Review: Tending Tomorrow

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Cover image of "Tending Tomorrow" by Leah Reesor-Keller

Tending Tomorrow, Leah Reesor-Keller. Herald Press (ISBN: 9781513813356) 2024.

Summary: Facing an uncertain ecological future by drawing on one’s faith and learning from creation, to re-vision how we may live.

Many of us are convinced that our warming earth poses a threat to the flourishing of life on our planet. More deeply troubling is the awareness that our own patterns of consuming earth’s resources are a causative factor. In fact, that influence is so decided that scientists have named our epoch in global natural history the Anthropocene.

I’m a Christian who believes God loves his creation but observes a world responding inadequately to the threat. The question then arises of how then should we live into an uncertain ecological future without giving way to despair. Christians are people of hope. Leah Reesor-Keller wrestles with these questions in Tending Tomorrow. Her response to the uncertain future is to dig into the roots of her faith in five “thematic actions”: redreaming, retelling, renewing, reimagining, and rewilding.

Redreaming involves re-examining one’s religious and cultural roots and is foundational to the author’s project. It means recognizing the things worth embracing and the harmful trajectories it is time to re-direct, all with an eye toward what we would hope for the world in 2100. This leads to looking at our origin stories. The author illustrates with the story of her Mennonite family and how they settled in Canada. She learned that it was a story of colonization. A future might involve acknowledging that Indigenous presence and drawing upon Indigenous wisdom rather than dominionist theology for how one lives on the land.

Then renewing involves reflecting on how one has found hope in past challenges and suffering. One lesson in hope is that we don’t need to see all the steps to the end but just the next ones. Likewise, we nurture hope in community by continuing to show up for each other.

But the “re” word Reesor-Keller gives the greatest attention is reimagining. She begins with reimagining leadership, not as the hero leading the charge, but as an interconnected network of people. This is exemplified in the interconnected character of forests. She recognizes that the flow of power is always a reality of leadership in community. She describes her own leadership and use of Power Mapping to empower marginalized community voices. Then she turns to re-imagining accountability and repairing harm, both within the community, and in the wider Canadian culture with Indigenous people. Finally, she returns to Anabaptist roots to reimagine church communities as people movements rather than institutions.

As she concludes, Reesor-Keller meditates on re-wilding her yard and is reminded that such a project can go in a number of directions. Re-visioning the future has no singular outcome. Rather, we strive to create a flourishing space for many visions while taking the next steps we need to take.

The approach to this book was far more holistic than I expected. The author addresses our origin stories, our blind spots, marginalized people, redemptive community, as well as our care for creation. But in doing so, she shows us her understanding of what it is to be the church in the world. This both addresses our crisis of hope and vision and needs for culture change. She offers no silver bullets. But she offers a vision of how we might live into the uncertain future.

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

Review: How to Get Along with Anyone

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Cover image of "How to Get Along with Anyone" by John Eliot and Jim Guinn

How to Get Along with Anyone, John Eliot and Jim Guinn. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668033074) 2025.

Summary: An approach to conflict resolution based on the five ways people respond to conflict.

156. The number of hours a salaried employee in the United States spends, on average, engaged in moderate to intense workplace conflict that is reported to adversely impact job performance. That adds up to essentially one month of work per year per person. (p. xiv)

Productivity. Job satisfaction. Employee retention. All of these measures and more are impacted by unresolved workplace conflicts. Conversely, effective conflict resolution affirms the value of people, and results in greater organizational effectiveness.

But the workplace isn’t the only place where effective conflict resolution is needed. Unresolved conflict shreds families, undermines voluntary associations and renders toxic our political processes. Knowing how to get along with anyone is a pretty important skill, yet less than 40 percent of full-time employees receive any form of conflict resolution training.

John Eliot and Jim Guinn have worked with an extensive variety of organizations in conflict resolution training and conflict mediation. This book distills the wisdom they’ve gained from that work and the core of the resources they offer. The key idea of the book is that it is crucial to understand the five ways people respond to conflict, and to base one’s actions in resolving conflict on understanding a person’s pattern of responding to conflict. The first section of the book lays the groundwork of good conflict resolution processes while the second focuses on the five conflict response patterns.

