Purgatory Ridge(Cork O’Connor #3), William Kent Krueger. Pocket Books (ISBN: 9780671047542), 2002.
Summary:A murder investigation becomes far more when a kidnapping plot involves Cork’s own family as well as that of a prominent mill owner.
Slowly, the wounds of the past are healing. Cork O’Connor is back at home with Jo. He’s enjoying slinging burgers with his kids at Sam’s. Then an explosion changes everything in a moment. The explosion at Karl Lindstrom’s mill not only caused extensive damage. It took a life of a tribal elder, Charlie Warren. And the sheriff asks Cork to assist with the investigation because he is part Anishinaabe. Also, the sheriff is not running for office again. There are many, including the sheriff, who are encouraging Cork to run again.
Lindstrom’s mill is at the center of controversy. He’s wants to log a sacred stand of white pines. Not only the tribe is protesting. So is a figure known as the “Eco-Warrior” as well as a mother and son team, which could be one and the same. Attention focuses on them. As Cork is drawn into the investigation, tension arises with Jo, who fears what will happen if Cork becomes sheriff.
Meanwhile, across the lake from Lindstrom’s grand home, John La Pere nurses a grievance. Fourteen years earlier, he took his brother Billy on the final voyage of a lake freighter before it was to be decommissioned. Storms hit Superior that night and the freighter broke up. Only John survived of all on board. He suspects the breakup wasn’t due to the storm. What makes matters worse is that Lindstrom’s wife Grace is the daughter of the freighter owner.
He teams up with Wes Bridger, a gambler at the casino with some special skills, locating the freighter only to have their efforts sabotaged. He agrees to a plot Bridger has proposed that will give him the money to investigate the sinking and get the evidence against the company. While Cork is protecting Lindstrom at a speaking event, Bridger and La Pere kidnap Grace and her son. There’s one complication. Grace had invited Jo O’Connor and her son Stevie for a confidential conversation. The kidnappers take them as well.
Krueger has given us another page-turning thriller as Cork and Lindstrom, along with law enforcement try to rescue their families. Meanwhile, the women and their sons are doing what they can to survive and escape. Jo’s sister Rose exercises a faithful presence that steadies the family. She believes in God when Cork and Jo cannot. Henry Meloux offers insight that enables Cork to step back and get perspective. We also get intimations that young Stevie will someday be a force to reckon with. When Karl Lindstrom cannot raise the ransom, the casino owner, a tribal member offers him a no interest loan. Krueger weaves the fabric of a moral universe deeper and richer than treacherous actors. He draws characters for whom we care deeply as well as evil actors, and one tragic figure. This novel has all the elements just right.
It seemed that this was the month of similar titles. I read three with the word “enemy” or “enemies,” two with an “evil” or “Demon,” two with the homonyns “sun” and “Son,” and two on the church, one emphasizing what it could be, one focusing on what it needs to lose. There are several others that stood out to me. Danielle Treweek’s The Meaning of Singleness is hands-down the best book on theology of singleness I’ve read. Paul Louis Metzger’s More Than Things is an exploration of how the ethical approach of personalism bears on a wide range of issues. If you want to know the story of the man who articulated the strategy of containment that shaped U. S. policy in the Cold War, George F. Kennan by John Lewis Gaddis is outstanding. Every summer, I read a baseball book. This year’s is K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by a talented young sportswriter, Tyler Kepner. I hope to read more of him. John Van Sloten has written a wonderful piece on how science and scientists help us hear God through the Creation. I finished the month reviewing Russell Moore’s Losing Our Religion, which puts into words my deep grief over what has happened in large swaths of evangelicalism while also offering wise counsel of how we ought to live in such times.
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. New York: Harper Collins, 2022. An adaptation of the David Copperfield story set in rural western Virginia, centering on a child, Demon Copperhead, raised by a single mom until she dies, the abuses of foster care he suffers, and after a football injury, the black hole of opioid addiction. Review
Monk’s Hood (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #3), Ellis Peters. New York: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, 2014 (Originally published in 1980). When Gervase Bonel dies of poison from a dish sent by the prior, the sheriff is convinced it is his stepson Edwin, with whom he is on poor terms. Cadfael suspects otherwise but must seek proof. Review
The Meaning of Singleness, Danielle Treweek, foreword by Kutter Callaway. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A theology of singleness, rooted in a vision of the future, offering meaning, significance, and dignity in living as a single person within the Christian community and in the world. Review
More Than Things, Paul Louis Metzger. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. Draws upon the theological and ethical framework of personalism to uphold the dignity of persons, with applications to a variety of medical issues related to human life and extending from immigration and drone warfare to space exploration. Review
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, Tyler Kepner. New York: Anchor Books, 2020. Summary: A New York Times sportswriter writes about ten different pitches in the repertoire of pitchers, how they are thrown, what they do, the pitchers who threw them, and how they worked or didn’t in famous games. Review
My Mortal Enemy, Willa Cather. New York: Open Road Media, 2022 (Originally published in 1926). The story of Myra Driscoll Henshawe, who forsakes a fortune to go with her love to pursue fortune and fame in New York City. Review
The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies, David J. Randall. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2022. How the statements of Jesus’s enemies about him often proclaimed, in unintended ways, the very gospel truth about him. Review
The Bible in a Disenchanted Age, R. W. L. Moberly. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018. Explores how one can privilege the Bible over other texts, ultimately as a way of encountering and believing God in Christ. Review
EvilUnder the Sun (Hercule Poirot #24), Agatha Christie. New York: Harper Collins, 2011 (originally published in 1941). While Poirot is vacationing in Devon, Arlena Marshall, an actress who attracts men like moths to the flame, is found dead of strangulation on an isolated beach. Review
George F. Kennan: An American Life, John Lewis Gaddis. New York: Penguin Books, 2011. The authorized biography of this diplomat and strategic thinker who articulated the Western strategy of “containment” that curbed and ultimately resulted in the end of the former Soviet Union. Review
In Church as It Is in Heaven, Jamaal E. Williams and Timothy Paul Jones. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press|Praxis, 2023. Two pastors, one black, one white, describe the thick formative practices that have helped them foster a multiethnic church, following the form of liturgy used in their and others’ congregations. Review
Life in the Son(New Studies in Biblical Theology #61), Clive Bowsher. Downers Grove and London: IVP Academic/Apollos, 2023 (UK publisher link). A study of the idea of “in one another” participation in the Johannine literature. Review
God Speaks Science, John Van Sloten. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2023. Explores what we may learn from the creation through different fields of scientific research about the nature and works of God. Review
The Captain and the Enemy, Graham Greene. New York: Open Road Media, 2018 (orginally published in 1988). A boarding school boy is taken to live with a poor woman in a London flat by a confidence man called “The Captain,” who sporadically visits, provides money and seems to care for the woman, Liza, who become’s “Jim’s” mother. Only years later does he understand more about this mysterious figure, and the various relations in his life. Review
Losing Our Religion, Russell Moore. New York: Sentinal, 2023. A call to repentance, to come to Jesus, for an evangelical church that has lost its credibility, authority, identity, integrity, and stability. Review
Best Book of the Month. I thought Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead one of the best not only of the month but of this decade. The narrative voice of Demon is so distinctive as is the re-telling of the David Copperfield story in the context of rural Appalachia in a broken foster care system amid a burgeoning opioid epidemic.
Quote of the Month. I hear many bewailing the exodus of youth and young adult from the church. Russell Moore lays the onus not on them but on the church in this telling statement:
“The problem now is not that people think the church’s way of life is too demanding, too morally rigourous, but that they have come to think the church doesn’t believe its own moral teachings.”
