Looking for What to Read Next?
Columns from the Grace Church Library, published in the biweekly newsletter, Grace Notes. The library is staffed Sundays from 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.and is open for self-service during the week.
February 22, 2011
Books With Intergenerational Appeal
Did you know that the church library has books for young readers that are just too good to be limited to children? We consider them “not for kids only,” because they also offer quick reads for adults on a variety of topics. Click here for more about these titles.
“Tibet Through the Red Box,” by Peter Sis, is a beautifully illustrated example. On his father’s death, Sis was given a red box that held the diary─with faded handwriting and fine drawings─that his father kept while wandering Tibet in the mid-1950s. (He was a filmmaker hired to document road construction in northern China, and strayed across the Tibetan border in the Himalayas during an avalanche.) (Farrar Straus 1998) ─ 951.5 SIS
”14 Cows for America,” by Carmen Agra Deedy, tells of African villagers who wanted to send cows to New York after 9/11, so the children would have milk. (Peachtree Publishers 2009) ─ J 217 DEE
”Faith,” by Maya Ajmera, et al., explores different cultures and religious traditions (Charlesbridge Publishing 2009) ─ J 200 AJM
“If the World were a Village: A Book about the World’s People,” by David J. Smith, (Kids Can Press 2002) ─ J 304.6 SMI
”Islam: The Origins, The Founding Ideas, The Followers, Islam Today,” text by Neil Morris. (McGraw-Hill 2002) ─ J 297 MOR
“The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq,” by Jeanette Winter. (Harcourt 2005) ─ J 020.92 WIN
“A Little Peace,” (mostly photos) by Barbara Kerley. (National Geographic 2006) ─ J 327 KER
“Muhammad,” written and illustrated by Demi. (Simon & Schuster 2003) ─ J 297 DEM
“One Hen: How One Small Loan made a Big Difference,” by Katie Smith Milway. (Kids Can Press 2008) ─ J FIC MIL
“Sami and the Time of the Troubles,” by Florence Parry Heide, et al. (Clarion Books 1992) ─
J FIC HEI
“The Twelve Apostles: Their Lives and Acts,” by Marianna Mayer, provides an introduction to Jesus’ closest companions (Penguin Putnam 2000) ─ J 225.9 MAY
”A World of Prayers,” selected by Jeremy Brooks. (Eerdmans 2005) ─ J 204 BRO
December 21, 2010
"Reformation and Conflict: From the Medieval World to the Wars of Religion, AD 1350-1648" by Rudolph Heinze
"Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence" edited by Gerald Schlabach
"Earth From Above for Young Readers" by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Robert Burleigh, illus.David Girandon
Reviewed by Carol Clover
A new book recently added to the Church Library is Rudolph Heinze’s "Reformation and Conflict: From the Medieval World to the Wars of Religion, AD 1350-1648." This is a worthwhile read especially for academics, historians and theologians. Professor Heinze, a frequent presenter in Grace’s adult education program, makes a conscious effort to provide an objective and unbiased one-volume introduction to the Reformation period. The book is part of the multi-volume series The Baker History of the Church. The format of the book includes a suggested reading list for each chapter along with separate sublists for primary and secondary works. It provides an honest description of all of the principal reformers, and clearly differentiates between Luther’s, Zwingli’s and Calvin’s background and theology. The author also treats some aspects of the Reformation period that are not included in the usual church histories, including the resulting military conflicts, Catholic and Protestant missionary enterprises outside of Europe, and the impact of the Reformation on literature, art, science and education. There is also a separate chapter on women from the Reformation period.
Another new title is "Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence" edited by Gerald Schlabach. This book is a response to the division in the Church exemplified by pacifism, the view held by Mennonites and other peace churches, and the just war theory that dominates Catholic thinking on the issue. Schlabach proposes a just policing theory as a way to narrow the gap between these two traditions, by addressing the problems of world violence through a police model rather than a conventional military model, thereby providing a role for Christians from all traditions. The essays in the book draw on two complementary sets of religious practices to suggest how an international police action could be shaped as an effective alternative to the invariably counter-productive imposition of a military solution, allowing political and ecclesial analyses to converge toward imagining fresh forms of order. A focus on policing rather than on war responds to the need for order in society while at the same time exemplifying the limitations to force that the just war theory calls upon. Just policing also provides a fresh way to conceptualize possible responses in the current struggle against terrorism.
"Earth From Above for Young Readers" written by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Robert Burleigh and illustrated by David Girandon is a stunning new volume for children ages 9-11 years that makes a welcome gift for the holiday season. Arthus-Bertrand is a well known aerial photographer and author of numerous adult books including Earth From Above 365 Days. A readable and interesting text accompanies double-page spreads with captivating photos. Each photo demands close inspection, as each continent is represented in brilliant pictures which reflect the awesome diversity of life on earth.
November 23, 2010
“Our Greatest Gift: a Meditation on Dying and Caring” by Henri Nouwen
“Living at the End of Life: a Hospice Nurse Addresses the Most Common Questions” by Karen Bell
“Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial” by Mark Harris
“Come Worship with Me: A Journey through the Church Year” by Ruth L. Boling
Reviewed by Carol Clover
The adult education program in November featured a series on end of life issues. One of the selected resources for the series from the church library is Henri Nouwen’s book entitled “Our Greatest Gift: a Meditation on Dying and Caring,” a moving personal look at human mortality. In it the author shares his own experiences with aging, loss, grief and fear, gently and eloquently revealing the gifts that the dying can give to one another. His view of death reveals that we are children of God, brothers and sisters of each other, and parents of generations to come. Death is quite simply a beautiful entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, the next step in our life with God.
