On Books

Review: J. Gresham Machen

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Cover image of "J. Gresham Machen" by Ned B. Stonehouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: The Man Within

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Cover image for "The Man Within" by Graham Greene

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Beyond the Wager

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Cover image of "Beyond the Wager" by Douglas Groothuis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Poems on Nature

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Cover image of "Poems on Nature" by various poets.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Gef!

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Cover image of "Gef!" by Christopher Josiffe

Gef!: The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose, Christopher Josiffe. Strange Attractor Press (ISBN: 9781907222481) 2017.

Summary: The strange tale of an extra-special talking mongoose that inhabited a home on the Isle of Man in the 1930’s.

This book, a gift, is definitely outside the wheelhouse of what I usually review. Specifically, I’ve never been a fan of the paranormal. That is the best category I can come up with for this “strange tale.” James Irving had been a successful agent of the Dominion piano and organ company until the business collapsed in World War I. In 1916, he purchased a farm estate on the Isle of Man known as Dorlish Cashen. Eventually he and his wife Margaret moved to the isolated location to take up farming. Their older children were already living apart from them. A daughter, Voirrey, was born in 1918. They tried to fit in but were perceived as aloof outsiders. And they barely subsisted as farmers.

In late 1931, when Voirrey was 13, they started noticing taps and thumps around the house. A creature appeared to be living in the walls, especially in proximity to Voirrey’s room. After several weeks of interacting with James in a variety of screeches, it began speaking. At first, the creature wasn’t pleasant. It seemed to be drawn to Voirrey but also watched Margaret disrobe. It spit through gaps in boards. And it urinated. A scary nuisance. This continued for about ten years until the creature disappeared.

Word spread as James talked with locals, some who thought the site had always been a bit strange. Then a number of experts in the paranormal visited. Believed originally to be some form of a “man-weasel” most concluded from glimpses that the creature was a mongoose with unusual powers, including clairvoyance.

This book is a recent effort to tell the story of all the efforts to figure out what was going on. What kind of creature was this? How could it speak? Was some kind of spiritual presence involved or was this an elaborate hoax (although one without benefit to the Irvings)? The book reproduces news clippings from the time as well as photographs of the family, the farm, and indistinct photos of the creature. Efforts to photograph, collect paw prints, and hair samples were inconclusive at best. Yet phenomena experienced by the family and some of the visitors (Gef did not perform on demand) suggest there really was some form of strange presence.

Josiffe considers various theories about the creature’s relationship to each of the family members. Voirrey, as an adolescent girl seemed at first to be a focus of attention. Later, James, and to a lesser extent, Margaret were the object of the creature’s attentions. Some wondered about Margaret’s powers of clairvoyance. Others speculated that James obsession with the creature reflected a response to the business failures of an intelligent man.

The author devotes several chapters to the kinds of spirit creature it might be–ghost, poltergeist, familiar, elemental spirit, fair, brownie, tulpa, etc. In the end, there is not enough evidence for any conclusive finding.

What was striking to me, reading as a Christian, was that there is no mention of consulting with an exorcist, those whose ministry is to evict spirits inhabiting either a person or place. Clearly, a being communicating through an animal is a reminder of the serpent in the garden as is the capacity for supernatural knowledge. The unhealthy effect on each of the family members long term suggest a negative if not malevolent presence. Yet there was no concerted effort to cleanse the house of its presence but rather an acceptance of its presence and a kind of status quo. Sadly, there seems to have been no pastoral presence exercising spiritual discernment, only psychic researchers who thought it an interesting phenomenon.

The book is and will be of interest to those drawn to the paranormal and to folklore. The author took great pains to document the story, including interviews and site visits (the house is no longer standing). I believe in the existence of a spirit world, and the need to discern spirits. But I cannot commend excessive focus upon them, and hence my lukewarm response to this book.

Review: The Summer of the Danes

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Cover image of "The Summer of the Danes" by Ellis Peters

The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, Number 18), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B00LUZNZ60) 2014 (First published in 1991).

