Summary: Willie Mays’ authorized biography, his passion for every aspect of the game, and his greatness on and off the field.
When Willie Mays died earlier this year, my friend Matt recommended this as a great book about his life. Matt was right. I read a baseball book every summer and this became my book for 2024. Mays was my childhood hero. I tried (and failed) to master the basket catch. We all took to wearing our gloves with the index finger out.
James S. Hirsch persisted over several years to secure Mays’ permission to write this story and won his trust and help with interviews, documents and images, and connections with others who could help the story. And Hirsch turned all of that into a meticulously researched biography that ranks, along with Mays himself, among the greats in baseball history.
Beginning with Mays’ family, he traces the rise of Mays, learning from his father “Cat,” playing in the Negro Leagues for the Birmingham Barons, and his quick journey from Minneapolis to the New York Giants. He describes the support of owner Horace Stoneham, the mentoring of Leo Durocher, and the protection of Frank Forbes, who kept him out of trouble. And of course, there was the talent: speed, fielding, throwing, hitting and power. Throughout, Hirsch recounts the big moments, including “the catch” against Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series. We’re reminded of the clutch hits and homers, but also of his savvy on the bases, helping others advance. In addition, Hirsch portrays Mays’ passion for the game including his exacting study of every hitter, every pitcher.
But being Willie Mays was about far more than skill and competitiveness. For example, his quick presence of mind may have saved the career of hot-tempered Orlando Cepeda, who went after a pitcher with his bat. Mays tackled him. When opposing catcher John Roseboro was in a fight with Juan Marichal, Mays got a bleeding Roseboro off the field.. He mentored younger players. One of his great loves was kids, and it was not uncommon to find him playing stickball in the Harlem streets.
Hirsch explores how Mays dealt with race. He was criticized by Jackie Robinson and others for not being more vocal. Yet Mays persisted in buying a home in an exclusive San Francisco neighborhood when residents opposed it and made threats. He let his excellence and physical toughness speak. Rather than confront, he invested in youth programs, and opened doors for others.
At the same time, Hirsch is forthright about Mays’ flaws. He chose badly in his first marriage and Marghuerite’s expensive tastes as well as Willie’s carefree generosity put him in financial straits for many years. Only late in his career did several people helped him pay off debts and manage and invest more wisely. Only later in his life in Mae did he find a partner who understood his love of the game. And then there is the intensity at which Mays played, landing him in the hospital with exhaustion several times.
Hirsch’s account leaves us wondering about some might-have-beens. What if Mays did not serve for nearly two seasons in the military and play half his career in Candlestick Park, robbing him of home runs? Might he have surpassed Ruth and rivaled Aaron? And what could he have earned were it not for baseball’s reserve clause?
Mays played before performance enhancing drugs. He was able to play hard because he didn’t live hard. In this biography, Hirsch portrays Mays’ love for the game that gave him the platform to care for kids, mentor others, and bring joy to fans. The “Say Hey” kid was one of a kind.
Scales of Justice (Roderick Alleyn, 18), Ngaio Marsh. Felony & Mayhem (ASIN: B00Q3JQMJ0), 2014 (First published in 1955).
Summary: A giant trout beside a murdered aristocrat from one of four families, all having motives or opportunity for murder, in a small rural village.
Nurse Kettle is walking home along the River Chyne when she spots Colonel Maurice Carterette on his side, hat over his head, with a huge trout by his side. Removing the hat, she discovers Colonel Carterette is dead, his skull smashed and pierced by a pointed object. After summoning the local authorities, Lady Lacklander, scion of the leading family in the small village of Swevenings, draws on class ties to summons Roderick Alleyn to investigate.
The murder takes place about halfway into the story, the first half setting up the context in which members of each of the families may be implicated in the murder. The Lacklanders are the leading family. Lady Lacklander’s husband has recently died a troubled death. He entrusted his memoir to Colonel Carterette. One chapter contained explosive material that would be damaging to the whole family if Carterette followed through with publication. Then there is Octavius Danberry-Phinn. He is Carterette’s neighbor and rival in the attempt to catch the Old ‘Un, the huge trout found by the body. Each had access to parts of the river and constantly accused the other of encroaching. Octavius’ son Vic served under Lacklander, committing suicide when accused of passing secrets to the Germans. He may not have wanted Lacklander’s memoir to be published.
Meanwhile, George Lacklander, the son of Lady Lacklander and Kitty Carterette, the Colonel’s second wife are flirting with an affair on the golf course. Yet another possibility is Major Syce, who once was in love with Kitty. He, she, and Colonel Carterette were all in Singapore. He introduced her to Carterette, and upon his return to the village found them married to each other. He’s know for shooting arrows at targets, or when he is under the influence, more widely. Nurse Kettle is treating him for lumbago, enjoying her attentions and stretching out the treatments. Finally, the younger generation is not exempt. Mark Lacklander wants to marry the Colonel’s daughter, a move not universally approved by the two families.
This is the tangled web of close relations and animosities Alleyn finds himself trying to unravel. In the second half of the book, he combines police investigation of clothing, boots, and possible murder instruments with interviews of all the suspects. And a book by Carterette on trout scales gives him one of his most important clues!