Another resource for the series, “Living at the End of Life: a Hospice Nurse Addresses the Most Common Questions,” by Karen Bell, elaborates on the concept of a “good death” from a hospice perspective. The author’s message is aimed at making sure the final months or days of a patient are well-lived, marked by peace, comfort and a chance to say goodbye. The author illustrates the tenets and benefits of palliative care with firsthand accounts of her patients and manages to place readers at bedsides during the “most intimate of life’s dramas.” The author also provides a wealth of useful information on pain management, the selection of a hospice, and advice on day-to-day caregiving.
“Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial,” by Mark Harris, offers an objective exploration of several forms of body disposition. The book provides well written and useful information for anyone wishing to research this subject before actually needing to know. The author stresses the benefits of treating the death of loved ones in a totally personal way, while honoring convictions about a green, less toxic world.
As the holidays approach, a worthwhile book for children ages 3-10 years is “Come Worship with Me: A Journey through the Church Year,” by Ruth L. Boling. It offers a wonder-filled journey through the church calendar beautifully illustrated with a congregation of very human-looking church mice. The book demonstrates the real meaning behind the church calendar and its symbols, and there is a useful appendix of Christian symbols at the end. The book also serves as a conversation-starter for adults and parents on the subjects of faith, worship, God and community.
October 26, 2010
"Good Poems for Hard Times"
"Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other"
"City Dog, Country Frog"
Reviewed by Carol Clover
Garrison Keillor’s latest book of verse, "Good Poems for Hard Times," is an anthology of 185 poems from 61 named poets selected by Keillor from those he read on the Writer’s Almanac program on public radio. These poems are meant to speak to ordinary people through what Mr. Keillor calls the “last presence of honest speech and the outspoken heart.” The anthology includes poems by such authors as Wendell Berry, John Dunne, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Frost, and Edna Vincent Millay, chosen as poems someone might send to a friend whose life had gone skidding into the meridian, who had been struck by bad news–not poems about suffering, but poems that are bracing as bold clear writing can be. The introduction to this book alone makes it not only worth reading, but worth keeping. Mr. Keillor fears for a future when America has “no binding traditions,” when the public cannot name senators and gets their political knowledge through television and their “only public life at Wal-Mart.” He says further about what is already taking place: “You lie in a hotel bed at night, remote in hand and surf a hundred channels of television…and you can drift for hours among the flotsam and you will never see anything that shows that you’re in Knoxville or Seattle or Santa Fe or Chicago, and nobody will ever speak to you as straightforwardly and clearly as poetry does.” That’s frightening stuff. This selection of very approachable, very enjoyable poems offers an antidote for our modern culture and reveals universal emotions and truths that touch the soul, the mind, and the heart.
"Baby We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption" by Scott Simon offers insight into the personal experience of international adoption by the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition. The author invites readers into the family he and his wife Caroline created when they adopted two Chinese daughters. With wit and grace, the author details the ups and down of the adoption process and addresses the issue of attachment after abandonment, while guiding adoptive parents toward a compassionate awareness. The author chronicles what adopting and being adopted has meant to a range of people like Freakonomics author Steve Levitt, who himself has adopted two Chinese daughters. The author urges more childless couples to look at adoption early on in the process of trying to have a family rather than as a last resort. He questions why our society is pouring money into a scientific procedure to create children when there are millions of children in this world already who need love.
For children ages 6-7 years, "City Dog, Country Frog" by Mo Williams and Jon Muth, illustrator, is a new picture book in the Church Library collection. In a beautiful understated way, the book tackles the essential issues of friendship, change, loss and death. It’s the sort of book that can be absorbed on many levels. While the author’s text is appropriately spare, Jon Muth’s watercolor illustrations are gorgeous, showing the changing soft palette of each successive season. The illustrator’s renditions of Dog and Frog are cute but never trite, and the animals are painted with a wide range of heartfelt expressions.
September 28, 2010
Audiobooks: "To America" by Steven Ambrose, "Anne Frank Remembered" by Miep Gies
Children's book: "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" by Kate DiCamillo
Reviewed by Carol Clover
The Church Library has recently purchased a number of audiobooks and large print books with memorial gifts given to honor Ruby Zimmerman, faithful member of Grace from 1934 to 2009. A portable CD player has also been added to the circulating collection and is available for Grace members to check out.
For history enthusiasts, Stephen E. Ambrose, a popular historian who died last year at age 66, shares his views on the evolution of the United States and his own life on a spoken CD entitled "To America: Personal Reflections of a Historian." He notes that U.S. history is full of contradictions, starting with Thomas Jefferson, who held slaves, but inspired the eventual end of slavery through his eloquent writings. Following the introduction read by Ambrose, Jeffrey DeMunn reads Ambrose’s words with a personal tone that makes you forget that the voice you’re hearing isn’t Ambrose’s. To America is a collection of essays that celebrate the sweep of American history without shying away from its tragic errors and from the ironies that plague political reality. Ambrose makes these essays personal reflections on his own reactions to the history he lived through and does it with disarming candor. Ambrose wears his scholarship lightly; you learn as you are entertained, as you listen to wonderful stories told by a master storyteller.
