A Free Peoples Suicide by Os Guiness

Proverbs 27:6 says “faithful are the wounds of a friend” and Os Guinness’s latest offering A Free People’s Suicide : Sustainable Freedom and the American Future is an extended observation of the American experiment from the point of view of a longtime friend who is both an evangelical and British that is both critical and constructive and I believe deserves a hearing especially among those who have grown concerned or disenchanted with the current political climate of America.  Guinness makes the case that America is currently moving in the same direction as the fallen empires of Rome, Greece, Britain, France, and Spain and needs to take stock in that fact if it does not want to crumble and go into great decline.  Like the great empires of the past we have overextended ourselves through wars to spread democracy and runaway spending.  But Guinness speaks to another overextension in American society that if unchecked, will result in the end of our experiment in national freedom as we know it.  What we have failed to renew is the public virtue that supports our democratic institutions.  Our founding fathers designed our republic to give the people two kinds of freedom: the freedom from government tyranny in your personal life (as enshrined in things such as freedom of religion and speech)  and the freedom to become what you aspire to be (hence public education, civil rights).  But for both of these freedoms to be sustainable, the founders understood that the people must be virtuous in character.  This character, identified as ‘habits of the heart’ by the author, would be developed and reinforced in the family, churches (and all religious institutions), public schools, and communities.  Although America has never done this perfectly, there has been an acceleration of erosion of all these institutions, sometimes through the courts, sometimes through efforts of atheists and secularists, and through the corrosive effects of material wealth.  Thus our freedoms are really only supported by the interpretation of the constitution and laws which can be subject to change or withdrawal.  We emphasize today our rights and our society demands them in ever greater amounts.  Freedom is freedom from interference and moral restraint, which will eventually undermine our entire nation.  Summed up, Guinness prescribes a national renewal of education that not only trains for the workforce of the global economy, but trains our children in citizenship.  He also calls upon all institutions and businesses to rebuild their idea of serving not just their stockholders but the good of society.  Finally, that spiritual values and religion be respected in the public square and political discourse and not be privatized.  Our freedom was attained by the Revolution, it was organized in our Constitution, but it must be retained in the hearts of the American people through a continual renewal.  With freedom comes responsibility.

Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil MD

As someone who has struggled with depression since my teen years I am always on the look out for good resources to put in my arsenal of defense.  Spontaneous Happiness is based on the idea that there are many ways a person going to mild to chronic depression can, through a program of self-care, find relief and healing without drug intervention.  Dr. Weil is not against anti-depressant drugs per se and strongly discourages those seriously depressed from going off their medications, but he does note that there are many non-drug interventions that have proven in studies to be equally efficacious.  One example he uses that I personally know to be true is that a daily exercise regimen is a proven natural anti-depressant.  He also points out that while the pharmacological giants try to encourage through advertising that depression is a physical condition that can be cured by just taking a pill (and you should see your doctor immediately to have him write you a prescription!), the reality is that depression is much bigger than biology alone.  Societal pressures to always be happy and doing fine, coupled with a pace of life that militates against actually enjoying it, and a level of busyness which crowds out friends and family all need to be looked at and reconsidered by all of us.  One surprising thought he brings out is that sometimes it is healthy to be a bit depressed if it causes us to take stock of what is going on internally and correct it or make peace with it.  Along with suggestions for vitamins, supplements, and helpful herbs, he also makes suggestions about deep-breathing, yoga, and meditation techniques.  Obviously as a christian, I would not commend some of the eastern spirituality that he does mention, but in fairness to the author who writes from the perspective of integrative medicine, I won't fault him for this as he is trying to convey all options in a non-judgmental way (which you would want your doctor to do) to help people in distress.  Personally I have incorporated his 4-7-8 breathing technique which I'm sure comes from eastern meditation (although he doesn't present it as religious in any way) and it is so helpful in relaxing my body that I use it any time I'm feeling tense or stressed.  This is a thoughtful, practical, and helpful book if you struggle with depression and a useful resource if you are a loved-one or friend of someone who is.  But from my perspective it must be read with a mind to 'eat the meat, spit out the bones'.

A Week in the Life of Corinth by Ben Witherington III

 This book will never win an award as a novella, but it is an exceedingly clever way to teach a person about 1st century Greco-Roman culture as it touches on the New Testament.  The story line is about a wealthy Corinthian man named Erastus who is running for public office.  Erastus recently was converted to Christianity by an itinerate preacher named Paulos who has come to his city and makes and sells tents by day and teaches in the afternoons and evenings.  The "week in the life" format takes us through the typical routines of people in the ancient world from their home life and politics to commercial life and leisure time.  As the story develops, the author builds non-fiction historic sidebars with photos to show and explain to the reader the cultural elements he is describing.  Having been a student of ancient history for many years, I found little material that was totally unfamiliar territory, but for the interested layman, this is an ideal primer.  What I found particularly effective was the fictional reconstruction of a banquet serving meat offered to idols and a typical house church meeting.  Both of these shed light on things Paul references in the Corinthian letters of the New Testament that are not particularly clear to the modern western reader.  An educational and entertaining read and I hope one that will be followed with a sequel located in Jerusalem or some other biblical site.

Getting the Reformation Wrong : Correcting Some Misunderstandings by James R. Payton Jr.

