Review: The Gales of November

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Cover image of "The Gales of November" by John U. Bacon

The Gales of November, John U. Bacon. Liveright (ISBN: 9781324094647) 2025.

Summary: A new history of the Edmund Fitzgerald, its final voyage, crew and captain, and the possible reasons for its sinking.

Fifty years ago today, sometime after 7:10 pm on November 10, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in 530 feet of water in Lake Superior, just fifteen miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay. At the time, the ship was contending with winds up to 100 miles per hour and waves of 25 feet or more.

When the Fitzgerald sank, I was a college senior, pressing toward graduation. It was only later that the sinking became part of the fabric of my life. It began with Gordon Lightfoot’s song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This haunting song captured the awesome forces of a storm on Lake Superior and a tragedy that took “the pride of the American side” and her 29 men to a watery grave where they remain to this day.

In 1977, not long after the sinking, we moved to Toledo, the home port of the Fitzgerald and her captain. We began to understand the integral role of these ships to the manufacturing economy of the lower Great Lakes. More significantly, we met people who knew crew members who had died. The tragedy became real. During summers, I worked at a camp at the eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. That afforded opportunities to spot freighters on Lake Huron, and see them up close, passing through the Soo Locks. It made one wonder what it must have taken to sink one of these massive ships.

John U. Bacon, in The Gales of November, explores all this history in careful detail, brought to life with profiles of Captain McSorley and the other 28 men who made up his crew. First of all, he acquaints us with the history of shipping on Lake Superior. He describes the conditions, including historic storms and sinkings that make the lake a fearsome place in bad weather. After people who have worked on ocean-going ships sailed Superior in such conditions, they said they’d take the ocean any time.

However, there were huge rewards for shipping companies transporting iron ore to mills and factories. Bacon describes the pressures to carry extra tonnage and reduce transit time. He explains “the Plimsoll line,” the point above which you could not load a ship without compromising navigational safety. There were ways to cheat this that McSorley and other captains used. On the final voyage, Fitzgerald may have been carrying 4000 tons more than it was designed for.

The Fitzgerald was the “pride of the American side,” the largest ship of her time. Not only that, she was equipped with the latest gear and elegantly appointed. Her food was better than most fine restaurants. But there were questions about her construction and the novel method of welding the hull together. The ship “flexed” as it navigated waves more than other ships. Also, the double hull construction with ballast tanks created a vulnerability if part of the hull breached and ballast tanks filled on an already loaded ship.

Much of the book details the final voyage, its last of the season and final trip for Captain McSorley, and several others who were retiring. McSorley was often considered the best captain with the best crew on the best ship. He was the one you wanted as captain in a storm. From an unseasonably balmy departure, we learn of increasingly worrisome weather forecasts as two systems barreled toward a collision on the Fitzgerald’s final path. The Fitzgerald was sailing in tandem with a sister ship, the Arthur M. Anderson.

Much of our record of the unfolding tragedy is captured in the communication between the two captains. It began with the captains deciding on a northerly route to shelter from some of the winds. But it required passing Caribou Island and the Six Fathom Shoal, inaccurately charted on the maps McSorley was using. It was after passing these that McSorley reported a list that continued to worsen. His radars went out and they depended on the Anderson for navigation. Then, at 7:10 pm, asked how they were making out, McSorley said, “We are holding our own.” Subsequently, the Anderson lost radar and radio contact with the Fitzgerald.

Bacon describes the heroic efforts to search for the ship and survivors, especially the decision of the Anderson to turn around and go out amid the raging storm, an example of the sailor’s code: “We have to go out but we don’t have to come back.” And he offers an account of the impact of the sinking on “the wives, and the sons, and the daughters.”

Perhaps most fascinating is his account of Gordon Lightfoot’s song. Lightfoot was a sailor on the lakes. Bacon describes the writing of the song and Lightfoot’s reluctance to record it. He was concerned about looking like he was taking advantage of the tragedy. We learn how the first take is the one we hear, and how much it meant to the families of victims.

Finally, Bacon explores possible causes without reaching a definitive conclusion. He tends to rule out the unsecured hatch theory. He notes the safety measures put into effect after the sinking. There have been no sinking of commercial vessels in the fifty years since.

Bacon offers a riveting account of the Edmund Fitzgerald. His interviews with surviving former crewmen help us envision what life on the ship was like. His account of McSorley reveals the fine line between superior competence and the gambles that put the ship at risk. He helps us understand the tradeoffs of hauling capacity and navigability of these unusual ships. The narrative builds up our sense of the approach of the impending tragedy. Yet I found myself rooting that somehow, in this telling, the Fitzgerald would make those final fifteen miles.

