Review: Finding Your Yes

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Finding Your Yes, Christine E. Wagoner. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2021.

Summary: An exploration of what it means to listen for God’s invitations and say “yes” to them.

One of the questions I often dealt with in student ministry was how one knows God’s will. Christine Wagoner, in Finding Your Yes, suggests that one of the key aspects of this is listening for God’s invitations, and that implies that God is even more interested in guiding us, at times, than we are to be guided.

The book is divided into two parts. The first is “Getting to Yes.” She begins by confessing that “yes” has often begun with “no.” She illustrates this with the story of how she kept saying “no” to writing as well as to teaching a woman’s group in her church and how Jesus pursued her until she said “yes.” She discusses all the “not me” obstacles we erect to those invitations, and how Jesus can shift our perspective, as he did with the woman at the well. She addresses the places of inner resistance, particularly our fear of failure. She tells stories of people who began with small “yesses” and how these led into bigger things. And she discusses how we grow in our yes through partnership and debriefing.

The second part is “Staying with your Yes.” Yes doesn’t automatically lead to a promised land of fruitful life. Sometimes “yes” involves waiting, as it did for Abraham, or recalibrating, when a reality we’ve said “yes” to, like motherhood, is not being fulfilled. Sometimes we say “yes” and life seems to fall apart. Were we mistaken? Sometimes “yes” takes us to a place of pain. Some of this is complicated by lies of the enemy: “this will destroy you”, “if, as a woman, you keep growing as a leader, you will never get married.” She talks about how we sometimes say “no” without exploring the possibility of yes and sometimes have a “no” concealed in our “yes.” I did find myself wondering in this chapter about discerning when God is inviting us to say “no” in order to say “yes.” Finally, she concludes with the joy of a life of saying “yes” again and again.

Wagoner shares a lot of her own experiences of God’s little and bigger invitations, her struggles to find her way to “yes” and then to live into those “yesses.” She writes as a woman leader, single until approaching forty. Her story may help other women who struggle with what saying “yes” to God may mean in terms of marriage and family, and where the use of one’s gifts defy traditional gender role expectations. But the basic message of the book speaks to men as well as women. God’s invitations come to all of us, and we all find ways to try to deflect them, or struggle within ourselves to say “yes.”

As we approach the new year, this book may be helpful as we consider what God may be inviting us to say “yes” to in the coming year. The questions at the end of each chapter are great to talk over with a trusted friend. As Wagoner reminds us, we often grow into and through our “yesses” with partners on the journey. Wagoner’s book can also be a partner in the journey of finding your yes.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: The British Are Coming

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The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy [Volume 1]), Rick Atkinson. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019.

Summary: A history of the first two years (1775-1777) of the American Revolution, discussing the causes, personalities, and key battles.

This is the first volume of Rick Atkinson’s proposed Revolution Trilogy. Based on my reading of this volume, I look forward to reading the next two. Atkinson skillfully manages to interweave accounts of the various British and American figures, and battles from Quebec to Charleston, South Carolina without confusing this reader or losing him in minutiae. Yet one has a sense of “being there” at Lexington, Quebec, Boston, Charleston, New York City, and Trenton and Princeton. We sense how insufferably certain of himself and earnest to flex his power George III is, and how subtle and skilled Franklin is in cultivating the support of a reluctant French court.

I discovered what a near run thing it was that Quebec almost became a fourteenth colony, save for Carleton’s determined defense and the critical shortages of manpower to win the decisive battle. I learned that Benedict Arnold, before his capture, was probably the most brilliant military leader in the colonists’ cause. The feat of his march into Canada alone established his ability to lead and overcome the impossible.

I almost found myself turning my nose as I read about conditions in American camps and that desertions and illness took more than the enemy. And I came to understand as never before how hard Washington had to work to just hold together a cohesive fighting force.

