Three Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, May 26
-- Publishers Weekly, 5/21/2008
Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People
Martin McGee. Paulist, $16.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-8091-4539-3
McGee is an English Benedictine monk on a mission. A lifelong Francophile, he first learned of the deaths of 19 French Catholic nuns, brothers and priests in Algeria during the mid-1990s from an article in a Catholic journal. Afterwards, he wrote to the Archbishop of Algeria requesting the chance to make pilgrimage to the country and witness the sites where the violence had occurred. The result is this moving overview of the lives of the martyrs and a hopeful portrait of a Christian community prepared to die for love of its Muslim neighbors. McGee retells the events of the Islamist revolution that saw the departure of nearly 100,000 Christian settlers during Algeria's civil war. Despite a general order of death to all Christians, McGee describes how a few dozen Catholic religious chose to stay behind to continue as medics, teachers, librarians and friends to the poor. Although the book fails to provide a balanced view of motivations that led to the murders, it makes a strong case for continued dialogue between Christians and Muslims. (Sept.)
Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
Cathleen Falsani. Zondervan, $19.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-310-27947-1
Ranging from Chicago to Kenya, New Orleans to Maine, Big Sky to Graceland, Falsani dons her investigative cap and scouts for grace. This religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times is a charming guide to places and people who reveal "grace when and where it happens." Eschewing technical theological definitions, Falsani opts instead to tell how she has experienced grace. And we are vicarious travelers, seeing grace—"audacious, unwarranted, and unlimited"—through Falsani's eyes. She marvels at the devotion of young people who crowd to the pope's funeral and at the astoundingly independent women of Asembo Bay in Kenya. She wrestles with anger at a misogynist Tanzanian tour guide and anger at God when her mother and beloved cat face cancer. We traipse along with the author and eavesdrop on her conversations, both external and internal. The result is a pastiche of images meant collectively to reveal God's grace. Though some may find the premise contrived, only a fierce cynic could fail to be drawn into Falsani's tales and candid reflections. (Sept.)
Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century
Craig Detweiler. Baker Academic, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-8010-3592-0
Detweiler delivers one of the more successful and substantial theological interpretations of contemporary movies, mining film for spiritual meaning. The author, who is co-director of the Reel Spirituality Institute, contends that film is a powerful tool for society's self-reflection in a postmodern world. Nostalgia, memory and amnesia are three key themes in contemporary film that offer insights about our culture's sense of being lost in this postmodern context without any sense of direction. Detweiler brings his theological expertise to bear on several recent works such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Million Dollar Baby, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Besides their impressive entertainment value, these films and several others are rich in God language and religious significance. Why, some may wonder, do we need to reflect upon films so intensely? The answer is that we don't, but if we are grasping for meaning in our culture, as Detweiler contends, movies are a fine place to start looking for God. (July)
Two Original Starred RBL Reviews
Left at the Altar: How the Democrats Lost the Catholics and How the Catholics Can Save the Democrats
Michael Sean Winters. Basic, $26 (256p) ISBN 978-0-465-09166-9
Political commentator and blogger Winters has, in a non-polemic and intelligent way, achieved what most newscasters and Washington insiders have failed to do for a long time. Starting with Roosevelt's New Deal, the author illuminates how Catholic social teaching and politics once cooperated for the good of the country but then fell out of favor, ironically with the advent of popular Catholic President John F. Kennedy, who drew a sharp line between his faith and his politics. This religio-political schizophrenia has survived ever since and has alienated many Catholics from the party to which they once flocked. With a note of hope, Winters offers cogent and practical advice for how Democrats can begin to extend an olive branch to Catholics. It is possible, he believes, to discuss issues like abortion and immigration in a way that does not cause more polarization. The author holds an impressive knowledge of both Catholicism and politics, which he presents with crisp and fluid writing throughout. This work is an important prescription to combat election year spin-doctoring. (July 7)
Why Is God Laughing? The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism
Deepak Chopra. Harmony, $21.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-307-40888-4
What a relief that a book should not only advocate laughter as a spiritual practice, but contain some jokes to get you started chuckling. The jokes are an integral part of the fable this book spins, a tale of a successful but lonely Hollywood comedian who loses his father and ultimately finds transcendence. The story is cute, slim and clever. For anyone who doesn't get the joke that the fable represents, the path to joy is laid out in 10 principles stated and explained at the end of the book. ("There is always a reason to be grateful.") Like a cameo appearance in print, a short foreword by actor-comedian Mike Myers buttresses Chopra's comedic street cred. While happiness is a much-published topic in books these days, so little attention is paid to joy as an aspiration and as liberation—the moksha state that Hindus strive toward. Laughter, joy, optimism: just what the holistic, and prolific, Doctor Chopra ordered for what ails these cynical times. (June)
A Web Exclusive Review from Publishersweekly.com, May 19:
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Jeff Sharlet. Harper, $25.95 (464p) ISBN 9780060559793
