The Platonic Tradition, by Peter Kreeft

Philosopher A.N. Whitehead famously said that the European philosphical traditino is a "series of footnotes to Plato."  Hyperbole, perhaps, but there is no doubt that Platonic thought is fundamental to philosophy.  Boston College professor Peter Kreeft discusses the content and repurcussions of Platonism in a series of lectures, The Platonic Tradition.

Kreeft is a great popularizer of complex ideas.  The Platonic Tradition is a bit heavier than some of his other works, such as his dialogues, but he definitely makes philosophy accessible to the non-philolospher.

As a Christian, Kreeft emphasizes the impact of Platontism on Christian philosophical and theological traditions more so than, I would suppose, a secular philosopher might.  But the strongest part of these lectures is Kreeft's descriptions of Platonism in Augustine, Aquinas, and other Christian thinkers.  On a different note, he attrubutes the more recent philosophical movements like nihilism and existentialism to the abandonment of Platonism.

Kreeft is dealing with bid ideas in The Platonic Tradition.  But he makes them approachable by providing context and multiple layers of explanation and illustration.  Highly recommended.



2016 Reading Challenge: A book about philosophy
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The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman

Jan Zabinski was the zookeeper at the Warsaw zoo.  He and his wife Antonina lived on the grounds of the zoo.  When the Nazis occupied Warsaw, the Zabinskis, like many Poles, refused to sit by while their neighbors were forced into the ghetto or dragged off to work camps.  Diana Ackerman's book The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story, tells of the bravery of the Zabinskis and some of their countrymen in harboring and assisting Jews during the occupation.

The Zookeeper's Wife is a great account of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation.  In contrast to Austria, where the Nazi's were welcome and the Germans had more kinship with the Austrians, the Poles tended to be less welcoming.  The Nazis purged many Poles with money and/or an education.  If you need more reason to hate the Nazi ideology and governance, you will find plenty in The Zookeeper's Wife to keep you occupied (pun intended).

I was surprised by the seemingly low-key manner in which the Zabinskis harbored their Jewish guests.  They had some close calls, but for the most part it was a matter of hiding in plain sight.  It's hard for me to fathom the constant stress of war time while defying the occupying force, who seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere.  The stamina and wit of these heroic families is remarkable.  Ackerman sprinkles plenty of anecdotes about life among the surviving zoo animals to remind the reader that life goes on, even when surrounded by so much death and oppression.

The Zabinskis' level-headed approach is reflected in Ackerman's descriptive yet even-toned prose.  I felt right at home with this remarkable family, while humbly admiring their quiet dedication to the survival of their friends and neighbors.


2016 Reading Challenge: A book based on a true story
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Residential Solar Energy, by Vince Hough

Like anyone else, I'd like to save some money on my utility bills.  I have wondered from time to time if I would benefit from solar energy at home.  I see the panels on houses here and there but don't know much about it.  Then along came Vince Hough's Residential Solar Energy: Your Guide to Whether Solar Will Save You Money.  That sounded like just what I needed!

Hough has done his homework, and we get the benefit.  He covers how solar works, which was really more than I wanted to know, but it's important to have some understanding if you're considering a major commitment like installing solar panels.  More importantly, he discusses the variety of regulatory and financing issues to be considered.

The problem is that every state is different, and regulations may even vary on the local level.  The good news is that Hough's treatment will give you an understanding of the options that are out there.  Once you begin to research what is available in your area, you will have the knowledge to compare programs.  The bad news is that with the variety of programs that exists around the country, finding what you need on the local level can be a challenge.  Hough gives some tools to get there, including web sites, books, and other resources.

At this point, I'm not sure solar makes sense financially for my house.  Hough says "a very rough rule of thumb says that you should adopt solar if the local utility retail rate is more than $.12 per kWh."  My last bill shows I pay $.1161, so it's probably a wash.  Plus, I would have to consider the initial outlay of purchasing a system, versus leasing or renting a system.  But, as Hough points out, solar power is becoming less expensive, and is the "most cost-effective clean energy alternative for replacing the residential energy provided by fossil fuels."

