Book Review: Hope After Faith

Hope After Faith: An Ex-Pastor's Journey from Belief to Atheism is an auto-biographical account by Jerry DeWitt.  I listened to the Audible.com version, which is narrated by the author.

The story is told in the first person and the narration has an easy listening style.  You can tell the author is a professional speaker and the delivery is as comfortable as a conversation over coffee.

The narrative begins with Jerry as a teen, converting to Christ at a Jimmy Swaggart camp meeting. We then learn of his attempts in his early 20's at establishing a revival ministry as a traveling evangelist. Later, with wife and child, he begins to pastor at the congregational level.

What I found interesting is that we don't get to his deconversion until the last fifth of the book. Most of the book takes place during Jerry's time as a believer. During that telling, he offers the perspective as it was for him then. Very often, former believing authors write their memoirs in an almost autopsy-like fashion.  As they are describing their believing days, they process it through a level of deconstruction. Jerry does not do that. When you are reading about his time as a believer, you get a good look into the thinking process of a Pentecostal Christian.

I appreciated his story and his descriptions of how grueling deconversion can be. So often, believers tend to imagine us leaving faith for selfish reasons, or in anger.  Jerry describes a process where he worked feverishly at TRYING to stay in the faith. He TRIED to make it work. I relate completely.

It was disturbing to read the level of ostracization that Jerry had to endure. My family and I have been treated poorly at times, and have had the opportunity to see who are our true friends... but I have never feared for my job or felt such negative social pressure that we would consider moving to start a new life. It demonstrates that the deep religious South is almost a different America.

I first became aware of Jerry DeWitt through some of his talks on Youtube. I appreciated his positive delivery style, and his patience with the believing community.  His attitude and grace when interacting with believers is admirable and an approach I strive to emulate.

I highly recommend the book. Ex-believers will probably relate to a lot of his story, particularly if they have any Pentecostal flavorings in their background. Atheists who have always been such will get a good peek behind the believing curtain. I don't expect many believers would engage this book, but if they did, they would get an honest look at deconversion - which is probably very different than what they were taught to expect.

What Harry Said To Voldermort

I have been watching the Harry Potter movies with my son over the past few weeks while he has been finishing up the book series.  As he read through Book 7, there were times he would just set down the book, stare blankly at it, and sigh heavily.

I knew what he was feeling.

The last time he did that, as he neared the end of book, I asked him, "Fred?"

He looked up at the ceiling, ".......yeah......"

We watched the final movie tonight. I had forgotten what a good job they had done with it.  I commented to Jake that I thought they got everything right but the final fight with Voldermort.

Jake agreed, "They should have kept in what Harry said to Voldermort.... that was important..."

It is probably self centered of me, but I love that Jake loved those books.

I recall that, in a previous post, I had thanked Ms. Rowling for all that her books had given me over the years.  Let me also add a thank you as a father, for what you have given my son.

Book Review - Frank Schaeffer: Why I am an Atheist who Believes in God

I am an Atheist.

It is hard to put a date on when that happened. After decades in the Christian faith, it is a little fuzzy to try to pinpoint where amid my years of liberalizing Christianity, to broad Theism and Agnosticism, finally settled into Atheism.

During those transition years, I read a few books and articles by Frank and enjoyed catching him on various TV and radio interviews. Though I felt he might be overly harsh at times, I could completely relate to his religious upbringing and his rejection and critique of American Evangelicalism.

Now that I am on the Atheistic side of the theism divide, I found his new book title to be intriguing. For the most part, I am happy to be out of church life; but I know and have met Atheists who wish they could still keep a foot in religious waters or they HAVE to due to family constraints. Was Frank now an Atheist who still liked religious teachings and hoped for an after-life? If so, what has been his experience navigating between these worlds?

That is not what I found. Frank is still very fixed in his theism and the use of Atheism in the title is a bit of a misnomer.

Let me state upfront that I like Frank. He is an honest writer. His desires, hangups, contradictions, frustrations, and passions are all laid out in this book. He is an engaging wordsmith and there would probably be little difference between reading the book and sitting down with him at the pub for a beer.

When he writes of his thoughts and experiences, he gives you the good, the bad, and the ugly. There is no pretense in his writing. One thing age and experience have obviously bestowed upon him is honesty.

When Frank was telling of his former and present religious experiences, he had me. Pages flew by.

