Tomte's Books

I've Moved

2011-01-19T06:51:00.001-08:00

I've moved --see my new site at http://tomtesblog.tumblr.com!!!

I'll still keep this site up because so many links point to it, but I'm going to post all my new content on Tumblr.

Marked

2010-10-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Marked, by Steve Ross

The first time I read Steve Ross' whirlwind tour through the gospel of Mark, I was non-plussed. The narrative seemed disjointed, much seemed to be left out, and the ending seemed a bit bewildering. After re-reading the actual gospel, my bewilderment turned to amazement and I realized that Steve Ross had shown me the gospel afresh in his graphic novel rendition, faithfully keeping the episodic disjointedness, unanswered questions, and just plain weirdness of the original while simultaneously translating it into the modern day context. That's no small achievement for a book you can probably finish in an hour, but will want to linger over far longer.

While the subject matter and some of the depictions are probably not best suited for children under the age of 13, a couple of teenagers who read this graphic novel with me appreciated the action sequences and presentation. They generally enjoyed the book. I enjoyed it upon re-reading, especially after I had also re-read the gospel of Mark. I came into this novel thinking that it might have potential as a way to introduce Mark's gospel to someone who had never read it. Now I think that the best audience is someone who already has familiarity --church people if you will. People like myself who can benefit from having our conventional view of the story and its characters shaken up a bit. Of course Mark's gospel is also quite short, so it is entirely reasonable to read it in parallel with Steve Ross' version.

Surprisingly, I found myself moved by some of the most arresting images. John the baptizer answering his call to ministry on the telephone; the rich man wishing to follow Jesus literally drowning in his massive pile of possessions; the Transfiguration done with butterflies; Mary walking dirty city streets to the empty tomb Easter morning --all of these and more kept me lingering over the panels and thinking about them long after I'd set the book down.

Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Seabury Books (November 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596270020
ISBN-13: 978-1596270022

Compromising Positions

2010-09-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Compromising Positions, by Jenna Bayley-Burke

I don't normally read romances. This was another Kindle freebie. As of today, this breezy, easy, steamy read ranks as the most popular free Kindle book on Amazon.com.

I don't have much to say about the story itself, just that it made me think about the differences between men and women when it comes to romance and sexual fantasy. While it's difficult to generalize about the sexes, and still worse to generalize about a genre based on reading single book, I came away from reading this realizing that while men might fantasize about passionate sex with a beautiful woman, women fantasize about passionate sex with a handsome man who is tall, rich, emotionally available, nearly perfect yet flawed in a way that she can fix, with prospects of marriage and children down the road.

Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (January 5, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1605043125
ISBN-13: 978-1605043128

Edge of Apocalypse

2010-09-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Edge of Apocalypse, by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall

After reading Marcus Borg's Putting Away Childish Things it seemed appropriate to immediately read an evangelical didactic novel and see where the contrasts were the most stark. In this regard Edge of Apocalypse, the latest by Tim LaHaye, did not disappoint.

As an aside I must admit that I didn't go out looking to read this book, but it dropped into my lap serendipitously. I recently purchased a Kindle, and Amazon has been giving away free ebook versions of many popular romance and Christian novels. Edge of Apocalypse was a freebie.

Borg and LaHaye paint startlingly different pictures of the world in which we live, flowing from their different theological and philosophical convictions. Borg's novel is set primarily in a small Midwestern university town, with a religious studies professor as the main character. LaHaye's novel is country and world-spanning, with a military hero turned defense contractor and entrepreneur in the starring role.

Borg's world is tranquil and self-reflective. The most valued traits his characters possess are the ability to reason through a problem, using a combination of intellect, study, prayer, relationships, community, and spiritual practices to slowly yet comprehensively work through a problem, discerning the best solution. God doesn't intervene in a supernatural or miraculous way, but is instead seen as working through the discernment process and through the hearts, minds, hands, and feet of people within the community.

LaHaye's world is apocalyptic. Time is running out. The most valued traits his characters possess are the ability to quickly make judgments in a crisis, determine right from wrong, then act decisively on the side of what is right. There is no such thing as random chance or coincidence in LaHaye's world. Instead the characters interpret such things as evidence of answered prayer and God's supernatural intervention on this side of God's people and what is right. While technical and logistical complexity exists in LaHaye's universe, his characters never struggle with complex moral issues. Moral choices are always crystal clear.

One of the things I found most telling about the two authors were the way they handled characters meant to represent their ideological opposition. For Borg this was the evangelical youth group leader and some of the members of his flock. For LaHaye this was represented by the Vice President in a U.S. administration dedicated to an internationalist foreign policy opposed by the main character. Inevitably in a didactic novel the author's side wins the argument. However I felt that Borg's opposing characters were faithful if simplified representations of the other viewpoint. They were still good people that meant well even if they were "wrong." LaHaye, on the other hand, felt the need to paint all opposing characters as evil and nefarious, above and beyond just opposing his ideology. Maybe this is part and parcel of the apocalyptic world view --is it possible to have sympathetic "bad guys" in an apocalyptic story?

In the end, I'd much rather live in Marcus Borg's literary, theological, and philosophical universe. For me his vision is far more sustaining --"good for you," if you will. Yet the appeal of Tim LaHaye's literary world is not lost on me. Edge of Apocalypse was an exciting page-turner and much more interesting to read than Borg's novel, but more like a spiritual bag of potato chips than good nourishing food.

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (April 20, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310326281

Putting Away Childish Things

2010-07-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faith, by Marcus Borg

I've long been a fan of Marcus Borg's scholarship. His non-fiction not only speaks to issues I find important, but is clearly written and easily accessible to a broad audience. If there was a single book I'd recommend to give people insight into what I think are the most important issues in Christianity and what it means to be a person of faith in the 21st century, it would be Borg's The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith.

Nonetheless, it was with some trepidation that I picked up Putting Away Childish Things, Marcus Borg's first novel, and a didactic novel at that. Growing up fundamentalist, I had read evangelical didactic works such as The Sugar Creek Gang, (boys having fun while converting their friends and families) The Third Millennium , (end times novel where rapture happens in 1994), This Present Darkness (demons, angels, and spiritual warfare), and of course the Left Behind juggernaut. Big questions I had going in: what does a progressive Christian didactic novel look like? Can there be a didactic novel that is actually worth reading, with characters you actually care about and doesn't get bogged down in preachiness?

I think Borg largely succeeds here. His story of an Episcopalian religious studies professor at a Midwestern liberal arts college was the perfect backdrop for interjecting theological and scholarly content in a way that didn't seem too jarring or unnatural to the story. The story was well plotted. While the characters seemed more cerebral than average people, they were reasonably well drawn and plausible. I especially appreciated that the evangelical characters in the story did not seem to be mere straw men, and in the end I truly cared about the characters and what happened to them. On the other hand, some may find the book to have a lecture-like quality at certain points. This may be unavoidable since the book aims to teach a large amount of information in relatively few pages, while trying to entertain at the same time.

This book is not the best novel I've ever read by far, but it is the best didactic novel I've ever read. Not just because I happen to agree with the message, but also because it presents its message strongly without demonizing other points of view (a flaw in just about ever other didactic work I've read.) I think Borg has made a great contribution by putting progressive theology and historical critical biblical scholarship into a format that might make it more accessible to people who would never read a non-fiction book. Putting Away Childish Things made me realize what a dearth of instructional fiction there is for progressive Christianity, and how bringing these ideas down to the mass-market level might allow progressive Christians to go head-to-head with their evangelical and fundamentalist brethren.

Beyond story, and beyond theological content, however, where the book truly shines is when it shows us how a modern faith actually works in practice. How does prayer, devotion, dealing with life's troubles and anxiety actually work for liberal and progressive Christians whose view of the supernatural and scripture is not fundamentalist? In every evangelical didactic novel I've read there has been a point or points in the story where God dramatically intervenes in a stunning and miraculous way --a type of modern day deus ex machina to solve the conflict and reinforce the literalistic worldview of the story. Putting Away Childish Things, in keeping with its message, doesn't do this. Yet one can still say that God is at work in what happens in the lives of the characters in this story; showing that God can be real and active for Christians that aren't fundamentalist may be the most necessary contribution this story makes.

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperOne (April 20, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061888141
ISBN-13: 978-0061888144

The First Paul

2010-05-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon
by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan

I've been a fan of Marcus Borg for a long time. What he did for Jesus in Jesus: A New Vision and Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time Borg and Crossan apply to their study and analysis of Paul. By separating Paul's letters into three categories: genuine (radical), contested (conservative), and authored by others (reactionary) they are able to highlight the radically egalitarian, non-violent, and mystical vision of the body of Christ and the kingdom of God which Paul preached as a sharp contrast to then prevailing notions of the Roman Empire and its emperor.

Two things stood out for me in this book. First, I have always been a bit perplexed about how the same man who wrote "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28) could also write such passages as "Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:22) or "Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honour, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed." (1 Timothy 6:1) Attempts to harmonize these kinds of passages with each other inevitably water down Paul's more radical statements of egalitarianism, transporting them off to some spiritual realm where they cannot impact real life. Another approach, to claim Paul as the first wily pragmatist who said one thing to one church and the opposite to another is also ultimately unsatisfying. Crossan and Borg's historical approach, which defines the earliest genuine strand of Paul writings as the most radical, with subsequent strands reflecting later accomodation to culture as Christianity became more widely accepted through the Roman Empire makes sense to me as a logical progression and evolution of a religious tradition even as it disturbs me at the same time.

My favorite part of the book, however, was Borg and Crossan's treatment of Jesus versus Ceasar and the Kingdom of God versus the Roman Empire. Drawing upon Roman historical writings from shortly before the birth of Jesus, they are convincingly able to show that many of the most important ways in which Paul and Christianity talk about Jesus (i.e., Jesus is Lord, Jesus' divine birth, Jesus as the Son of God, and Jesus as the one who brings peace to the earth) would have immediately resonated with first century listeners as familiar language about the emperor! While not discounting the spiritual significance of these terms at all as they apply to Jesus, knowing their context viz. the god-king Caesar really awakened me to the political implications of Paul's writings, and also easily explains why the early apostles and followers of the Jesus movement were martyred by the Empire. Paul's writings were treason, threatening the legitimacy of the emperor. When Paul says "Jesus is Lord," that means Caesar is not.

One thing that I always appreciate about Marcus Borg is the clarity with which he explains difficult concepts. This book did not seem as clearly written as some of his others. I'm not sure if this can be blamed on John Dominic Crossan or is just part and parcel of a book that is written by more than one author. On the whole, however, I found it an enjoyable and illuminating read, even if the writing bogged down a bit in some sections. By placing Paul and his message in their first century contexts, Borg and Crossan are able to illuminate his radical message in a way that still speaks to us today.

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperOne (March 3, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061430722
ISBN-13: 978-0061430725

Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian

2010-05-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian
by Paul Knitter

Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian was a fascinating read with the interesting premise that exploring another religious tradition can help better inform ones own religion. Knitter goes one step further in this part theological survey, part Buddhist apologetic, and part personal testimony by taking us with him on his spiritual journey from Roman Catholicism to Buddhism and back again.

True to the book's title, Knitter does not come back to Christianity unchanged by his Buddhist experience, but instead holds the two spiritual identities simultaneously in conversation and tension with each other. For Knitter, Buddhism gives a different lens through which to view Christian doctrines and practices that he found otherwise problematic or incomplete.

I think Knitter's book is most compelling as a personal account of one man's faith journey. As one who has also questioned and rejected much of the faith in which I was raised before being exposed to other ideas and experiences that eventually allowed me to return to it with a different understanding, I could relate to Knitter's descriptions of "passing over" into Buddhism and then "passing back" into Christianity. While I'm not interested in becoming Buddhist myself, I could appreciate Knitter's exploration of Buddhist ideas and was amazed at how well they sometimes enhanced and sometimes questioned traditional Christian ideas.

On the other hand, I sometimes found myself a bit skeptical reading this book, thinking to myself that perhaps there is not so much overlap between the two faiths after all, and maybe what I'm reading is more about liberal western notions of Buddhism having a lot in common with liberal western notions of Christianity. I found myself reacting to many of Knitter's "aha" moments thinking that there are already resources within the Christian tradition that come to similar conclusions, obviating the need to find the answer in Buddhism.

Without _________ I Could Not Be A Christian. Anyone who has left their childhood faith and later returned to a more mature understanding can fill in this blank. For me, I might fill the blank with "awareness of the full theological, historical, ethical, and cultural breadth of the diversity within the tradition," or "modern historical-critical biblical scholarship," or "mystical experience." I respect Knitter's answer even while I'm amazed that he can find it in dual religious citizenship. I recommend Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian for anyone interested in seeing how different religions can inform each other and the fascinating turns a spiritual journey can take.

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Oneworld Publications (July 16, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1851686738
ISBN-13: 978-1851686735

Love That Dog

2010-03-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

Love That Dog
by Sharon Creech

After thoroughly enjoying my daughter's previous recommendation of Things Not Seen, I told her that I would read any book that she enjoyed more than that one. It didn't take her long to put Love That Dog into my hands. Even though I'm not especially fond of dogs, this touching story about a pre-teen boy who learns to express his feelings through poetry moved me.

Part epistolary novel and part free verse, Love That Dog is a gem of a story that serves as a great introduction for young children to poets, poetry, and writing their own verse. Featuring such notable poets as Robert Frost, Valerie Worth, and William Blake, we are given a glimpse into young Jack's writing notebook as he reads these works and responds to them as part of Miss Stretchberry's composition class. Along the way Jack grows more confident in his writing abilities and finds his own voice as a writer and a human being.

Even though the novel is over 100 pages, I was able to read it in less than an hour because of all the white space on each page. In the back are excerpts from all the poems Jack reads in the course of the story. The narrative is laid out as a poem, and moves quickly.

Sharon Creech transcends the "children's fiction" genre and creates something that will speak to anyone who has wondered what poetry is for, and how writing can give voice to our deepest feelings.

Hardcover: 112 pages
Publisher: Joanna Cotler (July 24, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0060292873

Things Not Seen

2010-03-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Things Not Seen
by Andrew Clements

I've read to my daughter for years, and as she's gotten older I've also recommended childhood favorites I thought she'd enjoy. So it marked a major milestone and delightful turnaround recently when my 10 year old excitedly pressed Things Not Seen into my hands, urging me to read it so we could discuss it.

A fast, easy read weighing in at around 250 pages, Things Not Seen was a page-turner, offering enough action and suspense to keep both children and adult readers engaged in the story. The story of a teenager named Bobby who wakes up invisible one morning, the book combines elements of science fiction, teen novels, and romance successfully in order to appeal to a wide audience.

While not a great work of literature by any means, Things Not Seen also manages to ask important questions about people that might be "invisible" to the typical teenager. Special needs children, the unpopular, the un-beautiful --Bobby's invisibility serves as the metaphor through which some of these other issues can be brought to light.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and discussing it with my daughter.

Publisher: Penguin Group USA (March 1, 2002)
250 pages
ASIN: B001IAW55Y

Sum

2010-02-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
by David Eagleman

Written by neuroscientist David Eagleman, Sum is an interesting collection of forty short vignettes, each with a different take on the afterlife. Imaginative, clever, and sometimes funny, each story serves as a modern day parable on existence.

While I found it an enjoyable read, Sum doesn't really address weighty philosophical topics such as human suffering, poverty, violence, or justice. It reminded me more of an episode of "The Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits" than a serious attempt to come to terms with the human condition.

Sum's central insight is perhaps this: imagining the afterlife is like a Rorschach inkblot test. How we envision the afterlife can tell us something about ourselves, and can serve as a jumping off point to deeper reflection.

Hardcover: 107 pages
Publisher: Pantheon (February 10, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307377342
ISBN-13: 978-0307377340

Crazy for God

2009-01-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back (Paperback)
by Frank Schaeffer

If you grew up in the Christian fundamentalist/evangelical sub-culture the way I did, this book will really resonate with your own experience. At least it did for me.

Francis Schaeffer (father of the author) was a huge figure within Christian fundmentalism/Evangelicalism during the 1970s and 80s. His books are still lauded within that circle for putting an intellectual/philosophical face on biblical literalist views. Crazy for God is a tell-all book by his son outlining some of the hypocrisy and general craziness within the movement.

I read the book through two lenses. 1) Sons who aren't as successful as their fathers. 2) Former fundamentalists trying to make sense out of their upbringing and reaction to it. On both counts the book is successful, in my mind.

I couldn't put this one down. I can't remember the last time I read a book that is over 400 pages in just a few days. Frank Schaeffer writes clearly so the book is easy to read. He doesn't pull any punches, spilling all the juicy details about sex, drug use, spousal abuse, and insider conversations with leaders in the fundamentalist movement.

Others will disagree with me on this, but I think that at some level the author still respects his parents and his family, even if he has chosen a different path in his own life. I suppose some will see the book solely as a betrayal, but speaking as a former fundamentalist, one of the most difficult things in leaving that life is being able to honestly come clean about its secrets. So I tend to see the book in that light.

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st Da Capo Press Pbk. Ed edition (September 29, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0306817500
ISBN-13: 978-0306817502

If Grace is True

2008-12-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person (Paperback)
by Philip Gulley (Author), James Mulholland (Author)

I enjoyed the premise, but thought the approach was a little too simplistic.

I would have preferred to see the author show all the scriptures that support exclusivism, then all the ones that support inclusivism / universalism. Then an argument could be made for why universalism is closer to the reality of God than exclusivism.

However the author merely states that he can't imagine a God that wouldn't save everyone, and most of the book is his personal journey from one view to the other. It's worthwhile, but more a personal story than exegesis.

In the appendix, he does cite a list of scriptures that support his view.

It was an interesting read, and I pretty much agree with the conclusion. However I would have liked to see more biblical discussion of why there are competing and contradicting views in the text, and why we should land on the side of universal salvation.

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperOne (November 23, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062517058
ISBN-13: 978-0062517050

The Software Soul

2006-08-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

'The Software Soul', by Brian Plante

This was another great short story by Brian Plante, this time dealing with an issue I've been thinking about for awhile --virtual churches.

I've moved around geographically quite a bit during the last ten years, and I've switched churches even more often than I've moved. When I think about what kinds of spiritual communities have truly nurtured my religious quest over the years, on-line communities outnumber bricks and mortar by almost two-to-one.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to actually attend worship on-line? To have some sort of immersive three dimensional virtual reality experience? It would be so convenient, allowing one to transcend purely geographic boundaries. It would allow truly niche church 'markets' to emerge, catering to every whim.

Plante's short story isn't about that, however. He explores the implications of a virtual church left running after all the flesh and blood parishioners have abandoned it. He tells the story from the perspective of a software priest who continues to perform Mass even as he is unaware of events taking place in the outside world. One day attendance starts picking up unexpectedly, including some out-of-this-world visitors.

I won't spoil the ending. Another great short story by Brian Plante!

PUBLISHER: Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Dell Publishers; ISSN: 10592113 (July/August, 2006)
SEE ALSO: 'Dibs', 'In the Loop', and 'Lavender In Love'

Rachel and Leah

2006-08-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

Rachel and Leah: Women of Genesis, by Orson Scott Card

This third installment of Orson Scott Card's "Women of Genesis" series was noteworthy because it casts Leah, --the daughter of Laban notorious for tricking Jacob into marrying her-- in a sympathetic light. At the end of this novel I was left feeling wistful about Leah's predicament, and felt that Jacob definitely chose the wrong daughter to fall in love with. Card writes an interesting story without contradicting the Bible's version of Jacob and Leah and Rachel (although certainly embellishing it, providing additional motivations and a look inside the heads of the characters that we don't get in the biblical account.)

I didn't enjoy this installment as much as I did Sarah or Rebekah. The pacing in Rachel and Leah seemed to be a bit off compared to the earlier two books. Maybe it was the way Card tried to tell four stories at once. Although Zilpah and Bilhah are both in the biblical account, the story gets stretched too thin when Card tries to cover all four story lines, and the two servant girls really don't contribute too much to the conclusion --certainly not enough to justify the number of pages devoted to them. I think if Card would have cut much of this material and focused on the two sisters, Jacob, and Laban the novel might have felt "tighter" and the final result more satisfying.

That aside, I have enjoyed this series and would recommend it. However, the first two books were more enjoyable than the latest.

PUBLISHER: Forge Press, 2005. ISBN: 0-765-34129-8.

See also: Sarah and Rebekah, by Orson Scott Card.

The Dwelling of the Light

2006-07-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Dwelling of the Light: Praying with Icons of Christ, by Rowan Williams

This wonderful little book is a great introduction to anyone who is curious about religious icons, their significance, and their history. Written by the current Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican theologian Rowan Williams, this short readable book brings scholarship and devotion together in a very accessible manner that specifically addresses Protestant questions and concerns about icons.

The Dwelling of the Light begins with a helpful introduction which briefly sketches the history of icons, theological arguments for and against them, and the distinctions that Eastern Christians draw between icons, images, and statues. Understood correctly, icons are a window through which one looks to see the Divine, not an idol to be worshiped in its own right.

The part of the book I enjoyed the most was the middle section, where Williams takes four different icons of Christ --Christ's transfiguration, Christ's resurrection, Christ in Trinity, and Christ as ruler of all-- and explicates each one in detail, drawing our attention to various aspects of the paintings, suggesting ways in which the representations can invite us into a deeper theological and spiritual understanding of Christ.

Ironically enough, I felt the weakest part of the book were the reproductions of the icons themselves! One would think that a book about icons would have large, glossy reproductions and detailed close-ups. While the reproductions "get the job done" in this teaching tome, I felt they really short-changed the beauty of the subject matter. If I had picked up this book browsing in a bookstore, the ugly reproduction of The Transfiguration on the cover would have caused me to overlook what is otherwise a wonderful book, well suited for summer reading on vacation, yet leaving one with the sense of having learned of something profound.

PUBLISHER: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (January 2004); ISBN: 0802827780

Popular Music from Vittula

2006-07-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

Popular Music from Vittula: a novel, by Mikael Niemi
(translated from Swedish by Laurie Thompson)

While this short novel is mostly a coming-of-age tale for two boyhood friends who grew up in Vittula, a town near the Finnish-Swedish border, I enjoyed it both for its evocative imagery of life within the arctic circle, and the role that Laestadianism plays in the lives of the two main characters. Niila is the son of an emotionally and physically abusive Laestadian preacher. Matti, who is also the voice of the narrator, is his best friend. Matti is not a Laestadian.

As a third generation American of Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish ancestry, the occasional sauna and lefse is as close as I get to rediscovering my roots! From my perspective, the world presented in Niemi's novel seems very far away. Yet while I read it I couldn't help but feel haunted by images which evoked vivid memories of childhood. Perhaps this haunting is not entirely coincidental, as I recently found out from a relative that my ancestors originate from this very region of Finland and Sweden.

The wedding banquet chapter reminded me of the strong black coffee, hearty rieska, and earthy camaraderie that existed at family events growing up. The portrayal of the mother-in-law as a woman whose purpose was to force the guests to eat and eat until they could eat no more --and then eat a few more things-- recalled to mind the important role that food played in hospitality. The wedding banquet concludes with the men taking an intense saunas where, "the steam was as merciless as a Laestadian sermon." (p. 122)

Seeing Laestadianism through Matti's eyes left me with a "grass is greener on the other side" reaction. Growing up as a mainstream Lutheran, Matti's father warned him that "[i]t was particularly important not to brood about religion. God and death and the meaning of life were all extremely dangerous topics for a young and vulnerable mind, a dense forest in which you could easily get lost and end up with acute attacks of madness. You could confidently leave that kind of stuff until your old age, because by then you would be hardened and tougher, and wouldn't have much else to do. Confirmation classes should be regarded as a purely theoretical exercise: a few texts and rituals to memorize, but certainly not anything to start worrying about." (p. 176) While I wouldn't go that far, I was struck by the mirror image of Laestadian spiritual excess painted so starkly.

"Life is a vale of tears." I don't know if that idea is primarily Laestadian or primarily Finnish, but it is an important theme that pervades the novel. While the novel is not unhappy, or depressing, life in Vittula is hard and rough, and pleasure, while obtainable, is always understood within the context of suffering.

PUBLISHER: Seven Stories Press. New York. 2003. ISBN: 1-58322-523-4
KEYWORDS: Fiction, Sweden, Finland, Laestadianism

Because I Love You

2006-06-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

Because I Love You, by Max Lucado

Well, I just re-read Max Lucado's story for children Because I Love You and now I remember why I thought it was so creepy the first time I read it --especially in light of my fundamentalist upbringing.

One of the main messages of this book seems to be that curiosity is dangerous. Don't inquire. Don't question. Just accept what an authority figure tells you. If you do question, you risk alienating yourself from your community. Once you've gone down the questioning path and left the sheltering walls of religious totalism only an act of God can bring you back.

To me the book seems like an insidious attempt to try to frighten children out of questioning the values of the authority system. I see this with so many adults too, that seem afraid to question, that would rather live in a secure little bubble of never examining the assumptions behind what they believe.

The lie is made all the stronger because it is partly true. As one who has rejected the fundamentalism of my upbringing, it does feel lonely and dangerous sometimes to be "out in the cold," outside of the authoritarian system that promised simplicity and security if one didn't question things. Yet there is also great beauty and truth outside the walls.

I guess I'd even go so far as to say that the whole truth is only outside the wall, and what it means to be human is to seek after the whole truth. This book does a terrible disservice by implying otherwise. It certainly feels safer inside the walls, but I was raised to shun "feel good theology!"

And what the is Lucado trying to imply by naming the curious kid "Paladin?" All the good conformist kids got normal names. Paladin sounds like something out of Dungeons and Dragons, which of course every good fundy knows is a Satanic game. :)

Okay, I'm done ranting now. Few things get me as irate as the manipulation of children.

Publisher: Crossway Books (February 1999); ISBN: 0891079920

The Book of Tea

2006-06-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Book of Tea, by Kakuzo Okakura

Reading and drinking tea have been connected in my mind for a few years now. My introduction to teas began quite accidentally. I was looking for a nice quiet neighborhood coffee shop with comfortable chairs as a place to escape family life for the occasional evening, and catch up on my reading. This search brought me to a tea shop, where I immediately fell in love with the different blends of green tea. I've been hooked ever since!

The Book of Tea is a short work that traces the history and development of tea drinking and the tea ceremony as it came from China to Japan in the 9th century, became tied to Zen Buddhism, and survives to this day. In one interesting quote that reminded me of my own favorite tea shop, "The tea room or tea house avoids any note of ostentation. It is made of common materials. The tools, the table, the teapot, and the ornament --all must be humble and harmonious." (p. xiii) Okakura goes on to tie tea drinking to a balanced, non-elitist sensibility. "It has not the arrogance of wine, the self-consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocao." (p. 12).

Yet he can't just leave it at that. Okakura reminds me of more modern marketing for green tea (what hasn't green tea been claimed to cure?) when he ties tea drinking to philosophy, aesthetics, religion --even hygiene. "The philosophy of tea is not mere aetheticism in the ordinary acceptance of the term, for it expresses conjointly with ethics and religion our whole point of view about man and nature. It is hygiene, for it enforces cleanliness; it is economics, for it shows comfort in simplicity rather than in the complex and costly; it is moral geometry; inasmuch as it defines our sense of proportion to the universe. It represents the true spirit of eastern democracy by making all its votaries aristocrats in taste." (p. 4)

"Lao-tzu himself, with his quaint humor, says, 'If people of inferior intelligence hear of the Tao, they laugh immensely. It would not be the Tao unless they laughed at it.'" (p. 29)

Maybe tea really is "all that." Maybe it isn't. Either way, I enjoy a good bracing mug of gunpowder green tea in the morning, a lighter green tea with mango for the afternoon, and a low caffeine China white in the evening.

PUBLISHER: Shambhala. Boston and London. 2001. (originally written around 1904) ISBN: 0-87773-918-8

Making Sense

2006-06-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

Making Sense: Philosophy in the Headlines, by Julian Baggini

I was originally drawn to this book because of the title, "Making Sense" with its constructionist overtones. While the book is more an overview of philosophical thinking and how it can be applied to understanding current events, I still think it was well worth my time.

First, this was a great book for explaining philosophical concepts and critical thinking without getting weighed down in big terms. I took one philosophy class in college. We read Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, and others. My mind quickly glazed over in that way that only philosophy can make a young mind glaze over. Baggini, on the other hand, is very practical in his approach to philosophy. In this book philosophy is a means to an end; used to think clearly and help unravel the assumptions behind the issues for major news stories of our day. Of course the fact that utilitarianism seems to be Baggini's core philosophical assumption doesn't hurt his presentation!

Most of the book is devoted to taking specific examples and thinking through them in a rational manner. The Clinton sex scandal, the war on terrorism, stem cell research, abortion, and genetically modified foods are just a few of the issues he tackles. In each case he carefully asks questions aimed to deconstruct the arguments used for and against. Disassembled in this way, the reader can take a look at the various pieces that make up an argument and decide for themselves what is compelling and what is not. Even when you don't agree with Baggini's conclusions on the matter (and often I did not) his process helped me think through issues in a more reasoned way.

The strongest part of the book was Baggini's contrast between rhetoric and reasoned argument. Watch closely the next time you see a politician speak on TV. Do they assume their conclusion (rhetoric) or do they provide evidence to support drawing their conclusion (reasoned argument)? If every voter could make the distinction between reason and rhetoric there would be a revolution in the way people think about issues! While it may not end up affecting the outcome of elections (for I think reasoned arguments can often be made on many sides of an issue) I think it would inoculate us against some of the more extreme positions out there, and foster better domestic and foreign policy.

Baggini's treatment of religion, on the other hand, was somewhat weak. I was raised as a fundamentalist and trained to see reason and faith to be in strict opposition; now I'm an Episcopalian who sees reason and faith as complementing each other. Baggini critiques the fundamentalist view of religion, but seems unaware of any alternatives to this other than atheism. Most people of faith lie somewhere in the middle, and it was disappointing to read Baggini paint them with such a broad brush.

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 15, 2004); ISBN: 0192805061

Gilead

2006-06-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Gilead: A Novel, by Marilynne Robinson

This was a truly beautiful novel, like an ember glowing after the fire has died. It was not apparent to me from the beginning, however. This is the kind of book that slowly reveals its secrets and its beauty. Like a hard life lived well, meaning is hard won, wrested from the soil, from suffering.

Robinson's primary character, a preacher named John Ames, says it best when (describing baptism) he states, "There is a reality in blessing, which I take baptism to be primarily. It doesn't enhance sacredness, but it acknowledges it, and there is power in that." (p. 23) In the same way, Gilead acknowledges the sacredness in what may seem from an outsider's point of view to be ordinary lives in an ordinary Midwestern town. The sacredness of Iowa, of all places! It also acknowledges the sacredness in those of us who may consider ourselves beyond redemption.

The novel takes the form of an extended letter from father to son. John Ames is an old man with a young son, and pens this letter turned memoir as an attempt to communicate critical wisdom to his young son from beyond the grave. As the father tells the convoluted tale of a life that was shaped significantly by the experiences, heartaches, and wisdom learned from his forebears a picture of four generations of preachers emerges --each with different styles, personalities, and convictions bound by a common vocation.

