Book Review: Ring by Stephen Baxter
I was browsing the sci-fi section in the local library and came across an old paperback with a familiar name on the spine: Stephen Baxter. I'm most familiar with Baxter's collaboration with the late Arthur C. Clarke on the Manifold trilogy, but have enjoyed a few of his solo works as well. This one looked to be a bit older (there was a quote on the cover from Clarke hailing Baxter as "a major new talent"), but I figured it was worth a try.
Ring finds humanity in the Third Millennium traveling through space, having learned some fantastic tricks of physics (including controlling wormholes that access the future) from alien races. Having also achieved "anti-senesence" technology (i.e. they can stop aging), a group of explorers decide to undertake a million-year trip at relativistic speeds, keeping a wormhole open the whole way so that they can communicate from the future back to the past.
What unfolds is a fascinating story of space and time, on a scale of megayears. Baxter is at his best when he's dealing with the hard science, describing the aging process of stars, but he holds his own, too, with the softer side - imagining what a hyperspace trip across the universe might feel like from the perspective of the solitary human piloting the ship, recognizing that even millions of years of "progress" won't change human nature.
If you're into hard sci-fi, Ring is worth picking up, a very enjoyable read.
[You can buy Ring at Amazon.com.]
Book Review: The Faith of Barack Obama, by Stephen Mansfield
I recently signed up for Thomas Nelson Publishers' Book Review Blogging program, and the first book I've chosen is The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield. I chose to review The Faith of Barack Obama back before the election, but only now have been able to read and review the book. It's interesting how perspective changes now that Obama has won the presidential election.
I approached The Faith of Barack Obama with a good bit of curiosity as to how the author would approach the subject. In the days leading up to the election we have been besieged with arguments over Obama's faith - is he really a Christian? Didn't he get raised as a Muslim? Isn't that pastor of his church in Chicago kinda weird? The temptation is for each author's perspective on Obama's political views to color their observations about Obama's faith. I was happy, then, (and feeling as if I was in quite unfamiliar territory!) to read TFOBO. Author Mansfield manages to draw a fair, compassionate picture of Obama's faith as Mr. Obama has himself expressed it in books and interviews. In the short (150-page) volume, Mansfield acknowledges seeming inconsistencies between Obama's faith claims and his political views - notably on the issue of abortion - but avoids drawing conclusions, leaving things for the reader to wrestle with in their own mind.
A chapter toward the end of the book seems out of place and suspiciously like filler material; that chapter examines other "faces of faith" in the political scene, giving thumbnail sketches of the faith of Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and John McCain. All told, though, The Faith of Barack Obama is a fair journalistic look into the beliefs of our next president, and helpful reading.
[Buy The Faith of Barack Obama at Amazon.com.]
Reason #264 Best Buy is Evil:
I need a SATA cable to hook up a new (to me) hard drive to the motherboard of a new (to me) computer. It looks something like this:
I found them online from a reputable retailer for $1.99 each. I bought two. The retailer has a First Class USPS shipping option that only cost me $2, so for $6 I have two cables on my way from North Carolina.
I stopped at my local Best Buy over the lunch hour to see what they have, and sure enough, they have a SATA cable in stock. (Probably the only place in town that does.) Their price: $19.99.
I rest my case.
Book Review: How Would Jesus Vote? by D. James Kennedy
Have you heard that there's an election coming up soon? So has WaterBrook Publishing, apparently, because they timed this blog review giveaway to fall just before the 2008 presidential election. Which brings me today to review How Would Jesus Vote? A Christian Perspective on the Issues, written by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe. Kennedy was the senior minister at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Newcombe is a television producer for Coral Ridge and a frequent co-author. I will admit to being skeptical about the book when I was invited to do the review; in general I feel that the "Religious Right" has done far more harm to the name of Christ than it has accomplished with its political machinations over the past 20 years. But I figured it was worth a read.
