Black Knight in Red Square, (Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, 2), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781453269589) 2012 (first published in 1984).
Summary: Rostnikov’s team races to stop a terrorist organization from causing mayhem at an international film festival.
An International Film Festival is about to open in Moscow. Journalists and filmmakers from all over the world are gathering. And four men, an American, a Japanese, and two Russians who ate together are dead in their rooms, all killed by a deadly poison. Rostnikov and his team get the case. Results are expected swiftly, both from within his own bureaucracy and from the KGB. His nemesis there, Colonel Drozhkin is looking for a way to bring Rostnikov down. In sum, the potential for career-ending failure is great.
Rostnikov and Karpo meet with the widow of the American, who doesn’t seem especially bereaved. They later learn that the real widow is in Australia. They realize that they likely had met the person behind the killings, who was taking their measure. And that signals that the poisonings were a mere prelude. Karpo, in his methodical way, devotes himself to tracking her down.
They figure out she has recruited a German journalist and a British filmmaker to help her. Tkach and Rostnikov track them while the team tries to unravel her ultimate scheme, which is to bomb key Moscow sites, including Lenin’s tomb.
Amid this, Rostnikov pursues a strategy to counter Drozhkin and get something he deeply desires. And he squeezes in a personal goal–to compete in a weightlifting competition, despite an injured leg. To the surprise of judges, he wins, wowing them by a humorous but impressive mistake.
There is an element of suspense in the effort to prevent acts in which the terrorists have the initiative. At the same time, we get to watch a subtler form of intrigue play out between Rostnikov and Drozhkin. It all makes for an exciting conclusion to a well plotted mystery. Meanwhile, we find ourselves caring for each of those on Rostnikov’s team, any who may be the target of a woman who will not hesitate to kill any in her way.
The Divine Milieu, Teilhard de Chardin. Harper Perennial Modern Classics (ISBN: 9780060937256) 2001 (first published in 1957).
Summary: How we grow into godlikeness in our active work and our passive diminishment, toward the uniting of all things in Christ.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit Priest, geologist, and paleontologist, living between 1881 and 1955. He participated in the discovery of the remains Peking Man and wrote dozens of scientific papers, filling eleven volumes collected. He was also a theologian. His best known works were The Divine Milieu and The Phenomenon of Man. He wrote The Divine Milieu in 1926 and 1927 during a trip to China. Church authorities withheld its publication until 1957, two years after his death.
The basic idea behind The Divine Milieu is that all creation is moving toward a cosmic union with God through Christ’s redemptive work (cf. Colossians 1:15-17). This telos addresses a fundamental challenge and tension in Christian spirituality. For many, holiness involves detachment from the world, viewing secular work of no lasting value. For a scientist-priest like de Chardin, this was untenable.
Rather, he argued that both our activities and our passivities may participate in our “divinisation,” our growth in holiness and union with God in Christ, along with all creation. Part One of the book contends that all our active endeavors co-operate to complete the world in Christ. He writes:
“God, in all that is most living and incarnate in him, is not far away from us, altogether apart from the world we see, touch, hear, smell and taste about us. Rather, he awaits us every instant in our action, in the work of the moment. There is a sense in which he is at the tip of my pen, my spade, my brush, my needle – of my heart and my thought.”
Yet, though we value the material world, we may experience detachment from it because it has no value to us in itself but only in God.
The second part of the book explores how we grow toward holy union with God through our passivities–the things we experience in our lives that are not done by us. Examples of these include both the passivities of growth and diminishment. Not only do we grow bodily but in our experiences. Likewise, we diminish through aging, illness, and finally death. As we offer all of these to God, including our death, we grow in our communion with God. De Chardin prays, “Teach me to treat my death as an act of communion..”
The final part of the book addresses the attributes of what de Chardin calls “the divine milieu” He addresses how it arises and how we progress individually and collectively within this. Finally, though, it is Christ who accomplishes all of this:
“In a real sense only one man will be saved: Christ, the head and living summary of humanity. Each one of the elect is called to see God face to face. But his act of vision will be vitally inseparable from the elevating and illuminating action of Christ. In heaven we ourselves shall contemplate God, but, as it were, through the eyes of Christ.”
