Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, February 11
-- Publishers Weekly, 1/30/2008
We Plan, God Laughs: 10 Steps to Finding Your Divine Path When Life Is Not Turning Out Like You Wanted
Sherre Hirsch. Doubleday, $18.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-385-52361-5
Hirsch, a rabbi who has counseled many individuals over the years, puts their stories to good use as she proffers 10 steps to self-improvement and spiritual health. In addition to everyday stories from Hirsch's work life, as well as personal reflections (for example: to illustrate the idea of step seven, the "divine spark," Hirsch tells the story of how she decided to become a rabbi), Hirsch draws on familiar figures from the Bible. She uses Jacob and Esau in step three to demonstrate how to forget past hurt and fear in order to become "present" in the here and now, and Jacob's ladder to illustrate step eight's instruction to be adventurous and take leaps of faith. Hirsch writes fluidly and has a way of making readers feel as if she's speaking directly to them and never patronizing. Anyone who can advise readers to "[t]ake your chicken, put all your "oopses" on it, swing it around a few times, and call it a day," in a way that makes complete sense is worth reading. (May)
In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God
Gene Robinson. Morehouse, $25 (176p) ISBN 978-1-59627-088-6
In this meandering but charming book, Robinson, the controversial gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, addresses sexuality and theology. He argues that the cause for which the planets "seem to be aligned" today is full civil rights of GLBT people. Many of the arguments he rehearses are familiar: the church today faces a struggle similar to the civil rights movement of the 1960s; the way we think about sexual orientation today was unknown in biblical times; and so forth. More original is Robinson's discussion of the vulnerability of sex, and his support for abstinence outside of committed relationships, because sex in other contexts is likely to hurt people. But this book goes beyond sex to Christian theology. Robinson reviews his beliefs in the Incarnation and in forgiveness. He insists that the God he knows is a God of radical inclusion, who wants to lift up all the oppressed, including women, minorities and the poor. That good news, Robinson admits, actually makes him somewhat uncomfortable, since he knows that he is among the world's most privileged people. Sometimes Robinson's prose is a bit florid, but his passion will draw in many mainline Protestant readers. (Apr. 7)
The Promise: God's Purpose and Plan for When Life Hurts
Jonathan Morris. HarperOne, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-135341-3
Morris, a Roman Catholic priest and Fox News analyst, draws from his religious tradition, as well as his experiences in the world of media, to present understandable and genuine advice for those who suffer—in other words, everyone. The "promise" of the title is God's promise to bring something better out of suffering. For some, this may over-simplify the matter, but for others it will provide a glimmer of hope. One of the most useful chapters addresses the various images of God that people hold—all of which are incomplete, and some of which can be seen as spiritually harmful. The author describes these images accurately, ties them in with how people who maintain those images view suffering, and uses real-life examples he has encountered in his ministry. The theodicy question (why does a loving God allow suffering?) will always present a quandary to believers of all stripes. Morris is successful in making the claim that it is possible to sustain one's faith in the midst of what is sometimes a cruel world. (Apr.)
Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Body
Edited by Elliot N. Dorff and Louis E. Newman. Jewish Publication Society, $16 paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-8276-0860-3
What is the Jewish position on tattoos, eating disorders and body piercings? According to this book on Judaism and the body, that's actually the wrong question: it's not about claiming the Jewish position on any issue, but finding a Jewish ethic that successfully addresses Torah, tradition and beliefs. This multi-author book, part of JPS's new series on contemporary ethical dilemmas (future volumes will address money, war, sexual relations, and power, among other issues), presents multiple points of view and personal voices. Tattoos, for example, are weighed against biblical and Talmudic injunctions, historical allusions (are Jewish tattoos offensive to Holocaust victims?) and cultural standards. Some of the best essays are by doctors, including one who ruminates on whether he has an ethical responsibility to prescribe medication that might save his patients from short-term depression. As a book, this collection can feel disjointed; it begins abruptly with three quick case studies and numerous quotes from ancient and contemporary rabbis on various body issues, then segues into contributors' admittedly uneven essays on those topics. Though no single answer emerges, the book's general sensibility is, to paraphrase one essayist, to remember that God created our bodies, and we are only renting them. (Apr.)