What I’m Reading. I just finished another Cadfael, St Peter’s Fair, number four in the series. I loved the development of the friendship of Cadfael with Hugh Beringar as well as the character of the new abbot. Also, I just finished Daniel G. Hummel’s The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, which I would contend is an excellent survey of the leading personalities and cultural impact of this movement. I’m just starting Rick Mattson’s Witness in the Academy, addressing how grad students and faculty who follow Jesus might bear witness to their faith in a setting where this may be risky to one’s reputation and career. Rick is a colleague whose thoughtfulness and passion I’ve appreciated and so I look forward to seeing what he has written here. Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is a good followup to Susan Cain’s Quiet exploring the ways introverts and socially sensitive persons may uniquely contribute to justice efforts. The Last Chairlift is John Irving’s latest and last long (according to Irving) novel. It is a long book with interesting characters and humorous and tender moments. At the same time it is laden with sexual descriptions of almost every imaginable form except a healthy heterosexual marriage. On a very different note, Natasha Smith has written a beautiful book on grief, Can You Just Sit With Me? Kwame Christian, who I knew as a law student, facilitates negotiations with businesses and brings those skills to bear in his latest, How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race. He takes an incredibly positive approach that encourages us that such conversations are not only possble but may lead to better work places.
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.
I read quite a number of books each month. But there are so many books I never get to when they first come out. Sometimes I didn’t know about them. Other times I knew but they didn’t attract my attention at the time. As I compiled this post, I noticed how many books there were that were not recent publications. I read and enjoyed my first Cadfael story. It won’t be my last. I thoroughly loved my second William Kent Krueger novel, written ten years ago. I keep working through series by Ngaio Marsh and Brian Jacques, finding new things to love about each author. I finally pulled out an old set of essays by Neil Postman-witty, incisive, and, at times, extremely prescient.
Then there were a number of fine new books in addition to Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory, a truly magisterial work. Jessica Hooten Wilson’s is a wonderful treatment of reading as a spiritual practice. François Clemmons, a fellow Youngstowner, offers a wonderful memoir of growing up there, coming out in college, and his time on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. One book offered hope for a renewal of people turning from atheism to faith and another points the way to post-pandemic renewal. Two others explored the failings of evangelicalism, including its early alliance with J. Edgar Hoover. Bob Katz offers a wonderful story of a teacher and class who “encircled” a dying classmate with love and presence and Kara Lawler’s delightful children’s book explores the presence of God in the changing seasons. Terence Lester helps us understand how an honest rendering of our nation’s history can promote solidarity and not enmity. And George Marsden helps us appreciate Jonathan Edwards at his best. Can you see why I like reading?
A Morbid Taste for Bones(Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #1), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road, 2014 (originally published in 1977). Cadfael is part of a group commissioned to retrieve the bones of a Welsh saint. When the one leading landowner who opposes the removal is murdered, Cadfael helps his daughter find the murder, avenging his death. Review
Reading for the Love of God, Jessica Hooten Wilson. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. An exploration of reading as a spiritual practice, including the reading practices of Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Frederick Douglass, and Dorothy Sayers. Review
Elaine’s Circle, Bob Katz. Madison, NJ: Munn Avenue Press, 2022. Elaine views Circle Time as key to building a learning community with her students. When one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Elaine and her circle of students, including the one dying find ways to make that fourth grade a most extraordinary year. Review
Officer Clemmons, Dr. François S. Clemmons. New York: Catapult, 2020. An autobiographical memoir of Dr. François S. Clemmons, from his earliest years in Alabama, his youth in Youngstown, Ohio through his college years when he accepted that he was gay, his relationship with Fred Rogers, and subsequent performing and teaching career. Review
God, Right Here: Meeting God in the Changing Seasons, Kara Lawler, illustrated by Jennie Poh. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2023. A walk through the changing seasons and a reminder that the unchanging God is always present, always near and may be seen wherever we look in his creation. Review
Mattimeo(Redwall #3), Brian Jacques. New York: Ace Books, 1989. Mattimeo, the spirited son of Matthias the Warrior, along with four other children, are kidnapped as an act of revenge by Slagar the Cruel. When Matthias and other warriors pursue, including the Sparra folk, Redwall’s remaining inhabitants must fight off an invasion of magpies and ravens. Review
Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2023. An attempt along the lines of Augustine’s City of Godto offer a comprehensive overview of how the biblical account from Genesis to Revelation to engage in a critique of late modern culture and the critical theories that have also attempted to analyze the culture. Review
A Clutch of Constables(Roderick Alleyn #25), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2015 (originally published in 1968). Troy takes a spur-of-the-moment river cruise only to learn that her berth had belonged to a man murdered by an international criminal, who happens to be on the cruise with her! Review
The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, Justin Brierly. Carol Stream: Tyndale Elevate, 2023. A journalist and podcast host makes the case that we may be seeing a new wave of people coming to faith in God and why this is so. Review
Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Failed a Generation, Jon Ward. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. A national journalist who grew up in an influential evangelical movement describes his separation from this movement as he witnessed its embrace of control and power, both within churches, and in increasingly authoritarian politics, at the expense of both truth and character. Review
The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover, Lerone A. Martin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023. A study of how J. Edgar Hoover worked in concert with sympathetic Christian leaders to foster his vision of a White Christian America. Review
From Pandemic to Renewal, Chris Rice. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. Addresses eight global crises exposed by the COVID pandemic and how Christians may be agents of healing and transformation. Review
An Infinite Fountain of Light, George Marsden. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A brief introduction to the life and thought of Jonathan Edwards, setting him alongside two of his contemporaries, Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield. Review
Flood and Fury, Matthew J. Lynch. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A searching study of the biblical texts on the flood in Genesis and the conquest of Canaan, facing the issue of violence and God’s participation, against the backdrop of the shalom of God. Review
Ordinary Grace, William Kent Krueger. New York: Atria Books, 2013. Two boys in a rural Minnesota town encounter a series of deaths, including one within their family, and discover something of the “awful grace of God.” Review
Best of the Month. Chris Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory has deservedly received a good deal of attention. Watkin shows how one might use the whole of scripture in a thoughtful critique of culture. It is wide-ranging, erudite and persuasive. Whether you agree with him in detail, he offers a challenge to engage our contemporary culture thoughtfully.
Quote of the Month: William Kent Krueger’s Pastor Drum, in Ordinary Grace, grieving for his murdered daughter, articulates the struggle of a person of faith to believe when facing such tragic loss:
“‘I confess that I have cried out to God, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’…’When we feel abandoned, alone, and lost, what’s left to us? What do I have, what do you have, what do any of us have left except the overpowering temptation to rail against God and to blame him for the dark night into which he’s led us, to blame him for our misery, to blame him and cry out against him for not caring? What’s left to us when that which we love most has been taken?
‘I will tell you what is left, three profound blessings. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells us exactly what they are: faith, hope, and love. These gifts, which are the foundation of eternity, God has given to us and he’s given us complete control over them. Even to the darkest night it’s still within our power to hold to faith. We can still embrace hope. And although we may ourselves feel unloved we can still stand steadfast in our love for others and for God. All this is in our control. God gave us these gifts and he does not take them back. It is we who choose to discard them.“
What I’m reading. I’ve just finished Jeremy M. Kimble’s Behold and Become, a wonderful articulation of the transforming power of God through the scriptures. C. W. Goodyear’s President Garfield fills in the gaps in our knowledge of this president who sadly served only for months, leaving us to wonder what might have been if an assassin’s bullet and unenlightened medical practice had not taken his life. Timothée Joset’s The Priesthood of All Students studies the history of an idea that has shaped the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, a movement among college students in over 160 countries–namely that the best ones to minister to students are students. Your Body is a Revolution by Tara Teng critiques the ideas about the body she received in her evangelical upbringing and how her thinking has changed as an embodiment coach. While there is much I would take issue with, including the obliviousness of the book to older bodies, I recognize and grieve the defective theology against which she has revolted and would affirm aspects of her vision of the goodness of our bodies. American Idolatry is a concise study, drawing upon sociological research showingt the connection of Christian nationalism to white supremacy and xenophobia. as well as delineating the unbiblical falsehoods on which Christian nationalism is based. The Beginning and End of All Things explores the connections between creation and the new creation that we often miss in scripture. Night at the Vulcan is another Ngaio Marsh mystery set at theatre. I’m curious to see how this will differ from others she has written using this setting. And finally, Alice Crosetto, a classmate throughout my school years has written The Cookie Table: A Steel; Valley Tradition. If you are from Youngstown or Pittsburgh, you know that a proper wedding is not complete without a lavish cookie table with hundreds of dozens of cookies. If you are not, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about but you should, so read my review and buy Alice’s book!