However, as an Atheist, I kept getting hit by buckets of cold water. Frank sets forth a proposition in his book and it is this: Religious Fundamentalism sits on one side of his religious sweet spot, and Atheism sits on the other. Atheism is simply the co-evil twin of religious fundamentalism. He occasionally tries to back pedal from that premise and give some Atheists some credit; but it is clear Atheism brings to Frank a frustrated eye-roll.

Which makes me wonder what prompted the use of the term Atheist in his title. He may be a theist who wavers on his opinion of who or what god is. He may be unclear as to whether humanity survives beyond the point of death, but none of those questions have anything to do with Atheism.

Again and again, Frank went after Atheists throughout the book. That itself was not a problem. If we merely disagreed on conclusions, that would have been fine. However, each time seemed to stem from a misunderstanding of the Atheist perspective... and I found myself giving a frustrated eye-roll.

I tried to give grace on those passages. I can't be too frustrated with Frank for not understanding the Atheist perspective... he is not an Atheist. Every commentary he gives on Atheism is made from within the theist framework. It is like the theist lives on a planet Atheists have left. When we look in our rear-view mirror, we now see that planet as one pinpoint of light among a myriad of others... but the theist still references our position as if we are looking at their sky.

So do I recommend the book? Yes, I enjoyed it. If you are a liberal Christian or SBNR, you will probably love it. If, like me, you are an Atheist who came from a conservative religious background there is probably a lot here for you to enjoy... and you will get a good peek into how liberal Christianity tends to view Atheism. I have heard authors like Rob Bell and Brian McLaren echo similar sentiments.

I highlighted and noted a lot in this book, both in frustration and agreement... and occasionally just because I wanted to mull over a thought again later. In the end, isn't that what a good book should cause you to do?

Parent Fail

Yesterday, my wife and I went to my son's 4th grade parent teacher conference... that is a blog post in itself... but today I want to talk about an incident I overheard at the fundraising book sale that was happening in the kiva.

A boy I estimate to be in third grade approached his mother with a book.

"I want this one," he proclaimed as he handed the book to her.  Her face darkened as she looked at the cover.

"This book is about a girl," Mom announced in an icy tone.  Her son looked back at her confused.  "The hero in this book is a girl!  You don't want this one."

The boy took the book back and looked quizzically at the cover.  "What's wrong with this book?"  Mom sighed in frustration and looked at her husband.  He shrugged and walked away.

Mom turned back to her son, "Let's find you a book where the boy is the hero."  She directed him over to another rack.  "Here.  Here are some good books.  You want one of these."  She threw the other book on the pile and began loading books into the arms of a bewildered little boy.

It reminded me of a line from the movie Mississippi Burning:

Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught.

Books Matter

I want to tell you a story.  This story is for all the folks who have donated books to my classroom. Books matter.

If you read my blog, you know I teach in an inner-city environment. Most of my sixth grade students are years behind in their reading skills. Overall, these students do not like to read. Whether they are low because they don't read or they don't read because they are low is a highly contested argument. In any case, it is often a wrestling match to achieve any sustained reading in our classroom.

Jenna (name changed) came to my class nearly everyday carrying a backpack full of attitude. She is one of those kids who does not hesitate to escalate to the nth degree; lines are meant to be crossed. Her anger, frustration, and attitude went to eleven.

I found within the first couple weeks that I could get her to do quite a bit of study, IF I reasoned with her right. It reminded me somewhat of Harry with the Hippogriff. It was all in the approach.

There was a week towards the end of the school year that I noticed Jenna was regularly reading a book... really reading it! Usually she would just fake-read so I wouldn't bother her... or if she was feeling edgy she would just draw, and give me attitude if I re-directed her back to her reading.

Yet here she was... for the first time, engrossed in a book. I couldn't tell what book it was because she held it in her lap. I also knew not to pry too much. Years of experience have taught me that my asking her about the book, or complimenting her on how well she was reading, would just annoy her. She might quit reading just to spite me. Best to lay low.

A few days later, while the students were working on projects, she approached my desk. "I need another ...," she announced.

"Excuse me?" I said. "Another what?"

"Book! I finished my book and I need another one!" she stated with a touch of impatience.

This interest in books was very out of character, yet I was so glad for it, that I was a bit like the salesman who hasn't had a customer in days - I rolled out the red carpet! I started telling her about this author and that genre, watching to see if anything piqued her interest. Like Olivander describing wands for Harry, I was hoping the book would choose the student.