More significant was to see Washington’s evolution as a commander, particularly after his failure to grasp the topography of Long Island, and his misbegotten defensive attempts to hold New York. Victory, not in battle, but in establishing a superior position in Boston failed to teach the crucial lessons both of dispositions of his forces and the folly of trying to defend New York against a superior British force. Finally he realized that his most important task was to ensure the survival of his army while maintaining morale. His lightning strikes against Trenton and Princeton reflected a growing understanding of the need to fight as he could rather than as the British wanted him to, in which he could not succeed.

The other thing that became clear in the reading was that military superiority of the British was no match for the geography of the colonies. The end of this volume shows them controlling only two ports and a radius of geography in New York and New Jersey. The defeat in Charleston showed the British were not invincible when Americans fought from a position of strength, led by the flamboyant Charles Lee.

Atkinson combines lively narrative organized around the campaigns of 1775, 1776, and the first part of 1777 with well-drawn maps and helpful illustrations throughout the text. While the political efforts of the colonies are discussed as they enter in, this is first and foremost, a military history. Even Franklin’s efforts both in Canada (a failure) and France (a growing success) centered around military supplies. Along the way, we learn of many young men, both officers and rank and file who entertained hopes of a family and a bright future only to die either instantly, or in slow, painful death of wounds or illnesses in the camps. The story of every war was no less true in the inception of this country. The follies that refused to see a greater vision of birthing a new nation that might become a strong trading partner, would sadly become the story of colonialism over the next two centuries. And it would be the source of the “butcher’s bill” to be paid in blood over the next years of the war.

Review: A Sacred Journey

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A Sacred Journey, Paul Nicholas Wilson. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2021.

Summary: A practical description the journey toward faithful Christian presence in secular institutions.

Many Christians do not enjoy the privilege of working for Christian employers. Working in a secular context, they neither want to ignore the rules and expectations of their workplace, nor leave their faith at the front door. The world of higher education is no exception.

Paul Nicholas Wilson has lived in that world for over 40 years and believes that a kind of “muscular” faithful presence is the proper approach to walking the line between living out a Christian life in the workplace and respecting that workplace. Before taking us on a journey into the practicalities, he offers a narrative of his own journey from his conversion through his academic career at the University of Arizona. He touches on his self-disclosures on the first day of class, his office decor, his association with Christian ministries on campus, his service in classroom and curriculum design, and support of public outreach efforts. He concludes that most important are personal acts of public faithfulness, community with other Christ followers, and a seamless integration between his faith and vocation on campus.

He then uses a travel analogy to offer practical insights on the journey of faithful presence. He discusses the roadway of higher education, both the common grace of God coming through various cultural goods as well as “road hazards” like apatheism, idolatries, tribalism, and the quest for money. He warns of the danger of dualism, the strategy of separating one’s personal faith from one’s work altogether. Sometimes, this is motivated by a misperception that any form of faith expression is illegal. Wilson offers a helpful chart and discussion of what one can, probably should not, and definitely should not, do.

Instead of dualism, Wilson advocates for integration of faith and discipline, marshalling the support of a number of Reformed thinkers. Then, over several chapters, he takes us through a “Gospel Positioning System” for the journey centered on the Triune God and a core of basic beliefs about creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration. He then elaborates the journey of faithful presence first by commending the character of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, all of this worked out in our vocations.

He offers trenchant warnings about speech in a setting rife with speech. His honesty about the challenges he faced in dealing with professional gossip was refreshing. He challenges scholars to excellence in their work and in all of life. He offers a simple rubric for evaluating research efforts:

  • Why now?
  • So what?
  • Who cares?
  • Done well?
  • Well done?

He advocates for collaboration, especially with graduate TA’s, helping them develop their skills as well as enhancing the classroom experience for students. Finally, all this creates a platform in which a faculty member can pursue “public goods and positive externalities”–serving the common good through advising, departmental service, and sharing resources, including funding. All of these offer the context in which respectful personal and public witness can be shared respectfully and forthrightly.

Wilson concludes with a word for churches and seminaries. He contends that these rarely recognize and affirm the sacredness of secular vocations, and center ministry around the congregation itself rather than the work on congregants in the world.