Solar power keeps getting cheaper and more efficient.  I suspect it won't be long until many of us power our homes from the abundant energy of the sun, and Hough will be leading the way.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Impossible People, by Os Guinness

Os Guinness may be an import from the UK, but he has his finger on the pulse of American culture.  In Impossible People: Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization, Guinness calls on Western Christians to stand against the "four infamous S factors that have built up over several centuries: Secularism, . . . secularization, . . . separationism, and . . . statism" that have contributed to the widening cultural gap between Christians and the wider culture.

The West is becoming, or has become, a cut flower civilization.  "The West is cutting off its Jewish and Christian roots and destroying the entire root system of tis culture."  Just like a cut flower can only last so long, no matter how many times you freshen up the water in the vase, so is the survival of the beauty and strength of our culture at risk as long as it is cut off from its Judeo-Christians roots.

As one important example, Guinness offers the idea of equality.  The American ideal that "all men are created equal" is demonstrably not true from a genetic, evolutionary, purely secular perspective.  By contrast, "The Americans got the idea of equality from Christianity, which argues that every person has a directly created soul, and that all people are equal before God."  Without the moorings of faith, equality drifts away.

Guinness doesn't place the blame for the loss of our roots on atheists, but on the church itself.  "the sad truth we must bear on our hearts is that we who follow Jesus are often the leading argument for the rejection of our Lord."  Chruches have been too concerned with cultural relevance and appealing to popular tastes and trends, so that "churches resemble a field of quick-growing, quick-disappearing field of mushrooms rather than a longstanding forest of oaks."  His solution?  "What we need above all in the church today is for each Christian to have a profound personal knowledge and experience of God himself, and a deep knowledge of the Scriptures as his authoritative Word."

These are hard truths, but Guinness's tone is not judgmental or angry.  He is a modern-day prophet, calling the people of God to turn back to him.  God is looking for "impossible people--Christians with hearts that can melt with compassion, but with faces like flint and backbones of steel who are unmanipulable, unbribable, undeterrable and unclubbable, without ever losing the gentleness, the mercy, the grace and the compassion of our Lord."


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book written by an Anglican
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The Altars Where We Worship, by Juan M. Floyd-Thomas, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, and Mark Toulouse

Observers of religious life in the United States have long noted the decline of religious commitment.  Church attendance and professions of faith, while still substantial, have declined precipitously for a couple of generations.  But as Juan Floyd-Thomas, Stacey Floyd-Thomas, and Mark Toulouse write in The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture, what we observe is not so much a decline in religion but a redirection of our religious affections.  They write, "decreasing numbers at the altars of organized religious has not meant the cessation of worship."

Following Paul Tillich, they show that religion, as understood as "the 'ultimate concern' of a person," is expressed through culture, through those things that give people fulfillment.  Reflecting on body and sex, big business, entertainment, politics, sports, and science and technology, the authors demonstrate that, for some people, these expressions of culture have become a replacement for religion.

It is important to note that, although they are writing as Christians, they are not writing about Christianity and popular culture, or religion in popular culture.  Rather, they describe popular culture as religion.  Each chapter describes the rituals, icons, apostles, morality and ethics of popular culture.  For example, sports fans have their "cathedrals" where they "worship" on game day.  The players and fans have rituals they go through.  The rule book provides the guidelines, administered by the priests in black and white stripes.  As a college football fan, this hits home with me.  During football season, I must be honest, I look forward to attending games more than I look forward to Sunday worship.  The enthusiasm with which I sing and worship on Sunday morning pales compared to the exuberance with which I cheer for my team on Saturday afternoon.

In a similar way, we find escape through music and film, satisfaction through work and business (and with the "conspicuous consumption" that comes along with it), and communal faith through civil religion.  Each of the chapters is thought-provoking and forced me to examine the extent to which I place my "ultimate concern" in these areas.  The authors' treatment is descriptive, not prescriptive; their aim is to "suggest a new direction in the study of American religion that would make room for a broader understanding of how religion and religious experiences hidden within American popular culture actually shape the lives of nearly all Americans."

In spite of their nonjudgmental academic detachment, readers who identify as Christians and who take seriously a life a discipleship will grapple with the realities that the authors identify.  They draw from a variety of academic disciplines as well as from current events as they link fulfillment to culture.  If we are honest with ourselves, our professions that we sing on Sunday, that we "surrender all" to Jesus or that "All I need is you, Lord," fall a little flat as we worship through the week at a variety of other altars.  For Christians, may our prayer be that our ultimate satisfaction would come from the only one who can ultimately satisfy.



Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book used as a seminary textbook
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Miraculous Movements, by Jerry Trousdale

Jerry Trousdale's Miraculous Movements is a book that will leave you speechless.  Normally any time I hear about the Middle East or other majority Muslim parts of the world, it's suicide bombers, beheading of Christians, oppression of women, etc.  Not here.  Trousdale, director of International Ministries for CityTeam International, has traveled and ministered throughout the Muslim world.  The stories he tell, in contrast to what I'm accustomed to hearing, are of a vibrant Christian witness and miraculous encounters drawing Muslims to Jesus.

The core of the work Trousdale describes is the Disciple Making Movement, consisting of Discovery Bible Studies and obedience-based discipleship.  They turn discipleship on its head.  As I've normally been taught, discipleship looks something like this: a person becomes a Christian, then through a combination of individual Bible study and prayer, mentorship, and participation in communal prayer, worship, and Bible study, the new Christian is discipled into increasing maturity.  Under the DMM model, discipleship is a process that leads to conversion.  As Trousdale describes it, it's much more like Jesus practiced with his disciples.

Trousdales examples are amazing to read.  In many cases, DMM gains entry into a community as a result of a miraculous healing or encounter.  The stories are so encouraging, reminding jaded Western Christian readers like me that God is very much at work in the world.  Even better, Trousdale presents a model that can be replicated even in the American Bible Belt.  The cultural milieu is very different, and the risks of persecution in the U.S. are minimal.  But lost people are just as lost.

Like other books about missions, Miraculous Movements encouraged me with the stories of God's powerful work in the Muslim world.  But Trousdale doesn't let me stop with thinking that all of this doesn't apply to me.  DMM can be implemented anywhere, and miraculous movements know no boundaries.



2016 Reading Challenge: A book your pastor recommends
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Hiding from Myself, by Bryan Christopher

A rift is growing in the American church, even among otherwise like-minded conservative evangelicals.  The question: can someone be a homosexual and a Christian?  OK, the easy answer to that is yes; no Christian is perfect, so a Christian can be a liar, thief or philander.  So put more precisely: is homosexual behavior a sin?  And related, should churches recognize and bless marriages between people of the same sex?

Bryan Christopher has dealt with this question all his life.  In Hiding from Myself: A Memoir, he writes about the denial, his years of trying not to be homosexual, and his ultimate acceptance of himself.  Contrary to the stereotype, Bryan was not abused or raped, and he had loving, supportive parents.  No trauma made him homosexual.  He recognized from adolescence that he simply was not attracted to women.

Most of Hiding from Myself deals with Bryan's efforts to escape homosexuality first through heterosexual debauchery, then through Christian discipleship and therapy.  Of the latter, he is no fan.  Bryan is a huge critic of ex-gay therapy.  He believes it's dangerous and abusive.  Obviously, it can be, but despite his own experiences, I am not willing to discount the power of God to change lives.

He writes of his frustrations: "The world is full of miraculous accounts: if a cancer patient given six months can baffle doctors by mysteriously becoming cancer free, or a paralyzed patient inexplicably walks again, why can't a patient suffering from same-sex attractions one day wake up craving the succulent center of the playboy centerfold?"  I wonder the same thing.  After all the prayer, he "can't help but wonder if God is even listening." 

I will give away the ending and tell you that, as of the book's publication, he had been in a committed relationship with another man.  That conclusion is not satisfying for Christians who believe that God's plan for us is heterosexual relationships.  But even the most conservative Christians should listen to Bryan's story.  If there is not someone in your life who is homosexual, I'd be surprised.  In my case, I have several people close to me who are Christians and homosexual, most of whom believe the two are not mutually exclusive.  Even though I may disagree with them (and with Bryan), reading Bryan's story helps me to empathize with their plight, and even to share in their joys.

I appreciate Bryan's willingness to expose himself in his memoir.  Even though it made me uncomfortable at times (By the way, some of his descriptions and language are very frank.  The book is not for children.), I am glad to have read his story.  If someone close to you is homosexual, I encourage you to read it as well.

Thanks to the author for the complimentary review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book about homosexuality
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