It seems like the worst place to learn about the Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century is from modern evangelicals and the best place is often historians who come from outside of the Protestant tradition or even a secular position. Why so? I would say mainly because evangelicals largely don’t think God was active and working in the lives of the Christians during the Middle Ages. Secular historians, especially in recent years (Diarmaid MacCullogh’s The Reformation for example) paint a broader picture of the Reformation and point out that the Reformation is not a revival of moribund Catholicism, but part of wave of great religious interest at the end of the Medieval Age. I think in James R. Payton’s Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings we have the warmth of an evangelical scholar who is able put the Protestant Reformation and the Reformers themselves in historical and theological context. I also think Mr. Payton has a tremendous point to make: evangelicals misunderstand the Reformation because they are disconnected from the stream of thought that fed the Reformers, namely the early church fathers and the ecumenical councils. Aside from demonstrating from history that the Protestant Reformation was dealing with theological questions that had been dogging the church at large for nearly two hundred years, Payton addresses two places we modern Christians tend to largely misunderstand the intent of the Reformers. One such idea is Sola Fide (By Faith Alone). In modern America, frontier preachers and revivalists stretched this to mean that an act of momentary faith was all that was required to be saved. It is a handy way to close the deal quickly (which is very important in American religion) but was neither the teaching of the New Testament or the Reformers. Yes, by grace through faith, but scripturally faith is never alone. Real saving faith is always accompanied by a life of good works. The works don’t justify, but they demonstrate an active faith and impulse put there by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Another idea that is certainly confused is Sola Scriptura. This is taken today to mean the only authority in a believers life is the Bible and nothing more. Problem is, it simply is not true. The Holy Scriptures come to us with a two thousand year long rich history of interpretation (both excellent and ridiculous at times) by the church. Wonderful insights are brought out by modern exegesis, but these insights spring forth from a well of communal discernment which goes back through the church to the prophets and apostles. The Scripture is not the only authority, just the only unquestioned authority. Scripture has first rank, but it is valid to examine the traditions and teachings of the church in subordination. I also appreciated Payton’s insight that to a man, all the Reformers themselves thought their movement was a failed one. We call them heroes of the faith from a 400 year retrospect. It is a reminder to all of us that we live by faith and not by sight and God does not always let us see the full impact of our efforts this side of heaven. He wants us to be obedient and faithful and trust Him for the results which will always come because no service to Him is ever in vain.

Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns by Cheryl L. Reed

I am neither Catholic nor interested in taking on a monastic vocation, but I have long been a student of the ideas and practices of the religious (monastic) life. Monasticism is attractive to me because it is so singular and focused on the spiritual connection to Christ. When Paul the Apostle spoke of the single vs. married life, he pointed out that while both are good, the vocation of marriage does distract from the spiritual life because one cannot be both married and only care about God. Of course I know people who are single that are also distracted from God, but that is because they have no calling to be single. They are just in an interim or pre-marriage state. In this book, Cheryl Reed, who is a journalist, puts together a lively narrative about her experiences as she traveled to different parts of America to meet different orders of nuns over a period of several years. She was curious about how they lived, what got them started on this vocation, what keeps them going, and is this still a living institution of the Christian faith or is it something that is dying out in our modern and increasingly secular society. Aside from some incredibly interesting characters she met along the way, what is unveiled in the book are some pretty interesting paradoxes within this institution. For instance many of the older nuns tended to have less loyalty towards the Catholic Church while younger ones tended to be more loyal. Another paradox was that orders that had given up the religious dress and sought to be more engaged in serving society tended to be smaller and shrinking, where orders that wore the habit (the religious clothing of the nun) and were cloistered (isolated from society to fully devote themselves to prayer) tended to be younger and experiencing the most growth. In my mind, this challenges the notion that younger generations are not up for rigorous discipline and challenges. Perhaps we have not because we expect not as a society in general. While the pressures of marriage and family are not present in the monastic vocation the challenge of living communally with other members of your order provided sometimes even more challenges to love unselfishly and unconditionally. What Reed found all around were women who were very devoted to their vocation and quite selfless in their service and while their numbers have certainly diminished in the USA since the high-tide of the 1950’s, Catholic nuns are a far cry from extinction.

Woodrow Wilson: Profiles in Power by John A. Thompson

I figured it was time to read something on Woodrow Wilson. Any person Glenn Beck hates with such a passion as to mention him nearly fortnightly as the cause of every problem in our democracy, has got to be interesting at the very least. President Wilson was guilty of being a progressive, but he was hardly alone in his era. Wilson’s tenure as president (1913-1921) was at the tail end of a long progressive movement in politics and the Social Gospel movement in America’s churches. Every man and every politician is the product of the attitudes and possibilities of his times. What is often called socialism in today’s emotionally charged environment just 50 years ago (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon) was politics as usual in the view of a majority (a slim one though) of Americans. All that to say, Wilson was hardly remarkable as a progressive in the second decade of the 20^th century. What I found fascinating about Wilson was how he could convince the nation we wouldn’t be entering WWI, run on this for re-election, and then turn this around and make the war a just and moral crusade for reasons that were hardly a major provocation. Of course from that time forward the Wilsonian idea that America can engage in wars overseas if it is to promote democracy has been at times a difficult burden to bear even if it can be justified. Wilson won that war and then had a Waterloo of his own over the League of Nations which was a noble idea but obviously devoid of reality. What is shocking and almost nauseating is his neglect of the country after the death of his first wife Ellen and then his widower whirlwind romance with his second wife Edith along with a debilitating stroke at the end of his term. The demands of the office along with the electronic media would not permit such a luxury in today’s environment. But Wilson was a deft politician and a leader of men even when he was going against the tide of his time. It was part arrogance, but I think mostly destiny in the case of our 28^th president.