Summary: A peaceful embassy with Brother Mark to two bishops results in both becoming hostages to Danes at war with Wales.

It all began as a welcome break from monastic routines for the adventurous Brother Cadfael. His former assistant, Brother Mark is now a Deacon with Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. His return to Shrewsbury means more than a delightful reunion with Cadfael. Indeed, with the approval of Abbot Radulfus, he is to join Brother Mark as Welsh interpreter. In fact, Brother Mark is the bishop’s emissary to show support to both the new Bishop at St. Asaph and the Bishop of Bangor, both covering Welsh territory. It should be a ten day trip with a good friend in the country of his youth. What could be more pleasant?

At St. Asaph, Mark’s gift to Bishop Gilbert comes at an opportune time. Owain, prince of Gwynedd has also arrived in might. The gift signals Roman support when Gilbert most needs it. But another visitor signifies trouble. Bledri has come to plead the cause of Owain’s estranged brother, Cadwaladr. Owain agrees to hear him in Aber, his royal seat. Mark and Cadfael join the royal train to Aber.

But they are not the only ones on the journey. Father Meirion, a Welsh priest associated with Gilbert accompanies his daughter, Heledd, who he has arranged to marry a Welshman in Bangor. But not by her choice. Rather, with the coming of the Roman rite, married priests are not in vogue. Meirion is a widower, but his daughter is a reminder of his anomalous status. Until, that is, she is removed by marriage. She has great fun flirting with Bledri on the journey. Not exactly a submissive bride…or daughter.

Things go sideways at Aber. Bledri warns that Cadwaladr will come in force if Owain doesn’t settle the dispute and restore Cadwaladr’s land rights. A man brutally murdered by Cadwaladr’s men stands in the way. That night, warning comes that the Danes are coming ashore at Abermenai, hired to fight by Cadwaladr. Then a horse is found missing and it is thought that Bledri has fled with crucial intelligence. It is not so. Bledri is found by Cadfael, murdered in his bed. It is Heledd who has fled. But where?

The solution of the murder must wait. Owain rides in force to meet the Danes. Meanwhile Cadfael and Mark complete their mission in Bangor, taking time as they return to look for the girl. While they split up to search, Cadfael find Heledd only for the two to fall into the clutches of foraging Danes. Mark spies them captive and reports back to Owain.

Owain’s forces and the Danes are lined up a mile apart. Owain is unwilling to fight them–the fee the Danes agreed to with Cadwaladr is his to discharge. It seems this is what the Danes wish as well, and the hostages are well-treated, which eventually include Brother Mark, when Cadwaladr betrays his trust. Owain and the Danish leader are struggling for a peaceful resolution but there are others who could jeopardize it as well as the lives of the hostages. Meanwhile, Heledd, who has had no choices in the matter before fleeing, seems to flourish, even as she waits for who knows what.

The Owain of history appears to be a shrewd character, maintaining rule against the perfidy of Cadwaladr and the presence of the English. And so Peters portrays him here. He receives the grudging respect of the Danes and the mutual respect of Hugh Beringar, whose shire borders Welsh lands. Heledd is a fascinating character, a woman who refuses to accede to the marriage made for her. Cadfael alone suspects another future for her.

After this adventure, Cadfael welcomes the return to monastic routine. But for how long?

Review: Reviving the Ancient Faith

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Cover image of "Reviving the Ancient Faith" by Richard T. Hughes and James L. Gorman

Reviving the Ancient Faith, Third Edition, Richard T. Hughes and James L. Gorman. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802877291) 2024.

Summary: A history of Churches of Christ in America, from sect, to denomination, to recent fragmentation and decline.

“If only we could be like the early church. If only we could get back to the Bible.” I’ve heard this refrain over many years from many Christians. Little do most know that the United States witnessed a significant, organized attempt to achieve just such a reality in the nineteenth century. In Reviving the Ancient Faith, Richard T. Hughes and James L. Gorman render a history of the Restoration Movement, begun by Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. In this new edition, Gorman updates the scholarship of Hughes early work, trims the overall content, and adds chapters on recent developments in a new part three, “The Fragmentation of a Denomination.”

