I like to choose the books I read. Most of the time I make good choices. By this time in life, I should know…I think.
Recently, I was reminded of the delight when a book comes your way that you didn’t choose–and you really like it.
FortyWords for Sorrowby Giles Blunt was a birthday gift from my son. I do like crime fiction, some more than others. I’d never heard of Blunt. I discovered that all the things of great crime fiction were there–interesting lead characters with their own sorrows and demons, an investigation that is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, a truly evil antagonist with heightening tension. All of this was combined with deft writing that evoked mental images of place, and individual scenes. I was pleased to learn that there were five more in this series featuring detectives Cardinal and DeLorme.
The other was a book chosen for me in LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer giveaways. One of the books that came my way was Bill Harrison’s Making the Low Notes. I’m reading it right now. Harrison is a bass player, the big string bass instruments that are the foundation of a jazz ensemble. Harrison makes the process of learning to play the bass, discovering jazz, playing gigs with quartets, and becoming increasing sought after in the Chicago music scene, a fascinating story. I loved reading about the first time he listened to Miles Davis’ Kinda Blue, one of the greatest of all jazz albums, and listened to bassist Paul Chambers. Last night, I listened to Kinda Blue with a whole new level of attention to the bass part.
Like most readers, I can fall into ruts–reading my favorite writers, favorite genres. Ruts can get dull. I wonder at times if we can become dull as well. I think my son’s mission in life is to get me out of ruts. He has exposed me to graphic literature, more non-fiction than fiction, to writers like Blunt, and even some great baseball books by writers I was not acquainted with. Having someone in your life who does that is a gift. As I blog and review, I’ve been blessed by others who have done this as well. I discovered the Redwall fantasies of Brian Jacques this year through such a recommendation, and it has been like a second childhood! I think of a publicist who always throws in an extra book or two beyond what I’ve requested–no clinkers in the bunch! If you don’t have someone like that, find a good bookseller or librarian who gets to know you and can connect you with books out there you might like but didn’t know about.
Good surprises that lead to finding new books to love and authors to follow is like finding a new restaurant with great food–one that keeps you coming back to try the whole menu. Actually, just thinking about surprises has me wanting to call my favorite bookseller to ask if he will surprise me with a recommendation based on what he’s seen and what he knows about me. Does that sound like fun?
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.
In my reading this month I learned both about those who dig in the ground in Bible lands, and those, including six women, who soared into space. I read two more books in Ngaio Marsh’s Alleyn series, which I’m close to polishing off, read the second Cadfael book, and the fourth Redwall book. I love a good series. Speaking of series, I read another book in the Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series, on the arc from creation to new creation. Then there are new editions. I had the chance to finally review a standard introduction to theology that I’d been tempted to buy for many years. I couldn’t agree in all the particulars, but I loved the elegance and clarity of the work. Then there was a variety of special works from a presidential biography (of an Ohio president!), a history of the international collegiate ministry of which the college ministry I work with is a part, a fine monograph on Artemis of Ephesus (!), and best of all, a history and celebration of a Youngstown tradition — the cookie table! And that doesn’t cover it all!
Behold and Become, Jeremy M. Kimble. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2023. A classic yet contemporary evangelical account of the doctrine of scripture and how God works transformation through scripture in salvation and Christian growth and what this means for one’s engagement with scripture and its use in the life and leadership of the church. Review
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, C. W. Goodyear. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023. A full-length biography of the twentieth president tracing his evolution from a Radical Republican to one who sought to unify his party and a country still riven by the Civil War. Review
The Cookie Table: A Steel Valley Tradition, Alice Crosetto. Charleston, SC: American Palate, 2023. The story of this northeast Ohio/western Pennsylvania wedding tradition, its beginnings and a description of the ins and outs of cookie-baking, table set-up, types of cookies, and etiquette, and some of the uses of cookie tables beyond weddings. Review
American Idolatry, Andrew L. Whitehead. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2023. Drawing on sociological research showing the association of racism and xenophobia with Christian nationalism, argues of the dangers of the idolatries of power, fear and violence to the American church. Review
Your Body is a Revolution, Tara Teng. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023. Written by an embodiment coach and somatic practitioner, this book advocates for re-connecting with our bodies and names the different ways we have been estranged from our bodies through beliefs about the body, shaming, traumatic abuses, and political oppression and how we can learn to listen to and reconnect with our bodies. Review
The Beginning and End of All Things(Essential Studies in Biblical Theology), Edward W. Klink III. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. Proposes that creation is not confined to beginnings but unfolds throughout the biblical story, concluding in the new creation. Review
Night at the Vulcan, (Roderick Alleyn #16), Ngaio Marsh. New York Felony & Mayhem, 2014, originally published in 1951. An actor is found dead in the actor’s dressing room at the end of a play. It appears to be suicide by gas asphyxiation, but Alleyn finds clues pointing to murder by someone in the company. Review
Nourishing Narratives, Jennifer L. Holberg. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. Making sense of our lives and our faith through the stories that shape us. Review
Mariel of Redwall(Redwall #4), Brian Jacques. New York: Avon Books, 1991. Mariel the warrior mousemaid seeks revenge against Gabool, the pirate king, with a company from Redwall, while Redwall fends off a group of pirate fugitives led by rebel Captain Greypatch. Review
One Corpse Too Many(Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #2), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road, 2014 (Originally published in 1979). Burying 94 defenders of Shrewsbury loyal to Empress Maud, executed by King Stephen, Cadfael finds 95 bodies, one of which had been murdered. Could the killer be the young man seeking a daughter of a supporter of Empress Maud, hiding in the abbey under Cadfael’s protection? Review
The Priesthood of All Students, Timothée Joset. Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Langham Global Library, 2023 (Also available in French and Spanish editions). Contends from historical, ecclesiological, theological, and missiological perspectives that the idea of the priesthood of all believers has been essential to the student-led, non-clerical character of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, and helps account for it global spread to 180 countries. Review