John Ames' grandfather was a firebrand; an abolitionist who believed in passionate pursuit of social justice, working for the cause to end slavery, even to the point of advocating violence and revolution. He was noted for strong views and strong convictions, even giving away his own possessions to everyone that had need of them. His prophetic ministry was grounded in a vision from childhood, a vision of Christ shackled in chains that cut so deep they went "to the bone."

In stark contrast, John Ames' father never had a vision, discounted the importance of religious experience, and "went to sit with the Quakers" after the Civil War. The rift between these two strong-willed characters profoundly shapes the narrators life.

John Ames, our narrator throughout the novel, was a preacher during World War I, the Flu epidemic, and World War II. He is an interesting mix of his father and his grandfather. A pacifist, he once wrote a fiery sermon casting the flu as God's judgment against a people to willing to go to war. However he never preached that sermon out of compassion for a suffering flock. Perhaps he is the synthesis of what was best about both his father and his grandfather. A seemingly simple country preacher haunted by the ghosts of his father, grandfather and a late wife who died in childbirth, he has hidden depths with which we become increasingly familiar as the novel progresses.

John Ames' son takes two forms, one literal and the other metaphorical. On a literal level Ames is writing to a son who will come of age only after he is dead. On a deeper level, there is John Ames Boughton --ne'er do well son of his best friend-- who the preacher must come to terms with, forgive, and see God's grace within. Through this revealing of grace the glory of the old man's life, and the dusty Iowa farm town, is revealed.

PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. New York, 2004; ISBN: 0-374-15389-2
KEYWORDS: fiction, Iowa, preaching, relationships

The BFG

2006-05-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

The BFG, by Roald Dahl

I can't think of a finer way to spend a lazy three day weekend than to kick back with some good, light reading. Now that I am a parent this simple joy can also express itself reading a book out loud to a young child. Not only does it provide some quality time together, but it gives me a chance to see life through a child's eyes once again.

The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) provided all of that and more. While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is still my favorite, followed closely by James and the Giant Peach, BFG had plenty of entertaining moments. Surprisingly, my young audience was most enthralled by the silly words coined in the novel, such as snozzcumber (a bad tasting vegetable), frobscottle (soda pop where the bubbles float down instead of up), and whizzpoppers (flatulence!) What kid doesn't enjoy joking about flatulence?

The story line is simple enough. Young Sophie is abducted by the BFG, wins him over, and enlists his help in saving the world from the meaner sort of giant. She pleads her case to the queen of England, and hilarity ensues.

Great summer fun!

PUBLISHER: Puffin; Reissue edition (June 1, 1998); ISBN: 0141301058 (originally published 1982)

What Rough Beast

2006-04-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

What Rough Beast: Images of God in the Hebrew Bible, by David Penchansky

With provocatively titled chapters such as "YHWH the Monster (Genesis 3)", "The Bloody Bridegroom: The Malevolent God (Exodus 4:24-26)" and "The Mad Prophet and the Abusive God (2 Kings 2:23-25)" Penchansky's startling thesis is that these texts were written by people of faith bearing witness to their experience of God as "rough, violent, unpredictable, liable to break out against even his most faithful believers without warning." (pp. 1-2)

This was one of the most upsetting and disturbing books I've ever read, but I think the author is on to something. He presents a dark view of God very different than the God of sweetness and light espoused by many liberals, yet he is not willing to call evil its opposite when the act is attributed to God, as many fundamentalists will do.

Even if much of Genesis and Exodus is more parabolic than historical (and I think there is a good case to be made for that view) we're still left with the troubling images of God portrayed in the stories. Penchansky challenges us to "look into the very face of the abyss" with intellectual honesty, courage, and wit.

PUBLISHER: Westminster John Knox Press (September 1999); ISBN: 0664256457

Plan B

2006-03-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott

In this short, rambling, yet entertaining book the reader is treated to an inside view of one middle-aged west coast liberal's attempt to make sense of life as a Christian, parent, Sunday school teacher, writer, and citizen under the Bush Administration.

Yes, I kid you not. A big subtext in this series of autobiographical spiritual musings is the despair that liberal types feel when the right wing is in power. I suppose anyone with strong political leanings is subject to this kind of despair. While most of the electorate are probably somewhere in the middle --with something to like and dislike about anyone who might occupy the White House-- those on either fringe fear the worst, braving the current Administration like a raging storm, hoping it will end without destroying everything in its path.

I couldn't help but think, "this must be how Christian conservatives felt during Clinton's eight years in office." As someone with a very conservative extended family, I'm constantly hearing ranting from that end of the spectrum. I can only hope that I don't rant like that myself. Lamott definitely shows that ranting isn't the sole property of one political party.

Part of me wondered, why put so much partisan politics into this book? Lamott has a lot of down-to-earth wisdom to share, wisdom gained from her own rocky experiences, wisdom that could be even be useful to certain Republicans. However any self-respecting Republican will probably toss this book after reading the first few pages of Bush bashing. Here are some nuggets of her wisdom. The tone is quirky, pithy, and down-to-earth:

". . .when you pray, you are not starting the conversation from scratch, just remembering to plug back into a conversation that's always in progress." (p. 25)

". . .if you want to change the way you feel about people, you have to change the way you treat them." (p. 143)

"This drives me crazy, that God seems to have no taste, and no standards. Yet on most days, this is what gives some of us hope." (p. 222)

"She said you could tell if people were following Jesus, instead of following the people who follow Jesus, because they were feeding the poor, sharing their wealth, and trying to help everyone get medical insurance." (pp. 222-223)

"If I were God, I'd have the answers at the end of the workbook, so you could check as you went along, to see if you're on the right track. But nooooooo. Darkness is our context, and Easter's context: without it, you couldn't see the light. Hope is not about proving anything. It's about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us." (pp. 274-275)

"Every single spiritual tradition says that you must take care of the poor, or you are so doomed that not even Jesus or the Buddha can help you." (p. 307)

Great stuff.

On the other hand, maybe politics and religion do go hand in hand. For years I was a left-leaning parishioner in right-leaning churches. This gave me no end of consternation while I told myself I was holding out hope that church could transcend partisan differences.

Now I attend a church that more closely matches my political views, and I feel like a decades long hangover has finally ended! While it is nice to imagine that church can transcend politics, the reality is that everything is political, and the only way you can be represented is to be part of a group that shares your interests. That, and you can come out of church without fuming and bitching for days on end about what you just heard from the pulpit.

Lamott has the guts to be completely honest, even when it doesn't make her look good. She's comfortable enough about who she is that she can trash the Bush Administration yet also question her own motives for doing so. She just lets it all hang out, and then she attempts, albeit mostly unsuccessfully, to heal from the hatred. I can't help but admire her honesty and her struggle, which comes to a climax about two-thirds through the book:

"The sermon ended; people were crying. Veronica [Lamott's pastor] asked if anyone wanted to come forward for special prayer. . . I struggled to keep in my seat, but I found myself standing, then lurching forward stiffly. . .I whispered that I was so angry with and afraid of the right wing in this country that it was making me mentally ill.. . and the church prayed for me, although they did not know what was wrong." (p. 224)

This wound up being a very interesting read! Not what I expected and well worth my time. In a way Lamott's ranting is redeemed because it leads to a deeper insight into her own hopes, fears, and insecurities. This makes the book unlike anything I'd read before in this genre. Anyone can attack their political opponents, but it is a rare person who can also admit their own vulnerabilities at the same time.

PUBLISHER: Riverhead Books, New York, 2005. ISBN: 1-57322-299-2.

Our Endangered Values

2006-02-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, by Jimmy Carter

I was a bit underwhelmed by this book, partly because I expected it to comment more on the state of religious fundamentalism in America, and partly because of its style. I was thinking this book would be an in-depth analysis of the fusion between right-wing religion and politics. Having recently finished Jim Wallis' "God's Politics: Why the Right is Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It," perhaps I expected more from the former president and Nobel laureate.

"Our Endangered Values" begins with Jimmy Carter's self-described "traditional" Baptist beliefs, and continues with how he views current political issues. Yet Carter doesn't explicitly make the connection between religious belief and policy position as often as one would like. Instead the book is packed with a superficial critique of many Bush administration policy positions, as well as some justifications for Carter's own policies when he was president.

While I am certainly no admirer of Bush's policies and should have a sympathetic ear for Carter's arguments, I did not find the way he presented his case very compelling. I certainly admire what he has done through the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity. I even believe that there are religious convictions that underpin compassionate behavior for both individuals and governments. I am certainly no endorser of the pre-millennial dispensationalism and fundamentalism that Carter sees as the root and the cancer of many American foreign policy decisions. Yet Carter's approach --lots of examples, lots of statistics, but no citations or in-depth analysis-- left me strangely cold.

The biggest question this book raised for me was, "Why is Carter the anomaly --a Baptist with relatively traditional spirituality, yet progressive on many political issues?" Carter claims that it is the Southern Baptist Convention (and by proxy the larger conservative culture) that has changed, but I tend to think that it's the other way around. With the vast majority of Southern Baptists finding right wing, not left wing politics as the most natural expression of the their convictions, Carter has the burden of proof in showing why being liberal is a more faithful expression of his religious tradition.

Carter remains fascinating to me nonetheless. The earliest president I can remember firsthand from childhood, I remember my fundamentalist parents voting for him because he was "born again," yet becoming bitterly disillusioned with what they perceived as his ineffectual handling of the energy crisis and hostage crisis of the 1970s. By the 80s they were Reagan supporters, Moral Majority supporters, and to my knowledge never again voted for a Democrat.

Almost every conservative Christian religious tradition I can think of imagines a golden age in the past, and claims its authority based upon being in agreement with that past, or trying to return to that past. Interestingly, Carter tries to do the same thing in his book, claiming that we used to have thoughtful, civil discourse which has been ruined by the fundamentalist influence in politics and culture. I found the approach interesting, and wonder if it is convincing to it's target audience.

Maybe progressives DO need to couch their arguments in traditional language in order to relate to a broader audience. I take a "re-constructionist" approach in my own theological views, using traditional symbols and language to articulate new ideas. Maybe the time has come for a similar approach in politics?

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster (November 1, 2005); ISBN: 0743284577

God's Politics

2006-01-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, by Jim Wallis

One thing you can't help but notice reading this book is the forceful personality of Jim Wallis. He obviously believes what he says, and has "put his money where his mouth is" with his life. Arrested over 30 times, Wallis lives the life of an activist, tirelessly proclaiming to anyone who will listen that how we treat the poor, or "the least of these" illustrates the authenticity of our Christian faith.

I agreed with a lot of this book. I think the religious and political discourse in the United States is too narrow, and has been co-opted by religious fundamentalists and secular leftists. I think there are valid problems worthy of critique on both the right and the left. Yet something also bothers me about this book.

What I like about Wallis is that he wants to critique both the religious right and the secular left. He even had a few barbs to throw in about the religious left. On the basis of the Bible, Wallis sees Christianity as the high ground upon which opposing sides can come together to provide a more consistent ethic that sees moral issues as both social and individual.

"Change the wind, transform the debate, recast the discussion, alter the context in which political decisions are being made, and you will change the outcomes." (p. 22) Wallis sees people of faith as "wind changers." I like this metaphor, which also refers to the Spirit of God, depicted as "wind" in various parts of the Bible (perhaps most notably, Genesis 1)

What I don't like about Wallis is his tendency to be a biblical literalist (although not a right-wing biblical literalist, as is so often the case). I suppose everyone who tries to live by the Bible takes some parts of it literally, and other parts of it metaphorically. Since the Religious Right couches their arguments in "proof texts" and politically expedient hermeneutic, it is probably useful to see the same thing coming from a more moderate perspective. I think it is a conscious choice on Wallis' part to see the Bible as providing a consistent moral ethic that ought to inform our politics. I tend to mistrust such attempts to systematize, but I suppose that is part and parcel of organizing politically. If Wallis was riddled with self-doubt and questioned his own beliefs, perhaps he wouldn't "have what it takes" to organize and give his whole life to his cause.

Wallis wants the Christian community to be the community that undermines, critiques, and revitalizes political discourse in the United States --a prophetic voice speaking on behalf of the marginalized. While this can be found in Scripture, many other things can also be found in Scripture. Wallis uses the Bible as his authority, and this I find somewhat troubling because in my view the Bible actually undermines all authority.

Ultimately people must take responsibility for their morality, drawing inspiration and guidance from God, the Bible, and their own conscience. I think the call to justice Wallis finds in the Bible is every bit as much of a construction as are the types of things the Religious Right constructs out of the Bible. I happen to like what Wallis has constructed, but I don't like how he pretends it is "what the Bible says" when the reality is a bit more complicated. Jim Wallis thinks that if you'll read your Bible with an ear toward the poor, you can't help but question the status quo in what he calls "our war-mongering, greedy, capitalist society." That is certainly true, but it is "having an ear toward the poor" that makes the difference, not the Bible.

Wallis shows that he is at least somewhat aware of hermeneutical difficulties when he writes, "Social location often determines biblical interpretation, and that truth goes a long way toward understanding why Christians from the United States and many other wealthy countries simply miss some of the most central themes of the Scriptures." (p. 211) Wallis interprets Mark's gospel "the poor you will always have with you," helpfully pointing out that the disciples social location assumed that they would always be dealing with the poor. The fact that they are having dinner with Simon the Leper as the story plays out proves that Jesus and his disciples were concerned with social outcasts. Yet an affluent America reads this text as an excuse to do nothing about poverty, because it can never be eliminated.

Wallis is amazingly critical of the Bush administration. Seeing this kind of critique come out of evangelical circles is perhaps the most amazing thing to come out of this book. Much of the book scathingly attacks Bush's policies at home and abroad. "The real theological problem in America today is no longer the religious Right, but the nationalist religion of the Bush administration, one that confuses the identity of the nation with the church, and God's purposes with the mission of American empire." (p. 149)

Wallis imagines an activist Christian who is not afraid to get arrested for the sake of social justice. "If biblical prophets like Amos and Isaiah had read the news about what happened to child tax credits for low-income families, for example, they surely would be out screaming on the White House lawn about the justice of God--and be quickly led away by the Secret Service." (p. 247)

The limits of Wallis' leftward leanings are most apparent in his views on gay issues. He is against gay marriage, but also against using gays as the scapegoat for straight families' problems. Wallis does favor legalizing civil unions. (p. 332). Perhaps as an evangelical the only way he can be pro-gay is to leave it to the civil government. I find it a little inconsistent that this is the only issue that he doesn't want to bring the Bible to bear on. While a more liberal religious outlook might question the Bible's applicability to modern gay and lesbian concerns, Wallis wants to stay in the evangelical camp and defuse gay marriage as a wedge issue. It seems to me like he punts, but it is hardly surprising given his social location and his over-riding passion for the poor.

Ultimately, I think Wallis' message is one America needs to hear. His call to return to biblically based values regarding the poor and disenfranchised is timely and refreshing. He models an authentic way to be Christian that differs from the prevailing conservative fundamentalist views that dominate the airwaves and the headlines. He is scandal free, lives what he believes, and has a clear and articulate message of hope for both the poor and for the rest of us called to serve Christ through serving the poor.

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins, New York. 2005. ISBN 0-06-055828-8

In the Loop

2005-07-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

'In the Loop', by Brian Plante

I never thought I'd be someone's 'fan boy,' but it is quickly starting to look that way when it comes to Brian Plante's short SF. Realizing that this issue of Analog contained one of his stories made me look forward to it even more than usual, and my anticipation was not in vain.

I liked this story even better than Lavender in Love and Dibs, because he dealt sensibly with an issue near and dear to my heart --virtual reality and virtual afterlife.

The premise is this: In the future when those who can afford it die, their brains get scanned into a computer program where they get to live out the rest of their days (until someone stops paying the bill) in a simulated virtual reality where everything is better than reality. The only problem is that people being who they are, they get stuck in ruts or "loops."

Enter our protagonist, Dave (an ironic echo of 2001: a Space Odyssey?) whose job it is to enter virtual reality and interact with the 'spooks' in order to break them out of their ruts. For Dave it starts out as a short term job to pay the bills, but after awhile it begins to raise serious questions for both Dave and the reader about the nature of reality and the 'loops' that even flesh and blood humans get themselves into.

Keep them coming, Brian Plante!

PUBLISHER: Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Dell Publishers; ISSN: 10592113 (July/August, 2005)

The Tomten and the Fox

2005-04-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Tomten and the Fox, by Astrid Lindgren

I suppose everyone who has kids (or has been a kid) has read Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking books. Much less well-known is Lindgren's adaptation of Karl-Erik Forsslund's poem, "The Tomten and the Fox." I found it to be a charming rendition of an old Scandinavian folktale featuring a wise and kindly gnome who protects the family farm from a chicken-hungry fox.

Harald Wiberg's watercolor illustrations bring the magical moonlit evening to life, lending a certain serenity to the story even as the ravenous fox creeps ever closer to the chicken coop. The gnome's solution to the dilemma teaches children alternatives to violent conflict resolution even as it makes them aware that not everyone will always act fairly, honestly, and in accordance with adult rules. Still, the fox is not drawn as a purely evil character. Lindgren hints at the broader issues that surround want and hunger, suggesting complex motivations for anti-social behavior.

In the end, The Tomten and the Fox can be seen not only as a children's story, but as an allegory on sharing and social justice.

PUBLISHER: Coward-McCann, Inc. 1966. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 65-25501

Passion for Peace

2005-02-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

Passion for Peace: The Social Essays, by Thomas Merton

This collection of essays, edited by William H. Shannon, show the evolution of Merton's anti-war, pacifist stance as it evolved in the wake of the Vietnam War in the 1960s. As Shannon writes in the introduction, ". . .most of the articles that follow have been previously published, but in books that are now out of print. This book contains the substance of Seeds of Destruction, published by Farrar Straus and Giroux in 1964, and most of the articles compiled by Gordon Zahn in The Non-Violent Alternative, published by Farrar Straus and Giroux in 1980." (pp. 6-7)

Merton's stance against war and violence is rooted in self-awareness. "[E]very form of oversimplification tends to make decisions ultimately meaningless. We must try to accept ourselves. . . not only as perfectly good or perfectly bad, but in our mysterious, unaccountable mixture of good and evil. We have to stand by the modicum of good that is in us without exaggerating it." (p. 16). The root of evil is not to be projected onto the other as a prelude to war, but instead, "If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed --but hate these things in yourself, not in another," (p. 19)

According to Merton, "just war theory" or "natural law" or any other number of theological constructs need to be re-interpreted in the light of the Sermon on the Mount. Instead, what for Merton is central often gets relegated to the margins, seen as an impossible ideal, or exaggeration, or hyperbole for effect. When pacifist Christians argue for the application of the Sermon on the Mount to social systems, they need to justify this choice, and also deal with the many passages in the Old Testament that seem to sanction war as a God-ordained activity. While Merton laments, "[i]t is tragic that the nonviolent resistance to evil which is of the very essence of the New Testament morality has come to be regarded as a specialty reserved for beatniks and eccentric cultists," (p. 23) he also needs to provide more argument to support what seems counter-intuitive.

"There is one winner, only one winner in war. The winner is war itself. Not truth, not justice, not liberty, not morality. These are the vanquished. War wins, reducing them to complete submission. He makes truth serve violence and falsehood. . .Though moralists may intend and endeavor to lay down rules for war, in the end war lays down rules for them." (p. 28) As war after war occurs, and war becomes more total and more ruthless, as the tactics taken by "our side" are increasingly justified as necessary to counter the ruthless fighting of our enemies, Merton sees Christian values of peace as rapidly and steadily eroding.

There is a bit of elitism in Merton's writing. The laity are often referred to as being "confused" by the mass media and other sources. One gets the impression that Merton views the laity, and the public in general as sheep that are incapable of thinking for themselves.

This is somewhat mitigated in one of Merton's most interesting essays, "Danish Non-violent Resistance to Hitler." Here Merton outlines the amazing way in which the Danish resisted German attempts to exterminate the Jews in their country during World War Two by consistently and steadfastly, from the King on down to ordinary people, refusing to co-operate with the SS on moral grounds. (pp 150-153.) One can't help but wonder why such exceptions to Nazi oppression in Europe are not more widely known, and proposed as counterbalances to the meta narrative that says World War Two was a "just and necessary war."

While I commend Merton's forward thinking, encouraging Christians to think about the eventual consequences of moving down the slippery slope from countenancing certain wartime activities in "defense" to using these methods preemptively themselves, he seems somewhat naive. "Ambiguity, hesitation and compromise are no longer permissible. War must be abolished. A world government must be established. We have still time to do something about it, but the time is rapidly running out." (p. 47) Certainly this statement is made in the context of a cold war between two superpowers, with a monolithic mass media mediating the national conversation in the United States. To such a monolithic problem, maybe the monolithic solution of world government seemed justified. In today's context of decentralized sources of information (the Internet and hundreds of cable channels) and an amorphous war against multi-national terrorists, the faith in big institutions seems more naive.

Still, many of his observations remain timely. In speaking of the Communists, Merton writes, "We have no right to abandon the Christian moral values on which our society was built and adopt the moral opportunism and irresponsibility of atheistic materialism. If we live and act like atheists we will turn our world into a living hell, and that is precisely what we are doing --for the Russians are not the only men in the world who are Godless!" (p. 52) It's hard not to see both parallels and irony as a materialistic west, led by the United States, now fights militant Islamists like Al-Qaeda, often using methods that meet with objection on both pacifist, and civil libertarian grounds.

"Let us remember this formula: in the madness of modern war, when every crime is justified, the nation is always right, power is always right, the military is always right. To question those who wield power, to differ from them in any way, is to confess oneself subversive, rebellious, traitorous." (p. 55)

I was chilled at how much the names change, but the dynamic stays the same when reflecting on war and peace issues.

PUBLISHER: The Crossroad Publishing Company. New York. 1995. (originally written between 1961-1968); ISBN: 0-8245-1494-7.

The Heart of Christianity

2005-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith, by Marcus J. Borg

While some of Borg's other books (especially The God We Never Knew) draw upon the author's personal experience and others (Jesus: A New Vision, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, and Reading the Bible Again for the First Time) are more scholarly, this book seems best categorized as the culmination of a lifetime of work --less scholarly, more personal, but overall a "summing up" of the ideas Borg has wrestled with and tried to put forward regarding the "new way of seeing Christianity" that has emerged within mainline denominations in the last 100 years.

I've always enjoyed Borg's writing style, which is extremely readable. Beyond that, I think the most powerful idea he puts forward is not historical Jesus scholarship, or even a good popularization of modern biblical scholarship, but instead what I'll call "a re-imagining and reconstruction of the Christian tradition from the ground up." In other words, Borg can take the essential elements and ideas of the Christian tradition: the Bible, God, Jesus, and use them and imagine them in ways that revitalize their meaning and keep them relevant to the modern world.

Much of my pet peeve with popular notions of "liberal Christianity" is that it seems to throw away so much of the tradition, especially problems with biblical interpretation. Borg, on the other hand, falls back to the tradition and seeks to integrate it in a new way. He gets beyond the conservative/liberal dichotomy and instead describes how an "emerging" view of the church compares and contrasts to an "earlier" view of seeing Christianity. Neither view can claim to be "the" view; both are attempts to best "make sense" of the Christian tradition in light of the issues and questions raised by the world in which we live.

Borg is liberal in the sense that he is firmly committed to modern methods of biblical scholarship. He was a member of the infamous Jesus Seminar back in the 1990s, whose main interpretive framework was to go through the synoptic gospels and categorize sections according to their likely historicity. On the other hand, he seems more conservative when he emphasizes the crucial role the Bible has played in the Christian tradition. Borg sees both elements as crucial to his emerging vision of Christianity. "Despite their differences, the two paradigms share central convictions in common. The emerging paradigm, as I describe it, strongly affirms the reality of God, the centrality of the Bible, the centrality of Jesus, the importance of a relationship with God as known in Jesus, and our need (and the world's need) for transformation. To state the obvious, all of these matter to the earlier paradigm as well . . . both emphasize a relationship vision of the Christian life." (p. 17)

Because Borg believes that the earlier paradigm overemphasizes faith as the assent to propositions, he spends much time examining other views of faith found in the Christian tradition, including faith as radical trust, faith as seeing things in a different way, and faith as being faithful (as to one's spouse). Returning to the important role faith as belief plays, however, Borg lists the following affirmations of the emerging view of Christianity:

Being Christian means affirming the reality of God
for Christians, "Jesus [is] the decisive disclosure of God and what a life full of God looks like."
Christian faith means affirming the centrality of the Bible (pp. 37-38)

For Borg, love (not belief) is the central idea behind faith. Not only does this sidestep the literal/factual conundrum, but it pierces to the heart of the matter --To love God is to believe in God. "The Christian life is as simple and as challenging as this: to love God, and to love that which God loves." (p. 41)

Borg's view of the Bible is historical, metaphorical and sacramental. Emphasizing sacramental as one of the "big three" ways the emerging view of Christianity sees the Bible is a further development from what Borg wrote in Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. In Reading the Bible Again Borg promoted an "historical-metaphorical" approach over and against a "literal-factual" approach. While he did mention the Bible as a "sacrament of the sacred," the Bible as sacrament theme gets further elaboration in The Heart of Christianity

Borg seems to be moving more toward the "center" than in his previous works regarding the role of the Bible. I'm not sure if the change in tone is an attempt to be more pastoral or if it represents a significant shift in his thinking. "The Bible is thus both sacred scripture and a human product. It is important to affirm both. To use stereotypical labels, both conservatives and liberals within the church have been reluctant to do so. Conservative Christians resist affirming that the Bible is a human product, fearing that doing so means it will lose its status as divine authority and divine revelation. Liberal Christians are somewhat wary of affirming that the Bible is sacred scripture, fearing that doing so opens the door to notions of infallibility, literalism, and absolutizing." (p. 48) By saying "believe whatever you want about whether the story happened this way; but now let's talk about what the story means," (p. 57) Borg emphasizes the metaphorical meaning of the text over the literal meaning, and argues that conservatives and liberals both use metaphor. He sees this as a possible bridge between these competing and contentious views.

On God, Borg promotes panentheism over supernatural theism as a better way to make sense of how God operates in relationship to our world and us. Much of this is repeat material from The God We Never Knew, but Borg adds an emphasis, asserting that panentheism is found in the Bible, in the tradition, and can be traced back farther than the term itself, which only dates back about two centuries.

Borg sidesteps the issue of divine intervention, claiming that the language of "intervention" implies an absent God outside the world who sweeps in, and opens up a can of worms regarding why God would intervene in some cases and not others. Instead Borg still affirms that intercessory prayer can have an affect, but doesn't claim to know to much about what that effect actually is. (p. 67) He briefly discusses impersonal, personal, and transpersonal images of God. Borg does not believe God is personal, although he feels that the natural way we relate to God is ultimately personal. My own view is that we relate to God in a personal way because we are persons, not because God is a person. While God transcends mere personhood, maybe people can only adequately imagine God as personal, hence its popularity in devotion.

Ultimately, Borg sees the issue of God's character as decisive in our formulation of what it means to be a Christian. "What's at stake in the question of God's character is our image of the Christian life. Is Christianity about requirements? Here's what you must do to be saved. Or is Christianity about relationship and transformation? Here's the path: follow it. Both involve imperatives, but one is a threat, the other an invitation." (pp. 77-78)

As he did in earlier books, Borg makes a clear distinction between what he calls the "Pre-Easter and Post-Easter Jesus." Making the distinction, Borg argues, allows us to see what a remarkable man Jesus was; if we don't make the distinction Jesus' humanity becomes subsumed in his divinity and Jesus becomes merely some kind of God-puppet or superhero. To hold the two images as distinct and perhaps even in some degree of tension with each other, a fuller and more illuminating picture develops. Repeating compactly much of what he elaborates on in "Jesus: A New Vision," Borg sees the pre-Easter Jesus as a Jewish mystic, healer, wisdom teacher, social prophet, and movement initiator. (pp 89-91). For Borg the pre-Easter Jesus is the Jesus of history. The post-Easter Jesus is the Christ of faith, or more specifically, the experience of the risen Christ shared by the disciples, St. Paul, the early church, and people today.

Borg wants to reclaim the language of "born again" from the fundamentalists. For Borg, being "born again" is not the assent to propositions about the nature of Jesus, the atonement or the resurrection. It is a transformation of the whole person. Jesus' whole life, teachings, death and resurrection are a metaphor for the transformation that can occur in each Christian. "It means dying to an old way of being and being born into a new way of being, dying to an old identity and being born to a new identity--a way of being and an identity centered in the sacred, in Spirit, in Christ, in God." (p. 107)

Why do we need to be born again? According to Borg, it's because "we come from God, and ...when we are very young, we still remember this, still know this. But the process of growing up, of learning about this world, is a process of increasingly forgetting the one from whom we came and in whom we live. The birth and intensification of self-consciousness, of self-awareness, involves a separation from God." (p. 114) "The image of following 'the way' is common in Judaism, and 'the way' involves a new heart, a new self centered in God. One of the meanings of the word 'Islam' is 'surrender': to surrender one's life to God by radically centering in God. And Muhammad is reported to have said, 'Die before you die.' Die spiritually before you die physically, die metaphorically (and really) before you die literally." (p. 119)

For Borg the Kingdom of God is political. It is about procedural justice. Being Christian is two pronged. The personal aspect is the "born again" transformation. Transformation also belongs to the political realm, however, as the kingdom of God is at once all around us, and a vision of the future to be brought about in the present.

When I was growing up, God's justice and God's mercy were often contrasted, with all of us strongly preferring God's mercy, but fearing God's justice (judgment.) Borg believes setting up the opposites like this mutes the Bible's passion for political and social justice. Borg maintains that the opposite of God's mercy is not God's justice, but instead human injustice. This takes the emphasis off God as judge and puts it on human accountability for our actions. God is seen as the model of right behavior, right thinking, and action. (p 127)

Lord, savior, and other New Testament titles for Jesus were titles that were applied to Caesar. Thus Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not. The political aspect of the gospels calls us to call into question our own allegiances. Is Jesus our commander and chief, or the president? As Jesus reminds us, we cannot serve two masters. Borg insightfully notes that Jesus is the only founder of a major religious tradition who was executed by the established political authority. I think this says volumes about Borg's vision of emerging Christianity being one that can call into question the authorities in the name of God and social/political justice.

"Open hearts" and "thin places" sum up much of what Borg is driving at when he describes spiritually of the emerging view of Christianity. I thought Borg's description of the "closed heart" was especially striking: "The birth and development of self-awareness involves an increasing sense of being a separated self. We live within this separated self, as if the self is enclosed in a dome, a transparent shell: the world is "out there" and I am "in here." Like an invisible shield, the dome is a boundary separating the self from the world. It can become hard and rigid. It closes us off from the world, and we live centered in ourselves. The same process of growing up that creates the need to be born again creates the need for our hearts to be opened. To mix metaphors, the reason we need to be born again is because we have closed hearts." (p. 153) I was gratified that in Borg's discussion of self-awareness and the development of the self he referenced Thomas Keating's Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel, which I have recently read.

