MysteriousFaith

August 2005 Bookshelf

Afterwar: Veterans From a World in Conflict by Lori Grinker

This book is a poignant collection of photojournalist quality portraits and letters from individuals who participated in war as either a soldier or civilian. In the pictures and letters within this book are pain and a reluctance to make war out to be something special. The affects of war are seen clearly as being the naked horror they have always been. A terrific read.

Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama

Weighing in at 875 pages, this book is the contemporary authoritative history of the French Revolution. Its arguments as to the explanation of the Revolution are three-fold, the first being a spirit of antagonism (what Schama calls “brutal competition”) between the state, which commanded patriotism, and a political climate which engendered thoughts of liberty without the limitations of the monarchy. The second argument is Schama attempting to show that the eighteenth century French public saw their family lives, specifically the roles within them, as emblematic of the political membership as a citizen within the republic. Lastly, Schama presents the violence of the Revolution honestly, believing its dismissal or trivialization serves the purposes of pretending implications to the political climate were anything less than terribly violent. For those who have the stamina to follow through the book to its end, the reward is a thorough appreciation of the causes and results of the French Revolution.

Jesus & Buddha: the Parallel Sayings edited by Marcus Borg, introduction by Jack Kornfield

Struggling with the immense significance of this book is part of giving voice to deeper doubts people have about the orthodoxy of Christianity. To take seriously the enormous parallels between the teachings of Buddha and of Christ in a single swipe belays the theological obstructions thrown up by those who would have us believe both religions argue for different things. To allow the religions to speak on their own, particularly those parts of each tradition that are mystical in nature, is to see the incredible similarities. I loved this book for its insights, its comparisons, but most importantly because I see in it my need to focus on the teachings of transcendent beauty and not the questions of orthodoxy. One holds the promise of incredible change, the other brittle dogmatism. I highly recommend this book, but most importantly I heartily recommend the change in perspective that comes from taking seriously the wisdom components to each and discarding the theologies.

Why Intelligent Design Fails: a Scientific Critique of the New Creationism by Matt Young and Tanor Edis (editors)

Written for scientifically trained people, among them public school teachers besieged by the intelligent design (ID) movement to present evolution as just “a theory” and ID as an equally valid “theory”, this book presents responses that are primarily scientific (although some are philosophical) in response to Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box specifically. The topic this book touches on is one of the pivotal issues within contemporary debate over the role of religion in the public forum because people rightly sense that evolution and any literal form of Christianity are wholly incompatible. Of all the issues that could emasculate religion, evolution is probably most important. This is why ID is important to so many; it is an attempt to take the observations of modern science and argue for a new form of creationism outside of the traditional bounds of literalism past creationists have run aground on.

Biblical Nonsense: A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians by Dr. Jason Long

I bumped this book to the top of my reading list after browsing some of the Amazon.Com reviews of it. The book is perhaps best seen as a straight on response to the fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible although, in fairness I do think his analysis cuts equally deeply and effectively when set alongside even the Emergent movement’s gradually developing theology. I believe Dr. Long is correct is his analysis; however, I believe we have to pull a lesson from two things. First, the difficulties people have in going from the overarching theism that has been the scope of most of humanity’s history and second, the need for most people to have some basic case/effect-reward/punishment rationale in place for their beliefs to function. With both of these points in mind, I think the best synthesis of the role of religion in contemporary society is that put forward by Ken Wilber who would agree with Dr. Long as to Dr. Long’s effort to demythologize religion.

Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco by David L. Phillips

For those few people holding on to the vain hope that the situation in Iraq will somehow end peacefully, this book is worth reading. The author is an expert in Iraq who has been an advisor to the State Department during various negotiating sessions in the country, with the Turkish and Kurdish populations specifically. Phillips’ analysis offers much to detailed historians and policy experts in Iraqi affairs and, to the broader student of political history, is a reminder that nation building is an orthodoxy we do not yet fully understand and may, in point of fact, may never be possible when imposed on a people by an outside force versus an internal revolution the people themselves own. The latter is what Lenin meant when he supposedly said “revolutions that are not started from within are doomed to failure.”