James Davison Hunter’s ideas of “faithful presence” hold a strong attraction for many academics I know. Yet sometimes, I feel this becomes little more than “niceness.” What Wilson does is flesh out faithfulness in character and the specific deeds of professors in teaching, research, and service. He makes a strong appeal that one cannot do this alone but only in community. And he challenges the dualism often unwittingly supported by churches that confines a Christian’s ministry to personal and church contexts rather than affirming workplaces as worship places.

This is a valuable resource that I’d love to see get into the hands of every Christian faculty member, staff person, and administrator on campus. It would make a great book for discussion in groups, offering mutual encouragement to put into practice the precepts found here.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Absence of Mind

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Absence of Mind, Marilynne Robinson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.

Summary: The text of Robinson’s 2010 Dwight Harrington Terry Foundation Lectures on Religion in the Light of Science and Philosophy, challenging “parascientific” explanations reducing the mind to nothing more than the physical brain.

The idea of the mind has been under assault from those who would contend our “minds” are nothing more than the physical processes making up the extensive neural network of our brains. In this collection of four essays, the text of Marilynne Robinson’s 2010 Dwight Harrington Terry Foundation Lectures on Religion in the Light of Science and Philosophy, she challenges this notion. She does not oppose the work of neuroscientists, but rather those like Daniel Dennett, who in the garb of science, make metaphysical conclusions about the existence of the mind, or rather the absence of such apart from the physical substrate of the brain. She calls this “parascience,” an intellectual argument operating alongside and apart from real scientific research.

Her first essay “On Human Nature” notes the modern assumption of a threshold, before which explanations of human nature were benighted, compared to the enlightened explanations of the likes of Bertrand Russell and Daniel Dennett, who “explain away” the mind and traditional religion.

“The Strange History of Altruism” challenges the assumption that evolutionary forces protecting gene pools explain altruistic behavior and the disregard of counterfactual evidence.

The third essay, “The Freudian Self,” takes on the suspicion of the mind in Freud, that the mind is not to be trusted due to subconscious processes. She looks at the intellectual milieu surrounding Freud and how this shaped his ideas.

The final essay, “Thinking Again,” celebrates our sense of self-awareness, that mechanistic explanations dismiss. She writes in introducing her discussion:

“Then there is the odd privilege of existence as a coherent self, the ability to speak the word ‘I’ and mean by it a richly individual history of experience, perception, and thought. For the religious, the sense of the soul may have as a final redoubt, not as an argument but as experience, that haunting I who wakes in the night wondering where time has gone, the I we waken to, sharply aware that we have been unfaithful to ourselves, that a life lived otherwise would have acknowledged a yearning more our own than any of the daylit motives whose behests we answer to so diligently” (p. 110).

Each of these essays are densely argued, invoking the various shapers of the modern mind, challenging the “authorities” who reduce mind to materialistic explanations.

Essentially, Robinson is saying, “not so fast.” At the same time, her argument also has a bit of a feel of a “mind of the gaps,” the mind not yet explained by physical processes. I would not want to see another version of the evolution-creation battle of the last 150 years in the field of neuroscience. Might there be an approach of humility, of genuine listening that refuses to dismiss both the powerful experience of our self-awareness, our consciousness, and the powerful advances of neuroscience in understanding the physical substrates of many of our “mental experiences”? Physical explanations of other phenomena have only increased for believing persons their joy in the Creator. Could not more holistic physical explanations of the mind also increase our wonder, even as we understand how that wonder is wired into us?

Robinson challenges the reductionistic materialism of parascience. I would also want her to speak against the denials of real advances in scientific understanding. I hope we can develop both a robust materiality and a robust spirituality, neither of which are at war with the other. Perhaps what we need is a sequel to these lectures titled “Presence of Mind,” for it seems that this is what we require in the present time.

Review: Abundance: Nature in Recovery

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Abundance: Nature in Recovery, Karen Lloyd. New York: Bloomsbury Wildlife, 2021.

Summary: A collection of essays describing both the loss of and recovery of abundance in the natural world, where people have caused harm and brought renewal.

