Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, May 12
-- Publishers Weekly, 4/23/2008
A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World
John Dear, S.J. Loyola, $22.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8294-2720-2
One of 197 nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Dear recounts his nearly 30 years of waging peace through speaking, networking, writing (25 books so far), and spearheading nonviolent demonstrations. While studying at Duke University, he decided to forsake his frat-boy ways for life as a Jesuit priest. His resolution took further shape after graduation during a transformative pilgrimage to Israel: "I would go forth from the Sea of Galilee forever opposing injustice, poverty and war." From then on, Dear was in trouble most of the time. Repeatedly jailed and often rebuked by religious superiors as he doggedly criticized U.S. policies, violated state property, and told influential people how to behave, he accepted suffering as the necessary cost of following Jesus. Though his account could use more introspection, he writes moving descriptions of atrocities he personally witnessed in Iraqi and Central American war zones, and his humane concerns are evident in his work with 9/11 survivors. Unfortunately, his utter conviction of his own righteousness will alienate readers who do not already share his beliefs. (Aug.)
Lucifer's Court: A Heretic's Journey in Search of the Light Bringers
Otto Rahn. Inner Traditions, $19.95 paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-59477-232-0
Some have described Rahn as the inspiration for the Indiana Jones movies. Indeed, after the publication of his first book, Crusade Against the Grail, Rahn's quest for the relic came to be sponsored by the Nazis' SS. This is the first English translation of his travel diary as he searched for the Grail throughout Europe in the 1930s. For Rahn, "Lucifer's court" is composed of individuals who rebelled against the Christian takeover of pagan Europe, best exemplified by the Cathars of Southern France who resisted Roman Catholicism in the 13th century. His disgust with and hatred for all things Christian, particularly the Roman popes, is highlighted on nearly every page. This is somewhat justified given the church's bloody persecution of heretics, but he fails to provide any countervailing views. Although Rahn eventually repudiated the Nazis, his book is plagued with the same sort of racial and national fanaticism that formed the intellectual framework for that regime. What remains is a maddeningly repetitive, rambling and unoriginal treatise on folk religion. The book holds some interest as an historical document of the Nazi era, but little else. (Aug.)
Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening Our Natural Intelligence
Dzigar Kongtrül. Foreword by the Dalai Lama. Shambhala, $21.95 (144p) ISBN 978-1-59030-567-6
Friend and teacher of the high-profile author Pema Chödrön, Tibetan Buddhist lama Kongtrül grew up in a monastic environment and received broad training in Buddhist doctrine. Steadily gaining in sophistication in its three sections, this slender book has wisdom for practitioners of all levels. The first section lays bare the five self-centered emotions of jealousy, aggression, attachment, arrogance and stupidity. The second, which delves into working with others, offers fresh material on working with a teacher, as well as understanding the pull of our emotions and thoughts in everyday relationships. The final part, on emptiness, is more suited to advanced practitioners who are ready to embrace esoteric teachings. Kongtrül's primary mission is to help readers train their minds in wisdom, rather than allowing them to do as they fancy. There is a comforting bravery in his thinking that clarifies the differences between "trying to arrange the world according to our preferences" and "delighting in the way our experience naturally unfolds." This is a suitably calm and graceful pathway illuminated by a Buddhist master. (July 8)
A Mended and Broken Heart: The Life and Love of St. Francis of Assisi
Wendy Murray. Basic Books, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-465-00208-5
Murray (The Beliefnet Guide to Evangelical Christianity) lowered herself into ancient ruins, chatted with nuns behind iron grilles and pored over documents in four languages to research and write this story of Francis of Assisi, the medieval saint whose appeal is timeless. In a work that is both scholarly in approach and engaging in presentation, Murray retells the life of this "complicated man"—who was poet, warrior, knight, lover, madman and saint—in a way that even those familiar with Francis's story will find compelling. Of special interest is the way she handles the relationship between Francis and Clare of Assisi. Acknowledging what scholars and historians have tended to dismiss as "sentimental, modern and implausible," Murray holds that the pair's attachment was rooted in love, but that it evolved into a mutual renunciation and remained pure as they took religious vows. She also shows that the age difference between Francis and Clare may not have been great enough to support the official Catholic position that their bond was merely that of father and daughter. (July)
