13 posts tagged “christianity”
Recommended by: a bunch of people. Plus I'd read other books by Bell.
Purchased from: A Borders going-out-of-business sale, at 80% off. Woot.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Synopsis: "Is sex a picture of heaven?" Bell wonders. It's all about God and sex and heaven, he says: "...they're connected. And they can't be separated. Where the one is you will always find the other." It's the story of God becoming human, of humans mirroring God and love made manifest in the chaos of our humanity. Sex God is about relationships revealed in a way that elevates the human condition and offers hope to those whose relationships are wounded. In Bell's spare, somewhat oblique style, he addresses lust, respect, denial, risk, acceptance and more. He does a fine job using the Bible and real life to show that our physical relationships are really about spiritual relationships. This book joyfully ties, and then tightens, the knot between God and humankind.
My Review: I feel like I should have read this a long time ago. I've had it for a while and I read it in less than twenty-four hours. It was a wonderful picture of what God has set out marriage and sex to be. Bell really delves into how the spiritual and the physical come together and how our relationships here are a picture of God's relationship with us. It's fascinating, really. Bell's style takes a little getting used to -- it's sparse and really uses the white space on a page. This book, though, was probably the least-difficult to handle visually (compared to his other books). I wish I had it with me so I could quote from it a bit. Anyway, I highly recommend this book, especially to high schoolers and people who work with them. I could have used some of this information back in my youth-leading days.
Purchased from: Amazon
Rating: 10 out of 10 (Can I give this an 11 out of 10?)
Synopsis: Miller, the accidental memoirist who struck gold with the likable ramble Blue Like Jazz, writes about the challenges inherent in getting unstuck creatively and spiritually. After Jazz sold more than a million copies but his other books didn't follow suit, he had a classic case of writer's block. Two movie producers contacted him about creating a film out of his life, but Miller's initial enthusiasm was dampened when they concluded that his real life needed doctoring lest it be too directionless for the screen. Real stories, he learned, require characters who suffer and overcome. In desultory fashion, Miller sets out to change his own life—to be the kind of guy who seeks out his father, chases the girl and undertakes a quest. Along the way, he comes to understand God as a master storyteller who doesn't quite control where his characters are going. An unexpected bonus of this book is Miller's insights into the writing process. Readers who loved Blue Like Jazz will find here a somewhat more mature Miller, still funny as hell but more concerned about making a difference in the world than in merely commenting on it.
My Review: Well holy crap. Just after I thought my book life couldn't get any better after reading Susan Isaac's memoir Angry Conversations with God, I got my copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years in the mail. I could not tear through this book fast enough. Miller really knows how to put words together in incredible ways. AND, in addition to being an organic, funny, inspiring memoir, it was also a story about story, and if you know me -- I love stories. If you're someone who loves plot and character and conflict (all the things memoirists sometimes struggle with), you have got to get this book. Miller realizes his own story is lacking all the things that make great stories that we love to read and watch in the movies, so he sets off to make his story a STORY, letting the Master Storyteller scrawl across the pages of this life. It was so inspiring, I literally cried through the last hundred pages or so, especially during the stories about his friend Bob and his family. It made me want to evaluate my own life in relation to the elements of a story, and adjust things so that my life isn't just boring words on a page. It's my favorite book of the year so far. Seriously, you have to go out and read this book. Now. Do it. I'll be here when you get back because I want to know what you thought.
Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library (although, if someone wanted to get it for me for Christmas, I would love them forever and ever)
Rating: 10 out of 10
Synopsis: God in couples counseling? Sounds sacrilegious, but in the adept hands of comedian, writer and actress Isaacs, it's a success. Isaacs reached bottom at age 40: no job, no boyfriend, no home. Of course, she blamed God. So off they went to counseling with the ever-patient therapist Rudy. Isaacs moves easily between recounting her life story and her counseling sessions. She describes encounters with the Nice Jesus of her Lutheran upbringing; the Oakie Pentecostal church and the militant counselor; the Rock-n-Roll church and the Orthopraxy, Dude church, plus her rocky acting career and her love life, including guilt-ridden sex and Mostly Mister Right. Isaacs readily admits to being snarky, but she's honest about her quest and its conclusion. She's funny, biting, earthy and brilliant.