Karen Lloyd is a border stalker. In this collection of essays, she describes her journeys throughout the UK and Europe at the border of where human activity is intersecting in the natural world–both for ill and for good. She describes her project using the ornithologist’s term of “getting your eye in”:

“When I turn on the news or read a newspaper, I am assailed by all the losses in the natural world. The natural world is being flushed out. In the natural world, there are no rites of passage to cope with this. Sometimes, frequently in fact–I am overwhelmed by all the losses and the reporting of all the losses, and what I want to do is get my eye in, in a different way. I want to use my binocular vision to look at and think about abundance and what that might mean. I want to take my binoculars into the field and see if it is still possible to see abundance–or something like it” (p. 14).

She begins her journey with the “murmurations” of starlings over East Cumbria and their response to the attempt of a peregrine falcon to penetrate the flock Her travels take her to the Netherlands, and attempts to site some of the wolves and jackals that are gradually returning and the debate over protecting these animals in what was once a natural habitat. A trip to Extremadura in southern Spain leads to sightings of vultures, harriers, and an abundance of bird species in a national park also devoted to wool production and lumber production serving the human population while preserving the natural environment allowing vultures to soar thermals and others to thrive.

We follow her and friends attempting to save a bird with a broken leg in eastern Hungary while chronicling the loss of the slender billed curlew, last sighted there. She describes efforts in Scotland to preserve beavers, that had slowly been eradicated by farmers and hunter. She witnesses the architecture of beaver lodges and dams, and the balance struck of running “beaver deceivers” through dams to pipe excess water through to regulate pond levels without disrupting the beavers efforts.

One of the more creative chapters was “Eighty Fragments on the Pelican” a “weird and perfectly adapted species. The most riveting chapter describes her time in the Carpathian forests of Romania, forests under threat of logging and an endangered habitat for bears. She takes us on a hike following bear tracks with a guide as well as her son, learning along the way not to get between a mother bear and her cubs, a hopeless situation.

As she observes the efforts of those seeking to balance human and natural interests and preserve abundance, she identifies their work as “cathedral thinking”–an attitude of planning and working that thinks in terms of future generations, even for centuries. She tells a wonderful story of Hatidze, a sixty year old woman in a rural village in Macedonia, who keeps bees, is never stung though not wearing protective gear, taking half a comb for her family, leaving half for the bees, exemplifying an ethic of respect and reciprocity.

This is a moving collection of essays. I felt I was present with the author on her travels. I was watching out for those bears, and reveling with her as she watched the vultures ride the thermals. She captures the joy of those working on the front lines to preserve and restore abundance and the love of these creatures. LLoyd articulates something often lacking in our environmental debates–the recognition that we must love what we seek to preserve and that there is a joy to be found in natural abundance.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Your Favorites of 2021

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Can you believe it? We’ve spent another year together remembering what was so great about growing up in Youngstown, Ohio. I’m amazed that we have been doing this since 2014. Because next Saturday is Christmas, I thought I would count down your top ten favorite posts (by number of views) this week–kind of like WHOT’s New Year’s countdown of the top 100 hits of the previous year, only a lot shorter! So without further ado, here they are:

10. Center Street Crossing. An old railroad man suggested this post to me about the crossing just west of the Center Street Bridge where eleven tracks from five different railroads crossed, the busiest manually operated crossing in the country.

9. South High School. South High School had a long and illustrious history, from its grand architecture to its sports teams to its distinguished graduates.

8. Caroline Bonnell. Caroline was one of four Youngstown women to survive the sinking of the Titanic, part of the Wick-Bonnell party from which George Dennick Wick perished. I share her recollections and recount her life of service.

7. Village of Poland. Posts about the towns and townships around Youngstown have always been popular. I recount in brief the history of this village through which Ida Tarbell and William McKinley passed, among others.

6. Gypsy Lane. I discovered that this road, which defines Youngstown’s northern boundary gets its name from a real settlement of gypsies on the North Side. I include some background on gypsies, and heard many corroborating stories from readers about gypsies in Youngstown.

