Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

WHAT TO READ? CLAREMONT OFFERS A FEAST OF SUGGESTIONS

In a special issue of The Claremont Review of Books dozens of noteworthy individuals offer suggested reading for the holidays.  Best of all, mini-reviews and explanations accompany almost all of the suggestions.  I find the list stretching (to put it mildly) and an enjoyable read in itself!  Below, to offer one example, I've posted Mary Eberstadt's suggestions.  (She has penned, by the way, an essay in the current "First Things" journal, "The Zealous Faith of Secularism: How the Sexual Revolution Became a Dogma.")

Once upon a time, as CRB readers know, soi-disant enlightened progressivism merely disdained religious believers and other traditionalists. Nowadays, it goes after them with spite and glee. Yet the force that to the slammer would drive the cake-baker—and others—now bears paradoxical fruit: it’s inadvertently inspiring some of the finest writing of the time. 2017 has been a banner year for books about faith, by writers of faith and otherwise.

For literary as well as spiritual pleasure, one new offering of interest to anyone who luxuriates in reading is George Weigel’s Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II. With settings as panoramic as those of a thriller, and anecdotes about some of the most fascinating figures and scenes of the twentieth century, it’s a moving, personal, melodically rendered memoir of the biographer’s times with the late great saint.

As others have noted in 2017, Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation is the religious book of the year. It’s also a modern pilgrim’s progress whose passion and sincerity stand as a tacit rebuke to secularist prejudice. Dreher’s truth-telling has achieved something rare these days: a respectful hearing outside the flock for a moral traditionalist.

Another essential new volume is Anthony Esolen’s Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture—an often plangent, and always crystalline, homage to civilization as it should be, unplugged from the distractions and delusions that diminish us.

NEW BIOGRAPHY OF ERIC LIDDELL OF "CHARIOTS OF FIRE" FAME

A few weeks ago I perused a list of outstanding books published in 2016 and noticed a new biography of Eric Liddell, the 1924 Olympic gold medalist made famous by the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.  Liddell went on to become a missionary to China and died in a Japanese internment camp in China in 1945.  The reviews of the new book For the Glory: Eric Liddell's Journey from Olympic Champion to Modern Martyr by Duncan Hamilton are uniformly positive.  

 - "A marriage of prose and detail so fine and fastidious that it takes the breath away." 

 -  This book is better than a movie. For the Glory is the best biography I’ve read on its subject, and may be one of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read.

This is a book now high on my "to read" list.  I previously blogged about Eric Liddell here, and the post is worth visiting because it not only talks about Liddell, but also about the book, Shantung Compound, that describes the living condition Liddell and others endured in a Japanese internment camp in China along with hundreds of others during World War II.  

Some years ago, Day of Discovery produced an excellent documentary on Liddell's life which is now available on YouTube.

BILL GATES SUGGESTS BOOKS TO READ

Here are 5 books Bill Gates suggested for summer reading 2016.

And here are his holiday 2016 suggestions:

String Theory, by David Foster Wallace. This book has nothing to do with physics, but its title will make you look super smart if you’re reading it on a train or plane. String Theory is a collection of five of Wallace’s best essays on tennis, a sport I gave up in my Microsoft days and am once again pursuing with a passion. You don’t have to play or even watch tennis to love this book. The late author wielded a pen as skillfully as Roger Federer wields a tennis racket. Here, as in his other brilliant works, Wallace found mind-blowing ways of bending language like a metal spoon.

DAVID LIMBAUGH'S NEW BOOK - "THE EMMAUS CODE"

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews David Limbaugh (Rush Limbaugh's brother) and a writer of no mean consequence) whose latest book is The Emmaus Code.  Limbaugh tells Lopez:

"This is the book I wish I’d had when I first became a Christian and was eager to read everything I could on the Bible and theology to accelerate my learning curve and make up for lost time. It is an Old Testament primer of sorts, with an emphasis on its Christ-centeredness. It summarizes every book of the Old Testament and shows how each one specifically points to Christ."

Some of Limbaugh's other books include Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of Christianity (2014) and Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christianity (2004).

WORLD MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES 2015 BOOKS OF THE YEAR

World Magazine selected the following as their 2015 books of the year:

To be eligible for consideration for this year’s awards, books must have been published between May 1, 2014, and April 30, 2015.  

[Note: I highly recommend visiting World Magazine's article for more extensive descriptions not only of the winners but also the "runners up," many of which I can easily envision beating the winners.]

Fiction WINNER: The Book of Strange New Things, by Michael Faber

These days, in books from secular publishers, we expect to see pastors depicted as hypocrites and missionaries as agents of exploitation. Instead we find empathy and splendid writing in this poignant work from Michael Faber.

Accessible Theology WINNER: enGendered: God’s Gift of Gender Difference in Relationship, by Sam Andreades

In this insightful work, Andreades skillfully and truthfully guides readers through at least three crucial cultural debates: Are men and women different? How should husbands and wives help each other? What about same-sex marriage?

Current Events/Public Affairs WINNER: America in Retreat, by Bret Stephens

Stephens shows how isolationist rhetoric is on the rise in America along with balance-of-power appeasement. The consequence may be more disorder than we bargained for, including world war and the avoidable sacrifice of countless lives.  (Short audio talk)

History/Biography WINNER: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson

Larson masterfully tells the story of those responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania and makes us empathize with the ordinary men, women, and children who were war’s collateral damage. The appeal to emotion as well as intellect makes Dead Wake our history/biography book of the year

SEN. MIKE LEE'S NEW BOOK - "LOST CONSTITUTION: RESURRECTING AMERICA'S BASIC LIBERTIES"

 

CBN News:  Utah Sen. Mike Lee believes that nearly every abuse of federal power today is rooted in one overarching issue: the failure to properly interpret and follow the Constitution.

In his new book, Our Lost Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America's Founding Document, Lee says entire sections of the Constitution have been discarded and forgotten.

He also shows why it's not too late to resurrect and restore our fundamental liberties.

"BOOKS & CULTURE" EDITOR LISTS FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2014

John Wilson writes:

. . .  it was a good year for Books & Culture writers. It seems churlish to mention only a handful of their books here, but let these stand for a much larger number: David Skeel’s True Paradox: How Christianity Makes Sense of Our Complex World; Karen Swallow Prior’sFierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Like of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist; David Martin’s Religion and Power: No Logos Without Mythos (excellent to read alongside Andy Crouch’s 2013 book Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power); Tiffany Kriner’s The Future of the Word: An Eschatology of Reading; Daniel Taylor’s novel Death Comes for the Deconstructionist; Scott Cairns’ Idiot Psalms; and Glitter Bomb by Aaron Belz.

So, here’s the list. The titles are mostly in alphabetical order (and the logic of departures from that will be clear), followed at the end by the Book of the Year. For additional thoughts on the Books of 2014, keep an eye out for a piece I’m doing for First Things (assuming it passes muster there).  

To continue click here.

WILLIAM FORSTCHEN DEPICTS ISIS TERROR ATTACK ON U.S. IN HIS NOVELLA "DAY OF WRATH"

History Professor William Forstchen is known by many as the author of One Second After, a novel depicting the mass terror and chaos resulting from an  Electric Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack by an enemy of the United States.  Now he has come out with a 144 page ebook, Day of Wrath, which imagines a low-tech ISIS attack at our most innocent and vulnerable -- our schools and highways. Forstchen's chilling scenario shows how easy it would be to inflict mass terror on the United States.  

One reviewer wrote:

The scenario laid out here - an ISIS terror attack on the U.S. - is frighteningly possible, even likely given our current state of readiness. When the ineptness (dare I say indifference?) of our civil leaders is combined with ISIS' utter disregard for 'infidel' life - especially 'infidel' children - and our culture of appeasement in the name of 'coexistence,' you get a story which travels to another level. A rather sobering, indeed terrifying level. . . .   This is a tome I emphatically recommend. Serving as both 'engaging story' and 'cautionary prediction,' "Day of Wrath" is not a mere wake-up call - it is a swift kick in the backside. It will scare you, yes, but it will also make you aware and keep you sharp; the fact it is a captivating tale is just a major bonus.