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.
Sometimes my books come in pairs. This month I read novels by Haruki Murakami and William Kent Krueger, two very different writers. I liked both enough that I want to read more of them. I reviewed two books by Carmen Joy Imes in preparation for an interview with her. What a fine and personable scholar, something coming through both in books and in person. I read two luminous books on the Christian life–Daniel Denk’s An Invitation to Joy and Jeff Crosby’s The Language of the Soul–rich in insights for the journey. Two monographs on key figures in church history, Augustine and Cranmer, offered insight into Augustine’s understanding of friendship and Cranmer’s influence on Anglican liturgy, emphasizing the idea of sola fide. Then there were theological works on the Holy Spirit and on theories of the atonement. A couple books dealt with life’s dark times–one on spiritual disillusionment, the other, a fictional portrayal of bipolar disorder. I read two edited collections of essays, one on spiritual formation in a global context, the other on the digital public square. Two works of history round out my “pairs” collection, one that explored American history through a particular clan, the Busters, and the other, David Grann’s latest, The Wager. Finally, I had a few that didn’t pair up but were worthwhile reads on their own: the classic Lies My Teacher Told Me, one of the better Ngaio Marsh Roderick Alleyn novels (in my opinion), and a collection of Umberto Eco essays on literature. Perhaps in one of these you’ll find something for your summer reading.
Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen. New York: Touchstone, 1995 (Link is to 2018 edition with a different publisher). Based on an examination of twelve American history high school textbooks, looks at how these oversimplify, omit, distort, and sometimes perpetuate false myths of American history, and make the teaching of history boring in the process. Review
The Night is Normal, Alicia Britt Chole. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Refresh, 2023. A study of spiritual disillusionment, proposing that this “night faith” in times of pain may root us more deeply in God and ground us more firmly in reality. Review
A Bond Between Souls: Friendship in the Letters of Augustine(Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Coleman M. Ford. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2022. A study of the correspondence of Augustine revealing the qualities of his friendships and a vision of friendship rooted in God, encouraging one another in Christian virtue and the love of God. Review
The Language of the Soul, Jeff Crosby (foreword by Suzanne Stabile, afterword by James Bryan Smith). Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2023. A survey of the deepest longings of the human soul, within ourselves, for our world, and for the eternal. Review
The Spirit, Ethics, and Eternal Life, Jarvis L. Williams. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. The saving work of Christ in its vertical, horizontal, and cosmic dimensions is the reason for why the Galatians are able and commanded to walk in the Spirit, living lives of Spirit-empowered obedience, participating both now and into the age to come in eternal life. Review
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami. New York: Vintage International, 2002. In two parallel plots Kafka tries to escape a curse and find his mother and sister (and himself) and Nakata tries to recover the part of him lost during a strange school outing incident in his youth. Review
The Book of Susan, Melanie K. Hutsell. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2022. A woman who seems to have it all, a successful husband, beautiful son, and tenure-track position begins to struggle with apprehensions about another woman who has come into her circle, visions apparently from God, anger and the inability to focus. As life unravels, she is diagnosed with a bipolar disorder and begins a long journey of discovery. Review
The Buster Clan: An American Saga, K.P. Kollenborn. Kindle Direct Publishing, 2023. What began as genealogical research into the Buster family turns into an account of the American story from the Revolutionary War to the present. Review
Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes (foreword by J. Richard Middleton). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A study of what it means to be God’s images as representative rulers in God’s good creation, what was lost in the fall, how we might live well in a good but fallen world, and how we see in Christ’s coming the fulfillment of God’s image in humans and of God’s purposes for the creation. Review
Black as He’s Painted (Roderick Alleyn #28), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2015 (originally published in 1974). The President of Ng’ombwana is coming to England. A man with known enemies, his old school friend Alleyn attempts to persuade him to accept Special Branch protection but fails to prevent a murder at an embassy reception. Review
The Wager,David Grann. New York: Doubleday, 2023. An account of the shipwreck of the Wager, part of a naval squadron in one of England’s wars against Spain, and the effort of her captain to maintain order as the survivors struggled just to eat, and the divisions and mutiny of those who wanted to sail back to Brazil. Review
The Digital Public Square, Jason Thacker, editor. Brentwood, TN: B & H Academic, 2022. A collection of essays exploring the contours and complexities of the digital public square, specific issues that have arisen, and the call of disciples as they engage the digital public square. Review
Spiritual Formation for the Global Church, Ryan A Brandt and John Frederick, editors. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. A collection of contributions reflecting the global and catholic conversation around spiritual formation including theological study, elements of worship, and mission in contemporary cultures as formation. Review
On Literature, Umberto Eco. New York: Harper Via, 2005. A collection of occasional writings on literature and literary criticism, many adapted from conference presentations given over several decades. Review
An Invitation to Joy, Daniel J. Denk, foreword by Christopher J.H. Wright. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2023. Reflections on the source of joy and how we may rediscover it. Review
This Tender Land, William Kent Krueger. New York: Atria, 2019. Four orphans fleeing the Lincoln Indian Training School due to a crime of self-defense embark on a journey to and on the Mississippi to find a relative they hope will provide a home and shelter. Review
Worship By Faith Alone (Dynamics of Worship). Zac Hicks, foreword by Ashley Null. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. Addressing the contemporary concern for “gospel-centered” worship, looks at how Thomas Cranmer, deeply committed to justification by faith alone in Christ alone, reformed the worship, liturgy, preaching and devotion of the Church of England. Review
Best of the Month: Murakami’s Kafka By the Shore was a wonderful introduction to this author. I appreciated the way he wove the stories of Kafka and Nakata together, both seeking something lost. This is a book I keep thinking about long after having finished it.
Quote of the Month. I liked this definition of “joy” in Daniel J. Denk’s An Invitation to Joy:
“Feelings tend to be fleeting. They are fickle. Joy, on the contrary, is a steady disposition about life, very much connected to peace and hope. We might say that joy is a hopeful and peaceful outlook on life, a deep-seated sense of well-being.”
What I’m Reading. I’ve just finished the first of Ellis Peters “Cadfael” books. Now I understand why so many friends like them. I also just completed a set of essays by Neil Postman, Conscientious Objections, filled with sharp humor and his cogent critique of modern media, education, and technology. I’ve finally sunk my teeth into Christopher Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory, which is an attempt to make a comprehensive and thoroughly Christian cultural critique from the whole arc of biblical narrative. It’s an ambitious project! I always love books on books and Jessica Hooten Wilson’s Reading for the Love of God is an extra treat as she looks at reading as a spiritually edifying practice. Bob Katz is a fine author I was introduced to in the last year. Elaine’s Circle is the true story of a skilled and caring teacher faced with the terminal diagnosis of one of her students, and how she and her class come together around him. I recently discovered that Dr. François Clemmons, an accomplished singer, who played Officer Clemmons on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, grew up in my hometown of Youngstown, and so I picked up his memoir, Officer Clemmons. Finally, I’m just beginning #3 in the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, Mattimeo. I start vacation today and this is a fun read to begin it on.
