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Review: Triune Relationality

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Cover image of "Triune Relationality" by Sherene Nicholas Khouri

Triune Relationality (New Explorations in Theology), Sherene Nicholas Khouri, foreword by Gary R. Habermas. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008843) 2024.

Summary: Argues that relationality is among the perfections of God that only a Triune God meets.

Any substantive Christian-Muslim dialogue inevitably confronts the question of the nature of God. Is God absolutely One or is God one being (or substance) subsisting in the relations of three persons? The author of this book, an Arabic scholar who has ministered in Syria proposes the following argument:

P1: One aspect of divine perfection is relationality–the greatest conceived being should be relational in order to be perfect (the greatest).

P2: The Trinity shows God as a relational divine being (intrarelational and interrelational).

C: The Trinity is noncontradictory. (p. 20)

However, Khouri believes our discussions, as well as her argument, need to be grounded in the history of the conversation. And so she begins with the early history of Islam in the eighth to tenth centuries as Christian apologists were confronted by many Christians converting to Islam. She explores how the Qur’anic objections first arose. Contrary to the traditional answer of aberrant beliefs of a weak church, she contends that Muslim ideas of the Trinity are traceable to the theotokos icons. This led to thinking of the Trinity as the Father, the mother Mary, and their offspring, Jesus.

Khouri also introduces us to three Christian apologists from this period. John of Damascus argues from the eternality of word and spirit for the Trinity. Theodore Abu Qurrah. He argues from the nature of Adam for one God in three persons: one who begets, another who is begotten, and one who proceeds. Yahya Ibn Adi takes a more philosophical approach showing that Allah may be one in one sense while multiple in another. Throughout, Khouri shows how they engaged with Muslim scholars of their time.

Then Khouri turns to our contemporary setting. First, she surveys contemporary theologies of the Trinity, considering Social Trinitarian, Latin Trinitarian, and relative identity theories. Finally, she elaborates her own argument, summarized above. She shows how explanations for God as absolutely One yet relational introduce an imperfection, dependence upon the creation, whereas the Trinity is relational within the oneness of God’s being, self sufficient and not dependent on creation.

This work is valuable on several levels. First, Khouri sets the conversation in a historical context. We equally disavow the Trinity of the Qur’an. Second, she introduces us to Arabic Christian theologians who met this challenge in the early centuries, whose arguments still have value. Third, she helps us consider why the Trinity can help us make sense of the relational character of human life. And finally, she offers a logic built on wahid, God as the greatest conceivable being. She argues that God cannot be perfect without being relational. Only the Trinity of Christianity meets that criteria.

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

Review: Heaven’s Keep

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Cover image of :Heaven's Keep" by William Kent Krueger

Heaven’;s Keep, (Cork O’Connor, 9), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781416556770) 2010.

Summary: The charter plane Jo is in in goes down in a snowstorm in Wyoming and is not found. Subsequent evidence offers hope.

Cork O’Connor is in a legal fight to keep Sam’s Place. A developer, Hugh Parmer, has visions of a luxury lakeside development and needs Cork’s land, leading to a tense confrontation and mounting legal bills. Cork even turns to applying for a deputy position in his former department to supplement his income. Jo is not happy. She is headed out the door to a conference out west of tribal elders developing gambling policies. They don’t kiss goodbye, something they’ve never failed to do.

The final leg of the flight is on a charter over rugged territory in Wyoming. A winter storm is closing in. But the pilot boasts of being able to get through. Less than an hour in, there is a jolt, then another, and the plane begins to rapidly descend. The pilot sends a mayday message. The plane goes off radar, missing without a trace in the middle of a blizzard. It is days before they can begin a search in the bitter cold…

Cork gathers the family and they live the pendulum swing between despair and hope that somehow, Jo and the others, including George LeDuc survived. Then Hugh Parmer shows up, but not to continue the property dispute. He sets all that aside and offers Cork any help he needs out of his considerable resources. When the weather in Wyoming lifts, Cork asks if he will fly him out to join the search. Or rather him and Stephen, who has had a vision. Cork recognizes that Stephen also needs to know they’ve done everything to find Jo.