Forstchen testifies to a deeply-felt sense of responsibility and duty:

“I was afraid that if I did not write this book, and choose the ebook format so it was available quickly, what was intended as a warning, would quite simply, come too late.   I had to take a break when writing Day of Wrath several times, it was a deeply emotional experience for me as well. It was difficult to complete, but was too important of a project not to finish.” 

Me: I have read this book and recommend it.  It is not an easy, enjoyable read, but the world has taken a very scary turn.  This book makes us face that unpleasant fact and prepare for a possible (even likely) scenario.  Read it!

ERIC METAXAS SUGGESTS BOOKS FOR UNBELIEVERS

Anything suggested by Metaxas is worth considering.  Metaxas writes:

Have you wanted to give an unbelieving friend a book about the Christian faith, but afraid it might come across in the wrong way? I’ve got some great reads to recommend.

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Recently, Christianity Today asked me to recommend five books that would help non-believers better understand, and hopefully embrace, the Christian faith.

This being the season of giving, I’d like to share the list with BreakPoint listeners and ask you to consider giving these books as gifts to the non-believers God has placed in your life. And all of these books are the best kind of apologetics: apologetics that don’t read like apologetics.

The first book is called “The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt” by Joe Loconte. In an earlier BreakPoint, I called this book a “kind of field guide” to the spiritual restlessness that pervades our culture.

As Loconte tells us, notwithstanding the increasing number of people who don’t identify with any religion, our society is filled with what he calls “God Seekers.” These people “don’t always look in the right places, [but] there’s no doubt that they are seeking.”

LIBERAL MEDIA LOVE NEW JESUS BOOK "ZEALOT", FAIL TO MENTION REZA ASLAN, THE AUTHOR, IS MUSLIM

Update 7/29/13 - Rez Aslan has been getting quite a bit of press recently.  From First Things: "Reza Aslan Misrepresents His Scholarly Credentials";  World Magazine: "Fawning Over Falsehoods";  Pamela Geller - "Reza Aslan is Academia's Anwar Awlaki"

(Original article) - I found this news maddening.  John S. Dickerson writes:  (HT: Drudge)

Reza Aslan, author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” has been interviewed on a host of media outlets in the last week. Riding a publicity wave, the book has surged to #2 on Amazon's list.

 

Media reports have introduced Aslan as a “religion scholar” but have failed to mention that he is a devout Muslim.

His book is not a historian’s report on Jesus. It is an educated Muslim’s opinion about Jesus -- yet the book is being peddled as objective history on national TV and radio. . . .

 

As a sincere man, Aslan’s Muslim beliefs affect his entire life, including his conclusions about Jesus. But this is not being disclosed. “Zealot” is being presented as objective and scholarly history, not as it actually is—an educated Muslim’s opinions about Jesus and the ancient Near East.

"Zealot” is a fast-paced demolition of the core beliefs that Christianity has taught about Jesus for 2,000 years. Its conclusions are long-held Islamic claims—namely, that Jesus was a zealous prophet type who didn’t claim to be God, that Christians have misunderstood him, and that the Christian Gospels are not the actual words or life of Jesus but “myth.”

 

I am really bothered by media dishonesty.  The media loves to pounce on the latest negative assertions towards Christianity, yet fail to provide due diligence in gathering essential background information.  As Dickinson notes, Aslan's assertions represent standard Muslim fare.  Doesn't anyone in the media know this?  I'm not sure.  But surely they could at least introduce Aslan as a Muslim, which he is.

  

   A few minutes of moderate research on Reza Aslan has taught me a great deal.  His arrogance is quite breathtaking.  He ridicules Pamela Gellar, Emerson, and Robert Spencer, each of whom deserve enormous respect for their warnings of Islamism and jihadism.  In an interesting article (11/2/2012), Spencer notes that Aslan

has recently been unmasked as a Board member of a front group for Iran’s bloody Islamic regime. Aslan is also a Left-fascist who has called for obstruction of our freedom of speech by means of vandalism of our pro-freedom ads. He has tried to pass off Iran’s genocidally-minded President Ahmadinejad as a liberal reformer. He has called on the U.S. Government to negotiate with Ahmadinejad himself, as well as with Hamas – that is, with two of the most barbaric and murderous adherents of Sharia. Aslan has even praised the jihad terror group Hizballah as “the most dynamic political and social organization in Lebanon,” as well as the Jew-hating, women-hating, kuffar-hating Muslim Brotherhood, which is dedicated in its own words to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.” Aslan wrote: “The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post-Mubarak Egypt. And that is good thing.” We see now just how “good” things are becoming for non-Muslims and women in Egypt under Brotherhood rule.

Elsewhere Spencer says,

Aslan is lionized and respected because he holds the proper politically correct opinions: contemptfor America, hatred for Israel, and endless justification for Islamic supremacists and jihadists.

Reza Aslan, author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” has been interviewed on a host of media outlets in the last week. Riding a publicity wave, the book has surged to #2 on Amazon's list.

 

Media reports have introduced Aslan as a “religion scholar” but have failed to mention that he is a devout Muslim.

His book is not a historian’s report on Jesus. It is an educated Muslim’s opinion about Jesus -- yet the book is being peddled as objective history on national TV and radio. . . .

 

As a sincere man, Aslan’s Muslim beliefs affect his entire life, including his conclusions about Jesus. But this is not being disclosed. “Zealot” is being presented as objective and scholarly history, not as it actually is—an educated Muslim’s opinions about Jesus and the ancient Near East.

 

“Zealot” is a fast-paced demolition of the core beliefs that Christianity has taught about Jesus for 2,000 years. Its conclusions are long-held Islamic claims—namely, that Jesus was a zealous prophet type who didn’t claim to be God, that Christians have misunderstood him, and that the Christian Gospels are not the actual words or life of Jesus but “myth.”  . . .

TIM KELLER'S READING LIST ON CULTURE

Found here:

Luc Ferry, A Brief History of Thought | "If you only read one, read this one."
Steven Smith, The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind
Andrew Delbanco, The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope
John Gray, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (approximately the first 65 pages)
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice: Rights and Wrongs (pp. 324-362) | "Probably the most difficult reading."
Michael Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation

Me: I have no particular comment on this list since the only book I've read is Lesslie Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.  But that book, along with several others he wrote, has played an important role in shaping the contours of my mind.  Because of Newbigin's experience living and serving in India, when he returned to the UK later in life, he brought a rich worldview perspective that challenged and nourished the Western Christian mind in important ways.

 

As for the first book on Keller's list,  A Brief History of Thought, about which he wrote "If you only read one, read this one,"Justin Taylor quotes him further:

This book right now is a terrific, fast way to get a handle on western culture because:

It’s a great survey of western thought—very few are available, especially from a non-Christian who is sympathetic to Christianity. All other books you buy will be less comprehensive. Though his expression of Christian doctrine is often garbled, Ferry has deep appreciation for Christianity, and when he describes how Christianity swept Greco-Roman paganism away as a cultural force, it is a remarkable, eye-opening account. It shows a) how complex and difficult it is to change culture, but b) how indeed culture does get changed. The shifts away from Christianity are also extremely interesting.