Whatever your summer plans, I hope some good books are a part of them. Drop me a line in the comments if you are still looking for ideas.
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.
Believe it or not, we are already a month into the new year. I hope it has been a good month reading-wise for you, toward whatever, if any, reading goals you have this year. I always want to read books by authors from my own state of Ohio. I had the chance to read two, one of which ended up being my book of the month. The other is a massive best seller, The Deluge, that is a thought-provoking (and scary!) glimpse at the future that may be awaiting us in a warming world. As always, there was good theology including one on the appearances of God, another on Christ as our great high priest, a couple books on theology of work and vocation, a book on five views of the New Testament canon, and a study on hardness of heart from a scholar who I knew from back in the Jesus movement days, Charles “Chuck” Puskas. We even grew up on the same side of town. The biography of Henry Ward Beecher was fascinating–the forerunner of all our megachurch preachers in many ways. I read the sequel to Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge (and have just picked up her latest). Of course it wouldn’t be a month without a Ngaio Marsh–there are TWO here! I met two of my Reading Challenge goals in reading a collection of Wendell Berry poetry and the memoir of Paul Kalanithi, a rising medical neurosurgical resident who receives the worst diagnosis anyone can receive. Actually, reading a classic Oliver Sacks book also fulfilled a goal of reading an author I like. All told, it was a great month of reading with nineteen reviews to show for it. Here they are.
Theophany, Vern S. Poythress. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2022 (Originally published by Crossway in 2018). A study of the visible appearances of God to his people in scripture, what they reveal about God, and how they anticipate God’s ultimate appearing in the person of his Son, God incarnate. Review
Crumpled Paper: A Novel About Art and Tea, Michael S. Moore. Sanford, NC: Word-Brokers, LLC, 2022. The tale of the unfolding of an artistic vision, and a friend who, acting as agent, just wants his artist friend to stay solvent. Review
The Intentional Year, Holly Packiam and Glenn Packiam. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2022. An invitation to stop, assess, and plan around five clusters of practices that enable us to live purposeful lives. Review
Face to Face with God(Essential Studies in Biblical Theology), T. Desmond Alexander. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. An exploration of the biblical theme of priesthood and mediation and how Christ fulfills these par excellence. Review
Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout. New York: Random House, 2020. The sequel to Olive Kitteridge, an older Olive on her second marriage after Henry died, the indignities and transitions of aging, coming to terms with relationships with children and others, and the unique ways Olive shows up, helpfully, when you’d least expect it. Review
Learning Humility, Richard J. Foster. Downers Grove: IVP/Formatio, 2022. A journal of a year-long journey of learning humility including notes from readings, reflections, prayers, organized around the Lakota calendar. Review
The Most Famous Man in America, Debby Applegate. New York: Three Leaves Press, 2007. The Pulitzer prize-winning biography of the most famous preacher in nineteenth century America, and the scandals around his sexual life. Review
Spinsters in Jeopardy(Inspector Alleyn #17), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2014 (first published in 1953). Alleyn takes his family along to visit a distant cousin in southern France while collaborating with the French in investigating a drug ring. Review
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks. New York: Touchstone, 2006 (originally published in 1985). Brief case histories of twenty-four patients with unusual neurological conditions. Review
Five Views on the New Testament Canon, edited by Stanley E. Porter and Benjamin P. Laird. Contributors: Darian P. Lockett, David Nienhuis, Jason David BeDuhn, Ian Boxall, George L. Parsenios. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2022. Statements from five different theological perspectives on the history, theology, and hermeneutic related to the formation of the New Testament canon, with responses from each to the others. Review
Necessary Christianity, Claude R. Alexander, Jr. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. In a culture of options, focuses on the necessities of the Christian life by looking at the “must” statements in the gospel associated with Jesus. Review
Hardness of Heart in Biblical Literature, Charles B. Puskas. Eugene, Cascade Books, 2022. A study of the words and texts in which they are used referring to hardness of heart holding in tension both the refusal to heed God and the purpose of God in the hardening of hearts. Review
Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human, John Mark Comer. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015. An argument that our work is an important aspect of what it means for us to be human, setting our work in the context of the arc of God’s work taking humanity from the garden to the new garden city in the new creation. Review
When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi. New York: Random House, 2016. The memoir of Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgery resident who becomes a patient when receiving a diagnosis of state IV metastatic lung cancer, the ways he and his wife respond at various stages, the care he receives, and his reflections on his illness and impending death. Review
The Deluge, Stephen Markley. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023. A novel imagining the interaction of accelerating impacts of climate change and the unraveling of societies. Review
Cultivating Mentors, Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers, eds., foreword by Mark R. Schwehn. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. A collection of articles on the theological foundations, goals, and practices of mentoring in Christian higher education with a particular focus on generational dynamics. Review
The Nursing Home Murder, Ngaio Marsh (Roderick Alleyn #3). New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2011 (originally published in 1935). The Home Secretary collapses of acute appendicitis during a speech on a key bill against radicals and is taken to a private hospital of an old doctor friend for emergency surgery, dying under suspicious circumstances soon after the operation.
Best Book of the Month. I’m so glad Michael S. Moore, an Ohio author, reached out to me regarding his book, Crumpled Paper. It’s a delightful tale of drinking tea, enjoying mouthwatering food in quaint cafes, and a community of artists, finely written in plot development, characters and the overall ethos of the book. I commented that this might be my “sleeper” of the year.
Best Quote of the Month: I read This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems 1979-2012. I loved this one, 2005, I:
I know that I have life
only insofar as I have love.
I have no love
except it come from Thee.
Help me, please, to carry
this candle against the wind.
I could make this may daily prayer for the rest of my days–just so fitly expressed.
What I’m Reading. Sometimes, reading the Bible in a new translation makes it come alive in special ways. This has been especially true for me as I’ve been reading through the First Nations Version, an Indigenous Peoples translation of the New Testament. I just finished Clarence Jordan’s An Inconvenient Gospel, a collection of shorter writings from this Baptist preacher who started Koinonia Farm and was active in civil rights advocacy as well as translating The Cotton Patch Gospel. I love a good science book and I have been reveling in Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Song of the Cell. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and the cell biology of all living things is truly wondrous as one learns of it. The Back Side of the Cross explores atonement theologies through the eyes of the abused, exploring not only how Christ died for sinners but also the sinned against, who are on “the back side” of the cross. I’ve just begun Pope Benedict XVI’s The Garden of God, a theology of the environment. I’m interested to see how this anticipates Laudato Si. Finally, I’m just getting into a collection of Lenten readings called A Just Passion, from a number of InterVarsity Press authors.
I also recently posted my Winter 2023 Christian Book Preview. There are some great new books out there (and a few that have arrived since!). Needless to say, there is no shortage of good things to read. And if my reviews suggest a few things worth pursuing, then that is a bonus–for you and for me!
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.
I recently finished Louise Penny’s The Madness of Crowds, the seventeenth in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, and the most recently published. [Updated 12/13/2022: Number 18 in the series, A World of Curiosities has been published and a review for the book has now been added.] For the moment, there are no more Gamache novels to read, unless I go back and re-read the series. This has quite simply been one of the best series I’ve read. While Penny’s books are often favored by women readers, I’ve found myself drawn by the strong male characters, especially Armand and Jean Guy. Particularly, I want to grow up to be like Armand! Equally, I find myself deeply appreciating the strong and diverse female characters–Reine Marie, Clara, Myrna, Isabelle Lacoste, and of course, Ruth (and Rosa!). Like so many readers, I want to live in Three Pines, or foster the kind of Three Pines community where I live (perhaps one of Penny’s hopes). I also have been provoked to thought, and not a little self-examination, by Penny’s insight that a murder often begins many years before with a nursed grievance allowed to fester. Finally, there are Gamache’s four sentences that lead to wisdom:
I don’t know.
