Intellectuelle   Books

Good day, blogging friends! I may need to take a break for a few days because I realized that I am about 300 pages behind in my reading for my class on World Missions.

Nancy Pearcey is very supportive of what we're doing here, and has graciously accepted my invitation to be on our list of guest bloggers.  Meanwhile, I need to get busy reading her most recent work, Total Truth:  Liberating Christianity From Its Cultural Captivity, which just won the 2005 ECPA Gold Medallion Award for best book in the category of �Christianity and Society.�  Here's more from the press release:

This week I received a copy of the study guide for Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Study Guide Edition) which is due to be released shortly. What I especially enjoy about it is that she has introduced new material in the form of recent events (e.g. Ron Reagan speaking on ESCr and cloning at the DNC). For each chapter of the book, she provides new material and examples showing the conflict between worldviews in the areas of bioethics, origins, and even the church and Christian higher ed. On page 485, Nancy takes the reader back to chapter 1 where she discusses how its possible "to be Christian in our beliefs yet secular in the way we live." She provides even more content to that discussion:

The vast majority of Christian colleges and universities perpetuate the sacred/secular divide, according to a study by Robert Benne (Quality of the Soul, 2001). He calls it an 'add-on' approach because it treats Christianity as something added on to the curriculum-through chapel, Bible studies, and prayer groups-while the course content is esentially the same as any secular university. These colleges define themselves as Christian because of their ethos and atmosphere, not because they teach a distinctive vision of the world.

The upshot is that many of our churches and schools are turning out young people who are Christian in their religious life but secular in their mental life-who unthinkingly absorb secular worldviews.

I couldn't help but to be personally impacted by this additional example. Recently, I've been faced with people in my life who wear their faith on their sleeve yet act in ways that are usually less than Christian. It's this behavior that shows how the Church has been secularized and why Total Truth is an important tool for Christian worldview education today.

Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Study Guide Ed.)

There once was a gal introspective,
Not sure what should be her objective.
So into a book, she did take a look
In the hope to renew her perspective.

I am reading a book by sought-after business consultant Stephen Covey, who is often dismissed as dangerous by Christians because he is a Mormon and utilizes "new age" techniques like visualization. Last year I read and loved his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and compared those habits to Biblical principles. This is a reprint from my blog last year, but I thought those of you who are interested in psychology might find this worth a think.

The first habit he recommends we cultivate is "Being Proactive", rather than reactive; meaning, that we have the choice to determine how we will respond in any circumstances, based on our values, rather than our emotions etc. He even names Joseph as a fabulous example of "proactivity", which indeed he is. We are counseled in the scriptures that "As much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men", which makes clear that how we react to something and how we deal with situations is indeed within our control. Jesus Christ was the ideal proactive person, focusing on his goal and not letting himself be dissuaded by what others thought of Him or His mission.

The second habit is "Begin With the End in Mind". In Mr. Covey's perspective this means to determine what your goals and values are, so that you can evaluate your attitudes, your actions and your activities accordingly. In the Christian faith, our end goal is to hear the saviour say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant"

The third habit is "Putting First Things First", and Mr. Covey points out how all activities in life fall into one of four categories:

1) Urgent and Important
2) Important, Not Urgent
3) Urgent, Not Important
4) Not Important, Not Urgent

He points out how many people spend much of their lives involved in activities from sections 3 and 4, rather than organizing their time so that section 2 activities take precedence. So many of us are controlled by the tyranny of the unimportant urgent and the unimportant unurgent, although if asked, we would say our priorities are different. Biblically, to avoid doing this is to redeem the time.

Habit 4 is to "Think Win/Win". By this Mr. Covey means that we should seek to find solutions to issues and problems in which everyone benefits, rather than having a competitive view of life and relationships. "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others".

Habit 5 is "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood". This was a very convicting chapter for me, as Mr. Covey points out how so often when we talk with others, we are not really *listening* to understand what the person is saying from their perspective. We are listening in order to respond, listening in order to advise from our own perspective. I do this much too often, and learning to really listen is definitely included in the outline of "Dying to Self", because you are seeking to be a servant to that person who is speaking to you by taking the focus completely off yourself and putting it on them and their needs.

The 6th habit is "Synergize", which means that when people work together, what is produced is greater than the sum of its parts. I was reminded of the picture we are given in the Scriptures of the Body of Christ.

Habit 7 is "Sharpen the Saw", which simply means to periodically renew oneself through rest, prayer and wholesome recreation. Think fellowship. Think nutrition. Think prayer, reading, planning. This is to avoid burnout, and the Scriptures speak of this as "refreshment".

I will be going through his book, First Things First, on my own blog over the next few days and/or weeks, so if any of you are interested in looking deeply at your life and your purpose, feel free to join me.

I have just about finished reading all the books listed on the sidebar of my blog, and I'm seeking more. Unfortunately, I have to have them shipped to Korea--an expensive endeavor--I need to choose carefully. I don't want to go to the trouble of procuring a book, only to finish it one day after it arrives!

So, I've been looking around for a few ideas. Tulip Girl has an interesting wishlist/reading list. I am particularly interested in The Kingdom of Christ: A New Evangelical Perspective, and Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement. Guess I'm attracted to books with "kingdom" in the title.

Any of you out there have any recommendations for me? I tend towards theology and Christian living. But I don't want to limit myself to that. I would love to read more about science, especially physics or mathematics. I read and enjoyed Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick, and I started In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality. I'd also like to read about Intelligent Design.

I'm not a big novel reader. My taste in novels tends towards the heavier side, like The Brothers Karamazov and The Samurai. But I'm open to new ideas.

