The Saint-Fiacre Affair (Inspector Maigret, 14) Georges Simenon (translated by Shaun Whiteside). Penguin (9780141394756) 2015 (first published in 1932). [Publication link is to American edition currently in print]
Summary: Maigret receives an anonymous note of a crime to take place in his home town, and though present, cannot prevent it.
“A crime will be committed at the church of Saint-Fiacre during the first mass of the Day of the Dead.”
Maigret received this anonymous message in Paris. Why does he go to Saint-Fiacre when no one else is available? Saint-Fiacre is his childhood home. Like many of us who visit childhood homes, the visit evokes memories, but also the sad awareness that so much has changed, and not for the better.
Maigret is present for Mass, with a small crowd, among whom is the Countess of Saint-Fiacre. When she opens her missal, it is obvious that something has disturbed her. She collapses…and is dead of a heart attack. No one had been near. Was this “of natural causes” since she had been in frail health? Or was this the crime?
After recovering the missal, which a young altar boy had secreted away, Simenon discovers what had disturbed the countess. There was a clipping announcing the death of Maurice de Saint-Fiacre. We soon learn this report is false when Maurice arrives to borrow money from his mother to keep his creditors at bay.
As Maigret investigates, along with the local police, he discovers the estate of Saint-Fiacre is in sad shape. At one time, his father had been estate manager. Now, the estate has been nearly all sold off. Jean Métayer was not only the Countesses secretary but her lover. Gautier, the current manager has been putting in his own money to keep things afloat. His son, Emile, who works at the local bank confirms the sad state of the accounts, nearly exhausted and insufficient to meet bills that are due. For various reasons, both the doctor and parish priest are suspects, as is Maurice himself.
The denouement is a classic dinner party with all the suspects present. Simenon is there as well, but he hasn’t called this gathering. And it is not he who solves the crime after a dramatic climax.
Maigret seems overcome with a curious passivity that seems to be a commentary on his disillusionment with what has become of his childhood home, a sad and tawdry place. Yet it is the manager’s son who is police commissioner and this wealthy house that is now destitute.
I still have one question. Why the anonymous note to Maigret in Paris? Was it hubris on the part of the murderer, or simply a device to get him to Saint-Fiacre? This did not strike me as one of Simenon’s best, perhaps because of the lassitude (possibly attributable to an incipient cold) that characterizes Maigret throughout. But perhaps everyone is entitled to their “off” day.
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Summary: Argues from both early church fathers and internal evidence that the gospels are based on eyewitness testimony.
Gospel scholarship over the past hundred years has embraced the idea that the gospels reflect anonymous community traditions that have passed through a number of hands, or storytellers. It is assumed that the “historical Jesus” behind these gospels is only dimly and uncertainly accessible. In this work, Richard Bauckham, in Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, asserts that the gospels are based on eyewitness testimony concerning the life and teaching of Jesus. His contention is that this testimony is “both a reputable historiographic category for reading the gospels as history and also a theological model for understanding the gospels as the entirely appropriate means of access to the historical reality of Jesus” (p. 5). He cites Samuel Byrskog’s scholarship emphasizing the importance of eyewitness testimony in ancient historiography.
He then begins his case for the gospels as eyewitness testimony with the early church father, Papias. Papias, writing around 130 CE, argued for the “living and surviving voice” rather than information from books. He preferred elders who could testify to what any of the Lord’s disciples had said. Specifically, he gave credence to those who heard Peter, John, Matthew or John the Elder. Rather than collective traditions, he prized above all testimony–the testimony on which our gospels are based.
In succeeding chapters, Bauckham looks at the gospels. He begins with the named persons, arguing their significance as possible sources of the accounts in which they are named. To underscore the credibility of the gospels, he creates a table of names in the gospels. Then he compares it to the frequency of common names of the time, finding significant overlap. He considers the twelve named disciples, the variants on their names, and their significance as eyewitnesses.
Then Bauckham turns to Mark. He notes the use of inclusio in naming Peter at both the beginning and end of the gospel and more than others (he also notes similar forms of inclusio in Luke and John to establish eyewitness testimony). In addition, there is an unusual alternating from third to first person in Mark that Bauckham suggests indicative of Peter’s speech. At this point, Bauckham brings in Papias, who mentions Mark as the translator of Peter. He affirms Matthew as writing an Aramaic version of this gospel (from which our Greek version arises).
Bauckham then offers an extended discussion of oral tradition, memorization, arguing that individuals kept traditions rather than communities. This includes an interesting chapter on eyewitness memory in modern psychology, with the conclusion that the gospels represent genuine memories.