I need help.
I’m sorry.
I was wrong.
The older I get, the more I find myself saying these things and I find myself looking back at my younger self and wish I’d learned this wisdom sooner.
I thought it would be fun to create a page with all my Gamache reviews. While I try to avoid spoilers in the reviews, those of subsequent books may give away plot details you’d rather discover for yourself if you haven’t read the previous ones. But if you are like me and want to go back and remember, this might prove helpful. I’ve just included publication info, a brief summary, and a link to the full review.
Still Life (Chief Inspector Gamache #1), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2005.
Summary: The suspicious death of Jane Neal a day after her painting is accepted into an art show brings Gamache and his team to Three Pines, and to the grim conclusion that someone in this small community is a murderer.Review
A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Gamache #2), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur, 2006.
Summary: An unliked but aspiring author comes to Three Pines and is murdered in front of a crowd at a curling match yet no one sees how it happened.Review
The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Gamache #3), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2007.
Summary: Gamache returns to Three Pines to solve a murder during a seance at the old Hadley House while forces within the Surete’ (and on his team) plot his downfall to avenge the Arnot case.Review
A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Gamache #4), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2008.
Summary: The Gamache’s getaway to a peaceful lodge is interrupted, first by an unloving family reunion, and then by the death of one of the family, crushed under a statue. Meanwhile, the naming of a child forces Gamache to face his own family history.Review
The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Gamache #5), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2009.
Summary: The body of an unknown man is found in the bistro of Gabri and Olivier, and Olivier is the chief suspect!Review
Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Gamache #6), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2010.
Summary: Gamache and Beauvoir are on leave after an attempt to rescue an agent goes terribly wrong. As each faces their own traumas they get caught up in murder investigations in Quebec City and Three Pines.Review
A Trick of the Light(Chief Inspector Gamache #7), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur, 2012.
Summary: The vernissage for Clara’s art show is a stunning success with glowing reviews only to be spoiled when the body of her estranged childhood friend is found in her flowerbed.Review
The Beautiful Mystery(Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #8), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2013.
Summary: While solving a case involving the murder of a prior in a remote monastery, Gamache must confront his arch-nemesis Chief Superintendent Sylvain Françoeur.Review
How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Gamache #9), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Press, 2013.
Summary: The murder of the last Ouelletquintuplet, a former client and friend of Myrna’s brings Gamache back to Three Pines which serves as a hidden base of operations as Sylvain Francoeur’s efforts to destroy Gamachecomes to a head.Review
The Long Way Home(Chief Inspector Gamache #10), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur, 2015.
Summary: Gamache’s peaceful retirement is interrupted when Peter Morrow fails to return as agreed a year after his separation from Clara and they embark on a search taking them to a desolate corner of Quebec.Review
The Nature of the Beast(Chief Inspector Gamache #11), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2016.
Summary: A young boy from Three Pines, prone to fantastic tales, reports seeing a big gun with a strange symbol, and then is found dead, setting off a search for a murderer, and an effort to thwart a global threat.Review, Second Review
A Great Reckoning(Chief Inspector Gamache #12), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2016.
Summary: Gamache returns to the Sûreté as Commander of its Academy, and finds himself at the center of a murder investigation of one of its corrupt professors.Review
Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Gamache #13), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2017.
Summary: A mysterious figure robed in black, the murder of a woman found in those robes, a confession, and a trial, during which Gamache has made choices of conscience that could cost lives and save many.Review
Kingdom of the Blind(Chief Inspector Gamache #14), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2018.
Summary: Gamache, Myrna, and Benedict, a young building maintenance worker who hopes to be a builder are named as liquidators of the estate of a cleaning woman while Amelia Choquet, caught with drugs, is expelled from the Academy to the streets as a powerful and lethal drug is about to hit. Review
A Better Man(Chief Inspector Gamache #15), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2019.
Summary: Gamache, Beauvoir, and Lacosteare together again, searching for a missing girl amid rising floods and a flood of social media attacks against Gamache and the art of Clara Morrow.Review
All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Gamache #16), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2020.
Summary: A family visit of the Gamaches to children in Paris suddenly becomes an investigation into the attempted murder of Stephen Horowitz, Armand’s godfather, and the murder of a close associate, and will put the Gamaches in great peril.Review
The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Gamache #17), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2021.
Summary: A Christmas assignment to provide security for a professor proposing mercy killing leads to a murder investigation in Three Pines.Review
Summary: The arrival in Three Pines of a sister and brother involved in a murder case that brought Armand and Jean Guy and the opening of a sealed room and the strange painting found within confront Gamache with two of his greatest fears.
The most recent novel in this series envisions what it is like to emerge from the pandemic. One thing I would say is that this series has been one of the things that got me through the pandemic. My review of the first volume was posted on April 2, 2020, less than a month after the world locked down. The most recent posted June 13, 2022, a bit over two years later. Pandemic has morphed into endemic and the new normal is a scarier world of war in Ukraine, inflation, gun violence, and political discord stretching from Sri Lanka to the United States. Amid all the murders (both in the real world and the books), the Gamache series reminds me of the goodness that remains, a goodness worth fighting and resisting for as well as celebrating in our daily lives. And there is one more goodness, at least…Louise Penny is still writing and book 18, A World of Curiosities, is expected in late 2022. When I get the chance to read it, and any subsequent numbers, it and they will be added to the list!
[Updated 12/13/2022: The review of book 18, A World of Curiosities is now included in this list.]
So many good reads this month! I began with a debut novel that combined a riveting plot, a great , collection of characters, and strong relationships. Then I moved on to another Louise Penny. I’ve finished number ten in the Gamache series and they just keep getting better. On a very different note, I found thought-provoking and unsettling a study of American history through the lens of beliefs about human nature. I’ve long loved Seamus Heaney’s rendering of Beowulf. Finally, I read some of his poetry, with all its evocation of Ireland. Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair won a Pulitzer. I have to admit I’m not sure why. Majority World Theology introduced me to so many fine theologians from around the world. I discovered Eula Biss, a fine essayist who wrote about immunology before the pandemic, addressing her fears by understanding the history and science. This was followed by a much-discussed book on how cultural models of masculinity shaped the evangelicalism of the last century. Erik Larson’s intimate portrait of Winston Churchill’s first year as prime minister was a refreshing look at someone about whom I’ve read many books. Art + Faith was a beautiful reflection on a theology of making and The Fire Within a beautiful treatment of the spirituality of sexual desire. Books like these make me wonder why we hide such good things as Christians. In between was a delightful Miss Marple from Agatha Christie. I wrapped up the month with a book on belonging, a former governor offering a distinctive vision for Christians in politics, and a survey of historical and global beliefs about the church.