A panentheistic view of God will hold that God is everywhere and in everything as well as being "more" than that. Yet people do not experience God or the world this way very often. "Thin places" are those times and places where we do experience God shining through reality. "Thin places are places where the veil momentarily lifts, and we behold God, experience the one in whom we live, all around us and within us." (p. 156) One of the primary reasons to go to church and worship is because church/worship can be a thin place. "In liturgical and sacramental forms of worship, the use of sacred words and rituals creates a sense of another world." (p. 157)

Since for Borg Christianity is a "way," practices are central to journeying along the way. Practices are ways of paying attention to God and taking seriously the call to love God with everything we have and in everything we do. The most important practice, according to Borg, is being part of a church. Then he moves on to prayer. While Borg doesn't believe in an interventionist God, he nonetheless does petition and intercessory prayer because not do would be, in his view, an act of hubris and non-compassion. (p. 197) Finally, meditation, contemplation (Thomas Keating style), lectio divina, and other daily disciplines round out the list. "Christian practice is about walking with God, becoming kind, and doing justice. It is not about believing in God and being a good person; it is about how one becomes a good person through the practice of loving God." (p. 205)

Sharing the concern of an earlier vision of Christianity that while God created the world good, something has gone wrong and God seeks to put the world back on the right track, Borg questions whether 'sin' is the best word to describe what has gone wrong. (p. 166) Much hinges on how we see sin; how we define it on its most basic level. Many see sin as disobedience to God's laws. Reinhold Niebuhr saw sin as pride or "hubris" --putting ourselves in the place of God out of the anxiety born of our finititude. Paul Tillich saw sin primarily as "estrangement" of ourselves from God, "centering" in ourselves or in the world rather than in God.

Borg acknowledges these ways of looking at sin as getting at the heart of the problem, yet he questions whether sin has lost its meaning as the most helpful way of framing the issue. He suggests that multiple images might be more helpful, and draws these images out of the biblical tradition. "[W]e are blind, in exile, in bondage; we have closed hearts; we hunger and thirst; we are lost." (p. 168). Borg thinks these images are more helpful because they point the way to specific correctives. Instead of just saying the problem is sin, and the solution is forgiveness, the solution for a closed heart is not forgiveness for having our heart closed, but instead practices to open the heart.

While sin is one aspect of the human problem, Borg feels that it is overemphasized and over individualized, obscuring social ills and systemic evils. Borg calls for a broadening in liturgy away from just sin. "[I]t wasn't individual sins that caused Jesus' death. He wasn't killed because of the impure thoughts of adolescents or our everyday deceptions or our selfishness. The point is not that these don't matter. The point, rather, is that these were not what caused Jesus' death. Rather, Jesus was killed because of what might be called 'social sin,' namely, the domination system of his day. The common individualistic understanding of sin typically domesticates the political passion of the Bible and Jesus." (p. 171)

Likewise, Jesus re-thinks salvation away from the popular notion that is about "going to heaven" after death. Borg writes that belief in the afterlife, while common among writers of the New Testament and possibly a view of Jesus, was not common among the writers of the Hebrew Bible and probably a late development. Yet people have taken God seriously both in the Old Testament and today without believing in an afterlife, the reason being that salvation relates primarily to the here and now and not to a far-off future reward for good behavior. "Eternal life," or "the life of the age to come" is primarily about living now as if the kingdom of God was here now.

In the Bible, salvation is described as "light in our darkness; sight to the blind; enlightenment; liberation for captives; return from exile; the healing of our infirmities; food and drink; resurrection from the land of the dead; being born again; knowing God; becoming 'in Christ;' being made right with God ('justified')." (p. 175) Borg's biggest point here is that salvation, which has been almost exclusively taught as individualist, has an essential corporate aspect to it as well.

The emerging vision of Christianity is a holistic way of re-imaging and re-engaging the Christian tradition in a way that makes sense in light of the world we live in. For many of us this world is post-modern, pluralistic, and increasingly interconnected. Why be a Christian in this age of modernism and pluralism? Why be a Christian if hellfire and one's eternal post-mortem destination doesn't hang in the balance? While the emerging vision of Christianity Borg explains and advocates sees all religions as a human response to the Divine, some may be better suited than others for particular individuals. As a "cultural-linguistic tradition," each religion is distinctly different even as all the enduring religions emphasize the quest for "More" than a strictly materialistic worldview can offer, and bear compassion as their foremost fruit.

Why be Christian? Because for me, and for the author, Christianity is "home." Borg provides a compelling, well thought out vision for a meaningful Christianity that builds upon its tradition in an intelligent, heart-felt way.

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins, New York. 2003. ISBN: 0-06-052676-9

SEE ALSO: The God We Never Knew and Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, by Marcus Borg

The Wound of Knowledge

2004-12-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

The Wound of Knowledge: Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to Saint John of the Cross, by Rowan Williams

This was one of those books that, while difficult to digest, nonetheless opened up vast vistas of thought currently unknown to me. While I have done some reading about Christian thought from the Reformation to the present, and even did my master's thesis on religious radicalism and revivalism among American frontiersmen, I had never really done even a cursory reading of the patristics, the mystics, or the monastics of the early Christian centuries. I felt a bit out of my element, but I was still fascinated by the differences between the thought of these early Christians and typical conventional Christian thought today.

If this book made one impression on me, it was that while the pursuit of spiritual understanding and experience of God has remained fairly constant over the centuries, how they have been understood has radically changed over time. Furthermore, modern day Protestantism in both its evangelical and mainline forms seems far removed from the earliest thinkers!

What follows here isn't going to be my typical book review. Instead I'm going to just leave my notes and quotes in an unfinished form. These are the ideas that jarred me, grabbed me, and fascinated me. Take from them what you will. They have certainly given me further food for thought, and have impressed upon me the need for further readings in this area. I hope they will take hold of you, and inspire both reflection and further study. The items in quotes are from the book. What remains are my responses to what I read.

CHAPTER 1

"...the goal of a Christian life becomes not enlightenment but wholeness –an acceptance of this complicated and muddled bundle of experiences as a possible theater of God's creative work." (p. 12)

God is hidden.

To grow is to become more capable of both pain and love –just as the way of the cross represents extreme love and extreme pain.

What role does God play in our suffering? Ignatius of Antioch visioned God as a devourer, "to be in front of the wild animals [in the Colosseum] is to be in front of God." (p. 25)

"Thus martyrdom comes as the natural culmination of a more prosaic process of unselfing..." (p. 27)

Life is not suffering, but a task to be borne diligently and with grace, service, charity, culminating in a death symbolic of that life.

CHAPTER 2

The second century is the beginning of real systematic theology. Paul and Ignatius are letter writers, not theologians. Much early theology was a reaction to Gnosticism. Some of the problems early theologians saw with gnosticism was that it conceived the world as accidental, demeaned parts of human experience as illusory, meaningless and --most importantly-- irredeemable. Finally, it saw God as separate from creation.

Ireneus of Lyons (c 130-200 CE)

"There is no sort of human activity that automatically generates the vision of God, but there are actions that make one 'apt' for the vision of God" (p. 36) Acts of the whole person, not just the spirit emphasize that the connection with God's salvation is in our humanness, not in an attempt to escape from it because Christ transforms Adam's failure into the Imago Dei.

"...creative will is at the heart of human reality, as it is at the heart of God's reality; so that salvation is the encounter and union of these two wills, when human beings will to be God wills them to be." (p. 41)

Clement of Alexandria (c 150 -215 CE)

Christian gnosticism sees instruction as Christ's role. Unlike the view espoused by the heretic Gnostics, God cannot be manipulated through correct ritual. However there is still the conviction that God cannot be known -- "knowledge" of God is not the gathering of facts about God but the stripping away of what is known, finally "bearing God in himself and being borne by God." (p. 44) According to Clement, faith leads to gnosis, gnosis leads to love, and love leads to God. (p. 45) The faithful adherent is marked by a readiness to instruct and enlighten.

Clement was one of the first to write about wealth not being a problem for Christians, provided that it was seen properly as being irrelevant to ones spiritual state. While this eliminates poverty as a requirement for Christians, it is still a marked contrast to some modern notions of wealth as a sign of godliness, or "prosperity gospel."

Origen (c. 185-254/5 CE)

Love and spiritual knowledge go hand in hand, "the inner wound of love" drives us to seek direct and personal experiences of Christ. Origen's emphasis is on firsthand versus secondhand experience. Knowing Christ incarnate is the beginning of a progression that ends with knowledge of the eternal Word. The progression is from physical to spiritual. Physical and spiritual are major themes with Origen, with the spiritual always being superior (or perhaps the culmination of) the physical. Perhaps most famously Origen is known for saying that there are two ways to read the Scriptures, the physical (literal) reading and the spiritual (allegorical/symbolic) reading.

CHAPTER 3

Rowan Williams interprets Athanasius thusly: "the Son has not only to live a human life, but to die a human death, since without this, death would remain an area untouched and untransfigured by God, and we would never become inheritors of immortality and incorruption." (p. 59)

Gregory of Nyssa emphasized participation in the Divine as participation in what God does. "The man who shares with the poor will have his share in the one who becomes poor for our sake." (p. 63) Imitating what God does instead of who God is was foremost because for Gregory God is beyond intellect, and God is beyond being itself. The mark of having God in oneself is a life of compassion for others. Spirituality is visioned as one whose being is expanding and falling into an infinite God.

CHAPTER 4

Augustine of Hippo

Confessions was published in 401 CE. Augustine was groundbreaking in that he was the first to show an interest in childhood as significant in spiritual autobiography. A neo-Platonist, Augustine thought that the good in us is part of God, and our true selves lie in God. Yet unlike most neo-Platonists, who were logical and passionless in their arguments, Augustine recognized the irrational.

"To become Godlike is to accept crucifixion by the destructiveness of the world. There is, then, no route to God that does not pass under the cross. . ." (p. 91)

"The risk of irrationalism and quietism is great." (p. 95)

"Augustine's is rather the inscrutable God who speaks out of Job's whirlwind and makes himself known in a dying man. . ." (p. 97)

CHAPTER 5

Anthony (c. 305 CE)

St. Anthony was the founder of the monastic movement --"a time is coming when men will go mad when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, 'You are mad, you are not like us.'" (p. 103) Monasticism was a way to preserve Christianity from any cultural inroads, to attempt to assure against a version of the religion that is synonymous with culture.

"The monk has come to the desert to escape the illusory Christian identity proposed by the world; he now has to see the roots of illusion in himself. . . " (p. 105)

"Everyone has equal claim on the Christian's unconditional service, because of the unconditional self offering of Christ to all." (p. 111)

I ask, "where is the monastic vision of Christianity expressed today?" Conventional Christianity --the type taught in most churches and on display in most Christian bookstores seems to be totally synonymous with a capitalist, consumerist, market driven culture of overconsumption. There seems to be a book and a Bible study about every little whim, marketed to every little niche. When does a Christianity that has taken on all the trappings of our culture cease to be Christianity?

Benedict of Nursia (c 480-547 CE)

While most famous for his Rule, it was not strictly or uniformly applied until the Cisterian reform at the end of the 11th century.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153 CE)

Cisterians - a form of monasticism that had very clear definitions and rules for living, was of mass appeal to the uneducated classes. Only the love of God gives us proper perspective on loving self and neighbor. (p. 118)

CHAPTER 6

Dionysius the Aereopagite: "God is God, surpassing alike language, intuition, and being." God is too real to exist as things exist. God manifests through emanations. Seeking God is the abandonment of both sense experience and religious experience.

Maximus the Confessor (d. 645 CE)

"The eternal Word first empties himself of his divinity to become human, then empties himself of instinctive human passions in accepting suffering and death. Human beings are called to share in his human kenosis, responding to the divine kenosis: we must empty away our lives in order to grasp what he has done. . ." (p 130)

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 CE)

For God, being and acting are the same --for us there is a gap between these. We need to be stimulated to act. God can be his own focus.

In contemplation, therefore, is the "passage from 'rational' consideration of intelligible realities and the direct contact with divine truth; at the final level there is no concept for the reason to work on, therefore no work for the reason to do." (p. 138)

Meister Eckhart (c 1260-1327 CE)

A disciple of Aquinas, Eckhart emphasized that purity of soul, or "virginity of soul," causes God's spirit to conceive in them and become a child, the son of God. This is the model for the contemplative. "The true following of Christ is the following of the whole Christ, the eternal Word as well as the historical figure." (p. 143).

"The Trinity is God, but not Godhead." This concept is not clear to me. It seems to tease at the idea that there is a "God beyond God," meaning that the real God, the God that Is, goes beyond any of our conceptions of God, including the Trinity.

CHAPTER 7

Martin Luther (1500s)

"A God who could be loved, prayed to and trusted even as he smote and killed. A strange and terrifying God; yet a source of life and hope." (p. 157).

Luther was also a proponent of the idea that only "in hell" can one hear the good news. Given the context for Luther's spiritual breakthrough this is not surprising. Perhaps this is also a point Luther shares in common with Lars Levi Laestadius, a nineteenth century Finnish revivalist and pietist who is said to have preached extreme hellfire and damnation in his sermons so that the subsequent repentance and conversion would be deeper and sweeter.

CHAPTER 8

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591 CE)

Dark night of the soul, dark night of the spirit. "Illumination is the running-out of language and thought. . ." (p. 181)

"No 'spiritual' experience whatsoever can provide a clear security, an unambiguous sign of God's favor." (p. 182)

God as the enemy and oppressor of the spiritual seeker --union with God is annihilation of all the dross within a human that is not of God.

"God himself breaks and reshapes all religious language as he acts through vulnerability, failure, and contradiction." (p. 189)

Those are my notes. I finished this book with no strong or clear sense of what exactly the "Wound of Knowledge" is supposed to be. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that since according to these Christian thinkers God cannot really be known in the sense that we think of knowledge in the modern age, knowledge is a problem, or "wound." On the other hand, Christian spirituality in this period also seems to favor the idea that direct experience of the Divine involves the annihilation, or letting go, or burning away of all that is not Divine. Therefore as one is granted "knowledge" of God, ones old or false self is wounded in the process.

PUBLISHER: Cowley Publications, Massachusetts (1991); ISBN: 1-56101-047-2

Christopher

2004-10-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

Christopher: The Holy Giant, by Tomie dePaola

Lately I've been reading a lot of Tomie dePaola's books to my daughter. Some, like The Clown of God and Christopher deal with Christian themes. Others, like Now One Foot: Now the Other deal with the impact on a child of his aging grandfather after he suffers a stroke. Still others, like Tom and The Art Lesson deal with themes surrounding individuality, conformity, growing up, and just plain having fun. All are richly illustrated with prose that manages to convey both depth and simplicity at the same time. Not skirting mature themes such as death and suffering, dePaola nonetheless manages to present these topics in a gentle way appropriate to younger children.

I found Christopher to be especially exemplary of dePaola's sweet yet substantive style. While retelling the legend of St. Christopher with alacrity, simplicity, and vivid illustrations, he also retains the full allegorical impact the tale for the benefit of the adult reading the story. I felt like two stories were being told simultaneously. One was a fairy tale for children, complete with monsters and a happy ending. Yet on another level we are introduced to the important themes of the Christian journey --spiritual practices, the dark night of the soul, the face of Christ found in service to others, prayer-- culminating in the transformation of the Christian into the image of Christ.

Transformation on every level is most clear in the middle of the story, which I consider the fulcrum or turning point of the entire tale. After having worshiped strength and power in the forms of both an earthly king and Satan, Reprobus wants to serve Christ because of Christ's power. He demands of a hermit he meets during his journey through the desert, "Tell me how to find him, so I can serve him." But the hermit refuses, saying "You cannot find him. . . you must pray, and Christ will find you. . . then you will be told how best to serve Christ." Reprobus obeys, humbles himself, and eventually finds Christ through serving others. And when he finds Christ, Christ's strength is made manifest through the weakness of a child. Yet as Christ's strength is made manifest through weakness, Reprobus' strength is also only perfected after he has humbled himself and carried the Christ child across the river on his back.

It was this theological depth that I loved about the book. While dePaola tells a good story and gives children what they want, he doesn't talk down to them, instead telling a tale that will grow in meaning instead of diminish with the passage of the time.

PUBLISHER: Holiday House, New York (1994); ISBN: 0823408620

Mystical Christianity

2004-10-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John, by John A. Sanford

In this 337 page commentary on the fourth gospel, John A. Sanford paints a fascinating picture of Christianity that is steeped in the mystical, the mysterious, and the psychological. Drawing upon his clinical experience and extensive knowledge of Carl Jung's psychological theories, Sanford explicates a gospel message that connects spiritual and psychological realities, takes them seriously, and relates them to the modern world.

I read this book straight through from cover to cover, which is probably not the best way to read it. It is intended to be used as a commentary and reference guide. Either way, Sanford's work does much to explain both depth psychology and the gospel of John. As I've written elsewhere, I have struggled to understand Jung's writings, and Sanford helped me both comprehend them and see how they relate to Christianity.

"Christianity as a religious movement is in danger of losing its vitality, as it becomes ensnared in the conventional, and as the powerful and numinous impact of the Gospels is emasculated by the rationalistic and materialistic mentality of our times." (p. 310) In many ways the purpose of Sanford's book is to offer a corrective to our overly modern world view, which sees and takes seriously only the material, physical universe. The author of John's gospel calls us to see a hitherto unseen spiritual world, and to recognize that what happens in the spiritual world directs and impacts the material world. Sanford's genius lies in linking the spiritual world with the archetypal world of depth psychology, giving the spiritual new credence for modern people.

One of Sanford's most evocative images is the Son of Man. Often used in John's gospel to describe Jesus, this mysterious term is avoided by the church in favor of the term Son of God as the favorite title for Christ. Sanford sees Jesus the Son of Man as the ideal man, the archetypal man to whom all humanity can look to see its true self. Yet as Christ is believed by the church to be both fully God and fully human, when humanity strives for its true self it accepts both its humanity and its divinity.

Sanford quotes Robert Johnson, stating "the world isn't meant to work; but it does provide an arena for the development of individual consciousness." (p. 301) Christ is the exemplar of both the way to live and the way to die, the way to be fully human and the way to participate fully in the nature of the Divine. Life's purpose is to gain authentic knowledge of oneself, and of God. Christ's Way is the path to consciousness. Christ's cross is a mandala –a sacred image of wholeness and centeredness. As followers of Christ, we are the ground in which the cross is planted –the way of the cross is planted into our lives and consciousness. (p. 317)

PUBLISHER:Crossroad Publishing Company (February 1, 1994); ISBN: 0824514122

Hear the Difference

2004-09-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hear the Difference? By Robert Hansen

Sometimes one is called to write a book to correct what one perceives as an imbalance in the conventional way of thinking. In “Hear the Difference?” Robert Hansen contends that what we think is the gospel in reality is something less. This not only tends to make an idol out of whatever it is we are substituting for the gospel, but it flattens the mystery that is the gospel, causing us not to see and hear the kingdom of heaven that is at hand all around us, and preventing us from loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. While difficult to define, Hansen maintains that the true gospel by definition must transcend every category and resist efforts to put it in terms other than itself.

So what is the difference between the Christian gospel and everything else? Hansen suggests that it is a unique way of hearing --hearing others, and hearing the biblical texts. It is not self-esteem, change, acceptance, "keeping it real," utilitarianism, experience, reason, positive thinking, good intentions, or myriad other forms of seeking. To emphasize something such as change as the heart of the gospel is to subordinate it to an imported category –-and for Hansen the gospel must never be subordinate. Painstakingly aware that to proclaim the gospel may actually prevent others from hearing it as it truly is, Hansen gives us the sense that we must listen to others and to the biblical texts more deeply and differently than we have ever listened before.

Hansen finds the gospel crystallized in Jesus' saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But what is repenting? While the dominant ideology today sees repenting as the need to change oneself, the need to accept oneself, or an attempt to strike a balance between acceptance and changing, Hansen points out that all of these are cut of the same cloth. “Our active, all embracing way of hearing embraces what is different and turns it into more of what we already do” (p. 53) To be able to truly see the realm of God and to respond to it transcends all worries regarding change, acceptance, or anything in between. “It is not by doing, thinking, believing, experiencing, or having any of them that separation from [God] is ended.” (p. 64) The heart of the gospel is to depend on God, and accept God as God is, without having any expectations of God. When things go badly or when things go well, we are confronted with the question: Do we trust God? Or do we trust in things going well or things going badly? What is non-negotiable for us? What we see as non-negotiable is our gospel.

The bulk of the book consists of Hansen's critique of various ways the gospel is transformed for the worst by would-be evangelists. He is critical of pastors and churches who try to frame the gospel in terms of everyday life, because that puts “keeping it real” above the gospel. Another way people bend the gospel is to hear it as “whatever works for me.” While in the Reformation era theologians argued about grace versus works, in our era the dividing line is “what works versus what doesn't work.” (p.117) If grace is “what works” is that not just works? Hansen says that to really hear grace, one must realize that nothing works, but grace comes from God. “It is not a matter of whatever we may do, think, experience, or have. None of them will do it. . . the Christian gospel says it is a matter of God --God's grace in Jesus Christ.” (p. 129)

Insofar as choice is something we do, it misses the point. “For we are not saved by our decisions, any more than we are saved by our actions, our inclinations or intentions, positive thinking, change, acceptance or by doing the best we can. That's the whole point: we are saved by God. God is the savior, not our choosing,” (p. 158) “Even if our will is free, even if it can and does indeed make choices, this does not mean that it is within its power to bring us salvation.” (p. 165) Drawing upon Martin Luther, Hansen drives the point home that repenting is different from choosing. Repenting is turning from anything but God, to God.

While Hansen's prose sometimes seems cumbersome and would greatly benefit from a more ruthless redactor, his message is both timely and timeless. In an age of polarized and competing religious ideologies, a gospel heard through deep and compassionate listening has never been more welcome. In a culture where individualism, self-help and choice reign supreme, it was refreshing to see the gospel presented in a way that attempts to transcend all that. Finally, Hansen succeeds in calling the reader to hear the gospel anew and afresh.

PUBLISHER: Xlibris Corporation, 2000. ISBN: 1-4010-8214-9

The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann

2004-09-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

'The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann,' by Mike Moscoe

This haunting eight page tale of a woman looking back on a full, long life while suffering through the terminal stages of cancer barely qualifies as science fiction, at least on first glance. What science there is gets developed as she questions some of the choices she made to delay childbirth through birth control and have children through in-virtro fertilization. Her culminating life choice of joining a convent in her twilight years definitely challenges prevailing notions of the role of traditional religion in modern society. Yet author Mike Moscoe provides no easy answers, instead preferring to let us live with the tension the questions evoke. As such 'The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann' is a beautiful, evocative and wistful tale that stirs the emotions and supports further reflection.

Mary Ann's life, up until the end, has been full, rich, and rewarding. A successful career, wonderful husband, happy children, and satisfying sex life symbolize the American dream and all that scientific and material abundance promise. It isn't until her husband dies and she is diagnosed with cancer that Mary Ann starts to question the potential cost of these choices, and starts to be haunted by the images of her unborn children in her dreams. Perhaps hoping to resolve the tension between her faith and her life actions, Mary Ann joins a convent where she leads a life of inward and outward piety, all the while struggling with ethical, philosophical, and theological questions. Where does life begin? What is the nature of existence after death? Do theologians have anything meaningful to offer?

I'm continually impressed by good efforts to integrate broader sociological, spiritual, and psychological questions into science fiction. Roscoe is not an author I remember reading before, but I'll be sure to be on the lookout for his works in the future.

PUBLISHER: Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Dell Publishers; ISSN: 10592113 (November, 2004)

Soul Sex

2004-05-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

Soul Sex: Tantra for Two, by Pala Copeland and Al Link

When I think of Tantric sex, the first thing that comes to mind is rock musician Sting. We've all heard by now that he's this awesome Tantric lover, that he and his wife have amazing sex for hours on end, no doubt hanging off the ceiling and the chandeliers, taut rock star perfection glistening with charged sweaty erotic concentration. . . well!

Soul Sex: Tantra for Two, by Pala Copeland and Al Link presents Tantric sex for the rest of us. Ordinary everyday folks with stressful jobs, children, and perhaps an extra pound or twenty can also be Tantric lovers. De-mystifying Tantra for ordinary people, this easy-to-read guide combines the best of down-to-earth sex and relationship advice with a nice overview of Tantra and how to incorporate some or all of its practices into a committed, lifelong, monogamous relationship.

The two big things that just leapt off the page as I read this book were "This just makes so much sense, I can't believe I'm not doing it" and "I could really do this...this is SO within the realm of possible I can't believe I'm not doing it." Copeland and Link have taken the esoteric sexual secrets of the East and repackaged them, translating and transmuting them into commonsense practices and techniques that practically anyone can feel comfortable with.

The view of Tantra in the book falls within a long western tradition of taking religions and philosophies from the East, removing the specific religious aspects, deities, and rituals, and presenting a more abstract set of principles that can get results without having to be a Buddhist or a Hindu. Coming from a Christian background, I couldn't help but think that many of the principles in the book were complimentary to a western worldview, while others dramatically re-evaluated traditional views. One of the areas where Eastern ideas were most obvious was in the discussion of chakras, or energy centers, in the body. While I could accept the idea that people experience energy as residing in certain centers in the body, I found many of the details regarding the chakras esoteric and hard to take seriously. Despite this, however, one can take the pieces that work and incorporate them selectively into your sex life, discarding what feels alien or uncomfortable.

The second half of the book gets into the nut and bolts of Tantric meditation and sexual practice. Beginning with an overview of the seven energy centers in the body, Copeland and Link present breathing exercises, muscle exercises, sexual positions, mood enhancers, and other hints for more soulful lovemaking. They actually make sense out of sexual positions. I've read many books that merely list the sexual positions, failing to the mention the role each sexual position plays in lovemaking. I never knew that some of the more movement limiting sexual positions are actually intended to slow down the pace while maintaining the emotional connection between lovers. Thank you for explaining this!

It was surprising to me that this book about spiritual sex spent the first 100 pages or so speaking mostly about emotional states, communication skills, unspoken beliefs and how they can shape and overshadow a relationship. Yet it underscores the conviction of both the authors and myself that what happens outside the bedroom in the relationship has a radical impact on one's sex life. Without a healthy relationship in which each partner is willing to deal with their "stuff," spiritual growth and sexual ecstasy just isn't going to happen. "What causes the relationSHIP to sink is the accumulated weight of unresolved 'stuff.'" (p. 94)

PUBLISHER: New Page Books, New Jersey. 2003; ISBN: 1-56414-664-2
LINKS: http://www.tantra-sex.com

Rebekah

2004-04-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Rebekah: Women of Genesis, by Orson Scott Card

As he did in his previous novel Sarah, Orson Scott Card has once again told a fascinating tale about a biblical character, making Rebekah come to life in a way that is both plausible and profound. The wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, Rebekah comes across as intelligent yet humble, beautiful yet modest, and strong-willed yet obedient to her own sense of God's calling.

My one quibble with the novel was that some dialogues between characters seemed overly long, discussing a point to death from all possible angles. Yet even this seemed plausible in the context of the novels ancient setting. In a society with no television or other forms of distraction, I imagine people did have very long conversations with each other. The slower pace of life "back then" would also provide longer time to reflect on ones actions.

Card is able to flesh out a biblical story yet not detract from it. Racing through this exciting installment in the lives of the matriarchs, I found myself noticing broader biblical themes that I had not noticed through reading the Bible alone. In addition to providing a great story that is exciting to read, Card's greatest achievement may be in pointing us to the biblical story, and serving as a helpful guide in its interpretation.

PUBLISHER: Forge (Tom Doherty Associates, LLC), 2002; ISBN: 0-765-34128-X
SEE ALSO: Sarah, by Orson Scott Card

The Anglican Vision

2004-04-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Anglican Vision, by James E. Griffiss

What is the Anglican vision anyway? What makes Anglicanism different from other Christian traditions? What does the Anglican tradition offer that can't be found elsewhere? Griffiss wrestles with these difficult questions across 130 densely written pages, looking through the lenses of Anglican history, sacramentalism, and the incarnation of God in Christ to see a vision of Anglicanism that is grounded in continuity and conversation with tradition, while being open to ongoing direction from the Holy Spirit as mediated through the entire creation.

The first half of the book is devoted to a capsule history of the Anglican churches as a study in conflict management. From the 16th century beginnings of the Church of England there was internal dissent between the Protestant reformers and Roman Catholics. Yet with the Elizabethan Settlement both parties stayed within one church. Later as England's colonies declared independence in the United States and elsewhere, there was more tension as each national church struggled to find its own unique identity. There have always been parties within Anglicanism that were more evangelical, more catholic, or more modern in their theological outlook. In the end, this produced a church centered more on common worship than codified doctrines, containing more theological diversity and ambiguity than more confessionally based churches, and finding authority not in an inerrant Bible or an inerrant Pope, but in an understanding of tradition, scripture, and reason that was shaped and negotiated by disagreeing Christians joined together in one common body.

Griffiss sees the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist (Holy Communion) as illustrative of the Anglican vision. According to the Book of Common Prayer, a sacrament is "a visible and outward sign of an inward and spiritual grace." Sacraments are bi-modal in that they contain both a physical and spiritual component. They are fragile (water can get stagnant, wine sour, and bread stale). Sacraments depend on God for their power, but also require human co-operation for their delivery. They are inherently mysterious and hard to understand. Griffiss sees sacramental understandings as having played a critical role in allowing Anglicans to live with greater levels of ambiguity and tension than is the case with most other Christian denominations.

Most importantly for Griffiss, the doctrine of Christ's incarnation is what saves humankind, and saves the Anglican church. Unlike substitutionary atonement, where Christ is the blood sacrifice that blots out sin (analogous to animal sacrifice in temple Judaism) incarnation theology states that the chasm between God and humanity is bridged through Christ as the Word made flesh. Fully God and fully human, Jesus occupies both spaces simultaneously, redeeming humanity and breathing the Spirit into the entire creation. Griffiss believes this helps explain Anglicanism's predisposition to view scientific progress, historical research, contributions from the humanities, and even the views of secular philosophical systems as new lenses through which to view both the Bible and the Christian tradition.

Combining a sacramental view of reality with a redeemed creation and high tolerance for conflict, the Anglican vision is one of openness to the on-going revelation of the Holy Spirit, an acknowledgment of the ambiguity and mysteriousness associated with trying to discern God and God's will for humanity, and a willingness to live in tension with others while working out one's faith with fear and trembling.

PUBLISHER: Cowley Publications, Copyright 1997. ISBN: 1-56101-143-6.

Cathedral of Saint Paul

2004-03-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Cathedral of Saint Paul: Living the Mission of the Church, Mary Cabrini Durkin, editor

Although I'm not a Roman Catholic, I've enjoyed visiting the Cathedral of Saint Paul on many occasions. I've taken the occasional self-guided tour, attended numerous organ recitals, the occasional Minnesota Sinfonia concert (it was the rain location), and even went every Friday evening during Lent for Taize one year. In addition to being a hub for many spiritual and artistic events, however, the Cathedral draws me back again and again because the architecture, iconography, and stained glass create a soothing atmosphere brooding and simmering with spirituality.

