DESTINY DISRUPTED: A HISTORY of the WORLD through ISLAMIC EYES (audiobook) by Tamim Ansary

Published in 2009 by Blackstone Audio.
Read by the author, Tamim Ansary
Duration: 17 hours, 28 minutes.
Unabridged.

Tamim Ansary has done something that is very hard to do - he has written a long history of a complicated topic without making it boring and after more than 17 hours of discussion, he left me wishing that it was even longer.

Ansary makes the observation that most histories that people in the West (Western Europe and the Americas) read are written from a Western perspective. That makes sense. But, the history of the world is not just the history of Western Civilization. There are multiple civilizations on the planet. Mesoamerica (the Mayas, Aztecs, Toltecs, etc.) is a separate civilization. China is the historic center of another civilization. So is India. And between the West and India and China is another one. Westerners usually refer to it as the Middle East. This book is a history of that civilization from the beginning of recorded history (empires like Bablyon) to 9/11 and the fallout from that terrorist act.

The strength of this book is that it lets the reader see history from another perspective. For example, the Crusades loom large in European history, but they were mostly an irritant to Muslims of the day since Ghenghis Khan was threatening them from Central Asia at the same time. Compared to Ghenghis Khan, the Crusaders were not an existential threat to their civilization. To make an analogy from American history, the Battle of Lexington and Concord looms large in American history textbooks as "The Short Heard 'Round the World", but most English school children have never heard of it.

The audiobook is read by the author and he does a great job. The book is written in approachable, every day language, literally designed to be an introduction to the history of this civilization. He reminds readers of key concepts throughout, showing how older ways of doing things applied to new situations and were adapted. Ansary's reading is excellent.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. I highly recommended this audiobook. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DESTINY DISRUPTED: A HISTORY of the WORLD through ISLAMIC EYES by Tamim Ansary.

MARTIN LUTHER: IN HIS OWN WORDS (audiobook) by Martin Luther

Published in 2009 by Christian Audio
Published by Christianaudio.com in 2009.

Read by David Cochran Heath
Duration: 2 hours, 26 minutes
Unabridged

This collection of Martin Luther's writings has a great strength in that it lets Martin Luther speak for himself with no other author offering interpretations. However, this is also its weakness since some of these documents could have used a bit of explanation. 

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Considering that these texts are around 500 years old, most are surprisingly accessible. The editors chose to include the Ten Commandments section from Luther's Small Catechism that was easy to understand with no additional explanation necessary.

However, it would have been helpful to have some sort of introduction to the opening text - Luther's 95 Theses. I am both a lifelong Lutheran and a history teacher and even I found the straight through reading of all 95 theses to be more than a bit dry.  

The most powerful text is a sermon on Confession and the Lord's Supper. Luther does a lot of build up that can be a bit much, but when he got to his point I found it to be quite powerful and relevant to my everyday life - even nearly 500 years after it  was written.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: MARTIN LUTHER: IN HIS OWN WORDS (audiobook) by Martin Luther.

HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE: THE RISE and DECLINE of WESTERN THOUGHT and CULTURE (audiobook) by Francis A. Schaeffer

Originally published in 1976
Published by Christianaudio.com
Read by Kate Reading
Duration: 7 hours, 51 minutes

Presbyterian minister and philosopher Francis A. Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? is a history of the West and a fairly sophisticated bit of Christian apologetics wrapped up in a fairly small package. At times this book rolls along at an enjoyable pace and is quite the listen, other times it is much more difficult. 