Three Original RBL Reviews
Turtle Feet: The Making and Unmaking of a Buddhist Monk
Nikolai Grozni. Riverhead, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59448-984-6
This book about Tibetan monkhood certainly fits the description of the "extreme" memoir. Written by a Bulgarian novelist who was educated in the United States (Brown University) and India (down the street from the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala), this book takes a long time to get good, but it does get there. The most fascinating character is not the narrator, an archetypal youthful apprentice figure. That honor is reserved for a fallen, stateless monk from Bosnia who is a Zorba figure, enticing the narrator not to lusty appreciation of the world's wonders but to what Buddhists call seeing things as they are—enlightenment that is ultimately no big deal. There are passages of beauty about the nature of the mind and existence that few books about Buddhism can rival, because few books about Buddhism are written by authors with creative training. But a good editor should have reined in the author's disproportionate focus on the main character's excesses; it would have helped pacing and made a shorter and more convincing read. (May)
The Springfield Reformation: The Simpsons, Christianity, and American Culture
Jamey Heit. Continuum, $15.95 paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-826-42896-7
Has any television show had a greater impact on American culture over the past two decades than The Simpsons? Heit, a doctoral student of religion and literature, deftly demonstrates how the program has transcended being solely a cartoon show to becoming one of the more incisive sources of commentary on culture in the United States. A substantial part of that culture is focused on religion, and The Simpsons allows Americans to view their wide array of attitudes about religion in a humorous light. The author comments on the show's occasional negative critiques of the overwhelmingly Christian conservative religious culture in America, but his tone is always balanced. He describes how The Simpsons tackles thorny issues like religion and science and the interpretation of Scripture with humor—an ingredient often left out of these public debates. One of the key themes of the book is how the program helps viewers navigate the realities of organized religion in a post-modern world that often sloughs it off as silly superstition. Like Mark Pinsky in The Gospel According to the Simpsons, Heit offers a fun and insightful ride through one of the more enduing phenomena in American culture. (May)
The Forbidden: The Courtship of Nellie Fisher #2
Beverly Lewis, Bethany House, $13.99 paper (352p) 978-0-7642-0311-4
Book two of Lewis's series is exactly the kind of predictable Amish novel her readers have come to expect: multiple character plot lines, romantic entanglements, tension within the religious community, and at least one tragedy. Here, Lewis continues the saga of Nellie Mae Fisher, whose Amish family embraces a "New Order" personal faith that defies the "Old Order" beliefs they've always held dear. Nellie hopes to marry Caleb Yoder, but because of her family's change of belief, Caleb's father forbids him to marry Nellie on pain of losing his inheritance. Lewis capably portrays the struggle Nellie feels between the attraction of her family's faith and the yearnings of her heart. Other plot threads continue: Nellie's sister Rhoda is drawn into the modern world and its promise of convenience, excitement and automobiles, while a couple who have been given a set of twins to raise discover that their burgeoning interest in the New Order faith causes the birth mother to have second thoughts about their fitness as adoptive parents. Lewis's readers seemingly can't get enough of her tales about Amish life, and this latest installment won't disappoint. (May)
A Starred Review Coming in PW on Monday, May 12:
Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America
Gustav Niebuhr. Viking, $25.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-670-01956-4
Niebuhr, the former religion reporter for the New York Times, is now a professor at Syracuse University. This dual professional experience makes his book immensely valuable: he has the careful scholarship of an academic, but the communication expertise of a journalist skilled at getting to the personal heart of a story. Not long after 9/11, Niebuhr set out to find and tell the largely untold stories of those who are involved in interreligious dialogue: why do they do it? What do they gain from it? What do they risk? True dialogue, as the title claims, means moving "beyond tolerance," approaching other religious traditions with a desire to learn and, perhaps more important, to make friends. Niebuhr tells memorable stories of people reaching across religious lines, from a group of Cape Cod Congregationalists who gave a Jewish community a historic building, some land and some money to create a synagogue to the energetic individuals who founded Louisville's famous Festival of Faiths. Niebuhr beautifully honors the commitment and care shown by those working on the front lines of interreligious understanding. (Aug. 4)