However, she hadn't shown interest in any book I presented. In fact, she was growing noticeably more irritated; I was probably a bit too enthusiastic. I think I started to sweat as I realized my moment was slipping away.

She finally rolled her eyes and said, "Just a second!" And she marched back to her seat. A moment later she came back and tossed a book on my desk. She pointed at it and said, "Like that one!"

On my desk was a biography of Helen Keller written by Margaret Davidson (I had read the story of Helen's teacher to the class a few weeks earlier). It was one of the books purchased from my Amazon class wishlist by a blogger/Facebook friend.

"Oh, you want a biography!" She gave me a quizzical look. I rephrased, "You want a true life story."

"Yeah."

I quickly selected a few biographies and gave her a general description of each. Without a word, she grabbed the biography of George Washington Carver and went back to her seat.

Before school let out for summer, she read that book and one more.

While I was teaching summer school, I heard that Jenna and her family had moved. I probably won't get a chance to see how her story ends. But, for those few weeks, she learned what it felt like to enjoy a book. 

She also read about other children who had tough beginnings, but made it in the end.

That Was A Great Game!

There is a wonderful line at the end of the movie Hook. After all the adventures of Pan and the Lost Boys, after all the highs and lows, triumphs and set backs, shouts and tears; after Pan leaves, one of the Lost Boys looks at another, smiles and says:

"That was a great game!"

That was how I felt as the 2nd part of Harry Potter 7 faded from the screen today. After 8 movies and countless hours reading those books many times - THAT was a great game! Thank you Ms. Rowling!

Spoiler Ahead:

I really enjoyed the movie today and would give it an A+ except for one area. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort occurred with no one around. It mostly came down to a battle of wills and the fact that Voldermort never really controlled the Elder wand. However, in the book it was so much more than that. The battle was more about ideas - how Harry and Dumbledore viewed the world and how Voldemort and his Death Eaters saw life. Love was stronger than hate and fear.

Also, Rowling has a consistent theme of redemption and repentance throughout the series. In the book, one of my favorite parts in the final battle is when Harry appeals to Voldemort to look at his choices and to try and feel remorse; to be a man, be human, and regret what he had done. Harry practically begs him to repent. It is reminiscent of many of the exchanges in C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce. Harry put before Voldemort Death and Life - and even after everything Voldemort had done - Harry implored him to choose Life.

Removing that piece from the movie took the power out of the ending for me.

Still, in pretty much everything else, they produced a crowd pleaser. I can't wait to see it again!

Modern Mormonism

The GOP has two members of the LDS (Mormon) faith running for president. Broadway has a hit musical which is satirically based on the adventures of two Mormon missionaries (most Mormon guys serve an intense 2 year mission during their late teens or early twenties). If you don't live in the Inter-Mountain West, you may be asking yourself - "Who or what is a Mormon?"

That was my question 8 years ago when my wife and I decided to move our family out to Salt Lake City, Utah. I knew Mormons read the book of Mormon, but other than that... I am not sure that I even connected Mormon to Latter-Day Saint.

However, having been brought up in a charismatic/evangelical environment, I had heard the term Mormon a number of times at church functions... and it was never positive. The word cult was frequently attached. I can't say that I really knew what a cult was either, but somehow it was even worse than a non-Christian religion. Muslims and Hindus were deceived in their false religions... but cults were several cuts lower than that.

So, when we decided to move out here, we had many concerned Christians offering us books and videos about Mormons - how to convert them, how to know their tricks, how to run away, etc.

Somehow, my wife and I had enough foresight to politely decline these advances. We figured the best way to get to know Mormons.... was to get to know Mormons. What we found is that they are pretty much like everyone else. Our Mormon friends are some of the most wonderful people we have ever known. We have also run into self-righteous Mormons who use their faith to put everyone else beneath them.

Seems that pattern weaves its way into every religious group.

However, our good experiences have obviously dominated. After all, we have stayed in Salt Lake City. :)

Still, if one does not live near SLC and you want to get an impression of the best Mormonism has to offer, where might you look? I have a book recommendation.

Modern Mormonism: Myths and Realities

The author is Robert Millet, a Mormon's Mormon, and a man who has become a good friend of mine over the past few years. According to Wikipedia:

Dr. Robert L. Millet (born December 30, 1947 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Millet is a distinguished Latter-day Saint author and speaker with more than 60 published works on virtually all aspects of Mormonism.