I thought this one of Marsh’s best. Not only does she give us an extensive cast of suspects. She also connects them all with each other in the intertwined life of the village aristocracy. Nurse Kettle helps connect the families in the narrative. While Alleyn conducts his measured investigation, he also handles the explosive memoir with care that both protects and restores reputations. Using a classic mystery trope, murder in a small English village, Marsh spins one of her best stories.
Story, Ritual, Prophecy, Wisdom, Mark W. Hamilton and Samjung Kang-Hamilton. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883186), 2024.
Summary: Four modes of scripture for religious education and their use in teaching the Bible: story, ritual, prophecy, and wisdom.
The Bible has played a central role in the church’s worship and the formation of Christians through the ages. Yet in contemporary times, many within the church have felt distant from lists of names, stories set in different cultures, and moral injunctions at variance with contemporary practice. Alternatively, some have tried to carry over structures of authority without consideration of differing contexts and tried to treat the Bible as a rulebook. The writers of this text for religious educators assume the use of the Bible as “taught text” to be used in a variety of church contexts from worship and religious instruction to catechesis of new and young believers.
The co-authors propose four modes for instruction: story, ritual, prophecy, and wisdom. Firstly, they explore story, how it works in scripture, and the use of various media in teaching. Secondly, the authors consider key biblical rituals, and the observance of baptism, eucharist and other ritual practices. Thirdly, prophecy envisions an imagined world shaped by God’s justice. Finally, wisdom passages from Proverbs to the Sermon on the Mount invite us into prudent living toward God, others, and our own desires.
But what does all this mean for how we teach the Bible? In light of our rapidly changing culture, the authors advocate going forward the Bible rather than back. For example, rather than simply trying to inculcate truth, they advocate approaches allowing for discovery. This requires a teacher who:
encourages students to reflect on and share their feelings with others;
invites holistic awareness of body and mind, of the whole person;
has well thought-out convictions but creates space for those of others;
establishes an atmosphere of trust and care;
builds trust among students;
mentors students in their discovery of faith, hope, and love;
helps with critical reflection on the past so as to build a meaning-making self;
identifies aspects of the Bible both to learn and to unlearn; and
questions easy assumptions about theology and other aspects of human existence. (quoted from p. 151)
For whom is this book written? Given the stance of the authors regarding issues of justice, this book serves those in progressive settings who take the Bible seriously. This includes religious educators and their students in seminaries, directors of Christian education in churches. Directors of worship and spiritual formation will also profit. Reading and teaching scripture for understanding and transformation is urgent in today’s churches. Thus, these four modes of scripture for religious education offer a vital rubric for religious educators.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Summary: Ijon Tichy’s voyages across the galaxy, satirical short pieces of science fiction by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem.
This is science fiction satire that makes that strains every idea of what is plausible in space travel. Ijon Tichy hops into his rocket and takes off on voyages across the galaxy like we might hop into a car for a spontaneous road trip. And predictably, he sometimes runs out of fuel, bringing further mishaps. The Star Diaries is a collection of short pieces Polish science fiction writer began writing in the 1950’s and added to for this 1971 publication. These are accounts of twelve of at least twenty-eight voyages by our intrepid space traveler.
In each voyage, Tichy gets in and out of difficulties, often in the most improbable ways. For example, in the first story, his rocket develops rudder problems that he needs a spare hand to fix. No problem! Just head into a space vortex and create a double of oneself. Of course, there are unforeseen problems and soon he has a ship full of doubles. Eventually he gets the rudder fixed and the doubles sent back to their own proper time. But not without a certain amount of hilarity.
In other voyages he represents earth’s petition to join a galactic United Nations, a study in bureaucratic tomfoolery. On another planet, he disguises himself as a robot to end a robot tyranny. Squamp-hunting is the focus of another voyage. Lem explores time travel and its problems by a 2166 version of himself visiting the future to persuade him to take his own place and sort out the space-time continuum. Tichy and his time alter ego end up stuck in a time loop. His trip to Dichotica represents a version of an encounter with transhumanists, with much philosophical folderol. His next voyage explores the pitfalls of extra-terrestrial proselytizing. And on a space constrained planet, people are often reduced to their atoms, and then recomposed from stored patterns (I wonder if this is where Star Trek got the idea for transporters!).
What’s really going on here? Is Lem just pulling our leg and having fun? Or is he playing a more clever game of getting his writing past Communist Party censors in Cold War Poland? Many think the latter, which I’m inclined to think credible. He portrays robotic tyrannies and states devoted to evolving their own super-species, and pokes fun at scientific and bureaucratic tensions. Meanwhile, part of the fun is the wordplay in which he creates whole paragraphs of made up words of semi-serious import. He also seems to delight in keeping the reader off balance, alternating between ridiculous satire and philosophical explorations, often in the same story! I also like to think that Lem saw himself in the venturous, resourceful, and intrepid Ijon Tichy.
Reading him, it is fun to imagine a meeting between him and Douglas Adams. Perhaps in another timeline….
Summary: Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus based upon a minimal historical facts approach comprehensively researched and documented.