Specifically, the goal of the Campbells and Stone was to return to “primitive Christianity.” They sought a church without denominations, one that was based on the Bible and the Bible alone. They focused on baptism by immersion for repentance from sin, a way of salvation centered on human response to Christ, and a focus on Christ’s return and coming kingdom, or apocalypticism. The authors trace the respective movements begun by Campbell and Stone, their merger in 1832 and subsequent history. Particularly, they show a movement led by its publications as well as the Bible schools and colleges they founded, and the reaction of other leaders to them.

It is an account of growth and conflict, between sectarian ideas and emerging denominationalism, between church-centered efforts and mission societies, between law and grace. Perhaps of great significance was the sectional character, between North and South. Likewise, and as an adjunct, we see the growing tension between apocalypticism and a growing Christian nationalism. And they trace the tension between mission to all, including Blacks, and a largely segregated movement. Thus, they show how difficult it is to separate biblical and cultural Christianity.

The history traces the transition and development of the Churches of Christ as a denomination, beginning with the 1906 distinction between them and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I wish the authors would have given more space to this parting of the ways. Particularly, I would have valued a brief account of the subsequent history of the Disciples of Christ. Instead, they trace a denomination wrestling to maintain their distinctive emphases, often through the “fighting” style of a Foy Wallace while trying to modernize in their buildings, journals, and schools.

The newly added third part shows a church that has fragmented around these tensions, reflecting a broader fragmentation. On one hand, part of the church identified more with evangelicalism. This includes figures like Max Lucado, who identified so much with mainstream evangelicalism that his church ceased to be identifiably Church of Christ. Revivalist impulses manifest in the International Church of Christ movement led by Kip McKean. Meanwhile, a sizable number of churches embrace politically conservative forms of Christian nationalism.

On the other hand, the authors chronicle a progressive movement embracing racial reconciliation, the ministry of women and the acceptance of LGBTQ persons. Both conservative and progressive trends reflect efforts to reform a denomination in decline, again reflecting the larger landscape of the American church, The work concludes by recognizing an uncertain future.

This is an important and well-researched account of a major religious movement in American church history. It is a case study of both the aspirations and hubris in a “back-to-the-Bible” movement. And it is a reflection of the broader American landscape that has had such a powerful shaping effect on churches. In particular, it is an account of a church centered in the American South. Thus it sheds light on more than a denomination. It is an important study in American Christianity.

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

Review: Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book

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Cover imaged of "Evelyn Underhill's Prayer Book" edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr

Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book, Evelyn Underhill, edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr, foreword by Eugene Peterson. SPCK (ISBN: 9780281078738) 2018.

Summary: Prayers compiled in two books by Evelyn Underhill for retreats she conducted, edited into a compact edition.

Evelyn Underhill was an Anglo-Catholic who wrote extensively on mysticism and the spiritual life. Her favorite retreat site was Pleshey and in the 1920’s and 1930’s she conducted a number of retreats there. As part of her preparation, from the years of 1924 to 1938, she compiled two handwritten books of prayers for her use as she led prayers.

These books disappeared after her death. Then Underhill scholar Robyn Wrigley-Carr came across a leather bound volume of handwritten prayers during a visit at Pleshey in 2016. What she had discovered was the second of the two books, consisting of prayers compiled between 1929 and 1938. Returning to check her copy against the original, she discovered that the first volume had been found, with prayers from 1924-1928. This led to her creating a single volume edition, preserving the numbering and index system created by Underhill.

Underhill draws many of the prayers from spiritual writers from the third to twentieth century. In the introduction, Wrigley-Carr notes the influence of Friedrich von Hugel on Underhill, particularly in the writers he recommended. As a result, her prayers draw on these writers.. Wrigley-Carr includes a list by century in the introduction and offers brief author biographies in the back by order of their appearance. Examples of writer range from Augustine to AEthelwold of Winchester, John Donne, John Henry Newman, and Christina Rosetti.