So, give me your recommendations. What should I read next? What's on your current reading list or wishlist? Any books I should avoid?

An interview with Carolyn Custis James, author of "Lost Women of the Bible" is posted at Common Grounds Online. Carolyn is an inspiration to women like myself as she is able to show women how the study of theology is relevant to their lives. She also authored "When Life & Beliefs Collide," a book that expounds on the life and ministry of Mary & Martha. Read them both!

(by Carolyn Custis James; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005; 239 pages)

To what extent are the ideas of women�s roles steeped in the humanly conceived traditions of the Christian subculture? This is the essential question being considered in Carolyn Custis James� (CCJ) latest work, Lost Women of the Bible. In ten chapters, CCJ examines the life roles of women in the Bible, beginning with Eve and concluding with the Women of Philippi. CCJ encourages the reader to reflect on how women's roles today may be defined by the traditions of the current Christian subculture and not by scriptural mandate as she shows was often the case for the women of Scripture.

I especially admire CCJ's treatment of the biblical narratives of Sarah and Hagar. This accounting is helpful in establishing that, not only was the culture of that time partly responsible for Sarah's sense of urgency to give Abraham a son, but that succumbing to the pressure to fulfill that role was to the detriment of the human dignity of other persons � namely, Hagar and her son.

Instead of drawing her identity and purpose from God, Sarah fell into the same trap that catches the rest of us. She listened to the voices of her culture, her circumstances, and the people around her who were telling her who she was, what would make her life fulfilling, and how she could contribute. (p.80)

The story of Hannah is yet another biblical story that does anything but resonate with contemporary concepts of womanhood. Imagine spending years going through infertility treatment, wanting to desperately to have a child to love and adore, finally conceiving only to give that child to another couple to adopt as a pure act of service. This isn't exactly what happened to Hannah, but its close. CCJ notes that what was on Hannah's heart and mind was not merely the need to fulfill her own desire to be a mother, but rather to serve God by giving back to God what was given to her�her son, Samuel. Of course, it�s true that all things belong to God, including our children, and that there is a distinct principle that we can draw from Hannah�s life about how what we believe about God correlates directly with how we live our lives. From the time she conceives through the period in which she gives up her son, we see a woman who seeks God and unremittingly worships him.

Lost Women of the Bible clearly articulates the nature of the cultural mandate � that from the beginning both men and women were both created in the image of God to �rule and subdue together� (p. 159). For women who are lost in the Church, perhaps not fulfilling the expected role of wife and mother because they are single and career-oriented or even pursuing education, this is a breath of fresh air. The examples of Tamar and Esther make perfectly clear that the call to action from God is sometimes without a male counterpart taking the lead, but ultimately dependent upon her obedience to step out in faith. This is a must-read for all of us who hear the call, for such a time is this�

John Piper fans, of which I am one, tend to aggregate naturally, like iron filings on a magnet. My guess is that 75% of our readers have already perused one or more reviews of Sex and the Supremacy of Christ and a good number may have read the book already. Thus, rather than boring you with another summary, I will launch directly into my personal experience with the book.

The chapter actually written by John Piper will be no big shocker if you have read him before. Piper is a musician with only one tune: �The Supremacy of Christ� and a variation on it called �The Glory of God.� Having already read five of Piper�s books before I tackled this one, what he wrote here about sex was no surprise. I don�t say that as a criticism. His radical God-centered theology is never old news. But I do wish he would have descended a little deeper into human psychology and explained why and how sex brings glory to God, rather than merely stating that it does. Maybe that is a subject for another book. I hope Lauren Winner deals with the psychology of sex in Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity a book I plan to read someday.

Being a married woman now for two and half years, I was immediately interested in what the Carolyn Mahaney had to say in the chapter she wrote for Christian wives. Her advice addressed dealing with being �available� for one�s husband and overcoming past sexual abuse. Since I have ever had even the remotest difficulty in either area, I found little for me. Perhaps other woman may find it to be exactly what they need.

It did keep me thinking for several weeks about how strange it is that none of the advice on sexuality for Christian women seems applicable to my temperament. Every Man�s Battle was far more relevant to me than anything I�ve ever read directed to women, although what it had to say about women also seemed bizarrely off-base. Is there a generational difference here? Sometimes I wonder. The women I know who are under 30, including myself, seem to have far more trouble controlling their sexuality than embracing it. I remember a conversation I had with a friend when both of us were studying to becoming missionaries and were also engaged to be married. She said, �I�m not worried that my husband might have an affair someday�I�m worried that I would!� I heartily concurred with her. So why the lack of information from Christian authors for women dealing with temptation?

The most helpful chapter was �Making All Things New: Restoring Pure Joy to the Sexually Broken� by David Powlison. In this chapter, Powlison does not fail to elaborate on the fact that women also struggle with sexual temptation, though he does not give as much space to men who have been sexually victimized. His case study of �Tom,� a single Christian man who struggles with compulsive masturbation was an excellent account of how sexual battles are often (I�m tempted to say �always�) the outward manifestation of underlying sins, such as anger at God or a desire for power or revenge. Some of his insights reminded me of Larry Crabb's analysis of sin inInside Out. The church fails to help those who have been broken by sexual six, whether as perpetrators or victims, when we fail to realize that recovery/repentance is more than merely making a mental decision to forgive once and for all or a internal vow to �never do it again� but involves allowing God�s mercy to transform hidden parts of our soul. Though Powlison does not say it in these exact words, I think he believes that since alienation from God is the root of our dysfunctions, including sexual, healing must come through learning the character and ways of God, not merely through relying on our own self-control.