The Puzzle of Ancient Man: Advanced Technology in Past Civilizations? By Donald E. Chittick

I have read two books this year that have opened my eyes to a different reality of ancient man. The first book is 1491: New Revelations about the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann and The Puzzle of Ancient Man by Donald E. Chittick. Both books overlap in their factual analysis, but 1491 clearly is presented from a secular world view while Puzzle connects with the ancient records of Genesis and a Christian world view. In essence both men bring forth archaeological evidence that points towards mans devolution from an advanced technological society to a primitive one in ancient times. Just a few examples are the building of stone cities in the mountains of Peru where the rocks that were cut and put into place have weights that exceed the capacity of any modern cranes and are high enough that workers today would need to be on supplemental oxygen just to be able to exert themselves. Another example is that worldwide phenomena of pyramid building with them lining up with astronomical observations. Navigation computers and even small models of what look like airplanes have been discovered. What does it mean and how should it be interpreted? Certainly one idea that would be supported by uniformitarian naturalism would be the advancement and recession of civilization through local ecological disasters or wars. Mass displacement of people, chaos, and epidemics certainly do their share of slowing the development of a society down. So does mass migration although people typically bring their know-how and technology with them if at all possible. Another direction this may go is a worldwide disaster such as the flood described in Genesis where all but a few were saved while most of the world and their knowledge were wiped out at once. In this scenario, the world does rebuild and then in scattered by God from Mesopotamia to all points of the compass through the scrambling of languages. This would explain in part both a great loss of previous knowledge and a scattering of the same knowledge over the globe by migrating peoples. In either case, it seems that the facts lead to the idea that man’s great technological advancement of today is not totally new ground, but ground that has been plowed at least once before.

Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream by Edward Humes

In an era of government bailouts for Wall Street and stimulus packages that no one is sure even works, it’s good to read that at least one time in American history our congress got something right: The G.I. Bill that followed World War II. Determined to not fail our returning vets as was the case in all prior wars, then President Franklin Roosevelt started the legislative ball rolling in the early years of the war to offer benefits to the nearly 17 million soldiers who would be returning. What finally came out of Congress (after Roosevelt’s death) was a plan to offer G.I.’s a guaranteed home loan with nothing down and finances for attending college (along with a stipend for living expenses). The impetus behind the bill was the fear that if that many soldiers came home to no opportunities as was the case before the war, America would be ripe for socialism and communist influence. But, as Roosevelt said, a nation of homeowners is unconquerable. So what did our government do? They made a 110 Billion dollar (in today’s money) transfer of wealth from the public treasury to this group of Americans to enable them to go to school and buy their first house. To fight socialism, our congress committed one of the greatest acts of socialism in our nation’s history. The result was the create for the first time a real middle class of tax paying, home owning, college educated Americans. Prior to this less than 10% of our population could afford a home and less than 8% had attended college. With the collateral expenditures each homeowner made on appliances, furniture, improvements, and eventually bigger homes, $49 was returned to the national economy for every government dollar spent. The irony to my thinking is that many of the beneficiaries of this program were also the same who would later support governmental policies that have contributed to a virtual dismantling of the middle class. Economics aside, this is a reminder that not all government programs are bad. The key is whether it is direct aid or an opportunity to improve your life if you put forth some effort. One creates further dependence and indolence, the other creatively leverages our nations wealth to create greater opportunity for all who don’t mind working for the American Dream. I hope in the understandable frustration so many are feeling today about government spending, we don’t forget that some investments are worthwhile. The wildly successful post WWII GI Bill is a great example of how investing in ourselves can pay great dividends in the future both economically and as a people.

The American Leadership Tradition : Moral Vision from Washington to Clinton By Marvin Olasky

Marvin Olasky is the well-known editor of World a news magazine that covers national and international events from the standpoint of a Christian worldview. I have read the magazine for years but somehow missed reading any of Marvin Olasky’s books until now. Even though the book is ten years old and could be updated with the GW Bush and Obama presidencies, it’s message on leadership is still timeless and relevant. Through a series of vignettes on our more well-known presidents and statesmen through U.S. History, Olasky clearly demonstrates that the personal morality of our political leaders is a major issue that voters should consider very carefully. Many politicians would like us to believe, if they can get away with it, that it is their public work that matters and what they do in private should be none of our concern. The problem with this thinking is that a lack of private morals tends to cloud our judgment in issues that affect the lives of others. Conversely, some of our best presidents were also men of great private virtue. Their private virtue gave them a moral authority that enhanced their leadership. The two most vivid examples to my mind were George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt. Washington was a man of high personal morals and strong reverence for God. When he led the Revolutionary War, he encouraged and preached as general to his soldiers that if they wanted God’s blessing and protection, they should be worthy of it. Therefore prayers and fastings were encouraged before battle and things like cursing, using the Lord’s name in vain, and having camp prostitutes were prohibited. Compare this to the British Generals who spent a great deal of their time drinking, gambling, and chasing women while away from home. Though they had the most powerful army in the world, they were greatly distracted, and in that distraction grew complacent and ended up losing the war. Theodore Roosevelt was a man of action and virtue. He lived by the same standards privately that he preached publicly which included honor, virtue, and leading your wife and family. While some politicians put a “happy face” on their marriage and family life which is anything but true, Roosevelt loved his wife and children and stayed far away from the many moral traps of Washington DC. Don’t expect a totally rosy picture of American history in this book. Olasky is unsparing of the hypocrisy surrounding slavery and our nation’s popular but illegal land grabs from the native American populations. He also presents a picture of Lincoln that is neither saintly or profane, but realistic. Lincoln ended slavery and brought the nation together but at times his ends did not justify the means. Many books have come before on presidential leadership but I think Olasky is to be commended for this volume that is well-researched, well-written, and has a message that is needed now more than ever.

