Original RBL Reviews
Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught about God’s Wrath and Judgment
Sharon L. Baker. Westminster John Knox, $16.95 paper (226p) ISBN 978-0-664-23654-0
Fear of hell has been instrumental in gaining converts to Christianity, Baker asserts in this critique of traditional assumptions about a punishing torment awaiting sinners and non-believers after death. Assistant professor and coordinator of the peace studies program at Messiah College, Baker argues for a kinder, gentler image of the afterlife that better comports with the supposed nature and intentions of a gracious and loving God. One result is that the book includes refreshing ways of thinking about how justice might be reconciled with forgiveness. It frequently relies, however, on popular Christian assumptions about God and a nutshell “message of the Bible” that not every reader may agree with. This is odd because Baker discusses biblical texts that challenge reductionist assertions. While the book’s conclusions are intriguing and sometimes convincing, Baker’s vehicle for pursuing and communicating them through annoying anecdotes and exchanges with three individuals cheapens an otherwise sophisticated argument. This should be a useful book for Christians struggling to reconcile Jesus’ sacrifice and a loving God with the place of punishment and the necessity for justice. (Aug.)
Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace
Anne Jackson. Thomas Nelson, $16.99 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-8499-4599-1
Jackson’s 2008 blog query—“What is one thing you feel you can’t say in church?”—evoked huge response and birthed a Web site that became this book, whose purpose is “to show you that you’re not alone in your battle with fear and secrets.” Jackson doesn’t pull punches when she talks about fear, brokenness, and confession. “When you confess something that’s shattered in your life,... you’re acknowledging that you need the Cross” is the typical forthright statement you’ll find here. One of Jackson’s best “permissions” is what she calls the “Gift of Going Second,” when you confess or reveal something first, which allows others the freedom to follow in candor, giving a gift that keeps moving forward. Included are pages of full-color, confessional artwork submitted to her by mail or blog, as well as her heartfelt encouragement to “step up and confess—not only the bad, but confess the good and noble as well.” This is a pointed, much needed glimpse at the toughness of life and at the grace and goodness that can come when one person speaks freely. (Aug.)
Shauna Niequist. Zondervan, $16.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-310-32816-2
Niequist (Cold Tangerines) returns with an often humorous and always contemplative series of personal essays on bittersweet experiences, illustrating through her own life that “rejoicing is no less rich even when it contains a splinter of sadness.” Spiritually, the book bravely sets out to decipher the paradoxically co-dependent nature of happiness and grief. But Niequist’s title should not be seen as simply a convenient theological metaphor; i t is also a literary device. Impressively, many of Niequist’s perfectly concocted chapters weave in culinary themes, evoking the sensory, physical experience of the bittersweet along with the spiritual sense of it. When writing of deep friendship and the loss that sometimes accompanies it, her narrative often revolves around a dinner table, a cooking club, or a farmer’s market. Niequist’s ability to describe the sensation of eating a peppery arugula salad punctuated with sweet blueberries is just as evocative as her ability to express the intricacies of love, loss, hope, and doubt. Readers of all faiths will find this book courageous, sincere, poetic, and profound. There’s nothing bitter in this sweet treat of a spiritual memoir. (July)
Jesus Died for This? A Satirist’s Search for the Risen Christ
Becky Garrison. Zondervan, $14.99 paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-310-29289-0
A common stereotype of a religious person is someone with a dour face, hands clasped in prayer while sternly warning others about the dangers of the flesh. Author Garrison (Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church), contributing editor for Sojourners, blows that image away and helps all Christians laugh at themselves and the crazy ways they misunderstand Jesus. The author’s irreverent style is charming, but she does not use humor as a crutch; she clearly comprehends the Christian tradition and calls both progressive and conservative believers to task for misrepresenting the faith. The gospel, she contends, should not be twisted to fit personal agendas. Garrison reports on her travels to the Holy Land and across the U.S., all the while astutely observing and commenting on a variety of religious lifestyles and traditions. Never missing an opportunity to get a laugh, the author’s stories are peppered with jokes and tongue-in-cheek commentary about how Christians have “lost” Jesus. As with any comic, some of the humor misses the mark, but the gist is clear: Christians must examine the core of their faith, understand that religion is not “all about me,” and, most important, share a good laugh. (July)
A Short History of the Jews
Michael Brenner, trans. by Jeremiah Riemer. Princeton Univ., $29.95 (440p) ISBN 978-0-691-14351-4
In this concise but all-encompassing account of the Jews, Brenner (After the Holocaust) does a remarkable job of escorting readers from the biblical narrative of Abraham’s journey from Ur and idolatry through the treacherous, monotheistic course of Jewish history, concluding with modern-day Israeli society. A professor of Jewish history at the University of Munich, Brenner treats much of the biblical narrative as lore, accepting as fact only those stories and time lines corroborated by extra-biblical evidence. Wandering, tradition, and tragedy emerge as themes as the Jews, once exiled from their biblical homeland of Israel, spend much of history defending their religion, being coerced to forsake it, and yearning for the re-establishment of the Temple. Tragedies have followed the Jews: Crusades, expulsions, book burnings, the Holocaust; yet there have also been periods of efflorescence and development during which the Jews have thrived and produced works of great scholarship and innovation. Brenner’s work successfully conveys, in a comprehensive and comprehensible fashion, the enduring history of the Jewish people. (July)
Sneak Peek: Religion Book Reviews Coming in PW July 12
Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference
Max Lucado. Thomas Nelson, $24.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-8499-2069-1
Megaseller Lucado (3:16—The Numbers of Hope) celebrates his 25th year in publishing with a call to Christians to use “our one-of-a-kind lifetimes and once-in-history opportunity” to “alter the course of human suffering.” With his typical folksiness, Lucado uses the first 12 chapters of the biblical book of Acts as a springboard, describing how God uses Galilean fishermen—and each of us—to change the world. Familiar biblical stories—Ananias and Sapphira, the Greek-speaking widows, Peter’s dream—take on new meaning as Lucado urges Christians to look beyond their usual lives. “None of us can help everyone. But all of us can help someone. And when we help them, we serve Jesus,” he writes simply. Lucado provides discussion questions for group or personal use, as well as ideas for action. The book is the lead item of a wide array of related products, including an audiobook, greeting cards, Bible, children and youth material, curriculum, and gift books. Lucado shows fans both longtime and new that he remains, after all these years, a powerful voice in the call to authentic Christianity. (Sept.)