Begun in 1906 but not completed until 1915, the Cathedral was the brainchild of Archbishop John Ireland. Not one to think small, he saw the overflow crowds and lack of space in the existing structures and envisioned a building with both architectural beauty and prominence in the city of St. Paul. (p. 2) This vision has been realized not only because of the many beautiful works of art that are part of the Cathedral, but also because the Cathedral occupies a prime piece of real estate on the hill just outside of downtown St. Paul and across from the Capitol building. The Minnesota statehouse and the Cathedral seem to twin each other, with the Cathedral dramatically upstaging its secular sibling.

This short, photo-filled book highlights the specific pieces of spiritual art in the Cathedral and draws out their greater story and purpose. Sometimes that greater story refers back to biblical passages. Other time the story is specific to the history of the church in the United States. Often it is an interesting interplay between the two, as is the case with the south rose window --a stained glass creation in which Jesus is depicted preaching the Beatitudes to a listening audience comprised of major saints of the Western Hemisphere. (p. 4)

Included on page 3 is a small map containing the entire floor plan of the Cathedral, with references to other page numbers explaining the art found in each of the chapels, altar area, sanctuary and other spaces. I found this helpful because even though I've been to the Cathedral a number of times I still didn't really know what all the areas were, or their function.

One of the more striking features of the Cathedral once you're inside is the apex of the dome above the sanctuary, on which is painted a huge golden dove --symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Surrounding the magnificent dove are figures representing the gifts of the Spirit (knowledge, counsel, understanding, piety, wisdom, fear of the Lord, and fortitude) and stained glass windows with representations of the sacraments of the Church (baptism, confirmation, holy orders, the Eucharist, matrimony, penance, and anointing the sick.) "The ceiling might be seen as a full theology of grace: God's love and care pouring out on us through the Holy Spirit and the Church's Sacraments, which are special avenues through which we experience that grace." (p. 14)

One interesting theme throughout the book is the attempt to interpret the meaning of some of the statuary and stained glass saints in light of the Catholic Church's sweeping reform efforts in Vatican II. Although the Cathedral was constructed long before council convened, some changes have been made to the sanctuary to foster a feeling of less distinction between the clergy and the laity. In this way the Cathedral can be seen as a kind of living organism that grows and changes as new understandings emerge. Yet there is also an unseverable link with the past that is reflected in the depictions of saints and customs tied to ethnic groups that may reflect the demographic past of the Roman Catholic Church more than its present or future. In any case, the Cathedral emerges as one complex, diverse, yet unified whole, stretching both forward and backward through time, space, and Spirit.

PUBLISHER: Editions Du Signe. France, 1998. ISBN: 2-87718-729-2
LINK: http://www.stpatricksguild.com/browse.cfm/4,329.html

Open Mind, Open Heart

2004-02-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel, by Thomas Keating

I've been interested in the contemplative aspects of Christianity for some time. Ever since I experienced my first Taize service, I have had a strong sense that silence and stillness can be very powerful avenues for experiencing God. Questions raised by that first encounter led to Thomas Keating's book, which explains centering prayer and contemplative prayer in detail. Open Mind, Open Heart is available free online from Contemplative Outreach, and it is also published in book form, available at Amazon.com and other booksellers.

Drastically boiled down, a thumbnail definition of contemplation is the idea echoed by the Psalmist, who writes: "Be still and know that I am God." When one practices centering prayer one sits quietly, intending to empty the mind and heart of all thoughts, expectations, and demands, waiting for God to respond or not respond in any way God chooses. Through the practice of centering prayer one hopes to undergo "a process of interior transformation, a conversation initiated by God and leading, if we consent, to divine union. . . A restructuring of consciousness takes place which empowers one to perceive, relate and respond with increasing sensitivity to the divine presence in, through, and beyond everything that exists." (see Introduction). This state of being is called contemplation. Resting in this state is the essence of contemplative prayer. It is the hope of those practicing centering prayer that they might receive contemplative prayer.

One aside which might be helpful --the words "contemplation" and "meditation" are often used differently in the Christian tradition than they are used in Eastern religions such as Buddhism. Sometimes Christians will talk about "meditating" on the Scriptures. The act of "meditation" here means to ponder, study, or ruminate over. When a Buddhist talks about meditation, they are talking about clearing the mind of thoughts and emotions. Christians use the word "contemplation" to describe the same practice.

Another way to look at contemplation is in terms of "consent." In the same way that Christians consent to have Christ be born and live in them, the contemplative person consents to the Spirit's desire to pray in them. By clearing away the obstructions that appear on the conscious level, they are able to experience the Spirit on a more direct level that bypasses the mind, the ego, and consciousness.(see Chapter 2)

Keating spends some time in this book tracing the history of contemplative Christianity, and explaining why it eventually fell into disfavor. Blaming both Catholic Scholasticism in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, Keating explains how prayer became understood more and more as a discipline to occupy ones conscious mind. The theologically vague yet more comprehensive way of "praying the scriptures" (lectio divina) more prevalent in the early centuries of the church gradually slipped away (see Chapter 3.1) and was replaced by discursive forms of prayer that could more easily fit into philosophical, theological, or doctrinal categories.

Despite the lamentable state of prayer today, Keating is convinced that if one uses the conscious modes of prayer faithfully enough, one will eventually be driven to what John of the Cross called "the dark night of the soul." Counter-intuitively, Keating writes that when one is unable to pray and feels unconnected to God, the devout practitioner may potentially be at the gateway to a deeper, more mature relationship with God --a relationship marked by contemplation. Keating implies that Christianity's collective amnesia regarding the mystical, contemplative modes of prayer has contributed to people leaving Christianity for Eastern religions where meditation is more readily available. One gets the sense that there are ecumenical as well as evangelistic imperatives behind promoting a more contemplative dimension to Christianity. (see Chapter 3.3)

Moving from theory to practice, Keating outlines a basic method for centering prayer. The method consists of finding a quiet space to sit comfortably, relax, and let go of conscious thoughts. When unavoidable thoughts occur, gently think about a pre-chosen "sacred word" or phrase. Keating recommends two periods of centering prayer per day; one in the morning and one in the early evening. While requiring no small commitment, this put contemplation within the realm of possibility for ordinary people. One does not need to be a monk or nun living in a cloister to be contemplative --some of the most contemplative folks Keating knows are married people living busy and active lives. (see Chapter 4.1) "Contemplative prayer is a way of tuning in to a fuller level of reality that is always present and in which we are invited to participate. Some discipline is required to reduce the obstacles to this expanded awareness. One way is to slow down the speed at which our ordinary thoughts come down the stream of consciousness. If this can be done, space begins to appear between the thoughts, enabling an awareness of the reality upon which they are resting." (see Chapter 4.2)

The remaining chapters of the book deal with such practical matters at choosing a sacred word, dealing with distractions and thoughts that may arise, and keeping disciplined in one's practice of centering prayer. While these chapters are very useful as a "how to" guide, I also saw a more universal, Jungian theme emerge as Keating outlined the solution to most problems in terms of acknowledgment and acceptance. Specifically, for every problem that arises it is central that one recognize it and acknowledge it. Then, perhaps counter intuitively, one much accept it. Only once one can accept problems and accept oneself as they truly are, is there any possibility for the problems to recede into the background and for spiritual growth to occur. "Every response to God, whatever it is, must begin with the full acceptance of reality as it actually is at the moment." (see Chapter 6.1)

In one very down-to-earth example, Keating compares maintaining interior silence and listening to God to conversing with a friend near a busy street. It is easy to get angry at the noise of the passing cars, but anger won't stop the noise and will ruin the conversation. Yet by being able to accept the noise for what it is, one is freed to carry on the conversation. In the end, the noise is unimportant. "So it is with the rumbling that goes on in our heads. It is so bad sometimes that many people will not put up with it. They say, 'Interior silence and contemplative prayer are for the birds. I cannot endure this barrage of tiresome thoughts going through my head.' So they get up and leave. If they would just hang on and give themselves a little more time, they would get used to the noise." (see Chapter 6.1)

In the last third of the book Keating draws some interesting comparisons and contrasts between contemplative Christianity and the charismatic movement. While Keating credits charismatic renewal for opening up ordinary Christians to the possibility of the Spirit moving powerfully and being active in people today, he puts charismatic gifts (especially the gift of speaking in tongues) in the context of being primitive forms of contemplation, or gateways to contemplation. When one speaks in tongues, Keating says, one doesn't understand what one is saying. Therefore one can't have thoughts about what they are saying. This is similar to clearing the mind of thoughts during centering prayer. Keating seems open to the possibility that both contemplative Christianity and charismatic Christianity can lead to experiencing visions, ecstasies, and other unusual spiritual experiences. However, Keating puts great stress on accepting such experiences for what they are and not dwelling on them or analyzing them, lest one become full of pride for one's perceived spiritual accomplishment. For in the end, (see Chapter 8.1) "God is incomprehensible to our faculties. We cannot name Him in a way that is adequate. We cannot know Him with our mind; we can only know Him with our love. That is what some mystical writers call unknowing. It is by not knowing Him in the ways that we now know Him, that we do know Him. Visions, locutions or ecstasies are like frosting on a cake. The substance of the journey is pure faith."

KEYWORDS: Centering prayer, contemplative prayer, mystical prayer, spiritual practices, disciplines
PUBLISHER: Continuum Pub Group; (July 2002) ISBN: 0826414206
LINK: http://www.centeringprayer.com/OpenHeart/index.htm

Dibs

2004-01-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

'Dibs', by Brian Plante

If I didn't realize it already, I'm now gaining an even greater awareness that it is a real talent to write a good science fiction short story. In just a few pages an author must flesh out believable characters, motives, and settings. Then there is the added ingredient that makes the story SF --a compelling ethical, philosophical, or physical issue that is raised by or solved with science or technology.

I thought Brian Plante did a fine job of using these elements artistically in 'Lavender in Love', which I reviewed last January. That story dealt with robots and artificial intelligence. This time, Plante tackles the ethical issues raised by organ donation --both voluntary and involuntary. If three people's lives would be saved, is it justified for doctors to kill you and harvest your organs to save them? Shouldn't a truly moral person be willing to sacrifice themselves if they know they will do greater good dead than alive? Is it ever morally justified for someone in need to call "dibs" on your heart, liver, skin, or spleen? When do the needs of the many truly outweigh the needs of the few?

Plante imagines a near-future world in which available organs and needy recipients can be matched with computer precision, --and the sick can lay claim on the organs of the healthy under the right circumstances! Told in the first person from the point of view of David Danila, a government employee whose organs are in risk of being involuntarily harvested, we are taken on an emotional and ethical roller coaster ride. David struggles both for survival and with the ethical issues surrounding organ donation --all in just six pages!

Brian Plante is definitely an author to watch, both in the pages of Analog and elsewhere.

PUBLISHER: Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Dell Publishers; ISSN: 10592113 (April, 2004)

The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2

2004-01-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, (vol 2), by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Last June I reviewed volume 1 of this, what appears to be an on-going compilation of all the early Spider-Man comic books. In that review I mostly compared and contrasted with Superman, DC, and Smallville. While I'd still love it if DC put out a similar compendium of all the early Superman comics, I'm actually starting to enjoy Spidey more than Superman now that I've steeped myself in so much of the early story.

Volume 1 of this collection contains "Amazing Fantasy" (number 15), where Spider-Man is first introduced, along with "The Amazing Spider-Man" issues 1-10. Volume 2 contains "The Amazing Spider-Man" issues 11-19, along with "The Amazing Spider-Man" Annual number 1. These works were all originally published between August 1962 and December 1964. Reading historic comics like these more than 40 years after they were originally published is for me more entertaining than reading something contemporary because of all the interesting differences between that culture and ours today. Not only do the characters dress differently and have different hairstyles than would be fashionable today, but their attitudes towards dating, the sexes, computers, doctors, and technology is far more divergent from our own mores than one might first expect.

When I was a kid spending my meager allowance on comic books, I used to hate it when the story would refer me back to earlier issues I had not previously read. This series does that in abundance, but ironically I find it adds to the stories, giving them more depth. Especially when read back to back, this compilation doesn't seem nearly as episodic as volume 1, but almost reads like one continuing on-going story. Sure, Spidey fights all kinds of evil villains, but there are also more complex plot-lines exploring his relationships with the women in his life --Betty Brandt, Aunt May, and Liz Allen-- as well as how he interacts with rival schoolmate Flash Thompson and rival superhero The Torch.

Those whose primary exposure to Spider-Man may be the movie and not the comic books, you'll be interested to find that Mary Jane Watson gets hinted at near the middle of volume 2, although Peter and MJ have yet to even meet or go out on a date. Betty Brandt seems to be fading from the picture as Peter's love interest, although there is still plenty of room for developments here. Liz Allen, who Peter liked in volume 1, now seems to like Peter. So the classic love triangle that is present in Superman and Archie is also a part of the Spider-Man story. Finally, the Green Goblin is introduced in volume 2, although we do not yet know the Goblin's true identity.

Keep 'em coming, Marvel Masterworks! Re-printing these classic comics exposes them to a whole new pool of readers!

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics, New York. ISBN: 0-7607-4957-4. Copyright 2003.

Common Sense for a New Century

2004-01-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

Common Sense for a New Century, by Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

"No one is going to change America for you. You must participate to make it happen." --Howard Dean

This short pamphlet outlines Howard Dean's commonsense vision for returning America to its past position of moral leadership, democratic example, and idealistic benevolence in the world. This is a vision that Dean believes has become especially obscured and darkened during the current Bush administration. The key theme is simple: ordinary citizens need to get involved in the political process and take back power from extremists on both sides --especially moneyed extremists.

Weighing in at only 8 pages, the pamphlet doesn't get into too many detailed policy positions. It's more about a general vision. In order to really do your homework on Dean's views, I'd recommend two sources. First, see where Dean's campaign is coming from by reading the Dean for America web-site. This will give you Dean's positions from Dean's perspective. Secondly, go to Google News and run a search on Howard Dean. This will give you access to hundreds of news stories and blogs about Dean, from all kinds of different perspectives, especially critical ones.

Every candidate bellows about special interests, claims to be in favor of fair elections, and says they want more ordinary people involved in the political process. What makes Dean so compelling, however, is that in his case the claims are demonstrably true. The Internet has revolutionized the way political involvement can happen, and Dean's campaign has utilized this technology to hear the voices of some of those 50% of eligible voters who just choose to sit out election day. They have also revitalized the marginally active voter like me, who always votes but had never contributed monetarily or through boosterism.

Dean has raised far more money than any of the other candidates going up against George W. Bush, and he has done it with contributions averaging only $85. (as of last November). Bush, by contrast, raises most of his money from people who can afford to give the maximum $2000 a person contribution. Nobody I know. Yet if just 2 million people contributed $100, Dean would have as much money for this election as Bush does!

My state (Minnesota) doesn't have its caucus election until March. Normally by then the results of the nominations are a foregone conclusion, and it feels like one's voice and vote don't really count. In Dean's campaign, by contrast, I was able to vote last fall in an electronic primary sponsored by Moveon.org. Dean won that primary, giving him an early boost. The decentralized, Internet-based structure of his grass-root supporters has given him the edge, and inspires me to dare hope that individuals can actually make the difference in a presidential campaign.

For me, the Dean campaign epitomizes a revolution in the way politics can operate from the grassroots on up, instead of dictated from the top down by party insiders. I support Howard Dean, and give him my personal and official endorsement for the nomination, and for President in 2004.

But even if you don't agree with Dean's views, I think that the increased involvement of ordinary people in politics is nothing but a good thing for America. Watch out special interests, here we come!

PUBLISHER: Dean for America, 2003.
LINKS: http://images.deanforamerica.com/docs/cs/commonsense_all.pdf (1740 KB PDF document)

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

2003-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson

In yet another re-read of a somewhat sentimental holiday story I enjoyed as a child, I was surprised to find more poignancy and a surprising spirituality underneath the surface story of a small-church Christmas pageant starring the most disruptive family in the town. Below this Norman Rockwell facade lay themes of children versus bullies, conventional families versus single-parent families, and conventional wisdom versus subversive alternative wisdom. In a surprising ending, these opposites are transcended in a Christmas miracle that is sentimental yet moving, reflecting the true spirit of the Christmas season.

Originally written in 1972 as a short story for McCalls magazine entitled "The Christmas Pageant," this funny and entertaining story features the Herdmans --a dysfunctional family that could have been the prototype for "The Simpsons," only worse. Father Herdman abandoned the kids while they were very young for a life on the road. Mother Herdman neglected her children for double-shifts at a factory job. The children end up raising each other and generally running amok while the town looks on judgmentally with a kind of disaffected "tsk-tsk" attitude.

The story is told in the first person from the point of view of an un-named pre-adolescent girl whose mother has been thrust into the role of putting on the annual church Christmas pageant. Coming from a two-parent family with a stay-at-home mom, she is quick to point out the differences between her family and the Herdmans. Yet there is also a wise reflective quality to this young girl which allows her to see injustice in the way that some of the townspeople react to the Herdman's, especially when they decide they want to participate in the Christmas pageant.

Normally the pageant is a sleepy affair featuring the pastor's son as Joseph, prissy perfectionist Alice Wendleken as the Virgin Mary, and various children in bathrobes of all ages (I'll leave it to you to decide whether I'm referring to children or bathrobes here). This year, however, wild child Imogene Herdman is playing the role of Mary, and everyone in town shows up to enjoy the hilarity of what is sure to be the worst Christmas pageant ever.

The Christmas pageant is a story about transformation, however. What started out funny turns serious, and what seems a travesty becomes a treasure. The Christ Child was born in a barn, transforming it into a temple. God became human, redeeming all humanity. And it is in Imogene Herdman's transformation from a cigar smoking, free swearing, rebellious youth to the visible means by which invisible grace is revealed that this short book reaches it's climax. By the end of the pageant everyone learns that the last are first and the first are last in the topsy-turvy Kingdom of Heaven, and it is indeed the Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

PUBLISHER: Harper & Row Publishers, New York. 1972.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

2003-12-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl

Once again I revisited a book I enjoyed as a child, and once again it was well worth the visit. This time my wife and I read Roald Dahl's scrumptious story to our three-year-old, in anticipation of visiting Marshall Fields "Annual Animated Holiday Display". That was a bit of a stretch, even for our very bright three-year-old. (Doesn't every parent think their child is the best and the brightest?) Yet she was able to glean enough of the basic plot for our visit to the display to be fun and meaningful. The story is simple yet whimsical, candy-coated yet splashed with darkness --possessed with an outlandish fairy-tale quality that is sure to appeal to and perhaps frighten young children. Yet these very qualities make the story fun and exciting.

Charlie Bucket is a boy from a poor family. The only candy Charlie ever gets to eat is a single chocolate bar on his birthday. Every day he must walk past famous Willy Wonka's chocolate factory on his way to and from school, tempted by the wonderful aromas that emanates through the factory gates. As winter progresses the family's economic conditions grow worse as Charlie's father loses his low-paying job screwing caps on toothpaste tubes. As the family begins to starve, Charlie wins Willy Wonka's contest and is among only four other children that get to tour Wonka's never before seen chocolate factory. The other children are all horribly spoiled and mis-behaved in one way or another, and like a children's version of "Survivor," they are eliminated one by one until only Charlie --a very good and well-behaved child-- is left. And then.... well...I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say good behavior is rewarded just as bad behavior is punished.

It seems unusual and delightful that such a fun book would also carry such a harsh subtext about spoiled children and the parents who spoil them. The story pulls no punches here, but it's all presented in a fun enough way as to not seem preachy at all --although if you see yourself in the parents or the children Dahl's indictment may sting a little. The whimsical Oompa-Loompas play the role of an ancient greek chorus, driving the thematic points home hard.

This edition was illustrated by Quentin Blake --I don't believe he was the illustrator of the original 1964 edition that I read as a child. While I don't remember much about the original illustrations, Blake's artwork seems to fit the text very well. Blake's art is also the basis of the Marshall Field's display.

PUBLISHER: Puffin; (January 2002); ISBN: 0141301155

A Gay Bishop is Faithful

2003-10-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

'A Gay Bishop is Faithful', by John P. Streit, Jr.

The recent conflict in the Episcopal Church over the election of a gay bishop is in part a result of sharp differences in how the Bible is understood and applied to contemporary culture. What is often lost in the din of loud and rancorous debate, however, is the fact that both sides of this debate are acting out of deeply held, scriptural convictions.

Yes, I do say scriptural. And yes, I do say both sides. I think this is not always obvious for two reasons. One, the conservative side of the debate likes to accuse the liberal side of not being scriptural. Two, the liberal side of the debate often frames their arguments in terms of social justice, human rights, and other categories that transcend purely religious categories. So it may not always be clear that the motivations flow from, as Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold put it shortly after the vote, "an authentic way of reading Scripture."

In this sermon, preached in September 2003 after General Convention, Streit delivers a positive theology that explains and undergirds the changing times we live in. While God is unchanging, Streit maintains that the Bible as a whole tells the story of gradually changing understandings of how God's will is to be acted out in the world.

Citing examples from the New Testament and Christian history, Streit uses the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman, Peter and Paul's debates over the role of Jewish purity laws for Gentile converts, and nineteenth century Christian abolitionists to paint a picture of Christian history that progressively lowers barriers and roadblocks to full inclusion within God's kingdom.

What made this sermon noteworthy for me was that, unlike so much theological work done regarding homosexuality which focuses on tearing down six or seven scattered texts throughout the Bible that seem to prohibit same-sex sexual activity in very specific contexts, Streit builds up a much more positive view of God's work through all of history and creation drawing on the same biblical foundation.

LINKS: http://www.stpaulboston.org/Sermon%202.htm

I Feel Sorry for Jesus

2003-10-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

'I feel sorry for Jesus', by Naomi Shihab Nye

I ran across this poem in the October issue of The Christian Century, and was delighted to see that it was also available online. Two things viscerally grabbed me about this poem.

First, the dangers of "talking for Jesus," which seem so obvious. I see it more as an indictment of theological and ideological certainty, or an over-association of one's own agenda with what one perceives as Jesus' agenda. We've all either known people or been people who wanted to be "His Special Pet," or missed the heart of the gospel in favor of the "pomp" and "golden chandeliers."

Secondly, and more importantly, it was the last line "You won't hear me talk about this again" that seemed the most arresting, all the more powerful for it's paradoxical relationship with the rest of the poem. In the earlier verses, Nye illustrates those who appropriate Jesus wrongly, then falls into the error herself. Yet the path to truth for Nye is not about talking for Jesus, but following in Jesus' footsteps. By standing in the spot where Jesus was born and by making "every twist" of the Way be "written on [her] skin," Nye experiences a truth beyond ideology, and beyond words.

One major commonality of the "appropriators," from my perspective, is that they not only talk for Jesus, but talk endlessly. Conventional wisdom seems to be that if something is important it needs to be mentioned often. But by saying "You won't hear me talk about this again" Nye draws attention to the need for silence as part of spiritual practice --both to hear what others have to say and to hear what Jesus has to say. She also subverts conventional wisdom by suggesting that the truly important things aren't mentioned often and have to be keenly sought out or listened for in order to be heard and understood.

PUBLISHER: "I Feel Sorry for Jesus" first appeared in Antioch Review (Spring 1998.) I first read it in the October 8, 2003 issue of the Christian Century.
LINK: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1058/21_120/110361288/p1/article.jhtml

Watership Down

2003-09-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Watership Down, by Richard Adams

I seldom re-read a book. There are still fewer books that I enjoyed as a teenager, yet still enjoy as an adult. Watership Down is one of those few. Written in 1972 by Richard Adams, this tale about a group of rabbits searching for a new home in the English countryside can rightly be considered a modern classic. It has been made into a feature film, a short lived animated television series, and an anthology of short stories based around the same characters.

I normally dislike books about animals, but in Watership Down Adams transcends the genre by doing what all great authors do --he makes the reader care about the characters and their dilemma passionately. The fact that the characters in this case are rabbits makes his artistry all the more amazing. While the book weighs in at a hefty 426 pages, Adams does not waste words. Everything contributes towards creating a credible, multi-layered physical, emotional, linguistic, and mythical world through which the rabbits live and move and have their being.

Others have compared Watership Down to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and I think it's a very apt comparison. Both authors create fantastic worlds that seem vividly real to the reader. Both contain a strong sense of the struggle between good and evil. Both worlds contain a fair share of violence. Additionally, I consider the universe created by Richard Adams in this novel as "Middle Earth in microcosm." While Tolkien's fantasy landscape spanned thousands of leagues, Adams' setting is a real English countryside spanning only a few miles. A map near the beginning of the novel shows the rabbits' entire world comprising only a ten mile by six mile square.

Imagine life as a rabbit. The sun shines overhead as you feed on the sweet grass of the meadow. Yet there is a rigid social hierarchy in the burrow you share with your fellow rabbits. Population pressure, and a sense of impending doom encourage you to leave, but you're small, defenseless, and a thousand different species hunt you as prey. How would you cope with such a situation? What stories would you tell to make sense of the world you live in? What comforts would you seek, and what solutions would you find? Adams answers these questions poetically through this novel, and one can't help but draw parallels with the human condition.

I found two things especially compelling about the social world inhabited by the rabbits. First, it's remarkably similar to our own. Secondly, it's under-girded by a spirituality that explains life and gives it meaning. While the myths and the meanings are not exactly like the ones humans have found, they are nonetheless credible and satisfying. The rabbits tell each other sacred stories as they travel and struggle, providing variety to the novel and deepening our understanding of the rabbit's worldview. The infusion of spiritual meaning helps the reader identify with the rabbits on yet another level.

PUBLISHER: Maximillan Publishing Co., Inc; New York; 1972; ISBN: 0-02-700030-3

Sarah

2003-08-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sarah: Women of Genesis, by Orson Scott Card

Sarah is the first book in what promises to be a great series of novels about the women of Genesis. As of this writing I know that a second book, Rebekah, is already out in paperback, and there may be more stories in hardcover. In any event, Sarah stands on its own as a fine piece of story-telling about the wife of a great biblical patriarch --illustrating the oft-neglected significance of the women in the Bible. Sarah is a helpful corrective to this tendency, showing her partnership with Abraham in a plausible, imaginative and meaningful way while still respecting the outlines of scripture.

Based on texts from Genesis 11-23, the Book of Abraham in The Pearl of Great Price, plus Orson Scott Card's historical research and unique interpretation of early biblical history, this book is a page-turner. I've read Card's science fiction, fantasy, mainstream novels, and now religious fiction. In every genre he is a powerful storyteller, creating characters that are vibrant, believable, and interesting. Sarah is no exception in this regard. She's depicted by Card as a strong, passionate woman whose relationships with husband Abraham and (for the purposes of the novel) sister Q'ira (Lot's wife) form a gripping dynamic that drives the plot forward from Ur-of-the-North, through Egypt, and finally to the Promised Land.

One very useful part of the novel, for those who are worried about what is true and what is made up in historical fiction, is the author's afterword at the end of the book. Here Orson Scott Card cites a partial bibliography, and discusses the historical and artistic choices he made in the telling of his tale. Be warned though --many people I have discussed this book with were so spellbound by the storytelling that they felt let-down reading the afterword. The novel is such a seamless piece of narrative that they didn't enjoy the illusion getting shattered --to a certain extent-- in the afterword as the author fully disclosed his options, choices, and justifications for telling the story the way he did. As one who enjoys deconstructing texts, however, I found the afterword to be a rare treat.

I didn't always agree with the author's interpretive choices. I felt he was purposely harsh in his depiction of Hagar and Ishmael in order to protect Sarah's reputation near the end of the story. Card also sets the time period for Abraham and Sarah as contemporary with the height of Sumerian culture --a choice I feel is centuries too early. Finally, he depicts the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as divine punishment for homosexual acts, whereas I believe that biblical passage is a story about violence, gang rape, and important cultural codes of hospitality. Lot's home town plays a relatively minor role in the novel, however, and setting the action earlier in history than is the scholarly consensus allows Card to explore a fascinating interplay between the religion of the pharaohs, Ur-of-the-North, and Abraham's God.

Quibbles aside, Sarah is a gripping, readable novel that will have you up all night finishing it and tired the next day at work. I heartily recommend it, and am looking forward to future novels in the Women of Genesis series.

PUBLISHER: Shadow Mountain, 2000; ISBN: 1-57008-994-9 (Hardcover Edition)

Hang Six

2003-08-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

'Hang Six', by Gregg Easterbrook

Gregg Easterbrook's goal in this short article is to suggest a way out of the cultural and political impasse posed by those conservatives who favor monuments to the Ten Commandments in public buildings by appealing to six moral and ethical precepts upon which there is cross-cultural agreement --contained within the commandments.

What really grabbed me about this article though, is Easterbrooks' assertion that Jesus radically revised the Ten Commandments, trimming them down to six. I know that Jesus summarized the Hebrew law in the saying, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. . . you shall [also] love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12.29-31 NRSV)

Easterbrook asserts something novel, however, stating that Jesus gutted the Ten Commandments, reinforcing only the ones that pertain to universal, cross-cultural ethical and moral norms. His main evidence is the story of the young man who asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life from Matthew 19:16-19. (parallel list also found in Mark 10:17-23) Jesus' answers here list only six precepts --"the ones concerning morality, love, and good character."

Part of Easterbrook's argument is from silence. He says that you must hear what Jesus does not say as much as what he does say. However, I do believe the Gospel author is intentional in his choice of words, and I must confront the fact that the passage appears in the same form in both Mark (the earliest Gospel) and Matthew --implying that it is something early and important in the emerging Jesus tradition.

I wouldn't mind seeing some footnotes, or at least some indication that Easterbrook is relating a theological take on the passage that doesn't just originate with him, so that an interested reader can do some additional research into what was for me a very thought-provoking idea. His conspiracy theory take on why denominations don't like to emphasize what for Easterbrook are Jesus' "anti-religious sayings" doesn't inspire confidence either.

Still, I find the idea intriguing.

PUBLISHER: Beliefnet, 2003
(source: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/117/story_11719.html)

What Paul Really Said about Women

2003-08-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

'What Paul Really Said About Women', by John T. Bristow

Here is an argument I haven't seen before. I guess you could say it amounts to a hard-core biblical literalist argument for equality of the sexes in Paul's epistles. The author of this book (which is excerpted in the Beliefnet article I read) goes back to the original Greek of Ephesians 5:21-33 and other texts in almost excruciating detail, arguing that if Paul had really meant what we mean by such English words as "submit," and "head of," he would have picked other, more accurate Greek words that more exactly render his meaning. Instead, Paul chooses words that are more accurately interpreted as suggesting equality and mutuality in relationships between husbands and wives.

According to this author, Paul is arguing for something radically different than Aristotle's philosophy, which was popular in Hellenistic times and would have mandated that women are inferior to men. In fact, Paul may be giving traditional Aristotelian-ism a subversive Gospel-twist --showing his genius in turning the dominant philosophy of his age into something he could use to spread his own message.

Beyond the issue of equality, however, I think this book is the perfect illustration of how what we bring to the text determines our reading of it. If you're expecting Paul to be sexist, it's not hard to find sexism in his letters. If you expect equality to be God's truth for humanity, you will find radical equality in the New Testament. While some may find this observation to be disturbing, I find it to be a compelling reason for why the Bible has endured as a source of meaning and values for people throughout the ages.

