Summary: A narrative commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, reconstructing the circumstances leading to, and the actual composition of the letter.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is usually given pride of place as the foremost of Paul’s letters. But the letter to the Galatians deserves consideration as a tighter, rhetorical masterpiece, written to address an urgent theological challenge facing the nascent Christian mission to the Gentiles.
The Challenge
Johannes W. H. van der Bijl has penned a concisely written commentary that captures the singular character of this work. It is the first in a series of narrative commentaries on Paul’s letters. Rather than offer one more discursive commentary on the propositional truths of Galatians, he wants to explore the story of and the stories within the commentary. He does this through an imaginative narrative that begins when Paul and Barnabas receive reports of efforts to persuade the Gentiles converts of Galatia to submit to Jewish practices beginning with circumcision. Paul and Barnabas are back in Syrian Antioch. Paul responds in anguish arising from his own past as a zealous Jew. That zeal culminated in his attempts to exterminate the Christian movement until that day on the Damascus road. And so Paul determines to write a letter….
The Letter
The two decide to summon the the other prophets and teachers at Antioch, Lucius, Simeon, nicknamed Niger, and Manaen. The rest of the book traces a long evening of dialogue, with Niger writing down what became the letter. They begin with a prologue in which Paul cites his authority as well as the shared origin of the letter. Through questions and answers, the content emerges, beginning with why adopting Jewish practice was so dangerous, another gospel. They recall their mission and the reception of the gospel, including Paul’s stoning and the receptiveness of young Timothy.
Returning to the letter, they consider the promise to Abraham and his singular seed and the place of the law, as a custodian for a young people. All this awaited the promise fulfilled in Christ’s faithfulness through which they live. Hence Paul’s concern that they don’t return to slavery, having been freed in Christ. Rather, they live in love, the fulfillment of the law. “We obey it because we are free, not because we want to be free.” They then conclude with Paul penning his own closing words.
The Value of This Approach
This narrative commentary does several things well. For one, it helps the reader understand Paul’s anguished tone. Secondly, it interweaves the Acts passages from the first missionary journey into the narrative of the writing, giving context a vivid reality. Thirdly, the question and answer dialogue between the five and Paul’s responses brings to life the argument of a book. Thus, we are enabled to better grasp how Paul’s ideas build upon each other.
In addition to the narrative commentary, a glossary of names and places is provided along with a timeline for Paul’s life. A bibliography is provided for those wanting to pursue more in depth study. This is a brief work, coming in at 100 pages. Obviously, that doesn’t allow for the textual discussions of other commentaries. Rather than focusing on all the individual trees, we get a sense of the forest and the lay of the land. And we get some sense of the anguish, love and passion of Paul as he wrote, or rather, dictated. I look forward to other books in this series!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Ngaio Marsh by Henry Herbert Clifford ca 1935, crop. Public Domain
New Zealand-born Ngaio Marsh gained renown as one of the four Queens of Crime. She was part of a group of women along with Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, and Margery Allingham who began writing in the 1930’s, during the Golden Age of detective fiction. Her last work was published in the year of her death, 1982. She is best known for her Inspector Roderick Alleyn mysteries of which she wrote 32. She also loved theatre and directed theatrical productions and this love shows up in some of her books. There is one more work published under her name, with co-author Stella Duffy in 2018, not included in this listing.
I read the Alleyn series over several years, delighted in this gentlemanly detective, and his artist wife, Troy. I intend this both as a resource for Marsh fans as well as an overview of her work. In nearly all cases, I reviewed from the Felony & Mayhem republications of her work, often available at a discount. I’ve listed the publication info for my review with a link to the publisher in the title and a link in the word “review” to my full review. I should note that my reviews include plot summaries but hopefully not spoilers giving away the conclusion Enjoy!