Overall, I was impressed with the research that went into this book. However a friend pointed out a small error on page 17. Bacon writes of William Henry Harrison creating the United States Weather Bureau in 1890. William Henry Harrison died in office in 1841. That president’s grandson, Benjamin Harrison was president at the time. It’s a mistake I could have made that I hope is corrected in future printings. However, it makes no material difference to the story Bacon tells that honors the crew that went down that fateful night, fifty years ago.

The Weekly Wrap: November 2-8

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The Weekly Wrap: November 2-8

Writing for AI

One of the articles I feature this week highlights one writer’s realization that those of us still writing may not only use AI to write but are likely writing for AI.

I know this to be true. My blog software tells me where people are referred from who don’t come directly to my site. On a near daily basis, people visit from ChatGPT and other AI large language models. That tells me that these LLMs regularly “scrape” my website and include it as a source in their answers. I find the text of these answers often reflect the source website. Often, that is all someone will read. I am writing for AI whether I wish to or not. In fact, various AI programs may be among my most dedicated “readers.” But perhaps I flatter myself!

How do I feel about that? Resigned is probably the best word I can think of. It’s one of the prices of posting material on the internet. I like it when it translates into people coming to my website. But I suspect 5-10 don’t for each who does.

The article writer explores how to leverage writing for AI. But I don’t think I want to devote too much energy to figuring out how to woo that black box. I pay attention to SEO and readability. However the writer mentioned one idea about writing that caught my attention. The material AI trains on shapes its “character.” I hope the ethos of goodness, truth, and beauty in books I’ve sought to put forward has at least some marginal effect. At very least I hope for this with a few of my human readers. If nothing else, it has for me.

Five Articles Worth Reading

So, the article to which I’ve been referring is “Baby Shoggoth Is Listening” by Dan Kagan-Kans, writing for The American Scholar. He does make me wonder if most human writing, even books, may be mediated through AI in the reading experience of most people. Tell me what you think.

Conservatives have been busy reasserting their vision of traditional masculinity. Things like empathy, vulnerability, and asking for help are out. They are too feminine. Leah Libresco Sargeant, a thoughtful conservative writer pushes back on this trend in a new book, reviewed in “A Conservative Rejoinder to the Manosphere.”

Among many readers I interact with, historical fiction is more popular than history. However, the question arises of how true the fiction is to history. In “Emma Donoghue on Populating Historical Fiction,” the writer explores these questions.

Then, in “At the Heart of Don Quixote,” James Como identifies a storytelling device that we may miss and that is important to the narrative.

Finally, NY Times critic A.O. Scott says “When I’m Sick of Doomscrolling, I Turn to This Poem.” He even reads it for us!

Quote of the Week

Albert Camus was born November 7, 1913. This quote underscores A. O. Scott’s point:

“We have art in order not to die of life.”

Miscellaneous Musings

A. O. Scott is not the only one who reads poetry online. Every Wednesday is “Bob on Poetry” day at my Facebook Page. Recording poetry is a great way to get it into one’s life. you rarely get it “right” in one “take.” One has to think about meaning, phrasing, rhythm and rhyme. I suspect like many things I do online, I profit as much or more than others!

I learned this week that Thriftbooks now has a special deal for AARP members. If you are in the over 50 crowd and a member, head over to their “Special Offer for AARP Members” and save 5% extra when you buy two or more books.

I’m reading Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story, Wendell Berry’s latest Port William novel. I hope Mr. Berry is with us a good while yet. But the book has a valedictory feel to it, as if Berry is speaking through grandson Andy Catlett, now old himself, about what was achieved for a time in the Port William membership, and what has been sadly lost.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: John U. Bacon, The Gales of November

Tuesday: A. C. Seiple, The Sacred Art of Slowing Down

Wednesday: Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

Thursday: Rebecca Grabill, illustrated by Isabella Grott, One Star, Three Kings

Friday: Angie Ward, Beyond Church and Parachurch

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for November 2-8.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page

Review: Let’s Be Reasonable

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Cover image of "Let's Be Reasonable" by Jonathan Marks

Let’s Be Reasonable, Jonathan Marks. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691193854) 2021.

Summary: An conservative argument for liberal education rooted in John Locke’s idea of the cultivation of reason.

“There cannot be anything so disingenuous, so misbecoming a gentleman or anyone who pretends to be a rational creature, as not to yield to plain reason and the conviction of clear arguments.”

–John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

The argument Jonathan Marks makes in this book may be summarized by this quote. Marks believes that this is at the heart of a true liberal education. Furthermore, if liberal education is to be saved, it must be about teaching students to reason, to be reasonable. It is not about social justice placemats, “complex thinking” or education for citizenship.. As a conservative arguing for this form of liberal education, he believes these are progressive substitutes for the central mission of a university: to teach students to reason and to be formed by yielding to plain reason. Contrary to other conservatives, he is not ready to give up and torch the whole thing.