There are questions about the orthodoxy of his ideas. To some, the idea of cosmic union with God sounded like pantheistic monism, a denial of distinction between God and creation. Yet there is never a sense that I could find of dissolving the Creator-created distinction in this union. One of the most common expressions used by Paul is “in Christ.” In Part Three, he differentiates his own ideas from pantheistic monism.
De Chardin has also been challenged on the evolutionary element in the world’s progress toward God, both by Christians and evolutionary scientists. These ideas are developed more in The Phenomenon of Man where he develops the idea of orthogenesis. This is the progress of the cosmos to union with God, also referred to as the Omega Point. Evolutionary scientists deny a purpose driving evolution. Christians may object both to the idea of evolution and a force working within the world apart from Christ toward the consummation of all things. However, these ideas are not explicit in this book.
Positively, de Chardin articulates a spirituality of all of life. He encompasses our active work in every field of human endeavor. And he recognizes the passive dimension of life. There is no divorce of sacred and secular. Likewise there is no divorce of individual and corporate. Finally, for de Chardin, science and faith are not at war.
Thanks for visiting Bob on Books. I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]
I saw a meme yesterday that said “Life is short. Read fast.”
There is no arguing with the first three words. Particularly for those of us growing older. The weeks and months just seem to pass more quickly. And we realize that the passage of time is inexorably pulling us to our own passing. It’s always been true. It’s just more real than ever.
I think there is something in booklovers that tries to defy mortality by trying to read everything we can. Impossible as it seems, we want to read all the books.
Reading good books slowly seems counter-intuitive. Instead, I would propose that reading slowly, savoring words and ideas and stories is the way we transform fleeting moments into full ones. And consider, in the end, will the number of books we’ve read matter?
Augustine wrote of his own journey toward God that “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Whether or not you accept Augustine’s idea, I can’t help but wonder if our frenzied ideas about reading arise from restless hearts. By the same token might one sign of the heart at rest be the capacity to be fully present to this book, this author in front of me, setting aside thoughts of unread books and TBR piles.
Your thoughts?
Five Articles Worth Reading
Ever wonder about the origins of the library? In “No Cheese Please,” Anthony Grafton reviews two books tracing their rise to the personal studies/libraries of Renaissance intellectuals.
One of the surprises of our present time is the attack upon empathy. In “How Empathy Became a Threat” Jennifer Szalai explores why some people consider empathy a bad thing. She features some recent books that make this case.
Poet Andrea Gibson died this past Monday of ovarian cancer. “Andrea Gibson Refused to ‘Battle’ Cancer” describes Gibson’s decision to refuse to “battle” the cancer and the joy they {preferred pronoun) experienced in their last years of life.
W.E.B. Du Bois is known to us as a writer but he was also a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. In the early 1900’s, as part of his research, he hand-drew a number of infographics of African-American life. In “W. E. B. Du Bois’ Hand-Drawn Infographics of African-American Life (1900)” these are strikingly reproduced, offering a demographic “snapshot” of the African-American community at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Lastly, calling all Calvin and Hobbes fans out there! Many of us felt Bill Watterson’s strips a brief shining moment in comic strip history. Barry Petchesky focuses in on “the private derangement of the average 6-year-old boy” in “Calvin And Hobbes’s Gruesome Snowmen Were A World All Their Own.”
Quote of the Week
Shirley Hughes was a children’s author and illustrator, born July 16, 1927. She said of herself:
“I never am bored. I don’t suffer from boredom. But if I have nothing to do, I wander about the garden and chat to my friends and family.”
I can’t recall who said it but a similar saying is that “there are no bored people, only boring ones.” Hughes said it more gently. This also reminds me of Pascal’s statement: “All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Miscellaneous Musings
Last week I posted an article by David Brooks exploring the “decline” of literary fiction. It turns out literary fiction writer and bookstore owner Ann Patchett is having none of it. She posted this rejoinder to Brooks at the Facebook page for Parnassus Books. I’d love to see them in conversation!
I love when authors use a few words to say a lot. For example, I’m reading Hans Madeume’s Does Science Make God Irrelevant? I’ve read much longer books on the same topic that say little more than Madeume does in a trim booklet of 96 pages.