The Reviews
A Man Lay Dead, (Roderick Alleyn 1), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2011 (originally published in 1934). Sir Hubert Handesley hosts one of his famous weekend parties and Nigel Bathgate, a young reporter is invited to join his cousin Charles Rankin for the weekend’s entertainment, the Murder Game, which becomes serious when Rankin turns up the corpse–for real! Review
Enter a Murderer(Roderick Alleyn 2), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2012 (originally published in 1935). Invited to see a play with his sidekick Bathgate, Alleyn actually witnesses the murder he will investigate. Review
The Nursing Home Murder, Ngaio Marsh (Roderick Alleyn 3). New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2011 (originally published in 1935). The Home Secretary collapses of acute appendicitis during a speech on a key bill against radicals and is taken to a private hospital of an old doctor friend for emergency surgery, dying under suspicious circumstances soon after the operation. Review
Death in Ecstasy (Roderick Alleyn 4), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2012 (originally published in 1936). Nigel Bathgate happens upon the strange religious rites at the House of the Sacred Flame just in time to witness the death of Cara Quayne, the Chosen Vessel, when she imbibes a chalice of wine laced with cyanide. Review
Vintage Murder (Roderick Alleyn 5), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012 (first published in 1937). Alleyn falls in with a theatre company while in New Zealand and discovers that neither murder nor police work take a vacation. Review
Artists in Crime, (Roderick Alleyn 6), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012 (originally published in 1937). A murder occurs at the studio of artist Agatha Troy, who Alleyn had met on his voyage back to England; the beginning in fits and starts of a romance while Alleyn seeks to solve the crime. Review
Death in a White Tie (Alleyn 7), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012. At a premiere debutante ball, Lord Robert Gospell’s call to Alleyn about a blackmail conspiracy is interrupted. A few hours later, Gospell turns up at Scotland Yard in the back of a taxi–dead! Review
Overture to Murder (Roderick Alleyn 8), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2012, (Originally published in 1939). A comedic play in a small village to raise funds for the church to buy a new piano turns into a murder mystery when the pianist is shot when playing the opening notes of the prelude by a gun concealed within. Review
Death at the Bar(Roderick Alleyn 9), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2013 (first published in 1940). A holiday at a secluded seaside inn, and a challenge at darts ends up in murder from prussic acid (cyanide). Review
Death of a Peer (Surfeit of Lampreys) Roderick Alleyn 10), Ngaio Marsh. New York, Harper Collins: New York, 2009. A New Zealander’s visit to a happy-go-lucky English family is interrupted by the gruesome murder of Lord Charles’ brother in the elevator serving their flat, making the family prime suspects for Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn. Review
Death and the Dancing Footman (Roderick Alleyn 11), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012 (originally published in 1941). A staged house-party amid a snowstorm consisting of mutual enemies ends in a death and a suicide that Alleyn must sort out. Review
Colour Scheme (Roderick Alleyn 12), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2013 (first published in 1943). A struggling New Zealand spa by some sulphur springs becomes the scene of espionage, the visit of a famous stage actor, and murder. Review
Died in the Wool (Roderick Alleyn 13), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2014 (originally published in 1945). New Zealand member of Parliament Flossie Rubrick is found dead, concealed in a bale of wool from her farm, and Alleyn, working in counter-espionage during the war, comes to investigate because of secret research on the farm. Review
Final Curtain (Inspector Alleyn 14), Ngaio Marsh. New York, Felony & Mayhem Press, 2014 (originally published in 1947. While Inspector Alleyn is returning from wartime service in New Zealand, Troy Alleyn, his artist wife is commissioned on short notice to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, a noteworthy stage actor, meeting his dramatic family, encountering some practical jokes including one that infuriates Sir Henry at his birthday dinner, after which he is found dead the next morning. Inspector Alleyn arrives home to investigate a possible murder in which his wife is an interested party. Review
Swing, Brother, Jones (Inspector Alleyn 15), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012 (originally published in 1949). An eccentric British Lord joins a swing band for a number that involves a gun, and the person at whom he shoots is actually killed with an unusual projectile–a knitting needle–right in front of Alleyn! Review
Night at the Vulcan, (Roderick Alleyn 16), Ngaio Marsh. New York Felony & Mayhem, 2014, originally published in 1951. An actor is found dead in the actor’s dressing room at the end of a play. It seems to be suicide by gas asphyxiation, but Alleyn finds clues pointing to murder by someone in the company. Review
Spinsters in Jeopardy(Inspector Alleyn 17), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2014 (first published in 1953). Alleyn takes his family along to visit a distant cousin in southern France while collaborating with the French in investigating a drug ring. Review
Scales of Justice(Roderick Alleyn 18), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2014 (first published in 1955). An aristocrat in a small village turns up dead by a trout stream with a trout at his side. Review
Death of a Fool(Roderick Alleyn 19), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2014 (originally published in 1957). A fertility dance culminating in a ritual beheading of a fool, followed by his resurrection, ends with the fool having been truly decapitated. Review
Singing in the Shrouds (Roderick Alleyn 20), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2014 (originally published in 1958). Alleyn joins a ship bound for Cape Town seeking a serial murderer, one of nine passengers. Review
False Scent (Roderick Alleyn 21), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2015 (originally published in 1959). The fiftieth birthday celebration of famed stage actress Mary Bellamy is interrupted when she is found dead in her bedroom, poisoned by her own insecticide. Review
Hand in Glove(Roderick Alleyn 22), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015 (originally published in 1962). An April Fool’s scavenger hunt organized by Lady Bantling ends badly when a body is found under a drainage pipe in a ditch. Review
Dead Water (Roderick Alleyn 23), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015 (originally published in 1963). A spring on an island celebrated for its healing powers becomes the site of the murder. Review