And they do, including a very risky search on a hard to reach frozen lake, suggested by another vision of a local Arapaho. But they find no trace of the plane. Given the conditions, they have to conclude Jo and the others are dead. Back in Aurora, they hold a memorial for her at a gravesite without remains. They grieve and try to put life together without Jo. Eventually, Cork and Hugh Parmer get together without lawyers and work out a very different plan for the development. They protect the waterfront, and Sam’s. They join together in a grand opening and are about to celebrate together when two women ask to speak to Cork.

One is the wife of the pilot, who is being sued. The other is her lawyer, He was accused of drinking heavily the night before the flight. It’s all on a videotape they want Cork to see. There are small things, but they all add up. The man is not her husband. When Cork studies the video, he notices something else–the man fakes drinking, pouring it down his shirt. They want Cork to investigate. But one of the problems is they’d already hired an investigator, who has gone missing.

Cork realizes that Jo’s disappearance may not be due to a simple plane crash in a storm. Hugh realizes how important this is and offers his help. They visit the pilot’s hangar and find evidence that he was dead before the plane took off. They realize the answers are in Wyoming. But before they get there, they have a near fatal “accident,” clearly very carefully planned. Someone doesn’t want them to learn the truth, and heading to Wyoming is heading into greater danger. But what they’ve found also raises the possibility that the plane may not have crashed. Jo may still be alive.

While Stephen stays with Henry Meloux to undergo a vision quest, key to transitioning to Ojibwe manhood, Cork and Hugh fly to Wyoming. Surprisingly, Hugh quickly proves his worth. But will it be enough against the opposition they face? Will they find the answers they seek? Will the answers relate in any way to the visions?

The introduction of Hugh Parmer feels like he might become an ongoing character. I hope so (if they survive this book!). Cork and Hugh are good together. I also love how Stephen (no longer Stevie) is developed. He has always been courageous, but there are depths emerging. I look forward to how this young man will grow up. But running through it all are two people whose last words before they parted were conflict…and silence.

Review: Crowned with Glory and Honor

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Cover image of "Crowned with Glory and Honor" by Michael A Wilkinson.

Crowned with Glory and Honor (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Michael A. Wilkinson. Lexham Academic (ISBN: 9781683597308) 2024.

Summary: Argues for a Christian anthropology based on Chalcedon’s understanding of Christ’s person-nature constitution.

There is what seems to be a stalemate in contemporary Christian circles when it comes to anthropology. Basically it is a debate between dualism in various forms versus physicalism. In Crowned with Glory and Honor, Michael A. Wilkinson argues for beginning in a different place from discussions that are largely around philosophic categories. He believes the place to begin is Jesus Christ, who as the Incarnate Son is the human, man extraordinaire. Jesus is the ultimate expression of what it means to be human. Wilkinson believes the clearest and definitive expression of the church’s understanding of who God the Incarnate Son is may be found in the definition that resulted from the Council at Chalcedon.

To begin with, Wilkinson establishes both the biblical and epistemological warrant for defining what it means to be human in light of Christ. He then traces the antecedents to the Chalcedonian ontology of Christ. Briefly, this arose from the debates over the Trinity, how God may be both one substance (ousia) subsisting in three persons (hypostases). In a sense, Chalcedon both used and flipped this language in saying the person (hypostasis) of the Son subsisted in two natures, one divine and one human. In the incarnation, the divine person of the Son acted through a human nature with a human will.

Wilkinson offers one of the clearest summaries and explanations of the councils that led to the church’s understanding of the Trinity and of Christology I have read. However, the challenge for me was in moving from Christology to anthropology. Based on his understanding of Christology, he would argue for a similar person-nature understanding of human beings. He argues that the human person is created and exists by God’s power subsisting in and acting through a body-soul human nature. At first glance, this is an interesting alternative to the stalemate between dualism and physicalism. But I found myself considering several difficulties as I weighed the proposal:

  1. Wilkinson rightly states Christ is one divine person (hypostasis) subsisting in two natures, divine and human. Yet to argue that he is man extraordinaire, but not a human person, but a divine person subsisting in a human nature, seems problematic given the analogy Wilkinson pursues. Man ordinaire seems more human than Jesus as both human in person and nature. Wilkinson acknowledges the analogy needs to be modified but his explanations did not resolve this difficulty for me.
  2. It was unclear to me how the created human person acts through the body-soul nature.
  3. Wilkinson comes down on the side of body-soul dualism but does not explain his reasons for doing so.
  4. How is the human person different from the soul? Why is a soul necessary in this anthropology?