Good Catastrophe, Benjamin Windle. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2023. Drawing upon the Book of Job and Tolkien’s idea of “eucastrophe,” proposes that when we face pain and adversity, we are at the place where great good can occur. Review
The Last of the Fathers, Thomas Merton. New York: HarperOne, 1981 (originally published in 1954). A brief life of Bernard of Clairvaux, published following the encyclical, Doctor Mellifluous, celebrating the eighth centenary of the death of Bernard, on August 20, 1153. Review
Catching Fire, Becoming Flame (Revised and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition), Albert Haase, OFM. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2023. If God is the fire and spark who sets our lives aflame, how do we prepare the kindling for the transforming and empowering work of God? Review
The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts, Loren Grush. New York: Scribner, 2023. Traces the story of the first six American women astronauts from their selection, through their training and missions, along with the special media attention they received. Review
Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament, Sandra L. Glahn. IVP Academic, 2023. Through a study of literature, epigraphic, art, and architectural evidence, proposes that Artemis, far from being a fertility goddess, was a virgin, who aided women in childbirth, and considers the implications for our reading of 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Review
A Continuous Harmony, Wendell Berry. Berkeley: Counterpoint Press, 2012. A collection of essays representing a cross-section on Berry’s critique of America’s consumptive culture as well as his ideas on good agriculture. Review
Faith Seeking Understanding, Fourth Edition, Daniel L. Migliore. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2023. An introduction to theology, covering all the major topics of systematic theology. Review
Excavating the Land of Jesus, James Riley Strange, Foreword by Luke Timothy Johnson. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2023. A description of the real work of archaelogists excavating sites in the biblical world from the time of Jesus, particularly the problems they seek to solve as they try +to understand how people lived in that time. Review
Last Ditch(Roderick Alleyn #29), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2016 (originally published in 1976). Alleyn and Troy’s son Ricky finds himself in the middle of a murder of a young horsewoman and gets mixed up with a group of drug runners when all he wants to do is get away on a Channel island and write. Review
Best of the Month: My choice for this month is C.W. Goodyear’s President Garfield. Garfield is a fellow product of Ohio’s Western Reserve and Goodyear traces a life full of accomplishment tragically cut short. He was an educator, a Civil War hero, an abolitionist, a politician who brought people together. One wonders what he might have accomplished if he had served eight years instead of five months as president. Goodyear captures all these facets of his life, one not without failings, but certainly one fully lived.
Quote of the Month. A book I haven’t mentioned yet is Albert Haase’s Catching Fire Becoming Flame, on how we might prepare the kindling of our lives to be set aflame by the Spirit of God. It’s a rich book to be read repeatedly and taken on retreat. I liked this quote:
“Catching fire and becoming flame require more than the spark of the Spirit and our well-chosen kindling. They also demand an ongoing perseverance and a long-term patience forged from the awareness that God fervently desires to see us blaze with godly enthusiasm. That enthusiasm flares up as we willingly surrender to the communal process of being transformed by the Spirit of God sent to lovingly respond to the unmet need or required duty of the present moment.”
What I’m reading. I began the third Brother Cadfael today, Monk’s Hood. I love this monk who combines manliness and holiness! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Demon Copperhead. Kingsolver creates in this character a compelling voice who narrates the hard life of growing up in the rural foster system and the burgeoning opioid crisis, and the vulnerabilities of an attractive young man who thinks of himself as trash because that is how he’s been treated most of his life. I’m also enjoying my baseball book of the summer, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches. The ten pitches are everything from the fastball to the spitter. The author discusses who were the consummate pitchers of a particular pitch and famous moments when it was their “out” pitch. This is “inside baseball” at its best. Danielle Treweek’s The Meaning of Singleness explores singleness, not as a problematic state, but one of present significance in light of the eschaton. Finally, I’m taking a deep dive into the philosophy of personalism in More Than Things on the meaning and significance of all humans. I’m interviewing the author, Paul Louis Metzger later this month!
Because I’m in the middle of several longer books, you’ll see some other posts on some days. Meanwhile, take the time to catch up on the twenty reviews here, and maybe even read one or two! Happy reading!
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.
Two mysteries by Ngaio Marsh. Books by an Ann and an Anne. Two excellent novels by Zafon and Patchett. David Grann’s riveting account of the Osage murders and Roger Angell’s elegant essays on baseball. Poetry, fantasy, and essays on what matters most. Theology on Paul, the Trinity, God’s emotions, and from an Asian-American perspective. A new edition of a classic work by Dorothy L. Sayers, a shorter piece on why we get out of bed, and a surprisingly good collection of Christian poetry. So many delightful reads this month! Part of what I love about this blog is the chance to share them with you. So here they are.
The Apostle and the Empire, Christoph Heilig (foreword by John M. G. Barclay). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2022. Focusing on 2 Corinthians 2:14, Heilig argues for an alternative to either hidden or unexpressed criticism of the empire in Paul’s writings, proposing that we might also consider texts that have been overlooked. Review
The Trinity in the Book of Revelation(Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture), Brandon D. Smith (Foreword by Lewis Ayers). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. A Trinitarian reading of Revelation, drawing upon the insights of the pro-Nicene fathers to elucidate John’s vision both of the One God and the working of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Review
Photo Finish(Roderick Alleyn #31), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2016 (originally published in 1980). A New Zealand trip for Alleyn and Troy goes sideways when Isabella Sommita, a soprano and diva is murdered after she debuts a badly written opera composed by her latest love interest. Review
The Emotions of God, David T. Lamb. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 2022. A study of the emotional language used of God in scripture, considering seven emotions spoken of both in Old and New Testaments. Review