Chapter One of HWJV? asks, appropriately enough, would Jesus even have His followers vote at all? Unsurprisingly, it concludes that yes, He would, based primarily on the "render unto Caesar" command in Luke 20. Taking it even a step further, the authors claim that it is primarily the Christians' fault that America's morality has taken a downturn in the past century; if only Christians had been more involved politically, they say, and been more effective at "legislating our morality", things would be much different today.
Part Two of HWJV? addresses "The Issues", devoting a chapters to:
- Matters of life and death (Abortion, stem cells, suicide, euthanasia)
- The Death Penalty
- War - can it ever be justified?
- Education and the schools
- Economic Concerns
- Health-care issues
- The environment and climate change
- Immigration and racial predjudice
- Protection of marriage
- Judicial Activism
This is a pretty fair swath of topics that surround most elections, and I was looking forward to having them dealt with in a thoughtful manner. I was quite disappointed, then, to read the chapters and find that they are little more than a regurgitation of the "Religious Right" talking points that you would hear from Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, or any similar religious conservative political group. Some examples:
- After telling us in Chapter 3 that he will never tell folks who he's voting for, Dr. Kennedy says in Chapter 4 that he "cannot support [a] person" who is "for the pro-choice position", saying that "this one issue of life trumps all others". Doesn't leave much question who he's supporting now, does it?
- After saying, though, that the "issue of life trumps all others", he goes on to conclude that the death penalty is an appropriate deterrent for crime and that "only by misunderstanding the Bible... could one conclude that Jesus would oppose the death penalty."
- In the chapter on education, the authors detail the decline of the public education system in America and stunningly conclude that "as long as God continues to be barred from our public schools, the public-education system will continue to falter."
- On health-care, the authors conclude that Jesus would "be concerned" about the plight of the uninsured, but that He would not favor government involvement in health care, not only because of government inefficiency, but also because it would "impose an anti-Christian ethic, such as forcing abortions on handicapped unborn children or forcing euthanasia on the weak".
- On the environment, I'll give them credit for a slightly more nuanced position than I would've expected; the authors say that it's important we care for our environment, but suggest that there are more practical ways to do that than the massive programs proposed to stop "global warming".
- On immigration, the authors pull a fair number of examples from the Old Testament claiming that God had Israel deal with two groups of immigrants differently, treating those who came to adapt and become Israelites as Israelites, while opposing those who came in as "aliens".
- On judicial activism, the authors speak harshly against the Senate that railroaded Robert Bork and tried to destroy Clarence Thomas, but in the end conclude that they can't say "whether Jesus would prefer judges who hold strictly to the constitution".
One of the most disturbing things to be in HWJV? was the way the authors mangled Scripture interpretations in support of their views. No place was this more evident than in the chapter on the economy and taxes. After arguing the standard Republican platform (that big businesses are good because they create jobs, and that it's damaging to tax them more heavily) for the better part of the chapter, they then stunningly support this by quoting Matthew 23:11: "The greatest among you will be your servant." So, they say, look at Henry Ford as an example. He was a great, rich man, but in doing so he enriched the lives, and thus served, many others.
I want to explore that a little bit more. Matthew 23 is a chapter in which Jesus chastises the Pharisees and religious leaders for their pride, ambition, and hypocrisy. In context:
8"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.[b] 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
- Matt 23:8-12, NIV
That's right, the authors picked a single verse from a chapter in which Jesus is telling us that the values of the kingdom are inverted, that status and position don't matter, but that humility and servanthood do... and they use that single verse to try to prove that God would have us reduce taxes on "big business", because those rich are doing us all a service. Did they completely miss the irony here?
I had hopes for How Would Jesus Vote?, hopes that it would be a thoughtful consideration of the issues, a step beyond the talking points that are rehashed on the radio and the blogosphere every day, hopes that the authors would acknowledge and consider that there are Christians, deeply devout, serious, thoughtful Christians, who disagree with nearly every "Religious Right" tenet. Instead the book turned out to be just more of the same stuff we hear every election cycle from those would would have us believe the lie, as Derek Webb wrote, that "Jesus was a white, middle-class Republican".
