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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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
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!
Summary: Distinguishes types of secularism, opposes dismantling religious freedom, and proposes a new apologetic.
Religious Freedom. It is enshrined as one of the “first freedoms” of the First Amendment of the U.S., Constitution. Yet in recent years, both in courts and the public square, it has been a source of contention. From the left, the conflict between sincerely held belief and an all-pervasive interpretation of non-discrimination has led to efforts to weaken and dismantle this freedom. The political right in turn has weaponized political freedom, using it to galvanize political support from a segment of religious voters. And these polarities exist in many national contexts, including the author of this work’s home country of Australia.
Michael F. Bird seeks to do several things in this work. First, he argues that secularism, per se, is not the bogeyman. Rather, he argues that secularism properly understood creates a space for people of all faiths and none to engage one another from a position of safety in civil society. It means no one religion obtains political power and that persuasion rather than power is the way beliefs are promoted. The problematic form of secularism is militant secularism or secularization. This is where religion loses its social significance or is actively marginalized as dangerous. Militant secularism has risen as a critique of religious violence as well as a source anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.
This brings Bird to his second aim, which is to address the arguments against religious liberty. Since in many countries, the opposition has come from LGBTQ+ efforts to assert rights, Bird focuses his treatment here. He discusses the efforts to balance LGBTQ+ rights and religious conscience. On one hand he argues that Christians doing business in the world ought to serve those with whom they disagree and that civil protections of LGBTQ+ rights are good. At the same time he, argues for protecting the rights of churches and Christian organizations to operate according to their own beliefs. Where each side respects liberties rather than seeking total wins, compromises protecting the rights and safety of both groups are possible.
Bird rejects both the weaponizing of religious liberty in the Christian nationalism some on the right embrace and progressive authoritarianism from the left. Instead, he upholds John Inazu’s idea of confident pluralism. This means refusing to use coercive power against either different identity groups or against religious groups. Finally, he argues that upholding genuine religious freedom, which is more than freedom of worship, is the best way to protect a diverse, multicultural society.
Thirdly, Bird outlines his ideas of what it means to be a Christian in a post-Christian, secular society. He calls this “the Thessalonian strategy.” First, he encourages a focus on “mere Christianity.” Second, he urges affirming religious liberty for all. This includes the making of friends with those of different faiths or no faith. Third, he believes Christians need to be known for their love, and for being counterculturally “weird.” This includes drawing our leadership from the cultural margins. Fourth, he argues for seeing our work as a form of worship and seeking to influence all sectors of society. By these “tactics” he believes Christians will, like the Thessalonians, “turn the world upside down” and make the most of our freedom.
Bird concludes by proposing that this is a “grand age of apologetics.” He argues that all religions, and not just Christian faith, offer significance, identity, a basis for moral reasoning, ritual, community, and hope. Religious freedom protects those contributions to society. And the Christian apologist has the opportunity to root these values in the story of a God who is there, is good, and through his Son, died and rose for our redemption.
I appreciate the balances Bird strike throughout. He recognizes that rights aren’t absolute but are worked out in the mix of competing groups. He affirms the value of secularism. It creates a space of safety for diverse groups. And I think a strength of his approach is his focus on persuasion rather than power. I can’t help but wonder if the resort to politics reflects a loss of confidence in the gospel. Bird reminds us we have something more powerful than partisan allegiance. We have the risen Lord.
Habits of Hope, Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers, editors, foreword by Amos Yong. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010709) 2024.
Summary: Essays by educators on six key practices and how they may cultivate hope among faculty and students.
The pressures on those who teach in higher educational contexts have continued to ratchet up. The Covid pandemic intensified the pressure on professors and stresses in the lives of students. More recently, educational institutions have come under scrutiny and fire from federal and state governments that have included the suspension of research grants. Many educators are tired and discouraged.
The contributors to this volume don’t address how to ameliorate the larger cultural and institutional challenges. Instead, they focus on the practices at the heart of their work with students. Beginning with Jurgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope, the editors root the theme of this volume in Christian hope. The opening essay by Kevin C. Grove, CSC draws on his experience as a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and their motto: Hail the Cross, Our Only Hope and talks about how the cross frames hopeful teaching at the University of Notre Dame.
Then, subsequent essays focus on hope in the following teaching practices:
Integration. Philip Ryken outlines some of the policies and practices at Wheaton that foster faculty development and student efforts to integrate faith and discipline.
Conversation. Cherie Harder, president of the Trinity Forum, discusses the value of discussing important questions in a disciplined and charitable manner. She advocates keeping it real, giving it time, listening, asking questions, avoiding invective, ditching your phone, reading widely, and practicing epistemic humility.
