Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution - A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Alister McGrath

Strong, but not for those who are not well-versed in history 

Originally published in 2007.

Let me just note that Alister McGrath has taken on a large topic (Protestantism) in Christianity's Dangerous Idea and done about as well as one can in organizing the information and presenting it in a cogent and readable fashion.

McGrath assumes that you already know a lot about history in general and about the last 500 years or so in particular. That is to be expected. If he had to explain every last detail this book it would have to have been 3,000 pages rather than the already hefty 478 pages of text plus 50+ pages of endnotes. If you are a person that has heard of the Huguenots, but are not sure if they are a native group in South Africa or a religious group in France, this book is not for you.

This is not a complete history, either. It is an overview. If you are looking for a complete history of a particular denomination, you are likely to be disappointed. Some denominations are completely overlooked (African Methodist Episcopal), some are largely overlooked (Southern Baptists) and McGrath does not even address the thornier issue of whether the Mormons are Protestant, even though they are obviously came from the Protestant tradition.

McGrath does a good job of tying the Protestant Reformation into the larger Renaissance movements of the day. He makes strong arguments for Protestantism as a supporter for democratic ideals and capitalism. His comments about the lessening of tensions between Protestantism and Catholicism due to the stronger common threat of Islam and especially secularism were well-stated and dead on correct, in my mind.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Christianity's Dangerous Idea.

Reviewed on July 12, 2008.

A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter

Not very good

Originally published in 2003.

First the positives:

The over-arching storyline of A Faint Cold Fear is really a pretty good concept of a story. I did want to know who did it so I read until the very end.

Now, the negatives:

Too many characters that are introduced just once and then continually referred to from that moment on by their first name. There are nearly 20 characters that I am supposed to remember with no reminder of what they do in the plot. Just a name and I have to go back in to the book and look up who Kevin or Richard was.

Plot items are brought in (the arrow drawn in the dirt outside the dorm window, for example) that are a big deal for about 3 pages and then are totally dropped.

Lena. Her behavior is insane. She's terrified to be touched (being the victim of a horrific rape), afraid to be out of control and yet she goes to a rave party full of drugs, gets drunk and loses control with a dangerous man who has already hurt her.

The relationship between Lena and Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is so contrived, so "fakey" that it just failed to click at any level for me. Every scene between them seemed forced.

A shotgun IS NOT a rifle. They are both long guns, but they are different. This is not specialized knowledge. Ask anyone who knows a thing about guns and they'll explain the difference. It's not hard. I can't believe no one caught that at the publishing house, either.

I also cannot believe that any college campus would let any student, even a student on a skeet-shooting team, keep their gun in their room on campus. Campuses have been gun-sensitive places for years and years. I know of a student who had to live off campus because he refused to leave his skeet guns in a designated locker at a university in Indiana in the 1980s.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A Faint Cold Fear (Grant County Mysteries)

Reviewed on July 14, 2008.

A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World by John Dear

Troubling

Published in 2008. 

Let me start this review by stating the following in clear and unequivocal terms:

I have no problem whatsoever with people who protest and demonstrate for the things they believe in, especially those who do it like Rev. John Dear, who proceeds with the understanding that there is a possibility of arrest and detention as he protests for peace and against social inequity.

The positives of A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World:

-It is written in an engaging style, most of it can be easily grasped, even by those who are uninitiated in Christian theology. His story of how he struggled with the choice of whether or not to enter the priesthood is quite well told and interesting.

-The chapters are organized by both time frames and theme so it is fairly easy to go back and find comments and stories.

The negatives:

-That being said, I do have a problem with a priest that re-interprets the Gospels (he calls his re-interpretation the "Gospel of peace") and devotes himself to the peace movement to the exclusion of all else. I am concerned with an autobiography that written by a Jesuit that mentions nuclear weapons, Dr. King and Gandhi more than Jesus Christ. On page 80, Mr. Dear comments that Gandhi is in heaven for being a non-violent protester (where is the Church's teaching about being at least a Christian, if not a Catholic? How about Jesus' comments about his being 'the way'? Throw them out, I suppose. In a similar vein he tells that president of Georgetown University, "I ask you in the name of Jesus...to end the ROTC program and close all research into nuclear weapons. If you do, I'm sure you'll get into the kingdom of heaven."(p. 109)

-His comments point to Jesus as being some sort of anti-Roman protester that was eventually killed for his protests (p. 79). Considering that Jesus was part of the largest empire on the planet at the time and considering how truly miserable the Jews were under Roman rule, Jesus says surprisingly little about the Romans.