However, the most interesting, and perhaps controversial material in the book, concerns his chapters on the Gospel of John. He argues that John, unlike the other gospels is not based on eyewitness testimony but rather is eyewitness testimony. Specifically, it is the testimony of the Beloved Disciple. However, he would identify “John” not as the son of Zebedee but as “John the Elder,” based on Papias. He argues that this John was not one of the twelve. However, he was a “beloved” friend, part of a larger group of disciples who had been with Jesus throughout his ministry. Unfortunately, discussion over who John is can overshadow Bauckham’s more important point, that this gospel is eyewitness testimony.
The book concludes with Bauckham recapitulating his argument for the gospels as testimony. While such testimony must be weighed, he argues for a presumption of trust rather than suspicion. Bauckham adds several chapters to the second edition at this point. These address criticisms of the earlier edition, particularly concerning eyewitnesses in Mark and the identity of John. Provocatively, he concludes that if his case for the gospels as testimony holds up, this means the end of form criticism.
It is striking to me to encounter scholarly confirmation of conclusions that arose inductively from student Bible studies in my college days. While we didn’t have the tables or patristic evidence marshalled by Bauckham, we took seriously Luke’s testimony of how he wrote his work. We saw Mark’s focus on Peter. We accepted John’s claim to be offering eyewitness testimony and noted the details unique to his account that suggested an eyewitness presence. It has always been baffling to me to see the skepticism of many scholars toward these accounts. Bauckham makes a strong case that my early reading of the gospels was not off the mark. More than that, it suggests we can approach these accounts with a high degree of confidence that they render accounts of Jesus that may be trusted.
I’m sure that some will continue to quarrel over the question of Johannine authorship. While I incline to the traditional view of John the Apostle, Bauckham’s contention doesn’t trouble me. Either are equally eyewitnesses. We don’t know the authorship of Hebrews and affirm it as scripture. I do suspect that form critics and the questers for the historical Jesus have a problem with Bauckham. I would suggest the real problem is the contention that the gospels are not what they present themselves to be but rather are anonymous community traditions. Wouldn’t it be surprising if what most Christians through history believed the gospels to be and the best gospel scholarship were agreed? Bauckham gives us hope that might be possible.
The Spectator Bird, Wallace Stegner. Vintage (ISBN: 9780525431879) 2017 (first published in 1976).
Summary: A postcard from a Countess leads a retired literary agent and his wife to revisit the time they’d spent with her.
A postcard interrupts the routines of Joe Alston, a retired New York literary agent, living in California, near Stanford. Mostly, he spends his days caring for his home with his wife, Ruth, attending cultural events, and comparing maladies with other seniors his age. The postcard, from Astrid upsets all that. Astrid was an impoverished countess the two of them had stayed with in Denmark back in 1954.
In 1954, their son had recently drowned in the ocean, whether by accident or on purpose was unclear. Joe and he had constantly fought. The loss reminded Joe of other losses. His father, a railroader, died in his infancy. His mother had emigrated from Denmark, and he hoped understanding something of her background would help root his rootless life.
Joe had kept a collection of journals of that trip that he dug out. When Ruth finds him with them, she asks about why he has pulled these out, and asks if he would read them. So, in the evenings, he would read portions. And as the visit unfolded, the countess revealed the peculiar secret of her family and its own attempts to achieve a kind of genealogical purity. It is a story, that as it turns out, is connected with Joe’s mother’s emigration.
The account is broken up with present day events. A celebrity visits amid a storm and power outage, regaling Joe with his adventures and urging Joe to return to life. Then, clearing the aftermath of the storm, Joe feels his age, suffering several maladies, comforted by Ruth’s care. A neighbor delivers a woodchipper Joe has had occasion to borrow. It is a gift, with the unspoken message being that the neighbor, dying of cancer, will not need it.
Several themes come together in this finely crafted story. Firstly, it is a story about aging. It is not only about the physical indignities of age but also the assessing of what one’s life has meant. Secondly, it is about revisiting the unexamined ambiguities of one’s past. The journal revealed Joe’s fascination with the countess, one both he and Ruth had been aware of. Although he had not acted upon it, it was one of the ambiguities of the couple’s life together.
Finally, we come to Joe’s whole approach to life, that of the “spectator bird,” the observer rather than the participant. He was the literary agent, working for the success of his clients. His journal in Denmark is another exercise in observation. Did he feel an observer with his son, unable to prevent his self-destruction? He describes himself as “just killing time until time gets around to killing me.”