Raft of Stars, Andrew J. Graff. New York: Ecco, 2021. A coming of age adventure story of two friends fleeing down a river after what they think is the murder of the father of one of the boys, and the pursuit to save the boys from certain destruction from a danger unknown to them. Review
The Long Way Home(Chief Inspector Gamache #10), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur, 2015. Gamache’s peaceful retirement is interrupted when Peter Morrow fails to return as agreed a year after his separation from Clara and they embark on a search taking them to a desolate corner of Quebec. Review
We the Fallen People, Robert Tracy McKenzie. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. An argument that we have witnessed a great reversal in American history from an assumption of fallen human nature to the inherent goodness of people, which the author believes could jeopardize its future. Review
Seamus Heaney Selected Poems 1966-1987, Seamus Heaney. New York: The Noonday Press, 1990. A selection of the poetry of Seamus Heaney from previously published works between 1966 and 1987. Review
Dragon’s Teeth(The Lanny Budd Novels #3), Upton Sinclair. New York: Open Road Media, 2016 (originally published 1942). As Irma’s fortune wanes, Lanny uses his art dealings both for income and to secure release of the Robins, who are swept up in the anti-Semitism of pre-war Nazi Germany. Review
Majority World Theology: Christian Doctrine in Global Context, Edited by Gene L. Green, Stephen T. Pardue, and K. K. Yeo. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. A global collection of scholars discuss the major doctrines of the Christian faith considering the history of doctrines, the scriptures, and cultural contexts. Review
On Immunity–An Inoculation, Eula Biss. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2014. A collection of essays about vaccines, immunity, fears, risks, and related concerns about environmental pollutants and other dangers faced by the human community. Review
Jesus and John Wayne, Kristen Kobes Du Mez. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020. A historical study of how the ideal of rugged masculinity typified by John Wayne influenced the evangelical embrace of authority, gender roles, and conservative, nationalist politics. Review
The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson. New York: Crown, 2020. A day to day narrative of the first year as prime minister of Winston Churchill, focusing on the circle around him as well as how he inspired a nation fighting alone under the Blitz. Review
Art + Faith, Makoto Fujimura, foreword by N. T. Wright. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021. A series of reflections connecting art and faith in the act of making. Review
The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side, Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #9). New York: HarperCollins, 2011, originally published 1962. A harmless busybody dies of a poisoned drink intended for a famous actress, the beginning of further threats, and murders that follow. Review
The Fire Within: Desire, Sexuality, Longing, and God, Ronald Rohlheiser. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2021. A collection of short meditations on human, and particularly sexual desire, contending these come from God and are meant to draw us to God. Review
No Longer Strangers, Gregory Coles, Foreword by Jen Pollock Michel. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2021. A personal memoir on struggling to fit in and giving up on belonging to pursue Christ, and in the end, finding both. Review
Faithful Presence, Bill Haslam. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2021. The former governor of Tennessee makes the case for Christian engagement in politics, using the model of faithful presence. Review
An Introduction to Ecclesiology, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. An introduction to different historical theologies of the church, contemporary theologies from throughout the world, the mission and practices of the church, and the church and other religious communities. Review
Best Book of the Month:Majority World Theology is a huge work in every sense from size to the quality of the contributions and the wide array of theologians this work brings to one’s attention. One thing I especially appreciated in a work of this size was how readable it was. It was a pleasure to work through.
Best Quote of the Month: Ronald Rohlheiser’s The Fire Within is a gem consisting of short reflections around the spirituality of our sexuality. This quote captures his contention:
“Sexuality is inside us to help lure us back to God, bring us into a community of life with each other, and let us take part in God’s generativity. If that is true, and it is, then given its origin and meaning, its earthiness notwithstanding, sex does not set us against what is holy and pure. It is a Godly energy” (p. xi).
What I’m Reading.Currently, I’m in the middle of Ngaio Marsh’s first Chief Inspector Alleyn book, A Man Lay Dead. I haven’t read the series in order, but the first is among the best I’ve read. Colm Toibin’s The Magician is a biographical fiction work on German writer, Thomas Mann tracing the inspiration of his works, his closeted homosexuality, his difficult relations with his children, and his ethical wrestling with how vehemently to speak against Nazi Germany, from which he and his family had fled. Identity in Action is a book written for students on how excellence in Christ may be expressed through one’s different identities. Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends is a wonderful devotional work pairing Psalms and what the church’s teachers have written on them. Finally, I’m reading Forty Days with a Five, which probably gives away my Enneagram type, if that’s not already apparent to those who study such things.
With the cooler weather of fall, I’m transitioning from reading in shorts in a lounge chair with a cold drink to a comfy chair indoors, a warmer shirt and a hot cup of coffee. The one thing that doesn’t change is the books. Happy reading!
The last full month of summer was full of good books. I roved the Red planet, went to space with Virgin Galactic, revisited Malabar Farm, remembered the life of one of my spiritual mentors, and witnessed a most wicked carnival! I remembered the past year of the pandemic, learned the rules of civility and retraced the history of the religious order that built the University of Notre Dame. I read about God’s agency, the two books in the Bible where God is not named, seven books at the end of the Bible that ought be read together, the theme of the servant that runs through the whole of scripture, and the emotional life of the ultimate Servant. Of course, I threw in a few mysteries as I continue to read through the Gamache series which just keeps getting better and another Ngaio Marsh mystery. I read about artful reading and hope I engaged in it. I’ll let you be the judge as you read the reviews!
How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Gamache #9), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Press, 2013. The murder of the last Ouellet quintuplet, a former client and friend of Myrna’s brings Gamache back to Three Pines which serves as a hidden base of operations as Sylvain Francoeur’s efforts to destroy Gamache comes to a head. Review
Conspicuous in His Absence, Chloe T. Sun. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. Adopting the approach of theological interpretation, explores through various lenses the significance of the absence of mentions of the name of God in Song of Songs and Esther. Review
Red Rover, Roger Wiens. New York: Basic Books, 2013. An insider account of over two decades of space exploration culminating in the Mars Rover Curiosity mission. Review
Recovering the Lost Art of Reading, Leland Ryken and Glenda Faye Mathes. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021. An invitation to artful reading, considering its decline, different kinds of literature and how we read them, and the art of reading well to discover goodness, truth, and beauty. Review
Hand in Glove(Roderick Alleyn #22), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015 (originally published in 1962). An April Fool’s scavenger hunt organized by Lady Bantling ends badly when a body is found under a drainage pipe in a ditch. Review
A Burning in My Bones, Winn Collier. New York: WaterBrook, 2021. The authorized biography of pastor-theologian and Bible translator Eugene Peterson. Review
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Green Town #2), Ray Bradbury. New York: Bantam Books, 1963 (Link is to a currently in print edition). A carnival comes to Green Town out of season and two boys, Jim and Will fight to escape the clutches of the sinister carnival master Mr. Dark. Review
Test Gods, Nicholas Schmidle. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2021. An account of Virgin Galactic’s effort to become a space tourism company focusing on the intersection of Richard Branson’s vision and the work of test pilots and engineers to make it work. Review
Perhaps, Joshua M. McNall. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. Advances the idea of “perhapsing” that allows for the exploration of the space between doubt and dogmatism through close reading of scripture, asking hard questions, exercising imagination, and the practice of holy speculation. Review
Love in the Time of Coronavirus, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2021. A collection of poems written over the first year of the pandemic exploring the pilgrimage of those confined to their homes, exploring the ways we come to terms with endless days, the small gifts of love, and moment of hope amid the horror. Review
The Servant of the Lord and His Servant People(New Studies in Biblical Theology #54), Matthew S. Harmon. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. A study of the application of the term “servant” to a number of key figures in scripture culminating in Jesus, and the way these were used by God to form a servant people. Review
Rules of Civility, Amor Towles. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. The year that changed the life of a young woman in New York, remembered when photographs trigger a flashback twenty-eight years later. Review
The History of the Congregation of Holy Cross, James T. Connelly, C.S.C. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2020. A history of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, describing its beginnings, its focus on education and missions, its approval in Rome, the succession of Superiors General, and the growth of the Congregation until Vatican II and decline in more recent years. Review
Passions of the Christ, F. Scott Spencer. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021. A study of the emotional life of Jesus in the gospels, drawing upon both classical thought and emotions theory. Review
Leadership, God’s Agency, & Disruptions, Mark Lau Branson and Alan J. Roxburgh. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021. Argues that “modernity’s wager” has shaped the leadership practices of church leadership, leading to a reliance on technique-driven strategies rather than responding to God’s agency. Review
Best Book of the Month: Winn Collier’s biography of Eugene Peterson, A Burning in My Bones captures the character and congruency of Peterson’s life, thought, and ministry. He was not a perfect man, and perhaps his growing awareness that he was but a man called to follow in the “long obedience” that made it possible to speak to so many of us.
