Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, November 12:
-- Publishers Weekly, 10/31/2007
Abraham's Curse: Child Sacrifice in the Legacies of the West
Bruce Chilton. Doubleday, $24.95 (263p) ISBN 978-0-385-52027-0
In this thought-provoking study, Bard College professor Chilton (Rabbi Jesus) asks how the Abrahamic faiths have understood Genesis 22, the story of the binding of Isaac. All three religions include a strand of interpretation that reads the binding of Isaac as valorizing the sacrifice of human life. Some rabbinic texts, for example, suggest that Abraham did in fact nick Isaac's neck, shedding the boy's blood, and that Isaac offers a model for "the necessary readiness for martyrdom." Christianity has seen Isaac as prefiguring Jesus' crucifixion, and Christians, too, find in both these sacrificial stories an approval of martyrdom. In Islam, Chilton finds a range of interpretations, some of which gradually make Ibrahim "more and more aggressive, to the point that Allah could only prevent the slaughter…by miraculous means." These interpretations appear to underwrite violence, but Chilton also finds within Jewish, Christian and Islamic sacred texts a corrective: a clear insistence that God does not want human beings to sacrifice ourselves or our children. Today's violent fundamentalists, Chilton claims, overlook those correctives and take their cues from readings of Genesis 22 that seem to favor human sacrifice. Chilton produces yet another creative and very relevant historical account. (Feb. 19)
What the Gospels Meant
Garry Wills. Viking, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-670-01871-0
Wills's follow-up to his bestselling works, What Jesus Meant and What Paul Meant, sheds new light on the four books of the Bible best known to most Christians. In taking the gospels apart, Wills helps readers see the oft-read stories from the life of Christ in a new way. As a former teacher of ancient and New Testament Greek, he provides his own translations of the texts, accompanied by incisive analysis that incorporates the work of other scholars. Although some Christians remain uncomfortable with the use of biblical scholarship to expand upon Christianity's scriptures, Wills is obviously convinced of its value and holds that it need not weaken one's faith. In his epilogue, for instance, he notes how scholar Raymond Brown, whom he quotes extensively, remained a devout believer even as he plumbed the depths of biblical scholarship. Wills explains that the gospels "are not historically true as that term would be understood today," adding that they were composed several decades after Christ's resurrection and are the culmination of an oral preaching process. Rather than historical accounts, he considers them to be a form of prayer: a "meditation on the meaning of Jesus in the light of Sacred History as recorded in the Sacred Writings." Readers willing to have their impressions about these texts challenged by an erudite scholar will find this to be fascinating and worthwhile reading. (Feb. 18)
What Do Buddhists Believe? Meaning and Mindfulness in Buddhist Philosophy
Tony Morris. Walker, $9.95 paper (112p) ISBN 978-0-8027-1655-2
This book, meant to be a short and understandable introduction to Buddhism in a series about the world's belief systems, succeeds in many respects. It contains plenty of instructive material, including maps, a chronology and a relatively lengthy glossary of terms. It sorts the four noble truths from the five precepts from the three poisons and all the other numbered teachings that Buddhism offers, and generally covers a lot of ground. The author bravely treats the subjects of rebirth and karma, two central Buddhist teachings often overlooked by those who want to flatten Buddhism into a system of ethics and introspection. Some of the book's weaknesses are almost inevitable. Books that simplify easily shade into oversimplification; the four noble truths are dispatched in six swift pages. The author, a British Buddhist, tends to idealize Buddhism as a perfectly rational system of practices, giving short shrift to its elaborate and esoteric side, especially the deities and practices to be found in Tibetan Buddhism. The book's final chapter about the future of Buddhism is particularly weak and speculative. If it offered more contextual information about other world religions, the ending would be more informative with less guesswork. Still, as beginner books go, this is one of the better ones. (Feb.)
Your Whole Life: The 3D Plan for Eating Right, Living Well, Loving God
Carol Showalter and Maggie Davis. Paraclete, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-55725-556-3
In the 1970s, Showalter founded the 3D movement, one of the first major Christian diet programs in the nation, to help people focus on diet, discipline and discipleship. Here she teams up with nutritionist Davis to offer readers a religious foundation for the 3D program. What's refreshing is that Showalter doesn't just give lip service to Christian faith or slap a few Bible verses on an otherwise secular health book. She is serious about the "discipleship" part of the 3D program, and provides meaty daily devotions to that end. The book presents a comprehensive 12-week plan that encourages healthy eating and exercise as well as deep attention to God and spiritual development. Showalter and Davis sound out a sensible middle ground in a weight-obsessed culture, emphasizing that healthy habits are important, but that God loves us no matter what the scale might say. An early chapter on the history of the 3D program might have been better suited to an appendix, but the book is otherwise marvelously organized and surprisingly substantive. In the devotions, Showalter tackles difficult topics like obedience, will, emotions, truth and discipleship. Dieters who tire of empty promises of quick fixes should check out this spiritual guide to health and the whole person. (Jan.)