The link to Amazon is included here because it's part of the reviewing agreement; however, I'd suggest you spend your money and time on some other, more thoughtful book.
Matthew Paul Turner’s Churched: A Review
Next up for review, courtesy of WaterBrook Press, is Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess by Matthew Paul Turner. Turner is a speaker, author, and former editor of CCM Magazine. Churched is written as a memoir of Turner's growing up in a independent fundamental Baptist church.
In what will feel familiar to anyone who has been around that sort of church, Turner tells stories about dressing the part (complete with clip-on tie) and getting his first "Baptist haircut" (only a flat-top will do!), paints pictures of weird Sunday School teachers and loud, aggressive preachers, and who can forget the weekly altar calls? The stories hit a humorous note and manage to recount the frustrating times without coming across as cynical or cutting. In chapter 8 he recounts a third-grade Sunday School teacher named Moose teaching about hell:
[One morning] he looked at us and screamed, "BOYS AND GIRLS, DO YOU KNOW HOW HOT HELL IS?" He was serious, as if speaking to a room full of Christian meteorologists. "DOES ANYBODY HERE KNOW?"
As soon as Moose asked the question, I looked at my friend Angie. If anybody in our Sunday school class had visited hell and remembered to take a thermometer, it would be her. Not only was Angie always well prepared and organized, but she also claimed to make frequent visits to farr off places when she slept. One time, during a nap, we heard her mumbling in tongues. When she woke up, she told us she had taken a vacation to Montreal and been able to speak in French. When she saw me looking at her, she raised her hand.
"Mr. Moose, the temperature of hell is 666 degrees," said Angie with the enthusiastic confidence of a demon. "Everybody knows that! Or should."
I thought her answer was brilliant - possibly even correct - despite the fact i never believed she'd gone to Montreal.
Moose grew quiet. He didn't tell Angie she was wrong, but he didn't tell her she was right either. He just walked over to the door and shut off the lights. Moose's Sunday school helper, Penny, placed large sheets of fabric underneath both of the doors to block the light coming in. The room became almost black. Moose stood behind his pulpit and found his Dollar General bag.
"This morning, I want to talk to you about hell." His voice was quiet and low. He wanted it to sound spooky, and it did. "What's hell like? It's black down there. Much blacker than what you're experiencing right now. Imagine a black so thick you can almost feel it. That's what hell is like."
I heard Moose rummaging through his paper sack and then the distinct sound of a Play button being pushed on a tape recorder. The crackling noise of the tape began. And then voices.
"It's hot down here!" said the tape recorder. "We are thirsty! Very thirsty. We need Jesus."
"Do you hear that, boys and girls?" asked Moose. "That's what you would hear in hell. There would be a lot more of them, though. And some of the voices you wouldn't be able to understand because they're from other countries."
While I assumed Moose was right, that his tape of sound effects could have been a live audio recording of hell, I was also convinced that if I closed my eyes during the church fellowship time, when a long line of Christians waited for Ho Hos and fruit punch, it might have sounded similar.
Turner's stories are amusing and will provide laughs, grimaces, and knowing nods along the way. I felt like the story ended too soon, though. I would've liked to hear more about how Turner found his way out of the fundamentalist culture and where he is now. Still, it was an entertaining little book.
You can purchase Churched from Amazon.com.
Book review: For Young Men Only
Next up in the blog book review series, courtesy of Mulnomah Publishing: For Young Men Only: A Guy's Guide to the Alien Gender, by Jeff Feldhahn and Eric Rice. (Usual standard disclaimer: Mulnomah sent me a free copy, I agreed to review it.)