PUBLISHER: Harper San Francisco; Reprint edition (March 1991); ISBN: 0060610638
(source: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/130/story_13009.html)

Reflections on General Convention

2003-08-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Reflections on General Convention 2003, an original essay

Well, it's over. Another General Convention of the Episcopal Church is done. With the confirmation of the first openly gay bishop in a mainline Christian denomination, and the dis-approval of liturgies for same-sex unions, we as Episcopalians have taken a step in a new direction on one front while acknowledging ambiguity on another --and all the consequences, intended and unintended, won't be known for some time to come.

As one who has agreed in principle that gays and lesbians' committed, monogamous sexual relationships should be recognized by the church on an equal footing as comparable relationships between heterosexuals, I still feel a lot of ambivalence about the twin decisions made by the Convention. No small matter is the seeming contradiction between allowing an openly gay man be a bishop, yet rejecting a liturgy to bless unions between gay people! I'm also concerned about the unity of the Anglican Communion, and how troubling this must look to those fellow Christians outside of Anglicanism for whom the Bible clearly prohibits same-sex sexual acts.

Despite the historic decisions on the part of the Convention, the decision was far from unanimous. Attending services this morning at my own mostly conservative parish, a feeling of sadness was palpable in the air as people mourned a church which to them has fallen into serious doctrinal error. One thing General Convention failed to do was promote a theological rationale for its decision. As with the ordination of women in the 1970s, once again General Convention has seemingly let their actions precede their theology on this matter. This seeming lack of concern has saddened and angered conservatives within the Episcopal church, and must totally bewilder those outside the Anglican tradition.

As for my own views --key to understanding the theological divide is the way the Bible is understood. Ever since Martin Luther broke from the medieval Catholic church with the cry of "Sola Scriptura," or "Scripture Alone" most protestants have believed that God's truth could be obtained through reading the Bible for oneself and comprehending it's most obvious meaning. Luther believed that if everyone could read the Bible for themselves, they'd come to the same obvious conclusions he did. They didn't, and now we have thousands of Christian denominations. Yet most protestants believe that there is an obvious meaning to the Bible, and it's a matter of either understanding it correctly or incorrectly.

For Anglicans discerning God's truth is more complicated. We believe that God's truth comes to us through Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. These three things don't stand alone and against one another, as if you could poll them on any given issue, and get a 2-1 split decision. Like the Trinity, they are three-in-one and one-in-three. They cannot be divided, and they complement and inform one another.

I see this triad as a way of acknowledging that no one can just sit down and read the Bible and get truth directly from it. The truth that one gets from the Bible (Scripture) is influenced by how one has been taught about the Bible by their parents and their church (Tradition), as well as one's life experience, knowledge of science, history, and the worldview they bring to the text (all aspects of Reason.) Going further, the knowledge gained from Reason and Tradition can open up some possibilities for interpreting Scripture, while closing other paths as unacceptable. Likewise, Scriptural ethics can inform what we do with our Reason and how we shape our Tradition.

Applying this schema to same-sex unions goes like this --at least for me it does. I start by looking at the world around me --a world in which I see equal amounts of promiscuity, brokenness, struggle, faithfulness, love, monogamy, and commitment from both heterosexuals and homosexuals. My Christian upbringing tells me that faithfulness, love, monogamy, and commitment are positive values, but it also points me to seven or eight verses scattered throughout the Bible that seem to condemn homosexual acts. Yet when I read these passages closely and carefully in their contexts, noting the kind of people they describe, it doesn't match up very well with what I see around me today. Moreover, I see other issues in these same passages that don't seem to have anything to do with the homosexual people I know. So I take all these varying sources and attempt to synthesize out of them a course of action or an ethic that is as faithful as possible to the Scriptures, Tradition, and Reason.

It can get messy. Complicated. Confusing. Scary. Sometimes I really have my doubts that we're doing the right thing. Sometimes I think we're doing the right thing, but in the wrong way. But I truly believe that this process tries to make the best use of all the gifts God has given us to discern truth, and do right by ourselves, our God, and our neighbor.

PUBLISHER: Tomte, 2003

Paul on Sexuality

2003-08-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

'The Apostle Paul On Sexuality', by Neil Elliot

This insightful article stands out from among many I've read that attempt to refute traditional church views of homosexuality. Unlike some whose agenda is merely to deconstruct traditional theology, this article provides a compelling, meaningful, and relevant alternative reading of Paul's letter to the Romans --especially Romans 1:24-27.

Elliot challenges us to consider that we are reading our own prejudices in the text when we make Romans be about homosexuality. First, he examines some of the popular ways theologians have treated this text in the past, noting that "importing" Jews as Paul's original audience doesn't make sense, nor does claiming Paul used stereotypes and exaggeration to make his points do Paul much credit. Instead, Elliot shows that within the context of the first Century Roman empire, Paul's insightful words are a biting critique of the excesses of Empire, and Romans 1:24-27 would have been immediately recognizable to a first century reader as describing the idolatry and excesses of Nero, Caligula, and others in the Imperial family.

Elliot ends with this quote, which not only sums up his position elegantly, but gives us hard questions to ask ourselves about the applicability of this text for us today:

The challenge we face, I believe, is to get beyond our own cultural and sexual prejudices and to hear what Paul has to say. As we ask about the ways our lives are corrupted by imperial culture — by any culture where power over people is the highest value — we begin to understand the true challenge of Paul’s letter: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:2).

PUBLISHER: The Witness Magazine, July/August 2003. Volume 86.

(source: http://thewitness.org/agw/elliott071203.html)

The Reinvented Church

2003-08-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

'The Reinvented Church: Styles and Strategies,' by Donald E. Miller

A few things struck me about this article. I was very impressed that someone whose own personal spirituality is so far away from that of the "new paradigm" churches would write such a glowing report on them. I would have expected all harsh criticism, especially of the way that the Bible is interpreted in such churches. Instead you get the image of someone really struck by the way that God is experientially real in these churches.

In my own experience I've found that mainline denominations are borrowing what works from the "new paradigm pattern and applying it to their own congregations. The last time my wife and I went church shopping, we found numerous Lutheran and other churches who incorporate small cell groups, contemporary Christian music, etc, and mix them into their own worship experience. So in that sense some of what Miller is calling for has already happened.

Spiritual experience. Personally, I'm at the point where I don't just want to read about God in the Bible or elsewhere, I want to experience God. The "new paradigm churches" as presented in the article struck a chord with me because experience seems to be a major theme there.

Miller seems to imply that the weakness of "new paradigm churches" is the same as their strength. Because they identify with the popular culture to a certain extent, they are blind to some of the excesses rational materialism has brought us.

I think its an interesting phenomenon because consumerism and capitalism (at least the forces of the free market economics) are major American values, and now we can see how those values have impacted everything, even down to our choice in faith communities and how we look at our relationship with God. Moreover, these assumptions are so taken for granted that almost no church in the land is left untouched.

PUBLISHER: The Christian Century, December 22-29, 1999

(source: http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showarticle?item_id=1519)

Restoring a Damaged Faith

2003-08-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

'Restoring a Damaged Faith,' by Mary Tuomi Hammond

After reading this fascinating article about people who grew up in a churchgoing tradition only to leave it as adults because of the abuse they suffered within organized religion, I'm starting to realize that it's a much more serious issue for myself and others than I'd previously let myself imagine.

I come from the perspective of someone who has been in the church all my life. Unlike many, I've tried many different forms of Christianity, because I've always been looking for something from church that I've never quite found. Despite a regular history of church attendance, the church has, to varying degrees always disappointed me. To varying extents I've always felt like an outsider.

As I look back on it, what I've been looking for is twofold: 1) I'm looking for worship through which I can experience God (something where I perceive myself as being connected with God), and 2) I'm looking for a safe environment in which I can undertake spiritual exploration with others.

In my experience, I can find number 1. That's probably what keeps me in the church. However the church stinks at number 2. I think the problem is that the church only provides a "safe" environment on its own terms, and woe be unto those who don't meet those terms!

Here are some example "terms," from a church that I attended in the past. This church would only provide a safe environment for spiritual exploration with others if you fall into or agree with the superiority of these categories, and the extent that you step outside these categories is the extent that you are labeled, ostracized, held suspect, and encouraged to leave:

White, Straight, Biblically-inerrant, (male) Authority-driven, Capitalist

In the church I attend now, I've exchanged these terms for a somewhat different list of terms:

Gentile, Straight, Evangelical, Volunteer-driven, Sacramental

While before I would have congratulated myself on finding a place that had terms within which I could explore my faith while avoiding the wrath of my peers within the church, after reading the article on a damaged faith I'm realizing what a dismal vision of church this really is.

Is it healthy to have any sort of terms or conditions like these? I don't think so. On the one hand it's a straight-jacket for people like me who are within the church --I'm confined to only exploring my faith in community within this box. If I hear God calling me outside this box (a call I have heard already with regards to evangelicalism) I'd better not act on it in the church, or talk about it with anyone in the church, or I'm just asking to be spiritually abused.

On the other hand, these categories are even more of an insult to people who fall outside them --the church is saying, by the existence of these categories, that it has already pre-decided that anything that lays outside them --including people-- is not worthy of respect, or contains anything of value that could enrich the church.

I don't think that the church actually believes that it is abusing anyone, but through the use of standards of inclusion and exclusion abuse is taking place. The church needs to wake up and recognize what it's doing before any healing can begin to take place. I don't think Mary Tuomi Hammond goes far enough when she seems to imply that using a few different words (like "reconciled to God" instead of "saved," and "sharing one's faith" instead of "witnessing") is going to stop people from experiencing hurt in the organized church.

Maybe we need a church where the only criteria for taking the faith journey is the desire to take the faith journey, trusting God to take care of the rest, and not worrying about what ground we may cover or what boundaries we might cross along the way.

PUBLISHER: The Other Side, May-June 2000, Vol. 36, No. 3.

(source: http://www.theotherside.org/archive/may-jun00/hammond.html)

Stories to Live By

2003-07-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

'Stories to Live By: Reading the Bible in the new millennium,' by Ched Myers

In this thought provoking piece, Ched Myers boils down what is most useful in the post-modern approach to biblical study and summarizes it in succint, concrete terms that are easy to understand --even if you aren't as interested in theology as I am.

Central to the article is the notion that the Christian community needs to be more open and honest about discussing different interpretations of the Bible. It's a struggle to make the text make sense in our lives, and a challenge to be more faithful about living out our interpretations.

According to Myers, biblical interpretation should be done primarily from the grassroots on up, not like the present model of looking to specialized experts and clergy to tell us what the Bible means. While this could be taken as a kind of anti-intellectualism and anti-clericalism, I don't think Myers intends this. He means to free us to make the Bible live as a radical document for social and personal transformation.

While I think that reading the research of biblical scholars with different interpretive lenses can certainly aid in our understanding of the Bible, I also have a big populist streak in me that says that this is OUR book and we should be free to be inspired in our interpretation of it and creative in how we apply it to our lives.

PUBLISHER: Stores to Live By. Ched Myers. Sojourners Magazine, March-April 2000 (Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 32).

(Source: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0003&article=000313)

Good Grief

2003-07-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

'Good Grief: An Undertaker's Reflections,' by Thomas Lynch

I have found that my notion of what existence after death must be like has been greatly affected by what seems most desirable or unattainable in the present. When I was in college and seeking estatic religious experiences (attending a charasmatic church) I envisioned heaven to be one eternal "praise and worship" session. Later, as I became interested in more contemplative approaches to spirituality, I became attracted to the notion that my individual ego would dissapate and peacefully dissolve into the Divine. I still like that image. Most recently --perhaps over-tired from chasing after a two-year-old-- the biblical image of sleeping in the grave until the end of the age (see 1 Corinthans 15:51) sounds very inviting.

Interestingly enough, all of these visions of the afterdeath (except perhaps for the last one) care little about the physical body. It's seen as merely a shell, unimportant to both the deceased and to those left behind. Often it seems unsightly, embarrassing, and even a little uncomfortabe to come face-to-face with a corpse. When is the last time you've been to an open-casket funeral? With cremation and other creative options becoming ever more popular, often the "memorial service" won't feature the deceased at all.

It is precisely this "shell game" that Thomas Lynch, funeral director and author of The Undertaking: Bodies in Motion and Still Life in Milford argues passionately against in 'Good Grief: An Undertaker's Reflections.' Lynch's thesis --cogently backed up by Christian tradition and scripture-- is that how we treat the dead is part of the social fabric of our dealings with the living. If St. Paul could write so eloquently of our spirts, and call our bodies a "temple of God," should we not treat the corpse with respect also?

Perhaps most provocative is Lynch's view that funerals are better when the corpse is present, because it helps the mourners come to terms with both the physical separation of death as well as the spiritual questions death raises. "The funeral --that ritual wheel that works the space between the living and the dead-- must deal with our humanity and our Christianity, our spiritual and natural realities, our flesh, our fears, and our faith and hopes, our bodies and our souls." (p. 22)

Of course, like many I'm highly interested in what medical science can do to extend the human lifespan --maybe I'll live to be 100! Even if near immortality is achieved, however, accidents will still happen and everyone will die sooner or later. Lynch's critique of contemporary atittudes towards death and dying raises important questions about how to die a "good death."

PUBLISHER: The Christian Century, pp 20-23. July 26, 2003 issue. ISSN: 0009-5281
LINKS: http://www.christiancentury.org

Grace @ Work

2003-07-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Grace @ Work, third edition. Ellie Byrd, editor.

Grace @ Work is a collection of faith stories told by the members of High Tech Ministries, an Atlanta-based group of computer professionals whose purpose is, according to publisher Gregg Hinthorn, "for you to come to know Jesus, His unconditional love, His total forgiveness and the abundant life He promises all who believe in Him." (p. 8) What follows in this short book are personal vignettes told from an evangelical Christian perspective --stories told to inspire faith. I read this book looking for both "the center" and "the margins." By "the center" I mean: What are the themes that emerge over and over again in these stories? By "the margins" I mean: How do these people see faith differently from each other?

"The center" of these stories can be characterized by an unshakeable confidence that God will intervene to help the faithful --even for something as small as a lost program guide. (p. 9) Another writer finds an old soft drink bottle with two coins inside and hears the Spirit whisper, "If I can put money in a bottle, you do not have to worry about your future financial security." (p. 23) Work plays a major role in the lives of these writers, and so it is no surprise to see a very practical, results-oriented approach to God emerge. A subtext that repeats itself time and time again is the idea that if one can "let go" and give God total control of one's life, many emotional and material blessings will result. The Bible is seen like a business manual that can provide specific answers to specific questions. ". . . this project was extremely stressful. . . It was then that I turned to the Bible for an answer, and found Philippians 4:6, 'Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. . .'" (p. 35)

I found "the margins" much more interesting than "the center." These writers seemed to focus more on personal transformation than miracles or financial success. An internet security systems expert, struggling to network after her company went bankrupt, writes that surrendering to God means "actively seek[ing] Him in every person you meet and in every situation you encounter." (p. 14) Another writer, this time a CEO of a software firm, sees his own suffering during an economic downturn as character building, helping him open up to his employees and frankly discuss "concerns, fears, and uncertainties with the business." (p. 18) Another, while drawing satisfaction from his job, tells of how he has learned that serving others as a career counselor volunteer is what "leaves me hungry for more." (p. 44)

On my own personal note, Grace @ Work represents the first time someone has mailed me a book to read. I read books and write this blog because I love to read, and think about what I've read. I'm usually pretty choosy about what I'll read. Typically if someone recommends a book I'll just nod and ignore them, because most of the time when people recommend books they are making a statement about what they like to read --not what I like to read. Still, free stuff has a big draw for me. :-) So I've decided that I'll read any book that someone is willing to give me.

PUBLISHER: Hinthorn Custom Media Solutions; 2002; No ISBN

Not a Drop to Drink

2003-07-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

'Not A Drop To Drink,' by Grey Rollins

Grey Rollins' 16 page short story 'Not A Drop To Drink' examines group dynamics, mob rule, and the violence associated with religious fundamentalism within the context of a classic "hard SF" short story. The premise is simple: Colonists stuck on a world with little fresh water debate dwindling alternatives to ensure their survival. After discarding other options which have proven ineffective, scientist Lalo Helsink makes a daring proposal: genetically engineer the children to have salt glands so that they can drink the abundant seawater found on the planet. Without this modification the colony's needs will outstrip the fresh water supply in a matter of years, ensuring death.

While most are uneasy with such a draconian solution, it is seen as the only alternative to certain death. Not so for Agnes Beeson, leader of a Christian prayer group in the colony. She and her followers believe that God is punishing the colony for lack of faith, and if they pray hard enough rain will come. She believes that genetic tinkering on humans is an abomination --displaying lack of faith in God's design when God created humans.

With the colony still ambivalent, the plan goes forward and the first generation of "salties" --children with salt tracks that stem from their eyes to rid their bodies of excess salt-- is born. Beeson will not be stopped, however, and soon acts of vandalism against Helsink and the parents of the "salties" erupt in the colony. These violent acts finally culminate in a fire that consumes eight houses and kills two adults. The story ends as Helsink and the families leave the colony. Although they lack resources and are in the minority, their future seems hopeful because --through more genetic engineering in order to avoid inbreeding-- they can still reproduce in large enough numbers to establish a viable colony.

This story raised two questions for me. First, when religious fundamentalism gains power, is violence inevitable? If one is merely talking about Christian or Muslim conservatives who believe they take the Bible or Qur'an literally --I don't think that alone is enough to guarantee a violent sect. Historically there have been textual literalists who also included an ethic of non-violence in their belief systems --finding the justification for non-violence in the very texts they attempt to follow so scrupulously. I see the defining characteristic of fundamentalism as the tendency to demonize the other. When one's ethical system encourages one to see evil as an external force resident in some other group, instead of recognizing the evil that lurks within --or seeing God as Other-- it's easy to legitimize violence against groups that are different in any way.

Secondly, is it moral to genetically engineer human beings? Many in contemporary Western society draw a distinction between reproductive cloning (which they see as "playing God" with the process that leads to birth) and therapeutic cloning or gene therapies (which they see as helpful medicine.) For me 'Not a Drop to Drink' exposes some of the flaws in this kind of thinking by showing that actually changing the human genome is far more radical than using the technology to simply make a copy of another human being, flaws and all. I tend to see using genetic technology to help infertile couples --or perhaps help gay and lesbian couples pass on their genes-- as a relatively benign use of the technology. Adding and subtracting things to human genes seems more provocative, raising questions about the extent to which our genes make us human, and the boundaries of what can be considered human at all.

PUBLISHER: July/August 2003 issue of Analog: Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding). Pages 100-118. Dell Magazines. New York. ISSN: 1059-2113.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2003-07-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling

I read J.K. Rowling's fifth Harry Potter book wondering how she would be able to keep my interest again. After all, the basic outline of the story always seems to be the same. Harry is miserable at the Dursleys. Harry gets spirited away to Hogwarts. Harry struggles against Snape, Malfoy, and difficult class assignments. Somehow Gryffindor wins the Quidditch cup. (Have they ever lost the cup? Don't the other houses ever get depressed about this?) Somewhere Voldemort enters the picture, Harry fights him, and the school year ends triumphantly.

While Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix does follow this basic structure, Rowling has taken her development of the characters to new levels of sophistication. Harry is fifteen years old now, and as a boy in his mid-teens he struggles with issues of identity, love, and family in this novel. For the first time I can recall in a Harry Potter novel, we're left at the end with our hero seriously questioning himself. If Harry has seemed like a superhero (or at least like a somewhat arrogant, know-it-all teenager) in previous installments, this time Harry makes some real mistakes, and will have to grapple with the consequences of those actions (hopefully in future books.)

This new depth and sophistication is not just limited to Harry. In Order of the Phoenix we learn more about the imperfections of many of the major characters. We read Dumbledore candidly recounting the mistakes he's made with Harry. We finally learn why Snape hates Harry so much. We learn more about Harry's parents, and about Sirius Black.

While I was reading this novel, I also stumbled across an essay on-line called "Steal this Essay" I was very intrigued by the points this author makes in his blog, especially in light of Harry Potter. I did a quick search on the file-sharing networks, and found that all five of the Harry Potter novels are available for download. I searched mere days after the novel's release, and there it was, free for the taking.

While the Harry Potter novels have made J.K. Rowling richer than the queen of England herself, I couldn't help but wonder what the future of intellectual property is when anyone who wants a copy can have one. There are still some technical hurdles to be overcome before novelists really have something to fear. People still don't want to be chained to their computers to read a book, even if they don't have to pay for it. PDAs have not become ubiquitous enough to pose a threat either. But the day does seem to be coming when either electronic content and online behavior will need to be monitored by a police state at unprecedented levels, or a new revenue model for all the intellectual property industries will need to be devised --one that ensure the author compensation while minimizing the incentives to copy.

KEYWORDS: Fantasy, children, series, magic, intellectual property
PUBLISHER: Scholastic; (June 21, 2003); ISBN: 043935806X

The Phantom Menace

2003-07-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, adapted by Henry Gilroy (based on screenplay by George Lucas), art by Rodolfo DaMaggio.

I found this graphic novel again when I was reorganizing some bookshelves in my bedroom last week. I purchased it on the eve of the movie's premiere back in the fall of 1999. Unable to wait to see the movie, this is one of the few times that I indulged in a huge spoiler. The original Star Wars trilogy was probably my most significant movie experience as a child. The very first movie I ever remember seeing was as a six or seven year old, accompanying my parents to the drive-in to see the original Star Wars movie in 1977. Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace is also the first graphic novel I'd ever purchased.

I was expecting to get a major nostalgia fix with the second set of films, which so far have not met my expectations. That isn't to say that they haven't been entertaining --and maybe such high expectations are impossible to fulfill. In retrospect I think I might have enjoyed the film even less had I not indulged in the graphic novel the night before. I'm sure most of us would rather forget about Jar-Jar Binks, but I could actually understand his horrible dialogue because of reading it and decoding it in printed format first.

If you did enjoy the movie, however, and are looking for a good keepsake for your bookshelf, I heartily recommend the graphic novel version. It tracks the movie script almost word-for-word. It follows the movie so closely that even many of the frames are drawn from points of view reminiscent of camera angles shot in the movie. Unlike other Star Wars graphic novels (Star Wars: Dark Force Rising comes to mind), great pains were taken in this one to make sure that the characters looked like the actors in the film.

More than anything, this book reminds me of an adult version of those "Star Wars Storybooks" published by Scholastic when I was a kid. You know, the ones where the story is retold in very abridged text, with a large still picture from the movie on every page. I couldn't afford to see Star Wars 20 times, but must have read my Star Wars Storybook more than 200 times. For all I know those Storybooks are collectors items now --I wish my younger brother hadn't gotten to mine and scribbled in goatees on Luke and Leia on practically every page.

PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics; (1999); ISBN: 1-56971-359-6

Marvels

2003-07-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

Marvels, by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross

I was in the public library a few weeks ago, looking at the collection of graphic novels touted in the lobby when I ran across Marvels. I had just been conversing with a friend about the difference between the Marvel universe versus DC universe, and how the Marvel universe --while just as populated with superheroes as the DC universe-- seemed to approach its characters from more of a human interest angle. Marvels represents the epitome of this approach.

Narrated entirely from the point of view of photo-journalist Phil Sheldon, Marvels traces the history of the Marvel universe's New York City from roughly 1900 to the present. The Great Depression, World War One and World War Two in this version are punctuated by the appearance of "the Marvels," Sheldon's term for the Marvel superheroes, supervillians, and X-men. Practically every Marvel hero from greats like the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man to lesser known Marvels like the Silver Surfer make an appearance. A major section is devoted to mutants and the X-men --with the issue of mutant rights and mob violence against those who are different a minor but poignant theme.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like --as an ordinary person-- to live in a world populated by mutants and super-beings, this book will speak to you. I felt that Kurt Busiek's story and Alex Ross' realistic drawings accurately captured the fear, ambivalence and apathy that an ordinary person would feel living in a city where super-forces beyond one's control regularly wreaked havoc and did damage to people and surroundings. Phil Sheldon experiences all of these emotions firsthand as he sees his career and his family's destiny intertwined with the Marvels. Watching Captain America fight for the US in World War Two sparks his pride; witnessing Silver Surfer and Galactus threaten to destroy Earth highlights his helplessness. Guiltily participating in a riot against mutants underscores his fear; later hiding a mutant child from rioters in his basement displays his ambivalence.

While I thought it was a wise choice to invent a new character through which to see the wide scope of human emotion played out against the field of super-humanity, it was also a stroke of genius to use J. Jonah Jameson's classic hatred for Spider-Man as a lens through which to see insecurity with super-power. In Marvels, as in the original Spider-Man comics, Jameson hates Spider-Man because if Spider-Man really is a hero, then no ordinary person can hope to compete with his heroics. Ordinary people and ordinary heroism are rendered meaningless if Spider-Man will always swing in to save the day. Therefore Jameson has convinced himself that Spider-Man is evil in order to leave some room for the goodness of ordinary people.

As I turned these pages and participated in all the conflicting feelings the characters had toward their super-heroes, I couldn't help but be reminded of theological issues. On many levels I feel that the Marvels are stand-ins for God, and the love-hate relationships that characters have with their heroes in comic books mirror the way people in the real world struggle with their image of God. What can we expect from God? What does God expect from us? If God would swoop in and save us from ourselves, what does that do to human responsibility? After finishing Marvels, my eyes were opened to the intricate dance that is the interplay between humanity and That Which Is Greater Than Us.

PUBLISHER: Marvel Books; (January 2003); ISBN: 0785100490

The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1

2003-06-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, (vol 1), by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

I've always been a bigger Superman fan than a Spider-Man fan. My only exposure to Spidey as a kid was PBS' The Electric Company along with the occasional comic book and the short-lived 1978 television series. When the Spider-Man movie came out in 2002 it answered many of the questions that I had concerning Spidey's origins. However, it took Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man to really get me interested in Spider-Man on a whole new level.

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man is a collection of the first eleven comic books ever to feature Spider-Man. This series (from 1962-1964) reveals an astonishing level of psychological complexity, human interest, and a benchmark from which to measure how far the Spider-Man myth has evolved over the years. I think it was WB's Superman series Smallville that really started getting me interested in how the mythology of super-heroes evolve over time. In that series the life of teenage Clark Kent is examined, with all the typical angst of those years. What amazed me reading the early Spider-Man comics was that this "human interest" angle is there from the beginning!

Unlike Clark Kent, Peter Parker is a high school senior when the series begins --actually a nerdy science student who gets mercilessly bullied and teased by his classmates. You can really tell that these comics were written in the '60s --with all the contemporary focus on bullying in schools, and Columbine, this sort of interaction is not seen as funny anymore. Despite the bullying, however, I was reminded of Smallville with the way that Peter tries to balance a social life, high school, and his part-time job at the Daily Bugle.

Many details mirror Superman. Both heroes work at big city newspapers. Reminiscent of the Lois - Clark - Lana triangle, Peter Parker is torn between the dual love interests of Liz Allen and Betty Brandt. Peter Parker even sports Clark Kent-like glasses in first few issues, before they get destroyed by rival classmate Flash Thompson in a fight, never to be seen again.

One big surprise for me was that Mary Jane (MJ) doesn't appear in the early comic books. She must have been added later, although still early enough that some of my friends thought she had been there from the beginning. In the early series Liz Allen is the unattainable girlfriend of bully Flash Thompson, while Betty Brandt (J. Jonah Jameson's secretary at the Bugle) mysteriously leaves town in issue ten of the series --bemoaning the loss of Peter the whole time. It's as though both of these women are merged in the later character of MJ, with disdain and affection transformed into ambivalence.

This compilation is only volume one. I sincerely hope that Marvel continues to release later issues of these classic strips in graphic novel form. I, for one, am sold!

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics, New York. ISBN: 0-7607-3793-2. Copyright 2003.

Talking with the enemy

2003-06-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

'Talking with the enemy', by L. Gregory Jones

Sometimes I find that I have a swirl of ideas in my head that I can't articulate, and then I read a book or an article that crystallizes those very thoughts perfectly. Such is the case with L. Gregory Jones recent contribution to the May issue of the Christian Century, entitled "Talking with the enemy." In it he discusses the rancorous debate that has arisen in churches when clergy disagree with their congregations, and faithful parishioners on both sides of current issues like the war in Iraq feel alienated by debate and disagreement. While it's tempting to say that controversial issues shouldn't be discussed from the pulpit, most important issues are controversial, and avoiding them renders the church irrelevant to daily life. Yet Jones articulates a way to discuss them that doesn't alienate faithful people on the other side.

Jones draws upon scripture to articulate a vision of loving mutuality and listening to one's "enemies" when discussing controversial issues. Citing James 1:19, he writes, "Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness." While preserving anger as a valid human emotion and response, he notes that a quick angry response has negative consequences for any community, including the body of Christ. From the Hebrew bible, Jones discusses the book of Jonah, "which presses the question of whether we really want our enemies to repent."

The most striking part of the article, however, was this quoted passage from Wendell Berry's novel Jayber Crow. I loved the way it simultaneously proclaimed a great truth, yet also called into question the authenticity of the truth teller. Part of the problem with communicating with the enemy is that it's so easy to become smug and prideful in the perfection of ones own position, which tends to close off the ability to truly hear what the other person has to say.

"They ought to round up every one of them sons of bitches and put them right in front of the damned communists, and then whoever killed who, it would be all to the good."
There was a little pause after that. Nobody wanted to try to top it. . . .
It was hard to do, but I quit cutting hair and looked at Troy. I said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you."
Troy jerked his head up and widened his eyes at me. "Where did you get that crap?"
I said, "Jesus Christ."
And Troy said, "Oh."
It would have been a great moment in the history of Christianity, except that I did not love Troy.

As I mentioned earlier, part of why this article was so striking is because it resonated with some earlier reading I was trying to digest unsuccessfully. After seeing the VeggieTales movie "Jonah" last year, I was driven to attempt Yvonne Sherwood's A Biblical Text and Its Afterlives: The Survival of Jonah in Western Culture. Although I was unable to finish the entire book, it did fire my imagination about Jonah and sensitize me to noticing Jonah wherever he pops up in my reading.

Jonah is such an interesting tale for precisely the same reason I find the passage from Jayber so tantalizing. Both show a flawed person striving to be good, and not succeeding. Only where Jayber knows and acknowledges his flaws, Jonah denies and is unaware of how they destroy his relationship with God and others. A powerful message we would do well to heed today when dealing with our enemies, both abroad and next door.

Publisher: The Christian Century, May 31, 2003 issue. page 50. Chicago. ISSN: 0009-5281

Superman for all Seasons

2003-05-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

Superman for all Seasons, by Jeph Loeb (writer) and Tim Sale (artist)

I've been a fan of Superman since I was a kid, but lately I've been more attracted to stories that explore the emotions, spirituality and psychology of the characters, versus the more traditional action-packed superhero type story. Superman for all Seasons delivers on this promise surprisingly well, granting the reader an inside look into the tale of a superhero who comes of age, told from the point of view of Jonathan Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luther, and Lana Lang. The graphic novel is divided into four parts, named after each season of a year, and metaphorically representing the seasons of our lives.