First of all, good conflict resolution begins with identifying the three types or triggers of conflict: task, process, and relational. Each of us are triggered more by one of these. The authors offer a trigger analysis process to understand what is triggering conflict. Second, it is vital to predict behavior by identifying a person’s “Go-To Conflict Personality Style.” Specifically, there are five styles: Avoider, Competitor, Analyzer, Collaborator, and Accommodator. For each, they outline strengths, weaknesses ideal conflict scenarios, main MO’s, nicknames, best and worst teammates. However, no conflict style is necessarily better or worse.

Third, after understanding triggers and conflict styles, is getting to a persons underlying interest. Active listening is critical and they offer specific suggestions how to do this. Fourth, it is often necessary to defuse emotion in conflict situations. The authors describe ways to do this through lowered voices, validation, detours, e-mail drafts, and relationship investment. Finally, the authors tie it all together with Matt Damon’s axiom from Rounders: “The key to the game is playing the man, not the cards.” In conflict, we often try to make better arguments, solve problems, and strategize. Rather than playing these cards, we need to play the player, building rapport, summoning their motivations and using momentum to build wins together.

Then the second section of the book takes a deep dive into each conflict style. The authors offer specific techniques for conflict resolution for each style. Throughout, they illustrate these methods with stories from their consulting work. For example, they describe how a competitor’s ultimatum, walking away from a deal, was turned into a five year fleet purchase agreement. In addition to working with a person’s conflict style, it is important to understand one’s own “go-to.” If you can’t figure this out from the descriptions, you can go to The Conflict Docs website and take an assessment (for $25.00).

In conclusion, I found the book to be very helpful. For example, understanding one’s own triggers and “go to” style seems critical. Likewise, the “play the player” insight, I thought, was gold. I can’t enumerate how many conflicts went sideways in my own life because I was oblivious to this insight. However, I think it can be a challenge to keep all the techniques straight, so keep this book handy.

One concern I have is the risk of using the techniques in this book manipulatively. So much hinges on one’s character, it seems. The authors show they care for people and want individuals and organizations to flourish. But I also have known clever manipulators who negotiate their way through conflict, making others feel good while acting only in their own interests. It’s never a good approach to build long-term relationships where trust is important. But some don’t care about the long term.

However, that doesn’t detract from the value of this book. Few people want to be at odds with each other. Most want to work productively. Learning to resolve conflict strengthens relationships, and enhances productivity and organizational effectiveness. Learning how to get along with anyone is a good thing.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

The Weekly Wrap: April 6-12

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woman in white crew neck t shirt in a bookstore wrapping books
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True Readers

I’ve just begun reading a new collection of C. S. Lewis’s pieces on reading titled The Reading Life. One of the first pieces in the book is “How to Know if You are a True Reader.” Since you are all waiting to know Lewis’s answer, here it is:

1. Loves to re-read books
2. Highly values reading as an activity (versus as a last resort)
3. Lists the reading of particular books as a life-changing experience
4. Continuously reflects and recalls what one has read

By these criteria, I’m a true reader, although I have more trouble with #1 since I’ve begun reviewing books. But there are many old friends I love to revisit, including those of several of the Inklings.

I was astounded to learn Lewis spent an average of eight hours a day reading. He clearly valued reading as an activity. I do as well, but at probably less than half that amount of time.

Books have changed me, from J. I. Packer’s Knowing God and Calvin’s Institutes to the Port William stories of Wendell Berry, Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, and the poetry of Mary Oliver, George Herbert, and Gerard Manley Hopkins.

And reflecting and recalling? That’s what I do all the time when reviewing. I’m thinking not only of the book under review but others as well. I don’t have Lewis’s eidetic memory. Students could read one line of a book on Lewis’s shelves and he’d complete the page, often verbatim.

I don’t think there is a switch one flips to become a true reader. Rather, I feel I’ve been becoming a true reader all my life. I think as readers, we are all works in progress.