A Starred Review Coming in PW on November 12
Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ through Community
James C. Wilhoit. Baker Academic, $17.99 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-8010-2776-5
The title of this tightly woven, consistently challenging meditation on Christian spiritual formation serves notice that this book is going to be more than another self-help manual. Indeed, Wheaton College professor Wilhoit, author of The Christian Educator's Handbook on Spiritual Formation, asserts that although developing "Christlikeness" in its members is the church's main job, many congregations have either abandoned old practices without developing new ones, or have relied on stratagems instead of on God's grace. Because he views spiritual growth as a lifelong process, Wilhoit delineates a communal perspective on responding to Jesus' invitation to love God and neighbor, emphasizing shared practice and learning. His "four pillars of formation" include receiving, or being open to God's grace; remembering, or understanding who we are and why we were created; responding in service to neighbors and the world; and building relationships in the context of community. In alternating chapters, Wilhoit gives readers theological and Biblical foundations for each principle, then suggests a set of practices. While it would be easy to get lost in the sober volume, this skilled writer uses many pedagogical tools to keep his audience focused. Clearly written from an evangelical perspective, this cogent and passionate book deserves to have wide appeal. (Feb.)
An Original RBL Review
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
Selected and with introductions by Christopher Hitchens. Da Capo Press, $16.95 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-306-81608-6
Hitchens, an avowed atheist and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great, is a formidable intellectual who finds the notion of belief in God to be utter nonsense. The author is clear in his introduction that he believes religion has caused more than its fair share of world problems. "Religion invents a problem where none exists by describing the wicked as also made in the image of god and the sexually nonconformist as existing in a state of incurable mortal sin that can incidentally cause floods and earthquakes." The readings Hitchens chooses to bolster his atheist argument are indeed engaging and important. Hobbes, Spinoza, Mill and Marx are some of the heavyweights representing a philosophical viewpoint. From the world of literature the author assembles excerpts from Shelley, Twain, Conrad, Orwell and Updike. All are enjoyable to read and will make even religious believers envious of the talent gathered for this anthology. What these dynamic writers are railing against often enough, however, is a straw man: an immature, fundamentalist, outdated, and even embarrassing style of religion that many intelligent believers have long since cast off. It could be that Hitchens and his cast of nonbelievers are preaching to the choir and their message is tired and spent. However, this remains a fascinating collection of readings from some of the West's greatest thinkers. (Nov.)
Children's Religion Reviews: Hanukkah Books
Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale
Sarah Marwil Lamstein, Illus. By Neil Waldman. Boyds Mills, $16.95 ISBN 978-1-932425-74-1
Lamstein (Annie's Shabbat) polishes up timeless motifs about the mysterious ways of God in this dexterous retelling of a folktale from the Middle East. After a terrible drought, the poorest man in the village relies on his faith to bring everyone enough oil to light their menorahs for all the nights of Hanukkah: he writes his request and mails the letter to the Almighty "on the wind." Using the frames and panels characteristic of his compositions, Waldman (The Snowflake) gracefully evokes deserts, weathered Middle Eastern villages hugging barren mountainsides, and trees bending under the weight of thick, curving clouds. He also throws in anthropomorphized cottages with face-like features that move from dejected to glad expressions as the story concludes, injecting a discordant note into settings that otherwise heighten the humanity and organic spirituality of the tale. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Hanukkah Moon
Deborah Da Costa, Illus. By Gosia Mosz. Kar-Ben, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58013-244-2; $7.95 paper ISBN 978-1-58013-245-9
A thin plot nevertheless affords an unusual and inviting glimpse of Mexican-flavored Hanukkah festivities as well as of Rosh Hodesh, or new moon, the first day of the month in the Jewish calendar. Isobel's parents drop her off to spend Hanukkah with Aunt Luisa from Mexico. A banner reading "Feliz Januca" (Spanish for Happy Hanukkah) adorns the living room, and a dreidel piñata awaits in the dining room, although the stylized illustrations—heavy on the golds and purples, skewed in the angles and proportions—cancel out any traces of Mexican or Latin American design elements. The highlight is Rosh Hodesh, by Jewish tradition given to women as an occasion to celebrate; reading about Luisa's party for Isobel and her female photography students from the university, girls may wish they could observe the intersection of Rosh Hodesh with Hanukkah, too. Ages 6-10. (Sept.)