Why the Gospel?, Matthew W. Bates (Foreword by Scot McKnight). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2023. Instead of asking what the gospel is, explores why has God made this proclamation of good news, centering on the kingship of Jesus and what this means for those who place allegiance in him. Review
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Translated by Lucia Graves). New York: Penguin Books, 2005. Daniel Sempere’s life is changed when he finds a mysterious book in the Cemetery of Lost Books, and embarks on a quest to learn the true story of its mysterious author, one that places him in great peril. Review
Things That Matter Most, Christopher de Vinck. Brewster: MA: Paraclete Press, 2022. A collection of essays that remind us that the things that matter most are as close as the beauty of things around us from fireflies, to Fred Rogers, to friends and family, and to the tip of our fingers. Review
On Getting Out of Bed, Alan Noble. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. Written for those whose experience of life or mental state make even getting out of bed a challenge, offering encouragement that even this is courageous and testifies to the goodness of God, and of life. Review
Divine Love Theory, Adam Lloyd Johnson. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2023. Proposes that the love within the Trinity serves as the objective basis and foundation for living moral lives and engages the competing atheist theory of Erik Weilenberg proposing an objective basis for morality apart from God.Review
Season Ticket, Roger Angell. New York: Open Road Media, 2013 (originally published in 1988). A collection of essays covering the 1982 to 1987 seasons, from spring training to the drama of the championships, and all the skills of players and managers and owners required to compete at the major league level. Review
Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann. New York: Doubleday, 2017. The true crime account of a series of murders of Osage tribal people motivated by money and the FBI agent who arrested some of the major figures involved in the deaths. Review
You Are Us, Gareth Gwyn. Austin: River Grove Books, 2023. An account using case studies showing how self-understanding and inner work allows individuals to become leaders in healing polarized relationships. Review
Christian Poetry in America Since 1940, Edited by Micah Mattix and Sally Thomas. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2022. An anthology of poetry written by a wide variety of poets who identify as Christian, born between 1940 and 1989. Review
The Dutch House, Ann Patchett. New York: HarperCollins, 2019. Two siblings, Maeve and Danny, seek to come to terms with past losses of parents, and their childhood home, a striking three-story home built by a Dutch couple. Review
Mossflower(Redwall #2), Brian Jacques. New York: Avon Books, 1988. A prequel to Redwall,narrating the quest of Martin the Warrior and his companions to deliver Mossflower from the attack of the cruel wildcat Tsarmina, ruling from the fortress Kotir, next to Mossflower Wood. Review
Doing Asian-American Theology, Daniel D. Lee. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. A book laying out a framework for doing Asian-American theology considering both the shared and diverse cultural contexts of Asian-American peoples. Review
Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage, Anne Lamott. New York: Riverhead Books, 2021. An exploration of the values that sustain us when we see a world as well as our own bodies falling apart. Review
The Man Born to be King (Wade Annotated Edition), Dorothy L. Sayers, edited by Kathryn Wehr. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A new annotated edition of Sayers’ cycle of twelve plays on the life of Christ. Review
Death of a Fool(Roderick Alleyn #19), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2014 (originally published in 1957). A fertility dance culminating in a ritual beheading of a fool, followed by his resurrection, ends with the fool having been truly decapitated. Review
Best of the Month: Dorothy L. Sayers The Man Born to Be King cycle of twelve radio dramas on the life of Christ, along with C. S. Lewis’s lectures on “mere” Christianity, helped sustain England during the depths of the Second World War. Now, Kathryn Wehr has edited a wonderful new edition of these plays with helpful introductions to each play and annotations throughout on the original text including Sayers’ Introduction, notes for each play and the text of the plays. An invaluable resource for Sayers’ scholars and lovers, and for any who want to explore her imaginative exploration of the life of Jesus the King, using the vernacular of her day. This is a tour de force!
Quote of the Month: Christopher de Vinck, in What Matters Most, made this probing observation to students he was teaching in a literature course on finding themselves in the literature they read:
“When we know who we are we can build a life upon wisdom, love, and compassion, and set the footprint of our lives firmly onto the earth for others to find who need the evidence and the inheritance of goodness as a guide for the future. When we know what matters most, we know where we are going” (p. 18).
What I’m Reading. I just finished Lies My Teacher Told Me. Written in the mid-Nineties, it reminds me that whitewashing American history is not just a current political fad but something we have been doing for a long time. The Language of the Soul by Jeff Crosby is a literate reflection on ten of our deepest longings. Alicia Britt Chole’s The Night is Normal is a deep dive into how we handle disillusionment. A Bond Between Souls is a scholarly study of Augustine on friendship, based on his letters to his friends. The Buster Clan, inspired by genealogical work, studies one Virginia family’s history, the Busters/Bustards, through American history. I’ve just put Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore on my reading pile. I’ll let you know what I think–I’ve not read him before. I’m also in the middle of two books for book clubs. Carmen Joy Imes Being God’s Image explores what it means that we were made as images of God. Matthew Lynch’s Flood and Fury explores God’s acts both in the flood and the invasion of Canaan resulting in great loss of life.
I’m looking forward to the more relaxed schedule of summer to enjoy these and other books on my TBR pile. As always, would love to hear what you are reading!
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.
Twenty books. That’s what you’ll find in this summary. Among the firsts for me were to review poetry of Luci Shaw, which is quite wonderful, and to read the first of Brian Jacques’ Redwall series (thanks for this Carmen Joy Imes!). There is an assortment of fiction from a lesser known Wallace Stegner to several interesting works from indie presses (btw, thanks, Bob Katz for sending me your book!). A history of the Uyghurs helped me to understand the cultural genocide going on among these people within the PRC. A historical fiction account of Iran-Contra raised the chilling reality that the crack cocaine epidemic in our country was used to fund our government’s efforts among the Contras, and that the agents of the cocaine trade enjoyed immunity from arrest while this was occurring. I’m a big fan of libraries and Librarians Tales was a fun read on the real life of librarians. Michael Stewart Robb’s study of the work of Dallas Willard made me want to go back and read some of the works of Willard I haven’t read (and maybe re-read the others). I’d also commend Ruth Haley Barton’s book on sabbath and sabbaticals. From children’s lit to fiction to theology, this was a month of rich fare.