In the first chapter, he argues that students should be taught to think and reason at any campus. Marks cites both his own experience at Midwest colleges and the unique experience of Earl Shorris. Shorris founded the Clemente Center. Instead of elite college students, he works with the homeless, former convicts, and others on the margins. He believes teaching things like philosophy, logic, poetry, and American history are the road out of poverty. Not only have they found all these students capable. Both he and Shorris are convinced that learning to be reasonable best equips them for work and for citizenship.

Then he addresses the progressive, left-leaning character of the campus. He argues this is real but also makes the case that he has not needed to compromise his conservative convictions. Rather, he describes what I believe is the work of a good professor. He works with his students on fundamental questions of justice, not believing it to be his work to break down their resistance to critical race theory. Marks exposes students to a debate between Jonathan Chait and Ta Nehisi Coates on race in America. He argues, against both radicals of the left and the right, that this kind of education is not only possible but crucial to the mission of higher education.

But what is wrong with other aims of education? Why not teach for citizenship? Why not help students engage complex thinking? He argues that educating for citizenship may just deepen our partisan divides. He admits that some systems really are complex. However,he argues that complexity can make smart people stupid, particularly in instances requiring moral clarity.

Chapter four discusses the work of shaping reasonable students. He is optimistic about students, recognizing differences in this generation. However he doesn’t think them worse or better. Not only so, he believes teaching them to be reasonable provides a robust basis for free speech. They don’t need to cancel those with whom they disagree. Reason loves a good argument.

Finally, Marks engages a case study on the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel due to their actions against Palestinians). This chapter is even more relevant than it was at time of publication. He argues that the BDS movement (as well as its detractors) have often thrown reasoned argument, and hence, the university’s mission to the wind. Too often, academic associations have followed in lockstep, affirming the politically correct. Marks argues against trying to shut down one side or the other. He also draws the line at attacks on students. He argues for what professors do best: teaching. And he relates the example of team teaching with a colleague from a differing point of view a discussion of My Promised Land.

I suspect readers of this review will have different takes on Marks argument. I found it telling that he identifies with David French, a conservative who has, of late taken more hits from the right than the left. His argument against burning down (at least figuratively) our higher ed institutions is one conservatives need to heed. Likewise, I applaud his challenge to those who are fear-mongers toward the left. If anything, it seems the current moment has changed the power dynamic, opening the door to reasonable engagement.

Finally, I appreciate his call to teach students to reason and to be open to reason. I think of Stanley Fish’s Save the World on Your Own Time and his challenges to professors of “do your job” (reviewed at https://bobonbooks.com/2013/11/27/review-save-the-world-on-your-own-time/). I sense Marks would be fine with students who would differ from his conservative views if they had good reasons to do so. He would have done his job.

Review: The Wages of Cinema

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Cover image of "The Wages of Cinema" by Crystal L. Downing

The Wages of Cinema (Studies in Theology and the Arts), Crystal L. Downing. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008805) 2025.

Summary: A Christian aesthetic of film in conversation with Dorothy L. Sayers’ ideas on creativity and artistic integrity.

Crystal L. Downing considers Dorothy L. Sayers an ideal dialogue partner to discuss a Christian aesthetic of film. Sayers wrote of creativity and artistic integrity in her Mind of the Maker. She wrote for the stage and even made forays into screenwriting. She wrote film criticism and criticized Christian docetism that failed to take the material of film seriously. Sayers felt strongly the necessity of artistic integrity–that what was portrayed and how it was portrayed must go together. She had no place for inferior artistic work for the sake of a Christian “message,” a major theme of this work.

Downing integrates all of this into a survey of film history and explorations of film aesthetics. She begins with theatre both going back to the Greeks and the ties of theatre figures with the birth and growth of cinema. Downing offers a fascinating discussion contrasting the stigmata of theatre with the stigma of film. World War 2 and war films come in for consideration, with Downing juxtaposing a discussion of The Bridge over the River Kwai with The Railway Man. She connects this with Sayers views of the insanity of wars and efforts in “bridge-building.”

Through an exploration of the transition from silent film to sound work, Downing considers Sayers’ ideas about compromising integrity for money and doing something “for the love of the work.” Then she incorporates Sayers works for the stage into the discussion. Following this, Downing brings Sayers’ Mind of the Maker into dialogue with film makers. But skilled makers can also produce evil works, as in D. W. Griffiths Birth of a Nation, where cinematic excellence is coupled with a racist message. Then Downing moves on to perhaps the most challenging chapter, a deep dive into film theory. In dialogue with philosopher C.S. Pierce, she recurs to this statement by Sayers: “Art that is the true image of experience is true art, even though the experience is ugly or immoral (as the image of God is still the image of God, even in a wicked man).”