Part 1, Spring is narrated by Pa Kent and outlines his struggle in coming to terms with his special adopted son. In this version Clark slowly comes into his powers and is actually relatively normal until his senior year of high school. Thus it's a slow discovery that the whole family learns to cope with. Like in the Smallville TV series, Clark learns of new abilities rescuing someone from a tornado.

After the twister, Clark feels he should have done more to save the town from destruction. He talks to his pastor, Pastor Linquist, posing the question --"Pastor, what if one man --just one man-- could've stopped all this destruction? And he didn't..." (p. 41) His pastor somewhat dismissively replies that we each respond according to our gifts, but that in the end when God sets a course no one can stop it. This provides a rare glimpse into the spirituality of the Kents, and paints a kind of generic protestant religious background. Slightly earlier in the narrative, we find out that Martha is the devout one in the family, while Jonathan "didn't put too much stake in being a churchgoing sort." (p. 29)

Spiritual or not, Clark really grapples with the question of how best to use his gifts. In this story, Clark confides in Lana and tells her of his super-powers. The revelation is bittersweet however, since Clark's conviction that he must use his gifts for good means that he will leave her, and leave Smallville.

Part 2, Summer is narrated by Lois Lane. Clark is in Metropolis, just starting his career at The Daily Planet. The rivalry is fierce between Lex Luther and Superman - each competing against each other and for the adulation of Metropolis' citizens. While it also seems like they are competing for Lois' love, Lois' relationship with Lex and with Superman seems to be based more on "shock and awe" than on genuine affection. As on the Smallville television show, this Lex (at least in his own mind) wants to do good and be a hero --but is constantly being shown up and upstaged by Superman.

In this section of the story, we discover that Clark's Fortress of Solitude is Smallville. He flys home to spend time with his parents and regroup. Ironically, Clark is famous in Smallville for being Clark, not Superman. As Pastor Linquist relates to Clark in a kind moment, "We're probably the only town in Kansas that gets The Daily Planet every morning at the general store... Nobody from Smallville has done what you've done." (p. 92)

Part 3, Fall is narrated by Lex Luthor. Jealous of Metropolis' love of Superman, he unleashes a plague on the city in true comic book fashion. Superman is manipulated to believe it's his fault. Like on Smallville, this rendition of Clark seems to have a lot of guilt. While the city is saved with Luther's antidote, Clark returns home to his parents, defeated, while Lex takes credit for rescuing Metropolis.

Part 4, Winter is told by Lana Lang. In this chapter we discover that Lana's dream had been to marry Clark --finding out his secret and his plans to leave crushed her dreams. Having previously left home to wander the world alone, she returns to Smallville and helps Clark come to terms with his limitations and his gifts. The graphic novel truly transcends the genre here as the real struggle is won when Clark takes action to save his parents and Lana from a flood that hits Smallville. Adding a spiritual dimension, the family attends a vigil where Pastor Linquist reflects on the seasons of a life, their meaning, and how our choices define our lives.

PUBLISHER: DC Comics, New York, 1999. ISBN: 1-56389-529-3.

3rd Corinthians

2003-05-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

'3rd Corinthians', by Michael F. Flynn

I enjoy both science fiction and theology, yet rarely do I get to see science fiction that deals with religious themes. Moreover, I don't think I've ever read an SF short story in which modern religious scholarship served as the backdrop against which a time travel tale was spun.

3rd Corinthians does just that. Set in an Irish pub, this seven page story dishes up the main philosophical arguments for and against biblical literalism within the framework of a disheartened Catholic priest arguing with an atheistic bartender. Yet as the tale unfolds and we learn that the recently unearthed Pauline letter, 3rd Corinthians, seems unassailable, genuine, and theologically disturbing, it's the atheist that starts presenting arguments for faith and the priest that seems skeptical.

I'll not mention the final surprise --I fear I may have given away too much already. If you frequent Starbucks you'll get a kick out of this plot twist. Even without the "O. Henry" ending, however, I was impressed with how many of the concepts of theological inquiry were packed into an entertaining yarn. Through the conceit of the debate between the priest and the skeptic the reader is introduced to literalist hermeneutic, metaphorical interpretations, apostolic succession, church councils, deutero-canonical texts, literary criticism, historical biblical criticism, and manuscript analysis. If one was teaching a course on Christian theology or biblical interpretation, this would be a fun piece to include among the assigned readings.

PUBLISHER: Analog: Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Vol. CXXIII, No. 6, June 2003; ISSN: 1059-2113

Reading the Bible Again for the First Time

2003-05-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally, by Marcus J. Borg

In Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg applies his "historical-metaphorical" method of interpreting the Christian tradition to the Bible as a whole. Starting with a thorough discussion of the various "lenses" through which readers see when they read, Borg moves through the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, applying his method to a number of sample texts. With separate chapters devoted to the creation stories, wisdom literature, the prophets, gospels, Pauline letters, and finally Revelation, Borg covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages, demonstrating his method as a comprehensive and compelling alternative to "literal-factual" interpretations.

Part of what I find appealing about Borg's books is that while he is so provocative in many ways, he also seems to be consciously and respectfully attempting to maintain continuity with the Christian tradition and its respect for the Bible. Granted, his interpretations are often at odds with traditional interpretations, but in re-interpreting the Bible he upholds the Bible's crucial importance to the Christian tradition. This does Christianity a great favor by opening up the text to those who would otherwise be unable to accept it on any level. In an ironic sort of way, Borg is quite traditional in his goal, which is to help Christians use the Bible to connect with God. This is summed up most eloquently on page 18: "Being Christian, I will argue, is not about believing in the Bible or about believing in Christianity. Rather, it is about a deepening relationship with the God to whom the Bible points, lived within the Christian tradition as a sacrament of the sacred."

In the preface, Borg alerts the reader that his is a post-modern approach to the scriptures. By using "lenses" as a metaphor for the assumptions Borg brings to the Bible, he underscores the point that we all see things differently, and bring different culturally conditioned lenses to bear on how we see the Bible. Borg discusses pre-modern and modern approaches to reading the Bible, and notes that we are on the boundary of the post-modern age. On page xi Borg writes: "The test of our subjectivities. . . is whether they make sense to others." This quote can serve as the theme of the book, in a nutshell. Even while using modern historical scholarship, Borg tries to present his vision in as non-foundational a way possible.

At the beginning of chapter one Borg writes "As we enter the 21st century, we need a new set of lenses through which to read the Bible. The older set, ground and polished by modernity, no longer works for millions of people. . .the older way of seeing the Bible, which I will soon describe, has made the Bible incredible and irrelevant for vast numbers of people." The "older way" is actually two older ways, referring to both fundamentalism's view of the Bible (which is "incredible" to Borg) and liberalism's view (probably epitomized by Bultmann, although Borg doesn't say this) which renders the biblical text increasingly irrelevant. Both fundamentalism and liberalism are products of the modern age. Both in their different ways try to flatten the text down and make it "scientific." One thing I find exciting about Borg's way of reading is that it allows for surpluses of meaning --I could disagree with every one of Borg's specific interpretations of a text, yet still use his techniques effectively to draw my own meaning out of the text. I see Borg's approach as a kind of post-liberal post-modern reading, striving to keep the text relevant without resorting to fundamentalism, yet being aware of the historical issues surrounding a text and its creation and transmission.

One thing that struck a negative chord with me the first time I read Chapter 2 was Borg's insistence that one must choose between considering the Bible to be either inspired or a human product. It seemed to me easily possible that God inspired the writers but the writers, being fallible, could fail to accurately translate that inspiration into words. Upon second reading, however, I think Borg is so strident in this point in order to distance himself from what I'll call a "classic liberal" reading of the text --one that wants to sift through the text, discarding most or much of it, in order to find that little kernel of inspiration that is hidden within. Using historical research to "cut down" or find the "kernel of truth" is far too reductionist for my tastes.

By seeing the Bible as an entirely human endeavor, written by people in response to God, there is no inspired kernel to be found. What then are we to do with the text? Pitch it? If we want to do anything with it at all we need to be aware of the issues facing the people that wrote in their context, and then try to see it as meaningful in our own situation --the heart of the historical-metaphorical method. I still like to use the word "inspired," as in "The Bible was written by people based on their inspiration from God." However, what I mean by inspiration is the same thing that Borg means by "in response to" as in "The Bible was written by people in response to their experience of God."

In chapter 3 the historical-metaphorical approach is outlined in more detail. By "historical" Borg means trends in biblical scholarship that have arisen over the last 200 years, including critical methods, literary criticism and linguistics. By "metaphorical" Borg means a non-literalist approach to finding meaningful truths in the text. By combining the two, Borg constructs a theological lens that remains critical, but not overly so. On page 51 of this chapter, Borg writes: "The initial movement into critical thinking is often experienced as liberating, but if one remains in this state decade after decade, it becomes a very arid and barren place in which to live. . ." Thus by combining imaginative metaphorical reading with rigorous scholarship, one can hopefully move past the "barren place."

I disagree with Borg's wholehearted assertion that critical thinking is inevitable. In one sense, I think everyone develops a "crap-detector" as they get older, which allows them to sort through competing claims, retaining that which is useful to them, discarding that which is not. Relatively few people apply this to their religion, however. Why? I think that most people are satisfied with their religion. Marcus Borg's The God We Never Knew blew my mind when I discovered it on the bookshelf of my local Barnes and Noble back in 1998. But I was supremely dissatisfied with the way I envisioned my religion at that time, and was looking for an alternative. Most people have what works for them, so why expect them to change? Why should they change? One answer might be that if critical thinking offered more, people would be interested in it. But I'd say critical thinking generally appears to offer much less. That "arid and barren place to live," if you will.

Chapters 4 through the end of the book apply the "lenses" that have been so painstakingly defined to the scriptural canon. Borg reads Genesis 1 and 2 as "true myth" outlining the Hebrew view that ". . .something has gone wrong. Life began in paradise but is now lived outside the garden, in an exile of hard labor, suffering, pain, violence, and fragmentation. Though the world is beautiful, something is not right; we do live in a world of suffering and pain." (p.78) Here Borg retains the meaning (or a meaning) of the creation stories, while rejecting the need to take them literally. While I agree with Borg's interpretation, I do raise an objection to it. While Borg provides us with a way of making sense of the creation stories that doesn't conflict with the theory of evolution, does he really take evolution into account in his theology of origins? I think he sidesteps the issue, as does most theology. I have yet to see a theology of origins that dares to take the next step --i.e., draw conclusions about the nature of God based on the reality of evolution as the driving force of creation. I'd argue that such a God would look quite different than traditional views of God, and be potentially quite alarming, regardless of one's theological orientation. Such a God would seem overly capricious, random, chaotic, and distant. In his other works Borg outlines the panentheistic view of God, which sees God as very immanent in the universe, but not necessarily transcendent. Borg still sees this kind of God as representing somehow more than just merely the sum of the universe's parts (which would be pure pantheism, in my view).

One of the stories I have the most trouble with in the Pentateuch is the near-sacrifice of Isaac. A walk on the wild side, to say the least. I would have liked to see Borg treat it. I guess per Borg's theme of promise and fulfillment in Chapter 5, the sacrifice of Isaac could be seen as yet another way of raising the dramatic bar --that God still had the ability to fulfill the promise even if Isaac were killed. But --especially to someone who has children of their own-- this seems like an overly dramatic license to take. Plus if we are going to say that God doesn't act like this (a panentheistic God may not even have the ability to act like this) it seems strained to draw any sort of conclusion about God from this story.

In Chapter 6, Borg maintains that in the West Christianity is no longer synonymous with the dominant culture. Therefore for Borg the prophets once again become an indictment of the dominant culture. The prophets can be relevant to today, and this is echoed in some of the mainline churches' critiques of consumerism and globalization, although I don't think its articulated loudly enough, or clearly enough. Personally, I tend to think that if I start thinking I'm "there" or have "arrived" then I'm in big trouble because I'm not open to learning more. Maybe this was the problem with Christianity when it becomes culturally dominant. It gets too complacent, and started caring about itself more than the betterment of the world. These prophets raise all kinds of questions for me, and present visions for how things should be, but I don't see them as providing much of a roadmap for how to get from here to there.

In Chapter 7 Borg makes the same distinction between conventional wisdom and subversive wisdom (and the tension between the two) that he made in The God We Never Knew. I've found this distinction to be very useful in dealing with the tension between different voices in scripture. The subversive stuff (Job, Ecclesiastes, The Sermon on the Mount) really speaks to me, maybe because I live such a conventional life. Yet as I've grown older I recognize a place for the conventional wisdom (Proverbs) as well.

As Borg moves through the New Testament, the dual lenses of historical and metaphorical are applied in a manner consistent with his Old Testament approach. Generally speaking, events in the narrative that don't meet the muster of modern biblical scholarship get reinterpreted metaphorically. For Borg this takes some interesting and unexpected turns. For instance, since faith healing phenomena are reported in all religions and across cultures, Borg considers Jesus' reported abilities here to be historical. Likewise, Jesus' resurrection appearances, and Paul's vision on the Damascus road are affirmed as events that would have been real to those who experienced them, although not necessarily objective events. On the other hand, however, events that clearly violate the laws of physics such as turning water into wine at Cana, and Jesus walking on water are seen as metaphors for larger spiritual truths.

Borg concludes his book by enunciating three major biblical themes about God in the epilogue. 1) God is real, and can be experienced. 2) Life is made "whole" and "right" by living in conscious relationship to God. 3) God is described as a God of Justice (procedural) and compassion. While I readily agree with these three statements, and feel that they can be drawn out of the narrative using Borg's interpretive technique, I don't feel that they are the only possible interpretations using the historical metaphorical approach. Depending upon which sections of the narrative are interpreted metaphorically, and what historical criteria is used, these three assumptions about God could be deconstructed. I think postmodern theology's true challenge is presented by these large questions of meaning and the nature of God. Is there any meaning of purpose beyond oneself? If so, on what basis could one possibly promote such a purpose. With God only "an experiential reality" I don't see how God can possibly be used to legitimate any social agenda. Are we left only with the Darwinian struggle for survival? Does might end up making right after all?

PUBLISHER: Harper San Francisco; 2001; ISBN: 0060609184

RELATED LINKS:

Professional information about Marcus Borg
A Portrait of Jesus --from Galilean Jew to the Face of God. Good introduction to Borg's theology.

Road to Perdition

2003-04-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Road to Perdition, written by Max Allan Collins; art by Richard Piers Ravner

I've never really been a fan of the "true crime" genre, but I have enjoyed cartoons and comic books of various types for as long as I can remember. Therefore, Road to Perdition was both a surprising and enjoyable combination --a graphic novel that painstakingly recounts the tale of "The Angel of Death" Michael O'Sullivan as he is betrayed by and seeks vengeance against Midwestern gangster John Looney and his crazy son, Connor.

The novel is set in the Tri-cities area where Moline Illinois, Rock Island, and Davenport Iowa come together. 1930s era Rock Island was the focal point for Looney's illegal gambling, bootlegging, and prostitution operations. The story is told from the point of view of Michael O'Sullivan's young son of the same name, who loses his innocence as he learns what his father really does for a living, and loses his mother and brother to Connor Looney's bloodthirsty ways.

Beyond the exciting true crime storyline of Michael O'Sullivan's vengeance against the Looney family, the most interesting thing for me was the sense of guilt each protagonist had to deal with. Michael Jr. grappled with survivor's guilt from knowing that if he hadn't followed his father that fateful day and witnessed a routine shooting, Connor Looney might not have tried to kill him (to eliminate him as a witness) and his family would not have been murdered. Michael Sr. blames himself for the deaths --after all if he wasn't a killer, he tells himself, his family would still be alive. Yet Ironically, Michael Sr. justifies his involvement in "the business" as the only way he could support his struggling family during the Great Depression.

PUBLISHER: Pocket Books, New York, 2002. ISBN: 0743442245

Welcome to the Episcopal Church

2003-04-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Episcopal Church: An Introduction to Its History, Faith, and Worship, by Christopher L. Webber

Welcome to the Episcopal Church is just what it claims to be --a short, readable book suitable for anyone interested in an introduction to the contours of Episcopalian worship and practices. While I've heard many Episcopalians say that the Book of Common Prayer is the suitable place to begin, Welcome to the Episcopal Church puts the prayerbook and the denomination into its historical and cultural context. Dealing with the church's history, worship, treatment of the Bible, teachings, spirituality, organization, and mission, Welcome to the Episcopal Church carefully, painstakingly, yet also relatively briefly, fleshes out a denomination that is steeped in tradition, governed by Scripture, and tempered by reason.

Writing about the history of the denomination, Webber uses the context of the American revolution, Celtic Christianity, and the Reformation to portray the church's diversity. From the revolution and in contrast with the Church of England comes a disestablished Anglicanism in the New World. Influences of Celtic Christianity are used to show that Anglicanism has always been different from Roman Catholicism --even when the catholic church was largely undivided in the Middle Ages.

In discussing the role of worship in the Episcopal church, Webber highlights what might be the most distinctive thing about the Episcopal version of Christianity. More so than beliefs or theology (although these are also important) the source of unity in Anglicanism is "unity through worshiping together." The prayerbook is seen as a symbol of unity in liturgy, and unity in prayer.

In the chapter on the Bible, Webber stresses how biblical the Book of Common Prayer actually is in order to underscore the larger point --that the Bible under-girds everything in the prayerbook and the liturgy. Much of the Book of Common Prayer is quoted directly from the Bible. However, the Bible is not necessarily interpreted literally. Instead the church's teaching about the Bible is more "right-brained", with a more evocative teaching meant to preserve a sense of God's ineffability, and great mystery.

Perhaps the most nuts-and-bolts chapter in Welcome to the Episcopal Church is "Church Organization." Webber teaches us about the role of bishops, General Convention, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Yet throughout he also stresses the democratic structure of the church, and the critical role of the laity at all levels of governance. In yet another paradox, the Episcopal Church's governance can perhaps be best described as congregational on the parish level, yet still thoroughly overseen by bishops (who are themselves elected by the laity) and organized into dioceses.

Perhaps the fuzziest chapter concerns the church's mission. In a world that seems increasingly smaller, and in an age of religious pluralism, the mission of the Episcopal church is portrayed, at best, more complex, and at worst quite confused. Webber seems to see this as the biggest challenge the church has going forward into the 21st century. While having a rich history and tradition to draw upon, the church will have to creatively reinvent itself in order to remain relevant to the ever-changing culture with which it must converse.

In conclusion, Webber depicts a denomination that is spiritually and theologically balanced --almost to a fault. Speaking from practical experience I can affirm this vision as an ideal, but not always the Episcopal church that I've encountered in real life. The parishes I've attended have either seemed more left-wing or more right-wing. Maybe on average they are more balanced. Welcome to the Episcopal Church portrays the denomination as it should be, but not necessarily as it always is. Still, it's an excellent outline that puts the emphasis where it should be --on worship and practices rather than on an overly detailed or propositionally based theology. As such, I'll heartily recommend this book and offer it to anyone I know who is interested in a short, well-written outline of who Episcopalians are.

PUBLISHER: Morehouse Publishing, 1999. Harrisburg, PA. ISBN: 0819218200

Parable of the Talents

2003-03-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

Parable of the Talents, by Octavia E. Butler

In this sequel to her 1993 novel Parable of the Sower Octavia E. Butler exceeds my expectations by writing a book that is more interesting than Sower in terms of plot and style. At least to some extent Butler abandons the journal format of Sower, adding in material that is not written solely from the perspective of Lauren Olimina. However, I was disappointed in the way she resolved the broader religious questions that dominated the first novel.

Parable of the Talents is written from multiple points of view. Structurally the glue that holds this story together is an extended essay, or history, written by Asha Vere --Lauren Olimina's daughter. She writes about her own life as one abducted from her parents and raised to oppose the Earthseed religion of her mother. Interspersed in this big story are first person perspective "historical documents" --journal entries by Lauren Olimina and Asha's father, Bankole --as well as a few selections from her uncle. All these different perspectives provide a more interesting and varied reading experience than the first novel, which was entirely journal entries of Lauren Olimina, founder of Earthseed. Perhaps this structure is symbolic of the fragmentation and much later re-integration of Earthseed that takes place in the novel.

I was much less impressed with the treatment of the Earthseed religion in this novel than in Sower. I felt that in Talents the author sacrificed the probing spiritual questions and realistic formation of a spiritual community in favor of moving the plot along. Unlike any other religious founder I can think of with the possible exception of Mohammad, Lauren Olimina lives to see the fruition of her religious tradition's ultimate goals. Since "The Destiny of Earthseed, / Is to take root / Among the stars." (p. 65) this seems a bit hard to swallow --especially since Olimina's whole world has been plunged in a post global-warming apocalyptic-style horror for the past 50 years! While Olimina, like Moses in the Bible, doesn't actually get to enter her Promised Land, the breakneck speed at which she progresses defies belief even within the confines of the story and the genre. When Olimina goes from a religion of one, to a community of maybe 50, then loses all that and is forced to start over again door-to-door, finally getting a rich national following capable of funding research and technology to build starships --I'm left unable to suspend my disbelief.

On the whole I must admit that I enjoyed this sequel more than I disliked it. In the final analysis, however, I see it as a novel that satisfies if one liked Parable of the Sower and merely "wants to find out more" about what happened to Olimina and her ragged band of followers. But if one wants an in-depth speculative novel about an interesting belief system and its implications, Parable of the Talents fails to deliver.

PUBLISHER: Seven Stories Press, New York. 1998. ISBN: 1888363819

Parable of the Sower

2003-03-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler

When I first learned that Parable of the Sower was yet another near-future dystopia, I groaned inwardly. While such books certainly have their place as cautionary tales, I usually find them so depressing that they don't make for entertaining reading. Science fiction is usually a more optimistic vision of how science and technology can shape us and take us places we've never been before. The whole dystopia sub-genre seems dark and depressing in contrast. 1984 and its warning against totalitarianism; Alas, Babylon and The Postman with their twin depictions of the aftermath of nuclear holocaust --these are all well-written books with an important political message, but they also seem a little surreal and far away in the future. Parable of the Sower manages to transcend the genre by offering a theme of hope through personal transformation. Author Octavia E. Butler is also relatively conservative in her extrapolated future, which makes her message seem all the more immediate, believable and relevant.

Butler takes current disturbing trends of global warming, gated communities, homelessness, and privatization and extrapolates a disturbingly familiar near future. The year is 2025, and it hasn't rained in years. Water (and everything else) is in very short supply. The middle-class live in gated communities topped with barbed wire and laser wire to keep out the street poor and gangs --desperate starving people willing to kill for food or shoes. And things are getting worse. Every year more gated communities are breached, looted, and pillaged by the desperate. The inhabitants are killed, rapped or tortured --rendered desperate themselves. Police, Fire departments, and other basic services are only available to those willing to pay their fees, resulting in only small enclaves of law and order surrounded by a sea of anarchy. Public education is non-existent, and unemployment is astronomically high. The United States government still exists --still collects taxes-- but seems exceedingly distant, in the hands of corporate interests, and unable to exert much force on the local level.

Against this backdrop we're introduced to the main character, Lauren Olamina, who lives in one of these walled communities outside San Diego and senses its coming destruction. Daughter of a Baptist pastor who is holding the small, ragged community of eleven households together through sheer force of will, Olamina is secretly forging (or discovering) her own religion called Earthseed, which gives her comfort and a sense of purpose as everything slowly crumbles around her. Here are some verses from the bible she assembles through the course of the novel, called Earthseed: The Books of the Living:

All that you touch,
You Change..

All that you Change
Changes you..

The only lasting truth
Is Change.

God
Is Change.(p.73)

Why is the universe?
To shape God.

Why is God?
To shape the universe (p. 72)

The bulk of the novel outlines Lauren Olimina as she discovers and refines the Earthseed religion, using it to understand the cataclysmic changes taking place in her life. Her walled community is ultimately invaded and she is forced to flee with a few possessions and a few companions, seeking out a new home where she plans to establish a community based on the new principle that "God is Change." The only way to survive is to embrace Change and try to consciously shape it --and allow it to ultimately shape you.

I found the concept of a new religion that embraces change to be enticing. While most institutional religions seem quite conservative and slow to change, Octavia E. Butler paints a convincing picture of Lauren Olimina as a dynamic religious tradition founder. The community she assembles is small enough and cohesive enough that its lack of inter-nicene squabbling does not detract too much from its realism. Perhaps only after the religious founder dies (not the subject of this book --maybe treated in Butler's later novel, Parable of the Talents?) do differing interpretations, and the calcification of the tradition start to arise. How that would be treated by a religion that defines God as change would be quite interesting.

As a person of faith and an avid reader of science fiction I enjoyed this novel because it not only extrapolated the future of science and social trends, but also religious belief. Defining God as change is an optimistic imagining of a people's reaction to cataclysmic change. I can't help but wonder if its overly optimistic, however. Surely a more typical human response is to either fear change, reject change, or to try to hold on to something as constant within the midst of change? Relgious founders are hardly typical, however, and maybe Butler's machinations are how most new faiths are formed --out of response to a specific historical situation or calamity.

As an unrelated sidenote, I didn't actually read this book --I checked the unabridged Audiobook CD out from the library, ripped it to MP3, and listened to it on my portable MP3 player. It was the first time I'd tried this, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to listen while taking my daily exercise. Nowadays I seem to have so little uninterrupted time for reading that it is nice to be able to leverage some other time each day. Since the novel takes the form of entries in Lauren's journal, it is easy to ingest in small doses.

PUBLISHER: Four Walls Eight Windows, New York. 1993. ISBN: 0941423999

Lavender In Love

2003-01-30T17:39:00.000-08:00

'Lavender In Love', by Brian Plante

I'm a regular reader of Analog, but lately it seems that the stories that draw my interest are those that deal with the ever-blurring distinction between human and machine --between flesh-and-blood reality and virtual reality. Where 'Finding Myself' explored the issues of human beings entering the virtual world, 'Lavender In Love' is told from the point of view of the computer --an intelligent vending machine named Lavender who roams the corridors of a futuristic low-income housing project, risking robbery and vandalism to solicit customers, selling toiletries and candy bars to people in areas ordinary vending machines could not be placed.

Lavender is no ordinary vending machine, however --even by the futuristic standards set by the story. While all the other vending machines are controlled by 'ordinary' artificial intelligence, Lavender's AI is actually a simulation taken from the human brain of his owner, Dillon Westfield. Every week he receives a new download of Dillon's experiences for the last seven days. Lavender experiences himself as a human being in the body of the machine, a partner in business with Dillon. He also experiences himself as an extension of Dillon. What is good for Lavender is also good for Dillon.

Physical boundaries and clear cut definitions between man and machine blur when Lavender completes his transition into the human world by falling in love with Treena, a woman he regularly encounters on his rounds. Limited by his machine body, Lavender nonetheless consummates the relationship by playing matchmaker between Treena and Dillon, letting them fall in love and awaiting the next download to share in the experience.

While a short, seemingly simple story with a happy ending, 'Lavender in Love' imagines a world that is not so different from our own --a world where advertising has become more intrusive and people interact with machines in situations where people once served. Yet at the same time humans want human relationships, and (paradoxically) often seek them through technological means. With the web of human connections being constantly expanded through online interactivity, we are already letting computers serve as our agents through which we negotiate virtual reality. Does it really come as a surprise that our intelligent servants could act in their own interests, on our behalf?

PUBLISHER: Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Dell Publishers; ISSN: 10592113 (February 2003)

The First Step Bible

2003-01-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

The First Step Bible, by Mack Thomas (Illustrated by Joe Stites)

It was with some trepidation that I looked forward to reading the Bible for the first time to my two-and-a-half year old daughter. On the one hand, I wanted to make sure that she was steeped in the biblical narrative from a very early age, allowing it to unconsciously shape her attitudes and act as a spiritual touchstone throughout her life. But on the other hand, I was concerned about presenting God and the biblical stories in an age-appropriate manner that grounded my daughter in the image of God as Love. Anyone who has actually read the Bible knows that there are very troubling sections depicting violence, death, suffering --things hard enough for coddled and complacent 21st century American adults to understand, let alone children.

Enter The First Step Bible. Ambitious in its sweep, yet sensitive in its presentation, I found that Mack Thomas examines each story selected, mines it for its spiritual theme, and then presents that theme in a way young children can enjoy and understand. He is able to keep the stories simple, yet still teach remarkably profound spiritual lessons. Each page contains a few lines of text, richly illustrated by Joe Stites' watercolor paintings. Children learn the basic outlines of the Bible and some of the main spiritual themes as presented by kind-looking, expressive biblical characters of diverse ethnicity --all while having fun looking for the cute animals that seem to teem from each page.

A good example of this is The First Step Bible's approach to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Very young children don't understand death, so they won't understand the idea of raising someone from the dead. Instead of talking directly about death, the author draws upon the spiritual theme of Jesus calling us out of darkness into light as a lens to see Lazarus' raising. Children get the message that Jesus leads us into light, while skirting a direct discussion of death. Jesus' resurrection story is dealt with in a similar manner.

While it may seem a bit strange reading these oblique versions of the story as an adult, when looked at through a child's perspective things actually make more sense --leaving a foundation upon which to build at a later age. In the Lazarus example, when the child is older the darkness into light theme can serve as a useful way of describing death, and heaven. Or perhaps it could serve as an illustration for the Christian life of spiritual transformation.

On one negative note, The First Step Bible (like adult Bibles) is tilted towards stories about men and boys. I was surprised (and a little disappointed) not to see notable women such as Esther, Ruth, and others included. However, where stories with women were included (Sarah, Hannah, Miriam, Mary, Mary Magdalene), their depictions were affirming and showed sensitivity. In general, negative images are avoided entirely in The First Step Bible, included only when absolutely necessary to the story and then only described in very general terms ("some bad people" or "a bad king.") Misogynistic images of women are entirely absent.

Finally, The First Step Bible doesn't try to cover every detail of every story, which can actually provide a positive teaching opportunity for parents. Keeping things simple left me room to provide my own elaboration --I loved being the one to teach my young daughter that the food God provided the Israelites, according to the Exodus story, is called "manna." I enjoyed asking her to supply phrases at key points of repetition as she became more familiar with the stories and was able to supply names and actions depicted in the illustrations. The First Step Bible has become part of our bed-time ritual --a time looked forward to by both Dad and daughter.

PUBLISHER: Questar Publishers, Oregon. 1994.

The Man Who Folded Himself

2003-01-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold

I've been reviewing books for quite awhile --reading them for far longer-- but this is the first time I can actually say I've read a book based on a review. Someone else's blog recommended this book as the quintessential time-travel story, a classic in the genre that should be read even if you read no other. The Man Who Folded Himself did not disappoint. I think it goes beyond the genre of science fiction and speaks to both the existential angst of the modern age, as well as 1970s style sexual liberation and stereotypes.

The premise of The Man Who Folded Himself is simple. The main (and sole) character, Daniel Eakins, gets a time travel belt. What does he do with it? Well --pretty much what we've all fantasized about at one time or another if you're an avid reader of science fiction! Go back in time, bet on the horses, invest in the stock market, get rich, change history, be master of the universe and in control of all one sees!