Best Quote of the Month: Joshua McNall proposes that a stance of “perhaps” is an approach cultivating the imagination of faith that lives between doubt and dogmatism. He cites Luther as an example when he ascended the steps of Santa Scala, to pray for his father in purgatory, troubled by doubts about the steps, the power of relics, and even the reality of purgatory. He observes:
“Luther’s attitude is one of obedience. The question does not lead him to depart for a weeklong bender in the Roman brothels. Nor does it correspond directly to a repudiation of church tradition. This shift would come later through his outrage at indulgences, and by reading Paul. At the moment, Luther simply walks down the stairs. He descends Santa Scala–because a willingness to walk and wait and pray is the best response to doubt” (p. 126).
What I’m reading. Once again I’m thoroughly engaged in a Louise Penny novel, The Long Way Home. Gamache is retired from the Surete’ and living in Three Pines. But his sleuthing days are far from ended. I just finished Raft of Stars by Ohio author Andrew Graff. An edge of the seat story with a satisfying ending. I’m also working my way through a really long book, really six books combined into a single volume, Majority World Theology. It is a delightful dialogue of theologians from throughout the world on the major themes of Christian theology. I’ve just begun Robert Tracy McKenzie’s We The Fallen People. He proposes the thesis that our nation was founded on the premise of human fallenness, but a shift to a belief in the inherent goodness of people actually imperils democracy. I will be interviewing him later in September and look forward to seeing how he develops this thesis. After a long hiatus, I’ve returned to Upton Sinclair’s Lanny Budd series, reading #3 in the series, Dragon‘s Teeth. Not sure where this one is going yet or why it won a Pulitzer. Finally, I’ve at last dipped into a collection of Seamus Heaney’s poetry that has been on my shelves for some time.
I hope you will stay safe as the pandemic rears its ugly head once more. In most parts of the northern hemisphere, there is still time to enjoy a good book outdoors, or an outdoor gathering with some friends, maybe with conversation about the good books we hope to curl up with as the weather cools toward winter. If you check out one of the books here, I’d love to hear what you think, and tell me about the good books you’ve enjoyed. Blessings!
Go to “The Month in Reviews” on my blog to skim all my reviews going back to 2014 or use the “Search” box to see if I’ve reviewed something you are interested in.
If it isn’t obvious by now, I love reading a wide variety of books. Science fiction, mysteries, history, literary fiction, regional authors, biblical, historical, and practical theology, sociology, business and economics. My work and my interests touch on all of these and all of these are here. Mayday reminded me of an international crisis of my childhood when we were sheltering under our school desks and school basement in fear of nuclear attack. Octavia Butler’s imaginative scenarios of what happens when different species meet. I’ve mused about why men treat women so badly across cultures. David Buss’s answers weren’t satisfying to me but provoked my thinking. I had good fun revisiting The Scarlet Pimpernel, a great story! I won’t go through all the books here so that you can get on and skim the reviews!
Imago(Xenogenesis #3), Octavia E. Butler. New York: Popular Library, 1989 (Link is to a current, in-print edition). The concluding volume of this trilogy explores what happens when human-Oankali breeding results in a construct child that is not supposed to occur. Review
The Problem of the Old Testament: Hermeneutical, Schematic & Theological Approaches, Duane A. Garrett. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. An exploration of how and whether Christians ought read the Old Testament, contending that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and that its material still has authority and edifying value for the Christian. Review
Final Curtain (Inspector Alleyn #14), Ngaio Marsh. New York, Felony & Mayhem Press, 2014 (originally published in 1947. While Inspector Alleyn is returning from wartime service in New Zealand, Troy Alleyn, his artist wife is commissioned on short notice to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, a noteworthy stage actor, meeting his dramatic family, encountering a number of practical jokes including one that infuriates Sir Henry at his birthday dinner, after which he is found dead the next morning. Inspector Alleyn arrives home to investigate a possible murder in which his wife is an interested party. Review
A War Like No Other, Victor Davis Hanson. New York: Random House, 2006. An account of the Peloponnesian War tracing the history, the politics, the strategies, key figures, battles, and how the war was fought. Review
An Impossible Marriage, Laurie Krieg and Matt Krieg. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2020. Matt and Laurie Krieg are in a mixed orientation marriage and narrate both the challenges they have faced and what they have learned about God and love as they remained together. Review
Who Created Christianity?, Craig A. Evans and Aaron W. White, editors. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2020. A festschrift in honor of David Wenham focused around the centerpiece of Wenham’s theology, the relationship between Jesus and Paul and Wenham’s insistence that Paul was not the founder of Christianity but a disciple of Jesus. Review
Mayday: Eisenhower, Krushchev, and the U-2 Affair, Michael Beschloss. New York: Open Road Media, 2016 (originally published in 1986). A detailed accounting of the shoot-down of a U-2 CIA reconnaissance flight over the USSR and the consequences that increased Cold War tensions between Eisenhower and Kruschchev and their respective countries.Review
Science and the Doctrine of Creation, Edited by Geoffrey H. Fulkerson and Joel Thomas Chopp, afterword by Alister E. McGrath. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. A study of ten modern theologians and how each engagedscience in light of the doctrine of creation. Review
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy. New York: Puffin Books, 1997 (originally published in 1905). An adventure set in Revolutionary France as a secret league led by the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues prisoners headed to the guillotine as a French agent ruthlessly seeks to track him down. Review
40 Patchtown, Damian Dressick. Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2020. Set during a coal strike in Windber, Pennsylvania in 1922, captures the hardship striking miners faced in their resistance to mine owners, their efforts to form unions and gain better wages for dangerous work. Review
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene. New York: Open Road Media, 2018 (originally published in 1951). A writer struggles to understand why the woman he has had an affair with broke it off, discovering who ultimately came between them. Review
The 30-Minute Bible, Craig G. Bartholomew and Paige P. Vanosky, with illustrations by Br. Martin Erspamer. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2021. An overview of the big story of the Bible, broken into 30 readings of roughly 30 minutes in length, accompanied by charts, diagrams, and illustrations. Review
When Men Behave Badly, David M. Buss. New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2021. A discussion of sexual violence, deception, harassment and abuse, largely on the part of men, grounded in evolutionary sexual conflict theory that helps explain why so many relationships between men and women go bad. Review
Pillars, Rachel Pieh Jones, Foreword by Abdi Nor Iftin. Walden, NY: Plough Publishing, 2021. An account about how the author’s attitudes both toward Islam and her Christian faith changed as she and her husband lived among Muslims in Somalia and Djibouti. Review
Post-Capitalist Society, Peter F. Drucker. New York: Harper Collins, 1993. Describes the transformation of a society based on capital to one based on knowledge whose key structure is the responsibility-based organization. Review
Best Book of the Month. This is often a tough one to answer, and no less this month. It is rare that I give the nod to a collection of essays around a theme but Science and the Doctrine of Creation was one of the best. Ten outstanding theologians summarized the thinking of ten of the leading theologians of the last two centuries on the doctrine of creation and how they related that doctrine to science.
Best Quote of the Month: I’ve worked with Muslim students in collegiate ministry and in Pillars, Rachel Pieh Jones put into words what an incarnational ministry among Muslims is like. Here, she talks about the shift that took place in her life:
“I had a lot to learn about how to love my neighbors and practice my faith cross-culturally. I don’t identify with the label ‘missionary,’ with its attendant cultural, theological, and historical baggage, though I understand this is how many view me. I do love to talk about spirituality–and what fascinates me is that the more I discuss faith with Muslims, the more we both return to our roots and dig deeper. As we explore our ownfaith, in relationship with someone who thinks differently, each of us comes to experience God in richer, more intimate ways. In this manner, Muslims have helped me become a better Christian, though things didn’t start out that way” (p. 49).