However, the most striking chapter is a discussion of feminism in film, exploring how the male gaze at women both shapes and overlooks the expression of women’s creative gifts. Not only do we consider the capable Harriet Vane in front of cameras during her trial but also the trials and travails of Barbie. Finally, in a coda, Downing recaps how Dorothy L. Sayers life intersects with the emergence of cinema, including what, for Sayers, was the magical year of 1908.

I am more of a Dorothy L. Sayers buff than a cinema buff, so I found myself struggling with the cinema parts of the book. However, I don’t think a cinema buff would face the same disadvantage in the discussion of Sayers. Anyone interested in the aesthetics of film making would find this fascinating and illuminating. In addition, Downing’s access to the Sayers archives at the Wade Center adds substance beyond Sayers’ published works. Finally, Downing’s work represents a step forward in Christian engagement with film, moving beyond spiritual content to the art, great or inferior, of making films.

_______________________

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

Review: Pietr the Latvian

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Cover image of "Pietr the Latvian" by Georges Simenon

Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret, 1), Georges Simenon. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780141392738) 2025 (first published in 1930).

Summary: Maigret tracks an international criminal appearing in a number of guises, not always sure he is tracking the real Pietr.

Georges Simenon wrote 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Inspector Jules Maigret. This is the very first of the novels and serves as a kind of introduction to Maigret and to Simenon as a mystery writer.

One thing we discover is Simenon is capable of an extremely twisty plot. He learns that an international crime ring leader, known as Pietr the Latvian, is arriving via train in Paris. He has a description and intends to follow him, hopefully to apprehend him in his nefarious dealings. The one problem is that the man he identifies as Pietr is simultaneously heading to his hotel and also very much dead in a train lavatory. The man at the hotel registers as Oswald Oppenheim and is there to meet an American businessman.

This is the first of several identities Maigret investigates, including a Norwegian sea captain and a drunken Russian living with a prostitute, Anna Gorskin. Who is the real Pitr and who are the doubles? Are any of them the dead man on the train?

Not only is the pursuit bewildering. It is also dangerous. A colleague of Maigret, working at the hotel is murdered. Then someone shoots Maigret in the street of a rough district. Although the wound entered his chest and exited his shoulder, Maigret somehow keeps going. We discover that Maigret is resolute as a junk yard dog.

What keeps Maigret going? It seems it is both the offense of the crime and the expectation that the best criminals sooner or later slip up. And Maigret’s plan is to be there when it happens.

To sum up, this initial number is a good example for the series. Short, fast-moving, twisty stories, running about 160 pages. An implacable Inspector. And interesting criminals. What’s not to like?

Review: What We Can Know

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Cover image of "What We Can Know" by Ian McEwan

What We Can Know, Ian McEwan. Albert A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593804728) 2025.

Summary: A researcher in 2119 seeks a lost poem read at a famous dinner in 2014, reconstructing the circumstances of the dinner.

In 2014, famous poet Francis Blundy hosted a dinner in honor of his wife’s birthday. During the dinner, he read a poem written for Vivien in the form of a corona. A corona is a “crown of sonnets” consisting of fifteen sonnets, often addressed to one person. The last line of each sonnet is repeated in the first line of the next. Finally, the fifteenth sonnet consists of the last lines of the first fourteen, and makes sense! Blundy wrote it out on vellum and, after the reading, presented it to Vivian, After the dinner, its whereabouts became unknown. The dinner became known as the Second Immortals Dinner. The first was in 1817, with Wordsworth, Keats, and Charles Lamb among the guests of painter Ben Haydon.

In the 2030’s, cataclysmic events occurred. Climate change resulted in wars over resources, including the limited use of nuclear weapons. One of these, intended for the United States landed in the mid-Atlantic, creating a giant tsunami inundating the low lying areas of the Americas and Europe and western Africa. Paradoxically, these bombs resulted in a cooling of the planet. The period was called the Derangement and by the following century, the Earth’s population was down to four billion.

McEwan envisions a world in 2119 that suffered both the loss of much and retained the vestiges of advanced civilization. Regions of the United States are at war. Nigeria controls the internet. But there are still universities in what is left of the United Kingdom. Among the researchers, Thomas Metcalfe studies the years prior to the Derangement. His interest has focused in on the dinner and the lost poem. Instead of the coup of discovery, all he can know are the circumstances surrounding the dinner. Particularly, this included the lives and loves of the guests.