But what starts as a simple premise soon becomes very complicated as the various time-travel paradoxes get introduced to the story. Anyone who's read a lot of time travel fiction has probably run into all of these already, but nowhere have I seen all of them treated so well in such a short space. Utilizing the metaphor of an artist painting over sections of an oil painting to describe the effects of changing one's own past, Gerrold explains that even when the past is changed through time travel, the original time-line is still preserved in the memory of the time traveler --like layers in an oil painting-- and is not really destroyed. Anticipating Fredrick Pohl's The Coming of the Quantum Cats by at least 10-15 years, Gerrold describes time travel as not moving linearly back and forth in a single time-line, but as jumping to alternative universes that are created by the act of trying to change the past.

The implications of meeting one's past and future selves are explored in detail. Daniel Eakins is portrayed as somewhat introverted and narcissistic --personality flaws that are amplified by his use of time travel. He'd rather talk with and travel with the various versions of himself than establish relationships or become part of a real community rooted in one time and place. Through the course of the novel Daniel discovers how much he actually is historically and culturally bound to the few thin centuries surrounding 1970s America, and how if he changes the past too much he will no longer be at home in the future that he has created. In one interesting example, Daniel kills Jesus of Nazareth only to find that the resulting future world is so altered in its language and culture that he no longer recognizes it. Little as he cares for Christianity, he has to go back and talk himself out of the idea.

While Daniel does feel the tug of culture and community, the general theme of the novel is one that holds the individual, or the self, as the highest value. Looking back on a life spread out through centuries, erasing history to suit himself, Daniel finds meaning in the knowledge that he's lived every possible combination of reality tailored to suit his fancy. His narcissism reaches its height, however, in his sexual relationships. Seeing it as a creative form of masturbation, Daniel eschews relationships with others, instead preferring trysts with versions of his past and future self. His juvenile and often sexist views of women often make Daniel seem like a shallow character, but it fits well with his character when you consider the way his time-traveling ability has isolated him from the rest of humanity.

Altogether, The Man Who Folded Himself was an easy read that raised some old questions in new and interesting ways, as well as raised a few new ones. Gerrold sums up the major paradoxes in a light and entertaining way, and his exploration of the sexual aspects of time travel opened up ground I had not seen covered before.

PUBLISHER: Aeonian Press, Inc. New York. 1973.

Diario

2002-12-30T17:33:00.000-08:00

The Diario of Christopher Columbus’s first Voyage to America: 1492-1493, Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr., trans. Abstracted by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas.

Dunn and Kelley’s translation of the diario is very useful to both the Spanish and non-Spanish speaker, in that it provides a modern English translation side-by-side with a faithful rendering of the Spanish original. While some typographical problems presented themselves in rendering a manuscript filled with ambiguous characters, deletions, and postils written on large folios into a comprehensible book, Dunn and Kelley have managed to do this without “cleaning up” the text of the manuscript or purging valuable information. By stating exactly what changes were made for the sake of continuity and clarity in the preface, the reader is not left wondering where alterations in the original text begin and the actual manuscript ends.

The diario, however, is highly problematic in and of itself as an historical document. What we term Christopher Columbus’ diario is in fact a rendering of the original by Bartolomé de las Casas, a Franciscan friar who lived in roughly the same period as Columbus. While parts of the diario are rendered in what appears to be a word for word transcription of the original, other parts are clearly paraphrased by las Casas. In some instances it is difficult to tell where “The Admiral” leaves off and las Casas begins. This makes the diario’s use as a primary source doubtful.

The audience for the which the diario was written also casts doubts on the verity of the statements therein. Columbus was keeping the record for the express (expressed in the prologue) purpose of detailing his voyage to king Ferdinand and queen Isabella. His descriptions of New World inhabitants as “good intelligent servants,” (67) “very naive about weapons” that “can be made to do whatever one might wish” (76) can be seen as primarily statements made to justify his voyage and its expense. Likewise, Columbus’ constant mentioning of the native’s lack of any sort of religion seems to emphasize the need for converting the Indians, again justifying more voyages. While Columbus did not bring back much of anything of value on the first voyage to the New World, the diario is constantly speaking of “mastic,” “aloe,” and “a thousand other good things.” Columbus exaggerates to the point where “a loaf of wax” become the signifier of hidden riches beyond imagine. (189)

There appears to be a dichotomy in the diario between the manner in which Columbus wanted to treat the Indians, and the manner in which they were actually treated. Columbus wanted the Indians to be remunerated for everything which his men traded for. “But the Admiral, seeing the openheartedness of the Indians, who for six glass beads would give and do give a piece of gold, for that reason ordered that nothing should be removed from them without giving them something in payment.” (265) In addition, on October 15, 1492, Columbus gives an Indian a ride onboard ship in an attempt foster goodwill between the Indians and the Europeans for future visits. (85) However, after the initial contact with the Indians, fear seems to be the rule rather than the exception. When there was no gold in great quantity to be found in the new lands, Columbus resorted to capturing Indians to return to Spain as slaves. On Wednesday, December 17, 1492 part of the entry reads, “Finally they captured one woman --for they could catch no more-- because, he says, I had ordered them to catch some [people] in order to treat them courteously and make them lose their fear, which would be something profitable since it seems that the land cannot be otherwise than profitable, judging by its beauty.” (219)

It is clear from the diario, however, that Columbus believed that he was sailing towards, and had indeed discovered, a new route to the “Indies.” Repeated references to the “Grand Khan” and “the end of the Orient” where the fabled “terrestrial paradise” is said to be reveals to us that although Columbus never encountered any Asian civilizations, he always believed that he was in the East. (383)

In brief, the diario reveals to us three main motivations for Columbus’ journey: God, gold, and glory. Las Casas and Columbus both refer to Columbus as “Admiral of the Ocean Sea,” a title Columbus had fought to attain for both himself and his descendants in perpetuity. Columbus sought gold, not only for himself and for his sovereign, but also so that he could “prepare to go conquer the Holy Sepulcher; for thus I urged Your Highness to spend all profits of this my enterprise on the conquest of Jerusalem.” (291) Thus it would appear that not only did Columbus desire to Christianize the native, he also wanted to start a Crusade to take Jerusalem back from the Muslims.

The main problems with the diario, however, remain the following. How accurate is it as a document which reflects what actually happened on the voyages? Given its audience, the manner by which it comes to us through time, and the motives of its author, it seems that any statements substantiated by the diario must be carefully examined in light of the above considerations.

PUBLISHER: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.

In Search of Columbus

2002-12-29T17:32:00.000-08:00

In Search of Columbus: The Sources for the first Voyage, by David P. Henige

In In Search of Columbus: The Sources for the first Voyage, David P. Henige effectively criticizes the diario (Columbus' ship log for the first voyage), showing that as a primary source it is very problematic. Henige argues from the viewpoint that the diario is primarily a work by Bartolomé de las Casas, and as such is a corrupted source at best. ...The text we have is, by the transcribers own admission, largely a paraphrase of another secondary text. (7)

The problem with the diario as a primary source is thus made apparent. The copy of the diario that we have in our possession today is in fact two, or even possibly three times removed from the original source. To trace the history of the diario helps explain this problem. To begin with, there must have been an original diario, the ships log that Columbus kept on his first voyage to The Indies. Then the picture begins to become ambiguous. According to some sources, it is possible that Columbus made a copy of the log for the sovereigns instead of handing over the original copy, which Columbus would have kept to help substantiate his future claims as Admiral of the Ocean Sea. Then it is known that the royal scribes made copies of the diario. One of these copies was used by las Casas, who in turn made the transcription that is known as the diario we have today. (22,23)

Henige believes that there are many reasons to believe that the original text of the diario was altered. The scribes may have doctored the numbers to make the new lands fall into Spains domain under the Treaty of Todesillas with Portugal. (104) There is even more reason to believe that las Casas may have incorporated changes into the work. In comparing las Casas diario with Ferdinand Columbus Historia de las Indias, Henige found that the December 25, 1493 diario entry concerning the beaching of the Santa María exaggerates the role of the Indians, and their willingness to help. (44) Henige goes as far as to state that, the later it [the diario] was transcribed, the more Las Casass increasingly impassioned views on the Spanish treatment of the Indians would effect the character of the work, which is, after all, largely paraphrase. (19)

Henige cites many other examples in which it appears that the diario has been altered as well. Henige doubts the validity of the October 11, 1492 entry in which Columbus reports seeing a light that later proves to be land based on the following observations. First, the story of Columbus seeing the light occurs in the text subsequent to an entry in which land has already been sighted. Secondly, the story of the light has only Columbus word to back it up, since the two witnesses mentioned in the entry are among those who are later left at La Navidad, where they perish. (107) In sum, the passage [of the sighting of the light] bears every mark of being an ex post facto abuse of Columbuss monopoly of the log. (171)

Henige sees the motivations behind the diario we possess today to be threefold. First, it was a propaganda device for Columbus. Second, as a marital account, it was a subterfuge to beguile the Portuguese. Finally, it was an instrument to Las Casas, for his world view, and for his opinions concerning the treatment of the Indians by the Spanish. (122) If we accept these conclusions, the ramification for Columbus study are great. In essence, the diario is discredited as an accurate source of Columbus route to the New World, his treatment of the Indians, and of practically any observation about the lands and peoples Columbus encountered.

Henige uses the inaccuracies in the diario as the centerpiece to an argument highlighting Columbus research in general. Henige believes there is a tendency to pick and choose testimony from the diario solely to satisfy particular modern predispositions and in subservience to grand designs. (285) He states that there is a natural tendency to grant critical immunity to sources that provide unique access to major historical occasions (2) and that as such a source the diario has been given a place in the literature that is more than its due.

The major problem with Heniges study is that it criticizes effectively, yet doesn't provide an answer to the question: What then can we believe about Columbus with any degree of accuracy? Henige manages to impeach most of the major sources used in Columbus studies, yet provides us with no alternative source of information. If it is indeed endemic in this field to see arguments based upon faulty and partial evidence, Henige does not provide a way in which to say anything about Columbus with accuracy. Henige has been accused of hyper criticism and has been labeled a Pyrrhonist critic. (284) Perhaps this is overstating, but Henige leaves us with no answers about Columbus or his motivations. There are only questions.

PUBLISHER: Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1991.

The Conquest of Paradise

2002-12-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy, by Kirkpatrick Sale

Kirkpatrick Sale’s monograph The Conquest of Paradise tells the Columbus story as the conquest of noble, peace-loving peoples that live in harmony with the environment by a brutal, savage, medieval Europe of which Christopher Columbus is a product. Because of the horrible effects of the black plague, and the European cultural tendency to war against the environment instead of coexist with it, Sale speculates that Europeans had been hardened towards death and killing, and enamored with property and personal wealth, to such an extent that mutual understanding between Native Americans and Europeans was practically impossible. Sale argues that Columbus was not seeking a route to the Far East, but rather that he intended his mission to be one of discovery and conquest. The fact that Columbus and Europe dominated the Amerinds is an ecological one. Disease, which Europe had coped with in the Black Plague, decimated the island populations upon which Columbus landed. Sale paints the Amerinds as peoples who lived in perfect harmony with the environment, while Europeans are depicted as a people who are at war with nature.

It seems that Sale wants to depict the Indians as “noble savages,” a simple folk innocent and at peace with their environment. He tends to ignore the fact that great Native American civilizations had existed and declined prior to the arrival of Columbus to the New World. In addition, Sale neglects to mention that even Amerinds warred with one another (something that is mentioned many times in the diario). It would seem that Sale’s involvement in the Green Party, and other ecological organizations, predisposes him to see the lifestyle of “noble savages” as superior to that of the conquering Columbian hordes. We are almost told outright that the world would be a better place today had the expansion of European culture, first implemented by Columbus, not taken place. In Sale’s conclusion, it becomes apparent that at the very least, Conquest of Paradise is history with a strong didactic twist.

PUBLISHER: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1990.

Columbus: The Great Adventure

2002-12-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

Columbus: The Great Adventure, by Paolo Emilio Taviani

Taviani paints a complex yet sometimes contradictory image of Christopher Columbus. Unlike other scholars who portray Columbus as a medieval stereotype hearkening the modern age, Taviani gives us the dual image of Columbus the Renaissance man, and Columbus the medieval man. Through this use of the Italian Renaissance Taviani attempts to claim Columbus as a great Italian navigator, even though Columbus was Genoan and Italy as a nation did not exist during Columbus’ time. Thus this historical work, while detailed, has nationalistic underpinnings.

Taviani supposes that Columbus had a “grand design” of discovery. Because Columbus, as an expert navigator, had empirical knowledge of the Atlantic trade winds before his first voyage to the new world, he deliberately chose the south west route on the outbound voyage, and the north east route back to Spain. Taviani cites trips to made to Iceland as a youth as the source of Columbus’ knowledge of the proper routes. (41) Yet while one would think that Columbus would also have heard rumors of the New World in Iceland, Taviani holds firmly to the notion that Columbus believed he was sailing towards Asia, even after he arrived at his destination and began to see negative evidence with his own eyes. Naked natives, no iron working technology, no cities, no “Grand Khan”-- nothing Marco Polo outlined in his account of the Orient. “Why? Because the Discoverer was obstinate and ruled by ambition and pride.” (108)

This is the crux of Taviani’s Columbus. A modern man on the one hand, who used the Old Testament, the classical texts, his own observations as a navigator and the writings of Toscanelli to buttress his argument for making his voyages to the scholars of the royal courts of Europe (66) while on the other hand Columbus “was the man who would open the door to the third age, that of the Holy Spirit, prophesied by Joachim of Floris.” (256) Taviani states it best when he characterizes Columbus’ motivations as “ambition, pride, scientific curiosity, a spirit of adventure, a fascination with the unknown, and a mystical feeling of being chosen for a divinely inspired mission.” (128)

Taviani’s book also attempts to give the reader a background into the cultures that Columbus encountered on his first voyage. Drawing upon archeological data he portrays the tainos as having a stratified matrilineal society based upon three classes --nobles, commoners, and slaves. The chiefs (caciques) held the power of life or death over their subjects. (121) Like the diario, he differentiates between the gentler tainos and the caribs, who, according to records made by Dr. Chanca and Michele de Cuneo on Columbus’ voyages, consumed human flesh. (147) Taviani uses the existence of at least two separate indigenous cultures to help justify the difference in treatment Columbus gives to the Indians from the first to the second and subsequent voyages.

On the whole, Taviani is generally sympathetic in his interpretation of Columbus. Columbus is a great navigator, a daring adventurer, and issues such as his enslavement of the Indians and his mismanagement of the colony at La Isabella are conveniently consigned to “the times” or politics. On the slavery issue, Taviani says “Columbus lived in his own time, was a man of this own time, thinking like the leaders --and others-- of his time, not like the saints.” (103) On Columbus’ leadership at La Isabella, the author states that “. . .anything he did to defend the Indians and punish the Spanish would be interpreted by the Spanish in Nationalistic terms.” (176)

Yet Taviani needs Columbus to be a forward thinker in order to tie him in with Italian nationalism. “Without the Italian Renaissance there would have been no modern age. Christopher Columbus symbolizes the creative genius of Italy shaping the beginning of the modern age.” (263) Taviani is correct in portraying Columbus as a complex historical figure, operating from many different and sometimes contradictory motivations. However, by claiming Columbus as the first Italian, Taviani weakens the rest of his argument considerably.

PUBLISHER: New York, Orion Books, 1991

The Harp and the Shadow

2002-12-26T17:28:00.000-08:00

The Harp and the Shadow: A Novel, by Alejo Carpentier

On a thematic level, The Harp and the Shadow is a novel dealing with masks, deceptions, and hidden truths. Specifically, the main action of the story centers around the issue of whether Christopher Columbus should be canonized as a saint. On the one hand, a St. Columbus could be a symbol that ties together disparate parts of the Catholic church in Europe and America. On the other hand, that symbol might be tainted, through accusations of adultery, slavery, and personal greed. As the novel progresses, we are taken past the layer of “the Harp”, the image of pure motives for family, God and country that Columbus attempted to leave behind, and instead descend into the depths of “the Shadow”, or the reality behind Columbus, his voyages, and his motivations behind them. Through the presentation of some substantiated historical material, some “myths” long part of the Columbus legend, and some outright fabrication, Carpentier provides an image of Columbus as an egotistical, self-styled Christo-phoros, or Christ-bearer, who lies, steals, enslaves --all for the vain goal of “pursuing a country never found that fades away like a castle of enchantments. . . [following] vapors, seeing things that never become intelligible, comparable, explicable, in the language of the Odyssey or in the language of Genesis.” (126) Carpentier’s Columbus is a man obsessed with his own personal glory and how history will remember him.

One of the most exaggerated portions of Columbus’ life depicted the novel is his reputed sexual relationship with Queen Isabella. This charge is not substantiated in the documents we have for Columbus, yet it plays a major part in the novel. According to the story, Queen Isabella pawns her jewels to purchase the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María only after she and Columbus make love. (68) Later, after the first voyage, Isabella doesn’t believe that Columbus discovered the Indies, yet finances a second voyage after a night of intense passion. (106) On one level the sexual interaction between Isabella and Columbus symbolizes the way in which Columbus treats the new lands he has discovered --as something to be dominated and conquered in his quest for personal glory. Columbus will say or do anything to further this end and enhance his own position. “I speak of gold mines where I know of none. I speak of pearls, many pearls, merely because I see some mussels that ‘signal their presence.’ I say only one thing that is true; that the dogs here seem not to bark.” (87)

Carpentier, like Sales, has Columbus hoping that he has discovered new lands, as opposed to the Indies. Proof of this is inferred from the cargo on Columbus’ ships --one would not bring trinkets to the orient. (81) Carpentier also maintains that there was no distinction between the tainos and the caribs except that Columbus wished to characterize them differently to serve different purposes. (110) When Columbus wants to emphasize the wealth to be had in slaves, the Indians are depicted as gentle, easily domesticated folk. Later, when Columbus needs to justify harsh treatment towards the Indians, they become bloodthirsty cannibalistic savages.

The Harp and the Shadow concludes with the decision that Columbus is no saint. The move for his canonization has failed. As the decision still rings in the air, the image of Columbus the saint --the image Columbus himself tried to perpetuate according to Carpentier, starts to fade away. The point the author seems to be making is a simple one; if we probe the myth of Columbus, we will penetrate the fiction of Columbus “the harp” and discover for ourselves “the shadow” that is the man behind the myth.

PUBLISHER: San Francisco. Mercury House, Inc., 1990.

The Jefferson Image in the American Mind

2002-12-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

The Jefferson Image in the American Mind, by Merrill D. Peterson

As the title suggests, Merrill’s work shows, sometimes in excruciating detail, the differing, convoluted, and oftentimes contradictory interpretations people have given Jefferson’s ideas and ideals throughout American history. In a manner very much akin to quoting Scripture to prove a point, early Americans venerated Jefferson and his writings, and quoted them with authority to support their arguments. Over time, Jefferson’s writings were used to support such disparate and contradictory views as states rights, emancipation of the slaves, and Jacksonian democracy.

Merrill sees it as symbolic that Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. This day, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, also marked an “era of good feeling” in which Americans were proud of what the revolution had accomplished, and proud of its founding fathers. Histories written around this time venerated the figures involved with the revolution --including Jefferson. Thus the image of Jefferson was first created as a forward thinker, an example of the Enlightenment, and a proponent of individual liberties and freedoms for all people.

Ironically, however, this image clashed violently with what had actually happened in American politics. The Constitution (first ten amendments excluded) read more like English laws and institutions transplanted than the revolutionary document of the Declaration. Far from being democratic, the executive branch was elected in a process that excluded the landless. The institution of slavery was retained, seemingly contradicting the high ideals of the framers. In addition to this was the question of state’s rights. Many felt that the federal government was usurping more power than it was entitled to, and that individual states should have the power to “nullify” laws set forth by the federal government which interfered with state interests. When the interests of state’s rights, the masses, and abolition clashed, they all drew upon the Jefferson image to bolster their arguments.

Merrill states that Jefferson’s popularity stemmed from his unique political and philosophical outlook. He represented a train of thought that can be traced to the Philosophes of the Enlightenment, yet he retained a respect for the common man characteristic of agrarian, pre-revolutionary America. His ideas were thus very individual and Enlightenment oriented, and very radical compared to those of the other Founding Fathers. Jefferson was subsequently not pleased with the way post-revolutionary America had turned out, and his writings provided ammunition for those who wished to press for change. However, when employed in the political framework that existed, his ideas conflicted with each other.

PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Diary of Samuel Sewall

2002-12-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Diary of Samuel Sewall, edited by Harvey Wish

Samuel Sewall (1652-1730) was born in England of a well-to-do family of the merchant class. At age nineteen, however, Sewall moved with his family to New England, where they lived on a plantation that Samuel's father had started in 1634. There Samuel attended Harvard from 1667-1671. The strict Harvard regimen, including prohibitions against card playing, profanity, the wearing of long hair and wigs, along with his Calvinistic upbringing, proved to influence him later in life as he served as a Boston magistrate and merchant. Concern over doctrinal orthodoxy and his own personal worth as God's servant are major themes that run through Sewall's Diary, which includes the years 1673-1729 (with a mysterious gap from 1677-1684).

Sewall's Diary is valuable as an historical source because it is a personal, unguarded account of events and issues large on the New England political and social landscape of his time. From his perspective as a merchant and landowner, we see the effect on the people of New England when the crown revokes its charter, and the overall loyalty of the colonials to England despite the revocation. From his perspective as a Puritan magistrate during the Salem witch trials, we see how he was initially caught up in the sense that justice must be dispensed in combating witchcraft --only later realizing "the Blame and shame of it, Asking pardon of men..." (80) From his perspective as a devout Puritan, we see how distressed he was at the disruptive presence of Quakers in the Sabbath meetings, and the constant threat of Anglican Church influence, as evidenced by swearing oaths on the Bible, use of the cross in worship, the observance of Christmas as a holiday, and the battle between Anglicans and Puritans over who could use the town meeting house for church services.

Aside from these, however, perhaps the greatest benefit of the Diary to us is that we are given the opportunity to glimpse the spiritual groaning of a man deeply committed to his Puritan faith, yet constantly unsure of his spiritual worth. For Sewall, everyday events and acts of nature often took on supernatural meanings. After a hailstorm which knocked out the windows in many Boston houses, including his own, Sewall could not help but wonder if God wasn't making His displeasure known to him. In a separate incident, when Sewall's house was broken into, Sewall saw it as divine retribution, for he had been feeling "listless as to Spiritual Good" just a day before. (114) Upon the death of his wife, Hannah, he attributed the cause as divine wrath brought down upon himself. These types of accounts, frequent throughout the Diary, make it very tempting to count Sewall among the "second generation," as outlined in Perry Miller's "Errand Into the Wilderness."

Yet Sewall exhibited some characteristics not shown in even the most progressive Puritans. In "The Selling of Joseph," Sewall's diatribe against slavery, he convincingly refuted many of the Biblical underpinnings of slavery, while still adhering to the literal school of interpretation. Later, in a Diary entry, he wrote, "I essay'd June, 22, to prevent Indians and Negros being Rated with Horses and Hogs; but could not prevail." (152) As the Diary portrays it, Sewall stood virtually alone in these opinions. On a more personal level, we are given entries that show Sewall during tender moments --praying with his children, comforting them with Scripture against their fear of death from the "Small Pocks." Altogether, the Diary of Samuel Sewall portrays a full picture of a Puritan man, his immediate society, and his struggle to relate Divine principles into his everyday life.

PUBLISHER: New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1967.

The Pursuit of Science in Revolutionary America

2002-12-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

The Pursuit of Science in Revolutionary America: 1735-1789, by Brooke Hindle

As the title indicates, Hindle attempts to trace the birth and growth of science in America during the period prior to the Revolution. Specifically, Hindle draws connections between the pursuit of science in Europe of this time period (especially Europe’s interest in the plant and animal life of the New World) and the advent of American scientific exploits in their own right.

Simply stated, Hindle’s story of science in the Americas is thus: Europe had books, libraries, universities, great thinkers, and a tradition of classificatory science. America did not. Yet America did have the previously unknown species of flora and fauna --experimental data, if you will, to fit into the theories of the Europeans. Thus the early story of science in the Americas was one of observers and collectors, taking samples and making sketches to be sent back to Europe, where they would be classified and studied by the experts.

As the period progressed, however, Americans made efforts to establish a scientific community of their own --one that made its own advances and insights, and did not rely on Europe for all its ideas. This scientific community in America was mostly made up of physicians, as they were among the only people with sufficient background or inclination to study natural science. This community languished because of lack of popular support (i.e., merchants and others did not fund scientific undertakings) and lack of intellectual resources.

This malaise changes when Benjamin Franklin enters the scene. Called a “prodigy” by Hindle, Franklin and his electrical experiments represent science that more easily could have been developed in Europe, yet is discovered by Americans first. Coming at a time when electricity is very much a fad, Franklin’s experiments and theories have the twofold effect of popularizing science among the masses, and forcing Europe to recognize at least one American scientist on equal terms.

PUBLISHER: University of North Carolina Press, 1956

The Great Divorce

2002-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

The Great Divorce, by C. S. Lewis

Lately, books have evoked memories of movies I've seen. C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce reminds me of the movie What Dreams May Come. Both deal with visions of the afterlife, but while What Dreams May Come is a post-modern vision of heaven and hell --where our bliss or torment is entirely of our own creating-- The Great Divorce maintains that the Kingdom of Heaven is the Platonic Ideal (or Form) of Absolute Reality. That makes it all the more surprising when many of Lewis' characters don't have the spiritual wherewithal to live in that Reality, and choose to live in subjective hells very similar to the ones depicted in What Dreams May Come.

In the preface (page x, to be exact) Lewis warns against the arousal of "factual curiosity about the details of the after-world." Such equivocation is startling from the man who tirelessly (and tiresomely) insisted in Mere Christianity that we must choose between liar, lunatic or Lord. Instead we get Lewis' dream of the Kingdom --beautifully and pastorally represented as the dawning of a new day where only the pure in heart can gaze upon the Son/Sun and live. As in the Narnia series and the Space Trilogy, Lewis is at his best when he's imagining evocative new worlds.

Evangelicals love Mere Christianity for its proud trumpeting of certainty, but The Great Divorce is literature for those who acknowledge increased levels of ambiguity, mystery, and uncertainty when it comes to things theological. Often it seems that Lewis skates on the edge of orthodoxy, but never sails over the edge by hedging with paradoxes --for Lewis the Kingdom is a Platonic form, rendered paradoxically and shrouded in mystery. For instance, Lewis comes very close to saying that Heaven and Hell are states of mind, but one of his characters crisply corrects this contention, saying that Hell is a state of mind, but Heaven is Ultimate Reality. On the issue of free will versus predestination --the biggest paradox of all-- Lewis upholds both by saying that what looks like predestination from a cosmic point of view is actually free will from a human point of view. Lewis' version of hell seems more like the dusky, murky mists of Old Testament sheol than the New Testament fires Jerry Falwell likes to emphasize. Lewis circumvents the problem of evil's existence with the classic argument of making it a privation of the good --for Lewis hell is only a crack in the earth of heaven. In a surprisingly post-modern take, spending an eternity in hell is merely the lack of a broad enough "heavenly" perspective.

Everyone has a chance to move on up to heaven, but many prefer to stay wallowed in their own issues. The bulk of the book is devoted to the stories of different "ghosts" who, upon being extended the chance to enter Heaven, either refuse outright or refuse to enter on anything other than their own terms. Since for Lewis it impossible to enter the Kingdom without orienting oneself to the Absolute Reality, no one is denied entrance, but all in hell choose to be there. The "ghosts" represent types of moral lapse: pride in chapter four (the ghost who believes he's earned salvation on his own merits), apostasy in chapter 5 (which for Lewis is epitomized by the liberal theology of the Episcopal Church), apathy in chapter 7 (coupled with cynicism), self-preoccupation in chapter 8 (the embarrassed/ashamed woman), obsession ("mother love" gone awry) and lust in chapter 11, and finally --the greatest sin of all-- holding the joy of another hostage to your own misery (epitomized by a man who could not appreciate his wife) in chapter 12.

Of the moral sketches that make up the meat of the story, the three that moved me the most were, not surprisingly, issues in which I could see myself and my own struggle. In two of these cases (for me, lust and not appreciating my wife enough) I felt that Lewis' insights were jarringly accurate. However, for the third issue of apostasy epitomized by liberal theology I think Lewis thoroughly misses the mark in an attempt to score some easy points. If it is really true that folks see least clearly and strike most fervently against those in whom they see their own undesirable traits mirrored, I can't help but wonder what this says about Lewis.

First, a quibble over terminology. An apostate is one who repudiates the faith --something Lewis' liberal theologian ghost does not do. Even if we grant Lewis' version of what the faith actually is, his liberal ghost would not be an apostate, but merely a heretic, which is one who claims to hold onto the faith while simultaneously believing things contrary to it. I used to listen to a pastor who commonly referred to the Episcopal Church (and by extension all mainline denominations) as "the apostate church." Now I can see that it was clearly a reference to "the Episcopal ghost" in The Great Divorce --inaccurate as the apostate label in this instance may be.

Secondly, Lewis paints the Episcopal ghost as a liberal whose liberal views serve only to self-aggrandize. Even when confronted with incontrovertible evidence, holding onto liberal views are more important than the truth. As one with liberal leanings myself, I can personally attest that this is a straw man. If I could be shown that the universe is really as Lewis says it is in The Great Divorce, I'd gladly amend my views to match. I'm on a search for truth, and to the extent that my views are liberal or unorthodox only reflects that I am willing to be open to the direction the Spirit blows me. Any other view makes an idol out of orthodoxy that's put in place of the living God.

PUBLISHER: Harper San Francisco; ISBN: 0060652950; (February 5, 2001) Originally published in 1946.

Encountering Jung

2002-10-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Encountering Jung: Jung on Christianity, edited by Murray Stein

Encountering Jung: Jung on Christianity, edited by Murray Stein, is a handy collection of primary sources --Carl Gustav Jung's own writings on Christianity as it relates to his psychoanalytical theories. The main works excerpted here are Aion, Answer to Job, and various pieces of correspondence that deal with Christian subjects in response to current popular and psychological issues of his day. The content is arranged under three categories: Jung's relationship to Christianity, Jung's psychological approach to Christian doctrine, and Jung's interpretation of Christian history and its future.

Jung's relationship to Christianity is an interesting one. Despite his father's occupation as a Reformed minister, Jung was never convinced or compelled by popular or orthodox views of the Christian faith. In one of the early excerpts Jung writes of his frustration with the lack of connection with the Divine at first communion, and his early conviction that his father, and church theology in general didn't answer the questions he was asking about God. Jung sought a more direct union with God than he experienced through church ritual and the sacraments. Simultaneously, he experienced deeply disturbing dreams and other images during childhood and early adulthood that he was certain would be found blasphemous when compared to popular notions of God.

Jung's approach to Christian doctrine was primarily one of seeing the evolution of doctrine as a response to the evolution of the collective unconscious. In this part of his writings, Jung shows us how symbols of the unconscious --the mandala, the shadow, and other archetypes are mirrored in the Bible, Gnostic writings, and other myths. Breathtakingly well read on very diverse religious materials, Jung draws from this wealth to show that the collective unconscious is universal and cross cultural, and that all the major religious traditions draw from this material in their depiction of the Self, the Divine, and the world.