I found myself identifying with Joe. We are the same age and at similar stages in life. There are the indignities of a body that doesn’t always do what you want and imposes its own limits. Then, having laid down one’s career, one wonders what it has meant. And there is the complex companionship of a long marriage, both the deep and comforting bond and the awareness of what an imperfect work of art it has been and one’s own part in those imperfections. One is aware of being loved far beyond what one deserves.
As Joe and Ruth read and process the journals and revisit the past, we await to see whether this will help them make sense of their lives. Will they find the sense and meaning that will enable them to navigate their remaining years with some quality of equanimity? Will we?
On Friday, Publisher’s Weekly, announced “Amazon Cuts Jobs in Book Division.” They say they are cutting fewer than 100 roles, which doesn’t tell us how many people are losing their jobs. This includes layoffs at their Kindle and Goodreads units. This is after the company saw a 30% increase in the sales of Kindles following release of a new generation of devices. There were no comments about the performance of Goodreads.
Remember when Amazon was a bookseller? One associated Amazon with books. You could find just about anything and get it delivered quickly. While that is still largely true, more of the book sales depend on third party sellers using the platform.
Remember when Goodreads was the online place you and your friends talked about the books you were reading? Sure one can still do this, but Amazon uses the platform for marketing and has made few improvements. Meanwhile newcomers, as well as the venerable LibraryThing, create more opportunities for reader interaction as well as offering features not available on Goodreads.
Amazon says it is consolidating roles with other divisions, probably for operating efficiency. But they are cutting the number of people working with books at a time when both Barnes & Noble and the indie bookstore market are growing. It seems the focus is on efficiency and technology.
Amazon is still the behemoth when it comes to bookselling and publishers and other booksellers must reckon with it. The truth is, though, no one is too big to fail. If Amazon relies only on algorithms and AI to sell us books and provide us online spaces to talk about them, they just might be surprised how many prefer other places to buy books and other platforms to talk about them. But perhaps books aren’t that interesting when you can launch celebrities into space for less than 15 minutes for big bucks and notoriety.
Five Articles Worth Reading
Imagine if your job provided a research stipend that covered the cost of books. Deb Olin Unferth discovered that this is a very mixed blessing. “The Stipend” is also a fascinating exploration of our propensity as bibliophiles to acquire books far in excess of our capacity to read them.
The Atlantic has begun a new series involving writers retracing the steps of their favorite authors. In the first of these, Caity Weaver is “An Innocent Abroad in Mark Twain’s Paris.” She both recounts Twains travels and her own journey, complete with a number of photographs.
Rivers are defining features in our geography. Towns are built along them and many industries depend on them. In a new book, Robert Macfarlane explores Is a River Alive? In “Britain’s Premier Nature Writer Cries Us a River” one of my favorite reviewers, Jennifer Szalai gives us her take on the book.
Thomas Mann was born 150 years ago yesterday, on June 6, 1875. At one time, Mann embrace militaristic nationalism but eventually repudiated Nazi fascism, becoming an advocate of liberal democracy, even while persisting in conservative values. Ed Simon traces “The Political Journey of Thomas Mann.” The concluding quote by Mann is sobering: “Let me tell you the whole truth. If ever fascism should come to America, it will come in the name of freedom.”
Avoiding the use of adverbs is common advice in writing programs. In “Defending Adverbs Exuberantly if Conditionally,” Lincoln Michel gives a qualified and tongue-in-cheek defense for the use of the lowly adverb.
Quote of the Week
Fittingly(!), Thomas Mann provides our quote this week. Would that the nations, and indeed all of us would learn this:
“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.”
Miscellaneous Musings
Two new books highlighted in this Publisher’s Weekly newsletter focus on “Business Lessons from Taylor Swift.” With a net worth of $1.5 billion, there might be some things others in the billionaire class might learn from her, if they are willing to learn from a woman. I was struck with this observation: “The book underscores her philosophy that success and joy is found in the giving itself, not just quantifiable monetary success.”
As it happens, I’m reading a biography of Emily Dickinson. I’m struck by her choice of seclusion and decision not to publish her work during her life. That doesn’t mean she didn’t get critical appraisal. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who played a founding role in The Atlantic, was her literary critic, pointing out awkward constructions while respecting her decision not to publish. For this, he was rewarded with the opportunity to co-edit the first collection of her work published posthumously.
This year marks a year of The Weekly Wrap. I would love to say it has been a huge success but that is still largely aspirational. But my aim is to try to curate news and articles that enrich the reading life of other readers as they have mine. I’d love to hear your thoughts, both what you’ve liked, and what you would like in this weekly literary journey. And please forward this to your friends if you like what I’m doing. Since I do this pro bono (and I have reasons for that), I won’t make more money. But it is fun to reach more people with one’s ideas! And thanks for reading!