The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church, Richard E. Averbeck. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. A study of for what God intended the law in its original context, how it was fulfilled in Christ, and its continuing relevance for the church today. Review
The King of Easter(A FatCat Book), Nathasha Kennedy (Art), Todd R. Hains (Text). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2023. The story of Easter, focusing on the risen Jesus who seeks and saves the lost. Review
Following Jesus in a Warming World, Kyle Meyaard-Schaap. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. By combining biblical and theological framing with personal narrative, offers hope and practical steps to those daunted by the immensity, and perceived hopelessness, of the realities of climate change. Review
Recapitulation, Wallace Stegner. New York:Vintage, 2015, originally published in 1979. When former ambassador Bruce Mason returns to Salt Lake City for the funeral of an aunt, long-forgotten memories of his youth come back to challenge how he has remembered this formative part of his life. Review
Lost in Thought, Zena Hitz. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. A defense of the love of learning for its own sake, for how it enriches our existence as human beings. Review
Hangdog Souls, Marc Joan. London: Deixis Press, 2022. A fugitive English soldier in southern India makes a Faustian bargain winning endless life at the cost of countless others over three centuries. Review
Enjoying the Bible, Matthew Mullins. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021. Explores how learning to read literature helps us love the Bible rather than just reading it as a divine instruction manual. Review
A Christian Theology of Science, Paul Tyson. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022. Rather than simply another treatment of the way science and religion ought relate, begins with creedal Christianity, develops a theology of science, and argues that Christians treat theology as their “first truth discourse.” Review
The War on the Uyghurs, Sean R. Roberts. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. An account of the People’s Republic of China’s suppression of the Uyghur minority within its borders, including its use of the U.S.-initiated Global War on Terror to pursue religious and political persecution, re-education, internment camps, and intermarriage to effect what the author calls “cultural genocide.“ Review
Third and Long, Bob Katz. Minneapolis: Trolley Car Press, 2010. When a drifter, once a Notre Dame football star, shows up in Longview, Ohio, he quickly becomes the town’s hope to save its major factory, lead its football team to victory, and maybe save the town. Review
Home is the Road, Diane Glancy. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2022. The traveling memoirs of a literature professor listening to the messages the land speaks and what within her answers these messages. Review
Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest, Ruth Haley Barton, foreword by Ronald Rolheiser. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press/Formatio, 2022. Describes the journey to life-giving sabbath practices as well as planning for and taking sabbaticals. Review
Arm and Hammer, Jonathan K. Wade. Culver City, CA: Gambit Publishing, 2022. A historical fiction account or the Iran-Contra affair telling the story of US NSC and CIA complicity with drug cartels distributing cocaine in US cities to fund the Contra resistance to the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Review
Angels Everywhere, Luci Shaw. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press/Iron Pen, 2022. A collection of poems written during the first year of the pandemic, aware that even in light glancing through windows, we have intimations of “angels everywhere.” Review
The Kingdom Among Us, Michael Stewart Robb. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022. A formulation of the theology of Dallas Willard, centering around his focus on the gospel of the kingdom, and three stages of understanding Jesus followers go through in their progressive apprehension of the realities of that kingdom. Review
Tell Her Story, Nijay K. Gupta, Foreword Beth Allison Barr. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. The often overlooked stories of women in the New Testament and how they led, taught, and ministered in the early church. Review
This Isn’t Going to End Well, Daniel Wallace. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2023. The story of William Nealy, as told by his brother-in-law, a cartoonist, guru of adventure sports, and emulated by the author, all the while harboring a secret within that finally killed him. Review
Thoughts on Public Prayer, Samuel Miller, foreword by Jonathan L. Master. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2022 (originally published in 1849). A classic discussion advocating for extemporaneous public prayer as the practice of the church in the first five centuries of its existence, how this is done badly and well, and how the pastor may pursue excellence in public prayer. Review
Librarian Tales, William Ottens. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2020. An entertaining account of the life of librarians, the different roles they fill and the usual and unusual problems they face. Review
Redwall(Redwall #1), Brian Jacques. New York: Ace Books, 1998 (originally published in 1986). The first in the Redwall Saga,where Matthias, the adopted mouse, dreams of being a warrior like Martin the Warrior, hero of the Redwall Abbey tapestry, a dream (and prophecy) he has the chance to fulfill when Cluny the rat and his forces attack Redwall Abbey. Review
Best Book of the Month: Once again a tough choice. I have to go with Paul Tyson’s A Christian Theology of Science. Tyson fills what I believe a needed gap in proposing, not a way of thinking about faith and science, but rather looking at a theology of science. He argues that our starting point ought be the creeds and theology as the “first truth discourse,” yet avoids the confrontational posture common to some faith-science books.
Quote of the Month: Zena Hitz book, Lost in Thought is a profound defense of the love of learning for its own sake and the joys of the intellectual life. She writes:
I have argued that intellectual life properly understood cultivates a space of retreat within a human being, a place where real reflection takes place. We step back from concerns of practical benefit, personal or public. We withdraw into small rooms, literal or internal. In the space of retreat we consider fundamental questions: what human happiness consists in, the origins and nature of the universe, whether human beings are part of nature, and whether and how a truly just community is possible. From the space of retreat emerges poetry, mathematics, and distilled wisdom articulated in words or manifested silently in action (p. 185).
What I’m Reading: I have three books awaiting review. Susan Hylen’s Finding Phoebe is a study of primary sources both biblical and contemporary to understand the life of women in the New Testament period, using a discussion approach allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven explores what a world might be like where only one in 250 people survive a pandemic. Don’t read this, like I did, when you are about to get on a plane! Benjamin Gladd’s The Hope of Life After Death contends that we are much more able to draw the implications of the death of Christ than of the resurrection and seeks to fill that gap. Currently, I’m reading Endless Grace, prayers inspired by the Psalms–not paraphrases so much as original prayers on themes of each psalm, incorporating ideas from throughout scripture. I grew up watching “Uncle” Walter Cronkite every night and am enjoying Douglas Brinkley’s Cronkite–I’ve liked everything from this writer! Fresh Scent is another in the series of Ngaio Marsh detective stories. Non-Toxic Masculinity by Zach Wagner explores the impact of purity culture on both men and women and the toxic ideas about what it means to be male that were promoted and what a biblically informed non-toxic masculinity might look like. Finally, reaching way back, I’m reading a translation of Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine, edited by Timothy George. It helps me understand afresh what a formidable thinker Augustine was and why he has had such enduring influence.
Until next month, my reading friends!
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’m not sure how to characterize this months collection of books reviewed. There is a new Bible translation and Clarence Jordan, who wrote his own paraphrases of the gospels. You’ll find a Lenten devotional and occasional papers by Pope Benedict on the environment. You can go from the wonders of the cell to John Kennedy’s goal to place a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s. I reviewed a theology of the atonement for those who have experienced abuse and a discussion of the place of beauty in Christian formation. I read Anne Lamott’s Help Wow Thanks on prayer and then felt like saying “Help Wow Thanks” as I read Kristen Page’s Wonders of Creation. On most months, Bonnie Kristian’s Untrustworthy would have been my Best Book of the Month. Her exploration of our epistemic crisis and thoughtful ideas about developing epistemic virtue seem so crucial when we struggle to know who or what we may trust. Saint Patrick the Forgiver is a wonderful retelling of the story of Saint Patrick for children and adults alike. Granite Kingdom is a work of historical fiction set in Vermont’s granite country in 1910, written by a first time author who researched it while working as a journalist for a small town Vermont newspaper. And, of course, I finished off the month with another Ngaio Marsh!
