MysteriousFaith

December 2004 Bookshelf

A collection of books on Christianity and homosexuality, a good piece of mind-candy, and one of my favorite sets of authors returning to the question of universalism.

December 2004 Bookshelf

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

This book, a classic from the annals of Roman history, is an epic work from one of the Stoic pragmatists. Marcus’ words are particularly helpful to someone such as myself who struggles with rational thinking and removing emotion from decisions. I filled several pages in my journal with quotes from this book, a book and passages I will no doubt draw from in the future. Born with the heart of a philosopher but the mind of a senator, Marcus is very much a hero of mine.

The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends by S. Mark Heim

In this book Heim attempts to take the core principle of the Trinity - that of the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and develop a theology that attempts to answer some of the thorny questions related to religious pluralism. Heim advocates the belief that each of the world’s religious traditions will yield the ultimate end it promises. As an example, Buddhism will most likely lead to the selflessness that it advocates; but no religion will yield the ideal state which is accessible only to those who have embraced Christianity. Heim’s position is frankly incompatible with C.S. Lewis’ belief that he found it hard to believe that “a Muslim boy raised in a Muslim land who knows only the Muslim God and desires to follow Him will be disappointed.” Heim’s theology requires us to believe that this Muslim boy, through no fault of his own, will be forced to a lower place in the afterlife because he did not place his faith in Christ alone. John Hick answers Heim in a good review that can be read here.

I found the core thesis in this book largely inaccessible; I just could not understand how the Trinity provided an insight into multiple religious ends. I loved Heim’s treatment of Dante’s Inferno and how that view has been folded into his theology. I am interested in how far people like Heim are willing to go in projecting theologies wholly outside of Scripture, and yet so unwilling to be as philosophically rational when debating that which is within Scripture. I think we all need to be very sensitive to speaking for God as to His ultimate motives, plans and directions. Heim’s book is interesting, but unfulfilling and largely inaccessible.

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan

This book and the documentary by the same name advocate an awareness of the dangers posed by the new role corporations play in our world. Once designed for the good of the people, corporations now manipulate and do what is in their best interest, not the interest of the people. The original design of corporations and the services they now stand for are widely incompatible, with corporations now having many of the same legal rights as citizens, with even broader rights to exploit and fewer legal recourses to control their excesses. Bakan’s book is an important piece of the puzzle that fits into the discussion about how the global economy is changing.

What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak

This is an introductory text covering exactly what the title says: what does the Bible really say about homosexuality? I would recommend this book as a resource to an interested pastor or theologian, but not a lay person not because it is technical, but because the concepts laid within are dealt with in other texts I think are better. This particular book handles the question of Sodom and Gomorrah quite well, as it does other Old Testament sections that talk about the issue. I was less pleased with its treatment of the passage in Romans, finding the explanation a little hard to get my hands around.

A Place at the Table: the Gay Individual in American Society by Bruce Bawer

I strongly recommend this book to any Christian struggling with the homosexual issue. In particular, this book will personalize the debate and answer a lot of questions you are probably afraid of asking. I loved Bawer’s sense of humor; he proposes that Christians stop getting their conceptions of the sex life of homosexuals from Gay Pride parades; Bawer suggests that is as meaningful as his attempt to learn about heterosexuality by reading Penthouse. Bawer’s dry, non-emotional analytical writing style is well suited to a difficult and emotionally charged topic. Of all the books I have read on the issue, this one is near the top of the list of books I would recommend to others.

Wild West China: the Taming of Xinjiang by Christian Tyler

Few know that China shares a small portion of its Western border with Afghanistan, or that one of its provinces, Xinjiang, has a vibrant Muslim history. Tyler courageously traveled to this province and wrote an easily accessible history of the area and a contemporary analysis of what is taking place as the Chinese government attempts to emigrate Han Chinese into the area. This is being done by the government with the hopes they can overpopulate the native Muslim population, making the internal stability issues related to Muslim advocacy go away through shear force.