Review: I've been putting off writing this review because of just how much I loved this book and I don't feel like my review can do it justice. Susan Isaacs is a) raw, b) brilliant, and c) hilarious. The literary device she created —of taking God to couples counseling—worked perfectly and did a great job of giving the whole book a cohesive feel that is sometimes absent from memoir. The evolution of God's voice throughout the book is especially well done. Reading about the difficulties Isaacs went through in her walk with God felt so much more real than a lot of other Christian books I've read in the past. It's like she's, this is going to sound crazy, an actual person. She is refreshingly honest and I just fell in love with her story and the way she dealt with what came her way. And did I mention she's funny? Bitingly funny. I couldn't recommend this book more highly to all of my Christian girlfriends and to anyone who's disillusioned with the church. We ended up reading it for my book club and every single person absolutely loved it.
Received from: Thomas Nelson.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (might have been higher had I read the first book -- this is the second)
Synopsis: The more than four hundred thousand readers stirred by the story of Ron Hall and Denver Moore will resonate with the all new, stand-alone true stories of hope and healing offered in this intimate, authentic follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me. With new "Denverisms" and reflections from Denver on his personal dealings with homelessness and disrespect from others, additional insights from Ron on what we can learn from people not like us and from those dealing with a terminal illness, and the stories of readers who have been impacted by the book's central themes, this inspirational reader will generate a host of new fans.
My review: I really wish that I'd read the first book, Same Kind of Different as Me, before I read this one. I have it coming to me from the library, so I'll review it soon. This book says it's standalone, but I really think I would have benefited from reading Same Kind first, just so I could have known the background of the three people What Difference focuses on -- Ron, Denver, and Deborah. Half of the chapters of the book are written by Ron, and half by Denver. Both had a lot of interesting things to say on the subject of homelessness and Christians. There are also stories of people around the country who were inspired by the first book. There was even a woman from West Sacramento mentioned -- her story hit very close to home. Needless to say, I really got a lot out of this book. It shifted my views of homeless people quite a bit, and it challenged me to think differently about the people I pass every day on the street. I don't have enough space to quote all of the different passages that affected me, but this one that really stood out (it was written by Denver, in his own voice):
"Since I been visitin a lotta churches, I hear people talkin 'bout how, after readin our story, they felt "led" to help the homeless, to come alongside the down-and-out. But when it comes to helpin people that ain't got much, God didn't leave no room for feelin led. Jesus said God gon' separate us based on what we did for folks that is hungry and thirsty, fells that is prisoners in jail and folks that ain't got no clothes and no place to live. What you gon' do when you get to heaven and you ain't done none a' that? Stand in front a' God and tell Him, "I didn't feel led"? You know what He gon' say? He gon' say, "You didn't need to feel led 'cause I had done wrote it down in the Instruction Book."
Hello conviction, I'm Cori.
(Finished 10/30/09)
This can't really be qualified as a book review because I haven't come anywhere close to finishing this book. I joined an online community called The Ooze Viral Bloggers. Each month, you can select one book, generally related to the more progressive end of Christianity, and they'll send it to you for free if you blog about it within thirty days. Sounds awesome, right? I thought so, so I signed up.
I chose So Beautiful by Leonard Sweet:
More than 50 years ago scientists made a remarkable discovery, proclaiming, “We have found the secret of life – and it’s so pretty!” The secret? That life’s biological code is helixical, two strands surrounding a single axis-the foundation for DNA. This design, Sweet proposes, points to an even deeper – and more poignant – secret.
Just as DNA’s three strands make life possible, three other elements work in harmony to make life not just pretty, but beautiful. And it’s in the church where we find the greatest expression, and ultimate fulfillment, of these three components to a beautiful life.