These difficulties noted, I am nevertheless intrigued by this proposal. It has always seemed intuitively obvious that we look to Christ for what it means to be fully human. Wilkinson adds to that intuition a biblical and theological warrant and the rich formulation of Chalcedon. Wilkinson’s mentor, Stephen J. Wellum, describes this proposal as “not the final word on the subject, but it is the place to begin.” I would agree and hope Wilkinson will continue to refine this proposal as God gives more light.

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

Review: Yellowface

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Cover image of "Yellowface" by R. F. Kuang.

Yellowface, R. F. Kuang. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780063250833) 2023.

Summary: What happens when a famous author dies immediately after sharing an unpublished draft of her latest work with her writer friend.

Athena Liu and June Hayward met at Yale. Both were aspiring writers. Athena rocketed to literary stardom. June’s book received lackluster reviews and didn’t sell. Both are living in DC and meet up. They migrate to Athena’s apartment, get drunk, and share a lot of girl talk. Athena shows June the draft of her latest, yet to be submitted book. No one else has seen it. It’s on Chinese laborers in World War I and June sees its potential. Next thing, Athena is choking, June’s efforts to save her fail, and Athena dies before help arrives. When June finally leaves, it is with Athena’s manuscript.

Reading through the manuscript, she recognizes both the brilliance and the unfinished state of what Athena had produced. At first, she edits the work as a writing exercise, for Athena. But the more she works on it, including her own extensive research, the more she considers it hers. She sends it off to her agent, representing it as her work, and not only does he think it brilliant, but so does her publisher, who offers her a huge advance. June publishes under the name Juniper Song (June’s full first name and middle name, but also ethnically ambiguous) with an equally ambiguous author photo.

The book enjoys critical acclaim…and booming sales. Then the controversy hits. At first, she has to defend herself against charge of cultural appropriation as a white girl writing on an Asian subject. Then the first allegations of plagiarism arise, which she manages to fend off, but at a steep internal psychic cost. In this sense, the novel is a kind of “crime and punishment” study of the deepening fear of being exposed coupled with the allure, yet the impossibility of coming clean. In the writing community, plagiarism may be worse than murder. But she also discovers that in stealing Athena’s work, she has become a captive to Athena’s voice, losing her own.

Kuang also exposes the capricious world of publishing, and the vicious world of social media. In particular, Kuang portrays how quickly adulation can turn to death threats and other forms of cancellation. There are even the complicated relationships between authors. June claims Athena stole from her, taking her secrets and turning them into stories. June, of course, uses this to justify her own theft.

This is not a pleasant book to read. Kuang makes us look at our rationalizations, the ways we re-narrate our stories. Simultaneously she explores the dark sides of the publishing, literary, and social media worlds. And she weaves all this together in a compelling story.

Review: The Trials of Jesus

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Cover image of "The Trials of Jesus" by Paul Barnett

The Trials of Jesus, Paul Barnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884336) 2024.

Summary: The historical and geopolitical context, the principle figures involved, and the succession of trials Jesus undergoes.

Between the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, authorities arrested Jesus, a series of interrogations and trials occurred, along with beatings, mockery, and flogging. But why was it such a convoluted process? For instance, the religious authorities were able to stone Stephen without any resort to Rome. But in the case of Jesus, he is interrogated by Annas and Caiaphas, tried by the Sanhedrin. Then he faces Pilate, who calls in Herod, who defers, and goes through a final trial and condemnation by Pilate. What’s going on?