The one chapter which seems to be missing here and also in every other book I�ve seen is a chapter for pedophiles. I confess that pedophilia is probably the one sexual sin that still truly scandalizes me, and I don�t think I�m alone in my shock. People talk a lot about how to help the victims of childhood sexual abuse, but talk a lot less about what to do with people who have urges to abuse children. I�d like to believe that pedophilia is rare enough that it doesn�t need to be addressed in a general book on sex, but sadly, statistics and experience seem to say otherwise. What should a Christian do when he is tempted by children? Keeping it secret doesn�t seem to work. But who really has the guts to confess such a thing to other Christians or even to one�s pastor? I have never yet read an testimony, even an anonymous one, by a Christian who struggled with pedophilia and learned to overcome, yet I know that many people in the church do struggle. Of course, once a child has been molested, the law needs to be involved. But what about those people who have not acted out on their urges? The church should find a way to help those people to �stay clean� for the rest of their lives. Keeping it secret and hoping that the moment will never arrive when one gives in to the temptation is just inviting disaster.

There has been a book of my husband's languishing on a shelf beside my broken laptop computer, a box of unused office supplies and other odds and ends. It's a beat-up looking small paperback with the spine written entirely in Chinese characters, except for the number 17.

A musing and some links:

I wonder why it is that there is a pretty dire smattering of Christian art. Christian novels rip off the latest fads on the romance shelf (albeit within a moral framework); we don't seem to have any writers like Tolkein around any longer; we create kitschy figurines rather than memorable paintings that push boundaries; and are there any Christian playwrights?

However, one notable contemporary artist today is Makoto Fujimura. He starts his discussion about A.R.T., an acronym which encompasses the idea of artists as reconcilors (ART = awareness, reconcilation, transformation). He also has a great article called, Why Art? that is well worth a read. Does anyone else know of any notable Christian artists (of any variety) who are doing seriously unique things as they live out their calling as Christian artists?

In my own field of literature, it seems that the general public seems to feel that the 'great books', the 'classics', the 'canon', are too out-of-date, too out-of-touch with reality (hence the proliferation of books that capture you because they're page turners, a la Dan Brown). But these page-turners books don't really teach us anything; they're the modern equivalent of reality TV. They don't mark a specific point in our lives or affect us deeply. We aren't changed because we've read them.

And I guess, for me, part of what makes a good book is a book that you remember for years, that marks itself on you somehow, that changes how you think and feel. I'd like to recommend a few of these books below; I won't write about them now because I think I need to process their effects a bit more first.
Chaim Potok's The Chosen
Alistair Macleod's No Great Mischief
Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Housekeeping
Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady
(And, I think it's significant that I'm not talking about any of these in my PhD. They need to remain untouched somehow).

In an interesting review essay called, 'God of the Latte', Lauren Winner looks at two books which:

ask what a spirituality of suburbia, a spirituality for people who drive mini-vans and tend manicured lawns (or pay someone else to tend them), might look like.

I found such an idea fascinating and am looking forward to getting to read these books. In another review article, Jason Biersma writes about Eric Jacobsen's Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith, thus:

He delicately but firmly makes the case that the New Urbanism movement, with its advocacy of public spaces and variety in neighborhoods, is of urgent importance to the Church and needs its support.

Biersma continues:

Jacobsen anticipates the question of why Christians should care about sidewalks when we're supposed to worry about salvation. To begin with, the characteristics of our urban environments determine how we are able to spread the gospel; it's easier to reach out to pedestrians in public places than to car-bound citizens cruising from their gated community to a Costco.

The ministry of Christ thrived, Jacobsen says, on "incidental contact"�such as the healing of the woman who bumped into Christ in a crowd and touched his robe. Today Christ couldn't stride alongside the two men on the road to Emmaus�he would have to materialize in the backseat of their SUV while they sped along the interstate. More subtly, shared public space shapes how we learn the virtues of civility, hospitality, and authenticity�and lack of the former tends to translate into a lack of the latter.

However, it isn't as if the city provides the answers while the suburbs are looked down upon as Biersma personally reflects:

The city can, in fact, be a lonely place, as my wife and I have discovered upon moving to our downtown Chicago high-rise. We were eager to leave behind the provincialism of our hometown and gratify the kind of cosmopolitanism Isaiah's urban vision arouses. But we underestimated the anonymity of the city�the fact that people come here to mind their own business and hope others follow suit. It's not just SUVs and strip malls that keep people from interacting.

In short, I'm wondering if what our readers think of the city mouse versus the country mouse; what Christianity looks like in the suburbs and in the cities and how the gospel is applicable to both.

Does living out the gospel in each place look different? How do we go about being counter-cultural wherever we are placed?

The Trinity & Subordinationism: The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary Gender Debate
by Kevin Giles

Upon discussion with my pastor about where our church stands on the gender debate, I was lent this book, 'The Trinity & Subordinationism: The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary Gender Debate' by Kevin Giles. Not as representative, necessarily, but as something that digs into the theology of the debate. And that, friends, is definitely what this book attempts to do.

I would categorize the book's framework as tri-partite in format covering three related issues: (1) Theology of the Trinity, (2) Women, subordinate or equal?, and (3) Slavery, as Church theology has dealt with it and how it relates to gender theology. It uses a two-pronged approach to the arguments, one based within the Athanasian formula of "overview" exegesis and the second based upon the idea of cultural change requiring scriptural interpretation change, or what I term an "evolutionary" view of interpreting scripture. This two-pronged approach was submitted early on, in the introduction, but it wasn't until the final chapters which dealt with Slavery, that I understood better how Giles explains his application of the evolutionary, or cultural, form of argument. I still felt it was the much weaker manner of arguing the issues, especially for someone like me. And I basically disagreed with the premise, but additionally, I felt Giles took a facile manner of dealing with this form, as if it was self-evident truth. I would debate that, but in the further development of his ideas I could see a platform of agreement in the argument that as time progresses more of God's intent is unfolded, and gives greater understanding. Rather than an unvarnished promotion of "things are different now, and that forces us to re-interpret scripture" which is how I tended to read his line of thinking earlier in his formation of the presentation.