The Inconvenient Gospel(Plough Spiritual Guides), Clarence Jordan, edited by Frederick L. Downing, Introduction by Starlette Thomas. Walden, NY: Plough Books, 2022. A collection of the talks and writings of Clarence Jordan, rooted in the teaching of Jesus, drawing out the radical implications this has for war, wealth disparity, civil rights, and true community. Review
A Just Passion: A Six Week Lenten Journey, Ruth Haley Barton, Sheila Wise Rowe, Tish Harrison Warren, Terry M. Wildman, and others. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. A six week Lenten devotional consisting of brief excerpts from works by InterVarsity Press authors, scripture readings, and breath prayers, considering how, in the passion of Christ, we lament the injustices of the world, find healing in the redemptive work of Christ, and enter into Christ’s heart for justice for the oppressed. Review
The Song of the Cell, Siddhartha Mukherjee. New York: Scribner, 2022. A history of the advances of cell biology including the cutting-edge innovations that allow for the modification or implantation of cells, creating in essence, a new human. Review
The Back Side of the Cross, Diane Leclerc and Brent Peterson, foreword by Lynn Bohecker. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2022. A look at the models of the atonement from the back side of the cross, where those abused and abandoned are found, exploring how Jesus died not only for sinners but the sinned against. Review
First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, Terry M. Wildman, Consulting editor, First Nations Version Translation Council. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. A dynamic equivalent English translation of the New Testament by and for the First Nations people in North America, using the cultural idioms resonating with First Nations people. Review
The Garden of God: Toward a Human Ecology, Pope Benedict XVI, foreword by Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues. Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2014. A collection of Pope Benedict XVI’s statements in homilies, papal greetings, letters, and other written documents, pertaining to a theology of human ecology. Review
Reading the Bible Around the World, Federico Alfredo Roth, Justin Marc Smith, Kirsten Oh, Alice Yafeh-Deigh, and Kay Higuera Smith. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. A globally representative team of authors discuss the diverse social locations of different cultures that shape their reading of scripture, developing the student’s awareness of the importance of context in biblical interpretation. Review
Granite Kingdom, Eric Pope. Montpelier, VT: Rootstock Publishing, 2022. Set in Vermont’s granite country in 1910, narrates a rivalry between two granite companies representing old and new ways, with a young newspaperman with social aspirations caught in between. Review
Dawn: A Complete Account of the Most Important Day in Human History — Nisan 18, AD 30, Mark Miller. Good Turn Publishing, 2023. An effort to render a unified account of the trial, death, resurrection and post-resurrection appearances of Jesus up to the ascension, detailing the movements of the disciples and especially the women who visited the grave on Easter morning. Review
Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Anne Lamott. New York: Riverhead Books, 2012. The author’s account of what it is for her to pray and three types of prayer that, for her, describe what it means to pray. Review
The Apocalyptic Paul: Retrospect and Prospect(Cascade Library of Pauline Studies), Jamie Davies, Foreword by John Barclay. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2022. A survey of the major contributors to the Apocalyptic Paul movement within Pauline studies, as well as a discussion of some outstanding areas for discussion and proposals of bringing biblical scholars in the Apocalyptic Paul movement, theologians focusing on apocalyptic, and those studying the Jewish apocalyptic tradition into conversation. Review
The Wonders of Creation: Learning Stewardship from Narnia and Middle-Earth(The Hansen Lectureship Series), Kristen Page, with contributions from Christina Bieber Lake, Noah J. Toly, and Emily Hunter McGowin. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. Discusses the value of Lewis’s and Tolkien’s fictional landscapes in fostering love and care for the creation of which we are part. Review
Anchorhold, Kirsten Pinto Gfroerer. Cambridge: The Lutterworth Press, 2022. A two-year correspondence with Julian of Norwich, reflecting upon the Revelations of Divine Love. Review
American Moonshot, Douglas Brinkley. New York: Harper, 2020. A history of the American space program centering around John F. Kennedy’s embrace of the space race and goal that an American would walk on the moon by the end of the 1960’s. Review
Saint Patrick the Forgiver, Retold and Illustrated by Ned Bustard. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2023. A re-telling of the story of Saint Patrick, who returned to the Irish who had enslaved him, having forgiven them and preaching forgiveness through the work of Christ. Review
Untrustworthy, Bonnie Kristian, Foreword by David French. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2022. A discussion of the epistemic crisis that has swept our society, riven our politics, and undermined our Christian community, and steps one may take to cultivate epistemic virtue and live discerningly. Review
Vintage Murder (Roderick Alleyn # 5), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012 (first published in 1937). Alleyn falls in with a theatre company while in New Zealand and discovers that neither murder nor police work take a vacation. Review
Best Book of the Month. So many good books this month, but the publication of the First Nations Version is such a singular event–a fresh translation speaking in the idioms of First Nations People but also opening the text up in a fresh way to other readers, including this one! I also had the privilege this past month of interviewing the lead translator and loved the story of how this translation came into being. Here’s the video of our interview:
Quote of the Month: Anchorhold is a reflection on the Revelations of Divine Love of Julian of Norwich. One of the most famous involves a vision of a hazelnut. Kirsten Pinto Gfroerer writes:
“In the hazelnut you see three attributes: the first, that God made it, the second that God loves it, the third that God cares for it.…Nothing in the hazelnut’s essence reveals these attributes; in fact, it is so small, it is almost nothing. However, it has these attributes of being created, loved, and cared for by the Godhead because the Godhead gives them to us. Because they are gifts there is nothing we can do to lose them” (p. 14).
