find the early sunsets and long evening hours conducive to working through their To Be Read stacks. In cold climates, winter kills off some of the insect population. The processes of dormancy are crucial for both animals and plants–think of all those flowering bulbs!

There is evidence that people need some dormancy as well. Some experts suggest that rather than fight the urge to get extra sleep, we follow it–strengthening our immune systems and catching up from sleep deficits. In a variety of ways, winter can be about rest and slowing down. After cleaning out gardens, fall feedings, composting, and mulching, gardeners use the winter to sharpen and clean tools, to read their garden journals–what did well and what did not and why, and then plan for next year. There is the fun of going through seed catalogues, starting seeds under light, growing in cold frames and getting ready for the right planting time.

Winter is a reminder of our need for healthy rhythms of work and rest. In this, and so many ways, we try to circumvent those rhythms. I know many snowbirds who go south for winter. I won’t criticize that choice but I love the slower rhythms, the respite from outdoor chores (other than shoveling snow!) and watching the world around me both go into dormancy with the beautiful fall colors, and the emergence of renewed life in the riotous burst of spring.

May writes of wintering as a metaphor as well, of the dark seasons we face in life. In the quote above, she mentions the sudden illness that hit her husband, a burst appendix, that was followed by intestinal problems of her own, diagnosed as Crohn’s disease, and then severe emotional problems with her son. May describes winter in this way, as she reads from her book during the Tippett interview:

“It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order. Doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it’s essential. ”

The book describes how her family allowed itself to winter in these ways to heal, regroup, and get their son the help he needed. They homeschooled. She describes winter as “not the death of the lifecycle, but its crucible.”

It makes me think about “winter experiences” in our lives. There was no way to get out of them, much as we wished. No way to hop on a plane to warmer climes. Growth seemed to come as we accepted that there was no other way than to go through, to allow the season to do its work on us.

May’s book came out in February of 2020, on the eve of the “long winter” of the pandemic, and for many readers she helped them make sense of what was happening and how they might respond. I think of some of the things we learned:

  • Better self care, rest, food, exercise.
  • We learned to treasure close relationships
  • We leaned more deeply into our faith.
  • I discovered the joy of losing myself in Louise Penny’s Gamache books!
  • We gave more thought to “the nest” and deferred remodeling projects

I can’t think of any of these things I would want to stop–the winter was precious, even as it was hard. While I’m glad we have moved into a different season, I do not want to forget. Nor do I want to make light of the traumas, both physical and emotional, that the pandemic created for others. While we are eager to move on. It is important to remember those for whom it is still winter and allow them the rest and retreat they need.

I’ve grown up with winters all my life and I recognize the rhythms they bring, and the unique joys as well–the animal tracks in the snow, the bright sun after wintry greys, the crisp cold of some days that make one feel uniquely alive with the tingle of the cold on our cheeks. But perhaps it has become ho-hum and the word “wintering” makes me think afresh both of this season in the year but the “wintering” times of our lives.

And like the reader I am, I think I may get that book…

Review: Renaissance

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Renaissance, Susan Fish. Brewster, MA: Raven | Paraclete Press, 2023.

Summary: Approaching fifty, Elizabeth Fane suddenly leaves work she loves as an executive director of a non-profit and a family that has been her life, to work in the gardens of a convent in Florence, Italy.

Elizabeth Fane came across these words in a book of Dante, found in a church rummage sale:

“Midway on life’s journey I found myself alone in a dark wood where the right way was lost.”

Little did Liz realize that within a few months, she would be living these words. She was approaching fifty with a husband she loved and three grown up sons leaving home. She served as executive director of a non-profit, a job she loved and was good at. Then came the day an associate mentions something about her family that rocks her world because it was something she didn’t know.

She steps away from her work and makes plans to go to Italy, leaving family behind. She goes, not as a tourist but a garden volunteer at a convent in Florence, Italy. Florence, the heart of the Renaissance. Dante’s house. The Accademia and the Uffizi. The works of Caravaggio, da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Ancient churches, bustling markets, a glorious countryside.