5. Favorite Things. After a crazy week, I came up with a list of my favorite things about Youngstown. See if the things on my list are on yours!

4. Slumgullion. That’s what we called the macaroni, ground beef, onions, and tomato sauce stew, topped with some cheese. But as you all let me know, there are a number of other names, and they are all right!

3. Seven Years of Food Posts. My “Slumgullion” post inspired me to go back and compile all my food posts from the seven years of this series. One thing for sure, Youngstown people love to eat and talk about food.

2. Front Porch City. I reflect on how Youngstown was once a “front porch city” where summer evenings on front porch and visiting with neighbors were one of the things contributing to healthy neighborhoods.

1. Pat Bilon. Did you know that when the actor who played E.T. phoned home, he called Youngstown? Bilon had an interesting life before he ever starred as E.T., one that sadly ended too soon. Many of you knew him from his radio show, high school or college, or your encounters with him as a bouncer at the Wedgewood or his work at his church. No wonder this was your favorite post of the year.

It’s fun just to look back at these “snapshots” of our life in Youngstown. One of the favorite parts of my weeks is posting these articles and then hearing from you. I learn so much from your comments! And if you have ideas for an article, just leave a comment or message me. My best wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Review: With Fresh Eyes

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With Fresh Eyes, Karen Wingate. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2021.

Summary: Sixty reflections of a woman born legally blind, who gains significant sight in one eye, seeing not only the world, but also the world’s Creator with new eyes.

Karen Wingate was born legally blind due to a genetic defect. Successive surgeries had given her marginal vision in her left eye. Then she faced another surgery on her “good eye” that might help but could also cost her her vision. On the eve of the surgery, a friend prayed that she would see “better than ever.” Then after her surgery, her eye surgeon spoke to her that he had not only clear debris out of her eye but had been able to open up her contracted pupil, allowing more light into her eye and also told her that her vision would likely be “better than ever.”

As she absorbed these words, she reflected:

“Despite low vision, God had given me all I needed. I could fill pages with stories of how God provided me transportation to travel all over the country even though I don’t drive. A Bible seminary that didn’t have services for disabled students recruited undergrads to read textbooks to me. At every point when work and my poor eyesight collided, computer technology took a leap forward, relieving the strain of seeing. I had an education, a family, a career, and a good ministry. God had answered my childhood prayer to help me live my life despite poor eyesight. I had learned to be content and grateful for the vision I did have.

“And now this. Better Than Ever” (pp. 36-37).

What follows in this book are sixty reflections on the experience of seeing the world Better Than Ever, and what the author saw of God in the process. It is a story of seeing the great blessings of God in the smallest things we often don’t notice or take for granted. Like reading the bathroom scale without awkwardly bending over. Noticing the grains and texture of dirt sifting through one’s hands. Seeing the vivid burst of fireworks–and the smoke. Noticing the smudges caused by the dog’s nose against the window. Seeing the wings of a hummingbird at a feeder.

There is a gentle, often self-deprecating humor that runs through these reflections. But there is something more. There is a woman trained to fill pages with her recognition of God’s goodness, filling new pages with the fresh recognition of God in the things she was seeing for the first time. She writes of hearing a flock of geese flying her way, and silently wish-praying “O God, I would like to see the geese. It would be so nice if they came closer.” And they did, the whole flock flying fifty feet over her head for miles. She muses whether God could and would send a flock of geese on this route just to fulfill her wishes and concludes that “God loves our enjoyment of his creation. He delights to give us good gifts.’

If there is a theme that runs through these reflections, it is that God is deeply good, even in the hardest places, and that we can trust God. Wingate invites us into her life, not only what she sees, but her circle of friends, her husband, and her two daughters. As we read her reflections, she offers an account of what it looks like for one woman to walk trustingly with God, attentive to the ways God shows up in daily life.

Each three to four page reflection begins with a scripture, followed by her reflection on something seen with fresh eyes, concluding with a prayer and a “seeing with fresh eyes” exercise. I often found myself, having been drawn into her stories, praying her prayers because they spoke so meaningfully.