Here is a listing of the chapters:

• Chapter 1: Ancient Rome - Schaeffer compares Roman pagan beliefs with Christian beliefs and blames the pagan beliefs for the collapse of the Empire - they were not inclusive enough and the Greco-Roman gods were little more than bigger people with the same issues that all people have.
• Chapter 2: The Middle Ages - Despite its reputation, the Middle Ages had positive points. Threads of Classical thought were re-discovered and fused to Christian beliefs.
• Chapter 3: The Renaissance - Schaeffer offers up the Renaissance and the Reformation as competing thought processes about man and his relationship to God. The Renaissance is essentially the re-birth of Greco-Roman humanist thought with a Christian veneer.
• Chapter 4: The Reformation - Explores the art and culture of The Reformation and compares them favorably to that of the Renaissance.
• Chapter 5: The Reformation – Continued - Looks at the philosophy of the Reformation and how even non-Christian thinkers of the time were influenced by Christian thought.
• Chapter 6: The Enlightenment - Human-centered thought leads directly to the excesses of the French Revolution.
• Chapter 7: The Rise of Modern Science - Science's foundation came from confidence that God had created an orderly world that we could understand.
• Chapter 8: The Breakdown in Philosophy and Science - Philosophy and art are symptoms of the thought processes that are now permeating science.
• Chapter 9: Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology - Humanism creeps into theology.
• Chapter 10: Modern Art, Music, Literature, and Films - Schaeffer offers commentary on several "modern" works.
• Chapter 11: Our Society - How the values of personal peace and affluence have worked their way into our society.
• Chapter 12: Manipulation and the New Elite - Is an authoritarian state ruled by elites coming as a natural result of Humanist values.
• Chapter 13: The Alternatives - Schaeffer makes the argument for a return to Christian values.

The audiobook is quite enjoyable until Chapter 8. I was not a fan of the discussion of all of the different philosophers. The commentary on current movies, art, music and literature are stilted seeing as how the book was originally published in 1976. There is no discussion of Heavy Metal, rap, hip-hop, Star Wars, the current trend towards super hero movies or celebrity pop culture authors like Stephen King. His discussion of modern science is similarly stilted. It's not his fault, it's just the reality of listening to a re-released book.

So, do I buy into what Schaeffer is arguing?

Yeah, mostly. Once you get past the fact that he is still talking about hippies it's still pretty solid.

Kate Reading's narration was neither good nor bad. She did not hurt the interesting parts and did not make the slower parts better. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE: THE RISE and DECLINE of WESTERN THOUGHT and CULTURE by Francis A. Schaeffer.

Reviewed on November 17, 2014.

Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West by Anthony Pagden

Disappointed

Published in 2008.

Anthony Pagden's Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West was a book I was really looking forward to reading. It sat on my wish list for months and when I saw it just sitting there at my local library I greedily snatched it up and considered myself lucky to even have found it checked in.

Thank goodness I did not waste my money buying it.

I suppose the problem with a book of this nature is that it is bound to disappoint - some things will be "too" highlighted, some left out. Even worse for this book, niggling factual errors crop up that bother the careful reader and throw into doubt the validity of the more complicated interpretations of the work as a whole.

Positives:

The book is quite readable and you must give a tip of the hat to anyone who undertakes such a large and sweeping history.

Negatives:

The anti-religious comments taint large sections of the book: "...nor have I made any attempt...to disguise the fact that I believe the myths perpetrated by all monotheistic religions - all religions indeed- have caused more lasting harm to the human race that any other set of beliefs..." (p. xix) In my opinion, his anti-religious bias does immeasurable harm to this history because holders of religious belief are held in disdain. This is a history full of religious beliefs, perhaps even based on it. Viewing all of those beliefs as despicable and marginalizing them leads to some of the more simplistic interpretations noted in other reviews of this book.

-The author comments that in this book Christianity "seems to fare slightly better than Islam in this story..." (p. xix) but I really doubt that. At least he spent several pages on the life of Muhammad and the early history of Islam. He doesn't even bother to tell about the life of Jesus (not even a "supposed" version) or a history of St. Paul (whom he refers to in passing several times, but the uninformed reader is left, well, uninformed.) Imagine, a history of the West without even a page devoted to the beginnings of Christianity. The closest we get to an outline of Christ is a brief comparison to Mithraism (pp. 130-1). Christians are often slighted, such as on page 519 when he opines that Christians would like to make Shari'a law for the United States if only they could figure out how.

-Judaism fares even worse. It is rarely mentioned. Even then it has inaccuracies, such as on pages 151-2 when he notes, incorrectly that Moses was only given 10 laws. A passing glance through the book of Deuteronomy would tell the most casual of reader that dozens and dozens of laws were given to Moses.