The Fathers by Pope Benedict XVI

One of the relative weaknesses of Evangelicalism is it’s amnesia about the Church’s 1500 years prior to the Reformation. Jesus taught it, Paul interpreted it, and Calvin and Luther preached on it in the 16^th century. Thankfully in many Protestant quarters the ancient heritage of the Church is being rediscovered and recovered in our modern era albeit without the passions and extremes that were the stock and trade of the ancients. A little over 50 years ago the Library of Christian Classics released the Early Church Fathers in a new translation and in a single volume to the reading public. I would certainly recommend this volume (still in print along with other books containing the same material) to anyone wanting to get the feel of what Christians taught, thought, and felt in those early years following the New Testament era. In addition to reading these original sources I would also commend Pope Benedict XVI’s The Fathers as wonderful primer on the subject. Pope Benedict presents a brief sketch of each of these teachers and theologians and highlights their contribution to the thinking of the Church. Obviously there are times when Roman Catholicism is celebrated in these vignettes, but then again, one would hardly expect the Pope to write differently. But I do want to reiterate that the clarity and simplicity of The Fathers more than compensates for this shortcoming (if you consider it one). What strikes me about nearly every one of these early leaders is their teaching is universally relevant for us today. But this shouldn’t be surprising since Christianity is the revelation of God for all ages.

The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark A. Noll

While this is a book that would normally be read by specialists (it’s price and nuanced style reflect this) it needs to be read by a wider audience. Noll develops his argument of the Civil War being a theological crisis follows along these lines: first the founders and antebellum politicians made it clear America was a country held together by it’s religion and churches. America at the time was roughly 70% evangelical with a commitment to the scriptures as the guide to life. The hermeneutic of the day tended towards a simple understanding of individual verses apart from the macro themes of scripture. A non-reflective reading of individual verses in the Bible could support slavery. The country being 95% Protestant meant there was no one grand authority to settle this interpretive issue that was dividing the Churches. The churches in fact did divide over the slavery issue 20 years before the civil war. The division of the nation follows. No one is left to settle this theological issue but Generals Grant and Lee.

The biblical arguments for the institution of slavery were as follows:

i.) Leviticus 25:45-46—Possession of slaves as property is permitted in Law

ii.) Philemon—Paul sends Onesimus back to his master

iii.) Gen. 9:25—Ham’s descendants through Canaan (Africans) shall be slaves to Shem and Japeth.

iv.) Gen. 17:12---Slaves in Abraham’s household were circumcised.

v.) Deut. 20:10-11---Slaves can be captive in war

vi.) Mt.5-7---Sermon on Mount is silent about slavery

vii.) 1 Cor. 7:21---Slaves not to chafe if master doesn’t grant emancipation.

viii.) Col. 3:22,4:1---Master-Servant relationships regulated but not prohibited.

ix.) 1 Tim. 6:1-2---Slave conversion doesn’t equate emancipation.

Pro-emancipation Christians modified it this way: admitted the OT/NT acknowledgement. It was the law in that part of the world at the time. That doesn’t necessitate its continuance everywhere. Also slavery in the South broke up Negro families and marriages, abused women slaves sexually by masters, and was based on an anti-scriptural idea of Caucasian superiority. While verses permit slavery, the overall tone of scripture calls for equity, love, and righteousness, all of which were absent in the slavery institution as practiced here. Other voices added to this the fact that slavery in the Roman empire was not based on race, thus Caucasians would be eligible for slavery as well; something unthinkable in the American South.

The Black Church in America also launched their stand against slavery:

1. Bible didn’t teach perpetual, unregulated slavery based on race.
2. Mt. 7:12 Golden rule would prohibit slavery in America
3. Church leaders justifying from scripture are prostituting religion to cover their profitable iniquity.
4. Some argued that God would destroy America if repentance didn’t come.
5. Christian slaveholders were not ejected from the church for committing adultery with slave women and selling off their mulatto children.
6. Native Americans rejected missionary efforts because they watched the white church and worried they would share the same fate as the blacks.
7. Acts 17 clearly states all men descend from a common source and thus are all equal. Yet black slavery is based on racial inferiority.

While all of these were certainly cogent, well-publicized arguments in the day, they really gained no traction. There was no final authority and most people were talking past one another. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, saw keenly into the situation. If there was a breakthrough in the cotton and tobacco industry that suddenly made slavery unprofitable monetarily, everyone would see these arguments much more clearly. The fact is, it reveals that what we believe is not just shaped by reason alone, but by our environment and communities as well.

The America of 1861 certainly couldn’t agree despite the fact they mostly shared the same religious values and commitments. One shudders to think if the America of today, if faced with a similar controversy, could even agree to split up on two sides of the issue.