HISTORIAN PAUL JOHNSON'S CHOICE OF BEST BIOGRAPHIES

Yesterday I posted on fiction and novel.  Today I want to post on "best biograpies" as selected by Paul Johnson, a man whose work I respect greatly.  Here's his 5 top choices:

Macaulay

By Sir Arthur Bryant (1932)

1. There is no doubt in my mind what is the best short biography ever written. It is Sir Arthur Bryant's life of Macaulay. I have taken it as the model for my own small-scale lives, of which I have done five, and my 60 biographical essays, in four volumes. What is required for this kind of work is a combination of ruthlessness and elegance. Ruthlessness in discarding everything but the essential; elegance in concealing your brutality behind a flow of prose in which not a word is wasted, room is found for wit and the telling anecdote, and the reader never gets an impression of hurry. Macaulay was a tough subject. He was a poet, a journalist of the highest class and a historical writer who enraptured his contemporaries but also a man of action, cabinet minister, reformer and the best administrator in the whole course of the British Empire in India. He never wasted a day. He always had a book or two in his pocket for reading—and remembering—in odd moments. His memory was prodigious. He never had to search for a word, in writing or speech. Coping with this phenomenon, and reducing his crowded life to a mere 109 pages, required a historian of the highest caliber and a writer of unusual gifts. Bryant was that man. In 1945 the world was astonished when the British electorate deposed Winston Churchill and replaced him with the Labour Party leader Clement Attlee. As they were processing to the House of Commons for the opening of Parliament, Churchill said to Attlee: "Who is our finest historian?" "Arthur Bryant." "Well," said Churchill, 'at least we agree on something.'

Ulysses S. Grant

By Michael Korda (2004)

2. Americans make very good biographers for thoroughness. But they write on an ample scale, and short biographies are rare. But they do occur, and one I admire is Michael Korda's "Ulysses S. Grant." Here was a man whose early life was humble and marked by failure, but once he got a grip on success he was unusually proficient. He contrived to end the Civil War, and to end it on a note of grace, to serve two terms as president, and then to write one of the most successful books in American literature. As Korda says, in the late 19th century, in every American home, you could count on finding two books, the Bible and Grant's memoirs. Korda manages to bring this man alive, and nail down his qualities and significance, in 158 short pages.

Lincoln at Gettysburg

By Garry Wills (2006)

3. Of Grant's contemporary, Lincoln, there are over 1,000 biographies, many multivolume, with more appearing every year. There are few short ones, and none outstanding, but there is one that contrives to take a particular episode and use it to epitomize and illuminate the whole life. This is Garry Wills's "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America." The main text is only 175 pages, but it shows how Lincoln in this short speech was able to ennoble the war, to explain why it was necessary, to show why it succeeded in its objects and to give Americans a key text about themselves. The book sums up Lincoln's qualities and makes good his claim to be the exemplar of the American virtues and the central figure in American history. This is a two-day read—with the appendices three—but time profitably spent.

 

Rossetti: His Life and Works

By Evelyn Waugh (1928)

4. Of modern writers in English, I rate Evelyn Waugh as the one who used words most carefully, judiciously and imaginatively and who never employed one more than he absolutely needed. So it is no wonder that he wrote a fine short biography, "Rossetti: His Life and Works." Rossetti is not an easy man to write about. He was a poet as well as a painter. He can be seen both as the central figure in the one important artistic movement of the 19th century in Britain, the Pre-Raphaelites, but also as an outsider who never fitted into its aims. He was also a complex of opposites. He was industrious. He was lazy, almost beyond belief at times. He was highly literary. He rarely read books. He drew like an angel. His drawing was sometimes clumsy and indelicate. His coloring melted the heart. It was also harsh and disturbing. His thoughts about art, literature and culture were incisive and passionately interesting. They were also mindless, at times, and incoherent nearly always. Waugh contrives to fit all these opposites together and to convey, without wasting words, the course of the internal dialogue in himself by which he reached his conclusions. It is a notable achievement for a young man—published when he was 25, it was his first book—and well worth reading.

A Portrait of Charles Lamb

By David Cecil (1983)

5. Finally there is David Cecil's life of the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb. I knew Cecil when I was an Oxford undergraduate, and he still makes me laugh, though I'm not sure whether I am laughing at Cecil himself or at Kingsley Amis's brilliantly funny imitations of him. Cecil was good at short books. He did an excellent one on Jane Austen, another on the young Lord Melbourne and a third on William Cowper. But his Lamb is the best. Cecil was attracted to Lamb by his gentleness, punctuated by occasional spasms of fury, by his exquisite use of words and expressions, and his interest in their gestation, and by his delight in human eccentricity. Lamb's life was made tragic by his beloved sister's periodic bouts of insanity, but it was always a continual comedy—occasionally a farce—thanks to Lamb's eye for the unconscious human behavior that makes one laugh and his ear for wit, as well as his genius for delivering it. This charming book can be read easily in a couple of days, but it will linger in the mind forever.

WHY PASTORS NEED TO READ NOVELS (EUGENE PETERSON ON ANNE TYLER)

Eugene Peterson, long-time pastor and writer of the popular Biblical paraphrase, The Message, offers in his book, Subversive Spirituality (1997) the following intriguing perspective:

[...] Reading a novel is among the more serious activities available to a pastor.  Pastors who neglect to read novels lack seriousness, or at least one aspect of it.  Read scripture, certainly; theology, of course; commentaries, diligently; and novels by all means. 

"Pastors who neglect to read novels lack seriousness."  Well that's an unexpected statement.  It whets our appetite for more. 

... Not all writers of fiction, of course, qualify as allies.  There are discernments to be exercised, but a considerable number take their stand with us against the pastor-debilitating world conditions. . .  

Agreed.  No doubt many novels would actually be quite destructive to a pastor and his imaginative life.  Peterson, though, offers a specific recommendation:

Anne Tyler provides me with eyes to see past the labels, ears to hear beneath sterotyping cliches.  She creates characters in her novels that are always just a little quirky, not quite fitting into society.  When I meet people like that in my parish, I am always a little impatient and try to fit them into categories that I am familiar with, so I won't have to take the extra time to get to know them.  I have, after all, a lot to do.  The church has programs for a variety of needs, and people are supposed to fit into the categories.  Most people are so used to fitting into categories supplied by them by hospitals, schools, shopping malls, and social services that they raise no objections when the church treats them similarly.  But insofar as they acquiesce, they lose capacity to realize what God is most interested in working in them:  sanctity, which means becoming more your created/redeemed self, not less, not being reduced to what will fit into a program, not being depersonalized in the cause of efficiency. 

Ooh, I find that really good  How often we are tempted to "fit people into categories."  Bad, bad, bad.  But so tempting. 

As I let Anne Tyler show me how character is formed, I learn to treat my parishoners with respect, with reverence even, and just as they are, not insofar as they fit into what is convenient for me and useful to the organization.  When I hesitate over details that make this man odd and somewhat of an embarrassment in the coffee hour after worship, Anne Tyler trains me to take in the oddness and love him not in spite of, but because of it. These irregularities that make this woman unsuitable as a role model in our youth ministry, Anne Tyler trains me to see as occasions for the grace of our Lord, not obstructions to it.

So honest!  Yes, some people do strike us as a potential embarrassment.  But, that's all the more occasion to celebrate "diversity"!  Ha.

All good novelists do this for us, develop characters in ways that show us this person unlike any other before or after, and that the human condition is capable of endless variations, and that each variation is a marvel.  But Anne Tyler, for me, is the contemporary master: her unforgettable characterizations of Morgan's Passing, of Macon in The Accidental Tourist, of Maggie in Breathing Lessons, have been a major source of energy and identifying, without condescension and without ridicule, characters that keep showing up in my congregation.  She gets me to know them by name and not by label.  She gets me to say their names in such a way that they realize they are precious, just as they are, in God's sight, and have a place in salvation that no one else will ever occupy.

Well said.  Peterson offers us a program and a strategy to correct our narrowness and lack of vision and imagination:

Whenever I find myself getting irritated and impatient with some sinner who doesn't fit in, I reach for another novel by Anne Tyler and sign up for retraining in character recognition and personal naming. 