Yet her life seems a dark wood. But she slowly opens up to the good food, the prayers in a grotto, conversations with Honey and Cecy and a painting of Mary, alone, that Cecy nicknames Our Lady of Perpetual Constipation. She works with the convent gardener who teaches her the work of pruning olive trees. He begins each day drinking a cup of olive oil, giving thanks both to God and the olive grove. Mornings are spent pruning, afternoons by gathering pruned branches. But what is being pruned in Liz?

Through most of the story, she keeps her secret to herself, only sharing it late in the story with Honey, who sees things differently than she. A subsequent betrayal by an old high school friend she encountered on a tour forces her to example how the secret kept from her by her husband and son affected her–not only how they saw her, but also the identity that she had constructed.

There is that painting of Mary, that hangs in her room. Not Mary with child. Not the Pieta, Mary holding her dead son. Mary alone. Mary who has said “let it be unto me…” and Mary whose own heart has been pierced with a sword. Was Mary still saying “let it be unto me”? Could Liz? What would that mean for how she saw her husband? Her son? Herself?

Susan Fish tells the story of a woman seeking her own renaissance, trying to find her way through a dark would where all the familiar trail blazes are missing. Liz’s search is juxtaposed with the beauties of Florence and it’s countryside. Yet her healing comes not from the beauties of the place but as she comes to a place of vulnerable, raw honesty, facing her anger that kept her from going to the English church, and the false self she projected to family and even herself. A profound story of a mid-life renaissance.

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

Review: A Gun for Sale

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A Gun for Sale, Graham Greene. New York: Open Road Media, 2018 (originally published in 1936).

Summary: A paid assassin murders a foreign minister of war, creating an international crisis that could lead to war but is betrayed by the middleman who paid him, who he pursues even as the police pursue him.

Raven is a paid assassin whose life represents a series of betrayals from being born with a hare lip to finding his mother dead by suicide as a child. Taking lives for hire does not trouble him. And so being hired to kill the Minister for War of Czechoslovakia is just another. He cleans up, killing the overly diligent secretary as well.

Back in England, he discovers that the payment from Mr. Cholmondeley (pronounced “Chumley”) is in stolen notes and police, in the person of detective Jimmy Mather is on his tale. He’s betrayed again by a doctor he asks to operate on the telltale hare lip. His picture is in the papers and serial numbers in the possession of shopkeepers. Betrayed. He has to flee and wants to find Cholmondeley. He spots him on a train to Nottwich, to visit a theatre he supports under the name Davis, using his patronage to pick up women actresses. Anne Crowder, Jimmy Mather’s girl is on the same train, to try out for a part at the theatre.

In short order, Anne escapes attempts of both Raven and Cholmondeley to kill her only to be taken hostage again by Raven as the police, including Mathers, converge on a coal shack where the two are sheltering. A “Stockholm syndrome” type of situation arises as Raven trusts Anne and Anne learns of the plot behind the assassination, to create an international crisis leading to a war that will profit a steel company Cholmondeley/Davis works for. But will Anne survive to tell the story and Raven to exact revenge?

Greene crafts a story at a personal level around trust and betrayal. Raven, as noted, has crafted his life story around betrayal. Anne, the hostage, is in the midst of it. She’s torn between betraying Jimmy and betraying Raven, all to save her life. The story is also about betrayal at a larger level–powerful companies manipulating foreign policy at the cost of many young lives in war (and the expendability of their assassin). Greene includes several scenes showing the vapid social relations among the elite who indulge themselves while preparing to sacrifice young lives. He reminds me of Dwight Eisenhower’s famous and prescient warning about the military-industrial complex.

This was one of Greene’s earlier novels, and in my opinion, not one of his best. Anne’s ability to get into and out of trouble stretches credulity as does the setup that she just happens to be Jimmy Mathers girl. Still, the relationship that forms between Anne and Raven, and the dialogue in the coal shack signals to me what Greene would become as a writer.

Review: The Missionary Movement from the West

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The Missionary Movement from the West (Studies in the History of Christian Missions), Andrew F. Walls, edited by Brian Stanley, foreword by Gillian Mary Bediako. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2023.