Paul Barnett offers a thorough-going answer. First, he explains the history of the intertestamental period and the succession of powers over Judea and Jerusalem. We learn how Rome came to control what were once the lands of Israel as well as the Herod family, who were client rulers under Rome over all or part of the land. In turn, Barnett introduces the principle figures in the trial-the high priests, Herod Antipas, Pilate, and Jesus.

Barnett summarizes the message of Jesus and its reception with the people. Then we learn of the basis for the religious charges of blasphemy. Barnett sketches the accomplishments of Antipas, including the cities of Tiberias and Caesarea Philippi. It is significant that Jesus, especially after John’s beheading, avoids these cities in his Galilean ministry. Not only was it dangerous, but these cities reflected the Hellenized character of Antipas rule. We also learn that Pilate was a weakened ruler by the time the trial occurred, having lost his sponsor Sejanus to death and subsequent condemnation. He further provoked hostile Jewish reaction through several incidents of poor judgment, and created a rift with Antipas, ironically healed by the trial. Pilate was on thin ice with Tiberius.

Barnett proceeds to the trials, explaining the necessity of each and incorporating the material of both the synoptics and John. Barnett shows how, although reaching a verdict of blasphemy, because of the experience with John, and the appeal of Jesus, the Sanhedrin decide to turn him over to Roman authority on the charge of insurrection, that he was claiming to be a rival king. Yet Pilate sees through this, recognizing that the small band of Jesus’ followers are no guerilla force. Under pressure, recognizing that Jesus ministered in Herod’s territory, Pilate invites him in. But after the unhappy experience with John, Herod wants no part, although he is glad to finally see Jesus in person. Politically weak, and not wanting to offend the Jews further and create more unrest, Pilate condemns Jesus to death.

The final part of the book considers that after history. He highlights the vendetta the Annas held against the church, including the empowering of Saul, the executions of Stephen and James Zebedee, and James, the brother of the Lord. Yet all those who judged Jesus also pass from the scene, a passage Barnett traces. Perhaps most fascinating, Barnett elucidates the antinomy of the horrible injustice of the crucifixion, and what in God’s purposes, it accomplished through the Lamb of God. Finally, Barnett considers the early evidence for the birth of the church after the resurrection of Jesus.

Barnett does a masterful job in unpacking the convoluted succession of trials, using them as a lens through which he introduces the larger historical and geopolitical context. Through it all he reveals the innocence of Jesus. Furthermore, he draws out the wondrous good accomplished despite corrupt structures and a horrific sentence. This is a wonderful example of biblical scholarship in service to the church.

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

Review: John Lewis: A Life

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Cover image of "John Lewis: A Life" by David Greenberg

John Lewis: A Life, David Greenberg. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982142995) 2024.

Summary: A biography tracing the work of John Lewis from non-violent civil rights activism to Congress.

One image is etched in my mind from the Civil Rights movement. It is John Lewis being bludgeoned by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. It was Lewis, not Dr. King at the head of the march that day. His skull was fractured. But five months later, he was at the signing of the Voting Rights Act, on August 6, 1965. The one event gave the needed impetus for the other. Bloody Sunday epitomized the life of John Lewis, which helps to explain why the annual commemorations were so important. Non-violent resistance. Unwillingness to back down. Love for one’s enemy. Surrendering his body to beatings and prison.

David Greenberg, in John Lewis: A Life, traces his childhood in rural Troy, his early call to preach, and enrollment in a Nashville Seminary. Greenberg recounts how Lewis heard Martin Luther King, Jr. speak on the philosophy of non-violence on the radio, was trained by James Lawson, and quickly became a leader of sit-ins at lunch counters across Nashville. From the Nashville Student Movement, he was called upon to lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and enlisted as a Freedom Rider. More confrontations with police and arrests followed. Then the March on Washington, where he gave one of the harshest addresses, even after “editing.” Greenberg covers his work during Freedom Summer to register voters in 1964, a leadup to the campaign in Selma in March of 1965.