When I first came across the Peterson piece noted above, it struck me as valuable and important.  Then just the other day a friend's email offered  a link to another article that likewise celebrates novels. I recommend reading Jonathan Gottschall, "Why fiction is good for you." (HT: JC)

The Gospel Coalition 2012 National Women's Conference

Wow.  I'm astonished at the wealth of information available at the TGC National Women's Conference website.  I heard only two talks online at the time of the conference last month, but now they are all available online either via Video or audio.   Avail yourself (whether a man or a woman) of these outstanding speakers.

An added bonus is that some of the women speakers were asked what books had particularly influenced them.  See the list of books here.  Prepare to have a feast.

QUICK TAKES

- - Reading Advice from Edmund Burke.  I found this post from Walter Russell Mead fascinating:

A wonderful appreciation of the British orator, parliamentarian and essayist Edmund Burke appears in "The American Scholar" this summer, written by Brian Doyle. Read the whole thing is our advice. One (of many) highlights in the essay: Doyle tells us what Burke read.

It’s a paragraph any aspiring writer, reader and orator should study: read like this, and whatever talent you have will shine more brightly than it does now.

What did he read, this wonderful writer? Dryden’s prose was Burke’s great favorite, reported his friend Charles Fox; Demosthenes was his favorite orator, according to Chauncey Goodrich; “he delighted in Plutarch … and was particularly fond of Virgil, Horace, and Lucretius, a large part of whose writings he committed to memory. … Shakespeare was his daily study. … But his highest reverence was reserved for Milton, whose ‘richness of language, boundless learning, and Scriptural grandeur of conception’ [said Burke], were the first and last themes of his applause.” He read Bacon’s essays again and again, and clearly had read Cicero closely; he read Gibbon and Sheridan, whom he knew from Parliament; Johnson, Goldsmith, and Boswell; and he either still regularly scoured, or had a ferocious memory for, the Bible—“the most valuable repository of rhetoric in the English language,” as Burke’s later editor Edward Payne remarked. Was this, too, how Burke expended his little time alone, in his root-house in Buckinghamshire, reading avidly, widely, hungrily, happily, delighted to swim in eloquence other than his own? I hear him laughing quietly at a wry and piercing passage from Plutarch, or reciting the swinging cadences of Cicero in sheer admiration of the music of the man, or chanting lines from Lear, or reading aloud, with a shiver of awe, the Lord declaiming to Job: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who laid the corner stone thereof, when the morning stars sang together? Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? Declare, if thou hast understanding …

-- Scott Walker Prepares to Reform Higher Education in Wisconsin 

On June 19, Walker and officials from the University of Wisconsin announced a “revolutionary” flexible degree program. From the press release:

The unique self-paced, competency-based model will allow students to start classes anytime and earn credit for what they already know. Students will be able to demonstrate college-level competencies based on material they already learned in school, on the job, or on their own, as soon as they can prove that they know it. By taking advantage of this high quality, flexibility model, and by utilizing a variety of resources to help pay for their education, students will have new tools to accelerate their careers. Working together, the UW System, the State of Wisconsin, and other partners can make a high-quality UW college degree significantly more affordable and accessible to substantially more people. . .

ERIC METAXAS OFFERS SUMMER READING SUGGESTIONS

Eric Metaxas, known for hosting "Socrates in the City" in New York, and for authoring two major biographies, one on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the other on William Wilberforce, now produces frequent contributions to the late Chuck Colson's "Breakpoint" radio program.  In today's edition Metaxas offer several suggestions for summer reading.   His brief description of Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island, looks particularly intriguing to me as well as several other suggestions.  Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis, I have read more than once and can recommend highly.

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Out past the Hamptons, near Montauk, New York, is a stretch of beach my family and I love to visit in the summer. On this quiet beach I'm able to lose myself in a book in a way that's just not possible in my Manhattan apartment. And if I have a choice regarding what to read, I'll almost always go for the classics.

Two years ago I realized I’d never read any of Jules Verne's books, and I launched into a novel that my daughter had just finished, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” I loved it; and then I moved on to a novel that's considered Verne's best: “The Mysterious Island.” That’s about five Civil War prisoners who hijack a hot air balloon and are blown by a storm to an uninhabited Pacific island. From scratch, these brave men create their own extraordinary civilization. It's one of the most captivating books I've ever read.

I also just read a book by H.G. Wells, “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” It's about a shipwreck survivor who washes up on a Pacific island, and discovers a terrible secret: A scientist is creating human-animal hybrids. It's a cautionary tale about what can happen when scientists, using cutting-edge technology, throw off all moral restraints in their determination to play God. Sadly, Wells' warnings are needed today far more than they were when he wrote the book in 1896.

TIM KELLER'S BOOK: "THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE"

I hadn't heard of Keller's new book (November, 2011) until today.  It's getting rave reviews.  Anything by Tim Keller is bound to be good (see, for example, my earlier review of his book, "The Reason for God.") Top Amazon reviewers helpfully give the gist of the various chapters which proves very helpful.   One reviewer included a list of insights he especially appreciated:

1. You never marry the right person. No 2 people are compatible. For this reason, marriage takes a lot of love and work. Also, marriage profoundly changes us!
2. Two-thirds of unhappy marriages will become happy within five years if people stay married. Keller uses this to demonstrate the power of making and keeping a vow. Promising is the key to identity and is the very essence of marital love.
3. Actions of love lead to feelings of love.
4. Marriage is a friendship, and friendship must have constancy, transparency, and a common passion, which, for Christians, should especially be Christ.
5. Each spouse should see the great thing that Jesus is doing in the life of their mate through the Word. And each spouse should then give himself of herself to be a vehicle for this work of God.
6. Your spouse IS the "someone better" you're looking for! This is true if you see him or her in terms of the glory God intends for them, a work to which you are called.

There's much, much, more, and each chapter holds its delights and wisdom for the reader. I highly recommend both "The Meaning of Marriage," as well as "The Mystery of Marriage" by Mike Mason!

A less distinctively Christian book, but drawing on shared Judeo-Christian foundations, and demonstrating uncommon practical insight, is Dr. Laura Schlesinger's book, "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands."  I found very interesting the reviewer who wrote, "Stunned (in a good way)."  She had expected to hate the book.

TOP 10 MOST READ BOOKS IN THE WORLD

The social media website Squidoo has produced an info-graph about the most read books in the past fifty years.  HT: Justin Taylor 

Many commenters have registered serious reservations about the accuracy of this graph.  Still, I found it interesting.

ERIC METAXAS ON "LOVING GOD," CHUCK COLSON'S BEST BOOK

It is Eric Metaxas who says "Loving God" is Colson's best book.  I'm not in a position to say, but I respect Metaxas' judgment and enthusiasm.  But what does it mean to love God?  Metaxas says,

For Chuck, the answer lay in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes.”

(I could have posted that as a "quote of the day" and left it at that.  It's profound.)

But Metaxas continues:

A “vibrant strong faith” is not “just knowledge but knowledge acted upon.” It is “not just belief but belief lived out.” Real faith, which is the cure to self-absorption and the way out of the prison we construct for ourselves, consists of “believing and act obediently regardless of circumstances or contrary evidence.”

Metaxas gives his personal testimony:

I’ll never forget reading "Loving God" after I became a Christian. I had never read or heard anything quite like it. This is the stuff of transformed lives; this is the stuff of which a world turned upside down is made.

The book "loving God" is still timely.

The thing is, "Loving God" is even more timely today than it was in 1983. It scarcely seems possible but our culture is even more preoccupied with the Self than it was thirty years ago. A survey of college students found that today’s student score significantly higher on the Narcissistic Personality Disorder than those of thirty years ago. At the same time, they are less likely to be happy.