The Legacy of John Calvin : His Influence on the Modern World

2009 is the 500^th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth and just as Calvin was a prolific publisher in his day, there has been a resurgence of publishing about Calvin in our day. This is a good thing because to not know about Calvin is to either be ignorant of the foundations of your own culture or to believe a broad characterization of him that is unlikely to do him justice and in some cases so patently false as to be silly. David Hall does a terrific book in that he sums up the lasting contributions of Calvin as they touch us today and gives us a concise and accurate biography in a very short space. Hall does not dwell on the theological intricacies of Calvin but does show us glimpses of his genius as a reformer of the Church and as a leader of men. Although there are many contributions Hall lingers on The Academy of Geneva because Calvin was singular as a protestant reformer in starting a school of higher learning to continue training and education from the protestant worldview beyond his lifetime. What makes this important is that students were trained in Geneva and deployed worldwide which in the end made this form of Protestantism far more influential. Calvin is also presented as a man who has a political mind and taught republicanism and democracy in nascent form. That men are ideally ruled not by a monarch but a group of men who are elected with the consent of the governed seems pretty natural today but in Calvin’s day these were far the norm. Hall also debunks the idea of Calvin being a total laissez-faire capitalist or that wealth was a proof one one’s election. Calvin’s teaching certainly did result in economic development but this was largely because he held all professions done honestly brought glory to God as opposed to the previously held view that only religious vocations did. But Calvin did believe honest gain was to be shared with the poor and saved for a “rainy day” rather than spending it on luxury items as we would today in a consumer economy. Calvin’s views on governance and industry make me wonder if Wall Street and Obama’s Washington might benefit from a read through The Institutes. For anyone who knows about Calvin already, this book is worth a skim. But for the totally uninitiated, Hall’s Legacy of John Calvin makes for a solid primer.

God's Batallions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark

A starkly different and yet eerily familiar picture of the Crusades emerges in Rodney Stark’s new offering God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades. The “case” that Stark makes in the book is that after centuries of continual aggression against the West, the Crusades were launched against the Muslims when fresh new provocations were made against Christian pilgrims and holy sites in Jerusalem. Stark also finds in his research that far from being a brutal and opportunistic war and land grab, the European crusaders had little to no gain financially and many actually bankrupted themselves in order to go. This was for them a war of ideals, religious ones in particular, and though it was brutal, it was fought according to the prevailing codes of decency and fair play that ruled in their day. Stark also reveals in the book that much has been made of the decency and enlightened attitudes of the Muslims that simply doesn’t bear out under scrutiny. Merciless slaughter and slavery were tactics they used any time they could against the crusader settlements. What is eerily familiar about the Crusades is that they were popular when they were successful and only the wealthy of Europe had to support them. When there was stalemate or failure and the financial drain was too much, they lost their public support. The case was made it was impossible to sustain the mission and there were just too many enemies to keep at bay with too few troops, er knights on the ground. I think a strong case is made that the Crusades were morally right as a political/social phenomenon. After all, European crusaders were merely conquering from Muslims lands connected to their religious faith that the Muslims had conquered from Jews and Christians just centuries before. At least in the Medieval world, taking and possessing conquered land was considered honest and normal by all the involved parties. As I read the book I couldn’t help but think of our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Defensive, just, distant, and increasingly unpopular at home. It would be nice if they just ended due to lack of interest, but I fear the Islamic penchant for Jihad may require our attention until “kingdom come.”

God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis by Philip Jenkins

It is the year 2074. Silver Jubilee celebrations are planned for the month of Ramadan to the delight of the citizens in Londonistan. In Paris-al-Alwah, the Sharia law courts continue their long docket of cases against homosexuals, while Christians gather in front of the mosque of Notre Dame to pray and silently protest the loss of their church. Meanwhile, Rome continues to stand as an empty ruin as the city was rendered uninhabitable by a powerful dirty bomb that was set off in the Vatican several years ago. These, and other dire ‘what-if?’ scenarios often crowd the pages and talking points of people concerned about Europe’s future in the 21^st century. But then Philip Jenkins has to come along with another one of his well-researched and thoughtful books and ruin the apocalyptic party. In God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis, Jenkins doesn’t say any of this couldn’t happen or even that it shouldn’t. In point of fact, Europe is wealthy, increasingly secular, and so hedonistic, that it is committing suicide by demography. On top of this, the nations of Europe identify more racially than nationally which means for the most part they are adrift as far as having any core values or things they would fight and die for as a people. Given these factors, should we be surprised that the large and vocal Muslim immigrant population of Europe is slowly and inexorably moving in to take over in the coming decades? And if Europe is so culturally sick, wouldn’t it be best that she live by her own value system and be euthanized? But this is only part of the story of God’s Continent. According to Jenkins there are some other factors that need to be considered. First, Muslim immigration is relatively new (since the 1950’s). Families most likely to immigrate are younger and more energetic, and are likely to have children that fill local schools which makes people feel like they are being overrun. In reality, immigrant communities generally have a dropping birthrate the longer they live in a host culture especially if the cost of living is extremely expensive. Another factor ignored by many is that Europe has a lot of other immigrants also coming in from Asia and Africa and these are not Muslim but vibrant Christian believers. The empty state-run Churches of Europe belie the fact that immigrant churches are growing by leaps and bounds and are evangelizing and revitalizing the ancient faith that came to them from European missionaries in the 19^th century. Quite apart from this are spontaneous revival movements occurring within the more traditional Anglican, Protestant, and Catholic denominations. Certainly another dimension to this is Muslim demands are making European leaders and people wake up to the reality that if they are doing cartwheels to accommodate this one group, why aren’t they doing more to protect the future of their majority population? The irony of all this is that Europe for decades has been almost prideful of her secularism and toleration of amorality, and yet despite their best efforts to remove God from the continent, their most consuming problem in the coming decades will be religious. Apparently Europe may be done with God but God is certainly not done with Europe.

