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
Evil Under 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.