The Good Doctor Sweet presents an extraordinary look at life as it was intended to be lived, sharing secrets of God’s design for God’s people in three interwoven elements that form the heart, soul and calling of the apprenticed-to-Jesus life. In the spirit of radical inquiry – from radix, going to the root –So Beautiful unearths God’s deep-rooted dreams for the church after his own heart. Recommended for missional, organic, and house church provocateurs, as well as open-minded emerging church folks.
I've had Sweet's book for a while now, and I've picked it up several times to read it -- I'm about fifty pages in now. The other reviews of it have been fabulous, but I can't seem to get into the meat of it. I think it's because I haven't read a lot about "church theory" so there is a lot of language and structure I'm struggling through. It feels very academic, and I'm not sure I ever learned to speak "church academic." As you can see from my blog, I read a lot, so I'm struggling because I can't make this work in my brain. I find myself reading and rereading sentences to try and get what Sweet is trying to say and wondering if I'm missing something huge. I know that there is some good stuff in there. I come across nuggets like these, and they make me want to understand further:
"And the church that is incarnational prays every day a colonizing prayer: 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' Every Christian is a colonizer: We are colonizing earth with heaven. We are creating 'colonies' of heaven not Christian-coated mirror cities."
In reference to evangelism: "[stop] thinking of bringing Christ to India . . . but rather [start] thinking about finding Christ already there."
"There is no spiritual life. There is only life. One life where the spiritual is not separate but the whole."
I wanted to post about this before my thirty days was up. I'm going to keep going through it, hoping that God will make Sweet's writing more clear to me, because I can feel there is some real truth in there and I'd like to dig it out. I'll write a complete review when I've finished it up and can take a step back and view it as a whole.
Recommended by: my friend Carolyn
Purchased at: Borders
Rating: 8 out of 10
Synopsis (from Amazon): The heart of Christianity is transformation—a relationship with God that impacts not just our "spiritual lives," but every aspect of living. John Ortberg calls readers back to the dynamic heartbeat of Christianity—God’s power to bring change and growth—and reveals both the how and why of transformation.
My Review: I had so many quotes I wanted to put in this review, but I never have the book near me. So I'll write about why I liked it and perhaps add quotes later.
Actually, there is one quote that I remember because I loved it so much. And of course, it wasn't even Ortberg, but Søren Kierkegaard: "Now, with God's help, I shall become myself." Love it.
The cover of this book is misleading. I thought that the content would make me want to, well, barf. The soaring bird and the beach grass? Gag. Once I got reading, though, I thought the content was much deeper than the cover would suggest. Ortberg covers a bunch of different spiritual disciplines (prayer, Scripture reading, celebration, confession, servanthood, etc.), and lays out different ways to put them into practice. I particularly liked the sections on prayer and servanthood. Ortberg sprinkles his writing with anecdotes that really mean something, and he uses quite a bit of humor as well. He makes the impossible (the discipline of solitude, for example) seem doable. And I got the impression that if I followed his suggestions, there would be no doubt my life and my faith would experience a transformation. Highly recommended to those who want to rethink how they interact with their faith.
If you want to help build wells in Africa, please consider contributing to my Reading For A Cause challenge!
Read for: My small group at church (although, two friends have recommended John Ortberg in the past -- Sheena and Carolyn)
Purchased from: Berean Christian Book Stores
Rating: 8 out of 10
Synopsis (from the back of the book): We often think of doubt as the opposite of faith, but could it actually strengthen our relationship with God? According to John Ortberg, best-selling author and pastor, the very nature of faith requires the presence of uncertainty. In this refreshingly candid look at a life of faith, he traces the line between belief and unbelief: less a dividing line between hostile camps than a razor’s edge that runs through every soul. His findings point us toward the relief of being totally honest. Questions can expand our understanding, uncertainty can lead to trust, and honest faith can produce outrageous hope.