Five Articles Worth Reading

However, being a true reader by Lewis’s criteria doesn’t make me all knowledgeable, even in the history of books. I only answered two out of five questions in this short quiz on “How Much Do You Know About the History of Books?” I’d love to hear how you did in the comments, especially if you go five for five!

Stuart Whatley asserts that “[O]ur nihilistic politics are a product of the crushing ennui and spiritual vacancy of modern life” in “The West is bored to death.”

I always look forward to The Millions previews to tick off books I want to check out. “The Great Spring 2025 Book Preview” went up this week.

I learned recently that there are 153 data centers ringing my city, and this is true in many parts of the country, driven by the rise of AI. Until a few years ago, Intel chips were synonymous with computers. But the rise of AI has been paralleled by the rise of Nvidia. “The New King of Tech” profiles Jensen Huang and reviews a new book, The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip by Stephen Witt.

Finally, I began this post talking about true readers. Open Road ran an article with video on “Why the Romans Stopped Reading Books.” I’d be curious if you think there are any modern parallels.

Quote of the Week

April is National Poetry Month. And April 9, 1821 was the birthdate of Charles Pierre Baudelaire. I love this simple challenge he offers:

“Always be a poet, even in prose.”

It makers me wonder how it might shape our public discourse if we heeded this!

Miscellaneous Musings

I’m just coming to the conclusion of American Prometheus, on the life of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb. It is sobering to see how a powerful figure who disliked Oppenheimer orchestrated a star chamber to strip him of his security clearance because he opposed expansion of our nuclear arsenal to include hydrogen bombs. But Oppenheimer received vindication late in his life, offering hope that dissent cannot be suppressed forever.

It’s always nice to get around to older books one missed the first time around. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity by Mark Noll. His summary of the European transition from Christendom to secularity is a tour de force.

I met one of my goals in selling books to our local Half Price Books. I walked out with cash in my pocket, even after our purchases! Yes, my retirement portfolio may have decreased by $80K in value over the last months, but I’m running to the good at at least one bookstore!

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: John Eliot and Jim Guinn, How to Get Along with Anyone

Tuesday: Leah Reesor-Keller, Tending Tomorrow

Wednesday: Aaron Scott, Bring Back Your People

Thursday: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, American Prometheus

Friday: Mark Noll, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for April 6-12, 2025!

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

Review: Citizenship Without Illusions

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Cover image of "Citizenship Without Illusions" by David T. Koyzis

Citizenship Without Illusions, David T. Koyzis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008621) 2024.

Summary: How Christians may engage politically without giving idolatrous devotion to parties or ideologies.

For years I’ve found myself in this place. I recognize that we need good governance from the officials we elect. But I cannot fully endorse what either of our parties propound nor give unquestioning allegiance to person or party. What is difficult is that I have friends on both sides of the partisan divide who seem to give unflinching allegiance to their party and the people they have elected or want to elect. Often, I find conversations with such individuals futile. There is no questioning allowed and only one side is right on everything. It is particularly disconcerting when my friends resort to lies and character assassination to buttress their political allegiance. I grope for a different kind of political engagement or want to just withdraw.

Citizenship Without Illusions is written for people like me. In his introductory chapter, David T. Koyzis identifies the illusion of political idolatries yet refuses the route of disengagement. He believes we are called to active citizenship as Christians in society. But first, he focuses on the nature of citizenship. Koyzis argues that political rule has always existed but not citizenship. Citizenship arises with the idea of “the state as a public legal community of people led by a government.”

Koyzis then turns in Chapter 3 to a delineation of the responsibilities of citizenship. He maintains that citizens are part of a community whose first task is to do justice in all areas of public life. This includes obedience to the rule of law, including the payment of taxes, staying informed, thinking locally, where all politics begins, and answering the call of service, including both jury and military service. Koyzis explores the challenges of living out the call to citizenship when the opportunities for participation are limited. But sometimes the requirements of citizenship and Christian faithfulness may collide. Chapter 4 explores these conflicts, including the possibility of civil disobedience and what principles ought inform us should we choose this route.