Diversity. Recognizing the controversial character of diversity initiatives, Kimberly Battle-Waters Denu emphasizes the theological and ecclesiological roots of diversity as a Christian practice and how that enriches the educational experience.
Reading. Hans Boersma, in one of the more abstruse essays argues for reading well as part of the process of “deification,” becoming more like God. The hope in understanding in our reading is that all the logoi we read participates in the Logos, the word God has spoken through his Son.
Writing. Jessica Hooten Wilson describes her own love of writing as a child and how we write out of the belief that there is something worth expressing, be it stories, history, or poetry. She shares some of her own practices with students including feedback on drafts rather than grades, written reflections, and reading other writers on writing.
Teaching. David I. Smith explores the how of teaching as more important to the nature of teaching than what is taught. He discusses how community within the classroom may work out practically.
As you might intuit, the context in which these educators work is the Christian college context. Yet educators in the public context might incorporate many of the elements of these practices in their teaching. In particular, Cherie Harder’s conversational practices are vital to Christians seeking to foster public square conversations in public universities. Everything Jessica Hooten Wilson writes about writing is applicable to any Christian working with students on their writing.
Hope is in short supply on campus these days. Yet the investment in the rising generation has always been an exercise in hope. No matter what else is going on, as long as there are students and teachers, there is opportunity for Christians to practice hope. This slim volume helps point the way.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
It’s funny how you end up reading related books, even when you didn’t plan it that way. In this case. several of the books I reviewed this month concerned the early church’s discussions of the Trinity and the Incarnation. I reviewed a couple of books from university presses, one on free will and one on inflation. I read a wonderful early work by Wallace Stegner and Nobel prize winner Han Kang’s latest novel. There are books in this list on communication and leadership. And of course, there are several mysteries, including the inaugural volume of the Thursday Murder Club and another Cork O’Connor mystery. I loved a new compilation of the works of Stanley Hauerwas and a classic by Simone Weil. You’ll find all these and more in The Month in Reviews: March 2025.
The Reviews
The Trials of Jesus, Paul Barnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884336) 2024. The historical and geopolitical context, the principle figures involved, and the succession of trials Jesus undergoes. Review
Yellowface, R. F. Kuang. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780063250833) 2023. What happens when a famous author dies immediately after sharing an unpublished draft of her latest work with her writer friend. Review
Crowned with Glory and Honor (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Michael A. Wilkinson. Lexham Academic (ISBN: 9781683597308) 2024. Argues for a Christian anthropology based on Chalcedon’s understanding of Christ’s person-nature constitution. Review
Heaven’;s Keep, (Cork O’Connor, 9), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781416556770) 2010. The charter plane Jo is in in goes down in a snowstorm in Wyoming and is not found. Subsequent evidence offers hope. Review
Triune Relationality (New Explorations in Theology), Sherene Nicholas Khouri, foreword by Gary R. Habermas. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008843) 2024. Argues that relationality is among the perfections of God that only a Triune God meets. Review
Leading Well in Times of Disruption, Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Gideon Para-Mallam, and Asia Williamson, editors. Langham Global Library (ISBN: 9781839739859) 2024. Amid global disruptions, focuses on the qualities needed in those who lead the church’s global mission. Review
Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Gramercy Books (ISBN: 0517362422) 1982 (originally published 1890, 1891, 1896). A republication of Dickinson’s poems as first published in three series shortly after her death. Review
Shock Values, Carola Binder. University of Chicago Press (ISBN: 9780226833095) 2024 An economic history of the United States, considering the various means used to stabilize prices and control inflation. Review
The Thursday Murder Club(Thursday Murder Club, 1), Richard Osman. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9781984880987) 2021. Four seniors meet on Thursdays to solve cold cases until a present day murder leads to something more. Review
Remembering Laughter. Wallace Stegner, afterword by Mary Stegner. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780140252408) 1996, (first published 1937). An early Wallace Stegner novella. What happens when Margaret Stuart’s sister comes to live with her and her husband. Review
Communicating for Life, Quentin J. Schultze, foreword by Martin E. Marty. Integratio Press (ISBN: 9781959685098) 2024. An introductory text in communication grounded in a theology of communication and a vision of faithful stewardship. Review
Scripture in Doctrinal Dispute(Doctrine and Scripture in Early Christianity, Volume 2), Frances M. Young. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802882998) 2024. A study of how scripture was used in the doctrinal controversies concerning the Trinity and Christology. Review
