MysteriousFaith

May 2005 Bookshelf

Heavy travel in May allowed for me to finish quite a few books, including NT Wright’s final Christian Origins and the People of God volume, a very thorough biography of Winston Churchill, the first volume of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, my first exposure to Ken Wilber, a biting commentary on President Bush, an incredible history of the Church and its involvement in Jewish persecution, and a well-worth read on the Trinity.

May 2005 Bookshelf

The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright

Without a doubt, this is the magnum opus of perhaps Wright’s career but also of contemporary historical analysis on the Resurrection. With almost a month to reflect on this book, I am left with questions that I do not feel entirely qualified to base a belief statement on - a reality that colors what I am willing to hold to within orthodoxy. Wright’s analysis requires the life of a scholar (and a first century Jewish scholar at that) to appreciate and analyze. It is with this in mind that I offered the questions and subtle criticisms in my on-line review of his book. This complete review can be found here at MysteriousFaith.

Six Days by Jeremy Bowen

This is a wonderfully readable history of the Israeli-Arab war of 1967. Bowen manages to find a delicate balance between the various agendas that are at constant odds with any discussion on Israeli-Arab conflict. He is cutting in his critique of Egypt’s Nasser, insightful in his analysis of Jordan’s Hussein’s resistance to the war itself, and properly nuanced in arguing why Israel did what it had to. Beyond these geo-political questions, Bowen digs into the excesses of the war and the difficulties many in Israel feared as they occupied parts of Palestine and threw out the Palestinian native populations. These bears have born truth, a truth about the implications to being an armed occupier that Israel still struggles to properly manage. This book is a great introduction to the smaller question of the 1967 war and the broader question of the roots of the first and second intifada.

Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples by V.S. Naipaul

Beyond Belief is a beautiful piece of literature on Naipaul’s travels through Indonesia, Iran and other Islamic countries. Naipaul attempts to understand what causes Islamic believers to become fundamentalist, but not from a political perspective; rather, he simply wants them to tell him their story. He succeeds in this goal, and creates an eminently readable history of Islamic believers, a personal dimension we would do well to prioritize during these loaded times of Islamic anger, and our anger towards them.

Scaling the Secular City by J.P. Moreland

My thoughts on this book, deemed a classic of Christian apologetics by many, are mixed. Having just finished NT Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God, I passed over the portion of the book that details Moreland’s analysis of the historicity of the Gospels. It seems to me the book serves best as a response to atheism, as Moreland adequately responds to various questions about the existence of God. I would have to say that I discovered something about myself while reading this book, namely my love for good philosophy said simply, not philosophy for its own sake. I found parts of the argument secondary and easily dismissed (as one example his discussion on science that can not be actually seen being secondary to science that can not be seen because of the proof standards inherent in visual acuity - it is a pedantic argument that relies on wordsmithing to the extreme, and is as unhelpful as it is verbose). On the whole I would not recommend this book, although I would imagine his book in dialogue with an atheist may make for better reading. A part of this book motivated my analysis in an essay here at MysteriousFaith.

The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations by Norman Yoffee, George L. Cowgill, et. Al.

I skimmed this book, reading sections of it, but avoiding those that were written with a limited academic audience in mind. The book is a collection of papers given at a University of Arizona conference on why civilizations collapse. Most of the analysis could be seen more immediately and approachable for the layman with Jarred Diamond’s Collapse than in these papers (again, only because he wrote for the general audience and they for academia). The analysis all point towards the inevitable understanding we need to have of the temporal nature of civilization, and how easily that which we hold so dearly can disappear for reasons that are ecological, economic, political and social.

Father Joe: the Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra (unabridged book on CD)

Tony Hendra, one of the founding members of The National Lampoon and Monty Python has written a beautiful book about his spiritual mentor, a man we come to love as Hendra does, the simply monk Father Joe. Hendra meets Father Joe as the result of an indiscretion of which Hendra was taken advantage of, and a well-meaning fundamentalist Catholic who misses his own mistakes in seeing only Hendra’s. What was meant for a particular type of reformation for Hendra becomes something very different - a love of the simple truths and elegant spirituality of Father Joe, a love and spirituality Hendra does not find in the Church, but always with him. The book is part autobiographical, but has openness about Hendra’s life and mistakes that I found refreshing. It is bold in its honesty, and powerful in its eloquence.

Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

This 960+ page biography of Winston Churchill is perhaps the epoch historical biography of Churchill. What it has in historical detail it does not in personal revelation; Gilbert’s analysis, while incredibly thorough and easy to read, does not make an attempt to interpret Churchill’s character beyond the most basic allusions certain stories require of him. With that in mind, this is no doubt the seminal historical biography of Churchill that will leave the reader breathless at the life Churchill lived. I was struck by his political reputation, prior to World War II, as seeing defense strength as needing to be acutely balanced against social causes and non-military governmental expenditures. I was equally impressed by his reputation for being strong at striking compromises; Gilbert more than once alludes to this being one of the unique contributions of Churchill that separated him from his political contemporaries. No doubt in part because of this reputation, Churchill was adept at avoiding the pitfalls of politics and seemed from the very beginning of his political career to be sensitive to the idea that he wanted to be a statesman before he was a politician. This internal desire led to an external strength as Churchill was willing to say the wrong thing at the wrong time if he felt popular convention was wrong and needed to be corrected. Of particular interest to me at this point in my life is that he was willing to commit to the ideal of a team, even if he did not wholly believe in the members or ideals of the team, if it was right for the country at that moment - no political opportunist was he. It should be no surprise that Churchill was no hater - even when he had the chance with Chamberlain’s failing in appeasing Hitler or in the aftermath of WWII and his view of the German people. In his life Churchill saw many sidesteps away from power and from purpose, but while he was often beaten, he was never defeated. A lesson in this, and in his life, can be found for us all.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1: The Turn of the Tide by Edward Gibbon

This is the first in Gibbon’s eight volume history of the Roman Empire. I have had this complete set for some time and not picked them up as I should have. This first volume did not envelop me; however, at times the piercing insight and sheer brilliance of particular sections makes working through the balance of this first volume worth it. When speaking of Augustus, Gibbon’s comment on this emperor as having been “… reserved for Augustus to relinquish the ambitious design of subduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of moderation into the public councils. Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for him to discover that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much less to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the possession more precarious, and less beneficial.” (Page 31) I will finish this classic, but as I have the time to appropriately reflect intelligently on a work of this magnitude.

The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Freidman (unabridged book on CD)

I desperately wanted to enjoy this book but was not fully able to. In part perhaps out of familiarity - it describes a world I know fairly well - the world of industrial globalization. I find myself more recently much more drawn to Robert Kaplan’s analysis which seems to project the downside of globalization as a more realistic short term reality. Kaplan’s perspective seems to be grounded in a better sense of the implications to societies adapting to modernity, and the position both industrial and non-industrial countries are in. Freidman’s analysis does cover this ground, but it seems an after-thought; almost as if a particular event forced him to acknowledge the downside to the upside he spent the first half of the book carefully crafting. This is an incredibly balanced analysis, to be fair, and to the extent you are looking for an introduction and primer to globalization, this book is well worth your time in reviewing. I believe other analyses are better presented but on balance, Freidman’s analysis is the type of both/and writing that is helpful in complicated times.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (unabridged book on CD)

This novel, based loosely on Vonnegut’s real World War II experiences in Dresden, Germany as a prisoner of war during the Allie’s fire bombing of the city that claimed 130,000 German lives, is the story of a mind breaking slowly, seeping its sensibility as the main character, Billy Pilgrim, grows older and can no longer fight off his demons. The parallel worlds that develop in Billy’s mind are rare moments of safety and security for him, even though people such as us would find them terrifyingly surreal. Vonnegut’s prose is uniquely descriptive without ever being verbose - when describing a colonel dying of tuberculosis he writes that he “… coughed like a greasy paper bag …” Vonnegut’s point in this novel is not about literature, but about the madness of war.

A special treat at the end of the CD’s this novel was on was an interview with Vonnegut. During it he reveals that Pilgrim was based on a real man who did die in Dresden because he “developed the thousand mile stare with his back to the wall … the Germans wouldn’t help you [when this happened] … and Billy was right … the war didn’t make any sense …” Vonnegut clearly lost whatever faith he had during the war - a phenomenon not unique to WWII but common to war in general. Vonnegut develops an extraterrestrial world Billy slips into at certain moments in time, during which the author can make more caustic comments outside the stereotypical angry words that find themselves when pen is used to describe war. One such caustic comment is when Vonnegut has the ET’s give Billy a new Gospel; they teach Billy the point of the Gospels was supposed to be that God wanted you to be merciful, but what man took away from the Gospels was that “if you have to kill someone, make sure he isn’t well connected.” They give the Gospels back to Billy with the focus only on grace and forgiveness, letting Jesus live.