I guess part of what caught my attention is that I have always had poor eyesight, a combination of astigmatism and near-sightedness, corrected first with lens, then gradated lenses for different distances, and reading glasses because I read a lot. Two of my family members experienced macular degeneration so that could be in my future. My optometrist tells me I have the beginnings of cataracts. Lights don’t seem as bright as they once were. With a love for both reading and the natural world, I increasingly appreciate the preciousness of sight as I face the possibility of its diminishing. Karen Wingate encourages me not only to be attentive to the beauties of the world around me but also of what they show me of God. I will have that even should I have no sight. But only if I pay attention to what I see…

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Bob on Books 2022 Reading Challenge

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Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

This is the time of the year when reading challenges come from Goodreads and other bookish sources–libraries, bookstores, and a variety of articles. There seem to be a lot of these focused around reading harder, faster, smarter, and setting numerical goals and tracking them. I do a Goodreads challenge, but deliberately set it below what I likely will read. Interesting, even that low number is higher than what I once read.

I like goals that focus on both growth and enjoyment. I’m interested in deepening my appreciation of good books and learning more about my world and my place within it. Challenges can be good when they lead to the ends of our growth and enjoyment. Here are some ways I want to challenge myself that may be helpful as you think of your reading in 2022.

Good Writing. I not only read a good deal, but I write, and edit the good writing of others. Most of this is instinctive for me, or reflective of whatever ingrained grammar and writing instruction I received. I want to read a book on good writing, to not only better appreciate it when I see it but to do it better myself. My book____________________.

Deep Dive. It is interesting to dig deeper on a subject that is of personal interest, and perhaps read several books on different aspects or perspectives on a topic. Just don’t become “that” person who “did their own research.” To give you perspective (and ideas for further reading), read the notes or bibliographies of the books you read to grasp how much research those who write the books do! My deep dive topic______________________.

Different genre. I will probably suggest this every year to get out of my ruts. My book of a different genre_____________________.

A Work in Translation. It could be one of those great Russian novels, or a contemporary novel written by someone whose first language is other than yours. Look for reviews of works in translation. My book_____________________.

A Children’s Book. I miss read-aloud times with my son, not only as a time of closeness, but also because I loved the stories and the writing. The best children’s books are also great reading for adults. I reviewed a couple recently that whet my appetite for more. My book_____________________.

An Old Friend. Some of the best books I’ve read become richer each time I read them. Just like our best friendships go deeper with time, so can our relationships with books. My renewal of an old book friendship will be______________________.

Food. The necessity of nourishing ourselves is pretty basic. I have to admit to being fairly clueless about the elements of good nutrition. I’ve enjoyed the artistry of others who care about good food and gathering friends to eat it. I’d like to learn more about how to do that. My food book is_____________________

Finish a series. True confessions! I’ve started a number of series that I’ve enjoyed but haven’t finished any of them! This year I want to finish at least one! The series I will finish is____________________.

An Inherited or Gifted Book. I have books that have been passed down in the family. Maybe you have friends who have given you a book. I want to read one of those this year. My book is______________________.

A Long Book. Because I review books, I tend to choose books of 200-300 pages to read, to have books I’ve finished 3-4 times a week. That’s hard to do with those long 700-1000 page or more books that may take a month or longer to finish. But some of the best books are long. I want to read one. My long book is_______________________.

A Play. From the ancient Greeks to Shakespeare to contemporary Broadway, plays have been part of our cultural life. They are not a part of my reading. This year, I want to read a play, perhaps one I will see (hopefully) performed live. The play I will read________________________.

A book I will discuss with others. One of the things that has gotten me through the pandemic is talking with some friends about a book we are reading together. It’s pretty easy if you are in a book club, but you can do this with just one other person. I always see more in a book when I discuss it with others, especially if it is a challenging book to read. The book I will discuss with others is_____________________.

There are twelve challenges here. You could do one a month, or just pick a few that really fit you. This is my reading challenge after all. But if it suggests some reading challenges that you will enjoy, go for it. I’d love to hear how it goes.