Bob has worked with local evangelicals to foster better understanding and to promote courteous discussion of religious differences. He is also one of the best conversationalists I know. Regardless of your perspective on religion, Bob hosts a safe place to share your ideas.  He also has an enviable personal library containing a wide breadth of theological works. I have yet to bring up a theologian or author that he is not well versed in (or had lunch with).

In Modern Mormonism, Bob addresses a number of issues that are most often misunderstood by the public. He also presents the tenants of his faith in an approachable and heart-felt manner. Through personal stories and a deep knowledge base, he gives those unfamiliar with Mormonism a good sense of what the faith is like and what those who subscribe to it believe.

I am not Mormon; but I have many friends, whom I love, who follow the Mormon faith. I think Bob's book gives a good glimpse into the faith that my friends and neighbors embrace. If you have wondered about Mormonism, this book is a great introduction.

Listening to Love Wins

I finally started to listen to Rob Bell's Love Wins on my way to work today. I probably hold an even more liberal view of Hell than Mr. Bell does, so since I am already sold on this issue, I was not buying it the day it came out. I was content to wait and get a copy from the library. The audiobook is a great listen, since Rob is the narrator.

I am only a third of the way into it, but I supect that many of the negative reviews that proliferate the blogosphere are concerned with more than his view of Hell. From what I have heard so far, Bell is not just critiquing Hell, but the practical and evangelical practices that result from holding the popular Christian view of Hell.

This is Bell's true heresy. He critiques popular Christianity.

For many Christians, who have been trained to think in an us/them paradigm, when Bell makes a critique he places himself securely in the THEM category.

I was recently on David Hayward's (NakedPastor) facebook page. He was being taken to task by a Christian for a cartoon he drew that critiqued the church. The Christian said that David's cartoon was "anti-church" and that he should be making a "positive case for the Christian tradition". I would think that such a "rose colored glasses" approach would bring the accusation of "cult" were we talking about any other group.

When I heard the following quote in Love Wins this morning, I laughed outloud. However, when I was searching the Net for someone who had already typed it in, I found that most Christians didn't see the ironic humor. Most writers' defense mechanisms kicked in and they spent their sentences refuting the statement... rather than seeing Rob's use of irony. Either/or, Us/Them thinking.
__________

So is it true that the kind of person you are doesn’t ultimately matter, as long as you’ve said or prayed or believed the right things?

If you truly believed that, and you were surrounded by Christians who believed that, then you wouldn’t have much motivation to do anything about the present suffering of the world, because you would believe you were going to leave someday and go somewhere else to be with Jesus.

If this understanding of the good news of Jesus prevailed among Christians - the belief that Jesus’s message is about how to get somewhere else - you could possibly end up with a world in which millions of people were starving, thirsty, and poor; the earth was being exploited and polluted; disease and despair were everywhere; and Christians weren’t known for doing much about it.

If it got bad enough, you might even have people rejecting Jesus because of how his followers lived.

And that would be tragic.
__________

Comedy.

A Little Slim This Time

The city library is doing their twice a year book sale this weekend. My last run netted me about three times as many as I got this time. The religion section had only a fraction of what was available last fall. In addition, a friend of mine snagged the only two Marcus Borg books mere hours before.

Also, I brought my son along with me this time. He is a trooper and has an appreciation for books as well, but he wasn't going to put in my usual 3 hours with me. Therefore my perusal rate was a little more swift than normal.

Still, I did find a few books that I was excited to finally add to the collection; along with some that just caught my eye. My stack and Jake's stack, just 9 dollars. LOVE the library sale!

• Telling The Truth - Buechner
• One Dharma - Goldstein
• The Gnostic Gospels -Pagels
• Killing the Buddha - Manseau
• New Rules - Maher
• A History of God - Armstrong
• Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself - Alda
• God Is Not Great - Hitchens

• The Heart of Christianity - Borg *(this was one of the two Borg books snagged by my friend, but he passed it my way once he discovered he already had it.)

A Conference with Marcus Borg

For the past two years, I have headed down to Albuquerque, NM for a conference hosted by Richard Rohr. Speakers there have included Phyllis Tickle, Brian Mclaren, and Shane Claiborne. This has always fallen conveniently on my Spring Break.

This year however, Richard spoke at a conference in Scottsdale, AZ which had almost the same speaking lineup so there was not one in Albuquerque. This conference, which occurred in February, conflicted with my work schedule. My just burgeoning annual solo-cation was being snuffed out in its infancy.