"Anne Frank Remembered" is another spoken CD in the Library’s memorial collection. This audiobook recounts the heartwarming, courageous, and tragic story of the people who helped Anne Frank’s family during the Holocaust. Otto Frank’s employee, Miep Gies, coordinated the hiding place and worked through her own exhaustion and terror to keep the family safe and supplied with food and company. Barbara Rosenblat speaks with Gies’ own voice, bringing an impeccable Dutch flavor to her words and flawlessly pronouncing the many proper nouns of that challenging language. She effortlessly conveys Gies’s pervading sense of sadness tinged with frustration, anger, and resentment at the horrors inflicted by the Nazi regime. In the author’s afterword, Rosenblat captures equally well Gies’s acceptance and wonder at the way Anne’s story captured the heart of the world. This CD won the AudioFile Earphones Award, 2009.
"The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" is a book for children ages 9-11 yrs. This new classic by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo revolves around an elegant china rabbit named Edward who belongs to a girl named Abilene and lives in an extremely elegant household. He has a wardrobe of handmade silk suits, custom leather shoes and an attitude to match. He is an utter snob, disdainful of most everything, and his heart is as cold as the china of which he is made. When Edward’s fortune changes after he falls overboard during a trip with his original owner, he goes through repeated accidents of abandonment and cold dismissals in an arduous journey from one owner to another. He eventually learns what it is to miss someone, to listen and to love more than himself. Somewhere between fairy tale and fable, DiCamillo spins the tale of Edward, transformed by the lives he touches. The illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline complement the old-fashioned dramatic narrative.
September 14, 2010
"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
"Home Town Tales" by Philip Gulley
"Saint Francis and the Animals" by Leo Politi
Reviewed by Carol Clover
The Religion in Literature group's selection for its September meeting is Leo Tolstoy’s "Anna Karenina." Considered one of the greatest love stories in world literature, "Anna Karenina" is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity set in classic 19th century Russia. Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of Russian society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover. Condemned and ostracized by her peers and prone to fits of jealousy that alienate Vronsky, Anna finds herself unable to escape an increasingly hopeless situation. Set against this tragic affair is the story of Konstantin Levin, a melancholy landowner, whom Tolstoy based on himself. While Anna looks for happiness through love, Levin embarks on his own search for spiritual fulfillment through marriage, family and hard work. Surrounding these two central plot threads are dozens of characters whom Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together, creating a breathtaking tapestry of nineteenth-century Russian society. The book offers a profound insight into the Russian soul which joins religious mysticism and nationalism into an almost divine zeal. It ends with Anna’s suicide for having betrayed the moral imperative of her society. The epigraph to "Anna Karenina" is a quotation from Romans 12:19: “Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.” It expresses Tolstoy’s deep concern with sin (crime) guilt, punishment and atonement. Tolstoy does not evaluate or make value judgments – he describes. To do otherwise would usurp a godly privilege. He sees all adverse consequences of evil as ultimately originating with God.
One selection in the new large print collection in memory of Ruby Zimmerman is "Home Town Tales" by Philip Gulley. This book is a sequel to Gulley’s immensely popular best seller "Front Porch Tales." Phillip Gulley, a Quaker, envelops his readers once again in a rare world of plain spoken and honest values. These tender stories of his life are gathered round the enduring themes of the great spiritual virtues: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Each story reminds us how we long for such virtues in a world sorely in need of the love and hope they bring.
"Saint Francis and the Animals" by Leo Politi is a new children’s book for second and third graders. Leo Politi grew up and had art training in Italy, and has used Italian narrative and early Italian pictures as source material. He tells of Saint Francis’ encounters with many of the animals: birds, a little hare, doves, a pheasant, a fish, a lamb, and, of course, the wolf of Gubbio. There are sweet earth-tone pictures on almost every page to illustrate the story. (And on pages where there are no words, just beautiful pictures.)
July 28, 2010
"Accompany Them With Singing: The Christian Funeral" by Thomas G. Long
"Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing up in Christ" by Eugene H. Peterson
"Let’s Go on a Mommy Date" by Karen Kingsbury
Reviewed by Carol Clover
"Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral," by Thomas G. Long, provides a welcome theological resource and practical guide for pastors and others who care for the dying and officiate at Christian funerals. Long urges clergy and congregations to embrace funerals as an opportunity to "act out one more time the great and hopeful drama of how the Christian life moves from death to life." The funeral of a Christian is seen as the story of the Gospel itself. Long sees the funeral as the enactment of an alternative narrative, one in which the living God, the God we know in Jesus Christ, speaks the last word. This word cannot be muted or ignored, but must be lived and cherished for the word of hope which it is. For the author, the Christian funeral is not purely meditation, but dramatic action. The book includes helpful chapters on planning and preaching at funerals. Music, cremation, military and civil services, as well as funeral directors, are also some of the subjects addressed in this book. Long’s book represents the first comprehensive treatise on the Christian funeral in more than fifty years.
"Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing up in Christ," by Eugene H. Peterson, is the fifth in a series of works on spiritual theology. In essence, the book is an informal commentary on the book of Ephesians, distinct from other New Testament letters to the churches in that it appears to be motivated by Christ’s love for His people. The author applies St. Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesians to the life of today’s churches as a model, urging believers to “walk worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called.” Peterson’s book offers hope and comfort to those who love the Church with all its faults, and desire to see the Church cleansed “by the washing of water with the word.” He lovingly exhorts individuals to live out the reality of the resurrection together as the dynamic body the Lord ordained. The works of this body transform the impersonal doctrine of grace into a personal manifestation of God himself.
"Let’s Go on a Mommy Date," by Karen Kingsbury, with illustrations by Dan Andreasen, is a book for children ages 5-6. In it, a mother just wants to spend time with her little ones, and through a game of “what if” shows that nothing will deter a mom and her children from spending time together. In the end, a mom and her child learn that a “mommy date” can be anywhere you want. Whether it’s the zoo, park, a movie, or simply snuggling down to read about such adventures– being together is what’s required for a mommy date.
June 30, 2010
"Imperfect Birds" by Anne Lamott
"Enough: True Measures of Money Business and Life" by John C. Bogle
"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas
"Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa" by Jeanette Winter
Reviewed by Carol Clover
"Imperfect Birds," by Anne Lamott, is an engrossing new novel that centers on one of the most harrowing challenges of any parent–raising a teenager. This is the third novel in a trilogy that also includes "Rosie" and "Crooked Little Heart." Though "Imperfect Birds" is fiction and far from autobiographical, like all of Lamott’s work, it reflects the author’s real-life experiences. The subtitle for the book could be “loving a sudden stranger.” In Lamott’s words, this is how many parents of teens feel when, as she says, “the person you love most in the world, the sweet consistent person that you love with a lot of love coming back for a lot of years is suddenly a stranger.” Lamott’s narrative alternates between the parent’s and the teen daughter’s points of view, and gives readers a fascinating peek into the inner contradictions driving the teenager’s outwardly baffling behavior–the anger, vulnerabilities and desires warring against a sincere wish to do the right thing.
"Enough: True Measures of Money Business and Life," by John C. Bogle, of the investing giant Vanguard, addresses the current financial crisis in the U.S. The book delves into the perfect storm of investing created by costs, speculation and complexity. It examines the folly of a business paradigm that focuses on the short-term bottom line; where business conduct and management becomes all about the sale, no matter what the cost. The author does a convincing job of explaining why there has never been a better time to learn individually, and as a country, when enough is enough. He presents a manifesto for financial executives to lead through a return to fundamental personal values, a return to trust, and the foundation of a strong moral character.
"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich" by Eric Metaxas is the first major biography of Bonhoeffer in forty years. Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life, the theologian and the spy, and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil. In a deeply moving narrative, Metaxas uses previously unavailable documents, including personal letters, detailed journal entries, and firsthand personal accounts, to reveal dimensions of Bonhoeffer’s life and theology never before seen. The book brings the reader face to face with a man determined to do the will of God radically, courageously, and joyfully–even to the point of death. Bonhoeffer is the story of a life framed by a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those facing implacable evil. In Bonhoeffer’s words: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Metaxas reminds us that “there are forms of religion–respectable, domesticated, timid–that may end up doing the devil’s work for him.”
"Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa," by Jeanette Winter, is a children’s book for ages 5-6 years. This picture book biography celebrates Wangari Maathai, Nobel prize-winning environmentalist and founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, which has helped to reverse the deforestation of Kenya by planting more than 30 million trees. The book introduces Wangari as a child living under an umbrella of green trees in the shadow of Mount Kenya. Wangari earns a scholarship to study in the U.S., and when she returns after six years, she is stunned to see the trees gone and replaced with a veritable wasteland. A distilled text accompanied by images in framed, same-size squares on each page, creates a flat, frieze-like effect that pays off as the efforts of one woman to plant trees in Kenya grows into a movement that inspires thousands.
May 19, 2010
"Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy"
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society"
"My First Read and Learn Book of Prayers"
Reviewed by Carol Clover
The Religion in Literature selection for May is Carlos Eire’s memoir entitled "Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy." This memoir is a stirring lyrical account of the childhood experienced by Eire during the pre-Castro era of Batista, the Cuban revolution under Castro, and the years following the Cuban revolution as an exile in the United States. Through Eire’s eyes, the reader is transported in the beginning to a land surrounded by a turquoise sea and tangerine light, and a childhood full of magical interpretations of ordinary boyhood events. Through each event, Eire looks beyond the literal to see the mythological themes inherent in his struggle for identity. The book is made more powerful by Eire’s ability to see tragedy and suffering as a constant source of redemption. While his father believes that people live many lives in different bodies, Eire sees his own life as a series of deaths within the same body. “Loss and gain are Siamese twins, joined at the heart, so are death and life, hell and paradise.” Toward the end of the book, when Eire is leaving his homeland as one of 14,000 unaccompanied children airlifted out of Cuba by Operation Pedro Pan, he describes the moments prior to boarding the airplane as he looks back at his family in the distance. Once in the air he is plunged into a whole new void, which he describes as a death. The kind of death he experiences “comes in a flash as quick as lightning.” It is a silence
found wrapped neatly inside every paradox. It’s the silence beyond words, the silence beyond reason. It’s the unutterable unknown. It’s the joyous silence that accepts imperfection as the absolute perfection. After you pass through the burning silence, you emerge in the same spot, in the very same body, gloriously transformed, a glowing blank slate.