I just began reading Tamarack County, number thirteen in William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series, which meant I only had eight to go until I learned that the twenty-first book, Apostle’s Cove is due to come out September 2. Yes!
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu
Tuesday: Stuart M. Kaminsky, Black Knight in Red Square
Wednesday; Anthony T. Kronman, True Conservatism
Thursday: Keith Long, Doubting Faithfully
Friday: Graham Greene, Loser Take All
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for July 13-19!
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
Summary: Examines the connection between the decline of female ordination and the rise of the role of pastor’s wife.
Beth Allison Barr is the wife of a minister. She is also a full-time Professor of History at Baylor University. While joining in her church’s ministry, she does not fit the stereotype of “the pastor’s wife.” She does not see “pastor’s wife” as a calling for all women married to ministers. And in this book, she makes a case that the elevation of the role of “pastor’s wife” corresponds to the decline in the ordination of women, particularly in evangelical churches.
She begins by observing what we see in the New Testament accounts. There are women like Phoebe, Prisca, and Junia who engaged in ministry. Junia is “among the apostles.” And then there is Peter’s wife. Barr asks, “where is she?” The silence of scripture suggests that there is no role definition for her, unlike the growing consensus in conservative church circles treating “pastor’s wife” as a calling. (Barr and her researchers even compiled the literature on the subject, which appears as a special bibliography.)
Rather, for the first millennium, Barr shows that there were women who were priests. She describes the Priscilla Catacombs that portray a women leading liturgical prayer. There were the presbytera who served communion and otherwise participated in ministry. And she points to stained glass representations of women with croziers and to the powerful role of Milburga as abbess over a double community of women and men. Such an ordained position was the equivalent of a bishop’s. Likewise, there is the example of Hildegard of Bingen, who preached throughout Europe.
Barr traces the decline of women in such positions to the celibate male priesthood. Female bodies became a problem as the “Geese” of the Cross Bones Graveyard attest. Located near Winchester, it was unconsecrated burial ground for women prostitutes working in brothels under the bishop’s jurisdiction. And when the Reformation came, the priest’s whore became the pastor’ wife.
From here, the book takes a turn to the role of the pastor’s wife in the Southern Baptist Convention and the elimination of ordination as an option for women. Here, Barr brings in her study of books written for pastor’s wives. The picture is one of the church getting “two for the price of one” in addition to being the dutiful homemaker who served all her husband’s needs. She traces the evolution of the Willie Turner Dawson Award, recognizing the best pastor’s wife.
She explores how women were ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention–as missionaries. And prior to 1973, women were ordained to ministry positions. At this point, complementarianism began to be increasingly embraced, and with it, women’s ordination increasingly opposed. And during this time, sexual abuse and misconduct and coverups became part of the Southern Baptist culture. Barr juxtaposes the story of the 2023 vote to disfellowship churches ordaining women with the story of Maria Acacia. An SBC missionary to Toronto, she found herself in an abusive relationship with her husband. Church leadership covered up the abuse. He remained in leadership. She filed for divorce. No one spoke to or for her.
Barr concludes the book proposing the the role of pastor’s wife can be different, pointing to the Church Mother role in Black churches. She contends that women can minister as co-pastors with their husbands. And men and women can team together in ministry.
It was my privilege to work alongside amazingly gifted women in campus ministry, striving together for God honoring excellence. We had clear policies and good training about sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. So I would applaud Barr’s vision.
I also applaud her calling out the stultifying expectations of the “pastor’s wife” role and the injustice of the “two for one” system that made wives unpaid employees of churches. I’ve seen the oppressiveness of these expectations, the harm to marriages, and the children alienated as a consequence.
The pivot in the second half of the book to a focus on the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) came as a surprise. While this is a significant body that exemplifies beliefs and practices of other evangelicals, Barr’s account seemed ‘inside baseball” to this outsider. It was helpful to bring in examples from the Black church. However, the title and promotional material material about the book didn’t prepare me for the heavy SBC focus of the book. And counter-examples from other church bodies, if such exist might have been helpful.