-The Persian-Roman conflicts. I was looking forward to learning more about the Persian empire(s) that fought Rome to a standstill. Usually in this type of history there is just one paragraph that tells you little more than I've already mentioned - that the Persians fought the Romans to a standstill and an accomodation was made. He includes a fancier explanation, but it is still just the one paragraph. (pp. 175-6) I was hoping for much more - especially since this accounts for roughly 500 years of the 2,500 years of conflict that is discussed in the book.

--Refers to the year 1098 as being a part of the "ninth-century". (p. 231)

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

-Luther's teachings are misstated at times. "Mankind did not need to labor to win God's favor, as the Church had always maintained; it could be vindicated by faith alone. To be justified in the eyes of God, one had only to believe and lead a true and godly life." (p. 297) The part about leading a true and godly life would be the same as laboring to win God's favor. It is not Luther's theology. He stated the godly life would proceed from one's faith, it would not, in and of itself, do anything to get one into heaven.

Some might find the point about Luther trivial, but this is not a small thing. In the last 500 years there have been two large-scale organized religious movements in the West and both were inspired by Martin Luther - the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation (aka the Catholic Reformation). Failing to understand this simple part of Luther's theology means that those two movements are not understood as well. If you were reading a book that mentioned the philosopher Socrates and the author failed to grasp the concept that Socrates wanted people to question everything you'd have to question the author's competence as an authority on the topic. If the author also openly ridiculed philosophers in general and Greek philosophers in particular you'd question why he even bothered to write on the topic in the first place.   

-On page 74 there is a reference to "brothels in Pompey" (p.74). Pompey was one of Julius Caesar's rivals. Pompeii is the standard spelling for the city he is referring to.

-On page 249 he refers to the Afghan War of 1991. 2001, perhaps?

-There is a complete failure to mention the clash between Communism, Fascism and the East. The Ba'ath Party was influenced by the Fascist movements. Afghanistan was nominally Communist when the USSR invaded it to support the floundering government in 1979. He expounds on the murderous history of religious movements but blows off the terrible history of secular movements like Communism with one really long sentence (pp. 533-4) that fails to address the issue or the scope of their own murderous pasts.

-"Soviet Block"? (p. 526). The standard spelling is bloc, not block.

-On page 526 it is claimed that East Germany "took the first steps that would eventually bring down the Communist regimes of eastern Europe." (p. 526) Funny, I remember it being Poland with Lech Walesa and Solidarity being the first. The Wall came down only when Hungary and other countries had already lowered their barriers and made East Germany's Communist rulers irrelevant.

Final thought: Buy something else. Perhaps more specific histories rather than a more general, biased one that demonstrates little respect for the religious traditions of the peoples involved.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West.

Reviewed on October 28, 2008.

Spy for the Night Riders: Martin Luther (Trailblazer Books #3) by Dave Jackson

Good history - for 4th to 8th graders


I am reviewing this as a high school world history teacher who is looking for high-quality historical fiction of all skill levels that I can add to my classroom library.

While Spy for the Night Riders: Martin Luther is too easy for the average high school student, it would be a good fit for the 'reluctant reader' or the student interested in the Reformation. The plot moves along pretty quickly and does a good job of telling about Martin Luther's big moment at the Diet of Worms and his travels immediately before and after his hearing.

Some previous knowledge of the Reformation would be helpful.

I give this one 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon here: Spy for the Night Riders (Trailblazer Books Book 3)

Reviewed on May 6, 2006.

An Open Letter on Translating (Kindle) by Martin Luther

A piece of history, yet still accessible

Originally published in 1530.

I should note that I am a lifelong Lutheran and Martin Luther is one of my personal heroes, despite his numerous flaws.

An Open Letter on Translating is a September, 1530 letter to Luther's critics concerning his translation of the Bible from Latin into German. This was very controversial at the time and it led to a lot of disagreement (even wars) over who should be allowed to read the Bible and who should interpret its meaning.