The bitterness of the Cuban revolution does not erase Eire’s belief that in Christ we repeatedly die for our sins and are reborn into a new awareness of paradise.
On a lighter note, the Church Library has recently added a new fiction title by Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece Annie Barrows entitled "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society." This cleverly constructed novel uses a series of letters to describe a vivid snapshot of England after World War II. Letters included in the novel come from the warm-hearted, eccentric habitants of Guernsey who recount various wartime events, some horrific, some humorous, that occurred while the Nazis occupied the English Channel island, including the birth of the unlikely book club known as the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Each letter in the novel is the work of an individual, fully formed character, and each contributes a layer of complexity to the narrative. BookPage Reviews says “the novel pays tribute to the healing power of art and the endurance of the human heart.”
"My First Read and Learn Book of Prayers" by Mary Manz Simon is a board book written especially for toddlers and preschoolers. This inspirational collection of favorite prayers is accompanied by charming full color illustrations. The book offers ideas and suggestions for special days and specific situations, and helps children discover the beauty of prayer and form the lifelong habit of praying.
April 21, 2010
"Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief"
"Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street"
"Best Loved Prayers: Treasures for a Lifetime"
"Let’s Explore Inside the Bible: An Activity, Information and Story Book"
Reviewed by Carol Clover
The Church Library has recently added two new titles that will be of interest to those seeking a moral compass to respond to our nation’s current economic crisis and to find comfort and faith amidst the world’s disparate suffering. Rowan Williams’ book entitled "Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief" (230WIL) guides readers through the elements of Christian faith with a thematic group of reflections based on the ancient creeds of Christendom. As the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, the author demonstrates his stature as a scholar and a deep concern for the spiritual welfare of contemporary believers. While Williams examines some of the doctrines underlying the early Church confessions, his main purpose is to support the reliability of a loving God in a world full of suffering that cannot be resolved or removed.
"Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street" by Jim Wallis (261.8 WAL) presents a guide to overhauling America’s ethical values pertaining to business and the economy. Wallis offers a set of moral principles that focus on interdependence and spirituality over materialism. The author states that the right question to ask in response to the current economic crisis is not “When will this economic crisis be over” but rather, “How will this crisis change us?” He argues that the worst thing we can do now is to go back to normal. Normal is what got us into this situation. We need a new normal that will make clear that spending for things we don’t need is a bad foundation for an economy or a family. A new normal will see caring for the poor as not just a moral duty, but as critical for the common good. A new normal will be a balanced society in which markets, the government, and our communities will play a role. A new normal will have God’s operating principle of economy, which says that there is enough if we share it.
"Best Loved Prayers: Treasures for a Lifetime" by Lois Rock (J242 ROC) is for children ages 7-8. It provides a selection of prayers from a variety of sources, including Saint Augustine, Julian of Norwich, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as traditional prayers from Africa, Brittany, and Ireland together with related passages from the Bible.
"Let’s Explore Inside the Bible: An Activity, Information and Story Book" by Fiona Walton is also aimed at 7-8 year olds. Although it was primarily intended to use within the family, it lends itself well to use with a summer Sunday School program for children from kindergarten through 5th grade. The book presents thirteen key Bible stories in chronological order. Each lesson is self contained, so teachers do not need to go over previous material, and children can benefit from the overall plan.
March 24, 2010
"March" by Geraldine Brooks
"An Altar in the World: a Geography of Faith" by Barbara Brown Taylor
"Miracles: Wonders Jesus Worked"
"Little Wolf Who Cried Boy"
Reviewed by Carol Clover
The Religion in Literature series selection for the month of March is Geraldine Brooks' novel entitled "March." It tells the story of Mr. March, the father from "Little Women," who enlists in the Civil War as an army chaplain. It alternates between telling the story of March's journey with the army and his memories of what preceded his entry into war, his courtship and marriage to Marmee, his wife, and their involvement with the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement. The book is particularly suited to this season of Lent; a time of personal self-examination, as it demonstrates a man's inner struggle to come to terms with his own self-righteousness and certainty when confronted with the terrors of war, its horrors, and his lack of courage in battle. He is challenged to realize the meaning of righteousness in his own life and to see it in the lives of others, as he learns that the Union as well as the South is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. In the end, March realizes that he values his own life more than his principles, and this knowledge almost breaks him. It destroys his sense of himself as a man of high conviction among a throng of others who have little or no thought but to make money and live a long life and it nearly destroys his belief in principles altogether. His only remaining hope, in his words, is to "go back to my wife, to my girls, but also to the man of moral certainty that I was, that innocent man who knew with such clear confidence what it was that he was meant to do." When March at last makes his way back to Concord and his family, he is a changed man, shorn of most of his ideals. He is determined to "do his best to live in the quick world, but he knows that the ghosts of the dead will be ever at hand."