He knows of the tragic first marriage of Vivien Blundy to Percy. This big bear of a man built beautiful musical instruments, including working on a replica of a Guarnieri violin. That is, until early onset Alzheimer’s struck. He knows of the dalliances with Blundy’s brother-in-law Harry, and the meeting pf Francis and Vivien. All this took place prior to Percy’s death from a fall. Vivien subsequently married Francis, setting up in her own studio near the main building called the Barn.

But Metcalfe’s career and life seem stalled. He’s in an off again/on again relationship with Rose, a fellow lecturer on the period. They even teach classes together. Research trips to the Blundy archives turn up lots of trivia about the Blundy’s but nothing on the poem. That is, until an archivist passes along a slip of paper. On it are scratched numbers that Thomas figures out are map coordinates.

When students, no longer interested in how writers dealt with or avoided the impending Derangement, walk out of Thomas and Rose’s class, they conclude it’s time to seek out the coordinates. It turns out they are on the site of the home where Vivien lived after Francis’ death. Could this be the poem’s hiding place? Thomas and Rose embark on a boat trip to an isolated island, hike through overgrowth, find the site and dig up a sealed container.

This is all in the first part of the novel. The second part tells us what they found, and will answer the question of what happened to the poem. It reveals how much they did not know. McEwan leaves the impact of discovery to our imagination.

McEwan foregrounds the quest for a lost poem and what a scholar can know of its past, and that of its author. But part of the work he and Rose do is study the literature leading up to the Derangement. The unspoken question is why so many knew and did so much yet failed to do what was needed. McEwan also creates a situation in which civilization doesn’t end in a cataclysm but withers by degree. It is telling that Rose and Thomas’s students take no interest in what they can know of the past but think they can create a future on a blank slate. They take no interest in knowing the folly of forebears who refused to face and act on what they knew.

It leaves one wondering what historians a century from now, if such still exist, will write about our time. And I can’t help wondering if they will write about what we knew and failed to act upon. Will they wonder about our grand projects and petty squabbles while our own Derangement loomed? I wonder.

The Month in Reviews: October 2025

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Cover image of "Insane for the Light" by Ronald Rolheiser

The Month in Reviews

Introduction

This month I explored strange new worlds including Discworld and learned about loving a forest. I read memoirs a pastor who led his village in sheltering Jews from the Holocaust and of a football player from my home town and the wonderful surprises he discovered when learned who his biological parents were. On consecutive days I read works on the peaceable kingdom from indigenous and pacifist traditions. I reviewed books on believing, intimacy, wisdom, and giving away our deaths. I considered the development of doctrine from Reformed and Catholic perspectives. Finally, I savored one more David McCullough book, a collection of articles and lectures titled History Matters. And I enjoyed a novel set in a fictional northwest Ohio town

The Reviews

Star Trek and Faith, Volume 1, Mark S. Hansard, foreword by Michael W. Austin. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385235193) 2025. How various iterations of Star Trek explored religious and philosophical ideas vis-à-vis a Christian worldview. Review

Windigo Island, (Cork O’Connor, 14), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781476749242) 2025. Cork, Jenny, and Henry join in a search for a missing Ojibwe girl when her friend’s body washes up on a sinister island. Review

The Future of Synodality, Kristin M. Colberg and Jos Moons, SJ. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9798400800160) 2025. An account of the effort of Catholicism to move to a more open, participative and inclusive ecclesiology. Review

Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, Ross Douthat. Zondervan Books (ISBN: 9780310367581) 2025. A case for committing to a religious faith, illustrated by the author’s belief in Christianity. Review

History Matters, David McCullough (edited by Dorie McCullough Lawson and Michael Hill, foreword by Jon Meacham). Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668098998) 2025. Essays and lectures on the importance of history, biographical vignettes, influences on the writer, and writing process. Review

Shalom and the Community of Creation (Prophetic Christianity) Randy S. Woodley. Wm. B. Eerdmans (ISBN: 9780802866783) 2012. The “Harmony Way” of the indigenous and biblical shalom between peoples, with creation, and the Creator. Review

The Peaceable Kingdom, Stanley Hauerwas. University of Notre Dame Press (ISBN:  9780268015541) 1991. A Christian ethic centered in the character of the rule Jesus inaugurated, lived by the church in nonviolent service. Review

Insane for the Light, Ronald Rolheiser. Image (ISBN: 9780593736463) 2025. The spiritual journey of our final years, learning not only how to relinquish one’s life but to give away one’s death. Review

The Color of Magic (Discworld, 1) Terry Pratchett. (HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063373662) 2024 (first published in 1983). A failure at wizard school is compelled to protect a rich but naive traveler with a most unusual luggage chest. Review

Galatians and Ephesians Through Old Testament Eyes, Gary M. Burge. Kregel Academic (ISBN: 9780825445187) 2025. A commentary drawing out the Old Testament allusions and references Paul makes. Review