Chuck’s message to the Church — that faith is inseparable from obedience and faithfulness — is every bit as essential today as when he wrote Loving God thirty years ago. . .  

Read the whole article...

Me:  Eric Metaxas has made me want to pull down from the shelf my copy of "Loving God."  It sounds like an inspiring and spiritually nourishing (and challenging) read. 

MARK LEVIN'S NEW BOOK - "AMERITOPIA: THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA"

Obama's on-going determination to "transform America" (requiring ignoring,  by-passing, and trashing the U.S. Constitution) is laid bear in Mark Levin's new book, "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America."   Terence P. Jeffrey chronicles an in-depth interview with Levin that is MUST READING.

The book, released Monday, compares the Utopian and unworkable schemes laid out by political philosophers from Plato to Thomas Hobbes with the vision of natural law, God-given rights, and individual liberty that inspired the Founding Fathers when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

“Utopianism is not new,” Levin writes in “Ameritopia.” “It has been repackaged countless times—since Plato and before. It is as old as tyranny itself.  In democracies, its practitioners legislate without end.  In America, law is piled upon law in contravention and contradiction of the governing law—the Constitution.”

Levin’s verdict: Barack Obama and modern American liberals are firmly in the Utopian camp—pursuing a vision fundamentally at odds with limited government and human freedom.

“I believe to a great extent we now live in a post-constitutional country, where much of the Constitution is ignored or evaded,” Levin told CNSNews.com.

“What I want the readers to understand, what I want the public to understand is, this is not new and it’s going to destroy us,” said Levin. “It’s going to destroy us because it is an attack on the individual. It is an attack on the nature of human beings.”

MORE . . .

I am grateful for Levin's book.  Obama's agenda will indeed destroy America.  And that's not hyperbole.

AUDIO OF J.I. PACKER'S CLASSIC - "KNOWING GOD" - AVAILABLE FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME

What a wonderful opportunity to hear this wonderful classic read professionally!  You can download the audiobook for J.I. Packer’s Knowing God for free here.   (HT: Justin Taylor)

The print version of Knowing God is available here, and the Kindle version here.

ASTROPHYSICIST HUGH ROSS' NEW BOOK - "HIDDEN TREASURES IN THE BOOK OF JOB"

I have some major problems with Hugh Ross treating the book of Job, with its magnificent poetry, as significant for current discussions on science and origins, but I haven't read the book so I can't say more at this point.  That said, the following interview is fascinating.  Hugh Ross speaks with unusual clarity.  You will be glad you took the time to view it.   Pat Robertson interviewed Ross on the 700 Club today, October 19, 2011.

ALBERT MOHLER - 11 BOOKS EVERY PASTOR SHOULD READ IN 2011

Mohler's list via Justin Taylor:

1. Collected Writings on Scripture by D.A. Carson (Crossway)
2. Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan (Baker)
3. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church by Kenda Creasy Dean (Oxford University Press)
4. The Doctrine of the Word of God by John Frame (P&R)
5. God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology by James M. Hamilton (Crossway)
6. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter (Oxford University Press)
7. Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth by Alister McGrath (HarperOne)
8. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas (Thomas Nelson)
9. The Letter to the Hebrews (Pillar New Testament Commentary) by Peter T. O’Brien (Eerdmans)
10. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert Putnam and David Campbell (Simon & Schuster) [*Note: 60% off at Amazon at time of writing]
11. Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults by Christian Smith with Patricia Snell (Oxford University Press)

WHAT MOTIVATED THE CHRISTIAN VILLAGERS OF LE CHAMBON TO RESCUE JEWISH CHILDREN DURING WORLD WAR II?

Charles Colson recounts the story.

[...] Drayton Nabers writes [in The Hidden Key to Happiness] that when the Nazis began rounding up French Jews to send to concentration camps, Trocme -- a French reformed pastor -- determined to provide sanctuary for them.

They did so despite the fact that the punishment for sheltering Jews was death. They did so even though the villagers themselves were desperately poor;  since the Trocmes often had several children staying in their  home, the Trocmes’ own four children often had very little to eat.

At various times, government and even church authorities ordered Trocme to turn over any Jews hiding in the village. He refused, and was himself thrown into prison. His cousin Daniel Trocme, who also rescued Jews, was executed in a concentration camp. Other villagers also died while protecting Jews. By the war’s end, Le Chambon was known to be a city of refuge, and the Trocmes were recognized by Holocaust memorial groups for their heroism.

Learning about the people of Le Chambon, Nabers wondered: How are we to understand such extraordinary group submission to the call of God, and Trocme’s ability to lead his people to such valiant obedience?

First, Trocme’s sermons “were biblically based with a heavy emphasis on the source of the believer’s power to follow God.” He often focused on the Christian’s obligation to protect the helpless, even in defiance of the authorities.

Second, the courage of the villagers was strengthened by regular small group meetings that were washed in prayer, moving “the hearts of those who would later provide refuge at risk of their lives.”

Third, the Protestant villagers could identify with persecution, because their Huguenot ancestors were persecuted in Catholic France.

Fourth, the villagers had developed habits of virtue, compassion, helping; rescuing the Jews was the fruit of these habits.  [more . . .]

Me: I'm impressed with the factors that enabled and inspired the people of Le Chambon to act so courageously.   There's a real pattern here to emulate.

DO YOU KNOW HOW DARK TEEN LITERATURE IS TODAY?

- Update: 7/7/11 - The Colson Center has a blog spotlighting good fiction for teens. 

- (Original Post) - I had no idea.  Meghan Cox Gurdon, writing in the Wall Street Journal, offers a tour of teen fiction which I found utterly depressing.  She tells the story of a 46-year-old mother who browsed the young-adult section of her local Barnes & Noble in hopes of finding a welcome-home gift for her 13-year-old daughter who had been away. 

Hundreds of lurid and dramatic covers stood on the racks before her, and there was, she felt, "nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff." She left the store empty-handed.

How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear: So dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18.   [my bolding]

Gurdon writes more:

Pathologies that went undescribed in print 40 years ago, that were still only sparingly outlined a generation ago, are now spelled out in stomach-clenching detail. Profanity that would get a song or movie branded with a parental warning is, in young-adult novels, so commonplace that most reviewers do not even remark upon it. . . .

Me:  I hate to say it, but in order to know the state of the teen world today, the article stands as a MUST READ.

JAY NORDLINGER STRONGLY RECOMMENDS "GANG OF ONE"

I always perk up my ears when someone I respect enthusiastically recommends a book.  In a blog post that deals with the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Jay Nordling wrote: (my bolding)

Ten years ago, I wrote a piece about an amazing woman named Youqin Wang, who dedicated her life to memorializing the Cultural Revolution. If you’d like to read it, go here. Also, I reviewed a book called Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard. That was in 2004. (For the review — which comes after two others, in a single piece — go here.) The author is a man named Fan Shen. Frankly, his memoirs are among the best I’ve ever read.

I feel like I know a secret — like I know about a masterpiece, hidden from the world. "Gang of One" is the kind of book that might be read hundreds of years from now. Really. Odd to say, but I feel it true. The publisher is a humble one, the University of Nebraska Press. As far as I’m concerned, they are in possession of a literary, and human, diamond.

I'm making a note of this recommendation.

STANLEY FISH GIVES HIGH MARKS TO SARAH PALIN'S CONCEPT OF "AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM"

One wouldn't ordinarily expect an opinion piece by Stanley fish published in the New York Times to be particularly favorable to Sarah Palin, but Fish's article, "Exceptionalism, Faith and Freedom: Palin's America," proves enjoyable reading.  Outstanding to me in this review of Palin's America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, are the many references to "American exceptionalism" which Fish agrees are historically grounded. He applauds Palin's "humility" in letting the quotes and references take center stage in her book.   A good read . . .