A new book recently added to the Church Library is "An Altar in the World: a Geography of Faith" by Barbara Brown Taylor. In her latest work, the Episcopal priest, professor of religion, and author of "Leaving Church" gives advice and counsel to those both inside and outside the Church on how to become more human and have a richer spiritual life. She shares how she learned to encounter God beyond the walls of any church, and directs readers to practices that frame everyday human experience. She finds the divine in all things and invites her readers to participate intentionally in the interplay of the sacred in daily life.
Two children's books recently added to the collection are "Miracles: Wonders Jesus Worked" by Mary Hoffman and Jackie Morris, illustrator, and "The Wolf Who Cried Boy" by Bob Hartman and Tim Raglin, illustrator. "Miracles" is written for children ages 5-6 years. Featuring nine of Jesus' miracles, the author narrates the miracles that Jesus performed in graceful, accessible language. Each miracle is prefaced with an introduction to encourage young readers to relate to experiences they may have had, helping them to understand the significance of the miracles to the people who lived them.
"Little Wolf Who Cried Boy" is another book for children ages 5-6 years, and is a parody of Aesop's fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." This time, a bored Little Wolf, who is tired of the same old meals such as Lamburgers and Sloppy Does, longs for a big dish of Boy. Even though Boy is a rarity, that doesn't stop Little Wolf from yelling Boy! at the drop of a hat and sending his parents on a wild goose chase to catch this elusive culinary delight. In this hilarious twisted tale, when a real boy finally comes along, Little Wolf learns the same timeless lesson that the Boy Who Cried Wolf did so many years ago.
February 24, 2010
New Books about Hope and Faith by Cornel West and Frank Schaeffer
Carol Clover
The celebration of Black History month in February offers an opportune time to read a new book recently added to the Church Library entitled "Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom" by Cornel West. Dr. West is an educator and philosopher and University Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University. He is also the New York Times best-selling author of "Race Matters," which sold over 400,000 copies and changed the course of America's dialogue on race, justice and democracy. In the opening of Chapter 1, the author states, "We are now in one of the most truly prophetic moments in the history of America. The poor and very poor are sleeping with self-destruction. The working and middle classes are struggling against paralyzing pessimism, and the privileged are swinging between cynicism and hedonism." Later in Chapter 1 the author declares, "Once again America finds itself looking to its blues people to provide a vision to a nation with the blues. That is a source of hope. Yet hope is no guarantee. Real hope is grounded in a particularly messy struggle and it can be betrayed by naïve projections of a better future that ignore the necessity of doing the real work. What we are talking about is ‘hope on a tightrope.'" "Hope on a Tightrope" will satisfy readers in search of deep wells of inspiration and challenge that marry the mind to the heart. The book also features an original CD that highlights Dr. West's outstanding spoken-word artistry.
:Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism)" by Frank Schaeffer is a meditation on the follies of religious and atheist fundamentalism. The author criticizes both the religious right and the recent wave of angry atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett. Schaeffer stresses that ethical behavior, not certitude about supernatural creeds, was central to early Judeo-Christian teaching. He argues for hopeful uncertainty, a humility about one's beliefs that rejects the certitude of doctrinaire believers and atheists alike. He offers a hopeful vision for a genuine faith in a messy, mysterious and unexplainable world full of contradictions and paradoxes.
"Faith" (Global Fund for Children Books) by Maya Ajmera, Magda Nakassis and Cynthia Pon is a worthwhile book for school-aged children to share with their families. The book contains a stunning array of photographs of children practicing their religion from around the world. They include Rastafarians, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Taoists and Muslims, who are seen celebrating their faith by praying, chanting, singing, reading holy books, listening and learning.
January 27, 2010
Books on Global Christianity
by Carol Clover
The Adult Education midwinter program has featured a series of presentations focusing on Global Christianity. There is a bibliography of selected resources available from the Church Library. Several titles in particular may be of interest.
"Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis and a Revolution of Hope" by Brian McLaren addresses two essential questions: What are the world’s top crises, and what do the life and message of Jesus say to those global crises? McLaren identifies four deep dysfunctions that have created a suicide machine: crises in prosperity, equity, security and spirituality. McLaren argues for establishing a beloved community based on justice, peace, equality and compassion, a call for the creation of a hope insurgency to transform the world in which we live. This book is useful for stimulating energetic dialogue and action in classes and small group discussions. There is also an interactive website www.everythingmustchange.org that allows people to contribute ideas for putting the message of Everything Must Change into action.
Another title of interest is "The Next Christendom: the Coming of Global Christianity" by Philip Jenkins. Jenkins uses demographic data to argue that by 2050 a new Christendom will emerge, one markedly different from what most white Euro-Americans know. In the next half-century, most of the world’s Christians will live in Africa, Latin America and Asia, even if they represent the same proportion of the population there as today. This new Christendom will have a lively sense of the supernatural and a keen appreciation of the miraculous elements of scripture and a more conservative posture on issues like the role of women or ordination of homosexuals than prevails in a northern Christianity shaped by the Enlightenment and pummeled by forces of secularization. The author maintains that by their numbers alone these Christians will overwhelm the present politically secular nations and city-states and replace them with theocracies.
Soong-chan Rah’s book entitled "The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity" takes Phillip Jenkins' findings one step further. He challenges North American evangelical Christianity to throw off the chains of its oppression – which he calls the western cultural captivity of the church – and embrace a multi-ethnic and diverse evangelism that reflects the church’s contemporary constituency. He maintains that the church’s captivity to materialism has resulted in the unwillingness to confront sins such as economic and radical injustice and has produced consumers of religion rather than followers of Jesus.
