L. Roger Owens Church Publishing, 200 pages Reviewed by Teri McDowell Ott With his 40th birthday just two months away, L. Roger Owens wondered aloud with his spiritual director, Sister Anna, if he might be entering a dark night of the soul. Sister Anna responded, “It sounds less to me to like a dark night, and more like a threshold of discovery.” Sister Anna’s words struck Owens, leading him to search for God in a new, intentional way. He decides to take 40 walks the year after he turns 40. Suspecting that staying close to home would be key to discovering a spirituality for midlife, Owens’ walks don’t take him anywhere new or exotic, but rather to his local nature preserve three miles from his home outside of Pittsburgh. Likewise, I too sought out a spiritual director in my 40s, seeking to feel God’s presence like I had in my younger years. Owens’ journey, then, feels familiar and his Merton-esque style of writing led me to contemplate my own life and faith. Owens, who … [Read more...]
Summer books: Briefly noted
In This World of Wonders Nicholas Wolterstorff Eerdmans, 334 pages This memoir is a series of vignettes, stories and remembrances of a life well lived by a beloved teacher, philosopher and advocate for justice. Holding Faith Cynthia L. Rigby Abingdon, 408 pages The author has an uncanny ability to make theology appealing to a wide range of audiences. This could easily be the go-to introduction to theology that many congregation members, pastors, students and teachers need right now. The Source of Self-Regard Toni Morrison Knopf, 368 pages A feast of reflections, essays and opinions by one of the finest writers alive. Given the state of world, Morrison’s book comes at an exceedingly important time. She has the calm demeanor necessary to write such brilliant pieces that go straight to what matters most. One Coin Found Emmy Kegler Augsburg Fortress, 200 pages A courageous and delightful memoir by a pastor who dares to believe in the outrageous love of God that … [Read more...]
Full Darkness: Original Sin, Moral Injury, and Wartime Violence
Brian S. Powers Eerdmans, 200 pages Reviewed by Martha Moore-Keish This “present project is my argument against the comfortable and simplistic understandings of morality that died to me in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan.” So writes Brian Powers in the opening pages of “Full Darkness,” a compelling work of theology by a young scholar whose experience of war drove him to reexamine his Christian faith to make sense of the trauma he witnessed. It is a book worthy of attention of anyone who seeks honest acknowledgment of human violence in our world and who cares about the redemption of real, wounded human beings. Throughout, Powers offers fresh appreciation of the ancient doctrine of original sin, as developed by Augustine and interpreted recently by Alistair McFadyen (in “Bound to Sin”) for its “explanatory power” of the human condition. Original sin, as Powers shows, offers a compelling description of the way our wills are distorted by external forces, so … [Read more...]
One Breath at a Time: A Skeptic’s Guide to Christian Meditation
J. Dana Trent Upper Room Books, 112 pages Thomas Merton once said all Christians should be content with being beginners. Life is beginning again and again. Those in the Reformed tradition might call this sanctification: the life-long process of growing in Christ that is only complete in our death. The author of this very practical manual begins with her own experience coming to the practice of meditation as a skeptic, wary of gimmicks. She describes how she moved through reluctance to acceptance that led her to regular discipline. Few of us can escape the rattle of a noisy culture and only the wisest know the perils of a noisy world. In such noise it is nearly impossible to hear the still, small voice of God — let alone the voice of our own longing for peace and participation in God. Dana Trent has developed this manual to help Christians distinguish between prayer and meditation. She skillfully guides readers through 40 days of experimentation with five forms of meditation: lectio … [Read more...]
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Austin Channing Brown Convergent Books, 192 pages Reviewed by MaryAnn McKibben Dana I’m so thankful to former PC(USA) co-moderators Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston for instituting a denomination-wide read-along of Debby Irving’s “Waking Up White” as part of their “One Church, One Book” initiative. “Waking Up White” chronicles Irving’s journey into awareness of the ways white supremacy is woven into the fabric of the American experience. As much as I appreciated the book – my jaw dropped to learn about the countless thousands of African American service members from World War II who were excluded from the GI Bill – I also found myself longing for more on this topic. Enter Austin Channing Brown’s bracing reflection, “I’m Still Here.” Whereas Irving’s work is eye-opening about the ways structural racism is all around us, Channing Brown’s book illuminates the ways that those racist structures influence individual white people’s behavior and the impact that behavior has on people … [Read more...]
City of Peace
Henry G. Brinton Koehler Books, 242 pages Reviewed by Michael F. Frosolono Henry Brinton, a Presbyterian pastor, crafted this novel that captures a reader’s attention without devolving into sloppy sentimentality or invoking miracles to facilitate the story. “City of Peace” incorporates fast action and believable characters, and illustrates the value of the radical hospitality Jesus advocated. Harley Camden, 57 years of age and at the peak of his career, pastors a growing and large United Methodist Church in Sterling, Virginia, with a large staff that produces programs running seven days a week. He leads his congregation through the narrow corridor between the Scylla of the Religious Right and the Charybdis of the Secular Left. Harley’s sermons avoid overt politics but, instead, help people follow Jesus by feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, visiting prisoners and welcoming strangers. Harley’s world disintegrates when Islamic terrorists kill his wife and college-aged … [Read more...]
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