My Review: Because I started my small group while they were in the middle of this book, I ended up reading it in the weirdest order. Chapters 7 and 8, 1 through 4, 9 through 11, skimmed 7 and 8 again, 5 and 6. Luckily the material wasn't completely new and Ortberg is a very capable writer, so I still got a lot out of it. Ortberg posits that it's really impossible to have faith without doubts. Faith requires that we believe in something that we're not certain of. If we knew everything, we would have knowledge, but no faith. Ortberg is very candid—he talks about times he's struggled when friends have committed suicide, and when babies have drown, and when Christians have run amok, doing everything but living out their faith. But he then notes that we do have to make a choice of whether or not to believe despite our doubts. Hanging in the middle really isn't an option. He says that "Uncertainty is a gift because it gnaws at us to pursue truth." He also does a good job of distilling bigger thoughts into some useful quotes (and every single one of which applies to me, by the way), such as:
"To choose doubt as a philosophy for life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation." (Page 31)
"We all hope, but hope comes in two flavors: hoping for something and hoping in someone." (Page 84)
"But one man, whose son died climbing a mountain when he was twenty-five, said that what he came to see was 'tears, a weeping God, suffering over my suffering. I had not reazlied that if God loves the world, God suffers. I had thoughtlessly supposed God loved without suffering. I knew that divine love was the key. But I had not realized that divine love that is the key is a suffering love.'" (Page 115)
"Underneath the surface of the skeptic is fear—fear of being disappointed. The skeptic says, 'I would rather stand on the sidelines and look like an intelligent observer than risk trusting.'" (Page 123)
"One thing is certain: if there is a God, then many things are not permitted. And if I want to do one of those things, my mind has to find a way to get rid of God, at least for a while. We all are at least temporary atheists, strategic athiests." (Page 145)
Ortberg also has some great quotes from others in his book:
"A true opium of the people is the belief that nothingness after death—a huge solace for thinking that we are not going to be judged for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders." (Page 133, Czeslaw Misosz)
"Comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort, yu will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with, and in the end, despair." (Page 148, CS Lewis)
As always, more information about my 2009 Reading Challenge can be found here.
I feel like I write book updates all the time, but somehow I find I've gone a month and a half and all of a sudden I have too many books to talk about. Anyway, here are some short and some long reviews!
When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris: The newest book of essays by Sedaris isn't quite as funny as I have found his other books to be. It's darker. It's kind of gross in some places. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny. I spent the whole book vaguely uncomfortable. The bit about quitting smoking was the best. Rating: 5 out of 10. A big solid "meh."
Persuading Annie by Melissa Nathan: I really like Nathan's books. They are all the things I like about the "chick lit" (still hate that term) genre, and nothing that I don't -- and this one was no exception. Delightful! I only have one book of hers left. A few years ago she died of cancer, which is really quite sad. I love to read what else she might have written. Rating: 9 out of 10, partly because I liked it so much, partly because I wish we could have been friends.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: A summary -- French people acting painfully selfishly. I thought it was really well-written, but I had no one to root for. I can definitely understand why the book was so incredibly scandalous, and a lot of it is extremely applicable to today. Rating: 6 out of 10, for being an education in desire, selfishness, lies, and one's ultimate undoing.
The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner: Three women embark on a journey to find out what unites them about their three faiths -- Muslim, Christian, and Jew. I really was hoping for more out of this book. I can really understand how they found so much in common with their three faiths, but they never really took a look at what separates the three religions. They didn't seem to tackle the tough questions nor did they disagree on, well, anything. It turned into one big ecumenical discussion. Rating: 5 out of 10 for being just a glimmer of what it could have been had they actually discussed some serious distinctions between their three religions, instead of just focusing on the easy make-you-feel-good things their three faiths share.
Full Speed by Janet Evanovich: Well that's no fun. Apparently I don't get to have a little thumbnail of the book. *Harrumph* Anyway, I needed a book to read while getting my oil changed the other day, and my mom had gotten this through a book exchange so she let me have it. I've never read Evanovich before. My goodness, it was a quick read with absolutely no literary merit. And for once, I was totally okay with that. My brain needed a break. Rating: 5 out of 10 for probably killing brain cells, but it was a fun little romp nonetheless.