Jefferson’s Secret: Death and Desire at Monticello by Andrew Burnstein (unabridged book on CD)

What a fascinating insight into a side of Jefferson’s life few fully appreciate. This book is another part in my attempt to more fully understand the intellectual journey of our Founding Fathers. Jefferson in particular is of interest to me as I resonate with the difficult and tenuous balance he attempted to walk between the need for federalism and a respect for state rights. This transferred into his relative greater trust for the people versus his relative distrust for organizations. Jefferson managed to be an idealist in an age when great ideas meant something significant. I also particularly enjoyed Burnstein’s treatment of Jefferson’s relationship to physiology. Jefferson’s view of physiology is probably closest to contemporary people’s efforts to introduce psychological and neurological insights into questions of personal behaviour. Burnstein goes so far as to argue that to understand Jefferson’s sexual relationship with Sally Hemmings one has to have an appreciation for the accepted medical, relational and philosophical thinking that was in place for sex. In Jefferson’s day it was believed that to resort to manual sexual self-pleasure (my reluctance at using the more descriptive word is to not be banned by those readers with screening software) was damaging to the body and mind. It was believed that it was better, both physically and emotionally, to have a relationship with another person – even if that meant prostitution. Burnstein does an incredible job at painting a picture of Jefferson set solidly within his day, his time, and his understanding of the world.

Bono: In Conversations with Michka Assayas by Michka Assayas

My buddy Rich at TheoCenTric.Com has a great review of this book. I advise you to take very seriously Rich’s comments about Bono and the book, but to not take so seriously Rich’s comments about Bono’s music! This book is an easy read of a man who is willing to be transparent in his beliefs, his foibles, his trials and his successes. He does this all while embodying rock star cool which is not a small achievement.

Sex With Kings: Five Hundred Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry and Revenge by Eleanor Herman

This book is an interesting historical chronicle of the mistresses, their bastard children, spurned wives and philandering kings. The book manages to never be lurid and, when reflect on, actually paints a very sad picture of arranged marriages never born of love which turned into excuses to be promiscuous, ruining people, kingdoms and in some cases, turning countries against one another.

Martin Luther King by Harry Harmer (unabridged book on CD)

As biographies go, this was much too truncated. As biographies of Martin Luther King go, this book was insufficient in its detail in general. This book would be a good introduction to MLK for high-school or similarly staged readers.

The Revenge of God: the Resurgence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Modern World by Gilles Kepel

This book, a translation from the original French version, is an analysis of Islam, Christianity and Judaism’s contemporary reanimation in their respective cultures. I found the analysis consistent with Martin Marty’s discussions on fundamentalisms; as such, I would choose Marty’s work for a bit more depth and explanation than Kepel’s.

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West

This book presents three problems that are undermining American democracy: free-market fundamentalism (the idea that the market is the greatest good and can be trusted to accomplish all that society needs most effectively and fairly), aggressive militarism (as embodied by the American culture’s embracing of our post-9/11 military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq), and authoritarianism (here the question of the role of government in public life and religion in private has to be explored). The book is a withering analysis of each of these problems in a readable and approachable fashion. Highly recommended.

previous post: The Problem Of Being a Media Personality Is …
next post: Story - Friend or Foe?

• Posted in Bookshelf
• 1 comment
• Trackback
• August 30, 2005

• Bookmark on del.icio.us
• Bookmark on Digg

One Response to “August 2005 Bookshelf”

1. Andy Says:
   September 17th, 2005 at 5:40 am

   Hi Ben. I was on a retreat at a Franciscan monastery when I found Borg’s wonderful little book on Jesus and Buddha. In his book written with N.T. Wright, Borg says that we are currently in a transitional state from old religion to new religion which is currently dominated by the secular worldview. Several historians and theologians (including Paul Tillich) have predicted great things to come from the meeting of Jesus and the Buddha. I think we have already seen this in such figures as Thomas Merton and the many Catholic Zen roshis as well as Buddhists such as D.T. Suzuki and Thicht Nhat Hanh. What is so brilliant about Borg’s book is that he remains silent allowing Jesus and Gautama to speak on their own. It simultaneously shatters the secular worldview which denies any sense of the ’sacred’ and the fundamentalist worldview which refuses to allow God to step out of the box. Last week, on holiday, I was visiting a Christian monastery in the hills above Prague. Outside the vast theological library there was a hall of curiosities and artefacts from around the world. Aside from a miniature galleon and a stuffed hammerhead shark, the monks had also collected a very old china statue of the Buddha. Years before Tillich and the others made their prophesy, Jesus and Buddha were already reaching out to one another in these cloisters.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website