Apparently For Young Men Only (we'll just call it FYMO for the rest of this review) is the fourth book in the For... ...Only series; the authors have already written For Men Only, For Women Only, and For Young Women Only. Each book professes to unlock the mysteries of the opposite gender to the target audience. FYMO, then is targeted at teenage boys, I'd say probably in the Junior High to High School age range. In chapter one, the authors lay out the purpose for the book:
...we want to help teen guys understand, talk to, listen to, get to know, learn from, care for, enjoy...maybe even impress a girl. Sure, it's not quite as lofty a goal is stopping terrorism or bringing back the glaciers. But it's something smart guys care about - and smart girls too. Understanding how girls think can make a huge difference in your happiness now and in the future. even better, a crash course in Girl 101 can put you way ahead of most other guys, who will spend the rest of their lives being totally confused.
In the book you're holding, enlightment starts with you. You bring your legendary genius. We bring our shocking data. Pretty soon you can get inside her head.
The remaining chapters of this short (150 5"x7" pages) book are filled with topics like these: "Why ordinary guys have a real chance with great girls"; "A code breaker's guide to baffling female behavior"; "Why girls go from 'love' to 'get lost' so fast - and how to keep from getting crushed"; "How to talk and listen to a girl without looking like an idiot", and, last but not least, "The truth about girls, guys, and sex". Frankly, I'm a bit too far past high school to remember if this stuff would've been helpful or not, but it's all reasonable advice. Be yourself. Listen. Be sensitive. Don't have sex before marriage. Let her see the "real" you.
Where I run into difficulty with FYMO is in figuring out who I'd recommend it to. It's purposefully not a "christian" book. No scripture is referenced. All the arguments driving the "what to do" and "what not to do" are based on surveys of what girls like and want, and on lots of basic psychology. It feels a lot like what you might read in a normal magazine targeted toward highschoolers. Which is fine, as far as it goes. But if I ever have a son, by the time he's old enough to be reading this book, he should be thinking over these things with some spiritual depth that is nowhere to be found in this book.
My other big difficulty with FYMO is that the authors assume, and appear to view as perfectly fine, a fairly broad range of physical intimacy among their teenage audience. Call me out of touch with modern times, but I don't want my 9th grader who is reading this book to assume that having a series of dating relationships in high school in which he is snuggling, kissing, and "making out" with girls is the right thing to do. As a Christian father, I would assume (and expect) a higher standard.
I can imagine that teenage boys could learn a thing or two from this book if they were willing to sit down and read it. And what they would learn would be helpful, as far as it goes. My hope, though, is that Christian parents would provide enough training and guidance to their sons that the sons would be able to pick out the helpful insights while recognizing that the authors' worldview is some distance from what it should be.
[For Young Men Only can be purchased at Amazon.com. Find out more about the book at foryoungmenonly.com.]
Scot McKnight’s “The Blue Parakeet” – a review
When Zondervan offered up free early copies of Dr. Scot McKnight's The Blue Parakeet for bloggers to review, I knew I wanted to get in on the action. I've enjoyed reading Scot's (he won't mind if I use his first name here, I think) blog for some time now, and while I knew he typically inhabits a spectrum of belief a little more emergent than I find myself, I looked forward to reading his thoughts on the Bible, or, as the subtitle of the book says, "Rethinking How You Read the Bible". (Dr. McKnight is a professor of religious studies at North Park College in Chicago. He also wrote a volume on Galatians in the NIV Application Commentary series.)
Scot lays out his question in the first chapter: "how, then, are we to live the Bible today?" Sure, there are those folks who say that we follow all of it, but really, he says, we "pick and choose" what we live out. He knows that phrase will make us uncomfortable, but he does that to a purpose. We are so used to our denomination's (or our own) interpretations of Scripture, which help us know which parts we follow and which parts we don't, that we've often stopped thinking about how we go about that interpretation in the first place.