What I’m Reading. I’m nearly finished reading Richard Averbeck’s The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church: Reading the Torah in the Light of Christ. It’s a rich study of the significance of all of the Old Testament law, which he believes profitable for the church. Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz is a fascinating exploration of thinking just for the sake of thinking. Marc Joan’s Hangdog Souls is a work of magical realism set in South India where an Englishman made a Faustian bargain where he gains his life at the cost of facilitating the deaths of others over several centuries. I’m not a fan of magical realism and I’m still making up my mind about this one. Have you ever gone back to your home town and relived your youth, perhaps forty or fifty years later? That’s what the principal character in Wallace Stegner’s Recapitulation does when an aunt’s death takes him back to Salt Lake City. I’m a Stegner fan and this is one I haven’t read. Finally, I’m reading Kyle Meyaard-Schaap’s Following Jesus in a Warming World. Among other things, he argues that caring for creation is pro-life and pro-evangelism. He joins Katherine Hayhoe as a voice of hope amid the dire predictions and discouraged youth of our climate crisis. I’m interviewing him next month and we’ll have a lot to talk about!
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.
First, I will start with some “classics.” I reviewed a classic Ngaio Marsh Alleyn story, a classic of political theory from F.A. Hayek, and the classic manual of inductive Bible study from Robert A. Traina. I enjoyed a book on emerging technologies and a helpful approach (I think) to conversations about the intersection of science and faith. I finally got to the second book in the Poppy Wars trilogy and am impressed that R.F. Kuang can created both an interesting world and intricate plots at such a young age. Then there were some thought provoking books including Peter Singer on effective altruism, Richard Mouw on patriotism and the Christian, a couple of books on flourishing at work, a historical study of Christian parenting in American history, and a very hopeful book about the church. Mark Teasdale made me think about abundance in scripture and life and Samuel Emadi about the significance of Joseph, Jacob’s son in God’s redemptive purposes. Finally, I read several “landmark” books–Willa Cather’s Pulitzer winner, the great new biography of Samuel Adams, and of course, Louise Penny’s latest.
Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/orRuin Everything, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. New York: Penguin Press, 2017. A cartoonist and scientist team up to look at ten emerging technologies and the challenges, both scientific and moral, that are involved in bringing these into existence in the “soonish” future. Review
How to Be a Patriotic Christian, Richard J. Mouw. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. Navigating the space between Christian nationalism and national cynicism, explores how Christians might properly love country within their primary allegiance to Christ, focused around civic kinship and responsibility. Review
The Road to Serfdom(Fiftieth Anniversary edition), F. A. Hayek. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995 (originally published in 1944, link is to the 2007 Definitive Edition). An argument that collectivist, planned economies lead to the erosion of individual liberties, the rule of law, and result in the rise of totalitarian governments. Review
Participating in Abundant Life, Mark R. Teasdale. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. A holistic vision of salvation that includes material standards of living, quality of life, and eternal life under the rubric of abundant life. Review
Swing, Brother, Jones (Inspector Alleyn #15), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2012 (originally published in 1949). An eccentric British Lord joins a swing band for a number that involves a gun, and the person at whom he shoots is actually killed with an unusual projectile–a knitting needle–right in front of Alleyn! Review
Christian Parenting: Wisdom and Perspectives from American History, David P. Setran. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2022. A historical study of Christian parenting beliefs in two eras of American history, the Colonial and Victorian periods. Review
A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny. New York: Minotaur Press, 2022. 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. Review
Make Work Matter, Michaela O’Donnell, PhD. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2021. A book on finding meaningful work, focusing on the adaptive skills and sense of calling one needs, the character one develops, and a four-part entrepreneurial cycle for the journey. Review
The Most Good You Can Do, Peter Singer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Singer’s argument for living a life of effective altruism, using evidence and reason to make the most effective decisions to improve the world. Review
From Prisoner to Prince (New Studies in Biblical Theology), Samuel Emadi. London/Downers Grove: Apollos/IVP Academic, 2022 (Link for From Prisoner to Prince at UK publisher). A study of Joseph as a type of the Messiah, considering the place of Joseph in the Genesis narrative, the theological themes arising from the Joseph narratives and how later OT and NT writers appropriate this material. Review
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, Stacy Schiff. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2022. A biography of this Boston revolutionary who, working mostly behind the scenes, fanned into flame the colonists decision to seek independence. Review
Methodical Bible Study. Robert A. Traina. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2002 (First published in 1952). The foundational text and manual in the inductive Bible study movement. Review
Navigating Faith and Science, Joseph Vukov. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022. A framework for understanding the intersection of science and faith. Review
Becoming the Church, Claude R. Alexander Jr. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. Studies of the first six chapters of Acts revealing the purposes, practices, and principles that led to the transformation of a loose group of individuals into the church. Review
One of Ours, Willa Cather. New York: Vintage Classics, 1991 (Originally published 1922). The story of Claude Wheeler, raised on a Nebraska farm, longs to live his ideals and find his purpose and does so in the First World War. Review
The Dragon Republic (The Poppy Wars #2), R. F. Kuang. New York: Harper Voyager, 2019. Seeking revenge against The Empress of Nikan, Rin joins the effort of the Dragon Lord to create a republic, who seeks to enlist the support of southern warlords and a foreign power, the Hesperians. Review
Best Book of the Month. Stacy Schiff’s The Revolutionary, on Samuel Adams, barely missed out as my best biography of the year. Schiff makes a convincing case that Adams carried the torch that set the colonies afire against the British. He was never successful in his personal affairs but gave a rationale, fostered strategic efforts, and mobilized the resistance that became a revolution. He gets overlooked among Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin and even his nephew, John Adams. This book helps redress the balance.
Best Quote of the Month: Richard Mouw tackles a controversial subject in How To Be a Patriotic Christian. I appreciated this proposal of what patriotism informed by Christian values might look like:
“But patriotism is not just about our relationship to specific government policies and practices. It is about belonging to a community of citizens with whom we share our political allegiances–and even more important, our common humanness. Patriotism is in an important sense more about our participation in a nation than it is about loving a state” (p. 14).
What I’m Reading: I have three books awaiting review that I just finished in the last few days. One is Theophany by Vern Poythress, a biblical study of the various instances of God’s appearances and their theological significance. The Intentional Year is a great resource for a new year as we take stock of our lives over the past year and think about developing life-giving rhythms and practices for the new year. Crumpled Paper is written by local (to Central Ohio) author Michael S. Moore, an intriguing story that drew me in as it describes artistic processes and networks in a fun, fictional story. On my currently reading pile at present is Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout which includes an exquisite vignette of Olive’s visits with a former student undergoing cancer treatments. The Most Famous Man in America is a biography of 19th century American preacher Henry Ward Beecher. I’ve loved all of the Oliver Sacks works I’ve read but am just getting around to his most famous, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Face to Face With Christ is a study of Christ as our priest and mediator, focusing on the book of Hebrews. Finally, to prepare for an interview with him, I am reading Richard Foster’s Learning Humility. I’ve been deeply influenced by his works on spiritual formation over the forty years since he released Celebration of Discipline. The book describes humility as a vanishing virtue. I would agree.