Stranger at the Gate: to be Gay and Christian in America by Mel White

This is a poignant personal biography of one man’s story of accepting his homosexuality. What makes his story different than others? Mel White was a Christian family man who authored multiple Christian books with the likes of Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, James Kennedy and others. Mel White was also a Christian documentary film maker, winning multiple awards for his insightful work. Mel married a woman (who, if this is any sign of the courage and sincerity of his struggle and the underlying ethic of his life and relationships, agreed to write the preface to this book), had a family, and denied his true self for decades. He tried Christian therapy, retreats, electro-shock therapy, all with the hopes of “curing” his homosexuality. Nothing worked other than finally accepting who he is and what this meant. He has managed to find peace and stability in another loving relationship, while maintaining a solid relationship with his wife and their children. This is an important story that needs to be dwelled on by those who think homosexuality is a choice as well as those who marginalize the struggle people such as Mel White go through.

God has Many Names by John Hick

Hick handles himself particularly well in this book. I find Hick’s work the most honest and approachable of all the theologians I have read who work in the field of pluralism. Hick is candid about seeing salvation taking place in multiple religious faiths, about the ambiguity of our religious experience, and of the limitations of rationalism and of mysticism. I do not find other more conventional theologians as accessible with the possible exception of Clark Pinnock. I recommend this book especially as it is written in the form of a debate between conventional Christian theologians and a pluralist and non-exclusivist philosopher. This is a short read but is highly recommended. You may access more of his work at his personal web site.

If God is Love: Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland

I loved this book. As my friend at TheoCentric has rightly pointed out, you do not have to have Gulley and Mulholland’s view of God to believe what they write about grace. Having said that, the world needs a lot more of Gulley and Mullholland and a lot less of the drivel that passes for Christian writing. I am leery of speaking for God, in large part because I think a lot of the problems we have in contemporary religious thought are due to men who were willing to do just this, and as such I am uncomfortable with the position of universalism that these men advocate. I believe the questions folded into the debate over universalism needs more air time in conventional Christian churches, but it is not my place to be exclusive in a theology of salvation that is not mine to ultimately dispense.

The Anti-Gay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right by Didi Herman

This book is a broad overview on the how the Christian Right (CR) has handled the issue of homosexuality. It is not unfair, in my view, in the points that it makes in relation to how the CR has politicized the question of homosexuality. The book is written in a bit more stiff a fashion than I enjoy, which limited my interest. The points of the book are not surprising to any on either side of the issue. This is a valuable research tool but comes short of making crucial insights.

Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate by Naomi Klein

Klein wrote the magnum opus of the anti-globalization movement when she published No Logo. This book is a combination of various editorials and articles she has published over the last several years in her work covering the anti-globalization movement. Her writing makes very complex issues easy to understand. I appreciate her ability to take dry economic questions and correlate them to personal stories.

Why Christianity Must Change or Die: a Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile by John Shelby Spong

I am one of the people Bishop Spong is writing to; namely, a believer in exile. Spong goes to some lengths I am unwilling to go thus far, but is again among the most honest theologians when dealing with the real questions people who do not find the conventional Christian Church appealing. Of my criticisms of the Emergent Church, few rank higher than my belief that the Emergent Church does not fully grasp that non-believers or believers in exile are struggling with more than the hangover from fundamentalism. The people Spong is writing towards are struggling with issues that the Emergent Church isn’t yet dealing with; rather, the Emergent movement is wrapped up in post-modernity which has only marginal impact on the underlying motives of disbelief. Spong at least is willing to be honest about this struggle and to propose ideas that attempt and answer these questions. I long for a voice within the Emergent Church to provide similar answers.

Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill by Jessica Stern

Stern’s book is an excellent treatise on what motivates religious terrorists. She interviews militants from within the Islamic, Jewish and Christian cultures of faith. Her conclusions are worth the price of the book. I dearly hope that people within the Bush Administration have picked this book up; I highly doubt this as the answers she proposes to religious violence seem to have had little impact on the post-9/11 world.