Bob on Books Best Books of 2021

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I’ve been watching all the major book publications posting their best books of 2021. Well, I could immodestly say I’ve saved the best for last. Actually, it’s more the case that I like getting pretty near the end of the year to post my best books list. I don’t want to miss one!

My list reflects books I’ve actually read and reviewed during 2021. Most but not all have been published this year. I’m sure there are other great books out there–I just haven’t read them. So without further ado, here are my selections:

Best book of the year.

The Code Breaker, Walter Isaacson. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021. Isaacson not only chronicles the life of this Nobel Prize winning scientist, but also what may be one of the most revolutionary discoveries and subsequent applications in the early part of the twenty-first century. He captures the work of research scientists, both the collaboration and the rivalries, and the nature of the research they do. Isaacson even gets into the lab and works with CRISPR technology. Review

Best history book.

We the Fallen People, Robert Tracy McKenzie. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. This work traces the changing assumptions about human nature, from human fallenness to inherent human goodness between the time of the American founders and the present, and how this shift took place and the possible implications. I discovered that we often misquote de Tocqueville, and really ought to read him! Review

Best Biography.

A Burning in My Bones, Winn Collier. New York: WaterBrook, 2021. Eugene Peterson is one of my heroes. His writings challenged me to cultivate a deeper spiritual life and integrity in ministry. Winn Collier is his authorized biographer, curating his papers and interviewing Peterson during his life. His account is honest, revealing his struggles as well as his strengths. Review

Best Essays.

World of Wonders, Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2020. The author’s essays on everything from catalpas to corpse flowers are stunningly written, capturing her own wonder and inviting us to join her. Review

Best Regional Work.

40 Patchtown, Damian Dressick. Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2020. I grew up in eastern Ohio, and our family histories have connections to coal mining around Johnstown, PA. Dressick captures in novel form the grinding conflict between mine owners and miners in the coal strike of 1922. Review

Best new writer.

Swimming to the Top of The Tide, Patricia Hanlon. New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2021. Patricia Hanlon is an artist living north of Boston who combines personal memoir and ecological writing, painting with words what it was like for her and her husband to swim the estuary waters of the Great Tidal Marsh, floating upstream as the tide came in and back down as tides receded, through much of a year. Review

Best Poetry.

Iona: New and Selected Poetry. Kenneth Steven. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2021. I’ve loved reading about Iona and its abbey, founded by St. Columba. It is often spoken of as a “thin place” where the veil between earth and heaven seems particularly thin. Steven’s poetry captures both the physical space and his own spiritual encounters on Iona with a kind of rugged beauty befitting the place. Review

Best Children’s Book.

Saint Nicholas the Giftgiver, Retold and Illustrated by Ned Bustard. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2021. I loved this retelling of the story of the real Saint Nicholas of Myra, a generous man and also zealous for the truth. Bustard, in his delightful woodcuts, refrains from showing us Nicholas actually punching Arius, capturing an angry Nicholas in the act of lunging toward a smug Arius. This could become a family favorite! Review

Best Literary Fiction.

The Four Winds, Kristen Hannah. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2021. I wrote in my review: “Kristin Hannah has done it again. Written a book that gets inside your head, grips your heart and does not let go. In my mind, this one holds its own with The Grapes of Wrath, both in capturing the conditions of the Dust Bowl and the migrant camps in California, and in its lead character, Elsa Martinelli, who holds her own with Tom Joad.” Review

As you know, I also review a number of books that might be characterized as “religious.” I’ll highlight a few of my “bests” in this area, but feel free to skip this if it is not of interest to you.

Best Theology.

Majority World Theology: Christian Doctrine in Global Context, Edited by Gene L. Green, Stephen T. Pardue, and K. K. Yeo. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. This is a landmark book in representing a shift from theology being written only by those from Europe or North America to listening to scholars from the global south and east, where the bulk of the world’s Christians live. Review

Best Biblical Studies.