Killer Dolphin(Inspector Alleyn 24), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015 (originally published in 1966). Through an accident, a playwright realizes his dream of a renovated Dolphin Theatre, with packed houses for one of his plays, until a murder occurs and a boy actor is badly injured in a botched theft. Review
A Clutch of Constables(Roderick Alleyn 25), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2015 (originally published in 1968). Troy takes a spur-of-the-moment river cruise only to learn that her berth had belonged to a man murdered by an international criminal, who happens to be on the cruise with her! Review
When in Rome (Roderick Alleyn 26), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015. Alleyn goes undercover on a Roman holiday tour led by a sketchy tour guide suspected of drug smuggling and other corrupt activities and ends up collaborating in a murder investigation. Review
Tied Up in Tinsel (Roderick Alleyn 27), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015 (Originally published in 1972). Hilary Bill-Talsman is the subject of a Troy portrait and host of a Christmas house party that includes a Druid Pageant, marred when the chief Druid disappears. Alleyn arrives from overseas just in time to solve the mystery. Review
Black as He’s Painted (Roderick Alleyn 28), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2015 (originally published in 1974). The President of Ng’ombwana is coming to England. A man with known enemies, his old school friend Alleyn attempts to persuade him to accept Special Branch protection but fails to prevent a murder at an embassy reception. Review
Last Ditch(Roderick Alleyn 29), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2016 (originally published in 1976). Alleyn and Troy’s son Ricky finds himself in the middle of a murder of a young horsewoman and gets mixed up with a group of drug runners when all he wants to do is get away on a Channel island and write. Review
A Grave Mistake (Roderick Alleyn 30), Ngaio Marsh. New York, Felony & Mayhem Press, 2016 (originally published in 1978). A wealthy widow in a small English village dies of an apparent suicide at an exclusive spa, but clues point to murder with a circle of suspects with motives. Review
Photo Finish(Roderick Alleyn 31), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2016 (originally published in 1980). A New Zealand trip for Alleyn and Troy goes sideways when Isabella Sommita, a soprano and diva is murdered after she debuts a badly written opera composed by her latest love interest. Review
Light Thickens(Roderick Alleyn 32), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2016 (originally published in 1982). Set once again at the Dolphin theatre as Peregrine Jay stages Macbeth, a play surrounded by superstition, a production plagued by macabre practical jokes, and the real murder of the title character discovered just after the play’s climactic scene, with Alleyn in the front row. Review
I discovered in compiling this list that somehow I had skipped one, #18. Oh joy! That means another Alleyn to read. I will add the review when I’ve read it. For others who have read the series, I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I sure did!
Update: After compiling this list, I read Scales of Justice, and have added the review!
“Saint Paul Writing His Epistles” Attributed to Valentin de Boulogne, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Between 2016 and 2024, I reviewed twenty books at Bob on Books under the category of Pauline studies. A number of the foremost Pauline scholars are represented in reviews at Bob on Books. These include N.T. Wright, Michael Bird, Michael Gorman, John Barclay, Nijay Gupta and others. In recent years, much of the discussion has been shaped by the “New Perspective” on Paul, although works here address other schools of thought, including the apocalyptic Paul. While this is hardly everything written in recent years and many older works are not included, I thought this list might be a time-saver for those searching this site.
A few things on format. I’ve not, for space reasons, included book images on such a lengthy list. They do appear in the full review. Books are listed alphabetically by author (first author in the case of multiple authored books). The link in the title takes you to the publisher’s website for the book (these have been checked and updated where possible). The link at the end titled “review” takes you to the full review. I also include my short review summary.
The Reviews
Paul’s New Perspective, Garwood P. Anderson. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2016. Argues that both the traditional Protestant perspective and the New Perspective on Paul are each partly right, based on the idea that Paul’s ideas on salvation developed as he wrote over a period of time and addressed different circumstances. Review
Paul & the Power of Grace, John M. G. Barclay. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2020. Looks at the theology of Paul through the lens of grace, an unconditioned and incongruous gift for Jew and Gentile alike, personally and socially transformative. Review
Paul, Narrative or Apocalyptic, Christiaan Beker and N.T. Wright. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023. Essays by two leading N.T. scholars representing the main distinctive views of Paul, either focusing on the age to come and the return of Christ to inaugurate new creation or the narrative continuity with the covenant fulfilled in Christ opening into the inclusion of the Gentiles. Review
An Anomalous Jew, Michael F. Bird. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016. A collection of studies on the life and ministry of Paul that explores this unusual Jew who is comfortable moving among Greeks and Romans as he proclaims the Christ he encountered on the way to Damascus. Review
The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul, Chris Bruno, John J. R. Lee, and Thomas R. Schreiner. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001141) 2024. On recent scholarship considering how Paul reconciled monotheism and the divinity of Jesus. Review
The Apocalyptic Paul: Retrospect and Prospect(Cascade Library of Pauline Studies), Jamie Davies, Foreword by John Barclay. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2022. A survey of the major contributors to the Apocalyptic Paul movement within Pauline studies, as well as a discussion of some outstanding areas for discussion and proposals of bringing biblical scholars in the Apocalyptic Paul movement, theologians focusing on apocalyptic, and those studying the Jewish apocalyptic tradition into conversation. Review
Who Created Christianity?, Craig A. Evans and Aaron W. White, editors. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2020. Summary: A festschrift in honor of David Wenham focused around the centerpiece of Wenham’s theology, the relationship between Jesus and Paul and Wenham’s insistence that Paul was not the founder of Christianity but a disciple of Jesus. Review