Voting is an expression of our citizenship but what does one do when none of the alternatives are good? Koyzis talks about different systems and shows a preference for proportional representation rather than single member plurality, where only the winning votes are represented. But sometimes the only way to pursue change is through political mobilization. Chapter 6 introduces political mobilization and points to models like Voice of Calvary Ministries.

But what about our political divides? Chapter 7 analyzes our political divides and advocates for a kind of principled pluralism. Then Chapter 8 turns to our global context and explores the tension between our citizenship and love for our global neighbors and God’s world. Finally, Chapter 9 concludes with a focus on the importance of prayer and the place of the church in shaping us. He advocates for the church to be the church, and not aligned to any particular political ideology.

Koyzis offers a model of political engagement that is an alternative to becoming a devotee of a political cult. He articulates for churches being the church. His analysis of voting raises a question many struggle with–why vote in situations where a vote doesn’t matter? Proportional representation would require constitutional changes. This is not an easy fix. I particularly appreciate his focus on the local as well as his recommendations for political mobilization. There are some things we can’t change alone. I did wonder whether the author might have written any of this differently after January 2025. His section on citizenship under less than ideal circumstances may be more relevant than ever.

In all, Koyzis offers a clear-eyed guide for redemptive political engagement rooted in a commitment for public justice for all. It’s not the route to power but the long road of service. It’s just being a citizen.

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

Review: John of History, Baptist of Faith

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Cover image of "John of History, Baptist of Faith" by James F. McGrath

John of History, Baptist of Faith, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883995) 2024.

Summary: A historical-critical study of New Testament and Mandaean sources, developing a historical portrait of John.

James F. McGrath has recently made a certain scholarly “splash” in focusing our attention on the neglected figure of John the Baptist, who he argues played a significant role in history. He’s not just the forerunner of Jesus who fades from view, an idea he argued in Christmaker (reviewed here). This work goes further in developing his ideas, delving into a historical-critical study of the sources we may draw on to arrive at “the John of History.”

First of all, McGrath argues in Chapter 1 for the Q sayings source as one of the historical sources for information about John. Given that it begins with John’s preaching and ends with an apocalyptic sermon, it may stand to reason that the teaching found here reflects continuity with John that sheds light on his message. Then in Chapter 2, McGrath assesses the Mandaean sources, the other major body of texts to consider, arguing neither for wholesale acceptance or rejection but critical assessment. He likens their value in understanding John to the Nag Hammadi or rabbinic sources.

From here, McGrath asserts that Jesus was a disciple of John as reflected in the continuity between the ministries of the two men. These continuities include baptism, the preaching of the kingdom, the ethical teaching, and the threat against the temple. In addition, there is the high esteem by Jesus for John. It is an intriguing suggestion, though I am not persuaded that Jesus was a disciple under John for any significant period. Apart from the baptism of Jesus, the two appear to operate separately in the gospel accounts, though aware of each other.

Chapter 4 turns from the relation of Jesus and John to the nativity narratives of Luke. Along with Luke, he considers the Protevangelium of James and the Mandaean Book of John. Drawing on these sources, he suggests a nativity narrative of John that includes Elizabeth and Zechariah as inspiration for the parents of Mary and the Magnificat as a prayer of Elizabeth, and that Luke reworked these materials. This seemed interesting but speculative to me.

Above all, John was known as the Baptizer, and chapters 5 and 6 concern baptism. Chapter 5 considers where John may have gotten the idea of baptism from. Instead of priestly sacrifices, John draws on ritual ablutions signifying cleansing. Then Chapter 6 turns to the baptism of Jesus, particularly as it became caught up in Mandaean polemics about john and Jesus.

I found Chapter 7 particularly intriguing as McGrath explores Jesus’ use of “the Son of Man.” He connects this with John’s references to one “greater” or “stronger” than himself. He also notes John’s use of “the one” to come. Linguistically, “the one” and “the Son of Man” are synonymous.