-Dear refers to what he calls Jesus's words of invitation: "You are my beloved. I am with you. Don't be afraid. I want you to be my disciple. Follow me on the road to peace and justice to my reign. Advocate nonviolence like me, and carry on my work for me." I searched these words on the internet and the only place I can find them is on web pages featuring articles by Rev. Dear. This is troubling. It is most inappropriate to make up quotes for Jesus. It is Even more so to refer to those words as if they are authoritative and to use them to teach others without noting that they are not Biblical text.

-Rev. Dear's protests seem spectacular (they once tried to disarm a nuclear device, for example) but they are merely glitz. In one protest they block a busy intersection during George H.W. Bush's inauguration to protest families being evicted from their apartments for not being able to pay their rent. No doubt, the eviction of families is a bad thing. This protest drew attention to the problem, but it sure didn't help anyone pay their rent, or get additional training to get a better job so that they would be able to pay their rent easier, did it?

-One of the common terms for a reverend is "pastor" - a term that means shepherd. Dear's superiors continually try to move him towards the role of being a shepherd that takes care of the flock - teaches, comforts, teaches the faith, consoles. Dear does precious little of that for any extended period of time, although he seems to have done an exceptional job in New York City on 9/11 and its immediate aftermath. His lack of experience as an actual shepherd of the flock shows when he is shocked at someone asking him how to pray. He demonstrates an unwillingness to be a shepherd except when directly ordered to by his superiors. He starts to help with some worthy projects and then, soon enough, he wanders off to go protest somewhere.

-Dear complains about the Jesuit leadership throughout, claiming they are blind to the true vision. It seems to me that he is being re-directed by everyone because he is the one that is wayward. Ironically, the book is published by Loyola Press, part of the very Jesuit bureaucracy he is so disappointed in. He claims they do not support him yet they publish his book...

-He correctly chastises the Church for its cover-up in the sexual abuse scandal. But, his answer to the problem is odd - denounce the Catholic doctrine of the Just War. (p. 372) Rev. Dear, you are missing the point by focusing on the same issue all of the time.

-This book should have included an index. I am looking at an "uncorrected proof" so perhaps the final edition will include one.

Factual errors:

-In his introduction, Martin Sheen claimed the prophet Isaiah commanded us to "beat swords into plowshares and make war no more." This is not a command, but part of a larger prophecy about Judgment Day.

-Sheen also claimed that the so-called Star Wars defense plan proposed by Reagan included putting nuclear weapons in space. This is not true - it was proposed and still remains a plan for developing an anti-ballistic missile shield with lasers and intercepting missiles. We used that technology to destroy a dangerous failing satellite earlier this year.

-Dear claimed he witnessed an anti-Star Wars demonstration in New York City in 1981. That would have been amazing since it was not proposed until March of 1983.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A Persistent Peace: One Man's Strugle for a Non-Violent World.

Reviewed on July 17, 2008.

Born in a Small Town: John Mellencamp by Heather Johnson

A much-needed biography for Mellencamp fans

Published in 2007 by Omnibus Press.

Born in a Small Town: John Mellencamp makes use of a previous biography, American Fool: The Roots and Improbable Rise of John Cougar Mellencamp by Martin Torgoff, but that was published in 1986, before John's most successful era with the Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee and Big Daddy albums.

Heather Johnson's unauthorized, but nonetheless well-researched biography is based on the Torgoff book, interviews with 25 people over an eight-month period in 2006. These include band members, producers and even Elaine Mellencamp, but not John. There are 4 pages of sources, including magazine, newspaper and TV interview and even a letter Mellencamp wrote to Seymour Daily Tribune when he was in high school. But, the book lacks some credibility without having John's explicit involvement.

Positives:

Well-researched, as already noted.

John Mellencamp

The author, Heather Johnson, knows her way around the music studio, which is a credit to the book since that is where the music that Mellencamp fans is created and recorded.

Wonderfully detailed index.

Nice discography, including the unauthorized releases by the Main Man producers after John made it big.

Negatives:

-When I read Born In A Small Town there were times where I wondered if she has actually been to Indiana. She refers to an ancestor (Johann Herman Mollenkamp) that helped organize the White Creek Lutheran Church in Hamilton Township (Jackson County). Well, that church is in Bartholomew County (although not far away). Nitpicky, maybe, but this is a big deal to me because I grew up right in the heart of Mellencamp-land and I went to Indiana University. I learned to skate at the Rok-Sey roller rink (a Mellencamp family businesses where you could request John Cougar songs all night long.) and I can talk about all of the places in Seymour in the Small Town video.

-She refers to Vincennes, IN as being "nearby" to Seymour, IN (p. 5). Hardly.