Participating in Christ, Michael J. Gorman. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019. A discussion of what it means to be “in” Christ, or to participate in Christ, drawing from the Pauline letters, and particularly what this means for living a cross-shaped and resurrection-infused life by which one becomes increasingly like Christ and God. Review
Paul and the Language of Faith, Nijay K, Gupta (Foreword by James D. G. Dunn). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2020. A study of the word pistis, often translated as “faith” as used in the writings of Paul, the rest of scripture, as well as in literature contemporary to the time, showing the rich nuances of meaning that must be determined by context. Review
God and the Faithfulness of Paul, Christoph Heilig, J. Thomas Hewitt, and Michael F. Bird, eds. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017. A collection of papers assessing N. T. Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of Godby scholars from a number of fields of theological study, with a concluding response from N. T. Wright. Review
The Apostle and the Empire, Christoph Heilig (foreword by John M. G. Barclay). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2022. Focusing on 2 Corinthians 2:14, Heilig argues for an alternative to either hidden or unexpressed criticism of the empire in Paul’s writings, proposing that we might also consider texts that have been overlooked. Review
Paul and Time, L Ann Jervis. Baker Academic (iSBN: 9781540960788), 2023. A proposal that believers live, not at the intersection the present time and the age to come, but that we have been delivered from the present evil age to live in Christ, including living in his time. Review
Pauline Theology as a Way of Life, Joshua W. Jipp. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. A study of Paul’s theology as an invitation to a flourishing life through participation in Christ, observing parallels and contrasts with both ancient philosophy and modern positive psychology. Review
Perspectives on Paul: Five Views, Edited by Scot McKnight and B.J. Oropeza. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020. Presents five perspectives on the ministry and message of Paul: the Catholic, traditional Protestant, the “New Perspective” pioneered by E.P. Sanders, the Paul within Judaism perspective, and the Gift perspective. Review
The Glory of God and Paul(New Studies in Biblical Theology #58), Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson. Downers Grove and London: IVP Academic and Apollos, 2022. (Link to UK publisher) A study of the theme of the glory of God in scripture, with a particular focus on the writings of Paul. Review
Paul, a New Covenant Jew, Brant Pitre, Michael P. Barber, John A. Kincaid (Foreword by Michael J. Gorman). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2019. In answer to the question of “what kind of Jew was Paul?”, three Catholic scholars, focusing on 2 Corinthians 3:2-16, argue that he was a new covenant Jew and then relate this idea to apocalyptic, Christology, atonement, justification, and the Lord’s supper. Review
Paul Behaving Badly, E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2016. Takes on the charge that there are many problems with Paul, among which that he is racist, pro-slavery, anti-woman, homophobic, and hypocritical, and suggests that while he behaves badly, it may be in different ways than we might think. Review
Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity, David Wenham. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans, 1995 (out of print). A study of the relationship of Pauline thought to the teachings of Jesus by a comprehensive effort to compare them on a number of major themes. Review
Voices and Views on Paul: Exploring Scholarly Trends, Ben Witherington III and Jason A. Myers. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. A discussion and analysis of recent Pauline scholarship focusing on E.P. Sanders, James D.G. Dunn, N.T. Wright, John Barclay, Stephen Chester, and Louis Martyn. Review
Into the Heart of Romans, N.T. Wright. Zondervan Academic (ISBN: 9780310157748), 2023. Summary: A close reading of Romans 8, focusing on the purpose, presence, and profound love in Christ for all who believe meant to assure them of not only their ultimate destiny but of God’s favor even as they share in the sufferings of Christ amid a groaning creation. Review
Paul: A Biography, N. T. Wright. New York: Harper One, 2018. Wright translates his scholarship that gives a “new account” of Paul’s life into a popular biography, tracing the life and thought of the apostle through the letters he wrote and narrative of his journeys. Review
I plan to add to this list as I review additional titles in Pauline studies. I will include the most recent revision date at the bottom of this post.
Pivot Points, Marvin Olasky. P & R Publishing (ISBN: 9781629959535), 2024.
Summary: Pivot points of a compassionate conservative, a memoir tracing the journalistic and writing career of Marvin Olasky, former editor in chief of World magazine.
Encountering Olasky
My only other encounter with Marvin Olasky was reading his book Abortion Rites (review here). I was stunned to find this pro-life Christian write about the prevalence of abortion in in the U.S. pre-Roe v. Wade when abortion was outlawed. It gave the lie to the illusion that banning abortion would eliminate it. He estimated that there were as many as 160,000 abortions a year in the non-slave population of pre-Civil War America. He went on in that book to propose a more sophisticated strategy than laws that included moral suasion and compassion.
I discovered someone who combined conviction with uncompromising honesty and journalistic integrity, and a healthy dose of compassion. In fact, this last quality would follow him as he was characterized as the “Father of Compassionate Conservatism.” All these qualities, as well as a self-deprecating humility characterize this memoir of a journalist who went from an atheist-communist to a committed Christian editor of a Christian news magazine, World. Olasky traces that life journey as a series of pivot points.
Olasky’s Pivot Points
Atheist Communist to Theist.
The first “Act” in the book describes Olasky’s journey from a Jewish upbringing to atheism, and in the context of the Vietnam war to Communism. for Olasky, Communism was a kind of addiction. Coupled with his turn to journalism from philosophy, Olasky became a rising star in Communist circles. Meanwhile, biking across America with his new wife, he began a career art a small Oregon paper. Neither the job nor the marriage lasts long. Subsequently, he is accepted into a Ph.D program at the University of Michigan. Here, he makes his first major pivot. At 3 pm on a November day, he sat down to read a work of Lenin and by 11 pm that night, walked out of the library, not yet a Christian, but a theist.