Given the gnostic character of Mandaeaism, Chapter 8 weighs what aspects of John’s ministry may have given rise to this. While John was no gnostic, his followers Dositheus and Simon Magus may have been. I personally wonder how Gnosticism might have arisen from Hebraic sources and think Hellenist ones more likely. But these two worlds intersected during this time.

Finally, McGrath considers the prayer of John. He notes the reference by Jesus’ disciples to John teaching his disciples to pray. Then he argues that the Our Father may have roots in John’s prayers.

Overall, what McGrath does is make a strong case for both the significance of John and his influence with Jesus. He raises a number of interesting questions for further scholarly work. I do wish he could have included translations of the Mandaean Book of John and the Protevangelium. Non-scholars like myself do not have ready access to them. That said, I look forward to seeing how other scholars interact with this work and how McGrath builds on this work. Clearly, he has demonstrated that this is a fruitful (and neglected) field of inquiry!

Addendum: The author wrote the following in comments below that I wanted to include in the review:

“There are open access translations of both works online, which was one reason I didn’t think it necessary to include them. When I worked with Charles Haberl on the Mandaean Book of John, we made sure the translation would be available. You can find that here: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/1065/

A couple of translations of the Protevangelium (Infancy Gospel) of James can be found here: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancyjames.html“

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

Review: Vermilion Drift

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Cover image of "Vermilion Drift" by William Kent Krueger

Vermilion Drift (Cork O’Connor, 10) William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN:  9781439153871) 2011.

Summary: The discovery of six bodies in an underground iron mine leads to facing uncomfortable truths about Cork’s father.

Cork O’Connor comes home to an empty house every night. His children are away for the summer. And he has nightmares. In them he sees his father falling, crying for his help. Then, stepping out of himself, he sees the same scene again–only he is pushing his father. He cannot make sense of it.

But in the daylight, his life is bustling. Sam’s Place is thriving under the manager who would like to buy the place. He has rich consulting clients, including an iron mine owner, Max Cavanaugh. He’s helping with security arrangements while an old mine is under consideration as a nuclear waste storage site. There are protests. Then several people receive threatening messages: “We die. you die.” Max has also asked him to investigate the disappearance of his sister Lauren, who ran an arts center out of the old Judge Parrant mansion.

When the same message appears inside the mine, Cork investigates whether there was another access to the mine. He discovers that one of the side tunnels, the Vermilion Drift (drift being the term for such tunnels) ran under the reservation of the tribal lands and that there was an exit that had been blocked up. But he discovers something else. Six bodies, including one recently murdered.

The recently murdered person turns out to be Lauren Cavanaugh. Four other bodies were of young girls who had disappeared from tribal lands during “the Vanishings.” These occurred fifty years ago. The other body is that of Max’s mother, from the same time. Cork’s father had been sheriff then and Cork a rebellious teen. If all this isn’t weird enough, both women were killed by the same gun, a .38 revolver. That catches Cork’s attention. His father used a .38, which Cork inherited, until he turned it over to Henry Meloux for safekeeping after a school shooting. When he looks in the place Henry concealed it, it is gone.

Cork begins to wonder what his father’s role was in all this. He had been investigating the Vanishings the summer before his death in a shootout arising from a bank holdup. Cork remembers something was different about his father. But there is much from that time he doesn’t remember. All he remembers is being at his father’s deathbed, listening to his mother’s prayers, unable to join her.

As the official investigation of the murders past and present go on, Cork cooperates, but doesn’t share the part about his father. Rather, he pursues a search that uncovers both unspeakable evil, and the possibility that his father had some part in this. Amid all this, Cork realizes that his own missing memories and his nightmares are important, but could also reveal truths that could shatter the image of his father.

Krueger combines a murder mystery with plot twists and red herrings with an inner journey that tests Cork’s resolve to know the truth. Henry Meloux, growing increasingly frail, both holds and withholds the key, waiting for Cork to come to the place beyond anger when he is ready. It’s not clear whether Cork will reach this place or whether it could cost him his relationship with Henry. All that makes you keep turning the pages in another finely written installment in this series.