The Next Evangelicalism : Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity by Soong-Chan Rah

If you are a white, middle-aged, raised-in-the-suburbs evangelical Christian who is socially and politically conservative and either active in the church or in vocational ministry, this book is going to offend you a few times and possibly even hurt your feelings, but you need to read it anyway especially if you care about the future of the Church in America. The author, Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, has a message of hope for the American Church but one that is going to require an adjustment in our heads and hearts. That American demographics are on a trajectory of great change is not a news flash for most people. Since the 1960’s birth rates, immigration patterns, and intercultural marriages have led to what some have called the “browning of America” and now it is estimated that by 2050 there will no longer be a majority culture in America. While many are heralding this as a tragic loss, Rah defends the thesis that de-Europeanization is not tantamount to de-Christianizing our country. In fact, the author asserts a preponderance of the new immigrants coming to America are Christian by faith and socially conservative with strong family values. His point: the Church in America will experience this shift long before the general culture does and if embraced properly will stem the tide of decline most churches and denominations are experiencing today. But for this to happen there is a cost and that is to reexamine our notions of ‘doing church’ which make sense for a predominantly white industrialized culture, but may not be as Biblical or Christian as we suppose although certainly comfortable. The other and more painful point the author makes is how deeply embedded racism is in our culture and especially in the church. What makes us so profoundly blind to it is that most Americans have no sense of corporate sin and thus we see ourselves as innocent. And when you feel innocent, it’s hard to want to change your ways and racism must be addressed if our churches are going to reflect our new reality. That said, I felt the author might have said a little something about the fact that while white Americans have their own share of guilt they don’t have a corner on the market with racism. Racism has no boundaries and I know too much about world history and other cultures to ever buy in to the idea that we need to do all the repenting. I also wonder if the author is not a bit overly idealist in his multicultural vs. homogenous church model. Having some experience in missions, I have seen the church in other countries quite apart from any missionary input organize along ethnic lines. Is there then a brown cultural captivity as well or do things just tend to shake out that way no matter what country you are in? It was God’s idea in the first place to separate nations by languages and this too has purpose. Put another way, it might just be simple economy of effort that makes people of like culture and language gather their own churches. Put yet another way, perhaps the church will naturally become more multicultural as the American landscape becomes so in the years ahead. Overall, I think The Next Evangelicalism is an insightful and helpful book and even if you don’t agree with all his conclusions, in the wake of political hysteria about immigration, it is a reminder to American evangelicals that ‘welcoming the stranger’ may be the form of our next Great Awakening.

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage

One of the great values of studying history is tracing the seeds of the past which have grown up to become our present. Probably of more value is the lesson taught so long ago to us by King Solomon: “There is nothing new under the sun.” Tom Standage’s The Victorian Internet is both a celebration of progress as well as a caution to those of today who tend to be overly enthusiastic about technology’s potential to eliminate all our problems. The Victorian “Internet” was the telegraph and while the telegraph office and all those “dots and dashes” seem so simple and quaint today, telegraphy literally did create the first world wide web. People didn’t have Tweets, Twitter, and Texting, but did follow one another in real time communication and made up short abbreviations to save time and money all the same. People did commerce and shopping via the telegraph, forwarded jokes, found true love and even committed bank fraud and stock trades in ways eerily similar to the present day. What’s more, the Victorian telegraphy pioneers knew they were making the world smaller with implications for instant news, waging war, and a belief that world peace would at last be possible. People in the Victorian era even complained of “information overload” as big city newspapers would print 4 editions a day to keep up with the flow of news coming in via the telegraph. Of course the telegraph went into decline with the invention of the telephone (which was discovered in the process of trying to improve the telegraph) but then telephony linked with the digital made possible a world linked with personal telegraphs in the form of a computer or hand-held mobile device. In other words, the idea of telegraphy remained but has transmogrified into a digital form. Standage writes a very crisp book here that chronicles the invention and spread of the telegraph in western culture in a very entertaining way. And once again it reminds the reader that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

And Justice For All.......

Well, it’s almost that time of year again. No, not Independence Day or Thanksgiving, but Susan Atkins parole hearing. Susan Atkins is not as well known as her partner in crime Charles Manson but she was just as deadly and brutal as she stabbed to death then pregnant actress Sharon Tate nearly 40 years ago. Since her incarceration, Atkins has on average applied for parole every 2.5 years. If you’ve ever seen her on a television interview, you know she is extremely remorseful for her crime and says the regrets and images she carries in her mind of committing that murder are pure torture. She is also a model prisoner and now has brain cancer and is paralyzed. This September she will go before the parole board and apply for a compassionate release based on the reality that as a terminally ill person she is no threat to society. This may sound cold and merciless but I hope she gets turned down and dies in prison. When she was convicted she was sentenced to death but California overturned the sentence for life imprisonment when the State Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. I have long opposed the death penalty for a host of reasons but mainly because I find it inconsistent to be Pro-Life on the one hand, but supportive of killing people under other circumstances. I do know that the Old and New Testaments affirm the state having the right to execute evil doers, but a right to do so doesn’t obligate us as a society to exercise that right in the face of other more compassionate alternatives. Beside the moral argument is the economics of the death penalty. The cost of a life-without-parole sentence is far lower than the cost of executing a death row inmate. When governments are broke because of a faltering economy it seems extremely goofy to be finding money for executions and of course the funding of overseas abortion clinics (why can’t they pay for their own?), but that’s another issue. The bigger issue with Susan Atkins is one of justice. There is no doubt in my mind that she is sorry and not a threat to society anymore, but she wasn’t put in prison to be rehabilitated. True justice means the punishment fits the crime and just as a human being was deprived of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a cold and merciless act so long ago, Susan Atkins should remain deprived of the same until she faces a higher court in another world.