Subsequently, SNCC experienced turmoil. In particular, factions developed questioning Lewis’s leadership and commitment to non-violence. Ultimately, this culminated in an election forcing Lewis out of leadership. Instead, the radical Stokely Carmichael took over. He worked for a time in New York, but the work and town didn’t fit. In a chapter titled “RFK,” Greenberg chronicles the work Lewis did with RFK and the successive assassinations of King and Kennedy.

In 1969, Lewis found his feet once more around mobilizing the vote, heading up the Voter Education Project, registering over four million voters. He followed that up with a brief stint in the Carter administration. In 1981, he won a seat on the Atlanta City Council, where he served until 1986. Then, Lewis turned another corner. At the urging of his wife, he ran for the open house seat in Georgia’s fifth District. Unfortunately, his old friend Julian Bond was also running. At first, polls favored Bond. But Lewis worked hard and used the rumors of Bond’s cocaine habit against him, challenging him to a drug test. Lewis won the election but lost the friendship.

The remainder of the book covers his congressional career. While Lewis represented his district well, he never became a political leader. Instead, he was a moral leader of the House. Greenberg describes his loyalty to the Clinton’s, especially during the Lewinsky affair. This caused him problems later. He supported Hilary in her run for president against a much younger Barack Obama. Under significant pressure to support Obama, the Clinton’s graciously released him from his commitment, an act which spoke well of them. Although late in support of Obama, Lewis campaigned vigorously. Later, Obama signed Lewis’s inaugural program “Because of you, John.”

Greenberg ends the book with Lewis’s final illness from pancreatic cancer, his fight, and last act before his final decline, to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza. Speaking of his illness, he said,  “I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.”

Greenberg captures the resilience of John Lewis that only death could stop. He fought injustice without violence while never hating. He did not lose hope despite the persistence of racism. His final op-ed in the New York Times on the day of his funeral gave voice to that enduring hope, in the words “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation.” Those words, and Greenberg’s biography are good sustenance for our time.

Review: And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran

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Cover image of "And There Was Light" by Jacques Lusseyran

And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Jacques Lusseyran, translated by Elizabeth R. Cameron. New World Library (ISBN: 9781608682690) 2014 (first published in 1963).

Summary: A memoir of a blind hero of the French resistance and Buchenwald survivor.

Jacques Lusseyran lived the life of a normal, active French boy until age 8, when he became blind, due to an accident. Yet, all did not go dark for him. He writes,

“Immediately, the substance of the universe drew together, redefined and peopled itself anew. I was aware of a radiance emanating from a place which might as well have been outside me as within. But radiance was there, or to put it more precisely, light. It was a fact, for light was there” (pp. 16-17).

In this memoir, Lusseyran recounts the years between that experience and his liberation from Buchenwald by the Allies at the end of World War 2. The first part of the book recounts his adjustment to being blind, from learning Braille to enjoying the assistance of friends to live a more or less normal life. Among those was Jean, who becomes his closest friend and protector. They went through school for seven years and were deeply bound together. They were friends in heart and mind.

He became aware of the rising German threat, and learned German so that he could listen to German broadcasts. He tells the story of young men with all the hopes of advanced school students under the looming cloud that broke upon France in 1940. The following year, at age 17, he organized a resistance group, the Volunteers of Liberty, which later merged with another group, Defense de la France. He recounts the care they took to avoid betrayal. Lusseyran had an ability, by listening to determine whether someone could be trust. Sadly, in the end one of whom he had doubts betrayed them. He coordinated publication of an underground paper, eventually circulating 100,000 copies an issue. They also coordinated efforts with other groups to get downed fliers out of France. Until his arrest in 1943.

After six months at Fresnes, he was taken to Buchenwald. He avoided the hard labor of most due to his blindness and the tip of another prisoner to play up his ability to translate. Nevertheless he nearly died and recounts how the light came to him at deaths door. He spoke a song within with the words “Providence, the Guardian Angel, Jesus Christ, God.” He survived, but only to watch Jean die. Yet joy and light sustained him. He describes the decision to remain at Buchenwald when the Germans offered to take them away. Those who left were shot…and he was liberated.