Review: Finding God Along the Way

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Cover image of "Finding God Along the Way" by Christine Marie Eberle

Finding God Along the Way, Christine Marie Eberle. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609891) 2025.

Summary: An account of hiking with a group whose average age was 67 on the 300 mile Ignatian Camino.

Christine Marie Eberle was at a juncture in her life. Finishing a career in campus ministry, a friend asked her to help organize a pilgrimage. Most people hear “pilgrimage’ and think of the Camino de Santiago. Instead, Christine helped plan a pilgrimage on what is known as the Ignatian Camino. She had always admired Ignatius and this pilgrimage followed the steps of Ignatius from the Basque region of Spain to Montserrat and Manresa in Catalunya. But what made this unusual was that she was part of a group from the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, whose average age was 67 (she was in her late fifties).

The narrative begins with her headaches over organizing travel and the pilgrimage leader’s simple question: Why did you not tell these people to meet you in Loyola? For her, the pilgrimage had begun with this lesson in relinquishing control.

In a series of short chapters, chronicling the stages of the journey, organized into the four weeks of the pilgrimage, Eberle unfolds how she learned the wisdom of pilgrimage. She recounts the important places of Ignatius journey from the “cannonball moment” as Ignatius recovered in Loyola from a near death experience after a cannonball shattered one leg. Then there are all the daily practices of the Camino, from a gathering song, walking two hours in silent reflection, staying together, gathering for delicious meals and bedding down each night in guest facilities.

In addition to all that, there were the blisters that plagued her most of the journey. She learned to get help from other hikers, including veterans. A key turning point came when the director, Father Jose, decided her blisters were so bad, she needed to rest and take the train on the next leg. She felt she had failed, not getting good enough shoes and training. Her spiritual director emailed back, “You cannot fail the Camino if you truly see it as a spiritual quest.” She invited her to let go of her dreams of Camino and accept the reality and what was being offered her. Another time, an offered short cut led to lessons on simplifying one’s life.

The book comes to a close with arriving in Montserrat and Manresa. At Montserrat, they describe how pilgrimage has affected them. At the close, Father Jose blessed them with the words, “May God teach you to be pilgrims forever.” Then at Manresa, they leave the prayer requests others had given them at the altar. They took turns interceding for them each day of the journey. It was a tangible expression of the larger body of which they were part.

She describes three ways she felt changed through the Camino: silence, spontaneity, and serenity. She also recounts how they learned to:

  • Travel lightly.
  • Stay in the present moment.
  • Open yourself to the wonder of each encounter.
  • Ground your day in prayer, and your prayer in gratitude.
  • Rely on (and be reliable to) those who share the journey with you (p. 181).

The lessons she shares speak to far more than an extended pilgrimage like the Ignatian Camino. As the reflection questions concluding each chapter emphasize, we are all pilgrims. Therefore, her five traveling rules apply to us all. Although I may never walk the Ignatian Camino, Eberle’s account encouraged me in my own walk with Jesus.

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

Review: Easter

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Cover image of "Easter" by Wesley Hill

Easter (Fullness of Time Series), Wesley Hill. IVP Formatio (ISBN: 9781514000366) 2025.

Summary: Explores the history and significance of Easter, not only as a day but as a season of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

“He is risen!” “He is risen indeed”

This call and response captures the incredible news of Easter, that the crucified One lives, that death is defeated, and in Him, we live. Yet, amid our flurry of Easter finery and family gatherings, the words lose their import. There is even a danger that they will become “ho-hum.”

That’s why the reading of Wesley Hill’s Easter was so good for me. Hill explores the history, traditions and significance of our Eastertide celebrations. And did you notice I said “Eastertide”? Easter isn’t one day of celebration after the forty days of Lent. It is a season of fifty days, filled with the appearances of the risen Lord, his restorative and commissioning work with the apostles, his ascension, culminating in Pentecost. In sum, it is a season of celebration and in this slim volume, Wesley Hill walks us through that season.