As you can see, I already have some good books lined up to review in 2023!
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.
This Month in Reviews is a cornucopia filled with good books of various sorts. I began the month with a book on foreknowledge and free will. There were a variety of other religious books on transformation, the Herods, orthodoxy, art and new creation, a commentary on Revelation, a book on why women leave the church, and a biography of theologian John Gerstner. Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts topped my fiction reads–a haunting book I’ll be thinking about for awhile. I also read a classic James Baldwin, and another Alleyn and a Rostnikov mystery–for some reason the older I’ve gotten, the more I enjoy a good mystery. My non-fiction reads included a different take on our climate discussion, a history of the Depression contending that Roosevelt’s actions may have prolonged it, a book on math errors in the real world, and how the algorithms of social media engagement have intensified our social divides. And I read a 75 year history of one of my favorite book publishers, a story that includes a number of friends, past and present.
God in Eternity and Time, Robert E. Picirilli. Nashville: B & H Acacdemic, 2022. A case for libertarian freedom without forgoing belief in the foreknowledge of God, rooted in how God acts and reveals himself in creation. Review
When in Rome (Roderick Alleyn #26), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem Press, 2015. Alleyn goes undercover on a Roman holiday tour led by a sketchy tour guide suspected of drug smuggling and other corrupt activities and ends up collaborating in a murder investigation. Review
Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength.Expanded edition. Andrew T. LePeau & Linda Doll, edited by Al Hsu. Foreword by Jeff Crosby and Robert A. Fryling. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. A narrative history of this evangelical publishing house, a division of a campus ministry, upon the publishing house’s seventy-fifth anniversary. Review
Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, Matt Parker. New York: Riverhead Books, 2020. An exploration of all the ways we use (and misuse) math in the real world, and the ways our calculations can go badly wrong. Review
The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes. New York: MJF Books, 2008. An account of the Depression years, focusing on why the Depression lasted so long, and the impact it had on so many different kinds of “forgotten men” and women. Review
Having the Mind of Christ, Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press/Formatio, 2022. Looks at the changed paradigms one must understand to experience deep and lasting change in our lives. Review
The Herods: Murder, Politics, and the Art of Succession. Bruce Chilton. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2021. A history of this dynasty, tracing its rise from Antipater, the rule of Herod the Great, and his descendants who struggled to recover control over the territories he ruled amid Roman power and rising Jewish discontent. Review
Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin. New York: Vintage Books, 2013 (originally published in 1953). An account of John Grimes fourteenth birthday, centering on his brother Roy’s stabbing, his estrangement from his father, and the Saturday night “tarrying service” at a pentecostal church, revelatory of the lives of those around John and his own “salvation.” Review
The Thrill of Orthodoxy, Trevin Wax (Foreword by Kevin Vanhoozer). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. Spirited advocacy for orthodox belief as vibrant, broad, crucial in the battle before us, and for the renewal of God’s people. Review
Climaturity, Marc Cortez. Morro Bay, CA: Wise Media Group, 2022. An argument for a more transparent and measured climate discussion, avoiding either scare tactics or denialism. Review
The Chaos Machine, Max Fisher. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2022. A deep dive into how social media has rewired our minds and fueled social divisions. Review
The Art of New Creation(Studies in Theology and the Arts), Edited by Jeremy Begbie, Daniel Train, and W. David O. Taylor. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2022. Contributions from a variety of artists and theologians from the 2019 DITA10 Conference at Duke Divinity School, focusing on how the theology of the new creation shapes the work of Christian artists in various fields. Review
A Fine Red Rain(Porfiry Rostnikov #4), Stuart M. Kaminsky. New York: Mysterious Press, 2012 (First published in 1987). When two of three high wire artist die, one by suicide, one by “accident,” Rostnikov suspects more, little realizing the reach of the KGB into this case while his friends Sasha deals with black marketers and Karpo pursues a serial murderer of prostitutes. Review
Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng. New York: Penguin Press, 2022. Bird Gardner and his father spend life trying not to be noticed, even as Bird wonders about his mother, the stories she told, why she left them, and where she has gone in a country that turned against her poetry even as one phrase became a rallying cry for all those separated from their children. Review
Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes (A Background and Application Commentary) Tremper Longman III, series editor Andrew T. LePeau. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2022. A running commentary of the book of Revelation that focuses on the Old Testament background running through the book, along with material that goes deeper on the Old Testament material relating to different themes and the structure of the book as well as its contemporary application. Review
Reason to Return, Ericka Andersen. Colorado Springs: NavPress. Forthcoming (January 17) 2023. A book directed to believing women who have left the church looking at the reasons why they have left and reasons why they should consider returning, both for what they may gain and what they may give. Review
Best Book of the Month: I chose Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength. simply because I’ve personally been deeply impacted by the books published by InterVarsity Press and found the story of the growth of this publisher compelling. And, as I mentioned above, it’s a book that includes a number of friends. This may not have been everyone’s choice, but if you know this publisher and have read books by the likes of John Stott, Francis Schaeffer, J. I. Packer, Susan Stabile, Ruth Haley Barton, Tish Harrison Warren and many others, or have commentaries or reference books from IVP, you will find the stories behind the books of interest.
Best Quote of the Month: Trevin Wax’s The Thrill of Orthodoxy argues that there is great joy to be found in the foundational truths of Christianity. I loved this image of orthodoxy as an ancient castle:
“Orthodoxy is an ancient castle with spacious rooms and vaulted ceilings and mysterious corridors, a vast expanse of practical wisdom handed down from our forefathers and mothers in the faith. Some inhabit the castle but fail to sift through its treasures. Others believe the castle stands in the way of progress and should be torn down. A few believe the castle’s outer shell can remain for aesthetic purposes, so long as the interior is gutted. But in every generation, God raises up those who see the value in the treasure, men and women who maintain a deep and abiding commitment to recognize and accentuate the unique beauty of Christian truth so that future generations can be ushered into its splendor” (p. 9).