The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs: Jacobs tries to fully immerse himself in living the Bible as literally as possible: wearing white, stoning adulterers, praying, strapping the word of God to his forehead, etc. It was fun and very insightful. I didn't find it offensive, though some people might. The book was mostly focused on the Old Testament, with a bit of New thrown in at the end. I thought the OT stuff was very strong, but the book sort of petered off at the end, probably because he was preparing for the birth of his twins and the book sort of took a place on the backburner. Rating: 7 out of 10 for being fascinating, really funny, and for making me consider WHY we behave the way we do as religious people.
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: Seriously, was there any way that Carroll was not on drugs when he wrote this? Supremely weird. Rating: 6 out of 10 for being just crazy.
unChristian by David Kinneman: This might have been one of my favorite books of the year. It basically reveals the results of three years of research that delved into what non-Christians think about Christians. Basically, we're seen as hypocritical, conversion-focused, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, and judgemental. Yep. Sounds about right. Sad, isn't it? The book gives hope that Christians can turn this identity around because it's killing the church and not one of those things was preached by Jesus. Focus on relationships and service instead of building membership and cutting ourselves off from the world. The book also had short comments from other authors and I liked this one in particular:
"[In thirty years] I would hope people would look at us and say, "Those Christians are the ones who run in when everyone else is running out. Those Christians are the ones who didn't give up on the crumbling inner cities. Those Christians are the ones who brought peace to Darfur. Those Christians are the ones who put an end to human trafficking. Those Christians are the ones who helped win the war on AIDS around the world. Those Christians are the ones who write those incredible lyrics, pen those unforgettable books, and create artwork that's mesmerizing. Those Christians are the ones who helped my mother when she got Alzheimer's. Those Christians are the ones who were kind to me when I was new to the area. Those Christians are the ones who made me want to believe in God." -- Margaret Feinberg.
Rating: 10 out of 10. Fascinating.
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In other news, check out my new blog devoted to my 2009 reading challenge. I'll update in both places, but the other blog will be solely devoted to the challenge and will have more information that this blog.
So I finally got around to reading That Really Really Popular Christian Book of the Year, William Young's the Shack. I know people who have absolutely loved it, saying it changed the way they viewed God and the Trinity and heaven and forgiveness. And I know people who have absolutely loathed it, saying it was full of blasphemy and false doctrines. I guess I fell somewhere in the middle.
From the publisher's website: Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, ostensibly from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare.
Since I'd heard so many positive and negative reviews, I took my reading with a grain of salt. I figured I'd come across things I didn't agree with, but I also wanted to see if I could look at another side of God's character. And I found both. I liked the parts about being in community with Creation and how the rocks and trees and animals cry out that there is a Maker. The way he described relationships using colors was particularly moving. I also liked how Young presented the community of the Trinity as well. The best part of the book was about God and relationships. It really encourages readers to think less legalistically and more relationally, and I think that's it's a message most Christians desparately need to hear.
As a side note, my favorite line from the whole book comes when Mack asks God about why He is portrayed as a father in the Bible when He actually transcends gender. God's response is: "Well," responded Papa, turning away from him and bustling around the kitchen, "there are many reasons for that, and some of them go very deep. Let me say for now that we knew once the Creation was broken, true fathering would be much more lacking than mothering. Don't misunderstand me, both are needed -- but an emphasis on fathering is necessary because of the enormity of its absense." I see the lack of fathering (not in my own life! My dad rocks.) throughout this world and it makes me so very sad.
On the other hand, I didn't agree with some of the ways he portrayed God. Every once in a while God would say things like, "I don't understand why people..." etc. Um, He's God. I'm fairly certian he gets it all. Also, the interaction between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit got a little weird for my taste. I also didn't think it was particularly well-written (a heavy overdose of adverbs and adjectives!). This is something that always detracts from stories for me, so I tried hard not to think about it. But sometimes it really drove me crazy. I know it was originally self-published, but I think a line editor could have improved the writing by leaps and bounds.