Lusseyran ends the story here, although he went on to teach in the United States and receive several awards from the French government for his work in the resistance. The publisher indicates that this story was part of the inspiration for Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. In some ways, while I think Doerr writes more beautifully, this may be a more powerful story. While not preachy, it is a story of “life, light and joy by the grace of God.” Indeed, there is a luminosity that radiates from this work, even in the darkest hours of Vichy France and over a year and a half in transports and prisons. One senses Lusseyran knows that his life is not his own in a way that frees him from anxiety and despair.

Review: Faithful Politics

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Cover image of "Faithful Politics by Miranda Zapor Cruz

Faithful Politics, Miranda Zapor Cruz. IVP Academic/Missio Alliance (ISBN: 9781514007495) 2024.

Summary: Ten ways of approaching the relationship between pursuing God’s kingdom and engaging in politics.

What does it mean to be a Christian citizen? Is it possible to participate in politics while remaining faithful to pursuing God’s kingdom? And to what degree ought one try to realize the vision and values of God’s kingdom in the laws, policies, and practices of one’s country? These are some of the questions Miranda Zapor Cruz unpacks in Faithful Politics. However, if you are looking for the approach to Christian politics or a recommendation on choosing between political parties, you won’t find that here.

In all, the author considers ten approaches Christians have taken toward political engagement. Before considering these, she makes a clear distinction between the United States and the kingdom of God. Specifically, she argues one cannot conflate kingdom and country. Then she observes how Christians have always understood themselves as dual citizens, although what that meant in the first century under imperial Rome is very different from our geopolitical context. Finally, she argues that clearly recognizing these distinctions and having a clear vision of the kingdom allows us to be “salty” Christians in society.

With this in mind, she turns to different approaches Christians have taken to politics. First she considers separatist approaches that keep kingdom out of country. She distinguishes between isolationist separatism and prophetic separatism. One just keeps its distance while the other keeps distance but also speaks truth to political reality. Churches (like mine) in the Anabaptist tradition have taken this approach. The next approaches keep country out of the kingdom. This includes the Baptist separation of church and state and the two kingdoms separation of Martin Luther. Both have helped frame the historic separation of church and state in the United States.

Then we turn to the approach of “Bringing kingdom into the Country” reflected in the nineteenth century social gospel approach. This approach sought through social and moral reform to transform the country into a Christian society, an approach reflected in the civil rights movement. One thing I missed in her treatment, which includes direct action, is the role of non-violent civil disobedience. Discussion of the question of when Christians should resist unjust laws would have been helpful. Next, the author outlines two Calvinist approaches to “Keeping the Country Under the Kingdom.” One is the principled pluralist approach emphasizing God’s sovereignty over different spheres of life. The other is the direct Christian influence approach, which seeks to bring the country in line with certain Christian values and convictions.

For each of the above approaches, the author outlines strengths and shortcomings for each approach. Her next two chapters considers approaches contemporary Christians have adopted she argues are incompatible with Christian faith. The first of these is dominionism both in its Christian Reconstruction and New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) forms. She critiques the biblicism of Christian Reconstruction and the gnostic and Montanist tendencies of NAR. She notes how both apply messianic language to earthly political figures. Finally, she notes the unhealthy fruit of these movements including vigilantism and political violence.

Turning to Christian nationalism, she notes its “closed American exceptionalism,” its equation of America with Christian nationhood, and the privileging of Christianity above other beliefs. Very simply, one cannot be a faithful citizen of the Kingdom of God that breaks down every dividing boundary and be a Christian nationalist. And like Reconstruction and NAR, the endemic physical and rhetorical violence of Christian nationalism is incompatible with the way of Christ.

Cruz concludes that Christian political engagement at its best draws on the first eight approaches at their best. That is, it is salty, prophetic, separationist, social and principled pluralist. Above all, it centers faithfulness to Christ. I appreciate the historical treatment of different traditions, particularly because many Christians are unaware of the good political thought of those who have gone before them. And I appreciate her efforts to synthesize the best of these different approaches and to learn from them all. Still, I wonder if this would have been a different book if written post-January 20, 2025. Cruz notes the differences of political engagement with imperial Rome from our present day. I cannot help but wonder if there is less of a difference, and whether there might be more to learn from the first Christians.