But in commenting further upon these two ways of arguing hermeneutics, I believe Athanasius' formula of "overview" is best for dealing with application of scripture to society's dilemmas. If following the watershed path of theological outcomes in society, strict protocols constraining women leads to a society in variance with Bible principles of freedom and equality. Handling those principles will be key in unlocking the correct approach to understanding God's Word on women.

Giles view on "cultural" evolution and force is very weak, not usable 'as is', since it depends on relativism.The idea that Christian principle once accepted within general society results in a juggernaut which cracks open wrong thinking and exposes injustice is plausible, but believing that society moves along as a force in itself, self-propelled without a cause for the ideas source? I believe in cause and effect, and so cannot embrace this culture evolution, as stated. It is framed as a theory that culture so changes that old ideas don't fit or hold up to present understanding, and thus "forces" a change in the Church and its hermeneutics.

I think that cultural acceptance of a high view of equality and of women requires an "overview" -principle approach to theology which then is caught by other streams of thought in the culture. To see culture as a power in itself, ie the Enlightenment, giving rise to our freedoms and forcing scripture interpretation to change is basically faulty. I immediately thought of Rousseau's ideas as expressed in the Unibomber's thinking. In his manifesto his view that man is a "beautiful savage" who only needs to be set free from the corruption of society's constructs to return to his primitive paradise. This holds a premise of man's basic goodness, that evil is imposed upon him. An idea wrecking havoc in our present society. The scriptures view of depravity posits another scenario: that if you destroy the institutions of society with its constructs of civility and law, you leave man helpless and exposed to the worst criminal elements, and vulnerable to the vicissitudes of nature. This all argues that culture is the cart that the horse of philosophy carries to its destiny. The question will remain, what is the basic driving nature of philosophy upon which our carriage of society is riding? What is in control of the basic ideas of the philosophy? Essentially that will boil down to our ideas of God.

There are those who don't see the pertinance of how the Trinity question of subordination versus equality relates to the gender questions. I think the idea that ones understanding of God influences ones understanding of the formation and direction of society is set forth in that previous paragraph. Additionally, the nature of the Trinity is used as an argument within the reasonings of the theological debate itself.

The subject matter is weighty when a books emphasis is theology, as might be expected. It isn't light summer reading on the beach. Since the first part of the book, the concept of the Trinity, dealt primarily with theological terms, history, and study, it took much attention and concentration from a reader, such as I am, who does not ordinarily study uncut theology. Besides the fact that the Trinity is a difficult topic for the best of theologians! Giles handled it well, and thoroughly. Of course, I am biased towards the Athanusian "overview", which I call "principle", exegesis for the truly thorny doctrinal arguments, which Giles submitted with overwhelming rationale. This portion was just my cup of tea, well laced with historical references and well written in almost a story form. Not at all dry.

As the book,'The Trinity & Subordinationism', progresses it becomes clear that Giles is arguing the egalitarian side of the gender debate, although I wasn't sure until he expressed it more clearly half way through the book. This is probably due to the careful submission of the two sides, egalitarian and hierarchal views. (Although he does use a rebuttal style, which tips his hand, whenever dealing with the hierarchal-subordination based books such as Piper's 'Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism'.) By the end of the book Giles is quite forthright in his conviction of the egalitarian stance.

I will admit that I have been moving more strongly in that direction, not particularly from reading this book so much as examining the questions, but Giles weak 'culture arguments' did the egalitarian stance no favors in my estimation. I think that is just the bias of those who hold to primarily egalitarian theological views holding sway. They think it wipes away the oppositional view of hierarchal subordination. I don't agree, and hope to submit my own ideas on where hierarchy fits with a strongly egalitarian view of women. But this book introduced a side of the issue which many of us categorize separately: slavery, which sheds some light on how blindsided the Church can become from its saturation with the presuppostions of the society.

Giles doesn't spend alot of time on this, but what time there is is well spent making the case for how deluded even the best theologians often were on this issue. I think the history on this and the woman issues was the most enlightening for me. To pay attention to the actual theology of past times when there were still serious arguments about the humanity of people upon the basis of their gender and race. We shouldn't forget, and should appreciate how far we have come on some of these social issues. It is both discouraging and encouraging. That the church could promote some of the ideas it has- discouraging.... that it was instrumental in getting on the right side of the issues- encouraging.

I want to further discuss some of the points made in the sections of the debate, so some of my posts may seem like an extension of this review. I think the book is an important one, and lifts the gender discussion to the higher level it needs, outside the emotional mudpit it is often found in.

(Crossposted @ TrueGrit)

I posted this short review of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh on my blog about a month ago. Atlantic was exploring over there and read it and had a comment:

I was just having a look at some of the posts at your blog and I really like it. To answer a question you posed last month, Brideshead Revisted is pro-Catholic. :) I'm fascinated that it could be perceived as anti-Catholic. Shall I pop over to your blog? Or maybe it would be fun to discuss it here.

So here's a copy of my original thoughts on the book. My disclaimer is that I've only read this one book by Waugh, and I don't know much about the author except that he was Catholic and lived and wrote in the early twentieth century. It did seem to me that he was either trying to exorcize his Catholic upbringing or reclaim it. I'm glad to hear that "reclaim" is the correct term.