-She claims John and his band performed 1,000 dates with the Kinks in 8 months in 1980 (p. 41). That would be 4 performances per day, every day. Wow. Also, highly unlikely.

-She calls Guns 'N Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin an "Indianian". There is no such word, as any Hoosier will tell you.

At times her low-key writing style wears thin - too informal, too many repeated phrases.

**********

Okay, despite these nit picky negatives, I did enjoy the book. Johnson's details about the process of the creation of John's music are interesting. Mellencamp's songs are the soundtrack of my life in a lot of ways. I listened to American Fool, Uh-Huh, Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee so many times that if you play me one of the songs, I can sing it, tell you the album and the songs that precede and follow it. If it is the same with you, go ahead and pick this one up.

I rate this biography 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Born in a Small Town.

Reviewed on July 19, 2008.

You Can Do It! by Tony Dungy

Tony Dungy scores big with this children's book (a dual review - DWD's 8 year-old daughter as co-reviewer)

Published in 2008 by Little Simon Inspirations.

Tony Dungy is a successful author, family man, public speaker, and a fine example of how to be a Christian gentlemen. Oh, he also manages to coach an NFL team in my city, the Indianapolis Colts.

In You Can Do It! Tony takes us back to his childhood in Michigan and tells the story of his little brother, Linden, who is a cut-up in class but can't seem to find his way. He can't figure out what is his "it". Tony is an athlete. His sisters take care of animals. What is his thing, his "it"?

To Dungy's credit, the story is simple, but not preachy and not so simple that it bores the adult reader. I read right to the end and was genuinely interested in seeing how it came out. The illustrations are perfect and really help tell the story.

My daughter, an 8 year-old and an excellent reader liked the story as well. She liked the way Dungy addressed the issue of Linden not knowing what he wanted to be when he grew up. What kid has not wondered what he or she will do when he or she grows up? (Right now she wants to be a combination waitress/veterinarian/race car driver with Danica Patrick) She also liked the fact that it mentioned prayer and God.

Tony Dungy

If this is the quality of work we can expect from Tony Dungy, I hope he comes out with many more books.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: You Can Do It!

Reviewed on July 21, 2008.

Martin Misunderstood (audiobook) by Karin Slaughter

Seinfeld's Wayne Knight's first foray into audiobooks

Published by BBC Audiobooks America in 2008
Read by Wayne Knight
Lasts 2 hours 30 minutes

Karin Slaughter's Martin Misunderstood is a short (2 1/2 hours) audiobook about a loser named Martin, his awful mother, his cruel co-workers and his miserable life in Georgia. Martin is framed for murder and his extensive readings of James Patterson, John Grisham and Patricia Cornwell are all he has to help himself.

Positives:

Wayne Knight did a great job of creating the voices, especially those of Martin's mother and Unique (You-nee-quay). Knight's comic timing was a big help with some weak material.

Negatives:

Karin Slaughter.

This is my second Karin Slaughter book (both this summer) and I am not going to read her anymore.

Wayne Knight

Slaughter spends nearly half of the book just setting up the characters and then she just wraps it all up like she was on a deadline and she just had to get some sort of ending on the story. This book just clunks to an end - sort of Twilight Zone-esque but not like one of the good episodes. More like one of those bad ones where you look at the person next to you and say, "That's it?"

Wayne Knight's performance turns a one-star review into two stars. I hope he reads a lot more audiobooks, just not Karin Slaughter's books.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Martin Misunderstood.

Reviewed on July 21, 2008.

Hero (Graphic Novel) by Stephen R. Lawhead and Ross Lawhead

This re-telling of the story of Jesus was just okay

Published in 2003 by NavPress Pub Group.

Written by Stephen R. Lawhead and Ross Lawhead.

Adapted from the original story by Eddie DeGarmo and Bob Farrell

I picked this one up yesterday. I was excited to see it was a near-futuristic re-telling of the last days of Jesus re-told by Stephen R. Lawhead. I am a giant fan of his book Byzantium, so I knew he'd re-tell this is a respectful and interesting way.

It was respectful and faithful to the Biblical version but very short. I read this one in about 20 minutes. It is a graphic novel version of a rock opera but this so you obviously can't include the songs. But, there was nothing else added either. No background on the disciples (except Maggie). You actually have to know the story from the Bible to read this and get what they are doing. There's no explanation about who Petrov (Peter) is and where he came from and why he follows Hero (Jesus). Jude Discariot gets the most treatment, which is not saying much.

So much more could have been done. At least no harm was done by straying from the original too much, but this one could have been easily 3 times longer without straying from the original.

I rate this graphic novel 3 stars out of 5.

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

Reviewed on July 25, 2008.