He begins with the Easter Vigils some churches hold where believers gather in the darkness of waiting. New believers are baptized, and then with the rising of the sun, the proclamation “He is risen!” rings forth to the accompaniment of noisemakers. Let the celebrations begin!

Hill takes us back to the first Easter and to the resurrection appearances, first to Mary and the other women, to most of the gathered disciple, then to Thomas, and finally the lakeside restoration of Peter, the repentant betrayer. He then explores the implication of the resurrection, that “we shall also live with Him.” He reminds us of our baptism, the picture of cleansing, dying, and resurrection as an ongoing reality into which we live. Hill delves into the history of how Easter became one of the “moveable feasts” of the church and all the ways saints have celebrated it. Hill then recounts how the proclamation of the resurrection has turned the world upside down throughout history.

Finally, the concluding chapters reflect on the significance of the Ascension and Pentecost. He notes how we’ve neglected the meaning of the Ascension. In ascending, the risen Lord takes up his rule over all things. Not only that, but as the Incarnate lord, he presents our humanity to the Father, going before us. Then, in Pentecost, we celebrate that Jesus has kept his promise to always be with us. He sends his Holy Spirit to indwell and empower us.

This slim volume makes for perfect devotional reading for Eastertide. Hill combines story with historical and theological reflection. And he invites us into a celebration lasting not one day but fifty. Most of all, he reminds us of how the awesome event of the resurrection turns the world upside down.

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

The Weekly Wrap: March 30-April 5

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woman in white crew neck t shirt in a bookstore wrapping books
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Destination Bookstores

Last Saturday, my son and I made the pilgrimage to John K. King’s Used and Rare Books near downtown Detroit. A banner outside the building boasts of it being “Named #2 Book Store in the World” in 2014 by Business Insider. Having wandered through the aisles of books packed into four floors of this former glove factory, I can believe it.

It is a destination bookstore, one of those unusual and incredible places booklovers put on their bucket list. The closest thing to it in my home town is The Book Loft, boasting 32 rooms of books. But whereas the books in the Book Loft are new, everything at John King’s was used. It had the feel of being the place where books from estate sales go to live. There were lots of old hardbacks without dustcovers, the titles barely readable on the spines, books that were the “thing to read” back in the Seventies, and lots of old paperbacks.

Three of my finds were among the paperbacks. I love the mystery novels of Michael Innes, that I just noted are back in print. I like to find the old Penguin paperbacks and I found three I’ve not read in great condition. Score! I never see these at my local Half Price. I picked up a few others as well.

In one sense, any bookstore is a “destination” bookstore. I rarely go looking for a particular book and delight when a book finds me! But if I could travel, I’d love to visit some of the great ones like Powell’s, The Strand, Book People, Parnassus Books (Anne Patchett’s bookstore), and many others.

Of course, part of the fun was the traveling company. I don’t often get to spend a whole day with my son, solving the world’s problems, enjoying good Lebanese food along the way, and comparing our finds. This is a day I will treasure, and not just because of the great bookstore we visited.

Five Articles Worth Reading

I still remember the first time I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Now, T. Bone Burnett, in “Beatlemania: A Penetrating New Book Celebrates Lennon and McCartney” offers a marvelous review of the new book, John & Paul, chronicling their genius and relationship.

Jordan Kisner asks “Who Needs Intimacy?,” exploring the trend in modern novels (perhaps paralleling modern life) where women are foregoing intimacy and child-bearing.

Another challenge of modern life, at least in the States, is the cost of housing. “Invisible Crisis” explores the “hidden phenomenon of working homelessness,” a review of There Is No Place for Us. The article notes “[i]n no state today can a minimum-wage worker afford a two-bedroom apartment.”

On a very different note, Open Culture features “The Only Illustrated Manuscript of Homer’s Iliad from Antiquity“. In addition to text and images, the article includes a video on the Ambrosian Iliad.