From Marriage to Tenure in Texas.
While at Michigan, Olasky meets Susan Northway, who he marries. Both want to know more about God and come to faith in a Baptist church in San Diego while he was fulfilling a one year appointment. He recounts his growth in an Indiana church while working on a Christian anti-Communist Crusade, followed by a brief stint at Dupont that ended when he could not lie in publicity for a chemical linked to bladder cancer. Then, he accepts a tenure-track position at University of Texas, teaching journalism. He is forthright about his Christian stance in his writing, but productive enough that he wins tenure. And it seemed time to settle down
From Research and Writing to Political Insider
Then life changed again with an offer of a research fellowship in Washington, resulting in the publication of The Tragedy of American Compassion. In the book, Olasky critiques government funded social welfare programs as a failure because of the impersonal, bureaucratic nature of them. He advocates “compassionate conservatism” and faith-based personal interventions. A niche publisher picked up the book. Then Newt Gingrich discovered and touted it. Suddenly, Olasky was in great demand, and his language of “compassionate conservatism” was picked up by George W. Bush in his presidential campaign. His account of the rise and fall of faith-based efforts warns of what has often happened when religious conservatives engage in politics. My one concern is that he does not address the role of the state in addressing inequities “baked into” the system. Private charity and personal initiative leave these untouched.
Magazine Editor and Professor
During his brief brush with politics, Olasky agreed to become editor of a Christian news magazine, World. As a result, he could practice what he taught. These chapters were some of my favorites in the book. He describes the journalistic independence of World. Although working in the evangelical world, they enjoyed board support for controversial articles about evangelical figures. They set standards for rigorous, non-partisan journalism. And they trained young interns, who lived with the Olaskys and were subject to his red pen, becoming better writers in the process.
From Turbulence to Contentment
Then comes the Trump years. World offended subscribers supporting the former president in its reporting. Then the board shifts, introducing a World Opinions section not subject to editorial oversight. Olasky describes the painful process of resigning and his struggle to grieve and forgive. He had planned to retire and hand off his work. Instead, World shifted under his feet. But he ends in a space of contentment and praise, although I sense this story is still unfinished.
The book also includes two appendices from this period. One is a reflection on the World shakeup. Olasky offers insightful comments about living by journalistic integrity. The other describes how he saved World millions by honest reporting on election fraud claims. While other news outlets got sued for false claims about voting machines, they told the truth no one wanted to hear.
Final Comments
Marvin Olasky offers hope that journalistic integrity is neither an oxymoron nor a joke. Sadly, his is a conservative voice largely absent from our current discourse. He looks at complex issues, ferrets out the evidence, and follows the truth where it takes him. He showed compassion not merely in his writing but in his personal care for interns. He strikes me as one, in our highly polarized moment, who occupies the courageous middle. He also mentored several generations of journalists. I hope they will lead a return to integrity in their profession. Above all, Olasky models living by faith and offers an example of Eugene Peterson’s “long obedience in the same direction.” All these things make this succinct, fast-moving memoir worth the read.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Growing Old Gracefully, David J. Claassen. Elk Lake Publishing (ISBN: 9798891341890), 2024.
Summary: Navigating the transitions of our senior years with grace and joy.
This book could not have arrived at a better time. I turn 70 in the next couple weeks. And I conclude my employment with the collegiate ministry for which I’ve worked for 48 years in just 37 days. This is a book about the transitions of which I’m in the midst. An aging milestone. The end (so far as I know) of my paid employment.
A word about the author. David J. Claassen is a friend. After visiting several congregations, my fiancé and I joined the church of which Dave was pastor in 1978. We were getting married back in our home town but Dave did our marriage counseling, offering tons of practical wisdom for beginning our marriage well. We are still married after 46 years. Though only in his church for a few years, we have remained friends with him and his wife Diann.
I admired the way he loved and cared for his people over the course of his and their lifetimes. He knew the wait staff of restaurants and coffee shops all around his church and was a pastor to many who never entered his church building. I was most impressed by his decision to step down, preparing younger leaders to take his place And since then he and his wife split each year living near and helping their two children and many grandchildren, in Florida, and in rural Mexico. No scandals. Just good care for the people entrusted to him by God.
This book is about growing old gracefully. Claassen believes we needn’t stop growing as we age. He uses the term “older” because we are in the midst of a process, not a static state. And he speaks of aging “gracefully,” as people who extend the favor of God to others, rather than as old “grumps”!
The book is organized into thirty-one short chapters, each just a few pages in length. And the text is in a large enough font size to make for easy reading. In addition, each reading focuses on one idea, illustrated with everyday stories, anchored in biblical truth.