In sum, Barr’s research on the role of “pastor’s wife.” and the corresponding decline of women’s ordination is an important contribution. It highlights, for me, the constrictions we have placed on the gospel freedom of women and the loss to the whole church that has resulted.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]
Black Coffee, (Hercule Poirot 7.5), Agatha Christie (stage play), Charles Osborne (novelization). William Morrow (ISBN: 9780061739323) 2004 (Stage play, 1930; Novelization, 1998).
Summary: Poirot is too late to help Sir Claud, who has been fatally poisoned and his secret formula stolen by someone in his household.
I like my coffee black. But I think I would pass were I visiting the home of Sir Claud Amory.
Black Coffee was actually Agatha Christie’s first stage play, overshadowed by the widely staged The Mousetrap. The play was moderately successful, playing in several theatres from December 1930 through June 1931. It also appeared as a film version in 1931. Among those over the years who played the suspicious Italian Dr. Carelli was Charles Osborne. Forty years later he approached the Christie Estate with a proposal to novelize the stage play. This book, published in 1998, was the result.
Sir Claud Amory reaches out to Poirot for help. He is working on an atomic formula that would create a powerful weapon. He suspects someone in his house wants to steal it. Before Poirot arrives, he finds the formula missing. He stages an elaborate effort to recover the formula at a dinner party with members of the household and guests. He locks them into the library. After coffee is served, he tells them the lights will be turned off, the thief can return the formula, and life will go on. Then he drinks his coffee, the lights go out and come on just as Poirot arrives.
An envelope is by his side. But Sir Claud is very dead. And the envelope is empty.
The authorities ask the guest to remain. Beside servants, there is Sir Claud’s sister Caroline, his spirited niece Barbara, his son Richard, who is in financial straits, Richard’s wife, Lucia, who he recently married in Italy, Sir Claud’s efficient secretary Edward Raynor, and Dr. Carelli, ostensibly Lucia’s friend. Instead, he is blackmailing her, threatening to reveal her past.
Poirot is accompanied by Captain Hastings. Soon they learn that someone used hyoscine to poison Sir Claud’s coffee, explaining the bitterness he complained of when drinking it. Suspicion focuses on Lucia, who had been seen taking some tablets from a medicine box they had been looking at earlier in the evening. She had served the coffee. And there was her past. She was the daughter Selma Goetz, an international spy. She had tried to keep this secret from the family but Dr. Carelli knew and Sir Claud had received a cryptic warning about her as well.
Poirot knows she isn’t the murderer, nor her husband, who confesses to protect her. Eventually he sets a trap to catch the thief and murderer. But the murderer turns the tables, using the same poison in Poirot’s drink.
This is a short piece, and while a bit formulaic, makes for a diverting read. It makes sense that this was a stage play. All the action takes place in the library. The character of Poirot is consistent with the other novels. Although the stage play preceded the nuclear age, the story also raises the question about the morality of such super weapons. Although this is not up to the standard of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and And Then There Were None, any Christie and Poirot lovers will want to read this, particularly to learn the plot of Christie’s first stage play.
Summary: After two decades of interviews with atheists and skeptics, the author explains why he still follows Christ.
Justin Brierly hosted a podcast called Unbelievable? for nearly two decades. During this time he interviewed numerous atheists, skeptics, and believers from other religions. Among his guests were Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Philip Pullman. They had spirited, no-holds-barred but civil conversations. Sometimes Brierly hosted dialogues between Christians and skeptics. Despite a steady diet of atheist and skeptic challenges to Christian belief, Brierly remains a Christian. In this book, he offers his reasons why, often elaborating these in the context of those conversations.
However, Brierly begins by explaining why he pursued these conversations. In short, he was tired of Christians talking to themselves in their own echo chambers. He wanted better conversations–ones that weren’t scripted but rather open-ended. He sought real dialogue between thoughtful skeptics and Christian believers. It wasn’t “safe.” He confesses that it caused him to struggle afresh with questions about his faith. But he created a space for honest discussion, something many seekers appreciated.
The next seven chapters offer Brierly’s reasons for believing in the context of issues raised in his discussions. These include:
God makes sense of human existence. He explores why there is something rather than nothing, the fine-tuning of the universe, and multiverse explanations.