When Jesus Became God: the Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome by Richard E. Rubenstein

This is the second book by Richard Rubenstein that I have read, the first being his superb Aristotle’s Children, a treatment of the impact rediscovering the teachings of Aristotle through Muslims had in the Middle Ages. When Jesus Became God is a history of the movements within the early Church to define what would be termed orthodoxy, in particular doctrinal questions about the identity of Jesus. Was he fully God, fully man, or some combination thereof? Rubenstein avoids wholly theological observations and debate on the ideas themselves and instead focuses on a historical treatment of the conflict that evolved between those within the Church during the Council of Nicea such as Athanatius who believed Jesus was fully God and fully man against the teachings of Arius who held that Jesus was unique in his relationship to God, but was not fully God.

I recommend this book to those who are curious about another dimension on how the Church developed its history, creedal statements and doctrine. These processes were highly political and should leave us with a higher degree of tolerance and a willingness to change what we hold today as orthodox belief. Most striking of all to me were two components the book discusses: first, the fact that Athanatius was a really ugly and mean-spirited theologian who incited mob violence and was a rabid politician angling for power. To claim his fatherhood of doctrinal beliefs as being central to the truth of the statements themselves is weak to me after reading this book. Second, regardless of where you or I may fall off on the question of the Divinity of Christ, we have an obligation to recall that which is essential to the life of Christ - how he conducted himself in this world. The men within the day Rubenstein writes of may have been great minds at work in the field of theology, but I question whether or not many of them were true to the spirit of Christ in the hyper-politicized days of Constantine and his sons.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

I am going to be very interested to see how the general public receives Crichton’s most recent book. State of Fear is less a plot-charged and more a politically-charged book. The plot line itself is not his strongest; you are left with questions about his main character (a man who seems strangely undeveloped personally and as a character within the book even as you finish the final chapter), about why this select group of people were the only ones who could deal with “the bad guys” and whether or not the environmental science metaphor is the best metaphor for making his point (I think he could have made his point much more candidly with a bio-terror/genetic approach; he may have wanted to avoid this as it has been done by him and many others to death in recent years).

However, this book is a challenging read in its final conclusions (which he needs an appendix to make; in my view, the appendix may be some of his best writing in this book). Two points are well made in this book: the first is that we do a poor job of separating fact from that which the media can use to create a story and scare the crap out of us and second, that we need to be better about asking “from whence dost thou come” when looking at supposedly scientific research. We have, as with too many things in this world, politicized the collection of scientific data. Politics is a bad bed fellow with almost anything other than that which accommodates a basic framework protecting the rights of all to participate in dialogue; it is a very bad companion to religion and science.

The Church and the Homosexual - Fourth Edition by John J. McNeil

Of all the books I have read thus far in my study on Christianity and homosexuality, this is the best. Be sure to get the most recent edition as his addendums and notes are of interest to those who will appreciate how his therapeutic approach has changed over the years. I recommend this book in particular to those pastors who are struggling with specific questions that are Scriptural. By incorporating the analysis of Walter Wink and John Boswell, McNeil saves you some of the work in exploring their own respective more arduous academic works. Perhaps more than anything, McNeil’s treatment of the historical development of the teachings on homosexuality related to the culture within the Israelite and Roman societies is critical to a balanced understanding of the issue. I highly recommend his book.

The Once and Future Faith by Karen Armstrong et al

This book is a compilation of speeches given by various members of a 2001 gathering of the Jesus Seminar. Some of the works I found little to connect or agree with; however, I did enjoy in particular (as usual) the writing of Karen Armstrong and John Shelby Spong. Spong’s essay is a clear call from a believing Christian on the need for the Church to change in the doctrines it teaches. I also enjoyed one essay on the difference between Kingdom-Belief and Religion-Belief. One is focused purely inward, with a suspicious view of the outside world while the other advocates an involved family of believers making a difference in the world around them.

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• December 31, 2004

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