One more thing. Pretty much everyone I've talked to who has read the book is sure it's a true story; that Mack is a real guy and he really had a vision of/visitation with God. The author, however, says it's fiction. Not that there aren't truths in the book, but you can't hunt down Mack and ask him about his story. Just thought I'd clear that up.
My Rating: 6 out of 10 for offering some beautiful insights. I wish the writing hadn't detracted from those moments for me.
I told myself that I had to finish up the three half-read books sitting on my nightstand before I could start my book club book, Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. Unfortunately, one of those books is due back to the library today, so I jotted down my page number of First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde and will contiunue it when it's published in paperback and I can buy it to add to my nice little Fforde collection (which has created, along with the Bridget Jones books, a very obvious neon orange square of Penguin spines on my shelf. So orange!).
But I did finish the other two books, plus I finished a DailyLit.com book (one that comes in short snippets to my email every day). So, I'm counting that as my three books so I can get started on Devil in the White City tonight.
Here's what I read:
My Man Jeeves by PG Wodehouse was my DailyLit book. I love PG Wodehouse this much: *stretches arms out as far as they will go*. I think this was one of his earliest books, and it's compilation of short stories. Half or so involve the incomperable Jeeves and Wooster, and the other star Reggie Pepper -- who is similar to Wooster without Jeeves. I definitely prefer the J&W stories, mostly because I'm familiar with the characters. I am fairly certain some of the Reggie Pepper stories were reworked later to be J&W stories. Perhaps whenever I run across that book, I'll know for sure. I must also mention that the new Overlook Press editions of Wodehouse's books are fabulous. The cover art, the feel of the pages, the dustjacket -- everything feels so high-end. I'm slowly collecting the whole set, but it's slow going. Wodehouse has A LOT of books.
My Rating: 6 out of 10 for being my least favorite Wodehouse effort so far (although, still a series of fun little romps), but an excellent book for DailyLit. Short stories lend themselves really well to email format.
I've been meaning to read Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott for a while now. I got it from the library a few years ago, but returned it without ever reading it (yeah, it's an ongoing problem). It's been recommended to me a bunch of times, especially because I found Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz to be very interesting. And enjoy it I did. Lamott is in no way a "traditional" Christian. She tells it like it is, doesn't apologize, and doesn't gloss over pain and suffering with a "Jesus loves you." She emphasizes community and support and love above everything else. She cusses and refers to God as He/She. I'm sure the 700 Club loooooves her. *sarcasm* My favorite quote:
"Grace is the light or electricity or juice or breeze that takes you from that isolated place and puts you with others who are as startled and embarrassed and eventually grateful as you are to be there."
My Rating: 7 out of 10 since I tend to be more traditional but I loved being smacked upside the head with something different and refreshing. Like Blue Like Jazz, it made me want to just love on people and be there to support people.
Well, I'm on a Bill Bryson kick. What a fun guy! His books are so entertaining. After I wrote a blog about the Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, quite a few of my lovely neighbors told me to read a Walk in the Woods. So I did. Because I do everything that you guys tell me to do.
The book was great! My friend Josh hiked the whole(ish) Appalachian Trail last summer and it was cool to read about someone else's view of the same trip. Poor Bill, too. That guy had some tough days out there in the wilderness! He and his foolhardy friend, Katz, were unprepared but quickly got into a groove. He wrote about the hike with a great sense of humor. It actually made me want to go hiking some more (well, not 2000 miles, but maybe 5 or 10 miles). My favorite quote:
"When guys in camouflage pants and hunting hats sat around in the Four
Aces Diner talking about fearsome things done out-of-doors, I would no
longer have to feel like such a cupcake. I wanted a little of that
swagger that comes with being able to gaze at a far horizon through
eyes of chipped granite and say with a slow, manly sniff, 'Yeah, I’ve
shit in the woods.'"
My Rating: 9 out of 10 because really, it was hilarious and really very interesting and educational. Especially the bit about moose.