In addition, Underhill wrote many of the prayers herself, especially in the second part of the work, beginning with prayer number 68. Names of authors appear after their prayers. However prayers without attribution are Underhill’s. She also draws from various church liturgies including the Book of Common Prayer.

The prayers cover a wide range of subjects, from praise of God to consecration of oneself to intercession for others, including the ill, the dying, and our communion with the saints in glory. An index combining the two volumes, following Underhill’s indexing, appears in the after matter.

The work serves as a wonderful introduction to the prayers of great spiritual writers through the ages. It was a delight to encounter the prayers of Launcelot Andrews. For example, this Benediction:

The power of the Father guide and guard us.
The wisdom of the Son, enlighten us.
The working of the Spirit, quicken us.
Guard our souls. Strengthen our bodies.
Our senses, refine; our conduct correct; our characters, set in tune.

Bless our actions; perfect our prayers; breath into us holy thoughts.
Our sins that are past, forgive, our present sins, amend, and future sins, prevent.
   Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, far beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us: to him be glory in the Church in Christ unto all generations.

Likewise, I found Underhill’s prayers equally rich. For instance consider this prayer of consecration (#131):

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

This is a treasure rediscovered. Certainly, this is a wonderful resource for our personal life of prayer. We often grope for words to express our heart’s longings. Likewise, this book, so compact, makes a wonderful resource to take on retreat. Finally, retreat leaders will find this a rich resource of prayers for retreatants as will those who plan worship services.

Review: Lay Me in God’s Good Earth

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Cover image of "Lay Me in God's Good Earth" by Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke

Lay Me in God’s Good Earth, Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007600) 2024.

Summary: A Christian approach to death, care for body of the deceased, and burial, making the case for natural burial.

The height of the COVID pandemic accentuated the increasingly institutionalized and impersonal ways in which we deal with the ultimate realities of dying, death, and the bodies of our deceased. Given the deadly character of the infection, dying patients were isolated. They often spoke their final words to family on an I-Pad. They died alone, perhaps comforted by a masked and begowned caregiver. Because of public health concerns, families couldn’t gather for funeral services or bury their dead. It was an extreme version of the increasingly common American way of dying, controlled by the medical and funeral establishment, with the family and one’s faith community playing marginal parts.

Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke advocate a very different approach to death and burial. As Lutheran Christians, they believe our approach to dying and our burial practices ought to reflect our faith. Specifically, they focus on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as both our hope and pattern. In this, we find both the example of being lovingly laid to rest and the hope of our own bodily resurrection as part of the renewal of all things in the new heaven and earth.

They invite us to rethink things we may not want to think about at all. They begin with burial. Instead of embalming, makeup, expensive metal caskets and concrete vaults, or energy intensive cremations, they advocate natural burial in which an unembalmed body either in a shroud or wooden casket is committed to the earth. They contend this is most consonant with Christian belief and the most environmental way of burial. For this reason, another name for natural burial is “green burial.”

The authors invite us into end-of-life planning. Not only do they consider our burial practices. They also discuss how we talk about or euphemize death. Likewise, they offer resources for how we support the dying, including where we die. We learn about death doulas, who walk with families through the dying practice. They explore alternatives to the funeral home, including preparing and laying out the body at home. We learn how to treat bodies of loved ones with dignity. They discuss funeral services–not “celebrations of life” where both the reality of death, with the body present, and the hope of the resurrection are joined.

The book is both theological and practical. Some of the practice reflects the particularities of Lutheran order. While the authors discuss various alternatives, they clearly prefer death at home, family preparation of the body, church funerals, and natural burial. A group I read this with struggled to find a biblical case for this. At best, we found that these practices broadly reflect a Christian understanding of death, the dignity of the body, and our resurrection hope. But we noted both other burial practices in church history and the reality that no matter the disposition of the body, the supernatural reconstitution needed in resurrection. The strongest argument, especially for natural burial, is the ecological one.