Among the ideas addressed are the transitions and losses of age, the feeling of being a burden upon others, and our declining energy and changes in health. Contrary to what we might think, these changes bring new opportunities. For example, our need for rest opens us to receive the gift of rest and permits others to slow down. In addition, the freedom from work responsibilities free us to be a blessing to children and grandchildren as well as have the time for study and reflection. Because we’ve reached the point of no longer having anything to prove, we are able to be self forgetful and focus on others.
An important concern of the book is finishing well. One of the ways we finish well as to persevere, to keep growing to the end. While we grow spiritually, we let go of many things, including possessions as we simplify and friendships, as some we love die. In all this, we lean into our hope of eternal life. For example, Claassen shares how the hope of eternal life that he preached at over 350 funerals has become dearer as his own days become shorter.
To sum up, what makes this collection so rich is the combination of its clear-sighted awareness of the challenges of aging coupled with its celebration of the opportunities of growing in grace as we age. Unlike the Old Grump of the opening reading, we have the opportunity to spend our days in rest, reflection, wonder and gratitude, and self-forgetful service to others. We have the chance, like many plants, to bear fruit in the last stages of our growth. In a way, this book is a kind of bookend for me. Pastor Dave, as many of us know him, offered us wisdom at the beginning of our marriage journey. And now he has returned to share this gift as my wife and I transition toward finishing our journey.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for review.
Traitor’s Purse, Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087254), 2023 (Originally published in 1941).
Summary: Amnesiac Campion thinks “fifteen” of vital importance. It holds a key to a vital mission he tries to fulfill, though he knows not what it is.
You wake up in a hospital bed not knowing who you are or how you got there, except that your head hurts. A nurse is talking about a man lying unconscious who has killed a policeman. You assume that is you and realize you are in serious trouble. A fireman’s garb offers you camouflage to escape. You steal a car, drive madly into the country until the car breaks down.
A car pulls up and a young woman you met leaving the hospital offers you a ride. She calls you Campion. Before arriving at your destination, which you learn is the Bridge Institute, you drop off a passenger, Mr. Anscombe. You escort Anscombe to the door, then return and leave a package he forgot. When you arrive and the woman brings you to your room, you realize that the woman is Amanda. You are close, maybe even married. You can’t bring yourself to tell her that you can’t remember who you are or why you are there.
Fifteen. Somehow, Campion knows that number is important. Is it a date–two days off? He has a sense that there is some momentous evil that he has to stop. But with amnesia, he knows neither what he has to stop nor how to stop it. But he has to feign that he does and figure things out. A letter from Oates tells him to seek out Anscombe. He arrives only to find Anscombe dead and his instincts tell him it is murder.
Soon, he is under suspicion. He isn’t acting right or even like Campion. And when he can’t prove who he is, he socks the local police superintendent (Hutch) and takes off. Even though Amanda has told him their engagement is off and she is attracted to the Institute director Aubrey Lee, she keeps showing up. And by instinct, or whatever, Campion finds Lugg, who helps him understand what has happened to him.
Piece by piece, things come together. A second knock on the head leads to it all coming together, with the realization of a scheme unfolding that would throw the country into chaos. But can he elude all the police pursuing him and somehow stop things in time, particularly when he can no longer reach Oates?
I thought this one of the most suspenseful of the Campion stories so far. We’re left on tenterhooks about how things will shake out with Amanda and Albert. And Allingham creates a significant plot premise of a sleuth trying to figure out what case he is on. How does Campion do Campion when he can’t remember Campion? I loved it.
Summary: A retelling of a Mark Twain classic in which the slave, James, rather than Huckleberry Finn, is narrator.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was an American classic for many generations, only to come under a cloud of suspicion because of its use of the “N” word. Huck, to escape beatings from a drunken father joins Jim, a slave fleeing sale on Jackson’s Island.. Subsequently, they have numerous adventures on a raft floating down the Mississippi, hoping to get to a place where Jim can go free. The steal a boat from thieves looting a steamboat and plotting murder. They survive floods and getting between a family feud only to fall in with hucksters passing themselves off as a King and a Duke. We hear the story from Huck’s perspective. And it is one of growing realization of Jim’s humanity as well as a coming of age story.
In Percival Everett’s retelling of the story, the plot elements above are present, although the story takes a turn after the King (or Dauphin) and the Duke. I won’t discuss these plot elements. What is distinctive in the re-telling is that Jim, or rather James, is the narrator. James assertion of his given name rather than slave name is an assertion of his personhood.
Slowly, Huck discovers James is far more complicated than Huck suspects. James and other slaves codeswitch. There is “Massa” talk, what slaveowners expect slaves to talk like and the way slaves speak to each other. James knows how to read, and steals some of Judge Thatcher’s books. James reads John Locke and Voltaire, among others. He also can write. He persuades a slave to steal a pencil for him. Then he learns that the slave who stole the pencil was lynched for his deed. Writing become all the more vital to him, to redeem that death.
James awakens to the anger within him, anger long buried in subservience. He discovers the fearsome things of which he is capable to avenge wrongs like a rape and to elude capture. Anger and love come together in a determined effort to free his wife Sadie and daughter, sold to a slave breeder.
James devotion to Huck, given Huck’s status as a white, is something of an enigma through most of the book. Neither Huck’s support of James’ aspirations nor his growing but still limited grasp of James’ world warrant this. Even Huck seems to intuit this when he asks why James saves him and not a fellow slave after a riverboat explodes.