I was happy to find out that Marcus Borg was speaking at a little church up in Missoula, MT. Since it is only an 8 hour drive from SLC, I loaded up the car and headed out. Driving by myself, listening to the news, audiobooks, or music, is a treat.

I held off on reserving a hotel since I was not totally confident that my car would make the journey without incident. I am glad I did, because a coupon book at the rest area provided me with a hotel that was literally across the street from the church, and was cheaper than anything I had seen online.

Dr. Borg was speaking at a Methodist Church. It was a classic old building that reminded me of the Lutheran church I went to in Detroit until my 6th year. Like that church, it consisted of many levels with lots of narrow hallways and stairways - it was easy to lose track of which floor I was on.

Dr. Borg spoke Friday night and was excellent as always. He spoke of how the church is changing in the 21st century. Chief among his points was that, in the past, church was conventional. It was assumed that everyone within the community went to a church. Today, church is becoming intentional. Anyone going to church now tend to do so because they desire to, it is no longer the assumption of the community that one attends church. A testament to that truism is that the majority of people at the conference were over 60. I was one of the "young" folks.

Marcus spoke for two sessions on Saturday. In them he compared the Jesus of history, to the Jesus of popular Christianity. He contrasted present day Christian focus on belief, with the historic view of Christianity being that of a transformed life. An emphasis on Belief allows Christianity to bind ourselves with Western Empire, something the counter-cultural aspect of transformational Christianity could never align with. A ninety-two year old man, who had pastored the church decades before, would occasionally lean over to me and say, "I was preachin this stuff back in the 70s! Nobody listened then either!"

We had lunch there at the church. Various senior members from the church had cooked soups and chili, breads, and cookies. It struck me how incredibly peaceful and at home I felt in this church of seniors, quietly addressing issues of social and economic justice. Just before the afternoon session started, I had a chance to introduce myself to Dr. Borg and talk for a few minutes. Although I don't necessarily agree with every point Dr. Borg arrives at concerning the Christian faith, I have come to the conclusion that it is the temperament and attitude of men like him that I wish to emulate. His life, love, and compassion are what give credit to his theology.

I had the evening free, so I grabbed a burger at a local diner and then walked along the river that bi-sected the town. Missoula is a very beautiful place; a peaceful community nestled amongst the mountains in the middle of nowhere.

Sunday morning, Marcus Borg taught the Christian Education class before church. There was only a small group of us. Sitting in the basement of a classic Methodist church, drinking coffee, and listening to Marcus Borg teach is my idea of the perfect Sunday morning.

By 11:00 am I was on the road, headed back to Salt Lake City. I felt like all of my life batteries had been re-charged.

All of his talks were filmed and posted on Vimeo.  Here are the links:

Two Visions of Christianity Today
Jesus in the 1st and 21st Centuries: Telling His Story Today
Jesus in the 1st and 21st Centuries: Holy Week, Easter, and the New Testament
Open Hearts and Thin Places

Rob Bell : Love Wins

This video got me geared up to get this book when it comes out next month (I haven't read anything by Rob Bell yet). The message of the universal, unconditional love of God is breathing new life into people everywhere. However, the vast majority of Christianity is in line with the person who wrote the note in the video... and I am sure they are going to have lots of "notes" to write about Rob Bell. :)

HT: New Ways Forward

Chasing Francis: A Book Review

Chasing Francis is a story about a successful mega-church pastor who finds himself feeling empty after having accomplished all of his ministry goals. The book is written in a similar style to Brian Mclaren's "New Kind of Christian" series - i.e. using a narrative to make theological points.

The Pastor, Chase, says near the beginning of the book, "I have this sneaking suspicion that I've been reading from a theological script that someone else wrote. Is this my faith, or one that I bought into as a kid without really thinking about it?" This is a common perspective hitting many religious believers today. In the past, it was easier for one to have a "simple" faith; most people had only one theological input. However, due to the explosion of information in this age, contrary opinions are but a click away.

This is where Pastor Chase finds himself. As the questions began to nestle in his head, anyone giving pat answers became a source of annoyance. He comments at one point that Evangelical responses started to produce a "gag reflex" within him. This attitude begins to disturb his predominately evangelical congregation.

Chase finally comes to a Crisis of Faith moment... unfortunately, it happens during a Sunday morning sermon. His congregation, unwilling to deal with his broken soul, shows him the door. They put him on sabbatical and tell him to get it together or get another job.