Beren and Lúthien, J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, with illustrations by Allen Lee. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9781328915337) 2018. An edited collection of different versions and extracts of one of the most celebrated love stories of Middle-earth. Review
Free Agents, Kevin J. Mitchell. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691226231) 2023. An argument based on the evidence of the development of nervous systems, for the evolution of individual agency–free will. Review
Light Unapproachable, Ronni Kurtz. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007105) 2024. An explanation of the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility as well as God’s gracious accommodation. Review
Waiting for God, Simone Weil, Translated by Emma Craufurd with Introduction by Leslie A. Fiedler. Harper & Row Perennial Library (ISBN: 0060902957) 1973 (Originally published in 1951, link and cover photo are to current edition in print). Weil’s correspondence with her mentor and four essays on her religious thought focused around loving and attending to God. Review
Jesus Changes Everything(Plough Spiritual Guides), Stanley Hauerwas, edited by Charles E. Moore with an Introduction by Tish Harrison Warren. Plough Publishing House (ISBN: 9781636081571) 2025. The radical implications of Jesus’ call to follow him for every area of life from personal to societal. Review
The Hollow (Poirot, 26), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062073853) 2011 (first published in 1946). When Poirot sees Dr. John Christow lying dead poolside with Christow’s wife holding the gun, the murderer seems obvious. Review
Paul the Storyteller: A Narratological Approach, Christoph Heilig. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802878953) 2024. A narratological approach showing that Paul combines implicit and explicit narratives, making him a gifted storyteller. Review
We Do Not Part, Han Kang, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. Hogarth (ISBN: 9780593595459) 2025. Kyungha makes a harrowing journey through a blizzard to save a friend’s bird, confronting the reality behind her nightmares. Review
Best Book of the Month
I chose Light Unapproachable by Ronni Kurtz. I thought this an example of the best of theological writing. Kurtz offers a highly comprehensible account of divine incomprehensibility, writing with brevity, clear organization, and at a level understandable by the lay person.
Quote of the Month
One of the books I really liked this month was Stanley Hauerwas’ Jesus Changes Everything, part of the Plough Spiritual Guides series. These are edited compilations. In this case I thought it read seamlessly. I loved this statement by Hauerwas on the church:
“Put starkly, the first task of the church when it comes to social ethics is to be the church. Such a claim may well sound self-serving or irrelevant until we remember that what makes the church the church is its faithful manifestation of the peaceable kingdom in the world. As such, the church does not have a social ethic; the church is a social ethic.”
What I’m Reading
A few months ago, I read James F. McGrath’s Christmaker, on the life of John the Baptist. I liked it so much that I’ve followed it up with his more in-depth treatment, John of History, Baptist of Faith. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a memoir by a former campus minister on the Ignatian Camino, a lesser known pilgrimage than the Camino de Santiago. It’s titled Finding God along the Way. Tending Tomorrow is an Anabaptist reflection on seeking the flourishing of both people and the planet. As part of an Anabaptist community, I find this of great interest.
I decided to tackle American Prometheus on the life of Robert Oppenheimer, who led the effort to make the atom bomb. From the trailers, the movie portrays him as brilliant and troubled. That comes through in the book as well. Finally, I’m reading another Cork O’Connor, in which Cork seems to be in the process of uncovering truths about his long-deceased father.
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.
We Do Not Part, Han Kang, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. Hogarth (ISBN: 9780593595459) 2025
Summary: Kyungha makes a harrowing journey through a blizzard to save a friend’s bird, confronting the reality behind her nightmares.
The nightmares began a few months after Kyungha, a historian, published a book on a massacre. She is making her way in a blizzard through a field of erect torsos like tree stumps as the sea behind her rises…. In the years since, she has struggled with depression and considered suicide. But she shared her dream with Inseon, a photographer who collaborated with her on documentaries. Inseon, who has become a friend, agrees to create an installation that will remember the massacre that was the source of the dreams. Kyungha is not so sure about this idea and asks her friend to drop the project.
Then she receives a text from Inseon, asking her to come to a hospital. Inseon, a woodworker, cut off the tips of a couple fingers and is undergoing a gruesome set of treatments that will last weeks to try to save the tips of her fingers. She has a favor to ask of Kyungha. In the rush to get her to hospital, she left behind her bird, that will soon die without food or water. Inseon lives on the island of Jeju in a remote location by a remote village. Getting there involves flights, bus rides, and hiking a trail up to her remote home. There is no one back home who she can ask to do this.
There are some things you do not deny a friend of twenty years. Kyungha departs immediately only to discover that she is flying into a blizzard. She is not adequately dressed. She manages to get the last bus to the village. Then, in a blinding storm, she has to make her way up to Inseon’s house. Kyungha gets lost, falls, yet miraculously makes her way. She is cold with soaked shoes. She soon begins to feel feverish.