I had the privilege of interviewing the author and, if you are interested, you can watch it on YouTube:
What I’m Reading: I’ve just finished reading Soonish, a fun read on ten emerging technologies and the challenges we face bringing them to life. I also finished a thought provoking book by Richard Mouw on How to Be a Patriotic Christian. I’m reading F.A. Hayek’s classic The Road to Serfdom, arguing for the classical idea of liberty, the individual, and the rule of law against state planning, collectivism, and the arbitrary uses of authority that can lead to totalitarian forms of government–fascist or communist. I have another Ngaio Marsh going, Swing, Brother, Swing, a book on the idea of salvation as abundant life in a holistic sense, and the classic work that spawned the inductive Bible study movement, Robert Traina’s Methodical Bible Study. I was a product of this training and came to love the Bible because of it but had never read Traina’s book. Finally, I think Louise Penny’s latest, A World of Curiosities, is supposed to arrive today. I read through her whole series during the pandemic and can’t wait to read her latest!
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.
The test of a good children’s story is that the adult who reads will love it as well. I had the fun of reviewing three this month that met this test, including one that was my Book of the Month. The rest was an eclectic mix including a Richard Wright classic of Black literature and a memoir of Oliver Sacks boyhood. I zoomed out to consider Asian American histories and zoomed in on the four generational history of one family. I read an account of the problems with the cost of higher education and how it contributes to our cultural divides. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about Emily St. John Mandel and reviewed her latest. I learned about four Victorian women writers who resisted “the marriage plot” and how important a curious faith can be. Another book awakened me to the plight of Palestinians and the flawed character of Jewish nationalism and Christian support of it. Steven Bryan’s book on cultural identity sets out a biblical alternative to both nationalism centered around cultural identity and a pluralism of warring identities. And Gordon T. Smith gives us a carefully reasoned, wise book on Christian vocation.
Asian American Histories of the United States, Catherine Ceniza Choy. Boston: Beacon Press, 2022. The multiple, interleaved histories of the diverse Asian American peoples who migrated to, built communities in, contributed to, experienced discriminatory acts in the United States. Review
Resisting the Marriage Plot(Studies in Theology and the Arts), Dalene Joy Fisher. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021. Contrary to prevailing ideas of Christianity being an oppressive force in women’s lives in Victorian literature, looks at four instances in this literature where women resist cultural expectations around marriage due to the liberating and empowering quality of their faith. Review
A Curious Faith, Lore Ferguson Wilbert (Foreword by Seth Haines). Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2022. A book about the questions God asks, we ask, and those we wish we were asked, all with the message of living the questions and not hastily grasping for answers. Review
Agents of Flourishing, Amy L. Sherman. Downers Grove: IVP Praxis, 2022. An outline of how Christians may pursue Christ’s redemptive mission in six areas of cultural life, encompassing the whole of life. Review
Native Son, Richard Wright. New York: Harper Perennial, 1989 (first published in 1940). The story of Bigger Thomas, whose unpremeditated murder of Mary Dalton and second murder covering up the first, fires rage and fear in Chicago, and in a strange way gives meaning to a young man who felt himself imprisoned in Chicago’s Black Belt. Review
Dawn: A Proton’s Tale of All That Came to Be (Biologos Books on Science and Christianity), Cees Dekker, Corien Oranje, and Gijsbert Van Den Brink, translated by Harry Cook, afterword by Deborah Haarsma. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. An imaginative account of cosmology, evolutionary biology, and the creation-fall-redemption story of Christianity, bringing all these together in one grand narrative, recounted by a proton who witnesses it all. Review
Uncle Tungsten, Oliver Sacks. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. A memoir of Sacks boyhood and his explorations of chemistry encouraged by an uncle who used tungsten to manufacture incandescent bulbs. Review
The Lord’s Prayer: For All God’s Children(A FatCat Book), Art by Natasha Kennedy, Text by Harold L. Senkbeil. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2022. A lavishly illustrated book designed for parents to use with children in teaching them the meaning of the Lord’s prayer and praying together in family worship. Review
The King of Christmas(A FatCat Book), Art by Natasha Kennedy, Text by Todd R. Hains. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2022. The search for the King of Christmas by the Magi, and where the King was found…and where he was not. Review
All Will Be Well, Lacy Linn Borgo, Illustrated by Rebecca Evans. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2022. Julian’s Mima is very sick and Julian is worried, sad, and angry and wondering if God hears or cares. Review
After the Ivory Tower Falls, Will Bunch. New York: William Morrow, 2022. How the culture wars, costs, and inaccessibility of college have contributed to our political divides and what may be done. Review
Like Birds in a Cage, David M. Crump (Foreword by Gary M. Burge). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022. A book that argues what is wrong with Christian Zionism from a biblical, geo-political, and eyewitness perspective. Review
Your Calling Here and Now, Gordon T. Smith. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. Looks at calling in our present moment and place, and how we live into our calling in all the turnings and changes of life. Review
Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel. New York: Knopf, 2022. Incidents of a strange hiccup in time over several centuries all have elements in common, including the appear of Gaspery-Jacques Roberts in various guises. Review
Book of the Month: All Will Be Well is a sensitively written book about a little girl Julian whose Mima is dying. The story gives expression to all the feelings a child might have in such a situation and draws upon her namesake Julian of Norwich as her Mima seeks to comfort her.
Quote of the Month: Gordon T. Smith’s Your Calling Here and Now observes that the most important question we may ask about vocation is:
“We ask, at this time and at this place, who and what are we called to be and do?”
What I’m Reading: I’ve just finished God in Time, a discussion of foreknowledge and human freedom, arguing that we should understand the ways of God through his acts in space and time. Reading Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength., a history of InterVarsity Press is a joyful reminiscence of the people who built this publishing house. Many, both alive or in glory, are personal friends. I’ve also just picked up a new book on personal transformation, Having the Mind of Christ.The Forgotten Man is a history of the Depression, raising questions about Roosevelt’s economic policies. If you like books on math, Humble Pi is a delightful journey through all the varieties of math mistakes even those who should know better make. And as is the case most months, the icing on the cake is a Ngaio Marsh mystery, When in Rome.