Summary: A history of the last five hundred years of Christian mission efforts from the Europe and North America.

Andrew F. Walls was perhaps the dean of mission scholars until his death in 2021. In this volume, we have his final work, a survey of mission efforts from Europe and North America over the past five hundred years. Missions historian Brian Stanley edited this work drawing upon recordings of Walls lectures, and one has the sense that we are listening to Andrew Walls.

The book is organized on a developmental theme from birth, marking the decline of Christendom, following European migrations to North America, Africa, and the East, to mid-life and the high water mark of the world Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, to old age following the Second World War, the end of colonial empires and the rise of world Christianity. He begins with tracing the transition from crusade to colonization, and with that the missions, both Catholic and Protestant that accompanied commercial efforts and European migrations. Gone was the conversion of whole peoples under Christendom but rather efforts of preaching and evangelization. Walls also sees these migrations as the beginning of an increasingly secularized Europe, signaling the death of “Christendom.”

In succeeding chapters, he covers the early mission efforts of Puritans and Pietists with native peoples in North America, focusing particularly on Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd. He recounts the rise of early missionary societies in England, the Church Missionary Society and the London Missionary Society, and the early efforts of William Carey in India. It was striking that many of the early workers were drawn from working classes, unlike the beginnings in North America in the university student movement that traces from the Haystack Prayer Meeting of 1806 at Williams College. Walls also notes the strong humanitarian impulse connected with Christian missions in this period, particularly the influence of Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect on abolishing slavery and addressing other social reforms.

The second period Walls addresses might be called “early adulthood to midlife.” He looks at nineteenth century Bible reading and growing concerns around end time prophecy and how this mobilized missionary efforts toward world evangelization. He introduces many of us to the work of Rufus Anderson of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. We learn of the early vision from Henry Venn of the idea of the national church and the first expression of the Three Self Principle–that churches be self-governing, self supporting, and self propagating. Missions forced grappling with race, culture, and society, and led to the rise of language and culture studies, particularly in the context of African mission. This was likewise true in early mission efforts in China, where it was recognized that it was not enough for the missionary to get into China. China had to get into the missionary–sometimes to the disapproval of sending boards. Walls profiles Robert Morrison, a Scot who pioneered medical missions.

The third period is the “midlife crisis period. It begins on a triumphal note with the great missionary conference of 1910 at Edinburgh, a thorough-going effort to delineate what was entailed in the “evangelization of the world in our generation.” Access to nearly every country was possible–it was simply a matter of mobilizing a missions movement–still from the West. Then in just four years came the First World War. Nevertheless, many doors were open and medical missions led the way, but became increasingly costly to mission boards with advances in medical care. Walls then features the International Missionary Council in Tambaran, India, and the signs of rising indigenous churches and strainings to shed dependence on the West that would become full-blown following the Second World War.

The final part of the book covers the movement into Old Age, exploring in successive chapters the growth of the church in a time of transition from Western mission efforts in India, China, and Africa. The book concludes with the rise of world Christianity and the movement of Christians to the West, even as the West becomes increasingly secularized.

The narrative Walls provides traces a story arc that ties a number of developments into a fascinating account. Along the way, he introduces us to the contribution of key mission leaders. He offers a thoughtful account that recognizes both the ways the mission movement was implicated at times in colonialism and at times struggled against it in thoughtfully contextualized efforts designed to foster indigeneity.

I was surprised by the absence of treatment of the Lausanne movement which certainly represented a transition from western to global Christianity. Likewise, there was no coverage of efforts centered at Fuller Seminary around missions mobilization and church growth, nor was there coverage of more recent student missions movements continuing the tradition of the Student Volunteer Movement through the series of Urbana Missions Conventions beginning in Toronto in 1946. All of these reflected the changes in understanding of the role of the West in global Christianity–although not into senescence, perhaps, but into a new paradigm of new wineskins.

Nevertheless, this may be forgiven because Walls covers something less familiar to many Western Christians–the rise of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, and both South and East Asia, where he has traced developments throughout. Walls helps us understand the role of the West in reaching our present moment, offering inspiring models and salutary lessons worth heeding by global Christian leadership.