What I’m Reading: Louise Penny just keeps getting better. I just finished the ninth in the Chief Inspector Gamache series, How The Light Gets In. Look for my review tomorrow. I’ve also been savoring a Ray Bradbury classic, Something Wicked This Way Comes, a dark exploration of the nothingness of evil and our power to say no to it. Conspicuous in His Absence explores the significance of the two books in the Bible in which God is not mentioned, Song of Songs and Esther.Recovering the Lost Art of Reading is a book about just that–how we might read well and discriminately. I love books about books and reading. Hand in Glove is another Roderick Alleyn mystery by the great Ngaio Marsh. I just had the chance to interview Roger Wiens, one of the NASA scientists involved in the Mars Rover Perseverance mission and have been reading his Red Rover to glimpse the inside story of his work. And in a similar vein, Test Gods is an account of the test pilots who have been involved in Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic’s space company.
We have one more full month of summer (in the northern hemisphere). I hope you have some days in a hammock or lounge chair with a cold drink and a good book. One of the joys of reading are the good things that go along with our good books!
I began and ended December reading Louise Penny mysteries (#3 and 4 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series) and these were great books to frame the last month of 2020. In between, there were 16 others (I was on vacation for part of the month and with shelter-at-home, this was a great opportunity for some extra reading. A few that stood out included the first volume on Barack Obama’s memoirs, which I chose as my book of the year. Another was the sixth edition of the late James W. Sire’s The Universe Next Door which has framed my years in collegiate ministry. A couple other notables for me were both written by Butlers. Dawn is an Octavia Butler sci-fi classic, the first in a trilogy. White Evangelical Racism by Anthea Butler makes a concise but persuasive overall case for the complicity of white evangelicalism in America’s racist history–hard to read as a white evangelical! I finally finished Jonathan Levy’s massive Ages of American Capitalism, which for its length is a highly interesting survey of America’s economic history.
The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Gamache #3), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2007. Gamache returns to Three Pines to solve a murder during a seance at the old Hadley House while forces within the Surete’ (and on his team) plot his downfall to avenge the Arnot case. Review
Original Sin and the Fall(Spectrum Multiview Books), edited by J. B. Stump and Chad Meister. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. An overview of five different views of original sin and the fall, with responses by each contributor to the other views. Review
March: Book Three, John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions, 2016. The culmination of this three part work, focused on the movement to obtain voting rights in Alabama and Mississippi, the March on Birmingham, and the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Review
The Liturgy of Politics, Kaitlyn Schiess (Foreword by Michael Wear). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2020. Drawing on the thought of James K. A. Smith, explores how the liturgies of our lives shape our political engagement and the gospel-shaped formative practices our Christian communities may embrace. Review
Wisdom From Babylon: Leadership for the Church in a Secular Age, Gordon T. Smith. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. Considers what it means to live in a secular age, different ways of responding as churches, what may learned from sources ancient and modern, and the competencies of church leadership we need. Review
Sustaining Grace: Innovative Ecosystems for New Faith Communities, edited by Scott J. Hagley, Karen Rohrer, Michael Gehrling. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2020. A collection of articles arising from conversations among church planters, traditional church leaders, denominational leaders and academics connected, in most cases with the Presbyterian Church (USA), 1001 New Worshipping Communities, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Review
A Promised Land, Barack Obama. New York: Crown Publishing, 2020. The first volume of the presidential memoir of Barack Obama, tracing his early life, his entry into politics and rise, his first presidential campaign and first term up to the death of Osama Bin Laden. Review
Exodus Old and New(Essential Studies in Biblical Theology), L. Michael Morales. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. A study of the Exodus theme from its anticipation with Abraham, to the exodus from Egypt, the prophesied second exodus and the new exodus of Jesus the Messiah. Review
We Will Not Cancel Us, adrienne maree brown (Afterword by Malkia Devich Cyril). Chico, CA: AK Press, 2020. A plea to those within the modern abolitionist movement to not use “cancelling” or “call outs” against one another. Review
A Bigger Table, Expanded Edition with Study Guide, John Pavlovitz (Foreword by Jacqueline L. Lewis). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020. Traces the author’s journey into a bigger vision of and practice of Christian community that is far more inclusive in welcoming people and chronicles the stories of a bigger table and the lives it has touched. Review
The Fantasy Literature of England, Colin Manlove. Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2020 (first published in 1999). A study focusing on and surveying the fantasy literature of England, distinguishing it from that of other countries, identifying six types, and discussing a tremendous variety of writers. Review
Dawn (Xenogenesis #1), Octavia Butler. New York: Popular Library (Warner Books), 1988 (publisher link is to a different, in print, edition). Lilith is chosen to lead a handful of humans preserved after a thermonuclear war by an alien race but faces difficult choices when she realizes the price she and her people must pay for their survival. Review
Stained Glass(Blackford Oakes #2), William F. Buckley, Jr. New York: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Media, 2015 (first published in 1978). When a charismatic German who fought against the Nazis in the resistance in Norway campaigns to become Chancellor on a platform to reunite Germany, Soviets and Americans come together to block this, with Blackford Oakes at the center, restoring a family chapel of the candidate. Review
Angry Weather, Friederike Otto. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2020. A description of the use of attribution science to assess the probability that anthropogenic-caused climate change is a factor in particular extreme weather events. Review
The Universe Next Door, Sixth Edition, James W. Sire (Foreword by Jim Hoover). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2020. A new edition of this foundational work on comparative worldviews, exploring the contours of various worldviews, including a new chapter on Islam, through the use of eight questions. Review
White Evangelical Racism, Anthea Butler. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, (Forthcoming, March) 2021. A short history of the evangelical movement in the United States, showing its ties to racism and white supremacy from the time of slavery down to the present. Review
A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Gamache #4), Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Books, 2008. The Gamache’s getaway to a peaceful lodge is interrupted, first by an unloving family reunion, and then by the death of one of the family, crushed under a statue. Meanwhile, the naming of a child forces Gamache to face his own family history. Review
Best of the Month: Since I gave the nod to A Promised Land for my book of the year, I decided on A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny. The Gamache series keeps getting better and the combination of intricate plot and the character development of Gamache as well as several other recurring characters makes for a satisfying read.
Best quote of the month: There were a number of candidates here but Anthea Butler’s concluding comments in her book White Evangelical Racism capture for me the challenge facing American evangelicalism:
“Evangelicalism is at a precipice. It is no longer a movement to which Americans look for a moral center. American evangelicalism lacks social, political, and spiritual effectiveness in the twentyfirst century. It has become a religion lodged within political party. It is a religion that promotes issues important almost exclusively to white conservatives. Evangelicalism embraces racists and says that evangelicals’ interests, and only theirs, are the most important for all American citizens.”
What I’m Reading. I have two books ready for review. One is Dan Estes fine study titled The Message of Wisdom on the wisdom literature. The other is Dear White Christians and contends that we cannot speak about racial reconciliation without addressing the issue of reparation. I’ve just begun reading Charitable Writing in preparation for an interview with the authors. A much needed exploration of the connection between virtue and our writing. Prayer Revolution is a stirring call to prayer that fuels kingdom movements. The Columbus Anthology is a collection, similar to a literary review with contributions from various Columbus writers. Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy is on the life of the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria. Frozen in Time is about a real life mission to retrieve the remains and the aircraft of two Coast Guard aviators who crashed on the ice cap of Greenland after 70 years had passed.
Well, there’s the rundown. I wish you much good reading in 2021 with the hope that this time next year we will be looking at the pandemic in the rearview mirror. Stay safe and read on, friends!
Go to “The Month in Reviews” on my blog to skim all my reviews going back to 2014 or use the “Search” box to see if I’ve reviewed something you are interested in.