For children ages 6-7 years, Greg Mortenson’s book "Listen to the Wind: the Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea" is highly recommended. This picture book has illustrations by Susan Roth made of fabric, cut paper, and found objects with collages that are both childlike and complicated. Her illustrations are the perfect medium for Mortenson’s story of a school built with the ingenuity and energy of the mothers, fathers and even the children of Korphe. This book will help American children to understand a part of the world that they know largely through news reports of war and destruction.
December 30, 2009
'The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
"Have a Little Faith: A True Story" by Mitch Albom
"The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew -- Three Women Search for Understanding" by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
by Carol Clover
The Religion in Literature selection for January, 2010, is "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov, a novel heavily influenced by Goethe’s "Faust," with settings in first century Jerusalem and post-revolutionary Moscow in the 1920’s. The entire action in the book takes place in four days, from Wednesday to Sunday of Holy Week. In addition to being a satire on Soviet life in the 1920’s and early 1930’s and a love story, this tale of two cities is also laden with philosophical overtones. The basic ethical question of good and evil is the focal point of the novel. Other themes conveyed in this complex novel are that life is imperfect and must be accepted as such; that good and evil will coexist forever, and that evil exists to help human beings recognize what good is; that human striving toward the good leads to suffering and death, but ultimately to life, the only life worth living; and finally, that cowardice is the greatest sin. The novel has been described as a riddle novel by the author himself, but remains one of the most thought-provoking, intriguing and amusing novels in world literature.
The life of faith as seen in today’s world is described by Mitch Albom in his book "Have a Little Faith: A True Story," and in "The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew -- Three Women Search for Understanding" by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner. Mitch Albom’s book grew from the author’s close encounters with two remarkable men of very different faiths. The first is Albert Lewis, Albom’s rabbi while he was growing up in suburban New Jersey, who asks the author to write his eulogy. To do so, Albom must get to know the man behind the vestments, little knowing it would take eight years to prepare for the inevitable. Between Saturdays with Albert, Albom skillfully weaves a second narrative about Henry Covington, whose journey through a hellish youth of poverty and drug addiction ultimately led him to establish the I Am My Brother’s Keeper ministry and homeless shelter in Detroit’s inner city. The author’s message through these characters is timely and fortuitous: When times get tough and money disappears and people get fired and the things you assumed were going to be there forever are not there, you start to drift back to something you once had and you wonder why you let it go in the first place.
In "The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew," the key message is that religious certainty in any form leads to fundamentalism and intolerance. A statement in the book that makes this point is: “the opposite of faith isn’t doubt, it is certainty.” A second and equally important message is that all religions and societies need women who have the confidence to take a leading role in confronting religious conflict. The book provides a profound exposure to the beliefs, prejudices, hopes, fears and foundations of three major religious groups without invoking theologians.
Noivember 25, 2009
Books About Psalms; Aesop's Fables by Carol Clover
During November, an adult education series featured presentations on the Book of Psalms. The Church Library has a number of titles on this subject that should be of interest to adult readers. Perhaps best known is C.S. Lewis's"Reflections on the Psalms ." In this book of reflections, Lewis delves into the Psalms with the sensitivity of a poet and the honesty of a scholar. More than in Lewis' other books, his view on the Bible is most clearly seen as a canon of various types of literature to be approached in various ways. It is not an encyclopedia but an anthology. Scripture is viewed as God selecting a canon which, taken as a whole, portrays the history of the Incarnation, using myth, chronicle poetry and prophecy to do so. Lewis selects various Psalms for his discussions, enlightening them with his usual good sense while using illustrations from daily life and the literary world. A useful appendix at the back of the book lists the Psalms mentioned or discussed along with a reference to the page numbers on which they appear.
"The Promise of Winter: Quickening the Spirit on Ordinary Days and in Fallow Seasons, Reflections and Photographs" by Martin E. Marty and Micah Marty explores the signs of promise and presence found in the winter of the soul. Through its striking photographs of winter and reflective meditations on the Psalms, this volume leads readers on a journey through the heart's winter to the discovery of the God for all seasons.
Robert A. Schuller's "Getting Through What You're Going Through" is a study of Psalm 23. The book offers ten principles based on the Psalm to help break down the barriers to healing and to help readers get through their difficult times. Above all, the book proves the healing power of faith and prayer. To get through what you're going through, you must be willing to be carried, and that takes trusting, explains Schuller. Let go and let God support you, and your faith will lead you out of the valley into the Promised Land is his central message.
"Aesop's Fables" by Jerry Pinkney is a children's book for ages 8-9 years. It is the quintessential Aesop, lovingly retold in a contemporary yet timeless style embellished with a profusion of glorious illustrations. The text, which includes 61 fables in all, begs to be read aloud, while the pictures transport the reader into a different world, magical yet firmly grounded in reality. The book received starred reviews in Horn Book Magazine, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews.