Luther defends his translation in his very best combative style. He correctly notes that not all turns of phrases translate literally from one language to another. He notes, along with a liberal dose of insulting names for his opponents, that he and his team of translators did a lot of research and took great care to make his translation accessible and accurate.

Martin Luther
(1483-1546)

What is perhaps most amazing is that this document is immensely readable for anyone conversant with the issues of the Reformation, even though it is nearly 500 years old. His irreverent style won over many of the common folks of his day and made him the Western world's first international bestselling authors.

The letter veers off topic towards the end and meanders into a general criticism of indulgences and entreaties to saints which is why I only give it 4 stars.

It can be found on Amazon.com here: An Open Letter on Translating by Martin Luther.

Luther (LCA School of Religion series) by Robert H. Fischer



Excellent beginner's history to Luther and his times

Published in 1966 by Lutheran Church Press.

Fischer's book on the life and works of Luther is obviously intended to be a school-age biography of the great leader of the Reformation. I would suggest it for Middle or High School age students. Luther has several simple pencil illustrations spaced throughout the book that neither add nor detract from the text as a whole. This would also be an appropriate book for anyone new to Martin Luther or the Reformation.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Fischer starts by setting the scene for the reader. His description of life and politics in pre-Reformation is Europe is one of the best short summaries that this world history teacher has ever read. Fischer sets the scene wonderfully for the reader to understand Martin Luther and the magnitude of his demands for the Church to reform itself.

Fischer takes great care not to cast the Catholics as devils and Luther as an angel. All of Luther's warts are exposed (anti-Semitism, etc.), but Fischer lingers longest on Luther's positive achievements and qualities. This is appropriate since those are the things that have had such a large influence on Western history.

Fischer includes lots of quotes from Luther and his contemporaries, letting them speak for themselves (and to his credit, Fischer doesn't overquote and just supply us with an endless string of long quotes, as some historians do).

The last 30 pages of the book are quotes and comments on Luther's teaching and writing about a number of topics, including "The Lord's Supper", "The Christian and his neighbors" and comments about what Luther really wanted to do when he begin the Reformation movement.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Luther.

Reviewed February 19, 2005.

The Smalcald Articles by Martin Luther (Kindle version)

A 1921 translation of an important piece of Reformation theology

The Smalcald Articles were designed to be be a presentation of the basics of Lutheran theology that was to be presented at a Council of the Church in Mantua in 1537 - a Lutheran/Catholic discussion about what Lutherans and Catholics believed. As Luther notes in his brief introduction these articles laid out "what we could accept or yield, and what we could not." (location 2) They are named for the Smalcald (Schmalkaldic) League - a union of Lutheran cities and territories that opposed the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor.


The Council never happened and the league never adopted the Smalcald Articles as an official statement of faith because of Luther's strident, I would even say enthusiastic, attacks on some core matters of Catholic faith, especially the office of the Pope.

The Smalcald Articles were incorporated into the Book of Concord and are considered traditional standard Lutheran doctrine.

The Smalcald Articles are a lively presentation of the basics of Lutheranism. In reality, one would get the same information if you read Martin Luther's Small Catechism but it would not be presented in Luther's best argumentative style. Luther often knew no restraint when it came to arguing the points of Christian faith. He follows his arguments to their logical conclusions and is quite ruthless, devestatingly effective and fantastically politically incorrect in passages that condemn the office of the Pope, ultimately concluding that the position of Pope is that of Antichrist (locations 225-268). One can see why the Smalcald League wanted to tone down the rhetoric for the purposes of discussion.

However, Luther's rawboned, no-holds-barred, street fighter style of argument is really the star here. Luther had precious little patience for those that were, in his view, perverting the teachings of Christianity in order to follow the traditions and practices of human institutions. While Luther's Small Catechism patiently lays out the teachings of Lutheranism in an easy to digest format, the Smalcald Articles are a whirlwind, alternately attacking and defending (even his defenses are mostly attacks) highlighting Luther's early training as a lawyer (and what a great modern-day criminal lawyer he would have been!) with elaborate arguments that show little mercy to any that would interfere with the work of God amongst his people.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Smalcald Articles.

Reviewed on April 30, 2010.