God makes sense of human value. Why do we believe in human rights and dignity? Why are some things just wrong? While skeptics often concur with these judgments and live moral lives, Brierly argues Christianity provides the best explanation for why we value human beings.
God makes sense of human purpose. Humans are purpose-oriented creatures. But why is this so? Is it just biology? Should we worry about this or just enjoy life? The fact of our longings, as Lewis pointed out, may be best explained by the idea that we were made for another world.
The evidence for Jesus. Some, including Richard Dawkins, propose that the very existence of Jesus is a fiction. Others reinvent him into a guru, a zealot, or even a husband. He points to an interview with skeptic Bart Ehrman, who dismantles these claims, as well as pointing to Richard Bauckham’s work on the gospel as credible eyewitness accounts of Jesus.
Facts that only fit the resurrection. Perhaps the clearest evidence for the life of Jesus is the evidence of his death and his followers claims that he rose from the dead. But how is this plausible? Brierly discusses the “minimal facts” approach of Michael Licona and Gary Habermas including five facts best explained by the bodily resurrection of Jesus. He also considers objections to this approach.
The atheist’s greatest objection: suffering. He takes on board the serious challenge this poses and the limits of any explanation. He notes that the objection implies a moral basis to the universe and that doing away with God doesn’t do away with trying to explain suffering. He also notes the realities of human free will–that we are responsible for much of the world’s evil–and that we are in a spiritual war zone.
Atheism 2.0. Brierly addresses five “atheist memes” that have been raised by Richard Dawkins. One of these concerns a God who would send one to hell not being worth worshipping. We learn that Brierly is among those who would endorse an annihilationist rather than eternal conscious torment understanding of hell (as did John Stott).
In the final two chapters Brierly addresses those “deconstructing” their faith and those investigating Christianity. First, Brierly notes the reasons people “deconstruct” and then draws on a dialogue between Jon Steingard, a former Christian, and Sean McDowell. pointing the way toward reconstruction. Finally, Brierly talks about choosing to live in the Christian story, including “atheist prayer experiments,” the question of what evidence will convince someone to believe, and that above all, God seeks not belief but relationship. Ultimately, quoting Os Guinness, he asserts “The Christian faith is not true because it works; it works because it is true.”
What sets this book apart from other apologetic texts is that it roots reasons in real conversations rather than hypothetical topics. For many of us, it was conversations with skeptical friends that drove us to clarify our reasons for believing. Or it was our own investigation of Christianity, asking our own hard questions and honestly seeking answers. That’s what makes this such a helpful resource whether you are the Christian engaging a friend’s skepticism or a skeptic giving the faith an honest look.
There are no “silver bullets” or ‘lead pipe cinch” arguments here. What you have are reasons to believe that have proven sufficiently credible to sustain Brierly through two decades of conversations with skeptics. They’ve helped remove obstacles on the way to faith for some. That’s not everything. But it’s something to be reckoned with.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]
Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese. Vintage Books (ISBN: 9780375714368) 2010.
Summary: Twins Marion and Shiva were born amidst tragedy involving their mother’s death and father’s flight.
Marion Stone, the narrative voice of this work, and his twin brother Shiva were born amidst a tragedy. Their mother was Sister Mary Joseph Praise. Gifted surgeon Thomas Stone is their father. Both the Sister and Stone had arrived in Ethiopia seven years earlier, meeting on a boat from India. They worked together at “Missing” (actually Mission) Hospital in Addis Ababa. They were as one in the surgery theatre. She helped illustrate a textbook on surgery. And, mysteriously, they had become lovers (we only learn the circumstances at the close of the novel).
When the time of delivery was at hand, the babies can’t make it through the birth canal. The obstetrics doctor, Hema was away. Stone first attempts a botched abortion procedure. He freezes and can’t perform the needed Caesarian. Hema arrives in time to deliver the babies, who were attached at the head. Miraculously, they both live. But the mother dies and the father flees. Marion does not hear from him until he is an adult in America. However, Hema decides to raise the boys. And the one remaining staff doctor. Ghosh, takes over surgery in addition to general care. He also marries Hema and joins her in raising the boys. Clearly, they are better off than they would have been with Stone.