During moments of the book when a person has died, when people have been slaughtered, or when a pain known only in war is described, Vonnegut sets these moments aside with the words “so it goes.” With these words he attempts to let the characters cope, justify and explain what can not be coped with, justified or explained. The madness of war is set aside with the only words that allow us to pull back from the cliff - words of seemingly crazed indifference. Billy is not indifferent, he actually gets the madness, and it slowly kills him, separating his mental faculties from day to day existence. Billy’s mind has broken, reverting to old memories and present mirages - a safe combination for anyone who has seen the madness of war.

The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion by Ken Wilber (unabridged book on CD)

In May I finished my first Ken Wilber book, The Marriage of Sense & Soul: Integrating Science and Religion. It varies between being very approachably written (typically when he is introducing and outlining his thesis), but can become much more analytic and academic (usually as he supports his arguments in the detail they require). In these latter parts, the book becomes a more challenging read - he loses me about half way through after he introduces the four quadrants his language gets a bit obtuse and unhelpful (but that is probably more a commentary about my understanding than his writing); he gets back to where I can more easily access his work again before ending the book.

His writing captures my thoughts currently on orthodoxy within all faith traditions - that is where most evangelicals would separate from him. In this book he says that faith traditions, if they are ever to be integrated into the post-modern world, will have to “put brackets around their myths” … which he makes a point of saying does not mean they are not true, simply that they can not be integrated into a post-modern world with primacy (they only serve to differentiate between “us” and “them”) or can be separated from their past of being linked to power: ” … evidence undoes mythology … mythology hides from evidence … and mythology has been a source of oppression … because power, not truth, drives claims that hide from evidence …” I look forward to more of Wilber’s books as I can find the time.

Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda by Michael Barnett

This book is a balanced condemnation of the organizational resistance, both formal and philosophical, that impeded the UN’s involvement in bringing the Rwandan genocide to a halt. To appreciate this book is to see the nuanced case Barnett makes, evaluating how organizations function and make decisions (his analysis of Weber’s insights are particularly helpful in a conversation about the UN in general).

Post Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution by Russell Rathbun

Rathbun’s book is a post-modern analysis of what it means to be a post-modern preacher. It is funny and insightful and worth a quick read.

Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Eritrea by Robert D. Kaplan

Kaplan’s analysis again rises to a unique level in this book, a review of what really happened to cause the Ethiopian famines and what political institutions and NGO’s should have done to deal with the reality behind the famines. Kaplan’s argument requires a pragmatism that can be hard for some, but his underlying belief is that to do the right thing you must, at times, be prepared to be harsh.

Buddhism is Not What You Think: Finding Freedom From Beliefs by Steve Hagen

This book was difficult to read in part because it embodies a concept I struggle with profoundly - selflessness. I find much to dwell on in Buddhism’s argument that beliefs actually get in the way of spirituality and transcendence. I have more to say on this topic and will be writing about this book in more detail here on MysteriousFaith.

Arius: Heresy and Tradition by Rowan Williams (Revised Edition)

William’s book on Arius, a reprint of what some consider his seminal work, argues that Arius - while a heretic by the definition of the Church - was a committed conservative who actually wanted to uphold the monotheistic view of God that relied more on Judaism than the Platonic influence the Church fathers relied on what developing ideas as to the Trinity. The book is a dense read and is not for everyone; a more readable commentary on the Arian controversy is Richard Rubenstein’s When Jesus Became God.

In the Shadow of ‘Just Wars’: Violence, Politics and Humanitarian Action edited by Fabrice Weissman

This book is a compilation of essays by people who work with Doctors without Borders. Its analysis includes a brief history of a number of international humanitarian conflicts and the means of impacting them. Some proved helpful and others were terrible mistakes. The organization embodied in this book, Doctors without Borders, pursues its own agenda believing that political institutions have to make compromises that sacrifice too many innocent people’s lives.

