Dawn, whose many books (Keeping the Sabbath Wholly)
have earned her something of a cult following, believes that many Christians have either distorted or ignored crucial words in the Christian faith. Here, she reclaims a classic Christian vocabulary, offering short reflections on more than 60 words. The topics range from theological ("justification") to social ("class"). Some of Dawn's meditations are delightfully perspicacious: analyzing the punctuation in many English renditions of the Apostle's Creed, she shows that we are too quick to ignore Jesus' real suffering on the cross. "Decadence" used to mean a serious decline in morals; why, Dawn wonders, have we named our favorite chocolate desserts after depravity and dissipation? But other essays are confusing. In a strange and puzzling poem, Dawn tries to reclaim "x"—the letter used to stand in for a signature, but now it denotes a generation. Really, she says, it should point us to the cross. Dawn spends too much time riding the gender hobbyhorse. Many have spurned the word "Father" because it is patriarchal, but Dawn improbably insists that to "call God Father
... does not indicate gender." The gems in this collection sparkle, but there are too many duds. (Nov.)