NOTEWORTHY BOOKS OF 2010

Justin Taylor canvases a number of Christian leaders for their favorite new books published in 2010.  From Sam Storm's list I have chosen three to highlight:

God’s Battalions: the Case for the Crusades, by Rodney Stark (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009), 276 pp.

OK, here’s the book that actually came out in 2009. To be brief, Stark dismantles the long-held myth that “during the Crusades, an expansionist, imperialistic Christendom brutalized, looted, and colonized a tolerant and peaceful Islam” (8). Nothing, notes Stark, could be further from the truth. There’s no other way to say it: this superb historical treatment will challenge and, dare I say, change virtually everything you ever read or heard about the Crusades. It is beautifully written, meticulously researched, and persuasive.

Stark concludes his book with this brief summation: “The Crusades were not unprovoked. They were not the first round of European colonialism. They were not conducted for land, loot, or converts. The crusaders were not barbarians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. They sincerely believed that they served in God’s battalions” (248).

 The God Who Is There: Finding your place in God’s Story, by D. A.  Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 232 pp.

Update 1/6/11 - The talks on which this book is based are available free in mp3 format here.  Ten minute video introductions by Carson (also free) are available at that same site.

You won’t find anything revolutionary or novel in this superb new book by Carson, but you will find an extremely helpful approach to understanding the flow of God’s purpose in biblical history. Carson begins with Genesis and ends with Revelation, demonstrating along the way the nature and ways of our God and how his people are to relate to him. This is a great book to give to a new Christian, or even a non-Christian who is curious about how the Bible fits together. As is typical with Carson, he writes with both clarity and depth.

DAVID DOWNING'S NEW BOOK -- "LOOKING FOR THE KING: AN INKLINGS NOVEL"

Downing is a recognized C.S. Lewis scholar whose works include Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia,  The Most Reluctant Convert: C.S. Lewis's Journey to Faith,  Into the Region of Awe: Mysticism in C.S. Lewis, and Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy.

Now he has written Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel, which carries the following Amazon product description:

It is 1940, and American Tom McCord, a 23-year-old aspiring doctoral candidate, is in England researching the historical evidence for the legendary King Arthur. There he meets perky and intuitive Laura Hartman, a fellow American staying with her aunt in Oxford, and the two of them team up for an even more ambitious and dangerous quest.

Aided by the Inklings-that illustrious circle of scholars and writers made famous by its two most prolific members, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien-Tom and Laura begin to suspect that the fabled Spear of Destiny, the lance that pierced the side of Christ on the cross, is hidden somewhere in England.

Tom discovers that Laura has been having mysterious dreams, which seem to be related to the subject of his research, and, though doubtful of her visions, he hires her as an assistant. Heeding the insights and advice of the Inklings, while becoming aware of being shadowed by powerful and secretive foes who would claim the spear as their own, Tom and Laura end up on a thrilling treasure hunt that crisscrosses the English countryside and leads beyond a search for the elusive relics of Camelot into the depths of the human heart and soul.

Weaving his fast-paced narrative with conversation based on the works of the Inklings, author David Downing offers a vivid portrait of Oxford and draws a welcome glimpse into the personalities and ideas of Lewis and Tolkien, while never losing sight of his action-packed adventure story and its two very appealing main characters.

Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online published an intriguing interview with Downing.

Judging from Denise M. Roper's review (below), this book sounds like a wonderful introduction to the personalities (and wisdom) of the Inklings served up in a gripping adventure.

N.T. Wright: "After You Believe" (A Review)

- Update - I am indebted to "Jim" who left a comment on this post linking to N.T. Wright speaking at Elmbrook Church last April on "After You Believe."  It's a wonderful talk which I highly recommend.  Click here.  For more of Wright's articles and talks, see the N.T. Wright Page.

- I love book reviews.  They introduce me to new books and new authors, and they offer critical evaluation of authors already familiar to me.   Bill Kynes' review of N.T. Wright's After You Believe  appears in the current edition of Themelios, a wonderful theological journal that helpfully (and wonderfully!) publishes its articles and book reviews online.  I found the discussion of "rule-based morality" particularly cogent.  Kynes writes:

What are we here for? What constitutes a “good life”? What does God want from us? N. T. Wright applies his considerable biblical acumen to these questions as he seeks “a fresh reading of the moral thrust of the New Testament” (p. 67). The book doesn’t set out to deal with ethical or moral questions or to offer a fine-tuned study of character traits. Rather, Wright looks at the big picture, the overall theological framework, for living the Christian life.

Wright’s biblical framework is decidedly teleological/eschatological: “The basic point is this: the Christian life in the present, with its responsibilities and particular callings, is to be understood and shaped in relation to the final goal for which we have been made and redeemed. The better we understand this goal, the better we shall understand the path toward it” (p. ix). This emphasis on God’s final redemptive purpose makes this book in some sense a sequel to Wright’s earlier work Surprised by Hope (2007), which sets forth the NT eschatological vision of resurrected believers populating the new heaven and new earth (versus the common conception of disembodied souls occupying an ethereal heaven). We are not only saved from sin; we are saved for a new purpose—to fulfill God’s design when he first created human beings in his image to have dominion over his creation. Knowing what we are made for is essential to our understanding of how we ought to live.

MARY EBERSTADT REVIEWS GEORGE WEIGLE'S "THE END AND THE BEGINNING: POPE JOHN PAUL II — The VICTORY OF FREEDOM, THE LAST YEARS, THE LEGACY"

Mary Eberstadt lauds George Weigle's new biography covering the last years of Pope John Paul II.  She titles her comprehensive and excellent review, "The Cold War Pope."   She writes:  (my emphases)

It is now just over ten years since his bestselling first volume, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, chronicled in just under 1,000 pages the story of Karol Wojtyla’s pre-papal life and the first 22 years of what would turn out to be a papacy of almost 27. Now a second volume, The End and the Beginning: The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy, both completes the story and delivers something important and new — an irresistible Cold War story of drama and intrigue at the highest (and lowest) levels.

Eberstadt continues:

Based in part on just some of what the author calls the “vast archive” of information recently available from the infamous kgb, Stasi, and Polish secret police files, this volume sheds light on one of the most dramatic historical and political tales to issue from a century bursting with them: namely, “Karol Wojtyla’s forty-year struggle against communism — and communism’s forty-year effort to impede Wojtyla’s work and destroy his reputation.” It is a story for believers and nonbelievers alike, and one reminiscent of the absorbing fictions of John LeCarre, Charles McCarry, and other masters of the Cold War genre. The difference, of course — as The End and the Beginning goes to show — is that the 40-year battle between Wojtyla and the communists was not some idle literary imagining, but rather the realest show on earth.

If you have any interest at all in learning about Pope John Paul II and how he "waged war" against the Communists, read the rest of Eberstadt's review.  If you want to read more selected quotes from my blog,  click the "continue reading" button below.

BEST DEFENSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

So says Gordon Wenham and Christopher J.H. Wright of Paul Copan's Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God (Baker, 2011).  Wenham and Wright are Old Testament scholars of the first rank.  Their opinion carries weight, as does the exuberance of a galaxy of other excellent scholars found at the end of this blog post.

Gordon Wenham says:

“Lucid, lively, and very well informed, this book is the best defense of Old Testament ethics that I have read. A must-read for all preachers and Bible study leaders.”

Christopher J. H. Wright says:

“This is the book I wish I had written myself. It is simply the best book I have read that tackles the many difficulties that the Old Testament presents to thinking and sensitive Christians and that give such ammunition to the opponents of all religious faith. Paul Copan writes in such a simple, straightforward way, yet covers enormous issues comprehensively and with reassuring biblical detail and scholarly research. Use this book to stock your mind with gracious but factual answers in those awkward conversations. Better still, give it to those who are swayed by the shallow prejudice of popular atheism without reading the Bible for themselves. I strongly recommend this book. We have wanted and needed it for a long time.”