James, juxtaposed with Twain’s work, reminds those of us who are white of the truth that we often “don’t know what we don’t know” in matters of race. Everett portrays a James far more intelligent, one probing for significance, awakening to his anger against injustice, and capable of resourceful action. As important as Twain’s work was in exposing the immorality of slavery, this goes far deeper. It plumbs greater depths of the evils in both acts and societal structures. And it plumbs the deep scars on the human psyche when one human holds another in bondage.
Have We Lost Our Minds?, Stan W. Wallace. Foreword by J. P. Moreland. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9781666789133)
Summary: Have we lost our minds to neuroscience? A challenge to neurotheology’s eclipse of the soul and reduction of mental events to brain events.
Classically in Christian thought, human beings have been thought of as embodied souls. We believe that an immaterial nature is joined to our physical bodies. The advances of neuroscience have ushered in the new field of neurotheology. This field seeks to foster the spiritual flourishing of human beings by drawing upon the findings of neuroscience. In doing so, neurotheologians accept the premise that our mental processes are simply expressions of brain processes. There is no soul or “mind.” At best our sense of this is an emergent property of what is going on in the brain.
This book arises as an attempt to engage the expression of these ideas by two popular Christian authors, Curt Thompson and Jim Wilder. Both base their work of counseling and spiritual formation on an understanding of how the brain functions, and the spiritually re-wiring those functions when they are awry. Wilder even appropriates the spiritual formation work of Dallas Willard, saying his work extends that work. Stan W. Wallace contends that their work is contrary to Willard, who understood spiritual formation as something that occurred with the soul. He makes a case for our two natures as embodied souls or what he calls holistic dualism over against the physicalism of neurotheology.
Wallace lays out a careful biblical and philosophical argument to make his case. Before he begins the argument, he reviews the findings of neuroscience. His point is not to challenge these findings but rather to challenge the conclusions neurotheologians derive from them. Firstly, he considers the biblical argument on what we are as human beings–everlasting souls united with bodies. Then Wallace shows how the neurotheologians view differs in assuming an identity between mental and brain processes.
Refuting this identity, Wallace observes our first-person subjectivity, our free will, and our use of reason. Additionally, the assumption that mental and brain processes are identical leads to physicalism and the eclipse of the soul. But this ignores both our unified experiences at a given moment and the unity of our sense of self through time.
From here, Wallace discusses further from philosophy the nature of the soul, noting the correspondence with biblical ideas of us as individuated human nature, a “spiritual substance.” But how does the soul relate to the body? Against Cartesian dualism, where there is a sharp divide between soul and body, Wallace proposes “holistic dualism,” which he defines as “a form of substance dualism in which the body is caused by the soul, and therefore the two are deeply united.”
In the next two chapters, Wallace considers and refutes three arguments neurotheologians advance, and three arguments against holistic dualism and defenses against these arguments. I was most interested in the defense of holistic dualism against the challenge that neurotheology provides a simpler answer to understanding our nature. Parsimony or “Ockham’s Razor” is a fundamental principle in science. Wallace defends holistic dualism as the simplest answer for all the relevant data, including reason, free will, unified experience and unity through time. The most surprising objection was one that if we posit human souls then we have to admit animal souls. Wallace affirms the objection, noting the application of soul language to animals in the Bible and the belief that animals had souls of some sort until the seventeenth century!
Finally, in the last two chapters, Wallace applies all this to loving God and loving others. He draws on the work of Dallas Willard to show how important the soul is to our spiritual formation. Then he illustrates how important affirming the soul can be across the professions.
I found Wallace’s approach both compelling and winsome. It was compelling because of his step by step logical argumentation. It was winsome because he sought a middle way in addressing neuroscience. Unlike some, he neither outright accepts or rejects. Because he offers a model that highly values embodied life, he can affirm neuroscience while challenging the conclusions of neurotheology.
While Christians have been fighting hundred-year-old battles about science, neuroscience has crept up unawares, posing important questions about our nature. Wallace shows that some Christian neurotheologians have adopted assumptions contrary to what we learn about human nature both from the Bible and philosophy. He shows why this may be harmful rather than helpful in our formation. In so doing, he offers a helpful corrective for all who care about the spiritual formation of God’s people.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
The Last Dark Place (Abe Lieberman #8), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B00AYRI5DI), 2013 (originally published in 2004).
Summary:Who ordered the hit on the hitman? That’s what Lieberman, who was transporting him back to Chicago tries to figure outas he tries tohead off a gang war and pay for his grandson’s bar mitzvah.
Over thirty years ago Abe Lieberman’s prayers at shul were interrupted by Connie Gower, seeking to avenge his brother, who Lieberman, then a young cop had killed. Lieberman escaped that situation. Now, a much older Lieberman sits in the Yuma airport, along with a local cop, handcuffed to Gower. He’s bringing him back to Chicago to stand trial for a “hit.” Gower has made a career of killing people for hire.