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Mayor Jack C. Hunter

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Mayor Jack C. Hunter in 1969 when elected for his first term as Youngstown’s Mayor, Youngstown Vindicator, November 5, 1969 via Google News Archive.

[This is a post about a historical public officeholder in Youngstown. Please don’t use this article for online debates about contemporary Youngstown or national politics.]

He was the only mayor of Youngstown I ever voted for, voting for him for his last two terms in office in 1973 and 1975. He is the only mayor in Youngstown history to complete four terms as of this date. And the mayor was a Republican in a city known at that time as a Democratic stronghold.

He was born March 13, 1930, growing up in Youngstown. A graduate of South High School, he served for four years with the Marine Corps, including a tour of duty during the Korean War as a sergeant. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Denver and a Master’s degree in political science from Kent State University. He taught at Youngstown State University and served as a trust officer and then a vice president at Mahoning National Bank, a position he held prior to and after his years as mayor.

For many years, he lived with his mother on Youngstown’s Southside and in 1965 ran for councilman in Youngstown’s fifth ward where he served two terms. In 1969, he became the Republican candidate for mayor, running against incumbent, three-term mayor Anthony Flask. It was a hard fought campaign. At the time, most attributed his victory margin of 3368 votes to the recent riot and shooting at Stop 5 on Poland Avenue at the entrance to Republic Steel when two teamster factions clashed, with one man dying.

Hunter married Pauline Pieton while in office. When their first child was born at St. Elizabeth Hospital, she was greeted with a billboard at Rayen and Belmont Avenues as she drove to the hospital:

Dear Polly: If it's a girl,
think Jo-Lynn; a
good Irish-Polish name...
Jack

As it turned out, they had a boy, named Jonathan David.

While in office, he presided over the much ballyhooed Federal Plaza project, turning parts of Federal Street and Central Square into an outdoor pedestrian mall. After early enthusiasm, my sense is that it was unpopular with most Youngstown residents and Central Square was re-opened to traffic in 2004.

It seems that part of the secret of Hunter’s success was that he acted with integrity and refused to play politics. Councilman Jerome McNally, a Democrat, spoke at Hunter’s funeral of how Hunter encouraged him to enter politics and mentored him, even though they were in different parties. Former Democrat councilman Herman “Pete” Starks paid him this tribute at his funeral:

“I served under four mayors during my 22 years on council, and he was the best of them,” said Starks, who was a pallbearer for Hunter. “He was a man of his word. There was no such thing as Democrats or Republicans with Jack Hunter. He was about taking care of business.” (Source: Youngstown Vindicator)

When ground was broken for the Boardman Expressway in October of 1971, weeks before an election in which Frank R. Franko, a former Democrat mayor was running against Hunter, the two appeared together. Franko had been part of the planning of the freeway and Hunter was able to look past the rivalry in including him, along with former Democrat mayor Frank Kryzan.

Perhaps it was his good fortune to conclude his fourth term as mayor in 1977, a year before the devastating mill closures. He went on to serve ten years on the state board of education from 1982 to 1991, and then again from 1998 until the time of his death. At Hunter’s funeral, Susan Tave Zellman, Ohio superintendent of public instruction said of Hunter, “On any issue, he always asked, ‘Is it good for the children?’ ” (Youngstown Vindicator).

Throughout his life, he was a member of Pleasant Grove United Presbyterian Church as well as a number of business and civic organizations. He was known as a religious man and committed to community service, both in office and out. He died of cancer on June 9, 2001, having been diagnosed only the week before. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Jack Hunter represented a rare tradition of seeing public office as public service. He described his victory in 1969 as “not a Republican victory but a people’s victory.” In A Heritage to Share: The Bicentennial History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, he wrote in 1976:

“I dream of a day when we put behind us the pernicious doctrine of what’s in it for me, or something for nothing, and give wholly and unstintingly of ourselves to make our neighborhood, our church, our schools, our community, a better place for all persons.”

