Practice Resurrection: And Other Essays

Reece (An American Gospel) superimposes the title of one of his finest treatises on this anthology of 15 essays that delve into his conflicted relationship with Christianity and thoughts on environmental stewardship, among other topics. Reece, raised by a Baptist minister, refashioned his beliefs over many years to differ substantially from his forefathers’—which preached that Christ’s resurrection mattered more than his life—and, instead, proposes to readers a religion of experience. Poignant topics, such as the new creationism, the circulatory system, and “lionspeak,” reflect his life: poet, professor, essayist, naturalist, conservationist, birding friend of Wendell Berry, and executor of poet Guy Davenport’s estate. While some of the essays address a straightforward topic, others meander and find their footing when Reece details his thought process. For example, “Flight Risk” starts on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight, before moving to France to approach the apocryphal Acts of Peter, then to Simon Magus, and finally to the Daniel Boone Forest near Reece’s home in eastern Kentucky. “The work of... writers I most admire is telling a truth that exposes a lie.” The same could be said about Reece’s fine collection, which will interest readers grappling with how to think of their faith in an environmentally precarious world. (Mar.)