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Wallace Stegner, The Spectator Bird
Tuesday: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Wednesday: Georges Simenon, The Saint Fiacre Affair
Thursday: Scott Cairns, Love’s Immensity
Friday: Dr. Lisa Compton and Taylor Patterson, Skills for Safeguarding
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for June 1-7, 2025!
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
Justice and Rights, Edited by Terence C. Halliday and K.K. Yeo. Langham Publishing (ISBN: 9781786410023) 2024.
Summary: Nicholas Wolterstorff in an inter-disciplinary conversation on the salience of justice and rights in Christian scholarship.
This work represents the inaugural volume in the Cross-Disciplinary Encounters with Theology series, developed in partnership with the Global Faculty Initiative. This initiative brings a global mix of scholars into dialogue “on key themes of the Christian faith, including justice and rights, created order, and the virtues.”
The plan of the work is for an outstanding scholar, in this case philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff, to offer a framework on the theme in a “theological brief.” Then, in the second part of the book, contributors who are part of the 80+ member Global Faculty Initiative contribute response briefs reflecting their disciplinary insights, concerns, and questions. These range from a paragraph to a short paper in length. These are broken in six subsections: Justice Debates, Society and History, Law and Society, International and Global Justice, Justice in Biological, Physical, and Medical Sciences, and Justice and the Academy. Finally, Wolterstorff offers a concluding response, one in which he modifies his views at one point.
Wolterstorff, interacting with the extensive biblical material on justice proposes two forms of justice. First order justice is simply giving each person his due. Second order justice are all those measures taken when first order justice is not practiced. The idea of each person’s due, or right means that Wolterstorff grounds his theory of justice in rights, which include both non-conferred and conferred rights, the former inherent in our embodied human life. Wolterstorff frames an argument for the importance of rights and then discusses justice in the academy. Finally, he surveys the disciplines considering how justice might relate to fields as diverse as history and gender studies to architecture and engineering. He leaves scholars with questions they might consider for each of their disciplines and for their academic institutions.
In what follows, I will highlight a few of the scholar’s responses in each of the parts of the middle section of the book.
Justice Debates. Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. leads off the discussion with a marvelously concise summary of Thomist thought on justice with trenchant observations on justice in the academy. Two other responses were noteworthy for me. One was Oliver O’Donovan’s difference with Wolterstorff on the existence of “first order” justice. The other was argument for love superseding justice for Christians with Osam Temple offering the most extensive articulation.
Society and History. John Coffey leads off with an essay on the role of history in telling the story of justice and injustice. Peter Sloman discusses polices of distribution as they relate to justice. Ian Robert Davis, an architect, offers remarkably practical implications of doing justice in reducing the risk of harm from disasters.
Law and Society. The two opening briefs stood out for me. Christopher Marshall assesses the restorative justice movement and some of the dangers when such solutions are institutionalized. Nicholas Aroney’s “Justice, Judgment, and the Virtue of Law” explores the grounding of rights. He also discusses such matters as Kuyper’s sphere sovereignty and the idea of subsidiarity.
International and Global Justice. Donald Hay and Gordon Menzies get into the challenging area of economic justice in climate change, particularly in fixing the costs of remediation. Given the global character of many problems, Terence C. Halliday argues for Transnational Legal Orders.
Justice in Biological, Physical, and Medical Sciences. Ian Hutchinson, a nuclear scientist, explores what justice in science means, including the just treatment of nature. Tyler VanderWeele offers a thought-provoking exploration of justice in public health, particularly the right to the “highest attainable standard of health.”
Justice in the Academy. Dinesha Samaratne offers a challenging perspective from the global south on the matter of academic publishing. For example, he highlights the injustices that prevent Global South scholars from publishing in leading journals. On a somewhat related note, Carlos Miguel Gomez raises questions of epistemic justice, particularly the exclusion of traditional or indigenous knowledge.
I should note that there were many other valuable contributions in each of these parts.
One of the remarkable qualities of this work is the gracious quality of the interaction, even where scholars differed from Wolterstorff. And his response was equally gracious. He corrects his own reading of Aristotle and Ulpian on justice. He expands his outline of a biblical concept of justice. Then he addresses his focus on justice, which seemed to exclude other aspects of the moral life. Finally, Wolterstorff addresses those uneasy about his assertion of rights talk and amplifies his discussion of natural rights and duties.
This is an outstanding compendium on the theme of justice and rights from a Christian perspective. It models gracious interdisciplinary dialogue at a high intellectual level. It includes a global mix of scholars from every continent. And it consciously seeks to ground all of this thinking in a biblical Christian framework. I look forward to future volumes in this series!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Summary: The plight of the working homeless through the experience of five Atlanta families.