The Asylum Seekers, Cristina Rathbone. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9798889832010) 2025. A priest lives with asylum seekers in Juarez, learning about what they fled, the community they built, and their faith. Review

Buckeye, Patrick Ryan. Random House (ISBN: 9780593595039) 2025. Two couples in a small, post-war Ohio town have secrets between them that will shake their lives and the son who connects them. Review

Walking the Way of the Wise (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology), Mitchell L. Chase. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010914) 2025. Traces the idea of wisdom in scripture and how integral it is to walking well with God in covenant relationship. Review

How to Love a Forest, Ethan Tapper. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9798889830559) 2024. A forester buys a piece of Vermont forest that had been mismanaged and implements restorative practices. Review

Paul Through the Eyes of the Reformers, Stephen J. Chester. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802878489) 2025. Challenges misconceptions of Reformation readings of Paul and proposes constructive approaches. Review

Runs in the Family, Sarah Spain and Deland McCullough. Simon Element (ISBN: 9781668036280) 2025. An adopted child in difficult circumstances rises to coach in the NFL before finding his biological parents. Review

Knowing and Being Known, Erin F. Moniz. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514010037) 2025. Explores elements of healthy relationships. the complexities of intimacy, and how the gospel relates to intimacy. Review

The Memoirs of Andre’ Trocme’, André Trocmé, Edited by Patrick Cabanel, translated by Patrick Henry and Mary Anne O’Neil. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636081595) 2025 (published in French 2020). His childhood, formative years, pacifism, and leadership in sheltering of Jews during the Holocaust. Review

The Idol House of Astarte (Miss Marple short stories), Agatha Christie. Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781504082297) 2024 (originally published in 1928, 1932). Miss Marple solves a murder occurring before witnesses with no obvious assailant and no weapon found. Review

Old Testament Wisdom & Poetry (Scripture Connections), Norah Whipple Caudill. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087746449) 2025. Introduces the six books: outlines, author, date, message, biblical connections and application. Review

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, John Henry Cardinal Newman (foreword by Ian Ker). University of Notre Dame Press (ISBN: 9780268009212) 1994 (first published in 1845). Shows that doctrine has undergone development and provides marks of genuine doctrines. Review

Best Book of the Month

Many of the spiritual books I’ve read are written for young adults or those at midlife. But aren’t their new aspects to our formation as we age? In Insane for the Light, Father Ronald Rolheiser argues that our formation here not only involves giving away our lives but also our deaths. He writes, “Giving our deaths away as a gift to our loved ones means that at some point in our lives, we need to stop focusing on our agenda and begin to focus on our obituary, on what kind of spirit we will leave behind.” A profound book and much needed.

Quote of the Month

It is a sad thing for me to witness the attempts to erase history taking place in American society and the contempt for history more generally. David McCullough said this about why history matters:

“But, I think, what it really comes down to is that history is an extension of life. It both enlarges and intensifies the experience of being alive. It’s like poetry and art. Or music. And it’s ours, to enjoy” 

To ignore and denigrate history is to rob oneself according to McCullough.

What I’m Reading

When I wrote last month, i mentioned beginning to read the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. Well, I’m on to number two, The Light Fantastic. I love the tongue in cheek way he pokes fun at many of our pretensions.

Then in non-fiction, I’m reading The Gales of November by John U. Bacon. The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in November of 1975, my senior year in college. Gordon Lightfoot’s song etched the story in my mind forever. We lived in Toledo in the late ’70s and met people who knew crew members. A number were from Toledo, including the captain. We also traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during many summers and got up to the Soo Locks, hoping to see a big freighter go through. Bacon gives a history of the Fitzgerald, it’s crew, the last fateful voyage, and possible reasons why the ship sank, though under “the best captain with the best crew.”

On the Christian side, Beyond Church and Parachurch addresses the tension between the church and ministries like the one I once worked with. Angie Ward does a great job on connecting the dots on intuitions I’ve had about how the two may walk together. The Earth is the Lord’s is a deep dive into the Natural Law theory of property, addressing why all should not be held in common. Finally, Mid-Faith Crisis explores how we navigate these crises, whether from tragedy or hardship in our lives, to the failures of the church and its leaders, to the dark nights of the soul.

Speaking of dark nights, Daylight Savings Time has ended. We’re in the season of early sunsets and lowering temperatures. What a great time to curl up with a book. I hope I’ve given you a few ideas.

The Month in Reviews is my monthly review summary going back to 2014! It’s a great way to browse what I’ve reviewed. The search box on this blog also works well if you are looking for a review of a particular book. Thanks for stopping by.