In his despondency, Chase calls his eccentric uncle, who is a Franciscan Monk in Italy. His Uncle invites him to come to Italy to meet St. Francis of Assisi. Together, the two of them start a pilgrimage, following the path of St. Francis.

Chase's Uncle feels that Francis is a good model for this generation's spiritually homeless. Francis lived in a time when Christendom was leaving the ancient world for the modern world. The struggles he navigated in his time can serve as an example as Christianity now moves from a modern world to a post-modern world. While in Italy, Chase discovers that Christianity is much deeper than the teaspoon he had known. Francis demonstrates how to live in such a way that you tell a different story than the culture at large.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. It meanders at times, and occasionally reminded me of reading a Stephen King novel - the author would do a lot of weaving and winding before he got to his point. However, the point tends to be so satisfying that you quickly forgive the roundabout journey it took to get there. It was a little sentimental at times for my tastes, but it serves as a great introduction to St. Francis. I knew very little of Francis prior to reading this book; so if the author's hope was to encourage readers to pursue this saint further - in my case he succeeded.


A friend of mine who enjoyed this book also did a review and had a chance to meet the author. You can read Bob's thoughts here.

Soularize in a Box 2

I occasionally have done some book reviews for the message boards over on theooze.com.  Basically, I get a free book, they get a review from me.  I don't know if I will do anymore though because the past few books I felt were more like critiques, and I have found I don't much care for critiquing someone's writing.

However, with this last run I did get something I felt I could "promote".  The Ooze sponsored a conference a few years back and have made the audio and video available.  There are a total of 20 talks in all under Soularize in a Box 2.  What I like about the way they have packaged it is that you get a DVD with all of the MP3s and then a dvd full of the same talks in a portable media player format (youtube quality).  Usually when I get the CDs or DVDs from a conference, I have to rip everything so I can take it with me.  Tedious.  These fine folks have already done all that work.

Here are the seminars:

N.T. Wright - The Kingdom of God, Paul's Engagement of the Hellenistic World, Salvation
Rita Brock  - Paradise: A Historical Perspective, Saving Paradise, The Story of God's Garden
Brennen Manning - Abba Father, We are Called to the Healing Ministry
Richard Rohr - Christian Transformation, Non-Dualistic Thinking, The Practice of Meditation (2 Parts)
Frank Viola - Narrative Ecclesiology
Michael Dowd - Thank God for Evolution
Jim Palmer - Divine Nobodies
Mark Scandrette - Living in the Ways of the Kingdom
Garth Higgins - Spirituality in Film
Spencer Burke - Retail Christianity or Wholesale Love?
Plus two round table discussions.

I guess they usually sell it for 40, but I was sent a coupon code to offer "vb50" which will take it down to $20.

For me, the talks by Richard Rohr alone make it worth it.  Plus I love N.T. Wright, I discovered I liked a lot of what Frank Viola has to say, the talk on evolution was eye opening, and I enjoyed the discussion of spirituality and film.  I am still working through the rest of it.

The coupon is supposedly good until the end of the year, so if you are into any of these speakers, I think it is a pretty good deal.  You can purchase it at : http://soularize.net/

Bookshelf Part 2

Following up on last week's Bookshelf post (now with clearer pictures) -

I had the day off today, so I went down to the annual Salt Lake City Library book sale.  The bad news was that this was one of the last days of sale (everything has already been picked over), the good news was that I got everything even cheaper.  I think I still managed to get some decent books because the majority of the population around here (that might buy Christian theology) are either Mormon or VERY conservative evangelical.... neither of which would typically grab the books that would be of interest to me.

It is a bit like an Easter Egg hunt - digging through the piles of stuff I don't recognize - hoping to spot a name or a title I want.  Glancing through a few unknowns that sound interesting.  The emotions ranging from "Meh... I'll try that for a quarter" ... to uttering "No $***" in the religion isle because I found a like-new Marcus Borg.

At one point, a gentleman was drifting into my isle and I felt myself get a little territorial.    I clutched my books tighter and gave him the evil eye.  In his arms he had books by Joyce Meyer and Tim Lahaye.  Whew!  No danger there.  Then he looks up and down my stack of books and shakes his head.  I could see he was debating whether to give me a lecture, which would most likely be dripping in Christianese.  Fortunately for me, his economic sense won out and he went back to his searching; I was in no mood to be evangelized with cliche's and single syllable words.