This sets the stage for the second half of the novel, which reads like something of a fever dream. She finds Inseon had not abandoned their project, having cut one hundred logs for the installation. More than that, through a series of visions/dreams/hallucinations, Inseon recounts her mother’s personal accounts of the massive genocide that occurred on Jeju in 1948-1950. The South Korean government, with assistance from the United States, embarked on an effort to cleanse the island of Communism, resulting in the deaths of over 300,000 people [this really happened].
Kyungha confronts the nightmare reality of which her dreams were but a figment. It’s a personal account of Inseon’s mother, father, and extended family, many of whom died. But she experiences something else–the bond between her and Inseon of which the title speaks. Han Kang juxtaposes unspeakable violence and enduring friendship. She captures something of both the unspeakable evil of which we are capable and the nobility that breaks through the darkness. The imagery of dark stumps, rising seas, blizzards, light, and flame powerfully convey that juxtaposition.
Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 2024 for her earlier body of work: The Vegetarian, The White Book, Human Acts, andGreek Lessons. While I’ve not read her earlier works, the combination of imagery, the plotting, and the juxtaposition of a friendship with a horror of history reveals Han Kang’s skill and artistic vision.
An image of some tattered old books brought to mind this quote from The Velveteen Rabbit: on how one becomes Real:
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
We often take what it means for stuffed animals to become Real and apply it to people. Hair, eyes, joints, shabbiness–by those tokens I’m becoming more real all the time! Much of this for stuffed animals comes down to being beloved companions. And I suspect that whatever “Realness” there is in me could not be apart from my wife and other loving companions.
But I mentioned books. Certainly they are already real, tangible objects. However there are books with many words on many pages that sit on my shelves that are little more than that. Then again, other books have become “Real” to me. I’ve come to live in Middle-earth, the ancient biblical world, “The Road Not Taken.” Most of the works of C.S. Lewis are “Real.” The pages are yellowed and marked up, the cover worn and curled.
The richness of reading consists at least in part of those books that become Real for us. One reading is not enough. But during first readings, we hear the book’s invitation. And something inside us answers, “I want to know you better.” You know a book has become real when it filters into your conversation. You describe a particularly hospitable home as like Rivendell. Or you refer to those times of encountering the Transcendent that changed you as “burning bushes.”
Do you have books that have become real? If not, are there books that resonated deeply whose invitation to know them better you’ve yet to heed. In answering that call, not only will some books become Real. You will as well.
Five Articles Worth Reading
One of the most “Real” writers I’ve encountered is Flannery O’Connor. This week marked the centennial of her birth. “The Immanent Grace of Flannery O’Connor” offers a glimpse into her insights into both our humanness and the grace we need.
This year also marks the hundredth anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald. A.O. Scott, in a visual piece, “It’s Gatsby’s World, We Just Live in It“,” portrays how Gatsby turns up everywhere from Seinfeld to Peanuts.
It’s only been forty years since Neil Postman published a somewhat academic book title Amusing Ourselves to Death. It became Real for me because of its explanatory power. “Still Amusing Ourselves” explores why this book continues to have “legs.”
By the way, Citizen by Claudia Rankine was ranked number one in the Atlantic’s “The Best American Poetry of the 21st Century (So Far).” Looking for contemporary poetry to read? This is a list of twenty-five collections you might look for.
Quote of the Week
As I noted above, March 25 marked the centennial of Flannery O’Connor’s birth in 1925. Here’s a quote in which she “keeps it real”:
“I don’t deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it.”
Miscellaneous Musings
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s little book, The Serviceberry is a ray of sunshine amid trade wars and sinking stocks. She writes of a different economy–one of generosity, abundance, and reciprocity–in short, a gift economy. One of the reasons I’ve never tried to monetize this blog or any other platform is that I receive so much from books (and the publishers who send them) that it just makes sense to pass along the gifts.
I wonder if a seed of much of our discontent is that we have not learned the meaning of “enough.” We want more and more (which we then have to figure out how to get rid of), we build economies around never having enough, and of late, in the U.S. have taken to thinking that this great land we call our national home is not enough. I think this will end very badly, and we will never be content so long as we live this way.
But I continue to be grateful for the fine writing of William Kent Krueger.I just began Vermilion Drift. Not only does he portray a middle-aged man dealing with loss as children move away (among other losses) as well as the fate of aging mining towns. It doesn’t hurt that his stories are page-turners as well.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Han Kang, We Do Not Part
Tuesday: The Month in Reviews: March 2025
Wednesday: Todd C. Ream et al, Habits of Hope
Thursday: Michael F. Bird, Religious Freedom in a Secular Age
Friday: Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for March 23-29, 2025!
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