Ghosh mentors Marion in surgery. And Hema mentors Shiva in obstetrics and gynecology. He eventually develops an innovative procedure to treat women with fistulas. The boys are close, having been connected at birth. Yet their lives take unique courses. Eventually Shiva betrays Marion. Marion loved the daughter of the housekeeper and hoped to marry Genet. But Shiva slept with her. Betrayed by both, he is deeply depressed.
All this occurs against the backdrop of a turbulent period in Ethiopian history, first a failed coup attempt, and later, the Eritrean revolt, in which Genet plays a prominent role. Because of her tie with Marion, Marion flees Ethiopia to train as a trauma surgeon in a poor, New York hospital. It is here that he reconnects with Thomas Stone, a liver transplant specialist in Boston. Marion’s hospital is a source of many of those livers. The climax of the novel brings Marion together with the three people who had betrayed him. But will they find the reconciliation Ghosh, his step-father hoped for before he died?
Behind this theme lies another that I suspect is dear to Verghese–the calling of a doctor, and particularly a surgeon. The title, “cutting for stone” comes from the Hippocratic Oath as well as playing on Marion’s father’s name. Physicians swear not to operate for kidney stones, unless a specialist. Too many died at the hands of “lithologists” whose unsterile practices often killed their patients. In a scene during a conference, Thomas Stone asks, “What treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?” Marion, not yet known to him answers correctly, “Words of comfort.” Marion and Shiva’s step parents imparted this care for patients to the twins even as they emulated their father’s skill.
Last year, I read Verghese’s The Covenant of Water. His voice and storytelling capacity enthralled me. And so I sought out his earlier work. The same qualities are evident here. Verghese spins a compelling story. At the same time, he offers us layers of meaning and insight into the human experience. I look forward to his next work, which I suspect will be at least several years coming given the careful writing and length of his stories.
Summary: The first three books of an intellectual history of the influences that shaped the American mind.
American intellectual historian Perry Miller is most famous for his work on New England intellectual history, particularly that of the Puritans. In the year of his death (1963), Miller proposed to his publisher an ambitious project under the title of this book. It was a proposal consisting of ten books including a Prologue:
Prologue: The Sublime in America
Book I: The Evangelical Basis
Book II The Legal Mentality
Book III: Tension: Technology and Science
Book IV: The Battlefield of Democracy: education
Book V: Freedom and Association: Political Economy and Association
Book VI: Philosophy
Book VII: Theology
Book VIII: Nature
Book IX: The Self
Tragically, Miller was an alcoholic, struggling to recover until the assassination of John F. Kennedy, after which he basically drank himself to death, passing on December 10 of that year. He had completed only the first two books, and an outlined plan for the third. The Prologue was never written, which would have been interesting. His wife Elizabeth published his work posthumously, in 1965. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1966. We are left thinking, “If only…”
Book I explore the influence of revivalism in America. Most significant in this section is Miller’s account of how revivalism undermined the sectarian character of early American Protestantism, contributing both to a common evangelical mind and to the separation of church and state. A corollary to the latter is the rise of the voluntary spirit in American Christianity. Finally he traces the movement of revivals from rural settings like Cane Ridge to the urban setting of New York City in 1858 on the eve of the Civil War.
Book II then traces the parallel development of law. In this case, Miller offers an account that moves from a common sense approach and a reliance upon English common law to an increasing codification of civil and criminal law. In addition, he traces that transformation of the profession from reading Blackstone under an attorney’s tutelage to the rise of legal education. The growth of the nation exposed the inadequacies and contradictions in the English traditions of common law, equity, and civil law. Ultimately, this led to codification efforts.
Finally, Miller only completed chapter one of Book III. Above all, in this section, Miller traces out the transition of science from a contemplative study of the handiwork of God to the technological advances of the time. But what happens to God? Advances in geology anticipate the Darwinian controversies to follow. However we also glimpse a shift of finding the sublime in heavenly glories to the experience of technological wonders.