Before leaving, I drifted through the LDS section, just in case there was any Robert Millet in there. Nope.  But wedged in between some copies of "The Work and the Glory" was a book co-authored by Borg and Crossan.  My ecumenical nature had struck pay-dirt!

So what did I get?

Total Surrender - Mother Teresa
Words to Love By - Mother Teresa
Beyond Theology - Alan Watts
Who Killed Jesus? - Dominic Crossan
The First Christmas - Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg
The God We Never Knew - Marcus Borg
Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time - Marcus Borg
Resurrection - John Shelby Spong
Why Christianity Must Change or Die - John Shelby Spong
The Power Of Now - Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
Reading Judas - Elaine Pagels
The Sign of Jonas - Thomas Merton
Soul Survivor - Philip Yancey
The Road Less Traveled and Beyond - M. Scott Peck
Traveling Mercies - Anne Lamott
Religious Literacy - Stephen Prothero
Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire - Deepak Chopra
Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris
The Death and Life of Michael Servetus -Roland Bainton
Failing America's Faithful - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Freedom in Exile - The Dalai Lama
How then shall we live? - Wayne Muller
The 5 People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

All of these are spread out in front of me, and it feels like Christmas morning.

Total spent: $9

Adding to my library: Priceless

What's on Your Bookshelf?

My wife has noted my tendency to go immediately to the bookshelf any time I enter a new friend's home. I maintain that you can tell a lot about a person by what they read.

The idea of this blog was inspired by my blogging friend Eruesso over at A God-Sized Puzzle.

I presently have three books out from the library. I just finished Losing My Religion (excellent), am in the middle of Me of little Faith, and I hope to get to the Dali Lama before my time runs out.

I am enjoying Me of Little Faith immensely. I love hearing Black's commentary on Faith.  I have been drawn lately to hear what people have to say about God when they do not feel bound by their religious group to give the "right" answer.

The various pics of my bookshelves cover most of what I have.  Some of those shelves are two deep, and I wasn't motivated to pull all the books down... the pics give a good flavor.

What isn't depicted, for the most part, is fiction (usually science fiction). I got rid of much of my collection when I moved to Utah from Michigan. We downsized on the house, so we needed to trim down. However, the theology and comics stayed.

The authors who have influenced my life most in the past couple of years have been Brian Mclaren, Richard Rohr, Thich Nhat Hanh, Philip Gulley, and Marcus Borg.  Brian because he gave space for me to address how I saw Christ and God, Hanh for challenging me on the path of love, Rohr for helping me see the third way, Borg for giving me permission to take the Bible seriously but not literally, and Gulley for expanding my idea of God and officially converting me to Universalism.

So I highly recommend:

A Generous Orthodoxy - Brian Mclaren
Everything Belongs - Richard Rohr
Teachings on Love - Thich Nhat Hanh
If Grace is True - Phillip Gulley
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time - Marcus Borg

I also have to mention No Greater Love by Mother Teresa. My wife and I did this book as a small group with our church a number of years ago. It had a profound effect on how we view the world and each other.

I will probably think of books later that escape me at the moment; but how about you?

What are you reading?

Books

"Dad, can you take me to the library?"

I don't know if my son can imagine, at his age, how much joy that question brings me.  Clutching a small stack, he told me that he was finished with all of his books from our last run, and needed more.

So off to the library we went.  I made my usual side turn just inside the door to see if there were any worthy books for sale.  I often find at least one the library is cutting loose, but today was not the day.  I then went to find Jake, who already had three books tucked under his arm and was busily searching for more.

I debated just shadowing him.  I knew if I headed over to the religion/philosophy isle, I would bring something home.  I already have two from the library and barely have time for those.... why grab anymore?

"I'll just look," I tell myself.

Through the rows I see many old friends, a few I am beginning to know, and some I would like to meet.  Marcus Borg, Karen Armstrong, the latest by David Dark.... I am always amazed at what a good selection they have.... Hitchens, been enjoying his Vanity Fair articles, I need to read something by him.... skip past the televangelist stuff to other faiths.... the Dali Lama.... what? no Thich Nhat Hahn? ... must be all checked out...

A tug at my elbow...

"Dad, are you ready?"

Jake is a young reader.... very task oriented.... he has his books and is ready to go.

That's ok.... he is just beginning.... someday he will savor these isles, pause at the pages, lose himself in their presence .....