McKnight asks us to look at the Bible and first understand the whole sweep of history - from creation to the fall to redemption to the end. Within that sweep, then, we can start to see how the individual pieces fit. Just as we shouldn't take a single verse out of context in a chapter, we shouldn't take a single chapter (or a single book!) out of context of the greater whole. He also encourages us to distinguish between God and the Bible. The Bible is one way God has chosen to reveal Himself to us, but the Bible isn't God. We don't worship the Bible. We worship God. (This whole distinction is a useful reminder for those of us who have been in churches where precise, "literal" adherence to the Scripture (at least, the passages deemed "important") has been given overly-high priority.)
I really enjoyed, appreciated, and agreed with the first two-thirds of The Blue Parakeet. Then Dr. McKnight, in a move he fully admits will not sit well with some, uses his principles of Biblical interpretation to argue for the acceptance of women in pastoral (teaching/leadership) roles in the church. And here is where I lose him. I know that this is one of his pet causes, but it just doesn't work for me, I'm not convinced.
A few weeks ago on his blog, Dr. McKnight talked about his interpretation of 1 Timothy 3 (a passage that doesn't get touched on in The Blue Parakeet), and argues it this way:
However, it is an inference to claim that only males can be elders or that all elders must be males. Why do I say this? Here’s why: Paul does not say “Elders must be males.” He assumes the elders to whom he writes are males, but he does not explicitly require that elders be males. Again: he assumes they are males, he says things that apply to males, but Paul does not explicitly say that elders must be males. [Emphasis in the original.]
And that just isn't a convincing argument to me. You have to assume and read just as much into the passage to come up with his interpretation as you do to come up with the traditional interpretation, and, with McKnight's position, you further have to ignore 2000 years of the church's historical understanding of the passage. Furthermore, he argues that the list of qualifications in 1 Tim 3 shouldn't be considered "rules for" or "qualifications of" elders - rather, that it should be considered "symptoms of virtues expected of leaders for Christians in the 1st Century". And why? Because, first of all, the lists of 1 Tim 3 and Titus are different, and second, because "we know that many pastors/elders/deacons have children who don’t believe and who are rebellious, some are quarrelsome, some are not hospitable, and not all have a good reputation with outsiders". In other words, because some who have held the role of elder in the church have failed to meet these standards, therefore they must not be "standards". Begging your pardon, Dr. McKnight, but isn't that like saying that since people break the speed limit that the speed limit must just be a "symptom of a virtue expected for drivers in the 21st century"? But I digress.
All in all, I'd recommend Dr. McKnight's book for a good fresh look at how we interpret Scripture. The degree of "groundbreakingness" (surely that's not a word, is it?) you feel when reading it will, in large measure, depend on what Biblical tradition you have grown up in and/or studied. Be cautious, though, when you reach the portion that's interpretation; the quest for "rethinking" needs to continue to be guided by wisdom and historical perspective.
The Blue Parakeet will be released on November 1, 2008, and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.
Book Review: Wild Goose Chase
Wild Goose Chase, the latest book by pastor Mark Batterson of National Community Church in Washington, DC, sets out its' premise in the introduction:
The Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit that has always intrigued me. They called Him An Geadh-Glas, or "the Wild Goose". I love the imagery and implications. The name hints at the mysterious nature of the Holy Spirit. Much like a gild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger and an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious at first earshot, I cannot think of a better description of what it's like to pursue the Spirit's leading through life than Wild Goose chase. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something that institutionalized Christianity has missed out on...
With each chapter in the book, Batterson then calls the reader to "come out of the cage" of one encumbrance or another, sharing anecdotes from his own life and those he's come into contact with in his ministry, and then finishing up each chapter with an example of the principle that he sees in the life of a biblical character.