The Best Buddhist Writing 2010
Edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala Sun. Shambhala, $17.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-59030-734-2
Is there enough “best Buddhist writing” every year to justify a book? Since 2004 the editors of the magazine Shambhala Sun have compiled articles and excerpts from recently published books for an annual edition. This volume’s essays fall loosely into the categories of meditation, Buddhist theory, practicing in the world, mindful living, and Buddhism in the West. Coping with suffering and loss is a persistent theme. Distinguished American Buddhists from vipassana, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhist traditions are represented; writing styles vary from Thich Nhat Hanh’s simple prose to Diane Ackerman’s lyricism. Alongside lucid if earnest advice some distinctive voices emerge: Jarvis Jay Masters on a brief outing from death row; Jaimal Yogis on searching for—and not finding— enlightenment in the perfect wave; John Tarrant on time well spent with his dying father; Hannah Tennant-Moore’s raw account of connection in the midst of depression. As always, the value of such a book is to acquaint casual readers with unfamiliar writers they might want to explore in more depth. A tighter focus and greater selectivity would have helped this book better live up to its “best” designation. Yet most readers should find helpful information or an arresting take on the world through a Buddhist lens. (Sept.)
A First Look at the Stars: Starred Reviews Coming in PW July 12Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint
John Cornwell. Continuum, $24.95 (276p) ISBN 978-1-4411-5084-4
When John Henry Newman converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845, it represented something of an anticlimax in the career of an Anglican divine and his efforts, through the influential Oxford Movement, to bring the English church back to its Catholic roots. A renowned scholar and thinker, Newman, in his lifetime, produced thousands of pages that some have considered the finest theological writing of his time. Even today Newman continues to shape the thoughts of aspiring theologians. But as Cornwell, prolific author of works on Catholicism, suggests, the good cardinal had his detractors. The author suggests there may be sufficient contradictions in, and perhaps enough unanswered questions about, his subject’s life to call into question Newman’s upcoming beatification, expected in September. Newman’s spiritual and, indeed, philosophical journey serves as a fascinating template for understanding the 19th-century Catholic Church and its trajectories into England. This is a wonderfully realized study of a complex man, required reading for every student of English history and its rich Christian tradition. (Sept.)
Eliza Griswold. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27 (336p) ISBN 978-0-374-27318-7
Award-winning journalist Griswold chronicles her travels along the 10th parallel, the line of latitude 700 miles north of the equator and home to many Christian-Muslim standoffs. Griswold does her best to counter the received wisdom of interfaith fighting by astutely pointing out where religion is simply used as a tactic in a nonreligious conflict over land, resources, or the like. As examples of war-rejecters, multifaith, and environmental advocates, the author introduces many organizations and individuals with hopes for peace. Among them are the Nigerian pastor, who, in addition to working with a Muslim imam to stop fighting between their communities, also distributes green stoves that burn less wood, thereby preventing further deforestation and possibly inter-religious fighting over land rights. The reader also meets Nigerian Christian warriors, quasi-military Filipino Catholic gangs, and Indonesian jihadis who sell herbal cures door-to-door to raise funds. Though not a scholar of Islam, Griswold has a profound grasp of the misinterpretation and manipulation of Islam. Her insight that no single, unified sharia (Islamic law) exists is a conclusion that has eluded more celebrated authors; among other perceptions, she notes that Islam was spread more by intermarriage than the sword. Always maintaining a journalist’s objective view, Griswold, a published poet, nevertheless enchants the reader with her lush, flowing prose. (Aug.)
On the Virtual Shelves: Web-Exclusive Religion Book Reviews
Deceit by Brandilyn Collins (Zondervan, June)
Common Ground Between Islam and Buddhism by Reza Shah Kazemi (Fons Vitae, May)
A Saint for All Reasons: A Pocket Bible of 100 Saints for Every Situation by Tim Muldoon. (QNY/Langenscheidt, May)
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas (Thomas Nelson, Apr.)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/43195-web-exclusive-reviews-week-of-5-17-10.html