Although the work is dense, one senses the breadth of Miller’s own intellectual reach. It would have been fascinating to see Miller parse out his understanding of the American quest for the sublime in the other projected books. However, I wonder if this might have underscored the contradictions inherent in the tensions with which our nation has struggled. In addition, Miller’s decision to lead with the significance of revivals is striking. He stands apart from the intellectual squeamishness to deal with the importance of religion in the American experience, from which many are only now awakening. Thus, it doesn’t surprise me to find the book still in print sixty years after publication.
Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]
Mortimer Adler, in connection with the Great Books series of yesteryear, used the phrase “the great conversation.” While Adler’s project continues to be admired and emulated by some and criticized by others, I’ve always been enthralled with the idea of the Great Conversation.
Adler, and his colleague Robert Hutchins believed that when we read “the classics” we joined a great conversation that has stretched through the ages about important ideas: God, meaning, love, the good society and more. Later writers recur to, disagree with, and build on earlier ones.
I just began reading Anthony T. Kronman’s True Conservatism and he discusses the idea of “making friends with the dead.” Kronman is another, with his own canon, who teaches a version of “Great Books.” He argues that true conservatism, unlike the current left or right, maintains friendship with great thinkers of former generations. Otherwise, our thinking ceases to be “humane” and has a kind of “cut flower” existence. Instead, we are just pragmatists after whatever we think will work. We remove ourselves from, rather than build on, and preserve the wisdom of the past.
This makes sense to me. As a Christian, I’ve spent my life reading and re-reading a 2000 year old text, and the reflections on that text of the likes of Augustine, Aquinas, Athanasius, Origen, Luther, Teresa of Avila, and many more. When I do so, I’m “communing with the saints” and joining their conversation.
But isn’t this always, to some extent what we do whenever we read? We open our minds to another mind. Our reading list, whatever it is, represents a conversation with a number of people. And we come away changed. But it does give me pause. As in in-person conversations, these literary conversations can uplift, illumine, and inspire, or speak to our baser selves and the darker instincts of fear and suspicion. What kind of conversations do your books represent?
Five Articles Worth Reading
David Brooks published an op-ed piece this week on “When Novels Mattered.” He explores the decline of literary fiction and its correlates, concluding with a note of hope about rising young writers.
“Novels are better than television, but the surest way to make money from novels is to write with television in mind.” This is the contention behind Lisa Borst’s “New TV Novels.” Perhaps this is another reason for the decline of the novel Brooks laments.
Constance Grady explores “The truth behind the endless “kids can’t read” discourse.” Her conclusions after wading through piles of research: “US schools have never done a very good job at teaching kids to read, but it seems as though there’s meaningful evidence that we’re doing a worse job right now. While high-achieving kids are still reading the way they’ve read for decades, the ones to whom reading doesn’t come easily are failing more now than they used to.”
Yesterday was the birthday of E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web and other children’s books as well as co-author of the classic Elements of Style. In Lit Hub article, Sam Weller collects “Writing Advice and Literary Wisdom from the Great E.B. White.”
Remember Westerns? “A Tale of Two Westerns” explores the trajectories of two Western novels that turn forty this year. One is Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, a huge success at the time that was turned into a mini-series. The other was Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, which received little notice at the time but has grown in literary stature.
Quote of the Week
This quote by Marcel Proust, born July 10, 1871, has me thinking:
“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
Miscellaneous Musings
I took the plunge and put in a preorder with Barnes & Noble for four books coming out this fall. (They had a 25% discount, plus my B & N membership, so I saved about $40. Sadly, the discount ended yesterday.) Buckeye by Ryan Patrick has received acclaim and is set in my home state of Ohio. I read whatever R. F. Kuang publishes and so I ordered her forthcoming Katabasis. There is a posthumous collection of David McCullough essays titled History Matters. It does, in my opinion, and I’ve read everything of McCullough’s. Finally, Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm is Charles Mackesy’s sequel to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse.
Just to whet your appetite if you didn’t read the E. B. White article, I loved this quote:
“Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth. They accept, almost without question, anything you present them with, as long as it is presented honestly, fearlessly, and clearly. I handed them, against the advice of experts, a mouse-boy, and they accepted it without a quiver. In Charlotte’s Web, I gave them a literate spider, and they took that.”