Last year about this time of year, several bloggers I know were busily listing the books that had defined their life's journey. I couldn't resist, so I made my own list. Looking back at it a year later, I'm not sure which ones I'd change, although I can think of others that have influenced me, too.

The challenge is to make a list of ten books that have "shaped or defined you," "a list that reveals something about you." Or as SFP asks, "Can you timeline your life with books?"

1. The Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle. Why did this book impress me so much when I first read it several years ago? It's about real people attempting to live authentic lives in New York City. It's about community and how that community is formed. I'm very interested in how families interact, how intentional communities are formed and sustained, especially artistic communities and Christian communities. I think there's something more there, too, but I can't put my finger on it.

2. A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Van Auken. Van Auken tells the story of how he re-lived his life with his wife, Davey, after her death, by listening to the music they listened to together and re-reading the books they read together. It may sound maudlin, but it's not. He also comes to terms with his loss and with the flaws in their relationship and with priorities, how marriage partners who find their ultimate security in Christ and His love can grow closer to each other. But those who hold onto each other jealously and possesively lose the thing they most want to preserve. I think I'm married the way I'm married, very happily I must say, partly because of this book.

3. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. C.S. Lewis talks about "joy" as an elusive longing for Something that is just out of reach. Tragedy is also an elusive feeling that depends on just the right combination of circumstances. Paton's book about South Africa under the apartheid system and about the power of forgiveness to redeem, sometimes, is truly tragic. I also think this is what life is like: essentially hopeful, but tragic in the short run. Sometimes the Good is too little , too late.

4. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Life-changing. Lewis puts into words what I believe and why I believe. Definitely part of my mind's landscape along with the Narnia books, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and Till We Have Faces.

5. My first homeschooling book was John Holt's Teach Your Own. This was before I had any children. Even though I use workbooks and curricula with my children, the unschooling, easygoing, let them teach themselves, philosophy is a part of my homeschool, too. I do want them to learn to learn and to enjoy learning, to be self-educators. I'm also drawn again to the sense of community that is present in Holt's books.

6. The book that most shaped my life as a young Christian teenager was The Edge of Adventure by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson. I haven't re-read this book in a long while, and I suspect it's full of what I would now consider psycho-babble. But at the time the emphasis, again (note the recurring theme), on Christian community and basic Christian disciplines was exactly what I needed to hear. A lot of my ideas about prayer and discerning God's will and following Christ in obedience came from this book.

7. All the Way Home by Mary Pride. I know that Mary Pride is a lightning rod for criticism and controversy, but her ideas about home and family being a center for economic, spiritual, and social influence were and are liberating for me.

8. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Either I'm focused on the ideal of community tonight or else the theme of my whole adult life is community and how families come together to form real communities. I've wanted to live in Hobbiton, in a nice little hobbit-hole, ever since I first read Tolkien in the late 1960's.

9. No Graven Image by Elizabeth Elliot. A young missionary finds that God is trustworthy, but not necessarily fathomable. I find the same to be true in my Christian life. This novel and the book of Job are my mainstays in the time of suffering and difficulty.

10. Cheaper by the Dozen by Ernestine and Frank Gilbreth. Was it from this book or somewhere else that I got the idea that it could be fun to have a lot of children and to teach them things in my own home? I think some of the nonfiction I listed above (and life) fleshed out the details, but Cheaper by the Dozen planted the seed of an idea long before I even realized the idea was there.

The Mental Multivitamin list that inspired this one.

Hard task. I didn't even begin to list my childhood influences--the picture books that formed my imagination and the chapter books that made me think and made me grow. I'll save all that for another post, but the ten books above have definitely shaped and do continue to define who I am. What books made you who you are or confirmed your direction in life and work?

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Wisdom for Mothers is the first Bible study/workbook published by Kardo International Ministries under the MotherWise logo. Authored by MotherWise founder Denise Glenn, Wisdom is “A ten-week study to help you find Biblical answers to your important questions about marriage, your children, your work and ministry.”

In the MotherWise program that typically begins with Wisdom, “a group meets for two hours once a week for 10 weeks. The meetings (typically) consist of three 40-minute segments” (p. 9): Bible Study, Prayer, and Mothering Skills. Festooned with noble goals and glittering endorsements, Wisdom for Mothers isn’t for everyone. It will appeal to some women and bore or annoy others.

Moms Only
As the title suggests, Wisdom for Mothers is not a “women’s” Bible study. It focuses on mothers and is perhaps an overly ambitious project in this regard. Readers may feel as if Glenn throws every Sunday school lecture, book, Bible class, study or sermon she’s ever heard on “mothering” into a blender, hit frappe, and poured out Wisdom for Mothers. The course structure doesn’t accomodate healthy debate or dissent and the text often reduces motherhood to lists of roles and duties and bullet points. (To be fair, a richer, more well-rounded discussion of the topic may be beyond the scope of the MotherWise mission to “embrace, educate and encourage.” For more, see: http://www.motherwise.org/.)