However, the book is very practical. Some may be squeamish in reading the chapter on washing and preparing the body. Yet, this is what families do in much of the world. We didn’t embalm the dead in this country until the Civil War. The authors inform us of permits needed to transport bodies, and of states that require funeral directors to do this. They discuss where burials may take place, including church yards, where this was once common, or even on private property (check the laws in your state) as well as the growing number of “green” cemeteries.

The last third of the book is in workbook form, allowing the reader to begin their own process of planning. Additional appendices offer resources, including comparative burial costs, books, websites, and state by state funeral boards.

The reader may or may not agree with their preferred approaches. However, this book offers resources for beginning hard but important family conversations. It also offers a wealth of resources for pastors to teach on death and dying. Most of all, it stirs me to think about how we might live our hope even in our dying.

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

Review: The Song of the Lark

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Cover image of "The Song of the Lark" by Willa Cather

The Song of the Lark (Prairie Trilogy), Willa Cather. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504035361), 2016 (First published in 1915). 

Summary: A young woman from a frontier town discovers her passion for music, eventually taking her to the world’s opera stages.

Thea Kornberg nearly did not survive her childhood in the frontier town of Moonstone, Colorado. Deathly ill with pneumonia, only the ministrations of Dr. Howard Archie, then just a country doctor, save her life. The experience also forges a lasting bond between them. As the daughter of a minister, learning piano and singing were par for the course. Yet even as a child, Wunsch, her piano teacher discovers an unusual passion for excellence. Not only does she exhaust his ability to train her. She also recruits her own students and replaces Wunsch after a moral lapse forces his departure from Moonstone.

She also attracts the attentions of Ray Kennedy, a railroader who wants to marry her when she comes of age. But his longing is never fulfilled. He dies in a rail accident. But, knowing her unfulfilled potential as a musician, he leaves her a bequest of $600 to send her to Chicago. She is fortunate to train with Andor Harsanyi. But he describes himself as exhausted after piano lessons with her because of her intensity. Yet he wonders if the piano is her instrument. When he learns that she sings in a church choir, he asks to hear her sing. He realizes that her voice is her instrument.

He connects her with Madison Bowers, the best voice teacher in Chicago. Although not a pleasant man, she develops as a singer under his instruction. To pay her way, she also accompanies other students but quickly comes to despise their stupidity. On the edge of disillusionment, she is introduced to Fred Ottenberg and a Jewish family who are friends of his, the Nathanmeyers. The chance to sing at their music parties kindles her love of performing. But she is worn out and ill. Fred whisks her off to a friend with a ranch near ancient cliff dwellings.

She comes to understand her passion to perform, how it is a part of every fiber of her being, during months of solitude. Meanwhile, she is falling in love with Fred. But she learns that he is married and bound to a mentally invalid wife. From New York, she wires Dr. Archie, who has always looked out for her, having escorted her to Chicago. She will accept no further help from Fred, despite the fact that he is from a wealthy brewing family. Yet they remain on friendly terms. Dr, Archie provides her a loan to go to Europe to continue to train.

The work concludes in New York. Dr, Archie, Fred, Harsanyi, and even Spanish Johnny, from the Mexican part of Moonstone, hear her perform at the Met to acclaim. Through their eyes, we glimpse the full realization of the passions and drives that have animated her life, poured out in performance. And we see the contempt she feels toward mediocrity. We observe the life of a diva, and what she left behind–the prairies, her parents, who died while she was in Europe, and those who stood in her way. And those who attend her performance remind us of those without whom it would not have been possible.

As in the other Prairie trilogy novels, Cather draws a compellingly strong female character. Having been around singers, I also thought she really got inside the psyche of a singer, exploring what makes them great. It’s not merely a voice but how the voice and the music become the means through which a whole personality expresses itself. We also see the sheer work involved, not only the practice but getting inside the idea of a piece and giving expression to that with one’s whole body.