This was a heart-breaking and sobering book to read. It was heart-breaking to trace the lives of the five families Brian Goldstone follows over several years. Families where adults worked, sometimes more than one job only to have to double up with friends, live in extended stay units, or in dangerously substandard rental units. And because they weren’t on the streets or in shelters, they weren’t even considered homeless. And it was sobering to read, because one recognized the precarity so many are living under. One major care repair. One hospital bill or illness. A huge utility bill from a landlord re-selling power. Or low income housing sold to institutional buyers converting it into high rent lodgings.
Goldstone’s families live in Atlanta, seemingly a booming city. And part of the story is that it is partially true for some people. As a result, areas are gentrifying, and affordable housing is disappearing as are the incentives to operate affordable housing complexes. The trouble is that those at the lower end of the income scale, an scale that is rising with the rents, people can’t afford housing without spending substantially more than half their income each month, far above the recommended percentage. What’s sobering is that more and more people are under this stress. “There is no place for us” is becoming a literal reality. Throughout the book, individuals scour listings only to be turned down. And if a person has an eviction on their financial history, forget it.
One of the surprising things in this book is to learn how many had to resort to extended stay units. One thinks of these as places business travelers stay when they are in town for a period. At least around Atlanta, they were the alternative to the streets for many when they could not find conventional rental housing. School busses stopped at them to pick up children. And in most cases, they were more costly than rentals and not subject to landlord-tenant laws, which in Atlanta favor landlords.
A number of the families seek assistance through housing agencies and programs facing too many clients, and not enough housing. Often, until you were literally on the street, there was little they could do. One of the bright spots was LaQuana “LA Pink” Alexander, a one woman community organizer who was out on the streets with these people, and communicated care, and somehow found short-term help–food, hygiene supplies, clothing, a place to stay, a connection.
Perhaps you remember the plate-spinning acts that once were a regular feature on variety shows. That’s what I felt I was watching as I read this narrative. People were trying to earn more, sometimes in the gig economy. They were trying to pay for and keep a car running, feed a family, and often juggle bills, deciding which they must pay. And of course they needed to pay the rent on time or face the dreaded eviction notice. But what if you got cancer, as one individual did? What if your child care shut down during COVID? Sometimes people made bad choices when the pressure became too great. They took out payday loans. Or they drank too much. Yet these people are not wanting handouts. They want to pay their own way.
The book concludes with sensible proposals that help. Stronger tenant laws can ban various extortionist practices. The definition of the homeless can be expanded to include many of the people in this book, which if nothing else, would help us see the true extent of our national problem.
But the real challenge is to answer the question of what incentive exists to build and operate low cost housing when developers and landlords can do so much better? The only answer Goldstone sees is for government or non-profits to take this on, which may be a non-starter for many. But it seems to me that we will pay these costs one way or another. Why not try to do so in a way where people, cities, schools, and businesses flourish? Instead of “there is no place for us” isn’t it time to say “a safe place for all.” It seems that a nation aspiring to greatness ought do at least this.
Summary: An argument that Western civilization reflects a 4000 year history of the mixing of global cultures.
Josephine Quinn sets out in this book to puncture at least two myths about Western civilization. One is the the story of Western civilization is the story of the influences of Greek and Roman cultures. The second is the myth of the “clash” of “civilizations.” Quinn instead argues that the story of the West is the story of a global human civilization (singular) incessantly in contact with the far reaches of the world via travel and trade (and sometimes warfare) resulting in the commingling of cultures.
Quinn begins with ancient Byblos, a port city that traded with peoples from the Nile region all the way to the Asian steppes. In turn, Byblos traders travel to the kingdom of Crete, which reaches from the Aegean to Mesopotamia. As the focus shifts to Mycenae, we learn of trade routes reaching as far as Wales and Scandinavia, through Germany and the Hungarian plains and throughout Italy.
Artifacts from the small town of Akrotiri, buried in a volcano reveal items from around the Mediterranean. Tablets from Amarna in Egypt reveal trade relationships with the Aegean, Crete, and Rhodes.
Civilizational contributions consist of Ugaritic, an alphabet anticipating our own. Babylonians formulated what we call the Pythagorean theorem more than a thousand years before Pythagoras.
And on it goes. Quinn ranges from one end of the Mediterranean to another, along Asian trade routes, into and around Africa, circumnavigated by the navy of an Egyptian king, and into Europe and the British isles. This unfolding history traces a continuous commingling of cultures that ultimately formed our “Western” civilization. She shows the cultural influences shaping Greece and Rome and the wars between powers.