Drawing on his business background, he worked hard to practice economy in government, making the most of people’s tax dollars. Then, he went on to serve Ohio’s children. My son, who graduated from high school in 2003 was one of those who benefited from his educational leadership. Thank you, Jack Hunter, for showing us the best of what is possible for those in public office, and for your service to your country, your home town, and the people of Ohio.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Review: Creation Care Discipleship

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Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping Is an Essential Christian Practice, Steven Bouma-Prediger. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023.

Summary: A discussion of why and how earthkeeping is integral to following Christ, drawing upon scripture, Christian theology and Christian thinkers throughout the breadth of the church.

Steven Bouma-Prediger is a professor of theology at Hope College who also overseas the environmental studies program at his college. In this work, he brings those seeming disparate worlds together in framing a comprehensive argument about why Christians should care for creation. He argues for the term “earthkeeping” as the best term to express our call as disciples, going back to the call in Genesis to “serve and protect” the garden. There is much of creation we can’t care for–galaxies for example! “Stewardship” smacks of funding campaigns for the church, or a human-centered marshalling of creation’s resources for the development of the human economy.

He begins with a biblical vision of creation, focusing on how scripture begins and ends with rivers and trees. He then turns to theology and ethics, that we are holy creatures of God among his creatures, caring for a world he will come to restore and over which we will share in his rule. He then turns to the contributions made by the church’s theologians of various traditions. He references Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ but also contributions from Patriarch Bartholomew concerning creation as an integral whole, Lutheran theologian Paul Santmire, who emphasizes our partnership with creation, Rosemary Reuther’s ecofeminist and Randy Woodley’s indigenous theology emphasizing the Harmony Way and Shalom.

Having the right words is not enough if not coupled with action. Here, Bouma-Prediger’s work with students offers examples of developing ecological literacy. Bouma-Prediger places a significant emphasis on eco-justice, recognizing how often injustices fall on the backs of the powerless. He discusses simplicity, and particularly thinking less about results than doing what is right. He includes helpful practical of the small things that can make a difference. He speaks of the challenge and call to be people of faith and fruitfulness in a time of fear. He concludes the book with an extended reflection on a vision for shalom that involves not only flourishing but that understands how integral the flourishing of all creation is to our flourishing.

Between chapters, Bouma-Prediger offers biblical reflections, some of which are creative passages situating the reader within the passage. Throughout, Bouma-Prediger helps us realize how much the scriptures are set within the created order, and how deeply this matters to God. What makes this book unique, I believe, is its starting place with God’s care of creation to which we are invited to join in as earthkeepers. While the book is cognizant of our environmental challenges, far from burdening, the book holds out the deep joy of living out are calling as earthkeepers. Freeing us from results-oriented thinking, he bids us into the work of caring for our backyards, our own places, as well as seeing the neighbors for whom the call of love is to relieve them of the burdens of environmental injustices. Instead of seeing earthkeeping as something for eccentric tree huggers, Bouma-Prediger casts a vision of serving and protecting the earth simply as part of the joy of following Jesus.

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

Review: Paul Laurence Dunbar

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Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird, Gene Andrew Jarrett. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2022.

Summary: Perhaps the definitive biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first African writers to achieve fame for his poetry and other writings.

On the sesquicentennial of the birth of Paul Laurence Dunbar (b. 1872), Princeton University published this extensively researched biography of a man who, arguably was one of the first great African-American poets and writers. Born of former slaves, including an alcoholic father who soon divorced his mother Mathilda, he was able to enroll in Dayton’s top high school when few African-Americans achieved more than an eighth grade education. A classmate of Orville Wright, being educated in a classically-oriented curriculum, he began writing, teaming up on several publishing efforts with Wright.

Dunbar gained the attention of influential men like James Whitcomb Riley and Frederick Douglas early on, giving him connections, the opportunities to read his poetry, and reviewing his books. This was a mixed blessing. Fellow Ohioan William Dean Howells praised an early collection of his poetry, bringing him wider notice of the literary public but also imposing the first of the “cages” Jarrett depicts that would trouble his brief, yet brilliant career.