October 28, 2009
Books About Lincoln and Slavery; New Books for Children by Carol Clover
Two Pulitzer-Prize-winning books recently selected for the Religion in Literature Series offer worthwhile insights into a compelling period of U.S. history during the early to mid 1800’s. Lincoln by David Herbert Donald is a remarkable look at our country’s 16th President from Lincoln’s own perspective, analyzing him and his decisions based on what Lincoln knew, believed, and sought to accomplish at the time. The book views Lincoln as he advanced from extremely poor rural roots in what was then the western United States into the Illinois legislature and then the U.S. Congress for one term, through a career as a self-taught lawyer, and finally to the presidency, where he faced perhaps the greatest challenge any president in our history ever encountered. The author depicts Lincoln the man, not the statue. Like all of us, he was a fallible human being who wasn’t always sure that what he was doing was right, but he was sure he owed it to his country to serve it with honor and dignity in its hour of greatest peril.
The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron is a fictionalized autobiography of the Negro slave who in 1831, under what he felt was divine prompting, organized and led the only sustained Negro uprising in the history of American slavery, a revolt culminating in the violent deaths of fifty-five whites and perhaps two hundred slaves, the execution of the chief insurgents, and repressive new laws for the containment of slaves. The book is masterful storytelling and a chilling account of a noble man’s moral decline and, in human terms, the agonizing essence of Negro slavery, as the internal struggles of Nat’s personality are realized through his wrestling with the question of God and his own self-worth and that of his people.
The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt and illustrated by Tim Jonke is a children’s book for ages 5-6 years. It is a retelling of a popular folk tale suitable for any time of year, but with particular links to Christmas and Easter. It tells of the hopes and dreams of three little trees that are surprised by how their dreams of greatness come true.
In God’s Name by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is a book for children ages 6-7. The author shows that despite the various names people call God, God is one and the same for all of them. The book is beautifully illustrated with uplifting images of God as Creator, Healer, Redeemer, Father, and Friend.
September 16, 2009
Books on the Life of Faith and Spiritual Purpose by Carol Clover
The Church Library has added some new titles that focus on the life of faith and spiritual purpose. Long after I’m Gone: a Father-Daughter Memoir by Deborah Good recounts a daughter’s personal journey of remembrance, loss and grief in the final days she spent with her father as he battled terminal cancer. She reflects on the life stories he shared as he described his commitments to neighbors, church, school and community.
Claiming the Beatitudes: Nine Stories from a New Generation by Anne Sutherland Howard is a book which offers a contemporary view of the Beatitudes. The author uses insights from an emerging generation of Christians who find in their faith a living font for social action. It is a book well suited for Lenten study, or a shared reading experience in a college fellowship.
Leap over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians by Eugene H. Peterson provides thought provoking reflections on what an authentic Christian life means. The life of David is the platform he uses to enable readers to learn about their own spirituality and relationship with God. David’s life shows the humanity of a man after God’s heart which proves the existence and endurance of God’s grace and acceptance.
Second Calling: Finding Passion and Purpose for the Rest of Your Life by Dale Hanson Bourke follows Dale Bourke’s first book in 1985 entitled You Can Make Your Dreams Come True, a book designed to encourage women to believe in themselves, their passions, and their power to realize their dreams. Patterned on the book of Ruth, Second Calling is written for women in or approaching the second half of life who find they no longer have the energy and drive they once had. The author focuses on a study of Naomi’s life, which demonstrates that it is not what we do for God, but what God does through us that ultimately matters.
A new book for young children ages 2-5 years is Peek! A Thai Hide-and-Seek by Minfong Ho. This is a beautifully illustrated book with an interactive story that draws young readers to its pages, as a father searches for his daughter in a game of peek-a-boo that leads him to encounter many wild animals amidst a background of lush vegetation.
August 19, 2009
Fiction for the Final Days of Summer by Carol Clover
Books featured in the display case during August will appeal to young and adult readers seeking to escape during the final days of summer.
The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter is for children ages 6-7 years. It is a true story about a librarian's struggle to save her community's priceless collection of books in a war-stricken country where civilians, especially women, have little power.
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan is for children ages 9-11 years. This historical fiction takes place in British East Africa in 1918 where a young girl named Rachel is left orphaned after the influenza epidemic. The heroine becomes involved in a deceit-filled plot to assume a deceased neighbor's identity in order to travel to England, where her dream is to return to Africa to rebuild her parents' mission hospital.
The Blind Faith Hotel by Grace's own Pamela Todd is a coming of age book that will appeal to both teens and adults. The author takes readers on a journey not only across the country, but also into the life of a young girl forced to leave behind the father she loves and the only place she's ever felt at home. It is a story filled with emotion as well as the beauty of nature.
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin will appeal to adults and children who are attracted to fantasy. The book is a combination of a classic fairy tale and a stylized character study that stands alongside such classics as Watership Down, Lord of the Rings, and the Neverending Story. This fantasy is set in the animal kingdom around a chicken coop. Chauntecleer, the rooster of the coop, is in charge of all the animals in the surrounding forest. Their peace is broken when Wyrm, monster of evil, long imprisoned beneath the earth, tries to break through the dominion of the world. Chauntecleer and the other animals use their faith and the spiritual exercises they practice in order to fight back the powers of Ultimate Evil.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is an enduring Southern story that begins during the summer of 1954 in South Carolina following the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The narrator, Lili Owen, shares her journey of overcoming the loss of her mother while discovering discrimination, the dangers of social inequality, and the base human elements that bind us to each other despite color or class.