Quinn amasses an impressive amount of artifacts, carbon dating, genetic testing, and other sources to make her argument. The one challenge at times in reading is that it felt difficult to keep track of the forest for the trees as Quinn moves from place to place, detailing trade relationships between places. But perhaps this is part of her argument. It is not a neat story of just Greece and Rome. Nor is it the West versus the rest.
It impresses me that the story of civilization is simply a human story. While culturally diverse, human beings have been intersecting, sharing culture, beliefs, and technology, throughout our history. We are the product of this and the purveyors of what human civilization will become for future generations. While we erect barriers and borders, we also seem driven to cross them in travel and trade and learning. It seems me might do well to give ourselves to thinking about how that may be best channeled to the ends of human flourishing rather than conflict or exploitation.
Summary: What it is, why it happens, the phases of deconstruction and walking with someone through this process.
I was both surprised by a statistic in the Introduction to Walking Through Deconstruction and found it confirming of something I’ve witnessed anecdotally. While we think of large numbers of youth walking away from Christian faith, the average age of the person deconstructing their faith is 54. And, having passed that age, I’ve seen it happen. All the beliefs and practices and ways of living one’s faith that worked in their twenties and thirties aren’t working so well at mid-life. It is as if they have hit a proverbial wall. Some give up and embrace a post-Christian life. Others go through a process of questioning and struggling with their faith, and for some, they end up with a reconstructed faith that is deeper and more resilient than when they started.
Of course, deconstructing faith occurs at different ages and for a variety of reasons ranging from intellectual questioning to some sort of abuse from a figure in power. It can be scary if you are a believer and watching this happen to a friend. You don’t want to see a friend walk away from Christ. And you want to support them while not making it worse.
Ian Harber has been there. First of all, he went through his own process of deconstructing faith, and nearly a decade later came to a deeper, reconstructed faith. Friends who cared and a different church that took him deeply into scripture, theology, church history, and a life of discipleship all helped. Second, he has ministered with many going through the same thing. His book explains what deconstruction is, why it happens, and the phases one goes through. Then he explains how a person may reconstruct with the help of Christian community.
He begins by defining deconstruction: “Deconstruction is a crisis of faith that leads to the questioning of core doctrines and untangling of cultural ideologies that settles in a faith that is different from before. For some, the issues are more cultural. And for others, they are more doctrinal.
Deconstruction is an experience of hitting the Wall. He cites Janet O. Hagberg’s The Critical Journey and the season when God seems absent and the old answers don’t work. One grieves the loss of God. It is a crisis on par with losing a loved one and we may observe the same stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
For many, their Christian faith is in an imaginative gridlock. We try harder, look for answers rather than ask questions, and engage in either-or thinking. For others, it is church that needs deconstructing. Churches are performative rather than formative. Biblical teaching is thin, they veer either into legalism or license. Some cover up abuse. Others have fallen into the captive embrace of politics.
Perhaps the most challenging chapter is on the deconstruction of self. The culture emphasizes our self-fulfillment and our digital devices help us curate our own lives, albeit, disembodied ones. This stands in contrast to the idea that we are not our own and made for community. Harber follows with a chapter on possible ends for deconstruction. Inevitably, we will reconstruct in some way, either into a secular intellectualism, or some form of ideology or idolatry, or into a renewed faith.
The second part of the book, then, envisions the process of reconstruction into a renewed faith. One key component is non-anxious friendships. These are people who are present, who pray, on are patient with questions, and who persist but don’t push anxiously. Suffering may be a real issue, whether physical or emotional. To walk alongside someone in suffering is to walk the path of the cross from the grief of Mary to her dawning hope in the resurrection, allowing suffering to form character.
Belief needs to be reconstructed as well. Instead of just propositions, doctrine may be understood as the story in which we live. Harber also encourages distinguishing essential, doctrines from those that are urgent, then important, and finally indifferent. In place of performative church, Harber discusses a discipleship that focuses on devotion, formation, and mission before God’s face.
This requires reconstructed churches. They are devoted to scripture, sacrament, and a social life of hospitality. Finally, instead of taking the route of some who deconstruct in saying God is unknowable and defies our attempts to capture him in our theologies, Harber speaks of what we may know of God. He is united, crucified, and alive.