The Lost History of Christianity : The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia----and How It Died

Philip Jenkins has been writing about World Christianity for some time now and his message is both grim and encouraging. The Western “heartland” of Christianity (Europe and North America) is fading and dying while at the same time the faith of Jesus Christ is exploding in the Southern Hemisphere and East Asia. In his newest offering Jenkins chronicles the forgotten history of Christianity in what we call today the Middle-East. The History of Eastern Christianity is not so much forgotten as it has just been neglected in favor of the Western spiritual history which was built on the ruins of the Roman Empire and transformed a bunch of barbarian tribes into the Christendom which became the nations of Europe. But concurrent with the Western story is the equally interesting story of how Christianity flourished in places like Persia, Iraq, Armenia, Georgia, Syria, Turkey, Arabia, Egypt and North Africa. These groups sent missionaries to places like China and India, long before the Jesuits and other western missionaries arrived. In terms of Bible translation and monasteries, the East was far ahead of Europe by every metric. It was a golden age of the Church where Christianity flourished in terms of numbers, influence, and architecture. Which begs the question, if things were so good, why has Christianity all but vanished in the Middle East in favor of Islam? There were a multitude of factors all related to the rise of Islam, but equally so there were demographic and political factors that also played into the long decline of the Christian community. In the case of North Africa, Christianity largely disappeared because it was the religion of expatriot Romans who fled when the region came under Muslim control. In many cases people converted to Islam not by force, but because they saw it as a new revelation from God and in its early years Muslim doctrine had a greater kinship to Judeo-Christian thought. I think the most sobering lesson Jenkins brings out in the book is that the Church of the East relied too heavily on its political alliances and married its liturgical forms to a prosperous economy that fell out underneath them. As most of us know friends and money can disappear in a night, but the mistake the Eastern church made was not acknowledging this and adjusting to the new reality they found themselves in. This is something we in the Western church of today would be wise to consider. Our reality has changed but to change with it seems to be a task we may be putting off for a day when it is too late.

What Americans Really Believe by Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark is known for sacrificing a lot of sacred cows when it comes to beliefs about religion and especially Christianity. In his previous books he has used reasoned statistical analysis to make a case that Christianity didn’t become huge because of Constantine’s conversion and subsequent legalization, but rather through normal evangelism through urban social networks in the Near East and Mediterranean, it grew to a formidable size all on its own and became the dominant religion of the people. He has also offered a strong case apart from supernaturalism that Monotheism and Christianity in particular are the true forces behind the rise of Western Civilization because they both led to a rationally progressive mindset coupled with values such as industry and justice. In What Americans Really Believe, Stark derives his insights from the Baylor University Survey of Religion, the last serious study (2005) that has been done in decades. And as in his other books, Rodney Stark once again ‘debunks’ some widely held beliefs about the Church and Christianity in America. Here’s a quick survey:

1. Churches are not declining just liberal ones.
2. More people attend Church today than they ever did at any point in American history.
3. Americans find churches that require high levels of commitment in their membership the most attractive.
4. Atheism is not really growing in America just media attention to Atheist authors.
5. Megachurches do foster high commitment and personal relationships.
6. Church attendance and religious commitment give women and particularly their daughters far more options in society than feminism does.
7. College educated skeptics are statistically more inclined to believe in UFO’s and the Lochness monster than those who attend church.
8. Evangelicals are not on the move to take over America politically. They are less likely to be involved in political activities than liberals or even non-religious people.

Obviously much more is covered in the book and some issues are completely neglected, but all in all some much needed and helpful information. In a period of waning economic fortune, it’s good to see the outlook for the church as an American institution is in much better shape than we previously thought.

A Lesson from American Idol

I used to be mildly embarrassed to admit it, but now that American Idol’s fastest growing viewing demographic is people my age, I guess it is safe to come out of the closet and say I like the show. Come to think of it, it was my generation that cut it’s teeth on Ed Sullivan and The Gong Show and so perhaps it is a more natural fit than I realized. I like American Idol for a lot of reasons, but more than anything else I love the show because of judge Simon Cowell. I know that Simon is the producer of the program and partly famous for being the caustic and smug brit that we expect him to be, but he is extremely nuanced in his understanding and feel for performance and the music business and usually tells the truth we overly nice Americans won’t say. Remember, we’re the people who tells little Johnny “he can be anything he wants to be if he works hard at it” or “everyone is a winner at our grade school”. Or you’ve got the public school teacher telling the parents “Johnny is showing real promise in this area” because they’ve already done 13 parent-teacher conferences today and they don’t have the energy to tell his parents he should probably join the Navy and learn a trade because he’s not university material. I find Simon’s unvarnished truth at times very refreshing. If a performance was bad, he will call it an unmitigated disaster or not worthy of a karaoke night at a low-end club in Reno. The three other judges in the competition will criticize but usually with too much tact and generosity and hence the performer is not moved to tears like they are when they get Simon’s approval which is obviously more meaningful because it means something. I think there is something from American Idol we all ought to learn and that is our young people need to be told the truth with regards to their talents and aptitudes. Life is way too precious to waste pursuing that for which we have no talent and it is an act of love to steer a young person in the way he/she should go. It’s okay to have a childhood dream but if every boy in my neighborhood had lived out his dreams there would have been hundreds of baseball players and no doctors, teachers, musicians, or even baseball watchers to fill the bleachers. It takes all of us to make the world go around. God makes all of us for a certain purpose and destiny. Your destiny will be confirmed by your abilities and affirmed by people other than yourself. Listen to them and be glad even if they sound a bit like Simon at the time.