The Weekly Wrap: October 26-November 1

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The Weekly Wrap: October 26-November 1

Why I’m Not a Horror Fan

I’ve made through the month of Spooktober! No twelve foot skeletons have snatched me up. Nor have I been bitten by any giant spiders. I’ve not been spirited away by any goblins hanging on trees. And I’ve not read any of the horror novels that were the subject of so many newsletter articles this month.

I’m just not into horror. That’s not a judgement on anyone else’s literary tastes. One could argue that horror makes a great escape from the scary realities of modern life. But not for me. I find that what I need is either perspective that helps me face these things or books of consolation for the precious things we are losing that I have little hope of changing.

One of the phrases that occurs over and over in my Bible is “be not afraid.” Horror functions by saying “be afraid; be very afraid.” So do conspiracy books. Every imaginary fear functions by making us believe something could be so. I’ve simply made a personal decision that I will not live by fear. That doesn’t mean I won’t reckon with danger.

Ultimately what is feared in horror is death–often in a grisly manner. I wonder whether it is good to fascinate oneself with macabre forms of death. And the beings that inhabit the beyond are usually not Caspar the Friendly Ghost. C.S. Lewis offers good guidance that we neither disbelieve in devils nor excessively focus on them. I try to follow that.

Finally, there are just so many other books I am interested in reading that what life I have left is too short a time. And in the Eternity that follows, horrors real and imagined will come to an end. Somehow, horror just doesn’t fit, for me.

Five Articles Worth Reading

But if I were to take a dip into horror, I would probably start with Stephen King. The only one of his books I have read is 11/22/63. Gilbert Cruz has written “The Essential Stephen King,” a guide to his work beginning with your interests

One of the first American masters of horror was Edgar Allen Poe. As it turns out, the most enigmatic mystery has to do with the cause of Poe’s own death. In “The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death: 19 Theories on What Caused the Poet’s Demise,” Open Culture explores the different explanations and the evidence.

In addition to his poetry, T. S. Eliot wrote a lot of prose. Essays, printed lectures, and book reviews (lots of them). People wondered whether he really read all the books he seemed acquainted with. At very least, the reviewer of his Collected Prose, Vols. 1-4, insists that the quality of analysis confirms that he read carefully what he reviewed. “What We Can Do Is to Use Our Minds: T. S. Eliot, Collected Prose” is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of T.S. Eliot and what he gained from all that writing.

I’ve seen several reviews of Paul Kingsnorth’s Against The Machine, which contends that our modern techno-capitalism is undermining the foundations of our civilization and destroying the earth. I have the book and will be reviewing it soon. “Let ‘The West’ Die” is adapted from his book and will give you the gist of his thought.

In my early adult years, it was not uncommon to get some friends together, put on some music (usually on vinyl),” crank it up and either dance to it, or just take it in. Recently, my son brought back a vintage Tony Bennett album. Perhaps the greater gift was savoring it together. Jonathan Garrett, in “How to Make Music Popular Again,” considers what we’ve lost as music listening has become a private experience on headphones.

Quote of the Week

Novelist Evelyn Waugh was born October 28, 1903. He made this fascinating observation:

“When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.”

Have any limitations you want to keep?

Miscellaneous Musings

I lost a day to sickness on Wednesday. It was kind of weird–just profound tiredness accompanied by unsteadiness on my feet and a fever. I nearly fell asleep in my soup during lunch! Slept all afternoon into the evening, took some acetaminophen and started feeling better, and by Thursday, felt better other than feeling somewhat drained. When I was awake, I couldn’t read–nothing registered. I could handle an episode of The Chosen, a video series. That was all. It meant delaying my reviews by a day. I was in no state to write one on Wednesday for a Thursday posting. It reminded me of what a gift health is, and the amazing, even at 71, recuperative powers of our bodies.

Ironically, on the day when I missed my regular posting time, I had one of the best days of the year with traffic on the blog. Louise Penny’s and Charlie Mackesy’s new books had just dropped and it looked like people were looking up my reviews of their previous books. There’s a lesson for me here. By the way, I have both of the new books and hope to review them in November.

I wonder if there is a silver lining to cuts to the humanities and the arts, and to libraries and public media. If they can replace lost revenue with private support without becoming “beholden” to a particular interest, it seems that they would gain a new degree of freedom in our highly politicized atmosphere. We all can make a difference in our buying decisions and charitable contributions to help make that possible.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: The Month in Reviews: October 2025

Tuesday: Ian Mc Ewan, What We Can Know

Wednesday: Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

Thursday: Crystal L. Downing, The Wages of Cinema

Friday: Jonathan Marks, Let’s Be Reasonable: A Conservative Case For Liberal Education

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for October 26-November 1.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page

Review: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

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Cover image of "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine" by John Henry Cardinal Newman

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, John Henry Cardinal Newman (foreword by Ian Ker). University of Notre Dame Press (ISBN: 9780268009212) 1994 (first published in 1845).