Jung's take on the future of Christianity paints a rather dim view of Protestantism, and a more optimistic view of Catholicism. This surprised me, given Jung's background as a protestant. Jung was impressed by Catholicism's ability to create and perpetuate new dogma (like the Assumption of Mary dogma formulated in the 1950s) as a sign of its continuing relevance to everyday people (and to the continuing evolution of the collective unconscious.) His disgust with Protestantism was perhaps most striking in his criticisms of Rudolff Bultman, whose de-mythologizing of the biblical text Jung saw as excising precisely the most meaningful part of the Scriptures from a psychoanalytical point of view. More broadly, however, Jung felt that Protestantism was too rational and not mystical enough.

My interest in Jung is somewhat related to Bultman. While I find Bultman's (and others') critiques of the mythological aspects of the Bible compelling, I also want a way to make use of the myth in a spiritually edifying way. My hope was that Jung would provide a credible framework on a rational basis to do this. And there are very difficult passages of Scripture that make a lot of sense when read through a Jungian filter, as well as glimmers of Jungian concepts shot through the gospel of John, Job, and the Psalms, just to name a few books.

However, I still feel that I don't have a very good handle on Jung, even after reading him directly. Perhaps Encountering Jung --while very interesting reading-- was too direct for an initial encounter. I walked away from the text impressed by how well-read Jung was in the classics, the early Church Fathers, apocryphal Christian writings, etc, but feeling like I hadn't really comprehended the totality of what he's saying. Even after searching the web for a number of links providing introductory material on Jung, I'm still waiting for the work that brilliantly sums up Jung's contribution to psychology, how its reflected in Christianity, and how it can be useful to Christian spirituality.

PUBLISHER: Princeton Univ Press; ISBN: 0691006970; (September 22, 1999)

The Minority Report

2002-09-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

The Minority Report, By Phillip K. Dick

I'm probably one of the few (but growing) number who saw the movie and was then inspired to read the short story. This review will focus on the differences between the movie and the short story, and how this is one of those pieces (like Planet of the Apes and Contact) that is actually improved when translated from story to movie form.

As far as the basic plot-line goes, the two works are the same. Both feature John Anderton, head of Precrime --a futuristic police department that is able to arrest and incarcerate murderers before they strike through the use of genetically mutated telepathic humans. Public acceptance and trust of the Precrime department hinges on believing the idea that the future is fixed, and knowledge of it would not change the present. Otherwise, since no actual crime has been committed, the idea of jailing those who "offend" becomes repugnant. Anderton accepts this premise --until he finds himself accused of committing the murder of a stranger he's never even met and can't conceive of killing. He flees in order to prove his innocence by demonstrating that he won't kill his intended victim --but in both the movie and the short story the issue of free will is skillfully treated but never conclusively resolved.

As a tale written in 1954, the short story sports such inconsistencies as a future where radio is still the main way people get their news and entertainment, and smoking in the office is commonplace. The "high tech" computers used to analyze precognitive visions sport tape drives and punch cards in the original. Meanwhile, interstellar travel is commonplace. As a fan of "classic" sci-fi, I enjoy these kind of anachronisms, but they may be off-putting to most readers. It just goes to show how hard it is write something in the SF genre that will withstand the passage of time.

While the movie uses nice special effects and compellingly updates these minor issues, it also introduces the currently relevant issues of privacy in the high-tech age, and the post-911 issue of how government's interest in security is to be balanced with civil liberties for the individual. I found the high-tech future depicted to be chilling and tantalizing at the same time. The virtual reality, holographic computer displays and ultra-thin computing devices looked oh-so-much-fun! On the other hand, advertising that is able to determine your identity based on retina scan and call you by name sounded very annoying, and the ability of the state to track your location and transactions in minute detail made the future presented sound like a safe, but repressive alternative to our own present.

PUBLISHER: Citadel Pr; ISBN: 0806512768; (January 1992) (story originally written in 1954)

A Journal on Doubt

2002-08-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

A Journal On Doubt, by Bennett Wade Kilpela

A Journal On Doubt, by Bennett Wade Kilpela leaves me profoundly ambivalent. While his openness allows us a sometimes touchingly intimate look into his personal demons as he struggles to make sense of his deep-seated doubt in conservative, evangelical Christianity, the longwindedness of his manifesto and the almost neurotic way in which he swings and leaps from one somewhat shallow conclusion to another left me wishing for less length and more depth. This work could definitely use a good editor who's willing to cut chapters and pages of repetitive entries, distilling and highlighting some of the truly moving moments of self-discovery within the text.

If you're looking for first-person narratives by people leaving Christian fundamentalism behind, there are much more well-written stories out there. (One that comes to mind is http://www.theheretic.com, which unfortunately is no longer online.) What drew me to Kilpela's story, however (and what kept me reading) was that he and I share a common background and a common struggle, although we've dealt with it in different ways.

Both Kilpela and I were raised in the ultra-conservative, pietist sect called the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America, and both of us left it for greener pastures shortly after confirmation. Both of us have struggled with extreme cases of doubt in the childhood version of the faith, trying to reconcile it with what we perceive as its deficiencies, brought to light by the modern worldview. While this seems very typical in the stories I've read online of people who've left fundamentalism, I think that it reveals a great strength and a great weakness in fundamentalism in general --it is able to inspire deep feelings of loyalty and commitment, but also creates a great sense of cognitive dissonance when confronted with compelling contradictory truths from the outside world.

What makes Kilpela's story unique is his unwillingness to ever make a complete break with the basic fundamentalist propositions he was raised with. While I actually self-identified as an atheist for awhile before having the existential spiritual experience that reconnected me with the Christian faith in a liberal-leaning, post-modern way, Kilpela hangs on by the edge of his fingernails, though despair, depression, divorce, bankruptcy, and more. While he doubts aplenty, Kilpela never repudiates --he's too afraid of hell-fire to do so. Thus his eventual transformation is lesser than it might have been had he actually hit rock bottom in terms of the inadequacy of his prior formulation of Christianity.

The bottom line of Kilpela's story is this: before his period of doubt he demanded nothing less than a religious formulation that was totally unassailable by any logical argument. Now he's willing to accept that no position is air-tight, and calls a truce with ambiguity by making a "bet" on what "makes sense" to him. This "modified Pascal's wager," while not eliminating Kilpela's doubts, makes them more manageable and easier to deal with.

WEBSITE: A Journal On Doubt, by Bennett Wade Kilpela http://www.msu.edu/user/kilpela/doubtpref.htm

The Devil

2002-08-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, by Jeffery Burton Russell

This volume is merely the first of four works that deal with constructions of the devil through history. I haven't yet read the other three (Satan: The Early Christian Tradition, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages, and Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World), but if the subsequent volumes are anywhere near as interesting and insightful as the first, I have much to look forward to in the other volumes as well.

The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity takes a cross cultural look at how evil spirits (termed generically "the devil") have been perceived by various cultures in the ancient world, including early Christianity. Russell's main thesis is that constructions of the devil, like constructions of the god, follow a Jungian pattern of undifferentiated ambivalence, differentiation, unhealthy repression, and healthy suppression.

Simply put, Russell explains Jung's version of the psyche as follows: In children, according to Jung, there is no concept of right and wrong. Good and evil deeds are done with equal abandon. Later, as the child grows to adulthood, concepts of good and evil begin to differentiate themselves. At first the reaction is to repress the evil aspects of the personality (in essence, when tempted to do evil, the response is to say, "I don't do that because I'm not the type of person who would do such a thing.") This is unhealthy because by denying the urge toward evil the pressure just builds up in the individual over time, and can possibly be released dangerously and uncontrollably, to the detriment of both the individual and society. The answer: acknowledgment of the evil nature, and then the conscious suppression of evil inclinations. According to Jung and Russell this is more healthy than Freudian repression because it honestly admits that all people are capable of great good and great evil, but that through a conscious determination evil can be avoided and good chosen.

Russell sees this model in many ancient religions and texts, including early Christianity and the Old Testament. Drawing mostly upon the depiction of God in the books of Job and Exodus, Russell brings the darker side of God to light, arguing that in this early stage Yahweh is morally undifferentiated or "beyond good and evil." Only in the later stages (I suppose in later books in the series dealing with the New Testament) does good and evil --God and the Devil-- separate into two separate entities.

PUBLISHER: Cornell Univ Pr; ISBN: 0801494095; 1977.

Treason

2002-08-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Treason, by Orson Scott Card

While it isn't my favorite vein of work by Card, (that honor is split evenly between the Speaker for the Dead series and the Tales of Alvin Maker) Treason nonetheless brings us a striking example of both the author's excellent writing style and his originality.

In general, what has always been wonderful about Orson Scott Card is his originality, and his ability to tell a gripping story. I normally detest fantasy, because so much of it seems to be merely a retelling of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Conversely, I love science fiction, but my one constant critique of it is that it assumes a purely materialistic universe and seldom addresses spiritual or moral issues. Card is a master of integration in this respect, combining science fiction and fantasy as well as ethical and religious issues. Alvin Maker and Speaker for the Dead accomplish this the best, but Treason is still worth reading.

The major premise of the novel is that 3000 years ago an elite group of scientists and revolutionaries were banished to the metalless planet Treason as punishment for rebelling against the old Republic. As the generations progress, each of the abandoned members of the original group create a society based on his or her area of scientific expertise. The goal: to create trade goods of sufficient value to buy enough off-planet metal to build a starship and escape the planet.

The plot focuses upon a young aristocrat named Lanik Mueller who is disinherited from his father's throne and banished to distant lands. His society possesses the amazing ability to heal from any wound and regenerate lost body parts. He is exiled because of a genetic disorder in which he uncontrollably sprouts excess body parts. He can return when he has successfully divined the secret source of wealth of an enemy tribe, but in the process learns other secrets and befalls many adventures that make for interesting reading. Through the novel we see Lanik mature from impetuous youth into mature adult. Concurrently, Lanik must do battle with the forces of evil both within and outside of himself in order for a horrible secret truth to be revealed --an ending that comes as a shock, yet is strangely satisfying.

PUBLISHER: St Martins Mass Market Paper; ASIN: 0312921098; Reissue edition (April 1990)

Mars

2002-08-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

'A Princess of Mars,' 'The Gods of Mars,' 'Warlord of Mars,' 'Thuvia, Maid of Mars,' and 'The Chessmen of Mars,' by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction classic "Mars" series (including A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, Warlord of Mars, Thuvia, Maid of Mars, and The Chessmen of Mars) marked my initiation into three different yet equally satisfying worlds. It was my first exposure to Project Gutenburg. Secondly, it was the first time I had used my Palm Pilot to read an entire novel. Thirdly, it was my first and only exposure to any of Edgar Rice Burroughs original works.

For those not familiar with Project Gutenburg, its goal is to put full-text copies of literature on-line for people to freely download, read, and distribute. Since only materials whose copyright has expired are eligible for this treatment, you won't find any recent bestsellers here. However, there are still thousands of the classics available, from Mark Twain to William Shakespeare to Edgar Rice Burroughs.

I'd been aware of these "e-texts" for quite some time, but had never been very interested in them, primarily because when I read a book I don't want to be chained to my PC, and hence my desk. Moreover, with paperbacks cheap, easy to use, and small in size, why purchase one of those expensive, clunky electronic book devices? If I'm going to have to lug around an expensive device just to read books, I might as well just lug around the book itself.

Enter the Palm Pilot. I bought it primarily as a way to check E-mail when away from home, and as a way to keep all my information organized. Because of its small size (roughly the size of your wallet) and long battery life (with the backlit screen on I get about one weeks worth of use out of two AAA batteries; with it off the batteries only need changing once a month) it has become an indispensible part of my daily routine, and my constant front pocket companion. Since it is always with me, and it performs all these other indispensible functions, using it to read books (and thus saving me the trouble of carrying the books with me) is just the icing on the cake.

That said, on to the review. Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Mars" series is great fun for anyone interested in a fast-paced romp of an adventure tale. All the stories feature John Carter, a southern gentleman and Civil War veteran who mysteriously finds himself transported to the Red Planet Mars --known to its inhabitants as Barsoom. There Carter's physical strength and mental prowess (as well as his warrior skills) are put to the test as he must slash and hack his way to freedom, both for himself and for the beautiful Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris.

I found the series wildly entertaining, despite the Victorian writing style and first person narrative. Part of the series' charm is the breathtaking detail and care with which Burroughs paints us the portrait of the Martian landscape, its peoples, and their cultures. It is truly a tale of epic proportions --I hope I don't sound too cliche when I say that.

One thing that surprised me was the amount of violence and sexual innuendo. I guess I had subconsciously bought into the conventional wisdom that things were much more innocent in "the olden days." I always thought that it was just our generation that enjoyed such blood and gore. While not quite as explicit in the details as today's action movies, these classics nonetheless have more than their share of slaughter. The hero, John Carter, literally hacks and slashes his way across the moss covered hills and plains of Mars to find and rescue his beautiful red princess, Dejah Thoris. While sex is never explicitly mentioned, chivalry and romance abound. Coupled with the fact that everyone on Burrough's Mars waltzes around without wearing any clothing, the story is not only charged with violence but exudes a latent and primal sexuality as well.

The entire series are available for download below. I highly recommend them as entertaining reading on both the Palm Pilot, and in their own right.

The 'Mars' Series, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

PUBLISHER: Project Gutenberg; 1911-1941

Finding Myself

2002-08-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

'Finding Myself', by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven

'Finding Myself', by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven (which appeared in the June 2002 issue of Analog), is actually the continuation of a storyline first developed in the January 2002 issue short story 'Choosing Life' which traces the post-mortem survival of the protagonist, Christa, who dies but whose memories and personality are saved into a virtual reality computer generated afterlife to exist indefinately with like-minded cybersouls. While 'Choosing Life' does set the stage, quite frankly I found it rather unremarkable, and only remembered it after enjoying the thought-provoking questions raised by 'Finding Myself.'

The main story line in 'Finding Myself' is simple --someone in the world of the living has restored a backup copy of Christa's persona for nefarious purposes. Since the laws that regulate this cyber-heaven prohibit two of the same person being active at the same time (upon pain of permanent erasure of both copies!) Christa enlists the help of a hacker cyber-friend to track down the 'Rogue Christa' as well as the flesh and blood perp.

Eventually Christa does find her other self, the criminal is brought to justice, and the issue of the two Christa's is resolved satisfactorally. However, the most interesting thing about the story is the questions it raises about individualism and identity. What makes 'me' me? If there was an exact copy of me walking around, but exposed to a slightly different environment, how long would it be before we become two distinct individuals? Are we merely the sum of our memories? What if getting rid of a bad memory was as simple as deleting a file?

While the technology to save souls on to a hard drive is a long way off, Cooper and Niven's vision of personas existing after death in an ideal and actualized state reminded me a lot of today's internet. The web is increasingly becoming a domain in which we can reach out and connect with other people who share a common interest but may be halfway across the globe, or of a different age, sex, or race. I sometimes think of this ability to interact through bytes and photons as akin to an extra sense, and the net as another layer of reality superimposed upon the so-called 'real world.' Maybe this small sense of transcendance through technology has fired my imagination enough to make eternal life via hard disk seem plausible.

PUBLISHER: Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding); Dell Publishers; ISSN: 10592113 (January 2002 and June 2002)

Beyond Born Again

2002-07-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

Beyond Born Again: Towards Evangelical Maturity, by Robert M. Price

In Beyond Born Again Robert Price --former evangelical active in Apologetics turned Jesus Seminar member-- uses those sharply honed skills to critique the glaring lack of intellectual rigorism found among the leading and most widely read evangelical apologists. Although a sometimes cumbersome read because of the sheer number of quotes brought in, Price has produced an excellent description of evangelicalism that avoids the pitfalls of over-generalization and straw-man arguments while exposing inconsistencies within evangelicalism, its tendency towards totalism, and blindness to anything beyond its own categories.

Published in 1993 by Hypatia Press, the book is also available on-line in its entirety at Essene.com. It's a rare treat to be able to review something this contemporary and relevant, yet also available to the public for free --only a mouse-click away.

In the first of three main sections, Price divides evangelicalism into two main groups --the "hard line evangelical" and the "soft line evangelical." Hardliners are those evangelicals for whom "all answers to life's puzzles are strictly religious or spiritual in nature and are directly derivable from personal commitment to Christ and accompanying devotional disciplines. Furthermore, all necessary information for this is in the Bible. The result is a purely religious view of the world and the self which does full justice to neither." Authors indicative of the evangelical hard line include Bill Gothard, Merlin Carothers, Peter Gilquist, and Tim LaHaye. Softliners, on the other hand, are a less extreme form of the hard line faith --but still derived from it. "Here, religious commitment is still given fundamental importance in life, but it is also recognized that even the Born Again Christian is subject to problems and solutions that are not especially spiritual in origin or nature. Accordingly, the Bible is not seen to have the answer to everything. One may also look to and trust other sources. The consequent worldview attributes both significant value and independent reality to the world and the self in their own right." Some notable soft line evangelicals include Bruce Larson, Keither Miller, and Ruth Carter Stapleton. Price considers the soft line attitude a lot more psychologically healthy than the hard line attitude, but ironically pans the soft-line as being inconsistent because it pays lip service to the hard-line idea of a unique and sufficient Bible while at the same time finding many of life's answers elsewhere.

In part two, Price examines the arguments and arguing styles of Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict and C.S. Lewis' famous "trilemma" argument (among others), accusing both of assuming their conclusions and not looking deeply enough at other possibilities and contrary evidence. Cutting to the heart of the apologists' arguments, Price claims that they all serve as "cognitive dissonance reduction" strategies, aimed at preserving the credibility of a unique inerrant Bible and the hard relgious line. Interestingly, Price makes the distinction that he is not arguing against the possibility of an inerrant Bible, but arguing that the arguments of the evangelical apologists fall apart under scrutiny and additional evidence, which he lays out side-by-side with the apologists' shallow treatments.

Part three discusses the future of evangelicalism as a mature faith. For Price, an evangelicalism that is mature is a post-modern evangelicalism that has dispensed with fundamentalist assumptions as its baseline expression while still remaining in recognizable continuity with its past. Quoting the stylistic definition of evangelicalism put forth by Richard Mouw of Fuller Theological Seminary, Price suggests that the distinctive features of evangelicalism are "a message... that must be verbally articulated to those who do not profess Jesus Christ as Lord; an emphasis on the need for a 'personal relationship' with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of one's life; a set of basic attitudes towards the Holy Scriptures, which are typified by certain devotional patterns and regularly references in Christian discussion to what 'the Bible says.' Price argues that within these distinctives any theological content can be successfully inserted, giving evangelicalism a broader base from which to successfully dialogue with other traditions, and more flexibility to change its theological model as the need arises.

Interestingly, since 1993 some movement has been seen in this direction. Price's former mentor, Clark Pinnock, has advocated "Open Theism," an evangelical version of Process Theology in which it is proposed that God's knowledge of the future is self-limited in order to make room for human choice and action. Although in 2001 the Evangelical Theological Society voted to censure Open Theism as a non-evangelical option, its proposal may be an indication that evangelicalism is willing to start looking beyond fundamentalism for its definitive paradigm.

LINKS:
Beyond Born Again at Essene.com
Beyond Born Again at Infidels.org

PUBLISHER: Hypatia Press; ISBN: 0940841983; (1993)

In Search of Lake Wobegone

2002-07-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

In Search of Lake Wobegone, by Richard Olsenius (photographs) and Garrison Keillor (text)

I've listened to A Prarie Home Companion since I was a boy. Because I lived in a rural area of out-state Minnesota, I felt like Garrison Keillor was telling my story, and I readily identified with the folks in Lake Wobegon.

The "gimmick" for this book is that the location of Lake Wobegone (something kept hidden in Keillor's radio monologues) is finally made known. According to Keillor, the more compelling a story is, the more people want it to be true or be based in true events. In that light, he "started telling people that the town is in central Minnesota, near Stearns County, up around Holdingford, not far from St. Rosa and Albany and Freeport, northwest of St. Cloud, which is sort of the truth, I guess." (p. 12)

The black and white photos which grace this coffee table book will depict very familiar scenes to anyone who has lived in or near a small midwestern town. High school prom, barren winter landscapes, grain elevators, old men drinking in darkly lit taverns --they're all captured by Richard Olsenius' practiced hand. A photographer with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the photos are culled from an on-going assignment he had to photograph Minnesota for the paper when news was slow.

These photos are all from towns in Stearns County, but they really could have been taken anywhere in the rural upper-midwest. Many of the people and places looked like they walked right out of my own childhood in Perham, Minnesota. (A community even more Wobegonian than Stearns County, since unlike Stearns, Perham really does have a mix of German Lutherans and German Catholics and is situated near many beautiful lakes.)

As one who moved away from rural Minnesota for college, left the Upper Midwest for grad school, and lived in the South for five years before finally moving back to Saint Paul to raise a family, I could relate to Keillor's comment explaining the appeal of Minnesota's cities for those raised in its countryside:

Minnesota is a state of decent, hardworking people, half of whom live on the expanding island that is the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, an island of lifestyle in an ocean of cornfields and soybeans, where there is good espresso and Thai food and The New York Times and a couple orchestras and a dozen theaters and movie houses that show foreign and indie flicks and Ruminator Books has about three hundred shelf-feet of poetry and you can get almost anything people in New York or Los Angeles have and yet live on a quiet tree-lined street with a backyard and send your kids to public school. (p. 15)

PUBLISHER: Viking Studio; ISBN: 0670030376; (2001)

Baptism

2002-07-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Baptism, by Martin Marty

If you're looking for a book that settles the age old debate between those who baptize infants and adults, versus those who only baptize adults, this is not the book for you. Written from a Lutheran perspective, Baptism assumes the validity of infant baptism, while not discounting adult baptism. What the book mainly does is bring out some of the major issues concerning baptism, and especially gives useful advice to one who was baptized as an infant on how to usefully appropriate that baptism in adult life, draw meaning from it, and live a life in keeping with the baptismal promise.

Surprisingly, the book is also a critque of some of the pitfalls inherent in baptizing infants in the modern age. The introductory chapter contains two fascinating and contrasting sketches of a baptism cermony. The first is drawn from Tertullian's writings, and depicts a secret ceremony fraught with superstition, performed on adults during Christianity's first century. The second is a christening of a baby boy that could have taken place in any Lutheran, Episcopal, or Catholic congregation today. Mundane, and boring, it's something to "have done" to be "on the safe side."

Drawing on the Bible, scholarship, and Luther's writings, Marty criticizes the excesses of both views while nonetheless affirming that God can work through the worst of our intentions. Marty sketches baptism thusly:

If faith means dependence --the absence of anxiety about the morrow, the active or passive repose of one in the destiny of the Other, the security of the faltering hand inside the strong hand-- then baptismal faith has already said all there is to say. The childlike becomes the model: any faith which does not share this quality cannot matter in the kingdom of God. The humble spirit is fed on the milk of the Word, on the promise connected with the water. With advancing maturity the growth in wisdom and stature brings about crises and quests for new understanding. It is the apparent contradiction within faith --at once already complete and yet in need of fulfillment --that forces evangelical Christians to speak in somewhat circular fashion. (p. 46)

I was looking for something a bit different. As one raised in the tradition of infant baptism, and as one who palpably and intuitively feels that it discloses God's grace in the most glorious way, I was looking for an author who would put what I feel into words. However, Marty goes beyond my desire by preserving something of the Mystery that surrounds this sacrament, as well as providing common-sense advice to parents and churches for making baptism more than something to be done once to an infant and dispensed with, but instead a lifelong vocation. Some of his suggestions, which I've implemented in my own family include celebrating the anniversary of the baptism. This allows us to talk about what baptism means, and how we are to live out our baptism.

PUBLISHER: Fortress Press; ISBN: 0800613171 (1977)

The God We Never Knew

2002-07-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith, by Marcus Borg

The God We Never Knew is simultaneously a fascinating account of one man's spiritual journey from one understanding of God to another and a compact, readable summary of the major trends in theological thinking from the Enlightenment through the present. Marcus Borg, a Jesus scholar and professor of Religion at Oregon State University, uses his own personal experiences as a metaphor for the changes that have taken place in biblical understanding through the centuries.

For years I have sought to resolve the conflict, or tension, in my own mind between modernism and Christianity. Because the modern scientific world view so rigorously and systematically reduces all of reality to what can be measured or observed with the physical senses, Christianity is totally deprived of reality. Yet the heart cries out for a level beyond the material; a longing for the sense that God is real and near and grants life meaning in a very personal way. I think the major reason why some Christians are so threatened by modern scientific theories such as evolution and literary/critical techniques of reading the Bible is because they fear that there is nothing real left to base faith upon when the Bible does not match reality in a very literal way. Part of the reason why I enjoyed The God We Never Knew so much is because Borg's theology is able to incorporate modernism intelligently while critiquing its tendency to reduce everything in the universe to the purely physical. By the same token he is able to view and interpret the Bible in a non-literal yet meaningful way which illustrates a close personal relationship with God that is not only possible but indeed nurturing to Christians daily, strengthening their faith.

As the title suggests, Borg compares and contrasts two different ways of looking at God. One view comprises a distant God "out there," who points his finger at humanity's failings, and demands adherence to a set of beliefs in order to gain acceptance into heaven. This view of God focuses mainly on eternal rewards for earthly deeds, and uses biblical metaphors of king and lord as the primary way of viewing God. Borg's view of God, by contrast, holds that God is close and personal, existing in us and around us as well as "out there," is accepting and nurturing, and focuses on relational rather than propositional truth. Rather than focusing on eternal rewards, Borg suggests that the kingdom of God is here and now around us, and can be visible, if we are willing to look through spiritual eyes.

Surprisingly (for a book primarily about theology) Borg looks cross-culturally to find a number of useful techniques for enhancing one's sense of God being present in personal way to each believer. Borg gives each traditional notion of worship, prayer, and evangelism a helpful tweak when he recommends "sounds in creating an opening to the sacred", "talking to God", and "the dream of God", respectively. According to Borg, spiritual senses need to be practiced and developed because we are used to thinking purely in terms of our physical senses and material reality.

The only glaring critique I have of Borg's book is that it tends to oversimplify the broad range of Christian understanding existing both today and throughout history. Because he uses the Lutheranism of his childhood as the metaphor for a traditional understanding of Christianity, he builds a false dualism--an "either/or" scenario in which it feels like Borg is saying "this is the way Christianity was traditionally conceived...and this is my new conception of it." The footnotes are a helpful corrective, where it becomes apparent that there are myriad positions that can be taken in between these two views. Some passages, however, still feel like Borg is attacking a straw man. More so than in other books, I would recommend reading the footnotes (located at the end of each chapter.) All of the scriptural references are in the footnotes, and since Borg often looks at parts of the Bible that are traditionally underemphasized, you may be as surprised as I was at what is actually in the Bible. Finally, the footnotes provide additional reading sources should you be interested in a particular topic Borg mentions only briefly.

The God We Never Knew is a very useful book on many levels. If you are seeking a way to reconcile modernism and religion, or if you are seeking a readable synopsis of contemporary theology, or if you are interested in reading about one person's spiritual struggle, Borg's book will speak to you.

PUBLISHER: Harper San Francisco; ISBN: 0060610352; Reprint edition (June 1998)

The Complete Gnomes

2002-07-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

The Complete Gnomes, by Wil Nuygen (text) and Rien Poortvliet (illustrations)

I've loved gnomes for as long as I can remember. It's all because my Auntie had a book on her coffee table called Gnomes (1977) when I was a child. My family would visit her and I'd make a bee-line for the gnome book. Richly illustrated, it was packed full of details about these little creatures --enough for a youth's imagination to bring them to life.

As an adult, I'd sometimes reminisce about the gnome book. I'd look for it in bookstores, but could never find anything like it. So one year my spouse did some sleuthing, and got me The Complete Gnomes (1994), an unabridged compilation of both Gnomes and a later release by Nuygen and Poortvliet, Secrets of the Gnomes (1987), which I never even knew existed. This second section goes beyond a mere compendium of gnome facts and lore, taking the reader into the daily life of some gnomes and the authors as they share some small-scale adventures.

PUBLISHER: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; ISBN: 0810931958; (October 1994)

Superman

2002-06-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Superman: The Complete History, by Les Daniels

This book caught my eye when I was browsing in Barnes and Noble last week, and I ended up spending the entire evening there reading it from cover to cover. Not only is Daniels exhaustive in bringing us the twists and turns in Superman's evolution since he was first published by Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (cartoonist) in June of 1938, but he also compellingly explains why Superman has remained a popular character for over 60 years.

The real reason I picked up this book, however, is because I've been thoroughly obsessed with the new Superman television show called Smallville that came out on the WB network this year. While Superman: The Complete History is ironically incomplete in this regard (being written in 1998 it ends its chronology with the end of the ABC series Lois & Clark) it still brought to light many synergies between the lives of Superman's creators, the early comic books, and the latest incarnation.

Here are a few of the choicest bits:

Siegel and Shuster grew up in an Ohio town called Glenville. Superman grew up in Smallville.

Both Siegel and Shuster were quiet, nerdy, Clark Kent-like characters.

Joe Shuster drew cartoons for his school newspaper, the Glenville Torch. On Smallville, Chloe is the editor of the Smallville Torch. In a first-season episode she even dates a nerdy guy with super powers who draws cartoons for the paper.

Joe Shuster's hometown was Toronto, and was his inspiration for the city of Metropolis (the name Metropolis, of course, is a tribute to the 1927 silent film classic directed by Fritz Lang.)

Toronto's newspaper was called The Daily Star, and this was an early candidate for the name of the paper where Clark Kent was to work, before an editorial decision changed it to The Daily Planet.

Although Siegel and Shuster sold the first Superman cartoon (including all rights and ownership of the character) for the paltry sum of $130 in 1938, they had been developing the concept (and changing it) for years. One of the first prototypes they had was a character called "The Superman," who was an evil bald scientific genius with vast mental powers. Lex Luther, anyone?

Lex Luther was first introduced in 1940. The original Lex had curly red hair. It was a nice touch in the Smallville pilot episode that young Lex had the same curly red hair, before losing it in the meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth.

It was not until the first Superman radio show aired in 1945 that flying was established as a super-power. On Smallville, Clark Kent has not yet learned to fly.

In the original cartoon the symbol on Superman's chest doesn't look the way it does now --it was a less triangular shield with a more standard looking "S" on it. I caught a glimpse of a very similar emblem on Whitney's (Lana Lang's boyfriend) high school letter jacket in the pilot episode of Smallville. For some reason the emblem on his jacket is just an ordinary "S" in all subsequent episodes.

The actress Annette O'Toole plays Clark's mom on Smallville. In the movie Superman III, she plays Lana Lang!

Why has Superman remained such a phenomenon for so long? Les Daniels explains it in terms of our insatiable appetite for heroes. Superman is similar to the gods and heroes of ancient Greek mythology. Yet while Superman is physically and morally better than us, he chooses to live his life as the humble Clark Kent. This affirms the ordinary individual, causing us to identify with him rather than resent his superior powers. The Superman incarnated in the humble, bumbling human also taps into the imagery of the Christian story.

Great book, and a great show!

PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books; ISBN: 0811821625; (1998)