Influence: The Church or Hollywood?

This may come as a shock to you but Hollywood has far less influence on our culture than does religion. Yes they have prominence in what you see on TV, but then again Hollywood virtually controls the medium. But prominent visibility doesn’t necessarily equate influence. As a nation, 120 million of us attend Church on a regular basis which is far more than the number who attend movies in a given week. When you consider that less than 25% of Americans read one book a year, and only 1% of them are in college, it is a safe assumption that listening to the weekly sermon is still the most widely practiced form of intellectual activity in America. If one were to look just at expenditures, Americans give 25 times more money to their houses of worship than they do to their local movie houses. So if the Church is so influential in our culture, why is it so seemingly invisible? The late news anchor Peter Jennings, himself a Canadian, was baffled by this. He thought it was odd that America was so deeply religious and yet it was nearly invisible to the news media. I have a couple of theories as to why this is so. First of all, unless you do something exceptionally weird, good, or flashy at your church, it’s of no value to the media. Every Sunday the vast majority of us come together and pray, worship, hear God’s Word, and fellowship with one another. It’s a good thing, but doesn’t create the kind excitement that plays well on film or television. Secondly, Americans consider their freedom to worship almost as sacred as their actual religion. In the name of respecting the freedom of others that we enjoy ourselves, we don’t make this an overt part of our personal or national discourse. It doesn’t mean our faith has no influence on America, it simply comes in through the back door of personal relationships which once again is hardly a media event. Perhaps a better gauge of understanding the Church’s influence in America would be to imagine if it didn’t exist or were suddenly removed (which would be a dream-come-true for militant homosexuals and radical atheists). Not to be over celebratory here, but the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches of this country were huge partners in the building of our civilization and to this day provide countless hours of community services and emergency food and relief without any government help or incentive. The only real motivation is Christ’s great law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. If this great influence were removed from our society, America would be less like itself and more like the Hollywood Babylon that some think we should be.

There is a God by Anthony Flew

Several years ago Anthony Flew shook things up in the world of philosophy and religion by changing his mind about the non-existence of God. In other words Flew is a theist now and not an a-theist. This should not be taken to mean that Dr. Flew is now a Bible believing evangelical Christian though. He came from a Christian home and his father was a preacher and expert Biblicist, but Flew was unconvinced then and now as an octogenarian is still so. But as someone who has made his life’s work philosophy, he has done something quite daring; when confronted with additional information he changed his mind and did so publicly. Some of his fellow atheists have accused him of hedging his bets ala’ Pascal’s Wager, but in reality Flew is very clear he doesn’t even believe in an afterlife much less a final judgment. Flew merely believes there is a Creator, omnipotent and omniscient, who has made all that we see and know in the universe. So some philosopher changes his mind and is no longer an atheist but is not a Christian; why would this book be important to read? First of all Flew gives a relatively nuanced breakdown on his change of mind about atheism that is very enlightening. Much of it has to do further scientific discovery which makes the idea of evolution occurring without an incredible mind behind it fairly untenable. An example that is given is the breakthrough work in understanding DNA , the basic building block of all living things. The idea that its highly sophisticated unfolding program would develop spontaneously by some mechanistic force seems more likely explained by a Creator. Perhaps of greater value to the Christian is the fact that the so-called traditional arguments for the existence of God which were articulated by theologians and philosophers in the Medieval era are not as unsophisticated and discredited as we’ve been lead to believe (for more information “google” the arguments for the existence of God). As Flew looks back to the classical Greek philosophers idea of God, he concedes their idea seems to most closely parallel the God of the Judeo-Christian scriptures, but for Flew to connect with that fact is going to be more a matter of relationship than philosophy.

On Medford 97501

“The sad part of living in the same town so long is you start to resemble your (very dilapidated) neighborhood…”

---Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky Balboa”

Although I wasn’t born there, I have lived in Medford Oregon for 41 years. Statistically I am like 50% of Americans who live fairly close to where they grew up. I’ve often wondered about what it would be like to be like the other half who have lived more transitory lives. I suppose they know something I don’t, but I suspect that goes both ways. I have met many people through the years who have visited my hometown on their vacation and really liked the beauty of the area. I usually take it for granted until I go away for a few weeks and then fly home. When I see the blue mountains and tall trees again I just know I’m home and for some reason I’m strangely enchanted. I honestly can’t say whether Medford is a better or worse place to live than it was growing up. It has improved in many ways with size and worsened in some ways too. And it has certainly changed. If you would have told me when I was a teenager that Medco would be put out of business, that vineyards would be the chief source of agricultural income in the Applegate and the Britt Festival would largely feature nostalgic rock acts, I would have figured you had lost your mind. Time does move on and to quote the Bible, everything has its “time and season”. No matter where you find yourself living today may God give you the ability to see change with both grace and wonder!

I was thinking about the Medford I grew up in and 10 things I miss from the past in no particular order:

1. Jack’s Burger Haus, Dell’s Hamburgers, Stu’s Burger Bar

2. Sister Ray Records and The Tape Shoppe

3. The Starlite Drive-In

4. The smell of Flueher’s Bakery in the afternoon

5. Kim’s Restaurant

6. The Big “Y”

7. Bob Kennedy’s “House of Guns” and all the other cool stuff

8. Trowbridge’s Store

9. KYJC #1 Radio and KSHA with all the cool clocks saying what time it was around

the country.

10. Golf-o-Rama