Checking in on a friend's brother at Ivanwald, a Washington-based fundamentalist group living communally in Arlington, Va., religion and journalism scholar Sharlet finds a sect whose members refer to Manhattan's Ground Zero as "the ruins of secularism"; intrigued, Sharlet accepts on a whim an invitation to stay at Ivanwald. He's shocked to find himself in the stronghold of a widespread "invisible" network, organized into cells much like Ivanwald, and populated by elite, politically ambitious fundamentalists; Sharlet is present when a leader tells a dozen men living there, "You guys are here to learn how to rule the world." As it turns out, the Family was established in 1935 to oppose FDR's New Deal and the spread of trade unions; since then, it has organized well-attended weekly prayer meetings for members of Congress and annual National Prayer Breakfasts attended by every president since Eisenhower. Further, the Family's international reach ("almost impossible to overstate") has "forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most oppressive regimes in the world." In the years since his first encounter, Sharlet has done extensive research, and his thorough account of the Family's life and times is a chilling expose. (May)
Four Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, May 26:
Mustard Seeds: Thoughts on the Nature of God and Faith
Lynn Coulter. B&H, $14.99 paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-8054-4678-4
Coulter, a magazine journalist, takes the familiar biblical story of faith the size of a mustard seed to illustrate how God can use even the most horrendous "lifequakes" as faith-builders. Coulter opens her compilation of life essays with a personal story from her childhood, when the concept of mustard seed faith was first planted after a teacher offered the class mustard seed charms as an attendance reward. Though Coulter eventually lost the charm, she never forgot its message. Years later, after the death of her parents, her husband's job loss, financial setbacks, and her own shattered shoulder, the author's faith was in pieces. She wrestled long and hard to regain closeness with God. In each of these tender topical chapters, Coulter uses everyday happenings from nature, parenting, work, illnesses, and church to reaffirm a single lesson: God is intimately involved in every aspect of life and he cares with a watchful affection. Readers will find strength from Coulter's story and solace in God's promises regarding faith and grace. (Sept.)
Beloved Disciple: The Misunderstood Legacy of Mary Magdalene, the Woman Closest to Jesus
Robin Griffith-Jones. HarperOne, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-119199-2
Beloved disciple or whore? Was Mary of Magdala married to Jesus? Was she a leader of the early church? Why did Jesus appear to Mary first and instruct her to tell the other disciples about his resurrection? In a brilliant and beautifully written book, Griffith-Jones, Master of the Temple Church in London, explores these and other questions. He cannily reads the canonical Gospels side-by-side and then introduces the Gnostic Gospels of Thomas and Mary, among others, in search of a portrait of the historical Mary Magdalene. Griffith-Jones traces Mary's reputation in the medieval world, using medieval paintings and other artistic images, as well as the writings of mystics such as Bernard of Clairvaux, to show how Mary became an object of veneration during the Middle Ages. He concludes this elegant study by observing that Mary Magdalene stands in for the reader of John's gospel, who must go through the whole drama of the gospel in order finally to see what Mary sees in the garden on Easter Day. (Sept.)
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling
Andy Crouch. IVP, $20 (288p) ISBN 978-0-8308-3394-8
Crouch, editorial director of the Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today International and a member of the editorial board for Books & Culture, gives readers a sweeping new theology of culture. Crouch blends academic research on the nature of culture with extensive theological study and years of experience as a cultural critic; his conclusions will be fresh and challenging for Christian readers. For Crouch, culture is a good and intentional part of God's creation. It encompasses not simply the arts but everything we do—from making meals to balancing work with life. Traditional Christian responses to culture—condemnation, critique and copying—are not enough to change it (although all at times are valid); instead, culture must be both cultivated (the good must be preserved) and created. Crouch argues that it is impossible for any of us to change the world, but that each of us can create culture within our own sphere of influence, and while that may feel small, God specializes in using small and seemingly unimportant things. Those who have struggled with the sacred-secular dichotomy will find this book life-giving; every Christian interested in changing culture should read it. (Aug.)
Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire
Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker. Beacon, $34.95 (592p) ISBN 978-0-8070-6750-5
Why are images of the crucified Jesus absent from early Christian art? When Brock and Parker, theologians and co-authors of Proverbs of Ashes, investigated representations of Christ in Italy and Turkey's first millennium of public art, they found pictured not death but earthly joy. Descriptions of this art (with sparse b&w photographs), quotes from early Christian writers, and strong analyses reveal a powerful "genealogy of paradise" in this life focusing on the "ethical grace" at the heart of Jesus' message. Explorations of baptism, the Eucharist, beauty, martyrdom, and human divinity (theosis) show an early Christian world where the resurrection had more hold on the imagination than the crucifixion. Brock and Parker locate the paradigmatic shift toward suffering, judgment and atonement in the bloody forced conversion of the Northern European Saxons by Charlemagne. The book's second half describes the harrowing adoption of "redemptive violence" in medieval Europe and the New World's Eden, built on genocide and slavery. This humane and often beautiful study of faith, loss, and hope straddles the boundary between historical discovery and spiritual writing. (July)
