MysteriousFaith

March 2005 Bookshelf

Some of the most provocative books I have read in the last year including Doubt, The End of Faith, my first exposure to Martin Marty, and a superb biography of George Washington.

March 2005 Bookshelf

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

Struggling with the superb but mind-draining book Doubt, I took a break and borrowed my sister’s copy of The Rule of Four. This is a good mystery that I am surprised to see has been successful because of its unwillingness to follow the plot lines common in contemporary fiction. The plot has plenty of intrigue and a touch of violence, but the story is couched within academia. Perhaps most interesting in terms of the structure of the novel is that it stops short of the pandering story we have come to expect in modern accessible fiction. The book tells a powerful story of friendship, inherited pain, and the searching that characterizes our coming of age. Love is woven into the tapestry of the book, but it is a love that is marked by loss; its culmination left to the imagination at the end of the book instead of the expected simple wrap up that would have made us feel fulfilled. A fantastic read about an ancient riddle.

Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht

Faith and doubt are often seen as antagonists, and certainly in many ways they are; however, the story of doubters through history is a story very similar to that of faith; it is a story of people sacrificing, being reformed, challenging themselves and their world, and even of martyrs. I was personally very intellectually challenged by this book, not so much because of the depth of the arguments presented in the book but more because I see the scope shift between religion and reason across history suggesting that my newly found sense of truth is worth developing further. I was profoundly touched by learning more about the various doubters across time that led important social changes, and used their doubt as a means of doing so. A more complete review of how this 500 page magnum opus on doubt impacted me can be read on my site here.

Buddha by Karen Armstrong

Penetrating the life of any individual from some 2400+ years ago is difficult; gaining biographical insight into a religious figure who taught that the denial of self is the beginning of ultimate good is that much more problematic as his very teaching would require his followers to place little emphasis on those things that make the individual come alive millennia afterwards. This book is an attempt at a biography of Buddha (known as Siddhatta Gotama) by one of my favorite religions historians, Karen Armstrong. I did not find this book her best work; however, my comments perhaps need to be tempered by what I observed previously about the reason for the absence of good information about Buddha. While reading the legends of Buddha I was struck by how odd, fantastic and unreasonable their religious mythology seems. When I reflect on the myths of the Christian faith I was raised on they are no more or less outrageous, and yet the myths of Christianity seem more understandable to me. This is a powerful lesson about the role culture plays in belief, an observation I choose to focus on more as I question my religious beliefs.

The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount by Gershom Gorenberg

When I now read books of the dispensationalism variety talking about the end times I am amused, saddened and frightened. Surging beneath each of these emotions is a certain grace I would do well to cultivate, remembering that at one time my eschatology defined my belief. For me, beginning to question the hermeneutics of dispensationalism, specifically its contribution to prophetic interpretation, led to some of the first real insights and honesty in my spiritual walk. The End of Days is a book chronicling the role the Temple Mount plays in the various monotheistic faiths of the world (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), specifically the role it plays in the culmination of last days prophecy. I was chilled to read Gorenberg’s suggestion that prophetic Christian preachers within America be more careful in their fixation on Israel and the end times as similar emotions and preaching existed in Europe 100 years prior to the Crusades. Are we so foolish to think the dysfunctional fixation and systematic illogic of contemporary LaHaye fundamentalism will have no similar result?

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris

I have not resonated with an author as much as Sam Harris for quite some time. A year ago I would have found Sam’s thesis and conclusions deeply troubling. While I need more time spent searching and struggling to digest all of his arguments, I would have to say that he is the first author who fully captures my questions about organized religion and Christianity specifically. Where I love Brian McLaren for his heart, I do not appreciate the logical cliffs he leaves me at. Sam is willing to build bridges to cross those cliffs; regardless of the beliefs we must divest ourselves of in order to do so. Sam argues that religion is at the heart of many of man’s problems and that unless we properly put religion in its place we face a future of suffering and destruction at the hands of religious zealots. I was particularly mentally ready for an author to argue what I have been thinking recently, that religious moderates need to recognize their religious beliefs are not hospitable to pluralism or building a society that can project itself into the future.

Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies of the Ex-Gay Myth by Wayne R. Besen

Besen’s book can be difficult to read, not because he is unable to shape a phrase, but because he is so angry at the ex-gay movement as embodied by organizations like Exodus International. His analysis stresses the personal problems of the founding members, and those of the people that project the organizations into communities. The resulting underlying analysis would have been better served if he could have been less vitriolic and more focused on why it is that people supposedly “ex-gay” still embody homosexuality. Where his view is overly personal, it must be understood that he is angry over the lives he believes these organizations have ruined, including those that have given so little solace and so much condemnation as to drive homosexuals to suicide. This book has its place, but it should be seen for its anecdotal and journalistic strengths and not its empirical credentials. With that having been said, his insights into the goings-on within Christian ex-gay movements and the role homosexuality plays within the Christian political movement is sickening and needs to be read.

The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life by Phil Cousineau

At one level I want to deeply appreciate this work. On the other, particularly after finishing Sam Harris’ The End of Faith, I find Smith’s comments about religion deeply unsatisfying. Where I appreciate his desire to see the common themes in what has been called primordial religions - those base concepts shared between all communities of faith across all of time - I can not make the leap between those things held in common and those things that are fundamentally at odds with one another. Where Smith incorporates every possible religious tradition in his worldview, I am thankful for his contribution to our understanding of those things that, in the words of Bill Moyers, cause us to bend towards the light of the real like a plant towards a beam of light. But I believe Smith presents so many intellectual quandaries that when the book ends in the penultimate chapter he talks about his mystical spiritual experiences with Tim Leary and their shared use of psychedelic drugs to heighten these moments, he has lost me.

Children at War by P.W. Singer

Few sadder books have been recently published than Singer’s book on the role children play in modern warfare. The stories within this book should move us to tears, but more importantly, should cause us to give pause and listen attentively to another dimension of the horror left behind when nation states play dice with those less sovereign states that compose Latin America and Africa. It should not take the pain and military use of children to drive us to change our view of international law and judicious use of foreign policy at the hands of the powerful.

Gifted Grownups by Marylou Kelly Streznewski

My wife bought this book for me. It is an interesting analysis of what challenges gifted children have as they grow up. Interestingly enough, gifted people have some of the most problems in finding themselves and their desired futures. My wife, the patient woman she is, will appreciate the section on gifted people’s life long attachment to books.

Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by Marcus Borg

This book is a collection of speeches by one of the members of the Jesus Seminar. Borg takes a balanced position that does deny the orthodox idea of Jesus as being Divine. This book is by no means a historical argument for this, but is instead a glimpse into how Borg initially divested himself of his beliefs in God and Jesus only to find them again, albeit in a form that he would once have denied as having value.

Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? by William G. Dever

This book is a follow-up to Dever’s earlier book What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel. Dever argues that the effort by fundamentalists to take the Exodus and early Israelite history as presented in the Bible literally is equally mistaken with the revisionists who would say that all within the Bible as a whole is to be written off. Such even handed treatment of the historical and archeological records within charged topics that go to the heart of religious belief is not easy, but Dever manages to walk this fine line. He proposes a middle way that advocates letting history, archeology and the Biblical record come together to present evidence where evidence exists. This does require us to reform our understanding of the Exodus event itself as well as the formation of early Israel. On this latter point, Dever is able to argue persuasively that the Canaanite genocide can be seen as nationalism and not as Divine in large part because the archeological record not only does not support but contradicts such a conquering group of people coming into Canaan. Dever’s thesis is that the archeology supports an agrarian reform, land based revolution that gradually pulled people into a formed society through a type of sociological and quasi-political revolution. There are clear implications of these ideas to what within the Bible is Divine and what is of man, but it at least is an intellectual sincere effort at striking the proper balance based on the evidence.

His Excellency George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis (unabridged book on CD)

This book is the best biography of George Washington I have been exposed to. The book avoids the pitfalls of deification (the cherry tree stories) as well as those of vilification (all you need to know about him was that he owned slavery). The picture that is painted is realistic and human, which does bring to light a more pragmatic perspective on his skills and lack thereof (no military planner was he). The great virtue of Washington was his ability to lead through self-control and genuine virtue. Ellis calls out five of the key virtues of Washington’s life in the final chapter, the most important to Americans probably being Washington’s willingness to not be a monarch when he could easily have been one. Washington’s personality and leadership style was uniquely suited to our country’s early days when the debate between federalism and anti-federalists could have easily gotten out of control without calmer more moderate minds at play that those of Jefferson and Hamilton.

Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov

The back of this book has this description: “In an unnamed dream country, the young man Cincinnatus C. is condemned to death by beheading for ‘gnostical turpitude,’ an imaginary crime that defies definition. Cinncinnatus spends his last days in an absurd jail, where he is visited by chimerical jailers, an executioner who masquerades as a fellow prisoner, and by his in-laws, who lug their furniture with them into his cell.” The point of this book evades me, which is perhaps Nabokov’s point, that a story should not have to. As he says in the foreword to the book, “The question whether or not my seeing both [escaping from the Boshevist regime … just before the Nazi regime reached its full volume of welcome] in terms of one dull beastly farce had any effect on this book, should concern the good reader as little as it does me. Confusing words given the seeming points that could be drawn from Nabokov, a Stalinist era escapee from Russia who saw friends and family face their own judicial farces like Cincinnatus’ trial for “gnostical turpitude.”

When Faiths Collide (Blackwell Manifestos) by Martin E. Marty

This book, by the accomplished theologian Martin Marty, is a call for religious hospitality, not tolerance, with respect to questions that arise from religious pluralism. His arguments address many dimensions to this ranging from what is meant when the idea of pluralism is introduced (he makes the point that this word was not in existence prior to the 1920’s), and what religious communities are to make of this. His book, the first of his many works I have read, seems to me to be particularly effective at causing faith communities to give pause and consider the implications to the means by which they engage other believers. I fear, however, that his hospitality (what I think is best seen as simple grace) is not possible with true believers of any faith and as such, fear that his worldview may ultimately not be sustainable without a greater emphasis on what he touches on - the idea of civic or public religion. These ideas, held in elegant tension best by our founding fathers, is the guiding light out of modernity’s clash over religious theologies. Marty’s contribution to this dialogue is his balance, grace and the intellectual standard he holds himself to, a standard which creates in him a realization of the innate beauty, value and history of the world’s religions - those other stories we would do well to listen bend our ears towards.

“Are You There Alone?” by Suzanne O’Malley (abridged book on CD)

This book is disheartening at every level. The story is of Andrea Yates and the murder, at her hands, of her five children. Folded within the story is the how society makes room for mentally ill people to get better, and what the implications are to real mental illness when unleashed on our families. The situation is that much more sad when the dimensions of faith (prayer over medication) and unhealthy marital commitments (Russell Yates knew better but did not take the necessary precautions to protect his family, including his wife). A book full of sorrow but loaded with implications.

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (unabridged book on CD)

I loved this book! My first exposure to Lamott, I am confident I would get along just fine with this wounded, contrite, bawdy and empathetic personality. She sees God all around her, which is perhaps another way of saying that the reality of creation is evidence of something beyond us, hopefully a plan we can trust ourselves to be a loving part of.

Struggling With Scripture by Walter Breuggeman, William Placher, Brian Blount

I would love to tell you that this book answered my questions about Scripture - it did not. On point of fact, it came woefully short of this objective. It did, however, refresh my spirit by reminding me that there are Christians who struggle to understand the Bible in ways that are unconventional and reflect the questions modernity is raising. The book is not long enough to address each of my questions individually; however, it is sufficient reason for me to continue struggling. Let us revel in the fact that honest theologians do exist, and that they may be the voice of religion in the next century.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jarred Diamond (abridged book on CD)

This book should be at the top of our political leader’s summer reading lists. The book is a balanced argument that we need to appreciate how our advances impact the environment, specifically the reality that several key metrics related to the sustainable population of the world in relation to food output can not be maintained. The book avoids the chicken-little syndrome largely by methodically working through the various historical situations when societies have collapsed and comparing them to similar ecological and political situations from today, being careful to propose solutions where others would just highlight the problems. It is a depressing read, but one that needs to be incorporated into our understanding of the future challenges we will have as a species.

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• April 1, 2005

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One Response to “March 2005 Bookshelf”

1. Scandblue Says:
   April 2nd, 2005 at 11:10 pm

   Dear Ben,

   I have enjoyed reading your posts for some time now and particularly appreciate your book reviews. Last year you led me to Karen Armstrong’s “The Spiral Staircase” - the best book I read all year; and now I see several books you have reviewed that interest me, especially “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith” by Anne Lamott.

   I have been and am still on a spiritual quest to seek the real meaning of God, and who or what, for that matter, he/she is. If anything, I lean toward the teachings of the original Torah in Hebrew - not the Old Testament “King James” version translated from the Greek. In my spiritual quest - yes, I was led astray and taken advantage of and I am very suspicious of religious organizations as a result. So, I again thank you for your keen observations and writings which I have found so thoughtful and interesting.

   Best Wishes,

   Scandblue

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