Dialect poetry. Howells especially praised his dialect poetry, often around scenes of southern life pre- and post-Emancipation in the language and idioms people supposed Blacks to use. Throughout his career Dunbar composed poems both in formal English and dialect, the latter to satisfy the demand of the public. This also represented a larger struggle against the racial stereotypes that both shaped public taste and yet Dunbar strove to transcend. He wanted to be known simply as a great poet, not as a Black poet.

Poverty. While publishing his first collections and trying to cultivate connections who would help publicize his work, Dunbar struggled with lowly jobs such as an elevator operator in Dayton, earning a meager $4 a week while trying to help his mother. Poverty would be a cage against which he would struggle, shaping his efforts both in writing prodigiously for papers, periodicals, several musicals, one of the early Black librettists, as well as his book publishing efforts. This also necessitated relentless travel to readings, all while working at the Library of Congress, efforts detrimental to his health.

Alcoholism. Like his father, Dunbar drank increasingly throughout his life. On the one hand, it seemed to facilitate his composing, as when he turned out a school song for Tuskegee Institute on short notice and, increasingly hampered his readings when he turned up drunk. It also released violent tendencies exacerbating problems in an already troubled marriage.

A difficult marriage. Fellow writer Alice Ruth Moore came to his notice in a magazine article and they began writing, developing a deepening bond long before they met. At this time, as throughout his life, Dunbar had flirtations (and perhaps more) with a number of other woman. For this reason, she was slow to engage, and then to set a date for a wedding. Neither her parents nor Mathilda would give the couple their blessing (and Mathilda would occupy an unhealthy place in their eventual marriage). Jarrett covers at length Dunbar’s rape of Alice (when inebriated) during their engagement. Apparently she had physical injuries requiring medical attention and leave from work. It nearly broke the engagement. After several years of marriage, there was another violent incident, leading to permanent separation (though not divorce) during which she refused to respond to his attempts to apologize and reconcile. Dunbar, in declining health, purchased a home in Dayton. living with his mother.

Tuberculosis. Through most of his adult life, Dunbar was in frail health, frequently laid low by “colds” that signaled something more. Eventually, it became clear he was sick with what was then called “consumption” and is now known as tuberculosis. During his life, before the age of antibiotics, there wasn’t a cure. Dunbar even rationalized drinking as curative. A trip to Colorado brought a remission, but after his break with Alice, his condition worsened. All he could do was read and write. The end came in February of 1906, when he was but 33 years of age. He was buried in a different part of the same cemetery where his father was buried.

Jarrett not only covers the “cages” of Dunbar’s life but also how the caged bird sang. He traces his literary career, citing a number of poems. He traces Dunbar’s transition to writing several moderately successful novels as well as the previously mentioned musical collaborations. One wonders what Dunbar would have done had he lived longer or not faced the constraints he had. Yet were these constraints the very thing that drove and inspired Dunbar?

As a fellow Ohioan, I knew of Dunbar but welcome what is probably the definitive biography on Dunbar. Jarrett confirmed to me the extent of Dunbar’s greatness. He also confirmed me in his recognition of his and my favorite Dunbar poem, “We Wear the Mask,” and arguably one of his greatest, with which I will close:

  We wear the mask that grins and lies,
  It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
  This debt we pay to human guile;
  With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
  And mouth with myriad subtleties.
  Why should the world be over-wise,
  In counting all our tears and sighs?
  Nay, let them only see us, while
        We wear the mask.
  We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
  To thee from tortured souls arise.
  We sing, but oh the clay is vile
  Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
  But let the world dream otherwise,
        We wear the mask!

Paul Laurence. Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask.” from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, ) via Poetry Foundation

Review: Sweet Danger

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment

Sweet Danger (Albert Campion #5), Margery Allingham. New York: Open Road Media, 2023 (Originally published 1931).

Summary: Campion and friends seek to prove a rural family to be the rightful heirs of Averna, an oil-rich seaside village on the Adriatic while pursued by an unscrupulous financier.