Reading While Black, Esau McCaulley. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. This opened my eyes to understand something of what it is like to read scripture with the Black church. While I cannot read scripture while black, I can learn from their readings and allow them to challenge and refine my own. Review

Best Practical Theology.

Good Works: Hospitality and Faithful Discipleship, Keith Wasserman, Christine D. Pohl. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2021. Wasserman and Pohl describe the development of a ministry of hospitality and discipleship with the homeless of Appalachian southeast Ohio. I found striking the emphases on worship and thorough-going integrity in every aspect of the work. Review

Best Formational Work.

Prayer in the Night, Tish Harrison Warren. Downers Grove: IVP Formatio, 2021. This book coincided with my discovery of one of the most beautiful compline prayers in the Book of Common Prayer. Warren, an Anglican priest takes us through this prayer, phrase by phrase, weaving spiritual insight and her own experiences into an account that deeply enriched my use of this prayer in my own devotional life. Review

Perhaps this might suggest some books you’d like to explore or gift. For me, it was a chance to look back at a year’s reading. While I also love reading older works, I’m impressed that we have writers producing works of depth, beauty, and, I believe, lasting worth in our own time. It also encourages me to look with anticipation to what wonderful works I’ll encounter in 2022!

Review: Thriving With Stone Age Minds

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Thriving With Stone Age Minds, Justin L. Barrett with Pamela Ebstyne King. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021.

Summary: An examination of the ways evolutionary psychology and Christian faith intersect in understanding what sets us apart as human beings and how human beings may thrive.

Many of us from strong Christian backgrounds grew up with suspicions about anything with the word “evolution” in it. Likewise, those from scientific backgrounds often dismissed Christian faith’s ability to add to our understanding of what it means to be human. The authors of this work contend that the insights of each may enrich and enlarge the other and, together may contribute to the thriving of human beings.

Evolutionary psychology reveals that in addition to our physical distinctives, we are distinguished by exceptional sociality, expertise acquisition, and self-control. Interesting enough, these qualities map onto many theological understandings of what it means to be in the image of God. We are made for relationship with God and others, we have a capacity to acquire knowledge of and modify our world, and we are volitional, acting or refraining from acting toward some end.

Yet we often fail to thrive. Evolutionary psychology distinguishes between nature and niche. What is remarkable about us is how we may modify our niches with our capacities to relate, know, and self-control. Yet we often do so in ways that outstrip the capacities of our “stone age” minds to adapt. It is particularly striking around the question of purpose. At one time, the answer to the question of what do you want to be when you grow up was simple: alive. Now, it is far more complex, and yet answering this question is key to thriving.

The authors go into more depth on each of the three distinguishing makes of human evolutionary psychology. We learn how all of us “mindread” in social relationships, the various biases that shape learning, and how we learn to emotionally regulate. This latter chapter notes the role religion has played in emotional regulation and self control and wonders about the implication of the decline of religion in a society.

The authors draw evolutionary psychology together in a final chapter on telos. They explore what it means to love on a species level–beyond our own tribe, what it means to love God and care for creation, the purposes of family, community, and church, and our own purpose–all part of thriving. Awareness of nature and niche also shapes our thriving toward our telos. We recognize our nature’s strengths and weaknesses without viewing them rigidly. We recognize that our nature can widen the gap between us and our niche, or close it. We neither widen the gaps for those who follow nor close them such that those who follow have no occasion to stretch or grow.

The authors, I felt, made a strong case for why evolutionary psychology and Christian faith need not be in conflict. Each may enrich the other in understanding what it means to be fully human, fully alive–thriving in our world and with each other. They actually explore and flesh out what is often assumed, what it means to be creatures in the image of God, how we are creaturely and yet distinct from all other creatures. In recent years, the “warfare” between science and faith often has seemed its fiercest in the social sciences. A work like this suggests that neither the science nor the faith offer occasion for war but rather enriching commerce with each other. There may be other reasons for warring, but the substance of both science and Christian faith offer grounds for peaceful exchange. Could it be that our fights are unneeded?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.