Finally, I’ve periodically posted articles from The Lamp, which describes itself as “A CATHOLIC JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, THE FINE ARTS, ETC.” Their current issue includes a collection of articles on Pope Francis, including articles by Diarmaid McCullouch, Makoto Fujimura, and Zena Hitz.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Perry Miller, The Life of the Mind in America
Tuesday: Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone
Wednesday: Justin Brierly, Why I’m Still a Christian
Thursday: Agatha Christie, Black Coffee
Friday: Beth Allison Barr, Becoming the Pastor’s Wife
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for July 6-12!
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
Summary: A resource for Christian therapists, counselors, and the church affirming the blessing of our sexuality.
Christians simply must get better at discussions of sexuality that go beyond what not to do and who not to do it with. Far too often our discussions of sexuality have been co-opted by our culture wars or distorted by patriarchy. This includes forms of Purity Culture that wrought harm for many youth. On a quieter, but often deeply painful note, many Christian couples struggle to achieve the intimacy promoted within Christian marriage.
Sexuality and Sex Therapy, quite simply, is a superb resource for the whole church. Written for Christian therapists and counselors, it offers in depth foundational perspectives and factual information reflecting the current standards of care in the field of sex therapy. As is often the case, the subtitle, “A Comprehensive Christian Appraisal” is an important descriptor. First, it is comprehensive, addressing the range of sexual disorders and clinical presentations of various conditions. It is Christian, reflecting historic orthodoxy with an emphasis on affirming our physicality and God’s redemptive purposes for our sexuality. Finally, it is an appraisal, discussing both recent societal trends and identifying questions Christian therapists may want to think through in their practice.
For those concerned, with regard to questions of sexual orientation and gender identity, they commend an APA approach that is client rather than gay or trans-affirming. They do not commend efforts to change orientation. For those with gender dysphoria, they cite standards of care and therapeutic options that involve both medical and non-medical interventions. They lean toward a “least invasive possible” approach within a client affirming stance.
The book is organized in four parts. The first part addresses foundations: theological, sociocultural, biological, and clinical. The theological chapter addresses a Christian framework vis a vis other worldviews. The second chapter addresses the understanding of sexuality in our culture, including how it is reflected in social media. And given the focus of the church, it addresses the responses to purity culture. Chapter three provides accurate biological information, including a discussion of menopause. And chapter four introduces clinical practice, including treatment and ethical standards.
Part two addresses the sexual disorder most often addressed in sex therapy. Chapters are addressed to sexual interest and arousal disorders, female orgasmic disorders, pain during intimacy, erectile disorders, and premature and delayed ejaculation disorders. As relevant, each chapter also addresses care for gay and lesbian couples.
Part three addresses other clinical presentations a therapist may encounter. These include various paraphilic disorders, non-normative and alternate sexualities like BDSM and kink, and non-monogamous sexualities. They address sexual addictions, working with mixed orientation couples and mixed gender identity couples.
Finally, part four is a brief conclusion addressing the challenges and opportunities for Christians in the area of sex therapy. They note various constructs and values that may be at variance with a Christian perspective. At the same time, they recognize the chance to bring healing to individuals and couples and the joy of stewarding one’s sexuality for mutual love and God’s glory.
One of the strengths of the book is the depth of information. Many in ministry may not engage in sex therapy, leaving this for those with the appropriate training. The accurate information can help pastoral and lay counselors to not offer bad, and sometimes hurtful information. Extensive reference lists at the end of each chapter provide current research and other helpful resources.
An approach that refuses to hew to a party line on sexual identity or gender dysphoria will frustrate some. However, not all the therapists can select their clients. Additionally, there are professional standards of care in the field that therapists need to adhere to in terms of licensure. At the same time, a client-affirming approach doesn’t push clients one way or another but allows them to make choices congruent with their values, including Christian values.
In sum, this book serves as a great adjunct resource for Christians trained in non-religious clinical programs. It may serve as an introductory clinical text in Christian counseling programs. In addition, as noted above, it is a valuable source for the broader Christian public, affirming a Christian view of the gift of our sexuality.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
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