His stack has grown to eight and we head to the check out.  We place the nine books on the conveyor (did anyone think I could resist?) and grab our receipt.  Outside a gentle rain is falling.  Jake is bent over as he walks.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I have to protect the books," he says without looking up.

How did I get so blessed?

An Author to Read to your Kids

I try to read to my kids every night, but as they get older it is getting harder for us to be consistent.  Still, I have read about a half dozen books to them this year.

Three of them were by author Margaret Davidson.  I have read a biography by her called "Helen Keller's Teacher" to my class each year for about 15 years.  It is a well told tale of the amazing life of Annie Sullivan.  This year I decided to read it a second time - to my own children.

My children loved the book, and my son Jacob asked a question that had not occurred to me all these years.

"Has this author written any other biographies?"

We checked online and discovered that she has written quite a few.  Many were out of print, but most are still available in our local library system.  So we grabbed Helen Keller and Louis Braille to start.

We found these to have the same traits that captured us in her first book.  Ms. Davidson is a wonderful story teller who attaches you emotionally to the people she writes about.  Aside from hearing a good tale, my children are getting great history lessons.

If you have children and you read to them, or would like to start to (it is never too late), I give Margaret Davidson's biographies my happy endorsement.  You will not be disappointed.
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I have placed what books of hers I could find on my classroom Amazon wishlist.  If you like to make charitable contributions at times, perhaps you might consider donating a book to my classroom.  When you select an item from my wishlist, the books automatically get shipped to my classroom.  I have had a number of donations in the past year and, in an era of shrinking school budgets, each donation is greatly appreciated.
http://amzn.com/w/3U9179PXM8NJD

Ooze Review: About You

Every few months I get an opportunity to review a book for the theooze.com with a bunch of other bloggers. I grabbed this selection based on the subtitle. The book is called by About You by Dick Staub. The subtitle reads: Jesus didn't come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human.

Given the recent declaration by Anne Rice, this caught my eye. There are a lot of Christians out there feeling uncomfortable with the institution of church and are wondering what a faith outside of the Christian subculture can look like. I assumed I was getting a book that would dive into those kinds of questions.

I should have researched a little more.

This book isn't about that. The title was a dead give away. This book is about you.

Which means it was not at all written for me. It states in the first paragraph:

"Would you like to make sense of your life? Do you want to achieve your potential greatness?"

I have never read a book by Anthony Robbins or Joel Osteen, but I bet they sound a lot like that.

Soon after the author writes:

"Perhaps your life has unfolded ideally and just as you planned. But for most of us, life deals us some serious blows and detours."

And that is who this book is for ... and why I am hesitant to critique it too much. It could be that a book like this is just the "shot in the arm" a person who has been beaten down needs. They need to hear about how they have a great design and destiny. For myself, the only thing I might add to my life is a 7 figure income (or six would be fine... heck, I'd even take a high 5).

My only direct critique is that the author, for some reason, feels the need to make disparaging remarks about science in one of the chapters.

"Science can make truly great progress in the study of the natural world, but is of little value in examining spiritual, non-material reality."

In a very cliche'd manner, the author sets up a science/spirituality opposition. I believe this antagonism only exists as we create it. I confess that the author's attitude soured me on the rest of the book.

As I said, I am not the best audience to review this kind of a book, however I would wager that for someone in need of the like, there are better options available.

The War Prayer by Mark Twain

From Wikipedia:

This piece was left unpublished by Mark Twain at his death, largely due to pressure from his family, who feared that the story would be considered sacrilegious. Twain's publisher and other friends also discouraged him from publishing it. According to one account, his illustrator Dan Beard asked him if he would publish it regardless, and Twain replied "No, I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead." Mindful of public reaction, he considered that he had a family to support, and did not want to be seen as a lunatic or fanatic.

HT: Adam

Radio Interview With Author David Dark

My good friend Brook did a 2 hour (yes, 2 hour) interview with David Dark, author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, on local Detroit radio.  As far as I know, it is not streamable anywhere.  I have hosted a download of it through my skydrive account, but I had to compress it down a bit to get it under the 50mg file max... so the audio is so-so.  If anyone knows of a better way to do this, I am all ears.  The original file was 200 mg and some change.

David is one of my favorite authors in theology right now.  This interview is a great peek into his head and heart - and Brook does an excellent job of using every question and comment to its best interviewing potential.  I was surprised at how quickly the two hours passed.  If you want to listen in on a great conversation, download this mp3 file.