Structure
Divided into five two-week topical discussions with daily lessons, Wisdom begins with an Introduction, followed by Founding Your Life on God’s Word. The next two weeks explore a Woman’s Relationship with God followed by two weeks on A Wife’s Relationship with her Husband. Weeks seven and eight focus on A Mother’s Relationship with Her Children. Weeks nine and ten cover a Mother’s Relationship with Work and the World. Five homework lessons complete each week. Lessons include a prayer, fill-in-the-blank responses, and a Mothering Tip. Examples:

I was once stuck in a house for two weeks, no library nearby, with only a box full of Harlequin romances to feed my reading habit. I read them all. I've never had any desire to read another. A couple of years later I had a friend who was hooked on "bodice-rippers," the books that have a picture on the cover of a beautiful young woman with a lowcut dress and a sexy tall-dark-and-handsome who looks as if he's about to rip it off. I read half of one of those and again never had any interest in reading another. If you like either genre, there are plenty of them out there. However, I'm a sucker for real romance, the kind of romantic story that shows both the difficulties and the joy of initiating and sustaining a loving male/female relationship, aka a marriage. Here are a few of my favorite intelligent and multi-faceted romances ---just in time for St. Valentine's Day:

The Love Letters by Madeleine L'Engle. Charlotte is running away from home, running away from her husband Patrick and from their very troubled marriage. She runs from New York City to a Portuguese retreat, and there she discovers a book of love letters written by a seventeenth century Portuguese nun, a nun who pursues a forbidden love to its bitter end. Charlotte struggles with her marriage vows as she reads about Sister Mariana's struggle with her vows.

...and its implication for our relationships. And our evangelism.

I recently came into possession of the book, Making Peace With Your Mom, by H. Norman Wright and Sheryl Wright Macauley. So far I’ve just skimmed it, but found a passage that I want to share because I think it can be helpful for any relationship.

Before I do, though, I want to say that I think the parent-child relationship is incredibly, deeply formative. The patterns set by these relationships carry through our entire lives. I’m not saying this to burden anyone nor give them ammunition, and I truly believe that God’s grace can both cover parental sins and work them for the good in the lives of children. But there’s no escaping it. The parent-child relationship affects a child's every subsequent relationship, even with God. And to understand the dynamics of these relationships so as to understand how they can be truly healthy requires apprehension of their spiritual dynamics, which cannot be done fully apart from a saving relationship with God.

Perceive the need
On page 80 of the book, under the heading, “Disconnecting From the Controller,” is this advice: “Ask yourself, ‘What does [Mother, or whoever] need from me that might lessen [her] need to desire to control me?’”

As I’ve thought about this and about its implications for my own relationships, it’s occurred to me that if this question were asked (and its answer followed) in any relationship, then the relationship couldn’t help but improve. Whether with a controller, an avoider, a boss, a spouse, a friend, a child, or whomever. True, it’s often hard to know just what a person might need, but in general it probably has to do with respect, appreciation, honesty, and trustworthiness.

I am thankful that Zondervan Publishers sent me a copy of Ravi Zacharias's new book, The Grand Weaver. I am a fan of Mr. Zacharias's work as a Christian apologist, if "fan" is the right word. I have heard him speak, via videotape, and I've read others of his books. I especially enjoyed and found useful a little book called The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks With Buddha. I was also impressed with Mr. Zacharias's wisdom and courage when in 2004 he accepted an invitation to speak at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. His topic was "The Exclusivity and Sufficiency of Jesus Christ," but still he received criticism from fellow evangelicals who accused him of syncretism and of lending legitimacy to the claims of Mormonism. So I was expecting a lot from this new book, the theme of which is the providence of God or seeing God's plan in life's events.

I tried reading the book straight through, but whether because my mind is a bit scattered and distracted these days or because the book itself is not as organized as it should be, I found it hard going. There were lots of pearls in there, but they were dispersed here and there among paragraphs and sentences that, frankly, didn't seem to say much at all. So I decided to read the book in a different way.

From Salvo magazine, an interview with post-feminist Carrie Lukas by Bernard Chapin. Bravo to Lukas for her courage to be honest, to embrace the truth about some of feminism’s most cherished notions, and to be a myth-buster! In her book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism, she addresses “The Myth of Having it All":

Certainly much of the culture creates unrealistic expectations and a sense of entitlement. But the problem women face is that we often have conflicting desires.

...Often, “women’s studies” classes and groups like NOW make it seem as though the problem women face in balancing work and family is caused by bad public policy or men who won’t do their share of the housework. But the real problem is simply a consequence of being human: We can’t be two places at once, and there are only 24 hours in a day. This means that we are going to face tough decisions and real tradeoffs when allocating our time.

On women and independence:

They [groups like NOW] want to free women from having to depend on voluntary relationships—families and husbands—but want Uncle Sam to take care of them...Simply put, they want the government to control more and individuals to control less. That’s really not independence.

Thank you, Ms. Lukas!

This isn't exactly a book review, I will have more on this later - perhaps even in the form of an interview. But if you have a chance, this book is a well written analysis of the relationship between women theologians, feminism, and the academy. Let me first get this off the table - I'm not a feminist. However, I think feminism has served well to point out some of the disparities associated with gender. This book largely responds to the question, Where are the good women? as it pertains to women theologians in Christian institutions.

I appreciate this particular thought conveyed by the authors about where some women like us often find ourselves....and it can be very distressing.

For academic women to endure anti-intellectual elements of the subculture and to be marginal in the academic culture is a difficult combination, but one that is often taken on as a call or a responsibility. (p. 42)

Says a female evangelical,

Granted, the anti-intellectual aspects of American evangelicalism can be frustrating, and the anti-woman bias has the potential to get on my last good nerve. However, my identification as an evangelical means that I cannot just abandon them whenever they annoy me. (p. 43)

The theological truths that I hold will always be what steers my involvement in all areas of life. I am not at risk of cutting my ties to evangelicalism either. I'm neither interested in for myself or any other women the role of senior pastor or elder, but I do believe women have a great deal to offer the church in the area of education, and as I continue to pursue my own education and seek my first academic assignments, I'm thankful for women like Nancy Pearcey, Christine Pohl, Nicola Creegan, and others who are opening up the discussion. I'm also thankful for the male academics who have seen and communicate about the injustices to women in the theological academy, and I'm especially grateful for those who inspire me to continue.