Campion and his friends Guffy Randall, Eager-Wright, and Farquharson meet up in the scenic village of Averna, on the Adriatic coast. The district is rich in oil. Campion is seeking proof that the Fitton family are rightful heirs. Their pursuit of proof takes them from Averna to a rural village, Pontisbright, in Suffolk, where they arrange to stay as paying guests of the Fitton family.

Campion isn’t the only ones seeking proof of their ownership. An unscrupulous financier, Savanake, also wants to lay claim to Averna, and along with a band of thugs is in hot pursuit, attacking and rifling the contents of the family home. Amanda Fitton captures Campion’s attention. She is a spirited red-head, seventeen and an adventurous tomboy who runs the mill and has even hooked up an electric generator. She’s clever, resourceful, and determined. She leads Campion to clues involving a crown, a drum, and a bell.

For a time, Campion abandons the scene, supposedly to go to Peru, only to show up unexpectedly in woman’s garb. Interestingly, Campion takes out an insurance policy leaving a tidy sum to Amanda. Along the way Campion and friends encounter a crazy doctor and Campion will face a fight for his life with Savanake. Meanwhile, we wait with baited breath to see if the clues will lead to decisive proof that the Fittons, and particularly Amanda’s older brother Hal, are the rightful heirs of Averna.

Allingham’s plotting is especially twisty in this book, and the reader does well to follow closely, or spend a lot of time re-reading. Campion’s attraction to Amanda, and his recognition of her resourcefulness and courage bring energy to the plot and makes me wonder if we haven’t seen the last of her. Of the “Queens of Crime,” Allingham strikes me as the least conventional, the most likely to leave the reader wondering, “where is this going?” And therein lies the fun.

Review: Pray This Way To Connect With God

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Pray This Way To Connect With God, Hal Green. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023.

Summary: A book on learning to pray, focusing on God’s initiative toward us to teach us to pray and prayer as focused on deepening our relationship with God.

“Lord, teach us to pray.” That was the longing expressed by the disciples of Jesus. Hal Green encourages us that the “good news is that God will teach you how to pray” and that the journey begins with “speaking whatever is in your heart,” that we learn to pray by praying, and that we pray as we can and not as we can’t. In a collection of readings, generally a page and a paragraph long. Green leads us into praying.

The readings are divided into eight sections

  1. About Prayer: a number of reflections on the nature of prayer: why, what to pray, how to tell if a word is from God, on distractions, and more.
  2. Breath Prayers: Explained and examples around peace, love, faith, hope, joy, gratitude, forgiveness, etc.
  3. Praying the Scriptures: A single chapter on how to pray scripture.
  4. Hebrew Scriptures: focusing on the Psalms and Prophets.
  5. The New Testament: Numerous passages from Matthew through Revelation
  6. Praying With the Saints. Prayers of the saints from Augustine to Henri Nouwen.
  7. Meditative Prayer: Resting and knowing God’s touch, breath, and gaze.
  8. Contemplative Prayer: The God Hug, Abiding Prayer, The Romance of God and more.

Green advises beginning with the prayers themselves and then going back and reading the “About Prayer.” While each reading is short, to pray the prayer meditatively may take anywhere from five to twenty minutes. This is a book to be taken slowly, taking a day or several days on the prayer in a reading.

Green leads us into prayer that isn’t about getting things from God but about communion with the Triune God of love. He speaks of desire that becomes romance, the love and being loved of lovers, of oneness with God. One senses that for those who experience this, human sexuality is a good but pale shadow of this love. This may be the journey of years. But along the way we learn to pray with scripture, to breathe in God and breathe out what is in our hearts, and to rest contemplatively with God.

There is so much wisdom here, whether it is dealing with the distraction that plagues all our prayers (that’s one of the reasons he encourages praying for five or ten minutes and not fighting oneself) or discerning if we have really heard God’s words (they are generally brief, understated, and concise, yet penetrate to the heart).

I’ve learned the most in prayer by praying along with someone further on the prayer journey, yet such people are rare. Hal Green’s book, the culmination of a fifty year journey and the leading of many prayer retreats offers us a companion who says “pray this way” and helps us to understand as best we humans can, the ways God teaches us and meets us as the lover of our souls.

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