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

Review: Cargo of Eagles

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Cover image of "Cargo of Eagles" by Margery Allingham

Cargo of Eagles (Albert Campion, 19), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087292), 2023 (first published in 1968).

Summary: Poison pen letters, a released smuggler, a murder, a motorcycle gang and a treasure in Allingham’s last Campion.

This is the last Campion story written by Margery Allingham. Actually, her husband, Philip Youngman Carter completed the book after her death. For whatever reason, I found it one of her better works.

Campion aged with his author. While in the background for much of the story, he functions as a kind of “director” for the whole. His interest centers on the Essex coastal village of Saltey, which seems to have as “salty” a reputation as its name. He sends his manservant Lugg ahead to embed in the village by buying a bungalow.

While Campion pursues behind the scenes investigations, he recruits a young historian, Mortimer (“Morty”) Kelsey to be his eyes on the ground. Ostensibly, he is researching Saltey’s colorful history as a hub for smuggling. In reality, he is taken with Saltey’s newest resident, Dido, a doctor who inherited a house from a patient. The residents do not welcome her with open arms. Instead, she received a number of poison pen letters. Then they find her agent, Hector Askew, murdered.

Meanwhile, rumors abound that a recently released convict, James Teague, released from prison and his accomplice, are back in the area to recover a hidden treasure. All this occurs amid the village’s “salty” history, and an invasion of a raucous motorcycle gang led by a hardbitten woman.

However, as readers, we wonder where is Teague? will they find Askew’s murderer? who is behind the letters? and is there a treasure? After finding several of the previous stories disappointing, this one represented a strong finish for Allingham, and for her hero Campion.

Review: Anchor of My Soul

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Cover image of "Anchor of My Soul," compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press.

Anchor of My Soul, compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609815) 2025.

Summary: A compilation of readings, quotes, poetry and works of art on the theme of trust and hope.

The year 2025 is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has chosen as a motto for this Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope.” With so many countries, and even the creation itself, in tumult, this theme speaks to a deep need in human hearts. Always, to be sure, and especially in this moment. Appropriate to this year and moment, the editors at Paraclete Press have compiled a collection of readings including short fiction, poetry, letters, speeches, and quotes. Works of art, rendered in full color complement the readings

The work consists of three parts. The first is organized under the theme “Hope is the Thing with Feathers/A Patient Waiting.” It opens with the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name and includes O’Henry’s fine short story, “The Last Leaf.” Other works include a passage from Les Miserables, set off by Van Gogh’s Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, one of Bonhoeffer’s prison letters, an excerpt from Nelson Mandela, and another short story, this by Tolstoy.

Part Two is titled “And with No Language But a Cry/Taut Expectancy.” We read of growing hope amid a German prison camp in an excerpt from Corrie Ten Boom. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” reveals his hope for “a new birth of freedom.’ In a short selection from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard explores “the secret of seeing.” Opposite this reading, we are treated to Claude Monet’s Section of the Seine, near Giverny. Other selections include poetry from John Keats (“To Hope”), an excerpt from Anne Frank, Sullivan Ballou’s last letter to his wife during the Civil War, and Chekov’s “The Student.”

The readings in Part Three appear under the theme “Lift Every Voice and Sing/Anticipate with Trust.” Of course this includes James Weldon Johnson’s poem by this name. It has become an unofficial anthem of the Black community. Read this and you may find verses you have not heard before. There’s another story by Leo Tolstoy and Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” engraved in bronze at the base of the Statue of Liberty. A selection from the ending of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis and a quote from Tolkien appear opposite Odilon Redon’s Evocation of Butterflies.

I’ve not named all the writers or artists represented here. This book, printed on quality stock is a feast for both the eyes and the heart. It is easy to lose heart in our doomscrolls of despair. The work reminds us that there is another, deeper story that we need to hear. Instead of being mired in the “Slough of Despond,” the writers invite us to join the saints through history and the many who, this year, have embarked on a “Pilgrimage of Hope.”

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