Living On the Boundaries, IVP
ISBN: 0830826653

This weekend I read UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons and I have a variety of reactions to it. The book reads a lot like Sarah Cunningham's Dear Church in that it expresses the reasons - in detail - why today's younger generations want little to do with the institutional church or Christianity altogether.

One reaction I have to this book is that it's not telling me anything I don't already know, the same reaction I had to Sarah Cunningham's book. Yes, Christians are hypocritical people and we have a degree of responsibility even for the misconceptions or perceptions that people might have about the Christian faith. But in this book's emphasis on what we need to do to win over the mosaics and busters, there is another message of discipleship to be had.

We've seen a serious decline in recent decades in the teaching of theology to the Church. People live fragmented, disjointed lives because they haven't been taught to love God with their heart, soul, and mind. They haven't been taught to think and act Christianly in all areas of life. The entertainment-focused seeker movement has been no help in this regard, a knee-jerk reaction to the church's focus on the content of Christian belief.

I hear it said by those who define themselves as "missional" (new term applied to an obviously biblical concept) that we do much naval-gazing and not enough ministry outside of the Church. As much as we need to do that ministry outside of the church and in the community, the pastor can't do it alone. If we aren't making time to disciple - really teach the people in the pew, then it isn't going to do a lot of good to talk about what speaks to the mosaics and busters. It's time to become a truly theological community, consider the difficult doctrines, understand the meaning of the doctrines on our daily living, and know that theology worked out in our lives is one that expresses love and action that is congruent with the words and actions of Jesus. Just telling Christians to be kind and loving is like putting a band-aid on an infected toe. We must deal with the foundational issues so that amputation doesn't become necessary. I agree with UnChristian's assessment of the Christian community, I just hope that people understand that this comes down to rigorous discipleship.

Actions of love, respect, kindness, acceptance, etc., will take you far in a relationship, but unless these ideals are grounded in pure Christian doctrine, they will not be sustained and will be quickly replaced by ignorance.

Les Miserables is my favorite novel of all novels. When I read Les Miserables for the first time back in college, I stayed up until 3:00 AM one night to finish it, and I had an 8:00 AM class that morning. For me, staying awake until 3:00 in the morning was an unusual occurence; my head usually hit the pillow at 10:00 PM every night. Only a very good book could keep me turning pages until the wee hours. Author Victor Hugo lived a life full of illicit sexual affairs and confused politics (he kept changing sides, not difficult to do in France in the 1800’s) and still produced a book like Les Miserables: God uses flawed vessels to produce great and true art.

So, when I read that blog friend Carrie was reading this great novel and looking for comrades-in-reading, I thought about it, prayed about it, remembered that I have a lot of reading to do this month for the Cybil Awards, and then decided to take the plunge anyway. I plan to use Les Miserables for my devotional reading for this month and maybe December, too, and I also thought it might be fun to share whatever insights God gives here at Intellectuelle. I got my copy at the library this afternoon, translated by Charles Wilbur, and I started reading this evening.

Hugo begins his novel with the character of Monsieur Myriel, or Monseigneur Bienvenu as he is nicknamed by his parishoners, the bishop of D----. The bishop is a good and humble man, given to charity, but also wise in the wisdom of simplicity. He is a hero.

Said the bishop:

"To commit the least possible sin is the law for man. To live without sin is the dream of an angel. Everything terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation."

"Ask not the name of him who asks you for a bed. It is especially he whose name is a burdent to him, who has need of an asylum."

"I am not in the world to care for my life, but for souls."

"After all, what is there to fear in this house? There is always one with us who is the strongest; Satan may visit our house, but the good God inhabits it."

The author comments on the character, actions, and philosophy of Monseigneur the Bishop:

"As we see, he had a strange and peculiar way of judging things. I suspect that he acquired it from the Gospel."

Would that I were suspected of such a motive for my actions!

If anyone would like to join Carrie and me as we read Les Miserables, you're welcome to do so. Leave a comment, and I'll link. Or if you're a fellow Intellectuelle, post your own observations, and we'll discuss.

The moral sense in mortals is the duty
We have to pay on mortal sense of beauty.

Funny, after reading Lolita, I was moved to post this quote. Before doing so, though, I thought I’d do a Google search to see what turned up. Well... apparently I’m not the only one who sees this quote as summarizing the book! (That’s comforting, at least, for more than one reason.)

As I see it, the book illustrates that fact that only the absolutely rock-hardened soul, which can't help but destroy itself in due time, can escape the internal reckoning that sin provokes and that love (beauty) reveals as being necessary. But, in order to cope with this reckoning, the person must live a “palliative” existence; one which consists of attempts to atone for one’s sins (which the conscience records) or soothe the barbs of conscience that constantly prick, or ignore/destroy/cover up the evidence, both internal and external.

The only solution to such an existence is to come clean, and the only redemption, which poor Humbert unfortunately never finds, is to bury his putrid sins in Christ and thereby find himself a new, forgiven Humbert as he walks forward into the future.

As human life and dignity continues to face unrelenting assault from the influences of secularism in our culture, I am thankful to know that this book is available. Biotechnology and the Human Good brings biotechnology where it belongs - in the realm of worldview and philosophy.