In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: a Memoir of Iran by Christopher de Bellaigue

One of the lasting contributions of Edward Said’s Orientalism is his desire to allow Arabs to speak for themselves outside of the prejudices that can easily accumulate from those who look from the outside in. This perspective, while valuable as a check to the loyalties of those within a culture may have that prejudice their ability to see weaknesses, needs to be tested against a culture’s own unique voice. Bellaigue is an interesting mix of an outside insider - he is an Englishman married to an Iranian living in Iran. This memoir is of the post-Ayatollah Iran, its confusing contradictions and its murmured discontents. Iran is a complicated county that is not worthy of the monolithic representations the media resorts to when talking about the country. It is worth remembering that what led to the current Ayatollah reign in Iran of militant Islamic fundamentalists was a corrupt American protected president; we would do well to allow the Iranians who are discontented with their government find their own voices and begin their own revolution.

Constantine’s Sword: the Church and the Jews by James Carroll

This book is one of the most profound and eloquently well-written books I have read in the last year. Its emphasis is the role the Church has played in the history of the Jews. Carroll’s argument is the Church’s theology, doctrine and politics inevitably led to much of the Jewish persecution over the centuries. Carroll’s personal story told through his own spiritual journey and family history makes the history approachable and intelligible. This book is one of my top reads thus far for 2005.

The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound by Anthony F. Buzzard and Charles F. Hunting

The authors of this book, who accept the resurrection of Jesus and place him firmly within an exalted idea they see as symmetric to the Jewish concept of Messiah, also deny the Trinity. I was thrilled with this book, its analysis and its simple but profound arguments against the orthodox definition of the Trinity. Few ideas within Christendom are as confusing and unhelpful as the Trinity, and these authors understand this. Early on in the book they quote Thomas Jefferson who said of the Trinity “… [it is] an unintelligible proposition of Platonic mysticisms that three are one and one is three; and yet one is not three and three are not one … I never had sense enough to comprehend the Trinity, and it appeared to me that comprehension must precede assent.” (Page 5)

I especially appreciated these authors’ comments about the Gospel (here quoting Henry Colman from 1820): “The Gospel was addressed to plain and honest minds, and plain and honest minds can understand its important and practical lessons. The great principles of natural religion are so simple that our Savior thought men could gather them from the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, and the clouds of heaven; and he demanded of those who stood around him, why they did not of themselves judge what is right. The Gospel was addressed to the poor, the uneducated; and it was committed to unlettered men to teach it to others. It would be strange, therefore, if only the learned could understand or explain it. In truth, its great and practical principles and character are most simple, as those will find it, who study it in the teachings and examples of Jesus, rather than admist the confusion of tongues, hypercriticisms, the presumptuous, or the frivolous conceits of uncompromising, prejudiced, bigoted, infuriate polemics; and enveloped in all the mystery and metaphysical abstruseness of theological controversy.” (Pages 305-306)

For me, this book was important in that it confesses the blatant misrepresentations and over-reading that takes place when orthodox Christianity attempts to argue for the truth of the Trinity; however, in doing that it must resort to some complicated arguments of its own. It is here when two schools of equally good intentioned theologians disagree, I choose to believe truth is to be found elsewhere. I do not confess the truth of the Trinity although, as with many things, I do acknowledge the limits of my knowledge. Near the end of the book the authors warn us that, “Nor should the penetrating observations of contemporary historians be ignored. Historians have a way of seeing truth clearly, where theologians are prone to have their vision blurred by tradition.” (Page 316 - emphasis mine).

Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential by James Moore and Wayne Slater

This book is frustrating and compelling. Rather than resort to the one-dimensional critiques of Bush (his intelligence, etc.), this book attempts to argue for the means by which Bush and Karl Rove work together. The insights, while primarily about Rove’s character, say quite a bit about Bush as well. Of particularly troubling nature are those comments by people who know both well and who deeply fear the means by which Bush makes decisions coupled with the gravity of the decisions he is making in a post 9/11 world. The haste and sloppy logic that led us to Iraq was no surprise to these journalists, and in point of fact, would have been preventable had more people given their voices credibility.

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2 Responses to “May 2005 Bookshelf”

1. Rich Says:
   June 6th, 2005 at 3:14 pm

   I just read “Father Joe” too - great fun! I did a piece on it at my site. Also, Slaughterhouse Five is one my favorite books of all time! I’ve read it - along with other Vonnegut books - at least a half-dozen times. Peace!

2. Phil Says:
   July 9th, 2005 at 1:37 pm

   Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors. His writing style is like a delicious sandwhich made completely out of -awesome-. The audiobooks never do him justice. It must be read.

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