Summary: Shows that doctrine has undergone development and provides marks of genuine doctrines.

One of the questions raised by many who are not Catholics is why the church affirms many doctrines that have no explicit basis in scripture. These include beliefs about the Virgin Mary, papal supremacy, and purgatory. John Henry Cardinal Newman, in 1845, penned what may be the best explanation of how these doctrines are genuine developments of biblical truth.

“Development” is the key word in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. He argues that while some of the doctrines of the Catholic Church don’t arise from explicit texts of scripture, they are nevertheless genuine developments from the scriptures. To make this argument, Newman devotes the first part of his “essay” to defending the idea that Christian doctrine has developed over time. Many things implicit in scripture were later brought out in the Councils and Papal teaching. And we need look no further than the doctrine of the Trinity or the doctrine of the Incarnation to see this is the case. But Newman holds this to be true of all the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

But how are we to distinguish the genuine from corruptions of doctrine? Newman offered seven “notes” or distinguishing marks:

  1. Preservation of its Type. This refers to the persistence of a main idea even though its external expression may change. Newman contrasts the egg to a fully grown bird as an example. He supports this note through a study of the first six centuries of the church.
  2. Continuity of Its Principles. As true doctrine develops, it never violates the basic principle of Christianity, of which Newman enumerates nine. Every heresy will violate at least one of these.
  3. Its Assimilative Power. Growing things depend on assimilating nutrients for their life. Similarly true doctrine develops in part by assimilating external ideas such as Greek philosophy that help it define more clearly what the church believes.
  4. Its Logical Sequence. In a genuine development of doctrine, a logical progression can be shown from biblical truth to the doctrine’s expression. For example, purgatory develops from the requirement of perfection to enter heaven. Yet many are friends of Christ who are not perfect and thus must undergo a purifying process before entering heaven.
  5. Anticipation of its Future. Essentially, this note proposes that there are hints to future developments implied in the earliest statements. Newman shows this to be the case with the idea of relics, the Virgin Mary, and the cult of saints and angels.
  6. Conservative Action on its Past. Genuine developments build on earlier ones, often bringing greater clarity. For example, the Nicene Creed clarifies and strengthens what is in the Apostles Creed. A corruption contradicts and weakens the earlier development.
  7. Its Chronic Vigour. Genuine developments endure while heresies die off. One example Newman offers is Pelagianism, which denied original sin and argued for human pefectability apart from Christ’s redemptive grace.

One of the strength’s of Newman’s work is to show how doctrines develop over time and to legitimize that process. This is important because all of us believe things not explicitly stated in the Bible. Additionally, his extensive arguments from church history help substantiate his case. At the same time, it seems, as an outside observer, a good argument to legitimate what is. And I could see some from Eastern or Reformed traditions using some of the notes to argue against particular Catholic doctrines. It also essentially brands Eastern Orthodoxy and the churches of the Reformation as embracing corruptions at their points of difference. Although Newman doesn’t explicitly say this, it is a logical “development” from his argument.

Newman’s Victorian prose is never an easy read. In this case, his lengthy discussions of church history risk losing the forest for the trees. One must keep the main contours and particular “notes” of Newman’s argument before one.

To sum up, this is an important work, not merely for Catholics but for all Christians. We may know that Jesus loves us “because the Bible tells me so” but not all that any of us as Christians affirm comes directly from scripture without development. Newman also helps us, whether we agree or not, to understand the Catholic justification of doctrines with which others may disagree.

But it also shows why it will be difficult to reach a doctrinal rapprochement that encompasses Eastern, Protestant, and Catholic churches. That does not mean we cannot strive for mutual understanding and charitable relations. But to be of one mind in doctrine seems to me to be part of the beatific vision. “ For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV).

Sick Day!

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Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

Those of you who regularly follow my blog will note that there was no post this morning. That’s the first time that happened since 2016 when I had foot surgery that required a hospital stay. This time it was because my body forced me to take a sick day yesterday. I had woken early for a routine doctor appointment (with my foot doc!). I felt more tired than usual but chalked it up to an early start. I made it through the morning fine. But at midday, I felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on me. All I could do was sleep. I was running a fever. Some acetaminophen, a good night’s rest and I was feeling drained, but better.

But sometimes health in your seventies feels like whack-a-mole. This morning, I discovered my right hand was red, swollen, and warm to the touch. I’ve had cellulitis before and recognize the signs, which the doc confirmed. He said I did good to get in so quickly. So now it’s two weeks on an antibiotic. Probably got it doing yardwork on Tuesday. The doc wanted to give me a pass on yardwork for the rest of the season!

Ah well… At any rate, the book I would have reviewed today, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, will appear tomorrow morning.