Finally, Matt Dinan’s “Saul Bellow’s Ravelstein” discusses the novel, twenty-five years after publication. This is a Saul Bellow I’ve not read but Dinan’s conclusion intrigued me:

“Ravelstein seems to speak to a problem that its author could not have known would be so acute a quarter century later. Reading a novel can’t solve the problem of the loss of the world to abstraction and distraction, but insofar as the problem is intellectual, an intellectual response is required.“

Quote of the Week

Sadly, one of the symptoms of the “loss of the world” described above is the erasing of the history of peoples and events that don’t fit the ideal of a national story. George MacDonald Fraser, born one hundred years ago April 2 observed:

“I think little of people who will deny their history because it doesn’t present the picture they would like.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I noted above the re-publication of the mysteries of Michael Innes as a welcome event. Publisher’s Weekly announced that another of my favorite author’s works are being reissued: Picador to Reissue More than 100 Novels by Georges Simenon. Both men were marvelous writers, first introduced to us on those green-spined Penguins!

One cannot help but write from the perspective of one’s time. But I’ve wondered if several books I’ve read recently would have been written differently after January 20 of this year.

The one pleasant surprise of yesterday was three new books I ordered from Barnes & Noble, arrived five days earlier than promised. I also used up a generous gift card, a retirement gift I finally redeemed. That was fun.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Wesley Hill, Easter

Tuesday: Christine Marie Eberle, Finding God Along the Way

Wednesday: William Kent Krueger, Vermilion Drift

Thursday: James F. McGrath, John of History, Baptist of Faith

Friday, David T. Koyzis, Citizenship Without Illusions

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for March 30-April 5, 2025!

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

Review: The Serviceberry

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Cover image of "The Serviceberry" by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, illustrations by John Burgoyne. Scribner (ISBN: 9781668072240) 2024.

Summary: A day of picking serviceberries leads to an extended reflection on natural abundance, reciprocity, and gratitude.

An invitation to pick serviceberries results in an extended meditation by Robin Wall Kimmerer on “abundance and reciprocity in the natural world,” in the words of her subtitle. She marvels at the abundant clusters of berries, rapidly filling her pail. This is sheer gift, both to her and the birds filling their bellies” with berries. All one can do is give thanks for this gift, and share the abundance. As she does so, she considers the web of reciprocity the berries represent. Bushes nourished by fallen leaves, birds nourished by berries. Birds spreading their seeds, spreading the bushes to new locations. Kimmerer recalls how the berries are part of the traditional Potawatomi food economy.

It’s an economy unlike the market economy that dominates most of our economic transactions. Instead, Kimmerer reflects on the gift economy her serviceberry experience represents. Specifically, it reminds her of the source of the gift and how that implies care both for the source and for the gift itself. And she considers how commoditization of gifts promotes accumulation rather than sharing, scarcity rather than abundance.

I was struck by how contrary to our individualism are the gift economies she describes. Instead of accumulating paper currency or its equivalent, the currency of gift economies is gratitude and connection. The prosperity of each is shared in the anticipation of enjoying the generosity of others. One charts, not the flow of money, but relationships. Kimmerer points to the potlatches of Pacific Northwest people as a well-known example of gift economy.

She reflects on ways gift economies function in our mixed economies. These range from free garden produce stands to Little Free Libraries (and their larger tax-supported counterparts). They include public parks and lands that we all enjoy. The latter part of the book then considers the ethic of honorable harvest in gift economies, versus the unchecked extractive nature of our commodity economies. Through a question posed by a fellow tribal member, she queries, “If the economy requires people to consume more resources than the earth can replenish, just to keep the whole thing from collapsing, isn’t it time for a new economy?”

Kimmerer is not an economist but an ecologist. But what she observes from her ecology and the wisdom of indigenous peoples, makes a case for economists to begin thinking about that new economy. What is most notable for me however is that Kimmerer’s ecology and her gift economy are full of gratitude, generosity, joy, connectedness, and wholeness. It is not an ethic of fear, guilt, or burden, or survival of the economically fittest. There is a goodness about what she describes that is perhaps the most powerful argument for devoting ourselves to learn the gift economy. G’chi megwech, Robin Wall Kimmerer!