All hell breaks loose when an elderly airport worker opens fire on Gower, killing him, getting badly wounded by the local policeman in the process. The worker survives but won’t give Lieberman much. He tells him he was paid by a man with a darkened thumb, money that would go to a granddaughter’s college fund. Now, Lieberman returns to Chicago to find the man who ordered the hit.
He faces far more than this on his return. Two ethnic gangs, one Latino and the other Asian, are on the verge of an all-out war. Meanwhile, an obsessed Falun Gong cultist is stalking his partner Hanrahan’s pregnant wife, who is Asian. And Hanrahan is under pressure to quickly find three youth who raped a rising Black detective’s wife. The detective is on the mayor’s shortlist for a top police slot. No one want’s that detective to find those youth first. And while all this is happening, a disillusioned sign painter is plotting to kill a country star who has disappointed him, thinking that for a moment he will be a hero. Just another week in Chicago.
While Lieberman cherishes his family, homelife is a challenge. His wife is zealously guarding his diet because his cholesterol is high. His daughter blames her failed marriages and troubles in life on Abe. Yet she wants his help with her son’s bar mitzvah, including financial help, stretching his detective’s salary further. And his responsibilities at the synagogue keep calling. The only thing that mitigates any of this is the deep fellowship and banter with the alter cockers, the men he prays with, and eats food forbidden by his wife, at the local deli.
This is my first Abe Lieberman (yes I know I’m reading out of order!). My son introduced me to Kaminsky’s Russian detective, Porfiry Rostnikov. I loved those stories and so downloaded this to my Kindle when it came up as a bargain. And what a treat to discover this veteran, street smart and self-deprecating detective. He show compassion for the men of his shul and for his wayward daughter, even while he mentors his grandson as he makes an important life passage. The book is a quick and engaging read that gives one sympathy for the personal and professional challenges facing any policeman in one of our major cities. Abe Lieberman, whatever his faults, navigates these pretty well. I have a feeling this won’t be my last Abe Lieberman story.
Summary: Claiming the courageous middle in a polarized time as a risky and redemptive adventure of pursuing a hopeful future.
Since 2016, and perhaps far longer, I’ve lived in the middle. I cannot identify with either of the extremes in our polarized society. I’m not a moderate. I describe myself as a “third way” person, whose life is shaped by Jesus and his kingdom. And neither the left nor the right encompass what I believe is the Bible’s vision for a flourishing society. I’ve often felt lonely in that place and wondered what I have to contribute.
Shirley A. Mullen gives me hope that I am not alone. She even uses the “third way” language I’ve often used to describe the role of Christians in society. She describes a home not unlike my own that fostered both devotion and a love of learning. But she was encouraged early to step boldly and not defensively into both. Her grandfather told her that if something showed Christianity not to be true, he wanted her to know. She traces her journey through academia to the college presidency at Houghton College. There, she found herself often in the middle of groups that wanted her and the college to take their side. And she discovered the power of staying in the middle, and the courage, and risks that involved.
The Power of the Middle
Mullen contends that the middle is a place of courage and not a place for the wishy-washy. Firstly, it is courageous to remind people of their finiteness and fallenness, to adopt the posture of a humble learner. Secondly, the middle calls for a willingness to explore complexity and ambiguity to find better solutions rather than settle for the simplifications that substitute for solutions. Finally, the middle seeks the common good rather than defining the world as “us/them” and “winners/losers.”
But is the middle way biblical? After all, there are truths to believe or deny, commands to obey or disobey. And Mullen acknowledges this but also points to an underlying narrative of God working redemptively amid a fallen world where each person continues to have infinite worth before God. To illustrate her point, she highlights examples of Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Esther, Paul, and Jesus himself as those who worked in middle spaces.
However, the middle space is a risky space. It means the possibility of being attacked on both spaces. As a historian, she offers nine examples in history where this was so. And as a college leader, she speaks of the dangers of loss of trust, the loss of cohesion in one’s base, and creating unfulfilled expectations. But the other side of risk is benefits, and she sees a number of these. Among these are gaining a larger perspective on the issues, finding new options that serve both sides, and building new community on common ground.
Having cast the vision for the middle space, she gets down to the practicalities of claiming the courageous middle in a polarized time. Beginning with remembering our stories and framing one’s convictions, she encourages finding a community of kinship, apprenticing, and finding places to work redemptively in the church and the world. Toward that end, she offers a number of examples of individuals and organizations, both Christian and secular, working in the middle space.
Concluding Thoughts
I found this both a bracing and encouraging call to step into the work of the middle way. Mullen cites the many places in higher education, in civic affairs, and other places where good work may be done. Yet it seems like a “mustard seed conspiracy,” to use a phrase from Tom Sine, one that works in small and perhaps hidden ways.
But what about the powerful national interests battling each other? I sometimes wonder if the only way to change that is a subversive one of taking the air out of their efforts by grassroots efforts that engage citizens in a better way. Hopefully, they will demand better behavior from those who serve them in political office. Claiming the courageous middle in a polarized time seems like a long game. While Mullen offers a few examples of people who were in it for the long haul, like William Wilberforce, we need more examples and instruction on persisting over the long haul. That just might be a good idea for her next book!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