I was unimpressed when the introduction, and indeed, the whole premise of the book, seemed to be based less on some Scriptural principle than on a single phrase from Christian antiquity. And my concerns were deepened when I looked at the chapter titles and subheadings:
- Goose Bumps: Coming Out of the Cage of Responsibility
- Dictatorship Of The Ordinary: Coming Out of the Cage of Routine
- Eight-Foot Ceilings: Coming Out of the Cage of Assumptions
- A Rooster's Crow: Coming Out of the Cage of Guilt
- Sometimes it Takes A Shipwreck: Coming Out of the Cage of Failure
- Good Old-Fashioned Guts: Coming Out of the Cage of Fear
While there are some good points to be made in the book from time to time, it really feels to me that Batterson wrote the self-help, motivational principles of Wild Goose Chase and then looked to find bits and pieces of Scripture to support his points... which is a dangerous way to teach the Bible. In addition, Batterson's style of writing is unimaginative, cliché-ridden, trying too hard to be cool and trendy. Color me unimpressed.
After finishing up Wild Goose Chase, I felt like I had just sat through one of those exercise infomercials where ridiculously-toned models and cheesy announcers hype their transform-your-life product ad nauseam for 30 minutes late at night. What I came away longing for was something more solid, stable, and reliable - something more analogous to a Ken Burns documentary on PBS. So I'm sorry, Multnomah, I just can't recommend this book. My friends, if you're going to buy a book on living the Christian life, get something by Eugene Peterson instead. You'll be glad you did.
As requested, I'll link to Amazon: you can buy Wild Goose Chase there. But I'd suggest you pick up something else instead.
Book Review: The Healing Choice
This week's book review, thanks to a free copy from WaterBrook Press, is The Healing Choice and its associated Guidebook, written by Brenda Stoeker and Susan Allen. The authors are aiming here to help women heal from the betrayal of a husband's unfaithfulness. Given the subject matter and the target audience, Becky volunteered to read the books and give us a review.
Becky says:
In what might well be a surprise to the reader, the first half of The Healing Choice centers not around an unfaithful husband, but around the death of author Brenda's mother. She then goes on to draw parallels between her feelings of being betrayed by God and the feelings of being betrayed by her unfaithful husband. The second half of the book then tells the story of Susan's healing after her husband's unfaithfulness. Her experiences led her to start Avenue, a ministry facilitating support groups for men and women dealing with these situations. Both the stories are good and seem like they'd be helpful to someone in those situations, but it was something of a surprise to open up a book with a cover selling it as being about marital unfaithfulness and find the first half dealing, rather, with the death of a parent.
I opened up the guidebook expecting more of a study guide, something that might be used in a group study or personal study. However, the guidebook was less of the workbook-style book I was expecting and more of what I would've expected to be in the actual book. There is a lot of good content in the guidebook - it would work well as a stand-alone book, too. Expectations aside, these would seem to be good books for someone in the process of putting a marriage back together.
--
Thanks, Becky!
A call for plot creativity, or, Why is it always the Christians?
This weekend I finished up reading Rules of Deception
Now, I realize Dan Brown made it cool to rip on Christians and the church with The DaVinci Code, indeed, it seems nearly de rigueur these days to have Christians as the bad guys. And certainly as an author Mr. Reich is allowed to make whatever plot choices he wants to. He's very even-handed with his other groups of people - there are good and bad CIA agents, good and bad Iranians, good and bad Americans, and etc, in his plot. But Christians? They're all bad. And shadowy. And in lock-step. And willing to do anything, kill anyone, incite nuclear war, all for the purpose of "hastening the Rapture". Ugh.
As I've been thinking about it, this is one of the reasons that Tom Clancy, one of the better authors in this genre a decade ago, had such good stories: he was willing to use the real-life bad-guys of the day and didn't feel any politically-correct need to pick somebody else. Hence, during the Cold War, the Soviets were the bad guys, even though there were some good Soviets among them (The Hunt for Red October, The Cardinal of the Kremlin). Once the Wall fell and the new fear was Islamic Fundamentalism, Clancy went with it. In The Sum of All Fears there are good Muslims and bad Muslims, good Jews and bad Jews, heck, good Americans and bad Americans. But Clancy never felt the need to invent some other bad guys just to be politically correct.
So I enjoyed Rules of Deception