I hear Harber saying that deconstruction is both a crisis to take seriously and an opportunity for God to deepen a reconstructed faith. We should not write it off as the decision to pursue a sinful lifestyle. Real deconstruction, as messy as it looks, is a process in which one seeks God amid the clutter of an inadequately formed faith. Instead, Harber invites us to be the non-anxious presence through which God works. And he invites churches to move from being performative institutions to formative communities, offering substantive models of faith and discipleship. This book is full of wisdom and hope.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
While spring time is the season of planting, this month of reading has been a veritable harvest of interesting books. One of these was Gabrielle Zevin’s, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, a sweet-sad love story set in a bookstore. It’s been a month of learning about the life of Jakob Hutter, an Anabaptist forebear, the art of Georges Roualt, the poetry of Luci Shaw, and the wonders of marine biology. Early in the month, I enjoyed a fine biography of theologian Markus Barth and a book on Christian discipleship by Luke Timothy Johnson. Finally, I finished the month with six reviews of children’s books, courtesy of IVP Kids. Believe me, these books are not just for kids, though I list them in a separate section below. With that, here are the reviews!
The Reviews
Tucker’s Last Stand(Blackford Oakes, 9), William F. Buckley, Jr. MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (ASIN: B0116EBXKY) 2015 (first published in 1990). Blackford Oakes teams up with mercenary Tucker Montana to block troops and arms flowing from North to South Vietnam. Review
An Incremental Life, Luci Shaw. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609792) 2025. Poems celebrating the daily moments offering glimpses of joy, growth, insight, and the quiet presence of God. Review
Imitating Christ: The Disputed Character of Christian Discipleship, Luke Timothy Johnson. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883100) 2024. Contends our understanding of Christian discipleship has shifted in recent centuries from personal sanctification to social justice. Review
Markus Barth, Mark R. Lindsay. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001622) 2024. The first biography of Markus Barth, drawn from access to his letters and papers, highlighting his theological legacy. Review
Judea under Greek and Roman Rule, David A deSilva. Oxford University Press (ISBN: 9780190263256) 2024. Covers the period from 334 BCE to 135 CE, Hellenizing reforms, revolts, Herods, and Roman domination. Review
The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780143127741) 2015. An account of the growing understanding of the effects of trauma on the brain and the body and promising treatments. Review
The Lawless Roads, Graham Greene. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504054263) 2018 (first published in 1939). Greene’s journey through Mexico to the states of Chiapas and Tabasco where Catholicism was most severely repressed. Review
Writing and Rewriting the Gospels, James W. Barker, foreword by Mark Goodacre. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802874528) 2025. Drawing on ancient compositional practice, argues for for a “snowballing” process of gospel writing. Review
Until the Last One’s Found, Curt Parton. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385225439) 2024. An evangelical pastor argues that God will ultimately reconcile and restore all to himself through Christ. Review
Northwest Angle (Cork O’Connor, 11), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439153963) 2012. A family vacation is disrupted by a derecho, casting Jenny onto a remote island where she rescues an infant sought by killers. Review
Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters (Classics of the Radical Reformation, 14), edited by Emmy Barth Maendel and Jonathan Seiling. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636080901) 2024. Biography, letters by Hutter, chronicles of Hutterites, testimony, and Hutterite and government letters. Review
A Prophet in the Darkness, Wesley Vander Lugt, editor. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514011058) 2024. An exploration of the work of Georges Roualt and his identification of human suffering with Christ’s sufferings. Review
Third Girl(Hercule Poirot, 40), Agatha Christie. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780062073761) 2010 (first published in 1966). A young girl disturbs Poirot’s breakfast claiming she may have murdered someone, then leaves, telling Poirot “You’re too old.” Review
The Last Romantic (Hansen Lectureship Series), Jeffrey W. Barbeau with contributions from Sarah Borden, Matthew Lundin, and Keith L. Johnson. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010518) 2025. The influence of Romanticism on C.S. Lewis in terms of imagination, subjectivity, memory and identity, and the sacraments. Review
Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781668023488) 2025. A vision of an American future where we invent and build what’s needed and for government that enables rather than hobbles growth. Review
Reading the Margins, Michael J. Gilmour. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506469355) 2024. How reading literature may enhance empathy for those on the margins, illuminating the advocacy of scripture for them. Review
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin. Algonquin Books (ISBN: 9781616204518) 2014. A widowed bookseller’s life changes when a rare book disappears and an orphaned child is left in his care. Review
Knock at the Sky. Liz Charlotte Grant, foreword by Sarah Bessey. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883759) 2025. After losing faith in biblical inerrancy, the author returns to Genesis with all her questions, seeking God in the story. Review