Philosopher and apologist Gary R. Habermas has made a career of arguing for the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Now, fifty years later, he has embarked on what is likely his magnum opus, a projected four volume work On the Resurrection. This work, Volume One, examines the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus based upon a minimal historical facts approach. He offers a comprehensive treatment, surveying theological scholars and historians across the spectrum from evangelical to skeptic, with meticulous and extensive documentation. Consequently, this is a big book, running to 1072 pages. For all that, I was delighted rather than daunted by prose that flowed and by the meticulous way Habermas laid out his material. In this review, I will outline the work of Volume One and offer a few concluding comments.
Part 1: The Nature of Historical Research
Habermas begins by laying the philosophical foundation for his minimal historical facts approach. He begins with a survey of approaches to historiography from ancient historians through logical positivism to post-modernism, concluding that none of these have rejected outright the possibility of historically knowable facts. He discusses the tools of historiography and how the authenticity of sources is assessed. Most important is that sources are early, derived from eyewitnesses, multiple attestation exists, including enemy attestation, there is dissimilarity from other contemporary sources, embarrassing detail that disparages the source, and more. After a defense against post-modern skepticism, Habermas explains his minimal historical facts methodology. This includes his criteria, what is meant by the “vast majority of critical scholars and the breadth of his work. Habermas lists six minimal historical facts strongly supported by critical scholarship and six other facts that enjoy substantial but not as extensive support.
Part 2: Jesus: The Preliminaries
Before coming to the historical facts, Habermas establishes several preliminary facts on which the resurrection of Jesus depends. Most basic is the existence of Jesus. While doubted by some skeptics, Habermas shows that the existence of Jesus is supported by numerous early sources, including hostile sources. He defines the concept of miracle as “a dynamic, specialized event that nature is incapable of producing on its own, that temporarily supersedes (or appears to supersede) the normally known pattern of nature. Such an event would be brought about by the power of God or another supernatural agent for the express purpose of acting as a sign or pointer to verify or draw attention to a person or message.” Finally, he considers the case for Jesus as a healer and the important connection the resurrection has to this healing work
Part 3: The Minimal Historical Facts
Having laid the groundwork, Habermas proceeds to the minimal facts and the considerations that warrant their broad scholarly acceptance. They are:
Jesus Death: that he died, how he died and its significance
The Disciples Experiences: The appearances and the earliest sources including 1 Cor. 15:3-7.
The Earliest Proclamation of the Gospel: Nine layers of early testimony
The Disciples Transformations: From flight and despair to bold proclamation and martyrdom
The Conversion of James: From skeptical brother to believer after the appearance of the risen Jesus.
The Conversion of Paul: From persecutor to apostle after the resurrection appearance.
With each of these six, Habermas delineates the considerations (ten or more for each) that support acceptance as minimal facts. He also surveys scholarly opinion across the spectrum. Perhaps most notable is the support of scholars like Bart Ehrman and John Dominic Crossan for many of these facts. And this despite their own skepticism about the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Part 4: The Other Six Known Historical Facts
Having covered the six minimal facts, Habermas outlines support, substantial, though not as extensive for six other facts:
The empty tomb: Over twenty supporting considerations and a shift among recent scholars to support of the historicity of the empty tomb.
Jesus burial: While noting dissent from the burial, shows evidence and support including the significance of joseph of Arimathea.
The despair and disillusionment of the disciples following the crucifixion.
Christian preaching and teaching began in Jerusalem, the site of the events proclaimed.
The Church began meeting on Sunday and spread
The centrality of the message of Jesus’s death and resurrection.
Part 5: The Gospel Resurrection Data
After considering twelve historical facts, Habermas now considers these in the context of the gospel resurrection narratives. Habermas devotes a chapter to each gospel. Before that, Habermas devotes a chapter to recent gospel studies. He highlights the early creedal foundations behind the gospel and the research on the traditions behind the gospel, especially Richard Bauckham’s work asserting the eyewitness basis for gospel testimony. Also, he includes N.T. Wright’s arguments for early dates for the resurrection material. Finally, Habermas reviews the material from noncanonical Christian authors writing between AD 95 and 160.
Conclusion and Final Comments
It is clear that Habermas believes that the historically supportable facts are best explained by the idea that Jesus actually arose bodily. He briefly discusses alternative explanations that he will address more fully in Volume Two on refutations. He also includes two appendices. The first discusses the evidence for near death experiences as authentic out of the body experiences, including a patient who claimed to have risen out of her body, seeing a red shoe on the hospital roof. A janitor found that shoe. The second appendix outlined the data favoring the minimal facts.
In conclusion, Habermas makes an impressive case for the resurrection. On one hand, he shows the extensive evidence and support for that evidence, growing in recent years, across the scholarly spectrum. At the same time, he deals fairly with contradictory evidence. Above all, he has created a massive reference work for both scholars and apologists. But, as he would admit, this does not compel belief, as is evident among scholars skeptical of the resurrection. But it does mean that skeptics need to either show the facts unsupportable or offer a better account of them.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
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!
____________________
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.
____________________
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.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for review.