Biotechnology and the Human Good (BHG) is coauthored by experts in the field of bioethics: C. Ben Mitchell, Edmund Pellegrino, Jean Bethke Elshtain, John F. Kilner, and Scott Rae. BHG provides discussion on the philosophical framework that structures the dominant worldviews in the bioethics arena: Christian theism, Philosophical Naturalism and Environmentalist Biocentrism. It then moves into a discussion on human dignity in relationship to biotechnology, considering various views in light of the critical assessment criteria comprehensiveness, consistency, and credibility. Comprehensiveness addresses the application of the concept of human dignity, that it "covers all people to whom the term appropriately applies." (p. 65). Consistency refers to the concept of human dignity being able to "withstand the critiques it levels at other approaches." (p. 65). Credibility speaks to the plausibility of the concept, that it "accords with what we know about the present and what we hope about the future." (p. 65).

Near the end of the book there lists presuppositions for engagement. They are:

1. We must begin with the affirmation of a creator of everything. 2. We also affirm that the biblical account is the best guide to understanding the nature, problems, and ends of human life. 3. As all human beings-regardless of age or level of development, health, disability, or status-are God's imagers, each is worthy of respect and protection. 4. Human beings are also distinct from human tissues. 5. Human beings were created for community and communion, with God and with one another. 6. The fundamental problem of humankind is not physical or mental inadequacy, but sin.

The challenges presented by advancing technologies, particularly biotechnologies, are growing almost exponentially. Yet...we are theologically ill equipped to address these challenges wither individually or collectively. One of the major deficiencies lies in the fact that theology has too often become an arcane, academic discipline. We have forgotten...the Puritans, who understood that for theology to have meaning, it must permeate every aspect of life...The theological community must take up the issues we raise in this book and lift its sights from its own intradisciplinary conversations to an interdisciplinary engagement with medicine, philosophy, law, science, industry, and the lay community. For only in the context of a robust, practical theology of living can a workable theology of technology and biotechnology be developed.

Georgetown University Press, Washington D.C.
ISBN: 1589011384

Last week was a great time for me to catch up on some reading and some writing! But the hiatus is over and I'm back. I thought that to begin this week I'd share with you some of the things I'm currently reading:

Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home (My review will be out shortly)

The Two Tasks of the Christian Scholar

A Beginner's Guide to Crossing Cultures

What are you reading?

The following is an interview that I did with writer Jonalyn Grace Fincher on her new book Ruby Slippers. Jonalyn is a Christian apologist who, with her husband, has a ministry called Soulation. Both Jonalyn and I look forward to your questions and comments!
----------------------------------------------------
Sarah: Jonalyn, thank you so much for talking to us about your book Ruby Slippers. You say in your book that you "will not offer the final words on femininity." I find that your book is helpful to begin thinking about femininity of the soul, perhaps more of an abstract distinction from masculinity. Do you think that's a helpful way to begin to unmask the stereotypical perspectives on femininity in the evangelical community?

Jonalyn: Sarah, this is my favorite topic, women and God’s value for us. Thanks for asking me to join you!

In answer to your question, I think the evangelical community needs to get beyond our stereotypes if we’re going to get at helpful, practical, essential differences between men and women. You know it’s interesting when you go into Christian College libraries. There are mounds of books on femininity, how to be a godly woman, how to be a Biblical woman, how to excel in femininity and on and on. But as you read them (especially the older ones) you can’t help but smirk and find exceptions to the rule. If we’re claiming to know the final answers on femininity we need to make sure our answers are not culturally bound. We need more back-up examples than anecdotes or cultural norms of the day. That’s why I refused to offer final words. Femininity is not something clearly stated and defined in Scripture, for that reason we need to tread carefully, humbly, flexibly as we talk about what makes a woman female. But there are, I believe, some sure words to walk into about our womanhood. My book is about those sure words.

...I wish. This makes me sad! Loome Antiquarian Booksellers in Stillwater, MN is closing. Admittedly I'd never heard of Loome Theological Booksellers before Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds mentioned it, but what especially caught my eye was the part about the bookstore being housed in the Old Swedish Covenant Church in Stillwater, because I attend an Evangelical Covenant church, which used to be the Swedish Covenant. (I don't know the history of that particular church in Stillwater.) And I love both old churches and old books.

The story of Stillwater and its connection with books is quite interesting, including its status as an official booktown.

Anyway, if you live near there, you can get some great old books cheap, and if you don't, you can order online! (And apparently it's just the antiquarian-book branch of Loome Theological Booksellers that's closing.)

Please, please...save the books!

Glenn Beck's Christmas Eve interview on CNN with best-selling author Richard Paul Evans seems to have created quite a stir in some quadrants. Beck referenced Evans' blockbuster bestseller, The Christmas Box, and also discussed Evans' newest release, The Gift.

I confess a great fondness for the work of Richard Paul Evans. Some dismiss Evans' novels as formulaic and predictable, but I suspect said critics probably guzzle battery acid for breakfast or sport rusted-out radiators for hearts.

Evans' stories aren't Shakespeare or Homer, but I like to take a break from "Bill" and Odysseus once in awhile. Enter Richard and such novels as The Christmas Box, The Sunflower, A Perfect Day, The Last Promise (in a sumptuous Tuscany setting) and Finding Noel, where Evans introduces us to people we come to care about. His stories are clean, gracious and uplifting. Indeed, a luminous, gentle quality pervades Evans' work which invariably revolves around messages of healing, hope, and love - both human and divine. I've read everything he's ever written and thoroughly enjoyed each tome (except for that millionaire thing.) His latest release, The Gift, is no exception.

This short novel opens with a soliloquoy dated "Christmas night 2006," but the author carefully maintains from page one on that "this is not a Christmas story."

Maybe. Maybe not.