I learned about the book from Justin Taylor who links to a synopsis found in Copan's own blog post:

Dr. Sandy Richter - "The Epic of Eden"

Ben Witherington reposted on his blog a solid interview with Professor Sandra L. Richter on the relevance of the Old Testament.  After reading the excellent interview, I went to Amazon to investigate her book, The Epic of Eden:  A Christian Entry into the Old Testament.  I browsed the "search inside this book" feature and copied the following two insightful paragraphs.

On the Old Testament concept of the "love of God," and especially in Deuteronomy, Dr. Richter writes:  (my underlining)

William Moran wrote an important article “The Ancient near Eastern Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy,” CBQ 25 (1963): 77-85  Here Moran demonstrated that the word love in ancient Near East treaty documents (and by extrapolation in the book of Deuteronomy) was political terminology having to do with covenant loyalty—not any sort of sentimental or emotional posture toward the covenant partner.  In light of this, consider Rom. 9:13: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  Gallons of ink have been spilt over this passage!  Could the resolution to this difficult language perhaps be found in covenant terminology?  In other words, rather than this passage communicating that God has despised Esau and his offspring, perhaps ‘love’ and “hate” were intended to communicate something akin to: ‘Jacob I have chosen as Isaac’s heir and therefore heir to Abraham’s covenant; Esau I have not chosen as heir.'  Note 19. p. 240

 On the sacrifices brought by people in ancient Israel she writes:

 W.S. LaSor, D.A. Hubbard and F.W. Bush offer a helpful summary of the various categories of Mosaic sacrifice in Old Testament Survey, 2^nd ed (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), p. 83.  It is important to realize that out of the eight categories listed, only one involved the complete holocaust of the sacrificial victim.  In contrast to what most Christians typically imagine, the bulk of the sacrificed animal was normally returned to the worshipper so that he and his family might feast together in God’s presence.  In other words, the act of sacrifice was usually a time of joyous fellowship with one’s family and one’s God at the holy site.  These holy days were truly “holidays.”  In fact, throughout the law code of Deuteronomy, which is focused on proper worship of Yahweh at the central holy site, the repeated command is to ‘eat’ and to ‘rejoice’ in Yahweh’s presence (Deut 12:7, 12,18; 14:26; 16:11,14; 26:10-11; 27:7).  God was not interested in taking from these people the little they had; rather, he was interested in them bringing a portion of what he had given them into his presence so that he might enjoy their joy with them.”  (p. 250)

This reminds me of some pages I read years ago in C.S. Lewis's Reflections on the Psalms.  In chapter 5, "The Fair Beauty of the Lord,"  Lewis wrote:

THOMAS KIDD - "A RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION"

Justin Taylor posts a number of positive short reviews of  God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution.  Samples:

“This deeply researched, clearly organized, and well written book illuminates a complex and often controversial history. The Revolutionary and Constitutional periods were neither ‘Christian’ nor ‘godless’ as these terms are used in modern polemics. Instead, patriots and leaders of the early United States united to support disestablishment and common principles about the need for virtue to insure republican freedoms, despite holding different personal beliefs. Thomas Kidd is a remarkably sure-footed guide through this treacherous historical terrain.”—Mark Noll

“A truly ‘revolutionary’ book, in all the right ways.”—Rodney Stark

 Taylor links to a 10-minute introduction to the book by Dr. Kidd on C-Span’s BookTV.

DR. CURT THOMPSON - "ANATOMY OF THE SOUL"

Chuck Colson introduces Dr.Curt Thompson's new book, Anatomy of the Soul,  saying:

Psychiatrist Curt Thompson is certified by the Amercian Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is also a devout Christian who has written a fascinating new book called .

The book has a long subtitle, but I’ll repeat it here because it sums up well what the book is all about: “Surprising connections between neuroscience and spiritual practices that can transform your life and relationships.”  [more]

A book excerpt is available here.

The scientific field of interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) has emerged as a firmly established endeavor to explore the connections between mind, brain, and relationships. We who study within the realm of IPNB believe—at least at this time—the following is a helpful way of conceptualizing the mind: The mind is an embodied and relational process that emerges within and between brains, whose task is to regulate the flow of energy and information. A quick tour of that concept may be helpful.  [more]

THE FOUR BOOKS THAT SHAPED TIM KELLER

Click here.  (HT:  Kirk)

WORLD MAGAZINE'S BOOK OF THE YEAR

Marvin Olasky:  (HT: Justin Taylor)

WORLD’s book of the year is The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future (May 2010, Basic Books). This succinct work by Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, is the right book at this moment in U.S. history.

Honoring a book on current political and economic questions is unusual for WORLD. Our books of the year in 2008 and 2009 were The Reason for God and The ESV Study Bible. We generally rate timeless higher than timely—but sometimes we have to pay attention to the immediate. Samuel Johnson said, “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” As the United States careens toward a crucial fall election, The Battle is concentrating minds.

WORLD’s 2010 Book of the Year makes a ­compelling case that the clash ­between free ­enterprise and socialism is a moral battle.  Read the whole review here.

Update: 6/23/10 - Kathryn Jean Lopez conducts a major interview with Arthur C. Brooks here.  Lopez interview with Brooks, part 2.

HAYEK'S "ROAD TO SERFDOM" NOW #1 AT AMAZON

- Update 6/28/10 - Russ Roberts explains in today's Wall Street Journal why Friedrich Hayek is making a comeback.

- (Original post) I just checked National Review's Corner blog.  John J. Miller reports:

At this precise moment, The Road to Serfdom, originally published in 1944, is the #1 bestselling book on Amazon.com.

Ah...  would you say Glenn Beck influences book sales?  Miller's report prompted me to seek more information.  I found this at the Hayekcenter.org:

I just got off the phone with Stephanie Hlywak of the U. of Chicago Press and it’s official — the U. of Chicago Press is SOLD OUT of copies of Friedrich Hayek’s classic The Road to Serfdom after selling over 13,000 copies in less than 24 hours, after the broadcast of Glenn Beck’s show on Hayek and his timeless book.

Beck seems to be a one-man educational enterprise.  Good for him!

Update 6/15/10 - Thanks to Mike's comment and link, here's a YouTube video rapping the differences between John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek:

CAMARADERIE IN BOOK APPRECIATION

What a pleasure it is to discover a respected person thinking as highly of a certain book as you do!   Two experiences come to mind, the latest came just last night.  The first occurred at a C.S. Lewis conference in the South some years ago.  A professor of theology attending the conference mentioned in a personal conversation that he thought C.S. Lewis's book Miracles the finest piece of theology written in the 20th century.  "Wow," I said.  "You do?  It's been incredibly helpful to me, but I've never heard anyone else say the same."   This man had read a lot more theology than I had (an understatement), and to hear him rave about Lewis's book gave me delight and encouragement.

When looking at Alan Jacob's blog last night (which inspired a blog entry of my own), I noted his listing of the  books most important to him at ages 6, 10, 14, 16, 20, 22, 24, 30, 35, and 38.  His list makes fascinating reading, as one might suppose.  But here's the recommended book, and his comment, that especially grabbed me:

Age 35:  Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.  If I could have every young and thoughtful Christian read one book, it would be this one. There’s no one quite like Newbigin — or perhaps it would be better to say that there have been few like him since Augustine: the bishop-missionary-theologian.

I found Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (published 1989) profoundly helpful myself.  In fact I  recommended the book to friends as well.  But to read Jacobs saying, "If I could have every young and thoughtful Christian read one book, it would be this one" -- that I found simply stunning!  It makes me want to go back and read it again.  It's rare to hear such high praise for any book.  And it would be a tough challenge to find a person more well-read than Jacobs. (See, for example, one of his latest books, Original Sin: A Cultural History).