Three Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, February 11:
Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation
Richard Foster. HarperOne, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-083697-9
Foster (Celebration of Discipline) has built a career exploring foundational spiritual practices like fasting, prayer, study and worship. Here he zeroes in on Bible study to help Christians grow in their faith. Although Bible study is nothing if not a well-trod topic, Foster breathes new life into it by drawing on ancient resources: he is especially interested in the age-old practice of lectio divina, sacred reading that requires the attention of both mind and heart. Foster cautions several times that lectio divina is neither a magical solution to problems nor an approach that "bypasses the living God by treating the Scriptures as a sort of Ouija board." He warns that the Bible is also not an owner's manual for successful living, or even moral living; we shouldn't read it merely to serve our own needs. Rather, lectio divina offers an invitation to enter the Bible as a story (or a complex group of stories) and enter its river of life. As usual, Foster's work is not for those readers who are seeking quick answers or a behavioral checklist of what the Bible says they should do. Rather, it is a deep reflective guide to spiritual rumination and growth. (Apr. 22)
God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors with the Adventure Rabbi
Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold. Three Leaves Press/Doubleday, $11.95 paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-385-52049-2
Rabbi Korngold revels in nature, and she seeks to share that joy as founder of the Adventure Rabbi program to help people reconnect to Judaism via the great outdoors. She has also discovered a way—call it a language, a spirit, an essence—with which to express the simplicity of a back-to-basics spirituality. Balancing an in-depth knowledge of scripture with a wry sense of humor and a compassion for nature, Korngold reminds us of "the nooks and crannies of the natural world" and says that "we must seek them out, soak them in and care for them." The variety of personal stories, tales of travel with various Adventure Rabbi groups and contemporary alternative biblical outcomes—what if Moses had been too busy texting to notice the burning bush?—make for a book that is easily digestible but at the same time worth savoring. Purposely sized to fit easily into a backpack or pocket, the call to return to the wild—or at least your local city park—is ever-present. While certainly aimed at adventuresome readers, the book's message, filled with depictions of fire, water, earth and sky, simultaneously encourages individual exploration and communal responsibility. (Apr. 8)
Who On Earth Was Jesus? The Modern Quest for the Jesus of History
David Boulton. O Books [NBN, dist.], $29.95 paper (448p) ISBN 978-1-84694-018-7
What happens when the Christ of faith meets the Jesus of history? How can it be that "scholars can arrive at such startlingly different interpretations of the reported sayings [of Jesus], and thereby such very different profiles of Jesus himself"? This is the question that preoccupies Boulton in an amazingly good synthesis of historical Jesus scholarship. Boulton gives an overview of several factions of Jesus scholars, comparing their conclusions and explaining their theses. His scope is as wide-ranging as it is even-handed; from theologians to scholars to popes, he distills their thoughts into a comprehensible and comprehensive survey of the best of the contemporary thinkers. Boulton is a British Quaker, and has been involved in trans-denominational religious activities for many years. Readers will find no overt proselytizing in this book. Instead, the author treats them to an unbiased look at the ever-changing discipline of Jesus studies. In the end, Boulton understands that it is not the scholar, nor the theologian, who will define the kingdom on Earth. Rather, it will be the job of all of us to discern the Jesus of today from words written long ago. This book is not to be missed. (Apr.)
A Starred Review Coming in PW's Fiction Section:
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana
Anne Rice. Knopf, $25.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-400094352-1
In the New Testament, the miracle at the wedding at Cana—where Jesus turned water into wine—marks the commencement of his tumultuous three-year ministry. In Rice's beautifully observed novel (a sequel to 2005's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt), however, the wedding miracle is in fact the culmination of an intimate family saga of love, sorrow and misunderstanding. As the novel opens, Yeshua (Jesus) struggles with a sense of restlessness of purpose and a deep love for a comely kinswoman. Waves of isolation sweep over him as he comes to understand that serving the Lord's will takes precedence over the desires of his own heart. Whereas the first novel in this series hewed so closely to Scripture and to the author's meticulous research as to be somewhat arid as fiction, this book imagining the "lost" young adulthood of Jesus offers wise and haunting speculation where the Bible is silent. And the final chapters, which pick up the story with the New Testament's accounts of Jesus' baptism, temptation, and early miracles, manage to be soulfully insightful even while faithfully tracking the Gospels. Rice undertakes a delicate balance here: How can a writer make a believably sensitive and wounded protagonist out of someone who is believed to be sinless? If it is possible to create a character that is simultaneously fully human and fully divine, as ancient Christian creeds assert, then Rice succeeds. (Mar. 4)
An Original RBL Review
Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
N.T. Wright. HarperOne, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-155182-6
Wright, one of the greatest, and certainly most prolific, Bible scholars in the world, will touch a nerve with this book. What happens when we die? How should we think about heaven, hell, purgatory and eternal life? Wright critiques the views of heaven that have become regnant in Western culture, especially the assumption of the continuance of the soul after death in a sort of blissful non-bodily existence. This is simply not Christian teaching, Wright insists. The New Testament's clear witness is to the resurrection of the body, not the migration of the soul. And not right away, but only when Jesus returns in judgment and glory. The "paradise," the experience of being "with Christ" spoken of occasionally in the scriptures, is a period of waiting for this return. But Christian teaching of life after death should really be an emphasis on "life after life after death"—the resurrection of the body, which is also the ground for all faithful political action, as the last part of this book argues. Wright's prose is as accessible as it is learned—an increasingly rare combination. No one can doubt his erudition or the greatness of the churchmanship of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. One wonders, however, at the regular citation of his own previous work. And no other scholar can get away so cleanly with continuing to propagate the "hellenization thesis," by which the early church is eventually polluted by contaminating Greek philosophical influence. (Feb.)