Gutta Percha Willie, George MacDonald. Rosetta Books (ASIN: B07KX64ZB3) 2018 (first published in 1873). The story of a young boy who gives himself to discover his own work within God’s work and how he finds his vocation. Review
Makers by Nature, Bruce Herman. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009802) 2025. Letters to students, artists, and friends on calling, making, and process, with reproduced works by the author. Review
If the Ocean Has a Soul, Rachel G. Jordan. Tyndale Refresh (ISBN: 9798400505843) 2025. Meshes marine biology and biblical insights, exploring the integration of science and faith. Review
Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World, Helen Lee, illustrated by Shin Maeng. IVP Kid (ISBN: 9781514009161) 2025. Kaylee and her grandfather learn of needy children in the news and struggle for words to pray. Review
Not Finished Yet, Sharon Garlough Brown, illustrated by Jessica Linn Evans. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514007952) 2024. While “painting prayers” with Gran, Wren discovers she can honestly share all her feelings with God. Review
Zion Learns to See, Terence Lester and Zion Lester, illustrated by Subi Bosa. IVP Kids (ISBN: 781514006696) 2024. Zion goes to work with her father at the community center and learns how those experiencing homelessness matter to God. Review
Birth of the Chosen One, Terry Wildman, illustrated by Hannah and Holly Buchanan. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514007020) 2024. An account of the birth of Jesus based on the First Nations Version reflecting Native oral storytelling. Review
Penny Preaches, Amy Dixon and Rob Dixon, illustrated by Jennifer Davison. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514008584) 2024. A young girl loves the big ideas she hears in Sunday sermons, aspires to preach, but friends discourage her. Review
Best Book of the Month
Makers by Nature is a combination of a theology of artistic practice and the wisdom of a master artist on various challenges of artistic work. All of it is presented in the form of a series of warm letters to former students and friends. Each “chapter” is introduced with some of the artist’s work in full color reproductions. This book was a feast for my eyes and heart!
Quote of the Month
I deeply appreciated A Prophet in the Darkness on the work of Georges Roualt. Roualt’s deep empathy with human suffering intersected with his faith. This quote gives a flavor of that:
“Paul Klee says ‘Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible.’ This is what the art of Georges Roualt (1871-1958) has done; his images have penetrated deeply into the human dilemma to find meaning and offer hope, helping us to see light in the darkness, making visible the invisible.”
What I’m Reading
I’m just coming to the end of Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Bauckham marshals extensive material to demonstrate that our four canonical gospels are based on eyewitness testimony rather than communal remembrances of the ministry of Jesus. Love’s Immensity by poet Scott Cairns translates the works of mystics throughout church history, a journey into loving contemplation of God. Skills for Safeguarding explores abuse within the church and other Christian contexts and the best practices to safeguard against abuse and to deal with it in a way that cares for survivors and properly deals with perpetrators. Every church and ministry needs to read and implement the practices in this book!
Justin Evans offers an entertaining and informative book on data and how the data revolution impacts us all in The Little Book of Data. It’s chilling how much data we give up about ourselves everyday, often without being aware of it. Finally, there never seems an end of Tolkien books! The Fall of Numenor covers the second age of Middle Earth, which preceded The Lord of the Rings.
If you’ve read this far, thanks! I hope your summer reading bears a rich harvest and hope these reviews help!
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.
Penny Preaches, Amy Dixon and Rob Dixon, illustrated by Jennifer Davison. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514008584) 2024.
Summary: A young girl loves the big ideas she hears in Sunday sermons, aspires to preach, but friends discourage her.
Penny loves going to church with her family. She especially loves the sermons and the big ideas her pastor shares about God, about his love that has no limits. Penny likes that the important words start with the same letter. She even likes the tiny microphone he wears.
Penny wonders if she could do that. She wants to share big things about God. So, she begins by practicing with her animals after she has searched and written down some of God’s words in her notebook. Then she invites her neighborhood friends.
But they don’t applaud. Instead they question. “Girls can’t be preachers, can they?” She wonders if they are right and tucks her notebook under her bed.
But God gives her more words. And she writes them down in her notebook.
And that Sunday, her family visits a new church with a pastor named Sarah. When Pastor Sarah shares amazing stories and important words (that begin with the same letter), Penny claps loudest of all. But what happens next, when Pastor Sarah notices Penny’s notebook, exceeded Penny’s wildest dreams.
This is a wonderful story that affirms that there is room in church for everyone’s gifts, even girls like Penny and women like Sarah. And I love the idea that preaching is about sharing the words God gives, the big and important truths about God.
Bright, colorful illustrations by Jennifer Davison capture the joy of sharing God’s words with God’s people. They effervesce with the excitement of a young girl who finds God giving her words she wants to share. Together with the wonderful turn in the story the Dixons tell, we learn that God’s good gifts for God’s people are given to all and should be shared by all.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