MARK DRISCOLL & GERRY BRESHEARS - "DOCTRINE: WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD BELIEVE"

I love it when  publishers offer free chapters to read online.  Such is the case with just-published Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears’s book, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe.  (I am in debt to Justin Taylor for his blog post from which I have derived the links included in my own post.) 

Here is a free 34-page chapter on worship from the book.  And here is a free 24-page chapter on resurrection.  (I scanned it and found it quite excellent and helpful).

You can read the table of contents online.  You can also check out the official website.   The book comes highly praised.  Professor John M. Frame writes:  "...There is much here to aid readers who have thought in the past that theology was too complicated, uninteresting, or irrelevant. This book is none of those things. It takes off on wings of eagles. . ."

A PREACHER'S LIBRARY (MARK DEVER'S) TO BEAT ALL LIBRARIES

Mark Dever is the pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. and a prolific author.  The video comes from Together for the Gospel.  I can imagine many people struggling with jealousy when they see this video.  Others, on the other hand, will be pleased to show this video to complaining wives saying, "See, by comparison I don't have many books at all!"  Some of us will be encouraged by the "pile" he has on the floor!  It's comforting to know we're not alone!  (See also this picture of William F. Buckley's desk.  How does he find anything?)

THOMAS SOWELL'S NEW BOOK: "INTELLECTUALS AND SOCIETY"

Jonah Goldberg of National Review says Thomas Sowell's new book,  Intellectuals and Society is a "great, great piece of work."   The Amazon.com product description says:

One of the most surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong, but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society—and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views.

An excellent video interview with Thomas Sowell on his new book is available here.  Highly recommended!  Update: The Sowell interview, segment 2, is here.  Segment 3 is here and 4 is here.  I like this quote from segment 5, the conclusion:

. . .  We’re becoming a nation of people who are propagandized from elementary school right on through graduate school in a certain vision of the world. Only the few, for one reason or another, stop and say — “wait a minute!” — they are the only ones left that we have to depend on.

TODAY'S ENCOUNTERS . . .

I met a person today at Sam's Club that I hadn't seen for over 10 years.  Much of his time has been spent working elsewhere with occasional visits back here, but our paths had never crossed all this time until today.   He asked me what book I go back to most often to reread.  I had never been asked that question before, and I had to think a few seconds.  The  book that popped most immediately to mind was C.S. Lewis' book Miracles, and in particular his last chapter, "Miracles of the New Creation."   The book he most rereads is Hillaire Belloc's The Crisis of Civilization.

Anyone else care to mention the book they most reread?

DOUG GROOTHUIS SUMMARIZES PASCAL'S ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Doug Groothus, Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary, and author of the valuable, Truth Decay (among other books), reviews various books at Amazon.Com.  If you value his opinion, as I do, you'll want to subscribe to the RSS.  

Here is Groothuis offering a 10-minute introduction to Pascal's Anthropological Argument.

SELECT POSTS FROM WINTERY KNIGHT BLOG

I have some catching up to do with what Wintery Knight has been up to.   Following is a selection.  All are worth "clicking through" to read:

-  How good are the arguments in the new book by Richard Dawkins?

-  Skincare company uses aborted fetal tissue in anti-aging cream

-  American Library Association silent as librairies ban books about ex-gays

- UK Woman gets police visit after writing letter protesting gay pride parade (Must read)

- Hindu/Christian debate on anti-conversion law in India

- New books of interest to Christian apologists

         Update:  One of the books listed is Dr. Stephen Meyer's Signature in the Cell about which Charles Colson has important things to say.  Dr. Douglas Groothuis, for his part, rhapsodizes:

The book is no less than magisterial, an adjective that curmudgeons such as myself seldom use. At every level--philosophical, scientific, historical and literary--it is a superb treatise.    Reading every word of its 508 pages of text (not counting end notes)--as I did--repays the reader greatly.

DANIEL TAYLOR: "STORY-SHAPED FAITH'"

I enjoyed and profited from reading "Story-Shaped Faith" by Daniel Taylor.  It appears as chapter 5 in the book "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God" (ed. by John Piper and Justin Taylor).  It's available on the internet for free here.)  Taylor discusses how "story" plays such a central place in the Bible and in our lives.  He writes: (my emphases)

DALE KUEHNE - "SEX AND THE iWORLD" (CAN WE BE HAPPY WITHOUT SEX?)

Big subject.   Discussion needed.  Enter Dale Kuehne's  Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationships beyond an Age of Individualism.   Reviewers  of this book (including Chuck Colson and Mark Earley), give the book rave reviews.  From what I can tell, the book looks like "must reading" to counter the propaganda that is ruining lives.  A few introductory pages (worth reading) are available here.

Robert Crumb's Genesis (via Ben Witherington's blog):

And now for something completely different.   The Bible as graphic novel, or at least graphic comic book.  Robert Crumb is well known to underground comic book aficionados.  To the rest of the reading public-- not so much. Robert Crumb was born in Philly and began his drawing career coming up with playful and witty greeting cards. He became a sort of cult figure in the 60s for creating characters like Fritz the Cat and there was even a documentary about him in 1994, but FYI, his comics were too R or even X rated in some cases for most.  For the last eighteen or so years of his life he has lived in France (and laments he still  hasn't mastered the language) with his fellow cartoonist wife Aline Kominsky.

Now however this super-lapsed Catholic has decided to depict scenes from all 50 chapters of Genesis, with the emphasis on verbatim. Those of us who knew a bit about his snarky past were holding our collective breath, but Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of the well-titled book Up,Up, and Oi Vey (the history of how Jews had influence on the creation of fictional super-heroes) reassures us that Crumb has not given us a crumby treatment of Genesis. Of course the literal depiction of murder, incest, rape, and a host of the other things that go on in Genesis itself is enough to curdle one's milk and curl one's hair.  Hide the babies and pack up the old ladies. But then alas,  the Bible is hardly a  G or PG book--- it tells it like it is, even when it comes to all our human falleness.  It is thus not a surprise that in the 224 pages of this book (out today and published by W.W. Norton) some of these pen and ink drawings reflect the sensual and violent character of some of these stories.  This is a comic book my Mom would not have let me read in the 9th grade!  Indeed she would have said 'Exodus with this Genesis'.   [more . . .]

BEN WITHERINGTON EVALUATES DAN BROWN'S NEW BOOK "THE LOST SYMBOL"

Dan Brown is the author of the best-selling The Da Vinci Code (2003).  Concerning Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol, Ben Witherington writes,

Its Number One on Amazon, and has gone to the top of several best seller lists, and the reviews are pouring in for Dan Brown's latest blockbuster novel, sure to be made into a movie.  But even Mr. Brown's fans, reviewing the book on Amazon, are about equally divided as to whether this novel makes Mr. Brown a dude or a dud.

Witherington comments on the book's literary worth, its historical accuracy (or inaccuracy), and Brown's treatment of the Bible and orthodox Christianity.  On this, Witherington offers an important critique:

In his attempt to explain why the Bible has endured through the ages  Peter Solomon, Robert Langdon's mentor and a Mason says the following: "The reason...is that there exist powerful secrets hidden in the pages of this ancient book... a vast collection of untapped wisdom waiting to be unveiled." (p. 489) The hidden meanings in the Bible are the reasons why the finest minds have pondered this book for so long. 

C.S. LEWIS - BOOKS THAT SHAPED HIS LIFE

I recently encountered once again the list C.S. Lewis provided in response to The Christian Century's question, "What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?"  Lewis responded:

Phantastes, by George MacDonald; The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton; The Aeneid, by Virgil; The Temple, by George Herbert; The Prelude, by William Wordsworth; The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolf Otto; The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius; Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell; Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams; Theism and Humanism, by Arthur James Balfour.  

The list appears in Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis: A Companion & Guide (p. 752) and originally appeared in The Christian Century (6 June 1962).